23 Jul 09 Change your behaviour or change your name

Several centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great came out of Macedonia and Greece to conquer the Mediterranean world. He didn`t know it, but God was using him to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah – for it was as a result of Alexander`s conquests that Greek was established as the lingua france (common language) of the Grecian and later even Roman Empire.

On one of his campaigns, Alexander received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier`s name was also Alexander. When the commander learned this, he sent word that he wanted to talk to the errant soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him, “What is your name?” The reply came back, “Alexander, sir”. The commander looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully, “soldier, either change your behaviour or change your name.”

This story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. Is your behaviour compatible with that Name?

Tags: Jesus Christ, name, Testimony

22 Jul 09 Was Michael Jackson happy?

Was Michael Jackson happy when he was alive? He had all the popularity of a great celebrity. He had large followers of fans. He had lots money (at least before he lost them). He lived is a big mansion. But he could not sleep. Why couldn’t he sleep? Perhaps he had no peace. Was he happy? He was trying so hard to please so many people.

Can you find happiness on earth? Where can you find happiness?

• Not in unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”
• Not in pleasure — Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure, if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone.”
• Not in money — Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”
• Not in possession and fame — Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age regret.”
• Not in military glory — Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because, as he said: “There are no more worlds to conquer.”

Where, then is happiness found?

The answer is simple: “In Christ alone.” He said: “I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22)

Where can we find great JOY? The secret is found in the acronym J.O.Y.

To have joy you must put Jesus first, Others next and then Yourself last.

That’s right! Put Jesus on top of everything else. Put Jesus as your motive for doing anything. Put the needs of other people first before looking at your own needs. If you follow this formula you will find true happiness.

Tags: Happiness, Happy, joy, Rejoice

20 Jul 09 Failure of Christians

  An unknown medieval poet, observing the failure of Christians in his day to give Christ His rightful place, wrote these words carved in stone in the cathedral at Lubeck, Germany:-

Thus speaketh Christ , our Lord;
You call Me Master and obey Me not.
You call Me light and seek Me not,
You call Me Way and walk Me not,
You call Me life and desire Me not,
You call Me wise and follow Me not,
You call Me noble and serve Me not,
You call Me just and fear Me not,
If I condemn you – blame Me not.

Tags: Failure of Christians

16 Jul 09 The greatest truth in John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

• GOD — The Greatest Lover
• SO LOVED — The Greatest Degree
• THE WORLD — The Greatest Company
• THAT HE GAVE — The Greatest Act
• HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON — The Greatest Gift
• THAT WHOSOEVER — The Greatest Opportunity
• BELIEVETH — The Greatest Simplicity
• IN HIM — The Greatest Attraction
• SHOULD NOT PERISH — The Greatest Promise
• BUT — The Greatest Difference
• HAVE — The Greatest Certainty
• EVERLASTING LIFE. — The Greatest Possesion

Tags: John 3:16

14 Jul 09 Age of the Patriachs in the Bible

 

 We can find out the ages of the patriachs, e.g. Adam, Noah, Abraham and Joseph by looking at the corresponding bible verses.

When we plot the ages of these patriachs into a time line chart we find very interesting facts.

These facts help to explain how the Word of God get passed down from generation to generation.

I remember how my grandmother used to tell me a Chinese rhyme. I still remember the rhyme and found myself telling my children. This is how information gets passed down from generation to generation. We don’t have television, internet, emails and books like what we have now.

People stick around in the family and the places they live  and listen to each other. The patriachs who live a very long life will impart their knowledge to their children. 

• Abraham was born only 11 years after Noah died, even though there are 10 generations difference.
• Shem, Noah’s son, was still living when Isaac lived. Abraham and Isaac would have been able to ask him about his experiences during the flood, the ark, etc. 
• The year Methuselah died, was the year the flood started (the 600^th year of Noah’s life).  
• Noah’s father could still talk to Adam.
• The oldest person ever live on earth is Methusaleh (969 years) 

Tags: Abraham, Adam, Age of man, Age of the patriachs, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Methusaleh, Noah

13 Jul 09 Him that honoureth me I will honour

Chariots of Fire

At the Paris Olympics over forty years ago, when an Edinburgh student, Eric Liddell, was chosen to run in the 100 metres, he withdrew because he refused to run in the heats on a Sunday. He switched to the 400 metres, somehow scrapped through to the final and won the Gold Medal.

Some of the very pressmen who had slanged him for his narrow-minded religious scruples said that he had ran “like a man inspired” and asked how he managed it.

He opened his hand and showed a sweaty screw of paper he had been clutching all through the race and said, “Somebody thrust that into my hand just before the start.” On it was written a text:”Him that honoureth me I will honour.”

