Today's Scripture Reading

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 26, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. [Psalm 92:1-2]

We are creatures of habit and old habits die hard. When someone who we think are stubborn and refused to change some irritating habits, we may quote these two sayings of him. But there are also people who have good habits. For example they are some people who are very considerate and caring; they are usually the last to join the queue in a buffet lunch or dinner. They will wait for everyone to have theirs first before helping themselves to the food. They too need to be complimented with the same sayings for their positive and good habit. Perhaps we need to modify a little like, “His good old habit dies hard.”

How we started our morning’s activities and how we closed up our evening activities have all but become routine habits to us. What do we do the first thing in the morning after we have brushed our teeth? And what was the last thing we do before we retire to bed? I believe many of you will know the answer – for morning we will read our newspaper or turn to the TV news channel for the latest happenings and at night before we go to bed we will watch our most favourite TV program.

Psalm 92:1-2 tells us that there is no better way to start our life by thanking and praising God the very first thing in the morning and to show Him our gladness and thankfulness every night before we go to bed. Let’s make this our habit and let this habit lives forever. We may want to follow a British preacher and writer John Stott. For decades, Stott has begun each day with a prayer like this: “

Good morning, heavenly Father, Good morning, Lord Jesus, Good morning, Holy Spirit. I pray that I may live this day in Your presence and please You more and more. Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow You. Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit to ripen my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons in one God, have mercy upon me. Amen.”

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 27, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. [Psalm 36:1-2]

The deepest division between people in this world may be put as follows: some have knowledge of sin, and some do not. By knowledge of sin I mean an awareness of one’s own guilt, perversity, uncleanness and lack of moral and spiritual power as seen by God.

Many people including Christians like myself have tried to be religious and attempted to do ‘righteousness’ things. Unfortunately, righteousness has been mistaken by many of us to mean displaying of good outward appearance of doing good work such as looking after the sick, the aged or giving of money to the needy. These are really good things to do and we should attempt to do them whenever we can afford the time and money. But God has warned that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and there is none righteous (Romans 3:10).

Godly (as against worldly) righteousness is a transformation of all our inward self and they touch on three spiritual procedures:

(1) Be sensitive to sin and deal with it immediately.
(2) Focus on God’s holiness and purity.
(3) Make a strategy for dealing with sin – including confession and accountability.

How many of us are really sensitive to sin, fully focus unceasingly on God’s holiness and purity or immediately take an extreme effort to making a strategy of exit each time we sinned? I don’t know about you but certainly not me. Therefore each day by the power of the Holy Spirit that God has graciously given to us, we need to draw near to Him and He has promised that when we do that He will draw near to us; we need also the cleansing and purification of our hearts and we must not be double-minded [James 4:8]. That’s a great challenge for us!

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 28, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. [Psalm 51:10]

What are the signs of true conviction of sin? True conviction is not the same as feeling of just sorry for doing something not correct. We all have the natural tendency to reflect our past actions and felt remorseful later because of some wrong doings that we did. For example, we may make a wrong investment decisions, or saying something that we later regretted, or ignoring to do something that we should have done.

True conviction is essentially an awareness of a wrong relationship with God. It may center upon the sense of one’s guilt before God, or one of uncleanness in His sight, or one of estrangement from Him, but always it is a sense of the need to get right, not simply with oneself and other people but with Jesus.

We think we can cheat others or even ourselves but our heart, our God-given conscience, will not cheat us. There is always a stinking feeling within us each time we have done something not right in God’s sight. Our heart will point to us that God is not pleased with us. When this occurs to us, let’s remember to pray like David asking God to create in us a clean heart and renew our relationship with Him. Our God is faithful and just, if we confess our sins, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness [1 John 1:9] and He will restore our relationship with Him.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 29, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. [Hebrews 11:6].

We exercise our faith every day. When our economy is failing, we put confidence and trust in our government that they will put the right efforts to its recovery. We tell ourselves that if we don't trust the government, then who else can we trust. We exercise faith when we turn on the electricity and we expect the bulb will light up although we don’t understand basic of principles of electricity; we exercise faith when we turn on our cable television to watch broadcast of news from other countries although we don’t know how the principles of television network. Then we have people spent many thousands of dollars to attend counselling classes, seminars on investments and so on and they put strong trust on those 'experts'. Needless to say, many were disappointed with advice because they just simply didn't deliver the expected results.

Why is it so easy to accept all the made-made miracles (and advices and counselling) and so difficult to accept the miracles and teachings of Bible? We are not certainly lack of faith. In fact we all have faith and plenty of it. Our problem is where we place our faith. Faith is more than just believing. It is acting on that belief. We are not really so unteachable but because of our sins, we are led astrayed and turned our ears away from God. We prefer to listen to man and we are being warned that it is better to put trust in Him then to put confidence in man [Psalm 118.8].

Our faith in God is not what we see but what is not seen. A walk of faith is all about Jesus, of His sacrificial death for us. We are saved by faith that leads us to good works because faith without work faith is dead. [James 2:14; Titus 1:16]. But good works are useless and count for nothing unless the heart motivation behind them is one of faith.

