Plus, Neutral & Minus

The "GRACE" of God through the "CROSS" is a "PLUS" (+) sign. In mathematic, this means an increase for us...

If we are to balance it, we either bring it down to "NEUTRAL" (0) or "MINUS" (-).

That is why, what man calls "BALANCE", God calls "MIXTURE"...!

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.

Grace Achieved By Law...!?

This is an interesting note written by Bertus Oosthuizen in Facebook...

"Jesus is what God believes about us! We do not need to conjure up our own faith when we can have God’s faith; we only need to know what God believes."

This statement appeared on my wall ,that is in my "living room". It is a one way teaching like in a church. I can't comment on it where it originated. Therefore I will politely and respectfully and in sincere love share what is on my mind here in my own "living room" and the living rooms of those who have the courage to be my friends. 

Do I understand this correctly? 

"when we CAN have God's faith "  -  A possibility only 

"we ONLY NEED to know " -  The requirement 

"We do not need to conjure up our own faith" - The dilemma we are in before the possibility can become a reality, when we fulfill the requirement.

This premise and conclusion suggest DIVISION between God and man. A division which can only be crossed by man fulfilling a requirement. 

In this case that requirement is completely out of the reach of any man or woman outside the intimate unity with God. Normally the defense will be, "no it is not meant to be outside the intimate unity with God. I am talking about someone that is in God already through Christ".

If that is true what you say, is it possible that there can exist unfulfilled requirements in the unity you suggest. If your answer is yes, then what will happen if they are not fulfilled by man?  Did Christ deliberately left some of the requirements to be IN Him (God) for man to bring his/her part to fulfill it? 

The moment man is required to do something to bridge an openly stated or subtle implied distance, how small it may seem, between man and God, then it is not Grace, but Grace-achieved-by-law  teaching.

It creates more questions than answers. 

Often the package comes as a "Grace-made-possible-by-subtle- law-requirement-fulfilling, which doesn't make it obvious that Grace and law are mixed.

True Grace can never be a possibility. It is an awesome completely fulfilled Truth that can never be made conditional in any way whatsoever.

I love this statement made by Brother Bertus ~ True Grace can never be a possibility. It is an awesome completely fulfilled Truth that can never be made conditional in any way whatsoever.

Make Grace The Principal Thing

Pastor Joseph Prince

God Incidence

My oh my... I have witnessed the move of the Spirit in my walk with the Lord again. This is yet another  "God incidence" when I read Steve McVey's recent post on "Two Covenants, Not One". I was amazed to notice that the Holy Spirit who is revealing this truth to him has also been revealing the same truth to me. What a honor to realize that I have preached on the same subject in my Chinese congregation two to three months ago, encouraging them to walk out of the confusion and enter into God's rest... When I read through his post, his sharing is so familiar to me and yet very refreshing. Wow... What a life to walk in His grace...

Please sit back and relax and enjoy Steve's sharing on the Two Covenants in the Bible.

For the past three weeks, I've been sharing a three-part series of teachings on the "Sunday Preaching" broadcast called, "Two Covenants, Not One." For many years, I stayed confused when I read the Bible because I didn't understand this simple aspect of understanding the Scripture. The Old and New Covenant are very different from each other in many ways. God told those in the old covenant that a day was going to come when He would make a new covenant with His people and it would not be like the covenant He had made with them through their Fathers. (See Jeremiah 31:31-32) Through Jesus Christ, that day came to us so that now the covenant He has made is totally different - not at all the same. It's new and, according to Hebrews 8:13, the old one is "obsolete." It has passed away. It's gone, expired, finished, over!

This fact is a sticking point in many people's minds. "Isn't the Old Testament God's Word?" they will ask? Of course the Old Testament is as much a part of the Bible as the New Testament, but here's a key that will help us immeasurably when we understand it. The Old Testament was not written to us! It was written for us, but not to us. (See Romans 15:4) There's a big difference. That's why the Apostle Paul cautioned Timothy to take great care to ensure that he would "rightly divide the word of truth" when he taught the Bible. (See 2 Timothy 2:15) All kind of trouble is created in our minds and lives when we don't do that.

 Read More @ Steve McVey's Blog  >>>>>

A Wise Gardener and His Trees

I love my church SIB Grace… and I honor her pulpit, not because of the height of 9th floor at Crown Tower, but this is a well guided pulpit that only the message on the grace of God can be ministered through this pulpit.

I also respect my Elder… he is a skillful gardener faithfully looking after the trees that are planted by Father God in this garden called SIB Grace. He is not the kind of gardener that emphasize on fruits bearing … He does not stand under the tree, with one hand on his hip, the other pointing to the tree, going from tree to tree, scolding the trees for not bearing fruits. He is more concerned on the roots rather than the fruits. At this point, I just cannot help myself but to add in this phrase… Grace deals with the root while religion deals with the fruit!

Week after week, he would concentrate on loosing the ground and taking away all the “STONE” that are hidden in the ground. He makes the ground loose and gracious for the trees to grow. He would allow the "RAIN" of the Holy Spirit to water the trees and he is also making sure that the trees have sufficient “LIGHT" from the Son of righteousness. As the strong light of Righteousness continue to shine on the trees, the self righteous leaves will dry up and fall on the ground. With these self righteous leaves falling to the ground, they make good fertilizer… because according to Apostle Paul, our self righteousness is nothing but smelly stuff called DUNG! With these elements of gracious soil, sufficient “WATER” and “SON” light, plus the organic fertilizer, the trees just cannot help but grow and bear fruits… thirty fold, sixty fold and hundred fold.

