Chinese Genesis

Create

Forbidden

Covetousness

Boat

Garden

The Just Man

Gen 6:8 -9

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD... Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. ....

Worship 2 - Kasher & Yosher

Rom 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Bro Elberd preached on Worship last Sunday. Wow, seems like there is no end to worship sermons.

He preached from Roman 12:1 where worship is when we present our bodies as the living temple of the Holy Ghost, and our lifestlye as our living sacrifice unto God.

Worship has to be wholesome, integrated for our God is ONE.

Kasher - to do what is fit and proper. What we do. i.e. to serve, to give, to love, to pray, to help, to work, ....

Yosher - to do thing straight. Do what is right, the right way. Right attitude Why we do. i.e. do willingly, give cheerfully, hope faithfully, pray unceasingly, love sacrificially, serve excellently.

When we worship God with our body and lifestyle, we do it with "Kasher" and also "Yosher". Need both. No good if one trait is missing.

Worship

Exo 30:34 - 38 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

Ps Calvin Lee from Kajang AOG visited us today and shared on Worship from Exodus 30, where our worship to God is liken to the sweet smelling incense prepared for altar in the tabernacle.

Some points on HOW shall we worship from Exodus 30.

1. Verse 34 Instruction on the composition of the incense.
Worship is about what God want and not what we likes.

2. Verse 35 ... salted, pure and holy
Worship is Holy

3. Verse 36 grind some into powder
True Worship comes from a broken and contrite heart

4. Verse 37 - 38
Worship is exclusive for God alone.

Children

Pro 20:7 The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.

Felt such heavy responsibility by just reading this.

I feel for the coming generation, there is a strong shallowness that had crept in. A deception. How should we raise up our children? I had this question ringing in my head, for I have three of my own.

The Lord has many answers for this question. Among them, we parents, be just and walk in integrity. The children are watching, learning and their characters are being shaped. O, do let them learn something good from their "heros", we the parents.

Saved ?

"Say the sinner's prayer and you are saved."

How true is this statement?

Lord, Teach us to Pray

I was reading a sermon text by Stephen A Ratliff on prayer. He noted that when Jesus' disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-4), Jesus taught them the Lord's Prayer.

If we looked carefully, the Lord's Prayer is exceedingly simple and direct, very much like how a child would pray minus all the King James style of vocabulary.

If we ask our children to pray, they can actually pray very easily and naturally. My kids would pray like this, "... thank you Jesus for the fish, rice, ....., pray for mama, that the sickness would go away.." . Their faith in God is genuine, without doubt. Very different from the way an adult would pray. An adult's prayer is always a little restrictive and reserved. There is a fear of disappointment that God would not answer. But I think that is generally alright. We are not God and would not understand many things.

Back to Luke 11, Jesus' disciples are all adult Jews, I would assume them all to had led a lifetime of prayer. But as they followed Jesus and saw Jesus pray, they realised their Jewish prayer is falling short from Jesus'. They humbled themselves and asked Jesus, Lord, Teach us to pray.

Luke 11:1 -4

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Tithing

One of literature I loved best and does touch on tithing and money is the testimony of Brother Andrew in God's Smuggler. It was a time when he was at Glasgow studying to be a missionary. He was in a team of 5 students on a practical evangelism trip going around Scottland for four weeks. Each student was given a one pound banknote for this practical evangelism trip, they will not ask for any money, it was an exercise on trust. Furthermore, each boy will have to return the one pound note as they return to the school after four weeks.

Brother Andrew's team was faithful, and was strict on tithing. Each time they receive any money, they gave away their tithes immediately within 24 hours. Another team was lenient on tithing, they did not gave away their tithe money immediately, they kept the money for 'emergencies". After four weeks, this other team ends up owing money to hotels, lecture halls and markets all over Scottland. On the contary, Brother Andrew's team never lack and in fact they have ten pounds ahead after four weeks.

There is a sign in front of the missionary school that Brother Andrew went which said

"Have Faith In God"


Mal 3:8 - 11
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ben Hur

Ben Hur, Son of Hur. Finally read Ben Hur, I never realise that it is such a wonderful book. The author Lewis Wallace managed to bring back to life the environment during Jesus' time. I personally appreciate that part very much. The environment on politics, economy, social and also technology. Brilliant! A sure recommend for reading. We, Christians would appreciate the Gospels more if we can actually grasp the environment then better. Cannot benchmark it with the environment we have here today. A mistake that many Christians did and had led to confusion. :)

Pray

Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The group from our church's Indonesian Ministry has been praying for prayer requests that were brought forward. These are simple people, not much educated, just simple people praying in sheer obedience. And praise to God, we see many of these prayers came to past quickly.

Just pray. Jesus hears.

Scarcity

This is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

Scarcity (also called paucity) is the problem of infinite human needs and wants, in a world of finite resources. In other words, society does not have sufficient productive resources to fulfill those wants and needs. Alternatively, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be pursued at the same time; trade-offs are made of one good against others. In an influential 1932 essay, Lionel Robbins defined economics as "the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses."

Scarcity. Most modern man believe in it. Is it really true? We have 6.6 billion population on earth. Is it true that the dear earth cannot support us? Really? Or have we screwed up the way we should be living? Or have we gone greedy?

John 10:10

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Aaron & Hur

Exo 17:8 - 15

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi:

Ps Lydia taught on team ministry healing prayer. The prayer uses the model of Moses, Joshua, Aaron and Hur. Joshua is fighting the Amalekites; Moses is the great leader of Israel; Aaron and Hur is by Moses' side supporting Moses.

The analogy is this as we pray for the sick.

The person being prayed for is Joshua and his army, he is fighting the Amalekites, which is the sickness. The one praying is Moses. The rest are Aaron and Hur, supporting Moses. Wonderful teaching, we see miracles even as we simply obediently pray and believe.

Wanna zoom in to Aaron and Hur. Many times we are taking the role of Aaron and Hur in ministry. We are not Moses the key person doing the ministry, just side kicks, most of the time not doing much but looked important and busy. Plain busy-bodies. Or is it so? Not how Bible describe it. Moses' hand grew weary over time, but the battle is far from over, and the Israelite need to see Moses' hand and the rod to prevail in battle.

Aaron and Hur did the kindest deed here. They took and stone for Moses, so that he can sit down. Not bad :). They also keep holding up Moses' hands ensuring that the Israelite prevails and finally win the battle over the Amalekites.

It is a long time, the sun is going down, :( Aaron and Hur is tired too. Who holds their hand then? The Bible is silent on this.

Guess we "kay ley fei" do have some important duties and responsibilities on hand. Yes, support our leaders in church, support those who are in the ministry. Support them, be kind to them, lend them a stool that they may sit down and rest. Looks like their hands are weary too.

The Global Economy Crisis

Such gloom. Today, Titan at Pasir Gudang is offering VSS to around 200 employees, about 20% of their workforce. This is so near to home. Yesterday the Second Finance Minister reported that the economy downturn is here to stay, probably for 2 years, and urge the people to accept the fact.

It can be devastating for someone to lose their job especially those who are from the middle income group, supporting a family and without much savings in the bank.

In times like these, I ask the Lord. How? Then I realise the economy is correcting itself. This sequence will come, sooner or later. The banks and the government has been greedy and has not been responsible in maintaining the economy for far too long. It is correction time. It is going to be painful for so many people.

Pray.