Let There Be Light

Recently the Lord brought me back to the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis where He began to show me yet another precious revelation that I could never comprehended before. 

In the third verse of the first chapter, God said:  “Let there be light!”  And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 

We all know that God used His Word to create this universe and His Word is light. I never really noticed that there were no sun and moon yet on the first day of God’s creation. The sun and moon only came to existence on the 4th day of God’s creation. But in God’s prospective, the sun and moon already existed in and between these three days. This could be the reason why He declared the light, day, the darkness, night and the evening and the morning in the first day. 

From here, I began to understand that the Word of God is the source of life and is brighter than the sun. That is why in Psalm chapter 36 verse 9, the Bible says:  “For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light.” 

With this Light shining into my heart, the Lord began to connect chapters and verses to show me His revelation. WOW... in Your light, I see light!

If ever you have heard God speak to your need or situation and you are yet to see the manifestation, you can rest assured that the promises shall come to pass! I am telling you this because our God is faithful and just. From the very first book and chapter of the Book of Genesis, when He spoke in the 3rd verse, the sun and moon only came into existence in the 14th verse. Therefore, I hereby submit to you that every one of us who are yet to see the promises of God come to pass are actually stuck in between the first day and the fourth days of creation or the 3rd verse and the 14th verse of chapter one of the Book of Genesis. Bearing in mind that, the work of God from the second day to the fourth day did not involved man. It was all by His speaking. It was all by His grace… not human effort. After He had created everything on earth, He then created man… and that was on the sixth day of God’s creation.

Therefore, in this dispensation, unless we are good listeners of the Word of CHRIST, which is the Gospel, we can never understand what the grace of God is about. We will always be struggling with our own religious mind through our performance to gain favor from God. Our human mind can never comprehend what the grace of God is. Even though some “elderly” Pastors or Pastors with “big name” have given their definitions on the grace of God, those definitions can never satisfy our heart but our logical mind because they are from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the grace of God.  As Apostle Paul was saying, he received the revelation of God’s grace from the Lord not man.

For those believers who have been enlightened by His grace, these are the good listeners of the Word of Christ. They listen to the messages that expound only on the Finished Work of Christ. They hear about His grace, His Favor, His Holiness, His Forgiveness, His Righteousness, His Redemption, His Salvation and all His goodness. They are not self centered...

The Word of Christ is the word from the resurrected Jesus and always speaks of what He had done for us at the Cross. Because of what He had done at the cross, we who are the redeemed, are now holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. But most of us do not see this in our life and we find it hard to believe. Whenever we look at ourselves, we will think that we are still sinful, unrighteous, sick, poor and helpless… This kind of mentality is earth bound and we are actually stuck in between verse 3 and verse 14 of first chapter of the Book of Genesis. Whenever we engage our logical mind, we will be stuck in between these verses.

The Word of Christ had declared that we are now holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. As far as God is concerned, He see us holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. As He is, so are we in this world! 

We have to believe in the Word of Christ and the sun and moon will come into existent! The moment we engage our heart to receive this revelation, our faith manifest because we are focusing on grace, the unearned, undeserved and unmerited favor of God. When we see His grace, He see our faith, and the “sun” and the “moon” will manifest!

My friend, I encourage you to listen to the Word of Christ. Listen to the Good News, listen to the Gospel, and listen to what He says about you. Because of His grace, whenever you receive a word for your situation in life, you can rest assured that the manifestation is coming your way. Not because you are good but because He is faithful. That is why faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ… and the Gospel of Christ is the Word of Christ and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. In this Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and the just shall live by faith. 

We are now in the dispensation of Grace; we are the "just" and we are to live by faith not by sight. When we live by faith (faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen), we are looking at the manifestation of the fourth day and we are not stuck in between verse 3 and verse 14!

So, let there be light…! And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good... and the "just" say, "Amen!"

He Judges You Righteous!

