Sunday Message

10/12/06
<James 1:2-8, 12>

A LIFE LED BY THE PROMISE (COVENANT)

• God’s love is absolute regardless of the situation we are in
• Does God’s love make us excited or burdened? There are times when God’s
love will bring us great love, but there are also times when His love will make
us sad
• Our Christian Belief: God loves us completely. We should discover and follow
God’s love
• We are often bound by our own problems and struggles because we do not
see God’s great love
• There will be times when God has to discipline us because of His love for us.
Of course, there will also be times where God gives us a smooth riding time
• Very often, our priority is incorrect. Therefore, the Lord wants to remove the
problems and things that are binding us
• God gives us His Covenant out of love
• In one sentence, the Covenant of God is about He being with us (i.e.
Immanuel). The Lord is always with us whether we are in joy or in pain
• The Lord is with us in our purpose. God will discipline us and bring us back to
Him when our purpose is incorrect
• Sometimes, God will open the Red Sea for us. After we’d crossed the Red Sea,
we have to rely on Him and walk with Him in order to cross the wilderness
• God uses His Covenant and not our material needs to lead us. Otherwise, we
will not be able to take it when our material needs are removed from us.
• The Covenant God has given us will definitely give us the best benefits. Thus,
God will bring us back to Him when we leave or are leaving His Covenant.
• His Covenant is the Absolute Answer.
• Satan will not be afraid of us if we do not have this absolute answer in us
• E.g. the 3 friends of Daniel have received the absolute answer. He knows that
they are still loved by God even if God does not save them from the hands of
their enemies. Therefore, they refuse to bow down to the idols even when
they are threatened to be killed
• A lot of Believers claimed that they believe that God has prepared the best
things for them. However, Satan will attack them in the areas where they
have the greatest expectation if they’d not received the absolute answer
• The absolute answer will surpass our body, our emotions, our Life and our
possessions
• We can only be joyful in all circumstances after we’d restored the absolute
answer using God’s Covenant
• There is a reason behind each and every of our problems
• E.g. If we need to rely on sleeping pills to fall asleep at night without knowing
the reason, we will have to take them for the rest of our lives. We can only
resolve the problem after we have known the actual reason for not able to
sleep at night
• Satan is not able to bind a person who has already restored the absolute
answer
• There is a spiritual explanation for us not able to hunger and thirst for God.
Therefore, we need to be healed using God’s Covenant

Read <James 1:2-8, 12>

v4 James is asking us whether we will be rewarded by our the tests we faced
v5 We must ask God by grabbing hold of His Covenant. Only then God will give
us the things He’d promised us
v8 A person who does not have a fixed perspective on the Covenant will not be able to
receive the absolute answer

1. It starts from God

• <1John 4:19> It is not we who find or love God first. It is God who first
love and seek us.
• We are chosen and be called to be loved by God
• <Ephesians 2:1> In the past, we were dead in our transgression because
we were following the Evil Spirit then
• A person is living as if he is in Hell when he has not known God
• We were also worshipping idols in the past and those idols led us only to
destruction
• No matter how rich or successful a person is, he will have to leave all his
wealth behind and enter Hell someday if he does not know God
• In the past, we lived in such similar ways too. However, God revealed
Himself to us one day and allowed us to know Him
• In the past, all we knew was we must be a good person and do good
deeds. However, a person who does not know God is walking towards
destruction regardless of how much good deeds he has done.
• A lot of Believers claimed that Jesus Christ loves them. However, their
desires and thoughts are placed only on the worldly things. Their thoughts
are the same as those they had before they believed in God
• The Bible has shown us the ways of the Believers: Believers always walk in
their own ways. They love the World and become bitter. They turn to God
when their bitterness increases. However, their desires for the World
return after a while and the cycle repeats itself
• Some churches teach their congregation that all Believers must be
successful. Brothers ought to be like Daniel; a man who rule and influence
the World and sisters ought to be as beautiful as Esther, in order to attract
others.
• Although Daniel was successful and authoritative, he had determined to
distinguish himself from the World before he reached his position. He was
determined not to take the meat and drink the wine served from the
King’s table. God raised Daniel and allowed him to take charge of the
nation after he had made the distinction
• A person who hungers for success but refuse to be distinguished is one
who only wants to take the path of the world
 • Satan attacks us from within. He causes us to speak the same content as
the people of this world
• We were all chosen and called to be loved by God when we were in such a
terrible state
• We must discover this Truth
• Christians need not control themselves to be holy. Christians need to
discover that the most holy God has already entered their lives. When
they do that, they will naturally dislike any unholy things
• Believers who realised that the holy God is with them will live an unbound
(i.e. free) life. They need not restrict or control themselves over anything
• It is very important to know that it is God at work. We ought to discover
what God has prepared for us as we live each day
• It is not a matter of us putting in our best efforts in our work or studies. No
matter what we do, we must do it after we’d restored God’s purpose for us
in doing them