1 Samuel 2: 30

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed [that] thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Tags: 1 Samuel 2: 30, Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell, honour

05 Jun 09 The Devil’s Beattitudes

If the Devil were to write his Beatitudes, they would probably go something like this:

Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians in Church — they are my best workers.
Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked — I can use them.
Blessed are the touchy, with a bit of luck they may stop going to church — they are my missionaries.
Blessed are those who are very religious but get on everyone’s nerves — they are mine forever.
Blessed are the troublemakers — they shall be called my children.
Blessed are those who have no time to pray — they are easy prey for me.
Blessed are the gossiper — for they are my secret agents.
Blessed are those critical of church leadership — for they shall inherit a place with me in my fate.
Blessed are the complainers — I’m all ears for them.
Blessed are you when you read this and think it is about other people and not yourself — I’ve got you.

* Author unknown.

Tags: The Devil's Beattitudes

31 May 09 CT Studd

C.T. Studd was an outstanding County and All-England Cricketer. He was a freshman at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1879-1880, and took a degree in law.

He gave up his cricketing fame and the family fortune and followed Hudson Taylor to China when challenged to become a full time missionary.

He returned 21 years later, broken in health, after serving in China and India.

Unexpectedly he received a new and very distinct call to the heart of Africa.

At 53, leaving his invalid wife in England, he set out in utter reliance on God’s promises.

His answer to all who questioned the wisdom of his action was found on a postcard on his desk:

If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

Tags: CT Studd, Missionary

31 May 09 What I learnt about giving?

“A living church is a giving church.”

A young man said that he does not want to go to church because the pastor is always talkng about giving back to God. He could not understand the meaning of giving. Neither does he understand that a Christian need to give to be spiritually alive.

A wise old man told him this story:

” My wife and I spent so much on hospital and maternity care since my son was conceived. After he was borned we spent even more money. We had to buy new clothes, pampers, milk and toys.  Later we had to enroll him in kindergarten, schools and college. The cost of keeping my son alive and making sure he grows physically and in other skills kept going higher and higher till we wiped out our life savings.”

“Two years ago, my son died from a road traffic accident. All of a sudden our cost of living dropped dramatically and we were able to save more money for our retirement”, the old man continued his story.

Turning to the young man he asked, ” Would you rather that I continue to spend money and have my son by my side or have a bigger bank account with a dead child?”

“God prospers us not to raise our standard of living but to rasie our standard of giving”

The error of the false doctrine of Prosperity Gospel.-They preach that we should give so that God will give us back more for our selfish living

The correct doctrine is: We give and we get so that we can be more generous in giving

2 Corinthian 9: 9-11 (NIV)

As it is written:  “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;  his righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

“We give and get and we can’t out give God”

50% of Jesus’s parable deals with money and giving . Why? Because to many people, “money is their god”

Many people are financially strapped simply because they are not giving.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and [there is] that withholdeth more than is meet, but [it tendeth] to poverty.  The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.  (Proverb 11: 24-25)

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  (Luke 6:38)

We should give sacrificially

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Cor 8:9)

“Gladly I would make the floor my bed, a box, my chair, use another box for a table rather than suffer men to perish eternally for want of knowledge of Christ. ” CT Studd

Statistics about Christian Giving.

• 12 % of all born again believers give faithfully
• 65% of all born again believers give haphazardly
• 23% of all born again believers give nothing at all

 Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to leave His reputation in our hands.  (CT Studd)

Tags: Blessing, Charity, Christian Giving, CT Studd, Generous, money, Tithings

22 May 09 Quotes from Watchman Mee

When the man who preaches the cross does not himself have the experience of the cross nor the spirit of the cross, he cannot dispense to others the life of the cross.  (Watchman Nee)

We cannot give others what we ourselves do not have If the cross does not become our life, we cannot give the life of the cross to others.  (Watchman Nee)

The failure of our work comes because we love to give the cross to others before we know whether or not we have the cross in ourselves. Those who are good at preaching to others must be good at preaching to themselves first. (Watchman Nee)

Although the message we preach is important, we must not stress the message too much and forget ourselves. We can gain some knowledge from books about the word of the cross which we preach. We can use our mind to look for many meanings in the Bible. However, all these are borrowed; they do not belong to us. Those who have clever minds are more dangerous than others. A preacher is in more danger than others, because all the studying, reading, researching and listening may be done for others and not for himself. (Watchman Nee)

What people lack is not good thoughts but life! (Watchman Nee)

We cannot give to others what we do not have. If we have life, we can give life to others. If what we have is only thoughts, we can only give thoughts to others. (Watchman Nee)

(Watchman Nee became a Christian in mainland China in 1920 at the age of 17 years. He was imprisoned by the communist government in 1952 where remained untill his death in 1972)

Tags: Life, Watchman Nee