IFGF GISI Seattle

Living the Higher Life

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:30:38 +0000

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

1Thes 4:7

According to the Scriptures, the believers in Christ are supposed to be the salt and light of the world. Unfortunately, scandals do hit the Church from time to time. The shocking thing is that many of those misdeeds are perpetuated not by sinners from without but by those within the church who profess to be born-again, baptized believers of Jesus Christ. The scandals have served as a stumbling block and have further contributed to the unbelieving world’s mockery of the Christian faith. “The church is full of hypocrites” is a common excuse for people not to attend church or trust Christians in general

In light of the above, we are committed to live the Higher Life, a phrase that refers to the sanctification work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Higher Life promotes the idea that Christians should move on from their initial conversion experience to experience a second work of God by which we can live a more holy, less sinful or even a sinless life.

Living the Higher Life begins with the realization that salvation is a product of His grace alone. There is nothing we can do to earn it, to deserve it, to obligate God to give it to us, to buy it from Him, or to bribe Him into giving it to us. Salvation and eternal life are free gifts. However some believers stop there. They mistakenly assumed that since they live under grace, they are under no obligation to live under the Law. They claim that God’s law was abolished by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. They think that mankind is no longer burdened by the stringent requirements of that “harsh law” that stands in their way of freedom—of “having a good time.” Essentially they turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness (Jude1:4). Lasciviousness means “license to sin.” It could also be defined as “unrestrained liberty” or “abuse of privilege.” In essence, this meant license to do what seems right in one’s own eyes, according to one’s own conscience. But that is not what the Scriptures teach. The truth of the matter is the Christian calling (Rom. 8:29-30) is based on grace—unmerited pardon of past sins and forgiveness upon genuine repentance. Christians understand that the very salvation offered to them is a gift, and that they must continue to live a lifetime of obedience/submission to His will (Acts 5:32, John 14:15) and overcoming.

To live the Higher Life is not an exception but a norm to the Christian life. “For it is GOD which works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). God provides Christians with the WILLPOWER, FAITH OF CHRIST and MOTIVATION to do His good pleasure. God the Father and Jesus Christ have gone to great lengths to provide the grace—favor and divine mercy—to help Christians succeed in their calling. But God expects results! That is the message of Ephesians 2: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (vs. 10). “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:16) Let’s pursue the Higher Life and we will discover the grace of God to experience the abundant life that our Lord promises to all who surrender to his will.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris Chan

Faith

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Speaker: Ps. Irwan Ngadisastra
Date: February 28 2010

Faith to Believe
Faith to Act

Definition:
NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrew 11:1

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.”

“Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.”

Story about a young boy

John 6:1-13

1. Faith

A Boy’s Lunch
Consider this! A little boy with his lunch feeding 5000 men (uncounted women and children). How much do you think a boy’s lunch amount to? NOT MUCH
Disciple’s Faith
John 6:5-9
Believing what is seen
The Disciples themselves did not have the faith. They only believed what they saw – 200 denari – not much money
5 loaves of bread and 2 fish – not enough food
Remember, FAITH is believing what is NOT yet seen

2. Obedience

What Jesus was asking from the boy seems ridiculous. Asking from a little boy to give up all of his lunch (NOT SHARE), but to give it all.

Many times, God wants us to give all that we have for Him to use for His glory and to let Him to use for doing miracles, but because of our disobedience, we missed the opportunities to receive the miracles ourselves.

What if the boy decided to be disobedient when Jesus asked for his lunch?

Do you think that the 5000 men can be blessed and thus give God the glory?

14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” - John 6:14

Because of our obedience, God can be glorified and acknowledged

3. Surrender

The boy not only he is obedient, but he surrendered to the Will of God. To him, it may not make sense, but he knows that when he surrendered all, something good will come out of it.

When we surrendered all that we have, God can turn it around into abundance! 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish can feed more than 5000 people. That is EXPONENTIAL!!

4. Perception

The little boy did not have any perception of little or much. That’s why he did not question Jesus.

Lack or abundance is a matter of perception
To some 200,000 shillings is abundance,
to some, it is not enough!

Story of Faith

Remember Definition of Faith:
NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrew 11:1

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Luk 17:6

Closing Quote

Richard M. DeVos: The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.

Benjamin Franklin: The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.

Morning Service - February 28 2010

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:46:16 +0000

Agnus Dei
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Blessed
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Today is the Day
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You’re Worthy of My Praise
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Desert Song
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Hosanna in the highest
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twlive — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:38:30 +0000

The Heart of Giving

twlive — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:00:25 +0000

by Noreen Tjindra

When Christians are so filled with the Spirit of God in them, they would have a strong desire to give unto God. It is an anticipated response to the love of God in our hearts. There is no exact amount of how much we have to give back to Him but we are told that our giving should be done because out of cheerfulness, we are willing, secretly, generously, unselfishly and unconditionally give to Him.

Willingly & Cheerfully - Giving to the Lord or the formal term, tithing, means is to give one-tenth of your income to God. Many churches emphasize about tithing to their congregation. However, to tithe is to give unto the Lord out of willingness and with a cheerful heart. The Bible says, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7) If you are to tithe, make sure you do so because you want to do the Will of God and to be obedient to hear His instructions. Never ever allow any man to persuade you into giving out of your desire. If it is so, then it is better for you not to give at all.

Secretly - “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mat 6:1-4) When you give, make sure it is not to be seen by men. Give secretly or as low key as possible because God sees our heart and rewards us. Never be concerned about pleasing men or impressing them because this is all between just you and Daddy God. From this verse too, we understand that prayer, fasting and giving are all governed under the similar principles; no sounding of your trumpet, it should come from your heart and unto Him alone. His approval alone is what we should seek for.

Generously & Unselfishly - “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Cor 9:6) Ok, this is the trickiest part! You should read this verse very carefully and pray that you are lead by the Holy Spirit. The teaching of ‘law of reaction’ has blinded many Christians that they think that every good thing only comes when they tithe. So, they rush to be the first one to give a load of money to the church. This is so wrong. When we tithe, we should be careful whether our desire to give results from walking after the Spirit or after the flesh.

Unconditionally - “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ (Luke 17:10) Do you know that we are bought at a price? Everything that we are and we have, are blessings that come from Daddy God. He has richly blessed us with the riches of the Heaven. And, we have a relationship of being more than just the “unworthy servants” towards Him but as quoted from the Bible,” Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God, Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” (1 Tim 6:17) So, be wise with the belongings that He has trusted us with. “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:10). So as we receive much, also give much. Be conscious that we are also the stewards of it. Therefore when we give, it must always be without any expectation to receive again.