Whenever we hear preachers talking about judgment, and asking us to get on to our knees and pray more, fast more, humble ourselves before the Lord, repent from our sins and turn away from our wicked ways… my dear friends, this is nothing but an Old Covenant teaching, of which, the Book of Hebrews says the written code has been obsolete. It was the Father God Himself found fault with this kind of doctrine, not man… Jesus clearly said that if He be lifted up, He will draw all “judgment” unto Him! But unfortunately, the translators had put the word "man" in that verse, instead of judgment!

The doctrine that teaches us to focus on ourselves has by passed the cross and it is not in line with what Jesus has given us through the cross. This kind of Old Covenant teaching only gives glory to man’s efforts as they add to what Jesus has already done for us! Man’s work and efforts only give glory to man, but Jesus finished work at the cross gives glory to Father God. When the requirement of the law nailed Jesus to the cross because of our sins, the abundant grace of God through the same cross, released us His everlasting righteousness. 

Men’s default mode is to perform. We always want to perform something to make ourselves feel holy and righteous because we do not understand God’s righteousness in us. Grace and righteousness is something that our natural mind cannot understand. We need the Holy Spirit to convict us of our righteousness and reveal to us the meaning of grace… As a new creation, we are righteous in Christ not because of our performance but Jesus’ performance. We are righteous not in our doing but our position i.e. in Christ! The moment God forgives our sins, He see us righteous. Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

As we are now forever in Christ, we will never ever be judged again, because we have already been judged at the cross two thousand years ago! From now on, whenever God judges you, He judges you righteous…

How Grace Might Reign...?

Do you know why some people just cannot accept the grace of God? Some people just cannot receive this amazing grace that we are sharing, even though there are numeric evidences of 119 verses in the New Testament concerning grace with 128 hits, while only 18 verses with 20 hits in the Old Testament (NKJV).

The key reason why these people are not receiving is:  This amazing grace can only reign through Jesus’ righteousness. If we are still in our default mode of self righteousness and sin consciousness, we are in a wrong platform and frequency to receive the impartation of grace from God.  Under law, we can never understand what unearned and unmerited favour from God is.

Romans 5:21 ~ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Only when we can realize that the word "righteousness" is referring  to Jesus’ righteous act and not our righteous act, the grace of God could then reign in our life. Grace can only reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the case of the Apostle of grace to the Gentile, whenever Apostle Paul talked about grace and righteousness, he was talking about Jesus’ righteous act at the cross. Though he was once a Pharisees,  but after the fall of the scales from his eyes as a result of the “Light” that flashed to him from Heaven  while he was on his way to Damascus, he never again justifying himself under law. He esteemed grace more than law as he preached that anyone who attempt to be justified by law; they have fallen from grace. 

Can you imagine, he was circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; and concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless; and yet he preached Jesus as his righteousness, holiness and redemption.  He had finally came to his senses to realized that whatever was profitable to him before his spiritual transformation was a loss for the sake of Christ. 

If you still find yourself unable to understand the grace of God, please bear in mind that this righteousness that the Bible talks about is not your righteous act but Jesus’ righteous act. If you are a believer and you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. You are already righteous in God’s eye. 

Rest in Him… all that needs to be done had been done. Remember Jesus had cried out loud on the cross: "It's Finished!"? He meant it, don't think that He shout this for fun! All that needs to be done had been finished by Jesus. So just relax (rest in Him) and receive... for grace can only reign through righteousness (Jesus' righteousness) to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mission Accomplished

- Law is good and holy. It describes the holy requirement of God. The law is the shadow of good thing to come, and is the shadow of the holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shadow cannot help but Jesus the Substance, can. When we are confronted by law, the law cannot help us but points us to our sins because of God’s standard of holiness. Jesus is grace personified. Jesus came as Man and fulfilled all the requirements of the law and nailed them on the cross. Now, when we are confronted by grace, Jesus helps us for when sin (falling short of the glory of God) abound, grace super abound because grace is unmerited and undeserved Favor of God! After the cross in the grace dispensation, the shadow of Peter and Paul healed the sick!!! The Law condemned the best of us like Moses and King David while Grace saved the worst of us like me!

