Topic: Forgiven Once and For All
Today marks the last live service in the Rock auditorium. Video showcasing how the church has grown from year 1999 to 2012. It was a touching moment.
Pastor highlighted the defining moment in 2003 where SARS broke out. One of the Sundays in year 2002, the Lord arrested Pastor to have him preach on Psalm 91 for God's complete protection.
In year 2000, during one of the midweek services, the chimes started playing by itself. That happened after Pastor preached the verse from Acts 13:35.
Jessica was born in 1998 and we moved in to Rock. This year Justin was born and we are moving in to the Star.
Jesus revealed to Pastor yesterday that He is bringing us from the earthly realm - The Rock to the heavenly places - The Star.
Matthew 1:1-16
Why are there 4 gospels? It takes 4 gospels to reveal Jesus to us in many ways.
Matthew gospel portrays Jesus as King of Israel. It's primarily for the Jews.
Luke gospel portrays Jesus as fully man.
Mark gospel portrays Jesus as the tireless labourer. It's all about Jesus working. Even the last verse tells us that.
John gospel has no genealogy. The gospel portrays Jesus as God. It talks about Jesus becoming flesh for us.
The very first name in the first and last verse in the bible is Jesus.
In Matthew,
Verse 1-15: Talks about all the genealogy.
Verse 16: It did not say "Joseph begot Jesus". It says "of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ". Here is the kingly title. Christ here is the anointed one.
Verse 17: "So all the generations...". Notice we have 3 sets of 14 generations written in this verse. It has significance and is the link to heaven. Notice the first set has "all", but from the rest, you don't find the word "all". During the Abraham generation, all names are mentioned. For David generation, some names are purposely left out. Those left out are those people who were cursed. They were the evil kings.What does this show? The scripture is so accurate.
This genealogy is an archive of names of the kingly line.
Israel was called upon because they were few in numbers, not because they were great in numbers. We magnify God's grace through Israel.
In A.D 70, all archive records were all destroyed in a fire. But today, the records are found in the world's best selling book - the bible.
Matthews line goes all the way to Joseph. Luke goes all the way to Mary. Both converge to King David. King David's other son brought forth Mary. King Solomon's son brought forth Joseph. So now, God has 2 lines in the genealogy. Pastor shares that tax collectors in the bible were worst than prostitutes; they were the greatest sinners. Despite that, God chose Matthew who was a tax collector to start the New Testament. Look at Matthew 9:9-12 for the story of Matthew.
Matthew 9:9-12
Grace is what God is to you. Law is what you are to God. When you are eye conscious, you are reasoning earthly works.
Law is what you are to God. Grace is what God is towards you.
He has revealed Himself as a saviour.
When God brought Israel out, it was what God is to Israel. As long as they depended on Him, even though they murmured, time and time again, God still showed grace to them. They were not under law at that time yet. It is a question of what you want to be before God. Back then, Israel wanted to score points based on their own efforts. That was when the law was introduced.
Jesus stepped into Matthew's life, knowing so well who he is. Matthew just followed Him. This reasoning is how to be under grace. If he reasoned and questioned his own self, he will not be under grace.
Peter's response to God was to ask Him to depart away from him because he felt he was a sinful man. That was Peter's reasoning.
Verse 10: Jesus sat down with many tax collectors. This Jesus called the greatest sinner. If we preach the gospel of grace, sinners will come to Him. If we preach religion, people will be focused on their own efforts.
Verse 11: The Pharisees spoke indirectly and questioned Jesus when they saw Him sitting with the sinners.
Verse 12: What Jesus is saying, your diseases qualify you for healing.
Back to 3 sets of 14, they all add up to 42. Each number has a significance. It represents "rest after trial".
The people who wandered in the wilderness, do you know how many stations they stopped by to rest? 42.
In the book of Revelation, 42 months (3.5 months) were the duration of the great tribulation.
Matthew 1:16
Verse 16: Sinful life is in the blood according to Leviticus. Jesus cannot receive sinful blood. So that's why Joseph was the husband of Mary and not involved in this verse. Woman's ovum cannot produce a baby. Only when the sperm meets, a foetus is formed. The woman's placenta does not bring the blood to the baby. It only brings all the good nutrients to the baby. All the baby's waste are transferred back. In other words, Mary was a virgin. All the blood of Jesus came from God who later on will be the sacrifice for all mankind.
Matthew 10:2-4
Verse 3: Notice how Matthew introduced himself. He called himself "Matthew the tax collector". He is not ashamed to show his past to everyone. He loves to glorify Jesus. If we have a testimony of our past, we should magnify God and never be afraid to do so.
1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, Jesus forgives us. If you say this verse is for the sinners, then there is a problem. Pastor comes against this verse and reiterates that this is a salvation verse for non-believers. If we believers have to do so by confessing our sins, we will never be in rest. Matthew can be open with his sins because he knows he is already forgiven.
