Luke 10

Saturday Nights at Selah with Vinny Lam.

Luke Chapter 10.   

     Before I got saved, I longed for acceptance. Because of this, I started to follow certain group, making friends and all because I want to feel a sense of belonging. Because of my insecurity, I hate rejection. Even in relationship and the fear of rejection has become a close companion in my life. Before someone rejects me, I reject them first. Always looking for some reason to moves on or stop hanging out with them. And the whole time, I thought I have everything under control. But little did I know, the fear of rejection is controlling me. It got a hold on me for as long as I can remember. Years passing by, and one day, when I was reading the Gospel for the first time in my life, I start to notice something similar, something that struck the very core of my inner most being. Something that make my fear of rejection with “oh poor me” attitude like a little kid sitting on the bench. Or better yet, my experience is nothing in comparison to the Son of God is going through. He face rejection, ridicules, spit at, yell at, suffer a punishment way beyond my wildest imagination and even to death, yet, He endured it all without a single word of complaint. Without holding any neither grudges nor even any hatred in His heart. How can that be? And the whole time I thought that I was the victim of the victim until me reading this.

    Tonight, we will continue our study from Luke chapter 10 and let look at how the Lord showing us how to handle rejection.  If we want to serve God, how can we handle rejection in the Ministry? How to deal with rejection the right way.What is His perspective about this matter? And as His ambassadors, what is the right way to handle rejection. What is the consequence of those reject Christ and His Gospel.  

    Some of us might think, “You don’t understand brother”. “I’ve have deal with this problem all my life and now it also effecting my ministry as well.” “It is hard you know, not that easy as you said.” “My experience is different than yours, how could you compare to yours, which is not fair!”

    And you might be right. Rejection is a part of life. But how do we handle them is determent the outcome. Every one of us experience in similar situation, but the feeling is the same. It’s suck to be rejected. If God allowing us to going through and experience rejection, shouldn’t we have to be careful and be on high alert when in coming dealing with the Lord. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”. Lest we rejecting His love, rejecting His forgiveness, rejecting His grace, His fellowship. Rejecting of worshiping Him. And serving Him. Or rejecting His calling for your life. And the list goes on and on… and the most common thing is rejecting to fellowship with His people. In what way, you might ask. Well, you probably don’t go to Church. Or going to Church after the worship team already plays. That is the sign of rejecting of worshiping God with His people. So with these attitudes, and personal experiences, when it come to serving the Lord, we have a tendency of doing nothing in the fear of rejection or in our rejection of what God has called us to do. That is why we never experience the Lord in the most and mighty way. So let look at the text here tonight and see what the Lord has in store for us.  

1.         Continue to be faithful in our calling despise of rejection

 

    Continue to be faithful in our calling, continue to trust in God when He appointed us something to do. You’re going to face rejection from the people, but continue to press on, hold fast to what you have been called to do. Don’t despise God’s calling because you feel insecure and afraid that no one will listen to you. Don’t let that be the reason for you not to heed into God’s call. But instead, be steady; die hard to God’s calling for you

    But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, which the kingdom of God has come near you. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. And so, whatever city, or town which the disciple enter in, and the people of the particular town do not receive the disciples, He told them to go out into its street, wipe off the dust and also tell the people that the Kingdom of God has come near you. What does it mean when the Lord said wiping off your feet? Shaking the dust off your feet meaning, I don’t want to be stain from your sin due to your rejection. I don’t want to be affiliate with you, not even having the dust of your ground on me. The Lord didn’t say that curse them, or call fire from heaven on them. This is simply a sign of warning. The disciple came and bring the Gospel to the city, however, the citizens whose abiding there love darkness rather than light, therefore, they are rejecting the light, the truth of the Gospel. Re refuses to listen. This does not mean that I don’t care for you, nor I don’t love you. But it means that I don’t want to be a part of what you are doing. And you are doing this with love, neither with anger nor resentful attitude. Simply shaking off the dust of the ground and saying the Kingdom of God has come near you.

    Have you ever tried to witness to someone and they are simply refusing to listen? Well, the same situation here. You might try for several times and that’s it. You have to move on to someone else. You can’t lingering there and make them to listen to you. Few years back, when selling from door to door is still popular because we don’t have internet yet. Cell phone is barely being introduced in the market and pager is the only source of communication being available at that time. I see these people walking from house to house and trying to sell perfumes or some kind of product and they are persistence in what they do. But when someone refuses, they just simply go to the next house. They don’t shake the dust off their feet but they moves on. They don’t linger in one place, camping out side of that house and hoping to sell something. They just move one. Leaving a pamphlet about the produce and just left. They don’t throw rock at the house or spray paint it. They just goes on.

    And as you can see. Rejection is a normal part of life. But the consequences is more severe in this matter is the Gospel is not a normal product. It is a revelation of God. Life and death matter. Not a bottle of perfume or a cookie. This is life changing message. The message which transforms us, changing us, a power of God unto salvation for all mankind is on our shoulders. We need to be persistence, faithful, and trustworthy of this holy calling that God has calling us to do. Handle rejection with love. Tell them that the kingdom of God has come near them. Warning them about the judgment to come and the danger of rejecting life. Which lead us the second point tonight. 

2.    God will judge the one that rejects Him   

    God told us to shaking the dust off our feet. Tell the people that the Kingdom of God has come near them. He didn’t tell us to judge them nor condemn them. That is His place to do so. How the people react is up to them. How we react is far more important because we are the messenger of God. Let God deal with their reaction. It is not our place to command fire, sitting in the place of a judge. Because God is just and His judgment is fair. We judge people according to how we feel. God judge them according to His truth and their deeds.

