Contend for the Faith
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Lisa Ang, assistant director of the CBC English Prayer Ministry, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Watch full sermon here
This Sunday, Pastor Him started off by reviewing our Church’s September theme, “Position Yourself for Wonders.” What do we need to do to position ourselves for wonders?
1.Know Who You Are in Christ
You are a child of God; thus, you know your authority as a believer. You have the authority as the sons and daughters of God. It is important to know what you are filling your mind with. If your mind is a garden; your thoughts are the seeds; you can grow flowers or you can grow weeds. The first thing you need to know to position yourself for wonders starts with knowing who you are and what you are filling your mind with. If you fill your mind with negative thoughts, you are growing weeds. If you fill your mind with the right thoughts, then you are growing flowers.
2. Sanctify Yourself
Joshua 3:5 (NKJV) “And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
We need to set ourselves apart. This week is fasting week for our Church. Let us use this opportunity to humble ourselves and see God together. We will end this fasting period with Prayer Night this coming Friday evening.
3.Humbling Yourself in Obedience
Pride comes before a fall. We need to learn to humble ourselves before God.
4.Walking in Unity
Ephesians 4:4 (NKJV) “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.”
Going back to August’s theme: “Transition for Greatness”, Pastor Him showed a graph with an X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axis that we usually see in math class. There is a dark green line in the picture with a green dot in the middle; the lines then branch out to a light green line that continues to go up; and a red line that continues to go down. (Picture of the graph is attached in this email) If the lines in the graph represents our lives, the “green” dot in the middle is our transition point. We all have transition points in life. The choices we make today will determine whether we will go up or go down. If we hear and do the Word of God, we will continue to increase and not decrease. Today is the transition point where you can leave the past behind and go on a tangent with God.
As we enter the month of October, we will embark on a new theme: “The Great Reset”. The specific phrase “Great Reset” came into general circulation about 12 years ago. The book “The Great Reset” was written by Richard Florida in 2010. Florida is an American Urban Studies Scholar. It was written in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis (house foreclosures, banking crisis, etc.). Florida’s book argued that the 2008 economic crash was the latest in a series of Great Resets, including the Long Depression of the 1870’s and the Great Depression of the 1930’s. He defined great resets as periods of paradigm-shifting systemic innovation. During the crisis, the price of certain things kept going up (e.g. food prices), but the price of other things was down (e.g. stocks, house prices); thus, when a crisis happened, new opportunities are also revealed. Opportunities will always be there. God will make the opportunities available when you continue to walk and obey Him.
The term “The Great Reset” was made famous in June 2020. In the World Economic Forum 50th annual meeting, the Great Reset was officially launched along with the book on “COVID-19: The Great Reset”. The book declared that COVID represents an “opportunity [that] can be seized”; that “we should take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to reimagine our world”; that “the moment must be seized to take advantage of this unique window of opportunity”; and that “[f]or those fortunate enough to find themselves in industries ‘naturally’ resilient to the pandemic” - think of Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon - “the crisis was not only more bearable, but it became a source of profitable opportunities at a time of distress for the majority.” During the Covid pandemic, many small businesses failed. When things are falling, it is actually a good time for us if we position ourselves right, God will present us with opportunities.
The greatest reset of all time happened when Jesus died on the cross and paid for our sins. We were doomed to hell, but Jesus took our place and died for us instead. We got saved and we have a place in heaven.
The first great reset happened in the days of Noah. Today we will learn from the story of Noah.
Matthew 24:36-39 NKJV “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
Before the flood came, the people of the world at that time did not know there would be a flood. People were living normal everyday lives during the time. They were eating and drinking; marrying and giving in marriage. They were oblivious to the impending disaster. They were not watchful. No one expected the flood, so they were just living their lives.
If the world was so wicked at that time, how did Noah make it? Who was Noah? What is so special about Noah?
Genesis 6:9 NKJV “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”
Genesis 7:1 NKJV “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.’”
Noah lived in a corrupt, wicked, and evil generation as stated in the verses below.
Genesis 6:5 NKJV “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Genesis 6:11-12 NKJV “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So, God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
2 Peter 2:5 NKJV “And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.”
Noah lived in perilous times. Noah was preaching righteousness to his generation but they did not repent. Noah preached a warning message for many years. Unfortunately, the people did not respond. They did not care. They continued to live their lives the way they pleased. They ignored God, and the longer they persisted, the more unsound their reasoning became, and the harder it became for them to change. It must not have been easy for Noah to preach righteousness to such a wicked generation. When Jonah preached righteousness to Nineveh, he was ostracized.
