No Sin is Righteous

Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 NKJV)

David has been described as a person after God's heart. And the verse above sheds light why this is so. Even though David has sinned, but his heart continues to seek to depart from what is unholy and unrighteous.

"I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness." (Psalm 101:3, 4 NKJV).

Sin is sin. Unholiness is unholiness, regardless the reason. In 1 Sam 15, God gave victory to King Saul but mentioned that he is to destroy all. Not because God is sadistic but because He loves His children and know that they will be corrupted if corruption is allowed to remain. But Saul greatly displeased God and did not destroy all. Even though he gave the reason that the best is left for sacrifice to God and tried to put the blame on his people, God sees the heart and was greatly displeased, to the extent of rejecting Saul. God cannot be mocked and no reason, even if it is to be used as worship and sacrifice to the Lord, is acceptable for sin. Sin is sin and God is holy. Reasoning and blaming won't help.

Perhaps that is what sets David from Saul; not that David never sinned but his heart was tender towards God and sought to depart from unholiness so that God can be pleased to call him His child. This is how much God loves you to want you to stray from Him.

Paul says "We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain". (2 Corinthians 6:1 NKJV).

"For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b NKJV)

What aspects of your life do you need change so God will be pleased with you? Reasoning won't help.

The Heart of Worship

Hi everyone, was at chapel today and was ministered by the sharing on the heart of worship.
Consider both Saul and David:

In 1 Sam 15, we read that God gave instructions to Saul, as punishment to the Amalekites for what they did to Israel, to attack them and totally destroy everything, even "cattle and sheep, camel and donkeys". But Saul acted in disobedience and tried to justify himself:

• "I have carried out the LORD's instructions." (v13)
• "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest." (v15)
• "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
  

But further down the chapter, Saul's heart was revealed that he had the fear of man more than the fear of God; he chose to honour man and himself over God. Even after being confronted by Samuel and being given a chance to repent, his heart remained hard and distant from God as he again chose to want to be honoured by man rather than honoured by God:

1 Sam 15:30 (NIV)

Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God." (Emphasis mine)

And so God rejected Saul as King and his worship. Even though he began well, he did not end well.

Fast forward to King David, the man who is after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14). And even though David sinned when he committed adultery and murder, his response to his sin was different from Saul. After being rebuked by the Prophet Nathan, he wrote Psalm 51 and continue to walk righteously with the Lord. When he came to Araunah to buy his land to build an altar to God, Araunah offered him the land and everything else for free but look at David's response... "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

Though both Kings were called by God to be the leader of His people and started well, only one finished well. Both, on the outward, offered sacrifices to the Lord but yet God accepted and blessed one but yet rejected the other. Kind of reminded me of Cain and Abel.

1 Samuel 16:7b (NIV)

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

We can try all we want to look holy, act holy but God is the one who knows us from the inside out and who sees our heart. 

1 Sam 15: 22

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

The person sharing at chapel shared a parable of a boy who stole 4 apples from the kitchen and went to the chaplain to confess and pray. The boy prayed "Dear Lord, I come before you to ask for your forgiveness for stealing 8 apples." Puzzled, the chaplain asked the boy why he prayed that he stole 8 apples when he stole 4. The boy answered "Oh, I am praying for tomorrow too." What is our heart's condition for God? Are we like the boy who continues to take God's grace for granted and sin, grieving God and in a way, mocking the work on the cross?

An unchanged life, a divided heart, a hardened heart, an empty worship are not what God desires.

It is said that Martin Luther only had two days on his calendar: this day and that day, that is, the great Day of Judgment." How we want to present ourselves to God on that day will determine how we are this day.


Indeed, life is like running a torch relay where the crucial thing is not about speed (which a lot of people may want us to believe) but about keeping the torch ablaze and finishing well before the Lord. Along the way, there may be "winds of adversity", "gusts of conflicts", discouragements, alternative finishing lines but keep our eyes on Jesus and make effort to finish well.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I pray this will bless you. Amen.

Judge Ye Not

Hi everyone,

A good reminder as we approach Good Friday that God died not just for you and me but for all...

At the cross as man crucified Him, Jesus said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.".

JUDGE YE NOT

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a
Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!