    “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.  But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.  And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

    Woe to you…the word of the Lord is never wasted.  The two cities Chorazin and Bethsaida has been destroy until this very day. These two cities are the most prominent, widely known to that area for their grain and fishing industries. These are the two Jewish cities along the Galilee costal. Chorazin is located on the side of a large hill about two and one-half miles north of Capernaum. This city is remembered as one of the three key cities in which Jesus spent much of his ministry. These cities, Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida formed what is called the "Evangelical Triangle," the small area where most of Jesus’ miracles were displayed (Matt.11:20). Chorazin also has the dubious distinction of being one of the cities that Jesus cursed. The city is mentioned only twice in the New Testament (Matt.11:21; Lk.10:13), and both instances concern the curse that Jesus placed upon it. Surprisingly, Chorazin’s archaeological remains have yielded no evidence of first century settlement on the present site. What kind of mighty works that the Lord performed there, I do not know. The Apostle John said that if everything that the Lord has done and being written down, this whole world cannot contain the entire books that written about the works of the Lord. Despise everything the Lord has done, these people lives remain unchanged. No repented, no change of hearts. Since these two cities are located near other Gentiles cities, probably idolatry is a big deal. But for what reason, they rejected His love and message. This is serious. This proved that men loves darkness more than light because their deeds are evils. The archaeological excavations at Chorazin may also help us understand why the people received such a curse from God. Although it obviously happened some generations after Jesus, it is truly interesting that the descendants of these people would allow a Medusa to be built right into their synagogue wall. Its presence betrays assimilation with the Greek and pagan practices of the time. We know from other sources that this assimilation was going on in Jesus’ time and actually as early as Maccabeean period in the second century BC.

     Of course the Medusa came directly from Greek mythology and was the most famous of the monsters known as Gorgons. Supposedly anyone who looked directly at Medusa was turned to stone. According to mythology she was killed by Perseus, who cut off her head. But we might ask what in the world is this thing was allowing to be brought into the synagogue?

    But what about the people that never hears about the Gospel? What will happened to them? How God is going to deal with that? I am a believer already; I don’t see how is this going to affect me. I am saved. I think I am ok.

   These are legitimate questions and statements. We are living in the new culture. A communication culture. We have internet, radio broadcast, television broadcast. Telephone, satellite. Everything happens here, in 5 minutes, it will be broadcasting on youtube. Beside all this, God is just. God holds us responsible for the knowledge that we have. God does not hold a man responsible for knowledge that he does not have. To whom much is given, much is required. To whom little is given, little is required. God is fair in judgment.

   The sin against light is the greatest sin that man can commit. Because Light has enter in the world and men love darkness more than light. Men refuse to come to the light lest their deeds will be exposing. And for those who are saved. Let me ask you this, do you see God in your life? Is there any change since the day you were believed and call upon His Name? Are you simply going to Church as a routine and then going home. Listen to message after message and remaining the same. Better yet, is God real to you? Do not be deceive my brothers and sisters. Remember the Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Learn from their mistake. Don’t take advanced of the regular visit of the King of kings. Don’t just say that: “Oh, I see that before.” Don’t take His love and mercy lightly.

    Sometime we have to shake the dust off our feet. God said that I am going to deal with them. It’s not your responsibility to deal with them. It is His. My responsibility and your responsibility are not to be successful but to be faithful. But the Lord will take care of converting and judging. You and I are just being faithful in our calling. Now, if they are not accepting, shake off the dust and moves on, He will deal with them. There are people who have come near to the kingdom of God and have never entered in, and that is always to be a tragic thing. That Herod Agrippa should say to Paul, "Almost thou persuaded me to become a Christian." He came near to the kingdom of God, but He didn't enter. And I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day [that is, the Day of Judgment that is to come] for Sodom, than for that city (Luke 10:12). Now for this city, it would be more tolerable than Sodom, because the kingdom of God came near. They had the exposure, but they did not enter in. And thus, for that city it would be more tolerable for Sodom than for that city, because Sodom did not have the same exposure to the truth.

Continue being faithful of God’s calling for your life. It is a blessing to be a part of His ministry. For those whose reject Him, Let God deal with that. And for our parts, we just simply obey and carry out the message of His Love to the lost world. Think of the blessing of sharing in the harvest. We belong to a two- thousand-year-old heritage of ministry. We contribute to a battle to reverse the presence of evil in the world. We partake in a relationship with the Lord of heaven and earth. We experience the blessing of forgiveness that only He offers — a blessing that comes to those who see Jesus. Two thousand years may have passed, but the greatness and uniqueness of that blessing never fades.

