Beware of the false gods!

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God.”

-2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV

Though there are many religions existing today that talks about Christ, we still cannot say if all their members are “real believers”. It could be because that the other gods that exists in our generation is blocking them from knowing the real and only living God. Being a member of a religion that believes in Christ doesn’t mean that you’re already a real believer. Most of the time, these religions only becomes a label to the people, for they believe more and follow on other gods more than the real God, Himself.

So what/who could be the god/s of this generation that blocks men from knowing the real God? For me, I believe that these gods could be in any form that a man idolizes. For example, a man who is hooked into pornography. This man spends all of his time and money watching porn. This man has now made pornography his god, for it blocks him and blinded him from knowing the real God. Another example is the love of money. A man who loves money disregards all of Christ’s teachings, especially on giving to the poor. His love for money blocks him from knowing the real God. There still are many other gods that exists in this generation, but these few examples gives us the picture on why many are blinded from the light of the gospel.

So with these many false gods that exists in this generation, is there anything we could do so that we would not be blinded by them?

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

-2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV

Now for us believers who were already taken out by God from the darkness into the light of the gospel of Christ, we must guard ourselves so that we would not be taken back by the gods of this generation. Now that our eyes are widely opened, we must not let ourselves be taken back to blindness. We must stand firm and be strong to our faith, set our eyes and our heart to the gospel of Christ.

Like what Paul has said on the verse above, this light of the knowledge of God’s glory that is displayed through Christ will keep us away from being pulled back into darkness. With this knowledge of Christ, by being consumed by the Word of God, we will always be on guard from every false god of this generation. Thanks be to God that He has given us the knowledge of Christ. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/thumb/4/4f/Blindfold442.jpg/406px-Blindfold442.jpg

What does Jesus’ death means for us?

It’s Holy Week 2012, and we are commemorating the death of Jesus this whole week. But have you asked yourself what does His death means for you? What is the sense of commemorating this event? Can it have an impact on our way of living now? Or you are just doing this because it is a part of your religion’s tradition?

In case you don’t know, Jesus’ death, His sacrifice on the cross is the best thing that happened and will ever happen to you! It is an event that shouldn’t be remembered only once a year, but in each day of your life! Now let’s see why this event is very important for us.

Number 1: Jesus cancelled all the traditions that are done in the Old Testament

Did you know that in the Old Testament, the Israelites are required to give sin offerings so that their sins would be forgiven? Can you imagine if this tradition is still being done now?

First, you need to offer a goat or a lamb. Then second, you need to give this to the priest for them to slaughter and burn. In their time, men had no direct access to God. They have to go to the mediator, which is the priest. Only the priest can make atonement for their sins.

But can you see? Asking forgiveness for your sin is supposed to be this hard. But with Jesus’ sacrifice, you don’t have to this every time you commit sin! Jesus had become the sacrifice and at the same time the mediator between men and God!

Jesus’ death is an event that is very much worth remembering. We don’t have to those things that are done in the Old Testament, Jesus has already done all of them for us!

Number 2: Gentiles were given the chance to have fellowship with God

In case you didn’t know, in the Old Testament, only the Israelites are considered God’s people. If you are not from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then that means you’re a Gentile. It means that many of us were really not originally God’s people!

But thanks be to God, after Jesus’ ascension, He didn’t forget about us. We must be very thankful that He has commissioned Saul, or now known as Paul to preach the Gospel for us Gentiles. This event changed the entire course of all the beliefs, especially of the Jewish. We are taken as God’s children because of Jesus’ sacrifice!

Number 3: Eternal life is granted to everyone

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death”, which states what our reward should be with our sinful nature. We deserve to be punished! We deserve to die. We deserve to be eternally separated with our Creator! But you know what? God love us so much that He doesn’t want us to taste this punishment!

In case you don’t know, in the Old Testament, God has punished all those who did evil in His eyes. An example of this was in the time of Noah. In this time, God has flooded the earth and spared only Noah’s family and the animals that are inside the ark. God showed His wrath against all those who didn’t walk in His ways and preserved only those who loved Him, where in this case, Noah.

God doesn’t want to do this anymore and He wants to preserve all of us. That is why in the continuation of Romans 6:23, apostle Paul said “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God loves us so much, that is why He gave up His only son for our sake. It should have been us that was hanging on that cross, but not. It is stated in John 3:16 that because God loved us so much that He gave up His only Son! God, being a father should have been really hurt when He gave up His son! But that is how he loved us.

Thanks to the sacrifice that Jesus has done, now all of us can live a life without fear of death. Now, we know that in Jesus Christ, we have an eternal life waiting after our life here on our earthly tent.

