Messages

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

michael Messages

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
What does “poor in spirit” mean? It means one is humble in spirit, humble in heart, one knows one’s spiritual poverty, one’s sin, knows that one needs God, so that one will seek God. The Bible says that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20) Here, Lord Jesus says that blessed are you who are poor.  The poor knows that they are needy, the poor are easier to be humble, are more open to the gospel,  the rich think that they don’t lack anything,  they can’t see their spiritual poverty, and they feel that they don’t need God. Please see:
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.. (Revelation 3:17-18)
If we don’t have God in our lives, don’t have Lord Jesus in our lives, we are all spiritually poor. If we know that we are spiritually poor, know that we need God, know our sins, humble ourselves before God, and seek God with all our heart, we can receive God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s presence and God’s blessings, if we feel that we are rich and lack nothing, don’t need God, don’t seek God, we are poor in God’s eyes. Let us all seek God with all our hearts so that we become spiritually rich.
Here it says that for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is in the present tense, not in the future tense. Now we have the presence of God and we have foretaste of kingdom of heaven.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😊

I prepared the above sharing and sent it to Wechat,  I also shared a hymn at the same time, the name of the hymns is “Give thanks”. That evening, I quieted before the Lord and meditated on His word,  I listened to a hymn playlist music on YouTube at the same time, I did not expect that the second song of the playlist was the English version of “Give thanks” music.  This playlist was just uploaded to YouTube on that day. Thank the Lord for his encouragement.

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

michael Messages

Mark 14:1-9 1 Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. 6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Here we see that what happened in this passage was very close to the crucifixion of  Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus was reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. Simon used to suffer from leprosy. The Lord Jesus healed him. While reclining at the table in Simon’s house, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. she broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. The expensive perfume worthed more than thirty taels of silver, which was equivalent to one year’s salary at that time. Who is this woman? John 12 tells us that this woman is Mary. John 12:2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Martha is Mary’s sister and Lazarus is Mary’s brother. Lazarus used to die for four days, and Lord Jesus raised him from the dead. We see that Mary loves the Lord very much. She offered her best to the Lord. She poured the most precious perfume on Lord Jesus in advance to prepare for his burial. In Gospel Matthew and Mark, she anointed Jesus’ head, and in Gospel John, she anointed Jesus’ feet. Apparently she anointed both Jesus’s head and feet. What she did in the eyes of the Lord was a beautiful thing, but a few people were very displeased and felt that it was a waste. The perfume could be sold for more than thirty taels of silver and the money given to the poor.  Judas who betrayed Jesus said the same thing in John 12,  Judas was not concerned about the poor, he was trying to steal the money. It’s not that Lord Jesus doesn’t care about the poor, he cares  a lot about the poor and the sick. He said “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.” Mary offered the best to the Lord, did a beautiful thing to the Lord, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she did will be remembered. Thank and praise the Lord,  may God bless you and your family.

After I prepared the above sharing, that evening my wife started listening to “The Biography of Dai Desheng”. I heard it said that Dai Desheng’s life was like the life of Mary who offered very expensive perfume to Lord Jesus.  Was it a coincidence?  Thank the Lord. Dai Desheng was a well-known British missionary who shared the gospel in China in the 19th century.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

michael Messages

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105)
Thy word is the word of God, the words of the Bible. What does “God’s word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” mean? When a person walks in the dark at night, one cannot see the path ahead, and you don’t know where to land your feet, the lamp in front of your feet will guide you step by step. The light on the path shows you the path ahead and the direction ahead. In the same way, the word of God is the lamp unto our feet, the light onto our path, guiding us along the path of life, the path of eternal life. God uses his words to teach us, instruct us, and guide us. We follow him step by step along this path of life. We hide the word of God in our hearts so that we will not offend him, far from him, but get closer to him.  We follow him closely on the path to heaven and heavenly home. We obey his words, do his will, seek him with all our heart, and experience his presence and receive his blessing. Thank and praise the Lord.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😊

