CAN WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR EVERYTHING?

Recently in Auckland, a Christian father went to help a victim of abuse and was fatally stabbed in the process.
Can the Christian widow give thanks to the Lord for everything and for all circumstances?

A Christian was returning home by bus after a prayer meeting and was fatally wounded in a robbery shortly after he alighted at his usual bus stop.

Can we give thanks for everything that happens to us and in our lives?
Is this what the Bible tells us to do as in 1 Thess 5:18 and Eph 5:20 - both verses instructing us to give thanks?

1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Does the Bible instruct us to give thanks for all circumstances - even when our loved ones are stricken with disease or we lose our jobs or evil happens to us?

Clearly we cannot thank God for "everything" including evil.
1 Thess 5:18 instructs us to thank God NOT FOR Everything - but IN ALL Circumstances.

These points can be made:

1. We are to give thanks IN ALL circumstances - not FOR all circumstances but IN all circumstances.
We don't give thanks to the Lord for evil circumstances because God does not rejoice in evil.
We don't just give thanks in some circumstances - like giving thanks only in positive circumstances and whining in adverse circumstances.
But we give thanks in ALL circumstances.

2. It is our attitude, character and trust in the Lord that we bring when we are IN any circumstance that is vital and is in focus here.
Whatever the circumstance, we are to bring in an Attitude of Gratitude and the trust in God in whatever circumstance.

3. This injunction is not easy. That is why 1 Thess 5:18 is preceded by:
1 Thess 5:17 Pray continually
Prayer helps us to stay connected to God in all our adverse circumstances.
If not, we will react in a very human way. Like complain, whine and take revenge.
Even in positive situations, we need prayer too because we can respond in a human way to success - like being proud. And with wealth, come all kinds of temptations.
Greed, Gold and Girls seems to come together often enough.
The attitude of the heart and the thanksgiving spirit is also supported by another preceding verse:
1 Thess 5:16 Be joyful always.

4. Furthermore the attitude of gratitude and the trust we bring into any circumstance and situation is based on the firm foundation of

Rom 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

This is thanking God for being God and because he can turn evil to good purposes just as in the case of Joseph who said this to his brothers who had earlier sold him into slavery.

Gen 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Trust in God who is working all the time to redeem, restore and to accomplish His purposes.

5. But then Eph 5:20 says to give thanks to God FOR everything! What do we make of it???
Eph 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we read the whole verse in its context, the words following the injunction qualifies the "giving thanks." We give thanks for everything that is consistent with God the Father and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Exhortation
Let us therefore thank God IN ALL Circumstances and thank God FOR EVERYTHING that is Aligned and Consistent with the Character of God.

Col 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Worship - Favorites For Nov 08

Here are some of my favorite Christian songs for Nov 08.
Check them out at the You Tube sites.

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ

Toby Mac - In The Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_MpGRQRrP0

Hillsongs - This Is Our God - their latest album.
I must say this is their best album and all songs are great.
And especially these songs - Check these out.

This Is Our God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrL64Ujb1c&feature=related

Desert Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgpQiL7YQk

And watch out for Casting Crowns who are coming to perform in NZ at the Parachute Music Festival 2009 - 23-26 January 09. I've got my tickets via courier already.
I like their "Praise You In The Storm" released earlier.
But the song below is a great reminder for men from their latest album "The Altar and The Door".

Casting Crowns - Slow Fade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7jT34j0R7Q

Happy Worshipping :D

How Do We Know There Is A Trinity?

The word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible.

But that doesn't mean that the concept of the Trinity is not biblical.

A. TWO KINDS OF TRUTHS

There are two ways of arriving at our doctrines or teachings about God.

1. EXPLICIT TRUTHS / INSTRUCTIONS
These truths are explicitly or expressly and clearly stated in the Bible.

Examples:
a. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves - is an explicit truth and command found in Matt 22:39 as Jesus affirmed the Old Testament command found also in Lev 19:18.
b. We are to make disciples (Mt 28:19-20)
c. Our God is one God (Deut 6:4)

2. IMPLIED TRUTHS
These truths, although not explicitly stated, are implied in the Bible.
We draw conclusions from the Bible sometimes from implications and deductions.

Examples
a. God is one and yet there are three persons in one God. Therefore the Trinity.
b. We are to be immersed in baptism.
This is implied from tradition of those times and the meaning of the word.
c. Spiritual Gifts have ceased.
Implied from some passages.

As we can see, some implied truths derived by men's reasoning need to be held lightly (we don't defend it with our lives so to speak).

Explicit truths therefore have greater authority.
Implied “truths” - teachings derived from gathering and weighing the data available from the Bible - do not carry as much authority as explicit truths.

This clearly has to be the case for instance some denominations come to the implied truth that gifts have ceased. But more and more are now coming to the view that gifts are given for us to minister and reach out to people.

So for some implied “truths,” we hold it lightly.
But for the concept of the Trinity, because of the wide agreement to this understanding, Christians accept it almost like an explicit truth.

B. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT GOD IS ONE AND YET THERE ARE THREE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD?

The Bible is quite explicit about these “facts.”

1. GOD IS ONE
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

2. THREE PERSONS IN GODHEAD

The Bible mentions the Father as God, Jesus as God and the Holy Spirit as God.

a. HEAVENLY FATHER IS GOD
1 Cor 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

b. JESUS IS GOD
John 10:30 I and the Father are one."
John 20:28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

c. HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD
1Co 2:10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

In Acts 5, Ananias lying to the Holy Spirit us tantamount to lying to God (Acts 5:4)

C. HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY

The Trinity, I believe, is outside the understanding of human mind.
How can there be three persons in one God?
But if there is biblical evidence to support the Trinity, then we accept it - even when we don't understand it.
Can a worm for instance understand man?
So for some concepts, we can't understand it as yet until God reveals to us.

