Three Ways of God's Answers

This is from the sermon that I attended on 23 Agosto 2009, I couldn't really take a good note, that's why this note is loose and incomplete.


The Pastor gave illustration from Luke 5:12-16:

12And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

13And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

14And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

15But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

16And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

These are some explanation from the pastor about the above verses:
1. God has had mission since the beginning to rescue sinners, but should always remember that Salvation happens only when the human is still alive.

2. Interesting facts from the leper case:
a. The lepers in that time were the outcasts and lived in their own community. The fact that the leper could present in the town and reached Jesus shows how big the risk that he took and how great was his faith.
b. What made it so special that God healed him without even questioning him?
It is his sentence: Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cure me and make me clean.
His words show how the leper left all the authority to God, that God is The Omnipotent.

3. There is this X  factor within someone's faith, known only by God.

My conclusion:
God is always willing to help us, but it is our effort, Faith and our submission to His will that He sees. We might feel that we already have big faith, but only God knows whether we have The Faith.

The pastor who delivered this sermon also warns us, that there are three ways of God's answers:
1. Prayer is granted immediately
2. Prayer takes a longer or long time to be answered.
3. Prayer is not granted, this can be because of that X factor or because of God's plan to make the person as a great testimony to others. --this is tough

How to Grow in Prosperity

Photo by alicepopkorn

was on 12 Ottobre 2008
I like what I heard on this sermon, unfortunately I failed to take a complete note. I post it today because I think this is relevant with New Year's resolution.

Started from around 10 years ago, especially when the doomed times of our economic hit my country, there have been some preachers who like to prophesy about prosperity, which to me sounds like just building an empty dream. Many of them just said things like "give your best -in term of money of course- to the Lord -they mean to Church of course- and so Heaven will pour prosperity unto you"...or...something like "I don't care about money, I gave it all to God, but when I need it God will give me abundantly, and I have experienced it", always like that.

This reverend gives a decent disclosure about prosperity, he does not weight on the material result, but he reveals what prosperity is in Christianity.
He says prosperity will come if we're being blessed by God, therefore we should know how to get God's blessings.

Here's some small part of the preaching that I managed to save on my note :)

The sermon is taken from Deu 28:1-6

Deuteronomy 28 (King James Version)

1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Here's how:

1. Know your AIM in this life, don't make yourself a center, but make Jesus as the center of your life. Live with need not with want, know the Right Direction.
2. Don't be shy with God, know your position that you are God's beloved ones, do it like Jabez did on 1 Chronicles 4:10

10And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

3. Know the to do things as shown in Joshua 1:4-8:
- Believe in God's promises
- Be tenacious
- Act His words
- Tell and spread His words

May we all can have God's blessings in the New Year.
Happy New Year 2009, May Our Lord Jesus bless us and this Earth, amen

Blessings and Curses

It takes me almost 3 years to finally put this on FaithShip. It's already a long time, but when I read the note that I made 3 years ago, I feel like it came just from some weeks ago sermon.
Unfortunately I didn't write enough at that time, but I am glad I wrote down the verses because these verses are indeed giving answer to why we fail to keep receiving God's blessings, and if curses come from God. So here it is.

........was on sermon 18 September 2005

Jesus is the greatest blessing given to humans. We have so many blessings already in our hands because of Jesus, but how come adversities still happen?

Blessings

Deu 28:1 And it shall come to pass, IF thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
Deu 28:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, IF thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

Curses

Deu 28:15 But it shall come to pass, IF thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

The pastor emphasised the word IF.
As we understand that God included free will into human when He made us, so that we as human are free to do anything that we like. Because we are not robot at all.
Whether or not we can keep the blessings from God, it solely depends on our response to our free will.
IF we follow His words, then we can keep those blessings.

God won't curse us even though we don't follow his words. But ignoring His words means keeping ourselves away from God's protection. Being outside of God's protection it also means letting ourselves unprotected in this world -the place where evil forces is freely floating and preying for their victims anywhere.
So remember the IF factor ;-)

Christian Story Books

...off the chlog...

Reading is one way of getting knowledge and information. Adults normally are able to choose wisely suitable books or articles to read, and teens who have had good guidance from their parents since their early childhood will choose their reading sagaciously.
Filtering what to read for kids or very young children is important, since there are so many popular children's books available and not all of them are worth to read. These kids' pure minds are like clean canvasses which can easily absorb any colours, and we know wrong colour might ruin a picture. Wrong knowledge and information give bad influence to kids.
As the world tends to become more and more secular, Christian parents or any adult Christians are better to present books that not only provide secular knowledge but also spiritual growth, hence the kids will grow into smart and empathetic Christians. The best book of course the Bible, and it will be a blessing if a kid can be instantly hooked with the serious look of Bible :)
Kids love to see pictures and they are learning through images too, unless it's an illustrated Bible I doubt they would be interested. Fortunately now we can find Christian children's story books that are beautifully illustrated in www.christianstorybooks.com. The collections there are compatible with Bible truth, kids will learn about their Christian faith in a fun and imaginative way.

Is problem to make us suffer?

........was on sermon 22 July 2007

Winning in this life is determined by our response to problem.
They key of winning in life is optimism.
Problem can make us either bitter or better.

Why God lets us suffer?
1. To make us humble
2. To verify our heart, to prove our character
Deuteronomy 8:2-5

Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 8:4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Deuteronomy 8:5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

3. To discipline us as to tame us

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.