The idea of ‘Helping God building His Kingdom’ is false and it isn’t biblical at all. His Kingdom is not a building where you can see or touch or a place that you go to!

Jesus says in Luke 17:20-21 “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus was talking about Him living in us and not in the building or in something you can see or touch but it’s IN YOU!

Apostle Paul puts it in Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Now here comes the questions, What are these three things?

1. What is Righteousness? Jesus is our Righteousness. Paul says in 1 Cor 1:30 that ‘It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.’
2. What is Peace? Jesus is the Prince of Peace. In Isaiah 9:6 ‘Jesus is our Prince of Peace.
3. What is Joy? Paul talks about be full of Joy in the Lord (Phil 4:4), that real Joy can only be experienced in Christ.

Kingdom of God is all about JESUS CHRIST and not about building Church Institutions (unless you live under the Old Covenant).

Shalom

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3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Thank you Jesus!!! we have now become the good soil because of what Jesus has done on our behalf! The seed (the message of the Kingdom which is the Gospel of God’s Grace) that has been planted in us is producing a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times that was sown. I mean talking about a success rate, that is very successful, don’t you think? If you are an investor, wouldn’t you be looking for something that in return will bring you big profit? What amazing is that, Gos as the Investor, He has invested Jesus in us and we are now one with Him! That in itself is GLORIOUS – let’s forget about how much fruits will Jesus bear through us! Think about it, we are one with Him! What Jesus is so are we in this world (I John 4:17) – How can we not be a Master in bearing fruits for God has planted His best Fruit Bearer in us and we are made one in Him? oh man…. this is too good! Praise God!

NOW watch this, God has chosen us (that is you and me and millions other believers in this world) and knowing FULLY that Jesus will do the perfect job through us! In other words, we only have 1 OPTION and 1 OPTION ONLY which is to let the Best Fruit Bearer to bear fruits through us whether that is going to be sixty or thirty times or more… The point is, we cannot even run away from NOT bearing fruit anymore. I hope this brings excitement to your bones! – because it gives us a sense of peace and the best thing is that it has got nothing to do with our works and our obedience! In Christ – You are a Master in bearing fruits! I am sorry to tell you that – there is nothing you can do about it

Imagine that you are on a taxi ride in a foreign country and you are going somewhere that you have never been before, the worst thing you can do is to swap your place with the taxi driver. Why? Because you would be LOST! Relax and trust the taxi driver and once you have reached the destination, then do what you are led to do. So many times, we force believers to bear fruits or we try SO HARD to bear fruits by our will power and our own strength. Let’s relax and let the taxi driver drives you to the right destination that God has prepared for you! – For this Taxi Driver knows where He is going because He was before the beginning of the world (Behold I speak in parables – )

Thank God we have been made a new creation in Christ! and we are NO LONGER the ‘rocky places’,  We NO LONGER have ’shallow soil’, We now have been deeply rooted in Christ, We NO LONGER put our trust on the worldly things for We (that is you) all have been established in the God’s Grace.

Let’s see what Jesus said about the parable:

Matthew 13:18-23

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When people hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to people who hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to people who hear the word and understand it. They produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

I believe that the key is to be established in God’s Grace and be only that! We do not want to be tossed around by circumstances or by old-testament teachings that bring guilt and condemnation which do not produce a crop but produce death!

Shalom

The word blameless means free of guilt or not subject to blame

For God to call us holy and blameless is just mind-blowing and yet this our new reality in Christ!! Thank God you all believe in this new reality! Now, God no longer sees us as unrighteous or unholy or full of disobedience instead He sees us as the opposite! Hallelujah! I could seriously end the sentence here and smile for the rest of the day!

2 Corinthians 5:17 says ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

No longer we call our self a sinner anymore for our old things have passes away and all things have become new!! A believer is not a sinner anymore but they are the righteousness of God in Christ! Once we believe in Jesus, our old sinful nature has been buried in Christ on the cross and now we have inherited the nature of Christ in us! Amen …

2 Corinthians 5:21 says ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

For Christians, calling themselves a sinner is like telling a Lion, a Cat. A lion might act like a cat, speak like a cat, jump like a cat, tamed like a cat, and have the same behaviour like normal cats, but the lion’s true identity has not and cannot be changed! One day that lion will wake up to himself and realize that he is a lion and not a ca and yes he could kill you! His actions will be determined by his true nature which is the nature of lion (wild and untamed).