Eternal love in Christ,

Vinny Lam

Summer Retreat- Revamped SCHEDULE

1	FRIDAY JULY 30.2010
2	10:30 AM	MEET AT CHURCH
3	11:00 PM	DEPART
4	2:30 PM	ARRIVE AT OAKS
5	3:30 PM - 4:00 PM	ORIENTATION
6	4:00 PM - 5:15 PM	SMALL GROUP MEET & GREET
7	5:30 PM - 6:30 PM	DINNER
8	7:00 PM - 9:00 PM	EVENING SERVICE - Pastor Thanh Tran
9	9:00 PM - 10:30 PM	FREETIME Prep skit
10	10:30 PM	LIGHTS OUT
11
12	SATURDAY JULY 31.2010
13	6:30 AM - 7:00 AM	HIKE- CHO / JOG- VINNY
14	7:30 AM -7:50 AM	SMALL GROUP DEVOTIONS
15	8:00 AM - 8:45 AM	BREAKFAST
16	9:00 AM - 9:45 AM	MORNING CHAPEL- Tony Dang
17	10:00 AM - 11:30 AM	SMALL GROUP WORKSHOP "Sin Cycle"
18	12:00 PM - 12:45 PM	LUNCH
19	1:00 PM - 3:00 PM	ACTIVITIES [INDOOR]
20	3:00 PM - 5:30 PM	FREETIME / BASKETBALL / PREP SKIT
21	5:30 PM - 6:30 PM	DINNER
22	7:00 PM - 9:00 PM	EVENING SERVICE - Pastor Thanh Tran
23	9:15 PM - 10:00 PM	SKIT
24	10:30 PM	LIGHTS OUT
25
26	SUNDAY AUGUST 1.2010
27	6:30 AM - 7:00 AM	HIKE- CHO / JOG- VINNY
28	7:30 AM - 7:50 AM	SMALL GROUP DEVOTIONS
29	8:00 AM - 8:45 AM	BREAKFAST
30	9:00 AM - 9:45 AM	SMALL GROUP WORKSHOP "Spiritual Resuscitation"
31	10:00 AM - 11:45 AM	MORNING CHAPEL- Guest Speakers
32	12:00 PM - 12:45 PM	LUNCH
33	1:00 PM - 3:00 PM	ACTIVITIES [OUTDOOR]
34	3:00 PM - 5:30 PM	FREETIME
35	5:30 PM - 6:30 PM	DINNER
36	7:00 PM - 9:00 PM	EVENING SERVICE - Pastor Thanh Tran
37	9:15 PM - 10:00 PM	FIRESIDE REFLECTIONS
38	10:00 PM	HIDE N' GO-SEEK
39
40	MONDAY AUGUST 2.2010
41	7:30 AM	WAKE UP
42	8:00 AM - 8:45 AM	BREAKFAST
43	9:00 AM - 9:45 AM	PACK UP
44	10:00 AM	DEPART

What does it take to be a REAL disciple of Jesus Christ? Luke 9:57-62

Phillip Ma- Saturday Nights at Selah

How do you know you're a Christian? A prayer? A message? Something I did? A moment? Do those things REALLY make you a Christian?

The real word Christian means you are a Christ Follower, you then can say, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.

What does it take to be a REAL disciple of Jesus  Christ?

Jesus is going to meet three people in the chapter of Luke.

Luke9:57-62

 What is the cost of discipleship.

It may mean "lacking material comfort", sacrificing luxuries you may have.

UCI's law school's dean, is very liberal, what if he one day reads the bible and believes in Jesus?

V58: Jesus knows man's heart. When the scribe describes his devotion to Jesus, Jesus proclaims that I don’t live in something awesome and amazing, I don’t even have a home! He said this because he knows the scribe's heart, and would probably not be willing to give that part of his life up. It was too big of a sacrifice for the scribe.

V59: Jesus turns to another, and says "Follow Me", but the man was not ready to dedicate his life. He says "Let me go home and bury my father" essentially saying, Let me go and finish up my house work, and the management of my home until my dad dies and passes his estate and finances to me.

We can see that the first man needed a comfortable reassurance, whereas the second man desired financial stability.

If Jesus calls you to go out and serve him, ask yourself… Are you willing to give up basic needs to serve Jesus? Are you willing to give up the comforts of your current daily life to serve Jesus?

V62: The third man proclaims he wants to follow Jesus, but he desires to go and bid farewell to his family before going. Jesus answers him, when you plow a field you cant look backwards and still are able to plow forward on. If you are going to follow Jesus, you need to be able to lose your previous attachments, losing ties with your family or friends. All this is for the sake of following Jesus.

Before I got married, I used to still go meet up with my non-believing friends. I would teach bible studies Saturday night, then, go hang out with them till 12 or 1am. Then the next day I would still be able to go to church. However I felt a tugging in my heart, even though I was determined to go one way for the Lord, my life was still looking back towards my past even though I was not involved in sin with it, I was still surrounding myself with the past. God then called me to leave that past in order to serve Him fully, and ultimately left those friends, and surrounded myself with what God called me to do.

The high cost of following Jesus is to be able to leave what you have.

Why would you even want to live a life of a half Christian? How can you be sure you will be saved? Then be fully committed to God.

How to Have an Effective Ministry?! Luke 9:51-54

Tony Dang: Saturday Nights at Selah

How to have an Effective Ministry?

 It is to follow Jesus' example.

1. You have to be focused in God's will

• Luke 9:51-52
• Our messages have started out with Jesus' coming. Now we have coming to a point where Jesus is being received up. A spiritual meaning to this was Jesus knew he was going to be dying for humanity, and he would soon be back with his father. Jesus knew God's plan, and God's will and executed it! He "steadfastly set his face to do God's will". There was nothing to get between Jesus doing God's will. Luke 22:42 Jesus praying to the point where he's sweating out blood. Jesus says not let my will be done but Yours. It was God's will that Jesus took out.
• If you go into ministry without a goal, or a plan, it would go haywire because there's many different approaches the world, the flesh, and people will drive you in different ways. But if we focus our hearts, mind, and spirit into God's heart, mind, and Holy spirit, we then can find out what he desires for us.
• To know your strengths, and weakness, just go out and serve! Get involved! It is better to serve than to be stagnant! Also, get encouragement from other believers !
  

2. Be able to take rejection

• Luke 9:53,54
• With ministry, we know what God is calling us forth to do, but we're fearful of failure and what people think of us. Like dating we start becoming interested in someone, spend time with them, but then we doubt ourselves into becoming more committed into the relationship because we are fearful of what that person thinks of us. With ministry this is GOD'S realm, not ours. It is something God has to have called us to. Is it His. We shouldn’t take it personally when things do go "our" way, but we should be encouraged to move on.  

