As promised by Pastor Al last Sunday, here are links for those interested in Evolution.

Dear friends,

Are you struggling to live the Christian life today?  Your rest is found at the cross of Jesus.  If you want to find an effortless success, then, realize that it is no longer about you doing this or that right.  It is about depending on what Jesus has done for you.  Look at what man’s own doing has produced.  Has any good come from his own effort to keep the law of Moses?  When man boasted in the law, the next thing we saw was a golden calf.

God’s goodness Leads Us To Repentance

Some people argue that we have to preach God’s law and His judgment, or there will be no repentance from the people.  My friend, God’s heart is never to condemn.  Most people want judgment, but God wants mercy. The Bible says that “the goodness of God leads to repentance” (Romans 2: 4). Do you know how Jesus transformed a foul-mouthed fisherman like Peter? Being a fisherman, Peter was probably a very rough guy.  So how did Jesus bring him to his knees?  Was it by preaching a hard sermon on the law of Moses?  No! Jesus blessed Peter with a boat-sinking, net-breaking load of fish, and when Peter saw God’s goodness, he bowed down at Jesus’ feet and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5: 8)  Now, pay a close attention here.  Which came first – Peter’s repentance or the goodness of God? Clearly, the goodness of God came first.  It is truly the goodness of God that leads us to repentance!

Nevertheless, there are still people who insist that we have to preach on repentance.  Well, I disagree! I think we should do it God’s way – preach the goodness of God and allow the goodness of God lead people to repentance.  Such repentance will be true repentance.  It will not be a repentance that is motivated by the fear of judgment and indignation.  It will be a genuine repentance that is motivated by His grace, unconditional love, and compassion. After all, our ability to love God stems from our first tasting His love for us. It is when we experience His love for us that we can respond with our love for Him.  The Bible says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)

Do you know how the Word of God defines love? Apostle John said in 1 John 4: 10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This is the Bible’s definition of love.  It is not about our love for Him, but rather His perfect love for us.  As opposed to conventional belief, true repentance from the heart results from a revelation of God’s immense and unyielding love.  When Peter saw Jesus’ goodness and love, he fell to his knees in total surrender to Jesus.  We must let people come to church to enjoy God’s goodness because when they are impacted by His grace, then repentance, holiness and godliness will surely follow.  You cannot separate grace from holiness.  In the same way you cannot be under the sun without getting a tan, you cannot be under grace without becoming holy.

 Time To Change Your Mind

Do you know what the word “repent” means in the first place?  The word repent is the Greek word “metanoeo”, which means “to change one’s mind”.  However, due to the influence of our religious upbringing, many of us have the impression that repentance is something that involves mourning and sorrow.  The Word of God simply says that “repentance means changing your mind.  When John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” he was essentially saying, “Change your mind, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”  Every time we sit under the anointed preaching of God’s Word, repentance is still occurring – because our minds are being changed (transformed) through the preaching of the gospel.  As we hear the gospel of Jesus being preached, we are changing our minds about our old beliefs that held us in bondage and receiving the truth that liberates us.  Even as you are reading this devotional, repentance is going on because you are renewing your mind with the good news of Jesus.  You are becoming more and more conscious of His finished work and your righteousness in Christ.  You begin to receive the revelation that you are no longer under the old covenant, but are now under the new covenant of grace.  He Bible calls that repentance!

Repentance From Dead Works

Believers are often exhorted to repent from sin.  However in the New Testament, we are actually exhorted to repent from dead works.  You see, sin is simply the fruit, but dead works are the root.  It says in the book of Hebrews that the foundation stone of our faith is “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (Hebrews 6: 1)  Now, “dead works” are not sins.  They are the religious things that people do, thinking that by doing these things, they are gaining righteousness with God.  If you pray or fast because you think that praying or fasting make you right with God, that’s a dead work.  But if you pray or fast because you are right with God and you know that He loves you, there is power there.  Can you see the difference?  It is the same activity – prayer or fasting – but the basis and motivation for doing it are completely different.  One is dead work while the other is living work by grace.