Lessons For NZ Christians from Kenyan Christians In Their Elections

Christians in Kenya form the majority - accounting for 56% of the 32 million people there.
No where is the fire of the Holy Spirit burning more passionately in Africa than in Kenya.
They have the largest percentage of evangelicals in Africa - compared to say 34% Christians in South Africa and 26% in Nigeria.

But in Kenya's elections of Dec 2007, the Christian voice was not heard at all.
There was violence after that election when the opposition party claimed that they should have won but did not win. The NY Times (2 Jan 2008) reported that a mob burned to death dozens of people seeking refuge in a church.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02kenya.html

To stave further violence, there was a power-sharing agreement naming the opposition leader, Odinga, as the Prime Minister.

However, reports surfaced last year that Odinga had promised to implement the Islamic Syariah law and incorporate it as part of the Constitution if he receives the Muslim vote in the country if he was elected President.
Muslims account for 6% of the population.

The question then is - Where is the Christian voice with 56% vs the 6%?

What relevance has it got to do with the elections in NZ?

Do you know how many Christians are there in NZ?

There are just over 2 million Christians in NZ accounting for 51% of the population.
Isn't this statistic similar to Kenya?
Christians are a majority (51%) just like the Kenyan situation with 56%.

Is the Christian voice heard at all in NZ? Is it like Kenya?
Will it degenerate to Kenya's situation?
Perhaps not in terms of violence.
But in terms of legislation, the Christian voice is not heard.

Pray for the Christian leaders of NZ to have a unity of mind and heart.

What is it that prevents Christ Body from uniting to have a Christian voice and a Christian Prime Minister and a Christian dominant party in NZ - after all Christians are the majority?

NZ Elections - Why We Need To Vote & Voting Strategy For A Family Friendly Government

A. Why We Need To Vote

We need to vote for 3 main reasons:

1. We need to vote to participate in Righteous Rulership In Relationship With God as part of our privilege and authority given to us in Gen 1:26-28.

Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Our God-given creation mandate is to rule the earth.
Unfortunately this Rule has been corrupted by Men's idea of Rulership that is hardly like God's idea of Rulership.
The Image of God idea of Rulership is that of a king / heavenly Father who care and nurture all people and its environment.
Men's idea of Rulership is that of a king who exploits people and the environment to benefit some of the people.

The corruption of God's idea of Rulership saw a shift from Theocracy e.g. Moses in the first stage; to Monarchy e.g. Saul, to Autocracy & Dictatorships e.g. Medieval kings in the 2nd stage; to Democracy in the 3rd stage which is an attempt to remove the excesses and injustice of the 2nd stage.

But democracy does not remove injustice so long as as the leadership is not in relationship with God.
In a democracy, we can actually have "Tyranny of the Majority" whereby those with a majority can push through legislation that suits them - leading to an abuse of the minority.
It can also have the "Tyranny of the Minority" because Parliament can impose a decision which is opposed by the majority of people e.g. Anti-smacking law.
Minority parties can also become king-makers and force the hand of the two major parties - and hence force legislation which may not be agreeable to the majority of the people.

Nevertheless, we vote to participate in Rulership in a democracy.

2. We need to vote to Prevent Evil or to Prevent Family-Unfriendly Government.
If we don't vote and only those who are liberal vote, then laws like Decriminalizing Prostitution and Civil Union will be passed. And more of such laws will be passed.

3. We who want traditional family values need to vote to Register our Voice - if not we remain the Silent Majority.
A poll shows that 86% of kiwis are not in favour of the anti-smacking law.
Yet our 86% voice is not heard at all!!!
So we who are concerned for the preservation of family values need to vote.

How then should we vote in order that we have a Family-Friendly government.

B. Voting Strategy For A Family-Friendly Government

The Kiwi Party and the Family Party stand out as Family Friendly parties based on their mission statement.
The Kiwi Party is guided by Judeo-Christian values.

Our first instinct would be to vote for these parties, which would be the case in"First Past The Post" Elections.

However, in MMP, the government would be formed by either Labour or National - with their coalition partners if these two parties do not win a clear 50.1%.
That is where it becomes tricky.

We who want Family Friendly government are caught in a dilemma.

Normally our voting strategy would be thought of in this way - Which party and their coalition partners are more Family-Friendly?

But now, the voting strategy seems to be better framed in the negative - How can we vote to prevent a Family-Unfriendly government.

Kindly see the website www.valueyourvote.org.nz for a summary of how family-friendly the various parties are.
We can see that the Labour Party is not family friendly whereas the National Party fare better in terms of family friendly legislation.
We need to prevent a party that is not family friendly from coming to government.
Only the National Party can prevent this.

The National Party is not my first choice party vote.
The Kiwi Party would be my first choice.
But for this election, we need to prevent the Family-Unfriendly party.

If the Labour Party has no chance of forming a government, then we would vote for our first choice Family Friendly Party.
But if the Labour Party has even a chance of slipping into government, we need to prevent that.

How real are the chances of Labour sneaking in to return to form the next government?

Based on the Roy Morgan Poll for the period 9-16 Oct released on 24 Oct 08, the following are the ratings:

National: 43%
Labour: 32%

By moral right, National should form the next government being clearly more popular.
Alas it is not that straightforward.
If it is that straightforward, there won't be a voting dilemma and I can vote my preferred party.

If we factor in the parties' announced coalition partners, the picture is not as one-sided as it seems that National has over Labour.

