Rebuilding the Walls (Part Three)

This is the third part of my four parts topic about Nehemiah’s oppositions. This post will cover two of the last three types of oppositions. For the previous two posts, please click on this link below to read. I would encourage you to read those before continuing with this.

Rebuilding the Walls (Part One)
Rebuilding the Walls (Part Two)

The fifth form of opposition would be compromising. Nehemiah was almost done with the rebuilding of the walls. He had built every part of it except its gates. His enemies came to know about it and were not very happy and they called Nehemiah to meet up with them. But Nehemiah came to find out that they were planning to harm him so for four times he had to reply them saying that he would not go and meet them.

Nehemiah’s enemies were trying to negotiate with him so that both parties. They were seeking a settlement that would make both parties happy. In other words, they would be making an alliance with one another. The Israelites would seek God but not build up the walls so that the enemies have free entry.

Like the Israelites we may seek God and yet not build up our gates that keep the enemy out. By doing so, we will struggle with our walk with God. Therefore, it is important not to compromise with the enemy and build our gates, thus completing the walls. We must come to a point where we can say, “I will serve God and will not be half-hearted with the things of the world. God is all I want and need. He will provide and sustain me.”

The sixth form of opposition that came towards Nehemiah was slander. The fifth time Nehemiah’s enemies sent him a letter to call for a meeting saying, “It has been reported that you are plotting to revolt! Therefore you are rebuilding the walls. Moreover, according to these reports you are planning to be their king and have appointed prophets to proclaim it. We will report this to the king, so let us meet now.”

Of course non of those accusations were true. The same applies to our lives, our enemy; Satan will try to use this form of weaponry to attack us. He will use even Christians to spread false accusations and slanders. We need to pay attention to what we hear and speak and repeat. It is best not to tell anyone about bad news you heard about someone else. There is no use in doing so, you are not helping the accused person and neither are you making the situation better. Gossips spread like wildfire but it is possible to put it down. Many prominent men of God have been attacked in this form and many were not strong enough to stand against such false accusations. The best thing to do when we hear something bad about someone else is to get on our knees and pray!

Doing the work of the ministry is not easy. We are prone to be attacked by the enemy in such forms. Leaders who are rebuilding the walls get thoughts of compromising. “Maybe a little rest will do. Just a little.” After some time that little rest went on till kingdom comes! Leaders also get accused falsely with things they did not do. What is the use of spreading gossips and rumors? Nothing good will come out from it.

Be on your guard and always strive to be stronger in God.

God bless.
-Zlwin Chew
There Must To Be More To Life Than This.

Rebuilding the Walls (Part Two)

This is a continuation of my previous post titled “Rebuilding the Walls (Part One)”. Click on the following link to read it before reading this.

http://zlwin.blogspot.com/2008/08/rebuilding-walls-part-1.html

The third form of opposition came through discouragement. The workers had already completed the walls to half its height. The worked with all their heart amidst the enemy’s threat and taunting. Then one day they grumbled and said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

Their enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”

The Jews told the workers, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

You see, the people were very discouraged because they have already worked for so many days yet there were still so much rubble. Moreover their enemies are going to attack them. They then started to get discouraged and compromise on their work. Many of them would have thought of giving up and return to their comfort zone and do nothing about anything – just enjoying life. Many of them would have wanted to leave the work unfinished and return to safety. They compromised the work given by God.

When we compromise God’s work, nothing will be done and we will repeat cycle after cycle and things will get worse. How do we tackle discouragement in our ministry? We fix our eyes on Jesus. Jesus’ three long years of ministry was tiring and full of enemies’ threat. People constantly wanted to put him in jail because he told the truth. Paul followed in Jesus’ footsteps. He traveled from places to places and some the people he ministered to were not willing to accept him. It was tough for these guys to do the work of the ministry. However if we persevere, we would be as great as Paul who started so many churches together with his fellow co-workers in God.

The fifth form of opposition is the destruction of corporate unity through extortion or greed. The Jews voiced out their complains to Nehemiah saying, “We have many children and in order to stay alive we need food, we are lack of food. We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards and homes for food! We also have to borrow money to pay the king’s tax! Moreover our sons and daughters are given to slavery because we cannot pay our debts.”

Nehemiah called for a meeting with the leaders and solved the problem. The officials were extorting money from the people. This is a form of greed which is one of the seven deadly sins that God hates. Because of greed the people were put in bondage. When our co-workers are in bondage we will be ineffective in our work. We cannot neglect the needs of our brothers and sisters and only want to satisfy our own needs. Every worker in the kingdom of God needs to watch the backs of one another with love. We need to be concern about the well-being of the corporate body of Christ and not bring one another down. If Satan succeeds in dividing the body of Christ, the body will fall and die.