People tend to fight back whenever others point out their weaknesses. They don't understand grace. Actually when they point out to you, they just want you to know. They still love you. People just don't have this assurance. Our defensiveness shows our lack of understanding of grace. Honestly, your friends still love you despite your weakness.
Supposedly you are a businessman and you are in serious big debt. You let your accountant see and handle your bookkeeping but you dare not see the debt yourself. One day, your old school friend found you and now he is a billionaire. He tells your accountant to hand him the bookkeeping book and pays off your debt, in return deposits 5 million to your bank account. Now your ledger is cleared and if you were to look at the ledger for the first time, you will see how much your debt has been cleared. You finally realise the truth and it makes you even more grateful to your saviour isn't it.
Pastor shares that he is not perfect. He shares that he was with Jessica on the road and suddenly someone cuts in his lane. You can say "Pastor, how come all your examples are related to cars?" He reveals that this is because this is something he gets rather easily agitated. At that moment, he actually wanted to give chase til he was reminded he was already forgiven.
Many of times we like to point to other's fault. We hardly apologise and acknowledge our own fault because we are afraid to look at the "ledger". If you are not sure you are forgiven, you always feel you have a right to be angry. It's wonderful to know you are forgiven.
Pastor feels that Matthew must have had tears in his eyes when he wrote the genealogy. Why? It is because he did not mention Sarah and Rebbecca. He mentioned only the other 4 women.
First, it was Ruth, who was a righteousness woman. The other 3 were involved in sexual scenes, Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba. In essence, Matthew was magnifying God's grace.
Pastor shares the story of Tamar to show what previous background she had. Refer to Genesis 38 for the story of Judah and Tamar.
Genesis 37:36 was the story of Joseph. The last we saw him was him being sold as a slave. Then the story ends here and went with the story of Judah. Why? Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. Many Israeli still wonder why this story is here right after the story of Joseph.
Genesis 38: 1
Judah mixed with non-Gentiles, Shuwa Back then, they mixed with the people who are known for wealth. Because of time, you can study this on your own.
Back to Matthew 1:1-6
Verse 5: Rahab was the prostitute. She wore the red robe which is a picture of trusting in the blood of Jesus. And Rahab was mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.
Verse 4: Nahshon was a hero and his son Salmon married Rahab.
Verse 5: Salmon married Rahab and brought forth Boaz. What Jesus says here is that He does not care about your past. Boaz is like a half breed isn't it. Half Gentile. Out of the 4 ladies, 2 are Gentiles and 2 are non-Gentiles.
Ruth placed her trust in God and went to Moab.
Verse 6: "... wife of Uriah." Why is it wife of Uriah here? It is to magnify God. God is saying to us He does not care about your past. It doesn't mean you have forfeited your blessings. God always places you in a better place as long as you put your trust in Him.
In closing,
Know that your sins are forgiven, you don't have to be defensive. You don't have to act like you didn't do it and be defensive all the time. If you do that, you are not a recipient of God's grace. We don't have to step into His presence because He first stepped into our presence. God didn't wait for man to invite Him. God cared and sent His son, knowing well His son will suffer for us. Jesus paid the price to give us heaven's best. There is a price; it's not free. He came knowing He will suffer.
Love has a degree of suffering involved. Jesus suffering began when He was born. He chose where to be born but yet He chose the manger. Mary didn't have domestic helper and He was born poor. The offering Mary brought was a pair of pigeons was an indication they were poor.
What a wonderful saviour we have. Even though He is high and lifted up, He knows to come to us to lift us up. He just says to us "Let me heal you. Let me be there for you. Allow me to love you".
Once you know you have been forgiven, you can look at your ledger and laugh about it. Trust Him and live life to the fullest. In Him, there is no condemnation.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
9 December 2012
Topic: The Secret to Prayers
Pastor is going to share today about praying before the trial happens. Jesus taught us in the bible and said, "Pray that you enter not into temptations and testings (referring to trials)".
It is possible not to walk into temptations. He tells us the best thing we can do is to pray to not enter into temptations.
Pastor leads us to pray a prayer of protecting us from temptations for the coming week, and from the evil one.
Pastor was reminded of the old sermon in 2004 titled "Just a groan will reach the throne" after Pastor Mark asked an interesting question. He asked how come Jesus allowed the children of Israel to be under the bondage even though they were under grace?
If the shadow of the lamb can heal everyone and not feeble, how much more we today have the substance of the broken body of Christ to be fully healed!
So back to the question of Pastor Mark. Before that, Pastor shares that the part within us that is fallen. That is the flesh but that is not you. The flesh makes you irritated or moody. But as much as a splinter is in your flesh, it does that make you a wood. When we believers fall asleep, we step out of our body and Jesus clothes us with the same just like how He rose up. The Lord is returning and we know the end is near. Jesus said the waves and seas will roar, great earthquakes will happen. When you see these happen, the end is near. We just need to lift our heads and Jesus is coming.
