Combine Churches Merdeka Prayer Gathering 2007

Dear GROW Family members

Please take note that there will be no prayer meeting this Wednesday at GROW as we will be attending the Combine Churches prayer meeting at Kulim. Details as follows:

Re: Combine Churches Merdeka Prayer Gathering 2007

Greetings in the matchless Name of Jesus!

On behalf of the Kulim Pastors' Fellowship, we would like to invite you and your church family for a gathering of Christians in conjunction with our 50^th Merdeka Day 2007 (see attached for details).

Date: Wednesday, 29^th August 2007

Time: 8.00 pm

Venue: FGA Centre Kulim

This will purely be a night of prayer, thanksgiving and celebration . As we all know, our nation stands at a very pivotal point in history and how we as Christians respond is going to determine not just our destiny but the destiny of the generations to come. How will they see us and what will they say about us? Were we a people who were so busy building our own kingdom or were we a people who humbled ourselves and prayed and sought the face of our dear Father?

We urge you and encourage you to stand with the whole Body of Christ at this juncture. Let us pray, let us join hands, let us celebrate and see the heavens open and God pour a mighty rain of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Malaysia!

God bless you and see you there.

Blessed 50^th Merdeka Day!

For His Kingdom,

Ps. Abel Phillips

On behalf of the Kulim Pastors' Fellowship

Re-Cap Sunday (August 26th, 2007)

"How do I get a passion for Jesus?"
Ps. Abel Phillips

Answer: Found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5...to love our God with all of our being. Here is some guidance in how to bring that about from Scripture:

1) Get to know God and what He has done for you. Before the command to love God is given in Deuteronomy 6:5, the statement is made, “Hear O Israel, The LORD our God is one LORD.” One aspect of this statement is that He is unique, and the better we get to know what He is like, the easier it will be for us to love Him with our whole being. This also involves getting to know what He has done for us; again, before the first command is given in Exodus 20:3, God states what He had done for Israel in bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. Likewise, in Romans 12:1-2, the command to offer our lives as living sacrifices is prefaced with the word, “therefore”...a word meant to remind us of all of the mercies of God toward us recorded in the previous chapters.

To grow in love with God, one needs to get to know Him. He has revealed himself in nature (Romans 1) but so much more so through His Word. You need to make daily Bible study a perpetual habit.... Read the Bible as a letter from Him, asking His Holy Spirit to speak to your heart about what He wants you to glean from it that day. Memorize important verses and passages. Think of ways to apply what you learn (Joshua 1:8).

2) Follow Jesus’ example of praying constantly and consistently. When you examine the life of Jesus as well as Daniel and others who had a passion for God, you find that prayer was a vital ingredient in their relationships with God (even a quick reading of the gospels and the Book of Daniel reveals this). As with Bible study, prayer (sincere and open communication with God) is also essential. Prayer is part of the armor against our greatest enemies (Ephesians 6:18). We may have a desire to love God, but we will fail in our walk without this ingredient (Matthew 26:41).

3) Walk closely with Him NOW. Daniel and his three friends chose to obey God and refused to compromise in even the food they ate (Daniel 1). In order to ensure that we will be passionate for God later, we need to walk with Him now and begin to obey Him in the smaller tests! Peter learned this the hard way by following God “at a distance” rather than identifying himself more closely with Christ before his temptation to deny Him (Luke 22:54.). God says that where a man’s treasure is, there his heart will be also. As we invest our life in God through serving Him and being on the receiving end of persecution for Him, our treasure will increasingly lie with Him...and so will our heart (2 Timothy 3:12; Matthew 6:21, 1 Jn 1:5-10, Ps 24:4-6).

