Christmas 2010

I read in an article recently that this Christmas, President Obama can expect to receive numerous Christmas cards urging him to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. A group called CMEP, churches for Middle East Peace is waging a campaign calling thousand of Christians and non Christians across America to send the card to the President.

Many people would like to seek world peace. In fact there is a movement call COEXIST. I am not sure if you have read or seen it, but you can look it up on the internet. The word COEXIST is drawn such that the C is a crescent representing Islam, O is the symbol of peace, the letter e is attached with the symbol of + and -> which shows males & females. Then the letter X is the star of David and the letter I is drawn to represent the pagan symbol. The letter S is cleverly drawn to show the Yin & Yang symbol to represent Taoism and Confucianism and finally the letter T is drawn as a cross to represent Christianity. The movement is advocating the co-existence of all people, males & females, of all races and religions. The problem is that to co-exist, every one is always playing the waiting game of you first. I can co-exist with you but you have to move first to accept me. And so, we have the Palestinians Arabs tell the Jews to respect and follow their belief and the Jews are saying to the Arabs, no you accept my belief first. Since no one is willing to make the first move, COEXIST foundation is only a nice concept, a nice belief.

Christmas is a wonderful and joyful season and indeed many people would like to associate peace with Christmas. Make no mistake about this, we are talking about real peace. This is not a concept but a relationship.

The bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. Well, Have you ever wonder how come God has a son? Do you know? I don’t know. I don’t know how and why God has a son but one thing I do know, God’s son is the savior of the world. In Luke 1 we read about the birth of Jesus. The angel told Mary that she will give birth to a Son and she is to call him Jesus, the Son of the most high The child to be born will be called holy, the son of God. (Luke 1:31,35).

Continue reading in Luke 2: 7 “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” And then the angels told the shepherds: But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2;10-14)

This is in fulfillment of the prophecy by Isaiah written hundred of years before Jesus was born. Isaiah wrote: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa 9:6).

Isaiah did not say a son is born. But a child is born, and a son is given. The Son is with the Father from the beginning.
The scripture is very clear that a Saviour name Jesus is born. He is among many things, Mighty God, the prince of peace.
Even though the Term "Son of God" occurs 47 times in the King James New Testament. Even though in reference to Jesus, it is a title as the heavenly, eternal Son who is equal to God the Father (John 5:18-24). He possesses all authority in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18), and Jesus had glory with the Father before the world was made (John 17:5).

During his ministry on the earth for about 3 years, Jesus taught and he preached and he performed many miracles. He walked on water, healed the sick. He calmed the storm and raised the dead. You name it. The teaching of Jesus Christ has been passed down to us until today and if you are to ask anyone, most people likes his teaching and most do not dispute his philosophy of love, forgiveness and justice. You know, love your enemy, turn the other cheek and protect the poor and the under privileged. He was harsh towards the hypocrites, the rich who were uncaring and the leaders who only looked after their own interest. Well who would dispute that? But if you are to mentioned he is the son of God, most would dispute. Many today question the identity of Jesus. This is the problem. If we do not accept the identity of the Prince of peace, can we expect peace in the Middle East? In the Korean peninsula? In Pakistan? In Africa and even in our country Malaysia.


One pastor make it very clear:

There will never be peace in the world until there is peace in nations.
There will never be peace in the nations until there is peace in communities.
There will never be peace in communities until there is peace in families.
There will never be peace in families until there is peace in individuals.
There will never be peace in individuals until we invite the Prince of Peace to reign in our hearts.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

So when you have the Prince of Peace reign in your heart, you have peace with God. This peace will bring the peace of God so that you can have peace with each other. It all begins with your relationship with God through His Son.

Ravi Zachariah told of a story that happened recently. With a few evangelical Christians, they were having a dialogues mediating between the Palestine and Israelites, trying to stop the bloodshed that killed so many innocent children and women. . In attendance was Syed Ala,one of the founder of Hamas. This is what Ravi Zachariah told him. “Syed Ala, your son is in prison, You have being in prison. 5000 years ago, Abraham took his son up to the mountain not far away from here. We don’t have to debate if it is Isaac or Ismael since the Muslim believe it was Ismael. But Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. As the axe is about to come down. God spoke to him. Do you know what God said. Sheik shook his head. Ravi continued. God spoke to Abraham “Stop. Do not lay a hand on the boy. For I myself will provide a lamb”. 2000 years ago, God took his son to another mountain, this time the axe didn’t stop. His son, His only son was sacrificed. Until you and I are willing to receive the son that God has provided for us, we will be offering ourselves as the sacrifice for the offering of power and land. Our sons will continue to fight.” You can hear a pin drop in the room in at the moment.

In March later this year, Ravi was in Damascas for the follow up meeting, In the meeting was a leading Cleric name Syed Hussein. In the midst of the discussion and translation, Ravi said that this gentle cleric bend over and spoke to him.. He said “May be it’s time for us Muslim to stop questioning if Jesus died on the cross and to start asking why he died.” Ravi said he never heard this in all his dialogues with other Muslims. He asked the cleric if he can quote him and got the permission that he even wrote an article about it.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are asked to get into the relationship with the son of God. He is Jesus. He came to died for sinners and then he rose from the dead and reign forever.

A story was told about a man in the Louvre looking at the famous painting of Mona Lisa. As he looked and looked, then he shook his head and said something like this painting is nothing special\. It’s not a nice painting. Then guard who was standing near by said to him. “Excuse me, sir. This painting is no longer on trial.” Mona Lisa is already established as a master piece and no one is asking your opinion.

So is Jesus Christ. The Bible has spoken and Jesus Christ has lived and proved He is the Son of God. He is no more on trial. Many today would like to question his identity but the fact is whatever your opinion is, He is still the Son of God, the prince of peace.

Jesus Christ born as a child into this world is not a knee jerk response by God to a tragic world that is plummeting towards destruction. It is not a last patch-job or a stop gap measure. This is a grand scheme of plan. It is a calculated choice. CS Lewis says it well: The Son of God becomes man so that men can become sons of God.

The Iphone is run with many small application programs call Apps. This Apps is very easy to use and can be customized easily. If you don’t like it, you just delete it. If you like it, then you can change the setting and run it the way you like it. We treat God like this Apps. We think we can customize God to fit our liking. We delete the part we do not like and squeeze or bend the part into our liking. But we need just to receive the gift from God, His Son, the prince of peace. Let the prince of peace reign in your heart. We don’t even have to customize it. Just receive him as you are and as He is. Once you have this relationship with Him, you can then have peace with Him.

The news gets so much better when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole heart. The Scripture promise that he who have the Son have the life, but he who does not have the son, does not have life. And if you are without Christ and have not placed your trust in the Son of God, just follow this simple prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I realize my sin separate me from you. I need your forgiveness and I thank you that Christ died that I may be forgiven. I believe He died for me. I believe He is alive today having been raise from the dead. I take Him as my Saviour and Lord.

If you have make this decision today, congratulation because you have found true peace and I would encourage you to get hold of any of the church members or oversight. Let us help you as you begin your walk with Christ. It will not only transform every Christmas from now on. It will change your life.

Building God’s House (1 King 5-8; 2 Chr 1-7)

The God whom we worship does not need a house to dwell in. Since He is all presence, He can be anywhere. Yet, after years of guiding the Israelites through the desert, God would one day gave instruction to Moses to build a tabernacle for him (Exodus 25). And when the tabernacle was completed, we read that the glory of God filled the whole tabernacle. Then came David who started the initiative to build a magnificent house for God. This was however, only to be realized by Solomon, his son.

And so after many centuries, we see God's house, which in the term of the world, we call it church, was built. Small church, big church, beautiful church, not so beautiful church, simple church, not so simple church are literally being built all over the world. Some of these churches are even national monument or heritage property. In fact if you are to visit some of these countries today, such as Italy, UK, a visit to church will be included in the itinerary but unfortunately not for the right reasons.

The building of the temple was recorded in details in 1 King 5-8 and 2 Chr 2-7. Let's turn to 1 King 5 and read concerning the temple preparation. In one of Moody's daily devotion, we read that Solomon's building of God's house were centered on

1. God's peace (1 Kings 5:4,5)
   

David had wanted to build a temple but his kingdom had been in a constant state of inner turmoil and wars with external powers. God had given Solomon peace - the right time for building the temple.

But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side; I have no enemies, and all is well. So I am planning to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as he had instructed my father, David. For the Lord told him, 'Your son, whom I will place on your throne, will build the Temple to honor my name.'