I am one of the trees that grow in this garden. For the past four years, I have grown to be quite a big tree. Why do I know that I am quite a big tree...? This is because from times to times, I can see people coming to me looking for shade as resting place and to be ministered to by my fruits. I have also notice that the Word of God has come to past in my life and I have already been blessed to be a blessing.

I am writing this not to boast about my glory but to boast about what my Father God has prepared for me in this garden. As a tree, if I do not have such a good and gracious environment, I would not be a fruitful tree at all. As a fruitful tree, I am just a witness to the ministry that bring everlasting righteousness.

Before this, I was once a fruitless tree… but then, I was also a witness, a witness to the ministry that brings condemnation. Though that ministry of condemnation has glory, its glory is fast fading away. Therefore, I was a victim of that condemning ministry which glory is fast fading glory.

If that ministry of mixture of law and grace which brings confusion is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of grace that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory from the ministry of grace. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since I have such a hope, I am very bold...

Psalm 92
12 ~ The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 ~ Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 ~ They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 ~ To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

So let this fruitful tree who boasts boast in the Lord.

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. In the body of Christ, many believers suffer from this spiritual mental disorder and the signs and symptoms depending on the individual, a person suspected with spiritual schizophrenia may experience the following conditions:-

“Sometimes God is angry with them, while sometimes He is happy with them.”

“Sometimes He bless them, but sometimes He curses them.”

“Sometimes God cares for them, and they do not know why, sometimes He leaves them.”

”Sometimes they feel like He wants them to rest, and sometimes He just wants them to labour!”

“Today, He prospers them, hallelujah , but tomorrow, God may give them poverty to humble them…”

“Today, He may heals them, but tomorrow, He may give them a disease to teach them a lesson.”

"Today, He forgives all their sin. Tomorrow, they are responsible for all their wrong doings.”

“They must make every effort to tithe so that God will not curse them…”

Welcome to a Schizophrenic Church!

If you are sitting under such a ministry, you are actually allowing yourselves to live under two types of covenant i.e. the Old Covenant of law and the New Covenant of grace. This kind of church environment allows a mixture of law and grace in their preaching. This kind of mixture is causing the congregations to "torn between two lovers (Mr. Law and Mr. Grace), feeling like a fool..." The obvious evidence of this Schizophrenic influence is that, they have failed to put Christ and His finished work as their center focus. 

In this kind of man centered environment, believers are led to believe that sometimes God is good to them and sometimes God may not be good to them. This insecurity is not from God but from the preacher himself. His spiritual Schizophrenia allows the religious spirit to nullify the power of the cross and blind them from seeing the dynamic power of God.  The obvious sign of this belief is that, they are more concerned with their own behavior. They believe that their behavior can determine the blessings of God. You do good, you get good, you do bad, you get beat. 

This kind of belief system is no different to any other religions at all. Please do not continue to humiliate our Lord Jesus and what He had done for us at the Cross.

The New Covenant was cut with the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but they deny this Blood and anchor their faith on the covenant that was cut with the blood of bull and goat. In the Old Covenant, God said: “You shall not, you shall not, you shall not…” and He demanded our behavior and righteousness. But in the New Covenant, God said: “I will, I will, I will…”  because God demanded Jesus’ behavior. In this Covenant of Grace, God lavished His own righteousness as a gift to those who believed in Jesus. 

According to the Apostle Paul (the Apostle of grace to the Gentile), this Schizophrenic message is not a Gospel/Good News at all. For the same reason, he was astonished that the Galatians were so quickly deserting the One who called them by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all (the Schizophrenic kind of message). With this Schizophrenic kind of message, some people are actually throwing the listeners into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. He prayed that God would punish anyone who preaches anything different from his message, the message of Grace! He was so concerned that it did not matter if that person was one of his people or an angel from heaven.  Paul had said it before, and he would say it again. Indeed he hoped God would punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed. Remember we are all called to live by grace through faith...

Why was Paul so angry to pronounce a double curse over those who preaches a different gospel? I don't think we need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this kind of Schizophrenic message is actually leading people to seek their own righteousness. When anyone attempt to be justified by law, they have been alienated from Christ and they have indeed, fallen away from grace. 

For our heavenly Father had chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. 

My friend, this is what the Bible means "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ". The message of Grace is the truth and the truth can set you free. This Grace message is the Gospel that Apostle Paul defended with all his heart. This Gospel of Grace can heal you from your spiritual Schizophrenia!

Which Table Are You Partaking From?

In my previous post entitled "Confusion", King Nebuchadnezzar has been exposed of his conspiracy to confuse the redeemed. From his table, he lavishes his royal food and wine! Be discerning enough not to feast from his table. His table is called the table of confusion. The royal foods and wine is the teaching with the  mixture of law and grace which in one hand disarms the purposes of the law was given for and on the other hand neutralized the resurrection power of God’s grace.

Before us in the presence of our enemies, our Redeemer prepared the Table before our enemies.  We are partaking His Body and His Blood from His Table. This table is victorious, full of undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor of God. We come to our Lord's Table to enjoy and celebrate His victory and all that He had done for us! 

