Christmas wish

     Less than 6 hours more is going to be Christmas. Christmas is not just another festive season where everybody can go jolly, go happy, or even go party. But let us all be reminded that Christmas, first and foremost is the day we all celebrate Jesus. We celebrate the reason He came down to earth, to give us life and life abundantly. We celebrate His giving unto us, a pathway for us to come closer to God, salvation through Him and Him alone. We celebrate Him because of His love for us, His first love to us. We celebrate Him because He is our Master, our Saviour, our Friend etc etc.

     Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to wish our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ a very Merry Blessed Birthday to You. May we all continue to walk in righteousness in  You and You alone, amen? =) Blessed Christmas to all my beloved readers. May all glories and honours goes back to Jesus..

21/12/12? Is that the end of end times?

     Today is 21/12/12, also known as, the day where our earth would be destroyed, according to Mayan calendar and the Hollywood called 2012. Well there has been a lot of rumors and a lot of talk about this day and now is 11:45am of 21th Dec'12. Nothing has happened yet. Nothing unusual.

     Well  what I would like to blog here today is this. It is sort of worrying issue to me now that the world has not shown any anxiety to this rumor. I am not suggesting that people should believe in this 21/12/12 but rather be worried, that this is the end times we are facing. As a Christian, we should not take this end time incident lightly. Yeah! Perhaps we can take this 21/12/12 rumors lightly (because it is not true), but not in the end times. We do not known when is the end time as per written in the Bible. Jesus even mentioned in the Bible that He does not know when the end time would come but only the Father. It can be seen in Matthew 24: 1 - 35 (NKJV).

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple

1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all^[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,^[b] and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.
⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

The Great Tribulation

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’^[c] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
²³ “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand.
²⁶ “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ²⁸ For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

³² “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So you also, when you see all these things, know that it^[d] is near—at the doors! ³⁴ Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

     My belief, as a Christ-believer is this. We are living in the end times. Proof of what is happening can be seen in the Bible. Of late, disaster has frequent happened. Famine in countries has happened. War between countries has happened. Even false prophets has appeared among our communities who claimed he or she is the messiah. To be honest, we all must be prepared as all these signs that Jesus once told us in the Bible 2000 years ago has starting to come to pass. It is not a time to relax and be merry.
  

No One Knows the Day or Hour

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,^[e] but My Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴² Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour^[f] your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant

⁴⁵ “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. ⁴⁷ Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸ But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’^{[g] 49} and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
  
     As we continue reading the Bible verse, in Matthew 24: 36-51 (NKJV), let us not become like the people during Noah's time. People were living in merry, happy and peaceful life, thinking that life is really that peaceful. They never suspect that they are living in the end time of their life. Their intention is only to live up the life of the day. So let's hope that we do not live like them. 

     To be honest, no one is ready for end time. Do not think that for once, I am ready too.. In fact, I am also living in slumberness. But despite all that, let us be sober (whether you are drunk or not) and getting ourselves ready for the second coming of Christ. Do not take lightly what is going on around us but be cautious and be prayerful. It doesn't matter whether you are always praying for yourself alone or for others. But let us be prayerful and be prepared for this coming end time. Amen. =)

Christmas Story

     Christmas is coming soon. As of today, it is officially 3 exact week from now. Christmas is one of my favorite day of the year. In fact besides Christmas, my birthday falls two days after Christmas. To be honest, this made my birthday kind of special. One thing is because I am a December baby and second, it is a very special day because I get to feel the mode and the festivities of Christmas, together with celebration of my birthday and I feel grand just knowing that.

     But this blog is not about my birthday and neither is it about how good I felt about Christmas. It is about baby Jesus who was born that particularly auspicious day, 25th December 2000 years ago. I find His story of how He was born fascinating. In fact I could blog about it every year this time without fail, perhaps with different message but same theme, Jesus. Okay. Jesus came into this world 2000 years ago during the time when King Herod was there to persecute two years ago babies who through a prophecy had heard that there would be someone greater than him who would rule over Israel. It was during this time that the three wise men came about and searching over a particular star who they believed is where the Messiah were to be born to save Israel from destruction.

     During that time, Joseph and Mary were pledged to be married. In fact when they were pledged to be married, angel of God Gabriel came to her and told her that she is to be pregnant even without any man and that her birth would be a virgin birth. The baby that come out of the womb would be called Jesus who would save the world. No one at that time knew what Gabriel meant. In fact, if I were to be on either one of their shoes, I would be dumb-founded. I would say, "Huh? Is this real or just a prank?" But Mary obeyed. I guess that is the greatest power of Christ that came into our world. Obedience to God. I believe Jesus was called by God to die on the cross for us and Jesus obeyed. Even the three wise men. They obeyed God and search for the star that came upon the birth of baby Jesus. I am amazed by how Joseph and Mary coped with life after Mary's meeting with Gabriel. This is something we all had to learn. We always find ways to avoid shame but Joseph and Mary "sort of" invited shame into their life. I mean in the worldly term. Mary was pregnant even before she married Joseph. That to them is a shame and believe it or not? That is a biggest shame in their life. That is shame to us as well. I would say a much lighter shame cause people nowadays accidentally make another person pregnant. Therefore they need to get married to each other. And they go through it with much lighter shame because they are not alone.