So back to that question. There is something mystical about the flesh that rules your heart. For example, people show a front that they can handle it with words like "so far so good". God always wants man to depend on Him. The greatest blessing you have is when you depend on God. The flesh says you can handle it. Many people with innocent intentions at first always end up listening to the flesh. You may think that it's fine to send the lady home. But who knows what happens 10 minutes later. Pastor says he has no self confidence at all. He only has Christ-confidence. One is the power of the spirit and the other is the power of the flesh. Which one do you want. There is always a strong anointing on you when you depend on God.
Joseph had favor with Pharaoh. He gave the the land of Goshen to him. In this land, there was light. You may not even know you are shining but the world sees the light in your land.
Exodus 2:23-25
Verse 23: God heard their groaning.
Verse 24: God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Jacob and Isaac.
Verse 25: God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them.
There is just something about the covenant. Man makes contracts because man don't trust each other. With a contract, no one can change their minds.
With God, He made covenant not for His sake. God makes a covenant so that you will have an assurance and know He will not change His mind forever. We are no more under the covenant of Sinai. We know that God will remember our sins no more because God in His holiness has remembered our sins on the cross. God has already imputed all our sins on Jesus. He took our place, used His blood to wash away all our sins. If there was one speck on sin on Jesus, He would not raise His son from the dead. What does it mean? Your sins have been washed away. Jesus gave us this grace. God meant He will not remember your sins to punish your children. We are under the covenant of grace. In the new covenant, He gives us all the unconditional conditions. We just have to believe. It's all based on Christ.
Back to Exodus 2, that groaning is not a groan to God. It was never in the bible that the children of Israel groaned to God. The people cried out, notice they cried out because of the bondage. They didn't cry out to God.
God says to forgive, if cannot forget, just forgive. Many of times the pain is gone when you forgive.
Fast forward the story:
When the children of Israel came out to river Jordan and to the promised land, Joshua was their new leader.
Joshua 24:14-15
Verse 14: Joshua told the people to serve the Lord. Notice here that they were all worshiping other Gods. Look here, even though they did that, God still remembered His covenant and acknowledged them! Just look at the heart of our God.
Verse 15: Joshua says for he and his house, he will serve the Lord.
Don't think for one moment that when someone criticizes you, God can make your past never to haunt you. He can even make people easy to forget what they criticized.
God is so good that even your cry, will cause Him to activate/execute His covenant for you.
God allows what man allows. It does not mean that it is God's will. If the pastor decides to teach on law and the people believes, God still allows. It is never God's will. But He will hold the pastor accountable. If you believe God allows disease to be on you to punish you, then disease comes. Just like the children of Israel who rejected God, He still allows.
Romans 8:26-27
Verse 26: "The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses". This weakness refers to physical too. Don't just take it as it is for the mind.
There is a purpose for Jesus going through the whipping and lashing by the roman soldiers. It is because where there are wounds, there is healing. Why did He do that. It is because by His strips, we are healed. Jesus says, if we do not discern His body, we become sick, weakly and die before our time. Likewise if we discern His body and know His body brings us healing, we become strong.
Joke:
Ladies, if you want to have a good argument, marry a lawyer. But if you want man to appreciate you when you get older, marry an archaeologist.
Back to Verse 26:
"Groaning" means stenagmos in greek which means "cannot be uttered" (love secrets). That word "groaning" means words that cannot be uttered in a language. Is the groaning of the children of Israel the same as stenagmos? If it was, then it is a perfect match. But no because the Old Testament is in Hebrews. Now refer to Acts next.
Acts 7:3
Verse 34: It says that "I heard that groaning (stenagmos) and have come down to deliver them".
In essence, it is referring to speaking/praying in tongues. So when you pray in tongues, you become worry free. You don't have to run to Pastor Henry or any pastors to ask them to pray for you. You just need to let loose and pray in tongues, Jesus will perfect your prayer.
Acts 2:1-4
Verse 4: It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues and the Spirit gave them utterance. This word "utterance" in greek means apophthheggomai - to speak out a language not in everyday life. All you need to do is to speak in tongues.
Back to Acts 2,
Verse 1: The Day of Pentecost came and it was 9 o'clock in the morning.
Acts 2:11
Verse 11: They heard them speaking in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
Under grace, no one talked about the law. If you talk about the good works of God, we just get happy. Forget our own doings, remember His doings.
Solomon's problem was his flesh. Everything was about what he did. Solomon says "I built this and that...". "I" shall never be the center of you life. The flesh revolves around the "I".
Whenever you pray in tongues, you are actually making intercessions of our behalf. Aren't you glad you may be praying for an urgent need which you are not even aware and yet able to concentrate on what you are doing presently? No wonder the devil is fighting so hard to take away this gift from God.
Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 14:18, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. He actually gathered all Corinthians and told them he spoke in tongues more than all of them added up in numbers.
He must have spoke in tongues in the morning, afternoon and nights. He must have prayed in tongues all day long.
