Sunday, 29th August 2021
Pastor How (Guest Speaker)
The Book of Exodus talks about Moses asking Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh said they could worship God but they must worship God in Egypt. Egypt represents the world and Pharaoh represents devil. That was the devil’s first compromise but Moses refused it. So Pharaoh gave the second compromise, by saying that they could go but not too far. The devil wants us to stay away from God and the devil says we can be Christians but we need to stay in the world. This is the lie from the devil, the world misinterprets ‘freedom’ as staying in the world and doing worldly things. But freedom actually means, to be in control and overcome the temptation of the world and of the flesh. If our flesh is controlling us, then who really is in control? Do we really have freedom when we are controlled by alcohol or addiction? True freedom is that we can do anything but we are not controlled by our flesh, by our appetite, and by the things of the world. The devil’s first lie and first compromise is saying ‘yes, you can be Christians, but you need to stay in the world’.
Number two compromise is that, ‘yes you can go worship God, but don’t go too far’. It’s like people saying, ‘yes you an be a Christian, but you need to have a balance’, ‘you can be a Christian but don’t get baptized’, ‘you can be a Christian but don’t be brainwashed’, ‘you can be a Christian but don’t be too committed’. That’s the trap of the devil, but the Bible says in James 1:7, ‘such a person should not expect anything from the Lord, their loyalty is divided between God and the world’. God wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind. We are not in a religion but in a relationship.
The third compromise is to let the men go only, but Moses refused again. He said, ‘we will all go worship the Lord’ then Pharaoh threatened him to leave their women and children behind. It’s like people saying, ‘sure you can be a Christian, but your children and your young people cannot go worship God’, ‘you can go to church, but your children and young people cannot go with you’. The devil thinks about generations before we do, the devil wants to hold our children hostage.
What are the devil’s strategies? ‘If I cannot destroy the church, if I cannot destroy the pastors, then I will attack their children, so that by the next generation, there will be no more Christians’! In Bible times, Pharaoh tried to kill Moses when he was a baby, and stopped children to worship God with their parents. It has always been the strategy of the devil, to attack our children and the next generations. We must believe our next generations will be the heights of our church! We must believe the future Senior Pastors are in our children’s church right now! Don’t let our next generations go to the devil!
Hezekiah was a good king, he loved God, but he was very short-sighted, he did not care what was going to happen to his future descendants. He only cared about himself, and sadly many Christians are like this! What about the next generations? The next generation is also our problem! Do not be short-sighted like Hezekiah. On the other hand, David treasured the next generation, he let his children build the temple of God and he prepared everything for them.
The fourth compromise of the devil is in Exodus 10, Pharaoh called Moses and said ‘fine you can go with your children, but leave your flocks and herds’. The Israelites were slaves, they didn’t have any lands or any assets, but the flocks and herds were their asserts. It’s like people say, ‘yes you can be a Christian but don’t do tithing’, ‘yes you can be a Christian but don’t offer your money’. The Book of Matthew tells us, ‘where your treasure is there your heart will also be’. Don’t let money become our treasure. Devil knows if it can control our treasure it can control our hearts.
Devil’s first plan is to stop us being Christians. When we refuse it then the devil’s plan b is for us to stay in the world and continue to be worldly, live a worldly style. Then the third plan is to stop our children coming to church, and the fourth plan is for us not to give. But what did Moses say? We should go worship God on our own terms. We should be able to worship God whenever and wherever we want; we can give to God whatever we want; and we can choose how to worship God. We are not controlled by the world, we are not controlled by the devil, and that’s true freedom.
When we understand the strategy of the devil, then we should stop bargaining with the devil, do not compromise but to stand firm for God to the end!
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon (Senior Pastor)
The Spirit of God is speaking to us right now, do we hear it? Our God is a generational God, He wants to bless us from generation to generation, this is His promise, but if we keep on compromising with the devil, then we cannot enter into this blessing. We ask for true freedom, don’t compromise with the devil, don’t worry that we’ll go too far, but we should be worried if we didn’t go too far. God wants us to be committed in His blessings, we need God and we need to commit to Him, to our church, to our future generations.
How can we be committed in God’s plans for us and for our future generations? We need to have faith, take time to pray and challenge ourselves inside our hearts. Have we compromised with the devil? Let the Spirit of God work with us, break every chain and break the fears inside of us.
God will help us to walk out and receive the true freedom in our lives, let us enjoy the fellowship in the church, to be committed, to be raised up as leaders, to serve God wholeheartedly, and to lead our children to God.