Knowing Jesus

Matthew 17:1~6

There Jesus was transfigured before three disciples.

What events happened before Jesus’s transfiguration?

John Baptist was killed, before Peter confess Jesus is Christ, There were many different points of view about who was Jesus.

Some people said Jesus was John Baptist, some people said he might be Moses and Elijah. But who do you think Jesus was?

The knowing of Jesus has four different levels.

Level 1: He is our teacher and Rabi of life.

When a new believer come to church, it was his first time to know Jesus, he start to understand that Jesus’s teaching and words are so great and really helpful for our life and work. There was a lot of wisdom and similar books were there, Bible was just one of them.

Level 2: He is John The Baptist, Moses and Elijah.

John was the person who prepare the road for Jesus, Moses represents law of God and Elijah represents the greatest prophet in the old testament. Those three people are different than ordinary people. When one of new believers start to realize that Jesus and his theories are so important and great, my life might be changed through it.

Level 3: He is Christ, the son of living God.

After Jesus brought three disciples up to the mountain, he transfigured. Our faith knowing Jesus should come to this level to get the true change. We should accept this Lord into our heart and know he is the only one who can save my life.

But why Peter looked so surprised when he saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain? He has already confessed that Jesus was Christ and son of living God.

Because he has not opened his eyes to know Jesus. Like when Paul did not understand why Jesus called him when he even killed his disciples and put them into prison. Another brother come to touched Paul and something like scales fell from Paul’s eyes and he can see again. Such huge grace come to his life, it took him three years to meditate the love of God and he get changed and start to do great things for him and confessed that he was the worst siners of all the sinners.

Then, Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was so easy to get satisfaction and stop there. They heard the voice come from above and they fell face-down to the ground, terrified. He get the holiness sense at this point. Like Jacob did when he was at Bethel and dreamed stairway there. When he a woke from his sleep , he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; This is the gate of heaven.”

Level 4: we should opened our eyes when we know he is our savior and larger than anyone in the world and we will get the heart of fear of the Lord and the holiness sense. When we get to this point we will have the mature Christian life.

Knowing Jesus

WHEN IT COMES TO LIFE AND DEATH, WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE?

When it comes to matters of life and death, who’s really in charge? These are very challenging times for Christians. If you keep your eyes on the news, you have seen many challenges, on both the state and federal levels, to God’s authority over life and death.  One of my neighbors asked the question out loud: “Who’s really in charge?” Does the President and his administration have any control? Is it special interest groups? Is it the more liberal crowd in Washington?  Is God anywhere in the mix?  These days it’s easy for God-fearing Christians to be discouraged by what they see and hear when it comes down to who is really in charge of life and death. So today we will lay these matters to rest and let God answer the question of WHEN IT COMES TO LIFE AND DEATH, WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE?

 

The first group of people to weigh in on the question is the world around us. As a group, they are pretty convinced who’s in charge.  Read the response with me. When it comes to life and death, the world says, “I’m in charge.” Have you ever seen a list of reasons why patients in Oregon make the choice to end their lives through the help of a physician?  And for that matter, have you seen the list of reasons why a host of patients in other states are begging for the same thing?  I had not seen such a list. So in preparation for today I looked up some web sites to find out where these people were coming from.

 

It came down to an issue of control. One man wanted to be in charge of his quality of life and said, “A person should be free to choose to die when life ceases to be worth living.” Another woman said, “The option of physician-assisted suicide would give patients and their families peace of mind.” She wanted to have a say in how her loved ones would feel. One man confided that he was pushing to have his life terminated so that he could ultimately be in control of his finances. His treatment was draining the family savings and retirement account pretty fast, and he wanted to be sure that there was an inheritance for his kids. One woman said, “It’s pretty simple, really. I want my physician to help terminate my life so that I can finally be free of the pain. I cannot stand the pain.” For her, it was all about being in charge of how she felt.

