By: Henry Drummond - Daymaker Greeting books
Since time began, many people have believed that the greatest of all virtues in the spiritual realm is faith. The apostle Paul taught that if you have enough faith to move a mountain, yet do not have love, you are nothing. Peter encourages us to love one another deeply. And John put it this way, simply: "God is Love"
The Secret of a fulfilled Life
"If I have faith so that i can move mountains and have not love, I am nothing" Paul's words pierce because we've all felt the sting of words without sincerity and eloquence without love.
Love is far greater than charity because you can have charity without love. Give a coin to a beggar, and ease you conscience- but if we truly loved them we would either do more or less. Paul contrasts love with sacrifice. The would-be missionary will do well to remember that though you die a martyr, yet have not love, your death would be in vain!
You may struggle to learn another language, but when you reach your country of destination, love, the universal language, will pour forth unconsciously. In africa I encountered men and women who remembered the only white man they had ever seen before David Livingstonl and as you traced his footsteps there, men's faces lit up as they spoke of the kind doctor who passed through there. They could not understand him, but they felt the love that beat in his heart.
Love is endowed with the power to rouse the heart of men and women everywhere to lofty purposes. Take love into your vocation and your lifework will succeed. It's not worth doing if you take anything less. You may achieve every accomplishment and yet miss love.
Paul portrays love as a life light. Watch a beam of light pass through a crystal prism and you see it emerge on the other side revealing its various colors; red, blue, yellow, violet, orange - the colors of the rainbow. Paul passes this thing called love through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it emerges revealing its characteristics.
The Nine Aspect of love
Patience - Love will wait
The attitude of love is passive, love waits to begin - does not hurry; it is calm; it is ready to do its work when the call comes but meanwhile wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. Love suffers long, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and therefore waits.
Kindness - Love is kind
Active love. notice how much time Jesus spent simply doing kind things? Study His life and you will see that He spent a great portion of His time simply encouraging people, doing good deeds for people. God has put within our power the ability to bring encouragement to those around us.
"The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father," someone once said, "is to be kind to His other children." I wonder why we are not all kinder than we are. how much the world needs it. how easily it is done. How quickly it responds. Love rewards itself - there is no debtor in the world so honorable as love. Love never fails. Love is success; love is happiness; love is life. Robert Browning said it well: " Love is the energy of life"
Generosity - Love gladly gives
Love does not envy. This is love which competes with others. Whenever you attempt a good work, you will find others doing the same kind of work and probably doing it better. Do not envy them. Envy is an ill feeling toward those who are in the same line as ourselves. Even doing "God's work" is little protection against harboring this most ungodly feeling. That most despicable of all the moods that could a Christian's soul assuredly waits for us on the threshold of every work unless we are fortified with this grace of magnanimity.
Love is the Noblest Desire of All
Humility - Love is its own reward
Having learned all that, you will have to learn one thing more; to put a seal upon your lips and forget what you have done. After you have been kind, after love has done its work, go back into the shade and say nothing about it. Love revels not in itself. Love waives adoration. "Love is not puffed up"
Courtesy - Love is polite
This attribute here is love in relation to etiquette. The secret to love is being polite - love cannot behave otherwise. The most uncultured person, if he or she has love stored up in the heart, will not behave unseemly.
Thomas Carlyle said there was no truer gentleman in Europe than Robert Burns, the ploughman poet. It was because he loved everything - from the mouse to the daisy; all things great and small that God had made. And with this simple passport he could mingle freely with any society, and enter courts and palace from his humble cottage. And that is the whole art and mystery of it. A gentleman will not do ungentle things. And the gentle soul, the considerate, sympathetic nature cannot do anything else.
Unselfishness - Love shares
"Love seeks not her own" In many countries the average citizen is devoted and rightly so, to his or her rights. But there come times when a person may exercise the even higher right of giving up his or her rights. Yet Paul does not summon us to give up our rights. Love strikes much deeper.
"Do you seek great things for yourself?" asked the prophet. "Seek them not." Why? Because there is no greatness in things. There is no lasting joy acquiring things. Unfortunately, half the world is in hot pursuit of the wrong scent. He that would be great amoung you, said Jesus, let him serve. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Even Temper - Love is not moody
"Love is not easily provoked" Some view a hot temper as a harmless vice. Others see it as a disposition or family failing - not a thing to be taken too seriously. Yet the Bible condemns it as one of the most destructive elements in human nature. A hot temper is a symptom of a disease which lies beneath; the occasional bubble surfaces and reveals a rottenness in men and women of "touchy" disposition. Who can measure the damage to society from a hot temper = for breaking up communities, destroying marriages, devastating homes. For sheer gratuitous misery-producing power, it stands alone. Jealousy, pride, cruelty, and self- righteousness - all are at the root of it. Jesus declared, "Unless man be born again, he simply cannot enter the kingdom of heaven" Those who want to go to heaven must take heaven with them. Heaven has no room for moody persons.
A lack of patience, or kindness, or generosity, or courtesy, are all instantaneously revealed in one flash of temper. A hot temper must be done away with. Souls are made sweet not by taking something out, but by putting something in .When God's heart envelops our own. it sweetens, purifies, and transforms. This radical change rehavilitates the heart. WIllpower does not change men and women. Jesus does. "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Some of us have no time to lose. It is a matter of life or death.
