What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Part2

Abraham did not learn to lie but benefitted from his lies, because of the beautiful, supermodel, wife the king began to give him gifts. The God in heaven said ah, ah, the man of faith is a controller, the man of God is shrewd, he’s beginning to like it. It’s beginning to be like a lifestyle. A controller will use any means to stay in control.

What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Part1

Somewhere in the story is a lesson for Abraham, I would like to believe that the test is not for God but for Abraham. A little information will help, at this point in time Abraham is no longer young. Isaac came to their lives, Abraham was already a hundred years old. Can you imagine for the first time God gave Him, and just when he is enjoying, just when you have concrete plans, just when it looks like forever and just when the same voice who promised the boy, is the same voice who said “give him back to Me”, believe me the struggle is not easy.

Manager or Minister - Part2

Some people use guilt and it may cause people to perform but deep inside it can cause distance beyond repair. Some people use gifts, load someone with gifts and he cannot say no anymore. By the way, what is our motive when we give? Why are we so kind? One time my host and I were eating dinner and my host said I’m always kind to the pastors. Eat, eat, then he said eat, eat so that God will be kind to me. Why are you so kind? Why do you give gifts? If the reason is to bully with the expectation of change, with the expectation that if I give, he will realize that God loves him, stop it. The love of God is the only love that can transform a man.

Manager or Minister - Part1

When it comes with our relationship with God and connected with that is our relationship with others we ask the question, are you acting as a manager or a minister? Peter, with his dialogue with Jesus gets very down to earth, wants to divert the topic and he said to Jesus “What about him?” What is the answer of Jesus to Peter? Very brutally frank, Jesus tells Peter without protocol, direct truth, sharp, pierce to Peter’s heart “Peter if I want him to live until I come back, what is that to you?" Peter your job is not to manage John, your job is to follow me.

The Truth About The Second Coming of Christ - Part2

Worldy saying says “when the cat is away the mouse will play”. Because the Lord's second coming is somewhat long to wait, we'd rather do anything that are pleasing in our sight and enjoy sinning and then at the last minute become holy. Is that true with you? A God-honoring life is not doing good works because you are afraid that the boss will catch you play but, holiness should be our lifestyle.

The Truth About The Second Coming of Christ - Part1

Every new year , every TV station invites people who can predict the future, they told us many predictions on what it will be in each year because you know what, people are addicted on what is ahead, that’s the problem with people, they want to be ahead of what will happen about tomorrow. There are also predictions that days will end on December 2012. But for us Bible believing Christians, the end of the physical world is after the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

SAVED BUT NOT SAFE

“The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.” Acts 9:11

Ananias no doubt is a true child of God who truly believes in Jesus as his Lord. His soul is already delivered from darkness and sin and his destiny is to be with the Lord in eternity. Yet here on earth, the Lord needed to deliver Ananias . . . not from sin but from being a safe and selfish servant of God. To be a Christian in those times required a bold step from your safe zone. Initially, Ananias took that step when he followed Jesus. God needed to push him a little bit more into the water of obedience. It is God’s commitment to lead us to live an obedient life, eventually becoming an obedient church.

The road to obedience is not a safe road. The only guarantee is that God promised to walk with us in this unchartered road of obeying His will. For Ananias, his assignment was to minister to Saul, the butcher of Christ’s followers. This time, Ananias thought of arguing his case before the Lord, which the Lord graciously heard. At the end of his dialogue with Jesus, Ananias chose to obey! The Lord first needed to disturb Ananias’ safe life, then, as he was jolted from his comfort zone, the Lord gave His direction to him. Whenever we ask for God’s direction in our lives, we are also asking for Divine disturbance! Without God’s disturbance, I doubt if we will want His direction?

Unknown to Ananias, God was delivering him from living an uneventful life. As he obeyed God, Ananias crossed his Jordan to the other side. [It is in obeying that we become more dependent on God; more sensitive to listen to His guidance; more walking by faith than by sight.] From the moment Ananias stepped out from his home to step into the apartment of Paul, he was being delivered from the safe life and radically ushered into a God-ordered chaos! And from the moment he stepped out from Paul’s abode, Ananias tasted a deep sense of God’s peace and God’s presence that originally came from God’s disturbance. Disturbed, directed and delivered! As Christ’s follower, you and I have our own assignments from God. Expect a Holy kind of disturbance that you and I might experience a deep Holy fear of God eventually leading us to plunge into the ‘unchartered’ road of obedience. It is not always safe but surely, this is the pathway of the saved! “Oh Lord, from the desire of being so safe, deliver me; from the addiction to always be in control of my life, release me.” Amen.


Prayerfully,

REV. ARNEL TAN