19 August 2012

Topic: Righteousness Through One Man's Sacrifice

Powerful video testimony of how a lady whose husband's was healed of 4th stage cancer, blessed with a new home and a new car. She shared about sowing to the Miracle Seed Sunday even during tough times financially - medical treatments for her husband.

Pastor pointed out that there is this very special anointing in church since morning. God who is the first and the last, the One who placed you in Him, there is no predecessor, the One who calmed the storms, the One who was in the burning bush, how much more would He not freely give you all things.
He's in heaven bodily and one day He will ride on His white horse with many crowns and many who reject Him will see him in awe. Revelation 10 says His face shone like a sun and a rainbow around His head - means no more condemnation. John saw these in Him in the book of Revelation. Pastor showed a photograph of a sun surrounded with a rainbow seen all over Singapore yesterday.

The opportunity and privilege to be able to give to Him through Miracle Seed Sunday is better than being a spectator to others who become blessed. This is the power to get wealth. Many people who are in power do not have the smarts. The bible did not say money is the root of all evil. The love for money is. Make money work for you and not the other way round. He can get the blessing through you and get the blessing to you.

Right into the word..

Don't put your eyes on pastors, keep your eyes to Jesus. Don't look to others even though they are looking at Jesus. Look to Jesus yourself and experience His goodness yourself.

Romans 6:9-13
Verse 9: Death has no dominion over Him. He died in our place. God being just has to punish lawlessness. God is love, He does not want you to bear the brunt of His anger. So He sent His son.
Think about it this way. God sent down His son to die for "criminals" and to those who rejected Him. God sent down His wrath and Jesus absorbed all the judgement. There came the rainbow that so that today we can receive His blessings. It's a divine exchange!
Verse 10 & 11: "Likewise" means "in the same manner". Jesus died once and for all. In the same way, reckon yourself to be dead in sin. "Died" means to die. Not to die again. Knowing that there is no condemnation, it empowers one to go and sin no more. However many believe that once believers know this truth, they will go sin somemore. The erroneous idea people like to put others under guilt, insecurity and condemnation is totally warped.
In 1938, the Golden Gate in San Francisco was built. If you learnt about how it was built, you would know why sense of security brings forth postive results. During Phase 1, 23 fell to their deaths. Initially the management wanted to put a stop to the construction work. Instead, they built a very large safety net, costing US$100,00 which was a significant figure back then. After that, only 10 people fell but were saved by the net. It was later known that after the net was built, the construction took 10-15% faster to complete. What does it show? The sense of security gives people a greater awareness of knowing they are safe, leading them to perform better and above expectations. So what is this idea of preachers who preach a message of condemnation?
Verse 12: "Therefore" means to read further to find out why. Do not let sin reign in your body. Know this truth and it will set you free.
Verse 13: Notice holiness comes right after the correct doctrine and truth. Our sins were already punished once and for all. So that now our sins can never be punished twice again. For once, the law is on our side.

Beautiful truth revealed: "God judges you righteous because of what Jesus has done for you."

Romans 6:14-18
Verse 14: Sin does not have power over you when you are not under law. Under law, sin has power. Under grace, sin loses its power.
Verse 15: Paul says so shall we sin under grace? Thes are the typical preachers and believers who come hard on grace. The more attracted to God makes you more attracted to grace. God designed the law to stir up your sinful passions. The idea is not to try. But to trust.
Verse 16: Many interprete this wrongly to say, "Don't sin or you will die". Paul is referring to the "slave whom you obey". Paul is saying we cannot be righteous through our works. It is His obedience, not ours. We have 2 choices: "Sin leading to death" and "obedience leading to righteousness".
Lets go to Romans 5:17-19:
Verse 17: Death was never God's plan. Jesus hated it as much as you do. Death came through one man's sin - Adam. Adam is like the federal head. Whatever happens to him goes down generations. It may sound unfair but this is literally how it works. By one man's sin we become sinners. Every baby born in this world is born with a taint of sin in the blood. Actually it's not unfair, it is a fact. This is not religion. This is a reality. Whatever Adam did, but what Jesus did is much more. "... much more those who receive abundance of grace.." we reign in life. God's system is the more you receive, the more you reign in life.
Verse 18: If you believe much more in the word, prosperity, healing and protection becomes much more natural in the flesh. Death has no more stint in the believer. Pastor believes that before the plane even crashes, Jesus already took the believer away and he is in a deep sleep. The believer does not even have to go through the impact.
So by one man's obedience, many are made righteous. Earlier you were saying it's unfair to be made sinners. But now you are made unfairly righteous! God blesses you better than the hottest thing on planet earth. This is not any statement in Destined to Reign book. This is bible quoting bible.

