He Qualifies The CALLED

Noah was drunk

Abraham was old

Sarah was impatient

Jacob was a cheater

Tamar was a prostitute

Moses was a stutterer

Miriam was a gossiper

Gideon was insecure

Rahab was a prostitute

Elijah was moody

Ruth was a Moabite

David had an affair

Jonah ran from God

Martha was a worrier

Lazarus was dead

Zacchaeus was short

Simon Peter was wavy

John had a temper

Matthew was a tax collector

Thomas was a doubter

Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees 

and Moses, David and Paul were once a murderer too....

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED.

A Quote From The Lord

I woke up at 3.00 am this morning due to the excitement that I have over my preaching appointment at the Main Service this morning... I started to rehearse and preaching to myself in the spirit for about half an hour. All of a sudden, the Lord reminded me with a very profund statement... 

"WHENEVER WE STOP BELIEVING, THE GRACE THAT WE THINK WE ARE IN, HAS ALREADY BECOMES A RELIGION...!"

Oh... I just preached myself happy and I went back to my sleep.

A Checklist On What Is Hidden In Your Subconsciousness

How well did I understand grace before I understood grace?

A Facebook Note by Paul Ellis on Thursday, 19 May 2011 at 04:11

Have you ever seen those Magic Eye 3D pictures that look random at first glance but then reveal a hidden picture? Maybe there’s a group of you looking and someone says, “Wow – look at that! It’s a ship!” Then another person sees it and now they’re both describing the picture to you. But try as you might you just can’t see it. They try to encourage you. “Look – it’s right there. It’s huge!” But still you can’t see it. You’re starting to think there’s no picture at all and they’re all deluded when suddenly, revelation comes and a ship appears! If you’re like me and you’re usually the last person to see these things, you’ll no doubt embarrass yourself at this point by shouting, “I see it!”

That’s how it was for me with grace.

I knew people who looked into the Bible and saw radical grace but I didn’t. Sure, there were pockets of grace but there was a whole lot of other stuff as well. Then one day, revelation came and I saw Grace! He’s right there on every page and in every book! How can you miss Him? He’s huge! I now find myself reading old scriptures with new eyes and saying, “Look! This is speaking of Jesus! This is all about Him – I never saw this before.” Now that I’ve seen Him once I see Him everywhere. I was saved decades ago and I have always loved God with my whole heart. But when I got this revelation of His amazing grace, it was like being born again, again.

A friend recently asked me, “How did you understand grace before you understood grace?” Here’s my answer: I thought I understood grace perfectly well. For as long as I can remember I’ve considered myself a testimony of His grace. But when Grace Himself came into focus, I was floored. I realized that I had barely understood grace at all. Looking back I can identify nine signs that showed I did not fully grasp the grace of God.

1. I understood that I was saved by grace but not that I was kept by grace

I had received Christ by faith and without doing a thing, but I was not continuing in Him by that same faith (Col 2:6). Although I would never have said it, I had taken out a little works insurance. Faith is a positive response to what God has done, but I liked to initiate things. And so my walk became “do, do, do,” rather than it’s “done, done, done.” There was no rest, only performance anxiety. There was always another meeting to lead, another plank of truth to teach, another stray sheep to gather. I thought this was normal. I could get excited about the idea of being saved and saving others, but I was not drawing from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3). I was constantly stressed and I treated grace as grease for my engine.

2. I felt obliged to serve

Jesus had done everything for me, what would I do for Him? Of course I didn’t use the word “indebted” – that would’ve alerted me to the poverty of my theology – but much of what I did was motivated by a sense of obligation. I thus cheapened the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph 1:7) by trying to pay Him back for His priceless gift. Inevitably this shifted my focus from Him and His work to me and mine. Instead of being impressed by what He had done, I was trying to impress Him with what I was doing.

3. I motivated others using carrots and sticks

Because my own motives were screwed up it was inevitable that I would preach rewards and punishments to others. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad. At the same time as I was preaching against legalism I was putting people under law! My gospel was like an ash-tray – full of “buts”! God loves you but… Jesus died for you but…  God’s gifts always came with a price to pay. But grace is free – you can either receive it or reject it but the moment you start charging for it, you’ve missed it. There’s only one motive in the kingdom and that is love. The Son of Man didn’t come to threaten us, judge us, or scare us, but to demonstrate love (Rm 5:8). I no longer believe that evangelism means scaring the hell out of people. The good news that the world needs to hear is that God is good and He loves us. The new covenant of grace is the formal expression of His unfailing love for us (Is 54:10).