- The blood of bull and goat which is of a lower value of life than men cannot take away our sin. It just covers our sin. That is why the Jewish people in the Old Covenant needed to offer sacrifices year after year. This blood pointed them to their sins. By the way, bull and goat has no sin in them and their blood can be used to cover our sin. They are born without a sinful nature! So when the bull kicks us from the back, that is not a sin!!! Revelation... revelation!!! This proves the point that sin mentioned in Romans is not about an action but the nature. We are sinner by nature because Adam committed an action in sinning and therefore, because of Adam, we are born with sinful nature. A sinner naturally sins and therefore comes the action of sinning! All glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, through the cross, He saved us from our sins! The sacrifices of the bull and goat points us to our sins but the sacrifice of our Lord at the cross points us to our righteousness because His blood was shaded for the forgiveness of sin once and for all!

- Sacrifice and offering God did not desire because God knew that men cannot keep the law and therefore, He ordained sacrifice of animals so that through these sacrifices, He can draw near to men. God wants and longs to be near to men and we are the apple of His eye. Because of His love for us, His will is to have His Begotten Son to be the One Sacrifice for all. His will is to get rid of the Old and weak Covenant and establish the New and living Covenant.

- Jesus accomplished His Father's will. He had done a perfect job at the cross when He called out, “It is finished!” Now, as His job is finished, He is now seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father, and we are in Him! The redemption job in heaven and earth had been accomplished by Jesus at the Cross. Heaven and earth had rested from this redemption project. Jesus, our High priest, is now seated at the right hand of our Heavenly Father. The Cherubim of the Ark of Covenant had rested from their job where we find them in the account of the Gospel of John, two angels sitting at both sides of Jesus’ empty tomb. It is Finished...!

- Have you rested from confessing your sin? Confession of your sin is Old Covenant. You are righteous is His eye the moment you have put your faith in Jesus. You should confess what God say about you. He see you as righteous as Jesus. He see you as bless as Jesus. He see you as adorable as Jesus not because of what good you have done, but because of what Jesus had done.

- Honor and glorify your God and your Savior. Renew your mind, get rid of your sin consciousness and be established in righteousness conscious. You have a righteous nature now and naturally, whatever thing that a righteous man do, he is bless. Proverb 10:6 ~ Blessings are on the head of the righteous, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. (Wicked here means those who do not believe in His goodness).

- Move on and step into the your resurrection life. This resurrection life is the abundant life that our Savior promised.

Study Note from Hebrews 10:1~18

Righteous

Are you always concern of how people look at you or speak of you? These were my concerns before I know grace… and before I know I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Well, this does not border me anymore for I have found my identity in Christ and I know how Daddy looks at me...

Our Daddy is a God of covenant. From His point of view, we are never being addressed as an individual but addressed under Adam or Christ. The same applied to the Jewish people back in the Old Testament. They were represented by their high priest. We, as a born again new covenant believer are in Christ, who is our High Priest seated at the right of our Heavenly Father.

We were sinners not because of our act but because of Adam’s nature but, Adam was a sinner because of his act. When we are born again in Christ, we are righteous not because of our righteous act but because of Christ’s righteous nature. At the cross, Jesus who knew no sins was made sin so that through this divine exchange, he took away the sin of Adam and at the same time He imparted His righteous nature onto those who put their faith in Him.

When we establish ourselves with this truth knowing that sin is not our act but is our nature, and the righteousness is also not from our act but from Christ's nature, we will understand that by His grace, we have been teleported from the realm of sinfulness to the realm of righteousness; from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. We are sinner because we are born sinner and naturally, sinner sins! Therefore, there is nothing good we can do to make ourselves righteous because we are sinner by nature. Now, after we are born again, we can do nothing good to make ourselves more righteous because righteousness is a gift from God and we are already righteous through Christ's nature!

When we can establish that righteousness is a gift from God by grace, not of our work through abiding in the commandments, rules and regulation or steps and formula, we have acquainted ourselves with the teaching about righteousness. This is what the Bible says in Hebrews 5:14 as solid food for the mature in the Lord. We have trained ourselves to distinguish good from evil (not knowledge of good and evil) by the constant use of the Lord’s righteousness.