Therefore in the work of ministry we must not give in to selfishness. Instead we must work together to build up one another and give support. Apart from that we must not be discouraged by what we see in front of us but be encouraged by what we do not yet see ahead of us. Victory could only be seen through the eyes of faith and through the work of perseverance.

Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

There will be two more continuation for this topic. Keep watching this space for updates yea. I feel that those leaders who are serving in the ministry should read. This is also an encouragement and insight for me as I read and meditate and pray. I hope this topic will bless you as much as it has bless me now.

God bless.

AWESOMENESS!!!

Hello People! =)

I’m back from a really wonderful journey. To start this off, I was the photographer for Anslem Roy’s magic show in Subang last night.

The DiGi Company had an event for all the DiGi staff. They had it at Malaysia’s DiGi headquarter in Subang Jaya High Tech Industrial Park. It was a really really big thing. They had telematch game in the morning till evening. Then wash up and had dinner in an open area car park while watching performances. There were three performances, the first was a hand percussion band which plays around the world, man they are awesome! And then there was this Indian band called Akasha. The band consists of two Caucasians. This band is also a well known band and their songs are wow! And the final performance was none other than international illusionist Anslem Roy!!! =) My sifu! Haha.

Before I move on, I want to let you know that the DiGi team had a really wonderful time. I got the chance to go take pictures while they were playing their games. Almost 2000 people were divided into four groups; Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean. And two weeks ago they were given the task to look for the King’s missing balls (hmm…) So actually their fun and games started long ago. They were given group flags and all and basically since then they were all on a treasure hunt kind of thing. As they move on they collect points and stuff like that. I don’t know how they did it but they did it. DiGi rocks! I am a DiGi user by the way hehe. So yea, they had telematch games yesterday afternoon and there was big havoc. And I saw that the DiGi management team really spent A LOT on all those stuff. I will post up the pictures soon.

For tonight’s post I will only post up pictures of Anslem haha. I had great fun taking pictures, not mentioning that I got hit by a plate of whipped cream on my back ish! A crowd of 2000 DiGizens can get really rowdy when there is beer.

Yesterday’s show was Anslem’s largest magic production show in Malaysia. He has done bigger ones overseas of course.

So here are the pictures. Presenting Malaysia’s International Magician Society’s President and the Winner of Merlin Award USA, international illusionist Anslem Roy! =) (*applause)


Octagon Illusion: Four girls mysteriously appear from two octagons.

Cube Zag: The name says all. Girl inside the cube gets cut and the lower portion of the cube was removed. She stays intact =) - only in the hands of Anslem Roy.

Head Guillotine: You know what this is =) haha. Anslem made a gag out of it.

Table of Fire: Anslem did something similiar for Missy Elliot's concert earlier this year. Missy contacted him and asked him to build her an illusion. Anslem did. He made Missy appear suddenly from a table of fire.

Sword Basket: A girl gets into the basket and then the basket gets pierced with four big swords. She gets out in one piece of course haha.

Teleportation: Anslem gets into that suit and then dances. Suddenly he stops and then after one second, he comes out from the audience's place. Wow =) haha.

He was just striking a pose haha.

His dancers. They dance really well. Love their energy.

Getting volunteers. All the men in the place were shouting, "ME! Get ME!!!"

Thru' One Inch Hole: Girl gets tied up and then mysteriously tavels into a locked box previously checked by volunteers from the audience.

Levitation: The classic and mind-blogging levitation illusion. A ring was then passed through the levitated girl a few times to prove what needs to be proven haha.

Rings: The girl walks out of the rings! The rings were checked by audience and even fitted into the pole by them. Whoa.

Awesome!

Like Darth Vader from Star Wars haha. This was part of Cube Zag illusion. He poked the two "swords" into the cube to prove it is empty. "But the girl was there! How????" =)

Sword Basket: Man, I like this picture =D do you?

More pictures coming up. And yea, look out for my continuation post "Rebuilding the Walls (Part Two)"

One of the Greatest Offer Ever!!!

Hi people!!! =)

This is a public announcement hehe. I won't be in Klang from today onwards until Saturday morning. This is because I got the awesome privilege of becoming Anslem Roy's official photographer for his magic and illusion show tomorrow night in Shah Alam. =)

International Illusionist, Anslem Roy, will be performing in Shah Alam on Friday. This will be one of his biggest show ever in Malaysia (he has bigger ones overseas). And he has requested me to be his photographer for the event tomorrow night. Woo hoo!!! I got the chance to work with an international illusionist =D so happy hehe. Tonight is the full dress rehearsal and I will be there shooting for his as well. Will be staying over his house until Saturday morning.