2. God's promise (1 Chr 17:10-14)

We read in 1 Chr 17:11-14 that God promised David that his son would build the temple. The building of the temple was not Solomon's own vision.

" 'I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.'

3. God's purpose (1 Kings 5:5; 2 Chr 2:4)

Solomon's project was directed to the purpose of God. It is for His name and to worship him. 2 Chr 2:4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on Sabbaths and New Moons and at the appointed feasts of The LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

In the building of the temple, there were many parties involved: King of Tyre (V10), Sidonian loggers (V6), Gebalite craftsmen (V18). Gentiles were an integral part of the project foreshadowing the words of Jesus in Mark 11:17: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'.

4. God's Glory (2 Chr 7)
After the temple was completed, Solomon brought the ark into the temple and held a big dedication ceremony. The people came and Solomon offers thousands of animals (22,000 cattle, 120,000 sheep & goats), prayer and feast for 14 days (1 King 8:65). Then we read in 2 Chr 7 that the glory of the Lord filled the temple. (Also 1 King 8:10) Indeed, the temple itself reveals the glory of God. Compared to the earlier tabernacle, the temple was vast in design. The tabernacle (Exodus 26) was only 675 square feet while the temple recorder here (v2) is 2700 square feet – four times bigger. And while the tabernacle was mostly curtains and dirt floor, the temple was covered in costly material. We have so much detail description on the floors, walls, ceilings – cedar, pine, gold as well as the carvings of cherubim, plants and flowers. In short, it tells us the God loves beauty and design. He is a God of splendor and glory.

We see that indeed these principles indeed continue for the new church building. Bigger and more beautiful churches were built as we just seen from the slide show earlier. Indeed many churches were built based on these principles. Although it is sad that many churches has ceased to bring before God the purpose and the glory today. In fact many churches are either turn into museum or even mosques today.

But wait, that's not all. For us Christians, the definition of church is well defined and well understood. We know that the true church is not God's building. It is a community of those believing in Jesus Christ also known as Christians. All the Christians, no matter what their nationality is, belong to God's people, to his Church. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the church is the dwelling place of God. It is the church that come together that bring out the purpose of God and glorify him. The Church is not a mere human invention. She is the Church of the Living God (1 Tim 3:15). She is his building, his field (1 Cor 3:9), his household and dwelling place (Eph 2:19,22) and his flock (1 Pet 5:2). He chose her before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and gave her to his Son (John 17:6,12) who came to this world and purchased here with his own blood (Eph 5:25-27).

If we are to study church history, we will see that indeed the church shaped the western culture from the first century. The church defended the right of human being, stand up for the poor and afflicted. Humanitarianism starts with the early church. The Christian community of the era started orphanage, hospices and hospitals. When the plague hit Rome, only Christians went into the infested area, feeding soup, caring for the dying. It puzzled so many why would they do it. But because of this, the church spread dramatically because the Christians stayed in the city caring for the sick while everyone else left. The women were treated like human being which was not true for the then society. This has impacted the culture so much that within 3 centuries, Christianity became the dominant religion. Constantine was forced to declared Christianity as the religion for the Roman empire because the Christians had taken over the society. It was a glorious era as the church shared the good news of God's love and mercy.

So we ask : the church today – Do we live up to this calling and purpose?

I know it is disheartened to see church do not grow. It is even more saddened to see our brothers and sisters being persecuted and we see the church suffered. Sometimes, we are discouraged to see some churches wiped out completely.

The seven churches in Revelation is nowhere to be found today. What is left in the 7 churches of TRelevation is only a pile of stone or a few pillar structures. Likewise, our church today may not last also. None of us can presume the continuation of any given congregation. In the past, churches had been extinguished, and it is possible it can happen again today.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey was once the biggest church. Emperor Constantine built it in 360 and it was a church until 1453 when the Ottoman Turk conquered the city and Sultan Mehmed converted into a mosque. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey. They cannot worship there since there are too many Christian symbols. Even though they have covered it, many marks still visible.

We do not know what our Grace Chapel will be like in 50 years. The fact that we have lasted 50 years does not guarantee that we will last another 50 years. We all pray that under our watch, Grace Chapel will always be a place where God's purpose and His glory will be revealed. That it is a house where the gospel will be proclaimed and that God is honor and worship faithfully. I want to believe that all of us here will be willing to die for the faith if needed be.

There are indeed lessons for us and warn us that we will disappear if we are like some of these churches in Revelation.

Ephesus church is like our mega church today. When the church grows, instead of giving God the credit, we take credit for it. And so we see mega churches after mega churches and at the end the glory went to the people and not God. And God gave the warning to the church at Ephesus as recorded in Revelation 2. They were successful and Jesus even commented them on their hard work and perseverance. But unfortunately they forgotten their first love.

The Thyatira church is a universal church of toleration. In the name of toleration and peace, the truth is compromise and so the church preached that all ways lead to heaven and Jesus is only a way. In one recent interview in a church in USA, a pastor was asked if the church would accept homosexual member. The pastor said of course they do, just like they have overweight people and people was love chocolate. If we are to put homosexual into the same category as chocolate lovers or those who are overweight, there is no more ground on moral distinction.

The Sardis church, on the other hand is a dead church. Some commentator describe it as a morgue with a steeple. Full of programs and lots of activities tie to Easter and Christmas. But in actual case, the church forgets about the purpose it exists.

And then there is the church of Laodicea where Jesus Christ himself cannot even get into the church.

Indeed, We need to stand guard today. All of us and especially the Youth among us today must realize this foundation. If there is no peace among us, members fight against members, if we forget the purpose and the glory due to God. Grace Chapel will become Race Chapel. When we abandon the gospel, we abandon the means that God has for us. Other means may build the Church in numbers and in dollars, but only the means God has appointed can impart spiritual life to dead sinners and truly make them part of God's Church.

But don't want to paint a bleak picture. Instead, let me encourage you all.

First and foremost, we have to realize one key point here. And that God is the builder of the church. So many times, we forget that God is the author. He is the architect and we are only the contractor to carry out His job. It was Jesus who said "I will build my church". In Acts we read about God add to the church the numbers.

Let us turn our attention back to building of God's house by Solomon. Even though Solomon was the wisest and most intelligent man that ever lived, and even though he was the one who was going to build God's temple, yet God gave the plan of the temple to David and not to Solomon. It is really amazing to read in 1Chronicles 28:11-19 that the wisest man in the world had to be told how much gold he should use for the lamp stand and how to make forks!

You will notice that principles lay down by God for building the physical church, the temple is applicable to building the people church today. God does not reveal His plan for building the church as the Body of Christ, to clever people with good planning or management skills. What is needed is humble obedient heart.

In the 70s and 80s, Romania was ruled by the dictator Ceausescu who hated the church. He is known for demolishing churches as well as synagogues. One day he was driving through a section of the country and came across a beautiful church. He ordered his staff to have the church removed. The staff then told him that it was not a good idea as the people would revolt. He told the staff to hide the church. Now how do you hide a church? So the staff proposed to build tall building around it so that the church will not be seen. Work began and the government started to build tall apartments and office building surrounding the little church so that it is hidden. What happen is that when these buildings were completed, people living in the area began to attend the church and it grew. Remember, when it is dead end for us, God opens the way.

Another recent story that I heard was on Back to the bible radio broadcast by its President, Woodrow Kroll. For years, Back to the Bile would like to reach out to the Maldives which is 100% Muslim country. The country did not allow them to broadcast there so they broadcast from the nearby Seychelles. Because of this, it caused a diplomatic strain between this two countries and Back to the Bible has to pull out their broadcast. However, after a few months, BTB begin to broadcast and really aiming at the islands and the government of Maldives was so angry that they begin to publish in the local newspaper a full page ad that tell their people not to tune to this particular frequency. God is working behind the scene and indeed only He knows how many in Maldives actually have a chance to listen to the gospel and response to it.

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, many building tumbled and even the church buildings were not spared. But one very encourage news reported all over the world is that among the many bodies that came to aid, the church and Christian organizations were one of the most actives. From Catholic to SDA to the many different denominations in the protestant church, help was almost non-stop. Newsweek reported churches were helping churches. Same stories were reported by Times herald, Fox news and so on. This is a picture of the church building is down but the real church is standing up.

So Let's not be discourage but be encouraged. As long we involve God (Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.) We just have to plant the seed and God will grow it. (1Cor 3:6-7) I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. Our responsibility is such that we STAY FAITHFUL and be weary of the pitfalls.

