11 December
2016 (11.30am service, New Creation Church at Star Vista)
- A
video recording of Pastor Joseph Prince’s sermon delivered on 30 November 2014 was shown.
Sermon Notes (Note: These are personal notes and not a transcription of the sermon.)
I.
Worship as
Reminders to God about His Son
We always
thought that Moses just went to the mountain to receive the two tablets of
stone- the Ten Commandments. However, the Bible says that Moses spent 40 days
and 40 nights with God in the mountain, and it took seven chapters to talk
about it. However, the Creation only took one chapter- Genesis chapter 1.
Why it took
seven chapters is because up in the mountain, God talked about his son in
figures, types and shadows, isn’t it precious? Only at the end of the seventh
chapter, the very last verse then God mentioned to Moses that he had two
tablets of stone and Moses went down with the two tablets of stone at the end
of the forty days. So, what Moses did up there was to listen to God talk in
detail the delight of His heart— His Son. It’s all about His Son.
God wants you
to know that worship is bringing reminders to Him about His Son. Like Joseph,
our heavenly Joseph, our Bible tells us about that when he discovered himself
to his brothers, he said, “I am Joseph” with all the power he has, he forgave
them, for what they did to him— in betraying him, in selling him off. He
forgave them and said, “come near”, with all the power he had, he said “come
near’, and they all wept on his shoulders. And then he said this: “Go tell my
father.”
So, worship is
telling your father about all things you have seen and heard with the Savior,
His Son, our redeemer, our precious, gracious friend— Jesus Christ.
So, every time
we sing about the Lord, the Father delights.
The Bible says
in the book of Proverbs, “And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him” (Proverbs 8:30).
And what you do to the Lord
Jesus is what God will do to you. If you honour Jesus, God honours you. If you reject
Him, God rejects you. If you accept him, God accepts you.
He who gets the
Son, gets every blessing of God.
II.
Sins Punished
in the Body of Christ
Our sins have
been punished already in the body of Christ. If God is not a just God, and if
He is not a faithful God, and if a judge is not judicial or upright, then the
whole fabric of the society will crumble and disintegrate. We need our judges to
be unbiased, to be righteous and to be just, and faithful to the law. In that way, the society can flourish, wrong
will be punished, good will be rewarded.
God is a just
God. If not, there is no need for the cross.
How can the just holy God receive sinful man? The basis is the cross,
where His Son died. Because of the cross, God is righteous in receiving
sinners. Because at the cross, where the blood of His Son was shed, it fully
met all the claims of divine justice and righteousness, so much so that God is
satisfied.
God’s righteousness
is satisfied by what His Son has done. And not only God accepts you, He accepts
you not as a servant but he accepts you and makes you a son.
The way to teach
the Bible is to look for Jesus throughout the Bible. Many people may come to church not knowing
what they need is Jesus. But if you are hungry, He is bread of life; if you are
thirsty, he is the fountain of living waters. Why are we prevented from seeing
Jesus in physical form— it’s more important to see Jesus in the scriptures, in
that way, every generation will have equal and fair chance.
III.
Story of
Elijah and Elisha
There is a
beautiful story in the Bible which focuses on Elijah and Elisha.
The Old Testament
is the new concealed. The New Testament is the old revealed.
Here, I am
going to talk about the prophetic ministry in the Old Testament. In the Old
Testament, first, during the 40 days and 40 nights with Moses, God gave Moses
the paradigm of how his dwelling will be, and for the first time, God mentioned
the high priest and the high priest’s garments. The high priest will be the
leader and lead them. The high priest failed.
From the high
priest to Israel history, God raised the King, and the King was in the first
place, and the high priest was in the second place. Only when the King felt a
need, he would go to the high priest. But even the kings of Israel failed and
even the best of them, David, failed, and God brought in the prophetic
ministry. During the time of greatest corruption of Israel’s time, the kingdom
of Israel was divided into two—the kingdom of Israel to the north, the kingdom
of Judah to the south. The bible tells us that the kingdom of Israel at this
time of Elijah and Elisha was in the most corrupt state ever. The king was Ahab,
and he had a terrible wife. He married a witch literally. Her name was Jezebel.