     Whereas, Joseph and Mary had it because God allows it to happen. I had to say this. They could had been stoned because of what happened tangibly but somehow or rather they were safe. In fact, I believe Joseph was so gracious enough to marry Mary. Even when he knew Mary was pregnant even before they were married, he can still take this opportunity to clear himself from shame. Instead he choose to be obedient and marry Mary and live the "shameful life". In fact, when baby Jesus was about to be born, all the place they could stay in is full while Mary gave birth to baby Jesus was a barn or some said a manger. Imagine how pitiful they were, living those kind of life, just to allow baby Jesus to be born. And guess what? No one cared or worried for them. They were just there for themselves. Their only thought would be, "this baby is going to be born soon and we believe that He is who He is, just as angel Gabriel said so. Despite all things, we will take care of Him because He is special." Never in their life would they thought other things that this, I am sure of it and never in their life, I am sure at least, in Mary's life (since Joseph's name was never mentioned after the birth of Jesus), she would never thought that Jesus would died before her. I am sure a lot of us wish that we will die first, only our children but in Mary's case, little did she know that Jesus would died before her and what's worst. He died because of what He believed and He died innocently. Thanks to us.

     Anyway this story would not be ending to Jesus' death but rather His birth. The beginning of it. The reason why we celebrate Christmas? We must always believe in one thing. Christmas came about because of a lot of Bible character's obedience to God. One of them would be Jesus. He choose to die on the cross for us. If He decided not to, then we would not celebrate Christmas at all. There are people out there claiming that 25th December is a pagan day and not the actual date of Jesus' birth. Guess what? It doesn't matter. What matter most is we obey. Christmas is not about partying and enjoying alone. I am sure Jesus would want us to enjoy our life as well since He choose to die for us. If we do not enjoy life, what is the point of Him dying for us? Christmas is also about obedience. Obey God and what He says. It is also about giving and receiving. I am sure you know about this theory. I give, therefore I receive. I believe it is a right thing to do as well. Jesus gives us His life. So we receive it with joy and gladness. Therefore we give our life for  others as well.  If you receive but not giving, what kind of life is this? You would be joyful but others suffer. Is that right in Jesus' life? Wrong. It is not right. If you give but did not receive, is it right? Perhaps we can see it as one of humbleness but take it from me. It is 'the' way to spiritual dryness. We may be backslide and giving up on Him. Therefore I believe in two way, giving and receiving. Christmas is also about spiritual awakening. It is time for some of us to be out of slumbers. I, for one, is living in slumber-ness.  That's why I am trying to live up my life spiritually.

     Therefore I believe in enjoying Christmas, not just the spiritual part but physical part as well. Just that, let us all be reminded why we really celebrate Christmas despite all the partying and enjoying Christmas. Remember that Christmas is all about Jesus even when you enjoying your partying life. Do not forget that and besides partying hard, please do not forget to spread Jesus' Gospel.

     Anyway before I end this blog, just wanna end this blog with sinner's prayer. I do believe that whatever which I had written does not come from my own self. I believe it came with the prompting of Holy Spirit that I could write this blog. Therefore I do believe that with these kind of blog, it is important that I include the sinner's prayer. So whoever after reading this blog, felt the prompting inside you, saying that you wanna accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please say (confess) the prayer below out loud with your mouth so that you could hear yourself clearly, while believing it with your heart. Remember this prayer is not pray to me but God above and to Jesus, to let Him know that you want to be saved.

Heavenly Father:
I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart that Jesus is your Son, And that He died on the Cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the day's of my Life!. Because your word is truth, I confess with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed by the Blood of Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen.

     After you had said the prayer above, first thing you need to do is to purchase a Bible. At the same time share your belief  with your Christian friends. And then get yourself a church to attend. Guess what? If you can do that, this would be a first Christmas in the church. Thank God for becoming who you are and believing in Jesus, Amen.. =)

Nativity story

Today is my first day of working in December'12. Nothing is special this year for me but it is a special day for someone special. His name is Jesus. Though He was not literally born in December'12 but I would like to dedicate this month to Him because it was Him and still Him that we are children of God. With this, I dedicate this You Tube to our Lord Jesus Christ and to our fellow potential believer. The story of Jesus was written and mentioned thousands of time in the Bible and verbally from generation to generation. Today it was also presented in Facebook & You Tube. I posted in my blog before last year and I shall do it again this year. His story never stopped amusing us.

Therefore I present to you the You Tube Christmas story aka Nativity.