The Meaning of Christmas

........was on Sermon 24 December 2006

It's written well on John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Christmas talks about God's greatest blessing, the greatest Love.
Christmas is a Celebration of Love, on Christmas day the perfect gift that we should give to others and God instead of anything else is Love, bountiful love.

The Love that is:
- unlimited
- universal
- unconditional: don't ask, give first.
- the best love
- responsible

His Words

I escaped Church last week, and this week I almost escaped it again cos I chat til late and slept when the time almost hit 3.

Thank God I was able finally to push myself to attend the 9 am Church. There were already a huge number of people when I arrived; I thank God there were still seats left for us.
The preacher today it happened to be a guest preacher from abroad, he's Dr. Samuel Doctorian. How lucky I was, cos later I found out he's the one who had prophecy about tsunami (in Indonesia)- that is what some said.

He didn't really make sermon from specific verses, it was just a very general one and was mainly addressing his vision experiences and his books.
The verses were taken from John 7:46 (44-46), to point out how Jesus' words are powerful and unlike anyone else's words.



What other things Jesus said that no body else ever or can say?

- John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
- John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
- John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
- John 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
- John 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
- Etc

And these are 5 points from Jesus:
1. I love you
2. I died for you
3. Believe in me
4. You never go to hell
5. You go to Heaven

Then the Reverend mentioned again about his experience in Patmos Island where God gave him 5 visions about the worlds through 5 Angels, each of them is representing Asia-Oceania, Israel-Middle East-Turkey-Asia Minor-etc, Europe, Africa, North-South America-Canada.

This link will take you to the Vision of 5 Angels.

I know.....I again was not so good in taking a note that Sunday :-D

Our Relationship

was on 9 May 2004

A lot of times we said we believed in God, yet our actions show otherwise.
Do we believe in His resurrection? Or we're no different than Thomas?
Thomas had rather unique character, he's sometimes 'lost'-- somewhere.
Thomas had been with him for long time but still he demanded proof.
Yet Jesus loved Thomas still and gave him peace that enlightened him.
That made Thomas learn important lesson.

Some people are willing to change like Thomas, but some were just reluctant, like Judas Iskariot who betrayed Him.

Like Jesus who brought peace to the world, so do we, must bring peace to other.
In fact, that's also the meaning of the Cross: to maintain a vertical relation i.e. with God and also horizontal relation, i.e. with others.

4 Steps to get your Celestial Body

was on 2 May 2004

Death is no longer the final stop. The dead will arise with his/ her celestial body by doing these following steps (when he/ she was still alive, of course):

1. Be like Christ, not Adam.
In Christ there is Life.
Not just 'a life' but 'the life', because the word 'life' has many synonyms in Bible, and in this sermon the preacher explained 2 of them. The previous one is Bios and the latter is Zoe. I couldn't see the difference of the two had I just read Bible in Bahasa Indonesia or in plain English, because each of them only uses one word for Bios and Zoe. With e-Sword I become fully understood because I also installed English Bible 'KJV+' that includes Greek and Hebrew dictionary.

Bios is our (literally) the present state of existence; by implication the means of livelihood: - good, life, living.
While Zoe is life as the opposite of death, Zoe is the divine life of Christ, the life that conquered death.
In order to get Zoe, one must start to exercise Christ's way.

2. Be decided, walk in the Spirit!
I learnt that God created us with 'free will' because human is not a robot. In one way it seems to benefit us, but in other way it complicates our lives. The snake-Eve-Adam conspiracy caused all human sinful, that made us inherit illwill. We are vulnerable to sin, but we have our weapon, Jesus!
So walk in the Spirit, and you'll gain the victory.

3. Oopss.....!! I kinda missed this part, just got this in my note:
When a believer died, he will have supernatural body.

4. Be a spiritual man not a natural man.
In this so alluring world, do be steadfast so that we will get the secret.


FAQ:
Q: How are the dead raised up? With what body do they come
A: Don't be stupid!

East, Easter, Eastest

H A P P Y E A S T E R...
for easterner...westerner..southerner....northerner.....etc

If on Good Friday many people at Church became Man in Black, means wore black, this Easter we were united in colours to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What's on for Easter at the church today?
A boring fragmented play of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection with some snips from the movie of The Passion of the Christ.
Honestly, I think they better leave that play out at all if it's only badly presented like that. Talking about that film, I heard its pirated copies are here now, I just hope NO Church or Christian buys this pirated vcd or dvd.

The sermon itself was taken from John 20:19-20
With Jesus, death is nothing; He offered us everlasting life.
With His resurrection I shall not fear death anymore (I just fear I'm not yet qualified when the time comes…)

Back to The Passion of the Christ thing.......
I really hope we'll be able to see it here in Indonesia. It's already shown in Qatar, and beginning March 31, according to the UEA's GulfNews, it'll be shown to the public in United Arab Emirates (so that means it's on now).

Marriage Miracle

Amongst many miracles that Jesus made, the Cana wedding was His first.
It is His way to make people to keep remembering the importance and the influence of marriage and family in their lives. Don’t we agree, first of anything is always hard to forget?

God's concern about marriage:
As part of His creation activity, God completed Adam with Eve and made an approval about marriage.
Jesus debut in this world was thru the wedding of Mary and Joseph.

Counterattack Recipe

Nahum 2:1
An attacker advances against you, Nineveh .
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!

Who's the attacker?

Ephesian 6:12
We are not fighting against people of flesh and blood. But we are fighting against rulers and powers whom we cannot see. We are fighting against those who control the darkness of this world,and against bad spirits who have power in the air.

The Counterattack Recipe:

Guard the fortress
The fortress is your own body and mind entirely. Some ways to guard yourself is by:
- quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry , be wise with your tongue

- keep safe the entrance of your fortress, i.e. your eyes. Eye is a vulnerable access, be cautious of what you see because bad things that you see can make bad influence to yourself, use your eyes responsibly for they might make yourself get tempted by what the perceive

- perform good deeds so that His name is glorified and so people can see that we are letters from Christ

Watch the road
Learn the situation and create strategy based on that situation, be clever and kind at the same time
Brace yourselves
Make yourself steady and keep optimistic, remember our God is God who always be with us - ImmanuelMarshal all your strength
Be united with all Christian regardless denominations, be one body be Oecumenical.
When we walk in His way, we are already the winners.

The thing called Faith

Faith No More.....

Q: What is Faith?
A: Faith is not about having a hope or more and sitting silently believing that thing/s will happen soon or later. Faith is something that we should act actively by living in God's way.

Still have the mountain in-situ?
Still have your wish unanswered?

Check if your faith is agreeable to His Will; remember it is He who knows what best for us. We must first be harmonical with Him

To-do-List:
1. Have a vision, an immediate and a long one.
2. Set steps to get the target
3. Have courage to pay the price

Zz..zzz........I was one third asleep, could not really get what the preacher said at that moment. That was all less and no more, so I did a deliberate dig on the net and found this Goal Setting study is somewhat similar but more thorough and outlined.

Alleluia....

A Perfect Christmas Celebration

Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus is the Word become flesh (John 1:1-3).
So every Christmas is a must for us to reconsidering whether the Word has become flesh in our selves, i.e. whether we have truly lived in His way.
If yes, then our Christmas celebration is perfect already even without Christmas tree, decorations etc.

Everyday can be Christmas.....