John G. Lake says speaking of the tongues is the making of his ministry.
Acts 2:25-27
Verse 25: Peter is quoting Psalms. Sin is defined as forfeiting God's glory according to Romans 3:23. In Isaiah 43:7, God says He made you for His glory.
Verse 26: "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue is glad". Look to Psalms 16:8-9, it says my heart is glad, my glory rejoices.
Look in detail here, Peter says "my tongue was glad" while Psalms says "my glory rejoices". We have found the answer. The key is back in your tongue.
In closing,
Proud people will never pray in tongues. Man always wants God to prove to man. Man is subject to failure but yet we trust man.
God being perfect, how much more we can trust in Him with our worries and concern, for Him to bring us back home to safety.
Pastor is going to share today about praying before the trial happens. Jesus taught us in the bible and said, "Pray that you enter not into temptations and testings (referring to trials)".
It is possible not to walk into temptations. He tells us the best thing we can do is to pray to not enter into temptations.
Pastor leads us to pray a prayer of protecting us from temptations for the coming week, and from the evil one.
Pastor was reminded of the old sermon in 2004 titled "Just a groan will reach the throne" after Pastor Mark asked an interesting question. He asked how come Jesus allowed the children of Israel to be under the bondage even though they were under grace?
If the shadow of the lamb can heal everyone and not feeble, how much more we today have the substance of the broken body of Christ to be fully healed!
So back to the question of Pastor Mark. Before that, Pastor shares that the part within us that is fallen. That is the flesh but that is not you. The flesh makes you irritated or moody. But as much as a splinter is in your flesh, it does that make you a wood. When we believers fall asleep, we step out of our body and Jesus clothes us with the same just like how He rose up. The Lord is returning and we know the end is near. Jesus said the waves and seas will roar, great earthquakes will happen. When you see these happen, the end is near. We just need to lift our heads and Jesus is coming.
So back to that question. There is something mystical about the flesh that rules your heart. For example, people show a front that they can handle it with words like "so far so good". God always wants man to depend on Him. The greatest blessing you have is when you depend on God. The flesh says you can handle it. Many people with innocent intentions at first always end up listening to the flesh. You may think that it's fine to send the lady home. But who knows what happens 10 minutes later. Pastor says he has no self confidence at all. He only has Christ-confidence. One is the power of the spirit and the other is the power of the flesh. Which one do you want. There is always a strong anointing on you when you depend on God.
Joseph had favor with Pharaoh. He gave the the land of Goshen to him. In this land, there was light. You may not even know you are shining but the world sees the light in your land.
Exodus 2:23-25
Verse 23: God heard their groaning.
Verse 24: God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Jacob and Isaac.
Verse 25: God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them.
There is just something about the covenant. Man makes contracts because man don't trust each other. With a contract, no one can change their minds.
With God, He made covenant not for His sake. God makes a covenant so that you will have an assurance and know He will not change His mind forever. We are no more under the covenant of Sinai. We know that God will remember our sins no more because God in His holiness has remembered our sins on the cross. God has already imputed all our sins on Jesus. He took our place, used His blood to wash away all our sins. If there was one speck on sin on Jesus, He would not raise His son from the dead. What does it mean? Your sins have been washed away. Jesus gave us this grace. God meant He will not remember your sins to punish your children. We are under the covenant of grace. In the new covenant, He gives us all the unconditional conditions. We just have to believe. It's all based on Christ.
Back to Exodus 2, that groaning is not a groan to God. It was never in the bible that the children of Israel groaned to God. The people cried out, notice they cried out because of the bondage. They didn't cry out to God.
God says to forgive, if cannot forget, just forgive. Many of times the pain is gone when you forgive.
Fast forward the story:
When the children of Israel came out to river Jordan and to the promised land, Joshua was their new leader.
Joshua 24:14-15
Verse 14: Joshua told the people to serve the Lord. Notice here that they were all worshiping other Gods. Look here, even though they did that, God still remembered His covenant and acknowledged them! Just look at the heart of our God.
Verse 15: Joshua says for he and his house, he will serve the Lord.
Don't think for one moment that when someone criticizes you, God can make your past never to haunt you. He can even make people easy to forget what they criticized.
God is so good that even your cry, will cause Him to activate/execute His covenant for you.
God allows what man allows. It does not mean that it is God's will. If the pastor decides to teach on law and the people believes, God still allows. It is never God's will. But He will hold the pastor accountable. If you believe God allows disease to be on you to punish you, then disease comes. Just like the children of Israel who rejected God, He still allows.
Romans 8:26-27
Verse 26: "The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses". This weakness refers to physical too. Don't just take it as it is for the mind.
There is a purpose for Jesus going through the whipping and lashing by the roman soldiers. It is because where there are wounds, there is healing. Why did He do that. It is because by His strips, we are healed. Jesus says, if we do not discern His body, we become sick, weakly and die before our time. Likewise if we discern His body and know His body brings us healing, we become strong.
