New Life 新生命

January 30 Garden of Prayer and Sermon Summary

How are you? Here comes another week ahead of us, only God knows what lies ahead and only by His grace we can survive the week. I am praying for everybody, that as we continue our individual walk with the Lord we shall learn by experience the lordship of Jesus in our lives.

Here’s the list of prayer request for the week:

Trudy – praise and thanksgiving for the successful parent’s night last week.

Zach – pray for the future of TAPA and TAAS; may the Lord show the leaders the direction which to follow

Natnat – prayer for his entire family who are now sick, may they recover soon

Sermon this week: “Discover Prophecy: The War to End All Wars”

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9)

All religions in the world, either believers or non-believers, have one common denominator – salvation by works. The religion of Christ has just one principle – faith in the provision God had made through His Son. This is the war – grace versus self.

This past Sabbath’s sermon, presented by Brother Andrew Caldwell, the fifth in the series, dealt with the issue of the greatest war ever fought. It is the backdrop on which all other wars are based. It is called the Great Controversy between good and evil.

Where and when this war began? What are the issues involved? Who are the players? And how did we, human beings, get caught into this web? Will it ever end? Which side should we be?

In this war, there two contending kingdoms: the Kingdom of Self and the Kingdom of Grace. The rebellion, which began in heaven was instigated by a created being, who was close to God and His Son, desired supremacy higher than the angels and God Himself. The usurper, then called Lucifer, threw doubts to God’s law of love and drew the affection of one-third of the angels from their allegiance to the Creator. His claim? That created beings had no need of God’s law to govern them, that they themselves can be a god thereby can be holy without the restrictions of God’s law. This is the first lie given to Adam and Eve, and being perpetuated for thousands of years. A lie that is well accepted down to our modern generation and in all circles of society.

The issue involved was the justice of God’s law of love, which is the transcript of His character and the basis of His government. Lucifer wanted the worship due to God. After losing the battle with Christ in heaven, he continued his warfare on earth (Revelations 12). Winning man on his side (Genesis 3), he then accused God of cruelty which he himself has inspired and instigated. His kingdom, based on the principle of “I” for salvation through works, remove God out of the picture and self is exalted.

Yet God was not finished with the rebellious angel. God came, in the form of the human flesh and took man’s nature, to die the most gruesome death, even the death at the cross. By doing this, God did not only show Satan to be wrong, and His law was “holy, just, and pure”, but also showed to all the watching universe the true character of the Creator. By His self-sacrificing love, Christ showed His willingness to give Himself up for those who does not love Him, and won not only the hearts of men but also of the loyalty of the host of heaven.

Yet this issue has another side – us. God made the way to save us from Satan’s clutches. He broke the yoke of bondage to sin, and gave us  life through His only Son, Jesus. Therefore, we must take sides. This lifetime we have now is enough to make us decide which way we follow. God has laid out the plan of redemption before us, unambiguous enough for us to remove any doubt. No one need to be deceived. No one need to sin. There could be no excuse for both. Christ died for us.

The Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Self? Which will you choose? Behold the cross of Jesus! Then, tell me which side you want to be. Is the sufferings of God not enough? If not, then I know not any other way to be saved and have life.

May the Lord bless you abundantly as we contemplate upon the sacrifice of the cross.

God bless us all.