Life Of Excellence

My favourite guest speaker -- Dr A.R.Bernard is here to preach again! The revelation that God has given him is always so prospective and powerful and deep...we are so so blessed to have him again with us! :DD

Considering if I should get this DVD, either for me or for mum & dad, and maybe a mp3 sermon for Christina too? Oh well...thinking only... :P

Holy Spirit (26/01/07)

Acts 9:31

"Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord."

Note:

1. living in the fear of the Lord -- refer to our daily lives living in constant awareness and consciousness of the Lord.
2. strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit -- refer to Holy Spirit being our present administrator of the plan of God.

In Luke 4:18, Jesus calles to the Holy Spirit to fall upon him:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..."

Jesus has shown himself in many ways before he leaves.

The 12 apostles follow Jesus, a man they are puzzled about, for 3.5 years

• they saw Jesus perform the miracle works of God that they have never seen before
• they probably be thinking: "Who is this man that prevail himself as God?"
• they live with him, dine with him, travel with him
• YET they still don't understand what they see
• because what they see is only the physical!

How do I made transition from tangible to someone you cannot see or touch anymore?

Acts 1:6

"So when they met together, they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'"

• The disciples are still asking the same question: Will Jesus restore Israel?
• They still don't understand the kingdom of God & God's revelation.
• Jesus tells them that they will be witnesses & receive God's power ONLY when Holy Spirit comes upon them.
• Witness is someone whose story is so powerful and compelling that he will be put to questions and prosecution because of how convincing their stories can become.
• Hence, when you have transited, you will go into the culture NOT because you have the power but because you REPRESENT the power from God!
• Eg. When we pray, we always end off with asking "in the name of Jesus". This is because we are asking through the Holy Spirit as a representative of Christ.

John is loved most (the Gospel of John) as he is able to see beyond the physical.

When Jesus asked Peter of his identity, Peter recognised Jesus as the son of the living God while other apostles recognise him as prophets or Elijah.

• Flesh and blood does not reveal what Peter has spoken about the identity of Jesus as being the son of the living God...so who else?
• It must be from the Holy Spirit!
• And Jesus STERNLY warn them not to tell anyone about this. Why so?

When Jesus appears together with Moses and Elijah (whose deaths are still mysteries) on his sides, and his clothes become illuminated, the 3 disciples are shocked.

• God cannot reveal certain things to us because of how we react might be totally opposite and in the wrong way.
• And again Jesus STERNLY warn the 3 disciples not to tell anyone about this.
• Because if they tell now, they would not have the right and articulate way to represent Him.
• Represent Him only when the Holy Spirit comes or otherwise you may make serious mistakes!

We don't go to people to be religious and simply tell them to live like us.

• What we are supposed to do is to let them see the transformation in us, in which how we are changed to become a better person!
• And we are changed because our God is alive.
• Eg. Confucians won't have a problem with Confucius being dead.
• Our religion is to have a relationship with the person who is still alive and understand us.

Because it is not judged by the things we do BUT by the quality of the relationship!

Adam (27/01/07)

Genesis 4

• Man -- product of heaven and earth coming together.
• ie. Earth + God's breath = Adam
• Adam never experience the full capacity in him because he falls and being corrupted.
• Although he has fallen, he is not lost and at a state where people can redeem him.
• Because he still have a redeemptive value.
• So the whole gospel is about to redeem that value and bring it back to the places of its original state!

Even Adam is in fallen state, he can still have offsprings: Cain & Abel.

• The state is then passed on to the next generation and is manifested, both good and evil.
• Abel --> Does what God wants him to do.
• Cain --> Plan his way to God (eg. Offer to God what he wants and God accepts it instead). He himself determines what is evil or good, what is clean or unclean.

Even Cain is fallen, he still have the capacity in him. So he made his own city and put in his own elements [refer to Genesis 4]:

1. Raise livestock (Jabal) -- Industry (eg. food, clothes etc)
2. Live in tents -- Housing development (an alternative to living in caves)
3. Play harp & flute (Jubal) -- Arts & Entertainment (You need to first made the harp and tune the music!)
4. Forging tools made of bronze & iron (Tubal): Weapons (You need to first mine these elements, separate them, extract them and mould them!)

This is a society that is built on the abilities and capacities of Cain in the fallen state, BUT with God outside of its element! From above:

1. + 2. + 3. + 4. = Human Society!

Social Institution

1. Family
2. Church
3. Education
4. Politics
5. Economics
6. Arts & Entertainment

Even though nowadays we have these elements, we are still like Cain in a fallen state!

Kristos Kai Cosmos --> God is empowering us to bring us back into this fallen society and change it in order to make a difference!

God gets to each individual in different ways in order to redeem that value in each of us.

The question is not about WHAT am I here for but WHO am I here for!

• God saves you to redeem your value, and you could be that someone to help him redeem the value of someone else.
• In other words, God saves you to save someone else!

Kristos Kai Cosmos says no matter how beautiful this culture is, it is still fallen.

• But REDEEMABLE!
• We have to redeem that value in the culture!

God is a junk collector.

• We are the junks he is collecting.
• God pays a price, sacrifice his time to change us by putting in new elements in us or restoring the original values that we have.
• ie. A piece of junk may cost you only $5 to get it but when you clean it and repair it, it will worth more than $5...or even millions of dollars!