Now we go back to Romans 6:16.
Verse 16: Many interpret this just as if you sin and you die. Many negate Romans 5 (the earlier verse). God wants you to be a skywalker. Are you living your life under Adam or under Christ? When you wake up every morning, do you submit to negative thoughts or the obedience of Christ? Our obedience can go up and down in a day. If you always obey your own obedience, you are always caught in the losing end. For example, you walk in to office and your colleague tells you he is diagnosed with a sickness. He asks you to pray for him. But earlier you showed your temper, honked at others. Do you notice that when you feel like you have not "obeyed", such prayers does not work? Straight away when you pray, know that it is His obedience that healing flows, not yours.

Pastor blurts out: "You cannot undo your righteousness. Otherwise it means sin is greater than His righteousness."

Do you have more faith in sin or His righteousness each day you wake up? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Because Jesus is forever in heaven, it means your righteousness is forever.

Verse 17: Obeying the good doctrine. Once you believe the gospel, you will be freed from sin. The gospel is an imprint. You now are printed with His righteousness.
Verse 18: Having being set free from sin (noun), you become slaves of righteousness (noun). Even if you do wrong, God still sees you righteous. Jesus did the prison break for you. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful.
In the book of Proverbs, the seed of the righteous will be delivered.
Notice all these comes right after believing right.

Pastors shares something in his heart:
Marilyn Hickey once said she saw a beautiful Singapore years ago. She asked one thing which contributed to the beauty of Singapore. Pastor replied "Honour". We were taught to repect everyone since young. Greet everyone, saying "please" for each request and to repect the government. But now, dishonour is something that is becoming prevalent today. Social media is just a tool. Pastor is not saying you cannot disagree with the government's view. Disagree with honour.
Look at Romans 13:1. Israel were under the authority of Romans back then. In those days, people were crucified publicly for mistakes did. Whatever is it, our government is not Romans-alike. Because David honoured the anointing, he became anointed himself. The anointing is on the office, so honour that office. We should learnt to respect that honour as we dignify ourselves too.
But Pastor, "I honour my husband but he does silly things!". When you are humble, God raises you up. When God talks to your husband, it will surely get through.

Esther submitted to Haggai who was a very gentle man. Then, she found favour in the king. You think you lose out when you submit. But truth is when you submit, you find favour in your husband.

Romans 16:25-26
Verse 26: God has not manifested the gospel for obedience to the faith. This is the new obedience.

In closing,
Galatians 2:11-16
James is a believer. When James brought the people down, Paul saw the hypocrisy- pretending to be what you are. Stop pretending to be a sinner.
Verse 14: We walk uprightly by believing the truth. Believe what God says, the gospel.

Pastor shares about One-North. The Star won 4 consecutive awards and the designer is an Israeli.
The cities of refuge in Israel is scattered in 4 areas, North, South, East and West. It is for those who commit crimes to run there so that the law cannot catch them. The refuge is headed by priests. It is 6 cities and mentioned in sequence. Each refuge is a picture of a local church. The sequence is Kedesh, Shedem, Hebron, Bezer Ramoth and Golan. Back then, Pastor joined the cities with lines in appearance on the map only to be astounded with what he saw. Exactly the side view of the Star! This is the upper room where God gives. When the holy spirit fell, it is in the upper room. God is showing that us that the Star is a symbolism of the cities of refuge. It is amazing that God leaves His fingerprints in the Star.
Pastor prepares for Miracle Seed Sunday and worship is lined up next.