General Service in Malang, July 01, 2012 (Sunday Morning)

Speaker: Ps. Dadang H. Santoso

Matthew 8:20
8:20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air havenests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay Hishead.”

The grievance of Jesus is there is no place to lay His head. This is also the longing of Jesus to dwell with men.

In the book of Genesis, since man does sin on the Garden of Eden, man was outcast to the world and separated from God. There is no more power to go back to Him.

Genesis 3:17-19
3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed isthe ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat ofit
All the days of your life.
3:
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
3:
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

The consequences are as follows:
After being thrown away to the world, men do sins up to the peak of sins, that is eating-drinking sins and marrying and being given in marriage sins. It results in foxes and birds stay with men and there is no more place for God to lay His Head.
If sinful men are let, they will be destroyed and perished forever to the hell. Therefore, God longs to return to dwell with men.

Exodus 25:8
25:8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

God’s way to dwell with men is He orders Moses to build Tabernacle so He may dwell among us.
Now it means that we must enter the building of perfect body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:21-22
2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
2:
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The requirement for us to become a dwelling place of God is we must fulfill the measurement of God, that is the area of Tabernacle.

Exodus 27:18
27:18 The length of the court shall beone hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made offine woven linen, and its sockets of bronze.

The length of Tabernacle is one hundred cubits, the width is fifty cubits, thus the area is five thousands cubits square.

In the past, Tabernacle was built in the desert. From the whole desert, it was used only five thousands cubits square to build the Tabernacle.
Spiritually, it means that from many people in this world called by God, it is only few who are chosen to become a dwelling place of God. The chosen life is one who fulfills the measure of God.

The signs of fulfilling the measure of God are as follows:
  1. The measure of 100 = 10x10.
    The first 10 is hearing the Word.
    The second 10 is being obedient to the Word.

    Thus, number 100 is life who hears and obeys the true teaching Word whatever the risks must be faced.

    Be careful since there is wrong measure. It is caused by wrong attitude to the Word.

    John 12:47-48
    12:47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
    12:
    48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

    If we hear the Word (10) but we do not practice the Word (0), we will get the number 10x0=0, not the number 100.
    But there is also attitude rejecting the Word and grumbling (negative attitude). It will result in negative number. When we do not obey the Word, our life is still going down.
    The example is Jonah who becomes disobedient so he sinks, the younger son who becomes disobedient arrives at swine field, and Saul becomes disobedient so he looses the anointing and being possessed by evil spirit.

    Another example is Peter the apostle. He is as a star, but when he becomes disobedient, he fails totally and is naked.

    John 21:3,7
    21:3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
    21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on
    hisouter garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.

    But when we obey the Word, little by little God lifts us up.

    When we fail and are naked, God is still struggling to dwell in our life.

    John 21:4-6
    21:4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
    21:
    5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”They answered Him, “No.”
    21:6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

    Jesus appears as Good Shepherd. He comes with the shepherding Word which contains two things as follows:
  1. The measure of 50.
    Number 50 denotes the number of Pentecost. It shows life which is anointed by Holy Spirit.

    The practices of living in the anointing of Holy Spirit are as follows:
God blesses us.