Watch and pray

michael Messages
Mark 13:32-37 32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[a]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Here it says that “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”, that is to say,  no one knows when Lord Jesus will come again,  except the Father, even Lord Jesus himself doesn’t know. Some people used to say that Lord Jesus will come on certain day, month and year. We know that this is false, because it is contrary to  the Bible. Later the time also proved that it was indeed false.
What does watch and pray mean? Watch and pray means that we should be spiritually watchfulness and pray, draw near to God. When temptation comes, we can rely on God’s power to overcome the temptation and to overcome sin , because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We do not know when the Lord Jesus will come again, so we need to prepare ourselves. We should also read the Bible more, understand God’s will, do God’s will, and live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The Lord assigns task to each person and gives different gifts to different people. We should use the gifts the Lord  gives us to serve Him. The Lord will come like a thief, it is unexpected, so we must prepare ourselves, watch and pray, and don’t fall into sleep.  When the thief comes, if we stay alert, we don’t suffer lost; if we fall into sleep,  we will suffer lost. To fall into sleep is to fall into sleep spiritually. To fall into sleep is at night, in the dark,  to be awake is in the day, in the light.
1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.
Here it says that let us be awake and sober, live in the light, live in love, we do not sleep like others who live in the darkness, live in sin.
May God bless you and your family.
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We all, like sheep, have gone astray

michael Messages
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We were all like lost sheep, have gone astray. There was no Shepherd Lord Jesus in our lives, each of us has turned to our own way. Here we refers to all the people in the world, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but God does not lay the iniquity on the people in the world,  rather lay on Jesus, the Son of God the iniquity of us all,  and God took him as a sin offering. In order to save the world, Jesus suffered and was crucified on the cross. This demonstrates the great love of God. God loves the world, and the shepherd loves every sheep. He doesn’t want the sheep to go astray, but he wants to take the sheep to the green pasture. Lord Jesus the good Shepherd wants to give us abundant life, a life with God’s presence, and lead us on the path of eternal life. It is dangerous for a sheep to turn to its own way, If the sheep returns to the shepherd, he will be protected by the shepherd. The shepherd will make him lie down in green pastures,  leads him beside quiet waters,
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😊

Yesterday I prepared the above sharing, this morning when I opened my android Bible on my tablet, the verse “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” appeared, which is in line with what I shared above.  For the android Bible I use, a new Bible verse appears everyday when I open it.  Thank the Lord. 🙏😊

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life

michael Messages
John 11:25  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
Jesus said I am the resurrection and life, that is, Jesus is the source of life. He can give life and he can resurrect people.
After Lord Jesus was crucified, he was resurrected three days later and then ascended to heaven. He will come again.
In John 11, it mentioned that Lazarus died for four days, Lord Jesus resurrected him, and Lord Jesus also resurrected several other people who had died.
I have read testimonies about people died and other people prayed and the Lord resurrected the dead.
Now our bodies are perishable, after believers die, their souls will be with the Lord. and they will have new bodies when they are resurrected,  bodies that are imperishable and glorious like that of Lord Jesus. Please refer to the following verse. Philippians 3:21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
The new life. the spiritual life of a Christian is a resurrected life. At baptism, one is buried with Christ and resurrected with Him. This life is an abundant life. We can experience the power of resurrection now, we can experience the presence of the Lord.
May God bless each of you. 🙏😊

On the same day I posted the above message,  I was preparing to send the above message to a few people by email, then I was thinking to find a testimony video on corona virus healed after prayer, I didn’t expect that I found a video about raising from the death from corona virus after prayer which is the same topics as the above message about resurrection.  Here is the link to the video. Thank God. 🙏😊

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Believe in the Lord Jesus, you and your household will be saved

michael Messages

Acts 16:30-33 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

Here we see that the jailer asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. They told him that he should believe in Lord Jesus, he and his family will be saved, then they shared the word of the Lord to him and his family. He and his family believed in the Lord and were baptized, they were baptized and born again. But what does believe or faith mentioned here mean?

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
What does faith mean in the Bible? This verse tells us the meaning of faith. Faith is the certainty of what we hope for, and assurance of what we do not see. Earlier we saw that the jailer’s family was baptized after believing in the Lord. The Bible says that those who believe and are baptized will be saved. A person who believes and is baptized is born again and saved and receives the Holy Spirit. The general principle is that a person receives the Holy Spirit at baptism. But there are special cases of receiving the Holy Spirit before baptism or after baptism.

The pastor of our church and his two brothers after they believed in the Lord and three of them decided at the same time to serve the Lord full time, and their parents were very opposed to this. Their mother believed deeply in Buddhism, and many years later their parents also believed in the Lord. I witnessed their baptism. Thank God.

Salvation by grace through faith

michael Messages

Ephesians 2:8-10 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
What does grace mean? Grace is God’s grace,  it means God’s love and God’s mercy. We are saved by God’s grace, by God’s love and mercy,  through our response to God which is our faith. We cannot save ourselves, we are not saved by our works. It is God’s work that we are saved and born again. After we are saved and born again, we are to do good works and rely on the Lord to do the works He entrusts to us.