The same with us, if we believe that we are still a sinner, then our actions will be determined by what we believe and because of that we are trapped in sin. Although we try our best to not to sin, we often end up breaking our own laws and boundaries. The truth is that our identity has not changed, we still are the righteousness of God in Christ! Let’s stop trying to not sin (let’s be righteousness -conscious) and start living in your NEW righteousness nature and thank God you are the living proof of this new reality and can testify to this truth in your life. Your New nature is bearing fruits wherever you go for you have become the branches on a GOOD vine tree.

John 15:5 says ⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Let’s start watching what Jesus is doing in your life and see Him bearing fruits in and through you!

God bless

1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

We are REJOICING for we are in HIM! Hallelujah! Problems and troubles may come but let’s REJOICE for we are in HIM! Amen!

In this letter, you could see that Paul never got tired of the Gospel! Some of you who have been greatly impacted by the Gospel of God’s Grace will agree with me on this one. Talking about how to become an effective evangelist… I think we could learn a lot from Paul ’s life, for He only has one message and that message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As humans, we often come up with different type of methods and steps which so often bring more failures than success. Praise God that He would never think you as a failure but He always lifts you up and gives you the better solution! Don’t you love that about God? For He only blesses.

Let’s look at Paul, what makes Paul so passionate and does not seem to get tired of the Gospel? And NO!! the answer is not Paul’s obedience to the Law although He called himself the Pharisee of the Pharisees and NO, it is not Paul’s zealousness towards the Law, but the answer is because Paul BELIEVES the GOSPEL for the Gospel only testifies the goodness of Christ and who we are in Him! Paul understood this and this has become the turning point of Paul’s repentance and has turned Paul’s life upside down. Paul was probably the worst sinner  there was as He prosecuted the church and was involved in killing those who believes in the Way. But by God’s Grace, Paul’s been radically changed and completely set free and become the most exciting, vibrant, and passionate preacher of God’s Grace for He got the revelation from Jesus Himself! What a revelation he must have received!

Verse 1 ends with ‘it is a safeguard for you’ – Paul believes that teaching the Gospel is more important than teaching anything else! Paul is so convinced that the Gospel is the only message that saves, because it only focuses on Christ alone and because of this reason, Paul spent His whole-life ministry for it. Such simple message yet is the most powerful message that God could ever come up with!

1 Corinthians 1:18-19 says”

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

It is the ultimate plan of God to send Jesus on earth and have Him crucified on the cross.

Then Paul goes on…

2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

Paul must have been quite ticked off with what is going on in Philippi for there are teachers that teach the Law. What do dogs and mutilators of the flesh represent? Paul used the word dogs to represent those teachers who teach Salvation by works and mutilators of the flesh means Circumcision as a requirement for Salvation. So there have been teachers who tried to teach that you must be circumcised to be saved. Circumcision of the flesh does not just mean that you are circumcised physically but it also represents your self-righteousness as a way of saying ‘I am qualified based on what I have done’.

Paul testifies that we are the circumcision for we worship the Spirit of God who glory is in Christ Jesus. Paul did not put the confidence in the flesh but in Jesus alone. This can be seen in what Paul wrote in verse 4-6, for He compared himself with those false teachers and Paul basically wrote that he has better “qualifications” based on works – Paul is “qualified” but He made no boasting to any of THEM! He could have easily boasted His self-righteousness and His achievements for He himself is a Jew, zealous for the Law, He was circumscribed on the 8th day, and based on legalistic righteousness, He was blameless!

If you think about it, IF the Gospel is about your obedience to the Law and your zealousness towards the Law, then WHY Paul never did once teach such teaching?  IF the Gospel is TOO simple then WHY Paul never stops talking about it? Not even death threats and beatings scared him.

