Design
Your
Life
设计你的生活
Shèjì nǐ de shēnghuó
あなたの人生をデザインする
Anata no jinsei o dezain suru
ps23
Determination regulates me.
It is the rule by design that I seek to see.
Goodness guides my action.
I will not want for satisfaction.
Need leads choice,
but joy has a voice.
Conflict has a place in life,
but abuse or neglect add to strife.
The wounded healer
is a double dealer.
Healing is attained
when good action is sustained.
Teaching is established
by the benefit of practice.
Learn names in order to give credit.
If something gets said, you'll know who said it.
Wisdom is a dragon coiled around a sword.
Knowledge doesn't move until threat records
a reason to restore
defense for accord.
The dragon is the bank of knowledge
regarding reason acknowledged in college.
Gentle deeds blossom on the bough
as the awakened root shoots beyond buds for now.
The rock of faith knelt down to pray.
Grace sat up to hear what he had to say.
The quiet girl adores the scene.
She does not take or add except to see
that which is serene about the seen.
Ancient woods reach high to see
friends enraptured in growth with glee.
We can still sit still upon the rocks
to watch a shepherd feed his flock
by the stream or river whose reach falls
past banks that acted as walls.
There the whispering river goes
past the roar of the fallen flow.
The lucky wind favors sway
among plants and trees any time of day.
Love by Spring is grown.
The light of stars are shown
by the absence of the sun lit known.
Meteors pluck the strings to play
the harmony of spheres inlaid.
The sublime design of nature
transcends the allure of harmful behavior.
Though I walk in the shadow of threat
I will not fear that justified by defense.
The protection of the divine presence is with me.
I will see the rule of reason for strategy.
My head has been anointed by education with experience.
The knowledge of goodness delivers me from serious weariness.
Goodness will bless me with mercy all the days of my life.
I will train to attain victory over adversity to overcome strife.
These washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
They came out of the ordeal cleansed by the knowledge of Abraham.
The work of testimony to the love of the Father
did not declare violence as the way to proffer the slaughter
of the people of the Anointed One as the Son to burn whole on the altar.
Love was defined as belief in goodness
for the whole body as godly in fullness.
The white lily grows among the sedge
when it is planted to adorn the hedge.
Design your life
to overcome strife.
Let design act as your surgical knife
to eliminate that which is not right.
Design your life.
设计你的生活
Shèjì nǐ de shēnghuó
------------------------
23 Dominus regit me
The Dominant rules me
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul
and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
-------------------------
Acts 9:40
Peter put all of them outside. Then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, 'Tabitha, get up.' She opened her eyes and seeing Peter sat up.
Peter- petros- rock
Tabitha- grace
-------------------------
The rock of faith knelt down to pray.
Grace sat up to hear what he had to say.
==================
Revelation 7:13
One of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these robed in white? Where have they come from? ' I said to him, 'Sir, you are the one that knows.' He said to me, 'These are they who have come out of the great ordeal. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
-------------------------
These washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
They came out of the ordeal cleansed by the knowledge of Abraham.
==================
John 10:22-6
The festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem at that time. It was winter. Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews gathered around him and said, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered, 'I have told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me. You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.'
-------------------------
The work of testimony to the love of the Father
did not declare violence as the way to proffer the slaughter
of the people of the Anointed One as the Son to burn whole on the altar.
Love was defined as belief in goodness
for the whole body as godly in fullness.
==================
The Feast of the Dedication
Wiki
Bible Encyclopedia
The Feast of Dedication is called Hanukkah today. It was once also called the "Feast of the Maccabees." It was a Jewish festival observed for eight days from the 25th of Kislev. Kislev is usually in December. It is occasionally in late November due to the lunisolar calendar.
It was instituted in the year 165 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, his brothers and the elders of the congregation of Israel. The celebration was instituted in commemoration of the reconsecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes (168 BCE).
The Greco-Syrian Antiochus proscribed religious observances to the Jews in his zeal to Hellenize his realm. He offered sacrifices to gods on the altar of burnt offering in Jerusalem (1 Macc 1:41-64; 2 Macc 6:1-11; Jos. Antiq. xii. 5, 4). The Hasmoneans raised the cry of revolt at Modin and ultimately overthrew the forces of Antiochus.
The altar of burnt offerings held special significance at the time. An animal offered on the altar was burnt entirely (a whole burnt offering). It wasn't cooked to serve as food at a feast. It was consumed with flames as though the holocaust were a representation of divine consumption.
The significant happenings of the festival were the the lighting of the menorah in houses and synagogues and the recitation of Psalm 30:1-12. The custom of illumination was probably taken over from the Feast of Tabernacles. J. Wellhausen suggests that the feast was originally connected with the winter solstice. It was associated with the events narrated in Maccabees only afterwards.
The Feast of Dedication is also mentioned in John 10:22. Jesus was at the Jerusalem Temple during "the Feast of Dedication." The passage further notes "and it was winter." The Greek term used in John is "the renewals" (Greek ta engkainia τὰ ἐγκαίνια). Josephus refers to the festival in Greek simply as "lights."
Pope Stephen I
p.b. 5.12.253
d. 8.2.257
Stephen was a Roman by birth. He was the son of Jovius.
He was made archdeacon of that church under the popes and Cornelius and Lucius.
There was disagreement about how to treat those who had lapsed from the faith following the Decian persecution of 250–251.
The controversy arose in the context of a broad pastoral problem. Some Christians had purchased certificates attesting that they had made the requisite sacrifices to the Roman gods during the Decian persecution.
Others had denied they were Christians while yet others had in fact taken part in pagan sacrifices. All these were called "lapsi". The question arose that if they repented, could they be readmitted to communion with the church. If so, under what conditions?
