Being on the Right side


A Song of degrees of David. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side…… (Psa 124:1)


We cannot be presumptuous that God is on our side just because we profess the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Matt 7:21). Being on His side requires something of us, for He is a requiring God. Even Joshua fell into the same situation as many of us do, especially if there is a specific calling or ministry upon our lives or to perform a service ‘unto the Lord’. When asked on which side the Angel with a drawn sword stood, the unexpected answer was ‘Nay’(Josh 5:13-15)! The leader of Israel was immediately made to realize his position not as a leader but as a servant. In the Kingdom of God servanthood is greatness and greatness is servanthood (Luke 22:26). Unfortunately there has been a great push to train up and develop leaders even in Christiandom. Shouldn’t it be the converse since we can’t be greater than our master who Himself was the servant of all? Servanthood is divine meekness that has the potential to inherit the earth and also ‘shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace’ (Matt 5:5, Psa 37:11). No wonder so many people who attend churches are striving today, the heathens will question ‘where is rule of the Prince of Peace?’


What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)


What are the ‘these things’ that Paul was talking about? The qualification that God will be for us are contained in ‘these things’. The preceding verses talks about those called (according to His purpose) and being predestined to be conformed to His Son's image (Rom 8:28-30). Therefore in order for God to be on our side, He has to see a conforming of our total mind, body and spirit to the image of His Son. As natural as a father respond to his son, so does our Heavenly Father to His sons whom He wants to bring unto glory (Heb 2:10). The image of His Son is one of meekness and total submission to His will clearly lived out in Jesus’ ministry on earth as a suffering servant and was obedient unto death (Phil 2:8).


Do we bear any semblance to Jesus Christ? If we do, than we will not carry the cross in our journey of discipleship in lonely despair but with great joy for the hope that is set before us, the crown of life!

Truth
Paul Washer


Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jud 1:11)


The rise of many false teachers today is same as economics, one of supply and demand. Indeed the gate is narrow and the path is difficult that leads unto eternal life (Matt 7:14).



For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2Ti 4:3-4)

If this message doesn't break our hearts, than we have to think very carefully if we have lived in vain and the sufferings and deaths of the saints past are but utter futility.

Persecution or a Great Awakening

Paul Washer

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:10)

This message is 'almost' prophetic even with the Hate Crime Bill which President Obama will be signing soon. 'WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation Thursday that would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.' (23 Oct as reported in CNN). This bill not just serve to protect individuals from violence but also mean that documents like the Bible which teaches against homosexuality, divorce, fornication, etc will be considered 'hate material'. Preachers who preach against sin and the need for mankind to turn from our wicket ways will be considered advocating 'hate crime'.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. (Matt 24:8-10)

Dear saints, in our generation we have seen unprecedented occurrences in wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, tsunamis and the such. We have to be acquainted with the Word of Life to know what will soon come..... the son of perdition and his reign. 'Wherefore comfort one another with these words' (1 Thess 4:16-18) that Jesus is returning to rule in the Millennium Kingdom sooner that we think. Our Lord will answer the disciples question on the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel on Mount of Accession even in our lifetime (Acts 1:6).

Going Without Knowing


By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Heb 11:8)


The call to Abraham is the same as the call of Jesus for us to leave our ‘self-controlled environment’ in which we have the necessary experience and understanding to shape our own destiny. Leaving that past behind and being led by Another brings instability to our life and following as sheep in the pilgrimage He will show us, not as a complete blueprint but unfurling a little at a time (Gen 12:1, Luke 9:23). The taking up of the cross and deny self (not self denial, http://pursuinghispresence.blogspot.com/2008/12/denying-self-vs.html) is liken to leaving one’s country, kindred and father’s house (Gen 12:1) taking upon ourselves something that outside of us, the cross divinely given by Christ. Denying self is contrary to an unconverted life where another ‘lord’ reigns supreme.


To God, Abram was already Abraham when the first step of leaving was taken. ‘Faith can lay hold of blessings at a great distance; can make them present; can love them and rejoice in them’ (Matthew Henry). Living as a stranger and pilgrims (Heb 11:13) in tents (Heb 11:9) is one that is without any inward attachments to what can be grasp with human hands. Do we live with the same reality of a greater heavenly promise than earthly attainment before our descendents (dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise)? Could this account for some subsequent generations not able to living to the same promise and hope of their fathers but falter away further and some to the point of rejecting the God of their parents. Could this be the reason why revivals in our Christian history could not sustain because we desire permanency than ‘living in tents’?


After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: (Act 15:16)


Jesus said He will build His church (Matt 16:18), which is the tabernacle of David. Art Katz pointed out that this verse has been wrong interpreted as charismatic worship when truly it means the rule and reign of the Greater David over His church and that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord (Acts 15:17). Here again tabernacle or tent is used. Perhaps the Lord desires us to see that the first earth must pass away and make way for the new (Rev 12:1). The creation itself groans and labors with birth pangs for the final redemption of His church not to beheld by human perspective but through the eyes of faith (Rom 8:22-24).


Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Th 4:18)


We have to examine ourselves if we truly look forward to His coming or we, like the Jewish nation rejected His first, disqualifying ourselves from inheriting His Kingdom. What words do we comfort one another? Is it about the possibility of economic turn around, 'things is going to get better' or Jesus is coming….. soon! The call to Abraham and the call of Jesus is really about the cross, because those who seek after the restoration of the kingdoms to Israel (Acts 1:6) will be misunderstood and in extreme situations be counted as those ‘of whom the world is not worthy’ (Heb 11:38) thus possible heeding the call to martyrdom.

The Love of the Truth

Art Katz

Isaiah 28

Empowered by Grace

John Bevere

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
(1Pe 1:15-16)

http://www.holydesperation.com/sermons/top/EmpoweredbyGrace.mp3

And They Crucified Him
Art Katz

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
(1Co 2:2)

Working in Truth


Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! (John 1:47)


The Lord commends those who are devoid of deceit because such a man or woman has come to a place of oneness with Him (John 17:21). One of the claims of Jesus is that He IS the Truth, hence His words carry everything that bears truth (John 8:40). The oneness with the Father is exhibited in not speaking of Himself but of the Father. This is where preachers of the Word need to be sure that the place of their spiritual standing is with Jesus and not from humanistic perspective, as He is with the Father lest there is speaking of untruth. A speaking that is not founded in Christ is alien of Father and there is from another father (John 8:38), and the other father speaks out of deceit (John 8:44). Messages from the pulpit should draw us to the conformity of Christ, not self realization but Christ exaltation (John 3:30). Truth comes in the form of the double edged sword (Heb 4:12) before it brings comfort (Hos 6:1).


They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
(John 8:39)


The works of Abraham was that he believed God in obedience and it was imputed unto him for righteousness (Jas 2:23) and further more ‘this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent’ (John 6:29). Truth is the work of God ‘which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Phil 2:13) before working out with fear and trembling. ‘In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God….We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be "well pleased" (Matt 3:17)’ (Oswald Chambers).


For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
(Mat 24:5)


Those who preach outside of the oneness with Jesus can preach another Jesus, another gospel (2 Cor 11:4). Listeners require the nobility ‘in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.’ (Acts 17:11). Notice how many followers of preaching icons we have today. Do these icons speak of themselves or of Jesus, as Jesus speaks of the Father? Have some of these icons subtly usurped the Lordship of Jesus? Sadly people pursue the messenger more than Message Himself.


If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
(1Jn 4:20)


How do we know that we are in the truth or in deceit? A life lived founded in truth prefers another. Firstly for Father and second for others, however we should take note that the measure of our love for the Lord is in how much we love the brethren. The pilgrimage of a believer living in truth will take him or her to the conformity the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). The truth of Christ has the power to make us free (John 8:32) from sin (not in sin) with the grace and freedom to forgive the vilest offender, to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, pray for the best of our persecutors, esteeming others better than ourselves…. These demonstrate the love and meekness not of us, but that which proceeds from our oneness in Christ. We cannot deny God the privilege of working in truth, we shouldn’t be surprise that God uses the most unlikely and uncomfortable situation and people to do so… because He wants to bring many sons to Glory (Heb 2:10).