Joke:
Ladies, if you want to have a good argument, marry a lawyer. But if you want man to appreciate you when you get older, marry an archaeologist.
Back to Verse 26:
"Groaning" means stenagmos in greek which means "cannot be uttered" (love secrets). That word "groaning" means words that cannot be uttered in a language. Is the groaning of the children of Israel the same as stenagmos? If it was, then it is a perfect match. But no because the Old Testament is in Hebrews. Now refer to Acts next.
Acts 7:3
Verse 34: It says that "I heard that groaning (stenagmos) and have come down to deliver them".
In essence, it is referring to speaking/praying in tongues. So when you pray in tongues, you become worry free. You don't have to run to Pastor Henry or any pastors to ask them to pray for you. You just need to let loose and pray in tongues, Jesus will perfect your prayer.
Acts 2:1-4
Verse 4: It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues and the Spirit gave them utterance. This word "utterance" in greek means apophthheggomai - to speak out a language not in everyday life. All you need to do is to speak in tongues.
Back to Acts 2,
Verse 1: The Day of Pentecost came and it was 9 o'clock in the morning.
Acts 2:11
Verse 11: They heard them speaking in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
Under grace, no one talked about the law. If you talk about the good works of God, we just get happy. Forget our own doings, remember His doings.
Solomon's problem was his flesh. Everything was about what he did. Solomon says "I built this and that...". "I" shall never be the center of you life. The flesh revolves around the "I".
Whenever you pray in tongues, you are actually making intercessions of our behalf. Aren't you glad you may be praying for an urgent need which you are not even aware and yet able to concentrate on what you are doing presently? No wonder the devil is fighting so hard to take away this gift from God.
Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 14:18, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. He actually gathered all Corinthians and told them he spoke in tongues more than all of them added up in numbers.
He must have spoke in tongues in the morning, afternoon and nights. He must have prayed in tongues all day long.
John G. Lake says speaking of the tongues is the making of his ministry.
Acts 2:25-27
Verse 25: Peter is quoting Psalms. Sin is defined as forfeiting God's glory according to Romans 3:23. In Isaiah 43:7, God says He made you for His glory.
Verse 26: "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue is glad". Look to Psalms 16:8-9, it says my heart is glad, my glory rejoices.
Look in detail here, Peter says "my tongue was glad" while Psalms says "my glory rejoices". We have found the answer. The key is back in your tongue.
In closing,
Proud people will never pray in tongues. Man always wants God to prove to man. Man is subject to failure but yet we trust man.
God being perfect, how much more we can trust in Him with our worries and concern, for Him to bring us back home to safety.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
2 December 2012
Topic: The Light of Christ In Your Life
A testimony of a woman of 44 years old who had her first menses. She recalled and thought that it was the prayer she made when she was in the elementary school not to have menses. However, the doubt was cleared after knowing God's will for mankind.
Pastor pointed out to the testimony saying that it is never God's will for mankind to suffer. It is the evil forces that took advantages of such.
John 1:1-12
Verse 1: So in the beginning there was the word. The word "trinity" is not in the bible. However, in the bible it showed the Father speaking, the Holy Spirit coming and the birth of Jesus.
Verse 3: All things were made by God. Scientists cannot understand why atoms are held together. We know in the word that Jesus holds everything about you. Disease is the manifestation of dis-ease. When Christ came, He held you together so that disease has no power over you. Jesus is the super glue in your marriage. If it is really problematic, give up and let God. Not referring to divorce here.
Verse 4: In Christ there is zoey life. Jesus revealed to Pastor a pyramid during his younger days. The top layer was vegetable life; the lowest form of life. Food does die, you understand that they do have a life. The next layer was insect life, followed by animal life and at the base, it was human life. When you are born again, you have eternal life. You do not rely on the other parts of the pyramid. Believers do not become an insect after they die. Man can never cease to exist. God breathe into man and so man never dies. Only the body turns to ashes and so there must be a place to store the spirit. Salvation is not progressive. It is instant and the effects are eternal. You are a spirit and it came from God. Your body is a house, not part of you. When a believer sleeps, he steps out of the body and he lives forever in heaven. He has a bodily body which can touch and feel Jesus. Those countries where the gospel has not come, they are still under the darkness. Look at Bach or Mozart. They all believe music is from God. That is why when you listen to their music, you become intelligent. If you need light in your business, Jesus can be your light. You can have knowledge but have no light. One who has the light, knows more than a theologian. The first time God spoke was when He brought forth light. In greek, His name (Yah) was the first character He spoke as He called forth light. That is not referring to His son as Jesus was mentioned in the fourth day. The bible calls our bible the glorious gospel. The devil has blinded the minds of people from the glorious light of the gospel. For example, you can think that by smoking, you can still live long. Somewhere along the way, you can have that belief. When you belief that, the devil has blinded you from the glorious truth. The bible defines God as love and light in 1 John.
