We are in a WAR

HGC Men’s fellowship + paintball game – 17^TH Sept 2012

PAINTBALL GAME - a war game

For most of us this is the first time we are in a paintball game.

We learned many precious lessons – practical and painful lessons.

Firstly jokingly I told the gang – please don’t shoot me, I am the pastor. They all started laughing and said WE WILL SURELY SHOOT YOU! THE BATTLEFIELD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS. We must realise that we are in a battlefield – we are at war!

The Battlefield was fierce – I got shot many times. At one time I grasped the flag and ran back – and they shot my back – it was painful. At other times I got shot on my head, on my arms, on my face mask, on my leg etc. If it is real bullets I would have died many times. I still have a blue black mark on my arm.

We need to have our whole armour on!

The real bullets can kill.
We need to fight as a team. We’ll be dead in no time if we fight alone.

We must have a clear strategy to win. Every soldier must be clear what they are to do. If he is attacking, he must do his part well. If he is defending, he must cover his attacking team well. Etc.

We must be fit.

2 days after the game I’m feeling the pain in my muscles. We must have regular training to stay fit!

 

PRE-GAME TIME

In the pre-game time we had a time of Praise and worship. It was powerful, liberating, anointed and Christ exalting!  There was indeed a breakthrough as the men praised the Lord loud and free and also danced before the Lord!

 While worshipping I was reminded of Ps 29 – The voice of the Lord

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters.

⁴       The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

⁵       The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶       He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷       The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.

⁸       The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹       The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, "Glory!"

 

Man is made in the image of God – we ought to have a powerful voice like God too.

Man must not be silent.

When the world was void and without form – GOD SPOKE ORDER, DESIGN, PURPOSE  AND BEAUTY into being – Gen 1

God made man first before making woman because God wants man to lead out of a relationship with Him.

 The enemy’s plan to foil God’s plan for man is to silence man.

Adam was right beside Eve when the serpent tempted her – but he said nothing – he was silent. He didn’t say, “STOP it! God said NO! Don’t do it! We must not disobey God etc.”  He should have said something!

Today the devil is trying all out to stop man from speaking God’s will, God’s order, God’s word, counsel, judgment etc.

One area is that he is trying very hard to stop men’s praise and prayer; authoritative, bold, strong prayer.

And it is not just in the area of praise and prayer. Many men today are silent when they ought to speak up.

Many fathers say nothing about their children’s life – they don’t give their approval or objection – they don’t rebuke and neither do they affirm.

Because of that many young people today are insecure, lost and weak or they are simply fed up, frustrated and rebellious just to get attention.

They lack the strong father leader figure over their lives.

 God has a calling for man – to rule!

How are men supposed to rule?

One most vital area is to rule with their authoritative, decisive, strong, wise yet loving VOICE!

 If men say nothing, the devil moves in and speaks lies, deceptions, perversions, unrighteousness, accusations and all his evil schemes.

 Where do men start to move towards being a positive, strong, righteous voice for the Lord?

Let’s start with PRASING GOD for we are called to praise the Lord!

1 Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

 Praising God is powerful!

 Psalms 22:3

But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

 Praising GOD enthrones HIM.

That mean it dethrones everything else.

The enemy always seeks to dethrone God from our hearts.

In fact the WARFARE we are in is the battle of the heart – who is going to be the LORD of man’s heart – THE LORD HIMSELF or any other things. The devil wants us to enthrone self, money, power and lusts and he will tempt us to do that. Anytime we allow these things to be number 1 in our hearts we lose the battle and the devil wins. He subtly deceives us to put self-interest above God and if we fall for it – guess what? He wins and we are defeated.

 So men let us decisively with determination and zeal, in unity and in strength choose to PRAISE THE LORD with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength!

 And I know out of that the LORD will release into our hearts HIS STRENGTH, COURAGE, POWER, LOVE, WISDOM ….AND HEAVEN’S BACKING into our lives and we will be HIS VOICE ON EARTH – THAT WILL BRING HIS ORDER, HIS RULE, HIS BEAUTY TO EARTH!

