JURONG OUTREACH - NOV 05

THE STONE CUTTER
6 Nov 05

(Ecclesiastes 4:4 ) And I saw that all labour and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbour. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and labourers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

How Do You Spell Success?

Many would define success with the attainment of one or more of the following:

Power – having a number of people under your authority
Prestige – being well-known, famous
Position – achieving the executive level
Popularity – being well-liked by the majority
Possessions – having everything that money can buy
Pleasure – being able to do that which brings pleasure to body and mind

But, are these things TRUE indicators of success?

The 19th-century Bible scholar G. S. Bowes pointed out the ultimate futility of ambition that isn’t accompanied by dedication to God. Citing two powerful world rulers of the past, he wrote:

"Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had completely subdued the nations. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, and he died at an early age in a state of debauchery.

Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left this earth completely unmourned.

God revealed the definition of true success to His servant, Joshua: "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may OBSERVE TO DO according to all that is written in it. For THEN you will make your way prosperous, and THEN you will have good success" (Joshua 1:8).

From this Scripture, we discover the TRUE definition of success:

True success is KNOWING the will of God – and DOING IT

OUTSIDE INTERVENTION
13 Nov 05

Normally the flight from Nassau to Miami took Walter Wyatt, Jr., only 65 minutes.

But on December 5, 1986, he attempted this flight after thieves had looted the navigational equipment in his Beechcraft airplane. With only a compass and a hand-held radio, Walter flew into skies blackened by storm clouds.

When his compass began to gyrate, Walter concluded he was headed in the wrong direction. He flew his plane below the clouds, hoping to spot something, but soon he knew he was lost. He put out a mayday call, which sent a Coast Guard Falcon search plane headed toward his location to lead him to an emergency landing strip only six miles away. Suddenly Wyatt's right engine coughed its last and died. The fuel tank had run dry. Around 8 p.m. Wyatt could do little more than glide the plane into the water.

Wyatt survived the crash, but his plane disappeared quickly beneath the waves, leaving him bobbing on the water in a leaky life vest. With blood on his forehead, Wyatt floated on his back.

Suddenly he felt a hard bump against his body. A shark had found him!

Wyatt kicked the intruder and wondered if he would survive the night. He managed to stay afloat for the next ten hours. In the morning, Wyatt saw no airplanes, but in the water a dorsal fin was headed for him. Twisting, he felt the hide of a shark brush against him. In a moment, two more bull sharks sliced through the water toward him. Again he kicked the sharks, and they veered away, but he was nearing exhaustion.

Then he heard the sound of a distant aircraft. When it was within a half mile, he waved his orange vest. The pilot radioed the Cape York, which was twelve minutes away: "Get moving, cutter! There's a shark targeting this guy!" As the Cape York pulled alongside Wyatt, a Jacob's ladder was dropped over the side. Wyatt climbed wearily out of the water and onto the ship, where he fell to his knees and kissed the deck. He'd been saved. Nothing less than outside intervention could have rescued him from sure death.

How much WE are like Walter Wyatt.

Due to OUR sin, we are lost, facing certain death

(James 1:13-15)  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

(Romans 6:23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Despite our best efforts, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.

Only "Outside Intervention" can save US! That "Outside Intervention" came in the Person of—JESUS CHRIST.

(John 3:16). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life"

Jesus DIED for us so that we might LIVE (1 Thessalonians 5:10).

He will rescue THOSE who: accept His salvation through faith (Acts 16:31), repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confession of Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), and baptism (immersion) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27).

Those who: continue to FOLLOW Jesus, He will continue to SAVE and PROTECT them from the ”shark” (Satan) that seeks to DESTROY (1 Peter 5:8).

Only "Outside Intervention" will save YOU from certain DEATH. Accept God’s offer while you still have the opportunity. . .

God bless you!

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
20 Nov 05

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalms 46:1)

Inner peace through an implicit trust in the love of God is the real evidence of a mature Christian faith.  Only with this kind of confidence in his heavenly Father could Horatio Spafford experience such heart-rending tragedies as he did and yet be able to say, “It is well with my soul.”

