Fruits

Religious people are more concerned on bearing fruits than the condition of the root. Their religious minds have been blocked from seeing that the law demands bearing of fruits while grace graces the condition of the root. The famous passage from John 15 is therefore causing a lot of concern among the religious Christians and therefore had been frequently used to demand fruits from their followers.

John 15:5 ~ "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6 ~ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

My friends, plants do not strain and struggle to produce fruit. Instead, by planting them on good soil, with adequate exposure to sunlight and water, fruits are produced effortlessly. Same thing happen to us as a born again Christian, with adequate exposure to the SON of Righteousness, with the constant irrigation of the living water from the word of Christ and planting ourselves in the soil of grace (good soil) instead on the law (soil mixes with stone), good fruits are produced naturally in our life without any effort. 

Jesus is grace personified. He is the mediator of the New Covenant and He is the vine. If bearing fruits is our concern and our duty, then this branch of us is definitely not abide to the vine and is withering. We, as New Covenant believers are spiritual being and should never try to justify ourselves by law… or else we are alienating ourselves from Jesus and we have fallen from grace. Jesus is then becoming of no effect to us because we are  now what John 15 verse 6 says, and no more in the vine….

Galatians 5: 4 ~ You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

My friends, Galatians 5:4 does not say when we sin we are alienated from Christ but when we try to obey the commandments. Abide in Jesus give us victory over every situation. So is His grace because He had conquered everything for us. Our victories in every situation are fruits, our success in every area of our life is fruits, our well being is fruits, our health is fruits, and family harmony is fruit…

You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace and if anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned...

The Light Of The World

Hanukkah is an annual festival of the Jews celebrated on eight successive days on Kislev 25, to honor the restoration of divine worship in the Temple after it had been defiled by heathens. They keep this an annual holiday on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, which is the third month of the Jewish civil year, the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar and is coincided with the month of December in Gregorian calendar.

Hanukkah is associated with a nine-branch menorah. The Temple menorah has seven branches but the Hanukkah menorah has nine branches, eight to remember the eight days of Hanukkah and one is the Shamash, the candle used to light the other candles which is usually either higher or separate from the other eight branches. The center candle is signifying our Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the World; and in the Gospel of John, He preached three sermons declaring Himself as the “Light of the world,” and all three could have been during Hanukkah, the Festival of Light.

John 12:46 ~ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Many believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived on the Festival of Lights—Hanukkah. The Bible does not specifically say the date of Jesus’ birth, but it was definitely not during the winter months because there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (Luke 2:8). From the account of John the Baptist, his conception reveals that he was conceived on about Sivan 30 (Luke 1:8-13, 24). Adding forty weeks, for a normal pregnancy reveals that John the Baptist was born on or about Passover, Nisan 14. Six months after John’s conception, Mary conceived Jesus (Luke 1:26-33); therefore Jesus would have been conceived six months after Sivan 30 in the month of Kislev— Hanukkah. Starting at Hanukkah, which begins on Kislev 25 and continues for eight days, and counting through the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, the approximate time of the birth of Jesus was at the Festival of Tabernacles, right after the Feast of Trumpets. Blowing of the Shofar during the Feast of Trumpets means the bringing of a clear message of the Good News: the Grace of God in Christ.

John 12:35 ~36: Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

We hold candles in our hand during caroling and even in certain countries, candles are put at the windows of all the Christian homes on Christmas Eve. These candles are signifying the LIGHT is in the world and are pointing us to Jesus, the Light of the world.

John 8:12 ~ When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

mErRy cHrIsTmAs

mErRy cHrIsTmAs ~~~

Silent Night by Janice & Sonia

May this day be celebrated for its true meaning....

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….!

Revival

Do you know that the revival that many Charismatic Christians are seeking for has actually already happened?

