Change Will Happen if you Don't Lose Sight !

Change Will Happen if you Don't Lose Sight !

Change will not come out of a complaining heart or from one that feels shortchanged or not enough.Wrong time to make decision to step forward. Step forward only when the path you launch from is settled !

Growth and change will come when God puts that desire in you not when you think its time to change or go somewhere else...Pray somemore ! Not enough to just run with the vision...you need God's presence and His promises ! and you need to be active about it. Its not lost just be cause you lost it in the natural..as long as the God given vision is still in you, it can be birth again !
You want to be in the right place at the right time ?..You can't do it..only God can..just be in His presence..worship and pray !

SQUABBLE till You Squat.

SQUABBLE till You Squat.

4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. (2 Tim 2:4, NIV)

I think this will help many young people or those that are just starting out in ministry be it full-time, part-time, lay-time haha..whatever lah.

I've been in ministry since the time I got saved. There is nothing like it serving God and seeing what you do add value and moved people closer to God and their destiny ! There will be times when the thanks and the appreciation will come but the squabbles and misunderstandings and problems seems to be much more !

In every step of the way, check your heart. In anything that has to do with people, it WILL always be problematic. Some people say Iron Sharpens Iron..but that is just wrong to think offenses and hurting others will build and edify anybody. Read scripture and understand what it really means. Being alone changes nobody ..in fact its a the devils playground - a lone ranger. Iron sharpes Iron is telling us our need for people in our lives. Good influences changes us for good.  

In my years of ministry, ups and downs are part and parcel of it all. Is it just ministry...OH NO ! this is life ! So don't end-up framing your entire life with this negativity. 

Always come back to this.."WHAT IS GOD SAYING TO YOU ?". Sometimes there are things we need to change within..but most times just don't take the high road of Doctrinal, Revelational, position. It does not matter how you believe scripture and how it should be applied. RELATIONSHIPS / FRIENDSHIPS matters first and foremost.

God is not always against anybody...that said ...we leave the judge part to Him. Can you imagine if GOd would to find fault and strike every faulty human with a lightning bolt, I think we too would not be spared.

There is no right or wrong in any issue. Everybody is coming to a point from different angles and understanding. If you feel judged, learn to walk away...cool down.

Time always sorts out our thoughts. Never take sides with any side. At the end of the day, keep our hearts tender before God, keep our stand in Him and keep pressing on !

Finally, don't take things too seriously and personally. Maybe its just assumptions and expectations of each side that is not met. Sometimes as Pastor, I have certain expectations of people in my church. Assuming people understand what your expectations are is foolish. Nobody can read minds unless you are the mentalist !. We just get better at getting information and communicating. Always learn to give respect, if respect if what you want. 


As always there will be dissapointments and fustrations. Life is like that therefore ministry should too as people are everywhere ! . Many things shapes where people come from in their approach to life..from culture, to traditions, upbringing, circumstances , etc. That's why we need to talk and seek to understand. 


By right in Church or ministries, we are not there for our own glory...but His. However, the human desires and needs to get in the way sometimes. .. Time to give space and patience. Time to pray more !

Hey ! who knows maybe dissapointments come to push you to where God really wants you to be!..at the end of the day...go back on your knees..from squabbles to squat to pray..Let God sort out your heart today. (30/1/12 (c) Edwin Koh Boon Leng)

Nothing Wrong With Me.

NOTHING WRONG WITH ME
(Preached on 29/1/12)

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ (Mt 25:24-25 NKJV)

Shared a fictional story of someone who found descriptions and directions to treasure in a far flung country in the east. This guy sold everything he had and said his good byes and left. Upon reaching the destination, he begun his search. He starts by getting a description of the treasure and begins to search. You see this treasure when found will be hot in his hands. Similar to everything that is on the ground, he had a hard time uncovering the treasure that would change his life. Everything he picked-up looks like it but was cold to the touch. So he threw everything over the cliff. He has been doing that over and over again. SUDDENLY, he picked-up an item on the ground. It was warm unlike the others. To his shock, the next thing he did was throw it over the cliff!!! 

You see in the parable of talent, we know that the Kingdom of God is God giving us abilities and the means to apply our lives for His glory. In this story, each of the 3 servants received "talents". The one that received 5, traded it got back double - 10. The next guy who received 2, traded it and got back double - 2. 

When the master returned he commended the same thing to both of these fruitful guys. He said, "well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord ". (Mt 25:21) 

The one that received 1 talent, did nothing. Why ? It was obvious he was familiar with his master's ways. In that familiarity, he became numb in fear. He hid the 1 talent and gave the master his 1 talent upon his return. 

In the end he lost everything. How often we reject our greatest rewards and blessings and breakthroughs just because we have become familiar with life and throw our blessings over the cliff just because that was how it was done ? How often we throw everything away just because we cannot see the possibility of anything in the little that is in our hands ?

God always begins with small and little with anything He does through us. Many great companies today had very humble beginnings. Many well-known people today had humble, poor beginnings. 

The key to it all is found in the commendation of the master over the other 2 that were successful - "FAITHFUL". Be reliable, dependable, responsible. Do the ordinary well...do it unto the Lord even if no one is looking. Because the Lord who sees in the secret will reward you in the open !