As I was doing my QT this morning, I am reminded of Paul's heart for God's people. And we cannot doubt that it is people like him who has caught the heart of God and how ministered to the Gentiles, as well as many people who caught the heart of God, that we can be here as a child of God.

Romans 15: 20-21 (NIV)

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."

The untold millions still untold.

~ James Lim

Testimony: God Speaks, Affirm and Ministers

Hi everyone!

Awesome God
Our God is an awesome God,
He reigns from heaven above,
With wisdom power and love,
Our God is an awesome God!

Our God is an Awesome God
Just finished devotion this morning and want to share a little testimony. Through this morning's devotion, I have come to see how God is in control and how He is real, speaks, affirms and ministers. The last time I experienced this so strongly was at a missions trip in China and it was real exhilarating and exciting to see how God works; how nothing is impossible for Him as He brings together people and circumstances to work according to His will and to also minister to people; it's just awesome, amazing and exciting to see God work!

Do We Set Aside or Do We Find Time for God?
Our Tuesday devotions at work has not been very regular recently and sessions have been canceled simply because people were "too busy". Frankly, I get really affected and disappointed each time the devotion is canceled because it is just painful to see us forgoing time with God simply because we are too busy. But then reflecting back, this spiritual warfare is real and even I myself also struggle with trying to "squeeze out" time to be with the Lord.

God Uses Ministers through all Sharing
Anyway, today, there was to be devotion and looking at how everyone is busy, I was really not confident devotion will go on. But then, I decided to assume it will go on as usual and I contemplated whether I should lead since the last session (which was supposed to be led by me) was canceled and the next person who is to lead today might not even know she is leading today. I decided to lead but then somehow later at work, I just felt led to ask the person whether she is ready to lead devotion today, considering that I have no voice left. To my surprise, she agreed and within 5 minutes, she put together something to share. By the end of the devotion, it became very clear how God had worked through today's devotion; it's amazing how:

• ... devotion was not canceled and my colleague agreed to lead devotion despite the short notice
• ... everyone joined in for devotion today
  
• ... God ministered through her sharing of her testimony about how God had guided her in a recent decision about her flat. In short, she made a decision about her flat but did not feel at peace with the decision. She sought the Lord's will through prayer and through many incidents, affirmation by others, she felt led to change her decision. Eventually, she decided to change her decision but then a contract had been signed with HDB. But God opened a way for her to retract her decision with HDB and now she is at peace with the decision. From this, she shared about how sometimes we think we know best and insists on our plans when God knows His plans for us and will provide for us; how stubborn we can sometimes be and end up not wanting to choose the path God has for us.
  
• ... God used the sharing to also minister to another colleague who later shared that he was facing some issues with regards to his flat too and how the sharing affirmed him
• ... I initially felt bad about asking my colleague to lead the devotion at the last minute because I was not feeling very well but later was so glad that God has used the session to teach and minister
  
• ... how God had led me to read from Matthew 6:25-34 in the morning on my way to work, which seems to be a timely reminder about how God knows what we need and will provide.I was thinking of reading from another devotional but then realised that I have left the devotional material in office and so, read this devotion instead, not knowing that it was a timely reminder that was shared at the closing of the devotion.

After devotion, I was reflecting on how I can align myself to God's will for my lives and came to the following conclusion. We need to

1. believe that God has His plans for us and
2. we need to stay connected to God e.g. through quiet time, prayers, reading His word and supplementing it with devotional materials and
3. be open and willing to listen to Him when He does lead.
4. believe that God can work through you and use you to spiritually impact others
   

Matthew 6:26-
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:30-
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Matthew 6:31-33-
31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Think...

• On a scale of 1-10, where do you rate your belief that God, as Jeremiah 29:11 states, has His plans for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future?
• In this world of connectivity through handphones, internet, email, instant messengers, how is your connectivity to God? How can you connect better with God?
• How open and willing are you in hearing from God? What is your definition of hearing from God? How have God spoken to you in the past? How can you be more God-aware?
• Do you believe that God can work through you and use you to spiritually impact others and to draw them close to Him?
  

