book reprinted

On Sunday, Ps Cesar Castellanos, the founder of the G12 mission, of which our church shares the vision, was the preacher. There was an analogy he used which I thought would be interesting to share here.

An English translation of one of his books was published and they had printed 10,000 copies. However, someone discovered that there were some serious mistakes in the translation. As much as he wanted to salvage the 10,000 copies, the only way was to destroy all 10,000 copies and print copies from a version that had no mistakes/has been rectified, all because the original (proof) had errors.

Just as the original was tainted, so was Adam, the 1st man, when he sinned. Hence, those after him were also "tainted" and were set for destruction. So the only way to salvage the situation was to have one who had no sin (Jesus) to replace the original.

"Never" vs Fear


I was reminded during service that one cannot assume that you will "never" do something or "this will never happen to me". Especially when there is a tinge of complacency, which is most often tied to who you think you are, or what you think you can do (e.g. "I'm a leader, I'm safe" or "I'm sure I can convince him/her and it'll all work out"). In this way, you let your guard down and allow yourself to be exposed to the temptation you thought you were immune to, thinking "I'm sure I will be able to resist the temptation".
In this act of "complacency", you have already taken that 1st step into the "danger zone". Instead, one should not look to yourself for we are usually weak, but look to who God is. Always be on guard as strongholds start from cracks.

Always guard your heart as it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Fear of the Lord helps too as we humble ourselves to recognise that only in seeking Him can we be able to cast out these temptations.

Andrew the faithful/dependable one

We had a guest speaker today from Sri Lanka (Ps Dishan Wickramaratne) with the message"Can God Depend On You?"
The gist of it was that the kingdom of God is built by faithful people. You don't need to be the "giants" of faith, but just simply being obedient when God prompts you. What was interesting was the example of Andrew.

I never noticed actually how significant Andrew was in the Bible until Ps Dishan mentioned it. This disciple was only mentioned a few times, and always, it makes reference to him as "Simon Peter's brother" (in case people did not know him). And it was pointed out that actually, Andrew was one of the first to follow Jesus, even before Peter. In fact, he was the one who brought Peter to Christ (literally) [John 1:40-42]. And if you noticed, he's always bringing someone to see Jesus, faithfully doing so, and always by faith in Jesus. [John 6:8-9; 12:20-22] And instead of being "negative" about feeding the 5,000, Andrew just brought the boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus.

And another thing that was emphasized was that "Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so" (it's a hymn). And it's amazing that it is God's promise and covenant. Even if you don't feel so, it is written that God loves you and you can always fall back on this truth.

To end, I shall quote him:

"Faith is not a feeling, it's a reality"

Choosing someone...

Recently, I attended a talk by 1 of our church pastors who shared on 10 principles of choosing/finding a life partner.

1 interesting point he pointed out during the "principle of willingness" (Genesis 24:8, 57) is that a lot of us may have this notion that there is only 1 person in the world that is chosen for us, hence, sometimes, we hesitate, asking if the person you've met is that one and eventually, the opportunity passes us by if we wait too long or decide not to pursue this interest. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, for this thing on whether there is predestiny is beyond us. We will never know what's ahead coz we can never comprehend God's ways.
But one thing's for sure. It is by God's grace that we meet who we meet and there has to be willingness from both parties. God doesn't tie us down and He allows us to make choices, just like when Abraham says he will release the servant from the oath of finding Isaac's mate if the girl is not willing. Other examples of God letting us be free to choose are Numbers 36:6 and 1 Corinthians 7:39. He allows us to marry anyone we wish as long as we are marrying within the principles of God (e.g. to be equally yoked).