What is in your hands ?


Edwin Koh

Salted - LOT

SALTED

But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
(Gen 19:26)

This is an excerpt of my sermon preached on 22/1/12 at Word of Life Church. I don't know about you, but I had always wanted to know what Lot's wife became a pillar of salt ?

God had spoken to me the day before to find out how salt is made. With the understanding that Jesus calls us Salt and Light. Light is the life of Christ in us. Remember God breathe His life into us. 

Salt is made by a process called crystallization where brine (salted water) is evaporated by Sun Light. Water which is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen (H2O) and Salt is NACL - Sodium Chloride. Salt never exist on its on in the natural. As water evaporates, all that is left is NACL - Sodium Chloride. That's where you get sea salt. 

When God judged Sodom and Gomorrah, it was a process where LIGHT was seen. When Lot's wife turned back, she became a pillar of salt because the all the life that was in her was taken away ! . All that was left was the salt (Salt and Light).

You see our eyes reveal much of our lives. What we choose to fix our eyes on, our focus..that's where our treasure is. Lot's wife's focus was not God but what's the past. 

Lot and the rest were saved because they focused on getting to where God has allowed them to go. Imperfect they were, they kept their eyes on Zoar. However as we read the rest of Genesis 19, we realised that Zoar was a compromised on Lot's part. God allowed it because God will never violate our will.

Lot questioned God's choice of refuge (the mountain) by putting blocks of fear and worry in front of him.  When he reached Zoar, he realised Zoar was not pleasant at all. Eventually, he ended up in the mountain..but because of his partial obedience which is also disobedience, he ended up bringing compromise into his family.

So you see, keep our eyes on the Lord and stop complaining. We can trust Him. Jesus knows what He is doing.

Parenting - Who to Blame ?

PARENTING - Who to Blame ?

24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”(Genesis 9:24-25)

From Noah to Eli to David, the Bible is filled with examples of parenting gone wrong. Fathers choosing and deciding without consideration of the impact of their decisions on their children and future generations.

I am a dad to 2 young boys and face it, children are the reflection of us- good and bad. Somehow our children tend to magnify our flaws as though its the front page of the newspaper.

Many parents non-parents have this perception that it is the school and society that shapes their children's character and personality. However I find this thinking to be flawed. The apple does not fall far from the apple tree. So our lifestyles, actions, habits, how we relate and react and respond both good and bad, is what our children learn the most. Therefore it is the parents personality and character our children shows to the world.

So its not hard to conclude that what we go through is what they will go through. Without allowing change that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives, we will live the lives our parents live be it in a new time and era...but the results will be the same.

For me, I let the Holy Spirit always examine and allow the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit reveal and remove that which is not right in me. I want to succeed and suceed well and definitely, I want my kids to have a great spring board to their future.

What is the Time ?

What is the Time ?

20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

(Romans 5:20-21)

In getting ready to preach at our watchnite service at the end of 2011, my "ears" were open to hear what God has to say. One thing God made me understand is that we are really walking towards the end and then the beginning. What do I mean ?

God gave me a RHEMA through the verse above. As sin abounds...grace too will abound. Remember Jesus talks about wheat and weeds. God showed me that SIN will increase. Many many will turn away from God. Sin will abound which means evil will increase. The Godless and Sinfull will increase. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, people accepting "the SINFUL FRUITS" as normal and part of the "modern" contemporary lifestyle. Things are not going to get any better economically, politically and socially.

However the good news is, as

2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, 

And deep darkness the people; 

But the LORD will arise over you, 

And His glory will be seen upon you. (Isaiah 60:2)

sin abounds, there is another growth taking place in life. It is the people of God. The people that believe and live in the light. A year where the light of Christ will be seen in us and through us.

Its time to drink overflowing the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name ! Worship and Serve the Lord with all of your life ! ..This is not time to close-up and be unavailable. Its time to open-up and drink drink drink of the Lord !..Fresh anointing is poured down into your lives !  Its your year in the Lord.

Go deeper in the Lord

(c) Luv Edwin 7/1/12

Don't This Don't That.

Don't This Don't That

1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"

2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"

4-5 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil." (Gen 3:1-3, MSG)

At Eden, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because they wanted to be like God. However, they need not know what is good and evil or what is right or wrong, because they have been told by God. The pursue of knowledge and the having it did not do Solomon any good because he did not have long life (a satisfied, fulfilling) life.

God had already told them, you eat of the fruit of that tree, death beckons. Its not that God is judging or condemning man. God just told Adam and Eve, what is right to do and what is wrong. What is good and what is evil. God did not withold this from them. He was telling them, with every action the consequences is already known.

For example, we don't cross the road without looking right and left because getting knocked down is no fun. We do not put our fingers into fire, because we know we'd get burnt. Yet man till today, spend hours and hours and hours pursuing knowledge.

Instead of pursuing knowledge and judgement of self and others..pursue God. In God is long life and riches and honor. Faith in Jesus alone, delivers us from the world.

8 Exalt her, and she will promote you; 

      She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. (Prov 4:8)

Jesus is wisdom. Jesus is Jireh...Jesus is not the means to...Jesus IS.

Luv Edwin (7/1/12)