Before we continue, may I ask whether which table is your "Jerusalem" partaking from?  What is the difference between these two tables? Well, This king Nebu prepares his table before of our own weakness. When we come to king Nebu’s table, we need to legalistically confess all our sins and this is an insult to our Redeemer's finished work! This king Nebu is trying to copy the way our Redeemer prepared the Table but he leads us to eat and drink in an unworthy manner and as a result, many are weak and sick, and many sleep.   But when we come to our Lord’s Table, we partake with thanksgiving and acknowledgement of our Lord’s finished work in remembrance of Him. Because of  His grace, His body had open up a new and living way. The more we come, the more we live! Our Lord’s Table is full of solid truth which is His broken Body and His Blood!

Daniel the Prophet is the picture of the redeemed. He had the wisdom to resolve not to defile himself with the royal food and wine and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. He asked the official to give them vegetable and water instead and test them for 10 days.

Have you resolve not to eat from king Nebu’s table?

The root word for vegetable here is seed. Jesus mentioned about the Word of God as seed in Matthew 13. He also said in one of the parables that He is seed and unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Now with this compilation of the New Covenant truth on seed, we can see that Daniel by then had already been feeding himself with the New Covenant truth, for the Word was with God and the Word was God. This is not ordinary Word but the resurrected Jesus Himself. As for water, we can easily connect water with the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, He only comes to glorify Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, Who is the Only Truth. That is why Apostle Paul preached in the Book of Romans that faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of Christ. The Christ here is the resurrected Jesus. Apostle Paul himself received revelation from the resurrected Christ and  with his revelation, he was able to write two third of the New Covenant. 

By the way, as I was writing this post, I was fascinated by the statement that my wife wrote on her Facebook wall. She wrote: No man understands the Scriptures, unless he is acquainted with the cross! What about that?

Well, after ten days of testing, Daniel and his gang looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. This is the consequence of the right nutrition for the spirit man… After sitting under a ministry that preaches only the grace of God for eight years, I noticed that those who are in the Grace ministry are healthier in their physical and spiritual life. They are better nourished as the Bible says they are eating meat, not drinking milk because they understand the teaching on righteousness. The newly converted in our midst know more fundamental truth than those “old” Christians who sit under a ministry that preach the mixture of law and grace. 

I am now convinced that Daniel who was in his dispensation already had the wisdom to prophesize on the coming of the Messiah and the end time events because of his  resolution to partake only vegetable and water. What about us, the redeemed who had resolved not to defile ourselves with the royal food and wine from the table of king Nebu, the king of confusion?  We have the vegetable (seed, the Word of Christ) and the water is in us (the Holy Spirit in us)… Wow!

Which table are you partaking from? Is it king Nebu’s table or our Lord’s Table?

Confusion

The Book of Daniel begins with the tale of two kings, Jehoiakim king of Judah and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This scenario gave me a contrast of two different forces in this universal and I am lured to picture  Jerusalem as the Church and Babylon represents the world. The name "Jerusalem" is a compound of two Semitic roots, "s-l-m" meaning wholeness, peace, harmony or completeness, and "y-r-h" meaning to show, direct, instruct, or teach. Jerusalem means "Abode of Peace," "Teaching of Peace", or "Whole or Complete Instruction". The word "Babylon" in Hebrews mean "confusion" (of languages), from the verb balbal, "to confuse by mixing". So, King Nebuchadnezzar is a king of confusion. 

During Daniel’s time, when Jerusalem was being besieged, some of the articles of the temple of God were also being delivered to king Nebuchadnezzar and he carried them off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. Some of the articles  of the temple of God were with king Nebuchadnezzar and king Nebu indeed had made full use of these articles by mixing them with the teaching of the world.

King Nebu told Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to get some Israelites from the royal family and nobility, young men who were healthy and handsome, intelligent and well-educated, good prospects for leadership positions in the government, perfect specimens, and indoctrinate them in the Babylonian language and the lore of magic and fortunetelling. The king then ordered that they be served from the same menu from the royal table the best food, the finest wine. After three years of training they would be given positions in the king's court.

The redeemed have all the criteria this king Nebu is looking for. The redeemed are from the Royal family and nobility. The redeemed are healthy and handsome, intelligent and well-educated, good prospects for leadership positions in the government, perfect specimens, all because of the redeeming quality of our Redeemer, Christ Jesus. King Nebuchadnezzar takes pleasure in indoctrinating the redeemed with Babylonian language (Message with mixture of Law and Grace) and conspires to fascinate them with the lore of magic and fortunetelling of which he calls prophecy...

This king Nebu is no fool to dispense the worldly teaching alone; he mixes the worldly teaching with the truth from God (Remember he got the articles of the temple of God?). He would indoctrinate the redeemed to work hard for God for it is good that we work hard for God because He had already delivered His begotten Son just for us and save us. Now that we are saved, we have to work hard for Him. In case (well, most of the cases) if we do not have the strength to go on, ask for His grace as His grace is sufficient for us…

To sum up, Babylonian teaching emphasizes on our commitment with self effort plus Jesus’ effort; our hard work plus Jesus’ finished work; our obedience plus Jesus’ obedience; our sacrifice plus Jesus’ sacrifice; we nailing ourselves on the cross plus Jesus’ crucifixion at the cross! That’s not all, he would indoctrinate us to focus on Moses who represented the Law and Elijah the prophet, so as to divert our focus on Jesus, our Savior and water down the Gospel that we first received.