Innocence - Love is blameless
This aspect can be easily dismissed. Innocence is a grace and its possessors wield the secret of great personal influence. Influencers are people who believe in you. In a critical atmosphere, inwardly you die; but in an atmosphere of acceptance, you fourish. It's a wonderful thing when in this often hostile world you encounter someone who acts this way. Love "thinks no evil." imputes no motive, looks on the bright side, puts the best construction on every action. What a state of mind! What a blessing to meet such a friend for a day!
If we seek to elevate others, we soon see that success is in proportion to the degree of faith we had in them. WHen you respect another, their self-respect begins to grow and each can realize their full potential.
Sincerity - Love says "I care"
"Love rejoices not in iniquity, but... in the truth." The quality here is sincerity. One who loves will love truth. These rejoice in truth - not in what they have been taught to believe, not in a church doctrine, but "in the truth." They search for only what is genuine with humble, open minds and cherish truth when they find it.
Sincerity is restraint which refuses to capitalize on the weaknesses of others - it finds no pleasure in exposing their faults, but "covers all things". It endeavors to see things as they are and rejoices to find them better than may have been suspected. The issue is to have love molded into our character. That is our life work to focus on in this world; to learn love. Life is ripe with opportunities to loearn love: everyone, everyday, is given many. This world is not a playground; it's a classroom and the eternal lesson is learning how to love better.
What makes a good athlete? Practice. If you don't exercise your body, you won't develop muscle; without spiritual training, you won't develop strength of character. Love is a rich, vigorous expression of character - God's nature in all its fullness.
What did Jesus do in the carpenter's shop? Practice. The Bible tells us that He learned obedience and increased in wisdeom and in favor with God and man.
Love is more than the heart that beats within. We may try to emulate those who outwardly show it. But this will not bring love into our nature. The result comes as we love: We love Him - and we are compelled to love all people.
Look into the mirror and reflect the character of Jesus - and you will be changed into the same image, from tenderness to tenderness. Look to the Cross of Calvary, and you must love God.
Loving Jesus, you become like Him and become an attractive force, drawing all people to you. Like Him you will be drawn to all people. It's inevitable.
Edward Irving once visited a dying boy, and when he entered the room he just put his hand on the boy's head and said, "My boy, God Loves you," and went away. The boy called out from his bed and to the others in the house, "God loves me! God loves me!" It changed that boy. The sense of God's love overwhelmed him and created a new heart within him. God's love melts hearts and begins a new work in those who are patient, humble, gentle, and unselfish. There is no other way to get it. Love your friends; love your enemies; love-everyone-because He first loved us.
Seek the abundant life; seek God's love. Seek God, for God is love. Then love can take hold of you - body, soul, and spirit. Give and it will be given back to you. Love is its own reward.
To love abundantly is to live abundantly. To love forever is to live forever. Eternal life and love are intertwined. We rise each day for the same reason ; We want to live forever. Because there are people who love you, and whom you want to see tomorrow and be with and love. There's no greater reason for living than to love and to be loved. Because to live is to love. And eternal life is to know God; for God is love.
In the Book of Matthew, Judgment Day is depicted: God is sitting on His throne, dividing the sheep from the goats. The test then won't be what we have believed, nor what we ahve achieved but how we have acted. In that indictment, sins of commission are not even referred to. By what we have not done, by sins of omission. we will be judged. For by withholding love we negate the love of Christ - proof that we never really knew Him. That He inspired nothing in our lives, that we were not moved by His compassion for the world, to love.
Where love is, God is. God is love. Therefore love- without distinction. Without calculation, without delay. Lavish it on the poor, the rich who often need it most - and on friends and family. Any act of kindness that you can show, do it now. Don't postpone it or neglect it, for you will not pass this way again.
A day is coming when God will gather all the nations of the world, the spectacle itself, the mere sight of it, will silently judge each one of them. Then we will meet either those we have met and helped or the unpitied masses we have neglected. No charge will be brought, except lovelessness. Don't be fooled. The words that each of us hear that day will speak no of churches but of life; not of saints but of the hungry and the poor and the hurting; and compassion in the name of Jesus, who said : Whoever receives a little child in My name recieves Me. For this reason live. For this Reason Love.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Monday, March 21, 2005
It is all about Him
Speaker: Ps Joseph Prince
Every stories in the Old Testament is about Jesus. The only theme of the Bible is Christ because He is the object of God's delight.
When trial comes, faith is there to overcome trial. And faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. Not the words of Theos but the word of Kristos.
God knows your problem but as long as your ocus is on Jesus, the storm, wind and wave will never have effect upon us. Only when we took our eyes away from Him, then we will start to drown.
Jesus is pictured as different person in each of the gospel.
John -> Jesus as Son of God. There's no genealogy of Jesus because he is revealed as son of God.
Matthew -> Jesus as King of Jews. There's a genealogy of Jesus proud pedigree of King. From Abraham to the great king, David, and finally to Jesus.
Mark -> Jesus as Servant. No genealogy because no one ask a servant about his ancestor.