Jesus was asked by His disciples, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” [Matthew 18:1]. His replied was, “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 18:3] Faith is the altar of powerful living because faith pleases God especially when our faith is like little children. A childlike faith filled with wonder and confidence in God unlocks the door to the kingdom of God. All past miracles and the future promised miracles in the Bible are literal from the building of the Ark by Noah, parting of the Red Sea by Moses, the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion of Jesus, His Resurrection, His Ascension to Heaven to His promises of His Return, the Judgment Day, the Setting Up of Heavenly Kingdom on earth, the Eternal Life that He will give to His children. They are the gospel truth. A perfect test of our faith is to fully trust the Bible because every word in the Bible is inspired by God [2 Timothy 3:16].

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 30, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. [Zechariah 4:6]

I was given a book about prayer. The title of the book is Power Through Prayer and Purpose in Prayer by E. M. Bounds. [I strongly encourage you to read it too. You can download this book free from the Internet.] I admire those men of prayers mentioned in the book. Those men of prayers include John Wesley, Martin Luther, Robert McCheyne, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, among others. They prayed and they did not pray to build names for themselves. They were no vain prayers. They prayed for the Kingdom of God. Their priority in life was to spend their available hours daily just to pray – day and night they prayed and they prayed with all their hearts, mind and soul. Through their prayers, God’s Kingdom has been extended beyond their own wildest imagination. Thousands upon thousands of souls were saved all because of their prayers.

I like to share the following sermon by Doug Apple on praying that I picked up from the internet. It has blessed me and I pray that this too will bless you.

“In every great movement of God in history, two factors have been present:
1) God placed in the hearts of His people a hunger and thirst for Himself.
2) God poured out a spirit of prayer upon His people.
A movement of God has never come by man-made methods. You can't promote or advertise a move of God. You can't organize or manipulate a move of God. You can't work it up, you can only call it down. Revival is a sovereign, sudden, selective, and supernatural movement of the Spirit of the Living God. ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts’ [Zechariah 4:6]. We are in a battle! (Ephesians 6:10-12). And we have been chosen to be on the front lines of that battle. Prayer is the mightiest force in the universe, and our most powerful weapon to win great victories. The church has always gone to battle on the knees of its prayer warriors, especially on the knees of its praying men.

Praying men are God's chosen leaders.
Praying men always feel a need to be alone with God.
Praying men have a desperation for God.
Praying men have a longing, a hunger and a thirst for God.
Praying men have an insatiable desire for the power of God.
Praying men long to see the glory of God.
Praying men are the productive workers for God.
Praying men receive His direction to do work for His glory.
Praying men are the energizing force in the church.
Praying men are the determining element in revival.
Praying men keep God's Spirit full force in His church.
Praying men pour into His church spiritual forces to protect her from materialism.
Praying men win victories, rout the enemy, and defeat the foes of the Gospel.
Praying men are the ones who attack "the gates of hell."
Praying men are the ones who raise God's banner in the very camp of the enemy.
Praying men are fearless.”

Let us rejoice and thank our Living God for giving us this great privilege to pray to Him. By praying unceasingly to Him we have built a praying-chamber within us. Satan can ony bring harm to us if only he can break into our praying-chamber. This is an impossible task for him because the door to the praying-chamber is securely guarded by our Lord Jesus and He will not allow anyone to enter into our prayer-chamber except only His Spirit.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [August 31, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Pray without ceasing. [1 Thessalonians 5:17]


The shortest verse in the King James Bible is “Jesus wept [John 11:35].” This weeping demonstrates that Christ was indeed true man, with real bodily functions (such as tears, sweat, blood, eating and drinking). His emotion and reactions too were real. This indicated the two natures of Jesus: In His humanity Jesus wept for Lazarus; in His Divinity He raised Him from the dead.”

Another very short verse in the King James Bible is “Pray without ceasing”. This was taught by Apostle Paul. Although this is one of the shortest verses in the Bible but the importance is illustrated by the Apostle himself and also by our Lord Jesus. Jesus prayed all the time and often went out very early in the morning to a place of solitude and prayed for many hours. Before He went to the cross, Jesus prayed with deep agony until His sweat became like drops of blood [Luke 22:47].

As one writer has said, “prayer is the greatest gift that man can give to heaven” and so we must pray because that's how we can give God our greatest gift. I like to share the following 10 steps of prayer that can improve your prayer life, your relationship with God and others.

(1) Acknowledge God as your Heavenly Father;
(2) Praise God for who His is and what He has done (not just to you but also to others whom God has touched them);
(3) Choose one of the God’s names, attributes, or characteristics and thank Him for being that to you;
(4) Present your day to the Lord and trust Him will give you rest and comfort;
(5) Present your body to the Lord as a living sacrifice by living a holy life;
(6) Confess your sins before God and ask Him to help you live His way;
(7) Ask God to help you speak only words that bring life;
(8) Pray for other people and their needs, especially your church pastors, elders and workers;
(9) Pray for God’s will in your life;
(10) Pray for your needs and needs of our family (and these needs must not be selfish needs but needs that will bring glory to God).

