Put God in a box

The Pharisees and the Scribes in Jesus’ time, think they are better above other people in position as well as knowledge of God. Yet, God incarnate as Jesus, and dwelt among men, and they knew Him not. While, the prostitutes, tax collectors whom were hated by people, the uneducated fishermen, all could understand Jesus and receive from Jesus; yet they could not. Jesus made the blind see and healed the lame. While, they had eyes yet were truly blind for they could not see the Glory of Jesus, the Son of God. They had legs yet were truly lame for they could not come to Jesus. They’d preferred God stayed put inside the temple in the enclosed room of the holy of holiest, while they could act as the mediator between God and men. They did not like the idea that God could go out of the temple, roam around outside the temple and went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. They did not like the idea that God would give favor freely to undeserving people. They want people to come to them as the mediator and they could earn a position and a living out of this. Jesus also said they liked to sit in the judgement seat – judging the people. They told people what to observe, but they themselves did not act according to their words: “for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Mat 23:1-4). Do not be like them.

However, today we have many Christians who are behaving just like the pharisees, they called themselves Theologians and think they know God of the Bible above the rest of other Christians, and are able to explain who & what God are and why God did things the way He did. In other words, they put God into a box, let God stay put in a box, and LIMIT God into a set of theories and doctrines.

For instance, in the case of healing: Why is this illness still not healed? Why there is still suffering in a Christian’s life? if God is all-knowing then Why this and why that? They quoted bible verses which are of different contexts actually. And, take healing for instance, if it still does not take place the following year, they may then formulate a new doctrine that God is no longer in the business of healing anymore, or playing “the blame game”: there are hidden sins!; or any other theories just to explain away the situations.

Trying to answer Why of God is the arrogance of man. You are a mere man with a puny brain. God created you and you are merely His creation. He defines you! And yet, you want to define Your Creator? Know this: that man cannot explain God. God is bigger than the limitless universe. Please by comparison, you are only like an ant which saw a man in a glimpse but then wanted to explain everything about the man it saw.

Truly, Bible is the only evidence we have about God. Although we need to always refer to it to know Him better but it does not explain to us everything about God. Bible contains things that God wants us to know about Him only. That much that we NEED to know only. Do not add in additional things from man’s own idea or speculation.

Bible is written for Jesus. Knowing Jesus, we shall know God. Many things we think we know God from the Bible, and yet at the last verse in the book of John, it is written: (John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.). Therefore, from that little that we know in the Bible the glimpse of God, we cannot then define God. You cannot use the Bible to explain everything about God. It is not sufficient and it is also not His will for us to define Him. Bible is like the food for the baby. Just receive what is written, suck it slowly like a baby receiving milk, and the baby is enjoying the milk and digesting it, and in time automatically nutrition arises and the baby grows up.

Nevertheless, we can see the glimpse of God through Jesus. It is written: “if we have seen Jesus then we have seen God the Father.” (John 14:9). Jesus is the same as the Father God, what He has done is what God would have done. (John 14:7  “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”). From seeing Jesus we can conclude several indisputable truth as follows:

• Jesus always heals the sicks
• Jesus raises the dead
• Jesus feeds the hungry abundantly with many leftover
• Jesus casts out demons
• Jesus calms the calamities of storm
• Jesus did this and that, showing He is full of Grace

If I can repeat with my own words: Jesus hates diseases, hates death, hates poverty, hate calamities. Jesus wants us healthy, wants us alive, wants us to have more than enough, wants us free from calamities, free from demons oppression, and so on All the good things. And He gives without questions nor conditions, all FREELY. That is also the same with God the Father. In fact, those who did receive the goodness from Him were not seen as ‘holy people’ during the era. They are not priests, religious teachers or Pharisees. But, they were simply sinners who needed repentance, like the Lepers and prostitutes. They also did not pray or fast or diligently go to church to receive the miracles of Jesus. They were all undeserving people, but they can receive His goodness – that’s GRACE!.

And interestingly, there is no one standard way when Jesus performed His miracles. Every case is unique and no precedence for reference, no repeated technique of healing the same illness. I use one example of healing the blind to illustrate this:

There are 3 times recorded in the Bible that Jesus healed the blinds:

Case 1: The blind Bartimaeus, who sat by the road begging at Jericho. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10: 46-52). Then Jesus healed him only by saying, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”  No further actions were required. The man was healed.

Case 2: Jesus came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So this time He TOOK the blind man by the hand and LED him out of the town. And when He had SPIT on his eyes and PUT His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. The man answered:  “I see men like trees, walking.”.  Then Jesus PUT His hands on his eyes again and MADE him LOOK UP. And he was fully healed. (Markus 8:22-26)

Case 3: In Yerusalem, Jesus saw a man who was blind from birth. This time the man did not shout nor people brought him to Jesus, but Jesus did it as He was passing by. He SPAT on the ground and MADE clay with the saliva; and He ANOINTED the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, WASH in the pool of Siloam”. So he went and washed, and came back healed. (John 9:1-7).

There is no one same method of Jesus to heal. There is no one same protocol to seek healing either. Case 1 was simple just speak. Case 2 and 3 more complicated involving spitting and mixing saliva with clay. All the three cases Jesus was showing that methods do not bring any meaning. Jesus could have used any other methods like “slapping the man’s face 3x /or tapping his back /or even asking him to jump like frog 5x” then healing happened. But what Jesus demonstrated was that NO ONE SAME METHOD to copy or follow. I believe Jesus do not want Christianity by Religion would make a Theory or Doctrine out of His Grace.  I believe Jesus knew His creation well. Man is champion in making a Law out of everything. Man likes to follow a systematic Theory that they can copy and duplicate with more assurance – “if I perform this then that will happen” – this is the Law! a Law of ‘How to heal the blind’. This may be in the Old covenant of Law. But we are no longer there. We are in the New Covenant of Grace.

I believe Jesus wants us to read His Grace and deals with Him through His Grace too. Having close relationship with Him, just like husband and wife, or child and father. There is one common factor from the three cases, it is the same Jesus! And all three blind men DO NOT DESERVE the healing but could be healed because of His Grace.

Then, coming back to the initial question: WHY this person is not healed? If you show one person not healed, I can show you two persons were healed. If you say one person has been 5 years suffered illness, I can show you a woman with 12 years of affliction (Luk 8:43) with the issue of blood. Not only she suffered 12 years but also she was made broke by it, for she had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any. But this woman never gave up and finally in the 12^th year she found Jesus.

So if anyone lamented having 5 years of affliction, the advice should be CONTINUE seeking Christ Jesus. Never give up, for healing is based merely on His Grace. There is no other way, nor other method nor theory. It is all Freely given by His Grace.

How shall we who walk under Grace be liken then? Back to the ANT example above. An Ant could never understand a man. Unless, it becomes a man, lives among men and acts like man. Likewise, a man can never communicate to an ant, unless the man becomes an ant and lives among ants. And that is exactly why God the Almighty chose to become man supernaturally, (Joh 1:14  And the Word BECAME FLESH and DWELT among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.)

On the other hand, man who is liken an ant can never be God, thus do not try to explain God with any THEORY or THEOLOGY, for that will be arrogant!, and insult to God Himself. You put God in a box and you judge God in the bible. For instance: can God be both Predestination and Free Will at the same time? Yes, God is so big, and He fills the universe, up, down, left, and right. There is no direction we could go and escape God’s presence, His Light or His love. Above all His title, John defines God as Love (1John 4:8) and God is Lights (1John 1:5). Let’s never lose sight of just how big, powerful, and loving our God is. Just when we think we have come to understand His love, may He show us there is bigger still. Just when we think we have done all that God desires us to do, He may show us more to come.

Beholding Jesus, we know God is pure goodness, merciful, graceful, and almighty. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. He healed in the past, and he heals today and forevermore. Do not be shaken by man’s theory of God, if you have not received your healing, keep on pressing, keep on seeking, till you find Him.

Truly being a believer in Christ does not mean this world is a bed of roses. Jesus has warned us alike. Challenges will still come your way. But we can be rest assure that we have the God-Man, fully God and fully Man, His name is Jesus. He stands on behalf of us to God. He represents us, and we can rest in Him and lay all our burden on Him. Because He had been one of us, He understands us completely. Even why we keep doing that stupid same mistake over and over again? He can sympathize with us, He can see the future and go before us and assure us that nothing we should be afraid of, for we can surely handle all challenges ahead and we will win every steps of the way we are well able to take one victory over another victory.

Like a father who supports and cheers his baby who starts to learn walking. The baby may fall and cry. But the father keeps on encouraging and cheering. It is not the part of walking that matters, but the part of being together, the memory of Love and togetherness that are enjoyable during the walking.

Journey in Life can be hard, but knowing He is always with us, never leaves us nor forsake us, will make us strong. The roads of life may be rough, we may fall down and cry at times, but knowing He is always there to comfort us, and sometimes helps us out with supernatural events, and sprinkles here and there with particles of Favor, till we are able to stand up again, and then He still walks with us, cheering us from one small victory to another.

Enjoy this journey. #Enjoy Jesus everyday.

Walking with God

‘God wants a Relationship’ – We heard this word much too often, but have we paused and think what it really means? We normally expect God to show up in our life in the form of miracles or big revelation or ‘an encounter of the third kind’ the boom! and big bang!, all of which are some sort of bizarre events. Yes, He is a Big God, He can do all these anytime, and He is still in this business of miracles, but it is not the main personification of God walking with us.

We can see God the Father through the person of Jesus, who dwelled among us, lived together with His twelve disciples. Woke up together in the morning, what to eat – what to wear daily, and all the Nitty-gritty of daily living. Although the bible did not record these daily things, but we are surely certain that these things did happen every day. In fact. those miraculous events, like healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons, as recorded in the bible, happened as exceptional events, in conjunction with, out of, and while performing His daily routine activities and walking with His followers during His 3.5 years on earth.

The bulk of the activities and the untold stories between Lord Jesus and His disciples, were much just like our daily activities with our spouse and children. The daily routine and mundane lives, such as sleeping under one roof, waking up in the morning, preparing breakfast, having incomes to sustain daily necessities, paying for food and home necessities, and sharing other life challenges and difficulties over dinner table. All these amount to building a relationship. And, these are the relationship we are having right now, with the same Jesus. The difference is that: then-time during Peter, James and John they had it by sight but Now we are having it by Faith (2Cor 5:7), we are seeing Jesus from the diaries He left behind for us – the Bible, we can experience the same walks like what the disciples had through reading and listening about Him in the bilbe. And, it is more blessed to walk by faith than by sight. Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, “…. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Indeed, the largest event we had in our life is our first encounter to know Jesus. You may think it is small, but believe me that is the biggest and best miracle that ever happened to you. Because that is the moment you have placed your entire life into the hand of the ONE who is all Powerful, all Knowing, and all Presence. And that means from that day onward you’ll have nothing to worry any more, nothing to fear in this life or the life after. He will take care all things for you, in you, and through you. The central gravity of your life has just switched from you to HIM. His goodness and mercy is now following you for the rest of your life. That is amazing Grace!

This revelation may not happened on the first day you know about Jesus, although you may think you know Him. Like many couples – their love did not happen as ‘love at the first sight’. But, as you walk long enough with Jesus, one day you realize the width, the length, the depth and the height, of His magnificent Love towards you. That is truly the miracle that even a Christian who had walked years and yet not knowing Jesus as the God of Grace.

The God of Grace is walking with me even when I am not aware of Him. In my daily plowing of the land I work to earn a living, He is walking with me and guiding me and assisting me solving my daily problems and challenges. In my ups-and-downs in my daily mundane activities, in my relationship with my children and wife, and with other people; the Lord is still with me, His rod protects me and His staff comforts me on the hard parts of life, and this will make me a stronger and better person. On the good parts of life, He rejoices with me. All these together are making me closer and closer to my Lord Jesus, one day at a time, one thing at a time, a bite size every time. Just like how God gives the earth rains, a little at a time. Not too little – nor too much to flood, but a size that the earth can take and flourish. A size that we can bite and chew, till we grow with Him.

With a Hearing Heart, He leads me. Day by day I know Him a little better, and slowly becoming more and more like Him.

Chinese New Year Sermon notes of Ps Mark – NCC.

Sermon Notes 7th Feb 2016 (Pastor Mark)

God’s grace transforms life including Ps MARK’S life. Unless God gives men receives nothing:

Joh 3:27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.”

God gives and supplies. Always loving and giving us.

Mat 5:45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. (NLT)

We think God only gives good people. He gives to the good as well as the bad, because it isn’t us who deserve or qualify for his givings. It is Him who wants to give us without conditions. Grace means only when you don’t deserve it then you are qualified to receive.

God loves to give and He uses all his ability to bless us.

John 3:16-17
He wants us not to be condemned so Jesus came to represent us and take our sins. Warded off all evil in our lives by dying on the cross.

The blood on the doorpost means someone has paid the price of death, has redeemed life, so the occupants inside the house are now saved and can come out blessed.

Without shedding of blood no forgiveness of sins.

God wants us to know that the shedding of blood makes Him on our side, to bless us.

We must know our Father gives us blessings. Constant supply. Be conscious of this and you shall receive. Be supply conscious because He is always supplying to us.

His grace changes our lives.

Ps. Mark said: The most impact-full thing about Ps. J Prince is that he is so close in his walk with Jesus & he helped touch hearts by sharing about grace revolution and how by experiencing Jesus makes us so blessed to be a blessing.

Pastor Mark thanks his wife and says we are so blessed to have women made to help men. Talks about how awesome women are. All their sacrifices for their spouses and kids. All she does is for the benefits of their husbands and family. When she got married to a man, she had to change her name. Then, the man would make her pregnant, she would have to bear the pain of labor, and her body figure would change drastically because of the pregnancy. Then, she would have to raise the baby and look after the house, husband and family, and all the labor she did yet the baby would not be named after her but after the man’s name. Amazing sacrifice of a woman!

WOMAN
W = Wonderful Mother, O = Outstanding Friend, M = Marvelous Daughter, A = Adorable sister, N = Nicest gift to men from God.

Grace changes us to be grateful for everything in our lives.

Women nags but men do so too. Men as they grow older also nag at home and nag at their loved ones. Ps, Mark has learned to appreciate his wife and not to nag, and watch not to say sharp cutting words. Often, Ps. Mark’s Wife likes to remind him that she is his Tony Roma’s (Because Tony Roma has the best Prime rib -> = Eve was made from Adam’s rib)

Man- 先生 firstborn (Adam is a first born).
Wife- 太太 woman come from the side of the man so the small dot from the Big. Also because women are very (太) very (太) good. A Term of endearment to denote exceptional values.

God is always there and so kind and so so gracious. Person of grace. No matter what Attack or challenges you face, know that you are always loved by God.

God is outside time. He is the Beginning & the End. The Alpha & the Omega. Perfecter & Finisher.

God already has gone to the end and made all things work for your good. Be conscious of your Father who is helping us and supplying us.

Don’t look to self. Don’t look to the bad news in the newspaper. Don’t shake head whilst watching bad news. Lift your head up to look up at God. You can’t see God but he is working behind your back for your good.

Act 9:3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
Act 9:4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Saul Saul… in Cantonese: “sor – sor” means: silly.

God turned the worst terrorist into a preacher, Turns the ugly into beauty.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Though you can’t see and you have failed and made mistakes, he will make it all good again for you.

He send the rain and give the sun to good and bad.

God loves you not bcoz you are good, but bcoz He is good and it is His goodness that leads us to repentance.

The cross is the greatest evil but God had made through it the greatest good has come to mankind.

Touch not the battle. Touch not God’s anointed one- David.
You are anointed. No one can touch you.
The battle belongs to the LORD. Fight the good fight of faith. Just guard your mind!
Can’t see but choose to believe. That’s the truth and the truth will set you free.

Pastor Mark says God helped him with his driving. He used to be “an animal behind the steering wheel”. When he became a Christian, became more conscious of his sins than before.  Felt bad about his impatience and would feel guilty and condemned. Like when his Wife told him to be careful whilst driving, he would react defensively because he actually feels insecure and guilty. A secured man will act cool.

He watched a BBC show that explains when you are behind people, flesh and blood, you feel more patient. But when you are behind cars, they are machine made of iron and steel and you will feel more impatient.

The more he wanted to change, he could not, he was under bondage. The more he wanted to do right, he couldn’t. The only way is to receive the gift of no condemnation to change. Say this:

“This moment LORD You already paid for it on the cross. You foresaw it ahead of time already. I receive Your gift of no condemnation, for You died for me. Lord thank You that this moment You still see me sinless. Thank you that I might make mistakes but I am still the righteousness of God in Christ.”

We are born of the flesh but the Spirit is eternal. When we are born again in the spirit, we become righteous. We can’t see, but must believe it has been done.

For man: Maths 1+1 is 2. For God: 1 + 1 is 1 as we come together with God and become one.

Phm 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (KJV)

At the worst moments of my failure, Jesus is still my righteousness. In the midst of all my emotions, I keep on receiving and then, I am changed.

At the point of shame and condemnation, God never leaves you. God still is for you. The cross of Jesus accounts for everything.

How the devil steals, kills and destroys— spiritual warfare

Friends can hurt but deepest pain is from family members

Jospeh was bullied by his own Brothers.
Jacob was bullied by his own Father in Law.
David was hunted by his Father in Law and his own son.

When there is anger and strife, there is evil works. Can’t sleep and mull over it. That kind of darkness, only grace can rid us of it.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;

We are called to inherit a blessing. It is his blessing that brings about repentance.

When we have angry thoughts of someone, choose to bless instead of cursing. Mind will say how can? He isn’t worthy. Then remember we ourselves aren’t worthy too. So choose not to submit to my body and to bless the person instead.

When you release the Word, you reign. Reign by speaking.

Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

The tongue has the power of life. You can give life. Choose to give life. To bless.

As you keep blessing, your mind clears as you receive grace. God will restore. The person might be unjust to you but God will restore. You don’t focus on being angry. Just let God restore. Receive and receive.

The angry thoughts will come back again and again BUT keep blessing. The evil will flee from you. The blessing and peace and joy that you receive, money can’t buy.

Pastor Mark struggled with weight problem. Would feel guilty about food he eat and worry he will put on weight. What we think, we become what we think. So God asked Ps. Mark not to focus on wrong believing (worry he will get fat). Doesn’t mean anyhow eat also. God’s word is the power of salvation. No what Jesus has done and don’t stand in the place of condemnation.

He used to tell stomach to go but stomach can’t go. Wrong confession. If stomach go then cannot eat already. The right confession should be against fat to go. So he kept commanding fat to go. But then he lost too much weight, so he changed his confession again and fine tuned it. Excess fats go!. Lol.

Pastor Mark was balding, recently, his hair lost. Dropped a lot of hair.

Applied many types of hair lotions to help but hair fell still existed. Bcoz no matter what he applied outside, inside don’t have. It has to come from inside out by prayer and confessions.

Then he read Grace Revolution book. Page 253.

Speak to your mountain. So he kept speaking to his hair to grow. Now his hair grows very bushy and thick. Hallelujah.

Chinese New Year normally 15 days you will speak good positive things, but then 350 days you speak bad again. Cannot work this way. Useless. You must keep speaking good not evil. So good will manifest!

Christ is in you. Speak with authority. Don’t talk about how big your mountain is. Tell your mountains how big your God is.

God tells us: we already have it. We speak to the mountain. On the ground that we already won it. We have it thus we speak it.

What are we speaking over our kids? We have a choice. We shall only speak good. Remember this!

Jesus’ name in Chinese –   耶  稣

9耶 Hear hear – Hebrew: Shema Shema
Hear what?
稣 Supply – fish and grain

2 Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Grow only on one ground. Grow in grace!

2 Tim 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Be strong in grace. What you want to be strong in, you will speak it and your life will be full of it.

In Taiwan aborigin people used to live life in peace and happy, until the new immigration people came in and introduced them to drugs and alcohol, so they became addicted and spent their wealth to buy drugs and alcohol causing them to have lost everything because of their addiction to opium. The men felt ashamed and guilt. Then came some Missionaries and told them to call on Jesus to be saved. Don’t depend on self. As they struggled they wrote a famous song. Called on “Jesus”. Many were saved then.

God will deal with what you are facing. Open your mouth and call on the name of Jesus.

He will look after us all the days of our lives because we belong to Him. We are the Apple of His eyes.

You can miss any place but don’t miss Heaven. You can miss any appointment but don’t miss the rapture. If you are going to miss any dinner, don’t miss the married supper of the lamb. The end is near? The end is now. These are the end times. Just call on Jesus to save you. He is your salvation.

Kadesh-Barnea – (קָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ)

Kadesh-Barnea is a crucial place, it has spiritual meaning as well as historical value. It is the junction of making crucial decision where we Christian believers have arrived in 2016.

In Bible (Leviticus 25:8-12) : 7 years represent a complete cycle. And after completing a complete 7 times 7 years of completion = full completion of 49 years, the following year is the Year of Jubilee. We are in that Jubilee year right now. Coincidentally, Singapore is also celebrating its 50th Years of Independence and has called it Jubilee year as well. Thus, this is the year of a New Today. Everything is reset to a New beginning.  God commanded that “In this year of Jubilee each of you shall return to possess your POSSESSIONS” (Lev 25:13) and the prisoners and slaves could be set free. Another, coincidence is that Pastor Joseph Prince, the Leading Voice of Grace Gospel in the world today, has set 2016 as THE YEAR OF POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS, where our feet have stepped on the the crucial point called Kadesh-Barnea. a Life & Death point of decision making.

Historically, something happened at this place where Moses led the people of God who had chosen a decision based on their Moral Condition, which caused them to lose their opportunity to reach the Promised Land before their eyes, a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey or the place of abundance and Rest; instead they ended up Wondering-Wandering needlessly for another 38 years, literally wondered nowhere round and round, until finally they came back again at the same spot of Kadesh-Barnea 38 years later, and again God gave them a second chance to decide. And this time under the Leadership of Caleb and Joshua, finally they made the right decision and entered the Promised Land, but unfortunately only the second generation had this opportunity, as those first generation who chose the wrong decision in the first place had all died quietly, sadly and buried in the wilderness of the Paran desert, a place of spiritual darkness, no joyfulness and only lacks.

The world will not get better in this 2016, but will get worse and worse, more and more berserk, with Blood shed, Catastrophe and Tragedy happenings. Knowing this, What are you going to do about it?  Ps. Joseph Prince said for those who wants a deeper revelation, need to study the Hebrew word of Kadesh-Barnea, which I did!  But before I showed you the Hebrew study of Kadesh-Barnea, let us see what is that “decision based on Moral Condition” that the people of God had chosen at Kadesh-Barnea?

In the first 2 years out of Egypt and walking with God, the people of God had tasted the goodness of God. They already witnessed with their eye-balls and experienced with their family, how good God looked after and provided for them always at the right time. Coming out of Egypt, is a picture of coming out of the Prison of slavery and bondage. They were toiling hard laborious jobs in Egypt.

During their initial walk, God had shown over and over again, that He provided for them with signs, wonders and miracles. Their provisions were always on time delivered to their door-steps, and although they lived their life not perfect, as they still fell into mistakes and sins, and yet God faithfully provided everything for them by His Grace. They may have failed God but God never failed them as long as they trusted in God’s goodness.

Likewise, Remember your time, the journey you were walking spiritually with God? When you trusted in His provision and When you needed food and money, God provided you with more than enough provisions. When you needed a job, He provided you with a good Position, not just a job, but a position of influence and commanded good salary for your whole household. Remember, your children, God raise them and teach them, that they always excel in schools and universities. God lead your life when you let Him lead. When you lead your life, it’ll always be BAD, but when He leads, it will always be GOOD.

But at Kadesh-Barnea the people of God were overwhelmed by the events of the surroundings. Enemies are always working to steal, kill and destroy. Just like what we are going to see in 2016. The overwhelming challenging events will be exactly what the Devils want us to see and embrace fear within us. In fear, we will decide to follow the solution of the world. Look for more money is the solution of the world for their fear and insecurity. They want to see the tangible provision with their eyes, so the world solution is working more hours to get money. But God’s Heavenly solution is only spending time with Him, walking with Him with whatever little you have in hand right now. Spending more hours toiling for food is going to eat up your precious time with God, you will age faster and ultimately waste your life. I know your doubt and you’ll say that spending times with God will not result in any money!? – Is that true? – Can God make it rain money on tree? Yes. – Can God use whatever little fish & bread you have in hands right now and multiply it to feed 5000 men with 12 basket full savings? Yes. – Can He provide you? Yes, He is the God of Provision, remember the good times you had with Him in the past?

God’s interest is not for you to spend more time with the world, but with Him. He longs for your company. Human natural interest is in the worldly stuff, but God’s interest is in your Spiritual growth.  None of your name titles, position and gold will you bring to Heaven when you see Him face to face.

Studying from the root word of Kadesh-Barnea in Hebrew:

Barnea means, desert of wandering. And Kadesh has two very differing meanings:

The root קדש (qadash) yields a small cluster of words that all have to do with holiness, coincides with one-ness, wholeness and life. We are the generation of Holy People, separated by the blood of Jesus, saved by Grace through Faith. The opposite of Holiness is not sin nor unrighteousness but commonness or common (חלל, halal). The world is a place of commonness where money, lies, sex, and profanity are their gods. The verb (halal) means to be profane or common / to pierce or puncture fatally.

Other root’s derivations to the meaning:
The masculine noun קדש (qadesh), denoting a male temple prostitute (Job 36:14, 1 Kings 14:24), and:
The feminine equivalent קדשה (qadesha), denoting a female religious prostitute (Deuteronomy 23:17). It’s these two words that make linguist wonder about the ultimate meaning of this root; whether it denotes HOLINESS or the otherwise meaning?

Prostitution of any kind is condemned in the Bible, but here at Abarim Publications surmise that these particular “holy” prostitutes were a common part of Canaanite fertility cults rather than one of mere sexual pleasure. In other words: the function of these people was to allow pregnancy if, for some reason, marital circumstances prohibited it like a modern sperm bank or surrogate mother. Most famously, the widowed Tamar dressed up as one of these “holy” prostitutes with the express intent of becoming pregnant (Genesis 38:21).

We are Holy People redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. We can possess all our possessions this year just by His faith through His Grace. Alternatively, we can choose to disbelieve this and instead, prostitute ourselves in a holy manner. Like some terrorists killed innocent people in the name of ‘God’. Can we also be misled to think that we do certain things for God while in fact we do it to cover up our own selfishness, insecurity or other worldly Moral Conditions?. The answer is found whether in effect, many years from now, are you still wandering in the same place at Barnea? or did you go UP to Canaan the promised land of Rest? Don’t worry, you won’t lose your eternal salvation, you will still go to heaven one day, but meanwhile you will waste you time & life at desert Barnea, you will lose the Joy of walking with God, you will lose the wonderful gifts and rewards on earth that come only by walking with Him.

Seeing Jesus hidden in the Tabernacle

The Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכַּן‎, mishkan, “residence” or “dwelling place” or tent or sanctuary. Built of gold, silver, brass, furs, jewels, and other valuable materials taken out of Egypt, and built at God’s specific orders according to specifications revealed by God (Yahweh) to Moses at Mount Sinai. It was a sacred place where God chose to meet His people the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt and transported on their journey through the wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. The First permanent Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling-place of God some three hundred years later.

The tabernacle was first erected in the wilderness exactly one year after the Passover when the Israelites were freed from their Egyptian slavery (1450 B.C.). It was a mobile tent with portable furniture that the people traveled with and set up wherever they pitched camp. The tabernacle would be in the center of the camp, and the 12 tribes of Israel would set up their tents around it according to their tribe. The instruction and specifications on how to build the tabernacle was first given to Moses in the wilderness three months after they left the Land of Egypt, who then gave the orders to the Israelite. and it took NINE MONTHS for them to build and complete the Tabernacle.

“…make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” (Exodus 29:45-46)

And so God dwelled among His people in the tabernacle in the wilderness. He appeared as a pillar of cloud over the tabernacle by day and a pillar of fire by night in the sight of all Israel. The people would not set out on their journey unless the cloud lifted. It was an unmistakably powerful visual statement indicating God’s presence among them.

The Tabernacle is the picture of Jesus and His Church

The standing boards of the tabernacle are made from acacia wood.

God has transformed us (His Church) from acacia trees into standing boards fixed in silver sockets. In the Bible, “silver” represents redemption. Silver speaks of the blood of Jesus redeeming us from sins and curses. We were bought by the blood of Christ! Our feet no longer touch this cursed earth – we are fixed upon a solid silver foundation (represents the blood of Jesus Christ that redeemed us). Also, it means our resources come from heaven, not from this cursed earth.

The wooden boards are overlaid with Gold. This means When God looks at us, He doesn’t see the wood, He sees the Gold! As pure and shining as Gold. God sees us as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The more of God’s glory you have inside you, the more radiant you will look on the outside.

The Color and Coverings and Curtains of Tabernacle speaks and depicts of Jesus Christ, as we shall reveal in this article.

The place of protection is inside the tabernacle.

When you pray don’t pray with loud voice as if God is so far away in heaven. A whisper is sufficiently a powerful way to pray and is more in line with New Covenant truths. Because as believers, we are always in the Holy of Holies, inside the Tabernacle, we are IN CHRIST. And, God has made for us a new and living way! The more we come to God, the better and healthier we will become.  We are already complete in Christ. We are seated in heaven at the right hand of Jesus the moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We begin our journey as believers already complete in Christ, and not walking towards completeness as many Christians would believe.

Exodus 26:1-2 – The curtains of the tabernacle is colored blue, purple, scarlet, and white (fine linen).

These colors represent the four gospels: (Blue, Purple, Scarlet, White)
Blue – Sky (representing heaven and divinity) – the Gospel of John.
Purple (a result of blue and scarlet mixing) – God and man mixed – Royalty / King – the Gospel of Matthew.
Scarlet – blood (Adam means “Red man” – because of the blood inside him) – Man – the Gospel of Luke.
White – in Him is no sin, He knew no sin and He did no sin, yet He was made sins for us – Servant serving – the Gospel of Mark.

“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have the same measurements.” (Exodus 26:1-2 NKJV)

Psalm 91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Psalms 91 was written after the tabernacle was inaugurated.

As believers, we are always inside the tabernacle, covered by God. There are four coverings that cover the tabernacle: Badger skin, ram skins, goat’s hair, fine linen. We are covered! We are four times covered!

When the world sees us, they can only see the badger skin. When the world looks at Jesus, they only see the badger skin – they don’t know what to make out of Him. (Matthew 16:13-17 NKJV)

Mat 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
Mat 16:14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist (Ram Skin), some Elijah (Goat’s hair), and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. (Fine linen)”

Mat 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Mat 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Mat 16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

When we as believers look at Jesus, we see all the layers – blue, purple, scarlet, white, etc – we see the Perfect Man & God in one, we see the Christ, the Son of the living God. Because it is God in Heaven who has revealed this to us, about His Son’s beauty!

The Badger’s Skin

When the children of Israel were spending the forty years in wandering the wilderness, their clothes did not wear out, neither did their feet swell. This is God’s divine protection. The children of Israel wore sandals made of badger skin. Like the tough badger skin on the tabernacle, God has given us a tough exterior – strong, healthy bodies!

The Ram’s Skin

Exodus 26:14 – A ram represents determination, devotion, and strength.

The ram skins represent Jesus’ devotion, and the red dye represents Jesus’ blood that was shed for us.

The badger skin is what man sees. The ram skins dyed red is what the eye of God sees – In the Tabernacle the ram skin was hidden in between the coverings, thus man cannot see this, not even the priests can see. Our Heavenly Father sees His Son’s devotion and determination.

“You shall also make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent, and a covering of badger skins above that.” (Exodus 26:14 NKJV)

No one can depict our Lord Jesus in a painting. Our Lord is greater than whatever they try to depict. Jesus is a man’s Man – He could speak two words “Follow Me” and the uneducated, rough fishermen left everything and followed Him! Faith pierces through the badger skin and allows us to see Jesus as God.

The strength of a ram lies in its horns:
“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” (Genesis 22:13 NKJV)

It is highly uncommon that a ram would get caught in a thicket by its horns – a ram would likely get caught by its fleece.

The ram represents Jesus – He goes into the thicket (represents our curses) headfirst, with His strength when He went to die on the cross for us. The thicket also represents the crown of thorns upon Jesus’ head.

Any lamb that is offered as a sin offering must be without blemish, therefore the ram (male lamb) could not be caught by its fleece, otherwise it would be lacerated and bleeding while it struggled to get free. Jesus is our perfect blemish-free, spot-free, once-and-for-all sin offering!

“Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”” (John 19:5 NKJV)

Jesus came out by Himself – He was not dragged out or escorted out. He was determined to go to the cross. Why did Pontius Pilate say “Behold the Man!” – Because Jesus came out with his body bleeding and lacerated and without proper clothes on, and yet He still looked majestic, still regal, being the Perfect Man that He is.

Everything about the tabernacle speaks of the beauty and glory of Jesus:
“The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”” (Psalms 29:9 NKJV)
Every single item and furniture in the Temple reflect His Glory.

The measurement in the Tabernacle mostly in the multiple of Five. Eg. There are five pillars of the entrance of the tabernacle – Five in the bible represents God’s Grace. Five is the number of Grace. Grace is the beautiful person of Jesus.

The Goat’s hair

There is something special in the natural Goat’s hair quality. The Bedouin tribe (an Arab seminomadic group) made their tents from the Goat’s hair, and they claimed the good quality of the tent when raining the hair would be woven together, tightened up in such a way that the rain water would not go in. During night time, the hair would prevent the night coldness too. And, during the day hot sunshine, the hair would loosened up causing breeze of wind to come in and alleviate the day heat.

The 30 cubits length of the curtain made of Goat’s hair, hidden under the badger skin and ram’s skins represents Jesus’ first 30 years of life that is covered, hidden and unknown to us. God prepared Him to be the perfect lamb of sacrifice.

The extra length of the sixth curtain that hung over the back of the tabernacle represents Jesus’ 3 and a half years of ministry on earth that we can see in the four Gospels.

“You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; and the eleven curtains shall all have the same measurements. And you shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent.” (Exodus 26:7-9 NKJV)

Half of the sixth curtain made of goat’s skin hangs over the back of the tabernacle.

God sent His Son Jesus. Jesus’ death wasn’t forced on Him. He laid it down of His own accord. Jesus was the only Baby that was born to die.

“The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.” (Exodus 26:12 NKJV)

It took nine months to build the tabernacle. It reminds us of pregnancy. Why was it the women who spun the yarn of Goat’s hair : Jesus was growing in a Woman’s womb (Mary) for NINE months. The limitless God of heaven confined Himself into a limited body of a Baby, allowing Himself to be fully dependent upon Mary for care.

“All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats’ hair.” (Exodus 35:25-26 NKJV)

The Fine Linen

The Bible calls Jesus “Jesus” in the earlier four gospels, and then “Jesus Christ” while He was ministering on earth. After He was risen and taken into heaven (after the four gospels), the Bible epistles calls Him “Christ Jesus” because He is now Christ seated in heaven in glory!

Jesus is the fine linen – He knew no sin, He did no sin and in Him there is no sin! Yes He is God and Yes He is also fully Man. There is now a Man in heaven representing us and still serving us. Whatever is true of Christ Jesus now is also true of us who are believers. Just as Jesus is forever righteous before our Heavenly Father, so are we.

In Summary, the Tabernacle coverings and curtains speak of:
Badger’s skin : What the eyes of man saw.
Ram’s skin dyed in Red : What the eyes of God saw, no man can see, nor even the priest can see.
Curtain made of Goat’s hair : What God made His Son to be on earth.
Fine linen on the ceiling of Holy of Holies : What God made His Son in Heaven.

Everlasting Life is “being born” again – you don’t have to work it out with FEAR and TREMBLING!

If anything Christians can agree together, it will be (John 3:16). No Christians would dispute this verse and everyone agrees this is the basis of Salvation. We have read it over and over again, How can we miss it? It is so clear that your Salvation cannot be lost.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.

If you agree with any translation & dictionary, the meaning of EVERLASTING LIFE would simply be: Forever and ever without possible of stopping, or losing it by any means. It truly means if you believe in Jesus, you cannot lose your Salvation in Heaven! You will never go to Hell again (Perish), and Heaven is forever your home already.

Yet many Christians living their lives trying to maintain this EVERLASTING LIFE that they have already possessed it in the moment they received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They are doing unnecessary work of trying to keep the Law, only to frustrate themselves because their flesh will always fail now and then, here and then.

To make it worse, traditional Preachers also use threats and coercion to add up to the fear for them to continue to work for their salvation with fear and trembling; while their salvation actually has been safely secured by Jesus.

They used this verse taking it out of the context, let’s analyse the verse from the Context shall we?:

Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING;

First of all : FEAR and TREMBLING is not a scary thing, not a bad connotation; but it is Hebraism, a poetic language of that time, in Hebrew it means: “AWESOME, IN AWE, speechless, so wonderful that puts you in an unspeakable feeling.” The example will be the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years (Mar 5:33) her fearing and trembling, knowing that she was miraculously healed!

Secondly, look at the next verse, who is the one working in you? You or God? Look here:

Php 2:13  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. (NLT)

The verse cannot get anymore clearer that this! It is NOT you my friend, but it is God, who is continuously working in you, not only making you have the will (desire) to move on, but also providing you with the power, making you able to perform it well. And this is what pleases God. He loves to do it for you.

Thirdly, (Php 2:12) says you are to WORK OUT (not WORK FOR) , what God has already WORKED IN you.

BEING BORN AGAIN

Now we analyze what Jesus means when He said to Nicodemus a Pharisee, and a teacher of the Law: “Being born again” (John 3:3-10); which he cannot comprehend this truth.

In the natural, being born in the flesh, is a one done deal process, it happens immediately. It is not a long process like the head comes out first, then tomorrow the body, then the next day the limbs, etc… until one day it is complete a baby! No my friends, when you were born, it is immediately a complete human being, although you are still a baby, still you are a complete human being with head, body, and limbs completely formed already.

This is so when you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are born again (in the spiritual realm) in that moment of day immediately. You are made a son, a child of God, you are made Righteous like Jesus. Although, as baby you may not know Him well yet, but this personal knowledge and revelation come later after you have been born. It is a journey walking with Jesus, that you will know Him more and more throughout your life time.

Contrary, to what traditional Christians believe, that you are born incomplete, you need to strive fighting sins with self-effort until you become a complete baby one day in the future. Then only you can be called “born again.”

This principle is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus…. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6).

Although ‘born of the flesh’ and ‘born of the spirit’, are two different things, but the principle is the same, i.e. “being born”. And you cannot be unborn after you are born. And Nicodemus did not understand this principle, just like today many born again Christians do not even know that they are born again complete in Christ already. They are fully born Righteous children of God, who can call God as “Abba, Father”.

My Friends, once you believe and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you have become complete Christian, born again in the spirit realm, you are a spirit being, the real you is the spirit man who lives in the shell called your body. You are being born not by your will, nor by any will of men, but by the will of God Himself. See NLT translation:

Tit 3:5  He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
Tit 3:6  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Tit 3:7  Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”

Once you believe and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, this (Tit 3:5-7) will instantly take place in the spiritual realm. So much so that even when you fail or fall, let’s say you committed a horrible sins before God; yet you can never be “unborn again”, you have been born and are still a born again son. But you may be a born son who is doing a ‘dead work’ or ‘unfruitful deeds’. Nevertheless, not to worry, God will never leave you nor forsake you, it is His promise! And as (Php 2:13) says God is still working in you, giving you the desire and the power to perform well, picking you up and carrying you out of the problem. You just need to Realize this: your true identity is in Christ, do not go back to the Law, because the Law will only condemn you and strengthen the cycle of the sins (1Cor 15:56). God never condemns you because of the finished work of Christ; you are still righteous in His eyes, dust off your failures and walk again in victory and Reign in Life! (Rom 5:17).

Present Truth

Apostle Peter in his last days (2Peter 1), seemed to have known before hand of his soon to be ‘departure’. Just like Apostle Paul in his last letter of (2Timothy 4:6) he knew the time of his death was near. I believe we all who walked with Christ closely will also know before hand, when our time of ‘departure’ draws near.

2Pet 1:12-14 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the PRESENT TRUTH.  Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Peter was saying that he was about to leave his body and his brothers and sisters, to be with Jesus soon, and before he left them, he wanted to remind all of them that they must always be established in the Present Truth, which is the Truth that is prevailing or presently in effect.

What is this Present Truth? It is the Truth that they Now have, Not the past Truth Nor the Future Truth. It is the prevailing Covenant we have with God, which is the New Covenant of Grace.

To illustrate this well, I will bring out only 3 major covenants for illustration purpose only. 1) Adamic Covenant. 2) Old Covenant of Law. 3) New Covenant of Grace. First, Let me bring you far back to the time of Adam and Eve. What was the ‘Present Truth’ then?

Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So, if I were to live during the era of Adam & Eve, lets assume Adam & Eve did not eat from that forbidden tree. His descendants are still living healthy and strong, thousands of years because they were created immortal; what would I teach as a pastor of a church during that era?

I would teach the Present Truth that is prevailing: “You can FREELY eat from every tree in the garden, but Do not eat from just one Tree”.

I would probably teach:
1) How Generous and Gracious God is to have given Everything He had created.
2) How to avoid eating from the forbidden Tree. I teach them various ways to avoid the Tree.

I certainly could not teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because this would be the future truth. Adam and his descendants would not have known about Jesus.

But, as we know Adam & Eve failed. Thus, sins, sufferings and diseases came into this world. We all inherited this curse from Adam. That one forbidden tree is not an evil tree. It is the tree that would make Adam have to depend on himself instead of God. God knows that Adam (mankind) would not be able to take it. But the tree has to be there for the sake of Free Will. For Free Will to be Free, there should have a choice, and God has given just one choice to choose among all trees, and yet Adam failed.

Another interesting thing to note is that it is actually better for Satan to have tempted Eve to murder Adam. If Adam died then there would be no mankind at all, and Satan could have won. But it seems Satan cannot tempt beyond God’s own commandments. There was only one Commandment not to eat from the tree, and Satan could only use this one commandment to tempt Adam. Adam had caused this world to decay, and mankind to become mortal. So it was the End of Adamic Covenant.

So, we know at the foot of Sinai, God gave the Children of Israel a choice whether or not they wanted to continue with the Grace of God? Because all along from Egypt God had shown His Grace by bringing them out, and God was always so close with them by the pillar of cloud in the day, and by the pillar of fire at night, God provided freely without conditions, and with fresh provisions for every fresh complaints and murmuring of them. God dealt with them by Grace.

And yet instead of being thankful and continuing with God’s Grace and Mercy, instead of depending on God, Like the first Adam, they chose to depend on themselves, as they boasted that they could do whatever God commanded them to do. Or in another words, they were saying “God I know you have been dealing with us with Grace, you brought us out of Egypt by Grace. But, right now we think You should assess us by our obedience to Your commandments, so give us Your commandments and we will be well able to obey You”. (Exo 19:8). In another word, bless us according to our own obedience, and curse us if we fail Your commandments! That was when God’s tone changed, “Do not get near me now”. There was a distance now.

That is when the next Present Truth was established, it is the Old Covenant of Law:

If let’s say Jesus did not come to establish the New Covenant, today as a Pastor I would still be preaching about the 10th Commandments, I will illustrate every bit and pieces of the Law, what is it and How to fulfill the Law by your own Strength. Because only by the Law can you gain your Righteousness. (Righteousness by Law)

I would also teach:
1) Confession of sins. To be forgiven you ought to confess every single sin.
2) Forgiveness of sins. To be forgiven you ought to forgive others who sinned against you.
3) Circumcision.  Every one must be circumcised starting with you.
4) Tithing is a mandatory Law.

I certainly could not teach about the Adamic Covenant anymore, because it would be the Past Truth. Nor could I teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it would be the Future Truth, at this point of time.

This Old Covenant is too rigid, do or die. Because the Law is Perfect but God’s people are not perfect. God knows this and therefore God found flaws in this kind of Covenant.

Heb 8:8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH—

It was not His intention to give the Law in the first place. It was the Israel’s pride and proud to enter into this Old Covenant of Law. It was God who abolished / cancelled the Old Covenant of Law (Eph 2:15)

And this is now The Present Truth:

Heb 8:10-12 FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.
FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”

Heb 8:13 In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first OBSOLETE. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

God Himself that found the Old Covenant of Law to be faulty, and God Himself can abolish and make it obsolete.

What is the nature of the New Covenant? It is all by the Grace of God. God is performing every single move. These are the premises of the New Covenant:
1) God will Initiate / make the Covenant without our interference. Jesus went to the Cross first, while we were still sinners.
2) God will put the Laws of Love in our heart and mind. It is not the 10th Commandments Law anymore. It is the Holy Spirit who will guide us and lead us by His Grace and Truth. God works the desire and willingness into your heart, and we just work it out.
3) God wants to position Himself as our God and makes us His people. This means we shall not Lack anything. If you are poor, and He is your God, then you won’t be poor but will be a blessed. If you are sick and He is your God, then you won’t be sick but will be healed.
4) Every one will Know God is Love and full of Grace, intuitively from their heart because of Holy Spirit inside them.
4) God will be Merciful to our unrighteousness. He will clothes us with His Righteousness as a Gift by believing in His Son. (Righteousness by faith)
5) God will never punish our sins and our Lawless deeds anymore, because He has punished them in the body of Christ Jesus.

So what is our part here? Just to believe! It really sounds too good to be true, too good to believe it!; and many Christians are not accustomed to this Good News, because of their long years of ‘working mentality’. Truly, our part is just to believe, the New Covenant of Grace is fully based on believing (Righteousness by Faith) We only need to REST (believe) and God will do the rest.

As we believe right – we will live right and every thing will be alright.

 

 

The Principle Of Tithing

1. Introduction To Tithing.

The Hebrew word for “tithe” is “masar”, which means a tenth. So when you tithe to God, you are giving Him a tenth, or 10 per cent, of your income.

You might ask, “God is so rich. Why does He need my 10 per cent?”

 

2. Tithe to Acknowledge That God Is Your Senior Partner.

The truth is that God does not need your 10 per cent! You have learned that He has cut a covenant with you, and you have a covenant relationship with Him. In this covenant relationship, or partnership, who is the senior partner? Who is the greater and richer party? God is!

Now, in a normal business partnership, how much does the senior partner get?

Definitely not 10 per cent! The senior partner gets at least 51 per cent of the profits. Yet, God, as the senior partner of the covenant relationship, only asks for 10 per cent. That’s how gracious He is.

So when you tithe, you are saying to God, “Father, I am putting my faith in You to be in control of my finances. Father, I am putting my faith in You to be the One who causes me to prosper in all that I do.”

 

3. Your Tithe Sanctifies The Rest Of Your Income

So God wants us to tithe for our own sakes. He wants us to tithe for our own benefit. In fact, when we tithe, it sanctifies the rest of our income.

Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; …

Now, you have learned that the words “holiness” and “sanctification” have the same meaning, that is, “separate”, “set apart” or “stand out from”. When you tithe your one-tenth, it represents the firstfruit of your income. When that one tenth is holy, the rest of the 90 per cent that you keep will also be holy or sanctified. In other words, the rest of your income, like the first 10 per cent, will also be separate or set apart.

You might ask, “So what good is it if my money is holy?”

You need to know that this earth is under a curse. The system of the world is under a curse. You need to strive hard in order to make it to the top. That is why, after Adam sinned, God said this to him: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread …” (Genesis3:19)

The system of the world is natural, but God’s system is supernatural. Do you know that He has hidden the secret to prosperity and good success in the Hebrew language? Now, you have learned that the Hebrew word for “tithe” is masar. Do you know what the Hebrew word for “rich” or “wealthy” is? It is the word : asar !

What does that tell you? It tells you that your prosperity is in your tithe! God’s system of prosperity is wrapped up in the tithe!

So whatever is under the curse, the devil can touch anytime. But once you tithe, you make holy the rest of your income, and the devil cannot touch what is holy. When you tithe, your money is set apart from the earth’s curse, and the devil cannot steal from you.

 

4. Tithe Because You Are Already Blessed

Now, let’s look at the first time the tithe is mentioned in the Bible.

Gen 14:18-20  Then Melchizedek King of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.  And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

The first time the tithe is mentioned in the Bible is in this account, when Abraham (then known as Abram) returned with the spoils of war from his battle with four kings. He gave a tithe of all that he had gained to the King-Priest, Melchizedek. Melchizedek was the King of Salem and also the Priest of God Most High.

Look at what Melchizedek said in verses 19-20:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

So Abram tithed to Melchizedek because he was already blessed. Abram tithed to Melchizedek out of the spoils of war that God had given him. Do you know the size of Abram’s “army”? He defeated the armies of four kings with only 318 servants! Have you ever heard of any army that has gone out with such small numbers and won? That would take God! And it did!

So Abram tithed out of the blessings that God had given to him by grace. He tithed because he was already blessed.

Today, there are Christians who tithe in order to be blessed. They tithe to twist God’s arm so that He will bless them. That’s the wrong attitude toward tithing. God wants you to tithe in the knowledge that you are already blessed.

You might say, “But I am not walking in the blessings of God! My salary is so low! My bank account is dwindling! How can I be blessed?”

Well. you have Jesus! You have the grace of God – the unmerited, undeserved favor of God! This means that you are very blessed. Because when you have the favor of God, you are very rich! When you have Jesus, you have everything!

When you have a revelation of Jesus’ prosperity on the inside of you, and you tithe out of that revelation, it will affect your outward circumstances, and you will walk in your inheritance.

 

5. Your Tithe Testifies That Christ Is Alive

The interesting thing is that Melchizedek doesn’t appear again in any other account in the Old Testament. But the writer of Hebrews writes about him in chapter 7.

Hebrews 7:1-10  For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “King of Righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “King of Peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.  Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.  Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.  Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.  Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

Do you know that the Christ is referred to as a “Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek“? (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 5:6).  In fact, He is the High Priest according the order of Melchizedek! (Hebrews5:10, 6:20)

Notice that Melchizedek‘s name means “King of Righteousness” and he’s the King of Salem, meaning “King of Peace“. Notice also that he brought bread and wine – the elements of the Holy Communion – to Abram. He is a picture of Jesus Christ! So when Abram tithed to him, He was actually tithing to Christ!

The bread and wine – the broken body and blood of Christ – testify to the death of Christ. But the tithe testifies to Christ’s resurrection! The tithe testifies that He is alive today! (Hebrews 7:8)

Today, when you tithe, you are tithing to Christ. But more importantly, you are testifying that Christ is alive in your life! You are testifying that your heavenly Melchizedek is alive in your life!

Do you know what it means to have Christ alive in your life today? It means that He will come into your negative circumstance and turn it around for your benefit!  Above all, it means that there will be tokens, signs and witnesses in your life that Jesus Christ is alive in your life. People will look at you, your life and your family, and they will say, “You are blessed!” Jesus Christ will show Himself to be alive in your life in a very real and practical way. He will show Himself to be alive in your life when you walk in your inheritance – In all the blessings that He died to give you!

 

What You Have Discovered?

1. A tithe is one-tenth of your income.
2. When you tithe, you acknowledge that God is the senior partner in your covenant relationship with Him.
3. Your tithe sanctifies the remaining 90 per cent of your income.
4. You tithe not to get blessed, but because you are already blessed. You are blessed today because you have Jesus and the favor of God.
5. Your tithe testifies that Christ is alive today. When Christ is alive in your life, He will come into your negative circumstance and turn it around for your benefit.

 

Your Thoughts:

Do you find it difficult to tithe to God? If so, what are the hindrances?
Now that you have learned about the principle and significance of tithing, do you have a greater desire to tithe to God?
What are your expectations when you tithe?

Taken from: GRACE DISCOVERY – by Pastor Joseph Prince.

 

Sowing and Reaping

The Bible HOPE:

The Bible HOPE is different from the world’s hope. The world’s meaning of hope is merely a probable expectation. It may or may not happen. While the Bible HOPE is a Certain Definite Confidence expectation that it will surely happen. Thus, the Bible wants us to put on the Helmet of Hope as in :

1Thess 5:8-9  But let us who are of the day be SOBER, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a HELMET THE HOPE OF SALVATION.  For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

The Lord wants us to be assured in our Salvation (1 John 5:13) it is written so that we may know and be assured that we have ETERNAL LIFE. Eternal life is not Eternal life, if you think you may lose it tomorrow. Eternal means once saved forever saved. And, God the Father wants you to have that peace of mind, because you are saved not by the Blood of bulls and goats, but by the Blood of His only begotten Son, and because of the Quality of that precious blood of God, we should not have any doubts about our salvation in Christ. Thus, the bible HOPE means a CERTAIN POSITIVE CONFIDENT EXPECTATION of good that accompanies salvation in your future. It will SURELY happen, no doubts about your salvation anymore!

The true meaning of Salvation in Greek refers not only to being saved into Heaven when you die, but we should also enjoy a blessed life on planet earth, having peace, joy, and wholeness in body, soul and spirit.

In this world you will constantly be bombarded with negative fearful expectation. When you hear the TV news is bleak / no good, like five out of ten Singaporeans will experience this illness by certain age, you have to know that your future is bright! You do not belong to the world. Even when things are not looking good, because (Psalm 23:4) though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  We will not STAY in the valley but going through the valley and coming out alive on the other side, for the Lord is with us.

Put on the Helmet of Hope daily, even when you are sleeping, and if, in the middle of night you wake up the devils can put thoughts in you. But you need to know that bad things will not happen to you, only good things will happen to you in the future, because you are the righteousness of God in Christ. Trials of life come to everybody. It does not mean Christians will not go through trials, but trials we go through are to make us stronger and better person. Especially, those who serve full time like the ministers of the Gospel, worship leaders, those who are serving the Lord; there are some things that they went through, they do not need to go through, but they went through because of the ministry. This experience of trials ENRICHES them in certain areas, and they can now share their riches to others too, they can give more after they’ve gone through “the valley of the shadow of death”.

Like Paul said in (Php 1:12) “everything that has happened to me, is for the furtherance of the Gospel”. For example, he was captured / after he was bound in chain, then a Roman soldier got saved. When they replaced the soldier with another new one, that one also got saved. That was the testimony that Paul getting the Roman soldiers saved. He was in chains because of Christ.

 

Problem in having Bible HOPE:

However, one of the biggest problem that we have in having this bible hope that knocks us off our Helmet of Salvation, is because we heard so much teaching and preaching on “Sowing and reaping”. You were concerned and sometimes so haunted that whether the ‘bad seeds’ you sowed last time, is coming to fruition / harvest of evil waiting for you. ?

How can you have positive expectation of good, when you believe in “what you sow – you will reap”? You may ask: “but that is in the bible!”, yes it is in the bible! , and I have seen instances not just in the bible, where this principle did happen in the world.

For example: on the last day of Hitler, he went into hiding, trapped just like what he did to the Jews. His ending is even worst than the Jews. Also, AD70, Roman Emperor ordered his son, General Titus, to lead the army in the assault on Jerusalem. He led the force to exterminate the Jews, and burnt down the temple, and just a few years after that we know the tragedy of Pompeii happened. Volcano erupted, burnt down the entire city. The Reaping is always worst than the Sowing!

Also, Example in the bible: Hamman (in the story of Esther) the evil conspirator, who hated the Jews, who planned for the extermination of the Jews people, he was the ancient Hitler, and how he hated Mordecai (Esther’s uncle), so he erected about 75 feet tall gallows to hang  Mordecai, but at the end of the story, he himself was hung on that same gallows he built. Yes, that is Reaping what he Sowed.

What you sow is what you reap – Hosea: (Hosea 8:7 NKJV) “They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. …”

David sowed adultery with Bathsheba Uriah’s wife (in secret), then his sons committed adultery with one David’s wife (openly in public). David had Uriah killed in a battle, and David’s favorite son was also killed, in a battle. “What you sow is what you reap.”

But you may argue, David was a man of God not like Hamman an evil man. But your see, all the above illustrations are from the Old Testament. And, all the illustrations are still happening in the world till now. Because the Principle of “What you sow is what you reap” is for the People without Christ who will get “what they sowed is what they will be reaping, and it comes in greater volume.”

This saying that “The rooster will come home to roost”; it is true for the world!. But, for us in Christ, the Rooster was fried at the cross. Because, Jesus Christ on the cross had fried that chicken. We are not going to reap the bad things. Because Jesus took all the bad things we deserved on the cross, and in exchange He gave us all the good things we do not deserve. So now, we are going to reap only the good things that Jesus sowed at the cross.

If you agree Jesus took all your sins & shame on the cross, this is only half finished! ; You must also agree that you now carry His Glory & Blessings too, so that it’s now complete and finished.

 

The difference of Reaping and Consequence:

But, that does not mean, there is no consequence. Consequence and reaping is two different things.

Eg: if you are smoking all the time, and you have lung disease, that is not the reaping but is the consequence. If you are inconsiderate of people, if you treat them with disdain, people will shun you and you will not have good friends, this is the consequence. If you go to visit prostitution, you will get syphilis. You need not ask, “why God did not protect me?”. Because it is the consequence.

Reaping is this idea: “you do not know when the harvest will come”. What you sow is you will not reap immediately. While consequence is almost immediate or certain, you can be sure it will come, sometime in just a few days you will already know. Example: If you visit a prostitute, it is almost immediate and certain you would feel in a few days’ time something was wrong with your body, or at least you will get worried sick in your mind and heart, you will lose the peace of mind. This is consequence!

Consequence is almost immediate but you don’t know WHEN your reaping comes from what you sowed. There is this fearful of the harvest of evil in the future. Some Christians are worried too, of what they did evil in the past that “the rooster may come home to roost”. There is this fearful expectation of evil in the future”. If this is what you believe, then how can you have the bible Hope (wear the helmet of salvation)?

 

Sowing and Reaping in the new testament:

You may argue that this principle is mentioned a few times in the New Testament? Yes: But read the context, they specifically referring to 3 main areas only:

A) Sowing and Reaping on money / on finances – How rich you want, you decide.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.  8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2Cor 9:6-8  NKJV)

The whole context is on FINANCES. The verses before this was: “Jesus was made poor, so that you through His poverty, will be made rich”. The whole context is about MONEY.  And God actually said: “How rich you want?, you decide!. If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly too. If you sow bountifully, you will also reap bountifully”. Stingy Christians do not prosper. And, there are people in the world, who are sinners, but they are generous, and they prosper!  Why?  Because this is the principle applicable for the whole world, the principle of Finances: “what you sow is what you reap.”

B) Sowing the word of God

And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. (Mark 4:13-14 NKJV)

The verse is self-explaining, it is about sowing THE WORD.  Just like right now, I am sowing the word into your life, and I am believing God for a bountiful harvest in your life, for great good in your future. Because, I am sowing the word of God in you.

C) Sowing on body – (Rapture).

When Christ comes again, we will have a new body. But notice the body in harvest is different from the body sown?

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (I Cor 15:42-44 NKJV)

 

Consequences to certain sins:

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:14 NKJV)

This verse is talking about Consequence of certain sin/s on the body causing certain illness: There is a person who was unable to walk for 38 years, and Jesus healed him.

The word Sin no more: Sin here in Greek is ‘Hamartano’ (= a verb, not the noun of ‘Hamartia’) which means there is a certain act of sin that Jesus is telling him not to do it again. We do not know why this person could not walk, the bible did not specify clearly. But, we know that certain illness can cause inability to move the limbs. for eg: Syphilis / STD can cause a man to lose mobility in limb. There are consequences to sins, and here Jesus was trying to warn this man the same.

Likewise: Somebody smokes and had lung cancer. You prayed for him and he was healed. So now you are telling him: “since now you have been made well, don’t smoke again.” Is smoking a sin? You don’t need to argue with me, because I think Smoking is ugly not cool, and is a form of sin. God created us to walk on grass and not to have “grass” walk all over us. And, if you ask me: “Will a believer get to heaven if he keeps on smoking?” The answer is: Yes, he will get to heaven faster!

There are also consequences to the earth. The whole creation is groaning in travail as the result of Adam’s fall. We are living in the fallen world. You will see the increase in earth quakes. This is not God’s doing. There is a certain vibration that earth is responding to man’s wickedness. Look at South Korea and North Korea. The same continent of Korean atmosphere and weather, yet the North is struggling to feed the people, while the South is prosperous. Also, Russia, there was once a wheat basket, but now is importing wheat. A lot of blood has been shed in these nations. And the blood of the innocents is crying from the ground and anyway the ground is cursed after Adam’s original sin. Yes, Jesus’ perfect work on the Cross has taken up the curse, but the curse is not lifted from the world, it is lifted only from the children of God. Earthquakes and tsunami, are the sign of earth rebelling.  Animals used to talk in the beginning. Now they just groan. The whole earth has fallen.  Because the King of Creation (Adam) that God had created to rule over everything, had fallen. When Adam fell, they all fell. This is the consequence!

 

God is not mocked (frequent misquote / misinterpreted Gal 6):

The context is actually about Money / Finances, but this verse has been misinterpreted as sowing sins.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Gal 6:7 NKJV)

If you do not see the context, this verse on the surface sounds like referring to moral sins for the Christians. But you must read the verses before and after.

The book of Galatia, in context, is about the people who are living in mixing Grace and Law. Note, Apostle Paul never called any Galatians as holy, not even once; while he did call the carnal people of Corinth as holy / sanctified, calling them as Saints. Why? Because Paul was radically teaching the Galatians GRACE, and yet they tried to introduce the LAW again, they were trying to be perfected by the law instead of walking radically in the Grace of God. In fact, Paul in Gal chp.1 was pronouncing double curses to anyone who preached any other than Grace. Paul said: “They had been deceived.” Paul used the word “bewitched” like casting evil spell on you, and you were deceived.

See the context of Gal 6:

Gal 6:6  Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
(NLT) Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.  

Teaches here is referring to teaching Grace, by the teachers of Grace in Galatia. There were other false teachers teaching Judaism (the Law) to the people. And people are giving them money. They are teaching motivated by money. Paul is saying “guys you must share money only with those who teach Grace, don’t give to the teachers of Law.”

Then comes the verse :
Gal 6:7  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Gal 6:8  For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Gal 6:9  And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Gal 6:10  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

If you just take one verse Gal 6:7 , it will sound like applying generally to everything. But the context is specifically referring to: They were sowing to their fleshly effort. And they were trying their best by their effort to produce sudo-holiness (holiness by outside appearance only). And Paul said if you do that, you will reap corruption.

He who sow to the flesh = someone stingy. Sowing in the spirit = someone generous / graceful.

We know that: Everlasting life is a gift and cannot be bought by money, so what is this verse Gal 6:8 talking?
(…but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.)

Let’s go to 1Tim 6:17  Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. (NKJV)

Indeed, God is so good, when you enjoy, God is glorified.

1Ti 6:18  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,
1Ti 6:19  storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

The key word is… that they may lay hold on eternal life (Greek: ‘Ionos Zoe’). (I Tim 6:19 NKJV)

Eternal life is what Christ has done freely for us at the cross. Eternal life is already in you and you reap the joy from blessing people. That is laying hold on eternal life.

Eg: someone in need and you bless him, the person did not even know you bless him. You see him from a distance, he is smiling happy, sharing testimony; while all the while you are the secret giver. Are you robed from the joy? No but instead, there is a feeling of life (‘Zoe’) = you are reaping in your emotion; you are laying hold of eternal life.

So going back: Gal 6:8  …, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” So reap from where here? From within you! You are experiencing life in your emotion. Even in your body. Jesus once said: “if you are generous – your eye is single.” Hebraism: Single eye is found in proverb “he who has …eye is generous” if you are single eyes = you are generous, your whole body is so much full of life. Generous people are healthy.

 

One sows and another reaps:

There is no evil harvest in your future! Jesus reaped what we sowed. Did you see the 3 hour darkness and whirlwind at the cross? He was wounded for your evil sowing. So that we can reap what Jesus has sowed. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ (John 4:37 NKJV)

This verse many Christians missed it. Jesus is the one who said this.

I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” (John 4:36-38 NKJV)

Jesus is the light of the world. Don’t care what you have done in the past, today is a brand new day for you. Believe in Jesus and you will have a crop that is incorruptible. Jesus became a captive to set us free.

Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. (Psalms 126:5 NKJV)

Psalms 126:3  The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” (Psalms 126:1-2 NKJV)

(Taken from the sermon of Ps. Joseph Prince on Sunday, 12 July 2015.)

Prosperity Gospel

There is no Prosperity Gospel, but we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the Good News that when we embrace the Gospel, and believe in it, then it will produce prosperity in every areas of our life, like peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, Health, and including material blessings of money. Thus, The Gospel always produces Prosperity in your life.

I am against selfish prosperity teaching being preached, that is prosperity being used to enrich the preacher alone and let other people be deprived. I am against telling people that if you give this amount then God will give you 100 times more…etc. This is wrong and not in line with the Gospel. But I am for telling the truth about the Good News of Jesus Christ, I want the people who hear the Gospel enjoy the fruits of overall prosperity in life. And as the people prosper, so will the church be. This should be the mission of every Pastor and Preacher of the New Covenant of Grace.

Jesus has done it all on the cross, He took all the bad so that we can receive all His good. ALL for us to receive without any conditions attached, while we were still sinners in our sins, while we were still grudging, selfish,and NOT a generous giver; He has given us first His Grace. Look at this verse:

2Cor 8:9  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

No way can this be spiritualized, this is not spiritual blessing, but the whole context of 2 Corinthians chapter 8 & 9 are about money / material blessings / about giving.

The only time Jesus became poor was at the cross. He was born in the poor family, but even as a baby He had so much Grace that He attracted Gold & Silver, and frankincense, and myrrh that many wise men brought to baby Jesus, which was very expensive in those days in the Middle East.

Gold and silver (value system) comes to someone with Grace. Strip a person like Joseph and sell him only with his underwear in the slave market, and all he had was Grace (Gen 39:2  The LORD was with Joseph, and he was A SUCCESSFUL MAN…) and when he has Grace he has Favor, and everything else would come to him and before you knew it, he became the second most powerful man in Egypt. Yet his heart was not with all these material prosperity, but was in blessing of his brothers, was with saving the mankind.

Even you have nothing, it all starts with Grace, and Grace will bring you everything.

Those disputing prosperity teaching; Gospel is not about prosperity teaching, but these are true bible teachings. This Joseph story is not a fiction story, but indeed it did happen in the bible. God is the same God, Yesterday today and in the times to come, If He did it to Joseph, He can do it to you too. The Lord delights in the Prosperity of His people (Psalm 35:27) God loves to see you prosper! What you need is just believe! and you shall have what you believe.