One more thing. Anslem doesn't do shows in Genting Highlands because he doesn't want to earn blood money. He is a Christian and since the money he will get from Genting is mostly from gambling so he doesn't want them.

Got to go now. Keep watching this space for more updates ya.

Take care and God bless =)

By the way, saw the picture on top? I was the one that took the picture =)

Rebuilding the Walls (Part 1)

It was the month of December when Nehemiah received news that the walls of Jerusalem have been broken down and its gates have been burnt with fire. Nehemiah grieved for the city and he prayed. Nehemiah mourned, fasted and prayed. And until April, nothing changed. Then one day in April the king which Nehemiah was serving noticed his sad countenance and asked him what the matter was. Nehemiah told the king the news. Out of God’s favor, the king requested that Nehemiah go and repair the walls. In addition, the king gave Nehemiah trees from the forest for the rebuilding. And he also gave Nehemiah captains from his army to protect him. Furthermore, the king gave Nehemiah letters of endorsements to the rulers of the territories.

The walls Jerusalem can represent the state of the church of God today. And I am not talking about the physical church with the brick walls. I am referring to the spiritual Church which is each and every one of us Christians who are the body of Christ. While the physical church is big and strong and beautiful, the spiritual church has had its walls torn down and gates burnt, and the dwellers of the spiritual church is in gave danger. You ask, “What does it matter anyway?”

It matters. The spiritual church of God needs to be rebuilt so that it can continue in the work of the ministry until Jesus returns. There are many people in the church today who are broken and it is up to the men and women of God to go and build up their lives again. We need to have the gifting of building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12). However the task of rebuilding is not easy as we can see through the story of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah went and rebuilt the walls. But he faced much opposition. There were seven kinds of oppositions that Nehemiah faced. Today I will share with you two of the seven oppositions and how it reflects to the types of opposition we face today as workers in the Kingdom of God.

The first opposition was in the form of ridicule and mockery. Sanballat became angry at Nehemiah’s works and he ridiculed him saying all kinds of things that would bring the spirits of the workers down. Along with Sanballat is Tobiah who joined in ridiculing the work.

The second form of opposition is the threat of the enemy’s attack. Sanballat and Tobiah plotted to attack the Israelites who were working on the walls. But their plans were brought to Nehemiah’s knowledge and he prayed before God. God answered him and protected the Israelites from their enemy’s attack.

You see, the process of rebuilding the church of God angers our enemy the devil. He loves to see Christians who are broken and he gets angry when other Christians tries to build those broken ones up again. The devil will go all out to ridicule our work saying things like, “Your work will not bear fruits. Look at what you have accomplished so far – nothing! Therefore it is better for you to quit working in this ministry and just take a rest – just for awhile.” And I can assure you once you rest even for one moment, you will never get started again. The devil will also try to attack us in every ways possible. Therefore we as leaders of the church who is in the ministry of rebuilding must always be prayerful and dependent on God not on ourselves.

The following types of oppositions will be shared later in my next few posts. For now, chew on this one.

God bless you.

888

Today marks the beginning of many things. This is the 8th day of the 8th month of the year 2008 – 888. Olympics start today. Many couples are going to get married today. Vows are made today. Pledges will be made today. Also many Chinese will be going to be wearing all red today and praying to their god of prosperity for good luck and fortune. This is a very significant day for almost every inhabitant of planet earth. It is much more significant to the Chinese because they believe that the number 8 is a number of prosperity because in the Chinese language 8 is pronounced as “fhat” which can mean “prosperous, lucky of full of fortune”.

The Biblical number for the number 8 is the number of NEW BEGINNINGS. The number 6 is the number of incompleteness, the number 7 is the number of completeness and fullness, 8 is the number of new beginnings. This year’s theme for the Grace Assemblies churches is New Beginnings and New Trends in Taking Dominion.

I was just sitting in my room last night and reading the Bible and thinking. I was looking back at the past 7 months of this year. “What have I done?” I thought to myself. What have I achieved so far? I knew some things in my life have to change or else I won’t be able to move on. I have taken dominion over quite a few things in my life so far but there are still more things which I need to conquer. This may be surprising to many but I want to be transparent to you, I have not been consistent with my walk in God this year. In fact I think my walk with God last year was stronger. Having said that, I am still hot for Jesus. I haven’t grown cold for God and the ministry. One thing that I want to take dominion in is my walk with Jesus.

There are things in your life which you need to take dominion over. Thoughts, plans, habits, wrongdoings and those of the like needs to be captured and placed at the foot of the Cross. Start something new, do something in your life to take dominion over such abominations.

