The Bay Friendship Club - Blog

Names of God - Aster Lampros Proinos

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 07:16:00 +0000

Aster Lampros Proinos

Bright Morning Star

(as-TAIR lam-PROS pro-i-NOS)

The Name

In the last chapter of the book of Revelation, Jesus calls himself the “bright Morning Star.” In ancient times, the morning star was thought of as a herald of the new day, signalling the dawn of hope and joy. The brightest object in the sky aside from the sun and moon, it is a fitting type for Christ, who ushers in a new day for the entire world.

When you call on Jesus, the Bright Morning Star, you are calling on the One from whom all darkness flees.

Key Scripture Passage

“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Revelation 22:16)

Promises Associated with Aster Lampros Proinos

Some things never change. Imagine what bedtime must have been like a few thousand years ago. The children are snugly tucked into their corner of the cave. “Dad,” a terrified voice cries out, “something’s crawling up my leg!” “This bearskin is scratchy!” “Mom, she’s hitting me. Make her stop!” And then the inevitable: “I’m thirsty. Can I have another drink of glog . . . pleeeease!” The chorus continues until their weary-tothe-bone cave parents finally assert their authority and everything is quiet but for the rustle of a few bat wings.

Little people always seem to resist the ending of the day. Come to think of it, I sometimes stay up way past my bedtime. Maybe the problem is a primeval fear of the darkness — we resist closing our eyes lest we will never open them again. I wonder, did human beings panic when they saw the sun go down for the very first time? Were they heartened by a brilliant white light hanging low in the western sky? If so, they were probably gazing at the evening star, which just so happens to be the second planet from the sun. Yes, Venus is both the morning and the evening star, a steady brightness that reminds us of the One who lights up our darkness and chases away our gloom.

Promises in Scripture

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139:11 -12

In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 29:18—19

Thought for Today

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 06:45:00 +0000

Hebrews 6:10

God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.

Thought for Today

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 06:52:00 +0000

Philippians 3:14

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Thought for Today

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 06:21:00 +0000

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

Thought for Today

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 08:28:00 +0000

1 Timothy 1:16

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.

Thought for Today

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 07:26:00 +0000

Psalm 38:18-20

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
He protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

Names of God - Logos

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 07:35:00 +0000

Logos

Word

(LO-gos)

The Name

Though God has always revealed Himself in some way, the incarnation is the clearest, most compelling revelation of who God is — of His holiness, love, and power. Because Jesus is one with the Father, He is uniquely able to communicate God’s heart and mind. As Logos, or “the Word,” everything about Jesus — His teaching, miracles, suffering, death, and resurrection — speaks to us of God.

Our destiny depends on how well we listen. Will we believe, or will we turn a deaf ear to the message of God’s love? When you pray to Jesus as the Word, you are praying to the One whose voice calls us from death to life and from darkness to light.

Key Scripture Passage

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John 1:14)

Promises Associated with Logos

Imagine a family in which the people are incapable of communicating at any level — not a touch, a glance, or a word ever passes between them. Wouldn’t they cease to be a family?

How would the parents care for their children or for each other? How would the children know they were loved? Each child would be left alone to figure out how to live in this world.

We can be thankful that God has not left us orphans but that He has brought us into His own family, communicating His love in the most eloquent and powerful way possible through Jesus, the Word made flesh. Through His actions and His words, Jesus is the perfect expression of the Father’s love.

As members of God’s family, we need to hear His Word and obey it just as children in a human family need to listen to and obey their parents. Without obedience, we become like fools who look in a mirror and then forget what they look like, don’t remember whom they belong to. Obedience shapes us into the likeness of Jesus, the Word, so that we can experience the full blessing of being part of God’s family.

Promises in Scripture

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave You birth and nursed You.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Luke 11:27—28

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like. But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it —not forgetting what they have heard but doing it —they will be blessed in what they do.

James 1:22—25

Thought for Today

Tue, 15 May 2018 06:54:00 +0000

Galatians 3:14

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Thought for Today

Wed, 02 May 2018 06:24:00 +0000

Galatians 6:14

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Names of God - Arnion, Amnos Tou Theou

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:01:00 +0000

Arnion, Amnos Tou Theou

Lamb, Lamb of God

(ar-NEE-on, am-NOS tou the-OU)

The Name

Most of us picture lambs as downy white animals frolicking in rolling green meadows or carried tenderly in the arms of their shepherd. Lambs represent gentleness, purity, and innocence. Though it is one of the most tender images of Christ in the New Testament, the phrase “Lamb of God” would have conjured far more disturbing pictures to those who heard John the Baptist hail Jesus with these words.

Hadn’t many of them, at one time or another, carried one of their own lambs to the altar to be slaughtered as a sacrifice for their sins, a lamb that they had fed and bathed, the best animal in their small flock? Hadn’t the bloody sacrifice of an innocent animal provided a vivid image of the consequences of transgressing the Mosaic law?

Surely, John must have shocked his listeners by applying the phrase “Lamb of God” to a living man. When we pray to Jesus as the Lamb of God, we are praying to the One who voluntarily laid down His life to take in His own body the punishment for our sins and for the sins of the entire world.

Key Scripture passage

John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

Promises associated with Arnion, Amnos Tou Theou

One of my favourite lines in Scripture is the promise God makes near the end of the Bible. To those who have suffered because of their faith, He points to the day when “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” Revelation 7:17.

Like a parent encouraging a child, He tells us that in the end all will be well. When the Lamb is on the throne, when every power in the universe is completely subject to Him, God’s own fingers will wipe away the last of our tears. Our life in this world is nothing but a long growing up, a time of testing that stretches and shapes us toward maturity so that we can become more Christ-like. If we let Him, God will use our suffering to etch His character in us. And in the end, no matter how deep our sorrow, it will be obliterated by the joy of seeing the Lamb face to face.

Promises in Scripture

Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Revelation 7:16—17

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Revelation 12:10—11