Mind you, the Father in Heaven rebuked Peter for suggesting on making three tabernacles. Peter himself gave the testimony on how he witnessed Jesus receiving from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory saying: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" The Bible also clearly proclaims that the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John the Baptist and Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for EVERYONE who believes. 

Well, have you ever wonder whether this king Nebu is in your Jerusalem? Are you confused in your Christian walk? For the Bible says, know the truth, the truth will set you free. Are you free? Or are you still wondering for the truth?

I tell you the truth, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The Truth is with Grace and Grace is Jesus Personified… This Grace that we share a lot is the glory of the Gospel of Christ! For the Gospel of Christ  is the power of God to SALVATION [(so-tay-ree'-ah) means rescue or safety (physically or morally): - deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.] EVERYONE who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek... Salvation here is not only save us from hell but our every situation in life! If you are confused, the Gospel of Christ can save/deliver you from your confusion!

New Covenant Prayer Life

The Old Covenant Saints were not born again and they did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They were looking forward to the Cross prophetically and they had to seek, ask and knock at the door for answer. Begging prayer is Old Covenant prayer.

The New Covenant Saints are born again and we have the Holy Spirit living in us. That is why the Bible says no one ever born on this earth is greater than John the Baptist. But whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. We, as a born again believers, our Daddy has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. So instead of seeking, asking or knocking, we have to look back to the Cross for the revelation of what Daddy means by having blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

In this context, we are to listen to the preaching anointed by the Holy Spirit that unveils Christ and His Finished Work because every answer for our needs is found in the Person of Jesus. In this dispensation of grace, I think it is wise for us to use our ears more than our mouth… for the Bible says: faith comes by HEARING, and hearing by the word of Christ. Through faith then, we confess what we already have. It is the word about what Christ had done that bring forth faith, and surely, without faith it is impossible to please God. We do not have faith because we do not believe the word of Christ. We cannot produce faith from our Law keeping.

In the Book of John, the crowd was asking Jesus: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" And Jesus answered them that: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." So believe His Finished Work is the key to our faith.

In order for people to believe, Apostle Paul asked this question: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

God is pleased through the foolishness of preaching the word of Christ (the good news of the Finished Work of Christ) to save those who believe. Jesus’ Finished Work is a stumbling block to those who seek their own righteousness, but is the power of God and the wisdom of God for those who believe.

What kind of preaching have you been listening to?
- Preaching that points you to the Cross and unveil Jesus and His Finished Work or preaching that points you to yourself and what you should do?
- Preaching that points you to Jesus’ righteousness or preaching that points you to your sinfulness? Preaching that preaches the unearned and unmerited favour of God or preaching that preaches on what you must do in order to be qualified for God’s blessing?
- Preaching on the Bread of Life or preaching from the “stone”?
- Preaching from the Tree of Life or preaching from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
- Preaching that preaches the grace of God or preaching that preaches legalism?

Grace minsters to our spirit while law ministers to our flesh. Christ centered preaching edifies our spirit man while legalistic preaching edifies our flesh. Preaching of grace balanced with law confuses us; we call this Babylonian teaching. If that is the case, have you been edifying your spirit or your flesh? Are you feeding on the Bread of Life or on the stone tablets? Are you climbing the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Matthew 7:9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Matthew 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

See what the Bible is actually implicating - Which of you, if his son asks for GRACE (Manna, bread from heaven), will give him LAW (Two tablets of stone taken down by Moses)? Or if he asks for JESUS (Fish – A symbol for Jesus), will give him Satan (Snake – who tempted Eve in the Garden)?

We need to listen to the grace (word of Christ) of God and faith is responsible for the growth of a Spirit filled, born again believer. Our ear therefore, is an important channel for the growth of our spirit-man. New Covenant believers feed their spirit-man through their ears…

I think it will be wise for us to humble ourselves and listen to Him. Find out what Jesus’ Finished Work is all about. All the answers that we ever need are in Him. I also think it makes sense when revelation makes us understand that the act of listening is actually part of our prayer life in this grace dispensation.

The Aftermath

I was asked by my Elder to share on the subject of fasting (a revelation which I received from the Lord in the month of February this year) in the main service last Sunday. Indeed, I was blessed by the experience and this is the aftermath of the sharing… (I use the word aftermath because in farming, it means “new grass glowing after mowing or harvest”). Praise God…!

I quoted Romans 14:17 i.e. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” to start off my sharing. Then I quoted Matthew 4:4 i.e. the famous scripture on Jesus went fasting for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness and immediately tempted by the devil. I then went on to Jesus’ answer on fasting in Mark chapter 2 when He was asked by the Pharisee. To end my sharing, I quoted Daniel’s example on his decision not to partake King Nebuchadnezzar’s royal table and wine, which is the typology of Babylonian teaching (teaching that mixes grace with law).

The moral of this sharing is to encourage you to fast from partaking any teaching that is not pointing us to the Finished Work or any teaching that is not Christ centered.

While I was driving to my office this morning (I used to have my quiet time with the Lord during my half an hour journey to my office every morning), the Lord linked these verses together to show me yet another precious revelation that expounds His Finished Work. So, lets fasten your seat-belt... !

Romans 14:17 ~ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit

Matthew 4:4 ~ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Daniel 1:12 ~ "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.

For the kingdom of God is not about our doing or anything that concern with our effort or our flesh. The used of the term “eating and drinking” is to show us our daily activity which is necessary in our living. But the kingdom of God is all about righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit are the “by products” of His Finished Work! These “by products” are given by grace and are New Covenant stuff!