A good way to conclude our prayer is to recite the Lord’s Pray [Matthew 6:9-13]. This prayer of love, forgiveness, repentance and God’s power reflects the Divine characters of our Lord Jesus.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 1, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [Genesis 1:1]

Many Asians have labeled the God of the Bible, Jesus, as a “Western God”. They said that as Asians we should only believe our own “God” and for many Asian Christians they are usually ridiculed and sometimes persecuted by family members because they are considered as unfaithful and have betrayed their ancestors or their gods.

There is no such thing as “Western God” or “Eastern God”. There is only One God – the God of the Universe, Jesus Christ. Everything is of God as we can see in Genesis 1:1. There were three divine steps in God’s creation: First, He created the ‘world stuff’ like the moon, the sun, the stars. Next, He created the animal life and His last divine step was the creation of man in His own image [Genesis 1:26].

The supernatural nature of God is shown clearly to us in the Bible. The original Bible texts were not written in English. The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrews and most of the New Testament was written in Greek (with some parts written in Aramaic language, one of the early Jewish languages). In both Hebrew and Greek languages, their alphabets have numerical equivalence.

Take Genesis 1:1 as an illustration, just by doing a simple word-counting, you can be fully convinced that the short verse of Genesis 1:1 can only be written by a Supernatural Designer and it cannot be written by human. First, the number of Hebrew word count in this verse is not 6, not 8, but exactly 7. Now if you count the Hebrew letters in these seven words, you will discover that the number of letters divides perfectly by seven - is an exact multiple of seven. Second, the number of letters in the seven words is not 27, not 29, but exactly 28, or four 7's. Each numerical "fact" or "seven" which occurs in the structure of the text is called a "feature" - a "numeric” fact. The first two have already been mentioned. Now let us continue with five more features or numerical “fact” of this verse.

Feature three. The first three of these seven Hebrew words contain the subject and predicate of the sentence. These three words are translated - "In the beginning God created." The number of letters in these first three Hebrew words is exactly 14, or 2 7's.

The last four of these seven words contain the object of the sentence. These four words are translated - "the heavens and the earth." The number of letters in these last four Hebrew words is 14, or two 7's.
Feature four. The last four Hebrew words consist of two objects. The first is "the heavens," and the second is "and the earth. The number of letters in the first object is exactly 7. The number of letters in the second object is 7.

Feature five. The three leading words in this verse of seven words are "God" - the subject - and "heavens" and "earth" - the objects. The number of letters in these three Hebrew words is exactly 14, or 2 7's. The number of letters in the other four words of the verse is 14, or 2 7's.

Feature six. The shortest word is in the middle. The number of letters in this word and the word to its left is exactly 7.

Feature seven. The number of letters in the middle word and the word to its right is exactly 7.

These seven - these numeric features or facts - are indeed strangely hidden "beneath the surface." They are truly beyond the view of ordinary readers of the Hebrew text and are discovered only by special investigation and counting. Seven is the most significant number in the Bible because it represents fullness, spiritual perfection and completeness of God.

The above are only a few examples of the many amazing numeric facts which have been discovered in the structure of this first verse of only seven Hebrew words. Literally dozens of other phenomenal numeric features strangely underlie the structure of this verse alone. There are many other verses both in the New and Old Testaments with such phenomenal numeric features that can be revealed by converting the alphabets into the numeric equivalence.

Bible was indeed written supernaturally with God’s mighty hand guiding the authors to pen each and every word. One can destroy the numeric facts of Genesis 1:1 (as well as other verses) by just changing one word. And God has warned that if any man take or add words to the Bible, He will send him plagues or even destroy his life [Revelation 22:18-19].

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 2, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. [Genesis 3:18]

We like to be independent. Its in our carnal nature that we like to take pleasure in things without assuming responsibilities, accountabilities and ownership. This is because of the carnal nature of man. In its rawest form, it is selfishness, cowardly and self-interest. It can be a self-serving avoidance of being useful, of contributing steadfast strength and encouragement, of being a right example to others or of being found wrong and corrected.

In Genesis 3:18, God is not commanding everyone to marry, but He is clearly showing that marriage is better than remaining single. We understand from our own experiences that the more people who comprise a unit or community, the greater the number and intensity of problems. This occurs largely because our carnality drives us to compete rather than cooperate which all marriages is required of. The cooperation arising out of a marriage is between two imperfect human beings – one male and one female. Our matrimonial union should be used to bring changes to our lives to glorify Jesus. It is hard work and it can be very frustrating to both spouses at times because of different expectations, priorities and different personality make-up (among others).

We can take comfort in the biblical truth that it was God who instituted marriage and God will never institute anything that is not good nor anything that does not glorify Him. Besides prayer which is the best gift to God, the second best gift to God is our happy and joyful marriage that can glorify Him. Jesus has commanded that what He has joined together in marriage, let no man separate it [Matthew 19:6]. Let us give 100% of our attention to our spouses, fill their needs and desires and consecrate our marriage to God, and His blessing will be upon us.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 3, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [Matthew 7:21]

Are we saved? Can we pass all the tests that God has given to us? Are we His true disciples?