Abraham believed God and was credited to him as righteous. The understanding of this divine righteousness and with constant use will position us with the covenant that God made with Abraham. God gave Abraham the power to get wealth, and he became rich in flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkey. God’s promise that Abraham and his seed would possess the earth or be heirs of the world was not based on obedience to the law, but on the righteousness of faith. Because we are in Christ and righteous by faith, we are Abraham’s seed and an heir of the world according to the promise. We too, are inheriting Abraham’s prosperity.

Those who have been established in His righteousness will distinguish that God wants to prosper them like how He prospered Abraham in every things, so that God can fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham.

Many believers do not establish themselves in the righteousness of God but by their own righteousness. They still need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Grow up, do not miss the promise that God made with Abraham. Get rid of your own effort in obeying the commandments, rules and regulations or steps and formula to be righteous because when we obey in all these, there is no faith involved; for the law is not of faith. Trust in Jesus’ righteousness and those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

We are already the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and a righteous person is like a magnet that attracts all the divine blessing, wisdom and prosperity. Is this not His grace…?

Righteousness and Forgiveness of Sins are one...

Grace Upon Grace Conference 09

1st Session 08-05-2009

Romans 4:6-8 ~ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Righteousness and forgiveness of sins are one... When our sins are forgiven, we are righteous in God's eye. As a believer, we have been forgiven of all our sins; past, present and future because of Jesus' Finished Work at the Cross. Jesus, the Son of God had been resurrected for our justification two thousand years ago...!

Isaiah 1:18-20 ~ "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

If you are willing to believe that you are righteous and your sins had been forgiven, you will eat the good of the land. If you refuse to believe that you are righteous and your sins had been forgiven, you shall be devoured by the sword of condemnation...

NOW

Hebrews 3:13-19 (The Message)

12-14 So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul.

These words keep ringing in our ears:

Today, please listen; don't turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.

15-19 For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren't they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn't it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? And when he swore that they'd never get where they were going, wasn't he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? They never got there because they never listened, never believed.

NOW is the fullness of time. NOW is an eternal concept, not a time concept. Every moment in the history of man is God′s NOW; also every moment in man′s future is God′s NOW! The moment the individual embraces His voice, the now of His eternal strategy begins to unfold.

Francois du Toit of Thoughts for Life (Daily Devotionals)

Generation Christ

1 Peter 2:9-10 (New King James Version)

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.


Generation Christ


1 Peter 2:9-10 (Contemporary English Version)

9 But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, 10 "Once you were nobody.Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you.Now God has treated you with kindness.



SIB Grace N.O.W. Generation Christ

It is through His Grace, not by our behavior that we are called Generation Christ!

How To Die... Har?

Two weeks ago, right after our Sunday Service, we were so fresh and full of revelation that we started asking each other: "How to die… har?" It was because during the preaching, Elder Alex expounded on the work of the Trinity in us from Romans chapter 8 verse 11…. What a powerful verse it is which expounded the work of the Trinity in our mortal bodies...

It was a week after this incident that the news of the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico was released and it is now causing global concern. This new strain for virus was first clinically identified as influenza A (H1N1). When I recalled that moment in Church, I realized that in a grace based, Christ centered environment, the Holy Spirit is ever ready in dispensing the "now word" through the pulpit or the believers' mouths. It takes a quiet spirit to discern what the Holy Spirit is revealing.

In the time of shaking like this, the only sure and unshakable foundation is the Finished Work of Christ. Through the revelation of His Finished Work comes the understanding of His full redemption and forgiveness of sins, His unearned and unmerited favor and His everlasting lovingkindness for us. If we are still not establish in His Finished Work but on our own work to perform, we are sure to be blown and tossed by the wind of this world because we will always be doubtful for something that we have done or not done to deserve security...

James 1:6-8 ~ 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Lord said, "It is Finished!". Just rest in His Finished Work and meditate on the following verses from the Bible. Believe and it will start to mean something to you...

Romans 8:11 (New International Version)
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.