The Finished Work of Christ is that REVIVAL! The Finished Works of our Lord had changed everything. The Finished Work even changed the principle of repentance. Under the Old Covenant, man repented from their sins because God was against sin; while under the New Covenant, man repents towards righteousness because the sins issue had been satisfied at the Cross and Jesus’ righteousness had been freely and fully lavished upon those who believed in Him. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! Jesus’ Finished Work at the Cross looks more like the revival many charismatic Christians are seeking through their regular fasting and fervent prayers.

Hey, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For the Old Covenant Saints, they were looking forward prophetically to the cross for direction while as for us the New Covenant Saints, we look back to Jesus’ Finished Work for revelation. It is all about the revelation of the righteousness of Christ that we already have; the peace He had brought forth through the punishment He sustained at the Cross and the joy of never losing our salvation because of that mighty REVIVAL! The revival had already happened two thousand years ago; and what we need now is not fasting and praying for revival but fasting and praying for the revelation of what had happened in that revival! It is all about Jesus and His Finished Works. This is the everlasting revival!

I pity those good-hearted, on fire Christians who commit themselves in the Old Covenant fasting and praying for revival. They still believe that revival will not come unless there are sufficient fasting, ample prayers and “real” repentance… Before long, these good-hearted, on Fire Christians are burnt out instead burning up.

How can we receive revelation from that mighty revival which happened two thousand years ago? The answer is praying and fasting! WHAT...??? Yes, praying and fasting..., the New Covenant way!

So, stay tune…

In Christ We Have...

------------------------------------


In Christ we have:-

Love that can never be fathomed

Righteousness that can never be tarnished

Wisdom that can never be baffled

Peace that can never be understood

Joy that can never be diminished

Hope that can never be disappointed

Rest that can never be disturbed

Light that can never be darkened

Purity that can never be defiled

Beauty that can never be marred

Glory that can never be clouded

Resources that can never be exhausted

Life that can never die

and the Universe as our play ground...

... 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.

Unmerited Favor - The Book

Unmerited Favor - The Book

Unmerited Favor - Book Introduction

www.unmeritedfavorbook.com

An e mail From Gola

Our first night started with only a few people on the field. There was a lot of tension because of the threats coming our way. The police were there to keep the peace. I decided to go ahead and preach even though I had no permit to speak. Then I prayed for the sick and called all who were healed to the stage. We interviews four healed people from the stage before Daniel ran up on stage and told me that the police want me to stop. Later they apologized for stopping me. They were concerned that the Muslims will get more agitated. They also asked Daniel if I have the permit from the capital yet. We still did not have it. The chief of police then told Daniel that even though we don’t have the permit I can still preach but no one can know we have his permission. Yet another miracle that saved this festival from being shut down. And he did not stop there, he said baring no major reaction from Muslims (remember he himself is Muslim) we can do it again the next night but no more testimonies on stage.

When we came to the field the second night, I was called over by the chief of police again. He seamed a little different than the day before. I started to pray again. He said the intelligence office is a bit concerned about what I am doing but since there has been no reaction from Muslims, he has decided to give me 1 hour to preach and pray for people. We had another night of miracles. But instead of having people come up on stage, I asked all the healed people to stand up and wave their hands as everyone else sat down.

After our second night, the soundman called Daniel over and said if we don’t pay for sound in full by noon the next day, he will tare up the sound and leave and report us to the police. By this time Daniel and I have both emptied our bank accounts and had no money. We had to produce $4,167CAN in 12 hours. We sent out a quick letter to sponsors asking for help. Most of you probably got that letter.

The next day we went to check our bank accounts and it still showed zero. It was only 15mins before the dead line, when we got someone to lend us $1,000US. We quickly called sound, and they decided to leave everything on the field. We promised that we will have all the money in before we leave town. Daniel handed in his national ID card as a guarantee. We are still in the city waiting for money to come in so we can pay all our bills. We trust God will provide for us. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

Our last night was by far the best night. The field was almost all covered by people. I preached the Gospel story starting with creation, the fall, Jesus’ redemption and building a relationship with God. I asked everyone on the field to stand up, raise their hands and gave them 1 minute of silence so they can pray to start building a relationship with God. That was wisdom from God.

We had many more healing in the last night. Many blind eyes were opened. I really desired to share the testimonies with the crowd. So instead of calling the healed people on stage, I went off the stage into the crowd and had a camera follow me. Everyone saw on the big screen and heard the testimonies. Praise Jesus! Afterwards, I even got to lay my hands and pray for the chief of intelligence and another police officer so that they can receive healings. They asked for it. They were the only 2 people I laid my hands on in prayer during the festival. I was told not to lay my hands on anyone by the same intelligence chief! We also handed thousands of salvation books the last night of the festival.

Here is another interesting thing that happened and people are talking about after the festival. We had great weather the first 2 nights. The last night, it started to rain just before I got into the car to go to the field. But there was no rain on the field. In fact we were told, it was raining everywhere except inside a 100 meter radius around the soccer field! Then all rain stopped before we started. The first day after the festival, and we just got heavy rains. So much so water was starting to come into the house. I believe this is a sign and wonder God is granting to the people. All glory to Jesus and none for us!

We want to say a special thank you to...

Irwan Alexander, Fandy from Indonesia Idol and Lembah Pujian band for coming and ministering in this event.

Also a huge thank you and God bless you to our youth committee and our 25 year old chairman brother Anis Rudy in Pati.

We are planning our next Gospel festival in Indonesia on the 1st week of March, 2010. Please keep us in your prayers.

Your co-workers in the great harvest,

Gola Tiruneh, Daniel Sugiarto and Olivia Nidya

Grace Quote

In Himself, God is love; through Him, love is manifested, and by Him, love is defined and grace magnified…

The Old (Testament) is in the New (Testament) revealed; the New (Testament) is in the Old (Testament) concealed. Jesus through the Cross was the Mediator. If we can’t see what Jesus had done, we can never understand the NEW... When we don’t see the NEW, we have missed His grace.

Grace is not something we can earn or buy. There's no way we can earn or deserve the grace of God anymore than we can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks. A good night's sleep is grace and so are good dreams. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving us is grace. Most of all, His death on the Cross for us originated grace…

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon...

Mercy, regarding salvation says, “No Hell.” Grace, regarding salvation says, “Heaven.”

What A Wonderful World

After watching Dr. S.M. Lockridge's best-known message of six and a half minute description of our Lord Jesus Christ, known as "That's My King", his magnificent voice reminded me of the voice of Louis Armstrong and how the late Louis sang this beautiful song "What A Wonderful World" ...

Dr. Shadrach Meshach (S.M.) Lockridge (March 7, 1913 – April 4, 2000)

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)


Wow..., what a wonderful world!

Do You Know Him?

That's My King ~ Dr. S.M. Lockridge


That's my King! Do your know Him?

It Is Finished!

"And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." (Rom 11:6)

The finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is the basis of our salvation by grace. It is a work that had been concealed until the cross and ended with Jesus' death, right after He proclaimed, "It is finished!"

This work is perfect and complete. The sinner accesses this finished work, in full, at the time of personal belief (Rom 5:2) and cannot add nor subtract from it in any way. Therefore, God is completely and perfectly PROPITIATED by Christ's shed blood; the sinner is completely and perfectly REDEEMED from sin; and is completely and perfectly RECONCILED to God at the time of personal belief.

Read more >>>>

Nothing But The Blood

Hillsong - Nothing But The Blood

Grace Prevails

“Prevail” is a powerful word. It means to be “strong against” or to “rise above”. The grace of Jesus Christ is so strong that it rises above any circumstance.

• “Prevailing prayers” rise above any problem.

• The gates of hell shall not prevail against, or rise above, the church Jesus is building.

• The waters of Noah prevailed over the earth, which means the water rose higher than the land.

In Ephesus, “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed”. Simply put, God’s word rose higher than all the problems.

Do you see it? God’s grace rises higher than any other force, situation, scheme, or deception of the devil. God’s grace is always “sufficient”. That is exactly what we saw in Pakistan, “the most dangerous country in the world”, according to the US president. But even there God’s grace prevailed.