 

In the midst of all that chatter by the world about how they are declaring themselves to be in charge comes the clear Word from the Creator. In His fifth commandment God clearly says, “You shall not murder.” And He expands on that to say that the only One who has the inherent right to end a human life is the Lord Himself. It doesn’t matter how depleted the savings account is or how many pain pills you take or what you think your quality of life is. God alone reserves the right to end a human life. He created life and He alone has the right to take it back again. And despite what the Supreme Court might say or what state legislators might decree, God still holds the world accountable for their sins. God says that if the world is intent on rebelling against His gift of life, then they will pay for it with an eternal death in hell.

 

Do you want to know, though, what kind of scared me as I visited all of those pro physician-assisted suicide web sites?  I found that my own human reason didn’t find the answers that people were giving to be outlandish and terrible. For crying out loud, how bad can it be that a man simply wants to leave his children an inheritance? That seems like a pretty selfless act and a downright thoughtful thing to do! And is it really so awful that a person just wants to be free of pain, the kind of pain you and I probably haven’t ever experienced.  When the medication doesn’t seem to be working and the depression has set in, and you haven’t felt like yourself for such a long time, and you’re always so tired. Doesn’t part of you just want to scream out, “Oh, come on – have a heart, will you?  If a person wants to be free of these things by having his doctor give him some medication so that you just drift off to a permanent sleep – can that be so wrong?” You see, the painful truth is this – and read it out loud with me: “When it comes to life and death, sometimes I say, “I’m in charge.”

 

Part of us says, “If I were in that kind of pain and facing that kind of prolonged suffering, I think I’d like to have the option of having my life terminated, too. I’m not saying I’d actually do it, but it should at least be an option. I can sympathize with those terminally ill folks because I can imagine what it’s like to be in their shoes.” Our sinful nature will always tell you, “You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul.  Nobody but nobody has the right to tell you what to do.  The only one you are answerable to – is yourself.  As long as you are Ok with life or death on your terms, then nobody has a right to tell you anything.”  And God comes to you and me and He says, “How dare you presume to take the place of Me when it comes to determining what is fair and good and reasonable in matters of life and death; and how dare you take the side – if even in your own mind – of those who think that way. Perhaps you have forgotten what I had my Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” God makes it really simple, doesn’t He?  You are not in charge here! And if we can’t get that straight – no matter what the circumstances are in our life or someone else’s life – God warns us that we can think it over with the unbelievers in Hell because they are clinging to the same sin.

 

Do you remember the question?  Who’s really in charge here? Who’s really in charge in good times and bad, through the sniffles and terminal illness?  Read it together with me:  “God assures us, I am the One who is in charge of life and death.”  And that, my dear Christian friends, is the best news of all.  Moses was speaking his farewell address to the Israelites and in the sermon text that I read to you, Moses was quoting the Lord as God talked to His people about being there for them and fighting their battles and not being afraid of the enemy or what would happen to them in their life. Do you remember how God put it?  He said, “There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life.” God is in control of everything. He has a plan for everyone and everything. He is stronger than any congress, state legislature or president. He promises that if it is His will, you will live to serve Him in whatever station in life He has placed you. And when it is time for you to be delivered from this life to the next, God will see to that, too. He’s the One in charge.

 

That’s a comforting thought, isn’t it?  It would be awful if the One who was in charge, the One who controlled your life and the events in it were a lousy, no good tyrant and bully. But that’s simply not the case, is it? Do you remember those words from Paul that we mentioned before?  He said that we have a loving God who bought you and your life at a very high price. The One in charge knew that we would land ourselves in Hell because of our lousy attitude toward life and life issues, so our God sent His Son to win for us eternal life. Our gracious and merciful Savior went to a cross and gave up His life so that we could have life to the full. That has always been God’s intention – that we have life and have it to the full. Jesus paid for our sins so that heaven would be ours.

 

Because we love Jesus so much, we are willing to wait through whatever comes along until He determines that it’s the right time to take us from this life to the next. But it’s not like Jesus simply says, “Hey, life could get pretty bad, pretty painful, pretty cancerous so just hang in there and I’ll get to you when I get to you.” No, Jesus promises that He will be right there by our side helping us to get through all the difficulties until He takes us to heaven. Our lesson said that Jesus will help us fight our battles – and that includes the battles that come with our health and our physical life. Jesus promises that He is still in charge.