So guys, I want you to reflect on these things this whole week, or if you could, for the rest of your lives. Be very thankful on what Jesus has done for you. And if you want to know more about what He has done for you, pick up your Bible and start reading it. God bless everyone! Shalom! 

Original link for the photo: http://kayequintero.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/cross.jpg

Love people and grow spiritually!

There comes a time for every Christian where we become spiritually weak. That time comes when we are bombarded by problems, or we can’t just feel any movement in our spiritual life.

When I was a new Christian, I enjoyed doing my devotions everyday, going to the church and our cell group meetings regularly, and bringing friends into the church. Everyday, I felt that my spiritual life was growing very fast. But the time came to me where I felt so weak spiritually. At that time, I really don’t know what to do. My spirit was so down, and though I am doing all the stuffs a normal Christian do, I felt deep inside me that something is still missing. I thought all these stuffs are enough for me to grow in my spiritual life, but I was proved wrong. Another factor why I went down in my spiritual life is that my friends that I invited to go our church can’t come with me for some for their own respective reasons.

I felt like I was drowning, especially every time I hear our youth pastor say that we should “win souls and make disciples”, and we should not be lazy because it’s already time for harvest. Of course, every Christian MUST win souls and make disciples. I’m doing the best that I can, but every time I invite a friend to go to our church, I almost always got rejected. And also, those people that I have already brought to our church came out backsliding. This makes me feel so spiritually weak, in addition to the pressure that I should bring people to the church.

I believe that being spiritually weak is the reason why many are backsliding from the church. But I don’t want to backslide, and I don’t want to stay feeling like this forever. I need to do something. So even though I was drowning from this, I searched for something that will make my spirit alive again. I read again some of the Christian books I bought before, but they weren’t really a big help to me. It’s just like they have refreshed the things that I already know. Then I went to the mall, entering all the bookstores I know, searching for a book that would be great help for me, and then I found this book called “Holy Fools” by Matthew Woodley. The title sounds intriguing to me, but when I read its overview, I think that this was the book I was looking for. The book didn’t fail me, it has met my desire of knowing what the missing thing is for my spiritual life to grow again. The point in the book that really struck me deep into my heart is that the people doesn’t care of what we know, or how much we know about the bible. What they care about is our LOVE.

The “holy fools” mentioned in the book came out from the “ghetto walls” of the church and went outside, pursuing the lost. They lived with the lost people, embraced them, loved them, and because of this, they grew in their spiritual lives amazingly. With this book, it was revealed to me that the love for people is the secret of growing spiritually. Very true, and with this being revealed to me, I just felt inside of me that the spirit is growing very strong again. It was the missing ingredient.

The revelation to me in this book also pulled me back into skimming the gospels again, where I saw the ultimate “holy fool”. There, I thought of what a Christian really is. “Christian” simply means “a follower of Christ”, and with this, I asked myself, “Am I doing all the things that Christ does? Am I following all His ways?” I believe not, nor most of the Christians. Christians all around the world wins souls and make disciples, but still, something is missing for us to be really called a follower of Christ. Love for others is still missing. I know some of us bring our friends to the church for the church’s sake, but are we following Christ’s ways? This is our way of bringing the lost back to God, but do we care to know what Christ way of bringing them back is? Why don’t we just follow His ways?

“So what is Christ way of bringing back the lost?”

At first, I thought bringing people to the church was the only way of bringing back the lost to God, but then I found another way. I thought preaching to these people, convicting them for their mistakes was the only way for them to go back to God, but the gospels proved me wrong. Jesus preached, yes, but if we skimmed the gospels again, he did more of helping others, loving people, and embracing the lost. Jesus broke the “ghetto walls” of religion in His time and pursued those who are in need of love! Jesus didn’t bring them inside the synagogue to hear more preaching, He simply met their needs! Jesus went everywhere, seeking for anyone who needs help, and gave them just what they needed! This is what we, Christians must do. We are called followers of Christ right? Then we should follow His way.

We must know that we are apostles. We are called to be “sent out” and not to be kept in. We should get out of the “ghetto walls” of our religion or church and go out to love others! We must stop talking of what we know, and start listening to them, because that is what love is. Just always remember what Jesus does to someone who is in need. Jesus does not preach to them. What He does simply listened to them and gave them what they needed.

Of course, we still need to do the church stuffs and read our bible, but we must do it hand in hand with loving other people. This is what God really wants from us. I believe that if the whole Christian community go out from the “ghetto walls” of the church and seek the lost outside, many people would be touched by God and this world will be transformed.

Original link for the photos: 

http://thedistractedsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-happens-so-often-that-you-feel.html

http://anewtestamentchurchatwalkertown.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/helping-the-poor.jpg

What is love? Where is the love?

