Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Storming of Hell!
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood;
truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body;
consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood;
in all things like unto us, without sin;
begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood;
one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;
the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεὸν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ;
as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet they are not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; there are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; and shall give account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.
Well our trip to Nepal is off to a great start. We’ve been here 5 days now and the ministry has already been very rich. From the moment we arrived, I could tell the team was immediately taken back by all the sights, sounds, and smells of Nepal. This was not quite what they had expected. The traffic on the narrow Kathmandu streets is chaotic to say the least. We find ourselves dancing around rickshaws and dodging motorcycles to cross the street. Walk just a block and you will experience waves of smells from burning trash, to burning incense, to perfumes, flowers, and diesel exhaust. Night falls around 7:30 and the local clubs blast their music out into the crowded streets, that is of course, if the power doesn’t go out.
We start our mornings with breakfast on the rooftop of our hostel. In the distance you can see the foothills of the Himalayas as we sit and eat our porridge. We spend an hour each morning in “quiet time” studying passages like Philippians, Proverbs, and Nehemiah, drawing out key ministry principles and attitudes. We spend time praying together as a team, taking time in silence to let God speak to us. Eventually we grab some lunch, load up our day packs and water bottles, and head our for ministry.
On our first day out we visited a famous Buddhist temple located high above the Kathmandu valley, unofficially known as the “Monkey Temple”, because the place is crawling with monkeys looking for tourists with food they can steal. We observed many of the Buddhist rituals they do as they seek “enlightenment”. The following day we visited the largest evangelical church in Kathmandu. They gave us headphones to hear the church service translated into English, but as I looked around I noticed many of the students had taken out their headphones, because they found themselves moved by hearing the Nepali people worshiping in their own language.
Yesterday we traveled to a Hindu temple known as Pashupati. There we witnessed Hindu cremation rituals as they burned the bodies of their deceased loved ones, and dumping the ashes into a river, hoping that would send them to heaven. It was a somber day, and the students had very little to say, but we were all thinking the same thing; this is a dark place full of people who desperately need hope. That same day we were also taken to a palace where a little girl was held because they believe she is the incarnation of a god. She stepped out and we saw her face. To the people around us they were seeing the face of a living god. To us, we were seeing the face of a young girl in captivity, much like the people who worshiped her.
While working to understand the spiritual lives and religious practices and beliefs of the Nepali people, we have begun to engage ourselves in two types of ministry here. The first, we have started calling “intentional shopping”. The students go out into the shopping district of “Thamel”, and go shopping. But as they shop around, they are working hard to meet people. Store owners, peddlers, restaurant servers, laundry and internet shop owners, rickshaw drivers, and even the hotel workers. Our students have been building relationships, getting names and phone numbers, learning about their families, sitting down for tea, and are openly sharing their faith. It has been amazing to hear their stories as they come back each night telling the team about the Nepali people they met and made friendships with.
The other type of ministry we have been doing is evangelism in the smaller villages outside of Kathmandu. As I type the team is preparing to spend the entire afternoon in a new village today. We start with a street performance with dancing, puppets and drama, and we spend the next hour our two having one on one conversations, presenting the gospel anyway we can. Some tell bible stories, some use gospel tracts, some open up their own bibles and share scripture, and some share stories from their own lives and testimonies. We must have drawn a crowd of 100-150 people at the village we went to yesterday. It was an exciting moment and our team rose to the occasion in an incredible way.
Our evenings are spent having dinner in the local restaurants and debriefing the day together as a team. We share stories, thoughts, questions, and encouragements with each other and finally shuffle off to bed exhausted from pouring ourselves out all day.
The rest of this week will consist of lots of village ministry, lots of “intentional shopping”, and on friday we are planning to visit a local orphanage. So far, the team has been very healthy and has great attitudes in everything we do. Rain is frequent, but short lived and has not succeeded in drowning out the work God has for us to do here.
We thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We know that while we are here in Nepal working hard to get the gospel out, there are many people lifting us up and have made many sacrifices so we could be here. It is on your shoulders that we stand and serve Christ in Nepal.
- Posted by Job Hammond July 12, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment