New Year Resolutions 2019 - Renewal

Even before the half year mark, I forgot my new year resolutions for 2019. So now I am renewing it again:

First, as advised by Rev Stephen Schaefer, I am going to pray daily (and whenever I can) to be filled with the Spirit so that I have no room for other things (Ephesians 5:18).

Next, I am going to pray that what ever I do, I will do it to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Thirdly, I pray that my tongue will speak gracious words that will glorify God. Again like what Rev Stephen Schaefer had preached, we are little Christs (i.e. anointed ones, kings, prophets and priests), so we have to speak gracious words of comfort like a priest (Colossians 4:6).

And I add this final one for the second half of the year, that I may walk in the Spirit, so as not to fulfil the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

God is faithful and I do not depend on myself, but on Him who will bring to my remembrance all my resolutions and cause me to continue in it and also to answer my prayer. See, He is already doing this, sending me reminders to start my second half aright!

Summary:

1. Fill with the Spirit;
2. Walk in the Spirit;
3. Speak gracious words to glorify God;
4. Glorify God in all I do.

Salvation's Baseline

God's salvation is very simple. Believe and you will be saved. The baseline of salvation is "Believe in the Lord Jesus."
And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:31 ESV)

If it is so simple, what then is the problem?
The problem is when someone says, "I believe", what does he or she means? Is it an emotional response of the moment? Even if it is an emotional response, will this eventually grow to become a core conviction over time? So the problem is conviction, the problem of the heart. (Rev Gerard once preached on three types of conviction, public, private and core.)

If we believe with our heart and confess our conviction, then we are saved.
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NIV)

What if our own heart deceive us?
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV)

Then how can we be assured that our belief and conviction is true?
Two things - faith and works.

1. Our confession of faith:
We are saved by what the work of Jesus, by what He had done on the cross and nothing else.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV)

2. Our profession by works:
We are assured of our salvation by obeying and doing the will of God found in the Bible.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)

Our salvation is by faith. Our assurance is by works.
Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds." (James 2:18 NLT)
Suppose someone disagrees and says, "It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds." I would answer, "Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them." (James 2:18 CEV)

Wealth

Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil - this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 NIV)

God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil. (Ecclesiastes 6:2 NIV)

Lessons From The Torah

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:6-10 ESV)

Idolaters (1 Corinthians 10:7)
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." (Exodus 32:5 ESV)
And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:6 ESV)

Fornication (1 Corinthians 10:8)
When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab. (Numbers 25:1 NET)
Those who died by the plague were 24,000. (Numbers 25:9 NASB)

Testing Christ (1 Corinthians 10:9)
And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." (Numbers 21:5 ESV)
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:6 ESV)

Grumbling (1 Corinthians 10:10)
The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. "You have killed the LORD's people," they said. (Numbers 16:41 NIV)
But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. (Numbers 16:49 NIV)

Lessons From A Little Boy

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)

This morning in a crowded bus, a small boy was crying to his grandmother, pointing to the back of the bus, saying, "I want to sit there." This small boy could not appreciate that he was so fortunate to have a seat in the crowded bus. He insisted on going to the back of the bus, where his grandmother and him would have no seat.

Sometimes we are not happy with our situation. Like the small boy, we want our way. I think there are two things we should always do which will help us to open a new perspective.

We should always give thanks to God, no matter what state we are in. Once, the great nonconformist minister Matthew Henry was robbed. Yet he was able to find four reasons to thank God.

We must also give glory to God for all things. This helps to deflect pride and selfishness. We are very self-centred and proud people. This is our sinful nature. This causes us to be wilful and we want our own way, like the little boy.

Do

How?
Thankfully in the name of Jesus,
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17 ESV)
In love,
Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14 NIV)
As unto the Lord,
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, (Colossians 3:23 NIV)
To His glory.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)

Why?
We love, because He first love us.
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 ESV)
We forgive, because we were forgiven.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 ESV)
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13 ESV)
We give, because we were given.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8 KJV)

Pentecost - Inauguration of the Church Age

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other.
But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, "They're just drunk, that's all!" (Acts 2:1-13 NLT)

"From the day after the Sabbath - the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering - count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-16 NLT)

The Lord was resurrected on the day after Sabbath.
The church age was inaugurated on the day after Sabbath.
The Lord's day is the eighth day, the day after Sabbath.

Metamorphosis

The first commandment
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NASB)

The first prophecy
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15 KJV)

The two basic message of the Bible was completed by the third chapter of Genesis:

1. Belief leads to life; unbelief leads to death.
2. God will defeat satan by the seed of the woman.

The rest of the Bible basically reveal more details on these two messages.

Life and death, belief and unbelief
God promised life to those who believe Him. There is only one way to life. If we reject truth and life, we get lies and death.

Salvation
God revealed the method of salvation - by redemption.

Mind And Information

Which come first, mind or information? Based on our observation, mind produce information. But evolution and Buddhism insist that information come first. For evolution, it is the scientific rules. For Buddhism, it is dharma. The Bible agrees with our general observation. The mind comes first. This mind is God.

How One World Religion Can Be Established

How can the followers of the many religions in the world give up and follow one religion? This is impossible at the moment. But it will be possible when the three conditions occur.

1. The current religions fail their followers;
2. Science prove one religion to be true;
3. Great miracles prove the same religion to be true.

I want to talk about the third point - the great miracles. The Bible mentioned at least two such miracles.

1. God defended Israel against Gog and Magog in such a way that the world will recognize that the God of Israel is indeed the true God (Ezekiel 38:23).
2. A miraculous healing of a world leader caused the world to be filled with wonder and they follow him (Revelation 13:3).

In this way, I will show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:23 NLT)

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. (Revelation 13:3 NIV)