4) Eliminate the competition. Jesus said it is impossible to have two masters (Matthew 6:24). We are tempted to love the world (those things which please our eyes, make us feel good about ourselves, and gratify our fleshly desires) (1 John 2:15-17). James says that to seek to embrace the world and its friendship is enmity (hatred) toward God and spiritual adultery (James 4:4). We need to get rid of those things in our lives (friends who would lead us the wrong way, things that take up our time and energy and keep us from the serving God more fully, pursuit of popularity, pursuit of possessions, and the pursuit of physical and emotional wants). God promises that if we pursue after Him, He will not only provide for our needs (Matthew 6:33) but will give us our desires as well (Psalm 37:4-5).

5) If straying, begin to do what helped you grow in love with God in the first place. It is not uncommon to have dips in a relationship. Peter dipped in his (Luke 22:54.). David dipped in his (2 Samuel 11), but they got up and pursued after God once again. John, in Revelation 2:4, states it is not a case of “losing” one’s love but “leaving” one’s love. The cure is to do the “first works,” those things that caused one to grow in love with God in the first place.

May God bless you in your pursuit of a passion for Him and may He glorify His name through you.

Sunday Re-cap 12th August 2007

The True Worshipper
Ps. Abednego / Indonesia

Solomon was a great worshipper and had abundance of the anointing of God. God was pleased with him because he did not ask for riches or wealth but for wisdom to rule the people. (1 Kings 3:7 -30). God made him great and he enjoyed many blessings. But Solomon didn’t continue in the anointing because he put his wives before him instead of God.

2 Chronicles 7:14-18- Solomon was special in God’s eyes and God established his throne upon the generations of Solomon to reign as kings. Solomon begun by walking upright but his walk was not consistent.

1 King 11:1-6 He took many wives. He chose to love his wives more and his heart was not full of God and he disobeyed God.

God wants to raise a new generation who is different from other generations but Solomon failed. God’s plan never failed and no one can stop the plans and visions of God.

Joel 2:1-2 – The present day generation that God wants to raise. This generation will be strong and the last generation that comes out of the present day of darkness.
We cannot be Christians who are only bench warmers but we have to be like a “live fish”- going against the currents (being on guard and walking according the will of God).

Ps. 100:3 – A strong army who love the word of God

Solomon had this opportunity but he failed. Now God wants to pour out His vision upon our lives – the last generation who will be victorious. Not like the Israelites in the wilderness but our journey is from the wilderness to the Promised land, Canaan. Prepare yourself to enter with God’s power and wisdom. The church will show the blessings of God to the world.

Rev 6:5-6 & Ps.37:17-19 – Days of great famine but those covered with the blood of Jesus will not be affected but they shall be satisfied.

We have to understand these are the end times and not miss out on God’s outpouring for there will never be a generation like ours.
So let’s open up our hearts to the will and vision of God and be a true worshipper.

The gospel for everybody

The gospel for everybody
by John Fischer

Heaven is going to be full of little brown birds.

That's according to Bill who wrote me after last week's Catches about sparrows: "I am avid about backyard birds and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to feed the cardinals and blue jays, without attracting all the house finches and sparrows. One day I realized that I am one of the little brown birds in God’s human flock and that changed my attitude. I now thoroughly enjoy feeding all of the birds that show up in my yard."

This is a great metaphor for what we so often get wrong about the gospel. We say the gospel is for everybody, but we don't necessarily mean it. We like to associate with pretty people, upwardly mobile people -- attractive types who give a good face on what we believe. We also like to associate with people who are like us -- people of the same race, same economic status, same political beliefs, who send their kids to the same schools. We gravitate towards sameness and find comfort in the familiar.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ is big and wide and messy. It is for everyone, even people we don't like. It is for those on both sides of the tracks -- those we admire and those we would rather not associate with.

Most of all it is for sinners like us, and that's what we all have in common.

Remember the parable Jesus told about the kingdom of heaven being like a rich man who threw a wedding banquet, but the invited guests all had excuses why they couldn't come? So the master said to his servants, "The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see." (Matthew 22:8-9)

Everyone you see? There is no discrimination here. That's a pretty daring and dangerous proposition. No telling what kind of vermin such an open-ended invitation might turn up! And I'm sure it has done so, because, lo and behold, it turned up me.