Thank God, It's Good Friday

A young girl step into the elevator and with the biggest smile said to the gentleman in the lift “TGIF”. The man looked at her and replied “SMIOT”. She looked at him with a very puzzled look and said, "TGIF" again. He responded once again by saying, "S-M-I-O-T". The girl then put up the biggest smile and say it slowly, “T-G-I-F” but without hesitation, the man replied equally slow, “S-M-I-O-T”. The girl was a little exasperated and decided to explain things; Thank God, It’s Friday, get it? The man answered, "SMIOT. Sorry Miss, it’s only Thursday".

Friday! it’s the day of the week the world all look forward to and so the term “TGIF” is synonymous with party and relaxation. But today is Good Friday and we all can say TGIF. Good Friday – The Friday before Easter, when the crucifixion of Jesus took place. TGIGF. Thank God it’s Good Friday.

Of course to many people, What’s so good about Good Friday? In fact, it is a day of remembrance and more appropriate to call it Mourning Friday since the disciples were grieving over their assumed loss. In some churches, for Good Friday, they cover all of their statues, pictures, and crosses with black cloth to symbolize the mourning they’re remembering. What’s so good about that? The problem with many of us Christians is that we live in a Good Friday World. By that I mean we are caught in the depressed and hopeless world. It is hard to accept suffering, illness and hardship. Some of us may have relationships problems, financial difficulties and shattered dreams. The trials of living on this fallen planet make this mourning Friday seem long. This is true isn’t it for the disciples. The Lord is crucified. They moaned and they were despaired. Their dream of ruling with him is shattered. In fact they gave up completely and went back to their fishing.

The story was told about Martin Luther deep depression. One day he woke up to find his wife dressed in black and look like preparing for a funeral. Thinking that one of their relatives has died, he asked his wife, who has passed away. She answered him, “God!”. “Don’t be ridiculous. God is not dead”, He said. To this, his wife answered, “Then why are you living as if God is dead!”

This morning I believe we can look at the cross and get some things good out of it and ask the question what does the cross mean to me? After all, the heart of the cross is the gospel (ie good news) and the heart of the gospel is the cross. There must be something good for us. But don’t just see Jesus hung on the cross from afar. Lets come closer to the cross and listen to Him. Jesus did say something. Was He cursing? Was He condemning His enemy? Or was it a self-pity cry?

When we put the accounts of the crucifixion together from the 4 gospels, we see that Jesus uttered 7 sentences which are known as the 7 last words or expressions of Jesus. We will take a look at 3 of them this morning.

But first, let’s set the stage back to Jesus betrayal at the garden. Jesus was in much agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, so much anguish that he actually sweats blood. Then came the betrayal, Judas with his band of people to arrest him. He is taken to Sanhedrin Court but not before meeting Caiaphas and also the kepo, busy body Annas, the Father in-law of Caiaphas. While standing before his accusers, they question and probe in hopes of discovering false evidence so that they can take action against him. When Jesus responded that he is the Christ, the Son of God they were quick to accuse him of blasphemy and he is condemned to death. They spit in his face, strike him with their fists, slap him and mock him with the words prophesy to us, Christ who hit you. Since the Chief Priests and Elders cannot administered capital punishment, they bound Jesus and led him before Pilate. When asked are you the King of the Jews, Jesus answered it is as you say. That was enough, they wanted Jesus crucified but they still need to put on a show to release a prisoner during the Passover, they choose Barabbas as opposed to Jesus. The crowd was in no mood of forgiving and they shouted crucify him; crucify him even though Pilate could find no fault in him. Remember, earlier Peter had denied him and all but one of the disciples were seen nearby (only John hang around) to even lend a moral support. When Pilate realized that Herod is in town, he wanted to wash his hand and push the matter into Herod’s hand. Herod, too was in no mood to help Jesus except that he had hoped to see Jesus perform a miracle. When nothing happened, Jesus was led to the Praetorium by the governor’s soldiers, he is stripped and they put a scarlet robe on him along with a crown of thorns on his head. They then proceed to put a scepter in his hand and repeatedly begin striking him over his head again and again, after which they took off his clothes, he was scourged and flogged. Imagine the physical and psychological torture Jesus endured the whole night until the morning. Then, they forced the beaten and battered Savior to carry his own cross down the way of the cross (Via Dolorosa) to Calvary hill. There they crucified Him together with another two thieves.

1st observation:
One of the very first word Jesus said as recorded in Luke 23 was 34"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." But who was the one who was wronged and suffered here? Who is the one got spat on? Who was the one that was whipped? Who was the one having crown of thorn pricked on his head? It was Jesus. He was sneered, “save yourself”. He was mocked and gambled with his garment. He experienced pain and insult and at the very point when the pain is fresh and the nerve not yet dull, Jesus prayed for his enemy. Hard to believe, yet it is true. Remember, during his early ministry, when Jesus healed people, he said “Your sin is forgiven”. But yet on the cross here, shouldn’t he had said “I forgive them all” but instead he was asking the Father to forgive. Do you really think the people do not know what they are doing? Judas knew he was betraying his good friend. Pilate couldn’t find anything against Jesus and still sentence Jesus to be crucified. The Sanhedrin had to produce false witnesses and trumped up the charges against Jesus. The soldiers knew he was innocent. Of course they know. What Jesus meant is that these people do not understand the enormity of the charges they are doing. They have no idea of the implication of their crime. But even then, it does not mean that they do not need forgiveness. Observed two things here: First by asking the Father to forgive, Jesus is telling the people he also forgave them. Because Jesus forgives, we also need to forgive those who wrong us. Jesus left us a model to forgive. There is no need to carry that burden of unforgiving spirit with us. Secondly, Jesus is saying that he had made it possible on the cross for us to repent of our sin and to receive forgiveness from the God, the Father . Jesus is the bridge that links the repented sinner to God. He is the mediator between man and God. He brings the two warring parties together. He is the channel that brings forgiveness to us. It is here on this cross that Jesus provide a substitutionary atonement where he took our place. Because of Him, a repent sinner is forgiven by the Father. For us today, we cannot claim innocent like those people that Jesus prayed for. We know, for the Bible give us a full account of what happened. We must response to this invitation from Jesus.

2nd observation:
Jesus said: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” What a pleasant confirmation. The two thieves that flank the sides of Jesus represent our world today. We have believers and unbelievers. The believers as opposed to the unbelievers are repented sinners who recognized the state we are in and acknowledge to Jesus as “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. The gospels recorded that initially both thieves insulted Jesus (Matt 26:44) but here in Luke 23 we read that 39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" while the other thief had a different attitude. 40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." The first thief show no faith and no respect. He thinks Jesus is like a good luck charm, to be called and used as he wished. Hey, save yourself and save me lah! But the second thief showed us a few attitudes: 1) He feared God. Don’t you fear God, he asked his companion. 2) He admitted his wrong deeds. He said we are punished justly. 3) He accepted the punishment as deserved. For we are getting what we deserve. 4) He acknowledged Jesus as righteous because he knows Jesus is going to heaven 5) He also acknowledged that Jesus is the king because he believes Jesus is going to His kingdom and 6) he pleaded for help and called Jesus to save him- Remember me.

Both thieves wanted to be saved from death. But their approach to salvation is so different: 1) 39"Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 2) 42"Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom!" Guess whom did Jesus save!

While on the cross, Jesus continues to display himself as the selfless one. Even when the rulers sneer at him, “He saves others, but he can’t save himself”, they acknowledged that Jesus’ presence here not for himself. Jesus died with selflessness and compassion on the first Good Friday. Another observation is that Jesus’ answer is today. Not tomorrow, not after you have stayed in purgatory or after you have undergone some transition. Not after the rupture or in the millennium. We don’t understand it. And we cannot prove it. We can’t tell you where paradise is but Jesus promised. “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

3rd observation:
Almost towards the end when Jesus was about to take His last breath. He said “ It is finished” (John 19:30). When Jesus said “It is finished”, what did he mean? Did he mean it is the end of hunger? No we still have baggers. Did he mean his death has got rid of diseases? No, we still have problem of sickness. Or did he mean it is the end of all suffering? Definitely not. Then what does it means? Its means the end of the need for the sacrifice for sin. Never again will God demand another price to be paid. His Son, Jesus Christ was the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for all our sins. The penalty for sin was paid in full. The payment was finished. When Jesus said, “It is finished”. It is finished. You will subtract the work when you try to add something into it. There is nothing require from us except to place our faith in Him. In a recent interview, Tiger Woods was seen wearing a Buddhist bracelet and he said he will wear it for the rest of his life and this is what he said. "In the Buddhist religion you have to work for it yourself, internally, in order to achieve anything in life and set up the next life. It is all about what you do and you get out of it what you put into it. I am always continuing to work.” No. We don’t have to. By putting our faith in Jesus Christ, your eternal salvation is secured and settled once and for all in heaven. It is finished. This means that the cross is the final confrontation with sin. Its means that the old life is over and that we are brand new and there is a new life for us to live.

