light of jesus

Talk 7 presents three lessons, in a gist:  When evil happens in your life, declare God is still in charge, God is still good, and God will turn curses into blessings.

This is the second to the last talk of our series, Wilderness, our teaching series on Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible.

Throughout the Israelites’ long journey in the wilderness, God was teaching them one very important lesson. This is the summary of the message of Numbers in one sentence: The only way to survive the wilderness and reach the Promised Land is to trust and obey God. Any other path will trap them in the wilderness forever.

Talk 6 presents why he was trapped in the past.

The key message: Move On—God Is with You!

We continue our series, Wilderness, our teaching series on Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible.

Throughout the Israelites’ long journey in the wilderness, God was teaching them one very important lesson. This is the summary of the message of Numbers in one sentence: The only way to survive the wilderness and reach the Promised Land is to trust and obey God. Any other path will trap them in the wilderness forever.

In Talk 6, we are approaching the end of Numbers.

The 40 years of wandering is almost over. The first generation that came from Egypt have now died or are dying. And a new generation—all born in the wilderness—are now ready to enter the Promised Land.

But alas, it seemed that someone else didn’t want to—Moses, their leader. Old habits prevented him from moving on.

Talk 5 is about yet another complaint– about the Priesthood. Because they were not included.

The key message: Celebrate Your Appointment

Welcome back to our study of the book of Exodus. Last week, we learned that God is on the Journey of the Israelites– from slavery in Egypt to their struggle in the wilderness.

Today, as we continue to follow this journey, we will see that Moses did not just walk—he climbed up a mountain–Mt. Sinai where God as the Burning Bush meets with him.

And we will learn that later, the reverse happened. God—through our Lord Jesus—was the one who climbed up the mountain of Calvary—the expression of His Love so that we can be with Him forever. God’s Love, like the Burning Bush, is God’s fire. Just as the Burning Bush did not burn Moses, God’s fire does not burn us—it burns what is destroying us.

Talk 7 is titled Come Up the Mountain because that’s the challenge to us—to journey out of our comfort zone and climb up the burning mountain of God’s Love and allow Him to transform us.

We continue our study of the book of Exodus.

Last week, in Talk 5, we talked about how finally, after 440 years of slavery, the Israelites are out of Egypt. The people of God are free. But their problem does not end there.

We’re still in Chapter 15– but Exodus is 40 chapters long. And so, for the next 25 chapters, plus the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the story will be about the Israelites’ long walk through the wilderness.

The big message of Talk 6 is God is in the Journey.

We continue our study of the book of Exodus.

Last week, we talked about how Pharaoh kept on saying “No” to God that he reached a point of no return—a terrifying possibility.

God, in His mercy, accelerated the bad consequences of his hardness of heart by sending plagues, in the hope that he would change. The tenth plague—the death of the firstborn—was Pharaoh tasting his own evil. And that’s when he lets the Israelites go.

Today, we enter the second movement of the Exodus scroll: Israel’s journey into the wilderness where God tests Israel multiple times.

Welcome to the fifth installment of our mind-blowing series on the book of Exodus, titled SPECIAL DELIVERY: God Will Rescue You.

The message of Talk 5 is: Revisit What God Has Done

We continue our study of the book of Exodus. Last week, we talked about Moses’ earth-shaking God-encounter in the Burning Bush. God calls for Moses to partner with Him to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.

After this Divine meeting, Moses went to Egypt and told Pharaoh to let God’s people go. But the king refused to do so.

We are like the Pharaoh. Whenever we let our own desires win, we’re telling God, “I’m the god of my life.”

And the insane thing is that God respects our wrong decisions. When we choose to rebel against God, out of His mercy, God will simply accelerate the end result of our repeated decisions—in the hope that one day we will change our ways.  

The key message of the talk is God Will Always Provide Mercy.

Welcome back to our study of Exodus.
 In Talk 1, we read how God rescued baby Moses from a watery death. In Talk 2, Moses struggled with an identity crisis. Today, in Talk 3, we’ll read how God revealed Himself to Moses in a very special way.

The key message of the talk is God Is Always with Me.

WELCOME to Talk 9— the last talk of our series on Genesis: Blessing
and Curse. The key message of this talk is God turns curse into blessing. 

Genesis started by proclaiming an earthshaking truth: 
That every human is God’s living, breathing, walking image.
Yet ironically, every story that followed exposes how each character was shockingly unfaithful. Sinful. Broken. From Adam to Cain to Noah to Abraham to Jacob. Perhaps they were images of God, yes, but damaged. 

Talk 9 continues the story of Joseph, who is faithful to God and thus he
is well rewarded. The  Genesis story continues to this day. How? We are in it. We are part
of Genesis. We may be damaged but God holds on to us. He turns curse into
blessing.

We are already in Talk 8 of our Feast talk series, Blessing and
Curse. Talk 8, titled The Lord Is with You, centers on the story of Joseph.
Compared to all the other characters in Genesis—from Adam to Noah, to
Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob— who at one time or another were sinful and
ungodly--only Joseph was faithful to God—he was always with the Lord. Yet,
he too suffered – exiled to Egypt. How come? 

This is our question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

 Answer: The Lord is with you wherever you are. If the Lord is with
you, you can bloom where you are planted. Your burden will turn out to be a
blessing.

We are already in Talk 7 of our Feast talk series, Blessing and Curse.

 Talk 7, titled Let God Win, centers on the story of Jacob who all his life
was wrestling for blessings--fighting for those blessings on his own terms,
and in the process, hurting the people around him.  

Key message of the. talk:  Instead of wrestling for your blessings,
bless others and trust God will give you the best.  Don’t chase after your
abundance—His abundance chases after you. Let God win.