Posts by Alvin Lin (Page 6)
A Conversation About Having Faith in God
If I were to ask you to define what is having faith in God, what would you say? If you were to make a new friend while shopping at Fred Meyer, and you were to say to him you are a Christian, how would you explain that to him? The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” What goes on…
Biblical Hope
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Rat. And according to Chinese superstition, the rat symbolizes new beginnings, fertility, wealth and plenty. Once every twelve years, the Year of the Rat promises to bring beneficial situations, opportunities, encounters with special people, and luck. But I don’t suppose I need to tell you 2020 has turned out to be anything but those things. We still have a few weeks left to go, but I think we are…
Darling of Heaven Crucified
By the time our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, the Romans had already been putting people on the cross for a while. But the Romans were hardly the first ones to use crucifixion to punish the hardest criminals. Studies show there were crucifixions dating back to as early as 500 B.C. when King Darius I of Persia crucified 3,000 of his enemies in Babylon. Some may have been even earlier. Even though the Romans did not come up with the…
Surrender is Not About Surrender
His queen is bearing down on my defenseless king. I know it. He knows it. It’s my turn and I have no meaningful options, except to delay the inevitable. So what will I do? Offer a draw? Resign? Never. I logout. I don’t like the word, “surrender,” and I don’t think many of you do, too. The word gives off a message of admitting defeat. After all, isn’t it a battle term? When we sense an imminent defeat, and we…
Fear of the End of Life
Is it strange to you if I were to tell you I openly talk to my family about my own death?—actually, quite regularly. They don’t seem to appreciate it, and I wonder why. Seriously, if someday my doctor were to say to me I could no longer eat as much of my favorite foods as I would like to eat, and if God says okay, I would say to myself it is time for me to go! Are you someone…
Discipline in the Church
Today, I am going to talk about something no one likes to talk about: Discipline. No one likes to receive discipline or to give discipline. We don’t even like to talk about it. What’s even worse than discipline is church discipline. It is very sensitive, and demands wisdom and prayer. But it is also very necessary because God takes sin seriously. Matthew 18 lays out the steps as good as anywhere in the Bible, how to discipline an individual within…
What You And I Can Say About the Bad Things That Happen to Us
Last week marked the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation. Even though the memorial services were smaller in scale and more intimate compared to those of recent years because of the pandemic, they were still the same solemn ceremonies that mark one of the truly darkest days in our nation’s history. For me, 9/11 was the saddest 24 hours I have ever spent in my life, period. Perhaps it is the same for you, too. In…
Why Obey?
Is there anyone here who likes to obey? Anyone? Our family takes turns doing the dishes in our home. One day last week, my daughter told me, “Dad, it’s your turn to wash the dishes.” I finished some more things for work, turned off the lights, went upstairs, and got into bed. If you are like me, you don’t like to obey. Most people don’t like to obey. I consider myself a pretty obedient person for the most part, and…
Growing in Maturity in Relationships
Do you know how many times the word “discipleship” appears in our English Bible? If you guessed zero times, you are correct! While the word “disciple” appears over 250 times, there is no “discipleship,” not one. If you searched for the word “discipleship” in the entire Bible, you would not be successful. But more importantly, what does the word “discipleship” even mean? In the Christian world, everyone uses it, but what are we trying to say? And what does a…