The cross presents to us the irony of thing. The creator was put to death by his creatures. It is the offended that offer forgiveness. It is the one being captured, offer us freedom. It is the one who give us living water cried out “I thirst”. It is the one who is sinless that was punish for other’s sins. But the beauty is that in this irony, we find love, mercy and hope.

Conclusion

Of course, the dying words of Jesus are not His last words. For Good Friday is only the beginning. Jesus may be dead on the tree on Friday but Sunday is coming. He will resurrect on Sunday. In fact, the very first words after His resurrection were “Why are you crying?” (John 20:15). Yes we do not have to be Good Friday Christian, because there is forgiveness, there is promise of paradise and there is resurrection. Best of all, It is finished. We do not have to do anything except to accept the provision. So indeed, TGIF, Thank God It’s Friday. Thank God it is Good Friday.

Claims of Bible - The arguements

I have been thinking how do we make Chinese New year relevant to us in the church today. Chinese New year, like most other festivals, calls for a time of celebration. Celebrate the new and discard the old.

Then I thought about what Alison shared with us a couple of month ago. If you still remember, she said that the God we worship is Chinese because like our parents, he provides for us everything (1 Tim 6;17). In most Chinese families, the parents pay for our living expenses, school fees and we can stay with them even after we got married. Alison is right and as Asians, we are aware of the close knit family that we all are. Not only the Chinese, even the Indian also practice the same principle of all living together and that the parents take care of all.
If this notion of a father who is the head of the family and take care of all affairs is not new to Asians. Then why is this God of the Bible who supplies all our needs is kind of alien to a lot of Asians? Why is it that it is difficult for us to relate this great God of ours to many other friends and relatives around us. While tradition and cultural barriers may be part of the reasons, most people reject the gospel because they think it is not important and salvation can wait.

The phone ring and the little boy answers. The caller recognizes the boyish voice and asks
“Can I speak to your dad?”
“No!”
“OK Can I speak to your mum then?”
“No”
“Why not? and why are you whispering?”
“I am inside the closet.”
“Why are you inside the closet”
“I am hiding inside the closet and they can’t find me. They are all looking for me. He He He. They even call the police and Bomba. They are all here looking for me”

You may be like the little boy thinking it is so much fun to play hide and seek. In this case, playing hide and seek with God. While all effort is out there to look for you, you think it is fun that no one can find you. But, Just one caution, time may run out on you.

There are two things that is 100% certain and you cannot avoid. These are death and income tax. You may be able to cheat on your tax but you will not be able to cheat death.

The Niagara fall stands at 170 feet high and many people performed amazing stunt by walking across on tight rope or plunge down the fall in barrel or similar device. In 1911. Bobby Leach, although not the first person, successfully plunged down the mighty fall in a steel barrel. He survived the stunt although his knee caps were damaged. Many years later, while on his daily walk in Christchurch, New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel. He was hospitalized. His fractured leg became infected and had to be amputated. 2 months later he died. Even the greatest dare devil cannot escape death.

So the question is where will you be in eternity? The Bible has many claims. And many big claims. Jesus Christ himself had made several audacious claims. Among them are he is the only way to heaven and no one can come to the Father except through him. Jesus Christ also claimed that he will prepare a place in God’s house for those belong to Him. And then there is this awful news that all sinners will have to face God one day and be judged. The Bible is very clear that whoever believe in God’s son, Jesus Christ will be saved and spared from the punishment of sin. In short, Believe in Jesus and you will avoid hell and enjoy heaven. A serious consequence indeed. But what if this worst scenario is not true? seems like an important question to figure out what will happen to me eventually. This is probably why the question is still being debate today. But today we are not going to look into whether the claim is true or not. Instead, we will look into the argument whether we should act regardless of the claim. An argument that both the pro or anti Christian can agree on.

When faced with uncertainty about the future, it becomes useful to look at all the different possibilities in order to compare them side by side. So here we are, there are two possibilities with the claim. One is False and the other is true. But since you believe that no one in either camp is able to say for sure if the claim is true of false but let’s agree that both is a possibility.

The next thing we are to look into is on what action we are to take with the claim. We have two columns for taking action and taking no action. This gives us a grid with 4 boxes and each box gives us a scenario for the future.

The first box is wasted money, wasted time and wasted resources. You are conned but you still enjoy peace, love and you live moral life. You still enjoy life but you missed out the pleasure of sinful life.

The second box turns out to be a right choice. No action needed since the claim is false. Nothing lose. You are no different from a orang utan or a mosquito. No real purpose in life. Eat, climb to your tree top, sleep and wait to die.

The third box still involves cost and resources. But it turn out to be effort well spent. Because there is believe, you live a life fulfilled, happy, content and purposeful. Because it turn out to be true, you know you will be in heaven for eternity.

The fourth box is the worst case possible. You were wrong. The end result is you have no salvation. You live a life like the Orang utan as in the second choice above. No only you lack purpose in life, you were at lost for every struggle and worst of all, despite all your effort, you end up in Hell, the last place where Christianity warned about.

The argument can be broken down into row or column thinking. Your future roughly fall into 1 of the boxes. While the claim may or may not be real, we cannot tell which row our future holds, but we can know for certain what our future will be because we control our action in each column. So it is like buying a lottery ticket and waiting for the jackpot to fall.

From the above, we see that take no action when the claim is false and take action and the claim is true turn out to be the correct choice.

But there is a consequence when we take action when the claim is false as well as take no action when the claim is real. But it is clear that the cost of taking no action has a very serious consequence because its effect is far more significant than if you take action but the claim happen to be false.

So it is clear that the cost of not doing outnumber the cost of doing. It is your inaction that has far greater significant.

At this point you may ask “How could a loving God send people to hell?” Max Lucado clears the misconception.
No. 1 God does not send people to hell. He simply honors their choice. In fac if you think about it, hell is the ultimate expression of God’s high regard for the dignity of man. CS Lewis said : “There are only two people of people in the end: those who say to God “Thy will be done” and those to whom God says “ Thy will be done.” You choose hell, hell you go. No, God does not send people to hell.

The second misconception is that God does not send people to hell. People do not go to hell. Sinners do. It is the rebellious, the self centered sinners. So, how could a loving God send people to hell? He doesn’t. He simply honors the choice of sinners.

Make this Chinese New year special. Celebrate with a purpose. Start taking action by making the right decision because the choice is in your hand and you control your own future.

When Big God Uses Little People

Our God of the Bible is described as One with no beginning and no ending, the Alpha and Omega.
He is described as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, meaning that He has unlimited powers, He is universally present, and knows all things. Our God is the Author, Creator and Sustainer of all things. He made the heaven and the earth by His great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:17). He is indeed great!

As we read the bible from Genesis to Revelation, we witnessed God’s amazing stories from creation to redemption and finally to glorification. Throughout the whole events God always engage in people. God could have accomplished all things without involving any people at all. And guess what, Our God is big, very big. Yet He likes to use us, people, little people, very little people. All the people used by God were little, insignificant, obscure people. In fact none of them were great but full of imperfection.

Abraham was an idol worshipper and he was too old. Moses stuttered. Noah got drunk. Jacob was a schemer.. David's armor didn't fit. David was too young. David had an affair. Solomon was too rich and has too many wives. Naomi was a widow. Samson had long hair. Jonah ran from God. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Elijah was burned out. Paul was a murderer. So was Moses and David. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Joseph and Mary were nobody. John the Baptist had weird wardrobe and diet requirement. John Mark was a quitter. Martha was a worry soul. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Timothy had ulcers. Peter was afraid of death. All the 12 disciples were little ordinary fishermen or tax collector or some unknown profession. The list goes on and on.

If Jesus Christ himself is lowly being a carpenter’s son, there is no reason for us to think that God will use special people. In fact, if we care to read through the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we will find among his ancestor, murderers, prostitutes and adulterers. All of them are just ordinary unknown little imperfect people. Yet they all accomplished God’s purpose in this earth. King David violated at least 60% of the 10 commandments. True, we all have areas of weakness and have experienced failure at some level, but God will still use every one who makes him or herself available to God. We must serve faithfully and ensure that using the gifts and talents he has given to each of us are not wasted.

Let just quickly sum up their accomplishments when they were used by God.