The NIV version of this verse (For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit) misled me, for this version does not have an “and” in between righteousness and peace. So it gave me the impression that righteousness, peace and joy are three different issues in the Holy Spirit. From the NIV version, my religious mind also tells me that I must have righteousness first then I can have peace and then the joy in the Holy Spirit. The Lord prompted me to look at NKJV, and I then realized that all these three issues are one in the Holy Spirit for the NKJV has an "and" in between righteousness and peace. (For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit). The Lord has to clear this religious blockage so that His revelation can flow through me. Hmmm... I'm still religious, ok?

In Matthew 4:4, the Lord answered the devil: “It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The verse in Romans 14:17 and this verse started to connect when the revelation flows… Is “Man does not live by bread alone” having the same meaning of “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking”? And on the phrase of, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God…, what do you think the kind of word will come out of the mouth of God? At this point is before the Cross, but after the Cross, is our Daddy not proud of what His Darling Son had done at the Cross? Is He not going to boast of the Finished Work of His Darling Son? Now, is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the every word that comes from the mouth of God?

In Daniel 1:12, Daniel said to the guard: “Give me nothing…” Nothing of what??? Nothing on the matter of eating and drinking, nothing of the royal food and wine i.e. the Babylonian teaching that edified self effort and provoke his flesh…! What did Daniel resolved to partake then? Of course, he asked for vegetable and water… In the KJV, the word “vegetable” is “pulse”, and the meaning of the word “pulse” is the word “seed”. From the Book of John on the parable of the sewer, Jesus used seed as word of God. Seed by itself is already a finished product. A seed by itself is completed. We have the whole tree and its fruits in a seed! Is Daniel not mentioning about the Finished Work again? We all know that water speaks of the Holy Spirit! Is it not that vegetable and water speaks of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”? No wonder Prophet Daniel could prophesy on the coming of Messiah and the end time events…

Now, the Lord prompted me to line up all these three verses in the sequence of the times the Books were written…

Daniel 1:12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

Oh Hallelujah..., see for yourself what the Lord is telling us... Give us nothing, but vegetable and water, for it is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!" and the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

No wonder Jesus is hungry after fasting for forty days and forty nights… :) Praise Your mighty Name, Lord… Thank you for this precious revelation… Man…, I find myself more and more hungry. Give me more….!

Listen To Him!

The famous account of the Mount of Transfiguration signified the universal Summit between the God Head and the Ministry Heads of mankind. It was intended for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the Summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult decisions. The news of this Summit had considerable media exposure as this event was well covered in the Good News of Matthew, Mark as well as Luke.

In this account, our Lord Jesus was bringing His disciples Peter, James and John up to Mt. Hermon, the venue of this Summit. As Peter speaks of Stone, James speaks of Supplanted while John speaks of Grace in Greek respectively, Jesus was in actual fact, attending this Summit with a walking agenda of “To replace the Law with Grace”.

During the meeting, Moses, the Ministry Head of the Law Ministry and Elijah; the Ministry Head of the Prophetic Ministry appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus, who is grace personified. They spoke about the Jesus’ departure, of which He was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem. Jesus’ death was always and still is, the centre theme of Heaven. Peter, the Head Boy from the School of Disciples, witnessed this splendid moment and with amazement, out of his religiosity he voiced out his suggestion of making three tabernacles: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

Our friend Peter, was like anyone of us who is religious, like to put Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the same level. It is out of our religiosity that we start the Sunday Service by allowing Elijah to point out our sins and subsequently followed by our confession, then followed by praise and worship. Moses will then take over the pulpit to tell us what wrong with us, how and what we should do. To end the service, we will then allow Jesus to step up for the altar call…

While Peter was suggesting of putting Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the same level, the Holy Spirit descended as cloud and enveloped them which made them very much afraid, and they were interrupted by a voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him." Listen to who? When the voice had spoken, they found no one but Jesus… Moses was gone and so as Elijah.

This meeting adjourned with a warm affirmation of "do not be afraid" from the Lord. The resolution of "LISTEN TO HIM" i.e. "Replacing law with grace" was agreed...

In this dispensation of grace, are we really in tune with our Heavenly Father’s will? The Old Testament prophet calls out our sin to remembrance while the New Covenant prophet calls out the righteousness of Christ in remembrance. The law of sin and death tell us how and what we should do while through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free and tell us what the Lord had finished doing at the Cross. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.

We are to LISTEN TO HIM from the start to the end of our service not Elijah and Moses…

LISTEN TO HIM... listen to Grace!!!

What A Quiz...

It was all started with a few of us taking up the quiz in Facebook on "Which Singapore church are you best suited in?" and the result are New Creation Church. All of us were having the same result and I found out that the trick of this quiz is on question # 3: i.e. What else do you do besides attending services? If you don't choose the given answer "I like to listen to Hillsong and DVD sermons", for sure you go other church, like... mmm???

At first it was a happy exchanging of words among close friends then came a friend of Samuel and Jennifer, contributing his comment… Wow… Religious people as what I’ve learn from Pastor Prince's sharing do exist… From his comment, I find it interesting to steer up the religious wave (I usually don’t do this sort of thing) to see how big the wave can go…



Here it goes…

Jennifer: we go 2gether-gether ok?? ;)

Penny: yeah..........

Jennifer: felicia & calvin took the quiz too..hehe! same result.

Felicia: Yoohoo!!!