How are we to take dominion over the world for Jesus if we have not even taken dominion of our own life? When I say take dominion I am not saying that you have full control of your life but I am saying that you train yourself up to listen not to the voice of the world but to the voice of God and willingly and lovingly do what God commands. If we are still so caught up in the offers of this world, we have not taken dominion of our desires. If we are still not having a constant prayer life, we have not taken dominion of our prayer time with God. Look at yourself and see to the things that needs to be changed and taken dominion over.

You can only start anew once the old has gone. There is no other time better than today to reconsider your life. Pray for a new beginning in your life. Pray for a renewed relationship with God. Pray for a new and burning passion for the Lord Jesus. Pray for a new hunger and thirst for the Word of God. Pray for a new burdened heart for the lost.

PRAY FOR A GREAT AWAKENING.

O, Lord... Open up our eyes...

Three Days and Nights – Huh?

How could Jesus have remained in the tomb for three days and three nights if he was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday?

Jesus prophesied in Matthew 12:40 that “just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of God be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

The accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection as given in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John indicated that Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday, before sunset, which is the beginning of the next day for the Jews, and resurrected on the first day of the week, which is Sunday, before sunrise.

This puts Jesus in the tomb for part of Friday evening and night, the whole of Saturday and part of Sunday morning. In other words, two full nights (Friday and Saturday), one full day (Saturday) and part of two days (before sunset on Friday and Sunday morning). So this is clearly not three full twenty-four hour days, does the Bible give us wrong information?

In Mark 8:31 and Matthew 16:21, Jesus said, “The Son of God will rose again after three days” and “He will rise again on the third day.”. These two expressions can be used interchangeably. After three days and on the third day have the same meaning. This we must understand in order to move on.

In Matthew 27:63, we see Pilate sending guards to guard the tomb until the third day when the Pharisees told him that “Jesus prophesied that He will rise again after three days”. You see, Pilate sent guards to guard the tomb only until the third day, and then they are to leave. The guards were not there until the third day ends or until the fourth day. So this gives proof that “after three days” is used interchangeably with “on the third day”.

The expression “one day and one night” was used by the Jews for indicating a day even when only a part of the day was indicated. This is shown also in the Old Testament. Genesis 42:17 shows this usage. Joseph imprisoned his brothers for three days, and in verse 18, we read that Joseph spoke to them and released them all on the third day. If the Jewish expressions were not used here, the account should go like this, “Joseph imprisoned his brothers for three days and on the fourth day he released them.” However this was not the case because the phrase “on the third day” is the same as “after three days”. This is the common mode of Jewish expression which can be used interchangeably and we even use it in our daily conversation today.

Therefore Jesus being crucified for three days is accepted as valid information even though he was only in the tomb for approximately 40 hours rather than the supposed 72 hours (3 times 24).

It's Friday... But Sunday's Coming!

Mary was crying terribly and couldn’t stand the sight of Jesus on the cross and the disciples were looking in vain, but little did they know that it was Friday and Sunday’s coming!

The very people that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” were the very ones that shouted, “Crucify him!”, Jesus was put to death, but that was Friday and Sunday’s coming!

The Pharisees were rejoicing, thinking that they had won the battle at last and now they can continue to do as they like. That was Friday, they didn’t know that Sunday’s coming!

It was Friday, and the devil thought that he finally put the Son of God to death, but he didn’t know that Sunday’s coming!

It was Friday, the disciples lost hope and wandered around like lost sheep without shepherd, but they didn’t know that Sunday’s coming!

The people shouted, “No one can change the world and save the world! Jesus couldn’t even save himself! Look at that loser on the cross! What at shame!” It was Friday and they didn’t know that Sunday’s coming!

Tears of sadness flowed out from the eyes of the ones who love Jesus. It was Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

They got the tomb ready for the burial and they were ready to bury the dead body of the One that came to save the world. That was Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

It was Friday, the Pharisees ordered Pilate to send guards to guard Jesus’ tomb so that no one could enter and “resurrect” Jesus. That was Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

A spear was put into Jesus’ side, that was Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

All hopes were lost on Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

The enemies rejoiced on Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

They saw Jesus put to death on Friday! But Sunday’s coming!

You may be having your Fridays now. You may be full of sorrow and heartaches. Life seems meaningless and God seem unreal to you. Today is your Friday! But you know what? Sunday’s coming!

Your Friday may be one week or one month or one year or ten years of your life. However if you keep your faith and your eyes fixed on Jesus, your Sunday will come!

We are living in Fridays and Saturdays but we must be aware that THE Sunday is coming! Will Jesus find even one person who still believes in Him when He comes back?

Really. Will he?