Valentine's day is near and everyone is talking about love. There are those who have their partners, and there are those who does not have. Well, I’m one of the people who does not have. I’ve been single for about 21 years now (and I’m 21 years old), but there are these questions that I have been asking in my mind: Is love all about having a partner? Can love be only shown to your partner? Why do many people think that love is all about these?

I had become curious and I’ve searched about the real meaning of love, then I started looking at our world right now to see the answers. Happenings in this world can now be easily seen through the internet, and as I’m browsing, another question was added into my mind. Where is the love?

Love. The real meaning of love is hard to find in our world right now. Many people around the world had just become so wicked. Murderers, thieves, corrupt leaders and terrorists are just everywhere. I mean, WHERE IS THE LOVE? Many people had been blinded from this truth. They thought love is only about having a partner, but it us not. Love is a serious subject. Love is what this world needs now.

Love can also be shown to your family, to your friends, to that poor man at the corner of your street, to your pets, and etc. This has been taken for granted by many these days as people narrowed the meaning of love into having a partner. Many forgot the broad and real meaning of love. Even me, I admit that I do forget the real meaning of love as there is hatred in my heart seeing the wickedness that people show. I really can’t contain myself as I see the wickedness that people do to their fellow human, animals, and the nature.

But the good thing is that there is this One who portrayed to us what real love is. As I’m browsing on my facebook account, I’ve found this photo and gave me the real meaning of love and valentine.

This is love. Love is when you give up something that is important for the sake of someone else. I pray that everyone would look at love this way. Jesus died for every man in the world! I pray that every man would look at another just as Jesus look at them. Jesus died for that person, so love that person! And not just that person, but every creation of God! God created those animals and the nature to show His love for us and for us to take care of, and they must not be taken for granted! I pray that every valentine, instead of looking for a partner or dating with your partner, all of us will remember what real love is. We must remember what God has done for us and show the kind of love that He has shown to us to His other creations.

Advanced Happy Valentine's and God bless. :)


Original link for the photos:
http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/vQxdw8WwRokb36tfyOxoZCMzo1_400.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCA9NoDrX30VIvWJwyVSZxg_FGitE0nIy-8lkJYEI0S3Sqy-BnupmXiKjCf6kfgwZbg0tt3Q5SB3xW870zp4pq91pMYDS9QcIqruoV7ZCpxgTPHPeo6zoD2uoNsfnR_3mTo5iQ2yb9PuN7/s1600/valentine_john_3_16.jpg

Look unto Jesus

In the book of Numbers, Chapter 21 verses 4 to 8, the Israelites become very impatient as they travel from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea in order for them to go around Edom. They grumbled again against God and Moses, but because of this, God sent some venomous snakes. These snakes killed many of the Israelites. Now, the Israelites who survived came to Moses and asked him to pray to God to take the snakes away from them. Moses did pray to the Lord, and in answer, the Lord commanded him to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. The Lord said that anyone who looks at this bronze snake will live.

This event in the book of Numbers speaks so much in our lives. The grumbling of the Israelites, the snakes that killed many of the Israelites, and the bronze snake symbolizes things that are already existing in a human life. Now let’s look at them one by one:

1. The grumbling of the Israelites

-The grumbling of the Israelites happened a lot of times in many events at the time of Moses. This grumbling symbolizes nothing else, but also grumbling in our lives. As you can see, the Israelites grumbled because they become very impatient. Well, the same goes for us, we became impatient a lot of times in our lives and it causes us to grumble.

2. The snakes that killed many of the Israelites

-As the result of grumbling, God sent snakes that killed many of the Israelites. These snakes symbolizes the hardship we get when we become impatient and grumbled. The more we grumble in our hardships, the harder it is for us to overcome! It is not really the sufferings that can kill a man, it is his grumbling in these sufferings. Our grumbling in our sufferings are poisons that can kill us slowly.

3. The bronze snake

-But still, though the Israelites grumbled against God, God still provided a way for them to be healed, and that is through the bronze snake. Now, this bronze snake symbolizes Jesus. When we are poisoned by hardships in our lives, instead of grumbling, all we have to do is to look unto Jesus. We must not think about what we should do to overcome these troubles, we must look at what Jesus has already done for us on the cross! He is the only way for us to be saturated even in the hardest time of our lives. Jesus has already done everything, all we have to do is look unto Him and put our trust into Him. Only in this way can we overcome the hardships in our lives.

Life will offer us lots of troubles that will cause us to grumble. Yes, we would be facing a lot of them along the way. But when the time comes where we are being pressed to our limit, we must never forget to look unto Jesus. Jesus is our only way out.

