General Service in Malang, August 26, 2012 (Sunday Morning)

Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 27 refers to seven sprinklings of blood upon the Ark of Covenant. Now it means the suffering experienced by Jesus up to His death on the cross to save, purify, and perfect us.

There are seven passages in Matthew 27. We learn about the fourth passage, namely Jesus is crucified and dead [verse 32-50].
Matthew 27:45-50 is about the time of crucifixion.

There are some things that happen at the crucifixion time as follows.
  1. Darkness [verse 45].
  2. Jesus is left alone on the cross [verse 46-47].
  3. Jesus drinks the sour wine [verse 48-49].
  4. Jesus dies on the cross [verse 50].
We are learning the fourth thing, namely Jesus dies on the cross.

Matthew 27:50
27:50. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

Jesus dies to give meaning in our life.
Sinful man is actually as dog and sow which are meaningless. But Jesus forgives us and makes our life meaningful, makes us His servant, until we belong to God forever.

Jesus as the Head surrenders His spirit, thus we as the body must also surrender all things until surrender our spirit to God.

The process to submit our spirit to God is as follows.
  1. Casting all our care to God.
    1 Peter 5:7
    5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

    Being worried means being coward, being afraid of something that has not happened yet, that makes us not afraid of God and His Word.

    Revelation 21:8
    21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

    These eight sins sink men, including God’s children and God’s servant, to the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. If it is started with being coward, the closure must be lying.
    If we cast our worry to God, there will be no other seven sins. Casting worry means casting all these eight sins, and we will not enter the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

    Matthew 6:31-33
    6:31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
    6:
    32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
    6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,and all these things shall be added to you.

    Worry about earthly matters makes God’s servant/ God’s children not prioritize God anymore, but be unfaithful in ministry and unrighteous.
    Therefore, we must cast all our worries to God.

    The proofs of casting our worry to God are as follows.
      1. Prioritizing heavenly matters more than physical matters in this world, prioritizing ministry more than everything.
      2. Living in righteousness.
      3. Being shepherded on the true teaching Word, as branch abides on the true vine.

    The result is we are being inside the merciful hands of God which are able to care our daily life up to our future miraculously. The merciful hands of God also care our life spiritually, so we live in calm and peace, until the salvation of our soul (as eight people who enter the ark of Noah).

  2. Casting ourselves to God, to become the servant or instruments of righteousness.
    Romans 6:13-14
    6:13And do not present your members asinstruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members asinstruments of righteousness to God.
    6:
    14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

    Ministering God means being the instruments of righteousness. If we live unrighteously, it is as shooting the others with unrighteousness, which will make them unrighteous. Let us minister with righteousness, so we can make the unrighteous to become the righteous one.

    The requirements of ministering with righteousness are as follows.
      1. Entering shepherding pen (the Holy Place).
        Leviticus 21:12
        21:12 nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God isupon him: I amthe Lord.

        There are three kinds of equipment within the Holy Place which denote perseverance in three main services as follows.
          • Golden Candlestick, that is perseverance in General Service.
          • Table of Showbread, that is perseverance in Bible Study Service with Holy Communion.
          • Golden Altar of Incense, that is perseverance in Prayer Service.

        Our body, soul, and spirit are being sanctified within shepherding pen. There, we are also anointed by Holy Spirit so we never get bored but always be faithful and fervent in spirit in ministering God. The anointing of Holy Spirit also results in orderly and well-organized ministry. Our soul and spirit will rejoice.

      2. There must be ministry and gifts of Holy Spirit so we can be used for the edifying of the body of Christ.
        Ephesians 4:11-12,7
        4:11 And He Himself gave some to beapostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
        4:
        12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
        4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

        Ministry and gift of Holy Spirit can be different each other, but they must be able to cooperate.

      3. In the ministry of building the body of Christ, the command must be clear, that is Jesus’ own words or the true teaching Word, whose one verse is explained by another verse in the Bible.
        Matthew 7:24-25
        7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
        7:
        25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

        If we can obey the true teaching Word, it is as building the body of Christ on Jesus the rock. We will not be moved by any tests.
        If one becomes disobedient, the building will collapse in facing tests from Satan (rain), false teaching (wind), and financial matter (flood).

    Romans 6:14
    6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

    Acts 7:9-10
    7:9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him
    7:
    10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

    If we are well-shepherded, ministering with holiness and the anointing of Holy Spirit, and being obedient, the result is we are inside the graceful hands of God. We will be used in the ministry of unification the perfect body of Christ, as Joseph is used to unite his family because of the wheat.

  3. Casting our spirit to God.
    The practice of casting our spirit to God is worshiping Him, believing and fully entrusting our life to Him, being obedient until the flesh does not sound anymore as Jesus who is obedient until His death on the cross.

    Daniel 3:16-18,24-25
    3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
    3:
    17 If that is the case,our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver usfrom your hand, O king.
    3:
    18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
    3:
    24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste andspoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
    3:25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

    Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego face impossible temptations. Here we learn that they keep holding on the true teaching Word, whatever the risks are. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego focus on God, on the true teaching Word, not on physical matters. Either God will help them or not, they will keep worshiping God.

    The result is God accompanies us with His mercy.
    Faith + mercy = miracle.
    God’s help is obvious physically, and spiritual miracle also happens.

    James 3:6
    3:6 And the tongue isa fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

    Whether we are burnt or not, it depends on the tongue. Tongue must be renewed so it is used just to confess sins, say righteous and good words, and worship God. This kind of life will never be burnt.

    Philippians 2:8-10
    2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point ofdeath, even the death of the cross.
    2:
    9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
    2:
    10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

    Jesus is the example of life who is obedient until His death on the cross.
    The church of God in the last days will face greater fire of temptation and sin. Let us cast our spirit to God, keep believing and fully entrusting our life to God, be obedient to the true teaching Word until the flesh does not sound anymore. It is as stretching out both our hands to God, and God will also stretch out His mercy to give us victory in our life. He will sanctify and renew our life until we are perfect as He is.
God blesses us.