Matthew 7:21 contains very scary words from the Lord Jesus Himself. The verse implies that on the Judgment Day many people will be pleading for mercies and acknowledge Jesus as Lord but Jesus will say to them that He never knew them. These are evil doers and Jesus will tell them to leave [Matthew 7:23].

True discipleship is not just hard work. It is plain godly obedience. Our lives must be centered around Jesus: having daily communion with Him through prayer; getting to know Him more and more each day by studying His Words; casting our care upon Him and live under His direction all the times. He created and possessed everything including the very tiny drop of the air that we breathe so He has all the rights and authorities to decide for us.

It is not important whether other people call us Christians. What really matter is, will Jesus knowledge us that we are His disciples. We may think that we have already said the sinner’s prayer, we have filled up a pledge card to say that we believe in Jesus during an evangelistic meeting 10 years’ ago, we attend regular church service for the last 20 years; we regularly distribute Bible tracts, but have our lives been changed when we first acknowledge Jesus as our Saviour? This is what believing in Jesus and discipleship is all about. We all know that Satan also knows Jesus and we too know that Satan will be condemned to eternal hell. Knowing Jesus will not guarantee us eternal life. Do we do His will? Does Jesus know us? These are the real questions we must address correctly in order to enter into His Kingdom.

I have been a Christian for more about 30 years but I can tell it took me many, many years for me to wake up and have real communion with Lord Jesus. Had I died just few years ago, I believe Jesus would tell me, "Go away I never knew you. You evil doer!". Thank God that He has perserved me till now and I pray that you do not need to go through the same regret of not living in constant communion with Jesus. Whether you are a new Christian or an ‘antique’ Christian like myself, you need to immediately establish daily communion with Jesus and to be a good fruit-bearing tree for His pleasure because trees that do not bear good fruit will be cut down and burnt [Matthew 7:19]. The sooner you know this, the sooner the blessing will be upon you. The only way to our salvation is for us to do His will and for Jesus to really know us.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 4, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Thou shalt not commit adultery.[Exodus 20:14]

Sexual perversion is extremely widespread and is virtually out of control. The following short sermon by Davy Crockett of Tomorrow’s World on sexual immorality gives a great summary of the current state of this morality. I don’t think this can surprise Christians because it is exactly what the Bible has already prophesied that during the last days men will be seeking all kinds of self-indulgences [2 Timothy 3:1-3]. Sexual addiction, like any other addictions, is common and we need the Holy Spirit to deliver us from it as well as all other addictions that we are addicted to. Glory to God – we can claim victory because nothing is impossible to God.

SERMON BY DAVY CROCKETT​

Take a look at our society today. Sexual misconduct and sexual perversion is rampant. Movies, magazines, videos and the internet are dominated by sexually explicit content. Many thinking people are alarmed by the “sexualization” of so much of our society.

Where did gender originate? In Genesis 1:27 we find that the Creator created them, “male and female.” Again, in Genesis 5:2, it states, “He created them male and female.” Jesus quoted this in Matthew 19:4-6 when He chided the Pharisees as they tried to trip Him up on the matter of divorce. So, we see that God created the sexes for His divine purpose.

In Exodus 20:14 we find the fundamental law pertaining to sexual activity in the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” This commandment actually covers all aspects of sexual relationships and practices. If this one commandment was obeyed, it would transform our society. But, there is more. In Leviticus 18, detailed instruction concerning sexual sins is given. Stern warnings and clear instruction against incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and pedophilia are detailed in these verses, leaving no doubt about the sinfulness and consequences of these heinous practices. The instructions are repeated in Leviticus 20:10-21.

These vile practices were common in ancient Egypt, Canaan and other nations at that period of history. These sexual perversions were actually incorporated into the worship of their pagan idols. So, not only was it something they wanted to do, it was actually part of their worship. God said it was wrong, and these practices caused much suffering for the people, including unwanted children, disease, poverty, etc.

A very plain warning is found in Proverbs 6:27-35:
“Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. but whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.”

In plain language, “play with fire and get burned.”

Jesus Christ made it even more binding in Matthew 5:27-28 when He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus went beyond the act of adultery and made adulterous thought sinful.

What are the consequences of these wrong sexual practices? They result in untold financial hardship, emotional scarring, upheaval, divorce, infidelity and rampant disease that ravage whole continents, unwanted children, abortion, etc. It is no wonder that God said, “Don’t do it.”

How will God deal with those who refuse to repent, change and give up these sexual sins and perversions? Revelation 21:8 reveals the answer, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The incorrigibly wicked will burn up!

