Sunday Service – Today Jesus 84

19/3/06
<Mark 10:17-31>

THE FIRST HURDLE – WEALTH

• <Colossians 3:1> tells us that we should always set our hearts on the things
above (i.e. heavenly things)
• Where is “above”?
• It is the place where Jesus Christ reigns. It is where He interceding for us. It is
where He reigns victoriously. Therefore, when we pray in the name of Jesus,
we can have victory in all things.
• But how can we set our hearts on the things above?
- It is to let go of myself and remember Jesus Christ’s perfect
accomplishment for us. When we think of this, our thoughts will be
changed and that’s the power of the Holy Spirit
- It is to put in ourselves the heart to love and submit to Him and then seek
the perfect will of Jesus Christ. When we think of that, we will become
selfless
- God had promised us that our paths for tomorrow will be blessed.
Therefore if we were to hold on to His promises and put our expectation in
him, we will have great hope no matter how great our problem is
currently.
• This shall be the only blissfulness that we need and this shall be my only
motivation
• Have I resolute that other than the fullness and blessings from God, I do not
need any other things from this world?
• Apart from the Covenant of God, nothing is permanent. Therefore, where
should you place your hope upon?
• Satan seems to be getting busier nowadays and he had caused people to be
more busy & more fearful
• You can noticed that a lot of news written in the newspaper actually brought
fears and no peace/rest to a lot of people
• E.g. people have no peace when the prices of cars & fuel are rising. They also
do not have peace when the interest rate for loan is getting higher. Parents
fear when there are diseases spreading among kids.
• However, all these news has no impact upon those who live by daily by the
grace of God. In fact, all these news happen for the sake of the covenanted
people.
• All of us should know that this world is indeed becoming more and more
chaotic and there will be lesser and lesser peace. However, it’s only through
such situations, can God’s people be distinguished. It is only through the most
chaotic moments, an evangelist can enjoy the most peace and preach the
message of true peace.
• Therefore, your prayers should be such: while people are having more fears,
allow us to be calmer and have more peacefulness, while people are having
more lack, allow us to enjoy greater contentment and abundance.
• When the people of this world are losing hope, God’s people should have
greater hope.
• If you continue to dwell on the news reported in the newspaper, your concerns
will slowly become the same as those people who belong to this world
• It will be very bitter for us to live on if we are fearful about tomorrow because
 our bank accounts are getting lower or because school results are getting
poorer or career prospect getting dimmer.
• We had shared the message on finance before. But today, we must really get
rid of all the channels that are still continue binding us

Read <Mark 10:17-31>

v.18 this verse does not mean Jesus is no good. Rather, Jesus took this
opportunity to emphasize to the man that he cannot reach God at all
through his own goodness
v.19 Jesus mentioned the Commandments to test if the man really know how to
love God and man
v.20 The man had done / kept all those things but he didn’t rely on God to do
them
v.21 Jesus loved the man. Thus, Jesus is asking the man if he is willing to truly die
and resurrect with Him in all things. God gives us challenges and allows us to
go through trials because of His love for us
v.23 Not only when a person is rich that he is unable to follow Christ. If any of our
earthly concerns has a higher priority over God, we will not follow God at all
v.26 It is not possible for us to release things that belong to ourselves. It is
impossible to do it by our own means. It can only be done through the spirit
v.30 It is only through battles between the flesh and the spirit, we are able to
receive 100 times the blessings, thus the need for persecution

• Just like Paul, some people are willing to deny themselves the moment they
had received Christ. They have gone through in their mind and spirit about
what they have received in Jesus Christ
• For some, their minds are still filled with troubles despite accepting Christ for
10 years or more. They have lots of hesitation towards God in their Christian
living
• The difference between them is caused by the degree of perspective each of
them have on God (i.e. how much they had seen God)
• God had given us His full covenant and has promised us that He had prepared
everything for us and will give us all things we need, timely. If we are able to
believe this with a simple faith, our lives will be very easy. All of us would want
to be like a spiritual man but many a times, we realized that we couldn’t