Xxxx Xxx: hmm... some people say that new creation church preaches health and wealth gospel, a feel-good version of the Truth...

i'm not saying they are wrong or anything, just saying be careful and always exercise discernment, ok. =)

Alan: Jesus heals the sick... that is health. Jesus multiplies 2 fishes and 5 loaves... that is wealth! He is the same yesterday, today and forever... hmm good discernment!!!! Amen!

Felicia: AMEN PASTOR! :D

Xxxx Xxx: Yes, Jesus heals the sick. when He was on earth, He healed every sick person who came to Him - there is no record of Him ever refusing to heal someone.

yet, after He ascended to Heaven, although His disciples continued to heal (and yes, i do believe that the gift of healing is still active in the church today), the incidence of healing was no longer 100%. see how Paul told timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and his frequent illnesses in Timothy 5:23. or see how Epaphroditus was sick and almost died, in Philippians 2:25. why not just heal them, if we were able to heal at all times and in all cases?

so the fact is that, in spite of the purest faith and the most fervent prayers, God does not always heal. we may not understand why one is healed and another is not, but it is something we have to deal with. yet this is a fact that one almost never hears from the lips of those who preach the health and wealth gospel. and yes, God can prosper us if He chooses. Promotion comes from the Lord (Psalm 75:6-7). yet reading Jesus' words, "you cannot serve both God and money" (Matthew 6:24), and His reply to the rich young ruler, "go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19:21) and paul's words in 1 Timothy 6:10, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil"... all these verses show us that there is something wrong with the kind of gospel that can blithely proclaim that all God wants to do is to bless and prosper you.

God does not want to make us happy - He wants to make us holy. and that means struggle, sacrifice, disappointments, dying to self, and etc. not the hollow promises of health and wealth that some churches peddle.... once again, a disclaimer - i do not say that New Creation Church is one of these. just that this kind of teaching is becoming prevalent among some churches, and we would do well to be careful and practice discernment. =)

Alan: 2 Corinthians 1:20 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.

Father, whatever promises that he doesn't want, please give to me and I say, " Amen!" to Your glory...

Felicia: I want also.. Amen!

Xxxx Xxx: lol... i do not deny, and neither do i reject, the promises of God. so, alan and felicia, if you're hoping God will give you my "rejected blessings", too bad, they're all mine! =D

but... here's a promise (or is it a warning?) that ties in with what i was trying to say earlier... "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine... Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

one thing that makes the health and wealth gospel so dangerous, is that it's exactly what we want to hear. we must not 'censor out' the difficult, hard, challenging parts of the gospel. ok? =)

Felicia: aww.. shucks.. hehe.. but God's promises for me are sufficient for me and much more. wouldn't mind rejected blessings to come my way.. hehe

Samuel: Xxxx Xxx.... some people say is not good enough...what do you say? What's important is whether you know or not? Why listen to what other people say?

Matthew 16:13-20. Jesus asked his disciples who he is? They replied, 'some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. But Simon Peter answered 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God'.

Let's not argue on what others say... find out for yourself... the bible is simple to understand but really a mystery for some... as the truth is kept a mystery to those that do not appreciate the generosity and abundant grace that comes from the father of lights. Why cast pearls before swines?

Alan: You are reasoning with your mind... discernment is from our heart... Many people tell you here you don't want to listen... It is not what people say, it is what you think... Repent (renewal of our mind) from reasoning than you can discern. What we are doing here is discerning the truth not reasoning the truth. It is not about NCC but it is about Jesus... Grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Samuel: Yup...let's not rob fellow believers of what Christ has so graciously and freely given...it has never been cheap grace but it was the most 'costly' sacrifice- if you can put a value to it, that God has given. It cost Him His Beloved Son. If the greatest miracle (which is salvation) came by us believing in the finish work on the cross, tell me why is it that you need to work out your salvation. It has never been about 'you + Christ=salvation'. The equation in the bible has always been 'Christ+0=salvation'. If you can work out your salvation then there is no need for Christ in the first place. Let's not 'Pharisize' our faith in Christ by complicating it with our self effort. It all begins with pride and not humility to say that you can live a perfect life without sin. No one can but Christ. That's why you need to fully depend on Him and His willingness to bless you out of your socks. There's so much to share but I doubt you will discern what we wish to share with you…Xxxx Xxx.

At least the rich young ruler know that he can never meet God's standard of a perfect life. Jesus wanted him to realize that he can never reach God's standard. Neither can anyone say that he or she can fulfill the 10 commandments fully. You fail in one you fail all ten. And it's your thoughts that count. The Christian way of life, if there is any is an impossible one, that's why you need Christ in us to live His life through you. Let's not get carried away with our self righteousness. It's pride bro... pure pride... Are we now trying like the Galatians who were initially saved by grace trying to fall back on our self efforts to reach God's standards? Rightly discern the old and new covenant bro... and you will not be confused. Do not pour new wine into old wine skins. The root of evil has never been money bro....it's the love of money...How are you gonna bless your neighbor if you yourself cannot even support your own family?

How is it possible for a believer that believes that God will not prosper him to sell all that he possess.

If you believe that God can put sickness on you and make you suffer to teach you a lesson so that you can be tough then you might as well think of your earthly father to be the same. Does it make sense for your dad to decide one fine day to take all your privileges away, send someone to mow you down with a truck, or send someone to rob you and beat you up so that you can learn self discipline and become tougher? Of course not. If your earthly father loves you very much, how much more do you think your Heavenly Father? He did not spare His Son, don't you think He'll will give you much more... and much more...and prosper you and give you health?