-Abraham- Idol worshiper became father of nation
-Moses – murderer, run away became the leader and led the Israelites out of Egypt
-David – Shepherd boy became most beloved king
-Esther – Gentile lady became Queen and save her people
-12 disciples are ordinary people who led and spread Christianity
-Apostle Paul, murderer and having a torn in the flesh became the most powerful writer who was used by God to give us so much truth

So what was the secret?

Let’s look at 2 little people.

1 Puah in Exodus 1. Puah was a midwife in Israel who was told by Pharaoh to kill all the baby boys because the Israelites were increasing in numbers. The Israelites is going to outnumber the Egyptians as they become mightier by domination in population.
In the latest news in December , 2009, I read that USA currently has 308 million people and by 2050, it will have close to 399 million people and by then, the white will no longer be the majority. With the lower birthrate and immigration, Hispanic, African and Asians will be slightly more than 50%. You see birthrate changes the demography of a nation or even a continent.
One of the plans of Islam is to dominate the world by populating the world, and that strategic plan is something that Pharaoh was very concerned about the Israelites.
A little more than 20% of the world's population today is Muslim. The growth rate of the Muslim population which averages 1.9 percent between the years 2000 and 2006 is far higher than the world's population at large, and that's 1.2 percent.

Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, in a speech which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 10, 2006 said: "We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe - without swords, without guns, without conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades."

- "Allah mobilizes the Muslim nation of Turkey, and adds it to the European Union."
- "That's another 50 million Muslims. There will be 100 million Muslims in Europe. Albania, which is a Muslim country, has already entered the E.U."
- "Bosnia, which is a Muslim country, has already entered the E.U. Fifty percent of its citizens are Muslims."
- "Europe is in a predicament, and so is America. They should agree to become Islamic in the course of time, or else declare war on the Muslims."
17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Puah was willing to disobey Pharaoh because she feared God. When queried by Pharaoh, she told him that the Hebrews woman was so strong that before they arrived, the mother had already delivered. Yet we did not read about Puah being punished by Pharaoh. In fact we read 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. That’s why the population continued to increase. You see when you are working for God, He protects you.

2. Obadiah in 1 Kings 18

We first read about Elijah in 1 Kings 17 where he announced to Ahab the wicked king of Israel that there will not be rain on the earth for 3 1/2 years. Now he is going back to announce that the rain is coming.
3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)
Now let’s be clear about this little unknown person Obadiah. He is not to be confused with the prophet Obadiah as Obadiah is simply a very common name in Israel. He was an unknown who worked for Ahad. Yet this was the man used by God to further His kingdom.

But he feared God greatly. And while Jezebel, the wife of Ahab was busy killing people, he had hidden 100 prophets in two caves and fed them with food and water. Ahab was the most wicked king and yet Obadiah dared to hide behind him and the evil queen to save the prophets speaks volume about his faith in his God.

Verse 3 tells us that he is a devout believer in the Lord and verse 12 tells us that he had worshipped the Lord since his youth.

But because he was loyal and an excellent worker, Ahab trusted him. Now do you think Ahab would ever have done that had he known this man was hiding the prophets of the Lord? Absolutely not! So we have a man here who is a good citizen of the state, but he does what he knows is right even though his king does not. He serves the Lord God.

Today, even in the 21st century we still read about many committed Christians willingly defile the authority because of their faith. Go to persecution.com, Barnabas or Voice of Martyr web site, we read that from China to Africa to India, all over the world, many are willing to stand up for Christ even to the point of death.

Remember Corrie Ten Boon? She opposed this evil in her society and joined the underground movement in an attempt to hide Jews from the Germans and to smuggle them to safety. These kindly, law-abiding people broke every rule in the book to save the lives of the men, women and children being hunted by the Nazis. Their home became a hiding place, but the cost of their bravery was betrayal and ended up in the dreaded Ravensbruck concentration camp where her sister perished.

God used two little people unknown Puah and Obadiah to further his kingdom by protecting his people and his prophets. Notice the common denominators of these little people used by God:

1. They make themselves available and ready to spring into action
2. They feared God and not man
3. They have faith in God
4. As a result, they were courageous and responded to God’s calling and were used by God mightily.

What about us today? Are we ready to be used to further his kingdom by increasing the population of God’s people and preserving his people by sharing the gospel to all and to support his ministry.

Just like Obadiah, God can use our faith. We take courage that we too can in our work place, our community , our school, and in our little area of contacts be strong and stand up for our God and be used by Him.

The Losing Winner

I was reading about the children of Israel wandering in the desert for a long period of time and can't help but felt sorry for them. Then when we come to Numbers 13, excitement built because finally, they are coming close. But, the result was disappointing because they were so close, yet so far. This led me into thinking about failed opportunities.. As a believers and followers of the living God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, we are considered a winner because our God is great. Yet our behavior is far from being a winner.

We can find three examples in the Bible where we read about the failure to go in and be with God, the winning side. We can call it the three attitudes of losers.

1. Failure to accept God's promise.

Even with God on their side, the children of Israel let their fear and lack of faith prevent them from entering into the promised land. They would be winners by claiming the prize. As a result they wandered and suffered even more by staying out in the desert when they can be drinking fresh water and eating the fresh fruits and rest their weary souls.

How many of us can identify with this situation? I am not talking just about non-Christians. It is quite clear that non-Christian is an opponent of God and hence clearly not on the winning side. But what about you, Christians? God has many, many promises for Christians to live a victorious life and yet many of us are like the children of Israel. Full of fear and uncertainties. A weak perception and understanding of the promises left us outside on the losing side. Incapable of grabbing the promises fully, we remain outside wandering eating dry stale bread and drink dirty water.

Bill Bright has a good suggestion on claiming God’s promises. That is to use the word of God as a prayer. We can either pray God’s word directly or use it as a springboard for prayer. Because in Isaiah 55:11, it says so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

2. Failure to live above the level of our belief

The next story that came to mind is the parable as told by Jesus on the prodigal sons in Luke 15. All of us are familiar with the story. In the beginning, the father has two sons living with him but one decided to take his inheritance and left the house. In no time, he was living worst than his father's hired servants at home. Thank goodness, he came to his senses and decided to return home. He couldn't even make a full confession of his stupidity in sinning against his father and heaven. His father was already standing on the outside eager to bring him in to celebrate. Meanwhile, we have another son, the elder brother who is on the outside refused to enter inside. Not only did he fail to understand the goodness and grace of his father, he is unforgiving, jealous, angry, frustrated and feeling unappreciated. Again, how many of us as Christians, behave like the elder son, feeling insignificant and ended on the outside, on the losing side.

During the initial years of electricity distribution Thomas Edison's direct current was the standard for the United States. Direct current is fine if you are supplying electricity within 1 mile area. But due to resistance, the electric power is lost during transmission. When another inventor Nicola Tesla invented the Alternate current which allowed transmission of electricity to hundred of miles with little loss of power, the world took notice but not Edison. Nikola Tesla was actually a staff of Edison. The two of them have to be parted company and Tesla went and join force with Westinghouse. In fact the rivalry is so bad that Edison publicly executed animals just to show the world that AC is dangerous. The greatest inventor could have been a great winner but he ended losing to the Westinghouse who won the right to provide electricity to the Chicago trade fair. Since then, Alternating current was chosen as the North American standard because it presented fewer risks and promised higher reliability than competing DC systems of the day. Many of DC's deficiencies were later corrected, but not until a substantial North American infrastructure had already been developed.

This is what happen when we fail to live out our belief. We know but we refused to accept or live out our belief. As a result, we are the loser. God promised us power and victory over sin and our old nature. Many times, we failed to live up to the level of our belief and no wonder we behave like a bunch of losers. Instead of further God's kingdom, we tainted His name, we bicker over insignificant matters and we spent wasteful time and resources over mundane issues such as worship style, music selection and preaching standards. Instead of motivate and elevate each other, we tear each other down and gossip or destroy one another's faith. Instead of saving lost souls or fighting injustice, we are caught sulking and idling. This is the story of Christianity, we are a losing winner.

3. Failure to set our eyes on the goal set by God

We can only be winner if we want to win. To win means we must set our eyes on the goal. Paul urged us not to run without a goal but to aim towards the finishing line. This bring us to another parable told by Jesus. This is the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. There are 5 wise virgins and 5 foolish virgins. The wise virgins prepared and took the journey seriously. They left with conviction and they understand what lies ahead. They are going to see their groom. On the other hand, the foolish bride left carelessly, ill prepared and having to go back to the beginning to start look for more oil but time ran out and they lost. They missed the groom completely. We are loser if we do not prepare our journey and we took for granted that one day we will meet God and face judgment. We cannot afford to be ill prepared and be ignorant of our goal. We want to be with God in that celebration. If we don't, we are the losing winner.