 

Our special trip to Israel and Europe

Chin Nee and I celebrated this year, our 25th Wedding anniversary by taking this special trip to Israel and then hopping over to Switzerland from there to minister in Ps Daniel and Ruth's church and then as a BTW thing we also hop over to London to visit my sister Maggie and her husband Bill. We left on 7th march 2012 and arrived back safely on 2nd April. This was the longest time we were away from home.
When asked how our trip was, my answer was a resounding EXCELLENT!
The Lord was so good and gracious to us. We were very very blessed in everyway.
Israel
It was really awesome visiting the Bible Land. The Bible truly came alive.
I spent quote a lot of time in the night and morning reading the Bible concerning those places we visited or about to visit. The cities, the towns, the Sea of Galilee, the mountains, the rivers, the terrain, the plants, etc all came alive. The weather in that relatively small region is very diverse. It can be very cold in Jerusalem and very hot in the dead sea area at the same time. That's because the dead sea is 1388 feet below sea level. The sea of Galilee is 712 feet below sea level and is the lowest fresh water lake in the world. I had the experience of Baptising some Christians on this trip in the River Jordan, like John the Baptist. Now when I read the Bible these places have special meaning. The ruins in Ceasarea was spectacular. You can't imagine the kind of civilisation 2,000 years ago. Today it is just ruins. BUT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IS EVER EXPANDING TODAY!

Jordan
We visited some parts of Jordan too and it is so disctinctly different from Israel. Most of Jordan is wilderness but Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses led the Israelites through the dry, parched, uninhabited wilderness for 40 years. We can see clearly that the Israelites could never have survived without the PILLAR OF CLOUD BY DAY (They would have been scorched to death by the hot sun) or the PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT (They would died of cold or being attacked by wild animals).

Switzerland
We had a most blessed us time in Switzerland. We had beautiful snow for 2 days and then the other days were all sunny, blue sky and just beautiful. The ministry in Ps Daniel's church, Hope of Glory Switzerland, was wonderful. The members were very hungry for God. The Lord's was present to bless His people there. It is a very good work and the need is great.

London
We flew over to London to visit my sister Maggie and her husband Bill. They are a very godly and loving couple. They showed us wonderful hospitality and it was really a great blessing to get to know them much better. They are in Salisbury, about 2 hours by road from London city. It is a peaceful city with beautiful countryside plains. We enjoyed our 3 nights and 2 full days there.

Germany
After getting back from London to Switzerland we ministered in Ps Daniel's church dedication service. It was a very powerful time as the Lord spoke clearly about His call for this church.
The following week Ps Daniel drove us to Germany to visit a place call the Black Forest. We stayed 2 nights in a lovely hotel in a place called Titisee where there is a beautiful lake.

All in all it was a superb trip for our Silver Wedding Anniversary.
All thanks, praise and glory to our Lord Jesus!
Lord you are so good to us!

Wage the Good warfare!

We are in a war!
Often we say it is a spiritual war as though it doesn't affect other areas of our lives. But the spiritual affects all other areas. In fact the spiritual is first and then the physical. So we are in a war battling for souls for eternity.

In 1 Tim 1:18-19 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck

One of the most important gift that God has given man is the conscience.
What is conscience?
The following story by Theodore parker illustrates it very well.
" I saw a little spotted turtle," he writes, " sunning itself in the shallow water. I lifted the stick in my hand to kill it; for though I had never killed any creature, yet I had seen other boys, out of sport, destroy birds, squirrels and the like, and I had a disposition to follow their example. But all at once something checked my little arm, and a voice within me said, clear and loud, ' It is wrong.' I held my uplifted stick in wonder at the new emotion, till the turtle vanished from sight." I hastened home and told the tale to my mother, and asked what it was that told me it was wrong. She wiped a tear from her eye, and taking me in her arms, said, ' Some men call it conscience, but I prefer to call it the voice of God in the soul of man. If you listen and obey it, it will speak clearer and clearer, and always guide you right; but if you turn a deaf ear or disobey, then it will fade out little by little, and leave you in the dark without a guide. Your life my son depends on heeding that little voice.'"

Definitions of conscience
· The consciousness within oneself of the choice one ought to make between right and wrong. (Oxford)
· From a Christian perspective a conscience is all about having God’s standard in our hearts to guide us in how we conduct ourselves.
· Conscience is a group of laws in our hearts. Mankind has demonstrated that they know God’s principles. No matter if we know the Bible or not, we know we should not murder, steal, be jealous of other people, and generally not do the things that displease our Creator.
· A good conscience is one that allows me to look every person in the eye knowing that not one of them can point a finger and say, “You wronged me and you never tried to make it right”.

Then why do man made in the image of God do “beastly”, ungodly and wicked things? What happened to their conscience?

THE BIBLE SAYS THAT CONSCIENCE CAN....
seared – burned and destroyed with hot iron (1 Tim 4:2),
defiled – made corrupted by impurities and filth (Titus 1:15) and
weakened – a conscience that is seared and defiled and a conscience that has been filled with lies and wrong examples will be weak (1 Cor 8:7,10).

How can one’s conscience be weakened? If we keep seeing wrong things done around us we can accustom ourselves to it until what we consider as wrong become "acceptable". If our parents uses foul language, the children will soon follow and they have no shame feelings about it.