National: 43% + United Future (0.5%) = 43.5% + Act (3.5%) = 47%

Labour: 32% + Greens (11.5%) = 43.5%
or
Labour: 32% + Greens (11.5%) = 43.5% + NZ First (4.5%) = 48% + Progressive (0.5%) = 48.5% + Maori Party (2.5%) = 51%

This close contest is also predicted by TV3 polls.
Kindly see 24 Oct Friday’s NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10539225

May God give us all wisdom as we vote this Sat 8 Nov for a Family Friendly Government as a first stage to restoring the Image of God in this nation.

Christian Living: Not A Life Without Challenges - Even When We Are Faithful

Lessons From Life Of King Hezekiah

The Psalms, Proverbs and many passages of the Bible tells us that when we are faithful, we will be blessed and we will be prosperous. This gives us a general impression that a Faithful Christian's life is a life without problems and challenges.

Take for instance the passage below as I examined the life of Hezekiah:
2 Chron 31:21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

But the verse immediately after this tells us a different story. Our theology is challenged.

2 Chron 32:1 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.

In fact, Hezekiah will feel very troubled even though Prov 10:22 tells him otherwise:
Proverbs 10:22: The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

Not only did Hezekiah suffer
1. Invasion from Assyria, he also suffered
2. Illness to the point of death.

Details of these incidents can be found in 2 Kings 18-20 and also 2 Chron 29-32 as well as Isaiah 36-39. Interesting to cross-reference and to read inter-textually. So when we suffer, and we sometimes wonder whether we are faithful - rest assured that even when we are faithful, we too may suffer.
Remember 2 Chron 32:1 - even after all that Hezekiah had so FAITHFULLY done, he suffered invasion and illness.

But the story does not end there.
The Sufferings turned to victory as Hezekiah turned to the Lord and prayed.
Hezekiah was delivered by our supernatural God in two ways:
1. Supernaturally from the Invasion as the angel of the Lord wiped out 158,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kgs 19:38), and
2. Naturally from the Illness as Isaiah instructed King Hezekiah to take a "poultice of figs" (2 Kgs 20:7).

May you be blessed with assurance to know that:
1. We may suffer even when we are faithful. Suffering does not mean we are not faithful.
2. God can supernaturally deliver us - in supernatural and natural ways.

More Words Coming To Pass

As I was doing my quiet time this morning, I was reminded of this part of the message I preached on 12 Oct 08 - "Fruitful In The Land Of Famine." I was sharing of the opportunities that will come available and I said this:

"In 2-5 years time, the interest will be lower. It won’t be the 9-10% now.
So now probably is not so good a time yet to buy because of the interest rates and prices still can come down further."

Ten days later on 23 Oct 08, the Reserve Bank of NZ cut interest rates by a huge, unprecedented 1%.

Just a few days ago, it was reported on 27 Oct 08 that a house in Brown's Bay valued at NZ$1.03 million was sold at NZ$685,000 - a $300,000 discount. The house was sold at an auction with a NZ$1 reserve price meaning that the house will be sold at the auction - no matter what the price. It did captivate the attention of many and attracted 100 people to the auction, 46 of whom were registered bidders at a time whereby there are few real bidders.

More Windows of Opportunities are coming ....
Start saving up if you haven't ....

The Fable / Parable Of The Earnest Do Gooders

Below is an interesting story I received and I thought that this is a fable like Aesops Fable and is also like a parable.

Both Fables and Parables illustrate a moral or religious principle / lesson.

In a Fable or Parable, the moral of the story is not stated explicitly but the story forces the reader to come to certain conclusions and lessons.

A Fable uses animals and other objects (animate or inanimate) whereas a parable generally uses human characters .

(nevertheless we still have the parable of the Mustard Seed and the Four Types Of Soil in the Bible)

The Ant And The Grasshopper

Old Version:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

Moral of the story:
Be responsible for yourself!

Modern Version:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

TV1, TV3 and Maori TV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. New Zealand is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Good Morning with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
Green Party stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'

Labour Party Minister exclaims in an interview with John Campbell that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share as the ant is too much of a "Rich Prick."
Finally, the Labour Party drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Another party gets his law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of judges that the minister appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighbourhood.

Moral of the story:
Be VERY careful how you vote in 2008!!

Election Dates & Dilemma

NZ 2008 Election Date: Sat 8 Nov
US 2008 Election Date: Tues 4 Nov

All NZ citizens and Permanent Residents are eligible to vote.
And if we are Christians, we need to exercise our responsibility to vote - and to vote carefully because the laws governing this beautiful nation depends on who we vote into Parliament.

Those who subscribe to family friendly and Judeo-Christian policies in NZ are in a dilemma as to who to vote for. The Kiwi Party is the party that best represents Judeo-Christian values based on their stated policies as per their website.

http://thekiwiparty.org.nz/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=50

However, they do not as yet register in polls since they are a new party.

Small parties face a challenging task. If none of their candidates win an electoral seat, then they need to attain 5% of party votes to gain seats in the Parliament.
(see http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/mmp/two-ticks-too-easy.html).
If a minor party does not gain parliamentary seats, the votes for that party will not be re-allocated and the votes they receive will be equivalent to no votes.

For a summary of how the various parties voted on issues like prostitution, civil union, anti-smacking, lifting of drinking age etc, please see Family First website or the links below:

http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/
http://www.valueyourvote.org.nz/

Policies on Crime are not captured in the Comparison Chart.

Who will form the next government - Labour or National - depends a lot on the Party vote and their ability to form coalition.