The spreading of the gospel and the growing of the church is very much like Bill's experience with his backyard birds. Put the message out and welcome all who come to feed.

Let's Worship HIM!

Sunday Re Cap (5th August 2007)

Breaking the Power of The Past IV
by Ps Samuel Hari

Key Scriptures:
Exo 20:3-6 ; Mar 3:33-35

Jesus gave us a pattern of breaking away from our old genealogy and connecting ourselves to the new!

Mar 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. (31) And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1Jn 3:18 Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity). Amp

1Jn 3:18 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 19 It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord,NLT

Now that we understand that one of the key ways we break the power of the past is to identify with our new family, what do we do to maintain and strengthen these covenant bonds? Obviously, we are a new family and it doesn’t happen automatically.

What are the key elements?

1. Fellowship 1 John 1:7

2. Endeavoring

• Eph 4:3 (Make every effort, always keep yourselves). Bearing with one another in love. Love covers a multitude of sins.
• 1Pe 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
• 1 Pet 4:8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. 10 God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you.
  

3. Stir up the gifts, provoke the love.

• Heb 10:24 Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.
  

4. Do forsake the gathering together.

• Heb 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
  

5. Esteeming one another. Phil 2:3

Sunday Re-cap 29 July 2007

Right Belief Produces Right Behaviour
Ps. Christopher K

What is my belief concerning:
1. My Calling
2. My Dream / Vision
3. My Desire

Matt 16: 13 -20 Jesus was a misunderstood man. “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

What is my Calling?
My calling is “I am a son of God”. Whatever belongs to the Father belongs to the sons.
A son has the same vision, passion and work of the Father. Know you are God’s son and live like one, Work where the Father is already working.

Gal 3:26- For we are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. Sons are not passive but active in doing the will of God and His work.

Are you a son or servant?
Pray against the slave mentality and live as a son.
We do proclaim that we are sons but unaccomplished work that we do shows that we
are servants. All your dreams should be focused to glorify God the Father.

Father’s desire - Rev 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands

Make right with the Father first before we can make right with men. Having the right
relationship with God the Father.

Matt 21:28-31 – The parable of the Two Sons – There are those who say they will do the
Father’s work but don’t do. The Father’s desire is to see the son willing, careful and cheerful in doing what the Lord wants him to do – share His love to others.

So church lets have the right belief that we are sons of God and we are greatly loved, highly favoured and wonderfully blessed

Sunday Re cap (22nd July 2007)

Breaking The Power of the Past-Part III
by Ps Samuel Hari

The New Birth into a Spiritual Family

Jesus described becoming a Christian as a new birth (John 3:3-5). 2 Cor 5:17

We become a new creation when we receive the nature of God which recreates a new spirit in us causing us to be a new species among men.

The NT describes becoming a Christian as a spiritual rebirth through which we are adopted into a new family. Rom 8:14-19; Gal 4:1-9; Mark 3:33-35.

In fact, family is the most significant metaphor used to describe the church.

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents.

The critical factor that most significantly determines my new identity as a Christian and character is not the blood of my biological family but the blood of Jesus. Mat 10:37

The NT world is unable to imagine a healthy family life apart from a healthy church life!
The question then is, why isn’t this happening? We are different from the world yet, on another level, we are pretty much the same?

The Importance Of Process.
The Word of God is a seed. All truth comes in seed form. What we do with the seed after it is planted will determine whether it will bear fruit for us.

We also need to realize (revelation) that we are no longer under the old genealogy.

We are not recipients of our old family nature, character; we are recipients of our new family.

Our reparenting process includes coming to church every week to learn and practice this new set of values and culture. It’s like migrating to another country.