3. To have a spirit of mercy and grace

• Jesus was full of mercy and grace! Be merciful because your Father is merciful. The story of the prodigal son, in his lowest time, he associated himself with the lowliest of animals, swine. But when it was time to return back to his Father, the father accepted him with grace and mercy. It is grace and mercy that leads us to repentance.
• When we look at the people around us, our neighbors, friends, family, and even enemies, there can exist people who get on our very deepest nerves, however we must remember that vengeance is the Lord's. If we really were here to deserve justice, we would all be in Hell. Come forth with a spirit of mercy, and grace, through this you will be blessed more than you thought was possible.

The Power of Encouragement 2Timothy 4:9

    Anh Thanh Sunday Morning Message on 2 Timothy 4:9

When we encourage someone:

1. There is divine order and direction to do and say His will. Paul mentions that his calling, and purpose in life is not because of my degree, or experience in the field. Paul's purpose for his own life was to kill the Christians, so opposite of God's calling on his life. However, God called him back onto the right track . So before we can bring encouragement to others, we need to know what way we are going! How can we encourage someone if we don’t even know our own paths? This will only bring discouragement. 

2. Grace, mercy, & peace. Going to church, or serving God is not about our own needs. We need to have the best intentions and motivations when encouraging someone. Is it to boost our own self confidence? Or is it to accomplish some vain goal? What is it? Lets glorify God!

3. Appreciation. Serving God with a pure conscious, no selfish gain. Thanking God for one another. Sometimes we let our pride go before our true intentions of encouragement. Learn to appreciate the people who give, or serve within the ministry. How can we encourage one another if we don’t appreciate them. The principle of encouragement has a lot ot do with appreciation!!

4. Prayer. To effectively encourage someone, we need to pray for them. We don’t know what people are going through, and it is only by the Holy Spirit can we know to pray for those who need it most. Paul openly and expresses his thankfulness for Timothy, and he is praying for them day and night.

5. V 4. Mutual affection for one another. You cannot affectively bring encouragement to someone if you don’t really love them. Paul's love for Timothy was like a Father & his Son. Paul truly wanted to see Timothy.

6. Affirmation. You affirm of God's calling in their lives. He's reaching into Timothy's spiritual life. Brining one another into a place of victory over what God HAS done in their live. When people are down, and depressed, we need to be reminded of what God has done in their lives. This is so they will be uplifted to continue knowing what God WILL do in their lives!

Words of Encouragement. What Paul does for Timothy, we need to be able to do for one another Timothy today! Find encouragement to give to others! Only when we come before God to see what he desires to speak through us, then we can uplift someone. 

Greatness!

Vinny Lam - Luke 9:46

What is greatness? Greatness drives us to move on in life. My testimony, when I was 17 I joined WMA, an insurance company. And at that time what drove me was money! I wanted to be able to reach 45 years old and have 50 million dollars in my bank account. It took me to the point of the love for money, greed,  gangs, and eventually jail. We're going to look into the gospel of Luke. What is God's point of view of greatness.

Luke 9:46.

If you want to be great in God's kingdom, you need to learn how to be a servant. Galatians 3:28 - In God's eyes there are no unimportant people, but everyone is important. When we truly live out the life of Jesus, people will see a life of a servant. A life of Love.

When people who show they NEED to show that they are great, deep down inside, they know there is some kind of weakness in them.

Striving for greatness also causes a person to hold back from sharing the works of ministry. When we see other ministries other ministries do well, Praise them! Don’t be jealous, but be willing to accept what God has to offer through seeing God work in other ministries.

God sees us as great! Great enough to have Jesus die for us on the cross.

Brothers & sisters we must see one another like how God see us.  Through the eyes of Love!!

Lessons In Bodily Healing

I've been experiencing many victories over pain/sickness in myself and people around me and I've been learning as I go. I want to share my experience in hope that it'll encourage you to claim your victories in yourself and people around you as well. Here are what I've learned through some experiences.

Divide and Conquer

Our friend recently got into a car accident and her car was totaled. She felt pain all over her body so I thought it’d be good for me to give her a visit. I came and asked her where she hurt and she said all over. I thought to myself "OK. Where do I begin then." Every time we press in for healing, it is warfare. The person in pain is the battlefield. The pain and spirits of infirmities are our enemy. If it is warfare then we need to think of battle strategies. I thought to myself "OK. Divide and conquer. We'll work from top down." There was no problem in her head but she had pain breathing normally. So we started with the pain in her chest so she could breath freely. We started praying and after about 10 tries or so (about 10 minutes total) her chest was completely free from pain and she was able to take deep breath in and out with no more pain. Next was her hip. For some reason, I wasn't sure, we could not claim the healing in her hip completely. She said about 30% of the pain left and would not get better than 30% healed. After several tries her mom, who was also in the accident, came and we prayed for her instead. We did the same thing, divide and conquer.
Lesson: If the person is having pain all over and you don't know where to start, try this method of divide and conquer and work your ways around to take your victory piece by piece.

Be Persistent

Quitters always lose. From our example above, it took many tries for the person's breathing pain to completely leave. If we had given up on the first or second try, we would have not claim all our victory. Please note though that each time we pray, she got partially better and better. So there was progress each time or so. If you pray, and each time there is NO progress at all after many tries, you are doing something WRONG and should try a DIFFERENT method. Remember, this is warfare. If one method doesn't work, try something else. We'll look at that later, but regardless, be persistent and unwavering.
Lesson: Be persistent. Don't give up. Try different methods.