4. I saw myself as a servant rather than a son

My identity was in the things I did rather than in my Father. I saw myself as working for God (a noble cause!) rather than doing the works of God. I would not have said I was justified by what I did for I knew that grace and works don’t mix (Rms 11:6). Yet I was mixing grace with works like there was no tomorrow! But here’s the strange thing. Even though I preached servanthood more than sonship, whenever there was a crisis I was quick to relate to Him as Papa. It was only when I was strong and healthy that I was seduced by the religious need to do something for God. Happily, there were many crises!

5. I kept asking God to provide things that He’s already provided

6. I was more sin-conscious than Christ-conscious

Like many Christians I was afraid of sin (keep it out of the camp!) and I was not known as a friend of sinners. I defined sin as bad works only and I taught that the solution to sin was repentance. I had read that the grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12), but I wasn’t quite sure how that worked. So when preaching against sin I used inferior incentives like fear and punishment that led, at best, to temporary, will-powered changes in behavior. I emphasized what people must do (repent!) more that what God has already done (forgiven us!). I kept the focus on us when it should’ve been on Him and my preaching was powerless as a result. If anyone failed to experience victory over sin, I just figured they were unacquainted with God’s transforming grace – even though I had given them none.

7. I always tried to do the right thing

Someone under grace says, “I trust Him from start to finish. He will lead me in the right path” (Ps 23:3). But in subtle ways I preferred rules to relationship. What I craved were clear Biblical guidelines for living. I thought I was choosing good, but then so did Adam. We both had an independent spirit that led us to eat from the wrong tree. I felt particularly good when people came to me for guidance. I thought I was giving them wisdom when really I should just have got out of the way and taught them to lean on Jesus (Jn 10:27).

8. I had a stronger relationship with the written word than with the Living Word

I did not read the scriptures to find Jesus (Lk 24:27) but to learn, what should I do? I read indiscriminately and was often confused by scriptures that seemed to contradict each other. My solution was to go for balance: A little of this, a little of that, for all scripture is profitable. But by failing to filter what I read through the finished work of the cross, I unwittingly poisoned myself. I was mixing the death-dealing words of the law with the life-giving words of grace. Although I was zealous for the Lord, in truth I was lukewarm. I was neither under the stone-cold reality of the law nor walking in the red-hot heat of His unconditional love and grace.

9. I knew I was righteous, but I didn’t feel righteous.

When I stumbled I would more readily confess my sins to God than allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the gift of His righteousness to me (Jn 16:10). I knew I was a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), but in many ways I acted and spoke as if I was merely an improved creation. I thought honesty about my struggles was the key to getting more grace. But I probably would not have struggled so much in the first place if I had just learned to see myself as God sees me – redeemed, righteous, and holy.

I am convinced that grace comes by revelation. If you don’t yet see it this post may sound like the ramblings of a man who is unbalanced. (Thank God I am! I’m done with balance!) If you do see Grace, then right now you will be resonating like a tuning fork. So let me finish with a few words for those of you in the first group. Please be patient with those of us who are leaping for joy. Don’t walk away from the Magic Eye picture scowling, “I can’t see it, there’s nothing there.” Just keep looking! Grace really is standing right there in front of you. And He’s huge!

"Favor and Mercy" vs "Grace and Righteousness"

Under the dispensation of Law in the Old Covenant, in order to obtain favor from God, the Israelites needed to perform according to what the Law required plus, offer up the various type of sacrificial offerings ordained by God. 

In the account of Moses praying to God to lead His people, he prayed: “If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.” Moses as the minister of Law, needed to perform and comply with the requirements of the Law in order to have favor in the eye of God.

Likewise, when we look at the account of prophet Daniel, he also needed to resolved first not to defile himself with the royal food and wine from king Nebuchadnezzar, then the Lord granted him favor and mercy in the eye of the official. Under Law, men needed to perform to deserve favor from God. This favor from God in the dispensation of Law was conditional.

As for mercy, the Israelites in their dispensation were blessed not because they obeyed the Law completely but they offered sacrificial offerings according to the provisions of the law when they failed. Their blessings were also depended on their high priest. If God accepted their high priest that year, they were blessed. It was the mercy of God to ordain His people to offer up sacrifices the moment Moses brought down the two tablets of stone from Mount Sinai. God could be merciful and forgive all their sins, but they were still sinners and needed to offer up sacrifices repeatedly. This is what mercy could do...

In the dispensation of grace after Jesus had died on the cross and resurrected on the third day of His death, His shed blood and His finished work at the cross had turn God's favor into GRACE and God's mercy into RIGHTEOUSNESS! After the cross, we do not have to do anything to deserve His grace. 

