Fear vs Faith

and so it was said.......



Isa 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Jesus Calms the Storm
Mark 4 35-41
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"


the Devil strikes FEAR into people's lives.
the Just shall live by Faith

Fear is a spirit. Fear is an influence. It is an atmosphere, a culture...

we are all living in fear because life is based on the LAW. and the LAW strikes fear in the hearts of men.

the Holy Spirit drives away FEAR!
He will work with you and change your thoughts from fear to faith.

take a look at the first fear.

Genesis 3:8-13
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

this shows that Adam felt naked, in need, lacking, shameful, insufficient..... a result of a rebellion

the decision to step up your faith is a decision made by the Spirit, not a decision made by the carnal nature

read through the whole of Judges. God says:"GO. This journey is under the protection of God"

"fear will take you away from the excitement of life. it grips you. holds you down. makes you cower to a corner. "

therefore,

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

do not conform to the world. FAITH. nothing is impossible when I trust in God.


ever wonder why we are fearful?

we are FEARFUL because we are SELFISH.

when we sin, we go from a God-centred life to a Self-centred one.
we must be Heavenly-minded! have Heaven as your goal, your destination. the things on the world are temporary.

Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

love is unselfishness.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

when Jesus sets you free, you will be free INDEED!
exposing the faults in my life and let God save me.
as I am free to bless, so am I free to give!

Acts 18:9
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.

be bold and courageous for God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of courage! ask the Holy Spirit to help you!
Kill Fear before it kills US!!

That's for ME!

2Cor 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

from glory to glory...
think about it, it's God's promise!
all we need to do is to claim the promise!

as they say, "you don't get anything you did not lay hold of by faith"

Pro 4:18
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

life should be compared to the rising of the sun, gets brighter and brighter as time goes by until mid noon day!


Rom 8:19
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

see that? the sons of God. they are not waiting for ONE PERFECT MAN, but rather sons of God!


1Co 2:9
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"--

God has so so much in store for you, no eyes have seen, no ears have heard, no heart has imagined...


Exo 19:6
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel."

a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.. wow huh?

INTIMACY with God....
what is God thinking now?


James 3:16
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

envy? not for me. rather than saying "Why is he so successful? why is God blessing him so much??" why not say "if God can show him such favour and blessings, surely God will want to show me His blessings and his goodness too!"



--your friends want you to fail because if you succeed, your friends would pale in comparison--


Mat 13:44
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

if only we realized the wonder of Heaven, we would just give up everything to get it!

as the kingdom of God comes, everything you thought was precious would look strangely dim...

There is MORE room between WHAT YOU ARE and WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU

7 Truths of the Palm tree

Psalm 92:12 (New International Version)
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

why palm tree? why are the righteous compared to a palm tree?

1. the palm tree always grows straight upwards
grow strong and straight.
you see straight
you think straight
you speak straight
your heart is straight
basically, being right in God.

2. the trunk of the palm is rough
life is rough
what is done for Christ is for eternity
God never said to be saved and live it easy

3. the fruits are sweet
your fruits show your character
good fruits, good character. bad fruits, bad character
this shows the intimate relations with God

4. hot water
don't know what it means? let me explain
to get the fruit of the palm tree down, just pour warm water at the roots of the tree and the fruits will start dropping.
we are like lipton sachets. we don't taste good till we're in hot water

5. how high, how deep
another weird jargon??
nono.. it just means if the palm tree is 60 feet tall, its roots are 60 feet deep.
think about it, talk about strong foundation.
start small, think big, dig deep
makes sense?
think inconvenience, flexibility, changes.
no matter how hard the wind blows, the palm will bend but not break or uproot

6. palm trees always speak praise
ok this is a little weird.
how do palm trees speak. and praise???
well, ever heard the sound of a palm tree's leaves when the wind blows through it?
so it is with man, we must praise God before we can be fishers of men.
think about it, even if we could do signs and wonders but not love, it is useless.
the shudder to think if we meet Jesus and he says "depart, for i know you not"

7. after the palm tree dies, everything is used
the trunk is used for furniture
the leaves are used for roofs
the fruits are used for fertilizer..

God SAVES!

He SaveS!

not me this time.. my iPod!!

wow. testimony!

i was playing my iPod in library while reading my notes.

all of a sudden my iPod stopped playing. apparently it jammed.

couldn't press anything to "un-jam" it. tried all the buttons. since there are only 5.

i remember Melvyn's iPod jammed b4, the solution was to bring it and plug it to a computer.

so anyways, i prayed. told God, "THERE. here's my iPod. you made the world, this little piece of technology is no problem for you." here's something i don't normally do.

i tested God

and my faith as well. i said "by the time i finish praying i can use my iPod again."

as i was still praying my hand could already feel the iPod's hard disk spinning. when i opened my eyes, there it was, alive and spinning, and playing too!!

Thank YOU GOD!!!

Just Do It

sounds oh so familiar doesn't it?

"prophet" nike sez so.

SECULARISM!!!

Just do it, without Nike, i can't do it.

it's called the functional Saviour in the pair of "shoes"

ok, maybe Nike is not your thing, maybe it's Gucci, or Haute Couture, or Fendi, or Adidas, or Fender, or Gibson, or Zildjian, or Sony Ericsson, or Alienware, or EA, or Blizzard, or whatever

it's all the same. anything you worship is your GOD. you don't need to bow down to it. you just need to know when the crunch time comes to choose, which will you pick?

even in the bible "o it" was mentioned quite a number of times... Nike stole the biblical context and changed it to a secular context. smart.

Deut 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

see? DO THEM.