 

But here’s the thing: not everybody knows that. There are millions and millions of people who either don’t know that God is in charge or they simply have, up until now, refused to believe it. It’s our job to go out and tell them. Model it for them. Show by your Christian life and witness that you trust that Jesus Christ is in charge – maybe in how you handle your own health issues or your own personal trials in your life.  Pray for other people that they might come to know that Jesus is their Savior so that they can have that peace of knowing that they don’t have to be the one in charge. Jesus is so much better at directing the life of a Christian than anyone else. And speak out in your defense of life.  If the One in charge tells us in His Word about principles of life and death, then we will promote those ideas as best we can.

 

Today our Lord left no doubt about who is really in charge. He gives life. He takes life. He provides eternal life through His Son. Now let’s go out into the world and really show them who’s in charge.  Amen.

WHEN IT COMES TO LIFE AND DEATH, WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE?

What are we going to be doing in heaven after we die?

I think I’m not the only one who is curious about what we are going to be doing in heaven. You’ve wondered about that, haven’t you? Not just what is heaven like, but what will do for all eternity? Maybe you’ve heard that in heaven you’ll do forever what you love to do. So you might have heard that heaven is one endless basketball course. That’s great if you love to basketball, but what about the rest of us who think it’s way too much running and it’s awfully frustrating trying to get that orange ball into a basket in the air in such a small room? Maybe for people like us, there will be a football court. But what if you don’t like football? Then what? You get the point.

 

God doesn’t give us specifics in his Word about what we’ll be doing for all eternity, but the Bible is clear that we won’t be sitting on a cloud. We will be active and doing things, we will be living on a “new earth,” we’ll be eating with the Lord and other people, we’ll be celebrating and talking to the heroes of faith. That is really fantastic, right? Kind of like the best wedding reception you’ve ever gone to…and it never ends. It’s possible that our existence in heaven will resemble spiritual life on this planet much more than we think. But one thing is for certain: it will be perfect and it won’t be so much about what we are doing but it will be more about who we’re with.

 

Today the risen Savior gives us a little snapshot of heaven to encourage us and to help us see the big picture. We’re in the picture but we’re not front and center. Jesus is. His believers and the angels – and all that he created – are worshiping him because he’s the one who deserves our worship and praise.

 

Remember that Revelation is a series of visions that Jesus gave the Apostle John to show how Jesus is the winner. At the start of this chapter the Apostle John saw a vision of God the Father holding a sealed up scroll. The scroll holds the future and John was sad because no one could open it.

 

The only one who could open it was the Lamb, Jesus. Jesus is at the center and everyone in heaven is saying, “He is worthy of our praise and honor and glory.” Why is he worthy of our praise and honor and glory? You might right away, “because he is God!” True, he is right next to God the Father, equal to him, and fulfilling what he once told his disciples that “all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John 5:23). The one who twice turned a five loaves of bread and two fishes into food for a multitude, who stopped a storm in a millisecond and who brought three people back from the dead is God. But he’s the Lamb who was killed and is alive again. What makes Jesus worthy of receiving power, wealth, wisdom, and strength is that he gave up his life to purchase us and he came back to life again so we would know it’s true. His grace, undeserved kindness to us, is a greater characteristic of God than even his power. That’s why the hundred million angels are praising him in heaven.

 

So the only proper response to who this Lamb is and what he’s done for us, is to worship him, honor him, sing his praises. He is the powerful Lord who thundered in the Third Commandment “Worship me!” But here’s the issue: could any of us say our worship of him – not just the one hour a week in his house but also the other 167 hours a week that we worship – is the perfect honoring him like we see here in the heavenly picture? Do we give him the total and perfect praise he deserves or do we struggle with priorities – there’s so much to do in life, each day of the week, that sometimes our worship of the Lamb falls from #1 to #3 or 4 or 5 or lower. Or, have we learned the regular weekly pattern that God wants of being in his house, but our thoughts when we’re here are a mile away? Let me show you what I mean: part of worship is listening as God speaks to us; have you gotten to the end of one of the Scripture readings and you have no idea what it was about because your mind got distracted and you started thinking about something else and you missed the whole thing. Have you ever picked up the announcement page to see what’s going on this week… right in the middle of a song or reading or a prayer? Have we ever given less than full effort into our worship – if you’re over tired, that’s often what happens, isn’t it? Does your mind ever drift away from God during a prayer, where you’re talking to God himself? Jesus is worthy of our perfect and total and regular worship, but we have fallen far short.

