We are all immigrants of heaven, you may be an immigrant of America, or an immigrant of Singapore but all of you are immigrants of heaven.
You and I were born in sin and as we grew up we are in one way or another committing sins and like the people in the book of Lamentations, we are unrepentant. But while we are sinners Christ died for us Romans 5:8-8, we are enemies of God but He sacrificed his one and only Son as a demonstration of His love to us, and that we will be saved.
How can we be grateful to God’s faithfulness?
The answer can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV), to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, to follow Christ’s example. Who is St. Paul? He used to be an enemy of Christ and a persecutor of Christians; he even witnessed the stoning of Stephen. This man is very intelligent and a scholar of Jewish tradition because he was educated in the feet of Gamaliel, but while he was on his way to Damascus, he had his encounter with God and from there on he lived a changed life and even become the greatest apostle in church history.
You and I were born in sin and as we grew up we are in one way or another committing sins and like the people in the book of Lamentations, we are unrepentant. But while we are sinners Christ died for us Romans 5:8-8, we are enemies of God but He sacrificed his one and only Son as a demonstration of His love to us, and that we will be saved.
How can we be grateful to God’s faithfulness?
The answer can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV), to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, to follow Christ’s example. Who is St. Paul? He used to be an enemy of Christ and a persecutor of Christians; he even witnessed the stoning of Stephen. This man is very intelligent and a scholar of Jewish tradition because he was educated in the feet of Gamaliel, but while he was on his way to Damascus, he had his encounter with God and from there on he lived a changed life and even become the greatest apostle in church history.
Luke 2:7 clearly depicts God’s humility, instead of being born in a palatial residence worth for a king, He was born in a manger. 1 Peter 5:5-6, exhorts the people to be submissive to one another and to be filled with humility, as God will exalt those who are humble in due time.
There is a revealed truth that the quality of life of God’s people in eternity depends on the quality of our service to the Lord here on earth, never to forget that. We are all saved, but not all of us have equal rewards in heaven. In Bema judgment, (1 Cor 3:12-13), all of us will face the Lord and our services will be thrown into the fire, and the quality of our work will be determined. Therefore let us desire and strive to serve the Lord with quality of dedication and genuine humility.
In John 13, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples; Christ himself displayed the life of servanthood that the apostles should live. St. Paul in his ministry, never did he became a master to the flocks, he considered himself as a servant as Jesus came not to be served but to serve. We Christians should be as doormats, there is no justification for us to lord over our flocks, because that is the very example of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Philippians verse, found Himself to as a servant, did not consider Himself equal to the Father and remained faithful even up to death on the cross, but God exalted Him and made His name above every name.
Jesus, the King who died on the cross with all humility, should be our model. If our motive in the ministry is none other than love for God, we will be frustrated very soon because we will begin to realize the ungratefulness of men because dogs are even grateful than men. Therefore let this be our life motto – “I exist for God.” Not for men, not for anyone, but for God and God alone.
Success in life means you have received the approval of the Creator of all, strive to win the heart of God, - that is the simple formula. God will lead you to your promised land if the Lord God is pleased upon your life.
Again, St. Paul became the greatest because of his determination to serve. He wrote this in Galatians 2:20, For I am crucified with Christ.
For many years, we have been measuring how great God’s faithfulness is, but we should not be over confident. There must be room for improvement in our individual lives, and improvement in our service to Him.
Jesus, the King who died on the cross with all humility, should be our model. If our motive in the ministry is none other than love for God, we will be frustrated very soon because we will begin to realize the ungratefulness of men because dogs are even grateful than men. Therefore let this be our life motto – “I exist for God.” Not for men, not for anyone, but for God and God alone.
Success in life means you have received the approval of the Creator of all, strive to win the heart of God, - that is the simple formula. God will lead you to your promised land if the Lord God is pleased upon your life.
Again, St. Paul became the greatest because of his determination to serve. He wrote this in Galatians 2:20, For I am crucified with Christ.
For many years, we have been measuring how great God’s faithfulness is, but we should not be over confident. There must be room for improvement in our individual lives, and improvement in our service to Him.
Virtue of Christ’s Compassion
This was displayed when Jesus feed the thousands of men and performed a miracle of multiplication. Jesus has incredible love and compassion in His heart towards these people (Matthew 14:14).
When you pray for someone, be sure to pray and feel the compassionate heart of Jesus to the one whom you are praying for. Be filled with burning love and compassion.
Do you feel any compassion when we see our fellow Filipinos suffering from grinding poverty? While political injustices and corruption is so rampant, people of God, let us accept the challenge to imitate the compassion that Christ has.
The Anointing Power of the Holy Spirit
As you begin to imitate the virtues of Christ that St. Paul has modeled, it is very important that God is with you, that you are empowered by His Holy Spirit through His anointing power. What is this anointing? This is divine equipment, divine ability in working the works of God. Matthew 28:18-20, states the great commission that is only possible through God’s anointing power.
Desire to imitate Christ’s humility, servant hood, compassion and Christ’s anointed life. Once you have the anointing of the Lord, the devil will be afraid with you (Isaiah 10:27). Anointing is available to every believer of Christ, but there is a price to pay. We need the purity of the heart, because God looks at the heart and not at the appearance of men.
If Jesus literally stand in front of you and asked you, “Is your heart right now, right with God?” don’t you have any fear that you can face the Lord face to face without rejection? Or you will just bow your heads and confess that many times you have failed. This is the moment to put everything aside and declare our full dependency on God. Fully obey and carefully follow God.
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