Why Do We Take Our Eyes Off Jesus?

I just listened to a recently downloaded audio sermon by Pastor Joseph Prince from New Creation Church. At the last few minutes of the sermon, I decided to lie on my bed coz my back was aching a bit, since this late this evening. In my mind, I was thinking, later I better ask Mummy to rub for me…

After that distracting thought, I re-focused my mind to continue listening to the last part of the sermon. As Ps Joseph ended shortly, he decided to have an altar call.

I won’t deny that he’s a very good speaker, but I honestly believe that those people who had raised their hand, stood up & later came towards the front of the stage, had been touched by God. Coz it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the hearts of Man & to seek acceptance & reconciliation in Christ.

Motivational speakers can move or play around with the thoughts & emotions of a crowd, but for a pre-believer to raise their hand in the presence of a whole huge congregation of church members, to stand up & come forward to be prayed for… surely is the work of the Holy Spirit within them.

Why isn’t an altar call similar to feeling inspired by a motivational speaker? Coz as I mentioned in a Blog entry recently, John 6:44 says that “No one can come to me [Jesus] unless the Father who sent Me draws him. “

God said in His word that Man cannot come to God alone, except through Jesus! That’s why evangelism methods emphasize that Jesus forms the bridge between God & Man! Without Jesus working in them, their hearts would continue to remain hardened to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit.

The mere fact that a pre-believer singles his or her thoughts onto this Person, this Savior who can bring them out from the darkness that they are experiencing, shows that it must be the work of God! Coz it is just impossible for a person with an unbelieving & hardened heart to want to seek reconciliation with God.

And again, it is back to the verse which I mentioned in that recent Blog entry – Romans 3:10-11 that says “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.”

This is why that whether it is a pastor from a very conservative church who carries out an altar call, or a pastor from a ‘charismatic’ church that carries out an altar call… the people who come forth to receive Christ, is definitely a work of God!

And with that, I began to tear while lying on my bed. It wasn’t crying, just a few tears coz I felt so moved by the sudden gush of peace that envelopes a person’s heart, the moment the church congregation claps loudly in support, approval & applause for new believers who have just received salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ! This is why I made this change in mindset sometime in this year, not to ostracize or classify Christians according to their denomination. Of course, denominations do exist, but I do not view Christians in this manner anymore.

God’s word says that we are all part of the Body of Christ, even as this Body is made up of many parts. And it is very clearly stated by the apostle Paul that divisions in the Body of Christ are not intended by God. Personally, it is Man who created all this strife!

As Christians, we ought to believe that our God is the same yesterday, today & always till the end. How can the ways of God be tossed about by the interpretations & opinions of mere Man? If we believe that our God never changes, then it is impossible that such denominational differences are rendered valid. Personally, I conclude that these differences are just mere differences in practice, which do not make either side wrong… for who among us has the right to judge what God can do, should do, or what He should not do?

I find that it is all too easy for Christians to dispute & ostracize each other, just because we are too narrow minded & worse of all, forget where our focus should be! And this is why I titled this Blog entry as – Why do we take our eyes of Jesus?

I have learnt much through listening to audio sermons from famous preachers – Ravi Zechariah, Abel Thomas, Joseph Prince, etc… even my own church pastors’ audio sermons. I even read books by Mary Baxter & watch VCDs such as ‘Raised from the Dead’, where miracles happen to people in reality! I also remember showing it to my CG earlier this year & some of them cried at the end of the show! It is simply amazing!

Miracles do happen by the hand of God! My own brother was healed from dengue fever with an astonishing increasing surge of blood platelets, shocking patients in the same hospital ward & these patients exclaim the miracle that God has worked in him! It wasn’t my brother who said it… but it was the patients! Even my grandfather was shocked that prayer can work such wonders!

I find that audio sermons are so enriching… & that we should not just limit our listening to Christian music alone, but on sermons from reliable preachers as well. If we fail to do so, we would only end up like a ‘frog trapped in a well’… a frog that only sees that small circle of the sky, where the sun & moonlight shines in.

Our view of Christianity should not be constricted to within the preaching within our own church! For there are just so many other preachers who teach God’s word, outside of our church! How limited would be our understanding of God & His Body of Christ, if we only view it among the pastors & members of our church! Is Christianity only what we understand within the culture of our own church? Among our own church members? Within our own country?

And that’s why up till today, if there is any thought that I remembered from speaking with a fellow church friend Daniel Chew, it is his experience of seeing how Christianity is practiced in England. And there are so many other places where Christianity is practiced in this world – China, Thailand, America, etc. Don’t forget that the majority of Christians in Singapore can be quite accurately assumed to be Chinese, since 70% of our population consists of Chinese.

How do we test to see if a pastor is preaching God’s word correctly? We have to check it with God’s word. Not just base our opinions & conclusions on some negative impressions made by some fellow Christians.

Believe me, there are Christians out there who claim to disagree with their so-called ‘Health & Prosperity Gospel’… & these Christians don’t have the faintest idea about what they are discriminating against! When asked, they just give some general statement or impression about this prejudice, which seems to be practiced differently from what goes on in their own church.

Come on! Every… & I mean, every church has its own distinct culture. And every denomination has its own black & white code of conduct, ethics, regulations, beliefs, etc. To think & act along this sort of discriminatory mindset, means you are doing the very thing that Paul is so desperately trying to advice us against!