James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
After we are saved and born again, we must have deeds besides faith.  We can’t just have faith without deeds, as faith without deeds is dead. When we see brothers and sisters in need, we need to help them. We are not saved by our works, but we must have good works after being saved. Our good deeds out of love will be rewarded by the Lord. May God bless each of you.

The Widow’s mite

michael Messages

Mark 12 (41-44) 41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Here we see that many rich people put in large amounts of money, and this poor widow puts in two very small copper coins. In the eyes of  the ordinary people, the rich put in much more than the poor widow. But Lord Jesus knows everything. He knows that although the rich put in large amount of money, they only put in a small portion of what they have. Although the poor widow put in two small copper coins,  out of her poverty, she put in everything.  What is surprising is that Lord Jesus said, “this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others“,  that is to say, this poor widow puts in more than the total of all the others.

If we feel poor, weak, and what we offer to the Lord is little, but we have done our best, in the eyes of the Lord,  it is not little, the Lord is pleased with the Widow’s mite. If we feel that we offer a lot to the Lord,  not to puff up,  not to look down on those who give little like this poor widow, because the Lord has given us much more than them. We cannot underestimate the widow’s mite. The Lord can multiply the widow’s mite. In John 6:1-15, we see that Lord Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fishes of a boy to feed five thousand people.

The offering to the Lord here is not just money, but also our time and small things we do in love. For example, sharing a cake we make with the hungry, and pray for those when you have no other way to relieve their suffering. Matthew 10:42 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” The little things we do for the Lord will be rewarded by the Lord. Thank and praise the Lord. May God bless each of you.

The message of the cross

michael Messages
1 Corinthians 1:17-18 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. Christ the Power and Wisdom of God 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Crucifixion is a cruel criminal law of dealth punalty for criminals.  Jesus was innocent but was crucified for the sin of the world. This shows the great love of God. Jesus shed blood on the cross to save sinners. His resurrection three days after his death gives us the hope of resurrection. Jesus asked Heavenly Father when he was on the cross to forgive those who crucified him, saying that because they did not know what they did. Once again this shows God’s great love, God’s forgiveness, God’s mercy.

The message of the cross is foolish for those who perish, but it is the power of God and wisdom of God for those who are saved. 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.(John 3:16).  Jesus uses the great love of the cross brought salvation, new life, eternal life to all who believe in him.

Philippians 2:8-11 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Because Jesus humbled himself, and obeyed, obeyed onto death, and even died on the cross, so God exalted him to the highest, so that all knees will bow down to him, and every mouth will confess him as Lord.

A few days ago I was thinking to share “the message of the cross”. The day before yesterday my wife listened to the Bible and heard the same Bible passage. This confirms that the Lord wants me to share this passage. thank the Lord. 🙏😊

Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness

michael Messages
Matthew 6:31-33 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
What does it mean to seek God’s kingdom,  Seeking God’s kingdom in the New Testament Greek means seeking God’s kingship,  let God be the king of our lives. God reveals His righteousness in the Bible. If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He will take care of our needs, what we eat, drink, and wear, He will add to us. We don’t have to worry about our lives, He will supply for our needs.
Seeking first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness includes:
1. Prayer: Seek God Himself, seek God’s presence.
2. Read the Bible: Put the words of the Bible, the Word of God, and God’s righteousness into practise in our lives.
3. Worship: God led me to know that He is pleased when we sing songs to worship Him.
4. Repentance: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! (Matthew 3:2).
5. Thanksgiving: We all lack in gratitude to God. God delights us to thank Him.  If we thank Him in small things. He will give us bigger blessings.
May God bless each of you. 🙏😊

God loves the world

michael Messages

Romans 5:7-8 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Here it says that Christ died for us when we were still sinners. Here us means all people. Christ died for all people, He wanted to save all people. Here we also see that God loves all people.

1 Timothy 2:4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Here it says that God wants all people to be saved, to know the truth, to know the Word of God through the Bible.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Repentance means the change of mind in the Greek original,  to change from self-centered life to God-centered life.

John 3:16-17 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God sent Lord Jesus to the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world.  The people are saved through believing in Lord Jesus.  People need to rely on Lord Jesus,  follow Lord Jesus to walk this path of eternal life. May God bless each of you.