Where are you?

Gen 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Gen 3:10 And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

God is still asking us today - where are you in terms of your relationship with him? Like Adam, is fear, guilt or shame keeping us away from God?

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this."

Even today, God is calling us to come to Him. But are we "qualified"? Are we worthy?

Psa 24:3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?

Psa 24:4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.

Zec 3:7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.

2Co 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.

Let our prayer be:

Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

Psa 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

On our own we can’t do it, because:

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?

But the Lord tells us:

Jer 17:10 "I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

The price of our sins, our iniquities have been paid for – on the Cross. Let us not try to hold on to them anymore. Instead, let us hold on to the promise of God – He is faithful and His mercies are new everyday.

Lam 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

Lam 3:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

Lam 3:23 they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

No matter how colourful your past maybe, remember how powerful your God is. He is able to restore your relationship with Him simply because He loves you! Shame and guilt may be the tools of the devil to keep you away from God, but you don’t have to be fooled by the devil. God is waiting for you to come back to a relationship with Him – are you ready?

Joe 2:25 I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.

Joe 2:26 "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Joe 2:27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

The Beatitudes for Beginners

The Beati.. what?

The word "beatitude" is derived from the Latin word "beatus," which means blessed or happy.

Unlike the Ten Commandments that were given with a series of “Thou shall nots”, here Jesus gives us some rules for living, except that He doesn’t use commands or threats. Instead, He proposes a different hierarchy by elevating the qualities of those who are not quite on the ‘who’s who’ list or ‘hall of fame’.

In His ‘upside down Kingdom’ setup, it appears that the poor, the hungry, the insulted etc, are the ones that will be exalted….not quite what we’ve been programmed to believe in this “dog eat dog”, “work smart not hard”, “just shut up and keep the peace” world, right?

Each of the beatitudes gives us an idea of who is blessed and then describes what’s in store for each category of who is blessed. Let’s look at them and see how it relates to us. The Beatitudes can be found in Luke 6:20-26

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

As we can see , they are simple but profound, and they show us the values that Jesus is really concerned about. Jesus’ teachings can sometimes appear confusing—if God really loves us and cares for us, how then can He call blessed what we normally would call misfortunes? It can only make sense, if we read it in light of the last few words of the last beatitude: “on account of the Son of Man”.

What’s the difference between those called “Blessed” and those to whom He says “woe”?

The blessed are those who put their trust in God instead of the world, and those to whom He says “woe” are those who would rather find their joy in the material instead of the spiritual. Those who accept these misfortunes” as the price they have to pay for following Him, are the blessed ones.

The Beatitudes are not just about attitudes. While recognizing our human imperfection, and
acknowledging our “insignificance” in the eyes of the world, it shows us how we can have divine value when we allow Jesus to be the Lord and Saviour of our lives.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how Scriptural is it?

As the end of the year approaches, and our thoughts turn towards Christmas, decorations, parties and gifts, Christmas trees usually play an important role especially in terms of getting people in the mood for Christmas. Trees used to be a common attraction in shopping malls and hotels, but now we see them creeping into churches and of course homes.

Are Christmas trees Christian…and does the Bible have anything to say about it?

Jer 10:1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Jer 10:2 Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,

Jer 10:3 for the customs of the peoples are false. A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

Jer 10:4 Men deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.

Jer 10:5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

Although the passage above doesn’t refer specifically to Christmas trees as Jesus was not even born at the time of the Prophet Jeremiah, and Christmas wasn’t celebrated till much later. Yet the Prophet condemned these pagan practices which seem so similar to the present use of Christmas tress.

Being a prophet, was he also judging a practice that will be carried out centuries later? Food for thought in planning for Christmas 2010.

Am I faithful with what I have ?

Before we get caught up with all our assets, a point to note is that all we have is a loan from God and like any other loan, we have to be accountable for this loan too. In the parable of the wicked tenants (Mat 21:33-41), we discover the judgement on those who were not faithful with the vineyard they were entrusted with was , "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."(v 41)

Have we been faithful with our blessings or have we taken things for granted?

Mat 21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it."