Luke -> Jesus as Perfect man = Son of man. Here Jesus genealogy is traced back to Adam.
We will further discuss about John 1 - 8 and what Jesus represent in each of them.
John 1: Son of God. Israel has been blinded to a point where Jesus come to themas their own but was rejected by his own people.
John 2: Jesus turn water into wine. When Jesus come to the nation, it is a joyless nation but Jesus give them joy.
John 3: "For God so love the world ...". Not to condemn but to save the world.
John 4: Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. Jesus loves the jew as well as the gentiles.
John 5: Jesus heal a man paralyzed for 38 years. the duration of Israel wandering in judgment from Kadish Baniah (maybe wrong spelling) to the day they enter the promise land is 38 years. All together, Israel wander for 40 years, but they wander 38 years in judgment.
John 6: "I'm the bread of Life". People are hungry but they don't have the taste of the bread of life.
John 7: "Why didn't you bring Him in?" Because none ever spoken like this man. the Pharisee suppose to point people to God but they instead want to capture Jesus in flesh. Jesus disarmed them without weapon. The Pharisees try to use the lion approach but it does not work, so they use the subtle way. Often times, Devil use subtle way to win.
John 8: Jesus went to mount Olive. Everyone have their own house but Jesus doesn't, so he went to mount Olive. Jesus is the richest being in the whole universe but he didn't choose to be born in a manger -> Humility. The real transaction took place when he die poor at the cross so that we in His poverty might be rich.
* So don't say that God doesn't want us to be rich because Christ died poor and naked to give you all His riches.
John picture Jesus in various state:
Jesus standing = Glory, Majesty, Dignity
Jesus walking = Public Manifestation / Ministry
Jesus Sitting = Grace, Humility ( John 8:2)
John 8. Adultery and Prostitution is different. But the Pharisees brought the woman but not the man because they want to expose Jesus. Adultery involve 2 person but why it is only the woman who they brought to Jesus but not the man? They want to use the bible to attack Jesus. They want to test Jesus, to condemn people with quotes from Old Testament = oppress woman.
Religion uses bible verses to condemn. Leviticus 20:10 actually emphasize more on the man in the course of adultery ( If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.) The Pharisees want to know what Jesus will say because they know that Jesus is full of grace and that Jesus will want to rescue the woman.
Questions:
How does he rescue her without compromising the law? How can Jesus reconcile God's grace and God's Holiness? How can Jesus give her grace and in the same time did not break the law? The Pharisees thought that any ways Jesus take, He will be trapped.
Remember that God has to be tough because God cannot allow sin to come into heaven.
God reconcile Grace and Law. Grace and Mercy rejoice over Law and Judgment.
Answer:
Jesus wrote with his finger. There's nothing superfluous in the bible. Every word counts. So why His finger? this is the second time God's finger is mention. The first time is when God wrote the 10 commandments. Law is design to bring out man's sin. When Moses broke the stones and God wrote the second one, God spent more time talking about His son = Mercy. As Pictured in the arc of covenant, God's Holiness (Law) is under God's mercy and grace. The 2 cherubins (God's judicial eyes) looking down at the mercy seat where blood is sprinkled. Without the blood God's eyes sees the broken law. "Those who depart from Him will return to the earth"
Jesus wrote twice on the ground. The second time when Jesus wrote represent conviction ( Jeremiah 17) and John 8:9 Fulfill Jeremiah's verse.
"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. " No condemnation is given first and then go and sin no more is given second. Why?
When you know there's no condemnation, THEN you can sin no more. Even if you sin, you know the gift of NO condemnation is still yours, so you can go and sin no more.
Number 5:16 -> the law of unfaithful wife. And John 8 actually fulfill the scripture.
Old T: The Priest take holy water, earthen vessel and dust on the floor.
New T: Jesus wrote on the ground.
Earthen vessel and Holy water = Jesus
Number 5:21 - Belly swell = pride
Thigh rot = weak
Number 5:18 -> Bitter water. The corss make the bitter water sweet. Religion make you bitter. Sweet water hence become a blessing. Keep your water from becoming bitter.
It is not a big deal to understand the law. Even the devil understands. But we need Holy Spirit to understood grace.
Jesus Fulfilled God's Law so that we are not under law because the law has been magnified.
God has been faithful and just to what Jesus had done on the cross. The faithfulness and righteousness demand your clearance and forgiveness.
Every stories in the Old Testament is about Jesus. The only theme of the Bible is Christ because He is the object of God's delight.
When trial comes, faith is there to overcome trial. And faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. Not the words of Theos but the word of Kristos.
God knows your problem but as long as your ocus is on Jesus, the storm, wind and wave will never have effect upon us. Only when we took our eyes away from Him, then we will start to drown.
Jesus is pictured as different person in each of the gospel.
John -> Jesus as Son of God. There's no genealogy of Jesus because he is revealed as son of God.
Matthew -> Jesus as King of Jews. There's a genealogy of Jesus proud pedigree of King. From Abraham to the great king, David, and finally to Jesus.
Mark -> Jesus as Servant. No genealogy because no one ask a servant about his ancestor.