Pastor shares a story of Jesus which is not recorded in the bible. You may choose to take it or throw it away. We call it biblical truths.
Jesus walked past a well and saw a dog in it. The people around the well spoke nothing good about the dog and when they saw Jesus, they all kept quiet to see how Jesus would react. Jesus looked at the dog and spoke, "Pearls are not as white as the teeth of the dog". Our God only sees our good.
When one is in darkness, he would not want to be in the light because they think it's too painful. They do not want the light to expose their uglyness. No, Jesus see your perfection in Jesus. God does not judge you by looking at you. As He is, so are you in this world.
Pastor joked that that was just the introduction to today's sermon.
Exodus 10:22-23 (Story of the plague of darkness)
Verse 22: This darkness here is not referring to natural darkness. It is judicial darkness. If it was natural darkness, the Egyptians would have used candles or lamps to light up and avail themselves of it. It was a punishment from God.
Verse 23: If the darkness is not natural, then this light this verse is talking about has to be supernatural light.
Some of you may have a dark belief. Let the light shine into your belief. You don't curse darkness like no tomorrow. Follow God's system. How? Turn on the light!
Back to John 1:1-12
Verse 6: There is a ministry called John in the second coming. John was not the light. The light that came gave men inspirations, life, ideas and prosperity. If people comes to you and ask if you believe in prosperity, say yes. Even the government believes in that. Prosperity is a servant, it is not being materialistic. Prosperity is a danger when it becomes a master. Ask God to give you light in every situation. Some people says they see it when others talk. What does it mean? It means they understood. Keep coming to church to see God's truth. God's light shines into your belief each time you come to Him.
In ancient Israel, there are 3 kinds of light:
In the Tabernacle: Our lives surround the church. In the bible, it says that each tribe faced the tabernacle. In the natural, it looked like a dangerous position isn't it. That's man's logic. But God says He will take care of your back. Each flag/banner represented different tribes. As long as they all faced and lifted up Jesus, Jesus takes care of their back.
Pastor shows a video: First, in the open, the tribes then followed by the priests killing the lambs (to cover their sins). The light outside here is sunlight- natural light. Next, the video continued to go into the tabernacle. In there there are candlesticks - referring to the 7 churches in Revelation. Each one signifies a local church. The light inside here is the light of the church.
Read Leviticus 24:1-3
Verse 3: Aaron is a picture of Jesus Christ, who takes care of the candlesticks. When your light goes out, Jesus does not say to you that your light is not as bright as Pastor Henry's or will He ever reject you. In ancient days, it is the priest who tends the candlesticks. He will pull up the wick to stop it from burning out. (Usually the light starts to go out the moment it starts to submerge into the oil) Jesus will not crush a bruised wick. When you have lost your song and lost your song of tune, He will not throw you away. He has a strong and big army for you to rely on. He comes and sit beside you and walks with you. He will walk with you through the darkest valley. Aren't you glad the church is the light. Your part is to declare, preach and share the light. He will explain for you on your behalf.
Many of times, you will only understand only after you accept Christ. Don't be like the world who says you need to understand first. Just like there are many who do not understand how the air-con works but yet they enjoy and utilise the capabilities of the air-con.
Jesus said in Ephesians 2.
Look to Revelation 2:1-2.
Verse 1: Angels refer to messenger. It can be representative, not necessarily a reference to God's angels. Whatever doctrine that comes in to the church, the Pastor is responsible. Jesus will only remove the candlestick if the doctrine is harmful. The seven stars represent the seven pastors. A beautiful revelation here of Jesus holding them.
Verse 2: Whenever the church meets, Jesus is there. He is never outside. Works, labour and patience is mentioned by Jesus to the pastors. Works in the natural are activities done by the church. Refer to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 to look at how works of faith, labour of hope and patience of love mentioned.
Back to Revelations 2:2, the Ephesus church lost the 3 fruits, faith, hope and love.
To lead a successful life, you need to have faith, hope and love. It makes people want to surround you. Make sure your endurance is of expectation of good.
Numbers 8:1-3
Verse 1: Aaron is the high priest. Jesus takes care of the candles during the darkest hour. What does it mean, when you are in your darkest hour, Jesus lifts you up. He will not quench your smoking flags. When the candle starts to smoke, it means it is about to burn out. He takes you and removes the burnt parts in your darkest times. For the candle stand, the lights must all point to the center light. It means to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus is the center stick. If you want to have a successful marriage, put Jesus in the center. Don't put your husband in the center because he does not make a good god. Don't let your happiness be in the mere mortal who breathes through his nostrils. Never let a new addition like your baby be the center of your life.
Acts 3:11-13
Verse 11: A man who was lame in the womb healed.
Verse 12: Peter asked why looked at us in awe or marvelled at us when the man was healed?