This is why Paul tell young Timothy he must study to make himself acceptable, rightly understand and handle the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” There is no excuse for us a follower but do not know our handbook well. You know all of us carry a hand phone now and most hand phone have a calendar feature which is for us to record things to do or event. Why don’t we key in a verse a day so we can memorize it. Many phone today has music recording purposes. Why not download some messages which is available free on the internet. Listen to it when you are driving, jogging. It is free and it is effective.

As believers, our claim to be winner with God is real only when we claim His promises, live out our beliefs and prepared well for the journey set to us by God.

Grumbling versus Gratitude

One of the best illustration of grumbling and gratitude is about a woman who was walking along the beach with her 3 year old son. Suddenly a big wave came and took the boy away, the woman fell on her knee and asked God to return the child to her. “Lord, he is still small and he is my only son, please bring him back to me.” Before she even finished her prayer, the next wave roll back and with it came the little child. The woman happily scoop up the child but instantly shouted toward the sky “Heh, where is the hat? He had a hat with him.”

When I saw the topic given to me to speak is Grumbling vs gratitude, my first reaction was this topic is so common and everyone knows what it is about grumbling and gratitude. Everyone should know that we should not grumble but to have an attitude of gratitude, there is really not much I can speak about. I was grumbling about grumble. You see it is so easy to begin grumbling before we even realize it.

Let’s turn to Philippians 2: 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Here the passage is very clear what we are to do. But before we go on, we will look at a few example of grumbling and gratitude in the old testament and new testament.

First turn to the Old Testament and read about the grumbling of the children of Israel when they didn’t get what they wanted.
The children of Israel begin the murmuring when they are in the wilderness, halfway between Egypt and the Promised Land. Earlier they had been slaves in Egypt , and had found slavery unendurable. They had cried out in those days, and God had been moved by their outcry, since they had grounds for crying out. God had delivered them with his outstretched arm. Then he had forged them into a people after his own heart at Mount Sinai when he had given them the Ten Words, a way of living that would end forever the social chaos and the spiritual disintegration they had seen in the pagan nations. The only thing left them to do was to fall on their faces in gratitude; sheer, adoring gratitude. After all, they had been spared the misery and humiliation of slavery as well as the confusion and corruption of ungodliness. But what we read is that the Israelites grumbled at every turn. God cared for the Israelites by His own hand - providing water from a rock, manna from heaven, and quail from the sky, clothes that never wore out, a fire by night and a cloud by day. And yet…they grumbled.(See Exodus 15:24, 16:2,7,8,9,11, 17:2,3) As their gratitude evaporated, reasonableness evaporated too. Now they wanted to go back to Egypt . “At least we had lots to eat in Egypt ,” they whined, “even if we were slaves.”
So what is the problem here? In 1 Cor 10, Paul sum up the whole story clearly. He wrote that the story of the Israelites can teach us a lesson. Even though God provided all they needed for the journey, the children of Israel still desired things that the Lord had not provided. So when they did not get it, they grumbled and complained and were punished. In short they were discontent with what they didn’t have and ungrateful with what they did have. This is grumbling versus gratitude.

Two other scenarios of grumbling is in the new testament.
In Matthew 20:1-16, in the parable of the workers in the vineyard Jesus points out that ingratitude, grumbling, reveals resentment and reinforces it. In this parable some men are hired to work in the vineyard. At the end of their eight-hour shift they are paid the agreed-upon sum. Other workers, hired late in the day and therefore who have worked only four hours or two hours or perchance one hour; these other workers receive the same sum. This parable, we should note right here, has nothing to do with economics or labour relations. This parable has rather to do with God’s grace and mercy and help. You see, in ancient Palestine day-labourers, the bottom rung of the working class, were paid at the end of each day. They had to be. They lived so close to the line that they had no savings at all, nothing in reserve. With the money they were paid for that day’s work they fed their families the same evening and next morning. The men in the parable who had worked a full day were given one day’s pay – and immediately used it to sustain themselves and their dependents. The men who had worked less than a day were nonetheless given a full day’s pay. Why? Because anything less than a full day’s pay would have been useless. If they had received a quarter of a day’s pay for a quarter of a day’s work, they and their dependents would have starved. Because the owner of the vineyard was generous, all the men were given what they needed regardless of what they deserved. Even so, says Jesus, people with ungrateful hearts murmur and mutter and grumble at the vineyard owner inasmuch as they resent seeing others appear more fortunate than they. Had they been grateful themselves, they would also have rejoiced to see other needy people given as much as those people needed.

Mark 14:1-8. A woman fell at the feet of Jesus and poured out on his feet the costliest bottle of cologne as she wiped his feet with her hair. Why did she do this? She did it out gratitude to him for all that he done for her. Mark tells us that several bystanders, people who plainly were possessed of no gratitude at all, carped and complained, muttered and murmured, groused and grumbled, “This money could have been given to the poor.” Since when were these grumblers concerned with the poor? When have complainers ever been concerned with the poor? Every time Jesus had eaten with the poor the murmurers had murmured. They weren’t concerned with the poor. They were ungrateful people whose mean spirits found them relishing every opportunity to complain.

My work in the hotel involves a lot of listening to grumbling and complaining. Usually a customer will complain when something went wrong. Some are easy to forget while some are still fresh. I remember a case about the stolen swimming suit. The incident happened on the previous day evening and I was to meet this lady in the morning. When I met up with her, there were four other ladies with her. Naturally she was unhappy that how can a 5 star hotel allowed a thief to steal her swim suit that was hang on the balcony. What happened was that during that time, terminal 2 was being built and a lot of foreign workers were hired and these workers love to wander into the hotel and pose as tourist. As it happened, this worker went to the guest room balcony located on the ground floor and stole her swim suit. This was saw by the security on duty and he called for help through the walkie talkie. What happened was also witnessed by the lady. Our Security was probably over zealous. A few of them gave chase and pin the thief down and in the process also gave a few blows to the thief. I suspect they have seen too many movies also. The thief was sent to police station and the swim suit returned to the lady. So I apologized to her and agree that this incident should not have happened but I assured her that we have in place enough security but unfortunately because of he large area and the many access and entry point to the hotel, it can pose a challenge to us. I told her she may be interested to know that we managed to catch the culprit and recovered the swim suit. I understand that she may not want it back so she can go down to our shop and choose any swim suit she like for free. Now you have to understand that the swimsuit is not cheap and each one is at least RM200. She was not happy because number one, she was traumatised to see the thief being caught and didn’t feel the hotel is secure. Secondly the replacement of another swim suit is not enough. I told her, alright, then take 2 swim suits. She said not good enough. So I asked her, what will she be happy with, She asked for free stay for the entire group of 5 rooms. Any way, to cut the story short, ended up given her a voucher of 2 complimentary night stay and 2 most expensive swim suit which she happily chose. But this is not the end of the story. After returning home, she wrote a lengthy letter to our head quarter further complained that I was indifferent, insensitive and unhelpful to her.

The second case involved a pastor, yes, you hear me right, a pastor. He complained to me that while taking shower, suddenly the water became very hot and he was scalded. Again, I apologised to him and offered to take him to hospital but he declined. Since he declined , I assumed that it must not be very serious. I told him that I will have the shower checked and may be there was a faulty valve. What else could I do? Offer doctor assistance and have the shower check so that it will not happened again. But this pastor spend the next half hour complained and whined that this should not happened in a 5 star hotel. I apologised, offered him dinner to make up for the inconvenience. He was not satisfied. His reason was that he was taking a group of youth, 17 to be exact for a visit to KK. If I buy him dinner, I have to buy all or none. I told him I cannot and he asked to see my Boss. My Boss came and spoke to him with me as a translator, this lasted for almost 40 minutes, again with no outcome except to hear him grumbling again and again. At the end my Boss left it to me to close the case and I ended up giving him 18 hotel T-shirts.

My point of sharing the story is that as you can see, we can complain and grumble under any circumstances and it can happen to us, even the children of God. I give the benefit of doubt to the pastor as a child of God. I myself is a good example. I cannot tell you how many times my wife did something for me such as making me a cup of coffee, I will tell her it is too hot or too sweet and failed to appreciate the good intention and good act.

Enough on grumbling. Now let us look into thanksgiving. In the old testament, there are not as many incidents of thanks giving although we do read about the Lord asking the children of Israel to set aside a feast of thanks giving. Thanksgiving is more common in Psalms. About twenty psalms command or invite Israel to sing songs of thanksgiving.