Luke -> Jesus as Perfect man = Son of man. Here Jesus genealogy is traced back to Adam.
We will further discuss about John 1 - 8 and what Jesus represent in each of them.
John 1: Son of God. Israel has been blinded to a point where Jesus come to themas their own but was rejected by his own people.
John 2: Jesus turn water into wine. When Jesus come to the nation, it is a joyless nation but Jesus give them joy.
John 3: "For God so love the world ...". Not to condemn but to save the world.
John 4: Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. Jesus loves the jew as well as the gentiles.
John 5: Jesus heal a man paralyzed for 38 years. the duration of Israel wandering in judgment from Kadish Baniah (maybe wrong spelling) to the day they enter the promise land is 38 years. All together, Israel wander for 40 years, but they wander 38 years in judgment.
John 6: "I'm the bread of Life". People are hungry but they don't have the taste of the bread of life.
John 7: "Why didn't you bring Him in?" Because none ever spoken like this man. the Pharisee suppose to point people to God but they instead want to capture Jesus in flesh. Jesus disarmed them without weapon. The Pharisees try to use the lion approach but it does not work, so they use the subtle way. Often times, Devil use subtle way to win.
John 8: Jesus went to mount Olive. Everyone have their own house but Jesus doesn't, so he went to mount Olive. Jesus is the richest being in the whole universe but he didn't choose to be born in a manger -> Humility. The real transaction took place when he die poor at the cross so that we in His poverty might be rich.
* So don't say that God doesn't want us to be rich because Christ died poor and naked to give you all His riches.
John picture Jesus in various state:
Jesus standing = Glory, Majesty, Dignity
Jesus walking = Public Manifestation / Ministry
Jesus Sitting = Grace, Humility ( John 8:2)
John 8. Adultery and Prostitution is different. But the Pharisees brought the woman but not the man because they want to expose Jesus. Adultery involve 2 person but why it is only the woman who they brought to Jesus but not the man? They want to use the bible to attack Jesus. They want to test Jesus, to condemn people with quotes from Old Testament = oppress woman.
Religion uses bible verses to condemn. Leviticus 20:10 actually emphasize more on the man in the course of adultery ( If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.) The Pharisees want to know what Jesus will say because they know that Jesus is full of grace and that Jesus will want to rescue the woman.
Questions:
How does he rescue her without compromising the law? How can Jesus reconcile God's grace and God's Holiness? How can Jesus give her grace and in the same time did not break the law? The Pharisees thought that any ways Jesus take, He will be trapped.
Remember that God has to be tough because God cannot allow sin to come into heaven.
God reconcile Grace and Law. Grace and Mercy rejoice over Law and Judgment.
Answer:
Jesus wrote with his finger. There's nothing superfluous in the bible. Every word counts. So why His finger? this is the second time God's finger is mention. The first time is when God wrote the 10 commandments. Law is design to bring out man's sin. When Moses broke the stones and God wrote the second one, God spent more time talking about His son = Mercy. As Pictured in the arc of covenant, God's Holiness (Law) is under God's mercy and grace. The 2 cherubins (God's judicial eyes) looking down at the mercy seat where blood is sprinkled. Without the blood God's eyes sees the broken law. "Those who depart from Him will return to the earth"
Jesus wrote twice on the ground. The second time when Jesus wrote represent conviction ( Jeremiah 17) and John 8:9 Fulfill Jeremiah's verse.
"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. " No condemnation is given first and then go and sin no more is given second. Why?
When you know there's no condemnation, THEN you can sin no more. Even if you sin, you know the gift of NO condemnation is still yours, so you can go and sin no more.
Number 5:16 -> the law of unfaithful wife. And John 8 actually fulfill the scripture.
Old T: The Priest take holy water, earthen vessel and dust on the floor.
New T: Jesus wrote on the ground.
Earthen vessel and Holy water = Jesus
Number 5:21 - Belly swell = pride
Thigh rot = weak
Number 5:18 -> Bitter water. The corss make the bitter water sweet. Religion make you bitter. Sweet water hence become a blessing. Keep your water from becoming bitter.
It is not a big deal to understand the law. Even the devil understands. But we need Holy Spirit to understood grace.
Jesus Fulfilled God's Law so that we are not under law because the law has been magnified.
God has been faithful and just to what Jesus had done on the cross. The faithfulness and righteousness demand your clearance and forgiveness.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Purpose of Life
Speaker: Lasben Sitinjak
There's a lot of things we can't change in this world. We often ask why we were grew up in a village or why we are indonesian instead of american? of course being an american will ease up our goal to study in the US. why are a placed in a certain situation or place that makes it more difficult for us to achieve our goal? We know that God is never wrong in placing us. Maybe we thought that it is wrong but still God is always right.
Another thing that we can't change is our past. We won't be able to erase our past eventhough we fast for 40 days. God always watch us every minutes every seconds. In our every seconds, God has planned our life. Maybe our past is often strayed from what God wants, maybe we couldn't resist temptation but everything is in God's plan.
What we did does not influence our future, but what we decide and do now will influence our future.
One most important thing to achieve our goal is to give your best in life because we don't know how long we are going to live. We have dreams about what we want to be but we do not know what we will be.