Let’s read verse 7 – 11

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul called those things that he is ‘mastered’ at – a LOSS! Imagine when you are a Jew who deep down in your heart you believe that you are required to follow the Law for that is how Salvation can be attained. But Paul considered that as a LOSS? That must be really hard to accept for most of Jews! The same thing goes for us, NEVER ONCE think that our obedience and our zealousness will make us more righteous or will make us more blessed. Because that is the message that Paul tried to get across!

The teachings (Salvation by works and Circumcision of the flesh) that these dogs (false teachers) taught you , I consider them all as a LOSS compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord! AMEN!

He did not just stop there, the word rubbish in verse 8 there actually means dog dung (a.k.a dog poo). Paul compared His zealousness and His Law keeping as dog dung (a.k.a dog poo) He basically says believing in Christ is the ULTIMATE! There is nothing greater than that! To God believing in HIS SON is such a big deal.

Let’s have our confidence and believe in the Gospel alone.

Shalom

So here what I want to do, let’s change the name Cain with Israel and the name Able with Jesus. Before you get excited (I am sure you will) – just want to encourage you to always look for Jesus in the Bible because it will make your Bible reading more exciting!   I love it… anyhow. Stay blessed

Genesis 4

Israel and Jesus
1 Adam [a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Israel. [b] She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Jesus.
Now Jesus kept flocks, and Israel worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Israel brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Jesus brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Jesus and his offering, 5 but on Israel and his offering he did not look with favor. So Israel was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the LORD said to Israel, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

8 Now Israel said to his brother Jesus, “Let’s go out to the field.” [d] And while they were in the field, Israel attacked his brother Jesus and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Israel, “Where is your brother Jesus?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Israel said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so [e] ; if anyone kills Israel, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Israel so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Israel went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, [f] east of Eden.

Shalom

In the book of Ephesians, Paul tried to remind the Ephesian believers of who they are in Christ and their new realities in Christ. Paul wanted every Ephesian to grow in their wisdom and their revelations in the knowledge of God. The Ephesians are Gentiles by birth and are saved by Grace.

Let’s read Ephesians 2:11-13

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

The fact that most of us believers are Gentiles believers, let’s just picture our self in this scenario. Let’s imagine that Paul was writing this letter to us for we were once Gentiles and saved by Grace. I personally believe that it is important to read Paul writings and get understanding on Grace (remember Grace is not just a “topic”, it is the New Covenant we are under) as Jesus chose Him to be His chosen instrument to spread the Gospel. Acts 9:15 says ^“15But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. ¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Before we accepted Christ:

• We were dead in our transgressions and sins, in which we lived according to the ways of this world and under the Spirit of disobedient. (Ephesians 1:2)
• We craved sinful natures and followed its desires and thoughts. (Ephesians 1:3)
• We had no hope for we were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise. (Ephesians 2:12)
• We were darkness. (Ephesians 5:8)
  

But guess what? Ephesians 2:4-5 says “⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:13 says that we are “NOW in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“

Let’s now see our New Realities in Christ, for now:

• We are redeemed and forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7)
• We are no longer a sinner for we have been made righteous by the blood of Christ.    (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• We are blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
• Jesus has become our peace. (Ephesians 2:14)
  
• We have direct access to the Father for Jesus has destroyed the barrier by abolishing in his flesh the LAW with its commandments and regulations. (Ephesians 2:14-15)
• We are no longer foreigners and aliens as we were outside Christ but now we are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. (Ephesians 2:19
• God dwells in us. (Ephesians 2:22)
• We are children of light which bears goodness, righteousness, and truth(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. (Ephesians 5:8)
• We are without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:27)
  

What different realities we have in Christ! He gave us these new realities because of His great love and His rich mercy. Amen!

