4 January 2015 - Vision Sunday 2015

Today is the most highly anticipated service of all time. The crowd was overwhelming. If you managed to book seats to the Star, well done bro/sis. The seats were all snapped up in 10 mins when NOAH was opened for bookings! I happened to be the unfortunate one who failed to book a seat. Nevertheless, I still went ahead to the Star without any seats.

My jaws dropped when I was there. The crowd was amazing, the queue was even better. I joined the queue only to be directed to the amphitheater. So depressed when that happened.

But thank God, I managed to get in to the auditorium with the help of... That's another story altogether. Share with you in person if you're interested? hehe. 

God is good? All the time! And all the time? God is good! Familiar to some of you? :)

In the auditorium, all the seats were all taken up (totally expected). But it's kind of frustrating when you see members choping the seats and their faces tell you that they ain't going to give it up for you yo. Saying this reminds me of Pastor's favourite phrase, "bapised in tomyum soup" (referring to the faces). Ok, please don't get angry with me over this. Relax and enjoy the message alright! God bless! :D

Praise and Worship:
We sang some great songs today. Not only that, we had a song item where three guitarists came up to guitarise the atmosphere, accompanied with some great singing. It was too good. If you were there, I'm very sure you felt the same way.

- Grace Revolution

- Hearts On Fire (New song)

- Anthem Of Grace

- Amazing Grace

- Oh Lord You're Beautiful

- Jesus Be The Center

 - I Exalt Thee

Song item:

Whom shall I fear (played with electric guitars)

Our God is an awesome God (played with electric guitars)
(Singing)
In Christ alone, I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the Cross
In every victory, let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone

Topic: Vision Sunday 2015

God has clearly given us the theme for this year.
God always has a plan and a divine order. He has a specific message for the seven churches in Revelation. It's very specific to each church.

Which church you attend can literally mean life and death. We are supposed to be studying God's word. His word and will is one.

Psalm 91 is still valid today. If not, why are we singing songs from Psalm? It's all about divine protection in Psalm 91. God's protection comes in 30, 60, 100 fold. Keep believing. Don't blame God for not protecting your car from being scratched. Make sure the church you attend believes in God. God's order is to preach the word, faith comes so that you are able to receive His blessings.

Pastor joked that today's crowd is amazing, the same as every year. He joking asked if it is for luck that you are here today? The thing is, today's sermon can carry on for weeks. Today's sermon is not the end. To be fair, he will share the 2015 message in the weeks to come or services.

Last year this time, Pastor prophesied that there is a strain of virus coming. Today we know it is the Ebola virus. He also asked us to look at Israel. If you recall, Israel was so peaceful before Gazza saga came in.

One morning Pastor woke up, he saw the theme of the year. He saw the world boiling and a mayhem in the scenes. He saw hands of claws trying to squeeze Israel. A lot of things will happen this year. You might ask why because the world wants to destroy and remove Israel from the map.

Zechariah 12:3
Verse 3: There will be lots of opposition against Israel this year. This very heavy stone is planted by God. Those who heave it away will be cut into pieces. God will never allow the status of His nation to be changed. Remember to pray for this nation. The devil hated this nation because of Israel came Jesus.

God is getting ready to bless you with something greater in 2015. Just because we left the year of Greater Glory doesn't mean we move away from that. It is still increasing in the subsequent years and still goes on.

God is saying this this year:

The Year of His Restoration

God wants us blessed in every way. Because God is holy, He cannot ignore every drop of sin. But He sent His son for us. He cannot pass by sin but He can block it out. Folks, that's accurate preaching.

Today's God's justice is justified. There's no more condemnation and a favour that can never be broken. It is going to be a year of His restoration. Not man's restoration. When man restores a chair, it is no more the same as original. But when God restores, it is always greater in quality or quantity, or both. God will give you a quality relationship, seven times better.

First and foremost, He's going to restore to you the years the locust has eaten, etc in Joe 2:25.
The time you spent in sin is wasted years. If you return to Him, He will restore the years. When He says that, it means He will restore. It's like God is saying no one believes He can restore and that is why many are in bondage.

Isaiah 42:22
Verse 22: ".. no one says, " Restore!"" The reason no one said cause no one believed back then.

The Lord will focus on restoring your soul this year.
Psalm 23:3

He will restore health to you this year.
Jeremiah 30:17
Verse 17: "Wounds" refer to chronic problems. This word is not the same as Christ taking our sicknesses on the cross. This word is from "great and prolonged plagues" in the bible. If you're on medication for life, He will restore to you His health.