When we give the best, when we make sacrifices in our lives, we will find out what our purpose are.
What is giving our best?
Mark 14:3-9 -> 3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. 6“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
From this woman we can draw an example of giving our best for God.
Giving the best or sacrificing the best does not require money but your life. It is to do the best in your life for God's purpose.
To give our best:
1. We have to pay the price.
Human always think about the value of money. If we have choices, we opt to choose the best for ourselves and second best for others. How many of us give what we don't want anymore to the church? Church become a dumpster in a softer sense. When did we start to put God as our second best? Unconsciously, often times we consider and place God in the second best place in our heart.
Remember about the woman in Mark 14. It was said that it cost a year of wages to purchase the perfume. This woman scrapped her wages for a year or maybe more just to buy purfume for Jesus. Keep in mind that she still has to pay her living cost for a year, hence it was very probable that this woman worked for more than a year to obtain the perfume. In those day, a woman only broke jar of perfume and poured on her groom's head. The perfume was her investment for her own marriage. Consider what this woman had done for Jesus. She sacrificed herself and gave her all to God. She knew that it was her marriage investment and she knew that she might not be married but she sacrificed it all for Jesus.
Paying the price is not easy. We pay the price when we try to give the best. When others are playing and you are studying but in the end we receive the same result, it was not easy. But what is important is that we pay the price to do the best for God.
Jesus told us to pay the price because He knows that we can do it.
2. We do everything and give everything with love.
Everyone of us has been in love. When we give something when we were in love, we always give it with love. A lot of Christian seldom give something to God with love. Giving with love is to give from the heart like what Christ has done for us. He gave up his life with love. When you love someone, you feel their pain right? Christ feel our pain, feel our love. He became human. Our busy God has to stay dormant and immobile for approximately 9 monthes in Mary's womb to become one of us. Our Almighty God transformed Himself to a tiny cell just to feel human's pain.
Of course Jesus can invent certain chemical that could take away His pain during His cruxifiction, be done with all the pain and in the same time erase all human's sin. But He didn't do it because He wants to feel the rain, the sun, to be one of us, to feel our pain. This is what it means to give with love. He has placed His heart as your heart.
We usually give God second hand but God does not give his life because he has a second life. God never give second hand to us.
We can be faithful and obedient but not love. But we can't love without being faithful and obedient.
God does not need the result, but God wants the love you give when you give the best with love for Him
3. Do your best as a responsibility upon God's given trust
In everything we do, we have to realize that nothing in the world is ours, including our lives, and that everything is a responsibility God has trusted upon us. God wants us to take care of what he has given us.
Even when we did all this three, God still doesn't owe us anything because even when we did nothing, He has given the best He can give. Even when we did something wrong, He still has given the best He can give. Think about what He will give if we give our best to Him.
1 Cor 4:1-2 ->1So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
We are people trusted by God with the secret of God. He just demand us to be trustworthy. To stay faithful
There's a lot of things we can't change in this world. We often ask why we were grew up in a village or why we are indonesian instead of american? of course being an american will ease up our goal to study in the US. why are a placed in a certain situation or place that makes it more difficult for us to achieve our goal? We know that God is never wrong in placing us. Maybe we thought that it is wrong but still God is always right.
Another thing that we can't change is our past. We won't be able to erase our past eventhough we fast for 40 days. God always watch us every minutes every seconds. In our every seconds, God has planned our life. Maybe our past is often strayed from what God wants, maybe we couldn't resist temptation but everything is in God's plan.
What we did does not influence our future, but what we decide and do now will influence our future.
One most important thing to achieve our goal is to give your best in life because we don't know how long we are going to live. We have dreams about what we want to be but we do not know what we will be.
When we give the best, when we make sacrifices in our lives, we will find out what our purpose are.
What is giving our best?
Mark 14:3-9 -> 3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. 6“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
From this woman we can draw an example of giving our best for God.
Giving the best or sacrificing the best does not require money but your life. It is to do the best in your life for God's purpose.
To give our best:
1. We have to pay the price.
Human always think about the value of money. If we have choices, we opt to choose the best for ourselves and second best for others. How many of us give what we don't want anymore to the church? Church become a dumpster in a softer sense. When did we start to put God as our second best? Unconsciously, often times we consider and place God in the second best place in our heart.
Remember about the woman in Mark 14. It was said that it cost a year of wages to purchase the perfume. This woman scrapped her wages for a year or maybe more just to buy purfume for Jesus. Keep in mind that she still has to pay her living cost for a year, hence it was very probable that this woman worked for more than a year to obtain the perfume. In those day, a woman only broke jar of perfume and poured on her groom's head. The perfume was her investment for her own marriage. Consider what this woman had done for Jesus. She sacrificed herself and gave her all to God. She knew that it was her marriage investment and she knew that she might not be married but she sacrificed it all for Jesus.
Paying the price is not easy. We pay the price when we try to give the best. When others are playing and you are studying but in the end we receive the same result, it was not easy. But what is important is that we pay the price to do the best for God.
Jesus told us to pay the price because He knows that we can do it.