She was a crazy woman who forced the Israelites to worship the Baal, the rain
god, and they had fertility rites which involved all types of sexual
promiscuous, which was forbidden by God.
With the
prophetic ministry brought by God, the first prophet was Samuel. But unlike the
kings and priests, where there was a succession there, when it comes to
prophets, there is no succession. God can raise a prophet from anywhere.
There is only
exception, only one— Elijah and Elisha (successor of Elijah). Why did God put
the story of Elijah and Elisha in the Bible? It is because Elijah reminds us of
John the Baptist and Elisha reminds us of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, the
name “Eli-sha” means “My God saves” or “My God is savior”. Jesus’s name is there- “Sha”. Elisha is a
picture of Lord Jesus Christ. All his miracles, expect for one, are miracles of
grace. For Elijah, all his miracles are miracles of judgement. In fact, when
Elijah first appeared, he said there will be no rain for three and a half
years, as people sinned. Elijah typifies
judgement and Elisha typifies our Lord, which is grace. And just as John the
Baptist was the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ, so was Elijah.
Elijah lived
an ascetic life, out in the deserts and mountains, whereas Elisha was a homely
prophet who moved among widows, lepers, kings and captains, and he was
accessible to the common people, as well as the royalty.
Elijah was
often out in isolated places, dressed rough and looked different.
John the
Baptist was a type of Elijah. When Angel Gabriel appeared to John the Baptist’s
father in the holy place where he was offering incense, the Bible tells us that
Angel Gabriel appeared on the right side of the incense. Most likely, Angel
Gabriel was holding Elijah’s garments to Zechariah, John of
Baptist’s father, and said:
He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah,
'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke
1:17) Even Jesus said to the disciples of John the Baptist,
“Indeed, Elijah is coming
first and will restore all things.” (Matthew
17:11)
However, Elijah
ministry was cut short. Something happened to Elijah. The most famous story of
Elijah was the confrontation with prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Elijah
confronted all of them. That was a time of famine and it has not been raining
since Elijah said there should be no dew or rain. Thus, things were really dry.
The prophets of Baal sang and danced, and some cut themselves, nothing
happened. After they have put up various acts, bleeding and panting, Elijah put
12 stones for the 12 tribes of Israel, and put the offering there, and he said,
“’Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that
You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these
things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that
You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You
again.’”
God answered, and the fire came and burnt the sacrificial victim and
the twelve stones.
1 King 18: 31-40
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number
of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come,
saying, "Israel shall be your name." Then with the stones he built an
altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large
enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in
pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four waterpots with
water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." Then he said,
"Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; and he said,
"Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. So the water ran
all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. And it came to
pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the
prophet came near and said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God
in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your
word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord
God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." Then the
fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and
the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now
when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The
Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" And Elijah said to them,
"Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they
seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them
there.
On that day,
under law, judgement was greater than the sacrifice. When Christ came, He
consumed the judgement, and cried “Finished!”. This time, the sacrifice was
greater than the judgement, and He did it for us.
Thus, Elijah
is a type of John the Baptist, and he was rough. But Elisha was different. He
was known for his miracles of grace, except for one incident.
Comparing both
of them:
Luke 7:33-34
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor
drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man has come eating
and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax
collectors and sinners!'
The flesh
cannot be satisfied. They either say you are too legalistic or you are too
“grace”. The problem is in their hearts.
For John the
Baptist, they said he was too severe; for the Lord Jesus, they said he was too indulgent.
Jesus is a friend of sinners. What they meant as an accusation for Jesus was
actually a glory.
He is a friend
of sinners, and He is a gracious, faithful, ready friend. Those who came to Him
in their necessities and needs leave with blessing and healing. The first thing
you see in Lord Jesus is his eyes, and you will see in his eyes love for you,
like rivers of living waters.
Right after
the victory of Elijah on Mount Carmel, the people shouted, “The Lord He is God,
the Lord He is God!”. However, the whole nation did not turn to God, and that
caused Elijah to be very discouraged.
When there is
failure, we get very discouraged.
Elijah was
depressed.
The crazy
woman Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, heard that Elijah killed all the prophets
of Baal on Mount Carmel, and she said she wanted to go after him and kill him.