God wants to restore your mind. He will give you mind sharper and bring you to the days of a child, quote from the book of Job.

Exodus 22:1
Verse 1: It's a law we are reading here. That's God's law. If you have lost an ox, you get five oxen, four sheep for a sheep. The greater the loss, the greater the restoration. If you have lost a child, you will have a hundred fold. Start saying, "Restore!" Get ready for the five for one oxen. This is the principle of God's law.

Paul argued from the law.
1 Corinthians 9:8-11
Verse 9: Paul pointed out is it about oxen? There is a deeper principle in this verse.
Verse 10: Or God is saying for our sake?
Verse 11: He's arguing for full timers to be well taken care of.

Paul argued about the law again in 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Leviticus 5:14-16
Verse 15: This is the trespass against the Lord. The person brings a ram without blemish.
Verse 16: This is the trespass against the holy things of God. The person shall make restitution for the harm he has done and shall add one-fifth (20%) to it and give to the priest. So now, the priest has 120%. These are all natural visual aids but picture God put to tell us what happened at Calvary.

Psalm 64:4
Verse 4: This is a Psalm of Jesus. Jesus said He restored that which I took not away. Today, we are not the one doing the restoration. This verse is quoted in the gospel of John 15:25 in the upper room.
Even if it is your fault, God restores.

Pastor says, he is glad Adam fell. God breathed into him but Adam didn't have the relationship with God. This is not recorded. Adam hold the keys to earth but had no relationship with God. Think about it, if Adam was obedient, today we will not have a family with God.

But Pastor, we would be paradise today. In paradise, there was an area which was forbidden. In heaven, there is no forbidden areas yo. The enjoyable garden hangs on the tread of his obedience. If today Adam didn't sin, someone else like his grandson will still sin. There's no security in that garden. In heaven, there is no snake. If Adam never fell, angels will never be able to sing songs of the redeemed. God has gained a family that is eternal. Today it is not our obedience anymore. It is His obedience. Man is now a new creation and has long life.

In the coming weeks, we will looking at the word "redemption" because this word ties very closely with restoration. God's delight is to spend closeness with us. What Christ did is much more.

Back to Leviticus 6:4-6
Verse 5: One-fifth was first mentioned in the story of Joseph, interpreting the dreams of the Pharaoh. First seven years of plenty and the next seven years of famine. They put aside one-fifth every year. Pastor shared the story of Joseph and pointed out that his story is for businessmen. Joseph sold grains to the people. Then gave them the seed when they have nothing to give Joseph. Joseph told them to give the 20% to Pharaoh when the harvest comes. The people were so happy he saved their lives.

Jesus restores what He did not take away. Five times in Romans 5:17, "much more". God restores much more. The work has been done.

Pastor shared that Justin was a restoration. Wendy was holding a child of 9 weeks only to find out there's no heartbeat after that. Pastor saw how bad his wife cried. During times like this we don't ask why. He may be discouraged but he sees Justin as the 100 fold because he loves to learn, dance.

So Pastor how do I position myself?

The battle has been accomplished. It's a fight of faith. We fight from victory. All we need to do is to believe. The physical symptoms may not show your restoration. But it is the fight of faith.

Did you realize that the word "restoration" has the word "rest" there? God says to Pastor that He will come when you rest, shown this way.

rest

Psalm 23:1-3
The words "He restores my soul" is sandwiched between the words "He leads me" in verses 2 and 3. He wants you to be in the place of resting. True faith always issues in rest.
For pastors and leaders, the people needs to be restored in their soul so that they can walk in paths of righteousness. In Israel, the path of righteousness is a mountain. It takes great strength to go up that mountain.

Ruth 3:18
Verse 18: "Sit still". The Lord says to tell My people, sit still. If God reveals everything, you will be fearful. In the year to come, He will reveal more and more things. God will not satisfy curiosity onlookers. ".. for the man will not rest.." This man is Boaz, a type of Jesus.
When you work, God rest. When you rest, God works. This statement is from this verse.

This is a life of directed activity, not a life of no activity. Most of the time God will tell you to sit down and loosen your shoulders. Because your restoration is coming. It is not finished and it will be a wonderful year.

There is a covenant thing where God will not move until someone prays. We need to pray like Boaz. It does not mean we will not be tested but we should pray.