GOD’S WANTS OUR CONSCIENCE TO BE:
good - strong and healthy - 1 Tim 1:5, 19;
pure - cleansed and kept clean - 1 Tim 3:9 and
clear - void of offence towards God and men

CONSCIENCE CAN BE AWAKENED BY TRUTH:
John 8 :9. When Jesus spoke the truth; the men beginning with the oldest were convicted in their conscience of their own sins.
We need to constantly expose ourselves to the truth of God’s word to keep our conscience healthy and strong.

WAGE A GOOD WARFARE BY HAVING FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE: 1 Tim 1:18-19
We can’t fight against the devil if our conscience is pricking us or condemning us. The devil’s scheme is to defile, sear and weaken man’s conscience till he doesn’t know what’s right and wrong. Then he can easily tempt man to do the wrong things i.e. to sin against God and be destroyed.

What can we do to maintain a good conscience
§ Love truth & not compromise it
§ Please God
§ Live by God’s standard
§ Be sincere

CONCLUSION:
Let’s be like Paul who said in Acts 24:15,16 …I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Don't ever bow to compromise; to fear; to self preservation.

Only bow to God and His Word; to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Poor People are more Compassionate and more Blessed

Recently the news of Yue Yue the 2 years plus baby who was ran over by a van and was ignored for 7 minutes by 18 passers by, shocked us all. How could human beings (in this case the Chinese people) be so heartless that they could totally ignore a critically injured baby by the road side right before their eyes.

Has the busyness of life in the city made cold hearts out of us. Notice I use "us" and not them. Before we point the finger and criticise the 18 people let us do some soul searching. Could we have done the same? Perhaps we are rushing to go to work, to an appointment or even to go home to take care of our family members at home. There could be a 101 reasons, right? As someone puts it, " we could have made the money but we have lost our hearts (the loving compassionate human hearts). Is progress, development and higher standards of living beneficial to us? Maybe to our physical comfort but I'm certainly doubtful about it's benefit to our souls/hearts.

In contrast I have a heartwarming story to tell.
Ten of us from our church went to India for a Mission Trip recently. We went to a small town about 10 hours drive from the city of Hyderabad. It is one of those poor towns where roads are bad and where everything seems so messy and dirty. You see cows strolling on the roads or resting right in the middle of the road. On top of that there are wild pigs like dogs running around, scavengering for food amidst rubbish thrown everywhere. There are lots of pedestrians and people on bicycles and motorcycles. On top of that cars are always honking.

On one of our trips on the road, the car in front just went past a junction and a motorcycle came out and hit the car and the riders fell to the ground. We exclaimed! But what amazed me was that almost immediately 6 to 10 people came from different direction to help to lift up the riders and the bike. The sight really left a deep impression in my heart. They just "dropped" whatever they were doing to come to aid. I know that these people were the "poor" people of a small town in India. But they were "real" human beings. They have compassion. They are helpful. They are caring.

In this Mission trip we were serving the villagers. They live in simple small one room thatched roofed houses. When we preached the Good News to them, they responded enthusiastically and many (numbering above thousands) lifted their hands to receive Jesus into their hearts. In the last night I preached a message on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and many responded and came forward to ask the Lord to fill them with the Holy Spirit. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to pray in the heavenly language.

No wonder Jesus declared in Luke 6:20-21
"Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled."

Be saved from this perverse generation

Acts 2:40
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation.

Most people don't know that they are in danger. In danger of being harmed, being cheated, being stolen from and even being destroyed.

We know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour and Deliverer.
But we don't know what we need to be saved from or delivered from.

We are living amidst a perverse or crooked generation.
Lying, cheating, being selfish, being greedy, being lustful is part and parcel of life. Most people can't beat this kind of lifestlye so what do we do. We join them. And we think it is OK. We think that nothing will happen. There will be no consequences. We think that we won't reap what we sow.

We really believe that nothing will happen and we go on living in sin.

But surely God is not mocked.
Surely what we sow we shall reap.
Surely judgment will come.

And we who are in the light of the truth about God and the Gospel must be convinced of this truth. And we must be so convicted that we will stand for this truth and we will also TESTIFY & EXHORT with many words to people who are ignorant, who are deceived, who don't care BECAUSE WE BELIEVE AND WE CARE!

We will do it in the name of Jesus because HE GAVE HIS LIFE ON THE CROSS to save us from this perverse generation that will come under judgment if they do not BELIEVE AND ACCEPT WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR THEM.

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes

An Episode at the Immigration Office

I had to renew my passport for travelling purposes and got my photos and a copy of my IC (Identity Card) ready. After I drove all the way there and parked my car, I realised that I forgot to bring my passport. Aya! I called Chin Nee to express my frustration. Anyway, I still went to the office get a form. And what a relief it was that I didn't have to join the queue of a huge crowd that was already there.