2 Timothy 1:9 ~ Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

While we were still sinners, His grace was there waiting for us. We did not do anything good to deserve God's favor to be saved. We were all saved by GRACE through faith. When sin abounded, grace much more abounded! That is why we needed these extra words of “unearned, undeserved, and unmerited” to be added in front the word "favor" in order to define His GRACE. His GRACE is unearned, undeserved, and unmerited favor from God!

Likewise, when we received Jesus as your Savior, Father God not only had mercy on us by forgave ALL our sins, and because of Jesus' shed blood and His finished work at the cross, He went beyond the limitation of what mercy can give by giving us Jesus’ righteousness and consequently, made us a righteous man! We can now come boldly unto His throne because He did not just give us mercy, He added on to His mercy and gave us Jesus' RIGHTEOUSNESS! Oh Hallelujah...! What a finished work that our Lord Jesus Christ had done! Indeed, the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks better thing! Wow...!!!!

We are all made righteous by faith not by work. If you understand this truth, you will not ask for favor and mercy anymore but instead, you will be wise enough to ask for the abundance provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness. 

Romans 5:17 ~ For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Do not settle for the things that we deserve. This is the mentality of a servant. In the dispensation of grace, we are all called the sons of God and we have the best. So receive the abundance provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness and you will reign in life!

The Glory Of Kings

I have been wondering lately why there are so much differences between those believers who based their faith in their own performance and those who based their faith in Jesus' finished work.  I observed that towards the end of their discussions be it in Facebook or in forum..., they usually end up "killing" each other with "the sword" in their hand. This wondering has prompted me to ask the Lord for answers...

The Lord is always faithful. He is never too early or too late in what He wanted to deliver. As I was reading Proverbs chapter 25 this morning, I got my questions asked at the 2nd verse of this chapter. 

Proverbs 25:2 ~ It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 

God had conceal the mystery of the Gospel and it takes a king to search out this matter. When God preached the Gospel story to Abraham, he believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. The mystery is in the Gospel. The key word is believing the Gospel. This believing system led this righteous Abraham to be a king. 

On the other hand, Moses wrote about the righteousness that is by the law saying: "Whoever does these things will live by them." Therefore, in Moses point of view, performance is the key word and consequently, this leads to a life of a servant.

What the Lord had done at the cross had set us free for the Spirit we received does not make us slaves, so that we live in fear again; rather, the Spirit we received brought about our adoption to sonship and by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." To reign like a king in our life, we must continue to receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness.

No wonder there are so much differences between those who are righteous by faith and those who are righteous by work. According to the Word of God, only those who are righteous by faith are addressed as kings like father Abraham. Those who are righteous by work are addressed as servants like Moses. No wonder kings see things differently from servants. No wonder kings speaks differently from servants. No wonder there are so much disagreements because they all see things from a different platforms... i.e. the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

So, if you see like a king and talk like a king, do not be "downhearted" by the reactions shown by servants because they just cannot comprehend what a king like you, see and talk! God has concealed the mystery of the Gospel for kings and only kings not servants, are given the wisdom to search out this matter.

‎Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness (Jesus' righteousness or righteous by fauth, not righteous by work)  like the stars forever and ever. (Danial 12:3 NASB)

I did not notice that today is 25th of February. .. meaning 25:2 or Proverbs 25:2... until just now, before I decided to note down this revelation as a post in this blog...

Wow... What a wonderful revelation from the Lord from the right chapter @ the right time... It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

See The World Through His Heart

See the world through His heart… what a blog title! This blog was started because of  the Mango Cheese Cake made by my wife. I could still recall that moment while I was enjoying my Mango Cheese Cake, the Lord spoke in my heart with the verse from Mark chapter 16 verse 15:  And He said to them, Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation. While looking at the pieces of MANGO slices in the cake, my heart connected with His prompting as MANGO..., "MEN GO" into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation...! My first blog post was the picture of that Mango Cheese Cake made by my wife Penny, and I called that Mango Cheese Cake an Evangelistic Cake. 

As I walk and grow in the Lord through this blog, I was amazed to realize that as I learnt to see this world through His heart, I started to see thing the way He see and the whole Bible become real and alive…. So with this insight of the function of our heart and seeing thing through His heart, I recompile and post this revelation under the title of  "SEE THE WORLD THROUGH HIS HEART".

I have been wondering and asking the Lord why is that some believers who have tasted His grace and still shy away from Him after a short period of time… With this question, He is not slow in revealing the answer to me. To my surprise, His answer has become a series of my preaching in 3 separate sessions.

Ever since He started to reveal His answer, He has been showing me the biblical truth in respect of our mind and our heart.