My friend, have you repented from dead works?  Jesus said in Matthew 3: 2, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  In other words, He was saying to the Jews of His time, “Change your mind and believe the good news – I will shed My blood, and through my suffering and passion, all your sins will be forgiven!”  If you are still living under the law and depending on your own efforts to qualify yourself and please God, it is time to repent (change your mind) from dead works and believe the gospel (good news)!

One Thing You Lack

I want to show you two stories in the Bible that effectively contrast law and grace.  These stories are found in Luke 18 and Luke 19.  In Luke 18: 18-23, we have the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Now think about this for a moment.  What should the right evangelical answer be?  The right evangelical answer should be, “Believe in Me and you will inherit eternal life.” But that was not what Jesus said to him.  Instead, Jesus gave him the law of Moses, saying, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery’, ‘Do not murder’, ‘Do not steal’, ‘Do not bear false witness’, ‘Honor your father and your mother’” Jesus gave him the Ten Commandments. Why? Because the young ruler came with pride, believing that he could do something to earn and deserve eternal life. Whenever you come boasting in your efforts, Jesus will give you the law of Moses.

Now, listen what the young man said in response to Jesus: “All these things I have kept from my youth.” Amazing! This man actually claimed that he had kept all the Ten Commandments from his youth! Like the Pharisees, some people really think that they are able to keep all the laws of Moses, not knowing that they have lowered God’s law to a place where they think they can keep it.  Jesus came to bring the law back to its pristine standard – not only must there be an outward adherence to the law, there must also be an inward adherence.  Jesus showed that God’s law is beyond man’s own efforts.  The young man was probably expecting Jesus to compliment him on his law-keeping and was feeling really confident on himself.  But notice what Jesus said to him, “One thing you still lack.” 

You see, every time you boast in your law-keeping. Jesus will find something that you lack.  In this case, He told the young man to sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow Him.  The young man boasted that he had kept all the commandments, but now Jesus was giving him the very first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (not even money), and look what happened.  The young ruler walked away, sorrowful.  He was not even able to give one dollar to the Lord!

Think about the amazing privilege to follow Jesus.  Jesus gave the man an opportunity to follow Him, but the man could not because he could not bear to part with his wealth.  In all his boasting, he could not even keep the first commandment. My friend, if you go to the Lord full of self-righteousness, boasting in your ability to keep the law, He will show you that, according to the Law, there is “one thing you lack.” 

Grace Opens Your Heart

Now, let us go over to Luke 19: 1-10.  Jesus walked into Jericho and a crowd gathered to see Him.  Then, as He passed by a sycamore tree, He looked up and saw Zacchaeus – short, little Zacchaeus who had climbed the tree hoping to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He walked by.  He was a corrupt tax collector, a sinner.  But, instead of giving him the Ten Commandments, Jesus showed him grace (undeserved favor) and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house.  Of course, the people in the crowd were displeased and they said, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Now, observe what happened at Zacchaeus’ house.  Before the dinner was over, Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” Jesus smiled at Zacchaeus and said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” 

I believe it was the Holy Spirit who put these two stories side by side.  I don’t believe that they happened chronologically.  I believe that the Holy Spirit placed them in this divine order to show us the contrasting effects of being under the covenant of law, and being under the covenant of grace.  When the rich young ruler came boasting in his law-keeping, Jesus answered with the law.  And the young man could hardly give a dollar to Jesus and walked away sorrowful.  But, in the very next chapter, when Jesus gave no law but showed his grace, it not only opened Zacchaeus’ heart, it also opened up his wallet.  Can you imagine this?  It opened up the wallet of a corrupt tax collector.  That’s truly the power of grace! It leads only to true repentance.  When you experience His grace, you can’t help but be generous.

Our heavenly Father is waiting for us to give up on our own efforts.  The moment you begin to “repent” from all the dead works that you have been doing to try to qualify for and deserve God’s acceptance and blessings, God will lavish on you His abundant grace – His undeserved, unearned, and unmerited favor.