Good day and God bless.

Original link for the photo: http://treetothee.com/product_pics/jesus_cross.gif

The Privilege of Being Faithful

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

-Psalm 16:9-10, NIV

What is the greatest privilege in being faithful in our walk with God? It is this: That we are rejoicing in both our life and in our death.

Everyone knows that life here on earth is too short, and this is the reason why many people are living their lives in a fast pace. People are hurrying up on many things, like on their marriage, or on getting the things they want, or on getting to the top or the position they wanted on their job. People lives in fast pace because they want to experience everything they want and to feel satisfaction in their lives before they die.

Fast pace living has become a cliché to everyone. It is true that we might regret it on the end if we did not do the things that wanted to do, and in my opinion, fast pace living isn’t really bad, but we must know that getting all these things or everything we want isn’t really that important. Many people focus on these things in their life that is why they live in a fast pace, but the man who faithful in his walk with God is different.

“What is different to a man who is faithful in his walk with God?”

Well, the big difference, I could say, is that he recognize the of move God’s grace in his life. This man can enjoy his life to the fullest because of his recognition to this grace. Even though this man can experience hardships and trials in his life, this man will never be pulled down because of his recognition to this grace. This man can feel security and not worry about anything his life! Even if he is dying in his flesh, this man continues to rejoice because he knows that at the time he dies in his flesh, he will be together with God. This man can enjoy every moment, every step and every fall in his walk with God, and still end up standing in the end. It is all because of his recognition to the grace of God.

Now, let’s look at a man who does not recognize the grace of God in his life. Well, he could be easily recognized as that person who worries too much about his life, especially if he is living in a fast pace. He could be the person who pressures himself too much just to accomplish something he wanted. This man focus on the things that are not eternal, that is why he could not be satisfied in his life, unlike the faithful man who has satisfaction with God. This man is afraid for his death to come, especially if he haven’t accomplished everything that he wants to accomplish in his life. This is all because he does not recognize the move of God’s grace in his life.

Being faithful to our walk with God gives us this great edge in our lives. Recognizing God’s grace, which is Jesus Christ, is the best thing we have that could satisfy us in our living. We could enjoy life to the fullest and without worries. And even in our death, we would still rejoice because we know that we have salvation in Jesus Christ.

So brothers, let us continue to be faithful in our walk with God. God bless you.


Original link for the photo: http://media.photobucket.com/image/faithful%20man/febeezz/PRAY.jpg

All good things are with God

All of us people wants to be blessed with good things in our life. In fact, many people are running for these good things! Fame, power, money and health, I think everyone wants to get these things. But the truth is that even though a man already gets his grip on something that he wants, he still longs and run towards to get more. It’s just that, I believe, it has been a nature of us humans to be uncontented with what we have, which I believe is a product of worldliness.

I am not saying that gaining these things are bad, I just want to say that running towards these things can make you bad. Greediness and uncontentment could be developed within our system if we still continue to run towards these things.

“So is there a way where we can gain these good things without being contaminated with greediness and uncontentment?”

I am happy to say “YES”, there is. Now let’s look at this verse:

I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

-Psalm 16:2, NIV

The only way is to be with the Lord, just like what the verse above wants to tell you. Actually, this verse just compliments the preaching of our youth pastor, ate Faythe before, and I would just want to share it here. She used Psalm 34:10 for that preaching. That verse says: “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (NIV).

In her preaching, she said that true prosperity can be seen with the lions. The lion is called the “king of the jungle”, and he never grew hungry because the whole jungle is like a huge refrigerator to him. We all know that a lion is strong, but according to the verse, he still may grow weak and hungry. How ironic is it that the strong lion that can eat whatever he wants in a jungle can still grow weak and hungry! He still may lack his strength and could not find his food, but on the contrary, the verse says that those who seek the Lord will lack no good thing! Now, let’s reflect on this point and on the verse I’ve written above.

I want you to imagine a refrigerator and let’s use it as a representation of God. Let’s also look at a magnet and use it as a representation of all these “good things”. You can probably imagine that the magnet is sticking to the refrigerator, like all the good things sticking to God. And now I want you to think of a paper. This paper represents a man. Now, if that man runs towards these good things, he would never get a good grip on all of them. Just like a paper trying to stick itself to the magnet, you know that he would just fall. BUT if the man runs after God, he is like a paper between the refrigerator and the magnet. When a man is with God, all “good things” follows him, as these things follows God.

This is what it meant in the verse that “apart from God, we have no good thing”. So, if you want to be blessed with good things in your life, don’t run towards them, but instead, run towards God. Like what is said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV).

Original link for the photo: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Seek-God.jpg