The day that Jesus rose from the dead. The story told for countless generations, the powerful tale which sets people free from their sins. I’m glad that I went to church again today. To give thanks for the many wonderful blessings in my life. Have you given thanks?

Suddenly, I feel relieved. I feel lighter. I feel as though something had been lifted from me and I can breathe more clearly, I can see deeper. As though I have a sudden insight – an insight that things will turn out right, an insight that plans will fall into place, an insight that I have a path to follow. All paths in God’s eyes are straight and I only have to focus on the one thing that matters most – faith in Him – and I shall not want.

Blessed be to all.

I’m very grateful to that nagging feeling. The message this evening was on the Abounding Provision … Amazing Grace. It was a 1st of a 2 part series and talked about God’s greatness and his provision of all our needs. At the end of the service, it was as though the message was right for me. I even went for the altar call and although I did not have a overwhelming feeling, I have a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Nothing about me has changed, yet I feel a shift has occurred.

Thursday night, there was an event – AdAsia PubNite – I went to the event with 2 of my colleagues. We ended up having a drink each before heading off. After I walked down, I realized that it was so unsatisfying and that I had not achieve anything at all that night. With a moments hesitation, I decided to head back to the event. I got myself another drink and fortunately ended up chatting with a couple of people. Before long, there was a lucky draw and it was a huge Surprise. They were spelling out QAIS. Just like how I always had to spell it out to people. I had won one of the prize – it was a photo frame. At least it was a lucky win!

The background on this is … my colleague had been winning many lucky draws at various occasions and we were saying how she was so lucky. So, I said that maybe if I placed my name cards on her desk, I would rub off the luck. Conclusion = The luck might really have rubbed off. =)

Have a good weekend to all. I have a couple of things to do for work still.

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
Eph 4:1

Walking in the fullness of the calling of God
To walk is to tread all around, walk at large, literally to live, to be occupied. This is a walk that entails our entire spiritual life

Calling is an invitation to be both a Position and a Partaker of the Promises of Christ.

How do we walk?

1. Walk in a league, in unity of God

Literally with one heart, one mind, one spirit
Not a conformity that comes from external pressure
Unity to rise above strife for the oneness

2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:2-3

The grace needed to walk in unity

• Lowliness
• Meekness
• Long suffering
• Forbearance
• Endeavor
• peace

The ground of unity

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Eph 4:4-6

The gifts of unity
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says:
“ When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
eph 4:7-11

2. Walk in the light

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

  25 Therefore, putting away lying, “ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph 4:17-32

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spiritis in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:

“ Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

Eph 5:1-20

Above is the manual for walking in the light!
This is the key to influencing our world

3. Walk in love

21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Eph 5:21

Submit to one another in the fear of God.
Areas of relationships to walk in love

• Everyone (fear of God)
• Wives and husband
• Children and parents
• Employees and employers

Submission and obedience
This is to be in a posture of submission that God sees our hearts and give us his authority.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesians 6:10 – 20

A brief recap of what the sermon series is about:
1. Seated with Christ
This is to ascend to authority in Jesus Christ.

2. Stand with Christ
This is to be asserting our authority for the goodness of God.

(Part 3 of the series shall be delivered next week.)

a. The problem

We have a struggle in the heavenly realm (Eph 6:12,13)

What are the schemes of the devil?

• deception (Adam and Eve were deceived in the Garden of Eden.)
• tragedy (Job had tragedy after tragedy)
• lust (King David)
• temptation (Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert.)
• doubt (John the baptist for a moment doubt if Jesus was the one.)
• violence (Stephen, Acts 7)
• sickness (Paul)

b. The power

We are strong in the lord his mighty power (Eph 6:10)

This shall enable us to stand with God and against evil.

c. The posture

We are to stand firm in the armour of God. (Eph 6:13-18)

The bible talks about standing firm, standing for God, and keeps repeating the word stand.

God is calling us:

• to stand
• to resist
• to maintain position
• to persist
• to endure
• to remain upright
• to encounter

Belt of truth

Enables us to be strengthen by God’s truth in the gospel.

Breast plate of righteousness

The chest is seed of emotions and righteousness is the righteousness of God by faith alone.

Shoe of readiness

It is to have firmness and confidence of peace and have mobility.