Before I end this, I just want to encourage everyone to keep hearing the Gospel of Grace (for there is no other Gospel as Paul says it in Galatians 1:6 – ⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷which is really no gospel at all. Make sure you keep hearing the Gospel that reminds you of your new realities in Christ. If you have books that do not produce love, peace, and joy, perhaps you need to consider to not read them anymore or if you are generous, you can just throw them away

You may say, I can handle it or I do not think it matters. I hope that is the case… the thing is, what we believe will determine how we act. If you believe that God will bless your finance if you tithe, then you will try your best to give as much as you can for that is what you believe. If you believe that you must not doubt for miracles to happen, then you will do what ever you can to not doubt (I personally believe this is impossible to achieve! Who never doubts?). If you believe that God will smile at you if you “do” it right, then you will do what ever you can in your power to make God smile. Is this not true? See all these examples bring your focus back to your strength instead to Jesus who has done everything on our behalf. So let’s just turn our eyes upon Him for He is perfect.

Let’s read Ephesians 4:14 “¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

I hope that what is written in Ephesians 4:14 will be so evident in your life because we do not want to be a “confused” Christian who goes from one doctrine to another doctrine.

May His peace be yours in abundance.

The truth is that God DOES NOT just reward those who are diligent because that is how the Law works. If you have done this right, therefore God will bless You (it is not so in the New Covenant – the Covenant of God’s Grace). Remember that the Law is not just 10 commandments. But the Law is a mentality that believes “By what we do, we will become” – and Adam fell for that. He things that by eating the fruit of “knowledge good and evil” He will become like God that His eyes will be open. He forgot one thing, that He was created in God’s image. He was already like God, if only he believed that.

Good Reward, in Genesis 15:1, it says”After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very GREAT REWARD.” Jesus is our reward. I do believe, God does not talk about Big mansions nor gold nor anything else, but about Jesus. Personally, I believe that this happened to King David, He knew that He will get a great price which is Christ Himself. Although David was under the Old Covenant, but He understood the heart of God which is the New Covenant of His Grace. Matthew 5:12, it says “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you).” Great is your reward. The reward here is NOT an “IT” it is a “PERSON” and His name is Jesus Christ. God does not say He is A Great Rewarder but He says He is THE Great Reward Himself.

It does not matter whether work in terms of Salvation or work in terms of Doing it for God. If we think that the more “diligent” or hard working we are, the more God is pleased with us. I would totally disagree with that believe because that is not Grace. Grace does not mean – You Shall and God Will. Grace means – unmerited favor. Grace is a free gift and when good works come in then it is not Grace anymore. The Bible says that God is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. It DOES NOT say that God is the Author and we are the finisher of our faith. God is pleased with us 100% because we are in Christ, even though based on “worldly eyes” we are not good enough. I am not saying to live a careless and lawless life. The Spirit of Christ is in us, what made us think that He is not gonna change us and do good works through us? After all, we are now a New Creation in Christ.

Also, I beg to differ when people say; “people that know Grace and Favour are lazy people.” I believe the more you understand Grace, the more you are in rest, the more Favour, the more God can do mighty work through and in You . Let’s take an example of the life of Paul. Let’s agree that Paul was “the best” amongst the disciple based on so-called “Doing it for God.” On His missions, His message is only about one thing which is Jesus and Him crucified. He never once said “alright boys, now that I have preached the Gospel to you and you have heard it, it’s your turn to get busy! So many lost people out there, so do good works because the Lord is more pleased if you do this!” Paul always, always remind people of Who they are In Christ (the new realities in Christ) and How much we are loved by Him. Is Paul a “Hard Worker” for God? based on religious views, YES HE IS. He has done more things compared to other disciples (if we want to talk about good works). But Paul, never never never once boasting His good works.

Please don’t get me wrong, we, the beloved, WILL spread the Gospel, we WILL do a good work, we WILL see the lost saved, all because of His Grace not because we have to work dilligently. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 and look at how Paul’s boasting his sufferings (the reason he did that because the other so called “super-apostles” are always boasting about their works for God). I believe, Paul did this to make a point that all his hard work is possible because of God’s Amazing Grace. God made it possible for him to do this.