Plant Seeds of Faith

This is a very big subject and I will not share everything on here simply because it'll be too bothersome to read it all. I'll share my experience only.
It used to be that every time I run or jog, my knee would hurt. I went jogging two weeks ago at Mile Square Park next to my house and my knee started hurting as usual. About 5 minutes into it the pain came and it was bearable at first so I just went on as usual. About 15 minutes into it, I couldn't run anymore and I had to do something about it. Doing the only thing I knew that works, I commanded the pain to leave. It left and I would jog on. But about 20 seconds into it, the pain came back. I would command it to leave again, it leaves, but each time it would come back worst and worst as I continue to jog. The problem is that each time it comes back, it would challenge my faith. I find this to be one of the most difficult thing to overcome in praying for myself. I can feel the pain myself and it is apparent. Luke 8:11 say that God's word is a seed. If God's word of healing is a seed and commanding the pain to leave is planting that seed, each time I feel my own pain, the enemy (pain) would dig up the that seed of faith and nullify the healing. To overcome this, I commanded it leave, and as usual it left and came back. But this time around, I say to myself "The Word is good. The Word is good." Repeating it again and again to reassure myself in order to fight back the enemy's challenge. To my surprise, it works! The pain diminished. I ran even faster and faster to test it out! During the last strip, I even sprint as fast as I possible can without pain and had a great exercise for my body and my faith that day! The pain never came back, even the next morning like it usually would have.
Lesson: Plant a seed of faith, not doubt. God works in absolute and there is no uncertainty when it comes to the things of God as all things are possible with God. There is only uncertainty with us humans. If you are uncertain, such as praying "God, IF it be Your will...", you are planting a seed of doubt. If you don't know God's will, go find out what God's will is first before you pray. Romans 4:20 says to not waver through unbelief but be strengthened in the promises of God instead. Find out what God's promises are first and operate it in with no doubt.


Your Word is a Weapon

Most of us, growing up in church, knows that in spiritual warfare, God's word is the weapon. Ephesians Chapter 4 describes the full armor of God. Notice the sword in verse 17. It does not say the sword is the word of God. Words in of themselves have no power, but it says the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. This means that the Spirit is the one who does the fighting, but it's our spoken words that engages the Holy Spirit into battle with us against our enemy. Too often we speak empty words without engaging into battle with the Holy Spirit on our side and so we see no results. We want results but we think that everything is up to God and so we don't engage in battle with Him on our side. This is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and so there is nothing we can't overcome with the Holy Spirit on our side. Asking God to do the healing for us from the comfort of our own home is not engaging in battles with God on our side. Hence the laying on of hand is important; not that God can't heal over a distance though. If the occasion allow, we should do what the Bible commanded and lay on hands even if it means we need to drive to the sick person's house. We need to be in battle as well with Him and we fight using our spoken words and laying on of hand. Enough theology. Here's what happened on one occasion.
My co-worker caught a cold from a business trip and his cold symptons has been on going for a week without any sign that it would get better. So I thought I should pray for him. When praying for him, I cursed and commanded the viruses causing the cold to die and spoke strength to his body. The entire prayer was about 10 seconds or so. The very next morning he woke up and was really surprised at how he felt. He said he regained strength back in his body and the cold symptoms are mostly gone. He told me he felt about 80% better (100% being completely healed) and felt like he could have ran a mile. I believe that the cold causing viruses did indeed died since I commanded so and his body still has some lingering cold symptons (the remaining 20%) as the body re-adjust itself for the next couple of days. Lesson: My spoken word was the sword of the Spirit that struck down the enemy. Mark 11:23 says "I tell you the truth, if anyone SAYS TOthis mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him." Too often we speak to God about our mountains instead to speaking to the mountain about God as the Bible commanded. Your word is a weapon. Use it against your mountains (obstacles or enemy).


Be Specific if Necessary

Teresa had pain in her left knee. At first she said it was bearable but wanted me to pray against it anyway. And so I did and it went away and I thought everything was all good and dandy. However, the pain came back again later. I prayed against it again and it would come back again. Prayed again then we went to the gym. After the gym, she is really hurting now and can hardly walk. So after going back and forth with it several times over a period of two days, I got kind of upset. I know the word is not being dug up because I am not wavering in doubt. I don't want to give up but be persitant so ask God what is going on. As I prayed, I saw the word "HEAL". I thought to myself "OK...Heal what??" Then I thought to myself "Hmm...that's a good question. Heal what?" So I did a Google search on the anatomy of the knee so I know what to heal. I pulled up this image:

With my newfound knowledge, I got very specific. I commanded the cartilage to be healed. I called out the synovial lining, and the synovial fluid and spoke healing to it, each by name. Then came the moment of truth, I asked Teresa to test out her knee. As she bend her knee, her face lits up and she said "Hey! It doesn't hurt anymore!" She ran up and down the stair to test it out and was quiet overjoyed. The pain never came back. This is actually kind of tricky. I usually try to be general, because in being too specific, I can be wrong. I am no doctor. I don't know the theology behind it. You can work out the theology yourself somehow if you really want but that's what happened. What if I had no google around? Well, I don't know to be honest. Thank God for the internet. Lesson: Try different methods. Be specific in the part you want to heal if you have too. It seems like that the more powerful you become in healing (if you invest your talent, God will increase your talent), the more general you can be. But if you're just starting out, try the divide and conquer method, and be specific if it seems like you're not getting the results you want.

There are many other things involve but this blog is already long as is. Next time I'll talk about common pitfalls to avoid. Feel free to ask me questions if you want in the mean time.


