23 January 2011

Topic: Righteousness by faith

Romans 4:1-4
Verse 2: If Abraham's works are good, he has something to boast about but not before God.
Verse 3: Abraham believed God came down to bring all our sins to the cross. Just like how we now believe. He gives us His righteousness and now He esteems us righteous.
Verse 4: if you work for something, your salary is not grace but a debt. If you boss gives you a car, that is a grace gift. Not by works.

First thing God did was to make Abraham righteous.

There are 2 groups of believers that are righteous by faith. They are those victorious and those not victorious. Those seemed to prosper in whatever things they touch and those who does not.

Love people and use money to bless people. Love God, not money. God says the love of money is the root of all evil.

Abraham's nephew, Lot, got into a lot of trouble but yet God still sees him as righteous and holy despite his works.
See Peter 2:6-8
Verse 7: God delivered righteous Lot.
Verse 8: Still God mentioned he is righteous. In total He mentioned it 3 times.
Lot is an example of a righteous lot where he's not blessed. Why is he not blessed yet when God calls him righteous?
Abraham is righteous not in his conduct. He is righteous by faith. Even though he lied about his wife, he did not live in his lie. He fall in temptations, he does not live in it. We may fall into sin but we do not live in there.
Give a pig mud and it is satisfied. Give a sheep mud and it will cry. We are the sheep.

Genesis 13:1-14
Verse 3: "to the place where his tent had been at the beginning".
Verse 4: "at first". Abraham called on the name of the Lord. It shows he has a heart for God while Lot does not.
Verse 5: Lot was blessed with flock and herds, because he was associated with Abraham. He was blessed with blessings shared by Abraham.
Verse 10: Lot saw with his eyes and saw that everything was good and pleasing to the eyes.
Verse 11: When Lot saw that all is pleasant is to his eyes, he chose for himself.
Verse 12: Lot then pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.
This is the start of the pit fall of Lot.
Are you pitching your tent to Sodom in your family? Children loves boundaries, not because of those things you bless them with. Repossess your position as a King in the house!

There is no condemnation when you fall into sin. But don't stay there (in Sodom). Do you know Sodom is the lowest place on earth? Soon you will see what happened to Lot there.

Side track: Pastor bumped into a parent saying his kid is spending too much time in church, not much time spent on studying. Isn't it better to be with believers? That is where God is in the midst. Would you rather he be elsewhere doing things you may not even know? If you are really concerned, you may speak to his leaders.

Genesis 14:14
When Abraham heard Lot was held captive, he brought 318 trained servants to fight against the 4 kings who held Lot in captive. Guess what, God gave him victory.

Do you lie your way in life? Or cheat in life? Do you want to live a life of cheat or a life of righteous like Abraham? The mentality cannot be because God does not condemn you and so you go back to your old life.

Genesis 18:1-2
Verse 2: Abraham lifted his eyes and saw 3 men standing which Pastor believed it is Michael and Gabrielle (arch angels) together with God.

Side track: Have you seen those eyes of conscious people sparkling? Have you seen those whose eyes were hollow?
Conduct your actions with integrity. If you do right, you will never fear to be checked.
You're blessed with the blessings of Abraham but do not behave like Lot.

Side track: Why do you want to win 4D? Lottery? Jackpot? You believe that the money will bring you health, happiness, material needs. But truly this does not bring you any of those. Only God came to give you life and have it more abundantly! He surpasses all those dreams of lottery and gives you direct His gifts!

Genesis 19:1
Verse 1: 2 angels came to Sodom. God was not there. It is because Sodom was too evil and dirty.

Genesis 18:12-17
The 2 angels told Lot to leave Sodom right away because they will be destroying the place. Therefore, Lot went to tell his sons-in-law to pack up. But they thought Lot was joking.

Nugget of Truth Revealed:
*There is a revelation God revealed here. You need to start somewhere in your household to pray together with your children, or to partake on the holy communion as a family, because when the day comes when you tell them about God, they will look to you as if you are joking. By then, your words are weightless to them and they will not believe what you say to them.

Verse 15 & 16: The angels told Lot to hurry but he lingered to see his flock, etc. But the angels took him, his wife and his 2 daughters and brought him out to safety, because God was merciful to him. This is the real God, our Father!
Verse 17: The angel told Lot to escape to the mountains and not look back. The angel also mentioned he cannot do anything unless Lot is out. Judgement cannot be carried out when he is still there. Why is this so? Notice the place of refuge is above.

Genesis 19:26-30
Verse 26: Lot's wife became a pillar of salt because she looked back. This is like a typical example of a abusive relationship where one went through and after being out of it, it is forgotten and still mentioned that it is not so bad afterall. There is no point to look back at all.
Verse 28: Sodom went up in a smoke. This is an example of what will happen when we are raptured. We will then be in heaven looking down at the judgment to non-believers.
Verse 29: God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.
Verse 30: Lot's daughters dwelt in a cave. If you kept on reading, the bible stated that the daughters spoke to themselves saying there are no more men and so they will make their father Lot drunk so that they can sleep with him. Look over here, when you stay in sin and never get out of it, you lose your morality. When this happened, that was when Amonites and Moabites came about.

Be the king and priest in the house. Don't ever let the devil destroy your house. Have a standard in the house and say boldly to guard your children. In time to come, your children will look back and thank God for good parents.

Genesis 14:18-23
Verse 18: The King of Salem, Melchizedek came with bread and wine, believed to be a representation of God. You may flare up with anger, etc, but He brings you bread and wine to resist the temptations of Sodom.
Communion is not offered to anybody, it is offered to the abrahamic kind of faith people.
Verse 20: Same for tithing, it is only for those who has a revelation.
Verse 23: Abraham said he will take nothing from the king of Sodom lest he says he has made him rich. Having said that is an indication of him knowing he will be made very rich by God. This is all because God is the possession of all the earth. Know that and see how blessed you can be.

You have to be aware of God's power in your life. You have to experience it and not by hearing from others.

In closing,

What kind of righteous man do you want to be.
Abraham went by faith where Lot went by sight. It is the root of unbelief in Lot. Look at the story of Adam and Eve. The devil came to them to make them doubt God's love for them by pointing them to the only tree not to be eaten. And because of their unbelief that covered tier eyes, it robbed them of their glory.
There will be times where there are unbelief, know constantly God's love and His goodness. Be like David in Psalm 23:6, Surely goodness will follow me all the days of my life. Not maybe! Not probably! Follow - "radaf" means pursue, hunt down! Goodness and mercy will hunt you down!!