So the dilemma is who to give the Party vote to who are family friendly - National or Kiwi Party?
According to the above website, Labour is the lowest rated family friendly party - at only 8% compared to the National Party at 54%. So if we want a more family friendly Party to form the government - the choice is clear.

As National tries to stick to principles and has declared that it would not form a coalition with NZ First (Winston Peters party), and the Greens have formally announced that they would only work with Labour Party to form a coalition, it becomes all the more crucial for National to receive a mandate to govern almost by itself.

May God bless New Zealanders to vote wisely for our future so that we are more aligned to God's values.

More Of The Word Coming To Pass

Further to the message of 22 June and Blog of 7 Aug 08, more of the word released are coming to pass in an unprecedented and dramatic way.

Below is a re-cap of the main points of Blog of 7 Aug based on 22 June message and how it has come to pass:

On 22 Jun 08, I shared during the Sunday message that it seems that the worst of the NZ economy and property market is not yet here - perhaps in 2010.

These have come to pass:

# NZ confirmed in recession

# The two projects in Orewa - Kensington Park and Whisper Cove - worth NZ$800 million are in receivership together with Zane Grey Resort (near Paihia) and the $2 billion Five Mile proposed township in Queenstown.
Today 13 Oct 08, it has been reported that the Sale of 15 farms throughout NZ failed to settle last week because of the credit crunch. This means that three farm sales a day could not be settled last week because of the credit seizure forcing buyers to walk away from their contracts forfeiting deposits of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
See http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10537169

# The global economy is in a crisis like never seen before - which was something I never imagined when I released the word.
Not only are companies in serious financial crunch, banks and countries too are not spared from the fallout.
Iceland was an epitome of success just a year ago with its people rated as the happiest people in the world (see Economist article: http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10529960).
But Iceland now is struggling with two of its main banks in receivership and the largest bank being rescued by the government (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3147866/Financial-crisis-Icelands-dreams-go-up-in-smoke.html ; http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D93MUPAG0.htm ).

Now banks are even afraid to lend to each other that the Central Banks have to step in to pump in liquidity.

I also shared earlier :

The easing of interest rate will help house owners in servicing mortgages.
But this means that the kiwi $ will be under pressure - and so has declined against other currencies. …

# Late on Wed night (8 Oct 08 midnight) when I started to prepare Sunday's message, I “happened” to have an urging (I believe it is a prompting and no coincidence) to check on the currencies. And I looked for the first time to add a currency converter gadget to my igoogle default start up webpage. As I checked the currency converter for kiwi $ to S$ at around midnight Wednesday night, to my amazement, the kiwi $ plunged 4.8 % against the S$ from S$0.92=NZ$1 to S$0.87=NZ$1. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The S$ is weakening against the US$ but the kiwi $ is weakening even further. Just 3 months ago in Jul 08, it was S$1.04=NZ$1.

I sense this is a foretaste of things to come.

I shared earlier:

The downturn in the property market has a multiplier impact on other businesses e.g. real estate agents, anything to do with houses e.g. contractors, carpets, household appliances and even restaurants. (today I just heard of a company that does concrete jobs going under). All these hit the stock market. Unemployment is up slightly.

These unfortunate events have come to pass:

# More contractors are laying off staff because of low work volume.

# Even vegetable farmers are hard hit because restaurants are not ordering as much as before and people are not eating out as often.

# NZ Stock market has fallen by about 20% in the 6 months from 3,500 in May 08 to 2,800 as of 13 Oct.
The Dow Jones from about 12,000, 6 months ago to 8,500 (now) - a massive drop of nearly 30%.

With all these grim figures and grim future, what is in store for us Christians and what can we do?

In my next blog, I will share of the preparation we can take to seize the window of opportunities that will come our way when property prices in particular start to fall from the economic fallout - though NZ may not suffer as much as other countries, but fall it will.

Testimony - Trip To Turoa Ski Field

A group of us from our church went for a trip to Ohakune, Mt Ruapehu over the last weekend.

Normally staying in a motel or chalet would cost quite a fair bit in a peak winter / Ski season.
But we were blessed to book into a bach or a holiday house which can sleep 10-11 persons for a good rate. So we praise God for the accomodation at an affordable price.
What really is a bonus to us when we arrived is that though the house didn't look impressive from the outside, it was lovely inside and it is almost brand new with all the kitchen facilities.

We praise God for that and we praise God for the good company we had.

On Sat, we had the opportunity to drive up to the Turoa Ski Field on Mt Ruapehu. It was really a scary drive up because it was foggy towards the top of the mountain and we could see barely 30m ahead. So we praise God that we all reached up there safely if not we will be up there in another dimension pre-maturely.

My daughter and I had our first lesson and first taste of skiing (try the Discover Ski package) - and again we praise God that both of us and our friend could ski and didn't fall at all. I only fell once when trying to walk in the skis for the first time. Other than that, we could ski - at least on the beginner's slope. I think being able to roller blade and ice skate does help.

We left Ohakune the next day, Sunday. We were in the I-Site (Information Site) office in Taupo when we learnt that the Turoa Ski Field was actually closed that day because of bad weather and poor visibility.

We returned Auckland that Sunday thanking the Lord for giving us the window of opportunity to go up to Turoa Ski Field on Saturday.

God is Good!!! Amen.

Faith Grows Under Pressure

Ps 86:6 Hear my prayer, O LORD?
listen to my cry for mercy.
Ps 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.

Yesterday I met a Samoan pastor for tea and he was such an encouragement to me.

He has undergone some difficult moments in his life and is really spending much time with God.
In spite of his challenging circumstances, he was smiling.