Way back in the Garden of Eden, we could find the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. In the wilderness, we could see the Israelites asking for the two tablets of Stones even though they had the leading of the Lord. Even in this dispensation of grace ever since the resurrection of our Lord, we, the believer, the temple of the Holy Spirit, have been using our mind instead of our heart.

The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, two tablets of Stone and our mind have the same characteristic, whereas the Tree of Life, the Lord’s leading and our heart are of the same characteristic. With the help from the structure of the tabernacle, we can actually see the picture of the two Trees at the outer court, the two tablets of Stone and God’s leading at the inner court and our mind and heart as the Holy of Holies.

In the outer court, Adam and Eve had chosen the wrong Tree and were driven out of the Garden. In the wilderness, the Israelites had chosen the two Tablets and they took forty years to complete an eleven days journey. My oh my… in this dispensation of grace, believers are using their mind, intellect, and their head knowledge to walk with the Lord. These three eras shared the same consequences which gave birth to human religions…

2 Timothy 1:9 -10 ~ who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

It is NOT only those who preach GRACE is under GRACE... GRACE is not for Christians only, but as long as you are a human being, you are under His GRACE. As long as you are born after the death of Christ, you are under this Grace Dispensation! Believers of Christ are no more under law but under grace. Believer did not invite Moses into their heart to be their Saviour... Believer has invited Jesus into their heart, and Jesus is their Saviour. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time...!

From the picture of the tabernacle, we could understand that Jesus’ death had already positioned us in the Holy of Holies where we can freely commune with Father God. The problem with many believers is that, we are using our mind, intellect, and our head knowledge to dwell in the Holy of Holies. As a result, we are moving the furnitures that are supposed to be in the inner court into the Holy of Holies. We are practising the rituals of the inner court in the Holy of Holies. We are still abiding to the law even though we are now in the dispensation of grace.

Because of these reasons, the Lord pointed me to a verse in Philippians chapter 3 and reminded me to watch out for dogs. Yes..., He meant dogs… dogs that bark, and there are two dogs!

Philippians 3:2 ~ Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Although the Lord had used this verse to speak to me before and warn me to be aware of those who used the Law to bind believers, but He regards that incident as in the outer court when I was still in “Babylon”. He wanted me to look at this verse again from a different point of view in the Holy of Holies.

I then realized that He was referring these dogs as our brain. Our brain has the shape of the two tablets of Stone brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai. Our brain is the storehouse of our memories, rules and regulation, our intellect and etc… Our desire to work and to abide the law is from our brain. Our brain is also our religion stronghold. Our brain barks at us whenever we made mistake… and we might consider this as self checking. Our brain pushes us to do well… Accuse us of our failures… condemn us of our pass mistakes, sins, failures… and even condemn others! Our brain is actually the shadow of the two tablets of Stones. Our brain is also the shadow of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

If we associate our intellect with what Apostle Paul called flesh, we will have a better understanding on what Paul meant by living according to the sinful nature and according to Spirit.

Romans 8:1 ~ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (using their intellect), but according to the Spirit (using their heart).

We are under the dispensation of GRACE. We are already in the Holy of Holies. We cannot use our intellect anymore; we have to use our heart…Or else, we can never walk in His grace and we can never walk with Him. Grace is not in line with our logical mind. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal His grace to us. Can you still remember the moment when you decided to put your faith in Our Lord Jesus, you invited Him into your heart...!? From that moment onwards, He has given you His own heart and His heart is the way of grace.

In respect of the revelation on our hearts that He has given me, the Lord used the Chinese’s writing character of  LOVE （爱） to show me His heart.

In the old way (I see it as Old Covenant) of writing this character of LOVE (愛), there is a heart （心）in it… But in the new way (I see it as New Covenant) of writing LOVE（爱), it is without a heart （心). This is the question I have been asking the Lord for a long time; and He answered my question with a revelation of His heart.  

Matthew 22:37 ~  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

In respect of the Old Covenant writing on LOVE (愛), The Lord said we have to use our own heart to love God… that is why there is a heart（心）in the old writing. But for the New, He said He had already help us to love God with all His heart and with all His soul, and with all His mind. We cannot find the heart in the new way of writing (New Covenant) because He has given us His own heart.

Ezekiel 11:19 ~ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 

Our heart that is now beating is the heart from our Lord. By the grace of God, He has given us His own heart for us to believe in Him. It was this heart that healed the sick. It was this heart that casted out demons.  It was this heart that feed the multitudes. It was this heart that sympathized our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. It was this heart that accomplished all the written code of the Ten Commandments. It was this willing heart that sent Him to the cross. 