When Elijah
heard that Jezebel was going to kill him, he ran away. This is the man who
stood against the prophets of Baal! All of a sudden, we found him running
because of the threatening of a woman!
It happens to
all of us. Even David who killed a great giant Goliath and won a great victory
for Israel was running away from King Saul, and he said, “Once day, I will perish
by the hands of Saul”.
Things happen
the moment you take your eyes away from the Lord, and all of a sudden,
circumstances become very big, what people say become very big. Because you
take your eyes off from Jesus, you are not walking supernaturally on water, you
are looking at the storm, the wind, the turbulent waves, and you thinking to
yourself, “Oh my goodness, what is happening to me?” You are becoming
self-occupied. And the answer to all these is to turn your eyes back to the
Lord.
Back to the
story of Elijah. Elijah was discouraged. He ran away from the woman. He ran a
long journey, he was tired, and he threw himself under a juniper tree. Under
the tree, he said to God, “Lord, let me die!” If he really wanted to die, he
could have waited for Jezebel to find him and kill him. We become very
confusing when our faith is gone. When we take our eyes away from the Lord, we
become a walking contradiction.
Elijah asked
God to take his life, and God put him to sleep. Sometimes, when we are
complaining, God does not answer all our prayers, but aren’t we glad?
God saw his
servant’s need for rest. He was burnt out, he needed rest, and God gave him
rest. Thus, God put him to sleep, instead of answering his “prayer”.
All these are
in the bible for our instruction and learning. God expects us to learn from all
these examples in the Bible. We are not criticizing him but considering
ourselves in similar circumstances. If this can happen to a great man of God
like Elijah or David, where are we? So, consider ourselves. These are not just put
in the Bible for entertainment but for our instruction and learning.
Thus, God was
kind to put Elijah to sleep under the juniper tree. He was woken up by an angel
who had cooked on stones for him some food and there was a bottle of above his
head. The angel asked him to rise, eat and drink.
1 King 19:7
And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched
him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for
you."
He got up, ate
and drank, and slept again. After he slept for a while, the angel woke him up
again and served him more food. Very often, God nourishes us. Spend time in the
Word of Lord, and Lord feeds you.
Elijah later
got up from the juniper tree, and went in the strength of the food for forty days
and forty nights to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai). At Mount Horeb, he went into a
cave (a way of escaping into isolation). God said to him, “Elijah, what are you
doing here?” Elijah said, “Lord, they have
killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they
seek my life”?
Romans 11:2-4
God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or
do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God
against Israel, saying, "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down
Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? But what does
the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
That depicted
how he pled with God against Israel.
Even though
your brothers sin, and you go to God and complain about your brothers, He does
not appreciate it. You are saved not by works but by His Son’s blood. God
expect some good manners— you don’t talk bad about your brothers. As a general
rule, you are saved not to recount your brothers’ sins. Elijah started to
recount the sins against Israel. Sometimes, we have this fantasy or this idea
that enemy puts in our mind that we are the ONLY faithful one. We feel that we
are the ONLY one that God has raised and if we are not there, God has “missed a
lot”. We feel that we are “the only one left”. Whenever a servant of God thinks
that he is indispensable, God has an answer:
1 Kings 19:10-13
So he said, "I
have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of
Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your
prophets with the sword. I alone am
left; and they seek to take my life." Then He said, "Go out, and
stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and
a great and strong wind tore into
the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord
was not in the earthquake; and after
the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So
it was, when Elijah heard it, that he
wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of
the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing
here, Elijah?"
The Lord is
not in the wind, earthquake and fire. God was saying in a ministry, there may
be fire, loudness, and “strong” like fire, it is not exactly going to
accomplish the result you think it will.God’s way is a way of grace— with his
still small voice. When Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his
mantle. We should learn to hide ourselves and not to boast about ourselves.
None of us
here, including the speaker is indispensable. The moment we think that we are
indispensable, God asks you, “What are you doing here?”
1 King 19:14-16
And he said, "I have been very zealous for the
Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant,
torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am
left; and they seek to take my life." Then the Lord said to him: "Go,
return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint
Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king
over Israel. And Elisha the son of
Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
The moment you
think you are indispensable, God says I want to anoint your successor now.