2. Establish a Covenant with God (turn to God)

• What does it mean by establishing a Covenant with God?
• It means that we believe that God has prepared everything for us. Thus,
we need not ask for more things
• Establishing a Covenant means turning to God and letting go of our own
desires. In other words, it means to let go of everything that doesn’t come
from God and have the willingness to turn to Him
• After a person has established the Covenant, he will realise that
everything around him comes from God’s love. Therefore, he is joyful
even if something bad happens to him
• A person who has established the Covenant will have a changed heart. He
will not hate, envy or be jealous over his brothers and sisters in Christ. He
knows that everything he has come from God and is the best for him.
• A lot of Christians will be envious or jealous of people who have better
conditions than them because they have yet to establish a Covenant with
God
• People who have not reconciled with God (i.e. yet to establish a Covenant)
behave like animal. E.g. Just like cats will fight over fishes, man will fight
with one another over the things they want
• A person who has established the Covenant will replace his purpose with
God’s purpose
• It is easy for a person who knows God’s purpose to make any decision
• A person who has established the Covenant will replace his method with
God’s method
• The method that Jesus Christ gives us is the method of the heart and
mind. It is also the most authoritative method
• Very often, people do not use authoritative methods in doing things. E.g.
we will become angry easily when people do things that upset us.
However, the Lord teaches us to bless those who did us harm
• When a person is faced with poverty, his first reaction is to think of various
means to earn more money. However, the method used by our Lord is to
restore God’s perfect will in our financial difficulties
• A person who has yet to establish the Covenant will continue to fail and
receive hurts
• E.g. someone who always fails in his career will enter a new Company with
a fearful heart towards his boss, his colleagues and his work. A person who
has established the Covenant shouldn’t be bound by any fears or things
• We must explain everything using the perspective of established
Covenant. God can use our setbacks as these come from God. Therefore, a
person who has established the Covenant will not use the success or
failure of his career to judge his condition and identity
• E.g. A woman who has lost her child during pregnancy will definitely be
worried over the development of her child when she gets pregnant again.
However, for sisters who had established the Covenant with God and had
lost their child before, they know that life comes from God. Thus, when
God removes the life of their first child, they know that they will be
rewarded, as they can be a comfort to many others. Apart from that, they
will pray for the child in their wombs to be like Samuel
• E.g. A person who is divorced can only hope that his/her second marriage
will be more blissful. His/her hope is done with fear if he/she has not
established the Covenant.
• The problems will always repeat for those who had not established a
Covenant and do not have a fixed perspective. This is because the
healings they received are only temporary. It is just like an evil spirit
leaving him temporarily but bringing back seven more spirits with him
when he returns
• If a person is not healed by God’s promise, has yet to establish a Covenant
and also to restore the perspective of God’s love and purpose, he will only
face more severe problems. It is because seven evil spirits will enter his
life
• Problems like work crisis, financial difficulties, etc are all spiritual
problems. One will not receive true healing if he tries to settle these
problems with his own methods. When he tries, he will only be faced with
more severe problems.
• God will delight in us and we will have peace in us when we do anything
for the Lord. Even if we did not do a fantastic job, as long as it was done
for the Lord, it is the most successful task that we have done
• We will have real joy and peace only when we view ourselves with the
perspective that “I am complete”
• Our inferior complex and worries will be gone when we are able to view
ourselves with this perspective
• We can only be set free physically when our hearts are freed. Freedom in
the heart is true freedom
• A person who has yet to establish the Covenant has not made God his only
satisfaction. Therefore, he is still unable to receive the true answer and be
set free
 • A person who has established the Covenant will reject any thoughts or
perspective that does not match the identity as God’s children, or the
glory of God’s People

3. Congregation centred life

• If we want to sustain the life purpose of glorifying God, benefiting people
and building God’s kingdom, able to see God’s love in every step we take
and to sustain the heart to love God and man, we must live a
congregation-centred life
• We will not want to miss any of the four meetings in church when we
realise that God had called us to be with Him while we are still dead in our
transgression and when we discover that we need to rely on God’s
Covenant to live
• A person who says that he will go to church only when he is free or when it
is convenient for him to do so will never go. This is because he will never
be freed or get healed unless he has restored a congregation centred life
• Each of us has different timetable. A person who finds it a struggle to
attend just one Service per week will definitely walk the paths of the World
• A person who doesn’t meet any congregation at least once per week and
only want to do things in his own convenient will fall prey to the
temptations of this world
• A person who has not restored church’s meeting will not be able to avoid
worrying, having fears and looking downcast
• We must restore church’s meeting together, just like how in <Acts 1>, the
early churches always gathered together. We should go for meetings even
when we are feeling sad and bitter
• No matter what ironic situation / things we are facing now, the
contradiction will not go away even if we continue to think about it
• We can only have victory over problems and the world, and become one of
the twelve who can change this world when we realise we have no choice
but to be together
• Next year’s theme for our church is ‘The year of connecting and growing
together’
• It is time for us to have victory after having struggles for so many years.
And there is only one way out, which is to get together and attend the
meetings
• We attend meetings not for boasting up the attendance list, but for us to
meet God individually

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1. Do I really understand the circumstance I am in now? Was I dead in
my transgression but was called by God? If so, with what perspective
should I view the world today? And how should I live a life that is
worthy to the calling that I have received?
2. Establish the Covenant clearly with God again before 2006 comes to
an end. How will my thoughts, judgment, purpose of life, and method
of living change after I have established the Covenant? Confirm:
Discover the absolute answer using the perspective I have after
establishing the Covenant
3. Before 2006 comes to an end, resolute to restore attending 4
meetings in the church. Challenge: Do not touch any of my current
problems (e.g. family, work, relationships, financial, studies, health,
etc). Resolve everything by restoring the 4 meetings