1. The first hurdle

• <Mark 10:17> tells us that Jesus Christ loves the man. Therefore, even if
he is not willing to let go of his possessions, God still loves him above all
else and will give him eternal life.
• But due to God’s greater love for the man, He gives him a great challenge
coz God knows that if he had pass through this hurdle, he will not have to
struggle in the rest of his spiritual battles in life.
• You may have wondered why some people seem to have no challenges in
their lives. They ain’t that spiritual, yet God give to them whatever they
asked for.
• It is because his faith is young and weak and thus, God will need to give
him something easy to accept/digest (i.e. milk). But very soon, trials and
tribulations will occur in his life. God wants to mould his life so that he can
even digest solid food.
• There will be many hurdles in our lives. If God had not allowed us to clear
the first hurdle, we will not be able to go through the rest. However, once
 we are able to pass through the first hurdle, we will realize that with the
same method, we will be able to cross the other hurdles.
• When we are being baptized, we were being asked to give our faith
proclamation. We were asked:
1) do you believe that you are dead in your sins and transgressions where
you follow the ways of the ruler of the air before you know God?
2) do you believe that Jesus Christ is your only solution, the only way who
solves your problem of sin and death?
3) are you willing to die (to deny everything of yourself) and resurrect (to
live with God’s motive) in Jesus Christ?
4) do you believe that the Holy Spirit has come into you and all the riches
and glory of God are given to you?
5) are you willing to join the universal church and do your best to join and
serve the local church?
• It is very easy for us to say “Yes” to all these questions during our baptism.
But many people have 2nd thoughts after that.
• It had not occur to them before that they must go to the Lord 7 days a
week, 24hrs daily and God must be with them in their daily work, etc. It
had not occurred to them that believing in the Lord Almighty is to believe
Him with their all.
• There is a mismatch between their proclamation and their actual lives. All
this is because they have yet to clear their first hurdle
• We should be like Paul who receive a great shock when he first come to
know God
• Paul is not able to eat and drink for 3 days and night after knowing the
Almighty God who had created the whole universe and who had loved him
deeply
• Who is the God you know? What have you forsaken? And what have you
received?
• If he is the God that only blesses you with the material wealth, then of
course you will feel pain when he takes away your wealth. If He is the God
that only gives you a happy relationship, then when your relationship is
gone, gone is your faith! If you lose God when you lose your wealth or
health, etc., it only shows that you had not received the great shock when
you first know Him
• This does not mean that your proclamation during baptism is false. In fact,
No! God knows its true and the angels know its true. Therefore, what God
is doing in your lives after you believe and baptized is to drive your life
towards 100% of what you have proclaimed through faith. God wants you
to really experience the things that you’d proclaimed and know for yourself
the infinite blessings within
• Therefore, do not doubt God’s love upon you any further
• There is a character in the Bible named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax
collector and all the people hated him. He was treated as the worst of all
sinners. But he was excited to see who Jesus was and even climbed up a
tree to do that because he was a short man.
• Once he had come to know and accepted God, he immediately gave half of
his possessions to the poor and paid back four times the amount he had
cheated on others.
• Jesus did not praise him for being generous. He only said that “Today
salvation has come to this house”.
• This is to show us that salvation is the most important. When a person had
received salvation, and when the fullness, the joy and contentment of
 salvation has come upon a person, he has received everything. It is not
difficult to give us his wealth for the Lord at all. This is because when a
person has received God, he has received everything.
• It is therefore, important to know that to give up one’s wealth for the Lord
is not done based on his own determination or resolution. Only religious
people need their followers to train hard in order to deny oneself
• Salvation is about changing our perspectives, our views
• It is like when a person has found the real treasure in a field, he is willing to
sell off all his possessions just to buy the field that contains the treasure
• <2 Corinthians 4:16-18> tells us “fix our eyes not on what is seen but
on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal.”
• What is seen is the physical thing. What is unseen is the spiritual thing.
• Have we ever distinguished between the spiritual and the physical things?
• Our desire over physical things is very short-lived.
• Very often, we have strong desire to acquire some physical things but
suffer after acquiring them. And the cycle repeats itself
• E.g. when we are very hungry, we might have enjoyed eating a buffet for
15mins but later suffer 3-4hrs of indigestion
• E.g. a snake spent large effort swallowing a zebra but it will lay there
helplessly for a few months after swallowing the big animal.
• Therefore, it will not bring us true satisfaction by just acquiring some
physical needs. However, the satisfaction will be different if the things we
acquired are spiritual
• Spiritual satisfaction is infinitely beyond physical satisfaction. The former is
eternal while the latter is temporary
• E.g. when we submit to the Lord, the comfort and strength from God is far
beyond what any men can give
• E.g. when we love a soul and wish to minister to him, we can easily forget
our hunger. When our spirit is filled, it far exceeds all physical yearns
• Do we want to receive praises from man or praises from God?
• Man may praise you this minute but curse you the other
• We must really be able to distinguish what are spiritual and what are
physical
• Do not give the excuse that God had not given us the strength not to
forsake earthly things. You must first have the willingness to want to
distinguish. When we have distinguished and have realized the
meaninglessness and emptiness of physical satisfaction versus the
tremendous and infinite peace, joy and hope that comes from spiritual
satisfaction, power will naturally come.
• Then how should you view “wealth”?
• A lot of people keep and do not use; or keep and do not know how to use;
or keep and use profusely, all these make them slave to wealth. They will
enter into great sorrows, bondages and emptiness due to their wealth.
• No doubt, wealth (i.e. money) is very important since it can bring us lots of
things other than the spiritual ones. In fact, money has great power.
• Therefore, the very reason why God wants us to have wealth is to use our
wealth to gain lives
• In fact, we should be contented with whatever amount God has given us
and we should not envy others who have more.
 • Very often, we will envy others who can travel frequently or who has lots of
possessions.
• It is not easy for us to give up our possessions. Therefore, it is important to
engage in a battle in this area. We must distinguish the meaninglessness
of fulfilling our physical desires compared to the infinite glory of fulfilling
spiritual desires.
• The Bible tells us in <Revelations 3:17> that the church in Laodicea was
wealthy materially, but to God, they are naked, poor and pitiful. Therefore,
God says that He is going to spilt them out because they are lukewarm.
• God says we can’t love both God and money. Therefore, only one can be
first place in our heart. Of course, it does not mean that we must empty
ourselves, deny ourselves of all material things. But what God meant is, if
we have chosen God correctly as a first, then we will also use our wealth
correctly.

2. Crown
• When a person has cross the first hurdle (i.e. he know his true identity and
how much h is being loved and blessed), his thoughts, judgments, speech,
doings will all be used to acquired crowns
• We must know what our crowns are
• Those who loves crown will want to count it daily. It is like a businessman
who likes to count his profit and loss daily

1) <2 Corinthians 4:7> But we have this treasure in jars of clay

• So what treasure has entered us: i.e. The trinity God: God’s word, the
incarnation of Jesus Christ, the fullness of the Holy Spirit
• What is a crown? It is actually the crown of life
• It is God’s Word, Christ and the Holy Spirit entering our lives
• Therefore, crown is how much a person sees he is blessed (i.e. his
degree of sanctification). In another words, crown is determined by the
amount of enjoyment, contentment, peace and joy one can have in
God alone
• Crown is the degree of being blessed/loved a person has and also the
degree of assurance a person has
• Therefore, Paul said: though outwardly we are wasting away, but we
are being renewed within day by day
• Therefore, it is an inner fruit

2) A person must be a faithful steward in order to have the crown of life

(1) Therefore, how a person manages his wealth determines his crown. Be
it tithes offering, thanksgiving offering, missionary offering, and how
we use our own wealth to bless others are all indication of our wealth.
• However, it is not the money that God is after. God’s desire is our
heart. Therefore, God said: where our treasure is, there our heart
will be.
• Therefore, God will be more pleased with a $100 offering given by a
person who is in need, than a $1000 offering given by a person who
is wealthy. And he will use the $100 more.
(2) And how we manage everything which God has given unto us, be it
wealth, time, our every condition which God gave to us (全部的生命)
• Therefore, we have to be clear the purpose of our studies, our
 career, our family, our current position in the society. All of them
exist for the Kingdom without which it will lose all its purpose.
(3) And with the persecution (i.e. trials and tribulations that comes along).
• God will not look down on the hardship we’d bear for the sake of
the Heavenly Kingdom
• It is difficult for us to sacrifice or change ourselves for other people.
However, God wants us to sacrifice and change ourselves for Him
• It is impossible for us to pastor anyone if we have not been through
any hardships for God’s purpose. It is impossible to truly enjoy
blissfulness in our lives, if we’ve not understood the only way to
overcome unhappiness.
• Our consciences are able to tell us the amount of crown we will
have
• God will only be pleased with the things we done after our spiritual
eyes are opened (i.e. have the correct perspective)
3) And after having being sanctified in the above area, the outer fruits (i.e.
the fruits of evangelism, saving souls, healing people, interceding for
people will all be our crowns.
• Therefore, Paul said: “You are my crown and my joy”

3. 100 times (100 倍)

• What can we sacrifice for God? In fact, everything which we possess comes
from God. Therefore, God’s actual intention is to bless us. His purpose of
creating us is to bless us.
• In fact, God’s will is for us to acquire blessings that are 100 times greater
than now. To do that, we must first clear the first hurdle, and be able to use
all we have for the purpose of acquiring crowns.
• Of course, there are also people who God only gives just enough to satisfy
their 3 meals. The reason for this is God knows that these people will fall if
more were provided for them
1) We already have everything in Jesus Christ
2) To have disciples is greater than acquiring physical wealth
Examples:
• Deacon Philip → A famous evangelist in Caesera. His 4 daughters are all
prophets who prophesy and they remain virgins for the sake of the
gospel. They receive great wealth and their houses are host to many
evangelists like Paul.
• Mary → a wealthy woman whose house can hosts 120 disciples
• Aquila and Priscilla → they had blessed the churches of the whole Asia
and thus they are grateful to this couple
• Lydia → from Philippi church. Paul mentioned that he had received
much support from them
• Paul → He has never been in need even when he continues to share the
Gospel as God had prepared for him, everything he needs, be it money,
care and concern from people around him, etc.
• These people receive great wealth not by chance. They received great
ministries and meet important disciples of Christ, not by chance.
• They have already learnt the secret to having plenty or to be in need
(quoted by Paul). Be it they are having more or less, they can use to bless
others. With more or less, they can enjoy and be contented. Thus, God
bestow great blessings upon them. Unlimited physical blessings thus follow
 them.
• Let us be generous to God, and He will be generous to us!

Prayer & Sharing Topics

1. Examine: Have I cleared the first hurdle (i.e. wealth, physical, and
world) in my life?
And have I entered the Heavenly Kingdom? Is there anything on earth
that will prevent me from having eternal life, God’s love and
enjoyment of the Heavenly Kingdom?

2. Count: How much inheritances and rewards have I received since the
day I was born again?
(a heart to love the Lord and man, days which I live for the Lord,
interceding for the congregation and work of the heavenly kingdom,
offering belongings and body, go through hardships for the Lord, the
internal and external fruits of Life, etc)

3. Count: what are the “100 times” rewards that I’d already received?
Discover: How much more strength am I able to offer for the Lord, for
the Heavenly Kingdom and for the Gospel with my current condition?