-An D.

The cost of Discipleship

Vinny Lam

Saturday Nights at Selah

Luke 9:23-27

   

     Last week, Tony was helping us to answered life most easy, yet, a challenging question of all time. Who is Jesus? With Tony, we discovered the fact that Jesus is the Christ of God, the long awaited Messiah, the One that lived, suffered and died for our sins and the sins of the whole world and live forevermore. As we’re moving along the passage in the Gospel of Luke tonight, let us find out together what does it take to follow Christ. What significant is it when we committed and follow  Jesus Christ whole heartedly. What is the requirement for discipleship. What does Jesus mean when He said: “picking up your cross daily,” and what does God expecting us to do as a follower of His Christ which we acknowledging and loved.

    The first point I want to share with you is denying self is the fundamental of discipleship. Let read with me in Luke, chapter 9 from verse 23 to 27. After the confessing of Jesus that He is the Christ, the Lord was talking about His suffering and death. And rebuking Peter, the Lord introducing the Kingdom which the Father have in stored since the foundation of the world. “ Now if you want to be a part of this kingdom, if you want to come after Me, you got to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.” These are the requirements of discipleship.

    After the you having a personal encounter with the Lord, your life is never be the same again. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Behold all thing become new. You guys remember in this book of Luke 19:1-10, after Zacchaeus the tax collector encounter with the Lord, he went out and pay back fourfold to anyone which  he took from them by fault accusation, in another word, taken illegally. Now, in that day, tax collectors are being despised by the Jews. They are Jewish hired by the Romans to collecting tax from their own people. The Romans have certain tax bracket and these tax collector is collect more than the requirement to keep for themselves. But, he was change after that. He lived not for himself but for the people. He disregard himself by denying it. If he wouldn’t denying himself, he will remain the same and the meeting with Jesus is just another dinner. That is the result of the new birth. And the Lord honor him by saying: “This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham”.  But for us today, how can this applying to us? Denying oneself means different things in different contexts. To parent, it means not just seeking one's own desires, but serving the child in their best interests in terms of the investment of time and energy. To a spouse, it means not just asking what can be done for you, but considering how one can be help to his or her partner. To a neighbor, it means considering how one can be of service and show concern in the affair of life. To a co-worker at work, it may mean not seeing how you can advance the responsibilities you have to undertake, but how you can be of service to them. Most importantly to God, it means seeking His will and spending time before Him so He can lead and guide us in the way we should go. Discipleship means being a learner, a follower, an apprentice if you will. It means that our attention is turned to how we can follow Jesus not how we can make Him follow us.

    But then, you some might argue . Why would I want to be a disciple? I am a Christian, I go to Church, why would I like to have a deeper walk with the Lord? I pray and God forgive. Can I just get saved and go to Heaven? Leave me alone, I believe and baptize already. If the Object of salvation is just going to Heaven, then the Lord wouldn’t say that you need to pick up the cross daily, deny yourself and follow Him. Self have to be denied. "Now if you want to be a part of this kingdom, if you want to come after Me, you got to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me." These are the requirements of discipleship. "If any man will come after Me." And they remain today for the requirements for discipleship, there is a denying of self, for the kingdom of God is not selfishness. It is not self-centeredness. The kingdom of God is not man-centered; it is God-centered. And a man whose life is centered in God cannot be centered in himself. However, because it is centered in God, it will have as that proof the desire to give, and to help fellow man, because that is God's desire. And as I submit to God, God will lead me in giving myself, and of myself to others. So you must deny yourself and take up your cross daily. The taking up of the cross involves the total submission of your will to God.

    This means that we are seeking His Kingdom, not our own. Materialism and the pursuit of power, independence, and security and probably the biggest obstacles to spiritual advancement. Everything in out culture from commercials to our education pushes us in the direction of advancing our standing of living more comfort. To pick up a cross means walking against the grain of cultural values, so that our own expectations and needs take a back seat to God's call. Some things we may have seen as ours by natural right may need to be renounced because they represent a subtle form of idolatry. The Spirit guides us into seeing things differently than we did before. Bearing a cross may mean leaving behind dreams created for us long ago by a citizenship we have now left behind. And when you start living to please God, you'll find a very satisfying, fulfilling life.

    And that will lead us to the second point of this message. Real life begin when we submitting ourselves completely to God.  Since our former life is gone and the new life begin, we need to submit, totally surrender to the Lord in order to live and maintain the newness of life which we received from God. So, our new life is when we are totally surrender our life to God. Let look at this illustration with me, Jesus in the garden prayed, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Referring to the cross. "Nevertheless," He said, "not My will, Thy will be done." And if I take up my cross, what I am doing is saying, "Father, not my will, Thy will be done in my life." It is the submitting of myself totally to the will of the Father. Why would I want to submit myself to God? Isn’t God is love and He is not love me for who I am? I can do what I want to, and it seem ok. Other Christians are doing it, I can do it too. God forgive right? What about my ambition? My dream? Hey, the Bible say Don’t JUDGE! "If any man will come after Me."  There is a denying of self, for the kingdom of God is not selfishness. It is not self-centeredness. The kingdom of God is not man-centered; it is God-centered. And a man whose life is centered in God cannot be centered in himself.