END OF SERMON​

God has set a limit to sex which is only permissible between marriage couples. To find true sexual fulfillment and happiness, you can request for a free copy of a booklet entitled, God’s Plan for Happy Marriage, by Roderick C. Meredith. This booklet is based on scriptural principles. Please log on the following if you want copy of the booklet: http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/tw/booklets/tw-bk.cgi?category=Intro&item=1104414860

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 4, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Thou shalt not commit adultery. [Exodus 20:14]

Sexual perversion is extremely widespread and is virtually out of control. The following short sermon by Davy Crockett of Tomorrow’s World on sexual immorality gives a true summary of the current situation of this morality. I don’t think this can surprise Christians because it is exactly what the Bible has prophesied that during the last days men will be seeking all kinds of self-indulgences [2 Timothy 3:1-3]. Sexual addiction, like any other addictions, is common and we need the Holy Spirit to deliver us from it as well as any other addictions that we are addicted to. Glory to God – we can claim victory because nothing is impossible to God.

SERMON BY DAVY CROCKETT​

Take a look at our society today. Sexual misconduct and sexual perversion is rampant. Movies, magazines, videos and the internet are dominated by sexually explicit content. Many thinking people are alarmed by the “sexualization” of so much of our society.

Where did gender originate? In Genesis 1:27 we find that the Creator created them, “male and female.” Again, in Genesis 5:2, it states, “He created them male and female.” Jesus quoted this in Matthew 19:4-6 when He chided the Pharisees as they tried to trip Him up on the matter of divorce. So, we see that God created the sexes for His divine purpose.

In Exodus 20:14 we find the fundamental law pertaining to sexual activity in the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” This commandment actually covers all aspects of sexual relationships and practices. If this one commandment was obeyed, it would transform our society. But, there is more. In Leviticus 18, detailed instruction concerning sexual sins is given. Stern warnings and clear instruction against incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and pedophilia are detailed in these verses, leaving no doubt about the sinfulness and consequences of these heinous practices. The instructions are repeated in Leviticus 20:10-21.

These vile practices were common in ancient Egypt, Canaan and other nations at that period of history. These sexual perversions were actually incorporated into the worship of their pagan idols. So, not only was it something they wanted to do, it was actually part of their worship. God said it was wrong, and these practices caused much suffering for the people, including unwanted children, disease, poverty, etc.

A very plain warning is found in Proverbs 6:27-35:
“Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. but whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.”

In plain language, “play with fire and get burned.”

Jesus Christ made it even more binding in Matthew 5:27-28 when He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus went beyond the act of adultery and made adulterous thought sinful.

What are the consequences of these wrong sexual practices? They result in untold financial hardship, emotional scarring, upheaval, divorce, infidelity and rampant disease that ravage whole continents, unwanted children, abortion, etc. It is no wonder that God said, “Don’t do it.”

How will God deal with those who refuse to repent, change and give up these sexual sins and perversions? Revelation 21:8 reveals the answer, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The incorrigibly wicked will burn up!

END OF SERMON​

God has set a strict limit to sex which is only permissible between marriage couples. To find true sexual fulfillment and happiness, you can request for a free copy of a booklet entitled, God’s Plan for Happy Marriage, by Roderick C. Meredith. This booklet is based on scriptural principles. Please log on to the following if you want copy of the booklet: http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/tw/booklets/tw-bk.cgi?category=Intro&item=1104414860

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 5, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [Genesis 3:9]

Where are you? This was the first time God called out to His people, specifically to Adam. Of course God knew where he was. The calling is an indication of God’s tremendous love for His people even though they have sinned Him. He is calling all of us all the time but we just ignore His voice. God wants to speak to us directly. We don’t need others to talk to God on our behalf. We can go to Jesus directly and He is always ready to listen to us and to help us. He is waiting eagerly for us so much so that He came down from heaven 2000 thousand years ago to look for us. He wants us back to be with Him. And He has to tragically pay for this by dying on the cross.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil which God had warned them not to eat, their eyes were opened and they found themselves naked both physically and spiritually. Because they could feel the shame of being naked, they hid themselves. They made improvised clothes by using fig leaves to cover themselves so that God could not see them [Genesis 3:7]. Our loving God instead brought them clothes made of animal skins for them [Genesis 3:21]. This gives us the first hint of actual death because the provision of the animal skins required animals to be killed first. A great lesson for us: disobedience has brought death and a substitute is required that we might be able to see God. Even though they now had better clothes made of animal skins rather than fig leaves, it was too late for them to continue to communion with the Lord God and they were driven out from His Kingdom.

Jesus is our substitute. Through His death we are able to see God and have eternal communion with Him. Let us not run away from Him any more. Come to Him and obey His commandments. The life-giving commandments are actually written in our hearts [Hebrews 10:16] but because of our iniquities, we hid them; we refuse to acknowledge we are sinners; we refuse to repent; we let the prince of darkness rules us in almost every aspect of our lives. If we continued in this state, just like Adam and Eve, we will be driven out from His Holy presence. Come, come to Him now! Jesus is calling us!

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 6, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. [Philippians 1:12]

We quit or thinking of quiting when we encountered with some situations that we don’t like. This is a common attitude for many of us. We just don’t see how these challenging situations can be God’s will for us. We see them as punishments from God and we started to reason out why they occurred to us. Was it our past sins? Was it our wrong choices due to our carnal mind? Are these the results of our disobedience?