 

Yet the same powerful Lord who boomed the commandments from the sky, is the forgiving Savior who re-motivates us to worship him over and over again with his forgiveness and patience. This Lamb was slain for the times our priorities were all wrong, for the times we just went through the motions, for the times our focus wasn’t on Jesus. And that Lamb came to life so that we would know we stand forgiven. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “[Jesus] was delivered over to death for

 

our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” And to prove to you that you are a forgiven child of God, Jesus gave John this vision of the Lamb. He’s worthy of our praise because he’s forgiven us.

 

And you’re in the picture. Yes, this picture of heaven.

 

So what do you think you’ll be doing in heaven? We’ll be worshiping Jesus. And it will be perfect, exciting, awesome. The center of attention will be Jesus, not us. We say it now and we’ll say it in heaven, “The Lamb is alive! He is risen! He is risen, indeed!” Sin paid for, the devil squashed, death’s power and pain broken. John could see it….and so do we. Amen.

What are we going to be doing in heaven after we die?

If You Knew You Only Had One Day to Live, What Would You Do?

Let’s talk about your life. If you knew you only had one day to live, what would you do? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever written out a to do list? “I have to do this before I die…I have to go skydiving, travel to Australia and lie on the beach, sitting on the top of the highest mountain in the world and pray for a while”… Maybe that last one’s just me. How do you feel about your to do list—is it good? Would you be confident comparing yours to the person next to you? How about this: Would you feel confident showing it to God?

It’s true—God has something to say about your to do list. So if you already have one, I want you to add at least one item today. And if you don’t have one, well, today you’ll get off to a good start. By looking at Elijah and Jesus, we’ll see the one, most important thing we can do before leaving earth.

At the start of our account about the great prophet Elijah we read: the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Somehow, God had revealed to him and to others that this was Elijah’s last day. So in the next few verses we’d expect Elijah to live it up—to hurry through his to do list. We’d expect him to quick party with his friends, singing, dancing together —well, maybe he didn’t do that last one because he knew God was just going to bring him back up there anyways. He doesn’t do any of those things. At first glance, Elijah’s last day looks…boring. He’s just walking around and talking to some people.

2 Kings 2:1~10

”Hello, Elijah you’re wasting your last hours here.” What is he doing? He told his understudy Elisha, “The Lord has sent me to Bethel (v. 2).” And he visited a group of prophets there (v. 3). Then he said, “The Lord has sent me to Jericho (v. 4).” And he visited a group of prophets there (v. 5). Calmly, with his eyes on heaven so rapidly approaching, Elijah is carrying out the Lord’s will by visiting people in different places. It seems boring, but when we look closer at what he’s doing I think you’ll actually admire it.

Our culture teaches us that we have to squeeze every drop of pleasure and excitement out of this life, especially in our last days. And we do admire people who finally quit the job they hate and retire in a tropical paradise. “Good for you.” But when it comes down to it, I think we admire a different way people can spend their last days even more.

In the movie P.S. I Love You, Gerry, played by Gerard Butler suddenly finds out he has days to live because of a brain tumor. So what does he do? He spends the short time he has left writing out letters to be given to his wife after he dies. These letters lead his wife, Holly, on a journey of recovery, help her grieve and move on. And that’s what makes that movie a powerfully emotional chick-flick (during which I did not cry). Gerry didn’t spend his last days trying to squeeze every last drop out of his own life. He spent it thinking of Holly, and trying to make sure she’d be ok after he was gone.