Verse 13: Peter pointed to God being the healer. What he was doing was to point to the center of the candle stand. Some of you come to church to find out how to become rich or to drive a ferarri. That's shining the light on yourself. God does not care what tin with wheels you are driving on. He has chariots with fire in heaven.
1 Thessalonians 5:8
Verse 8: Why is it Christians these days are losing hope? Read on to know that you need to have hope. Bible hope is the confident expectation of good in your future. Salivation is health and wholeness in every area.
1 Timothy 1:12-14
Verse 14: Faith and love in Christ Jesus. Who wants faith and hope in Christ Jesus? In KJV, it shows faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. In other translation, it says faith and love which are (singular verb) in Christ Jesus. That "are" is a singular verb. So where do you find faith and love? In Christ Jesus. Talk to Him every morning and have an intimate relationship with Him.
Pastor shares how his son knew where the portrait of Jesus is hung at home. Whenever Pastor asks where is Jesus, he will turn his head to the painting and make noises of "hmm hmm". In Matthew 21:16, it says "... Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" In essence, Jesus revealed that babes refers to infants who are still suckling (breast feeding) and they have their way of praising God.
In closing,
The keyboardist starts to play while Pastor asks the church to tell God,
Jesus, be the center stage of my marriage, career and my life. I promise to give back all praises to you who is the source of my blessings in time to come.
You may say Pastor, my marriage is fine. It is not fine because it is built under man's efforts.
Praise and worship continues...
A testimony of a woman of 44 years old who had her first menses. She recalled and thought that it was the prayer she made when she was in the elementary school not to have menses. However, the doubt was cleared after knowing God's will for mankind.
Pastor pointed out to the testimony saying that it is never God's will for mankind to suffer. It is the evil forces that took advantages of such.
John 1:1-12
Verse 1: So in the beginning there was the word. The word "trinity" is not in the bible. However, in the bible it showed the Father speaking, the Holy Spirit coming and the birth of Jesus.
Verse 3: All things were made by God. Scientists cannot understand why atoms are held together. We know in the word that Jesus holds everything about you. Disease is the manifestation of dis-ease. When Christ came, He held you together so that disease has no power over you. Jesus is the super glue in your marriage. If it is really problematic, give up and let God. Not referring to divorce here.
Verse 4: In Christ there is zoey life. Jesus revealed to Pastor a pyramid during his younger days. The top layer was vegetable life; the lowest form of life. Food does die, you understand that they do have a life. The next layer was insect life, followed by animal life and at the base, it was human life. When you are born again, you have eternal life. You do not rely on the other parts of the pyramid. Believers do not become an insect after they die. Man can never cease to exist. God breathe into man and so man never dies. Only the body turns to ashes and so there must be a place to store the spirit. Salvation is not progressive. It is instant and the effects are eternal. You are a spirit and it came from God. Your body is a house, not part of you. When a believer sleeps, he steps out of the body and he lives forever in heaven. He has a bodily body which can touch and feel Jesus. Those countries where the gospel has not come, they are still under the darkness. Look at Bach or Mozart. They all believe music is from God. That is why when you listen to their music, you become intelligent. If you need light in your business, Jesus can be your light. You can have knowledge but have no light. One who has the light, knows more than a theologian. The first time God spoke was when He brought forth light. In greek, His name (Yah) was the first character He spoke as He called forth light. That is not referring to His son as Jesus was mentioned in the fourth day. The bible calls our bible the glorious gospel. The devil has blinded the minds of people from the glorious light of the gospel. For example, you can think that by smoking, you can still live long. Somewhere along the way, you can have that belief. When you belief that, the devil has blinded you from the glorious truth. The bible defines God as love and light in 1 John.
Pastor shares a story of Jesus which is not recorded in the bible. You may choose to take it or throw it away. We call it biblical truths.
Jesus walked past a well and saw a dog in it. The people around the well spoke nothing good about the dog and when they saw Jesus, they all kept quiet to see how Jesus would react. Jesus looked at the dog and spoke, "Pearls are not as white as the teeth of the dog". Our God only sees our good.
When one is in darkness, he would not want to be in the light because they think it's too painful. They do not want the light to expose their uglyness. No, Jesus see your perfection in Jesus. God does not judge you by looking at you. As He is, so are you in this world.
Pastor joked that that was just the introduction to today's sermon.
Exodus 10:22-23 (Story of the plague of darkness)
Verse 22: This darkness here is not referring to natural darkness. It is judicial darkness. If it was natural darkness, the Egyptians would have used candles or lamps to light up and avail themselves of it. It was a punishment from God.
Verse 23: If the darkness is not natural, then this light this verse is talking about has to be supernatural light.
Some of you may have a dark belief. Let the light shine into your belief. You don't curse darkness like no tomorrow. Follow God's system. How? Turn on the light!