I mean this when I say this – I have listened to sermons from Ps Joseph Prince both audio download, as well as in the exact venue at Suntec City. And not once, did I ever hear him mention or even refer to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as merely health & wealth. And when I teared while listening to the altar call over his audio sermon in my own room, it is because his message of salvation, in other words also referring to the gospel… is not about health & wealth! It is about the saving grace of Jesus Christ!

Remember that I mentioned that I had this ache in my back, since the late evening today? I repeated the words of Ps Joseph Prince, as he said the prayer of salvation… & later I realized that eh… the back ache is gone! Maybe it was just a sudden ‘come-&-go’ kind of backache, but I was just amazed that after repeating the prayer of salvation, it was just gone! Of course, this doesn’t mean that I will never ever get a backache ever again in my life, coz we are all human –flesh & blood. But that’s not the point, see.

Why should I not be surprised that there are people in this world who come to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, just from reading a fallen page from a bible?

Why should I not be surprised that the maid that comes every Saturday to iron clothes at Linah’s house (from my church), can just approach Linah one day & ask to be prayed to receive Christ, just by listening to the audio sermons from ‘The Purpose Driven Life’?

God is present & near us, than we can ever imagine. Even when I sing worship songs in my own room, there are times when I just break down & cry. Never be too quick to say, this cannot, that cannot… what if it happens by the power of God?

Don’t be deceived by the devil. His ploy is to do whatever it takes to take our eyes & minds off Jesus Christ. If he can successfully do that, we would just sink like Peter who was walking on water. Keep our eyes & thoughts on Jesus.

What’s with the issue on health & prosperity? There are many verses in the bible that speaks about having & enjoying good health. Look at 3 John verse 2, John writes – “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health & that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”

Who says that Christians must always be sick? What’s with praying for healing? When we harbor skeptical thoughts that is when we take our eyes of Jesus. On the contrary, we ought to trust in His ability to heal & understand that it is up to Him & all things are possible in Him!

Since the gospel is about the salvation from Jesus Christ, & this Jesus has taken all our sins & diseases, etc on the cross, what’s with praying for health, since it is through Jesus that we are healed? And more so, when we enter into Heaven where there are no sins & diseases! This is not wrong at all… for it is indeed through the gospel of receiving Jesus Christ into our lives that we have this reconciliation which leads to God’s blessings on us!

And I learnt from Ps Joseph Prince that prosperity begins from within. Please… the word ‘prosperity’ is not a bad word. It is just SO misunderstood nowadays. And that is because we have taken our eyes off Jesus, who gives us all good things. I’m not quoting Ps Joseph Prince, but I have begun to realize how misunderstood the human mindset can be at times, & the amount of damaging consequences that can possibly happen, when take our eyes of Jesus.

I understood from the audio sermon that Jesus was carrying prosperity everywhere He went, during His life & ministry on Earth. When He wanted to bless the 5,000 people, He took a few fish & some bread, broke it, gave thanks to His Heavenly Father & fed thousands… & with 12 basketfuls leftover! He never said, “Aiyah… how come here only have so little food…”

And I emphasize that these are my own thoughts & personal reflections. For everywhere Jesus went… He gave… & gave… never exhausting in supply. And when asked, replied & referred to people as “You of little faith…” Jesus never once doubted & wondered whether His Heavenly Father would give Him the power to do & give so many things.

So when God calls us Christians as ‘sons’… we are regarded as like Jesus. We are not Jesus, but regarded like Jesus. And the famous verse saying that if your earthly father can give you good things, how much more would your Heavenly Father give good things to those who love Him?

Notice that this is also of reference to prosperity! And to me, to prosper is to be blessed! Let’s not perceive the word ‘bless’ as anymore holy or better than the word ‘prosper’… for it is from our same God who gives to us. Thus, this explains how the gospel is linked to prosperity as well, coz it is when we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, we become regarded as ‘sons’ & are given many things by our Heavenly Father above.

One last thing that I learnt – is that all our sins have been forgiven. How is this so? You see, the problem with us Christians, is that we tend to relate feelings of guilt with unforgiven sin. Ps Joseph Prince puts it in a very simple way – Jesus died on the cross, once… so that all who believe in Him, can be saved.

Notice – Jesus only died once & can only die once. And once is already enough. Jesus said “IT IS FINISHED.” I find this really crazy to say this, but - what part of the word ‘finish’ do we not understand?

That means that ALL sins have been nailed to the cross & forgiven. WE ONLY NEED TO REPENT, PRAY & RECEIVE FORGIVENESS FROM GOD! Our sins are already forgiven, because if a certain sin that we committed today hasn’t be forgiven & we are feeling all so guilty about it, then have to pray & ask God, “Can You forgive me? Please… please…”, then spend the next half a day still feeling guilty & wondering if we have been forgiven…

Then HOW CAN SALVATION BE TRUE & RECEIVED FROM JESUS? If so, then forever & ever, we won’t be able to be saved, coz we wonder if a sin that we commit tomorrow would be forgiven by Jesus. And keep saying “Please… please…” to Jesus to be forgiven.

The truth is that Jesus did it ONCE… & once and for all. No more. FINISHED. The end. It has already been done. Our guilt feeling is to remind us to come back before God to repent, admit that we alone cannot change our wrongs, receive (not ask for) forgiveness & thank God for His ultimate saving grace. For God knows our weaknesses… coz He made us… knows our every move… & watches us so lovingly from above… =)