It is this heart that understands the grace of God. It is this heart that understands the will of God. It is this heart that is full of love and compassion. It is this heart that Jesus has given us. He has given us a new heart…. In this mortal body of ours, only our hearts are new and living. With this statement from the Lord, He led me to a deeper understanding on what the Bible meant by "Do not walk in flesh but walk in the Spirit".

Our mortal bodies are subject to death. Apostle Paul was actually struggling in Roman chapter 7 and his struggle ended with him asking WHO would rescue him from this body of death not how or what he could do. He did not ask HOW but WHO. By asking WHO, the WHO, Who is always faithful, revealed to him that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  The Who did not revealed to him that he must repent… The Who revealed to him that there is now no condemnation. Who would have known that Paul condemned himself because of the tenth commandment which was nailing his innermost being? It was the dogs (his brain) barking at him... The 1st to the 9th commandments are of external behavior, while the 10th deals with the hearts of men.

From here, the Lord asked me to add the word “brain” in bracket after the flesh and the word “heart” in bracket after the Spirit.

In the Garden of Eden, the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened. Their minds were activated by the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When their minds were activated, they started to see their nakedness. They started to see their lack and fear came into them.

On the road to Emmaus, the couple by the name of Cleopas, ate the bread broken by the Lord and their eyes were opened too, but they see the Lord and their heart was burning. The Lord said "Shalom...!"

Romans  8:1 ~ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (our brains) , but according to the Spirit (our hearts).

The revelation from the Lord at this point of time becomes very clear and easy to understand. If we walk according to our flesh (using our brains) condemnation will come! Remember the Lord reminded us to beware of dogs? Our brains are the shadow of the two tablets of Stone and they bark at us when we fall short. If we walk according to the Spirit (using our heart), there will be no condemnation. It is so clear that under the dispensation of grace, we cannot use our brains anymore. To walk in flesh (to use our brains) is death; to walk in the Spirit (to use our hearts) is life. After all, when we put our faith in the Lord, we never invited Him into our brains but into our hearts.

Our whole body is death… there is no life. In this resurrected body, only our hearts are new and are from the Lord. But the hope is found in Romans 8 verse 11 where we can find the Trinity God appears together in one verse…

Romans 8:11 ~  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (our heart), He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (our heart).

Oh Hallelujah! The power that gives life to our mortal bodies is in our hearts! He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in our heart. It is all by grace through faith, not of us; grace and faith are gifts from God not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

We can do nothing. We are human being not human doing. We don’t do good deed to become a believer but as a believer, we produce good deeds. The Lord did not ask us to do anything. He said He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in our heart. Being in Christ alone, is already doing our good work because we are His workmanship, created in Him to produce good work...!

Proverbs 4

20: My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

21: Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

22: For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

23: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4

20: My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

-             Romans 10:17 ~ Then faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.

We can only listen to the preaching of the Gospel of Grace. Let His living water washes our feet day in day out. This Gospel of Grace will point us to see Jesus and His finished work. We are then transformed from glory to glory by beholding our wonderful Lord Christ Jesus. We can do nothing but give attention to His words; incline our ear to His sayings. Let His living water washes our feet...; It is finished,,,!

21: Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

-             On the road to Emmaus, Jesus expounded the Word from Moses to the Prophets things concerning Himself, He broke bread and their eyes were opened to see Jesus and their heart was burning.

When we read the Word be it Old and New Testaments, we must find out the Spirit of Jesus. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom.

22: For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

-             Romans 8:11 ~ But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.

He has given us His own heart. That is the fountain of life, the abundant life that He has promised.

23: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

-             Matthew 12:35 ~ A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things.

A verse before this is “Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” His definition of good and evil is : When you trust in His grace that is good. If you trust in your performance by abiding the law, He calls that evil. There is nothing good coming out from our performance through obeying the Ten Commandment because a man of sinful nature can never abide to the holy standard of the commandments.

Coma patients have non-functioning brains yet as long as their hearts are still beating, they are considered alive.  Heart Attack patients are dead because their hearts stopped beating... Patients suffering from Heart Attack are certified dead once their hearts have stopped beating...and Heart Attack is caused by stress and the root of that lethal stress is from our mind...

Matthew 6:34 ~ Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.

Faith is to depend on Jesus' performance while work is to depend on our own performance. The Lord said, "It is finished...!" It had all been taken care of... It had all been done by our Lord Jesus... ! Go now, and preach this God's news, i.e. the Gospel, the too good to be true news. Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation... and see the world through the heart that He has given you.

He Had Given Us His Heart

This post is the continuation of my previous post entitled  His Heart ~ The Way of Grace. In respect of the revelation on our hearts that He has given me, the Lord used the Chinese’s writing character of LOVE （爱） to show me how He has given us His own heart.