And when both parties are willing, He makes things happen. Just like the "moment" between Isaac & Rebekah in Genesis 24:63-64. Nothing is too difficult for our God. Most importantly, we must "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

To round up, here are the 10 principles:
1) Principle of Seeking Counsel (Gen. 24:12-14)
2) Principle of Equally Yoked (Gen. 24:4)
3) Principle of Beauty & Purity (Gen. 24:16)
4) Principle of Shared Inheritance (Gen. 24:7)
5) Principle of Willingness (Gen. 24:8,57)
6) Principle of Prayer (Gen. 24:12)
7) Principle of Kindness (Gen. 24:19-20)
8) Principle of Family Blessing (Gen. 24:59-60)
9) Principle of Timing (waiting for the divine timing of God; trust)
10) Principle of The Well

Luke 18:8b

Service was great today. I managed to reach the venue on time (you'll never know when faced with the Tanah-Merah to Expo MRT) and when I entered & settled down, the spirit was strong today. As I worshiped & prayed, I felt the power of the Holy Spirit strongly and it felt like anything was possible...a rise in faith (oh no...I should have prayed more for my personal stuff :P). What's more! We sang my fave song Thank You For The Cross, which is not sung very often.

Ok, getting back to the point (as in the title of this post), this verse was more than I can comprehend. How come I never noticed it before? I actually underlined the verses before it and this "slipped out of my notice". If pastor didn't point it out, it would have remained hidden. The verse:

"However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

~ Luke 18.8b

Notice the word "faith"? Not "peace", not "love", not "hope", etc. but FAITH. I don't know, but at that point, something in me went "wow" as the impact of this verse came upon me/my spirit. It's not a difficult verse to understand, but what it means/encompass, succinctly tells of Jesus's desire. The most important thing is to have faith. With faith, we can experience all the blessings, including love. (Agape) "love" though the greatest is not the most important, for without faith, it is impossible to have that kind of love. Personally, I also felt like it was a poignant statement, entailing God's love.

There's 1 interesting phrase pastor used when running through the obstacles of faith under "human logic & wisdom" - "you will never raise the dead until you pray for the dead". One needs to act in faith.

The Kingdom of GOD is Near

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." ~ Revelation 11:15

Have we been preaching with the wrong focus?

It was a mind-blowing sermon this morning and it made me really look at the gospel in another way.

We started the series "The Magnificent Obsession" last week and it started off with the declaration that the message of the Bible/gospel is the message of the Kingdom of GOD, establishing the kingdom of GOD on earth. And the point is to "seek first the kingdom of GOD".

However, the underlying truth of establishing the kingdom of GOD on earth did not hit me so hard as it did today. Today's message was about boldness. The message today made me really re-look at the Bible in a new light and there is much deeper meaning. Preaching about the gospel is not just about preaching GOD's love. That's only part of the equation. It is about the kingdom of GOD. Preaching the kingdom of GOD brings about transformation, not just personal salvation. It means transforming not just yourself, but communities, society and nations; transforming the kingdom of the world & claiming it. GOD always looks at the nations (Exodus 4:22, Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20).

One of the most mind-blowing part was the issue about the rapture. Pastor made special reference to John 18:36. It makes reference to a kingdom "not of this world" but actually, in context, Pilates was actually asking for the source of Jesus's authority. However, it gives the impression that there is another place we will go to. Does that mean the kingdom of the world is not our business? That's not true as Jesus is meant to reign on earth and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord (Rev 11:15). And what do we pray in the Lord's prayer ?

"Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven"

~ Matthew 6:9-10

So it is the conquer of the kingdom of the world which we must look at, bringing heaven on earth. (Ephesians 1:10, Revelation 11:15, Luke 17:21)

Another thought came to my mind actually: so is that the reason of Jesus's second coming - coming back to reign on this earth?

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ~ Matthew 4:17

"Let the little children come to me"

I was very moved with the message at service today. Although the message was more for fathers, but the focus was also on the children.

Malachi 4:6
" He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..."

What really struck me was that many children are not coming into the their destiny through neglect, abuse, etc., resulting in bondage, and it is painful to see how all these can happen, even within a family. Worse still is the high abortion rate, where these children will never come into their destiny.

GOD, our Heavenly Father, treats every child as precious & blesses parents with the safekeeping of them, even as we are His children. But due to Man's selfish reasons, children suffer and are hindered in their path to fulfil their destiny. Children are our future. Didn't Jesus say in Luke 18:16:

"...Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."