I was reading Isaiah 53 yesterday and the verses below (3-9) started speaking to me. Jesus fulfilled every characteristic of the prophecies given in the Old Testament about the Messiah.
It's so amazing reading some of the verses about the Messiah written hundreds of years before Jesus was born and realising...
This is Jesus.
He fulfilled every prophecy.
He understood what He was born on earth for and He willingly walked to the most excruciating and gruesome death that a person can experience.
Why would He do that?
Does He love us that much?
This is our God.
This is our God.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
by Max Lucado
Through Christ, God has accepted you. Think about what this means. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you.
Rejections are like speed bumps on the road. They come with the journey. You’re going to get cut, dished, dropped, and kicked around. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you. How? By letting his acceptance compensate for their rejection.
Think of it this way. Suppose you dwell in a high-rise apartment. On the window sill of your room is a solitary daisy. This morning you picked the daisy and pinned it on your lapel. Since you have only one plant, this is a big event and a special daisy.
But as soon as you’re out the door, people start picking petals off your daisy. Someone snags your subway seat. Petal picked. You’re blamed for the bad report of a coworker. Three petals. The promotion is given to someone with less experience but USC water polo looks. More petals. By the end of the day, you’re down to one. Woe be to the soul who dares to draw near it. You’re only one petal-snatching away from a blowup.
What if the scenario was altered slightly? Let’s add one character. The kind man in the apartment next door runs a flower shop on the corner. Every night on the way home he stops at your place with a fresh, undeserved, yet irresistible bouquet. These are not leftover flowers. They are top-of-the-line arrangements. You don’t know why he thinks so highly of you, but you aren’t complaining. Because of him, your apartment has a sweet fragrance, and your step has a happy bounce. Let someone mess with your flower, and you’ve got a basketful to replace it!
The difference is huge. And the interpretation is obvious.
God will load your world with flowers. He hand-delivers a bouquet to your door every day. Open it! Take them! Then, when rejections come, you won’t be left short-petaled.
God can help you get rid of your anger. He made galaxies no one has ever seen and dug canyons we have yet to find. “The LORD … heals all your diseases” (Ps. 103:2–3 NIV). Do you think among those diseases might be the affliction of anger?
Do you think God could heal your angry heart?
Do you want him to? This is not a trick question. He asks the same question of you that he asked of the invalid: “Do you want to be well?” (John 5:6). Not everyone does. You may be addicted to anger. You may be a rage junkie. Anger may be part of your identity. But if you want him to, he can change your identity. Do you want him to do so?
Do you have a better option? Like moving to a rejection-free zone? If so, enjoy your life on your desert island.
Take the flowers. Receive from him so you can love or at least put up with others.
During one of my more productive days at work, I found this post.
I found it hard to keep a straight face while imagining all the different styles of worship people do...and that I myself have been guilty of. =)
Enjoy!
"1. The Ninja
You are tricky sir, truly, you are tricky. This guy is testing the waters. He sees ladies near him that throw their arms in the air at the first hint of a Chris Tomlin song but he’s not so sure. I mean, what if his friends see him? He used to make fun of people that did that. So instead of going all out, he does a fancy little move. He puts his hands by his pants pockets and just flips them over with his palms facing the heavens. From behind, you can't see that he is doing anything out of the ordinary and from the front it just looks like he is cupping his hands slightly as if to show you what was in his pockets.
2. The Half & Half
This person often wants to sing with both hands raised, but they go to a conservative church and don’t want to be known as “that guy.” So instead of singing with both hands up, they hold one in the air and put one in their pocket or on the chair in front of them. It’s like half their body is saying, “YAY JESUS!!!!” and the other half is saying, “Nothing to see here folks, move it along please, move it along.”
3. The Single Hand Salute
This is the cousin of the half & half but is different in it's level of intensity. Instead of just kind of floating in the air, the hand you have up goes out straight at an angle, as if you are saluting some visiting military dignitary. It's possible this move was first instilled in people when they were young with the song, "God's Army."
4. The Elevator
This one technically marks our transition into multi-hand motions. In this move, you act like there is a rule against having both hands raised at the same exact time. So you start rotating your arms. As soon as one arm comes down, the other arm goes up. It's kind of an awkward dance move, but works pretty well when set to "Blessed be the Name."
5. The Pound Cake
This is what we in the industry, of hand raising in case you were wondering, refer to as an "underhand move." Instead of sticking your arms out, you hold them with your palms facing the sky as if you are ready to receive something from someone in front of you. In the pound cake, your elbows should be at stomach level, with your hands tilted at a 47 degree angle as if someone visiting your house warming party is about to hand you a delicious pound cake. It's not a heavy cake, so you don't have to brace yourself, but can instead just relax and think, "hey cool, pound cake. Let me take that for you."
6. The Tickler
It's getting serious now. The tickler is the person that sticks their arms out horizontally as if they were trying to make a big T with their body. This is a fine move except that because we're all sitting so close, they inevitably bump into you with their hands. So while you try to sing along with the chorus, you can't help but giggle as they, lost in a moment of blissful worship, accidentally tickle you.