In the old way (I see it as Old Covenant) of writing this character of LOVE (愛), there is a heart （心）in it… But in the new way (I see it as New Covenant) of writing LOVE（爱), it is without a heart （心). This is the question I have been asking the Lord for a long time; and He answered my question with a revelation of His heart.

   Old Way of Writing "LOVE"            

New Way Of Writing "LOVE"

Matthew 22:37 ~  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

In respect of the Old Covenant writing on LOVE (愛), The Lord said we have to use our own heart to love God… that is why there is a heart（心）in the old writing. But for the New, He said He had already help us to love God with all His heart and with all His soul, and with all His mind. We cannot find the heart in the new way of writing (New Covenant) because He has given us His own heart.

Ezekiel 11:19 ~ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 

Our heart that is now beating is the heart from our Lord. By the grace of God, He has given us His own heart for us to believe in Him. It was this heart that healed the sick. It was this heart that casted out demons.  It was this heart that feed the multitudes. It was this heart that sympathized our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. It was this heart that accomplished all the written code of the Ten Commandments. It was this willing heart that sent Him to the cross. 

It is this heart that understands the grace of God. It is this heart that understands the will of God. It is this heart that is full of love and compassion. It is this heart that Jesus has given us. He has given us a new heart…. In this mortal body of ours, only our hearts are new and living. With this statement from the Lord, He led me to a deeper understanding on what the Bible meant by "Do not walk in flesh but walk in the Spirit".

..... to be continue

His Heart ~ The Way Of Grace

I have been wondering and asking the Lord why is that some believers who have tasted His grace and still shy away from Him after a short period of time… With this question, He is not slow in revealing the answer to me. To my surprise, His answer has become a series of my preaching in 3 separate sessions.

Ever since He started to reveal His answer, He has been showing me the biblical truth in respect of our mind and our heart.

Way back in the Garden of Eden, we could find the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. In the wilderness, we could see the Israelites asking for the two tablets of Stones even though they had the leading of the Lord. Even in this dispensation of grace ever since the resurrection of our Lord, we, the believer, the temple of the Holy Spirit, have been using our mind instead of our heart.

The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, two tablets of Stone and our mind have the same characteristic, whereas the Tree of Life, the Lord’s leading and our heart are of the same characteristic. With the help from the structure of the tabernacle, we can actually see the picture of the two Trees at the outer court, the two tablets of Stone and God’s leading at the inner court and our mind and heart as the Holy of Holies.

In the outer court, Adam and Eve had chosen the wrong Tree and were driven out of the Garden. In the wilderness, the Israelites had chosen the two Tablets and they took forty years to complete an eleven days journey. My oh my… in this dispensation of grace, believers are using their mind, intellect, and their head knowledge to walk with the Lord. These three eras shared the same consequences which gave birth to human religions…

2 Timothy 1:9 -10 ~ who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

It is NOT only those who preach GRACE is under GRACE... GRACE is not for Christians only, but as long as you are a human being, you are under His GRACE. As long as you are born after the death of Christ, you are under this Grace Dispensation! Believers of Christ are no more under law but under grace. Believer did not invite Moses into their heart to be their Saviour... Believer has invited Jesus into their heart, and Jesus is their Saviour.

From the picture of the tabernacle, we could understand that Jesus’ death had already positioned us in the Holy of Holies where we can freely commune with Father God. The problem with many believers is that, we are using our mind, intellect, and our head knowledge to dwell in the Holy of Holies. As a result, we are moving the furniture that is supposed to be in the inner court into the Holy of Holies. We are practising the ritual of the inner court in the Holy of Holies. We are still abiding to the law even though we are now in the dispensation of grace.

Because of these reasons, the Lord pointed me to a verse in Philippians chapter 3 and reminded me to watch out for dogs. Yes..., He meant dogs… dogs that bark, and there are two dogs!

Philippians 3:2 ~ Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Although the Lord had used this verse to speak to me before and warn me to be aware of those who used the Law to bind believers, but He regards that incident as in the outer court when I was still in “Babylon”. He wanted me to look at this verse from a different point of view from the Holy of Holies.

I then realized that He was referring these dogs as our brain. Our brain has the shape of the two tablets of Stone brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai. Our brain is the storehouse of our memories, rules and regulation, our intellect and etc… Our desire to work and to abide the law is from our brain. Our brain is also our religion stronghold. Our brain barks at us whenever we made mistake… and we might consider this as self checking. Our brain pushes us to do well… Accuse us of our failures… condemn us of our pass mistakes, sins, failures… and even condemn others! Our brain is actually the shadow of the two tablets of Stones. Our brain is also the shadow of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

If we associate our intellect with what Apostle Paul called flesh, we will have a better understanding on what Paul meant by living according to the sinful nature and according to Spirit.