Samuel: That's why Paul in Romans wrote this...'And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can't, and life can't (even life). The angels (even angels) can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the... Read More deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord'. Jesus is really, really good. Let's not take away what he has suffered and paid dearly for on the cross.



Well, what do you say? As for me, I’ll say, ”Preach it Bro… there are still a lot of "unbelieving believers" out there...!"

Ministry of Health

The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established in the year 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Luke 16:8 ~ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

It was just half a year ago that in many parts of the world, milk products are found contaminated with Melamine. Melamine by itself is non toxic in low doses, but when combined with Cyanuric Acid it can cause fatal kidney stones due to the formation of an insoluble Melamine Cyanurate. In view of this, the Health Ministry of the affected countries had to intensify their checks on imported products and their locally manufactured products which used milk as part of the ingredients.

The people in the world are very concerned with the food they are consuming and they do not tolerate any mixture of toxic substance in their dietary. The Health Ministries concerned are protecting their people by bringing in high tech instruments and their best researchers to putting up a high standard in scrutinizing all milk related products.

The Health Ministries in this world are doing a far better job than the “Health Ministries” in the body of Christ in term of dietary scrutiny. Today, Christians under the dispensation of grace are still being fed with the deadly mixture of law and grace as their main course for spiritual dietary. The world has their food products labeled with expiry date and look at the body of Christ, many still do not know what is expired at the Cross.

The preaching in many parts of the Christian bodies are not Christ centered but self centered. The preaching is not righteousness consciousness but sin consciousness. The preaching is not emphasizing on resting in the Lord because of His Finished Work on the Cross, but emphasizing on working for the Lord as if Jesus had not died on the Cross. The preaching is not emphasizing on what God had done for them at the Cross but what they can do for God. The preaching is not pointing the believers to Jesus, who is all able, all powerful, and full of grace and mercy, but pointing the believers to themselves who are unable, powerless, and full of hatred and unforgiveness. The preaching is neither hot nor cold i.e. mixing grace with Law or lukewarm. The preaching is not from the Tree of Life but from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When these preachings are diverted from the Cross, the teachings are religious and unintentionally advocating the principles of religion.

All religions are self centered. They emphasize on sin consciousness and what they can do for God. They do not have the Cross and somehow, they are still looking and waiting for somebody to save them. That is why they teach you how to be good and how not to be bad. They teach you how to do good and how not to do evil. Religions do all these because they do not have life. Whereas we are different; we have life because Jesus comes to give us life and life more abundantly. We have a Savior who is not only willing to help us but had died for us on the Cross. Before we are born into this world, He had already finished doing everything and brought forth all the heavenly blessings for us when He cried out, “It’s Finished!” two thousand years ago. What He had finished on the Cross are not only the bad things that our peanut size brains can think of, but that God can think of. Is this not grace?

Do Christians still practice religion as if the Lord they worship had not died on the Cross? Yes… Do you think Apostle Paul was preaching legalism to get approval from men and please them in the Book of Galatians? No… He was preaching GRACE and obviously the religious people were not happy with him!

Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 5:7~12 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

If Apostle Paul was preaching GRACE, and obviously that is true, because he was called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles who preached the Gospel… Hey, he was not trying to win the approval of men but GOD!!! If Apostle Paul's teaching had God’s approval, I think grace is the right spiritual dietary for the body of Christ and moreover, Paul himself confirmed that there is no other Gospel!

Galatians 1:6~9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Spiritual dietary for the believers in this dispensation has not been wisely scrutinized. The "Health Minister" concerned do not pay close attention to the expiry date of their dietary. These lukewarm or expired dietary have brought much harm to the new covenant believers in term of the growth of their faith and leaving them in the state of spiritual malnutrition. It is high time for the “Health Ministers” in the Body of Christ to refer to the instructions written by Apostle Paul (who wrote two third of the New Testament) and bring in the CROSS and Jesus' Finished Work, to scrutinize what has been accomplished by the Lord, which covenant has been expired on the Cross and perform their duty of “rightly dividing the Word” diligently, in the context of the light of New Covenant.

Grace and truth is on the side of Jesus. Grace is the lingo of the New Covenant. When we appreciate His grace, we will have the revelation knowledge of the truth. If we continue to FAST and keep feeding on grace based, Christ centered teaching, we will have the revelation knowledge on what is good for eating and what is not...

Watch out for what you are eating... watch out for the sign "Do Not Consume After The Expire Date". Your dietary can affect your spiritual health...

Melamine

In many parts of the world, milk products are found contaminated with Melamine. Melamine by itself is non toxic in low doses, but when combined with Cyanuric Acid it can cause fatal kidney stones due to the formation of an insoluble Melamine Cyanurate. In view of this, the affected countries have intensified their checks on imported products and their locally manufactured products which used milk as part of the ingredient.

The people in the world are concerned with the food they are consuming and they do not tolerate any mixture of toxic substance in their dietary. The Health Ministries concerned are protecting their people by bringing in high tech instruments and best researchers to putting up a high standard in scrutinize all milk related products.

The Health Ministries in this world are doing a far better job than the “Health Ministries” in the body of Christ in term of dietary scrutinization. Today, Christians under the dispensation of grace are still being fed with the deadly mixture of law and grace as their main course for spiritual dietary.

