The Mask

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with two tablets of stone, his face was radiance with God’s glory. This radiance was not from the law but from the preaching of Jesus that he had received from God through God showing him the tabernacles, the different type of feasts and offerings... 

Due to the dispensation that Moses was in, the law he dispensed caused the radiance of God’s glory to fade away. Moses had to put on a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance faded away. Under Law, the radiance from the glory of God slowly faded away…

2 Corinthians 3:13 ~ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 

This same scenario still happens to Christian in this 21st century. Nobody was saved by beholding the Ten Commandments but by the preaching of Jesus. We are all saved by the Lord because somebody somehow preached the Good News of what Jesus had done for us. Our faces were immediately full of the radiance of God’s glory when we believe the Gospel. We, in this grace dispensation, the radiance of this glory is supposed to be an ever increasing glory. But the sad thing is this, majority of us lost this radiance of God’s glory as we were brought back to behold Moses and believe in the abiding of  Law!

Like Moses, instead of putting on a veil, we at our time and dispensation, put on a mask, a mask of self righteousness! We fear that our fellow Christian will know the radiance of this glory is fading away... We start to live like a Christian forgetting that we are already a Christian. We start to DO thing that we think will make us righteous and forgetting that we are made righteous by the Blood of Jesus. We are concern over our action as consciousness of sins dwell in our midst. We have forgotten that sin is already a settled issue when Jesus died on the cross. We start to look at people’s fault and condemning people in the name of God… Oh we, we, we… and I, I, I... how sad…?

I began to understand Moses' feeling the moment he first saw his people worshipping the golden calf. He was furious as he noticed that he had strike the first prize of [You shall have no other gods before me]. When he was up in the mountain, he had revelation on the Ten Commandments and he understood the consequences of sin. He was in fear and was helpless. He destroyed the tablets and the golden calf (the evidence of sin) hoping that nothing had happened. The Bible says these two tablets was the work of God. Nobody can do away with God’s work but God. That is why Jesus had to come into this world to become Man and fulfilled the demands of the Law on our behalf and nailed these tablets together with Him on the Cross!

Matthew 5:17 ~  Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

It was the Grace of God that took down my mask, the mask of self righteousness. I realized that I am already a New Creation and my righteousness is not depending on what I have to do. The Holy Spirit in me can teach me all things. I just have to live my life beholding Jesus. If anyone come and teaches me on how to live a Christian life, he or she is just being religious because only Jesus can live a Christian life! We need to point people to Jesus not Moses, so that the Holy Spirit can move in their midst as He is known as the Spirit of Truth. He moves where the truth is!

1 John 2:27 ~ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 

When we behold the commandments, Moses will have to put on a mask on our face and we are actually climbing up the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This mask of self righteousness only leads us to Do good and avoid DOING evil. Please let the Grace of God touches you and let Jesus take down your mask and you can start climbing up the Tree of Life…

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

Christian life is all about Jesus and the Grace of God not Moses and the two tablets… Let go of your mask and remain in His REST because the only fight remain in our Christian life is to fight to remain in His REST!

Oh... this phrase is so profound! We've to fight to remain in His REST means we are already in His REST! So relax....!

Obsolete

For if that first covenant (the covenant of Law) had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

For God Himself finds fault with them when He says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant (the covenant of Grace) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant (the covenant of Grace) that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more!

In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away…

This faulty computer monitor was placed on a typewriter and unintentionally creating a  combination of an unique computer system with UPS. However, it does not work but worth a laugh... because what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away…!

When comes to Law, God used only His finger, but when comes to Grace, He offered up His own Body. Through the Cross, Jesus had replaced the Law with Grace.

Is grace cheap? Some of us might think that grace is cheap, but  think about it, grace costs God His own Begotten Son!

When the devil gives you LAW, remember to press 'Move to Trash' & click 'Empty Trash', and most important thing is - DON'T click 'RESTORE' to inbox, only save JESUS & His GRACE in your inbox.

- A Quote by Hui Joo in her Facebook

Who Is The Teacher?

Who Is Our Teacher?

By Mick of Searching For Grace on January 22nd, 2010 

Pastor Moses has no problem with the theology that Jesus is in every believer, and that the he is our teacher, it’s just that he doesn’t really believe it will ever practically work.

John on the other hand, believes if Jesus was simply lifted up more by Pastor Moses and the church could see Jesus in the glory of his finished work, then they would all realise just how much they can trust in Jesus, the teacher that they all have within them, to lead them and teach them in life.

It Is Not A Matter Of RM1.00 But Integrity

BEWARE of the parking system in BOULEVARD Shopping Mall in Kuching! Their time at the entrance is 15 minutes slower! Though they grant you free parking for the first half an hour, you'll end up paying anyway.

We knocked off from office at 5.00Pm and reached there at 5:10PM. We did our grocery shopping for our dinner and leave immediately. When we reached the exit, the attendant said RM1.00. But the shopping only took us 15 minutes!  When I asked for the time of entrance, I then realized that it was 4.55pm.  We reasoned with the counter attendant that we just knocked off from office at 5.00pm, how could we reach here at 4:55pm? She said I cannot follow my time but theirs.  We told her that the time at the entrance had been tampered but she still insisted that their time were correct.

We were not quite comfortable with their answer, so we drove one round to take the ticket at the entrance. With that ticket, I took a photo of it beside my watch. It was 17.28  HR on the ticket and 5:42PM on my watch!!! I drove out to the exit and asked the attendant this question: Do I need 15 minutes to drive from the entrance to the exit?

Time on my watch: 5:42PM.  Time on Parking Ticket: 17:28 Hour.

Festive season is round the corner, this tampering of time in their parking system could bring them a handsome sum of "Extra Income"!

It is not a matter of RM1.00 but integrity. Do tell your friends and beware!

Cheers!

Outside The Box

The new covenant of grace had opened up an ultimate gateway for the gentiles to approach God without having to observe Jewish Law. The Gospel was designed to bring good news to the poor in spirit, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, bring freedom to the oppressed and to claim the year of the Lord’s favour.

Luke 4:18 ~ 19  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Ironically, despite of its harshness, the law offers the proud religious people the opportunity to sing their praises to their self-righteousness. To these law observers, the notion of free grace is far too cheap and is “outside the box”. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were a good example of this scenario. Bold souls who think "outside the box" have often been dismissed as eccentric, burned as heretics or even "stoned to death". Even in our time, those sincere and good intent Christians appear to have little tolerance for those who stray too far from their denomination traditions - no matter how biblically sound their arguments are…

To many, the offer of grace seems far too confronting to their logical mindset. They are reluctant to be reminded of their own spiritual nakedness and poverty. Like Adam, they look for fig leaves to hide themselves from God and creating religions to make convenient fig leaf.

In fact, it is observable throughout Church history and even it is observable in our day. Time and time again when God’s grace has visited the Church, the church institution has often either neglected it or sought to nullify it. They have paid too much attention on signs and wonders; their self-righteousness blinded  them from seeing that these signs and wonders are the pointers to His grace!

The Gospel of grace has not been fully realized widely by many Christian. Though shafts of light have periodically cut through history, the Church has remained in the shackles of mixture of law and grace, plus unhelpful traditions and denomination rulings. As such, the Gospel of grace which make up of two third of our New Testament Bible, remain classified as “outside the box” in many churches.

Our Beautiful Lord Jesus

Our Beautiful Lord Jesus by Pastor Joseph Prince

Grace, Promise and Faith...

Abraham was a pagan like us from a heathen community. The LORD called him and promised him to make him into a great nation and blessed him. The LORD also promised to make his name great, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through him.

Through the stars in the bright Middle East night sky, the LORD preached to Abraham the same Gospel that we have heard from the story of the star of Virgo (virgin birth of Jesus in the Books of Gospel) to the star of Leo (Lion of Judah in the Book of Revelation). Abraham believed and God declared him as righteous.

Genesis 15:6 ~ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

From the account of Abraham in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Hebrews, Abraham was known as the Father of faith. The LORD addressed  this faith giant as His friend and referred Himself to his descendant as God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Through Abraham, a tiny nation of Israel, made out of his 12 tribe’s of descendant was born.

Abraham lived before the dispensation of Law, an era of grace and faith. Like all of us, this faith giant made mistakes here and there. He committed adultery by sleeping with his maid who gave birth to a son by the name of Ishmael. Because of his beautiful wife Sarah, He lied to two different kings just to prevent himself from being killed by these kings.

Indeed the life of this faith giant is a total conflict to our human definition on righteousness. Our definition is to do good or right so as to be righteous. But God accounted it to Abraham for righteousness because he believed in Him. This is interesting… and whether you like it or not, it is all about the promise of God. And Abraham’s actions could not change the promises of God for a promise is unearned and unmerited.

Romans 4:16 ~ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

In the body of Christ today, there are believers who believe in their own effort and their doing good to get righteousness. The Bible addressed these performance orientated believers as babies who drink milk instead of solid food. But those whom the Bible addressed as matured are those who abide themselves in Jesus’ grace and righteousness. The Book of Romans says for those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life. The matured are destined to reign in inheriting the blessing of Abraham as they are justified by faith not work and they are the true seed of Abraham.

Galatians  3:26 - 29 ~ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

A seed by itself is a finished product and the full measure of grace is in the seed. The seed promised a tree and fruits beyond measure, and more seed are in every fruits… If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

You're Beautiful

A beautiful song for our beautiful Jesus

... I see Your face, You're beautiful.

You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham

Solid Rock

British famous singer, song writer,  guitarist, record producer and film score producer Mark Knopfler  of Dire Straits became the world famous evangelist as he sang prophetically to churches of the the world  in Encores! with one of his song entitled Solid Rock, which he have only performed live for his encores EP.

Solid Rock

Well take a look at that I made a castle in the sand

Saying this is where it's at you know

Couldn't understand now

If I realised that the chances were slim

How come I'm so surprised when the tide rolled in

I wanna live on solid rock

I'm gonna live on solid rock

I wanna give I don't wanna be blocked

I'm gonna live on solid rock

Well I'm sick of potential

I'm sick of vanity now

I'm sticking to essential reality now

I don't know what's worse

Try to make a silk purse

Living an illusion living in confusion

I'm gonna live on solid rock....

Well a house of cards

Was never built for shock

You could blow it down in any kind of weather

Now two solid rocks two solid blocks

You know they're gonna stick

Yeah they're gonna stick together

Because the heart you break

That's the one that you rely on

The bed that you make

That's the one you gotta lie on

When you point, your finger cos your plan fell through

You got three more fingers pointing back at you

I wanna live on solid rock

I'm gonna live on solid rock

I wanna give I don't wanna be blocked

I'm gonna live on solid rock

I'm solid rock now

Thank you Chris Welch of 080808 On, Now To The 3rd Level for sharing this insight.

Condemnation Kills