Yes, we faced bomb threats, which escalated to suicide bomb threats. Yet right in those dire circumstances, the grace of God rose higher; thousands of Muslims were saved, healed and delivered.

I wish you could have been there the night I preached, “The blind can see again”, with twenty-five outstanding healings of blindness; 22 were Muslims and 3 Hindus. Some had traveled many hours, some were born blind, but all heard the Gospel and were set free.

Paul tells the Philippians that they were “part-takers with him in grace”. No one had communicated in giving and receiving like the Philippians and now they were recipients of the same grace that was on Paul’s ministry. Your giving is a part of historical happenings that are shaking nations.

Don’t you think that the same God, who gave such a historical harvest in Pakistan, is going to see to it that there is a harvest of increase in your life? Absolutely!

This email and photo report is being prepared while I am in Indonesia. Our next campaign is in northern Nigeria, in an area known for Islamic hostility. God really gives us “favor in the lion’s den”, and you, partner, have the same favor on your life. These historical outreaches must not come to a halt. I need to hear from you now. Please, take the following steps:

1. Take and moment and consider the areas where you need God’s grace to prevail in your life.

2. Sow your best SEED GIFT FOR SOULS for these historical breakthroughs. YOU ARE WITH ME IN ACTION through your seed offering. I ask everyone to plant a seed gift of $60 or more. Some can give $100, $125 or $200, while others could just as easily give $500, $1,000 or even $5,000. Thank you for letting your heart direct you.

3. Ask for my new teaching album A New and Living Way. This promises to be a popular album as I contrast the old and dead way of prayer, faith, or ministry with a new and living way that brings you the answers God has provided.

I can’t emphasize enough how important your response is! Our teams overseas are working night and day, risking their lives for the Gospel. It would be a tragedy for me to have to notify them that we lack finances and must stop upcoming campaigns. Thank you for taking action. I will look for your response!

Yours for souls,

Peter Youngren

Critical Spirit?

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

Critical Spirit?

By Mick on October 21st, 2009

It seems every time John tries to talk about the greatness of Jesus, and the trust we can have in his finished work and the reality of our New Covenant, he is labelled as having a ‘critical spririt’… But John doesn’t have a critical spirit, he’s just searching for grace...

Mick, I know by now what was really wrong with me seven years ago…! I was searching for grace and talked too much about the greatness of Jesus...

Pomegranate

I was very much "intrigued" by Aaron’s status in his Facebook on the fruit called Pomegranate…

Aaron Chouravong thinks the actual fruit Adam & Eve ate was a Pomegranate, b/c it has 613 seeds and the Law consists of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament (incl. the Ten Commandments) that we would've had to obey to be right with God. Btw, under Law, if you break ONE you've broken them ALL...but under Grace today, if you believe in ONE, Jesus Christ, you are justified and made right with God as if you kept them ALL. woohoo!

This interesting comprehension trigged me to look up Wikipedia for more informations on Pomegranate …

The name "Pomegranate" derives from Latin pomum ("Apple") and granatus ("Seeded"). This has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (e.g., German Granatapfel, Seeded Apple).

The Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight meters tall. The Pomegranate is native to Southwest Asia and has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout Georgia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, India, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, the drier parts of southeast Asia, Peninsular Malaysia, the East Indies, and tropical Africa. Introduced into Latin America and California by Spanish settlers in 1769, pomegranate is now cultivated in parts of California and Arizona for juice production.

Jewish tradition teaches that the Pomegranate is a symbol for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah. For this reason and others, many Jews eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah. However, the actual number of seeds varies with individual fruits. It is also a symbol of fruitfulness. The Pomegranate is one of the few images which appear on ancient coins of Judea as a holy symbol, and today many Torah scrolls are stored while not in use with a pair of decorative hollow silver "Pomegranates" (rimmonim) placed over the two upper scroll handles. Some Jewish scholars believe that it was the pomegranate that was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. Pomegranate is one of the Seven Species (Hebrew: שבעת המינים, Shiv'at Ha-Minim), the types of fruits and grains enumerated in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy as being special products of the Land of Israel.