2. We do everything and give everything with love.
Everyone of us has been in love. When we give something when we were in love, we always give it with love. A lot of Christian seldom give something to God with love. Giving with love is to give from the heart like what Christ has done for us. He gave up his life with love. When you love someone, you feel their pain right? Christ feel our pain, feel our love. He became human. Our busy God has to stay dormant and immobile for approximately 9 monthes in Mary's womb to become one of us. Our Almighty God transformed Himself to a tiny cell just to feel human's pain.
Of course Jesus can invent certain chemical that could take away His pain during His cruxifiction, be done with all the pain and in the same time erase all human's sin. But He didn't do it because He wants to feel the rain, the sun, to be one of us, to feel our pain. This is what it means to give with love. He has placed His heart as your heart.
We usually give God second hand but God does not give his life because he has a second life. God never give second hand to us.
We can be faithful and obedient but not love. But we can't love without being faithful and obedient.
God does not need the result, but God wants the love you give when you give the best with love for Him
3. Do your best as a responsibility upon God's given trust
In everything we do, we have to realize that nothing in the world is ours, including our lives, and that everything is a responsibility God has trusted upon us. God wants us to take care of what he has given us.
Even when we did all this three, God still doesn't owe us anything because even when we did nothing, He has given the best He can give. Even when we did something wrong, He still has given the best He can give. Think about what He will give if we give our best to Him.
1 Cor 4:1-2 ->1So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
We are people trusted by God with the secret of God. He just demand us to be trustworthy. To stay faithful
Monday, March 14, 2005
Without faith It's impossible to please God
Hebrew 11:6 - Without faith, it's impossible to please God
Speaker: Ps Rony Kuswanto
We lose excitement/passion for intimacy for God because we are overwhelmed by our activities, we are worried about our future, etc.
God has put a seed of greatness in everyone of us. But when we are overwhelmed by worries and other stuff, the things that God put into your heart is lost or drown and God wants to revive what is lost in you.
Do you know what number represents?
No 1: God
No 3: Trinity
No 5: Grace of God
No 6: Man
No 7: Perfection
No 10: Fulfillment ( 10 commandments)
No 12: God's people ( 12 tribes)
No 40: Completeness ( Jesus fasting, Moses exile)
Isaiah 40:30-31 Those who wait upon the Lord will renew(change/grow) their strength to soar like the eagle.
The renewing of strength:
1. Empowerment - we can only grow in the Lord when we are touched by the Holy Spirit
2. Restoration
- 1 Cor 3:16 - we are His church, we are the dwelling place
- What things does God want to restore? God wants to touch
a. Your mind -> restore it so we know His will for us.
Knowing the will of God is not gambling. Do not have a wrong mindset. God wants to
speak to you all the time so we can know what His will is for us.
b. Your prayer/ worship
c. Your life
Being successful is about changing lives not wealth
We must stop being a religious person, but we must become a true believer
A true believer = influencing people wherever we are.
When God renew us, there has to be changes. A change of focus and vision to be like the eagle. The devil likes to aim for our spiritual life, our faith and our passion to influence us to be "ordinary" and ineffective christian. Remember that God needs our excitement to do His work and the Devil will try to steal and kill our seed of greatness.
Speaker: Ps Rony Kuswanto
We lose excitement/passion for intimacy for God because we are overwhelmed by our activities, we are worried about our future, etc.
God has put a seed of greatness in everyone of us. But when we are overwhelmed by worries and other stuff, the things that God put into your heart is lost or drown and God wants to revive what is lost in you.
Do you know what number represents?
No 1: God
No 3: Trinity
No 5: Grace of God
No 6: Man
No 7: Perfection
No 10: Fulfillment ( 10 commandments)
No 12: God's people ( 12 tribes)
No 40: Completeness ( Jesus fasting, Moses exile)
Isaiah 40:30-31 Those who wait upon the Lord will renew(change/grow) their strength to soar like the eagle.
The renewing of strength:
1. Empowerment - we can only grow in the Lord when we are touched by the Holy Spirit
2. Restoration
- 1 Cor 3:16 - we are His church, we are the dwelling place
- What things does God want to restore? God wants to touch
a. Your mind -> restore it so we know His will for us.
Knowing the will of God is not gambling. Do not have a wrong mindset. God wants to
speak to you all the time so we can know what His will is for us.
b. Your prayer/ worship
c. Your life
Being successful is about changing lives not wealth
We must stop being a religious person, but we must become a true believer
A true believer = influencing people wherever we are.
When God renew us, there has to be changes. A change of focus and vision to be like the eagle. The devil likes to aim for our spiritual life, our faith and our passion to influence us to be "ordinary" and ineffective christian. Remember that God needs our excitement to do His work and the Devil will try to steal and kill our seed of greatness.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Who Am I
by Casting Crowns
_____________________________________
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours
_____________________________________
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours
Disecting the Eagle
Speaker: Ps Chris Mesach
Isaiah 40:30-31
Although everything does not appear like it is bearing any fruits, remember that the most important thing is the process. God will do everything in His own time.