• Our covenant with our heavenly father is directly related to our covenant with one another. 1 Jn 4:20-21; 1 Jn 1:7
• Our mission in this world is directly related to our covenant with one another. Jn 17:20-23
• Our life, health, prosperity, growth is directly related to our covenant with one another. 3 Jn 2, Eph 4:16
  
  

The Passion Of Christ. Why was The LORD in anguish in the garden of Gethsemane? Christ passion in fellowship with the Father! The pain of separation from the Father was the hardest thing for our LORD. He expects us to have such passion for one another! Heb 10:24-24

When we don’t forgive, we are going back to the old genealogy. When we are offended, we are going back to the old genealogy. The idolatrous genealogy!

Whenever we come together i.e. Cell Group, Prayer Meeting, and hold hands and pray, we are re-affirming our new genealogy. We are being reparented; we are walking through the process. We are declaring that we are no longer under the old family, we are under the new. The most powerful statement is coming to the LORD’S Table together.

We are one family. The family of God, where God is now our Father. We have a new genealogy. We are blessed for a thousand generations! We are healthy, spiritually, emotionally, financially.

Sunday Re Cap (15th July 2007)

Breaking the Power of the Past- Part II
by Samuel Hari

Click here to listen tho this message.

II. Discerning the Major Influences in your life

Events and people have impacted who I am today and will help me understand “what makes me tick.

• David-family influence, Saul, wilderness influence.
• Joseph-family influence, slave, prisoner, prime minister.
• Children of Israel-family, community, wilderness, conquest.
  
  

Q. What are a few events or people that have impacted who I am today, that will help me understand “what makes me tick”?

1. Sickness in the family/personal health/personality.
2. Traumatic Experience in workplace/loss of job/finances
3. Failed marriage/divorce/infidelity/betrayal.
4. Racism/Favoritism/Partiality.
5. Breakdown of trust in church leadership-church splits, character/trust issues.
   

Not all of the above are negative but some can be very positive traits.

Is it really important?
Some have mentioned that “we have been redeemed from the curse”. Jesus has broken every curse. It’s true. However, why do we still behave in the same way? Why is there no change in the way we responds to certain things in exactly the same way as we were when we were born again? We are in the process of growth in our emotions. i.e. when we go through a difficult issue at work, we just bind and curse and hope for the best; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t; when there’s sickness, lack, we pray in tongues and quote scriptures and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Why? Then we either get disillusion or blame God or run after another speaker or church or conference that claims to have the answer!
Yes we have been redeemed! No doubt about that. But what did God redeem us for? 1 Thess 5:23; Acts 20:32. He is far more interested in the building of our character, emotions, maturity in and through the process than simply giving us the answer. Heb 6:12. When we were children in Christ, we got milk. We cannot go on with milk but need other nutrients, exercises for the growth of our character/emotion and faith. 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12-13.
If we don’t learn in the process, we will face it again and again because God is far more interested in us learning and growing than just giving us answers.

“Sometimes instead of giving us answers, He gives us Himself”.

We get a picture of Him, what He did for us; take communion and reflect if you don’t understand. Pray in the spirit to get understanding and to be aware of His presence. Then we actually start valuing the process instead of complaining. Js 1:2-4. God’s desire is that we may be perfect and complete, LACKING NOTHING!

What is the alternative? We are spiritually one mile wide and emotionally one inch deep. And keep coming back to the same mountain and sometimes for generations.


Proverbs 16:32 says - "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

Proverbs 25:28 says - "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Sunday Re Cap (8th July 2007)

Breaking the Power of The Past-Part 1
by Ps Samuel Hari

Click here to listen

Read Ex 20:5-6
God punishes the sin of the Fathers to the third and fourth generations. Are there things in the past that are hindering us from fulfilling God's purposes and destiny for our lives?
Like everyone in the human race, we are descendants of Adam and Eve. Their intent after they disobeyed was to shield and defend themselves from God and one another. This aim of protecting ourselves from God and others manifest in different ways-controlling, fixing (repairing, damage control, destructive maintenance), fear, withdrawing, ignoring, denying, pacifying, or in conflict, loneliness, anxiety, frustration, resentment, blaming and more.