Romans 8:1 ~ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (using their intellect), but according to the Spirit (using their heart).

We are under the dispensation of GRACE. We are already in the Holy of Holies. We cannot use our intellect anymore; we have to use our heart…Or else, we can never walk in His grace and we can never walk with Him. Grace is not in line with our logical mind. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal His grace to us. Can you still remember the moment when you decided to put your faith in Our Lord Jesus, you invited Him into your heart...!? From that moment onwards, He has given you His own heart and His heart is the way of grace.

I will continue to share this revelation in respect of our heart in my next post....

Are You Fighting Against The Grace That Saved You?

Apostle Paul, a people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.  But in his pursuit of the grace of God, he realized whatever was to his profit then, he considered loss for the sake of Christ. He resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified; this was a stumbling block to those of the religious group and foolishness to the people of this world. 

For the foolishness of God is wiser the man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. That is why Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. The Good News is the power of God… The message of God’s grace is the Good News from Heaven and the message of grace is the power of God…

Through Jesus’ Finished Work on the Cross, Father God had turned the facts of this world into the truth in Christ! This triumphal process of divine exchange at the Cross took God more in creating the universal. He only had to speak in creation, while in His pursuit of redeeming mankind; He had to offer up His One and only begotten Son at the cross. 

But thanks be to God, Who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For those who are enlightened by His grace, are to God the aroma of Christ, among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Here is the Good News, and the power of God… Father God had saved the world two thousand and ten years ago! He had already lavished His grace into this fallen world. For He so loved the world that He had already given His begotten Son two thousand and ten years ago, that whoever, whenever believed in Him will not perish but have eternal life! 

We are actually living in an already saved, already delivered, already healed but an ignorant and unbelief world…! Even the body of Christ is ignorant and full of unbelief because they are still fighting against the Grace that saved them. God’s grace is not only for those who preach grace. God’s grace is not only for Christian. God’s grace is for this fallen world! As long as you call yourself a human being, God’s grace is for you…! Believers have forgotten that they were saved by His grace through faith, and majority of the sincere believers are fighting against the GRACE that had saved them…!!!!

Galatians 1:6 ~ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ...

While we were STILL DEAD in our sins, He made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together with Christ and seated us together with Christ in heavenly places…! 

We all know that 5 is a number for grace… The following 5 stages of the declaration made by Father God in John Chapter 3 verse 16 says it all…

• 1. For God so loved the world (He loves us)
• 2. That he gave His begotten Son   (He gave Heaven best)
• 3. Whoever believe (Not work, no string attached)
• 4. Shall not perish (A Promise not a reward)
• 5. Have eternal life (A blood made covenant)

Is this not grace? Is it this grace that you are after or against?

We Are All Under Grace!

We are all under grace… all of us... even the unbelievers. Every human being on this planet earth are under God’s grace…

John 1:17 ~  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

It has been over two thousand years ever since our Lord Jesus died on the Cross and resurrected on the third day of His death. When He was spending His six hours of long suffering on the Cross, He had made seven remarkable statements... these statements are selectively recorded in the four Books of Gospel!

i) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

ii) "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

iii) He said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."

iv) "I am thirsty."

v) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

vi) "It is finished."

vii) "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

With these seven remarkable statements from the mouth of our Lord during His great suffering, as human being, we ought to believe that Father God is indeed faithful in loving us, for Jesus' death was a confirmation to His declaration that He so loved the world and He would gave up His One and only Begotten Son… and we, who called ourselves BELIEVER..., yes BELIEVER..., oh yes BELIEVER, should better know that our sins are totally forgiven In Christ..., past, present and future! Sin is a looooong settled issue!

Jesus with His death on the Cross had changed the dispensation and ended the era of human performance religion. His death on the Cross had called the human race out from the era of law, into the era of abundant provision of His grace and the gift of His righteousness… This is the era whereby the sins of all mankind had been forgiven… It is finished…! God had done His part… His grace has been lavished to all mankind… it is now up to mankind to respond to His love by receiving His Son through faith. Faith is indeed,  believing in what Jesus had done, not what our faith can do. 

Ephesians 2:8 ~ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Therefore, in this dispensation, it is NOT only those who preaches GRACE are under GRACE... But as long as you are a human being, whether believer or not, you are under GRACE. As long as you are born after the death of Christ, you are under this Grace Dispensation! Believers of Christ are no more under law but under grace. Believer did not invite Moses into their heart to be their Saviour... Believers have invited Jesus into their  heart, and Jesus is their Saviour. 

