Prayer Service in Surabaya, December 03, 2014 (Wednesday Evening)

Speaker: Pastor Dadang Hadi Santoso

Good evening, peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be poured upon us abundantly until we are perfect. One day, we shall be together with God in His second coming. Let us listen to the Word of God. Praises be unto God.

This evening we read from
Matthew 10:38
10:38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Who is worthy of God?Being worthy of God means as follows.

• Being worthy to follow Jesus wherever He goes.
• Being worthy to welcome Jesus' second coming.
• Being worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven or the New Jerusalem forever and ever.

A worthy man is he who is willing to take the cross.
The crossrefers to taking a physical suffering because of God's will.
So, those who are willing to take physical sufferings because of God's will are worthy to follow Him and enter the New Jerusalem or the eternal kingdom of Heaven forever and ever.
We will study a formof taking Jesus' cross.

2 Timothy 1:11-13
1:11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Paul, the apostle, received God's grace to preach His gospel, especially the gospel of Christ's glory, which is the true Word, so that he suffered many physical things because of His will.
One form of taking the cross is being willing to take the true Word.

Maybe we didn't have the teaching before, but after we have it, we can really feel the physical sufferings and we have to take the true Word.

In Hebrew 4:12, the true Word is a Word which is sharper than any two-edged sword. It means that the true Word is like a two-edged sword.
If a flesh touches a sword, it will get hurt.
When we take the true Word, we are pierced by the sharp sword and It hurts our flesh. We have to take a lot of physical sufferings.

The process to take the true teaching is as follows.

1. Listeningto the Word in the anointment of the Holy Spirit (not with intelligence or anything) so that we can listen to It earnestly. We listen to the Word as a need and we can understand It; It stays in our mind.
   
   
2. Believingthe true Word.
   We are not doubtful, but we believe that we have to follow, hold, and practice the Word in our daily life, marriage, work, or school.
   If we are doubtful, it will be hard for us.
   
   
3. Being obedientor practice to the true Word.

There are a lot of people who reject the Word because it hurts (the Word is too long, too strong, or anything).
Actually, how strong the Word is, It won't hurtnor destroyus. On the other hand, the Word will sanctifyus until we have a perfect life, as glorious as Jesus.

Hebrews 4:12
4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We need a sanctification, especially on our heart and mind, because the heart is the storage of sins (there are a lot of sins hidden in the heart).

If all sins are categorized, there are two types of sins as follows.

• Evil sins.
• Unclean sins.

We need to be sanctified from evil and uncleanness which are hidden in the heart. We can be sanctified by the true Word.
We have to listen to the Word carefully to be sanctified. We have to listen to the Word earnestly until we understand and practice It, and our heart and mind are sanctified.

Mark 7:21-23
7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries⁽¹⁾, fornications⁽²⁾, murders⁽³⁾,
7:22 thefts⁽⁴⁾, covetousness⁽⁵⁾, wickedness⁽⁶⁾, deceit⁽⁷⁾, lewdness⁽⁸⁾, an evil eye⁽⁹⁾, blasphemy⁽¹⁰⁾, pride⁽¹¹⁾, foolishness⁽¹²⁾.
7:23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

Sins that are hidden in the heart are as follows.

1. Adulteries,
2. Fornications, which refer to the unclean lust in the heart,
3. Murders, which refer to hatred to others, in the marriage (children to their parents, children-in-law with the parents-in-law), in the shepherding (among the congregation, the shepherd and the congregation, or among God's servants), until a hatred without any reason.
   Hating is killing.
   
   
4. Covetousness, which is the same as thefts,
5. Thefts, which refer to an evil lust, stealing God's belonging,
6. Wickedness,
7. Deceit, which refers to the absence of sincerity,
8. Lewdness,
9. An evil eye,
10. Blasphemy,
11. Pride,
12. Foolishness.

The characteristicsof a heart which is sanctified by the Word are as follows.

1. Hebrews 8:10-11
   8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mindand write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
   8:11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
   
   The first characteristic is being able to know Jesus clearlyand we will not be doubtfulto do the following things.
   
   
   • Keeping on believingand trusting Godwhatever we are facing.
     When we face difficulties, we are not doubtful but we keep on believing and putting our hope on God.
     
     
   • Keeping on following Jesusto the finish line.
     Don't forsake Jesus because of a partner. Many people fail because of partners and forsake Jesus.
     
     Following Jesus means following the true teaching. If we are looking for physical wealth, praises, physical glory, it means that we are following another Jesus.
     
     
   • Keeping on being fervent in spirit and faithfulin our ministry in the true shepherding.
     
     
   • Keeping on worshipping Godand not worshipping other things.
     For example: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego kept on worshipping God even though they faced a trial (if our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us from your hand, but if not, we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image) because they knew the God that they followed.
     