Ex: How did our parents/family resolve conflicts? Anger, denial, withdrawal?
“It is impossible to help people break free from their past apart from understanding the families in which they grew up.”

King David & His Family
Three themes surface from generation to generation in David’s family.
Theme 1: Having a Heart for God.
David compromises his relationship with God by committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband. This decision reverberates through his family and nation of Israel for generations. His son Solomon’s heart is described as not fully devoted to God. He mixes worship of the God of Israel with the worship of gods of the nations around him. By the third generation, this decline in spirituality reaches the bottom. Solomon’s son Rehoboam ignores the God of Israel and engages in idolatry and detestable practices of other nations.
Theme 2: Sexual Sin
David collects wives. Commits adultery with Bathsheba. His oldest son Ammon rapes his half sister Tamar and disgraces her forever. Solomon who carries on further the sexual sins of his father by accumulating 700 wives and three hundred concubines. Solomon’s son Rehoboam has 18 wives and 60 concubines. It was an act of rebellion against God’s commandments. (Deut 17:17).
Theme 3: Family Division and sibling rivalry
David had some tension with His brother (1 Sam 16-17). His son Absalom murders Ammon in revenge for raping his sister. The family is divided as a result. Absalom grows bitter and proclaims himself as king, conquering Jerusalem. Solomon’s son Rehoboam carries this pattern even further as his family disintegrates. Finally the once united 12 tribes of Israel split into a northern kingdom with 10 tribes and a southern kingdom with 2 tribes. The split family is eventually carried into exile.
Sin is passed on from generation to generation.
“Unless we grasp the power of the past on who we are in the present, we will inevitably replicate those patterns in relationships inside and outside the church.”

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Their generational blessings reach even down to us. However, their sins and emotional maturity also passed from generation to generation.
Again three patterns emerge:
Pattern 1: Lying
Evident in all four generations and even increases in intensity with every generation. Fearful, Abraham lies twice about Sarah, denying that she’s his wife. Rebecca and Isaac’s life is also dominated by lies and trickery (Gen 27).
Jacob increases the level of manipulation by lying consistently to almost everyone with whom he is in relationship. In fact his very name means “deceiver”. By the 4th generation, 10 of Jacob’s sons fake the death of their younger brother Joseph. They even go through the motions of a wake, funeral and a time of mourning to maintain such a lie.
Pattern 2: Favorite Child
Abraham favors Ishmael, but Sarah wants him removed from the family.
Isaac favors Esau and wants him to receive to receive the powerful family blessings.
Jacob favors Joseph and later Benjamin.
Pattern 3: Sibling Rivalry and Relational cutoff
Isaac and Ishmael-this division and tension continue till today in the Middle East between the Arabs and the Jews.
Esau and Jacob become open enemies once Jacob steals Esau’s blessings.
Finally, Joseph is cut off from his 10 older brothers for most of his adult life.

Conclusion: The sins of the fathers often intensify and remain for generations even when we are believers. We cannot cover up these areas by being “more spiritual”. There are areas of our lives that need to be confronted and dealt with by the power of the Holy Spirit if we are willing to be honest and open. The result is Emotional Maturity, Unity and Breakthrough Living!

Baptism-1st July 2007

Praise God for the 9 blessed members who were baptised and the family members who were there to welcome them!
To God be the GLORY!

Audio For Daniel J Message

Please take note that Daniel's message is now available on audio.

Please go the following link to listen.

Sunday Re Cap 24th June 2007

Sunday Re Cap (1st JULY 2007)

How To Create New Records
^{By Ev Samson}

Click Here to Listen

Listen to other messages by Ev Samson

Breaking Foundational Curses

Breaking Ancestral Curses

Text: 1 Chr 4.9-10

Jabez said bless me to the fullest. If there's anything we need today, it’s the hand of God and the capability to create new records.

