Grace Qualified...

GRACE, qualified me to run this amazing race in Christ.

Ephesians 1:7
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

The Parable of “Cui Hua Lou” Restaurant

Cui Hua Lou, was one of the famous local restaurant in Kuching in the early 70s to 90s where I had my wedding bauquet in this restaurant 25 years ago. They had their own unique and famous dishes which we missed very much.

In the early 2000, this restaurant was sold to a group of business people and the restructuring of new management began. As part of the restructuring program, the new management began to renovate the shop lots owned by the restaurant, followed by bringing in their own chefs and began to lay off the original chefs and employees. Their menu changed as they changed their chefs. They came up with a marketing team with so called modern marketing publicity by offering different packages and discount.

It was indeed a phenomenal for awhile in a little city like Kuching then. As people of Kuching had been familiarized with the dishes and the kind of food offered by the “original” Cui Hua Lou, and in just a short period, we Kuchingite started to miss those original dished offered by them.

It did not take long that the name Cui Hua Lou also vanished as the business is getting poorer and poorer and it was eventually closed down not long after that.

Whereas, the group of original chefs and employees of Cui Hua Lou, after being laid off by the new management, began to start their own restaurant called The Heritage, in a small setting and faithful with their own specialty, the “original Cui Hua Lou specialty”. For the past 15 years, this small restaurant had expended many times and now occupied a few shop lots as compared to the one they began. So, as for today, if you missed those dishes offered by Cui Hua Lou, go to The Heritage, the original chefs are there and the familiar services and smiles from their waiters and waitresses can help to bring back many fond memories….

This real life story also tells us that the core value of a restaurant is the chefs. When you change the chefs, you risk changing the menu. If this is not done in a better way, you risk loosing the customers who loves the food and even to the extent of losing the restaurant as well.

Thank you Jesus for He is still alive and He knows things that happened in Kuching. I was overwhelmed to see Him using “Cui Hua Lou” as a parable to reveal this truth to set me free.

Faith

Faith (right believing) always see the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

and FAITH enable us to see the things which are not seen and are of the eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

John 8:56
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Gospel, Power of God Unto Salvation

The Gospel is the power of God onto my salvation.

Gospel is not only for the non believers, the Gospel is also for the belivers. The salvation of God does not only saved us from hell (as what we used to think), the Gospel save us from every situation.

Salvation (sozo) Verb

Definition
to save, keep safe and sound,
to rescue from danger or destruction one (from injury or peril),
to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease,
to make well, heal, restore to health,
to preserve one who is in danger of destruction,
to save or rescue,
to save in the technical biblical sense negatively,
1b to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment,
1b to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance.

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.

Undressed by Grace

A Christ centered message will always has the effect of undressing our filthy rags and end up dressing us with the robe of righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

The Path of Righteousness

The Path of Righteousness.mp3

This is the message that I preached in GRACE unlimited last Sunday and is a message that the Lord preached to me eight months ago by preparing me before I was diagnosed with cancer. I trust this will be a blessing to you. Glory to His Name!

Mustard Seed

My "work" in responding to His Gospel by believing is just a mustard seed as compare to His Finished Work at the cross...

Luke 17:6 ~ So the Lord said, “ If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

HAPPY YEAR (Happy To Your Ear)

We as a believer, we don't need a new year "RE-SOLUTION". Don't try to RE-SOLUTION again... By your own effort, you just can"t do it; and that is why there is a RE in front of your SOLUTION.

Believe it or not, Jesus Christ  is our SOLUTION; because He said, "It is FINISHED!"

In this new year, how HAPPY we are, actually depend on how we hear...

For HAPPY Y.EAR starts with what is HAPPening to Your EAR. We are happy because it is happening in our life...

Luke 8:18 ~ Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”

What I want to say is this... Hear the Good News of Christ/the Gospel/the message about His GRACE and you will definitely be HAPPY...!

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

Simple English Lesson for Today

Simple English lesson for today... 

Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely He has borne our griefs (present perfect tense) 

And carried our sorrows (present perfect tense);

Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted (past tense).

But He was wounded for our transgressions (past tense),

He was bruised for our iniquities (past tense);

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him (past tense),

And by His stripes we are healed (present perfect tense).

To endorse these 7 tenses, He declared, "It is FINISHED!"

The Good News

Christianity is nothing about our work. It is about Jesus' Work at the Cross. 

Our work is bad news (of which we witness in every day's newspaper)... and this bad news continue. Jesus' Finished Work at the Cross is Good News and it is finished and final..!

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ (the Resurrected Jesus). It is the power of God at work (His work), saving everyone who believes (not who work) — the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight (we are already right in His sight). This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17 NLT)

The Original GPS

Follow Me...!

Ignore the one who is talking behind your back. That is where he belongs... behind you. This one always rushes you with demands; pulls you and provokes you from your back...

Pay more attention to the One who speaks to your face. He is in front of you. He always leads you and He always guide you with abundant grace... His sheep know His voice.

Jesus said, "Follow Me...!" (Luke 8:22)

The Contrast

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy
(In other word, the thief comes to CANCER off our life).

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
(In other word, Jesus came to MULTIPLY our life).

(John 10:10)

Saving Private Ryan

Private Ryan could have gone home by GRACE... but he chose to EARN it and costing massive loses of the live who came to save him...

We too, we could have live our "CHRISTIAN" life by GRACE... and many a time we wanted to EARN it and facing the same consequence...

It is the self-righteousness of man that betrayed the grace of God... No wonder when Prophet Isaiah had something to say about our own righteousness..., he said: "But we are all as the unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruation cloth. And we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. " (Isaiah 64:6)

Declare His Finished Work

He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destruction.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness (Mercy and Grace), And for His wonderful works (Works that Jesus finished at the Cross) to the children of men!

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving (Like Apostle Paul had said, give thanks always), And declare His works (Finished Work at the Cross) with rejoicing.

(Psalms 107:20-22)

Our Work is To Speak Forth the Word of Christ!

Our problem is not that we are not doing or have not done enough for the Kingdom of God. Our problem is, we are not believing the truth at all.

Our Heavenly Father is so humble that, He made the Holy Spirit our Helper, our Counselor, our Comforter and our Teacher and yet, we are not humble enough to let the Holy Spirit does the job...

We are indeed a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that we might speak of the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light...

A king speaks forth while a priest blesses...! Both are given the power to speak and God see this kind of speaking, "our work"! To God, faith without work is faith without SPEAKING forth the Word of Christ...!