Romans 8:11 (The Message)
It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

Romans 8:11 (Amplified Bible)
And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11 (New Living Translation)
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Romans 8:11 (Contemporary English Version)
Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

Romans 8:11 (New Century Version)
God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God's Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you

Romans 8:11 (Young's Literal Translation)
and if the Spirit of Him who did raise up Jesus out of the dead doth dwell in you, He who did raise up the Christ out of the dead shall quicken also your dying bodies, through His Spirit dwelling in you.

How to die when the Trinity is working in our mortal bodies... So be encouraged by these different translations of Romans 8:11. Surely, not maybe, the Lord is going to satisfy us with long good life...!

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

Amen!

Well, how to die... har?

Do Not Eat The Meat Raw!

During the time of the Old Testament, lambs for the Passover meal were being slain and not a bone was to be broken in these sacrificial lambs. Passover pronounces redemption and to the Jewish people, the Passover feast has a special meaning. Though we are not slaves, like the Jewish people, we were slaves to our sin, our own wants and desires. Sin was our master until Jesus, the Passover Lamb, delivered us from our "Egypt". The lamb slain during Passover is a foreshadow of the redemption we find in Jesus, our Saviour, our Passover Lamb. The principle of redemption is the concept of bondage to the slavery of sin and freedom from its domination. To be "redeemed" means to be purchased from slavery and Jesus Christ purchased our freedom with His blood as the payment for the redemption. The Good News is; we are redeemed!

Before the Passover lamb was taken to the Temple, the High Priest would tied it for public view so that it could be inspected for blemish. In the same way, Jesus sat and taught in the Temple courtyard for four days. He was inspected and questioned as the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law sought to trip him up in His words and entrap Him. They could not, because He was perfect and without blemish.

Jesus had equal status with God but did not think so much of Himself that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, He stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He did not claim special privileges. Instead, He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Like the Matzo bread, Jesus was pierced in His brow by the crown of thorns as well as in His hands and feet by the nails. He was also pierced in His side by a soldier’s spear. He was pierced for our transgressions… He was also scourged on His back until His flesh was all torn and bloody, and His bones were exposed. By His stripes, we are healed…

Like the brunt of the Matzo bread, the full fire of God’s wrath fell on Jesus, burning up our sins into ashes, and at the same time, bring out the fragrance of the offering of Jesus. After the Finished Work at the Cross, our sins and lawless deeds are but ashes and our Daddy in Heaven remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more! If anyone come to you with this ashes in their hands, just sneeze and these ashes will vanish in the thin air...

Exodus 12:8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts.

Jesus indeed was the true Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. At the Cross, He had accomplished the Father's will...

I am concern for those who come to the Lord’s Table with confession of their sin. Although they are sincere, they ignorantly sin against the body and the blood of the Lord the moment they confess their sin. No wonder Prophet Hosea said in the Book of Hosea: “My people are destroyed from the lack of knowledge.” If we confess of our sin before we partake the communion, we are saying the Lamb has not being judged, the Lamb has not been burnt and our sin is still with us. In this manner, we are eating the meat raw. When we are eating the meat raw, we still hold on tight to our sin and therefore, we eat and drinking judgment on ourselves! The Lord says this is an unworthy manner because this manner does not glorify the Father but brings humiliation to His Name! The truth of the matter is, God is Holy and He had lawfully judged and legally punished our entire sins of our life on our Substitute at the Cross. The same sin cannot be punished twice!

If we believe that all our sin had been forgiven, the way we approach the Table is not by the confession of our sins but the confession of our righteousness we already have in Christ. In this manner, we are eating the meat burnt with fire. If we come to the Table with confession of our sin, we are saying the Lamb has not been burnt and judgment for our sin has not been executed. To come to the Lord’s Table with sin consciousness is unworthy. This sort of manner contradicts to the truth and we are eating the meat raw!

Come to the Table seeing our sickness had been judged on Jesus’ body, our sins had been punished and exhausted on Jesus’ body; our poverty had been taken away as He died poor and naked on the Cross and our curse had been removed as He was hung on the tree on our behalf. He had been burnt…

The Lord’s Table is not a place to plead for forgiveness of sin or to claim God's blessing and healing but a place to remember Jesus and celebrate His death for through His death on the Cross, He conquered for all our victories. The Bible says in the Book of Romans that we, as the redeemed one are more than a conqueror. Is this not grace...?