Deuteronomy 8:8 ~ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;

Indeed Pomegranate is very closely related with many religions in this world. It’s all about getting right to reach God. It’s all about eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Praise Jesus for what He had done on the cross... His grace has enlightened us and we are now eating from the Tree of Life, and Jesus is our righteousness…

1 Corinthians 1:30 ~ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

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!!!

Second Chance

My cousin, Winston brought the word of Grace to our family in November 2008. It was a time of troubled heart because my husband was down with Hepatitis C. Not only the cost of his medication was so high, but he had to quit working and at the same time, he was suffering from the effects of the medication.

Praise be unto God, after listening to a tape recording of the Word of God by Pastor Mark Ng of New Creation Church which was brought by Winston, my husband opened up his heart to receive Christ. Now, my husband is healed...

Read more >>>>>

A Miracle Of The Anointing Oil

When my husband and I got married a year ago, I was transferred back to work at a district hospital about 1 hour from home. During the journey to work I would be listening to Pastor Prince’s messages. I was excited about the message on The Anointing Oil; so my husband and I quickly got some olive oil and prayed over it.

On the 16th of June 2009, during a particularly busy call, I received a patient, a young 19 year boy who allegedly drank about 500mls of Malathion, a strong weedkiller used by the villagers for their farming purposes...

Read more >>>>>

By Chance Or By Choice?

Our Lord has made us competent as ministers of a New Covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.


Deuteronomy 30:19 ~ This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Good health does not happen by chance. It happens by choice. So is life... therefore choose life and trust in His amazing grace, the unearned, unmerited favor of God!

Intense Prayer

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

What’s Really Going On?
By mick on September 30th, 2009

The last conversation Pastor Moses had with Eric, he told him “While you’re doing all the annoying jobs around the church, I’m praying intensely”

Unfortunately, Eric doesn’t know that ‘Prayer’ is Pastor Moses’ code word for ’sleep’

What’s really going on?

Ya Eric, I agree with you. Your Pastor is actually praying in “NOSE” right now, and is indeed, intense...

Grain, Wine and Oil

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as Protector and Provider. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, has often been set into music. For Christians, the image of God as a shepherd evokes connections not only with David but with Jesus, described as "the Good Shepherd" in the Gospel of John.

Recently I discovered the power pack from God in the 5th verse of this beautiful Psalm. This verse mentions of the Lord’s Table is Holy Communion and the oil that the Lord uses to anoint us is olive oil. These elements of the Holy Communion and the anointing oil can freely be found in the Old Testament as grain, wine and oil. However, these elements carry significant symbolic values of the sufferings of Jesus and these are the pointers that carry biblical value in pointing the believers to the Finished Work of Christ at the cross.

Psalm 23:5 ~ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

What a powerful verse this is. A resurrected life of abundant life is what the Lord had promised in John 10:10b. Psalm 23 is therefore the secret to divine granted abundant life in a Shepherd and sheep relationship.

Holy Communion and anointing oil are like medicine. These elements help us to believe the finished work of Christ progressively. We have this divine provision from our Lord, and we can eat and drink towards our health and prosperity that He had restored for us. We are to take good pleasure to look first to Communion and anointing oil before any other conventional provisions.

Grain – The Lord is our Bread and He offered His broken body to us as bread from heaven. In our nature world, the way we get bread from grain is to process it by sifting it, punching the dough and baking it at high temperature in an oven. These gestures are symbolic of the punishment Jesus Christ took on our behalf. During the process of making bread, the punching of dough has to be complete in term of force and time and Jesus, the way He sustained the sufferings were complete. He had totally absorbed all our punishments on His body.

Wine – The ways we get wine is to crush the grape fruit, trodden it and leave the fruit juice to be fermented. The crushing and troddening of these grape fruit also point to the suffering of Jesus and the colour of the wine has a symbolic value of Jesus’ precious blood.