    Another aspect is following Jesus Christ. Now the rationale is next given by Jesus. These are the requirements, you want to be a disciple, but here is the rationale. "If you seek to save your life, you're only going to lose it. If you try to set your own destiny, if you follow your own ambitions, if you live to fulfill your own desires, you're just going to lose your life. If you try to save it, you're going to lose it, but if you will lose your life for My sake, you'll find what living is all about." Real life is found when you lose your life for Christ's sake. You lose your life in Him. When you submit yourself totally to Him. You really discover the real meaning and purpose of life itself. Why are you here? Why did God create you? Why did God place you here? In order that you might go out and fulfill all your desires, and follow after your ambitions? No way! In order that you might find all of the pleasure that you can, and live for pleasure? No way! If you live for pleasure, you're dead while you still live. The man who seeks to find his own pleasure and his own way in life is only losing it. But the man who will seek to bring pleasure to God is the man who has discovered life and it's meaning and it's purpose.

    Further rationale: what is a man's advantage if he would gain the whole world? Now you say, "My ambition is to be wealthy; my ambition is to have goods." Hey, wait a minute, what if you attain it, what if you achieve it, what if you gained the whole world? What advantage is it if you lose your own soul? Or you are cast out from the kingdom of God? "Or whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angles." He is coming again, in His glory, the glory of the Father with the holy angels. That's the kingdom of God.

"You say I am the Messiah of God, right, but you don't understand it. Keep it under your hat for a while, until you come to a more complete understanding of what that means." It doesn't mean the immediate establishing of the kingdom and of the throne of God upon the earth. It means there is going to be some hard times. And there is going to be some suffering. There is going to be rejection. There is going to be the cross. There is going to be the resurrection. And then there is going to be the service, the work of bringing others into the kingdom, which will come to pass as men deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow Him. But there is a glorious reward. If you are faithful in serving Him, not ashamed of Him, then He will not be ashamed of you, but you will share in the glory, in that day when He comes in His glory, and that of the Father's, to establish God's kingdom.  My brothers and sisters, that is our new, real life. By submitting your life to the Lord, that’s when your real life began.

    Our walk with God is not something that takes place on automatic pilot. For many, Christianity is merely a guaranteed ticket to heaven. But Jesus never envisioned the faith as a one stop shop experience. This section on following Jesus makes clear just how demanding discipleship is. It requires a whole new way of thinking and of orienting oneself to life. The path of following Jesus requires spiritual labor, the bearing of a cross daily. Jesus underscores the fact that to carry a cross one must deny the self. Agendas change when one comes after Jesus, since he has already marked out the path.

    So discipleship required a renewal of the mind(Rom.12:1-2) and a commitment of the heart to that renewal. It will mean intense involvement with God's Word and with other believers who are dedicated to growing in their faith. A disciple is never stagnant and never has the spiritual life in a mode where God cannot challenge him or her to a deeper walk. Jesus has noted, it is a offering of the self in service to the Son of Man.

    Finally, Jesus saved us for discipleship. His goal was to make a people eager to be His people (titus 2:11-14) The idea of a ticket to heaven was never His goal; that is at best a byproduct. There is more salvation than heaven. He saved us to change us, to make us different in the world than we were before we came to know Him. That is why the spiritual person is called to follow Him where He leads. In His leading, He transforms us to be more like Him. So discipleship is a full-time job, not a weekend hobby. As a lifestyle and commitment, it never takes a holiday. That is why Jesus says we should bear our cross daily.

Who Is Jesus? Luke 9:18

Saturday Nights at Selah: Tony Dang

Lets start with a question: Who is Jesus Christ? Everyone has to answer this question sometime in their life.

Luke 9:18.

So who is Jesus? Anh Viet spoke about Herod, who asked about Jesus Christ. He asked about what Jesus did. Luke 9:9. Herod was perplexed about who Jesus Christ was, and it’s a good representation to what the world thinks about Jesus.

Another example was when the disciples were sailing and Jesus calmed the sea. The question of who Jesus is has come up on tv such as national geographic, and titles are “who is Jesus Christ”, “The mystery of Jesus Christ”, etc.

Why is the identity of Jesus a complicated subject? Will be answered later.

Who do the people say that I am? –Jesus. The crowd were those that were following his ministry, who saw all his miracles, and heard his teachings. They knew he was not a regular man, but someone divine.

Jehovah witness believes Jesus is God but not the son of God

Mormans believe Jesus is a brother of Satan

Muslims believe Jesus is just a mere man and nothing more than that.

History books say that He is just a man who teaches good morals

Some people have believed that Jesus is just a way for people to make money

Some people who have unveiled the identity of Jesus are elite and are well educated, and we would presume they have the right answers.

Why the subject of Jesus Christ is complicated?

If a man who is worldly, tries to understand spiritual things, it is nearly impossible. Flesh and blood can not reveal to us who Jesus is. That’s why there is so much material out there trying to explain who Jesus is.

Most of us probably know who Jesus Christ is,

But can you answer this?

Is Jesus Christ who we say he is? Is he our first love, do we live out what we say Jesus Christ is? Is he really your savior? Is he the first person you go to in times of trouble? Is he your everything? The world can see us say Jesus is this and that, but our life speaks of something else. And this destroys the image of who Jesus is.

What are you going to do with the answer that people seek after? Mathew 39:38 When Jesus sees someone in need, he is moved in compassion. A while back I spoke about being the light. And at times we lost the passion to do the great commission. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Looking at television, and the media, there are many who are lost, but those who are ready to seek after the lost are very few. Jesus told the disciples to pray for the lost. When we pray for something, it becomes part of our desire for God to do something. Jesus is telling us to become the laborer, not to just sit around and watch other people do it.

Be the person that will bear fruit, and that will bring the harvest.

Restoration

This devotional really spoke to me about the progress of where we are at. Many have opened to me about what God is doing in their own lives, and it is truly God who is moving, not man. It is within God's own timing that revival happens. 