He works part-time and his wife is not working. He shared with me how tight their financial situation was. And he had to repair his van, which he uses for ministry and transporting church members around. The quote for the cost of repair came up to about $500 plus. He was praying real hard for God to provide the money.

He went witnessing and met a man who was quite receptive to the Word and to him. He turned out to be a car mechanic. In the end, this mechanic charged him $200+ for the repairs to the van.
God is good. God saved my pastor friend a tidy sum.

As he shared with me this incident, I realize how sometimes when we have enough funds, we don't really ask God and be dependent on God as much.
We would try to negotiate with the first mechanic to try to get the $500+ bill reduced.

But when we are desperate, we cry out to God.
We lean on God more and more. Praying more and more.
And in this case, God provided another way out for my pastor friend.

When we are desperate, when we are under pressure - we call out to God.
God does answer us.
And our faith is strengthened.
Our faith is strengthened under pressure.

Ps 86:12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
Ps 86:13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave

Learning To Relax

One thing I learn in NZ is to learn to relax.

From where I come from, life is fast paced and pressurizing.
It is about getting results.
Children go for tuition and scoring "B" or even "A" in their exams may not be good enough - after all there is "A star."
Work also is performance oriented and intense.
Even church work can get corrupted by the intensity of the work if it affects relationships.

In ministry, we must remind ourselves that achieving results at the expense of relationships will only produce short-term results and gains.
But relationships and love in the relationships will produce the desired fruit / results.
Relationships after all is also the fruit or result.

So RELAX ... and RELATE.

Then it is good to regularly REFRESH ourselves.

I am pleased to take a holiday to the snow capped mountain of Mount Ruapehu and try skiing for the first time (Oct 08).

May there be fruit after that ...

Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mt 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God is good.

GREED

One would never have placed greed as a sin as grave as say murder or stealing or adultery.

But recent events suggest otherwise.

One would never imagine the Chinese middle men to add a toxic chemical like melamine, used in the making of plastics, to raw milk. What these middle men did was to collect raw milk from the milk collecting stations, add water to the milk to give more volume to the milk and then add melamine to the milk to restore and enhanced the high protein level of their milk product and then on-sell them to San Lu. This company, in which NZ Fonterra has a 43% interest, then produces the infant powdered milk .

In quality checks, the protein content of the milk powder is tested for by measuring its nitrogen levels. These greedy middlemen realize that they can fool quality checks by adding nitrogen rich melamine to their watered down their milk in order that they can reduce the cost of milk and produce a fatter profit margin.

Business people can be smart. But if they are greedy and lack integrity, they will be very smart to exploit every loophole to make the extra buck.

But in the end, it was tantamount to murder as thousands of babies became seriously ill and a couple of babies have died in China.
Also the reputation of China's food industry is seriously damaged.
People start to question all the other Chinese food products that is sold all over the world.

Another example of greed is that demonstrated by some whizz kids from the financial institutions. Now I must say that many try to make a living with their financially creative ideas . And they deserve the good pay because they make millions for their companies. But when they start to put together instruments that are collateralized and make them appear of little risk but in reality very risky, then their greed and lack of integrity must be answered for.

I know of a case whereby marketeers try to sell investment properties to pensioners. They assure the not so financially savvy pensioners to second mortgage their homes in order to invest in another sure property bet. But then the investment property company failed and the pensioners lose their deposits and don't receive the second property that they thought they owned and yet they have to pay a higher mortgage for their first home. And some are forced to sell their original homes when they cannot service the higher debt.

Yet another example of greed.
One Australian marketeer tried to interest me in an Australian Time-share resort facility. They called me in Auckland. When I turned down his investment proposal, he became pushy and rude to me.

Greed possesses some of us.
Money, more money and possessions become our pre-occupation.

It is alright to have possessions.
But do not let possessions possess us.

MELTDOWN IN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

In Jun 08 (see post of 7 Aug 08), I had sensed the worst of the NZ economy and property market is not yet here.

Little did I imagine that the US and UK economies would go into a near meltdown this week (Mon - Wed). If Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG were not rescued, the impact on the US and the world's financial markets would have been unimaginable because of the knock-on effects.

A report from Wealth Daily I received highlighted that investors in the 25 US financial corporations alone (see below for detailed list) have lost almost a trillion dollars (in market capitalization).

Noting that Fed's bailout of AIG at US$85 or kiwi $129 billion is just under the size of the NZ GDP of NZ$136 billion (NZ Herald 18 Sep 08, pg B1), the US$1 trillion loss (NZ$1.5 trillion) suffered by investors is 11 times the NZ GDP. Wow ... Mind-boggling numbers.

FALL IN MARKET CAPITALIZATION OF 25 US FINANCIAL COMPANIES

Here's a list of the losses in market capitalization for 25 of the biggest financials since their rough peaks in October 2007. (From Wealth Daily of 19 Sep 08)

The losses include:

• A I G -Then: $178.8 billion... Now: $5.46 billion. Down 96.95%
• Bank of America -Then: $236.5 billion... Now: $123.4 billion. Down: 47.82%
• Citigroup -Then: $236.7 billion... Now: $76.34 billion. Down 67.75%
• Merrill Lynch - Then: $63.9 billion... Now: $30.2 billion. Down 52.74%
• Fannie Mae - Then: $64.8 billion... Now: $0.45 billion. Down 99.3%
• Morgan Stanley - Then: $73.1 billion... Now: $41.1 billion. Down 43.78%
• Wachovia - Then: $98.3 billion... Now: $19.44 billion. Down 80.22%
• JP Morgan Chase - Then: $161 billion... Now: $130.2 billion. Down 19.13%
• Capital One Financial - Then: $29.9 billion... Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48%
• Washington Mutual - Then: $31.1 billion... Now: $3.64 billion. Down 88.3%
• Lehman Bros. - Then: $34.4 billion... Now: $0.80 billion. Down 97.6%
• Goldman Sachs - Then: 97.7 billion... Now: $40.6 billion. Down 58.7%
• Wells Fargo - Then: $124.1 billion... Now: $111.25 billion. Down 10.35%
• National City - Then: $16.4 billion... Now: $2.8 billion. Down 83%
• Fifth Third Bancorp - Then: $18.8 billion... Now: $7.9 billion. Down 57.6%
• American Express - Then: $74.8 billion... Now: $37.5 billion. Down 49.87%
• Freddie Mac - Then: $41.5 billion... Now: $0.16 billion. Down 58.7%
• Suntrust Banks - Then: $27 billion... Now: $16.07 billion. Down 58.7%
• BB&T - Then: $23.2 billion... Now: $18.4 billion. Down 20.69%
• Marshall & Ilsley - Then: $11.6 billion... Now: $4.48 billion. Down 61.3%
• Keycorp - Then: $13.2 billion... Now: $5.68 billion. Down 56.97%
• Legg Mason— Then: $11.4 billion...Now: $4.96 billion. Down 56.49%
• Comerica— Then: $8.3 billion...Now: $4.74 billion. Down 42.89%
• Countrywide Financial: Then: $11.1 billion...Now: $0.00 billion. Down 100%
• Bear Stearns— Then: $14.8 billion...Now: $ 0.00 billion. Down 100%

Together these 25 companies alone have lost investors in US a total of $992,690,000,000 over the last 12 months... or nearly 1 trillion dollars.

Easy For The Lord

I was reading 2 Kings 3 and there was a verse that struck me.

The background to this verse is that Moab had rebelled against Israel (2 Kgs 3:5).

Three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom then marched out against Moab and they didn’t expect much trouble.

But then their water run out and the battle advantage swung to the king of Moab.

They had not inquired of the Lord earlier but now, in their dire circumstances, the kings of Israel and Judah turned to the Lord through prophet Elisha for help.

Then in 2 Kings 3:17, the Lord spoke through Elisha that the valleys will be filled with water and Moab will be handed over to them.

The verse that struck me was this:
2 Kings 3:18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD

Whatever the dire circumstances – this is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.

TEAR FUND

I have sensed a leading to want to visit Manila Philippines for a missions trip and at the same time, I sensed a desire to sponsor a child now that our four children are almost all getting into full adulthood and independence.

And PTL that TEAR FUND has a project in Manila so that when I have a chance to go for a missions trip, I can also visit Joshua, the boy whom we are sponsoring. We were earlier neutral but when we received the sponsorship pack yesterday, we are so excited to see his photo - a boy of 7 years old smiling even though he lives in difficult circumstances. His parents only have a chance to be "sometimes employed as a laborer."

The need is great all over the world.
And in the midst of Paul's letter to the Galatians on fundamental principles of our faith like justification by grace through faith, we have this verse:

Gal 2:10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Let us remember the poor and here is a chance of doing something practical about it.

Do visit Compassion / TEAR Fund Website for further information at:
http://www.tearfund.org.nz/

Listening

Are We Listening?

I was meditating on King Ahab (1 Kings 18-22).

Although he was a wicked king and did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any before him (1 Kgs 16:30), God sent not just one, not just two, but three prophets of the Lord to speak to him.

First, God sent Elijah to demonstrate to King Ahab that all the worship to Baal and Asherah were of no use as they were but lifeless idols. The frantic prophesying (1 Kgs 18:29) by prophets of Baal couldn't move their so called god to hurl fire on their sacrifice.
But Elijah called on the true God who answered with fire to burn the water-soaked sacrifice. This was a clear indication of whose God is the true God. And Ahab could see that. And Ahab could not stop the people from responding to Elijah's command to seize and slaughter the 450 prophets of Baal.

Second, God sent a prophet to speak to Ahab about his disobedience for setting an enemy king free (20:42). This is reminiscent of what king Saul did (1 Sam 15).

Third, God sent Micaiah to warn King Ahab not to go into battle against the King of Aram (1 Kings 22:17-28).

The question is: Will Ahab listen?

The problem with Ahab was that he listened to the wrong people.

a) He listened to the urgings (1 Kgs 21:25) of his evil wife, Jezebel and then condoned her scheme of framing Naboth with false charges in order to possess Naboth's vineyard. She got two scoundrels to be false witnesses to charge Naboth with blasphemy and treason (1 Kgs 21:13). Naboth was stoned to death.
God sent Elijah to speak to Ahab and amazingly Ahab repented and God was merciful to him in delaying judgement (1 Kgs 21:28-29)

b) Ahab listened to false prophets (probably the 400 prophets of Asherah who didn't turn up at Mt Carmel) by going into battle against the Arameans (1 Kgs 22). He didn't listen to the prophet sent by God - Micaiah.

I marvel at God's mercy and warnings to Ahab - God sending three prophets and numerous warnings. But did Ahab listen?

The reflection questions for us then are:
1. Are we listening?
2. Are we listening to the men sent by God?

PC World

We live in a politically correct (PC) world.

It is right to be sensitive and use words that are polite and more refined.

For instance, we don’t call a mental patient “retarded” at all.
It was made more sensitive by calling them “Intellectually handicapped.”
But then “handicapped” too is not such a good description.
Now it is truly more correct to call them “mentally challenged.”

