20150412 Wounds

Where are your wounds?

Dr Leow Theng Huat

12 April 2015

Wesley Methodist Church

Theology

Faith seeking understanding

Faith and live push us

To want to know more

To understand

Good theology nurtures faith

A small peek at the resurrection body

Physical in nature

Can see and touch

Able to suspend some natural laws

Can eat and drink

Can enjoy fellowship

Limitations removed

No decay

No disease

No deterioration

No death 

This helps you to face your own mortality with courage and joyful expectation

By God's grace!

Why did the resurrected Christ still bear wounds ?

Scars in hands

Feet

Side?

Why did He remain mutilated?

His body without the wounds

Would be far less perfect

Far less beautiful

His wounds are

Wounds of sacrifice

Wounds of love.

Beauty and perfection in God's eyes 

Are not in external appearances

If beautiful outside

But self-centered 

= hideous in God's sight

= a deformed human being

The world has excessive emphasis

On external outward appearance.

God sees a persons

Acts of love

Acts of sacrifice

Wounded by loneliness

Take home message

Have you ever really made a sacrifice?

Where are your wounds?

Do you have beautiful hands?

Look nice,

But never did any work?

Or do you have scarred hands

Rough from carpenters work

With wounds of love

Of sacrifice

Of giving?

Hands constantly open in the act of giving?

Closing prayer

Dear God

Give us eyes to see

Beauty as you see

Perfection as you see.

Give us

Deep love for people around us

Love that drives us to sacrifice

Even sacrifice that wounds

Amen

20150405 Easter Gifts

This is the word of God

Thanks be to God!

"BUT in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead"

Hallelujah

When we think of gifts we usually think of Christmas

Jesus came at Christmas to give us

FREEDOM from our past

POWER for our present and

ASSUARANCE for our future.

We also think of spiritual gifts

At Easter we think of

Salvation

New Life (as symbolised by Easter egg)

With Easter comes three gifts

* PAST is forgiven

* POWER to change

* PROMISES secured.

* PAST is forgiven

Christ has taken our charge sheet and 

stamped on it "acquitted"

"not guilty"

SIN is living your life not according to God

Centre of SIN is the letter "I"

How do you spend your

TIME

MONEY

ENERGY?

HOW to receive this forgiveness?

*CONFESS your sin to God

  are you CEO Christian?

  Christmas and Easter Only?

  Never mind

   If you confess you sin you will receive mercy

*CLAIM God's promise

  God will forgive you

  How many times should I forgive?

  Phrases taught 3 times

  Peter answered 7 times

  Jesus responded 70X7 times

  = 490 times

  = no limit

God's forgiveness is unlimited

God's love is unlimited

Reconciliation takes time

Trust takes time.

If you are a habitual sinner, God's grace applies.

*CONFESS your sin to one other person

Accountability

Sin lurks in the dark

Bring it out into the light (By confessing to another person)

Your confession should be

Situational

Specific

Sincere

* POWER to change

*CONFESS you can not do it (change from sin) alone

  you can not do it in your own strength

   "Apart from me you can do nothing"

*Develop spiritual discipline

  Read bible

  memorise bile verse

   mediate

   prayer

*COUNT on God to change you

* PROMISES secured.

  Jesus is Risen

All promises of God have been fulfilled in Christ

Have you received these these three Easter gifts?

* PAST is forgiven

* POWER to change

* PROMISES secured.

New believer's prayer

"God I have not figured out everything.

I believe Jesus rose from the dead.

Because of that I believe in Jesus.

I believe in your promises

I welcome Jesus into my life"

20150405 Sunrise Service

Made alive in Christ

The Jewish court sentenced Jesus and sealed His tomb

The Roman court sentenced Jesus and posted guards at his tomb

Yet God vindicated Jesus 

by breaking the seal

Paralizing the guards

And raising Jesus from the dead. 

Defining moments of the Holy Week narrative

Death on the cross

Resurrection 

Which completed his work on the cross

Good Friday only makes sense though the perspective of Easter

Post resurrection

Jesus came to the disciples

They were guilt stricken

"Don't be afraid"

Words of comfort 

He brought gift of the Holy Spirit

Gift of forgiveness to be shared with others.

Don't be caught in the cycle of revenge

The vampire bat has enzymes in saliva that prevent blood from clotting

Bat can keep licking blood.

Likewise satan tempts us to 

unforgiveness 

Bitterness

Spiritual Zombie

How to move from Victim to Hero?

Constant flow of forgiveness.

Pathway to forgiveness
* COMMUNITY
   support
   accountability

* NAME the hurt
  acknowledge it

* ACCEPT that whatever happened can not be undone

* MOVE ON
  Choose forgiveness over revenge

* RELEASE that person with action

NO turning back
To wholeness
Bless them with God's love
with acts of kindness

Unforgiveness locks us into our pain

Walk out of the tomb of unforgiveness

"An eye for an eye" would only end up in the whole world going blind!

Half a loaf rather than five loaves two fish

This is photographer Henry Lim. And on Good Friday he shared with me something that spells out for me a nice "five loaves two fish" story; or rather a "half a loaf" story.

At Chinese New Year our church had an outreach service for "Chinese speaking" with TV personality Moses Lim sharing his testimony.  We brought a  Chinese speaking friend along, a dear friend who is comfortable in dialects but not English.  We sat through the service even though my Chinese language understanding is poor, "half past six", as they say, and that is where my "half a loaf" comes in.