The preaching is not Christ centered but self centered. The preaching is not righteousness consciousness but sin consciousness. The preaching is not emphasizing on resting in the Lord because of His Finished Work on the Cross, but emphasizing on working for the Lord as if Jesus had not died on the Cross. The preaching is not pointing the believers to Jesus, who is all able, all powerful, and full of grace and mercy, but pointing the believers to themselves who are unable, powerless, and full of hatred and unforgiveness. The preaching is not hot but lukewarm. The preaching is not of the Tree of Life but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Spiritual dietary for the believers in this dispensation has not been fairly scrutinized. This lukewarm dietary has brought much harm to the new covenant believers in term of the growth of their faith and leaving them in the state of spiritual malnutrition. It is high time for the “Health Ministers” in the Body of Christ to refer to the instruction written by Apostle Paul and bring in the Ultimate Instrument i.e. the Cross, to scrutinize what has been accomplished by the Lord, which covenant has been expired on the Cross and perform their duty of rightly dividing the Word.

Luke 16: 8 ~ The Master commanded the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

... -_-???

Grace and truth is on the side of Jesus. When you appreciate His grace, you will see His truth. Then you will know what is good for eating and what is not...

Grace ~ The Aroma of Our Lord

"The Story" is the gospel and is also called good news. News is about an event that had already happened. The good news is not a good prophecy. A prophecy is about thing that is yet to happen.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:6~7 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

I am wondering how many of us on this earth were saved by hearing the Ten Commandments. The Story is not about the Ten Commandments, it is about the good news of what Christ had done! We heard of "this" gospel on Christ’s suffering and what He had done for us on the cross. We believed in "this" gospel and accepted Him as our Savior. We were saved by His grace through faith and even that little faith in us was giv en by Him through grace. As a born again Christian, we are supposed to grow in the Lord by f aith.

Unfortunately, after I was saved, I was turned to a different gospel. The "gospel" of law abiding, self modification, and I had to work hard to maintain my salvation through law keeping (work out my salvation), self effort (for faith without work is dead), so that by doing all these, I could be justified in front of man to please leaders and of c ourse, God. But this, according to the Apostle Paul, is no gospel at all.

I was more and more confused as times went by and everything seemed dry and lifeless because I was seeking my own kingdom and my own righteousness instead of His kingdom and His righteousness. When I failed from my good behavior, some good "intention" brothers would come to me and say the grace of God is sufficient for me and I turned to His grace again. When I started to depend on His grace, I was strengthened. After I have been strengthened, I started to seek my own righteousness again. I stepped in and out of the old and new covenant without knowing that this is called “spiritual adultery”. Spiritual adultery means married to Jesus (Mr. Grace) and still have relationship with Mr. Law.

Whatever results I could achieve were sustained by my own effort. In time, I could see myself more and more “cold” in the Lord, the church termed this is as “back-sliding”, “lost of the first love” and even the bible verse like Matthew 19:30 “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” was used to condemn those who were crowned with the label of “back-sliding” or “lost that first love”. I knew something was wrong and I fasted, prayed and sought God’s face but to no avail. I never knew that everything had been taken care of by Christ on the cross until I was enlightened by grace.

In John 19:30, Jesus cried out,“It’s finished!” Ha, ha... man could use Matthews 19:30 to condemn me, but my wonderful Lord used John 19:30 to set me free! Praise God for His mercy and love, that He enlightened me with His grace at His own timing and set me free from that legalistic environment and all those religiosity which the Apostle Paul said is not gospel at all!

Jesus used this anointed message tape by Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church to set me free from my legalistic background. This tape was given to me by a lovely brother who bought me to Christ in the year 1999. This message tape was recorded in a Sunday Worship Service on 18th of July 1999.

Message by Joseph Prince on 18th July 1999

He gave me a "NIV" positive bible on the 21st of September, 1999 and this message tape on the day I came to Christ, and that was 1st of October 1999.

This is the best gift I could ever have in my life

However, I leave this tape on my shelf for three years before I listened to it. The reason for not listening to it was because I could not afford to waste any precious time but to work for Jesus. I was to "not be distracted", I did not want to look to the left and look to the right, because I was told that to work for God is part of the reason why Jesus saved me and died for me on the cross! I was told not to listen to other preachers as they are not my spiritual father. And I was supposed to eat what I was fed in my own spiritual house. I could only say that I was very very obedient then...

It was until I was totally down and out in my spirit; by then, the Lord by His grace, prompted me to listen to this tape which has been leave behind on the shelf for three years. Man, I tell you, faith come by hearing, hearing by the words of CHRIST! The grace of God just melted me and the rest is History. Here I am, first running after the Aroma of our Lord and now, running in the Aroma of Christ!

Come to think of it, I was actually being set free when I started to be disobedient. I mean to disobey man... Hmmm... He who has ears to hear, let him hear !

I suppose this is called Gospel Revolution! How many of us were from that sort of environment, stepping in and out of the old and new covenant, living in Babylon (in Hebrews means confused by mixing)? We should be living our life honoring and glorifying the good news, which is after the cross and in the dispensation of grace under new covenant, instead of living our life honoring and glorifying the good prophecy, which is before the cross and in the dispensation of law under old covenant. We lived a confused life as if Jesus had not yet died for us on the cross.

Because of all these confusions, many of us are still ignorant trying to help Jesus to accomplish His finished work.

Do you know how finished is His finished work? Look for Grace, Grace can tell you...

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