Apostle Paul has given us a very good godly perspective. When things happened to us, whether good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, they are for our good so that we can bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to a higher plateau. This could mean the trying situations were are in are necessary in order to mould our character to be more like Jesus, or to build greater faith in trusting Him more, or through such situations we can bring others to Christ.

Hence, Apostle Paul has assured his Philippian friends, "Good news, brothers and sisters! Things have not turned out nearly so bad as you may have feared! The gospel is marching on better than ever precisely because I'm in jail!" As a result of his imprisonment, Paul could share the gospel with the jailers and the government officials who were puzzled by his faithfulness to Jesus. Joshua too has advised his people to strong and of good courage as he was facing monumental task of leading the Israel to conqueror the land of Cannan [Joshua 1:6].

We may not be physically in jail nor be having real military warfare with another country but at times we felt like we are imprisoned emotionally and spiritually because of life challenges. As Christians, we must remind ourselves that we are heaven-bound. Therefore we should take every moment to testify to other people, especially to the non-Christians, that we are truly heaven-bound and not living as if we are without any hope. We have a future, a blessed hope that will give us unimaginable joy. But don’t just focus on heaven alone; our key focus must be on our eternal communion with God, on Jesus and His love.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 7, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. [Genesis 6:11]

After Adam and Eve had sinned against God, their descendents became just flesh, without the spirit of God. They are not just godliness but godless. Their corruption filled with violence. God saw the wickness of man was great, and that every imagination of thoughts was only evil continually [Gensis 6:5]. In fact, the first murder occurred was between brothers when Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy that God loved Abel more [Genesis 4:8].

During Noah's day, he was the only righteous person in God’s sight. God had enough of man’s evilness and decided to destroy mankind but decided to preserve Noah. He instructed Noah to build an ark and Noah obeyed all God’s commandments and instructions [Genesis 6:22, 7:5,9,16]. Noah, his wife, three sons and three daughters-in-law went into the ark just in time for the flood. We were told that Noah did not shut the door of the ark himself but it was God who shut it. God had given them a complete and safe protection by shutting the door of the ark to prevent water from sinking the ark and drowning them and the animals that they brought into the ark. No one could get into the ark after God has shut it and those wicked people outside the ark were completely destroyed.

Imagine how busy Noah and his family members were when they were in the ark. They must have laboured day and night to feed those thousands of animals because we were told that they also brought in food for the animals [Genesis 6:21]. The animals did not just hibernate. They were very much alive and needing to be fed as well.

Noah's flood is a history and not a story. Science has proved that a major wide-world flood has occurred in the past and many ancient legends have such ‘stories’. During Noah’s time, the language had not been invented and so the flood ‘stories’ were not recorded but were told by mouth from one generation to another.

Let’s examine the teachings from the history of the Flood:

(a) God is hater of evil; He will judge the world but He is patient with us and He is ready to give us chance to repent, but we must not delay any longer.
(b) When we sinned, it grieved Him to His heart. God is very concern about man’s condition.
(c) Only righteousness and obedience to God can save us.
(d) We must now get into in His Ark to be saved and secured and we will not face any destruction from the outside world if we remain faithful inside His Ark. Let’s put our trust in Lord Jesus. He is our rock, our fortress and our mighty tower [Psalm 18:2]
(e) We cannot sit and do nothing. Just like Noah and his family busy feeding the thousands animals, we also must labour for God and look for His lost sheep by sharing His gospel to them.
(f) Time is not on our side. Once the door of salvation is shut, it will be too late. Jesus is going the shut the door soon and He is going to come like a thief, just like in Noah’s time, without warning [2 Peter 3:10]. Let us not wait until the door is shut. It will be too late. Let the blood of Jesus be our cleasning agent to wash away all our sins. Call upon Him, repent and be saved!

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 8, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. [Genesis 1:21]

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we are told that the Lord God created everything. There are, however, many so-called evolutions scientists disputed God’s creation. They chose to believe that all things were evolved over a period of time. For living things, it started from simple cells. These simple cells slowly evolved to become complex cells after many, many millions (or billions) of years. These evolutionists claimed that life could randomly evolve and slowly all living things would just adapt to the environment and they would have become what they should have become – nothing more, nothing less. No supernatural intervention is necessary because time will take care of it. There are no scientific proofs on this and it is just highly speculative theory based on some illogical logics. That’s why it is called “Theory of Evolution” and not “Science of Evolution”.

When you see a physically building, what has come to your mind? You will definitely conclude that there is designer and also builders. The building could not just evolve or appear from nowhere. Just like all man-made objects which are made by man, all living creatures are created but only by the Lord God, and not by man. Take birds as an illustration. You may not have notice anything peculiar about birds. But do you know that birds’ bones are hallowed, lighter than the features, and have over 170 muscles so as to give them enough strength to fly? And most birds have great eyesight to aid them in hunting food. All these are designed by our Creator to ensure birds can be airborne with ease and survived in the wild. All creatures are created with perfect and good features to ensure that they can survive in the environment they are in and also have vital roles in God's econ-system. Also all creatures, big and small are created with some specific purposes or functions. They are not created for the sick of creating them. Can you imagine all bees are extinct now? There will be no flowers and that means we will not have any honey. Are all these just evolved by chance without a Creator? The big answer is no. They are created by God to glorify Himself. God deserves all the glory and not man. Man may build the tallest building or the longest bridge, but they will not last.