The "Liber Pontificalius" states that Pope Lucius I made over the care of the Church to his archdeacon Stephen when he was about to be martyred. (253)
Stephen was urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, to take action against Marcian, the Novatianist Bishop of Arles. Marcian denied penance and communion to the lapsed who repented.
The Catholic position was to grant communion to returning lapsi after due penance. The Novatianists allowed the laspi fellowship, but not communion.
Stephen became involved in a major controversy with Cyprian of Carthage over the question of the validity of baptisms administered by Novatianist clergy. Cyprian and other bishops of the Roman provinces of Africa and Asia Minor held that such sacraments were not valid.
Stephen insisted that as long as the baptismal formula was technically correct the Church must recognize the baptisms as valid. Augustine would later use this argument to affirm the authority of the office as an administration of divine operation. Even if the person in the office is believed to be corrupt, the sanctity of the sacrament is validated by the work of God.
The controversy over the validity of baptism threatened another schism immediately on the heals of the split with the Novatianists. Stephen's view ultimately prevailed and became the standard for the Church to this day. Stephen disagreed with Cyprian and other bishops who insisted that certain of their colleagues be excommunicated or deposed.
Stephen held that converts who had been baptized by splinter groups did not need re-baptism. Cyprian and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held rebaptism necessary for admission to the Eucharist. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance in the Latin Church.
The Scriptural account of baptism was used to establish apostolic authority. The Apostle Paul had stated that some disciples at Ephesus were to be baptized in Christ's name: "They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."(Acts 19)
The Apostle Peter ordered others to be baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 10) Those who were converted by Philip "were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." (Acts 8). Peter had also directed earlier: "Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2)
The Acts of the Apostles makes explicit reference to the name of the Holy Spirit in baptism in the account of Philip with the Samaritans. (Acts 8) The formula for the Trinity was implicated even if the sacrament was administered in the name of only one of the divine persons.
The detail regarding Simon provided an illustration of how to deal with those in error. When Simon asked Peter and John if he could buy the power, Peter rebuked him and insisted that he repent from his error. Simon prayed for forgiveness.
Cyprian wrote (Epistle 72) that Stephen had declared all baptism valid provided it was given in the name of Jesus Christ. Firmilian, in his letter to Cyprian, implied that Pope Stephen had required an explicit mention of the Trinity in baptism. He quoted the pontiff as declaring that the sacramental grace is conferred because a person has been baptized "with the invocation of the names of the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Ghost".
The bishops of Gaul asked Cyprian to write to the pope about Marcian of Arles. Cyprian wrote a letter which is our sole source of information regarding this affair (Epp. lxix, lxviii). The Bishop of Carthage entreated Stephen to imitate his predecessors and to instruct the bishops of Gaul to condemn Marcian. Another bishop was to be elected in his stead. No more was said by Cyprian on this affair. It is supposed that the pope acted in accordance with the petition to have Marcian deposed.
Basilides, bishop of Merida, and Martialis, bishop of Leon and Astorga, had fallen into the crime of the Libellatici. They had purchased for money libels of safety from the persecutors as if they had sacrificed to idols to save their lives in the persecution. Martialis was deposed in a synod for this and other crimes. Basilides was intimidated into the voluntary resignation of his see.
Sabinus replaced Basilides. Felix replaced Martialis. Basilides repented of what he had done, went to Rome and imposed himself upon Stephen. He was admitted to communion as a colleague in the episcopal Order. No sentence of deposition had passed in his case.
He returned to Spain with letters of the pope in his favor. He was received in the same rank by some of the bishops. Martialis was encouraged by his example. He presumed to claim the same privilege. The Spanish bishops consulted Cyprian as to what they ought to do with regard to the reinstatement of the two delinquents.
Cyprian opined that persons guilty of such crimes were disqualified for presiding in the Church of Christ and offering sacrifices to God by the canons. The election and ordination of their two successors having been regular and valid they could not be rescinded or made null. The pope’s letters were obtained by fraud and a suppression of the truth. The authority of the favor was null.
Stephen was pardoned for not having known all the facts, but the pope relieved the provinces in Syria and Arabia of their necessities as an act of charity after the judgment that his decision was the result of deception.
The controversy concerning the rebaptization of heretics persisted. It was the constant doctrine of the Catholic Church that baptism given in the evangelical words implied the name of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. The administration is valid even when conferred by a heretic. This was the practice of the African Church till Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, in the close of the second century, changed it.
This was fifty years before Cyprian as Austin and Vincent of Lerins testified. Cyprian appealed to a council held by Agrippinus for the origin of this change in judgment. Cyprian decreed that baptism given by a heretic is always null and invalid in three African councils according to this principle. His principle asserted that no one can receive the Holy Ghost by the hands of one who does not himself possess him in his soul.
The pope saw the danger which threatened the Church under the color of zeal for its purity, unity and aversion from heresy. He opposed the judgment and declared that no innovation was to be allowed.
The tradition of the Church derived from the apostles was to be inviolably maintained. He even threatened to cut off the patrons of the novelty from communion with the Church. Dionysius of Alexandria interceded by letters and procured a respite. Eusebius mentioned this in his History of the Church. (Hist. l. 7, c. 5).
The vestments worn by the clergy at Mass and other church services did not differ in shape or material from those ordinarily worn by the laity in those days. Stephen is said by the "Liber Pontificalis" to have ordained that the vestments which had been used for ecclesiastical purposes were not to be employed for daily wear. He instituted the use of vestments that distinguished clergy from the laity.
Stephen died on August 2, 257.
Wiki
Catholic Encyclopedia
KJV Acts of the Apostles Ch. 8
Bartleby Lives
Florence Nightengale
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