 I don't really understand Chinese wel 
 but as I listened I found I could understand enough to take notes. This is my notes of that Chinese session



http://suminlim1946.blogspot.sg/2015/01/the-gift.html

Yesterday Henry Lim the photographer told me that he was at that service and had shot a full 90 minute video. He had wanted to trim the video but in order to do so he needed to understand what was being said. And Henry said his command of Chinese language was practically non-existent. Then one of his friends pointed him to my blog and that was clear enough to help him edit his video.

So my "half a loaf of Chinese understanding" was taken and blessed by the Lord  and multiplied to feed .. well hundred, if not thousands.

 
I felt so blessed to hear this from Henry Lim




The week before from Benny Ho on Malachi

A) God's unchanging love, unmerited and universal

B) on Worship 

     with heart of honour

      life of authenticity

      attitude of gratitude

C)Setting your heart

     Honour the Calling by God to priesthood

     Honour the Character of God

     Honour the Covenant of marriage

D)Four phase of renewal

     Preparation

     Visitation

     Purification

    Reformation

E) The day of the LORD

     Retribution for the wicked

     Reward for the righteous

    Church to repent and return to God

Then from Holy Week I felt God love me so much
.

Palm Sunday: HOW do you respond to Jesus the Messiah

                       Humilty

                       Obedience

                        Worship

Holy Monday: Exposing barren lives:

                         Are you all show, no fruit?

Holy Tuesday: Exerting Authority:

                        Jesus is Lord or all or not Lord at all!

Holy Wednesday: Extravagant love

                         For Jesus , From Jesus

Maundy Thursday: Cup of love

Good Friday: Freedom




And I feel energized to live the abundant life by God grace
 




And AND today I get my name called out by Pastor from the pulpit
!

It was so funny. 


We were early. 


Pastor came around to say hello to early comers. 


He says "Good morning" to every one when he shakes their hands


When he came to my turn he shook my hand in greeting and said  "Good morning"

 I replied "Good Friday" the same way I say "good morning".


He liked the idea
 and smiled. "I was wondering what greeting to use this morning"  he said  "I am going to use this."

And he did! So after we welcomed the new comers it was time to greet our fellow church goers.

Pastor announced "Su Min said 'Good Friday' in greeting. 


So turn to your neighbour and say 'Good Friday'  ".

Not every day I get my name mentioned in church!
I think God was smiling with me!!

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20150403 Freedom

We all want freedom

Singapore wanted freedom

Mandela wanted freedom

Jewish people wanted freedom

Barabbas wanted freedom

Barabbas set free because Jesus gave up his life for Barabbas.

Do you want Jesus to give you freedom from DREAMS unfulfilled?
Three steps
1) Give Jesus your dreams
open your fists
release what you are grasping

Story is told of a 5 year old girl who saw a $2.00 pearl necklace in a shop window.
She wanted it very much
He mum told her she could use her savings and her breathy money and earn more by chores.
And she did.
And she loved her $2 pearl necklace.

At night after her daddy told her a bedtime story
He asked her "Do you love me"
"Yes I do"
"Will you give me your pearl necklace?"
"No but you can have another toy"
"Thats ok" said daddy, kissing her.

Next week same thing happened

Third week, even before he told her her bedtime story
she tearfully surrendered her $2.00 pearl necklace to daddy.
And he pulled out a blue velvet box with a real pearl necklace,
which he had had with him right from the start.

Moral of the story
We need to open outfits to receive from God
Let go of your broken dreams

2) RECEIVE God's dreams
could be small dreams: thats ok
could be big dreams

3) MOVE towards God's dreams by faith


Jesus comes to give us freedom
From DREAMS unfulfilled
From DARKNESS of guilt
From  DEATH forever

Jesus comes to give us freedom from DARKNESS of guilt
3 steps
1) ADMIT your sin
    Dont hide behind
     alcohol
     drugs
     sex
     work
     family
     ministry

2) ASK God for forgiveness
    No need to beg
     no need to bargain
     God wants to forgive you, fir free
     He as already paid the price

3) ACCEPT God's forgiveness

Jesus comes to give us freedom from  DEATH forever
How to get this?
Easy as A,B,C

A) ADMIT you need Jesus
B) BELIEVE Jesus died for you and rose from the dead for you.
C) COMMIT to follow Jesus


Jesus comes to give us freedom
From DREAMS unfulfilled
From DARKNESS of guilt
From  DEATH forever

Cup of love

Silence: Novel
Set in 17C Japan
True how Japanese Christians were persecuted
tortured
drowned
driven underground
hidden faith
use kwan yin with child

after 250 years
some kept the faith
others kept the form but forgot the faith

Take Home Message

4R's

Remember the Redemption of Christ

Relive the Re-enactment of the last supper

Revelation of God's Real love

Receive theReality of God's forgiveness

Practice of placing your hand on bull's head as it is decapitated

I should have died

Father Lawrence walked with a stone in his open sandals

It hurt so much

He had walked but could not enjoy his surroundings.

Is there pebble of sin in your life?

Let Jesus come in to remove it so you can enjoy the abundant life.

The cup of love
is cup of pain
is a cup of forgiveness

The new believer's prayer....