We use to call people on wheelchair – “disabled”.
Are they really "disabled" as if they are not able to do anything?
Surely not. So the more empowering term would be to call them “physically challenged.”

Although this is politically correct – it is the good kind of politically correctness.
When it is the good kind of politically correctness – it is being right and polite.

But the negative kind of politically correctness is one whereby because we don’t want to offend anyone, and we fail to call a spade a spade – and if a child did wrong, we don't tell them that it is wrong. And we don't call a sin is a sin.

So what is PC?
PC is being unable to speak the hard truth for fear of offending another person even though that person has digressed and committed some offences (and against God's word).

If we want to be a man or woman of God, we need to speak the truth for what it is and out of love.

I was reading 1 Kings 13 and the man of God spoke the hard truth to Jeroboam, the new king of Israel after God tore the kingdom into two from Solomon's son Rehoboam.
God had blessed Jeroboam with Israel but instead of keeping God's laws faithfully, Jeroboam built altars to worship two golden calves (1 Kgs 12:28).
And he told the people "Here are your gods."
This is almost exactly Aaron's words to the Israelites after building the golden calf "These are your gods." (Ex 32:4).

Even when the hard truth was told to King Jeroboam and the word of God given by the man of God was fulfilled (the altar split up [1 Kgs 13:3,5] and his hands was healed [13:6]), Jeroboam did not change his evil ways (13:33).

Another prophet was to speak the hard truth into his life.
Jeroboam's son became ill and he asked his wife to disguise herself and to see the prophet Ahijah who had earlier prophesied that he would be king over the divided northern kingdom. It turns out that she actually don't need to disguise herself because the prophet now could not see (14:4). Ironically though he could not see naturally, he could see spiritually and told Jeroboam's wife the dreadful fate of their son and his kingdom.

If we aspire to be man and woman of God, we need to be sensitive with our words but at the same time, there is no place for PC and we need to speak God's truth in love.
For God's word and His truth is useful for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16).
If we fail to speak God's truth, there will be no righteousness developed.

Instead of being politically correct – we need to be spiritually correct and be humble to be corrected.

Worshiping With Tobymac: Alive & Transported

Just bought this CD / DVD by Tobymac.

Wow... What a Worship.
Full of youthful energy.

I was caught in worshiping the Lord with them.
I particularly love "In The Light" and "Made To Love."

Check it out ....

Rend Our Hearts

Joel 2:13 Rend your heart and not your garments

In biblical times, when people repent, they will rend their garments.
Take for example King Ahab.
Even king Ahab, whose wife was the wicked Jezebel, when he was repentant, what did he do?

1 Kings 21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
^{1Ki 21:28} Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:
^{1Ki 21:29} “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me?
Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day.

Now in Joel, the prophet tells us don’t just rend or tear our garments.

What is the point of rending our garments and not our hearts?

The garments are what is on our outside.
We are to Rend our hearts - our inner most heart.
That is what God is calling us to do.

The rending of garment is just a symbolism of what we are doing on the inside.
If we don't rend our heart but just rend our garment - it is but a ritual.

Business News

Good news for those who would like to bring some funds over to NZ.
Recently kiwi$ fell to their lowest level.

S$ to NZ$1
highest (Feb 26) 1.14174
lowest (Aug 8) 0.989608

MR to NZ$1
highest (Feb 27) 2.6111
lowest (Aug 8) 2.33496

US$ to NZ$1
highest (Feb 27) 0.817501
lowest (Aug 8) 0.705
(Source: http://www.x-rates.com/d/NZD/table.html)

When we arrived here in Auckland in 2002, the rate was S$0.90 = NZ$1.
Kiwi $ had strengthened to as high S$1.20+ but is now just under S$1.

Good news to those who are looking to buy a house too.

Here is an excerpt from today's (11 Aug) NZ Herald:
"The value of our homes has slipped backwards for the first time in more than seven years.

New figures out today show house values fell 2.2 per cent in the year to July - the first national drop since the price dip of 1997-2001.

.... Auckland property values fell 3.6 per cent from a year ago"

7 Good Years & 7 Bad Years of Joseph? (Gen 41)
(Not necessarily in literal 7 year cycle for us now though.
Except that the word "seven" appeared in the paper's report?)

Testimony 1 - God Speaks Through Dreams

A Singaporean couple shared with me that they had wanted to convert S$ to NZ$ to park some of their funds on Deposit in NZ$ since it will yield a very attractive return of over 8% for 6 months.
We after all are called to be good stewards of whatever God puts into our hands.

Then his wife had a dream that they should hold on to that.
They didn't understand why God gave them this direction.
She had the dream a few days before my blog of 7 Aug 08.
When he read the blog about the NZ$ currency depreciating against other currencies, he then understood why God had spoken to her in the dream to give them direction and to protect their savings.
It is a confirmation for them.

Isn't God great?
God speaks to us in dreams and vision (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).
(They are not old though ... :) )

I praise God too for using this blog to be blessing.
It is also like a confirmation of what this blog hopes to accomplish.


Testimony 2 - God's Word & Confirmation

I had finished a series of messages from Galatians and was wondering what to preach next for Sunday 10 Aug.
I woke up last Thurs with Hosea and Joel in my mind even though I was not reading these books recently at all.

I sensed a direction to preach from Joel which is a prophetic book with quite strong words.
Is this really God's word for the congregation?

We had prayer time before our service and the Holy Spirit just fall upon one of the pray-ers who wept and prayed a sorrowful prayer with the words "Wake Up."

The words "Wake Up" was a point in the message even though this pray-er didn't know about the message.

What a confirmation.

This pray-er also shared with me that he had seen a vision for the first time or one of the few times - and it was during the prayer time.