Chronicles and Nehemiah often mention thanksgiving, as both take strong interest in the temple and the offerings and songs that rise from it to God. For example, when David brings the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, the people sing psalms that call Israel to give thanks again and again (1 Chron 16:4,7,8,34,35,41). David also appointed Levites to thank God morning and evening in the temple (23:30), and he thanked God as his life ended, exhorting the people to join him in giving to the building of Solomon's temple (29:13-20).

In the new testament, the Lord Jesus show us example of giving thanks such as over a meal. Jesus also thanked the Father for hearing his prayer that God hide his secrets from the wise and reveal them to children (Matt 11:25; Luke 10:21) and to raise Lazarus (John 11:41).

Paul likewise show a life of thanks giving in his acts as well as in his writing. He thanked God for his final meal on the storm-battered boat (Acts27;35). Thanksgiving is also a central component of prayer for Paul. He prays that his churches will be thankful (Col 1:12), and gives thanks in turn for answered prayer, especially for the extension of the gospel and the strength of his churches (2 Cor 4:15). Paul begins most of his letters (Galatians, 1 Timothy, and Titus being the exceptions) with expressions of thanksgiving to God for the church or individual to which he writes.

Both the gospels and the epistles introduced and developed the concept of gratitude for God's deliverance. When a sinful woman interrupted a dinner party to anoint Jesus with precious perfume, Jesus told his shocked host that her action sprang from gratitude for forgiveness (Luke 7:40-47). When Jesus healed ten lepers as they walked to the temple, he marveled aloud that only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank him (Luke 7:11-19). Paul agrees that believers should be thankful for every individual provision, and that gratitude for God's saving grace envelops the entire Christian life. Those whom God has brought from death to life should offer their bodies to him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13). In view of God's mercies, knowing they were bought at a price, they should offer their bodies to God as living sacrifices in general and honor him with purity in particular (Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 6:20). Those who have received an unshakeable kingdom from God should be thankful, worship God, and faithfully endure the hardships of persecution (Heb 12:28 and context ).

One good lesson we can learn is from Psalm 13. Here we read that David was feeling lonely and the enemy is pressing against him and he began to complain to his God. Bur half way through this short Pslam, we see that David has turned his grumbled heart into one that is dependent on his God and finally into a heart that trust and rejoice in his God.

Philippians 2:14 is very clear that we are to avoid complaining or arguing. We need to have an attitude of gratitude, but how do we do it? Max Lucardo sum it up: The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart: Sin. To sin is to disregard God, ignore his teaching and deny his blessings.
But God does leave us helpless. The clue is a few verses before. Phil 2:12 - ..continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
It is God who works in us and not we work in God. We must involve God .

Let me elaborate here by first referring to the familiar verses in Ephesians 2:8-9. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. But how often we forget about verse 10. As Woodrow Kroll said, the next time you quote Eph 2:8-9, please include verse 10.

You see, as a result of our salvation, which we obtain not through our effort but simply because of God’s grace and gift to us, we have a new nature and that God has created us to do good works. Good works must be the result of our conversion. The time when you received Christ, you become a Christian but you are not yet a disciple. You need to work on it in order to become his disciple and to be Christ like. A disciple is a follower who adhere to the teachings and belief of your master. The moment I enrol in a university, I am a student of the university but I am not a graduate yet and I need to work on it. So this bring us back to Philippians 2:12. Nobody tell you that to have a humble heart, a thankful heart, a grateful attitude, a healthy behaviour , all those goodness as a result of your conversion is going to be easy. These attitudes have to be cultivated with effort. Remember we were sinners and need conversion. It takes effort, we need to work it out with fear and trembling that we may fail, we may disappoint our Father. I remember my university day that I worked so hard because I don’t want to fail and disappoint my family, so I literally studied with a lot of fear and trembling. The next time, you grumble, or do any negative thing, remind your self to stop doing it and work on it hard.

But brothers and sisters, the good news for us is that our journey is not a lonely one. Firstly, God will help us as we read in Phil 2:13 it is God’s purpose for us since it is His will, he will help us. With that, He sends the Holy Spirit to help us. Secondly, Christians are asked to grow together as an organism and so there is a lot of interaction, support and help from and to one another. We see this form reading the bible about commenting one another, about rebuking one another all for the sake of building a strong church that is fill with imperfect yet striving to be Christ like people.

Devices of the Devil

In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. (2 Cor 2:11)

The devil has many names and symbols. All of them reveal his twisted, perverted nature and mode of operation. He is the enemy of God. We can be protected if we know the schemes used by him.

His devices
1. He manipulates our mind. Satan’s main device is deception.
a) Trick us into seeing something that is not there (eg Gen 3)
b) Trick us into seeing nothing out of a real thing (eg Matt 28)
c) Even strong believers fell prey (eg Peter in Matt 16)
d) Result in doubt, disbelief, disobedient, denials, delusions
e) Peter says “prepare your minds for action” (1 Pet 1:13)

2. Satan’s perverted nature tempt our old self and body.
a) Lust of the flesh, eyes and pride of life (1 John 2:15-17)
b) Wear us down through trials and persecutions. (1 Thes 3:1-3)
c) Result in discontentment, distraction, discouragement, disappointment
d) HALT – Don’t let yourself be Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired.
e) Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Col 3:2)

3. Satan has a destructive character.
a) Satan tries to destroy us through our mind and our body.
b) He destroys relationship and disrupt harmony.
c) He perfected selfishness, favoritism, narrow-mindedness, lack of fellowship
d) Result in disengagement, discord, disassociation, division
e) Paul urged unity (1 Cor 1 :10-11. 12:18-25, John 17:20)

The serious threat of Satan’s dangerous devices is real. We are not to be ignorant about his schemes and we need to be strong in the Lord and put on the armor of God. We are encourage because our God have overcome them, and the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

The God whom we pray to (Nehemiah 1)

A pastor was concern that every time he preaches on Sunday, a particular member of the congregation would fall asleep. After several weeks, he decided he must confront this brother who is quite prominent in that he is also a member of the church committee or board. So one Sunday, sure enough when he begin to preach, the brothers immediately doze off. After the service, the pastor pulled the brother aside and confronted him. “Why do you fall asleep every time when I preach?” To this the brother answered, “My dear pastor, will I fall asleep if I don’t trust you?”

Well this morning, I thank you for trusting me but I don’t want you to go to sleep. I will do my best to keep you awake.

The topic for today message is the God to whom we pray to. The passage of reference is Nehemiah chapter 1. Let us start by reading this chapter.

Nehemiah's Prayer
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'
10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king.
After realize the extend of the ruin of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was very upset and disappointed. He began to fast and pray. I think this prayer is especially relevant to all of us whenever we have a project to complete and we need to look to the Lord for guidance.

As Christian, we have the privilege to speak to God. G.K. Chesterton says, "The worst moment for an atheist is when he feels a profound sense of gratitude and has no one to thank.” On the other hand, imagine the despair and disappointment when you want to seek help and there is no one who has the power to change things to talk to. Fortunately, prayer is our partnership with God, our chance to join forces with God's power. In his book, Prayer, Philip Yancey writes that prayer is a window into knowing the mind of God, whose kingdom is entrusted to all of us frail, selfish people on earth.

When we come to God in prayer, first of all we must know to whom we are praying. We will pray in unhealthy fear if we believe that our God is quick to punish, authoritative and unforgiving. On the other hand, we can pray without acknowledging our sinful status and believe in an indulgent father who overlooks sins. We need to have a correct view of God.

This morning, by looking at Nehemiah’s prayer, we hope that we can learn two things together. By looking at how Nehemiah pray, we learn his attitude in prayer and from his prayer, we can take a glimpse at this God to whom he prayed to.

1) It was a prayer of contrition. This is an awesome yet loving God who is sovereign and above all.

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.

Nehemiah’s heart was so disturbed that he sat down and wept, and mourned for days over the condition of Jerusalem. He begin by acknowledging the great and awesome God who is also full of love to those who obeys Him.

Nehemiah realized the seriousness of our depraved condition and acknowledged that this God that we pray to is awesome yet loving. It was a prayer with contrition. A contrite person has a unique access to God. Because God listens to and delights in the prayers of the humble, those who come without ulterior motives or in violation of his explicit commands, are as children to a loving parent. It is better to have a God who is greater than humanity, a God who has the ability to take us beyond where we can go on our own?

The God described in the Bible is that God. He claims to be the Creator of the universe -- a transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful being who has always existed and is the sustainer of all things. God deserves to be honored, revered and feared by all because of who he is.