We admire when people use their last days to show love to others. That’s what Elijah was doing—he wasn’t just visiting random people; he was visiting the different pastor schools in his day. He was visiting Christians like you and me, who were about to lose their friend, their professor, their spiritual leader, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament next to Moses. This was unsettling.

So Elijah spent his last day on earth taking care of what they needed, and at the same time crossing off the biggest and most important item on his to do list. Are you ready for it? It’s the same command Jesus gave in the Gospel today: Love one another. Elijah was doing the most loving thing possible: reminding his friends and followers of God’s love. “Don’t worry—God will still be guiding you when I’m gone and we will be reunited in heaven with our Savior someday.”

So…how does your to do list compare? Have you at least added Love others to the bottom by now? If you haven’t, I’ll give you time right now to mentally add it. Love others. Ok, now that you’ve done that I’ve got bad news. You have to do this one first, before anything else. And it takes a lot of time. You have to start today and work on it every single day and it’s probably going to prevent some or all of the other items on the list from getting checked off. Are you ok with that?

I think parents here probably understand that more than some. How many dreams have you had to put on the shelf for your children? Not just the dream vacation you changed to go to a place more family friendly, but also the little things every day. You have to cancel your date night because your daughter came down with the fever, or you lose your chance to sleep in on Saturday because your son need to you help him to go to see a doctor early in the morning.

When Jesus command to love others becomes priority number one, the rest of your to do list, all the stuff that you wanted to accomplish, often gets pushed down further and further and soon approaches the scary territory of probably-not-going-to-happen. It’s hard to be ok with that. And not just be ok with it, but to actually love others all the time without complain. It’s hard—impossible—for us to love our coworker, neighbor, spouse, kids, friends, without ever getting frustrated that they are getting in the way of our fulfillment and hopes and dreams. How can Jesus ask that of us?

This is where the big picture comes into play. Elijah didn’t have a very fulfilling life. He worked super hard for God and in exchange he was chased and threatened and saw people ignore his miracles and ignore his God. And he grumbled about it. But as he saw the small picture of his hopes and dreams for this life fade into the distance, God replaced them with the big picture of eternal life through his Savior. God replaced his dream of heaven on earth with the hope of, well, heaven in heaven.

That hope of heaven changes everything. Do you think Jesus didn’t notice his friends growing up, getting married, raising the picture perfect families? He had to see his brothers and neighbors get into successful careers, move up in the world, being admired by people around him. But his heart wasn’t set on those things. His heart was set on heaven, not for himself, but for you. Jesus set fulfillment in this world aside, so he, perfectly and in your place, could love others—and love you. And to do that he didn’t just deprive himself of hopes and dreams in this world, he embraced suffering. He suffered on the cross to forgive our lack of love, our frustration with others, our sins on the cross. And he did it without complain even a little; no, he did it with a heart bursting with love for you.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Because of the joy set before him, Jesus was happy to spend every last minute of his life loving you. And that joy? Bringing you to heaven; Knowing just how much you’re going to love being with him forever; knowing how much fun he’s going to have showing you around your new perfectly heavenly home that he’s prepared just for you. And his death and resurrection guarantee that he will take you there soon, whether through death or a fiery chariot or by calling you personally on the last day—it doesn’t matter. What matters is, heaven is yours, and you’ll be there soon.

That’s how Elijah could approach his last day so calmly. That’s why you don’t have to be afraid of death cutting off your hopes and dreams. When you have the hope of heaven, you know that your to do list doesn’t end when you die—it only gets better. In heaven Jesus will fill up your to do list with more exciting and more fulfilling things than anything we could ever have done in this life

When you know you have that waiting for you in heaven because of Jesus, you don’t feel the need to squeeze every drop of out of this short life. That’s why in our Gospel for today, Jesus could tell us that one command: to love one another. Because of the hope of heaven, the people around you aren’t burdens or frustrations holding you back from achieving your dreams. No—the only dream you need in this short life is a dream of loving those around you, showing them what a difference the hope of heaven through Jesus makes in your life and showing them what a difference it will make in their lives. Amen.