Matthew 24:12-13 NKJV “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Matthew 24 consists of Jesus’ words about what will happen in the end times. Jesus referred to the days of Noah when He was describing what conditions would be like just prior to His return. People would be unaware of His return to judge mankind. Sadly, the vast majority of the earth’s inhabitants will be living ungodly lives in a world filled with violence when this monumental event occurs. The signs of the end of this age include abounding lawlessness, the gospel of the Kingdom being preached, and Jerusalem being surrounded by armies (Matthew 24:12-14; Luke 21:20).
Even in the worst of times, Noah made it. Why? How? What did Noah do to survive such a perilous time?
Romans 1:21-25 NKJV “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
When we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we let Jesus be our Lord. Jesus is not just our Savior, but He is also our Lord. Being Lord means He rules over our lives.
Romans 1 says that the people knew God but they did not glorify God, nor were they thankful. They became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. These are people who knew God, they thought they are wise, but they became fools because they did not make God as their Lord.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
The reason that Noah survived the perilous times was because Noah walked with God!
What Does it Mean to Walk with God?
Noah had a close relationship with God. Even with the “number” of corruptions, evil and all sorts of bad things happening, Noah still had a close relationship with God.
Noah chose to walk by faith and not by sight. When Noah could not see certain things, he still believed.
Noah talked to God.
Noah also listened to God.
God corrected Noah on occasions.
Noah poured out his challenges to God.
God guided Noah, led him, instructed him in the way that he should go.
Noah met God and spent time.
He drew near to God.
He built trust with God.
He knew God’s promises are true - It is yes and amen!
He knew that God can be trusted.
He knew that God is a covenant-keeping God, even though he faced challenges.
Noah was being warned, but he has never seen what was about to happen. Unless you trust God 100%, there is no way you will believe. Where is your faith level? If you have never seen it, nobody else has ever experienced it, and you are the first person who experienced it, it will be impossible for you to believe unless you have a close relationship with God. Unless you have walked with God all your life, it will be impossible for you to believe. How do you develop such faith? It is never easy, but it always begins with baby-steps. These baby-steps are the ones we need to go after.
Hebrews 11:7 NKJV “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Everything that Noah did, he did it in faith. It is not easy if you have never seen it. There are no drawings, no descriptions of what the rain would look like.
Genesis 6:15 NKJV “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.”
In today’s measurements, the ark is 450’ long by 75’ wide and 45’ high. That is over 100,000 square feet of space. In comparison, our Ministry Center that will be built next door is 20,000 square feet. The ark is 5 times the size of our Ministry Center! Noah had no Home Depot; no power tools; no prefabricated materials. Noah had limited tools with raw materials. Everything had to be made from scratch, even the tools. He needed to chop down trees himself for lumber. Building this ark was an astronomical task! The ark had 3 levels, filled with animals from donkeys to elephants and from giraffes to hippopotamuses!
Genesis 6 (NKJV) “You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.”
Genesis 6:17-21 (NKJV) “And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark - you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
Can you imagine the task he had to feed all the living beings in the ark? Noah needed to provide food for himself, his family, and all the animals, and the food supplies needed to last for over 365 days.
Genesis 6:22 (NKJV) “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
Noah did not complain. He did not drag his time. He did not cut corners. Noah did everything that God commanded him because God was Noah’s Lord! When the great reset happened (flood), it did not bother Noah at all, because he walked with God.
There is no reason for all of us to be afraid of any reset. When we walk with God and we obey, we know we will experience the signs, miracles, and wonders in our lives.
Walking with God may not be popular. You might be challenged. You might be mocked. Your faith will be tested. The enemy is shoving all kinds of temptations in your life. We face this on a daily basis, no one is immune. Will you still consider Jesus as your Lord when all these things happen? Will you still obey? The reality is, whether you like it or not; whether there is a reset or not; whatever things are happening in this world; when you are walking with God, you are safe and sound.
When reset happened in the days of Noah, it was not only Noah that was saved, but his whole family as well. The key is “Noah walked with God” and “Noah obeyed all that the Lord commanded him.” Noah put his faith on the Lord and he never wavered.
Conclusion:
How can we walk with God?
Spend more time in the Word of God
Agree in His Word
Spend more time in Prayer
Talk to God all the time
Listen to Him
Spend more time in Worship
Let us start by joining the prayer and fasting until October 7. Come and join the Prayer Night on Friday, October 7, 2022.
Prayer Points:
Make a decision that today is the transition point where you can leave the past behind and move with God.
Make a decision that you will trust God today and all the days of your life.
Pray that we will stay alert, knowing the time and season.
Pray that we will be able to walk with God and obey God, just like Noah did.
Pray that we will stand firm and un-wavered no matter what may come in our walk with God.
Pray for the Ministry Center building.