In Ezra 10, we read that when the people realized their state of sin of their inter marriages. 1While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.

Likewise in the new testament, we read in Matthew 26 after Peter denied the Lord 3 times: Immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The problem is that we don’t see many bitter tears nowadays. Remember Job sitting naked in a pile of ashes. That’s a humble heart that submits to his creator. Today it is more of questioning God. From the first page of the bible until the last page in Revelation, God’s awesome characters are displayed. At times we may struggle with things that we cannot understand. At one extreme we read about God’s loving compassionate and mercy character and in another we read about His intolerant of sin. Take the 10th plague as an example. The 10th plague in Exodus recorded the death of the Egyptian children. We can’t help but think about the innocent children suffer under this plague. Pharaoh the evil man who is responsible for this plague lost his first born yet his own life was preserved. How are we to reconcile what we know about God’s goodness and justice with this plague. Adam and Eve dies for failing to obey God’s command. The whole generation of Noah was wiped out in the flood. Sodom and Gomorrah was obliterated completely. Why are the pages of scripture stained with blood? But dead is the reality of fallen humanity. We pay for the sin, even with stories of injustice that happen everyday. Who are we to question God’s sovereign plan and timing? We can and we must come to him with a contrite heart.


2) It was a prayer of confession. This is a God to whom we are accountable because He is Holy.

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Nehemiah’s conviction on God’s greatness and his believe that God will respond to his prayer resulted in humility. He knew he did not deserve it so he confessed the sin of Israelites and himself and his father’s house. By confessing our sins to God, we are acknowledging to God that we are accountable to him. We are approaching a righteous and holy God.

Confession is acknowledging the gulf between a righteous God and a sinful people and that we are at His mercy. We confessed because we are grieved by sin. We hate sin because it is offensive to the God we love. Sin blasphemes God. Sin curses God. Sin seeks to destroy God’s work and His kingdom. In fact sin killed His Son.

Chuck Swindoll illustrated that confession is like a clinic at the bottom of a stiff highway. Although there are signs that tell the motorist to slow down because of the treacherous and dangerous road, many people do not pay attention and so they have accident at the bottom of the hill. But because there is a clinic there to help them, it relief them of their pain and they can get up and go again. Of course the better way is to pay attention to the sign and avoid any mishaps. So confession is like that, we humbly come to God, admit our guilt and mistake. Sorry, Father, I messed up. I was impatient today. Sorry Father, I lusted today. I sin today. And the good news is that, God is faithful and He will forgive us.

John is clear in his epistle (1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.) that if we confess, God will listen and ready to forgive and bring us closer and narrow the gap that is in between. As the saying goes, “It is better to keep short account with God.

But problem with us today is that we think we must do more in order to come to God. God’s forgiveness is purely his sovereignty and does not depend on us. We make the mistake that we must do something in order to gain God’s favour. The jailer asked Paul ?What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered him “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved”. There is no doing just believe in your heart.

Many years ago, a product was introduced in the market. Anyone can bake a cake easily and quickly. You just need to add water into the pre-mix cake ingredient and pop it into the oven. No need to hassle on measuring the right amount of the different ingredients, no need to spend time mixing and beating and still unsure if you have done it right. You would think this product will sell. Any amateur can bake a cake but surprise, surprise, sales didn’t go up. The manufacture was at a lost and could not understand why the products would not sell. It was not shortage of varieties or poor end products. After several months, the manufacturer decided to add a simple additional instruction. Instead of just add water, this time, it is just add water and an egg. Suddenly sales soars, people started to buy. The reason sales soar was attributed to the fact that people believe they play a role, an important role in baking the cake and that the cake is much enhanced with the addition of an egg . Such is the case of confession. We don’t buy in when God says that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the death, you will be saved (Rom 10:9). We want to add in extra effort in order to believe that God will hear us.


3) It was a prayer of confidence. This is a God to whom we can trust and count on His promises.

8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' 10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.

In this part of the prayer, Nehemiah recalls words of Moses and old Testament warnings and promises. First, if Israel disobeyed, they will be scatter and secondly when the captivity is over, God will send them back to Jerusalem, the promised land.

Nehemiah is aware of God’s provision and so he can pray boldly. He knows he can count on the words of God. He is very familiar with God's word and his promises. He quotes almost verbatim the word of God to Moses. God reveals his person and his will through his word. He was reminding God His promise to the Israelites. Real prayer is standing on the promise of God and claim it.

The God of the Bible claims that nothing on Earth happens without his say-so. He is completely sovereign over all things.
- Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? (Lam 3:37)
- I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Isa 46:10)
- The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. (Psalm 33:11)
- It is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (pro 19:21).
- This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14,15)


4) It was a prayer of commitment. This is a God to whom we can have hope and who wants a relationship with us

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."

This is the whole purpose of Nehemiah’s prayer. He was asking God to grant him success as he embarked on this project. Nehemiah will be involved in the rebuilding of the wall. When we ask God in faith, we have to live out the faith with work.

When we pray the prayer of faith, we must believe that we have the answer before we see or feel it. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

When we really believe that God has answered our prayer, we must show our faith by acting like we have the answer before we actually see it! James says that faith without corresponding actions is dead faith (see James 2:17). I show my faith by how I act! And to stand in faith I must act as though God has already sent the answer to my prayer.

To pray with commitment, is also to pray with hope and this has a lot to do with how much we know our God. It is because of the close relationship we have with God that give us the knowledge to pray with hope. We must know this God. Otherwise, it is no different from praying to an idol of whom we have no relation to.

God wants to have a partnership/relationship with us. When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle for God to dwell in, we read about the people came forward with materials and skill. God raised up skillful craftmen that were filled with the Spirit. Bazalel and Ohalieb. They gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop. EX 36.

A few generations later, when David was preparing the temple for Solomon to build, he asked the people to offer money, materials and everyone gladly did it. Although it was not God initiative, we read that at the completion of the temple, the holy presence of God was in the temple.

Fast forward again, just about 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the great commission and he said: “I will build my church”. Yes, the church is growing, today we are an imperfect church, but the Lord added daily to the numbers those who were saved as we read in Acts. God could have change the hearts of sinners in an instant. Why are there thousand of missionary going through hardship after hardship just to advance the gospel. Read the biography of Hudson Taylor, John Huss. Have you read the story of Jim Elliot and 4 of his friends who went to South America. They were butchered while trying to reach the Ecuador Auca Indian. Read the book “through gates of splendor” and feel their commitment. More recently and closer to home, Abu Sayat captured and killed missionary, Martin Burnham and left his wife, Gracia wounded in the leg with a bullet. Read the book, “In the presence of my enemies” and feel the commitment. Why? Why? You asked. That’s because we must exercise our faith, be committed and do what we say and say what we do.

Before I conclude, let me share with you a story about a person who really understand who is this God that he prays to. He has a clear understanding of this God.
Horatio G. Spafford was an attorney in Chicago. He and his wife Anna were pretty well known in Chicago as a legal counsel and businessman. They were also prominent supporters and close friends of DL Moody. He and his family were members of the Fullerton Avenue Presbyterian Church. But during the great Chicago fire in 1871, he lost every one of his real estate holdings that he has invested heavily. Spafford and his wife had learned what it meant to completely trust God in every situation. But their greatest testing came in 1874. Aware of the toll that these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and daughters on a vacation to England. Yet just before they set sail, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go as planned. He would follow on later. Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters boarded the French ship "Villa de Havre" on their way to England. But just off the coast of Ireland the ship collided with another ship and sank. All four of the Spafford daughters – Tanetta, Maggie, Annie and Bessie were among the 226 who drowned. But Anna Spafford was among the 47 who were miraculously saved. 9 days later, Horatio finally received a cable sent by his wife which contained the now famous phrase that read "saved alone." As he traveled to England to comfort his wife, he was able again to gain his strength from God with the verse, "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord" (Rom 8:28) He then penned the words to our hymn "It Is Well with My Soul." (The tune was written by Phillip Bliss.) The words which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26. They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that 'It is well." And Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea-billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,"It is well, it is well with my soul."
Though Satan should buffet, tho' trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin - oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,My sin - not in part, but the whole,Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
And, Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,"Even so" - it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.
This is from a man who knows his God so well that he has the confidence and hope in Him.


Conclusions:

Nehemiah's prayer shows that the God to whom we pray to is sovereign, loving, awesome and also holy. He is faithful to his promises and generous in his provision who wants to have a close relationship with us. We must pray to him with the right attitude.