#18 Real or zeal? (27nov2004)

'For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given....

.....And his name shall be called......The mighty God'

Isaiah 9:6



With Christmas approaching, most are looking forward to a time of rest and revelry, while making plans and new resolutions for the next year ahead.



Christmas is not about Santa Claus!!, but the world seems to think otherwise

If Santa can gatecrash the birthday of Christ, it is only natural that bunnies and chocolates are used to wash-over the significance of Easter, the resurrection of Christ and our salvation to eternal life.

What about pumpkins and witches?? Halloween(or All Saints Day) was originally celebrated as a Christian event and not the present 'seemingly innocuous' present day paganry.



The truth has gone to the 'dogs' or turkey to be more precise.

Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims, early Christian settlers from England to thank God for His grace and providence in seeing them through a cold and harsh winter, where survival in a new land was questionable. It is not about wining and dining, nor debauchery or gluttony.



It takes two to tango. Satan is a master of deceit. Man's heart are wicked and deceitful.



The Word of God states:



- There is only one God. All other 'gods' are men's creation



- In the Christian world, there are many shades of Christianity, at least that is what men like to believe(be it Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Presbyterian...)

Reality is that there is only one type of Christian, you are either a believer that Christ is Our Saviour and that God gave us His only Son to redeem our sins.

If you are not, you are not.



- All are children of God. The Chinese seems to think otherwise. Till even now, some think that Christianity is a Western religion. Take a look through Chinese history the last 2000 years. As Emperors change, the favoured status of a particular religion changes. Nothing is cast in stone.

The only original truth is that Chinese like all men descended from Noah's family, after the great flood.



- How do you reconcile Darwin's theory of evolution, dinosaurs and apeman and the Word of God.

Maybe, the long held and taught basis of carbon dating artefacts that sets man's existence to millions of years before, which is based on man's understanding is fraught and questionable??

The Word of God says that the world was a green lung, all creatures including men were herbivores. Man's sins and disobedience scarred the world.



If the world has to rely on man's understanding or 'proven' facts, we will all be in trouble.



In fact, the troubled world today, your troubled life now, is because

- we do not truly believe in the Almighty God

- some might profess believe but does not obey

- some think that they do obey, but in truth never respond as God leads.

- and most never really want to come into the presence of God with all their heart and soul



To experience the love of God, to live out our lives the way God wants, we must stop questioning, start believing, start trusting and obeying.

Do not believe me, start doing what God commands.

Me, i can only speak as the Lord commands



''How many times shall i adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?'

1 Kings 22:16



As God responds, as He surely will, your mind gets renewed, your character gets transformed, the peace of God descends upon you, the joy you receive will transcends all understanding. Fact and factual, it matters not once the Spirit of God resides in the believer.







The above opening verse from Isaiah 9:6

- was the verse i read this morning at home using my Bible at home

- This afternoon in the office, in my quiet time, as i opened the Bible(a separate one from the one at home) to read a Word of God, the same verse Isaiah 9:6 stared at me right in the face.

- To the unbeliever, you will think that Christians are crazy. Always ascribing coincidences to God.

Yet, in believing that all things are through, to and from God, like me and many who has this great zeal to seek the ever present God, 'coincidences' will become a regular part of your daily experiences. For God is real.



'..the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this'

Isaiah 9:7



God blesses



Eng Hieang