Eagle is mention in the Bible 38 times. It indicates that something unique and special about this bird that we need to learn from. We can take the positive points of Eagle to apply in our live
Facts:
Height: 1 meter
Width with both wings spread: 4 meter
Weight of nest: 700 kg
Favorite food: fish
1. Beek-> design untuk devour food. Shaped like hook efficient to tear up prey.
Life application: Beek represent our mouth and our words. (Revelation 12:11)
There are two power in believer: Potential power in our words and our action. mulut itu penting buat kita. Coba untuk puasa bicara. It's much more harder than to fast from eating. Untuk mengalahkan Iblis kita bersaksi memakai mulut dan perkataan kita. We are blessed cause of the testimony and words but we also suffer because of words.
Example: a minister has 3 children. the first 2 are handsome and beautiful but the third one happens to be mentally challenge. Everyday the minister faithfully speak positive words that this child will be normal. In the end the child grew up normally. Our words have impact
Male speaks 20 thousand words per day
Female speaks 50 thousand words per day
How many of these 50 thousand words we spent everyday to bless others?
When we talk, we impart all our lives through our ability to speak
Punches can hurt you for a week but Words can hurt you for a decade.
Pay attention to your words.
2. Eyesight/ Hearing
You know why eyes are the most important part in the body ? It's proven by how eagle's eyes work. Eagle actually cleans tis eyes every 3-4 seconds by wiping them since they have two eyelits.
Secondly, Eagles' eyes are very sharp and they are about 14 times as sharp as average people's. They can see the target (fish usually) from 1000 feet above the surface of the ocean or around 2 miles in length.
Life Application:
I Samuel 3:1-3
We are unable to see what's gonna be in front of us. Our spiritual eyes are dead
I Samuel 4:18
When you read the story of Samuel, he was actually the assistant of the pastor at that time. There was a holy place in the church (tabut indo nya), he slept in that place where not even the highest priest could not do that. Another rule was that the high priest was only allowed to get in twice a year. Also, there was a candle inside that the priests had to make sure that the candles were on. Eli was the high priest at that time and he was old already and he got really fat as time went by. Eli's eyes and ears were dead, but not literally dead. His spiritual life with God was actually didn't go well. Eli's eyes of hearts were having so high cholesterol level spiritually. If you imagine what cholesterol is, you may think of junks and diseases it causes.
In a nutshell, sharp eyes are for looking at the visions and we have to keep our eyes clean both physically and spiritually because eyes are responding to all events happening. So, we have to keep our christian life well by staying out of the influences created people around us.
3. Claws
One of the most important tool for hunting. Has a nail that looks like hook
Life Application: there's power in action. Action speaks louder than words.
remember that 1% vision and 99% hard work.
We have to learn from abraham.God gave him a lot of promises but what did he do to fulfill all God's promises? He step out, walk out from the place he grew up.
Action = hardwork and real effort to accomplish a vision. Why God's promise to us never happens? because we don't have enough courage to step out from our comfort zone
When you have the courage to step out from your weakness, you will fulfill all God's promise in your life.
4. LifeStyle
Fact: Eagle migrate seasonally usually in Fall
They acceleration is 50km/hour
Life Application: There's no "comfort zone" for God's children
Comfort = biggest killer in Christianity
Camping principle: Dynamic and active.
Example: the journey of the Israelites in the desert. When the pillar of fire moves, they have to move. sometimes they are tired sometimes they had just arrived and just build their camps, but if the pillar moved, they have to hastily pack up their stuff and move with the pillar.
Ps Jonathan said that miracles happen out of the church. Miracles happens in people's houses. If persecution happens, the place that cannot be touch is God's movement in house.
For those who is struggling, be bless because comfort is killer.
Be Careful and Check your lifestyle
5. Food
Fact: not carcass eater
Has a pouch in the stomach to store food
Separate between things inedible with the edible
Pastor Jonathan is a mighty man of God. He knows a lot of things and He's gifted in playing all kinds of musical instrument. Do you know what is his IQ? it's only 96. So what makes him the way he is? He read the bible. The bible is your source of knowledge
From 33,000 God's promises in the bible, How many has been fulfilled in your life?
Pay attention to our spiritual food.
=============================
The lifespan of eagle is 60-120 years. After 60 years of living, the eagle will soar up high to a place where no human being can reach. Up there the eagle will stay for a full year and let all its feathers to shed. The eagle patiently wait for its feathers to grow back and just let the sun to nurture it back to its magnificent grace. After a year of waiting, the eagle will continue to live another 60 years.
Another point we can learn from eagle is that it is a very loyal bird. It will not mate with other eagle unless its mate died. We as christian has to learn from this bird how to be loyal. When we accept Christ as our savior, we have made a lifetime contract to be faithful. The church can issue engagement contract (baptism) but it will never issue divorce contract with God. Divorce from God will never happen but we are allow to have "desert phase" but for the purpose of being a greater than before.
In every great leader, there's always a desert that needs to be overcome. David has it. Moses has it. Moses has to wait for 40 years in the desert until God use him. Leaders that do not has a "desert phase" in their life usually only last for a short time. Example of these leaders are saul and Samson. Believe that when desert come into our life, God will make us greater. Soar us higher than we ever did.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Although everything does not appear like it is bearing any fruits, remember that the most important thing is the process. God will do everything in His own time.