Spafford had known peaceful and happy days as a successful attorney in Chicago.  He was the father of four daughters, an active member of the Church, and a loyal friend and supporter of D.L.Moody and other evangelical leaders of his day.  Then, a series of calamities began; starting with the great Chicago fire of 1871 which wiped out the family’s extensive real estate investments.  When Mr Moody and his music associate, Ira Sankey, left for Great Britain for an evangelical campaign, Spafford decided to lift the spirits of his family by taking them on a vacation to Europe.  He also planned to assist in the Moody-Sankey meetings there.

In November 1873, Spafford was detained by urgent business, but he sent his wife and four daughters as scheduled on the S.S.Ville du Harve, planning to join them soon.  Halfway across the Atlantic, the ship was struck by an English vessel and sank in 12 minutes. All four of the Spafford daughters—Tanetta, Maggie, Annie and Bessie—were among the 226 who drowned.  Mrs Spafford was among the few who were saved.

Horation spafford stood hour after on the deck of the ship carrying him to rejoin his sorrowing wife n Cardiff, Wales.  When the ship passed the approximate place where his precious daughters had drowned, Spafford wrote, in commemoration of the death of his children, “When sorrows like sea billows roll...It is well with my soul.”  What a picture of our hope!

When we are faced with trails and calamities fall on us, can we continue to trust in the Lord who made the universe, who has promised that “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor 10:13)

Or do we shake our feast at Him and shout “Why me, Lord?”

Let’s hold fast to our faith and cling on to Him who is faithful and just.

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He’s the Lord of…..

He’s the Lord of the sunshine
The Lord of the rain
He’s the Lord of the good times
The Lord of pain
He’s the Lord of you and me.

Poem by Debra Nair

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well with my soul.

Tho Satan should buffet, tho trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and
Hath Shed His own blood for my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and
The Lord shall descend,
Even so, - It is well with my soul

It is well, with my soul, it is well,
it is well with my soul

NOT NORTH TO EAST
27 Nov 05

The prophet Amos spoke to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His message was one of coming punishment for their terrible sins. The people of Israel had become very evil. They worshipped idols. The rich did everything they could to cheat others out of money.

The people still went to the worship God. But this was only put-on. They really did not like to worship God. They did not like giving all the sacrifices. They did not like the special celebrations and festivals.

Amos told them that they were going to be very harshly punished. Foreign nations would invade and kill many of them. Others would be taken to distant lands and then killed. In Amos 8:11-14, Amos tells them that there will be a famine in the land

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

This famine would be a complete lack of hearing the word of God. He says they will go from sea to sea. This means that they would go from east to west to try to find God. He then says they will go from north to east.

Normally when humans or God was making parallels it would be stated that one went from east to west and north to south. But Amos says they will go from north to east. Why the difference? It is possible that Amos is showing that even when they will be saying that they are looking everywhere they can for God's word, they will still not go to the very place that he could be found. The Temple was in Jerusalem. The true High Priest was in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was considered in the South.

So, while the people of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, were saying they wanted to find God and obey Him, they really were not looking in the place where He could be found. Even in desperate times, when under persecution, they would not humble themselves to go where they needed to go to find God.

There are people like that today. There are many individuals in the world today who are looking for help in their lives. They say they want to love God. They say they want to obey Him. Some even proclaim that they are Christians. But they do not really go where they need to go to find God.

They will buy all kinds of self-help books. They will listen to all types of preachers and teachers. But they never open and read their Bibles. Without reading and studying their Bibles, they will never really learn what they need to do to obey God. They say they do, but if they never study their Bibles, they are no different than the people who went from north to east.

The Bible has taught us that when we refused to hear and obey God’s word, we will head for evil doings:

(Jer 11:10) They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

But when we hear and obey God’s word, we will head for restoration:

(Jer 23:22) But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Do not be like those who went north to east and sea to sea. Open your Bible and study it. Learn what God wants you to do. Study the Bible and be pleasing in God’s sight. Lest there come a time, when the Lord will say to us:

(Pr 1:28) Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: