Sunday, 19 January 2020, 1.30 PM | Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore
Summary of
the Sermon by Pastor
James Singh, Sunday, 19 January 2020
18 But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2
Cor 3:18 NKJV)
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up
the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4 NKJV)
16 Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. (Hebrew 4:16 NKJV)
Today, we
know that knowledge has increased if we compared to the time of 20 or 25 years
ago, with the new era of technology advancement. By the grace of God, we still
can enter the presence of God and being transformed with the same image as
God’s glory even in this generation.
How can I
change or transform to think or do the right thing? We can find the answer in
this scripture:
1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. (Romans 12:1 NKJV)
We need to
pray to God, so we can be transformed and renewed and let’s not copy from the
behavior of the world, but let God to be the one who transforms our lives.
We need to
open our heart and ask Jesus to transform us from glory to glory, from one step
to another step.
1. DIMENSION OF SURRENDERING
5 Then He said, “Do not draw
near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand
is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5 NKJV)
When Moses started to surrender his
life to God the Lord, then only he saw God’s glory and start to worship Him.
{Rev. James’ testimony}
On Dec 21st last month, on
a Saturday service he was in a worship session and the presence of God was
awesome. In the moment of worship, the song was about Jesus to be the center of
it all. Right at that moment, God opened Rev. James’ spiritual eyes and he saw
Jesus in spirit form walking into the church as a King with a robe and crown as
He looked at everybody and walked towards Rev. James and said: Son, drop your
earpiece and he started to worship like everybody on the floor. God said to
him, “these are my people and I died for them.”
On the following Monday, Rev. James
called his friend in Medan wanting to tell him the story. So, he spoke to his
friend’s wife and got to know that on Sunday her husband just preached about a
message what God have been seeing in the minds of the people.
If we want the GLORY, we got to learn to SURRENDER.
8 I am the Lord, that is My
name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
(Isaiah 42:8 NKJV)
Why we need to learn to surrender?
One of the answers is because we like
to control things.
Surrendered life is when it’s without
question and only be guided by the Spirit of the Lord. If we look at the life
of Noah, he did what God commanded him with obedience when he’s asked to build
the ark.
(Genesis 6:22 NKJV)
2. DIMENSION OF KNOWING HIM
“He made known His ways to
Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalms 103:7 NKJV)
God
has His own way to make known Himself to us through the Holy Scripture and conviction
of His Word. Even though sometimes God reveal Himself clearly, we might still not
be able to understand directly with a proper measure in some way.
When Israel
was in Egypt, God performed a miraculous act in which Moses became the
deliverer in the wilderness so that children of Israel might know God.
But
there’s a rebellious and children of Israel never entered the promised land.
If we
expect for miracle to happen, we need to ask God to show His way. Even though miracle
after miracle happens, sometimes when problems come into our lives or when God
did not answer our prayers then we tend to run away from God. Calamities will
happen but He promised to be with us until the end of our lives.
Ps 25:4; “Show me Your ways,
O Lord; Teach me Your paths.” Ps 25:12; “Who is the man that fears the Lord?
Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.”
We want to be strong in faith moving
from one dimension to another dimension and living to serve the Lord, having
the glory is one thing but we need to know what God is saying to us.
When we followed God’s way, He will
reveal to us what’s behind His acts.
3. DIMENSION OF INTIMACY
Ex 33:18; And he said,
“Please, show me Your glory.”
We have
the bible and we can flip the pages but Moses in his time has no idea of what
he’s asked for that he will come to verse 33. It takes a lot of humility to
listen to God so we can experience another quantum leap of faith and in the
presence of God.
John
17:24; “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You
loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
How to
have a new dimension?
Prevail in Prayer
a.
Prayer is to fight until an answer
comes.
Charles
Spurgeon; ‘the ancient saints were wont to argue in prayer. When we come to the
gate of mercy forcible arguments are the knocks of the rapper by which the gate
is opened.’
When Rev.
James prayed in Spirit, two sisters of the congregation came to him and said
that he spoke in Tamil but the reality he’s not speaking Tamil. They heard: “Father
God, Your fragrance is wonderful.” We’re encouraged to
keep praying in Spirit and keep pursuing the glory of God and seek His face. If
we never asked, we’ll never receive.
b.
Prayer is to fight the real enemy of
prayer
When we pray, enemies know, and we will be distracted thus we need
to fight it. Our warfare is not against God but against satan.
Prevailing prayer is to refuse our enemies to take advantage of us.
c.
Pray with intense earnestness
d.
Prayer is fixed with Purpose
Ps 57:7; My heart is
steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise
4. DIMENSION OF RULING AND REIGN
Moses was not able to enter the
promised land because of his disobedience towards God.
John 17: 24; “Father, I
desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may
behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation
of the world.”
15 And the seventh angel
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev 11:15 NKJV)
There must be a criteria of ruling and
reigning with Jesus Christ, we must pass through the clearing of each stage and
cannot jump to the last stage before going through the stage 1.
12 Not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many
as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we
have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same
thing. (Phil 3:12-16 NKJV)
If we want the glory of God but we’re
not mature, then how can we have the dimension of ruling and reigning? In the
realm of the Spirit, we must press on from one to another area.
The Year of 2020 has just begun, we
can’t jump to the last stage without going through the stage 1. Maybe some of
us are already in stage 2 or stage 3, but we shouldn’t compare ourselves to
others because God will lead us through the journey.
We might know the stage that we’re in
right now, every stage that Moses went through he didn’t know which stage he
was coming into. We have the Word of God to guide us but as for Moses, he kept
trusting God. How Moses achieve it? He embraced God dearly in his life.
Embrace Him!
Our intimacy with God must be holistic,
no matter what people say about us and as long as we and God have the intimate
relationship. We don’t forget the intimate relationship, when no body is around
we still pray to God.
The journey of trusting God is a long
one, even when there’s no sign or wonders. BE FAITHFUL!