In planning our investments or management of our funds, wisdom is crucial and we need to learn to put God first. In the parable of the rich fool (Luk 12:16-21), it is very clearly stated that anyone who is not “rich towards God” with his earthy life and things is a fool. It doesn’t matter how many degrees or financial advisors we have, if God is not first in our lives and our funds, we are basically fools.

This advice does not just apply to those who are financially rich. In the parable of the talents (Mat 35:14-30), we see that we have to be faithful with even the smallest gifts God gives us, or the little that we have will be taken away and given to someone who may already have more but is accountable for what he or she has.

In financial terms, we usually entrust our assets with asset managers. Are we good managers of the assets (e.g time, finances, contacts, skills) we have been blessed with?

Mat 13:47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind;

Mat 13:48 when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.

Like the fisherman who seperates his catch, let us prepare ourselves for the time when God will separate His people from the others, so we will be like the good fish that were set aside, un like the bad fish that will be thrown away.

Slip Sliding Away….

At one time or another, we may have an encountered someone who has backslided. While the common thing to do is to leave them to their own devices and hope they return in one piece. But we have to remind ourselves that the kind of love we profess in our Church should be inclusive – even of those who have strayed away.

Instead of judging, we should look at why people tend to backslide and what the Bible says about it..

In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), we see that sometimes people may go astray because of rebellion and or arrogance. Yet the Father waits for patiently for their return, and even throws a feast when they do. Can we be instrumental in helping them to return?

Some people may also backslide due to our failure and neglect as a church. In the parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10), we see that “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The backslider may have sinned, but have we been responsible for not bringing them to repentance?

We have all made mistakes, and may have been responsible directly or indirectly for the increasing number of backsliders around. We can learn from the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7), that it may be a good thing to leave those who are right on track where they are, and then shift our focus to look for those outside who may need help, because

“ there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)

There’s something about Mary…

There are probably as many views about Mary as there are Christian denominations around. Denominations are man-made, and so are their views. Let’s see what the word of God has to say about her.

A few words come to mind – namely “blessed” and “full of grace”. Although there are a few women mentioned in the Bible, Mary is the only who was able to make the claim “All generations to come shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). That in itself is a very strong statement, and hard to imagine coming from one who is “full of grace”. But it will be worth looking deeper into it and trying to understand correctly the concept of “grace”.

Mary was not only present at the 1^st miracle that Jesus performed, at the wedding at Cana, but had an important role to play. As a mother, she wasn’t just there to cheer her son on as a mother would at her son’s achievements. She was very instrumental in getting Jesus started in His ministry. She may not have said much, but the little she said carries a lot of weight.

As Mary was obedient to her call, she too instructed the servants at the wedding feast to “do as Jesus tells you”. This simple statement was to instil obedience in the servants – a good lesson for all of us, in fact. Obedience is also linked to trust as many times we have to obey even when we don’t understand. But that was the beauty of Mary who could do it from a young age.

We may not pray “to” Mary, but if we honour her as the mother of our Lord and call her blessed, we can show our honour and respect by taking our cue from her to “do as He tells us”.

What foundation is your house built on?

In building a house, much time and money is spent on layout, décor, landscape, colour, etc….all the visible factors. The foundation of the house is something not visible, but it’s importance cannot be undermined.

There are many types of foundations as there are buildings. But any building without a proper foundation will not stand the test of time. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives a parable of two different foundations:

Luk 6:47 Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:

Luk 6:48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Luk 6:49 But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

So what kind of a foundation are we built on?

For those of us who attend Church regularly and have the opportunity to “hear” the word, what we do after we hear will give us an indication of the kind of foundation we are built on.

The hearers and doers (v 47 – v 48) are those with solid foundations that will stand the test of time. But if we choose to hear only as part of a “Sunday obligation”, the elements out there can easily make us crumble…as a building with a weak foundation that can get washed away by a flood or earthquake.

The choice is ours….are we going to spend time worrying about the external factors – e.g do our handbags, shoes & ear-rings match, or will be spend time getting rooted in the Word?

1Co 3:11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.