Wake Up Church!
www.holydesperation.com

The True Grace of God

John Bevere

Antinomianism was coined by Martin Luther and in our time Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached against cheap grace by reminding us that there is a cost to discipleship (Luke 9:23).

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jud 1:4)

Sadly even in the time of the Apostles, Jude has already warned us that cheap grace will be the enemy of the discipleship of Jesus Christ. Cheap grace easily creeps into any body of believers that refuse to yield to the converting power of God.

The Proper Seeing


Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
(Jer 1:11)


The key qualification of a prophet is to the ability to see from God’s perspective not man’s viewpoint and the prophet was commended ‘Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.’ (Jer 1:12). If we are able to behold in accordance to His divine wisdom we will not be stumped by unfurling world events. There are many ‘prophetic’ voices today, but how many have actually seen things the way that God wants us to behold. If we hear from prophets who are truly seers than we will not be caught unawares (Amos 3:7).


….. I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
(Rev 19:10)


Jesus is being preached and testified today by many but is there another 'Jesus' that is being preached or we have received another spirit or another gospel (2 Corr 11:4)? There is only One Way that leads to eternal life and it is entered through a straight gate and trod on a narrow way which few find it (Matt 7:14). We have somehow gotten the picture that the way to eternal life is a crowded one. It is not that salvation is exclusive but in the heart of hearts is His willingness that none perish but all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). Interestingly Peter did not say ‘all should come to salvation’. Salvation is not merely a prayer uttered to ‘accept Jesus into my heart’ but to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). Jesus is returning for His bride, not to some form of unfamiliarity to His likeness. Adam was created in God’s image (Gen 1:26) but sin has cost man that divine image, thus Jesus had to come as the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) so that through Him we can return to the place of originality. He is called the ‘Last Adam’, because it’s His finished work and no more Adams (another Jesus or another gospel) need come .


The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
(Psa 19:7-9)


Antinomians and preachers of cheap grace want to do away with the law which in their opinion is bad. Today the fear of the LORD seems to be an unnatural response and that God’s holiness drive people away from the ‘gospel’. But truth is beyond fact, because the latter can change but truth is eternal. How do we know we are truly saved and conversion has begun to take place? This Psalm tells us if salvation has indeed come to us and the conforming into His image has begun.


That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
(Mar 4:12)


We may have eyes but seeing doesn’t take place in the absence of light. However there is another ‘seeing’ that comes in a different light (2 Cor 11:14) and that with an angelic nature (don't be deceived!). Seeing in the true light of the Lord Jesus Christ will inevitably bring us to the place of conversion. Strangely the word ‘conversion’ is hardly used in Christian circles today. It is because the ‘other gospel’ preaches that we can be saved ‘in’ sin and not ‘from’ sin. This ‘other Jesus’ permits a living in the unconverted lifestyle and yet still have a valid ticket to heaven. If this is true then where is the conforming to the image of His Son? Where is the forming to the likeness of originality as with God’s initial intent in the Garden of Eden?

A Call to Anguish
David Wilkerson



Quotations from David's message. Full version : http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=3843
Description: Wilkerson in this message gives out a call for all Believers to allow the anguish of God's heart for His Church and the world, into their own. Be prepared to be stirred by the Holy Spirit. You will truly never be the same!

Unrivaled Devotion


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
(Mat 10:37)


After teaching His disciples about the cost of discipleship (context Matt 10:16-34), Jesus than said something strange as though there is no connection; he came to bring division (Matt 10:34), not for the worst but for the best… is there a clear cut distinction of our love towards Him. ‘And a man's foes shall be they of his own household’ (Matt 10:36), because family will be the truest test of the good that can become the enemy of the best. Not that He ask us to contradict the moral truths of His Word to honor parents, love our spouses and children, but rather He is asking us if there is any competing devotion even between our closest ones with Him. We are commanded to love each other sacrificially, but never to be drawn away by it from our First Love. Jesus is asking us to show Him unrivaled devotion even when faced with greatest of challenges in sufferings and pain in times or persecution.


……. lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
(John 21:15)


Peter was brought back to the time of his trice denial of Jesus after he declared his total devotion to the Lord and never deserting Him (Matt 26:33). He knew of the failure at the time of greatest threat to his own life. In the face of hardest persecution and suffering, Jesus is asking us to make a definite decision… self, family or Him. Perhaps for Peter the ‘these’ that Jesus was asking him was about the strong ‘self’ in both public heroism and declaration of loyalty, however even the ‘these’ need to be tested with fire of trials. Whatever the ‘these’ are for us, Jesus will confront us not for Himself, but for ourselves to find out if there is indeed unrivaled devotion for Him as He did with Peter… ‘Lord, you know’.


…… should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
(Eze 34:2)


When the question of unrivaled love is settled, His commandment comes to us clearly to live our lives in total fulfillment of His will. A true disciple of Jesus Christ is in total obedience and oneness with the First and Greatest Commandment; the second is the overflowing life to feed His lambs.

Preciousness in Death


Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
(Psa 116:15)


Death is probably the greatest heartfelt loss in one’s lifetime, especially if it is of a very dear one. It bears with it a pain that others would not have the slightest inkling, unless the sympathizer also has undergone such an experience. Recently there was a death of a pastor’s child; such sorrow is probably one of the most difficult griefs to come to terms with. Many questions would be asked by parents, family and church members alike. It will be times like this when our faith in everything Jesus has said and promised will be put to the test. How do we perceive His Word, perhaps the truth of Psalm 91 doesn’t have any bearing anymore?


For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: …..
(Eze 18:32)


There is a death that is precious to the Lord, and there is death that He unwelcomes. A ‘saint’ is one whose life is of highest virtue and benevolence. So the Father esteems the death of one whose life has walked in His ways in unquestionable obedience and know what it means to ‘pour out unto the Lord’ (2 Sam 23:16). A life that lives with unclasps hands that freely receives and freely gives (Matt 10:8). A life poured out bears no self consciousness because he or she only sees a trickle or glassful, but in the hand of the Sovereign God it is a river of living waters (John 7:38) that blesses myriads beyond our human imagination. A life poured out will bear the cross of people's criticism and counted as waste. Jesus poured out His life and the reverberation of salvation’s power stretches from alpha to omega.


Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, ……. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
(Job 1:20-22)


Job faced great loss of his children and all that he ever owned, yet not a hint of spiritual pseudo-city in dealing with grief. Expressing the sorrow of loss he did, but conducted himself with such self-control and wisdom. The mantle was rent, the head was shaved in sorrow, yet with patient submission He worshipped the God whom he honored and served. A worship that must have been poured out with such depth that only heaven will respond; even the closest ones to him could never comprehend. Paul could understand sufferings (Col 1:24, 2 Cor 1:6, 7, Rom 8:18), but does the Almighty understand? Yes He does; it was so agonizing that the Father had to turn His face away (Matt 27:46). Jesus sorrow wasn’t in the pain He had to endure but to this brief moment of eternity when oneness with His Father was broken. This is the kind of death that the Father finds such preciousness.


May God in His mercy give us this spiritual stature to grasp this kind of preciousness in death, whether is be for our loved ones or even for ourselves. We may not attain to this as of yet, but God prepares us and gives us His enabling grace when it does come…..after all the centrality of the Christian life is culminated in the Cross (Luke 9:23).