Elijah did
eight miracles, Elisha performed sixteen miracles. And the sixteenth
one was after he died. His body was thrown into a pit, and not long after that,
it became bones, and a dead touched Elisha’s bones and turned alive. That was
the sixteenth miracle, double the miracle of Elijah.
We need
pastors and leaders who are willing to sacrifice themselves not just for the
people, but more for glory of our Lord Jesus. Always think— it’s a privilege for me to
serve, and for me to be doing what I am doing.
If you don’t
want to be diligent, someone’s else will take your “office”.
You have a set
of fingerprints/footprints and voice that are unique. God wants you to serve
him in that uniqueness he has made you. But the moment you feel you are
indispensable, somebody will fill your space. Once you start to complain,
God can raise someone else. Whatever you give Him, He multiplies back.
IV.
Holy Communion
and Tithing
In our world,
the biggest natural challenge we have got to do with these two areas:
1 . Provision of
Money
2 . Provision of Health
These two
areas are covered by the communion and tithe.
God has given
us the answers to our natural necessity of life.
In life of
Elisha, we see this incident:
2
Kings 4:38
And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the
sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant,
"Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."
Gilgal used to
be a place of blessing where shame was eroded away. In Gilgal, there was a
famine in the land. It was a time of famine.
The world is
in famine till Jesus returns. However, comparatively, we are entering into a
time of famine.
Elisha asked
the people to put on the large pot and boil stew. The stew was already there.
However, one went out into the field to gather herbs:
2
Kings 4:39
So one went out into the
field to gather herbs [in Hebrew, something “bright”], and found a wild vine,
and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they
were.
This person
tried to improve on what was already made, in order to make it “even better”. God
wants to give men things they can enjoy. However, man wants to find out what
can be improved from things given by God. Man says, “I think God has missed out
something that I can improve on.”
The message/word
of Jesus is important to reach to people, and not so much about rock music and
drum beats [something bright] though Pastor is not against all these. The
message is more important, the Word of Jesus that depicts him is more
important. Things that sparkle, things that are loud like the wind and fire may
not be the answer.
The person
found a “wild wine”, an organic vine.
Thus, he saw
something shinning, which looked right and good, and felt that he could
“improve” on what God has done for him. He cut all these herbs into the
ready-made stew.
2
Kings 4:40
Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it
happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, "Man of God, there is death in the pot!"
And they could not eat it.
The place of
the pot is a place of food, it should be a place of life. It’s a place of
nourishment and not death. But now, there is death in the pot. What is the
typology here of the pot? People are
looking for life, and yet they found death.
There is a
hidden truth here.
Now the problem
is there is death in the pot, and they could not eat it. They shout to the man
of God, Elisha. Elisha said, “Then bring some flour.”:
2
Kings 4:41
So he said, "Then bring some flour." And he put it into the pot, and said,
"Serve it to the people, that they may eat." And there was nothing
harmful in the pot.
The way of the
world, if there is something bad, is to remove it. God’s way is to add
something greater to it. In today’s world, the world is still under the curse.
If we have good food, and then someone put a bit of dirty particle in it, the
food is contaminated. Even a tiny bit of water is contaminated by for example
drain water, the water is dirty. Thus, a small portion of food is dirty, the
whole food is dirty. Uncleanness spreads, no matter how much goodness in it.
There is only one cure— when Jesus steps into the poisonous situation. Our Lord
Jesus came into a time of famine. Jesus walked among the regions of death, and
wherever he was, nobody ever died in his presence. Jesus steps into the midst
of our necessity, of our depression, our fall, and our curse.
Jesus is the
fine flour:
Leviticus
2:1-2
“‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD,
their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it and take it to
Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil,
together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the
altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
Fine flour is
so soft, and there is nothing coarse, nothing uneven about it. In our Lord Jesus, there
is nothing coarse about His style, words or ways. No one characteristic in Him
is unbalanced. When He is firm, He does not hurt; when He serves, He is not
servile. He is totally balanced in all His character, truthful but kind. Jesus
is the fine flour.