Shield of faith

Is the ability to apply what we believe to repel everything the devil does or attempts to do to us.

Helmet of salvation

It is the hope of salvation.

Sword of the spirit

It is the word of God empowered by the spirit of the moment.

To war for Christ is to keep on praying as it is the vital line to God.

Eventually, he also touched on why Christian soldier fail to stand?

• complacency
• convenience
• comfort

Eph 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We were given authority and dominion over the world.
Authority is the legal right to …

1. We were dead in sin
- corrupted by sin
- captive to Satan
- condemned to Hell

But God,

2. Alive in Christ
- redeemed by the blood
- released in freedom
- restored us to position of authority

We are seated with Jesus, who is seated in the Heavenly Realm, beside God the Father, with Satan under our feet.
We reign with Jesus.

What does this mean?
- to do good works, that God had prepared us to do

Adopt the right posture
- to affirm our identity (pray the scripture over ourselves)
- need to abide in Christ
- arming ourselves (with prayer, proclaim the word of God)
- act in authority (We are all soldiers of God.)

Step out in authority!
I am a Christian, and I do things differently.

This was from last week’s sermon by Pastor Dennis Lam.

Te message was “Come back into alignment with God”

Matthew 6:33

33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Are we aiming at the right target? We are warned against an endless life of material things/stuff.

Matthew 6:19- 20

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:25

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Matthew 6:31-32

31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

“Seek first his ” is not a request but a commandment to us.

“Kingdom of God” is about yielding to divine Lordship and giving God full priority to direct our life.

The problem with men is that we are too set in our ways. We must work towards a divine character and of righteousness. At the end of the day, do people see Christ in us?

“all these things will be added unto you”  is about all the right result, Life of peace, life of provision, life of purpose that will flow from God to us, if we “seek first the Kingdom of god.”

It was part of my New Year’s Resolution, so I was quite determined to go.

The message is part of a series – “New Year, New You” and this weekend was the 2nd part of the message.

The message was “Aligning your inner self” adapted from the verses Matthew 23: 25-26.

25“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

1. Confront our inner self

The Pharisees focused on cleaning the outside, demonstrated the fulfillment of the law, exaggerated their piety, self righteousness, became too legalistic, and their hearts become corrupted.

To confront our inner self, we would have to ask ourselves some hard questions to understand why do we do what we do?

a. Who owns you?
b. What are our motivations?
c. When we strip away our spirituality what are we left with?
d. Not just our sins, but why we sin?

Galatians 5. 17

7For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

Apparently, the heart of men tends to evil. I’m not totally agreeable with that phrase by the Pastor, and his evidence from the bible, because I still believe the Confucius saying “人之初，性本善“. This essentially says that men is inherently kind.

Anyhow, the key take away is that God is more interested in the inside than the outside.When we take care of our inner self, it will manifest itself on the outside.

2. Cleanse our inside

Let God rearrange our priorities by align our life to Christ. acknowledging Christ’s Lordship over us. We would have to. Avoid contamination. If you are in Christ, you are in life. If you are not in Christ, you are not in life.

Therefore, on a final note, it was to tell us to first clean the inside.

And, cleaning the inside is something that is impossible without the work of Christ.

Hence, dear friends, pray and be in Christ – let him take over whatever we do.

It was a very impromptu though of giong to church.  I hadn’t plan it. After doing my days’ work at I suddenly felt that I wanted to go to church. I had the time slot for it perfectly blocked out with Nothing at all. So i went to church.

It was a good feeling going back. It soothes me. It calms me. It overwhelms me.

It makes me think about all the good in my life again and how not to fret for all the uncertainties in my life.

The message for the session is below. I had taken some pointers and I hope you would be able to take away some wisdom as well.

—-

Trinity Christian Centre
Rev ong seng leang

exodus 33:2 – I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

exodus 33:12-16 – Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

sophistication or spiritual power

- a bit more complicated
- more cultured, more educated
- sophistication does not change people’s life
- only spiritual power can change lifes
- it comes from people who long for God, more than anything else

if god does not go with us then we do not go at all.
moses demande more than a representative of God, he wanted God’s presence.

isiah 40: 39

- deliberately note towards intimacy with God
- deliberately depend on the Holy Spirit