5 Points of the Biblical Story

1. YHWH is love.  All that is lovely and capable of love is from Him.  He is the source of everything good because he is the creator of all else.
   
2. Man has been unloving.  Following deceiving spirits and the allure of pride, we have tried to find good outside of love; we have failed.
   
3. YHWH is faithful love.  Even after trying to live outside of God's love and way of life, God came and lived out love as a man and died for the unloving things man has done but rose from death to life to give us the hope of entering back into peace with God and his love.
   
4. Man is invited to give and receive love YHWH's way.  Where we were unfaithful in love before, by God's grace we can become faithful in love.
   
5. YHWH will return to put an end to the world that has been ruined from unloving and will complete the creation of a new world where love will rule.
   

Intro to UPG Scripture portions

Draft1

Life is good, but life is hard. There are people we love, and people who love us. Yet, the people we care about are too often the people who hurt us and are hurt by us. We want to do good, and to have good done to us, but things don't work out like we wish they would. We look for answers, and sometimes we get some answers. Too often, the answers we get are not satisfying. We hear stories of demons, and gods, and promises and threats, but we get confused. Most people don't know what to believe, and so they wait to see what everyone else is doing and they try to blend it.

 
 

This booklet is an effort to reach beyond some of the frustrations of life and to find hope. Hope is the confidence that life has good to offer and that it is not without meaning. In this booklet you will find a several different things: explanations, songs and holy writings. Explanations are what people who have found this hope have come to understand and have written recently to try and help other people understand. It is the same with the songs you will find. They are written or translated by Dai people who have found the hope and are glad for it. Lastly, and most importantly, you will find holy writings. These writings are from the Hope, to people in ages past.

 

Draft 2

This little booklet is about hope. Why would you want a book about hope? Because life keeps promising to make you joyful, and yet it is so elusive. You need hope, you want answers. This book is a collection of 3 things: explanations, songs and scripture.

 
 

The explanations are from regular people like you who have studied the things of hope and try to explain what they are learning. They are not perfect writings, they are like letters from a friend. They can be very helpful to understand why we should have hope and how we can help others to grow in hope.

 
 

As people grow in hope, there is a joy that is best expressed in song. The songs in this booklet are written or translated by Dai people with hope. These are ways of declaring the hope we are growing in; declaring the hope to the people around us, the spirits we don't see, and even reminding ourselves about the hope we need.

 
 

Lastly, but most importantly, we have scriptures translated into Dai. The scriptures are from the hope and about the hope. The hope is the God who made us loves us and wants to bring us to himself. The desires in our hearts for goodness can be satisfied when we get back to the one who made our hearts.

 
 

As you study this book you are invited to enter into the hope. The God who made you is calling you to trust him. He wants you to trust that he is there for you and that he will take care of those who really want to trust him. He knows what things have been done to separate you and him. He has seen what should have been and what should not have been, and he has done something very special. The hope has come into the world as a man and lived faithfully, like we all wish we would live. But he did not keep his faithfulness for himself, he decided to do something special. This man took our unfaithfulness, all the things we wish we had never said or done, and he died with those things on his soul. He did this so that the wrong in the world would die, and that the good in the world would live. We know that good does live and will live because the man of hope came back from the dead without the wrong. He came back with life, and love and light. Now he has gone to prepare a time and a place to be with people who trust in him as the hope for life. You should be one of those. By calling out to him from your heart you can let him know that you want his good and not the wrong that is in the world, and sadly, has even been in your own heart. He will hear you and care for you, and will help you to live in hope.

Spurgeon – Tribulations for Telos

"In the world ye shall have tribulation."

- Joh_16:33

Art thou asking the reason of this, believer? Look upward to thy heavenly Father, and behold him pure and holy. Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like him? Wilt thou easily be conformed to his image? Wilt thou not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify thee? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of thy corruptions, and make thee perfect even as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian, turn thine eye downward. Dost thou know what foes thou hast beneath thy feet? Thou wast once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Dost thou think that Satan will let thee alone? No, he will be always at thee, for he "goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Expect trouble, therefore, Christian, when thou lookest beneath thee. Then look around thee. Where art thou? Thou art in an enemy's country, a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not thy friend. If it be, then thou art not God's friend, for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be assured that thou shalt find foe-men everywhere. When thou sleepest, think that thou art resting on the battlefield; when thou walkest, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be sharpest to you. Lastly, look within thee, into thine own heart and observe what is there. Sin and self are still within. Ah! if thou hadst no devil to tempt thee, no enemies to fight thee, and no world to ensnare thee, thou wouldst still find in thyself evil enough to be a sore trouble to thee, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Expect trouble then, but despond not on account of it, for God is with thee to help and to strengthen thee. He hath said, "I will be with thee in trouble; I will deliver thee and honour thee."