Two days later I went early to the office and this time I made doubly sure that I had everything that is needed. Even though I was early there was already a lot of people waiting. Once I got my number, I went to look for a seat and was surprised to find a front seat right in front of the Payment counter vacant.
After I got seated I noticed that a young man was seated next to me. I said hello and spark off a conversation with him asking him what time he arrived and where he was travelling to etc. He said that he came 30 minutes ago and there was already a lot of people.

We talked about many things and it was meaningful and interesting. The Lord led me to share some wise counsel to him as he just began his working life. Eventually I was led to share the Gospel with him. He was very open and even allowed me to pray for him and I prayed for him asking the Lord to bless him.

The amazing thing was that the Lord had him in His plan for me to meet him this time. That's why my earlier trip was not to be. I had to come back here on this day to meet him and to share Christ with him.

Also I noticed that as we talked, the moment I looked up to check if my number was called, my number popped up. First for payment and then for collecting the passport.

The 2 hours went by so quickly as we shared together and as I presented the Gospel to him.

When my number was called to collect my passport his number was not called yet. (Remember he came 30 minutes earlier). So as I went to collect my passport he followed me and he too collected his passport. Apparently he missed his number because he was listening to me!

Anyway I offered to send him to the LRT station as I discoverd that he doesn't have a car. I wasn't sure how to get to the station but he directed me and when I got there I discovered a new way to come back to Ampang which was much faster and shorter. (And I have been going the long way all this while). It is a wonderful testimony that when we give we will surely receive much more!

Looking back I was so encouraged to see that I was flowing with the Lord's wonderful sovereign plan.

So I must indeed give thanks always even when I seem to have forgotten somethings and went through some inconveniences.

HE IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL!

The Power to Witness

DATE: 11th Sept 2011
SPEAKER: Ps Khor
SCRIPTURE: Matt 28:19-20, Acts 1:8

INTRODUCTION:
THE MISSION: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

THE PROMISE: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matt 28:19-20)

God’s heart beats with missions and so must ours. Before ascending into heaven, Jesus left His disciples with a mission and the promise of His Presence &.Power.

THE PROMISE: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

THE MISSION: and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)


THREE WAYS OF WITNESSING:
1. LIFESTYLE – at home, at work, in school, in our neighbourhood and amongst our family and friends. By the way we live or through our behaviour we are sending a message. But important as it is, it is NOT ENOUGH.

Are you conscious of the unspoken messages you are sending out?

Do you get upset or offended easily? Are you able to control your anger?

Our lives must bear the fruit of the Spirit of LOVE JOY PEACE PATIENCE KINDNESS GOODNESS FAITHFULNESS GENTLENESS AND SELF CONTROL! These fruits will bear witness to the life of Christ in us!

2. GOOD WORKS – Eph 2:10 & Matt 5:16
Whatever we may do as our vocation let us be known for doing good work.
If you are a teacher, let it be known that you are a good teacher.
If you are a painter, be a good painter.
If you are a taxi driver, be a good taxi driver.
If you are a boss, be a good boss! Amen!

On top of that let us be a people known for the good works we do to the poor and needy.

Doing the above two things is great and is absolutely necessary BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH. We MUST STILL ....

3. PREACH THE GOSPEL – At home AND Abroad.

We must learn how to share the gospel and our testimony. We can give a tract. And we must make disciples. That means we must teach the whole counsel of God's Word to build up His church. But we must begin by presenting the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Paul says, "Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel"
He also proclaimed, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, it is the power of God for salvation for all who believes".

Rom 10: 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?


HOW CAN WE EXTEND GOD’S KINGDOM:
1. GIVE OF OURSELVES to be a blessing, Live the more blessed life.
2. PRAY, GIVE, GO in obedience

AS WE GO OUT TO FULFIL GOD’S MISSION:
1. We will experience renewal and revival
2. We will have His Promised Presence – eg: the gifts of the Holy Spirit will flow
3. We will experience the pilgrim’s life – our focus will be “off” this world
4. There will be a more intense focus on God and His commission.
5. We will experience great joy – see harvest of souls
6. All will experience God’s blessings – those who go; those who send; those who pray; those we go to

THE ENEMY WANTS TO STOP MISSIONS:
1. BLOCK prayer, giving and going
2. Get the church BOGGED DOWN with internal problems
3. Get the church to just have an INWARD FOCUS to meet her own needs
4. Get Christians so busy that we have no time for missions
5. Get Christians fearful about going to missions
6. Block finances from being released into missions.

Are you aware of the enemy’s tactics?

CONCLUSION:
Don’t let the enemy stop us! Focus on God! Let Him empower us to preach the gospel with great boldness.