"In his hearing before the Gestapo during his imprisonment, defenseless and powerless as he then was only fortified by the word of God in his heart, he stood erect and unbroken before his tormentors. He refused to recant, and defied the Gestapo machine by openly admitting that, as a Christian, he was an implacable enemy of National Socialism and its totalitarian demands toward the citizen—defied it, although he was continually threatened with torture and with the arrest of his parents, his sisters and his fiancée… In 1944, when friends made an attempt to liberate him and to take him to safety abroad, he decided to remain in prison in order not to endanger others.


"The last service which Dietrich Bonhoeffer held on the day before his death... 'moved all deeply....'


"Bonhoeffer, who was never tried, went steadfastly on his last way to be hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity. God heard his prayer and granted him the 'costly grace'—that is, the privilege of taking the cross for others and of affirming his faith by martyrdom."


"Memoir" by G. Leibholz

Thanks-Living


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


Saying ‘thank you’ is an expected response from any polite saved or unsaved person (Matt 5:47). This verbiage can be shallow or hollow and may not derive from a truly thankful life. But the apostle tells us to ‘give’ thanks, not just saying it. This giving of thanks has to come out of abundance, because we can’t ‘give’ if we don’t possess. That is the reason why Paul who was shown how great things he must suffer for Jesus name’s sake (Acts 9:16) can give thanks in worst of conditions. More than that, he gloried in his infirmities because he understood suffering is nothing in comparison to what the Son of God has done for him on the cross (2 Cor 11:23-30). Thankfulness is not a flippant exercise, but one that have a deep encounter with the Living God and known the amazing grace of God that ‘saved a wretch like me’ (John Newton) . Meet a suffering man or woman whose life is full of thankfulness, we have met one that will exclaim ‘Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?’ (1Ch 17:16).


Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
(Php 4:6-7)


Peace is a companion to a life that exuberates with thanksgiving. Shallow prayers not out of a thankful life won’t keep us, opening doors for attacks from evil, discouragement, depression and bitterness. Thankful prayers spares us from fretting and gives us divine confidence, thus we wait only upon God, for our expectation is from Him and not any other source (Psa 62:5). Relying on other sources is like leaning on bruised reed that can pierce us (2Ki 18:21) and bring about disappointment which may lead to bitterness. Thankful prayers are powerful spiritual weapons against the unseen enemy, standing our ground in the victory Christ has already won for us (Eph 6:13).

Godly Heritage
….. thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
(Psa 128:3)

There is a blessing to our next generation attached to fearing the Lord. Fearing the Lord must not be confused with being frightened which will cause us to stand ‘afar off’; the healthy fear of the Lord draws us to Himself (Exo 20:21). ‘The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.’ (Prov 19:23), what more can we ask for in this state of abundant of life (John 10:10). The key to bringing up children correctly lies with how the father and priest of the family fear the Lord. There is only so much we can discipline, teach and lead to ensure our children don’t end up in moral defeat and lose the Kingdom of Heaven. Earthly fathers who live their lives under this constant relationship with his Father in Heaven will have the assurance of blessing upon their children.

The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: …..
(Jer 11:16)

Olive trees are known for their longevity and some in the Garden of Gethsemane date back to the time of Jesus. The first mention of olive is of the dove that brought a plucked leaf and from that Noah knew that the flood waters were abated, thus signifying the end of God’s judgment by flood and start of a new beginning. The blessing of a father that fears the Lord is that He ensures our children begin as olive plants to become trees who are called by name, signifying a relationship and not by some foreign god.

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree….
(Hos 14:6)

The goodly fruit of the natural olive tree blesses mankind with oil for cooking, lighting, food, cosmetics and medicine. The spread of the olive tree provides protection and shelter to God’s creatures. Our children’s lives can carry the anointing (separation, consecration, spirit led instead of living in the flesh) of God for bearing the Words of Eternal Life, shining as lights in our crooked and perverse nation, bring healing to the nations and praying for the safety of our nation to be spared from God’s judgment.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
(Psa 127:5)

Twice mentioned was the blessing that the seed of our fathers will possess the gates of the enemies (Gen 22:17, 24:60), the first one from the Lord to Abraham and the second from Rebekah’s brothers, as though ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10). The seed of those who fear the Lord echoing back the heart of the Father. That is the life that our seed are supposed to live, carrying the eternal significance of God’s plan and purposes. Do we live this kind of a life and can we leave such a powerful heritage to our children. The God fearing father would be the ones that ‘that walketh in His way’ (Psa 128:1) which carries the same fatherly spirit that Paul has calling out to ‘be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ’ (1 Cor 11:1). Paul knew because there are already many instructors and not many fathers (1 Cor 4:15), only fathers can truly love sacrificially more than teachers. The father will be the man whom God will use to sharpen the arrow point, straighten the shaft and prepare the fletching so when the Master calls to launch the arrow it will inevitably hit the mark. We don’t want our children to miss the mark or come short (Rom 3:23) of God’s target, which is 'in bringing many sons unto glory' (Heb 2:10) and nothing less of that.

Health of Our Christian Walk
(plese click here to audio visual link)

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: ……
(Psa 121:3)

To ‘walk before the Lord’ is to ‘keep in pace’ with God. It is living a life that is in keeping with His will, our eyes focusing not on our pathway but on the One leading us. ‘Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters… so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God… (Psa 123:2). It is a life that is led by the Good Shepherd (Psa 23:2). Jesus’ call to discipleship is ‘Follow Me’ and ‘be yoked to Him’, nothing more simplistic and assuring than that. This is the call of faith, because there should not be anything in us to question or to reason with the One leading. There is true security if we are at rest by choosing this way of living, strive-less as it were; ‘…neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.’ (Psa 131:1)

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
(Gen 17:1)

An everlasting covenant was given to Abraham thirteen years after Ishmael’s birth that came with a condition… walk before Him and be perfect. The word ‘perfect’ refers to be morally unblemished, not as much as perfectionism but one’s life that carries a purity with regard to our love and loyalty to Christ our Savior. We know that Abraham’s life wasn’t ‘perfect’ but there was a consistent natural gravitation to the friendship with God that was so delightful to Him (Jam 2:23).

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
(Psa 37:23-24)

The God directed life led (not driven) by His Grace and Holy Spirit for we do not claim to know the way of Righteousness (Psa 1:6) but He will be our constant Guide. A God ordered life is not doomed with permanent failures. Sometimes he will allow us to stray to meet our wits end, but always within His saving reach.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

(Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Robert Robinson)

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
(John 10:34)

The tragedy with many is that our eyes are focused not on the Good Shepherd because we want to direct our own destiny. Taking full control is say that we want to be in the place of God. This is a grievous temptation we will always face for its very source is satanic in nature… ‘…then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods’ (Gen 3:5). King Asa ‘was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great’ for his eyes looked not unto the Lord for salvation but to man. Sadly he took matters into his own hands and formed an unholy league using the holy things of the House of God as payment thus mixing the holy with the unholy, purity in relationship lost. This serves as a warning to us regarding the health of our Christian walk. Where is the focus of our eyes? If it is on the pathway then we trend on dangerous ground, but if on the Lord, He will certainly bring unwavering stability to our lives and not fall into deceit (Eph 4:14).

Audio Visuals on Radical Obedience and Psalm 131 (NKJV) - A Song of Ascents

Audio visuals done by brother Rich Crowe. More audio visuals can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/stack45ny. It's a blessing to have a met a brother who has an urgency to share the gospel with the gift that the Lord has blessed him with.

Radical Obedience

……. first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
(Mat 5:24)

The altar is place of determination of our obedience as it was with King Saul (1 Sam 15:22), specific instructions were given on building an altar lest we pollute it (Exo 20:25). Yes, the altar can be polluted by human intervention where our prayers will not be acceptable to the Holy God. The altar is place of our undefiled communion with God; it distinguishes between His people and those who aren’t. We may not build heathen altars but the builder’s radical obedience will be tested.