A wise friend once told me this about revival "Its actually here already. We just need to change our mindset and know we are the revival we have been praying for, I feel when we believe that, that's the breakthrough..."

Lets make it happen. Speak the Truth and Live the Truth. Revival can only occur if Truth is it's foundation.
Love, 
Christina

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010

RESTORATION

The days of the Gentiles are almost over. God has given us plenty of warning
that the Spirit will not forever strive with the rebellious. But before this
generation comes under the retribution of almighty God, a great restoration is
prophesied.

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the
cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent
among you" (Joel 2:25).

The psalmist David said the righteous shall "be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit...with leaves that do not
wither...and whatever he does shall prosper" (see Psalm 1:3). But that promise
is only to those who have totally separated themselves from the wicked, and who
refuse to walk in the way of sinners. It is only for those who are devoted
students of God's Word, meditating in it day and night.

"The ungodly are not so," said David (v. 4). They become weak and withered,
blown about by every wind and wave of doctrine. The compromisers are likened to
withered trees, diseased and corrupted with every conceivable kind of worm.

This is a picture of many professing Christians in God's house today. They
neglect their Bible reading; they become too preoccupied to pray and build
themselves up in the faith; they become cozy with the ungodly and take their
seat among the scornful.

An army of cankerworms has been eating away at the lives of multitudes of
backslidden Christians. Outwardly they appear as trees planted by the
water—but inwardly they are corrupted, weak, diseased. They no longer bear
fruit! They are drying up spiritually. The cankerworm did its destructive work
with the bark of the tree. So it is with sin—it is eating away deep within
those who have strayed from the presence of the Lord.

God has told us how he is going to bring about this great restoration. First,
he will pour out his Holy Spirit in such abundant ways, it will bring health
and strength back to all the trees in his forest. The worm of sin will begin to
lose its power as God's people get back to Bible reading. A powerful revelation
of the Lord's new covenant will make God's people as bold as lions.
Yes—believe it—a revival of spiritual strength and divine health is going
to be poured out from on high.


- David Wilkerson Today

Sermon Snippet Summary: "D. None Of The Above"

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Anh Viet (Phillip Ma)

"D. None of the Above"

Luke 9: 10- 17 Feeding the Five Thousand

¹⁰ And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. ¹¹ But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. ¹² When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”

¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ For there were about five thousand men.

Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” ¹⁵ And they did so, and made them all sit down.

¹⁶ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and brokethem, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. ¹⁷ So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

Picture yourself 5 hours prior to hosting a fabulous dinner party. You open the fridge and there's only 1 frozen steak, 1 bottle of soda, and a lump of cheese. You're expecting 100 people. 100 hungry people. What would you do? Most likely, you'd run to the nearest Costco, grab a cart and pile as many bags of frozen wings, ready-to-eat salads, platters of pre-made hors d'oeuvres and boxes of soda you can fit inside your budget.

The twelve disciples probably looked at Jesus like He had gone bonkers when He told them to feed all 5000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. 5000 people can fit inside the Walter Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach! That's a whole lot of people to feed!

HOW DO YOU FEED 5000 PEOPLE??

A. Send them home (they'll eat at home)

B. Go into town and buy food for them

C. Send them home (again)

D. None of the Above

As humans, the disciples thought only the obvious: A & B. Most likely A. Buying food for 5000 people would be very costly, and they would need multiple trips just to carry the food back. Sending the people home would be the safest answer.

Jesus' answer was "D. None of the Above". He told His disciples to feed the people. Afterward, He told them to sit the people down in groups of 50. "Sitting down" back then wasn't like how we sit down on the couch. It's more like sitting at the dinner table waiting for mom to bring out the food. When Jesus told His disciples to have the people "sit down" it meant that He knew that they would be fed ahead of time. By this, the disciples thought, "well, how in the world do we give them food to eat??" We don't know how the process of breaking bread and the fish worked, but we do know that at the very end, everyone was full and satisfied. There was 12 baskets leftover, too!

In application to our lives:

Sometimes the most obvious answer isn't the right answer. Sometimes the answers we think are the right aren't. To have a good life, we have to learn to be flexible. To have a good life spiritually, we cannot be rigid or set in our ways. We have to flexible. The disciples had to be flexible and trust in what Jesus told them to do.

Wayne Grudem, a modern theologist, and a group of highly intelligent scholars gathered together one summer to translate the bible into the English Standard Version. All they did all summer was gather and translate God's awesome Word. Every morning Wayne would get up early and have his devotion. Weeks went on by and the job got tiring. So for about a week, he stopped waking up early to do his devotions. He thought that extra sleep will help him as he worked the long hours. The week went on and he noticed that he was more angry, frustrated and irritable. He traced everything back and realized that for that particular week, he didn't do his devotions. It was so obvious that sleeping more would produce better work, but it didn't. Doing his devotions was what got him through the day with less negativity.

My perspective:

We have to learn to be flexible. There is no way for a potter to mold and shape clay that has already harden. Same goes for our hearts and our habits.

Little things that aren't too obvious can make a huge difference. For me, I noticed that switching from my indie cds to 95.9 The Fish in my car makes me drive at a more relax pace. Just saying "Thank You" through my day makes me calmer and less irritable. The mood at the dinner table changes so quick when you pray out loud and thank God for your meal.

Try the little things that you think aren't as obvious: Changing your radio station, praying before every meal, reading one verse from a book in Psalm, or singing a verse from a worship song.

How awesome is it that one little utterance of prayer, praise, or thanks can change the entire mood or countenance of a person. One word can turn the spiritual battle around that you think you're losing.

Until next time ;)