And look at ourselves. Do you believe you are originated from a tiny simple cell? Or do you believe you are wonderfully and fearfully made by Lord God as He has declared? (Psalm 134:14) Frankly, we need to have greater faith to believe in evolution than in creation. Let us put our faith in the Bible. We are God’s creation and God wants us to be with Him forever. For this reason, He has sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us [John 3:16]. But just knowing Lord Jesus, our Saviour, is not good enough. We must live our life holy and be acceptable to Him so that He knows us as His children. Not everyone who says to Him, Lord, Lord will enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus is going to reply to them, “depart from me, I never knew you; you evildoers [Matthew 7 23],” because only those who do the will of God will enter into His Kingdom [Matthew 7:21]. Does Jesus know you?

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 9, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. [Matthew 5:29]

Many of us are struggling with sins. This includes the most pious men that we know of because Jesus says, "for all have sins and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Some sins like gambling can be quite an ‘open’ sin but some sins can be ‘secret’ sins like envy, hatred or covetousness. This is because some of these ‘secret’ sins are harboured inside our mind. They are only known between God and ourselves. Remember, Jesus knows our every thought and even though we are carnal beings we still know that sins, regardless of whether they are ‘open’ or ‘secret’, prick our very conscience. As born-again Christians, these struggles can be quite tormenting. We go to God and pray for deliverance. We may seem to be able to have victory but only for a short while. We go back and sin again and the cycle just repeats without any end in sight.

A story I read of a man with a bad habit and that was hindering his fellowship with God. He said he prayed that God would forgive him for his addiction but he didn’t stop. He went to his church pastor and knelt down and prayed with his pastor, “Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life.” This has gone on for many weeks. One Sunday morning his pastor, tired of hearing the same old prayer, knelt beside him and cried out, “Lord, kill the spider!”

The Bible has taught us it is better to destroy part of our body now if that part of our body sins all the time because if we don’t, it will later affect the whole body. We must admit, sometime it takes radical action to break a sinful habit. We need more to ask God for cleansing each time we succumb to temptation. We must take whatever steps are needed to get the cobwebs out of our life. We must confess our sins, sincerely repent of them and be determined to put them away forever. Then we must feed on God’s Word and do all we can to stay away from the people and places that tempt us to sin. Flee them and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness (1 Timothy 6:11). God’s Word is powerful and if we combined God’s Word and pray unceasingly we can be assured of victory. Remember – Jesus was nailed to the cross because of our sins and we have every reason to thank Him and at every moment of our life. Sins hinder our relationship with God and displease Him. Repent, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins. This is the very reason why Jesus died for us.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 10, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. [Genesis 11:3]

We all know that owning a big building, especially a high rise office building, is a sign of success and achievement. Many corporations, especially banks, are owners of very tall buildings. Their company names are prominently displayed on the buildings to give them the identity and image of success and achievement. It can also convey a hidden message that it is saved and secured to invest money with them or to give customers confidence that their products and services are trustworthy. “Trust Me” is the key message.

Taipei 101 is currently the tallest building with one hundred stories and a height of 1,671 feet. However, this world record will be replaced by a building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which will be completed this year. When completed the building will be over 2,600 feet high! Like all man-made objects, tall buildings are no exception they come and go. In their worst fate, a once mighty tower could be torn down or destroyed by ‘act of God’ or otherwise. September 2001 is a sad reminder that size does not guarantee security nor prove anything trustworthy. Quite to the contrary, it can be target of attack and mischief by irresponsible people. The collapse of World Trade Center which saw the lost of 3,000 lives speaks volume on the danger of tall buildings.

In Genesis chapter 11, we were told that the construction of grand buildings was also coveted by ancient people. They invented bricks and mortals which replaced natural stones and started to build the world’s high-rise building of that era, the Tower of Babel. Just like modern tall buildings which are usually built in cities, this tower too was built in the city and we all know that we can find all kind of vices in cities. In biblical time, great cities were in fact compared to prostitutes because they offered all kind of illicit enjoyment and took man’s mind away from God. Today, if you asked people which are the three most exciting cities in the world, many will tell you London, Paris and New York. What can we associated with these ‘great’ cities? Eat, drink and women from casinos to drugs to prostitutions plus, of course, high-rise buildings!

There is nothing wrong with building high-rise buildings or using man-made materials to construct buildings. It’s the intention. Genesis chapter 11 gives an account that the reason why they did that. It was because the people trusted themselves more than God. They used materials made by themselves, bricks and mortar, instead of natural stones provided the Creator. They became idol-shippers. The highest point of the tower was actually the sanctuary and instead of worshipping the true God, they worshipped their gods who would act according to their will. They were proud as they were concerned with their own name instead of the name of Lord God. They gave false hope to people. They have repudiated His name.