Oil - The way we get oil is by crushing the olives. Jesus was crushed so that we can be healed. Crushing the olive fruit removes the bitterness and produces the oil. In the circular world, there are 3 pressings in the extraction of olive oil:-

The oil from the ‘first’ press is used for lighting the Holy Place. In substantial to Paul’s revelation, this first press serves to light us, as our body is the temple of God! In Gethsemane, it was the darkest era of darkness and distress, and Jesus was pressed until His sweat was mixed with blood, so that we may have light to see His truth spiritually.

The oil from the ’second’ press is used for medicine. Jesus was pressed the second time when He was scourged 39 times by the Romans soldiers so that by His stripes, we are healed!

The oil from the ‘third’ press is used for making soap. When Jesus was nailed at the Cross, His shed blood washed our sins away eternally!

All traditions in Christianity feature this Psalm prominently in funeral services. Hey, do we really need abundant life when we have passed on to be with Jesus? I think we need this Psalm more while we are still in the sheep pen (graceyard) instead of in the graveyard!

Wow... I want my cup to overflow in this graceyard! What do you say?

Religious Obligations

I just love this comic strip from Mick Mooney... Though we may live in different part of the world, from a different social background, brought up from a different culture..., it seems that we are walking through the same Christian path...

I'm convinced that this spiritual influence is from the same religious spirit, and this is happening in different parts of the Body of Christ! Therefore, if we are not of GRACE, we are of the work..., if we are not of FAITH, we are of the Law..., if we are not of the SPIRIT, we are of the flesh...!

If we are not being enlightened in GRACE and established in Jesus' RIGHTEOUSNESS, we will never understand what kind of message Mick is trying to bring across...

By Mick Mooney of Searching for Grace

Religious Obligations
By mick on September 25th, 2009

Pastor Moses often talks about how Christianity is not a religion, but John is a little confused. It seems Pastor Moses likes to the idea of Christianity not being a religion, but he’s still preaching about religious obligations every week?

An Epistle of Christ

Our Christian life is a life of rest, a total rest in Christ, for He had finished everything that God could think of at the Cross two thousand years ago. A divine exchange of life between God and men had taken place at the Cross where the sinful and hopeless life of men had been totally absorbed by Jesus and His sinless, anointed life had been freely lavished into this world. Whosoever believes in Him shall have this new life eternally. This is what Jesus had promised before the Cross. He said He came to give us life, a life more abundantly and He gave it all through the Cross.

As His believers, what can we contribute in living out this abundant life? Can a bankrupt man trying to live out this abundant life? Is there any instruction from the Lord that we can follow so that we can live out this abundant life?

Certainly cannot, how can a bankrupt man live out this abundant life? Jesus did not say He came to teach us how to live but He came to give us this abundant life. This abundant life is a spirit life. He caused us to born again in the spirit as a new creation, a creation that never existed during the six days of His majestic creation work.

We, as a new creation, we just need to believe that we are righteous simply because of the gift of the righteousness that Christ died to give us. Our soul will be at rest when we establish ourselves in Christ's righteousness. This rest will enable the Holy Spirit to write the law in our heart and He will cause us to live out the abundant life through us.

Hebrews 10:17 then He adds, "THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."
Hebrews 10:16 "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,"

The best kind of Christian life to live is the life that we live out without our conscious of how we are going to live it. If we live our life conscious of how we are going to live, we ended up being religious and the outcome is self righteousness.

Recently, we came to understand of this Spirit led life happening in our midst. My wife, Penny had gone through a tough time in her office for the past two months due to the numerous closing of tender. Her working life then was quite stressful. After the closing of all these tenders, their office life was back to normal and a colleague who is quite new in the company, came to her and asked her whether she could know more about her God. Hey, this colleague of hers wanted to know more about Jesus…! Penny was surprised by her approach and introduced Jesus to her.

