Living As An Example

I'm going to share a message from 2 verse I got today, Psalms 93:1 and 2 Thessalonian 3:8-9

Psalm 93:1 Amplified Bible (AMP)

THE LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

The LORD reigns. The first 3 words of the chapter says "The LORD reigns".

Now we all know, God is the creator of everything that our eyes can see and our hands can touch. He is almighty and He is able to do anything and everything. Even the things we can imagine or see in the sci-fi movies, He can make those things happen.

Elijah prayed to the Lord to send the rain and God answer by sending a heavy rain. He even gave Elijah strength to run about 20 miles and faster than a chariot!

1 Kings 18:41-46 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.
So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees
And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. Elijah said, Go again seven times.
And at the seventh time the servant said, A cloud as small as a man's hand is arising out of the sea. And Elijah said, Go up, say to Ahab, Hitch your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.
In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went to Jezreel.
The hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles].

And He has power in His words. He form the world by speaking it into existence

Genesis 1:3 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

Genesis 1:6 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And God said, Let there be a firmament [the expanse of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters [below] from the waters [above]

Genesis 1:9 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be collected into one place [of standing], and let the dry land appear. And it was so

Genesis 1:11 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And God said, Let the earth put forth [tender] vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.

The phrase "And God said" appeared 8 times it appeared in Genesis 1, and with that and within 5 days the heavens and the earth was made! And God made humans in His image and likeness.

Our words frame our world.

A positive man will speak positive things and will thus feel positive and create a positive world for himself. This is true for the opposite. Our words will determine what kind of environment we will live in. We believe in our own words. A man cannot speak positive things to another man and expect that the hearer to make his world positive if the hearer doesn't believe it

But God doesn't want us to live a life of commanding things to happen. If that were to be the purpose of life, then we don't need friends. Can you imagine if one day your friend starts commanding you to do things for him, how would you feel? I can assure you it's not a good feeling and sooner or later you will quit to be his friend. The first time God mentioned something is not good, is the man that he created, is alone.

Genesis 2:18 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.

God wants us to have friends. To have people around us to keep us company. Not to use them as tools but to help one another. Adam had a friend and a helper named Eve.

Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 wrote:

2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you,
not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

Paul is working as a tent-maker for a living and he pays for his food and lodging. He can refrain from working and asked to be served, yet he made this statement very clearly he worked so that the Thessalonians can learn from his ways - to have increase in your life, and be able to share with friends. He wants them to learn to be self-sufficient and have enough to share with someone

If we were to share something with our friends, the friendship will deepen and everyone will enjoy it

Jesus, the best role model, says in Luke 6:38:

Luke 6:38 New King James Version (NKJV)

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Luke 6:38 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you

Jesus gave His life for man to be saved. He gave His body for sickness to be healed if you call upon His name. And God gives His friends blessings upon blessings that no room on earth can contain it (Malachi 3:10).

On this note, I have something personal to share. After giving the first fruit (or installment) for the building fund, I personally experienced enormous blessing from God.

I was set to received vouchers worth $125 during the company's roadshow (aka project showcase). I gave to the building fund that friday and I got a message that I'm set to receive another $125 worth of vouchers a few days after! Also, I have been blessed financially before for the project that I did. In total, for this project I have received probably about $500 and a lot of recognition. Not only that, I won a Canon IXUS 220HS camera during the lucky draw worth about $300. Praise God Amen!


We know that we can never give sparingly to care for others.Paul sets himself as an example to the Thessalonians. He work hard on his job and have enough for himself so that he will not be a burden on his friends, and at the same time have extra to give and share to them in case they have a need. He did this not because he does not have any authority over them, but he wants them to know that having enough for yourself is not good, but have more than enough to give and share with others

Likewise we should follow what Paul has done, to have more than enough in our lives so that we can bless others. If God can bring things through you, He will bring things to you. Amen!

God Gives

I would be sharing about how God would give to match all that you have given to Him. I'll start from the beginning of Jesus' ministry, at the point where He found some people willing to give their all and follow Him

Mark 1:16-20 (Amplified Bible)

And passing along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon [Peter] and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net [to and fro] in the sea, for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, Come after Me and be My disciples, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
And at once they left their nets and [yielding up all claim to them] followed [with] Him [joining Him as disciples and siding with His party].
He went on a little farther and saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were in [their] boat putting their nets in order.
And immediately He called out to them, and [abandoning all mutual claims] they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him [to be His disciples, side with His party, and follow Him].

Now from this passage we understand that the Jesus saw some fishermen by the Sea of Galilee working. He saw them doing their job and earning their livelihood. He then called out to them for them to join Him in His ministry. Immediately they left EVERYTHING behind and followed Him.

If we were to put this in today's context, this is would be a man you have never seen before, coming to your office, found someone working and he said to him: "follow me as my disciple!" and immediately he quits his job and runs after him. he walk around your office a little bit more and he said the same thing to another of your colleague and he quits immediately too! What will your reaction be? I don't know about you, but generally this is what most people will think: "HE MUST BE CRAZY!!!!" Can you imagine what happens when he goes back home and tell his dad that he quit his job to follow a man he has never seen before in his life? His dad is going to be so shocked and furious that he quit a good paying job for someone whom he has never seen before!

But friends, God will never shortchange us. These people that gave their all to follow Jesus were tremendously blessed.

1) They've experienced things first hand that money can never buy.

Matthew 8:23-27 (Amplified Bible)

And after He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
And suddenly, behold, there arose a violent storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered up by the waves; but He was sleeping.
And they went and awakened Him, saying, Lord, rescue and preserve us! We are perishing!
And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness).
And the men were stunned with bewildered wonder and marveled, saying, What kind of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!

When Jesus died on the cross, the fishermen went back to their usual life, that is to fish at the Sea of Galilee. When He rose from the dead, He went to look for them there

Matthew 28:7 (Amplified Bible)

Then go quickly and tell His disciples, He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.

What great honor to have Jesus coming to look for you!

2) Their names are mentioned millions of times throughout history because it is written in the bible.
Even as I'm sharing this message, their names have been mentioned at least once each. If that person were you, congratulations! you're famous! Everyone knows your name and they share your life story to people when they preach the gospel to people who don't know about God!

3) They became very rich
In Matthew, Mark and Luke we can see how Jesus fed the crowd that is following Him into the desolated area.

Luke 9:13 (New King James Version)

But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

When Jesus told them to give them food to eat, the disciples asked if they should buy food for ALL of them! that is 5000 men's worth of food, not including women and children. if every men were to have a woman and a child, that is will about 15,000 mouth to feed! The disciples had not considered if they have enough money to do it but immediately ask Jesus if they should buy food with their money! This shows that the ministry of Jesus is very rich. God has blessed everyone in Jesus' ministry financial tremendously.

All these blessings came after the fishermen gave up their all to follow Jesus. I personally have heard of people who gave up hobbies, their job, their career, their business, to follow God and do His will. These people are, like the fishermen, tremendously blessed. Their ministries are flourishing, and thousands of people have turned to Christ because of what he/she gave up.

Some of us maybe can't find that much faith to throw everything aside to follow Jesus, but we can all give something to Him. Today, lets try to give a sacrificial amount to God. God will not shortchange your offering. He will definitely bless you back with something much more than the amount that you purposed in your heart, like what He has done to match the offering that the fishermen gave. Amen!