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; ……….
(Mar 11:25)

The Lord who looks at the heart and not on what was placed on the altar will ask us if we are willing to do what is the ‘first’. Meaning there are important matters to clear with others before we worship, pray or to serve Him. We often are interested in the doing more than face the dealings. We may ask ‘What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?’ (John 6:28), which is less confrontational and threatening. Most are willing to be radical for Christ in works, even to forsake the world as it were in order to do. But the test before allowing the fire of God to consume the gift on the altar is to just go and be reconciled. How can we love our enemies (Matt 5:44) if we can’t even work out reconciliation in fear and trembling with our own brother or sister?

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: …….
(1Jn 4:20)

Radical obedience is to go and do the ‘first’ things. Radical obedience is facing up with the truth of our true allegiance and love for God. It is when we are ready to risk our reputation, as Jesus made Himself of no reputation by choice (Phil 2:7) for the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18). Praying is more than communicating with God, it’s a relationship. Before we vertically commune with God, we need to be restored horizontally. How much are we willing to radically obey?

Pornography - Road to Hell, by Michael Pearl (www.nogreaterjoy.org)

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
(Gal 5:19)

In my last blog on The Prevailing Spirit, there was a brief mention of men who cannot prevail in the sin of pornography. If you do, please do not be afraid to come before the Lord for deliverance. Paul warns that those involved in fornication (Greek: por-niah, root word for pornography) will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Your humilty and brokeness before the Lord will save you from hell.

I highly recommend this very forthright book in understanding the wickedness behind pornography and the tool of devil to drag many men to hell. Read it for yourselves to be warned, pass it to fathers and mature young men. Even to wives whose husbands are steep in pornography as to what to do for their loved ones.

Pornographers can be redeemed by mighty Blood of the Lamb!

If you are personally involved in this grevious sin, please, please, come before the Lord to help you escape the coming wrath.

You can obtain more details here:
http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/articles/marriage-family/fathersmen/article-display/archive/2000/july/01/pornography-road-to-hell/

Stores to purchase copies (I am not affiliated with this ministry):

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/footer-menu/store-near-you/

http://www.stringsoflove.org/books.htm#porn (book store in Malaysia)

The Prevailing Spirit
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
(Psa 129:2)

As human history draws closer to the end, evil continues to escalate for the devil knows his time is running short (Rev 12:12). There are more and more things we need to prevail over, for example time and attention to family and the Lord; activities, programs and things can cause our priorities to change from the better. Many men struggle to prevail over anger and pornography. How can we claim to be more than conquerors if in actuality we can’t prevail? The devil is more subtle than we think and don’t want us to consider otherwise. Slowly we can be drawn away from our Source of eternal life, when we wake up to the blow of financial difficulties, loss of jobs, family breakdown, racial tension, betrayal, offences, wars, etc, it will be too late (Matt 24:6-10). There isn’t any Words of Eternal Life sufficiently grafted in to find that the Lord had planted our feet on a broad place to be delivered (Psa 18:19).

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
(Psa 143:3)

Church history tells us of the persecuted church because those who ‘live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2 Tim 3:12). How many will prevail as Stephen, one full of faith and the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5) to stand steadfast under false accusation with a countenance of an angel (Acts 6:15) and ready to die for the truth. It is interesting to note that Stephen was one of the seven chosen to take care of basic needs of widows. Most would want great faith and the power of the Holy Spirit to work wonders (which Stephen did perform) and built bigger ministries, yet would leave out the greater-menial task of servanthood. Perhaps we have gotten our priorities reversed these days and cost us the prevailing spirit. Another area we need to guard is the attacks upon our soul, seat of our emotions and will. It seems that the soul would be likely target because this is where we can lose our salvation (Heb 10:39).

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
(Gen 32:28)

We need the same prevailing spirit as Jacob, the end is more than blessing but a God given new name (Rev 2:17, 3:12). This man was a survivor and God had to bring him to an end of himself to finally wrestle not with man but with God. Without coming to our wits end, we will continue to summon all of our human nature and strength to work out situations for ourselves. God is merciful and wants to bring many sons to glory (Heb 2:10) and to be called His prince, His son. Sons inherit and that the inheritance of the Kingdom of God.

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: ………..
(Mat 5:45)

Jesus gave a clear condition to being Father’s children, a truth we have to seriously consider. The greatest prevailing we can do is over our enemies; those who curse, hate, despitefully use and persecute us. The intent is that we be ‘perfect’ or complete in Christ (Col 2:10) as the Father is complete in Himself, nothing found wanting. Jesus prayed for the good of the ones that hung Him on the cross that the Father would forgive them (Luke 23:34), do we pray for the good of our enemies? Stephen prayed the same prayer (Acts 7:60), only a man who is complete in Christ can utter such things.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Rom 12:20-21)

We cannot usurp God’s right to judge our enemies to ‘heap coals of fire’ (Psa 11:6). The prevailing spirit has to be grounded in the love of God. It is good to grow in faith, but love is greater, for it keeps us unto the Coming of Jesus Christ.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
(1Cor 13:13)
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
(Jud 1:20-21)

Kingdom Life Without Strive

And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. (2Ki 2:14)

Here is a clear example of a spiritual heritage passed down which didn’t diminished but doubled. There are few cases of which we hear of today that the spiritual heritage remains strong to the subsequent generation that neither diluted in its doctrines or lack the faithfulness to stay on course with the Almighty. Solomon was half hearted and didn’t walk before God like his father David who was the standard bearer for kings. Gehazi could have received quadruple of Elijah’s portion but missed the boat because of his own covetousness (2 Ki 5:25-27), because he sought for the earthly not the ‘hard thing’ (2 Ki 2:20) that only God can give.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Rom 8:37)

“Where is the LORD God of Elijah?’ was not as a question per se, but more of a declaration. He stood upon the foundation of the God of Elijah and remained true to that for the rest of his life and prophetic career which didn’t require any striving. If he didn't know a matter even as a prophet he wasn't striving (2 Ki 4:27). For us we need to know (not in our minds, but deep down in our soul) our foundation or bedrock of our belief, Christ the Chief Cornerstone (1 Pet 2:6). Are our souls anchored on hope (Heb 6:19) such that our will, mind and emotions respond in Godly ways to people and circumstance that come our way. If Jesus is truly the Rock of our Salvation what is there to strive?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (Mat 6:32)

Hope cannot anchor us if we strive in worrying for our needs. Even our prayers reflect whether we are striving or not, do we pray deeply knowing that ‘your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.’ (Matt 6:8) or we ask in prayer as though we need to remind God. Our striving will stop when we rest in the revelation that God is our Father. Thus our prayer begins with ‘Our Father’. Not that we don’t pray, but do continue to pray. Initially we will pray with the idea that God will conform to our prayers, but the truth is as we continue to pray, He will conform us to His answer which is His will. But the condition is if we are truly Father's children.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matt 6:12)

Do we still strive in unforgiveness? Is there bitterness of heart for our enemies? More than forgiving our enemies, we are to love, do good to them and pray for their best. Jesus warns us that we will be imprisoned in bitterness and the pain of paying to the uttermost penny (Matt 5:15, 26). This kind of striving is probably the most painful, if we want to live in His Kingdom He will relentlessly deal with us. This deals with our will and emotions of the soul beyond our mind (lest we reason why we shouldn't forgive). Get out of striving and be reconciled.

Elisha acted on his belief in the God of Elijah. Faith is to act in accordance to our belief. If we believe on our God who is the Creator of Heaven and the Earth, the Almighty, we will act accordingly. Acting according to God’s principles is what righteousness is, because our actions are right in God’s eyes.

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (Mar 2:27)

Man was created on the sixth day. Therefore the first full day is the Sabbath and not of striving. We rest in the completed work of God, the devil’s powers are done away with (Rom 16:20), we sit with Christ (Eph 2:6) and sin no longer have dominion over us (Rom 6:14). Now all we have to do is to live the Kingdom life, without any striving.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:28-29)

Converting of our Soul

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: ….. (Psa 19:7)

Converting is to denote a turning back or a restoration and it goes deeper than the outward but deep into the soul. The soul is the seat of our mind, will and heart or our emotions. Jesus warns us to fear God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 10:28). We know that the body we have now is corruptible thus we wait for the redemption of our body when Christ returns (Rom 8:23). In the meanwhile our soul need saving as well. This is the parts of our lives that makes us human and respond both to fellow man and to God.