Though Penny does not know as much scriptures as I do, she does not share with people as much as I do, she does not pray as much as I do and she does not speak in tongue as much as I do, the Lord told me that she believes He is a good God. She trusts in His grace, the unearned and unmerited favour of God. She believes she is righteous because of what Jesus had done for her at the Cross. She believes and is resting His finished work.

Abundant life is not what we can do but what we believe and how we rest in our Lord. Just by believing and trusting in Jesus' goodness, He can write a beautiful epistle in our life.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 (The Message)
Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.

Though I felt inferior after the Lord had revealed this truth to me, but He reaffirmed me by saying, "Son, you two are in one...!" Man..., this is the kind of righteous life that we should be living! An effortless life that lived through by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we are an epistle of Christ, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart!

We are where we are now, because of the kind of message we have listened before. We will be who we are in the future, because of the message we are listening to now...

Joseph Prince On DayStar

Pastor Joseph Prince is on Daystar, a Christian Television Network in Bedford, Taxes, magnifying Jesus' abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness.

Pastor Joseph Prince on Dayster

Only those who really appreciate grace, respect the Law...

Building The Kingdom

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

I Know you Pastor Moses, next is fund raising!!!

The Kingdom Is Within Us
By mick on August 26th 2009


Luke 17:20-21
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.

Church Orientation

Again, I can't help myself but to post this comic strip from Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace because I was from that sort of environment with the same obligations portrayed by Mick. I was wondering and wandering in that religious wilderness for 7 years, 7 perfect years! Wow... praise God it's 7 years not 40 years! Gosh... What a life...!

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

Church Orientation
By mick on July 22nd, 2009

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

You have to love the good news (Gospel of Grace) of Jesus Christ. Through His perfect finished work upon the cross, we now enjoy the blessings of a relationship with God that does not depend on our religious performance, but upon His glorious grace!!

Unfortunately Pastor Moses (one of the characters in my comic strip) seems to have missed that point!

Wisdom Of The World

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

Wisdom Of The World
By mick on September 7th, 2009

The more you love Christ, the more you love His church – that is His people. I love the church, I really do. I had somewhat of a tough time uploading this comic, because I know it will probably offend some people I love and care for.

So then why did I upload it you might ask. Good question. I’m doing it for the very reason that I love the church. I just want Brothers and Sisters in Christ stop for a few minutes, and think about what is going on. God calls the wisdom of the world ‘foolishness’, so why are we using it for our model of church organization and growth?

Until we stop to think, and actually give ourselves the permission to think about such questions, we can never learn from the Holy Spirit his way of Church organization and growth. It won’t look like the world’s idea of wisdom, it won’t be founded on worldly principles, rules and laws. It won’t look anything like a worldly corporate business model, but it will work, I’m sure it will.

God created the entire universe by His Spirit. He holds the whole universe together by His Spirit. With the same Spirit He can build, unite and grow His people (that is the church), but we have to be willing to let Him do it. If we keep trying to hold the church together by our amazing organizational skills, we’ll never experience the church being held together by God’s Spirit (that is by love, instead of structure).

Let’s all come to our Father as He desires, like children, and ask Him for advice about this whole topic. He will guide us into all truth, and He will help us as we continue searching for grace.

Blue skies,

Mick

Fruitful Tart

Today is Sunday, a beautiful Sunday! We wish to bless you all with this fruit tart overflowing with varieties of fresh fruit. May your week ahead be fruitful with His favor shining upon you.

Ingredients for tart crust:

250g flour
10g milk powder
70g caster sugar
170g butter
40g beaten egg

Ingredients for custard:

100g instant custard
700ml cold milk
varieties of fresh fruit

1. To make tart crust, combine flour, milk powder and caster sugar. Rub in butter until mixture resemble bread crumbs. Add in beaten egg, knead to forms dough.

2. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, refrigerate for half an hour until ready to use.