If You Knew You Only Had One Day to Live, What Would You Do?

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Serving God without Burden

There are pastors and ministers feel that the long they serve in the church or ministry, the heavier burden they get. They get too much things to take care of: family issues, members issues, kids issues in the school. Gradually, they lose the Grace of God and joyfulness from heaven.

Serving God is a special privilege for you. More importantly, true serving brings joy and satisfaction.

Do you remember the day when you know you get saved by Jesus Christ? God wants you to pass happiness of saving through you, you can not lose it. It must keep growing, the life of Gospel should continuously be shown in your life, the fruit of Holy Spirit will be shown though your life. So you should have joyfulness, pease and restfulness of God. If you do not have these things, you push yourself to peace it, I think the only thing you can do right now is return to the original point, let you be a ordinary member in your church first and listen to the word of God and get Grace from him, then you go back to your original position to serve.

2 Chronicles 35:1~3

35 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.

if you are familiar with King Josiah story, you should remember his accomplishment is much more than other kings in the history of Israelis.  He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple.

2 Chronicles 35: 18~19

18 The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. 19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

I think, this story give us some lights from Word of God.The most important work for a pastor in the church is that he need to lead members join one of the ministries in it.  And then keep encourage them.

2 Chronicles 35:2~3

2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

King Josiah understood that it was burden for Israel people to serve God even if they are very zeal on it at the beginning. He decided that they have to unburden first, and then put the burden in the holy temple.

Yes! You do not necessarily hold your burden on your shoulder, put it to God! Jesus himself is our sacred ark. The key thing is not how long and how good we hold the sacred ark. God did not let us to hold like that way. He just want us to simply unburden it in the temple and only concentrate on the relationship between God and us.

My friends, please practice according to King Josiah’s suggestions. I trust the joyfulness and peacefulness will come back to you shortly.

Serving God without Burden

Working without Tears

I recently read a book called “PASTORING WITHOUT TEARS” by Sunday Adelaja. It was so amazing that I highly recommend. Especially to the people who are serving God and pastoring in the churches.

Sometimes we become too busy to get close to God and even make a simply prayer in the morning. Our body start to feel exhaust and our Spiritual Life stop growing and burn out. We still keep working and serving because we think if we do not go to church and pastoring my church, it will stop growing. Some ministers may need to go for vacation to take a break for a while.  When they come back and serve for a few weeks, this kind of worries and exhausting come back again and again.

How can we solve this problem at the source?

Let us read how God helped Elijah to get it clear. 1 Kings 19:8~18

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

First God start with a question, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” A question come to his heart so that he can ask himself, “Yeah, what am I doing here? Why I come to this cave and be afraid?”

God did not start to tell you what is wrong, you should not do this, you should not do that, etc.

God want you to ask yourself and check our heart first.

Elijah answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.” What is the meaning of ‘very zealous’? It is actually his anxiety for God’s things, his nervous carefulness. Why? He explained, “The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.” His reply repeat in Verse 14. It is not by accident, there must be some important things that God want you to pay attention to.

Elijah has not a weak character, nor a minister with weak personality. He has done a lot of miracle

things by prayer. But why he become so weak at this point?

Take God’s place to be anxious and nervous is the beginning of discuss and frustration.  The purpose of God’s calling you to serve is not make you worry. Instead, he who called you to serve want you have a thankful heart to fulfill each thing by grace of God. You are not the ONLY person to serve in that particular field. You are not the foreman, capataz and boss. You are coworker of God. We must know that God himself take care of his work.  If you want to hold the responsibility of God on your shoulder and try to rely on your personal experiences rather than God, you will lose the grace of God rapidly. Because your put yourself on God’s position.

The church is not belong to pastors, instead, it belongs to Jesus Christ.

The ministry is not belong to any leaders, instead, it belong to Jesus Christ. …

My friend, put anything on God’s hand. Work, families, kids, churches and ministries are all belong to him. No more tears and anxiety, try your best to make your plan and make it happen, spend your time with God every morning, then sit back and relax.

Working without Tears