Jesus said at the conclusion of Matt 5 on the exposition of the spirit of the Law that the ‘being’ is what we are to attain…. The Perfection or maturity that Jesus is teaching about does not concern with the degree of excellence but rather the excellence that make a clear distinction of being a disciple in the Kingdom of God.

Why is it important to have our souls converted?
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Th 5:23)

Firstly, our salvation concerns the whole – spirit, soul and body. Our soul…mind, will and emotions need to be preserved blameless, purged of all that is of the old man and putting on of the new man (Eph 4:24).
Mind: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom 12:2)
Will: I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)
The converted mind and will need no longer question God and ask Him what His will is or are we still struggling and asking questions and not resting in His will? We learn to live for the Greater and not ourselves. We live to please and glorify God and not seek man’s approval. There is a purpose in our lives as we live in His Will. No longer purpose driven but lead by the Good Shepherd (Psa 23:2).

Emotions: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:45)
Jeremiah warns us how deceitful and wicket our heart is (Jer 17:9), thus we need a ‘new’ one (Eze 36:26). That is why we are commanded to love Him whole heartedly as opposed to Saul who ‘turned his heart from the LORD God of Israel’ (1 Kings 11:9) because he loved his wives more than God. A good heart draws out good things that blesses men and brings glory to God.

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. (Prov 16:32)
A practical example of an unconverted soul is in the area of controlling one’s anger. Paul reminds unbridled anger can lead to sin (Eph 4:26) which certainly doesn’t bless men nor glorify God.

How do our souls receive it’s converting?
…… and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (Jas 1:21)
How much have we allowed God’s Word to be inserted into our lives that cuts deeply (Heb 4:12)? The word ‘sword’ refers to the ‘machaira’ or scalpel like knife that is used to separate meat from the bones and for warfare. Have we allowed God’s word to do the surgical work on our souls to sanctify us such that self is cut off that the new man can be put on? Have we experienced being in face to face combat with the Word, self reacting and needing to be subjected to It's soul converting authority? If we view the Law as perfect in this perspective, we will appreciate the life-giving converting power that makes us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). 'Converting' means that this is a continual process that keeps sanctifying us till we either meet Him in death or when He returns (soon).

Songs of Ascents (Scripture in Songs - NKJV)

Thoughts by Watchman Nee
From The Divine Self-Committal in Sit, Walk, Stand

God never ask us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we pray from our hearts: 'O Lord, deal with me!'

Judge Not!

Wrong judgement vs. right judgement

Ps. Lee Shaw Ming

Are we allowed to judge?
Yes, but we must judge righteously, ie, according to God’s will.
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (Jn 7:24, cf. Jn 5:30; 8:16)

What to judge
- We are to judge sins.
3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. (1 Cor 5:3)… 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.” (1Cor 5:12-13)

- We are to judge disputes among believers and not go to civil court.
1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1Cor 6:1-3)

- We are to judge prophecies or “word from the Lord”
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. (1Cor 14:29)

- We are to judge teachers/prophets and the source of their inspiration.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1Jn 4:1; Mt 7:15-20; Deut 13:1-5; 18:20-22)

How to judge
- We are to judge as we would want God to judge us.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (Js 2:12-13)

- We are to judge as we would want others to judge us.
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Mt7:12)

- We are to judge as we would judge ourselves.
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Gal 6:1)
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt 22:39)

- We are to judge as a brother/sister
15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. (2Thess 3:14-15)

- We are to judge with love
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins. (1Pet 4:8)
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (Js 5:19-20)

Judge Not
Jesus’ warning about 'judge not' is given in both in Matt 7 and Luke 6:
“Judge (krino) not, that you be not judged (krino). 2 For with what judgment you judge (krino), you will be judged (krino); and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Mt 7:1-6)

37 “Judge (krino) not, and you shall not be judged (krino). Condemn (katadikazo) not, and you shall not be condemned (katadikazo). Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Lk 6:37-38) (note: unfortunately some have taken the second part of the verse out of context, relating it to God returning blessing for giving).

Word Study
I. Judge (krino)
Depending on its context, this word can mean one or all of the following:
1) to separate, to pick out, select, choose
2) to be of opinion, deem, think,
3) to judge by pronouncing an opinion concerning right and wrong
4) to judge by pronouncing judgment of punishment for wrong (ie, as like a Judge)

II. Condemn (katadikazo)
1) To give judgment against or to pronounce as guilty (ie, as like a Judge)

The word ‘judge’ (krino) in context is referring to the action of judging the faults of others as like a judge who condemns an offender in pronouncing guilt and punishment.

1. We must judge not the faults of others as a Judge, and pronounce condemnation. In so doing, we have taken the place of God the Judge (Mt 7:1).
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (Js 4:11-12)

2. We must judge not others hypocritically for the same faults we still have (Mt 7:3-4).
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things… 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Rom 2:1-4)

3. We must judge not blindly, and thus, falsely, due to ‘planks’ in our own eyes (Mt 7:5)


‘Judge Not’- Matthew Henry
- We must judge ourselves and our own acts, but we must not judge our brother, not magisterially assume such an authority over others, as we allow not them over us, ie, be subject to one another (Eph 5:21).
- We must not sit in the judgment-seat, to make our word a law to every body. ( ie, insisting on our rights)
- We must not judge our brother, that is, we must not speak evil of him, so it is explained, Jam. 4:11.
- We must not despise him, nor set him at nought (contemptible), Rom. 14:10.
- We must not judge rashly, nor pass such an unjustified judgment upon our brother, but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill nature.
- We must not make the worst of people, nor infer such invidious (offensive) things from their words/actions…
- We must not judge uncharitably, unmercifully, nor with a spirit of revenge, and a desire to do mischief.
- We must not judge of a man’s state by a single act, nor of what he is in himself by what he is to us, because in our own cause we are apt to be partial.
- We must not judge the hearts of others, nor their intentions, for it is God’s prerogative to try the heart, and we must not step into his throne;
- Nor must we judge of their eternal state, nor call them hypocrites, reprobates, and castaways; that is stretching beyond our line; what have we to do, thus to judge another man’s servant?
- Counsel him, and help him, but do not judge him.

The consequence of judging wrongly
For with what judgment you judge (krino), you will be judged (krino); and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you (Mt 7:2)
18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother… 21 Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deut 19:15-21)

We receive the same degree of condemnation we give others through our wrong judging.

(Note: 'Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged" ( Matthew 7:1 ). He went on to say, in effect, "If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way." Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, "My God, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.' - Oswald Chambers)

Judging Righteously
First Step: The Lord’s Supper
- To judge righteously to remove the specks in others, we must begin at the Lord’s Supper.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine (judge) himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment (damnation) to himself, not discerning (diakrino) the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge (diakrino) ourselves, we would not be judged (krino). 32 But when we are judged (krino), we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned (katakrino) with the world. (1 Cor 11:27-32)

-To participate in the Lord’s Supper is to come before God our righteous Judge for judgment:

- If we humble ourselves and repent of our sins, including that of a judgmental spirit, God will judge us worthy of receiving His grace for forgiveness, healing and deliverance.

