God's authority & plan

Psalm 33:4-5:

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

When I read that passage, I was wondering how it could be true in spite of the tragedy that happened around the world? Maybe David has never seen a typhoon as big as what happened recently was the typhoon Haiyan in Philippines?

How could we find Him faithful in all He does? Is this hurricane/typhoon/disaster is part of what He does? 

Is this part of His acts as a just judge and righteousness? 

Is the earth full of his unfailing love?

Well, as humanly as this might not make sense to all of us, the best answer that we could get is from the Bible itself! 

>> We must acknowledge and understand who our God is <<

1 Tim 6:15-16 says: 

...which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever...

He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. The creator and ender of all things. He is an almighty God that way above all created things, for everything is created by and for Him.  David was fully grasped that, Job was fully understand that, Paul totally grasped that.. along with other disciples,  and everyone else..  Do we?

We human always tried to be our own God but forgetting who we actually are and who owns our life!  

As my friend Daniel said, behind all that, we can learn that destroying/annihilation isn't really God's 'end-game' (the best way I can put it :p) , but restoration is! If we see in the old testament, Noah, Job, Sodom and Gomorrah, Elijah, Israelites.. and even the death of Jesus Christ! there's always a restoration that follows through, and it's always for His glory.

So the question is, my friend Greg once asked, on which side of authority do you want to be in?

James 4:12

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy

Offering

Roma 12: 1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

What's the purpose of your work/study/self-improvement? Who are you doing it for?

- love God better, or love yourself better?

- love others better, or love yourself better?

How to have a Kingdom mindset?

Breaking Bad TV shows

Source: Sunday Service sermon Nov 3, 2013

God stories? :)

God's glory

Ezekiel 10:4 helps us to glimpse and understand God's glory: 

"Then the LORD's glory rose from above the winged creatures and moved toward the temple's threshold. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the LORD's glory." 

The word translated here as "glory" is kabod in Hebrew. Curiously, this word is derived from a root with the basic meaning of "heavy." From this root came, among other things, a word meaning "rich." Speakers of ancient Hebrew would refer to a rich person as "heavy in wealth" much as we might say someone is loaded. A similar extension of the literal sense of kabod included being loaded with power, reputation, or honor.

It's from this use of the word that we get the meaning of glory. God's glory is God's weightiness in wonderful qualities such as might, beauty, goodness, justice, and honor. When it comes to these characteristics and so many others, God has them in superabundance.

God's glory is solid and substantial. It isn't mere reputation. It isn't dependent on anyone or anything else. God's glory reflects his essential nature.  Power and Love - Psalm 62:11-12

Source: Christ Centered facebook page

God's attention to skills

God's attention to skills.  Let's look at His command:

Exodus 25

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

All skilful process that God requires from chapter 25 - 39

• 28:3, 6, 8, 15
• 31:3, 6
• 35:30-35
• 36

God cares about your skills, your talents, and He has called each one of us to serve according to our ability. I think this is why we serve in a music ministry.. we give Him all our skills and talents to worship Him, to create that 'tabernacle' where God's glory can be shown and create that space where people can come to worship Him and have personal encounterance with God.

Maz 22:4 - Engkau yang kudus yang bersemayan di atas puji-pujian orang Israel

And our objectives is to see God's glory revealed, relationship restored, true and personal encounterance, through praise and worship that impacted their life time!

Like in Exodus 40, for God's glory to come down and stay.

Exodus 40

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

so, next week we'll talk about what is God's glory.

source: http://cdn.theresurgence.com/files/2011/10/06/Audition_Interview_Questions.pdf?1317943842

Purpose of our ministry

The purpose church & its ministry: to reconcile to God and others.

2 Cor 5

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation

In music ministry - are we bringing that ?

How are you doing relationally? with God and with others?

Restore me the joy of your salvation

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.


Restore me the joy of your salvation

It's not my salvation, it's God's

Yes life can hit us, and sometimes hit us hard.
Disaster, tragedy, people come and go, death and birth

david's prayer:
- pure heart, motivation, whatever happens
- steadfast, unwavering, stable, tak tergoyahkan.. he knows issue/problem will hit
- joy - not happiness, it's God's not earthly
- your salvation - reason of joy, not our own salvation, but His. only by accepting Jesus and following Him.

Questions:
how's your relationship with God?
what motivates you to serve?

God's Kingdom parable

Hi guys,  how are you doing?

Just want to share a bit of what I got when reading this passage. Before hand, on Mat 6, Jesus said do not worry so many times, and in the middle he said: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well". 

So what does he mean by His Kingdom or Kingdom of Heaven? In later chapter, 13, He explained it all with parables.

- a man who sowed good seed in his field/the parable of the weeds

- a mustard seed

- a yeast that got mixed 

- treasure hidden in field

- fine pearl

- net caught all kinds of fish

What I find interesting is, he explains couple of His parables! huh, very rare of him to explain parables, hehe, but nonetheless, he did explain about the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds. 

And then, on verse 29 & 30, interestingly, it seems like Jesus 'let' the weeds grew altogether with the wheat (good seeds)... in here Jesus said let the evil grow, let every bad things happen, for it already rooted together with the wheat!  I guess that's why we see so many bad things happen, brokenness here and there, and this is where we're growing, along with the weeds!  

But do not worry, in the end, God himself will separate the weeds from the wheat! That's where grace comes in and separate us! Once we belong to Christ, nothing can separate us (Romans 8:35), we're the wheat and He himself will pick us up and separate us, and in the end God's barn sounds so much better than fiery furnace (Mat 13: 42-43) 

:)

Keep up your daily bible reading! and Have a blessed day!