The parable of the talent, alright, every time we read the Bible we must see Jesus in it, right? I hope we all agree with me on this one. When we see this parable, what first came up to your mind? Was it condemnation or What Jesus has done on our behalf? We can only fulfill God’s calling only when we are under Grace because even the best one of them (Moses – which represent the LAW) failed. Remember that Jesus was living under the Old Covenant and what Jesus said can and probably have condemned you. It is all because He wants everyone to end their Good Works and believe in His perfect Good Works instead. He is the ONLY one that FULFILLED the LAW perfectly. He was the only one that WORKED DILIGENTLY on our behalf. He was the one that took our place on the cross. He was the only one that could save us from our self righteousness.

Name me one person that could perform perfectly with their talents? I don’t think there is one person but Jesus Christ. Most of people believe that success comes when we work more productive or harder. The thought of God’s favour is stupidity according to the world. How can you be “financially rich” if you don’t spend 15 hours a day working and diligently making a 20-year plan? Is this not what the world believes, what makes us STOP thinking that the reason why we are blessed is because God’s Grace and His Favour are all over us, the beloved because we are in Christ?

Sure the world says that the more money you have the more “Successful” you are, but that is now How God define success. I hope you agree with me on this one as well? Let’s talk about Money Success. Let’s compare those people (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or Carlos Slim Helu) as the most successful people on the Planet. Let’s now compare them with King Solomon, in terms of money. After all King Solomon was the richest and is still the richest person ever lived!

I 100% do not believe that the reason why King Solomon is rich or “successful” because he worked diligently. I 100% do not agree that the reason why he was the WISEST person on the planet (well before Jesus Christ of course) is because he studied the knowledge of wisdom diligently for many years. The true reason is that because of God’s Grace made that possible for Him, God gave Him the wisdom, God gave him the richness of the world. Why? Not because He was diligent but because God had already promised and God did it for His Glory. The same scenario with Abraham, he was “rich”, why? Because of God’s Grace. Yes and a million Yes’s, you still work hard but not with the mentality that the more I work hard the more result I will get. John the Baptist was “rich” based not on finance but Jesus called him the BEST prophet Why did Jesus say that he was the best amongst the other prophets?

Let’s read LUKE 7:28, it says “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” He calls us believers, are greater than John the Baptist? Inst this amazing? Why is that so? The only thing John did was to point to Jesus and Jesus calls that “Great.” On the other hand, what have we done so that Jesus says that we are greater than John the Baptist? Nothing! Is it because of our “diligent” work? Absolutely Not!! It is simply because of whom we believe in (which is in Jesus Christ). If you are in Christ, Jesus lives in You and for that reason, you are greater than John the Baptist. Amen for this truth.

If every time we think that God is more pleased when we DO THIS or DON’T DO THIS or DO THAT or DON’T DO THAT, that is so cheapening God’s Grace and what Jesus has done on the cross.

Always believe that God is always SMILING at You just because you are His beloved in Christ.

Shalom

Let’s read Jeremiah 31:33-35

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” ³⁵ This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD Almighty is his name:

Guess what? We are living under this Covenant now, Can you imagine that we are actually living in the time where many prophets and Heroes of Faith have been dreaming and longing for? They could only IMAGINE how glorious this Covenant is going to be.

Let’s now read Ezekiel 36:25-28

²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸ You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

So if you have experienced any of the followings, you know how to respond or react:

1. When Satan or someone tells you that “you cannot do this and that” – you can just tell him “as far as I’m concerned that God did not say ‘IF’ nor ‘BUT’ in the New Covenant as God only says ‘I WILL’ and ‘YOU SHALL’.”

2. When Satan or someone tells you that “you have a heart of stone” – you can just tell him “as far as I’m concerned that God has given me a heart of flesh.”

3. When Satan or someone tells you that “you will fail or you are not gonna make it as a Christian” – you can just tell him “as far as I’m concerned that God will put His Spirit and keep me to follow His decrees and His Laws.”