Let us remember that only Lord Jesus can keep us save; only His name is worthy to be glorified; only His provisions can satisfy us; and we can find strength only in Him. No man-made objects or provisions can guarantee our safety nor security. Even giant insurance companies which are supposed to guarantee our financial security can unexpectedly become bankrupt themselves.The once reputable companies that manufactured food were intentionally poisoning people with their products by substituting cheaper and questionable ingredients because of greed for more profits. Top government officials who were elected or appointed to take care of people became villains themselves by abusing the power and authority entrusted to them. Let us call upon the name of the Lord and we will be saved (Romans 10:13). He and He alone is our strong tower that can shelter us from our enemies (Psalm 61:3). Put our hope, our trust and our security on Him and not on the mighty towers built by men.

 

[Psalm23]

Today's Scripture Reading

May God Bless You All For Reading This Tread.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 11, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. [Psalm 51:2-3]

We all need cleaning and washing. We clean our body everyday and for those of us who are living in the tropical area, we just can’t go without taking a shower even just for a day. Each morning when we wake up, the first thing we do is to brush our teeth and wash our face. Also our clothes, our cars and all of our physical possessions need washing and cleaning regularly. We spend quite a lot of money just to buy detergents to get rid of the dirt because no matter how hard we have tried, the dirt will keep coming back. The waste water that used to clean all our possessions is discharged and treated in public water treatment facilities to ensure that it does not pollute our environment especially our drinking water. But it is not always fool-proof. Due to human error or faulty machines, the untreated waste water could get into the water pipes and pollute our drinking water.

Compare to the cleaning that is taking place in a factory, our own domestic cleaning chore is nothing to shout at. One day I visited a factory which was dealing with electro-plating. I was so amused that everywhere I went I saw “Danger Sign” warning people to be careful and not to touch any object unnecessary and I was advised to wash my hand thoroughly before leaving the factory. Those danger signs displayed were morbid picture of a small skull with two crossed bones below it, just like the one we normally see at the door of an X-ray room in a medical laboratory. I asked one engineer why were there so many of those signs. He told me that the cleaning process required a lot of highly toxic chemicals to clean most of the raw materials. They were various types of chemicals ranging from cyanides to all kind of acids. In addition, the waste created by the manufacturing process requires equally toxic chemicals to neutralize them. All waste materials produced were further treated, some were done in house and some were done in the public water treatment facilities. It is not uncommon for us to read in the news that some of the waste materials from factories ended up in rivers and reservoirs. Besides contaminating the drinking water supply, the damage to the marine life can be permanent and irreversible. Can we trust man to do the cleaning for us? The answer is in the obvious – no. If we cannot even trust man to clean or wash our physical things, how then can we expect them to cleanse our corrupt soul and make our soul holy? No matter what kind of rituals we do and participate, we just can’t remove our spiritual dirt which is sin from our soul. Neither can the blood of any animal can do the job.

As Christians we can thank God because He has paid the ransom for us to remove our spiritual dirt. It is paid not in gold or silver but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Only the blood of Jesus can do the cleansing work. No other cleansing agent nor any religious ritual can substitute His precious blood. His blood has poured out to us so that our sins can be washed away. And the blood of Jesus has great transforming power too. As one preacher has said, “The greatest miracle that God can do is to make an unholy man from this unholy world holy and put him back to this unholy world and keep him holy.” Because we are continuously polluted by the world’s dirt that infiltrated right into the core of our soul and in order for Jesus to demonstrate the transforming power of His blood we must live in complete repentance of our sin, have urgent sense of His mercy, and fearing Him because fearing God will bring us wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).

The hymn, “Have You Been To Jesus” depicts the transforming power of the blood of Jesus in the most wonderful way.

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you walking daily by the savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb
There�s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean
O be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

Chorus
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?​

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [September 12, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them. (Jeremiah 32:22-23)

Most of us associated God’s blessings to us are in the form of tangible and material things that He showered us. When we got a good job with a good pay we praise God and share our testimony of God’s goodness; when we have made a right investment that gives us huge investment returns, we thank and praise God. There is nothing wrong with all these. In fact, God wants to see His people prosper. Job was finally restored with great material blessings. God gave Him more than what He had earlier (Job 42:12).

The danger of being prosperous and having great wealth is that we may be drifted away from Him because we may find God is unnecessary. With all the material wealth we have, we trust our own efforts rather than God’s strength and confidence for our provisions. C. S. Lewis wrote in one of his books, “God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts in our pains.” If we refuse to listen when He whispers to us, He may use shouts to get our attention. God may let us suffer through some calamities like losing our wealth, or we are inflicted with a dread sickness, job failure, etc. to get His attention. That happened to the Israelites. Although God had given them a land flowing with milk and honey, they turned away from Him, so God caused calamity to come upon them (Jeremiah 32:22-23).

We should keep our faith and be strong to survive in bad times and remain faithful to Him during good times. Never let Jesus down and we must be vigilant because He is up in heaven interceding for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26). Our greatest service to God is to tell Him that we need Him all the time regardless of our circumstances. The following hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” by Annie S. Hawks reminds us of our need, dependency and trust for God.

I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR​

I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine can peace afford.

I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.

I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.

Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee! Amen​