05 January 2003 - Worship - Part II
12 January 2003 - Importance Of Worship
19 January 2003 - Timing
26 January 2003 - II Chronicles 7:14

5th January 2003

Worship - Part II

Last week I shared that the ultimate role as Christians is to become worshippers of God. In heaven there won't be any professions or job titles, we are not going to do anything except worship God forever. Worship is something that cannot be taught. You can go to seminars to learn about worship but all the training cannot make you a worshipper. Worship comes from the heart, having the passion towards God. God is looking for true worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is not interested at the number of congregation in the church but He is looking for worshippers that will just worship Him.

If God cannot find true worshippers in the church then He is going to look from outside of the church! Matthew 3:9, '…and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.' No wonder in Isaiah 55:12, God says that all the tress of the field will clap their hands. Even the trees praise God! If God can use a donkey to talk, to stop Balaam from cursing Israel, I am sure God can make the donkey sing and worship Him too!

In Matthew 21:14-15, Jesus healed the blind and the lame who came to Him. The people praised God for the wonderful things He had done, crying 'Hosanna to the Son of David', but the chief priests and the scribes were indignant. Jesus said replied in verse 16, 'Yes, have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants. You have perfected praise?''

In Malachi 1:6, 'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I then am the Father, where is my honor? And if I am a Master, where is my reverence?' God is looking for someone who would praise and worship and give honor to Him!

It is not the doctrine that will save people, neither would good singing and good preaching. It is always the presence of God that convicts their hearts. One touch from God is more powerful than any preaching that men do! One man came to church one day and told the church that 'Your God came to my house'. The presence of God filled his living room, kitchen and his room while he was drinking and smoking. He came to church wanting to be saved! The Ark of God should stay in the temple, the holy of holies but God blessed Obed when the Ark was left in his care for three months! Where the presence is, there the blessing will flow too.

Today, I want to encourage you to continue to seek His face and have an encounter with Him. Worship Him.

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12th January 2003

Importance Of Worship

I had been sharing the importance of worship for the past week. Our priority as a believer is to be a worshipper. There are no careers or professionals up in heaven, only worshippers. God created us first and foremost to be a worshipper. Adam and Eve were created to be a worshipper. Therefore, the emphasis here is on worship.

God is rebuilding the Tabernacle of David, which is the Tabernacle of Worship. He wanted for the ark to be brought back into the tabernacle. Just as how David worshipped with simplicity of heart, we too are to worship in spirit and in truth. There is no set formula or equation when it comes to worshipping God. It takes passion to bring in the presence of God. When passion pours out from our hearts, the presence of God comes in. In fact, God does not want us to have everything planned out nicely. If we expect the service to be finished by the clock, the speaker to be fluent, the musicians, worship leaders and everything to be of something that we expect each time we come to church, then you are in for a disappointment. You should not come to expect a good meeting. How you participate will lead to a good meeting - therefore it is up to you! I thank God for messing up our program. It is the same if you come to church to expect fellowship because God does not expect fellowship with other people. God expects you to worship and fellowship with Him alone. Jesus said, "If I am lifted up, I will draw all men" - it's all about him. One spoken word from God is worth more than the entire message from the preacher.

2 Chronicles 7:12-15 "the Lord appeared to him at night and said: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place".

The above scripture talks about what happened after Solomon finished building the temple. Likewise, we must seek for an open heaven. We must humble ourselves. Prayer and worship goes hand in hand. Do not seek for your own anointing, but seek for His Glory (kabod). When His kabod is here, those people who walk in will know and sense His awesome presence. The favor and blessings of God comes when there is an "open" heaven. How do we have an "open" heaven? Just worship Him.

We all know how God had blessed Obed and his household when the Ark of the Covenant was brought from Abinadab's house into Obed's house. But have you ever wondered what happened to Obed after the Ark of the Covenant was taken away from his household? 1 Chronicles 16:37 "David left Asaph and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister there regularly, according to each day's requirements. He also left Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were gatekeepers."

Obed became the gatekeeper after the ark was brought back to the tabernacle by king David. After being blessed by God for 3 months, Obed still chose to stay near the presence of God by being the gatekeeper.

All of you are going to be gatekeepers. Psalm 24:7 "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in."

Let's focus on Him and Him alone.

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19th January 2003

Timing

With man it is impossible but not with God. Michael, a friend of mine whom had given 80% of his salary by faith, was blessed with many things in life. God is looking for spiritual giants that will trust and obey Him. Don't try to understand God with your mind, or your eyes. John 8:43, 'Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ' In Ezekiel 37:1-14, even the valley of dry bones were made alive!

I want to let you know that the spiritual move in your church depends on you! What is your response to this move? Are you the dry bones in the church? Are you able to run the race all the way? God has to downsize the people from 5000 to 120 because the people couldn't agree with one another. They behaved like dry bones. Don't get frustrated when things don't go your way. It is the timing issue. I have seen so many things in these few months and I tell you God is doing something even greater today! We prayed for a brother, who wanted to quit smoking, and the nicotine just flowed out from the chest, it was smelly! Can you imagine these things we are seeing in Borneo? It is the timing that you will get all those if you continue to press in for God. Remember the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:12-14, 'Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says, O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.'

Be blessed!

Pastor Matthew

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26th January 2003

II Chronicles 7:14

'If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.' (II Chronicles 7:14)

This will be the theme for HCC this year. I want to let you know that the revival of the church relies on everyone of you. The verse above says that 'If My people would come and pray', then I will heal their land.' It doesn't say 'if the pastor' or 'if the church leaders' come to pray, but that the 'people' would come to pray.

There are three levels in the spiritual realm. The first level is the earth sky level. In order to reach the first level, we have to have a regular prayer life and devotion to God. The second level is governed by the powers and principalities of the Satan and the third level is where God is. A humble person will know how to pray and kneel before God. When you pray, there is spiritual warfare in heaven. This can be seen in the book of Daniel 10:10-14.

Verse 10-14, 'A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.' And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued,' Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of Persian kingdom resisted me twenty one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.''

As Daniel began to pray, there was a spiritual warfare between the angels and the devils. What if Daniel decided to stop praying after 20 days? His prayer would not have been answered. However, he persevered and prayed faithfully until his prayer broke through the first and second realms and finally reached God's realm. Twenty-one days later, God answered his prayers.

Programs, trackings, door-to-door visitations, and good work will not save people. I am not saying that we should not have programs or do social work, but I am saying that if you do all these without prayer, people are not going to get saved. Unless you pray and commit their salvation to the Lord, only then will you see the fruits of your prayer. Our first priority is to pray for the lost, then followed by the works. I am investing 2 hours or more everyday in prayer and worship because I want to see great things happen in our church. My own problem becomes small as I focus my eyes on Jesus. My biggest problem is related to the church and its people. God is not interested in what you can do, what you wear or how you behave in the church. He is interested in your heart, and all your tears that you shed for your loved ones.

Listen to me this morning, humble yourself and pray. It is the most important ministry in the church but often the church has put it aside as it is hard to put into practice. Let him who has an ear, listen to this: Seek Him and spend time with Him everyday - pray.

Last week, when we went up to the hills for the 36-hour prayer, I thank God for the people who went (26 of them). As I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go up to the hilltop to pray on Monday night, I took the rest of the team (12 members) with me. As I began to walk and pray, I realize that there are religious place of worship at the high places and everyday without fail, worship have been offered at the high places. And where are the Christians worshipping?

As we boarded the last train down to the Upper Tunnel where our bungalow was, we took another route and that led us to a beautiful open space where one could see the entire view of Penang. I prayed for signs. Suddenly I saw a tiny cloud at the center of Georgetown, blocking the Komtar Tower. The cloud became bigger and darker. I didn't know what it meant at that time. I called out to Jeffrey and Pastor Matthew and both saw the cloud. As it spread bigger and darker it began to cover the entire town area and only later I found out that there were religious activities the whole night in Penang (Thaipusam celebration).

The next morning, I woke up early as I was taking the 6.30 to 8am prayer. I decided to go back to the place we went last night and I saw something so beautiful. Words just cannot express what I saw but only when you see it you will know. I saw the sun rising up and all of the sudden there was a beautiful bright light piercing out from the surrounding.

As I began to seek God, God gave me an interpretation of what I had seen. The dark great clouds that covered the whole Georgetown were the clouds of darkness. God is telling me that if we, Christians are not doing anything about it, then this is what's going to happen to Penang. The other religions are offering their worship to their gods and it has spread! But don't lose heart. The other vision indicates what God has promised us, continue to pray and we will see His glory piercing though the darkness!

Church, can I count on you to pray for the lost? Can I count on you to come to the prayer meeting every Saturday to pray? Church, rise up and seek the Lord.

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