- If we are unrepentant and presumptuous, we receive condemnation…
1. Because we participated unworthily if we have not judged ourselves to discover and deal with our own faults/blind spots (v.27-28).
2. Thus, we have despised the physical body and blood of Christ and defile the spiritual body, the church, of which we are a part of (v. 29, cf Heb 10:26-30).
3. Therefore, we are judged with weakness, sickness and premature death (v. 30).
4. But then, even this judgment of weakness, sickness & premature death God used to chasten us to repentance that we are not ultimately condemned with the world (v.32)

Judge ourselves first: Removing planks from our eyes
1. First repent of and renounce the sins that we are aware or made aware of in our lives.
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Mt 7:4-5)

2. Specks and planks are “blind-spots” that may need the help of others to reveal and remove: humbly ask spiritual leaders, parents and fellow believers to point out your blind spots.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (Js 5:14-16)

Born again
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

Baptism unto repentance
There are 2 baptisms that we are to obey one of baptism of water which is unto repentance and the other of the Spirit which is unto transformation or renewal. Baptism of water is by man (usually the pastor or spiritual oversight), but the baptism of the Holy Spirit is by the Lord Himself. Water baptism is baptism unto repentance which is to ‘change or reverse’ our decision, from one of sin, world and the devil to one of following Christ in righteousness (right conduct towards God and man)

Baptism unto renewal/transformation
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Mat 3:11)

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is one that renews us. The Lord will baptize us and we will begin on the journey of being cleansed internally. Cleansed internally permanently change our decision as well as our status to be children of God. Fire makes permanent changes, even as it purifies (Prov 17:3)

that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word (Eph 5:26)

We begin the journey of our cleansing internally by the Word of God, if we allow the power of the Word to renew us. Repentance means we decide to stop sinning and follow Jesus, to be renewed means allowing the Lord, through His Word to renew us to seal our decision in following Christ. By our decision alone we cannot be saved, we need to be renewed inside otherwise our salvation is not complete and cannot sustain until Jesus takes us home or when He returns.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2)

Our decision to follow Jesus means that we cannot conform to the old life of sin and the world anymore but conform to Christ, but we need to be transformed to know God’s good, acceptable and perfect will. We leave ‘self’ will and go into God’s will, we no longer live for ourselves but live for Christ (Gal 2:20). That is the reason why our born again doesn’t start at the birth of Jesus but rather at the cross. Died to old that the new may live.

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, (Tit 3:5)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:8)

We must be continually thankful for our salvation and know that it is God’s work of salvation; otherwise we might end up in pride and self-righteousness

New life after baptism
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Co 5:17)

New creation means our old life is passed away (died) and our life is new (born again)

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.. (Rom 6:3-4)

Our water baptism is likening to death unto resurrection. We died to our self and sin but now live to God and this life glorifies God. The other way of looking at this is that without the death (of the old life), there is no resurrection.

Important proofs of a new life
1. Humility, meekness, patience and in love
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, (Eph 4:1-2)
2. Being truthful in speech
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— (Eph 4:15)
3. Not living in vanity or futility, meaning to be morally pure not ‘heathenistic’ in our life, that is to live as though there isn’t a moral God watching (Eph 5:3-5).
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (Eph 4:17)
4. Controlled emotions
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (Eph 4:26-27)
5. Don’t steal and work honestly (Eph 6:5-7)
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Eph 4:28)
6. Treat each other with love (also Eph 5:2, 21)
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.. (Eph 4:31-32)
7. Don’t thrive in excesses but ready to bless others
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, (Eph 5:18-19)
8. Obedience to parents and honor them
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: (Eph 6:1-2)
9. Biblical husband and wife relationship
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord…. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (Eph 5:22, 25)
10. Father and children relationship. Our training and admonishment has to be Biblically based not humanistic. We plumb line has to from the Bible, therefore to fathers need to be grounded in the Word in order to train and admonish appropriately.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. (Eph 6:4)

Jesus told Nicodemus that the way into Kingdom of God is by the baptism of water and the Spirit. It is not ‘pick-and-choose’ or optional. Baptism unto repentance is the start of our journey of the baptism of Fire that metamorphosis our life permanently into a child of God. He doesn’t just merely want to ‘save’ us but also want to harvest fruit of righteousness (Phil 1:11).

‘Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly’
Matt 6:1-4, 5-8 and 16-18

A. Reward
Three important disciplines we are to do in secret
- Jesus warns the people who live in the Kingdom of God to jealously guard secrecy in doing charitable deeds towards the poor, in prayer and in fasting toward God
- ‘When’ and not ‘if’ we follow the Jesus commandments
- All these 3 disciplines have expected rewards. Interestingly it is the Father who rewards, not Christ Himself.

What or Who is our reward
Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
- This verse came after the rescue of Lot (Gen 14:23), not seeking man’s reward and God appeared to him (‘after these things’). Abram’s righteousness (conduct and/or state of being right before God) was clearly displayed by his response to the king of Sodom in that he (Gen 14:22) has ‘lifted his hand’ to the most High God, Who possesses all things. Also from Whom he receives all things
- Abram (as he was called at that moment in time) received God’s Word (do we get Rhema?). Have we been confronted by the Word Himself?
1. Called by name, denoting relationship and communion with the Almighty. We may claim to know God, but truly, does He know us?
2. ‘Fear not’. This is the blessing of living in peace with the Prince of Peace reigning over us.
3. With peace comes security – how true is this Psalm to us personally?
Psalm 121 (A Song of Ascents) I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.
4. God Himself is our reward, not ‘what’ is our reward. This will reveal the depth or shallowness of our faith
Psa 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It’s a question of our love
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him
- If God is our exceeding great reward, it is because we obey the first and greatest commandment to love Him
- There are times when we look for another ‘reward’ in the form of justice
1 John 4:20-21 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
- If we look for justice as our reward we forsake both commandments to love God and to love others as we love ourselves, for Jesus specifically asked us to even live the extraordinary life to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us (Matt 5:44)
- Seeking for justice as our reward voids us of God’s love, thus missing out the reward that Father wants to give us

B. Secret
- Why ‘secret’? The answer is the consciousness in giving, praying and fasting and not is literally hiding our deeds from human eyes
- Does this contradict with Matt 5:16 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven?
- Jesus certainly didn’t give conflicting commands. We are indeed to be salt of the earth and light of the world; He is reminding us it is in the ‘being’ that important. Being salt and light is more of a natural character as much as dogs bark and cats meow. There is neither show nor self consciousness involved.
- When there is self consciousness, pride can creep in unknowingly. Instead of the Father getting the glory, we steal from Him
- How can we check this? Is there is continually hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Are we meek? Is there purity of motives?
- Jesus is warning against hypocrisy; pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude
- ‘Secret’ is in the sense of losing our self consciousness in doing those 3 important disciplines but it becomes a natural unforced Kingdom life
Zec 7:5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?
- For example in fasting, is there only a consciousness towards our Father or for self benefit

C. Charitable deeds
Prov 19:17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.
Psa 112:9 He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor.
- It is the unforced action of the righteous to give to the poor and when we give to the poor we lend to the Lord. Guess Who will be paying back our righteous deeds?
- We are reminded again on the issue of the reward
Acts 10:4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.
- God remembers our consideration for the poor and it becomes a memorial (preserving memory) before Him as it did with Cornelius
Jam 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
- James shows us the test of purity of our religion or he means in our practice of religion showing inward Godliness. This determines how much we are conformed to the image of Christ
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
- We are created for a purpose, so that we are the ones that fulfill God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven. Count it a privilege to participate in God’s divine plan
- The warning is vainglory or glory obtained from man. Blowing a trumpet is a selfish act that draws man’s praises and celebration which doesn’t carry an eternal value
- Lauding of one’s self is a sure sign that we have not obeyed Christ command to follow Him and carry our cross daily…. Praises from man feed the self and denying the glory that is due to God
1 Sam 2:7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.
- Hannah’s prayer reminds us that its God’s sovereignty to make one rich, those who have extra are accountable to God. We are reminded in Luke 12:15 about covetousness (for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.)
- What does it mean to be ‘rich’? We often correlate riches to abundance in wealth but God’s perspective of rich is having enough to share with others. It is the level contentment (1 Tim 6:8) and not hoarding.