Back to John 1:1-12
Verse 6: There is a ministry called John in the second coming. John was not the light. The light that came gave men inspirations, life, ideas and prosperity. If people comes to you and ask if you believe in prosperity, say yes. Even the government believes in that. Prosperity is a servant, it is not being materialistic. Prosperity is a danger when it becomes a master. Ask God to give you light in every situation. Some people says they see it when others talk. What does it mean? It means they understood. Keep coming to church to see God's truth. God's light shines into your belief each time you come to Him.
In ancient Israel, there are 3 kinds of light:
In the Tabernacle: Our lives surround the church. In the bible, it says that each tribe faced the tabernacle. In the natural, it looked like a dangerous position isn't it. That's man's logic. But God says He will take care of your back. Each flag/banner represented different tribes. As long as they all faced and lifted up Jesus, Jesus takes care of their back.
Pastor shows a video: First, in the open, the tribes then followed by the priests killing the lambs (to cover their sins). The light outside here is sunlight- natural light. Next, the video continued to go into the tabernacle. In there there are candlesticks - referring to the 7 churches in Revelation. Each one signifies a local church. The light inside here is the light of the church.
Read Leviticus 24:1-3
Verse 3: Aaron is a picture of Jesus Christ, who takes care of the candlesticks. When your light goes out, Jesus does not say to you that your light is not as bright as Pastor Henry's or will He ever reject you. In ancient days, it is the priest who tends the candlesticks. He will pull up the wick to stop it from burning out. (Usually the light starts to go out the moment it starts to submerge into the oil) Jesus will not crush a bruised wick. When you have lost your song and lost your song of tune, He will not throw you away. He has a strong and big army for you to rely on. He comes and sit beside you and walks with you. He will walk with you through the darkest valley. Aren't you glad the church is the light. Your part is to declare, preach and share the light. He will explain for you on your behalf.
Many of times, you will only understand only after you accept Christ. Don't be like the world who says you need to understand first. Just like there are many who do not understand how the air-con works but yet they enjoy and utilise the capabilities of the air-con.
Jesus said in Ephesians 2.
Look to Revelation 2:1-2.
Verse 1: Angels refer to messenger. It can be representative, not necessarily a reference to God's angels. Whatever doctrine that comes in to the church, the Pastor is responsible. Jesus will only remove the candlestick if the doctrine is harmful. The seven stars represent the seven pastors. A beautiful revelation here of Jesus holding them.
Verse 2: Whenever the church meets, Jesus is there. He is never outside. Works, labour and patience is mentioned by Jesus to the pastors. Works in the natural are activities done by the church. Refer to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 to look at how works of faith, labour of hope and patience of love mentioned.
Back to Revelations 2:2, the Ephesus church lost the 3 fruits, faith, hope and love.
To lead a successful life, you need to have faith, hope and love. It makes people want to surround you. Make sure your endurance is of expectation of good.
Numbers 8:1-3
Verse 1: Aaron is the high priest. Jesus takes care of the candles during the darkest hour. What does it mean, when you are in your darkest hour, Jesus lifts you up. He will not quench your smoking flags. When the candle starts to smoke, it means it is about to burn out. He takes you and removes the burnt parts in your darkest times. For the candle stand, the lights must all point to the center light. It means to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus is the center stick. If you want to have a successful marriage, put Jesus in the center. Don't put your husband in the center because he does not make a good god. Don't let your happiness be in the mere mortal who breathes through his nostrils. Never let a new addition like your baby be the center of your life.
Acts 3:11-13
Verse 11: A man who was lame in the womb healed.
Verse 12: Peter asked why looked at us in awe or marvelled at us when the man was healed?
Verse 13: Peter pointed to God being the healer. What he was doing was to point to the center of the candle stand. Some of you come to church to find out how to become rich or to drive a ferarri. That's shining the light on yourself. God does not care what tin with wheels you are driving on. He has chariots with fire in heaven.
1 Thessalonians 5:8
Verse 8: Why is it Christians these days are losing hope? Read on to know that you need to have hope. Bible hope is the confident expectation of good in your future. Salivation is health and wholeness in every area.
1 Timothy 1:12-14
Verse 14: Faith and love in Christ Jesus. Who wants faith and hope in Christ Jesus? In KJV, it shows faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. In other translation, it says faith and love which are (singular verb) in Christ Jesus. That "are" is a singular verb. So where do you find faith and love? In Christ Jesus. Talk to Him every morning and have an intimate relationship with Him.
Pastor shares how his son knew where the portrait of Jesus is hung at home. Whenever Pastor asks where is Jesus, he will turn his head to the painting and make noises of "hmm hmm". In Matthew 21:16, it says "... Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" In essence, Jesus revealed that babes refers to infants who are still suckling (breast feeding) and they have their way of praising God.
In closing,
The keyboardist starts to play while Pastor asks the church to tell God,
Jesus, be the center stage of my marriage, career and my life. I promise to give back all praises to you who is the source of my blessings in time to come.
You may say Pastor, my marriage is fine. It is not fine because it is built under man's efforts.
Praise and worship continues...
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