Lk 5:1-11.. Peter's breakthrough in creating new records. Don’t listen to yourself; listen to God. When Jesus is in our boat there’s always a breakthrough.

Either we are pressed or oppressed.

How To Create New Records?

1. You must be committed to what you love. What do you love most? When we are committed we are commissioned to succeed.
2. Always close your ears from what people say about you. Do not mind man. When you try to please everybody we become a failure. Jer 17:5-8
3. Do not accept failures even when we have failed. Failures are only events. Stand up! God has always got something better.
4. Renew your mind-Rom 12.2-don't get angry if others are blessed. We must have a positive mind/attitude. Casting all our cares...have good thoughts towards one another. The heart is the central point of our blessing. Phil 4:8; Pro 4:23
5. Change your attitude. It determines our altitude. Our attitude is a stumbling block to our miracles. Phil 2:5
6. Live by the word of God. 2 Tim 2.15.
7. Be a prayer warrior Lk 18.1 if your battle is fought for you, you will lose your crown.
8. Be Humble 1 Pe 5.5
9. Always be excited-joy of the LORD is our strength.
10. Must live a life of covenant. Ps 50.5, Josh 5.9-when we are stingy we don't receive.

Breaking Ancestral Curses

Blessed morning!
We would like to strongly encourage all of us to attend tonight's meeting with Ps Samson.
As we saw last night, God moved mightily and all who were present we highly blessed through the message of Breaking Foundational Curses.

Please make every effort to attend tonight as the subject covered will be Breaking Ancestral Curses. This message is so important that we will be videotaping it.

Details as follows:

Date: 30th June 2007 (Sat)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: GROW BM

PLEASE FORWARD TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!

Remember, you are greatly BLESSED, highly FAVORED and deeply LOVED!

Praise God!

Ps Samuel

Sunday Re Cap (24th June 2007)

What Does This Mean?
by Daniel J.

Click Here To Listen

Question 1: How are we saved? Answer to that is found in Ephesians 2 :8&9

Summary
Salvation is a gift, you can’t work for it.
You receive this gift through faith.

Question 2 : Is faith the same as belief? Answer :No!

Parable 1 – The unmerciful Servant : Matthew 18:23-35
The king represents the Jesus and the servants represent believers. The first servants debt as an impossible debt to pay – it represents our sins against God. There is nothing we can do to repay it. We need the Kings forgiveness. The debt one servant owes another represents our offences against each other. God demands that we forgive one another! Its not an option. Failing which the unmerciful servant is thrown in to prison forever, representing eternal punishment.

Parable 2 – the parable of the Talents: Matthew 25: 14-30
The master in this parable represents Jesus and the servants represent believers. Jesus has deposited in each of us differing measures of gifts and talents. When he returns he expects us to give an account of what we did with it. In the parable the servant who did not use his gift and talents for the Kingdom was thrown in the outer darkness (hell)

Question 3: Can a believer be cast into hell?

Answer : Yes

Question 4: Under what condition can this happen?

Answer : Matthew 7:21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
James 2:14-26 states that faith without deeds is dead. The deeds spoken of here is not just doing just anything but deeds that are inspired by faith and done in obedience to God.

In short ‘ faith without obedience is dead’
We need to look at our lives and ask ourselves if we truly have faith because true faith will prove itself through works of obedience.
It’s not too late. We can make things right in our life today. We can’t change the past but we can change the future. Gods love for us is unconditional and its His desire that none should perish.

Church you and I need to put our faith into action and desire obedience in our lives.

Sunday Re cap (10th June 2007)

Survival, Success and Significance
by Dr Paul Ang

Text: Ps 90:5-6, 10, 12
v12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

In the first 40 years of our lives we learn and do things that will affect the next 40 years.
Moses first 40 years-lived in a palace and had a palace mentality. This is like some of us who are born into rich families.
The next 40 years Moses chose to downgrade-Heb 11:24-27.
It's a difficult thing to downgrade in anything in life. We always think about upgrading but God wants us to choose to downgrade i.e. dying to self.