Therefore, renew your mind and do not eat the meat raw!

Justified

The feast of Passover is called Pesach in Hebrew, which means passing over or protection, and is derived from the instructions given to Moses by God. This festival was instituted to remind the Israelite of the exodus from the land of Egypt, from slavery to freedom…

Jesus, the Passover Lamb, was betrayed on the night of Passover. He personally instituted the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup in the midst of this festive celebration also known as the Last Supper. Hence, the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup superseded the feast of Passover as the new era arrived through His death on the Cross. The feast of the Passover was the shadow of the real event to come and Jesus, the Real Passover Lamb was then, about to accomplish all that the prophets had spoken in the Old Testament.

On the resurrection Sunday, Jesus again appeared to His disciples and personally illustrating how a church is to conduct the Sunday Service with the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup.

Luke 24:30-31 ~ When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight.

From the light of this passage, the breaking of bread certainly opens our spiritual eyes and releases our spirit to recognize the resurrected Jesus and leads us to our understanding on the truth of His Finished Work. I want to stress again, it is recognizing the resurrected Jesus! But you may say, “Brother, I know Jesus, He died for me on the cross and He is my Saviour!” Yes, what you say is true but do you recognize Him as the Resurrected One?

If you can recognize Him as the Resurrected One, the nail pierced marks on His hands are telling you that all your sins have been forgiven…, past, present and future! If you believe that all your sin has been forgiven, then the way you approach the Table is not by the confession of your sin but the confession of your righteousness you already have in Christ. He prepares the Table in front of your enemies to celebrate victory instead of mourning for your sin and shortcoming. When we break bread and partake of the cup, we proclaim His death until He comes again. Every time a ram horn is blown in the Old Testament, His death was proclaimed, victory followed. In the New Covenant, every time we break bread and partake of the cup, we proclaim His death, and it is a reminder to the kingdom of darkness that victory belongs to us.

How do you recognize Jesus? Do you recognize the life when He was ministering on this earth? Or when He was at the Cross? If we fail to recognize His resurrection, we are only embracing half of the Gospel. The full gospel completed with His resurrection and indeed, the Lord wants us to recognize Him in His resurrection. His death on the Cross took away all our sin, sickness, curses and bondage while His resurrection justifies that we are righteous! Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

The breaking of bread is powerful providence to enable believers to walk on this earth because as we come together to break bread, we remember once again what the Lord had done and we are also be reminded of our righteous status and a righteous man has no sin but righteousness, no sickness but divine health, no curses in their life but abundant blessing, no bondage but freedom with abundant life. But is it so in the body of Christ? It was not so at the church in Corinthian during Paul’s time and the situation in our time is no any better either. Let see what Paul had to say about communion…

1 Corinthian 11: 28-30 ~ that a man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

What did Paul meant by examine himself? The examine himself here means examine the man or the manner he partake the bread and cup? The illustration in Verse 29 says the manner of how man partake not the man who partake. It is our manner of how we recognize His body. Do we believe that His Finished Work at the Cross had already given us the righteousness or we believe that He did not do a good job at the Cross and our present and future sin are not forgiven yet and need us to bring out one by one? It is a wrong manner to come to the Lord’s Table recognizing our own sin for he said, “It is finished!” When we come with a wrong manner, we eat and drink judgment on ourselves. The consequence is weakness, sickness in our midst and many fallen asleep.

When we believe the wrong thing, we are not walking in the truth and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is unable to witness and manifest His power in our life for He only bears witness with the truth. Believer who has fallen asleep is passive and is not threatening to the kingdom of darkness.

So the good news is, if we can understand what Paul was saying and come to the Lord’s Table recognizing the Lord’s body and not our sin, we shall be strong, healthy and is not sleeping!

Romans 4:25 ~ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

By His grace we are justified... My heart is burning within me now and with this burning heart, I wish you a blessed Easter Holiday and may your holiday be happened with His happening!