7. The Double High Five
I am very stingy with my high fives. I think the last time I gave one was in the delivery room of my second daughter. The next time I give one will be if I get a book deal. Other than those two situations, I find the high five to be the physical version of using a lot of exclamation marks!!! That's why I rarely do this move. The double high five looks exactly like it sounds. You act like you've just scored a goal in soccer/football and are about to double high five the person in front of you. (Some people call this move the "Secret passageway" because it kind of looks like you are feeling along a wall for a hidden button that will open a secret door. But I'm a purist and don't use that term.)
8. The Huge Watermelon
This is like the pound cake on steroids. In this move, your arms are held higher and with a considerable about of dedication and determination. It's still an underhand move, but now, instead of a light and fluffy cake, someone on a truck is handing down a huge watermelon to you. Better get ready, that thing looks heavy.
9. The Helicopter Rail
At this point, both arms are raised high in the air. This is professional hand raiser territory we're in. Please don't try to do this at home. With this one, you reach your arms out, way over your head but out in front of your body. Imagine if you were stuck on a piece of driftwood and a shark with a laser on its head was about to get you and you had to desperately reach out for the rail of a helicopter that was attempting to rescue you. Stretch, stretch, you gotta want it.
10. The YMCA
This is my favorite and probably most common hand raising technique. It's not complicated. Much like the famous song, you simply raise your hands above your body and form a big Y. That's all, but it leaves little doubt to the folks around you what is going on. You're worshipping. It's big, it's beautiful, it's messy and it's great."
(Taken from Stuff Christians Like.)
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
Many people tend to avoid the 'hard' verses in the bible. There is an increasing emphasis on prosperity, grace and the belief that truth is subjective and personal to each individual.
We can't forget that the bible is the Word of God, that there are absolute truths of God that do not depend on what a human mind can conceive or imagine, and that there are conditions for a person to receive the gift of salvation.
There needs to be solidity in our faith and relationship with God that allows us to take a stand for Christ and for truth uncompromisingly, while combining it with the compassion and grace of God.
It takes an unshakeable focus on Jesus, without looking to the left or the right, and a willingness to make the sacrifice to take the narrow road.
The call to have a relationship with God is not just as a believer, but as a disciple who has counted the cost, and chosen to walk in His will.
“Worship - whether an inner act of the heart, or an outward act of the body, or of the congregation collectively - is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent He is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious He is. Worship is all about consciously reflecting the worth or value of God.”
~John Piper~
Worship can happen every moment in our daily lives. It is not just about singing the songs during church services. It is about our lives constantly and "consciously reflecting the worth or value of God".
The way we carry worship in our daily lives demonstrates how much He is worth to us...how much we love Him and value His relationship with us.
Just some thoughts to ponder on.
by Max Lucado
Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions.
Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s temper tantrum.
Today’s bigotry is tomorrow’s hate crime.
Today’s anger is tomorrow’s abuse.
Today’s lust is tomorrow’s adultery.
Today’s greed is tomorrow’s embezzlement.
Today’s guilt is tomorrow’s fear.
Could that be why Paul writes, “Love … keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV)?
Some folks don’t know we have an option.
Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage—“capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”? You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.
It was for Jesus. Remember the thoughts that came his way courtesy of the mouth of Peter? Jesus had just prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection, but Peter couldn’t bear the thought of it. “Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that.… Jesus said to Peter, ‘Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important’” (Matt. 16:22–23).
See the decisiveness of Jesus?
What if you did that? What if you took every thought captive? What if you took the counsel of Solomon: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Prov. 4:23).
You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have a vote. You have a voice. You can exercise thought prevention. You can also exercise thought permission.
Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?
Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings. The same verb Paul uses for keeps in the phrase “keeps no list of wrongs” is used for think in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (RSV). Thinking conveys the idea of pondering—studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.
Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.
Three years ago, Seapark Cell was launched. Although there was a Taman Mayang mamak just down the road with awesome nasi lemak, ayam goreng and milo ais, we still insisted on dutifully going to Taman Tun Nasi Kandar every Friday after cell. Taman Nasi Kandar is known for it's diluted milo ais and soggy indomie goreng although the one redeeming factor has been its lamb chop - the arteries and cholesterol levels of Yuya, Kah Fai and myself have this scrumptious dish to thank for their current states.
A couple of years later, we moved to D'Aman Crimson and although there were eateries right opposite at Niu Ze Xui (NZX) and closer options for supper after cell, yes that's right, we continued to dutifully go to Taman Tun Nasi Kandar. Now we're a bit smarter and no longer order the lamb chop in order to prolong our lives a little bit more, although we still enjoy the milo ais and indomie goreng. Once in awhile, Sian Jeen secretly swings by the stall opposite 7-11 to buy himself a Ramli burger before coming to the mamak and we get to watch him eat the burger, wishing we had thought to buy one as well. Oh yea, at that time we rebranded ourselves as Super Lame Cell for various reasons that I will not and probably should not disclose.
OK, the last two paragraphs were a bit pointless and if you're still here, what I'm trying to say is...
We've just multiplied. Tonight is our first cell and we're starting a bit earlier: to be exact, 8 seconds after 8pm.
Be there or be square.
;;
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