God Is After Inward Heart Transformation

You may ask, “If I give up on keeping the law of Moses, what is going to govern my behavior and ensure that it is acceptable to God?”  You do not have to worry about how your behavior will be governed without a consciousness of the law.  The Word of God says that grace will teach you – “For the grace of God … has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts …” (Titus 2: 11-12)  Grace is a teacher and it taught Zacchaeus.  Do you remember his response after he experienced the abundance of grace?  He said, “I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”  It is grace that leads people to true repentance.  Grace does not result in superficial behavior modification, but inward heart transformation.

God bless.

Dedo Suwanda

Taken from “destine To Reign” by Joseph Prince

In conjunction with the new sermon series we have at Westside we will be posting links and other recommendations for further study from the pastors. Please check back for more content in the following weeks!

WORD UP! (Are there any errors or contradictions in the Bible?)

LINKS:

http://debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/contrads.htmhttp://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5717 http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5757

BOOK:

Inerrancy by Norman L. Geisler

SERMON POWERPOINT DOWNLOAD:

Click Here

Integrity

The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.
Proverbs 10:9

I believe that one of the most important charcter traits of a christian is integrity.In a christian point of view, I believe integrity is when our public life and our private life is the same.

How often do we only show our good side when we are around people (especially when in the church), and then when we go home, our ugliness comes out? How often do we make the “right” choices in church, and when no one is watching we make decisions that cheat, cut corners, and hurt other people?

The bible tells us that, “the man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” This means that God always honours a heart of integrity. Sometimes we think that the “right” way is the slow and boring way. But with God, His way is always the fast and blessed way.

Prayer:
Lord, would you lead me so that I may be able to walk with integrity. As I walk with integrity, would you make my crooked paths straight, make the mountains in my life  low and fill all the valleys of my life. So that I may experience the blessings of your love.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefor be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves
Matthew 10:16

The reality of our lives is that we are living in a fallen world. The bible tells us that our citizenship is not from here but from heaven. The problem is, we often forget who we are and where we came from. We tend to live our lives according to the pattern of this world and according to our sinful desires.

In our passage today Jesus tells us that he is sending us out like sheep among wolves. A sheep among wolves has no chance. In the same way, if we live with worldly desires or our sinful desires, we have no chance. The bible tells us the the devil prowls, waiting for someone to devour. This tells me that the moment I let my guard down, the moment I compromise my integrity, the devil is right there waiting to pounce on me.

The good news is that a sheep with his sheppard is safe. That means when we are connected to the heart of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can tear us down. Living in a fallen world with temptation all around us, is no match to the presence of God.

Prayer:
Father, as you send me out to be your living testimony would you protect me from the temptations of this world. Give me a heart that is sold out for you and a mind that is set on you.

- Mike Kang

Dear friends,  

The power of the Gospel is to live each walking moment having the confidence that all your sins have been forgiven.  Contrast this with living with a perpetual sense of guilt and condemnation that comes with thinking that when you sin, fellowship with God is broken, He no longer answers your prayers, He is far away from you, and until you repent and confess all your sins, the Holy Spirit will not return.  There are so many Christians, even mature ones, who are still confused about the teaching of forgiveness.  The best way to understand the Gospel is to go back to what the apostles preached in the early church.Let us examine what Paul, the apostle of New Covenant, preached.  After all, he was the apostle whom God appointed to preach the Gospel of Grace.  

Let us start by examining Acts 14: 8-10: Acts 14: 8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. When this crippled man heard Paul speaking, he was filled with faith to be healed.  How did the man come to be filled with faith?  

Look at what the Bible says about faith. Romans 10: 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The man at Lystra was filled with faith because he heard the word of Christ. In many English translation of the Bible, the word of Christ was translated the word of God.  You see, faith does not come simply hy hearing the word of God, which would encompass everything in the Bible, including the Law of Moses. 

There is no impartation of faith when you hear the Ten Commandments preached.  Faith comes only by hearing the word of Christ.  To hear the word of Christ is to hear preaching and teaching that have been filtered through the New Covenant of Grace and the finished work of Jesus Christ.  You can preach from “Genesis” to “Revelation”, but it has to be from the perspective of Jesus and His grace.  Christ is in the Old Testament concealed, and in the New Testament revealed.  

What was preached by the Apostle Paul?  