So, if we are not listening to the preaching of pure grace, or even if we are listening to the preaching that mixes grace with law, we have been robbed of all our blessings that Jesus died to give us…! We will slowly be "killed" and eventually, be "destroy"...! Before the devil comes to kill and destroy, he has already done his ground work on his targeted victims, that is to steal the truth from them. It is this lie on unforgiveness, condemning, legalistic preaching that keeps Christians bound. Christians are carrying a lot of guilt over their life which are bound by the teaching and preaching of prideful men. The end result is, instead of looking for victory that they already process, they focus on their own lacks. Instead of being positive in life, they are negative… Instead of being free, they are bound!

John 10:10 ~ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness is a bombshell to this religious world… Grace is unearned, underserved and unmerited favour from God. Nobody deserved anything from God but He chose to love, He chose to give... for He is Love and we are the object of His love! It is all about what Jesus had done… and our faith is to receive what Grace has given, no question asked…!

For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.

Rest In the "PEACE"!

Have you ever wondered why it is that when believers die, in a flick of a second, they are in heaven? Those who believed in Christ Jesus are being guaranteed of this greatest miracle the moment they put their faith on the Gospel of Christ the Saviour. Indeed, the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

From the Bible, we also know that once we put our faith in Christ Jesus, our health, financial standing, peace of mind are restored and line up with the truth because the word "salvation" stated here is from the Greek word "Sozo", which means saving in our every situations and conditions.

Have you ever wondered also, why the miracle of going to heaven can happen as fast as a flick of a second, whereas in some of the "smaller" miracles like healing, financial break through and being set free from bondages take so long to come forth?

The answer is simply because those who are in heaven are DEAD! Yes, I mean they are DEAD! νεκρός ! TOT! מת ! MUERTO ! 死了! There is not a bit of self effort from the dead persons. They are DEAD and REST in peace! There is no man effort but Holy Spirit effort. There is no participation from man’s flesh but the Holy Spirit only.

We are unable to see our break through simply because we do not rest in Christ. Somehow or rather, our flesh is still participating in helping the Holy Spirit and in turn we delay the manifestation of the miracle that we are hoping for.

Hebrews 4:11 ~ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 

It will still be good if Jesus say He will or he is going to help us to accomplish the will of the Father on our behalf, for Jesus with His integrity, will surely accomplish for us. But here is better deal, for it is the Good News/Gospel of Christ; Jesus said “It’s Finished!” It was a completed work which our Lord Jesus had accomplished at the cross. He had finished everything that needed to be finished and He is now inviting us to rest in His finished work. By knowing this Good News and believe in His outrageous grace through the spontaneous faith make the promises sure. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 

Hebrews 3:19 ~ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 

Our believe is the key issue for the miracles to manifest. Believe is not work or self effort. Believe is trusting Jesus’ outrageous grace and His finished work. Believe is not that you have once believed but keep on believing… For the just shall live by faith!

Galatians 3:9 ~ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 

The Book of Hebrews encourages us to labour in resting in our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. For He came and stood among His disciples and said, "Peace be with you!" and after he said that, He showed them His hands and side! Peace be with you too… for He had finished the Father’s will 2,000 years ago. Let us, therefore, have peace in our heart and make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the example of Israelites’ disobedience, and we see that they were not able to enter the Promised Land, because of their unbelief. 

Believe His Finished Work and rest in the "PEACE"!

Romans 8:11 ~ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Jailbreak

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run any code on their devices, as opposed to only that code authorized by Apple. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia, as well as illegally pirated apps. A jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use and update apps downloaded and purchased from Apple's official App Store. So ever since I own an Iphone three months ago, this "term" keeps knocking at my mind… 

So let look at the real jailbreak….

For without the righteousness of God, nobody can live right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. We all taken the wrong turn and wandered down blind alleys. No one is living right; you can't find a single one. Our throats are gaping graves, our tongues slick as mudslides. Every word we speak is tinged with poison. We open our mouths and pollute the air. We race for the honour of “sinner-of-the-year”, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin. We don't know the first thing about living with others. We never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another Person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, He got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one Man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one Man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness, that the one Man Jesus Christ provides?

Our firm decision is to work from this focused centre: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in His life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

Because of this decision we do not evaluate people by what they have or how they look. The Jewish people looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong. We certainly don't look at Him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life began! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and Him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with Himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We are Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ Himself now: Become friends with God; He's already a friend with you.

So go and tell people about this jailbreak instead…

A compilation from the Message Bible

Amazing Grace

Please don't judge the book by its cover....

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear

The hour I first believed.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

I have already come;

'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home.