Eagle is mention in the Bible 38 times. It indicates that something unique and special about this bird that we need to learn from. We can take the positive points of Eagle to apply in our live
Facts:
Height: 1 meter
Width with both wings spread: 4 meter
Weight of nest: 700 kg
Favorite food: fish
1. Beek-> design untuk devour food. Shaped like hook efficient to tear up prey.
Life application: Beek represent our mouth and our words. (Revelation 12:11)
There are two power in believer: Potential power in our words and our action. mulut itu penting buat kita. Coba untuk puasa bicara. It's much more harder than to fast from eating. Untuk mengalahkan Iblis kita bersaksi memakai mulut dan perkataan kita. We are blessed cause of the testimony and words but we also suffer because of words.
Example: a minister has 3 children. the first 2 are handsome and beautiful but the third one happens to be mentally challenge. Everyday the minister faithfully speak positive words that this child will be normal. In the end the child grew up normally. Our words have impact
Male speaks 20 thousand words per day
Female speaks 50 thousand words per day
How many of these 50 thousand words we spent everyday to bless others?
When we talk, we impart all our lives through our ability to speak
Punches can hurt you for a week but Words can hurt you for a decade.
Pay attention to your words.
2. Eyesight/ Hearing
You know why eyes are the most important part in the body ? It's proven by how eagle's eyes work. Eagle actually cleans tis eyes every 3-4 seconds by wiping them since they have two eyelits.
Secondly, Eagles' eyes are very sharp and they are about 14 times as sharp as average people's. They can see the target (fish usually) from 1000 feet above the surface of the ocean or around 2 miles in length.
Life Application:
I Samuel 3:1-3
We are unable to see what's gonna be in front of us. Our spiritual eyes are dead
I Samuel 4:18
When you read the story of Samuel, he was actually the assistant of the pastor at that time. There was a holy place in the church (tabut indo nya), he slept in that place where not even the highest priest could not do that. Another rule was that the high priest was only allowed to get in twice a year. Also, there was a candle inside that the priests had to make sure that the candles were on. Eli was the high priest at that time and he was old already and he got really fat as time went by. Eli's eyes and ears were dead, but not literally dead. His spiritual life with God was actually didn't go well. Eli's eyes of hearts were having so high cholesterol level spiritually. If you imagine what cholesterol is, you may think of junks and diseases it causes.
In a nutshell, sharp eyes are for looking at the visions and we have to keep our eyes clean both physically and spiritually because eyes are responding to all events happening. So, we have to keep our christian life well by staying out of the influences created people around us.
3. Claws
One of the most important tool for hunting. Has a nail that looks like hook
Life Application: there's power in action. Action speaks louder than words.
remember that 1% vision and 99% hard work.
We have to learn from abraham.God gave him a lot of promises but what did he do to fulfill all God's promises? He step out, walk out from the place he grew up.
Action = hardwork and real effort to accomplish a vision. Why God's promise to us never happens? because we don't have enough courage to step out from our comfort zone
When you have the courage to step out from your weakness, you will fulfill all God's promise in your life.
4. LifeStyle
Fact: Eagle migrate seasonally usually in Fall
They acceleration is 50km/hour
Life Application: There's no "comfort zone" for God's children
Comfort = biggest killer in Christianity
Camping principle: Dynamic and active.
Example: the journey of the Israelites in the desert. When the pillar of fire moves, they have to move. sometimes they are tired sometimes they had just arrived and just build their camps, but if the pillar moved, they have to hastily pack up their stuff and move with the pillar.
Ps Jonathan said that miracles happen out of the church. Miracles happens in people's houses. If persecution happens, the place that cannot be touch is God's movement in house.
For those who is struggling, be bless because comfort is killer.
Be Careful and Check your lifestyle
5. Food
Fact: not carcass eater
Has a pouch in the stomach to store food
Separate between things inedible with the edible
Pastor Jonathan is a mighty man of God. He knows a lot of things and He's gifted in playing all kinds of musical instrument. Do you know what is his IQ? it's only 96. So what makes him the way he is? He read the bible. The bible is your source of knowledge
From 33,000 God's promises in the bible, How many has been fulfilled in your life?
Pay attention to our spiritual food.
=============================
The lifespan of eagle is 60-120 years. After 60 years of living, the eagle will soar up high to a place where no human being can reach. Up there the eagle will stay for a full year and let all its feathers to shed. The eagle patiently wait for its feathers to grow back and just let the sun to nurture it back to its magnificent grace. After a year of waiting, the eagle will continue to live another 60 years.
Another point we can learn from eagle is that it is a very loyal bird. It will not mate with other eagle unless its mate died. We as christian has to learn from this bird how to be loyal. When we accept Christ as our savior, we have made a lifetime contract to be faithful. The church can issue engagement contract (baptism) but it will never issue divorce contract with God. Divorce from God will never happen but we are allow to have "desert phase" but for the purpose of being a greater than before.
In every great leader, there's always a desert that needs to be overcome. David has it. Moses has it. Moses has to wait for 40 years in the desert until God use him. Leaders that do not has a "desert phase" in their life usually only last for a short time. Example of these leaders are saul and Samson. Believe that when desert come into our life, God will make us greater. Soar us higher than we ever did.
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