Let us go back one chapter to Acts 13.  Paul’s sermon in Acts 13 climaxed in verse 38-39: Acts 13: 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man (Jesus) forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. The power of the Gospel that Paul preached is found in the forgiveness of all your sins for “everyone who believes”.  There is no other qualification for being forgiveness for your sins.The old covenant was based on justification by works (obedience to the Ten Commandments).  You have to perform to be forgiven.  But the new covenant of grace is based entirely on justification by faith (believing in Jesus Christ).  

There is power in hearing and hearing the Gospel of Jesus.  That’s how faith comes.  The more of Jesus you hear, the more of His grace you receive.  The more revelation you get of His “finished work at the cross”, the more you will receive an impartation of faith for any situation, even the seemingly imposible ones. Are you faced with an impossible situation today?  Are you trusting the Lord for a breakthrough?  If so, I encourage you to get hold of good teachings that are full of the good news of Jesus.  Faith will be imparted to you as you hear more and more of Jesus.  Then, you will stop being pre-occupied with yourself, with your lack, and with your weaknesses, but you will become fully occupied with Jesus, His beauty, His perfection and His grace!  Amen!  

Rightly Dividing the Word  

There is a lot of confusion and wrong believing in the church today because many Christians read their Bibles without rightly dividing the old and the new covenants.  When reading the Old Testament, we need to read with the perspective of Jesus or the new covenant of grace. Take an example of the verses from Psalm 51 below.  David wrote this Psalm after he committed sin with Bathsheba and repented. These verses were used in a worship song that I used to like and sing frequently. It may sound harmless, but it is very misleading. Psalm 51: 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Why is it misleading?  As a believer under a new covenant, the Holy Spirit will never leave us forever.

Even when we are reading verses from the New Testament, we must read it with the right context. For example, we don’t realize that even some of the words which Jesus spoke in the four gospels (in the New Testament) are part of the old covenant.  They were spoken before the cross as He had not yet died.  The new covenant begins only after the cross, when the Holy Spirit was given on the day of the Pentecost.  It is important to realize that the cross made the difference.  In addition, we also need to examine who Jesus was speaking to.  At times, He was speaking to the Pharisees, who boasted in their perfect law-keeping.  With them, Jesus brough the law to its prinstine standard, such that it was impossible for any man to keep. Take a look at what Jesus said in Matthew 18: 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. Do you think that Jesus expects us to do that, or does He want us to rightly divide the Word, and understand who He was speaking to in that passage and what He meant?  He said all that so that man would come to an end of depending on Himself and begin to see that they desperately need a Saviour. So learn to rightly divide the Word of God whenever you read the Bible.  Not everything that Jesus said was spoken to the church or the believers.  

The Main Clause of the New Covenant  

Hebrews 8: 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he (Jesus) finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.  

This is the main and final clause of the new covenant: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”  God does not remember our sins any longer.  How can you still think that God is punishing you for the sins you committed in the past when something that seems bad happening in your lives, such as lack in finances, sickness or accidents? If you don’t believe in the main and final clause of the new covenant, you are rejecting the new covenant and negating the finished work of Jesus at the cross.  That is disobedience.

I pray that you receive the revelation of grace from God, and you will be liberated from the bondages resulted from the wrong teaching in the past that are not based on the new covenant.   

Dedo Suwanda

PS. The content of the article above was extracted from the book “Destined to Reign” by Joseph Prince.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

Did you know that God is your creator? That means that there is no one who knows you better than God. In all of our lives God is asking of us to lay down something so that we can follow Him without any hindrances. The reason why we can’t let go of these things is because these are things that we really want and desire.

God is the giver of dreams and visions. He knows what will get you excited and He knows what will bring satisfaction in your life. He knows the life you ought to live and He knows the people that you should be surrounded with.
To take up the cross does not mean that I’m going to choose a life of missery for God instead of a good life in this world. It means that I am going to walk into the life that God has intended me to live.

Today, lay down your own personal selfish amitions, let go of the people that hold you down, choose God’s agenda over yours and take up the cross and follow Jesus.

Prayer:
Father, thank you that you have plans to prosper my life.
Today I lay down everything that is of me. Use me as you please.

- Mike Kang