Build Your House Upon the Rock

46"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." ~ Luke 6:46-49 (NIV)

Discussion: Developing a Heart for God

Hi everyone, so sorry for the delay in getting this up. This is last week's cell discussion. Feel free to comment and share :)

Chariots of Fire


Where Walk = Run As Well
Many have described the Christian walk as a race:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)
24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

To me, I read this as suggesting to us the attitude we should approach the race with. KK put it in a very nice way, that what is important is making the decision to run the race and running it (KK, I hope I got you correct:D). It also tells us how we should train for it; not to be disqualified in the whole process. And even as we train ourselves and even train others, we should not do so in such a way which would get ourselves disqualified.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (New International Version)
1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Here, I learnt about how we should run the race; with perseverance.

Yes, I have read somewhere that when we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, we are already in the race. It is not whether we will run the race but how we run the race.

Main Ingredient for Victory in the Christian Race?
So does it mean that once you are called to the race, you will be victorious? My views? Nope! Your run and your heart matters.

In 1 Samuel 16:7, it says that:
7. But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

If we were to look to a example of person who had a heart for God, it might be Eric Liddell. You will find him in the movie, Chariots of Fire, which I only found out recently, is a true story about this person, Eric Liddell, who refused to run the heats for the Men's 100m, his best event, in the 1924 Olympics because of his conviction not to run on the Sabbath. It was said that the Prince of Wales himself pressured Eric to honour King and country above God but to no avail. He later took an unexpected bronze in the 200m sprint and clinched the gold medal and a world record for the 400m dash. Just as Eric was at the starting blocks of the 400m race, someone slipped a piece of paper into his hands with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honor me I will honor". You can read more about Eric Liddell by doing a google or searching the wikipedia on him. But he later returned to North China where he served as a missionary from 1925-1943. he was ordained as a minister in 1932 and later died while being interned in Weihsien Internment Camp by the Japanese in 1945, due to brain tumour.

Lessons from People who seemed to be Disqualified
I think we can all cite examples of people in the bible who were disqualified from the race. People like Moses, who because of a moment's folly and disobedience to God, ended up not being to enter the Promised Land despite how faithful he was in carrying out God's will.

Then there is Eli, whose family God chose to be His priest but because of him honouring his sons more than Himself, Eli and his house was punished (see 1 Samuel 2:27-36).

King Herod in Acts 12:20-24, was exalted by his people who said that shouted "this is the voice of a god, not of a man" when he gave his public address. He was struck down, eaten by worms and died because he did not give glory to God and praise Him.

God looks at the heart for Him not outward observance of His laws and commandments.

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist used harsh words on the Pharisees and the Sadducees. As I read the devotional for the 40-day fast by Love Singapore, the devotional for July 4 described the Pharisees like "President's scholars of Jesus' day... knowledgeable men who studied the Law of Moses... deeply religious, known for following the Law carefully" and the Saudducees as "known to be stricter and drew support from the wealthier classes". They were all respectable, influential and often admired. But they were self-conceited and they missed the messiah altogether.

Jesus also rebuked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, saying specifically in Matthew 23:25-26:

25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

So God looks at your heart. The very fact that these people can fall from God's favour really really made me worry and reflect upon my heart for God. We all have the revelation of God's salvation plan for us though the first coming of the messiah but do we sometimes take it for granted so much so we miss him sometimes daily?

What Happens When You Have a Heart for God?
Looking at the OTC readings, what happens when we develop a heart for God. Let's look at Saul and David:

God has plans

In 1 Sam 9:5-10 we were being told how Saul was to be the first king for Israel, how God brought Saul to Samuel when Saul travelled with his servant to look for his father's lost donkeys. The servant had suggested going to see Samuel to get advice on "which way to take" and when Saul asked him what they are going to give to the man, isn't it amazing that the servant replied the young master that he had a quarter of a shekel of silver for Samuel. When God sets His plans for you, it is set and there is no running away from it.

What about David? After Saul has stopped honouring God, God, through Samuel, anointed David as the next king. David was later brought into Saul's service to help provide relief with the harp whenever he was tormented by evil spirits. Speak about God's anointing.

God changes people

Look at Saul, he started as a person who was felt not confident and inferior. In 1 Samuel 9:21, he asked Samuel why he said that he has been chosen as king for Israel and in 1 Samuel 10:22, he hid when Samuel came to chose the king in front of the people of Israel. But in 1 Samuel 10:9-10 we saw how God changed his heart, his spirit came upon him and he started to prophesy:

9. As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.

God blesses and protects

In 1 Samuel 10:26, we were told that after Saul was made king, he went home Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. Even for David, we see how God continues to protect him in 1 Samuel 18 when Saul again and again plots to kill him.