We need to ask ourselves: Are we doing what God wants us to do and are we in the right place?

Do we view life in eternal and spiritual perspective or material and financial perspective?
Gen 13 -Lot viewed life from material and financial perspective whereas Abraham viewed life from an eternal and spiritual perspective. Abraham gave way to Lot and was “greater” than Lot. The “greater” gave way to the “lesser”.

What Lot chose in the first half of his life affected the next half-he lost everything and Abraham gained everything!

We need to ask ourselves:
What is your spiritual destiny?
What is your yardstick for success? God's yardstick and ours may be very different.
When you leave this earth, what do you want to be remembered for?
Are you maximizing your talents for God?

Traps in the 2nd half
David-adultery
Lk18:22 Rich Young ruler made to realize that there was more to life than having money and possessions. Its about being stewards of God's blessings upon our lives.
Lk19:8-9 Zacchæus realized that if we're losing the first half then we need to change the game plan for the 2nd half.

To avoid the trap:
We should not be moved by public opinion.
Saying sorry alone is not enough, we need to right the wrong.
Take stock of our life; ask God what to do.
Make peace with God and man.
Have a big and seeking heart like Zacchæus.

Conclusion
1st 40 years-planning, surviving.
2nd 40 years- harvesting, reaping, impacting lives.

We need to progress in life from survival to success to significance! Change your game plan NOW!

Sunday Re cap (3rd June 2007)

Our Christian Response
by Rev Samuel Hari

Click here to listen

Luke 21:13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.

1. An Occasion for testimony
We have prayed together with Christians in Malaysia and in many parts of the world. After having prayed, we may of may not have received the outcome we expected. So how do we respond? We have to believe that God has the better, best plan.
We need to come to the realization that every adversity is an opportunity for growth.
With every TEST there is a TESTIMONY.
Esther used her occasion as a testimony. She spoke up and God will raise many Esthers, Mordecais’ in this land for such a time as this.

2. Settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 
Not to use human reasoning or methods i.e. spread hatred, bitterness, anger, violence, rioting, etc. The moment we are bitter, we lose the battle. When we encounter adversity, things don’t turn out the way we pray, desire, we can either become BITTER or BETTER. Bitterness closes the door for God to move in our nation and in whatever situation we are praying over. God moves only through one channel; LOVE.
Rom12:2 ; 1Jn 4:18 

3. I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
Not an earthly wisdom. 1 Cor 1:12-16 (NKJV).
He’s going to give us a different kind of mouth.
It’s a time of training the believer in all godliness for the events that are to come. We must begin to condition our spirit-man. An occasion to be transformed from worldly, carnal thinking to godly thinking and a way of life that follows that pleases the Father and brings forth a testimony to the world. That we may prove.
Rom 12:2b

4. You Will Be Hated By All For My Name’s Sake. 
The outcome of this situation is in fact well within the plan of God! They cannot understand because it is foolishness to those who do not know.
1 Cor 1:18-21

5. Not A Hair Of Your Head Shall Be Lost.
We need to understand that whatever the outcome, we will never lose out; even if we are put to death through physical death of death by defamation (at work, home, the press). We have the victory!

6. By your patience possess your souls.

Patience: cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

Don’t let your soul/emotions run wild. Don’t let it take the carnal, worldly course (anger, retaliation, bitterness). The key is through your patience. Let the fruit of patience increase through situations like these…When pray or desire patience, God uses situations like these.

Will you be the Esthers’ and Mordecais’ of today? At your work, school, business?