D. Praying
1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing
- ‘Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts.’ – Oswald Chambers
- Praying as Paul puts it is our lifeline, done again, as unforced. It would be as natural to pray as a baby crying out to his or her parents
- ‘in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets’, this is our privilege; our prayers are not confined to places

The ‘place’ of prayer
Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Luke 22:41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
Prayer is humility, not one that stands on one’s confidence. It is in meekness we approach His Holiness
- Others may love praying for prayer itself, we pray because we love God. Prayer is not meant to be a refined ‘art form’ but rather building a deeper relationship with our Father (‘In this manner therefore pray…‘Our Father…’)
Matt 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
- The place of prayer is one that is ready to hear clearly for answered prayer; we must believe that God has will answer as we ask. The place of prayer has to be ‘secret’ because there will be times when the answer from God requires deep searching and making the right response. Often God wants to deal with us privately. Dare we pray such a prayer.....
Psa 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Babbling
Job 9:14 “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him?
- He doesn’t mean repetitions but itself but making vain ones that would amount to nothing but meaningless words. Our prayer would be meaningful if we pray what is God’s heart so that the will of God will be manifested ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. Keep in mind that ‘For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.’ Thus our prayers should confirm what He knows best for us, He wants us to grow into this maturity in prayer.
- What better prayers to offer than to pray from His Word back to Him
Rom 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
- Maturity in prayer is finally we have learned ‘We are not to prescribe, but subscribe to God’ – Matthew Henry.
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
- Another way our prayer becomes vain is when we form a ‘god’ of our own imaginations and offer prayers to that god. This is where we even form the answer that suits us rather than we coming into God’s will

E. Fasting
Psa 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart.
- Fasting is an act of humbling our souls before God. Knowing who God is and where we are in Him.
- When we are humble in fasting our prayer will go back to the heart, meaning it will come back to the heart matters of prayer and God will teach us this, lest we return to vain prayers.
1 Cor 7:5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
- Fasting is a denial of self, which means that the flesh is made to subject to the spirit. It is certainly more than a bodily exercise and weight control, but rather brining our flesh under the spirit’s control.
Prov 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
- A good example is in dealing with anger. Our spirit is weak and can’t control this emotion that may result in destructive end. Fasting provides the means to put this emotion under the control of a stronger spirit.
- Fasting puts us in the place where the areas of fleshly struggles can be severely dealt with and victory will soon come.

Who author’s our faith?

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:2)

The immediate answer is that Christ is the author of our faith. But have we considered what has He authored for us to live on the earth as His church (called out ones)? Most will respond that Jesus has completed our faith for us, thus we just continue living our lives according to what we perceive is right and wait for either His Second Coming or we go and meet Him. If we live our Christian life with this frame of thought, we may have missed our purpose as strangers and pilgrims (Heb 11:13) to live the extraordinary life of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 5, 6, and 7). This is when we begin to author our faith rather than living out what Jesus has authored out for us.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecc 1:9)

Often we look for human models or new ideas as substitutions to our faith, could that be the reason why popularity of books has increased. It’s time to go back to the Word of God, the ‘original’ as it were or rather to return to the Ancient Ways of God. We don’t have to strive to make His Ways ‘relevant’ to today’s society; if we do then we are denying the complete power of His Word. There really isn’t anything at all to update nor upgrade with regard to what Jesus has authored for us to live by.

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1Cor 11:1)

The path of our pilgrimage that was authored for us is through the cross; following Jesus means to take up the cross which is a daily affair for us. The only road to glory is through the cross, because it spells death the flesh and self. If self continue to exist than our lives are not authored by the Master, it would then be we who authors our faith.

How do we know that self is vanquishing?
Jesus never stated what the cross is for us. It could be people, circumstances, etc. We can’t determine the cross for ourselves nor can others do for us, it is given by Christ Himself Who have perfected faith. However we can check how much of the self is still alive and kicking; have we considered others better than ourselves (Phil 2:4-5), have we loved others as we loved ourselves, have we fulfilled the royal law (Jam 2:8), is there a greater conforming to Christ image as we mature in Him (John 3:20, Rom 8:29) or our minds conformed to everyone around us (Rom 12:2).

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Heb 2:10)

Let us not kid ourselves, the cross is about suffering. But when we come to the revelation to ‘reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Rom 8:18), we will have a hope so deep, so wide, so high and eternal that becomes our blessed hope (Tit 2:13). Or we still hope for what we see and perceive with human desire (Rom 8:24). With this hope, we can, as Jesus did to despise the shame and endure. God’s original plan is to bring many sons unto glory, do we aspire to this eternal reward, or still wallowing in something of lesser significance.

Beware of Hypocrisy
By Ps. Lee Shaw Ming

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
(Luk 12:1-3)

Jesus condemns most about hypocrisy, which he says is a leaven, that is, it spreads! Hypocrisy is not just about not being true outside as per our inside, but it is also denying and/or not seeing the evil of our inside and projecting a false righteousness outside. Hypocrisy causes blindness and hardness, as seen in the Pharisees. Hypocrisy causes us to resist God's truth that discerns our inward condition, resulting in sins not being dealt with. Thus, hypocrisy can lead to disqualification from the kingdom of God if not dealt with. Jesus says that everything about us, hidden or otherwise, will be revealed one day, and therefore, judged. Therefore, this means that we not only need to be outside what we are in the inside, but that we also need to be acceptable to God. We can be transparently unrighteous, which is no credit to anyone, but God wants us to be transparently righteous!

Revenge and Love – Matt 5: 38-48

A. Revenge – Matt 5:38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away

1. Retribution
- The Old Testament (Exo 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21) allows for physical retribution for injury. But note that the proportion is equal, an eye for an eye, etc; not more and not less. Revenge inevitably requires more than needed, that is our sinful nature
- Retribution is to seek compensation for a loss that someone has done to us or we have done to someone else
- Note that this is an act that is void of love, meekness and mercy

2. Love
- To love God is the first and greatest commandment; the second is to love our neighbor. To love unconditionally is the choice that we make; it is a commandment of the Lord that requires our obedience
- Jesus came in obedience to the Father (John 3:16) and He died while we were still enemies (Rom 5:10). He didn’t save us when we love Him, the converse if true
Rom 13:8, 10 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

3. Meekness and mercy
- Jesus explicit stated two antithetical beatitudes of the blessed
- The meek not only inherit the earth but also will be saved in Day of the Lord and His judgment
Zep 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger.
- We want God’s mercy to answer our prayer in our desperation (Psa 4:1), for strength and healing (Psa 6:2), help from our enemies (Psa 9:13), for forgiveness (Psa 25:7), etc. The blessed ones are those who first show mercy to receive more mercy. If we cease to show mercy to those who wronged us, then we will stop receiving God’s mercy

4. Don’t resist an evil person
- This is where we have to decide if we are concern with self preservation or with obedience
- This commandment (Jesus tells us plainly which doesn’t warrant explanation) reminds us that we have no rights, if indeed we belong to him
- Instead we are reminded to submit to God and resist evil and the Devil. Godly humility brings victory, while retaliation or revenge doesn’t
Jam 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
- Vengeance is God’s responsibility. Waiting for God is to totally trusting Him for the outcome; we don’t determine the next course of action nor the judgment to be meted out. Trusting Him entirely is a journey in our spiritual pilgrimage that we are privileged to learn as sons of God. Ultimately it is our salvation that God is more concerned about
Prov 20:22 Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

5. Three things we are asked to bear patiently
- ‘Turn the other cheek’: be ready for the next one. This is about forgiveness, if we can’t forgive the first time, we won’t be able forgive at all
Matt 6:14,15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matt 18:21,22 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
- ‘Let him have your cloak also’: A tunic is an undergarment or inner garment, but Jesus asked us to let go of the outer garment as well. Jesus is telling us the antithetical life is a costly one. We must learn to willingly count all things as dung for a greater Treasure. Have we found the pearl of great price (Matt 13:46)? It is costly to be Christ’s disciple.
Php 3:8 (KJV) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- ‘Go the second mile’: Unfortunately people use this to indicate one’s initiative. Rather this speaks to us about willing to go further in meekness. The blessing of the meek is inheriting the inheritance of what Christ has for us.
Rev 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Matt 19:28, 29 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

6. Give generously
The paradox of the Kingdom of Heaven is give cheerfully in order to abound. The reason why people are not generous because there is a fear that they won’t have enough, however this ‘fear’ can and will replace our dependency on our Father.
2 Cor 9:6-8 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And 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.
Godly generosity is having beatitude of mercy, and God will provide in His mercy to those who show it, abundantly!
Psa 37:25, 26 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.