Luke 8:19-21
19. Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
20. And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you."
21. But he answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

see? DO IT.

so... do what?? those who hear the word of God and ACT ON IT.

one thing that is hardwired in our human mechanics is this.
BELIEVE, COMMIT, DO IT.
believe - believe in God
commit - commited to his will
do it - act on it

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just to share a little bit, what makes Christianity different from other religions?
ans: we serve a God not just because He can force us into it, but rather because God sent his Son to die for us so it compels us to follow.

a little sad truth about Youth Churches these days
they use MTV style musics and videos and concerts to capture the hearts of youth. the "feel good" factor. not the chastening of the heart. bleah

p.s. i don't have anything against good music. really. i love good music. ROCKS!

Live by Choice

Come on, let us live by CHOICE than by CHANCE

greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.

God will grant us to be strengthen with might through His spirit in our inner man.

2Cor 4:16 therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day

so as it says, outwardly we're dying, but what about the inner man?

2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

God puts this light into people who have problems..

2Cor 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
2Cor 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed

the outer man is afflicted, but the inner man is not crushed.
the outer man is perplexed, but the inner man is not driven to despair
the outer man is persecuted, but the inner man is not forsaken
the outer man is struck down, but the inner man is not destroyed

isn't that a nice thought?

"christians should be the best looking hospital patients" a christian is only sick on the outside (:

we don't just live by our outward man, we live by our inner man! (:

smile, understand that God is in control. He loves us too much and he has a great plan for our lives.

so as it says, outwardly we're dying, but what about the inner man?

1. Feed it (:

Whatever we feed lives, whatever we starve dies

we have a choice. Choose.

choose to let your inner man shine.

atmosphere can affect attitude.

the times you don't feel like going to church is the time you need it the most.

let me take you through an example...

1Sa 19:9 Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.

1Sa 19:23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

the spirit changes as the atmosphere changes. Saul was having a harmful spirit that wishes to kill David and then as he went there, he was prophesying all the way. cool?

we have a responsibility to feed our inner man.

if we strengthen our inner man, the inner man will strengthen us.

let us build up our inner man.

2. Faith (:
faith(fæth): seeing on the inside before you can see it on the outside.

HAVE FAITH IN GOD
"in Greek" have faith like God.

what is the God kind of faith? Anyone praying that you have received WILL receive it.

if we want to go against our feelings, it needs FAITH.

do not follow feelings, follow faith.
everything you're going through is external
even the doctor's report is external

we NEED faith. to not have faith is to go with what everyone else is going because that way is proven.

Mar 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

we need to believe that we have received.
if we can't visualize it on the inside, we can't see it on the outside.

3. Follow it (:
you will follow what you feed.

deny themselves.take up their cross and follow Me.

invest in the Spirit by faith.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

the spirit always wrestles with the flesh.

we will follow what we feed by faith

it takes denying ourselves and taking up the cross.

victory is not only the dying to, but to the living for.

did you know that many people do not experience breakthrough because they do not admit that they are wrong?

never be ashamed to know you're wrong, it just shows that you are wiser today than you were yesterday.

what are your fault-lines?

so i was in Covenant today. was nice.
Pr. Edmund Chan was speaking. WOOTS~ (:

Text: Nehemiah 13:23-29

fault line - (geology) line determined by the intersection of a geological fault and the earth's surface
(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other

ever seem them before? they are major cracks on the ground. those are tectonic plates shifting positions.

fault-lines encompasses spiritual differences between two people

A. FAULT-LINES ARE SUBTLE(v23-24)
Spiritual fault-lines are basically compromises...
we compromise, a fault-line appears.
the more we bend the bigger the fault-lines
private fault-lines have public consequences
as Daniel used to say, "you can choose your path, but you gotta face the consequences"
(something along those lines..)
in verse 23 and 24, the children mostly only knew how to speak the language Ashdod and did not know how to speak in their native language of Judah.
small problem right? NO!
they forget their own language, they forget their culture, they forget their roots, they forget how God saved the Isrealites countless times.

B. FAULT-LINES ARE NO RESPECTERS OF PERSONS(v26-28)
King Solomon in all his wisdom married foreign wives that led him asray
the High Priest Joiada's son married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, enemy of the Isrealites.
Nehemiah gave these examples to tell the people that even Kings and High Priests can have such fault-lines in their lives.
How can someone so high drop so LOW???

if you ever have the mentality "I can handle it", think again.
don't fool around with fault-lines. little compromises can be grave problems later.

C. FAULT-LINES ARE DESTRUCTIVE(v29)
How can something that feels SO good be SO bad??
the one word in v29 that strikes is the word DEFILED

then Pr. Edmund Chan talked about a few practical considerations

1. Pay attention to fault-lines in your life
- don't ignore the fault-lines. search them out and get them ironed out
- if you have the Heart for God, you will not let fault-lines stay

2. Build spiritual Oneness in your relationship
- Intimacy... not just sex. emotional, spiritual intimacy too
- look to God. he created marriage to last.

3. If your Spouse is an Unbeliever..
- if you love the Lord, knowing your spouse is an unbeliever hurts.
- one thing. serve God and your spouse.
- there is healing and redemption

4. If you are Dating an Unbeliever..
- Start and Stop
- Start following God. Honour Him
- Stop Rationalising
you don't understand, the good ones are taken, the ones not taken are not good!
don't worry, God will provide.

one of the nice things of the Sabbath is not only rest.
as Pr Edmund says, "why be so kan cheong, take rest for I will certainly provide"

what are the fault-lines in our lives? are we taking care of the root of the problems or are we pasting plaster on cancer?