Lina Joy loses appeal

News update by The Star's newsdesk

PUTRAJAYA: Lina Joy lost her final round of appeal when the Federal Court dismissed on Tuesday her appeal against a ruling that the National Registration Department was right not to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from her identity card.
Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Federal Court judge Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff delivered the majority decision dismissing her appeal.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum dissented.
On Sept 19, 2005, the Court of Appeal decided that the NRD director-general was right in refusing her application to drop her religious status from her IC on the grounds that the Syariah Court and other Islamic religious authorities did not confirm Linas renunciation of Islam.

Sunday Re Cap (27th May 2007)

Asking the Relevant Questions
By Michael Stubbs

Click here to listen (recorded in Victory Fellowship, Emporia, Kansas)

John 4: 1-30
Some points to note:

1. v7: People want to be INVISIBLE for many reasons i.e. sin. Don’t be INVISIBLE anymore!
2. v14: eternal life is supposed to a perpetual spring of living water DEEP inside of us. Not just droplets here and there.
3. For real transformation to take place we need to ask ourselves relevant questions. Jesus kept asking this woman; and now to us all these relevant questions.
4. Through these questions God wants us to move from superficiality to depth in our believe system and emotional maturity.
5. v28: God works many times through a “suddenly anointing”. Sometimes we need to keep pressing on and on for the truth with no apparent results. However, when we think nothing is happening, that’s when God is at work in people’s lives and ours.
6. We need to stop making everything a personal issue. We need to ask why? Why? Why?
   Sometimes the reason for this goes all the way back to childhood.
7. There must be a willingness to be vulnerable before God; only then can we change. The Samaritan woman kept being defensive (v20, 25).
8. We can be vulnerable before God by being repentant, by opening up ourselves to correction through the Word of God, through prayer.
9. When God asked Adam and Eve “Where are you?” it was an opportunity to repent and be vulnerable. However they missed that opportunity and suffered the consequences to this day. It was the same with Cain when God asked him “Where is your brother?” The purpose of the question was not because God did not know where he was but it was an opportunity to repent and to be vulnerable before God.
10. Emotions are not evil. They help us be vulnerable before God.
    
    

Conclusion
Our Christianity must go beneath the surface. If the heart is right then everything will be right. Let every area of our life be saturated with God-even the good, bad, pain, sorrow, joy-EVERYTHING!

Sunday Re cap (20th May 2007)

The LORD is My Shepherd
By Michael Lee

Click here to listen to this sermon

2 Chr 7:16
Many are called but few are chosen. Saul, Judas and Gehazi were called but not chosen.
We praise God that when we are called, we make the choice to follow the LORD. How? The key is found in Ps 23: 1-3

The LORD is My Shepherd I shall not want.
Matt 8:22: Instant obedience is required to follow the LORD. Delayed obedience is considered disobedience.
Disciples followed the LORD immediately when they were called.
Mark 8:34: We deny ourselves (self nature) when we follow the LORD.
I shall not want- we can be assured that even when we deny ourselves we will never lack anything.
We shall not have a desire or a need of anything when we have the Shepherd. He alone is all that we need. Seek Him first.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He desires that we “settle” in a local church.
He is the one who makes us lie down in a place of rest when we have found a “spiritual” home.
We humble ourselves to His leading as He makes us lie down. There is no more agenda of self.

He leads us beside the still waters.
This speaks of our constant relationship with God. He leads us to the place of intimacy.
We can see ourselves when the waters are still. We see ourselves as we are in Christ alone.
He leads us to a place of rest in the midst of the challenges of our day-to-day life.

He restores our soul.
This is not speaking of the restoring that we think it is.
It is a restoring to God’s own pattern and design for our lives.
When we are not fishing, we are fighting. Instead of being fishers of men, we become fighters of men.
If we know we are rich in the LORD, we will not desire to steal.
We become without blame-no one will blame us if we do not blame anyone.
Restoring our soul is a dying to self.

Let’s remember 2 Chr 7:14-16
2Ch 7:14-16 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (15) "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. (16) "For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.