Well, I have to say it is a privilege to see Matt and his wife live at the Star. They cracked up the audience and finally brought Pastor Prince onstage for what seemed like a live interview.
Took some awesome pics for your viewing pleasure.
Welcoming Matt and Laurie on stage for the first time in Singapore.
Pastor Prince coming up right away.
Here we go, all 3 on stage.
Special song item just before the service starts - I See Grace
Beating to the beat with the big drums.
Everyone comes on stage for an explosive praise and worship session.
Lord Of All My Days: (Video not available)
http://mp3skull.com/mp3/lord_of_all_my_days_new_creation_church.html
Topic: You Are Accepted in Christ Through His Obedience
It is the power (dunamis) of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God. Today we are not hearing the gospel of what Paul preached. This gospel gives you the wholeness, health and preservation. In this gospel, righteousness is revealed. Today we are hearing many different gospels. Whenever we preach righteousness by faith, many Christians agree but usually associate it with works.
In John 20, fear is sin. When the disciples cried out due to fear of the howling winds when out in the sea, Jesus appeared in their presence to give them peace.
All of Jesus' disciples have real problems. Matthew is a tax collector and back in those days, they were labelled as outcasts. Yet Jesus said, "Follow Me" to Matthew. Jesus has come to be with you forever. If you have challenges in your life, He will be with you and He never forsakes you.
Romans 16:25-26
Verse 25 & 26: God commanded for the revelation of the mystery kept secret to be manifested today. The result is for obedience to the faith. Under law, obedience is the root for all blessings. Under grace, God blesses you first and obedience becomes the fruits. It is never giving people the license to sin.
You are not righteous by your own obedience. You are righteous through His obedience. The righteous shall live by faith and right believing. When you believe the true gospel, you will have the right results.
Romans 5:19
Verse 19: It is through Adam's disobedience that many were made sinners. But it is through one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. Pastor jokes that in heaven, Adam's mansion is in a far away place and well protected since he was the one who introduced sin. Well, that's just a joke and there is no hatred in heaven.
When the Samaritan woman offer Jesus a drink, Jesus told the woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water". Jesus then slowly revealed the woman's sins tenderly. He exposed her sins so that she would then know how much she is loved. When a person keeps a part of himself (secret/dark side) from someone, he will not feel loved.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Verse 5: The obedience of Christ. The devil wants you to take your mind off from the obedience of God to point you to your own obedience.
When you partake His body, you need to discern His body and not partake it unworthily. This context is referring to your action. The bible did not mean that unworthy people cannot partake of His body. The context in this verse is referring to the action.
Do not receive negative thoughts or take responsibility for it. It can come from your thoughts or from your flesh. The flesh is crucified but the lifestyle of it still remains. If you accept such thoughts, everything will go down in a spiral. The highest form of resistance is to ignore the devil.
Pastor shared how he tried very much to confess every of his sins in his younger days. Until one day, God revealed to him that it is through His grace and obedience and not depending on his own efforts.
The bible says we are of sweet fragrance to Him.
When Pastor was delivered the wrong belief, he curiously asked God if there were anyone in church history who went through the same. He then came across a book by John Bunyan which talks about his struggles throughout his walk with God in his autobiography. He also talked about all his comfort taken away from him. At that time, Pastor appreciated the fact that he was not alone in this spiritual warfare.
1 John 4:17
Verse 17: ".. because As He is, so are we in this world." Remind yourself that as He is crowned with goodness and seated beside God, so are we in this world. As He is healthy, so are we in this world. The more we behold His name, the more we see His goodness.
The way to have more grace in this life is to know more of God, revealed in 2 Peter 1:2. It is through seeing Jesus more and also every pastor has the responsibility to reveal the beauty of Jesus to the people. The more they behold the glory, the holy spirit transforms them more and more.
When you take your eyes away from Christ, everything became natural. When Peter looked away from Jesus, he started to sink into the water. When he locked his eyes on Him, he was able to walk on water. The holy spirit does the work when you keep your eyes on Jesus.
As the high priest goes, so does the nation goes. The high priest is appointed by God for the people. He goes into the hollies of hollies and if he comes out alive, the people can look forward to a great year. It is not how good the nation is, it is based on how good the priest is.
Pastor welcomes the high priest - Deacon Matthews on stage.
The names of Israel are engraved on the precious stones and carried on the breast of the high priest. This is a representation of His love. He has you in His heart.
Shoulder represents strength. When Jesus found the lost sheep, He puts it on His shoulders. Notice you don't have to carry yourself, you just have to rest on His shoulders. The sheep did not have to do anything. The sheep repented by allowing itself to be carried.
The moment you are born in this world, your name is already on His heart. But if the people of the world rejects Christ at the end of their life, their names are then removed. God does not remove the names of His children.
But why precious stones? God wants you to know that you are unique in your own beauty and He sees us in our beauty. The Lord loves us all individually. You are not just a face in the crowd.
When you come to God, you are presented to God (who is light) and the precious stones reflect the beauty of you. Don't be afraid of the light. It just shows how perfect His blood that cleansed you.
Exodus 28:36-38
Verse 38: Aaron is a high priest. The words on the forehead are Jesus' thoughts. God accepts you not based on your thoughts. God accepts you based on Jesus' thoughts. God is not rejecting you because of your thoughts. As He is, so are we in this world.
Some of you are worried about tomorrow. Stress came in when sin first came in. Sweat is a picture of stress and self efforts.
Luke 22:44
Verse 44: Sweat became great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Because of the redeeming blood of Jesus, He has redeemed us from sweat and stress. As the blood fell to the ground, everywhere you go, you will experience the favour of God.
In closing,
Back to Exodus 28:38, the high priest bears the iniquity of the holy things. Even holy things has iniquity but the high priest take cares of them. As long as the high priest has good thoughts, you are accepted in Him.
Accepted - ratzon which means favour.
His favour is like dew on the grass. The word "favour" in this verse is also ratzon.
When we think of God's love, we are overwhelmed. Wherever we turn Jesus, we see only beauty and His excellencies. When He is kind, He is not soft. There's a hero above all pop singers. Jesus tops it all.
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