20111127: Jude :17-22" Natural vs the Spirit/ To do list!

Jude :17 -19 "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires" These are the men who divide you , who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit"

There are 2 different kinds of men. One that unites, the other that divides. One follows the natural whereas the other follows the Spirit.

When we are in Christ, we allow His Holy Spirit to rule us and guide us unto all truth.  Christ is all we need.  We encourage and spur each other to persevere in our earthly journey.

There are a few things that were mentioned after this, for us to be reminded of in the last days:-( v20-22)

1. Build ourselves up in the most holy faith
2. Pray in the Holy Spirit
3. Keep ourselves in God's love
4. Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life
5. Be merciful to those who doubt
6. Snatch others from the fire and save them
7. Show mercy to others mixed with fear and hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

The first 4 are meant for ourselves. The latter 3 are our responsibility to others that the Lord brought across our paths.

Hence if we subject to His Kingdom rulership, v24 to him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!

20111127: Jude: Enoch

Jude 14: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying behold the Lord cometh with then thousands of his saints, to execute judgement uopn all, and to convince all that are ungodly amont them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken..."

This text from Jude mentioned Enoch , after Cain and Balaam- the badies

Life is always seen from the 2 sides of the coin. The good and the bad. The godly and the ungodly.

I believe God singled out Enoch here as an example of the godly one. 7 is a perfect number.  He is the number 7 from Adam.  He is Adam's grandson (through Seth), the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather ofNoah.

Enoch is a preacher of righteousness in those days. He was special because he did not experience mortal death ascribed to Adam's other descendants.  In Gen 5:22, we were told "He walked with God"..and later he was not; for God took him.

In Gen 4, the ungodly line of Cain was listed vs the godly line of Seth.

In Gen 6, the ungodly multiplied, sinned continually that God decided to pick Noah, whose great grandfather was Enoch, to be saved from the coming destruction. The lineage of Seth are generations who called upon the name of God. And Like his great grandfather Enoch, Noah found grace in the Lord as he too walked with God.

Following Jude, Peter too mentioned about the ungodly in 2 Pet. V6 " turning cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them unto those that after should live ungodly"  But yet in v5 "And spared not the old world but saved Noah , the 8th person , a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly"

Reflections

Are we in the days of Noah now? Luke 17 & Matt 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 

Last month we saw Thailand inundated in water- about 1/3 of the world country- crippling the  economy and the way of life.  S'pore here is not spared as we got more flash floods than never before.

Are we prepared to receive the Lord coming back for us?

Are we people of righteousness living in accordance of what He expected of us?

Are we ready?

20111116-Miracles & Prayers

Miracles of The Lord's answers to Prayers...

Oh yes, I wanna dance like King David did like nobody is watching.

I wanna sing like nobody is listening!

I wanna live as if this was heaven on earth!

Just the last 3 days, the LORD answered 3 prayers within a short span of few days and hours...

Just want to give thanks for His answer to a niece's problem, a customer's DTG problem and last but not least, my blood test report which showed I was no longer 'diabetic' (compared to 4 mths back!) Better still, my cholestrol level showed marked improvement , although still slightly above the norm range....Thankful!

With all this , I rejoice! PTL!

20111112-1:Rev21 Gems!

Rev 21: 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

¹⁹And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

²⁰The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

Today, I decided to collect Nat Geo treasures of the earth magazine and the gems!

Rev 21:1 speaks of the new heaven and earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The new Jerusalem is described. But for today, I start with the foundations : wow 12 gems each layer!

Reflections:

I am not sure why there is no more sea up in heaven. Can anyone explain? But surely there will be rivers. If there isn't going to be any sea, boy, I would really missed those waves. God, why not any sea anymore up there? I know that you do not desire a tsunami . Umm..but no sea?

But for sure I am really looking towards that awesome home up there!

Guess when you pass over the 46th year of your time on earth, death seems to be a common topic. We are 6 feet nearer to the ground than we think! Partly with osteoporasis, we become shorter each day automatically! Favourite chat among friends of our age would be those brown rice and fruit juices and all things healthy! How to prevent dementia.... How to age gracefully......How to detox...how not to get fat...how not to have high blood pressure or chlolestrol...how not to be diabetic.....how our eyes suddenly couldn't see near!

Signs of aging for sure. On the brighter note, nearer to our heavenly home! Yeh!!

As the cover magazine puts "Treasures of the earth"...similarly on the flip side will be the treasures of heaven. Matt 6:19-21 has a good reminder for us.

"Lay not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; But lay for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through or steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

P/s: Maggie my schoolmate joked about how her part-time cleaners came to her house and brought out bags of trash bags to be disposed. When asked why and questioned to look through, she was denied! Well, could they have been stealing whatever they could lay hold on in broad daylight? Ha Ha!

20111111-Jude 11 About Cain Balaam & Core

Jude 11: "Woe unto them! for the have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core"

Don't make the same mistakes as the TRIO!

Woe unto them! - See Matthew 11:21. For they have gone in the way of Cain - Genesis 4:5-12. That is, they have evinced disobedience and rebellion as he did; they have shown that they are proud, corrupt, and wicked. The apostle does not specify the points in which they had imitated the example of Cain, but it was probably in such things as these - pride, haughtiness, the hatred of religion, restlessness under the restraints of virtue, envy that others were more favored, and a spirit of hatred of the brethren (compare 1 John 3:15) which would lead to murder. And ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward - The word rendered "ran greedily" - (ἐξεχύθησαν exechuthēsan,) from ἐκχέω ekcheō - means to pour out; and then, when spoken of persons, that they are "poured out," or that they "rush tumultuously" on an object, that is, that they give themselves up to anything. The idea here is, that all restraint was relaxed, and that they rushed on tumultuously to any course of life that promised gain. See the notes at 2 Peter 2:15. And perished - They perish, or they will perish. The result is so certain, that the apostle speaks of it as if it were already done. The thought, seems to have lain in his mind in this manner: he thinks of them as having the same character as Korah, and then at once thinks of them as destroyed in the same manner, or as if it were already done. They are "identified" with him in their character and doom. The word rendered "perish" (ἀπόλλυμι apollumi) is often used to denote future punishment,Matthew 10:28, Matthew 10:39; Matthew 18:14; Mark 1:24; Luke 13:3, Luke 13:5; John 3:15-16;John 10:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Peter 3:9. In the gainsaying of Core - Of Korah, Numbers 16:1-30. The word "gainsaying" here means properly contradiction, or speaking against; then controversy, question, strife; then contumely, reproach, or rebellion. The idea here seems to be, that they were guilty of insubordination; of possessing a restless and dissatisfied spirit; of a desire to rule, etc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

20111103: Deut15/ Lev 25 : Jubilee & Reset button

Leviticus 25:10

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Deuteronomy 15

¹At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

²And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD's release.

.. ⁴Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:

⁵Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

⁶For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

Reflections of the current OWS movement :

Interestingly, 2012 is the coming Jubilee year.

Well, the Lord had actually instituted the Law of Jubilee and the Law of Debts in the OT for a purpose. This 50th year cycle is to maintain the rich and the poor equilibrium in the society that we are now in. Greed and not obeying the Lord's commands is the issue and the backbone of the OWS movement. Purging is a necessity. To de-cluster our lives. To live simply and back to the basics.

If you are a techo gadget freek, you would know that in many of todays' high tech equipment, there is such a thing called hard reset. That is when all system fails you or corruption had taken place in the data, we activate the "reset' key. That will automatically 'purge' and restore the data , hopefully to the original state. But sometimes, such restoration was not successful due to certain glitch.

In fact in Lev 25, the verse "you shall not oppress one another' had been repeated several times in this chapter along. When the Lord blesses a nation, the key as shown in Deut 15 , exhorts the nation that lends and not borrow.

Oops. What do we get here? OWS movement that is now happening in several countries .Look at what is happening in the PIGS. Nations in bankcruptcy.

Modern world had stopped understand the above 2 chapters.

Food for digestion. Deut 15: ⁷If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

Time for a reset?

20111021 :Altar#3 Freedom vs Perfect law

James 1:25" But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom.."

How much the NT writes about the law? In fact, Jesus' teachings on the mount is the highest interpretation of the law - His perfect law.

The reason why James exhorts us to 'look intently into the perfect law' is purely because it is the Law Of Liberty! Whilst it may sound contradictory - law and freedom?

• Freedom has high value by God
• God is free! and yet He is completely lawful
• God is God - He does what is good. God is love - what He does is love (there is no bondage os self consciousness)
• 2 Cor 3:17 " Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"
• The counterfeit of freedom is that of "lawlessness", which is ungodly

Definition of Freedom - Being in a situation where all your needs are met and protected from harm

• Freedom is not equal to independence (story of the poor man who made it in life to go into the space)
• On the contrary, freedom involves dependence (Is61)
• The place where we are most 'free'? In your mother's womb!
• Freedom is always defined by law (eg laws of traffic observed so that we have good traffic flow, professionals spent years of study and training to learn a specialisation so that they can do what they are good at. Cardiologist vs Cook. Likewise, music is very rule-oriented. Good musicians when they perform, becomes very liberating for those who watch or listen. Sportsman like Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Nadal - their disciplines into the training.
• Our human spirit longs for freedom. God is free , so we are created to be free
• Moral freedom is the freedom of the heart - ie free enough to be what we are created (John 8:32 "..the truth shall set us free")

Freedom is about learning and mastering the Laws in life. But how?

Through the Spirit!

The spirit of the king in us will always fulfil the laws of God

But are we really truly free in the Spirit?

The sermon on the Mount - teaches us beyond the spirit of the law on murder/ anger,, adultery, marriage, vows, loving the enemy, sabbath . The letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

"Fill me with your spirit" "Rule me by your Spirit"

Not overnight stuff. A lawyer's mistake goes the prison, a doc's mistake goes to the grave and a minister's mistake goes to hell.

Jesus fulfills without the need to struggle.

Hence to master life in freedom and true liberty, we must learn to understand the law of the Spirit.

Freedom is designed and created by the Creator King. To change the entire world, we need to learn and master His laws. So live in the Spirit!

(extract teachings from Peter Tsukihara's conference)