God wants to reveal Himself to us.

Are we hungry for Him?

08-08-08 : Beijing Olympics Starts at 8pm - What's In A Number?

Numbers have always been important.
Why so?
Besides being a measurement tool, it also rich in symbolism.

To the Chinese, the number "8" symbolizes striking it rich and success.

For Christians, the number that is close to our heart is "7".
"7" symbolizes completeness.

God completed His creation and rested on the 7th day.
Noah took 7 of every kind of clean animals (Gen 7:2).
Joseph interpreted the dream with the 7 years of abundance and 7 years of famine (Gen 41:29).
The walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around it for 7 days (Joshua 6; Heb 11:30).
There were 7 priests carrying 7 trumpets (Jos 6:8).
7 deacons were chosen in Acts 6:3.
Book of Revelation mentions 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 angels, 7 plagues, 7 bowls.

"6" is just before "7" and is incomplete.

"666" is a parody or a copy or imitation of the complete "7".

What does this make of the number "8"?

Good Years & Bad Years

I was reminded of an earlier message I shared how I had sensed that the property market in NZ was over-bought, 2-3 years before it actually happened. The property market has now turned in the first half of 2008.

On 22 Jun 08, I shared during the Sunday message that it seems that the worst of the NZ economy and property market is not yet here - perhaps in 2010.

That week itself, two finance companies defaulted on their payments - St Laurence and Dorchester (on 24 and 25 Jun). On Thursday that week 26 Jun, Westpac released the report stating that consumer confidence was at its lowest since 1991, 17 years ago.

As there are more sellers of residential properties now and many are not prepared to sell below their expected sale price, many have become accidental landlords. The traditional thinking is that there is always a strong support for NZ residential properties since there is a sizeable rental market. Today there is a report in the NZ Herald that even rentals are under pressure.

The easing of interest rate will help house owners in servicing mortgages.
But this means that the kiwi $ will be under pressure - and so has declined against other currencies.
Ultimately it will mean higher prices for our imports - and we won't be getting cheap TVs and computers as we are getting now.
(Side thought - do we buy the computer now, or wait for a newer model but at more expensive price later or better still - start saving for the bad years?)

The downturn in the property market has a multiplier impact on other businesses e.g. real estate agents, anything to do with houses e.g. contractors, carpets, household appliances and even restaurants. (today I just heard of a company that does concrete jobs going under). All these hit the stock market. Unemployment is up slightly.

What do Christians do in the midst of all these news?
What did Joseph do?
More to come ....

(Disclaimer: These are my personal views and observations and does not constitute financial advice. Readers are advised to seek their own independent financial advice)

Whose House?

I was reading 1 Kings 6 & 7.

At the end of 1 Kings 6, v38 tells us that Solomon took 7 years to build the temple.
The next verse in 1 Kings 7:1, we learn that Solomon took 13 years to construct his palace.
The author of 1 Kings was deliberately contrasting the building of the temple and the palace.

How about the size of the temple versus the size of the palace?
The size of the temple is 60 x 20 x 30 cubits or 90 x 30 x 45 feet (1 Kings 6:2).
The size of the palace is 100 x 50 x 30 cubits or 150 x 75 x 45 feet (1 Kings 7:2).

Solomon built for himself a larger palace and took a longer time to construct his palace.
What does this tell us about Solomon's priorities?

It reminds us to ask this question of ourselves:
Where are we placing our priorities?

Are we taking our ministry to build the temple and the church seriously?

Info For Election

There are 2 votes during the election.

1. The Electorate Candidate vote – we all vote for the preferred candidate in our electorate.
2. The Party Vote – vote for our preferred party. This is the MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) system

The Party votes will decide how many seats each party gets in Parliament.

That is why Party vote is very key.

This means that some Party members on the Party list can get into Parliament even though they may not be elected into Parliament by the electorate.

That is why Party candidates want to be ranked high in their Party list – especially those of smaller parties.

Let us vote for those who stand for what we believe ...

Kiwi Party - A Party With Christian Values

I attended one of the Kiwi Party’s meeting and have personally met with Larry Baldock, who is the leader of this party.

Larry clarified with me that they are not a Christian party – but a party with Judeo-Christian values.

They would like to attract more voters who subscribe to Christian values but may not be Christians.

NZ under the Labour Party has passed legislation like these:

• Legalization of Prostitution (making a sin legal)
• Civil Union
• Anti-smacking Law (failing to distinguish discipline from abuse)
  • Example of this law gone wrong – A granddad tipped a bean bag so as to get his grandson to move on and to turn down the volume of the TV and who also refused to turn off the TV when asked to. Police arrested the grandfather after the boy rang 111. He was convicted and held in a prison cell for 2 nights.
  • There are more cases.

The National Party record is more conservative with the MPs skewing the other side of Labour in the Moral issues.
However, as a party, they do not openly subscribe to Christian values.

The Kiwi Party openly subscribes to Christian values and seeks to do this:

• Repeal the Anti-smacking Law
• Criminalize those seeking services of prostitutes and those living off the proceeds of prostitution of others
• Return drinking age to 20
• No home detention and parole for more serious crimes
• Victim rights before Criminal rights

You would be able to read more of their policies on their website at http://thekiwiparty.org.nz/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=50

They will be releasing more of their policies this Sat 9 Aug (9:15am – 6pm) at their National Conference in Auckland, Ellerslie Events Centre, Greenlane East. It is a free Conference and you can sign up to attend the Conference at their website.

I have heard some of them speak and they can be inspiring.

Let us vote responsibly by knowing what each party stands for ....