B. Love your enemies – Matt 5:43-47
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

1. Love your enemies
- Here again the emphasis is love, but now love is to shown to those outside the boundary of brotherhood
- We will be hard press to find anything in the Old Testament that tells us implicitly to hate our enemy; Jesus was destroying a manmade law concocted by those who don’t know the extent of carrying our crosses daily. The truth of the matter is the law teaches us to do good to our enemy and to those who hates us
Exo 23: 4,5 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
- This part of the sermon is an extension of being a peacemaker. It not peacekeeping that God wants His children to do, but turning situations that isn’t peaceful to one of peace.
Matt 5: 9 Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
- To love our enemies is the power to uproot any bitterness. Bitterness is a bondage which can only be set free through love and forgiveness
Acts 8: 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

2. Three actions we must take
- ‘Bless those who curse us’: we are not to respond in reviling (to assail with our mouth) but to bless that we in return will inherit God’s blessing
1 Pet 3: 8,9 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
- ‘Do good to those who hate us’: This is as commanded in Exo 23: 4,5. Not merely a suggestion.
- ‘Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us’: Being persecuted shouldn’t be a strange to us because we are who are in the world and not of the world, we have God’s glory which awaits us. True Christ-likeness in our life should culminate to the moment on the cross where the fullness of God’s love opened like floodgates to pray for those who don’t understand their actions (Luke 23:34)
Phil 1: 29, 30 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
1 Pet 4: 12-14 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
Rom 8: 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
- Jesus had every reason to react negatively to those who nailed Him to the cross; likewise as the Son of God died, we too have to grasp this life of taking up our crosses and following Him daily. The Father didn’t spare His son; neither will He spare us (Psa 44:22, Rom 8:36 , if indeed we are considered His sons.
- God’s mercy avails to all by causing His Son of Righteousness to shine on all and sends rain His Word and Gospel. It is not our duty to determine otherwise.

Tax collectors
- ‘Do not they also do the same’ is the message that Jesus wants us to note, are we living the antithetical life that is beyond the ordinary?
- The tax collectors are that who live in the natural, with more concern with self, earthly life that is doesn’t carry any connotation of an extraordinary life or supernatural life that is fit to live a life in the Spirit. We don’t live for ourselves but live for the Greater (Gal 2:20)
Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
- This is where the goats and sheep divide, the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Scribe and Pharisees. This is determining factor whether we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven or not!

Jesus calls us to spiritual maturity
God wants to bring us to completeness in Christ. He wants to build into us the beatitudes of His Son (conform to His image, Rom 8:29) to His Children who will be eventually glorified to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
Matt 5:48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Victory Over Lust

Matt 5:27-30 (NKJV) “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Introduction
- The second point of the Sermon on the Mount has to do with another part of ourselves that can go beyond our personal control. The first one being anger and the other is lust.
- Jesus is again stressing beyond the external but the condition of the heart. Have we wondered why our prayers remain unanswered?
Psa 66: 18 (NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
To regard is to think highly of, in this Psalm it means that if we esteem iniquity our prayers will be unanswered
- The key heart matter of adultery is basically dealing with the issues of faithfulness and uncleanness
- The root Jesus was preaching is with regard to lust. Lust is an uncontrollable desire (mostly with regard to sexual desire, but can encompass things with regard to fulfillment of the flesh in any form). The respond to failing to have control over lust is to take action to fulfill the desire
James 1: 13-16 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
- Lust is being drawn away and succumbing to our desires. It becomes a trap or being enticed
- The entrapment brings life to sin and full-grown sin leads to death
- People trapped in lust may not see the issue or even be in denial, same with any form of addiction. The Apostle warns against self-deception

Feeding the eye
- Feeding is of the eye: Joseph's mistress (Gen_39:7 – casting her eyes. Like fishing casting a bait to entrap), Samson (Judges 16:1 – saw a harlot and went – action was taken to fulfill the desire), David, 2Sam 11:2 (saw Bathsheba washing herself)
- We can feed our eyes many ways through going to wrong/unhealthy places, window shopping, magazines, internet, etc
- Unstable souls fall prey to what they see. Unstable souls are people who can’t control their emotions, mind and will but easily yielding to desires uncontrollably by taking action
2 Pet 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls…..
- Controlling our wandering eyes. It is not that Jesus don’t want us to see but our focus must be right
Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
- We need a strong spirit to control the soul. Beyond looking at the opposite sex, there can be other objects of desire like food, fashion, cars, etc.
- Lust has to do with fulfillment of self without consideration of others, especially Jesus Christ

The remedy
1. Changing our focus to Christ, right focus take us out of our short term fulfillment
- Having a single focus on Christ will give light to us and we don’t walk in darkness
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2. Cutting off
- Jesus remedy is to simply ‘cut off’ which is profitable to us in the long run with regard to our destination: heaven or hell. This is not literal because He knows that wrong desires have to be dealt with at the root. Cutting off requires that we bring all the flesh into subjection of the spirit
Gal 5: 16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

3. Changing our desire
- Desire for righteousness
Prov 11: 23 The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Matt 6: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matt 5: 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
- Know that the Kingdom of God is more than the essentials of the flesh
Rom 14: 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Changing our desire shows our trust in Him to be our fulfillment. Fulfilling our wrong desires or lusts shows on mistrust in Him to fulfill us
Psa 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Faithfulness
- Adultery is about the question of our faithfulness. God if faithful and He requires us to respond in similar faithfulness
Duet 7:9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
- He looks upon the faithful with favor, in fact He looks through out the whole earth to look for the faithful
Psa 101: 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.
2 Chron 16: 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…..

Holy and unholy, clean and unclean
- Distinguishing has to be done soberly, God is looking beyond clean. It is holiness (separated unto Him), proof of our faithfulness to Him.
Lev 10: 8-10 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean
- Clean is to be free from blemish or irregularities. There are those who say they are good, normally mean they are clean. That is why there are many good people who aren't Christians, Christians on the other hand has to be beyond good
- God is looking for beyond clean, which is holy or to be special, separated and belong to Him alone. Are are lives lived exclusively for Him and do our actions reflect that?
Exo 19: 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ …..

Purpose of our body
- Glorify God in Body and Spirit. Our God given bodies serve a Godly purpose and part of Christ Body. If we have the revelation that we belong to Christ's body, we will have a clear perspective on holy living
1 Cor 6: 12-20 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- There is fruit to show of the death of the flesh. Dead to the flesh but alive to the Spirit
Gal 5: 22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- No condemnation to those who live according to the Spirit! We need a strong spirit to overcome the unstable soul
Rom 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Our true satisfaction and eternal destiny
- Taking lust into our own hands by satisfying our own desire is not trusting God to satisfy us. We take matters into our own hands.
Psa 16: 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- God will personally show us or help us attain to abundant life. Jesus promised life in abundance and He doesn't mean after He returns, it can be realized now, but it is a life He will reveal to us by living in obedience with a knowledge that we are Holy unto the Lord
- Know our final eternal destiny
Col 3: 1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.