3. Roll out enough of dough, place into mould.

4. Touch some flour on both thumbs, Press the dough. Tim off the edge.

5. Bake tart crust in oven @ 180 degree for twenty minutes.

6. Dress tart crust with instant custard and top with varieties of fresh fruit.

The No. 5 Jersey

In my early Christian life, I was always being taught to put Jesus No. 1 in my life. Under that sort of environment, I could only understand the life of Jesus when He was on earth serving His people and I have no idea of how His resurrection life is like. Nevertheless, the grace message has done a perfect job in bringing revival to my understanding of who the resurrected Jesus is.

After years of sitting under grace based and Jesus conscious ministry, I have totally forgotten about the idea of putting Jesus No. 1 in my life. From the comment given by my Pastor in my previous post (Do We Have To...?), his simple comment inspired me with a new insight on the rules of a football player in a football match.

I love to watch English Premier League and I know a bit of English football through the computer game called FIFA Manager. I am not going to tell you my favorite team because that is not important here… but I chose a particular team because they were computed to be rich and it was easy for me to buy good players and built my strong team. Anyway, my insight here is how we are going to position our players!


When we put Jesus No. 1 in our life, we are actually asking Jesus to wear the No. 1 jersey, and He is our Goalkeeper. Though we have the desire to put Him No. 1, we are actually restricted His movement within our own penalty box taking cares of all the penalties and free kicks. (The truth is, He had already taken care of all our penalties of sin and the free kicks because of our nonsense). Though we could never lose the match then, we have restricted Him in the box and we have to do all the defending and attacking ourselves. Mind you, that kind of match is tough and the score is hard to come… That is actually the scenario of my early Christian life when I put Jesus No. 1 in my life!

When we put Jesus to wear the No. 5 jersey, He is no more our Goalkeeper but our Midfielder, as He is now, always in the midst of us! (The penalties of our sins and the nonsense of our free kicks had all been exhausted by His body!) He is now no more restricted by the penalty box and He defends and attacks from box to box. He is the best defensive Midfielder as well as the best attacking Midfielder we can ever find. We can be assured that no one can go through His defense and we can rest assure that He can create the best chances up front for us to score. Whenever we miss in the defense, He will be there in time to clear the danger and whenever we score at the up front, He hugs us and we celebrate the goal together, as He credits the glory to us! This is the beautiful scenario when we don't let Him wear the No. 1 jersey but the No. 5 jersey... This is the beautiful fruit of a grace based, Jesus conscious Ministry.

That is why we can never put Jesus No. 1 in our life for we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. The life we live in the body, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. For we are dead, and our life are now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with him in glory. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in us and Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Wow… What an inspiration! Who say Christian cannot watch English Premier League?

Do We Have To...?

Do we have to put Jesus No.1 in our life? Hmmm... Interesting question. What is your opinion?

Crossing The Line

So what do you do after you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior? Do you cross that line and go on to live out the righteous life you already have or you go back to depend on that two tablets of stone? When does it mean by crossing the line? Click on this video and find out...

Andrew Farley of The Naked Gospel

Hokkaido Poppy Seed Lemon Sponge Cupcake

Ingredient for Cupcake

125gm Melted Butter
250gm Sponge Mix
6 Eggs
Grated Lemon Rind
Poppy Seed


Ingredient for Custard Filling

100gm Instant Pudding
700ml Cold Milk
Lemon Juice

The Naked Gospel

Andrew Farley of The Naked Gospel

Sushi Queen

In Japanese cuisine, Sushi (寿司) is vinegar rice, usually topped with other ingredients, such as fish. What we are making here is actually called Makizushi (巻寿司), rolled Sushi. A cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat, called Makisu (巻簾). Makizushi is generally wrapped in Nori (海苔), a Japanese name for various edible seaweed.

After numerous attempt on making Sushi with different combination of ingredients, we finally settled down by using only cucumber, red carrot, crab meat, egg omelette, vegetarian dried bean curd and not forgetting our secret ingredient called Furikake Nori Katsuo Seasoning Mix!

To honor Penny with her effort in preparing these Makizushi, this "brand name" of Sushi Queen is given to identify her unique combo of deliciously prepared Makizushi...!