Every word,
every action is prompted by the Holy Spirit.
Leviticus
2:4
“‘If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven,
it is to consist of the finest flour: either thick loaves made without yeast
and with olive oil mixed in or thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with
olive oil.
They made
cakes out of it. Two things were mentioned— the fine flour and the anointing
oil. In the virgin womb, the divine son was mixed with oil. Then when he was 30
years old, he was anointed with oil.
We have three
divine persons one God—Trion God.
"Then
bring some flour." And he put it into the pot, and said, "Serve it to
the people, that they may eat."—In every
sermon, it was not perfect. None of the sermons by any pastors is perfect, as there
is a human opinion, a tradition, an ignorance manifested. Thus, we have to make
sure we have our Lord Jesus in the sermon. Lord Jesus in our sermon will at
least purify the other unclean elements in our sermons.
Jesus is the
only one greater than the “unclean”. When He touches the unclean, it becomes
clean.
2
Kings 4:42
Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the
firstfruits [tithe], twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain
in his knapsack. And he said, "Give it to the people, that they may
eat."
The holy
spirit links these two miracles together. It is about the tithe and the holy
communion.
Gnostic does
not believe that Jesus came in flesh and blood. Gnostic believes in the cosmic
consciences, does not believe that Christ walked on Earth before.
There could be
counter attacks as the devil is trembling/afraid when one has faith in
communion.
Mark
4: 17
and they have no root in
themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or
persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.
In other
words, because of the Word, the devil brings trouble. He is afraid that the
Word will take root.
In communion
and tithing, one is answer to the time of famine and another is to answer to
provision.
2
Kings 4:43-44
But his servant said, "What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?" He said again,
"Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord: 'They
shall eat and have some left over.' " So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over,
according to the word of the Lord.
Nobody wanted
to bring tithe that time, and there was one man who still wanted to tithe, and
he went to Elisha. Not just provision was given, there was leftover.
There were two
differences between Jesus and Elisha. One is size of the miracle, the other is
the style of the miracle. Elisha fed 100 men. Our Lord Jesus fed 15000-20000
people, and there were twelve basketful left over. The style, notice how Elisha
did it. Elisha has to say “thus say the Lord”. Jesus does not have to say “thus
say the Lord” as He is the Lord. Elisha has to use the name of the Lord; Jesus
does not have to use the name of the Lord as he is the Lord.
Our Lord Jesus
is the word Elisha used to feed the people.
Our Lord
Jesus’s provision is always greater than your needs. He always exceeds your
needs.
The love of
our Lord Jesus is as large as His power. And there is no measure or end to it,
and His power is as large as his love, which is immeasurable.
The feeding of
the Jesus happened at a desert place, in the wilderness.
V.
Conclusion
The problem is
that when you think you are able, Jesus cannot be your ability. Whenever you
think you can, He cannot perform for you or through you. When you think you
have the ability, he ceases to be your ability. However, the moment you rest in
him, he becomes your ability.
You can tell
Lord any situation you face, and tell Lord that it is His situation, His problem.
Both stories
got to do with healing and provision. It’s all found in the grace of our Lord
Jesus. He is a ready and gracious friend. He loves you more than you know.
Sometimes, we
go through troubles/counter attacks not because we have done something wrong,
but because we have done something right.
Luke
22:31-34
And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan
has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,
that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." But he
said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to
go with You, both to prison and to death." Then He said, "I tell
you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three
times that you know Me."
Peter was very
self-confident. In Peter’s case, in the end, he returned to Him, and his faith
did not fail. He became stronger, and he strengthened others.
Psalm
66:12
You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went
through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
At times, God
allows people “to ride over our heads”. We went through fire and through water,
God will bring out “out” into a place of abundance. God will bring us to a
place of a greater abundance of health or wealth. If devil attacks you, and you don’t give up,
you will be brought to a place of abundance, a wealthier place.
The only other
place the word “abundance” is used is:
Psalm
23:5
(communion)
You prepare a table
before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
If there are
people wo “ride over your heads”, be cool, look for the “out”, he will bring
you out. When you are out, it’s higher than where you came in, it’s a place of overabundance!
This is awesome. Thank you Jesus
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