God does not even say what we MUST DO in the New Covenant, it is all about HIM doing. Praise Jesus for He has fulfilled all the requirements in the Old Covenant. You know what? Before Jesus gave His Spirit and shouted it is finished in John 19, He said “I am thirsty” – He was actually saying “Lord, give the the cup of God’s wrath – I am ready to drink it.” In Luke 22:4, Jesus says “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” He drank the CUP OF GOD’S WRATH on our behalf! Can you imagine such love that he willingly took our place? God’s punishments and judgments that are supposed to fall on us FELL on Jesus’ body! The Romans must have thought that Jesus was physically thirty – hence why they gave Him a sponge soaked with wine! But the reality was that Jesus was fulfilling the scripture! (Thanks to Mick Mooney for sharing this revelation to me)

Let’s go back to Ezekiel 36, if you continue reading the chapter, you will find so many “I WILL’s” in the chapter. what amazes me is that in verse 32, the reason why God is doing this is for OUR SAKE! How glorious is that? God knew it from the beginning that we all will fall and we will have to keep giving sacrifices and offerings to Him, God knew all that! God has the right to not send Jesus to earth to save and to redeem us. Every human being deserves Hell … but you know what? In spite of everything, God CHOSE to send His Son to the world and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

My friend that is the NEW COVENANT we live in. Christ has DONE it all, Christ has become our Righteousness, Christ has made us qualified for God’s promises and blessings, Christ has made God satisfied on our behalf, Christ has redeemed us, and Christ has saved us! Let’s rest in His goodness knowing that He SHOUTED “IT IS FINISHED”.

May you fall in love with Jesus all over again

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

⁸But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

The purpose of the Law is to make us sin more! That is the truth, the Law equals more sinning. In Romans 6:23, it says  that “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The more you sin, the more death you will get. We can sum it up to this, that the Law kills … 10 Commandments Kill. The world needs more preachers that unveil the Glory of Christ who do not minister death to people.  We do not need the Law anymore, the Law was given so that every person would come to an end of themselves and turn back to God who is LIFE. Praise God that He sent His son, Jesus to fulfill the Law because only Him can perfectly fulfill the Law, no one else! Matthew 5:17 says that “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” what it means is that there has to be someone to fulfill the Law otherwise blessings that can only come by man’s obedience cannot come and God who is just and righteous cannot bend the Law or lower His standards. Thank God that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law on our behalf and since we are in Him, we get all the blessings. In the New Covenant, God does not see our Obedience, but He sees every single obedience that Jesus had done for us (that would mean every single believer in this world).

A Covenant is between 2 parties, in the Old Covenant, it was between God and His People (the Jews) and because Men always fail and cannot perfectly fulfill God’s standards, instead of blessings they received curses after curses.They brought offerings and sacrifices to “cover” their sins/disobedience so that they can still get God’s blessings. What amazing is that in the New Covenant (the Covenant that we are under) is still between 2 parties which are God and Man, BUT… this time is between a PERFECT GOD and a PERFECT MAN whose name is Jesus Christ who perfectly fulfilled God’s standards.This means that, the covenant that we are under is a PERFECT COVENANT and cannot be broken.

So, if the Bible says you must tithe in order to be blessed. What shall we do? Do we look at ourself and think “man, I did not tithe last week at church service, no wonder my week has been bad”? No no no no! We look at Jesus, what did Jesus do on my behalf? Did Jesus tithe? YES! Since we are in Him, are we blessed? YES! God does not see our obedience anymore, everything has been satisfied in Jesus. If the Bible says that, you must have a healthy prayer life for God to move. What shall we do? Do we then try to find where have we gone wrong? No no no no… please do not get me wrong. Once we focus upon Jesus, faith will come for the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of CHRIST. If you know how much we are loved by Him, would you not want to spend more and more time with Him? So, what does that mean now? Let’s be stingy and live lawlessly? No no no no… it just means we do not live under the Old Covenant which brings death any longer because God has replaced it with something greater which is the New Covenant of Grace (God’s Spirit).

We are now a spiritual being not a law being and under God’s Grace. Please understand that Grace does not mean “to cover”, we have heard “well Grace is just a license to sin!” I do not think that if you understand His love, you would want to go out and sin. Grace literary means “Undeserved or Unmerited Favour” which pictures the perfect love of God! if we understand Grace and how much we are loved by God whose love is everlasting for Jeremiah 31:3 says that “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” How Glorious is this? God who owns the universe, who knows us before we were conceived, who created the heavens and earth, who numbered the stars and named them, who holds the universe together, and His love towards us is everlasting? Let’s ponder and meditate on this verse. Let God’s Love washes you.  In John 17:23, God says that He even loves us (that would mean YOU) the same as he loves His son, Jesus!