What Happens When You Don't Have a Heart for God?
We saw how Saul started drifting away from God and started to let his pride get the better of him:

• 1 Samuel 13:3-4 - Tried to take credit from his son Jonathan
  
• 1 Samuel 13:6-15 - Burnt an offering sacrifice himself rather than waiting for a priest, Samuel to do so Nothing wrong with burning sacrifice to God but he took matter into his own hands and disobeyed Samuel and most importantly God i.e. he did it the wrong way. God has anointed people for different purposes.
  
• 1 Samuel 15:12 - He built a monument in his own honour
• 1 Samuel 15:3-9 - He failed to obey and destroy everything as instructed and kept the "good stuff" and kept alive the king of Amalekites. He even tried to lie that he was keeping it to offer to God when the instructions was to wipe everything out (for the protection of the Israellites from harm and corruption)
• 1 Samuel 15:30 - He "repented" and asked Samuel to go back with him to honour him before the elders of the people and before Israel. It was not true repentance but a "repentance of convenience", for his own interests.

I do not know about it but then I noticed that as Samuel and Saul exchanged words, Saul kept using "Lord your God", "Lord your God" and this kept coming up in 1 Samuel 15:15, 32 and 30). Not sure if this is indication of how Saul's heart for God has hardened.

So what happened?

• 1 Samuel 28:5-7, 15 - God left Saul and he became desperate so much so he engaged a medium to bring up Samuel, who rebuked him to say that the Lord had turned away from him.
• 1 Samuel 16:14, 18:12,15,28-29 - Bitter and had evil spirit
• 1 Samuel 28:17 , 15:28 - Achievements taken away
• 1 Samuel 31 - Lost his sons and kills himself, dismembered

How to Run the Race?
So how to run the race? I am not an expert in this topic because I am also learning through the hard way but then there are scriptures to show us the way.

Psalm 101:

• Verse 3: Look away from wickedness
• Verse 4: Reflect on your associations and friends
• Verse 5: Avoid slander and pride
• Verse 6: Learn from those who model Christ

Some more from 1 Corinthians and Hebrews:

• 1 Corinthians 9:24 (Approach the race with the right attitude)
  24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
  
  
• 1 Corinthians 9:25 (Stay motivated, in shape and in strict training)
  25. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

• 1 Corinthians 9:27 (Obey the rules, be honourable so as not to become disqualified)
  27. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
  
  
• Hebrews 12:1 (Run light)
  1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
  
  
• Hebrews 12: 1 (Persevere)
  1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
  
  
• Hebrews 12:2-3 (Focused on the finish line and be motivated)
  2. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
  
  

I was also sitting through my corporate devotion at work and a devotion on Nehemiah spoke to me as well on how to run the race. Frankly, I never have thought that this devotion will come in handy and I have never thought of using it for cell but somehow God brought the devotion to speak about running the race to me on the very day. I thank God for continuint to speak to me week after week for cell discussion. OK, back to it. We read about how Nehemiah started the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and how he completed the difficult task in 52 days, a feat!

Lesson: God can do great things with you, even though all He has to start with is rubble

Then we learn how Nehemiah appointed gatekeepers, singers and Levites, each with a specific task. Now that the wall is complete, much also needs to be done to "fortify" the city from both external and internal strife:

• Gatekeepers (Watch) - The gates are the most vulnerable part of the city walls. So how are you keeping your gates and what are you allowing into your lives?
• Singers (Worship) - Once the walls are up and the gate kept, there is also a need to prevent internal strife and what better way to for the people to be aware of what they have been blessed with and be thankful? How have you been thankful in your spiritual walk? What characterise your talk with God, is it dominated by troubles, lamentations and anger?
  
• Levites (Workers) - People need to work in the city as well so as to earn their keeps and prevent the city from decaying from laziness. How have you worked and are you working for God as the Levites serve God?

Now that the "head" message has been deposited? How do you translate that to the "heart"? We usually know in the head that we need to do this and do that but how often do we really do it?