If all these verses did not make you feel super and deeply loved by the Creator, I will give you some more

Let’s look at Philippians 4:19

“And my God will meet all your needs ACCORDING to HIS GLORIOUS RICHES in Christ Jesus.”

How much God will bless me? Let me give you a story. Imagine there are 2 people (Bob and Jeremy) and they both are good friends. Bob is rich and he owns multiple companies and according to a fortune magazine, he is considered as one of the most richest and succesfull people on earth. The second one, Jeremy, he lives a normal life, by normal, I mean he has a job who provides him finance to pay the bills. One day, Bob decided to bless Jeremy with his finance. Let’s just agree that Bob is giving a million dollars to Jeremy just because they are good friends. Although it is a huge amount of money, but still the blessing is based on Bob’s bank account. Although he owns millions and millions of dollars, there are still limits. Now lets look at the third person, His name is Jesus Christ. So who is Jesus? Let’s read Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” OK this Jesus owns the UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING in it. If you like astronomy like I do, imagine how many gazilions starts out there in space? even the scientists could not figure it out how massive the space is! our star which is Sun is already massive in size, but guess what? Our sun/star is one of the smallest starts there is in space! According to Psalm 50:10 which says “for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.”Jesus owns the cattle on a thousand hills - what would that look like today? I will let you to decide. Do you think Jesus will make it to fortune magazine?  I think so! What kind of title he would get? Perhaps something like this The most loving, richest, kind, humble, successful, thoughtful, generous person that ever recorded in history? I hope you get how BIG and GLORIOUS Jesus Christ is.

This is just a small glimpse of His Glorious Riches (based on my tiny brain)

I leave you with these verses from Hebrews 8:7-13

⁷For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸But God found fault with the people and said:
“The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
⁹It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
¹¹No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
¹²For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

¹³By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Grace and Peace be with you

44″The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field”.
45″Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls”.
46″When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it”.

What first came up to your mind when you read this parable? Did you see it as something that a Good Christian needs to do to PLEASE God or Did you see what Jesus has done for us?

You may have heard these parables preached so many times at churches and if you have not, perhaps just keep going and you will heard it. Praise God if you belong to a church that is so dependent on Christ and continually lifts up the name of Jesus in every meeting. There is only one Gospel which is the Gospel of Grace (Galatians 1:6-7). Paul said that there is no other Gospel except the Gospel of Christ. If you hear a sermon or a message that has got nothing to do with Jesus or does not make you know more about Jesus or makes you feel condemned because there is always something that makes you feel ‘I am not enough’, you have heard a different Gospel, which is NOT the Gospel.

We so often hear that a good Christian MUST be WILLING to GIVE A SACRIFICE FOR GOD because that is what a Good Christian supposed to do, but that is not what these parables talk about. The truth is that we are the Hidden Treasure and  the Pearl. Jesus who created the universe and everything in it willingly left the heaven where He belongs and ’sold’ everything He owns to ‘buy’ us. He is doing whatever He can to extend the ‘beloved’ family and we are the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl that He has been looking for. Can you imagine such a love that He willingly LEFT everything He’s got to redeem us?? Such perfect Love will turn around the world for good. This kind of love is what the world needs to hear and experience. I really believe that this kind of love is the ONLY love that will bring young and old generations to Christ, not the Spirit of Condemnation.

2 Corinthians 3:9-10

⁹“If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory”.

If we think that a condemning sermon still brings the lost to the Lord, imagize how much MORE when a sermon that brings righteousness will bring the lost to the Lord? For John says in 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love“.

In the New Testament, Paul says “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15) In today’s language the word ABBA means Daddy which pictures an intimacy between a son and a father.

May you be showered by His Grace daily.

Shalom