     
   Maybe we are doubtful when we face trials and say, 'why doesn't God help me? I have been fervent in spirit and faithful in prayer.') Why does it happen? Because our heart has not undergone the sanctification although we have been listening to the Word, we still keep some sins, and are not willing to take the sanctification. It makes us doubtful, not believe nor hope for God, not faithful to the services and ministry (we only come when we can, there is no sacrifice in the ministry), and not willing to worship God.
   
   
2. The second characteristic is being able to know oneself.
   It starts from the following things.
   
   
   • Knowing that we still have lack and weaknessso that we won't be proud of ourselves.
     The practices are as follows.
     
     
     1. Humbleness, which is the ability to confess our sins.
     2. Gentleness, which is the ability to forgive and forget others' sins.
        
        
     If there is someone confessing his sins to us and we won't forgive him or her, or when we have sin but we won't confess it, it means that we are a proud man. We consider ourselves as a great man, we can do anything, and we are the most righteous man. It means that we don't know ourselves. If we know ourselves, we shall know that we have a lot of lack and weakness. We can be humble and gentle, if we do mistakes we can confess and ask for forgiveness, and we will forgive others too.
     "He who doesn't forgive others' sins, God won't forgive his sins either"
     
     
   • Knowing that we are dust, so that we will keep on fighting, so that we won't come back to dust.
     We know ourselves that we are dust and not gold. In the book of Psalms, God reminded us who we are. "You are clay". Why do we, dust, often not know ourselves?
     
     "We, God's servants, often think that we are wonderful. We won't confess sins when we are wrong, even more when we are right."
     
     If dust returns to dust, it means that we stay as a carnal human and are not changed.
     Dust which doesn't return to dust means it is changed to be as glorious as Jesus.
     Dust that returns to dust is cursed.
     
     At the beginning, human is as glorious as Jesus, but then loses the glory and is cursed because of sins (dust returns to dust).
     
     
   Let's be sanctified by the true Word so that we can know ourselves, the dust, and come back to the initial creation, as glorious as Jesus.
   The practicesare as follows.
   
   
   • The first practice is being obedientto the true Word in every aspect. We should be obedient from the following things.
     
     
     1. Being obedient about marriage.
        A marriage should be according to the Word. If it is not, don't!Don't force the marriage or the dust will return to dust. A marriage (to be married or not) is God's calling, don't force it! The most important thing is that the dust should be as glorious as Jesus.
        
        
     2. Being obedient about services. We minister in obedience to the Word.
        Don't minister on our own way, or the dust will return to dust!
        As a citizen of Indonesia, we have to be obedient to the Word. Don't walk away from the Word, but follow It and we should walk on God's path, whatever the risks that we should take.
        
        
     It is hard to be obedient for the flesh.
     
     A testimony:
     "When I was a full time servant, whenever the pastor of the church preached about obedience, I was not really into it because I had not been a shepherd. When I was anointed to be a shepherd, learning to be obedient as a shepherd was not easy. There were many offers and trials. To be able to keep the true ordination, teaching, and the way of ministering, was not easy. The flesh was speaking 'why is it like this?' Let's be obedient, it doesn't matter if they congregation is big or not, the important thing is that the dust doesn't return to dust."
     
     If dust returns to dust, everything is in vain.
     
     
     
   • The second practice is worshipping God.
     
     
   Being obedient and worshipping means we stretch our hands to Godand He will also stretch His merciful and good hands to us to do the following things.
   
   
   • The first thing (spiritually), God changes us little by little from a carnal human to a glorious one until the most glorious, we will be as glorious as Jesus. If the power of spiritual creation happens, the physical one will also happen.
     
     
   • The second thing (physically), God will make nothing into something, miraculously (from no food or future, God can create them miraculously), and revive the dead, rotten things like Lazarus, to be good, beautiful, and happy.
     
     
   The first thing is knowing God and not being doubtful to Him (He is my God, and not the others). Don't switch God with a partner, position, or anything else.
   
   A testimony:
   "In Ngawi, in my place, there was a place substitution. It happened in other congregation. They substituted the position to achieve the position as a chairman. They changed the identity card because they were doubtful whether their God could nurture them and change everything to good."
   
   The second thing, we need to know ourselves in all of our lacks and weaknesses. We should confess our sins and forgive others, we confess that we are dust who want to be as glorious as Jesus through obedience and worshipping God.
   
   
3. The third characteristic is knowing Satan and all of his tricks, so that we won't easily be defeatedin any aspect, because we know anything that doesn't come from God and we won't be easily deceivedby the wrong teachings in any form. We are always victoriousand in God's way.
   
   A testimony:
   "Once some witnesses came to my house and they didn't know that I wam a priest. There was a mark on their shirts and I was staring at them. They asked me, 'are you sick?' I said 'no'. It was not that I was proud as a shepherd. Even the way they talked was not right. They asked, 'Where do you do your services?', I replied 'I go to church'. 'Oh are you a Christian?' and I said 'I am a pastor'. They said 'Oh okay, excuse me', and they went."
   
   Don't listen to other teachings like Eve who listened to the serpent.

If we really understand the Word, It will stay in our mind, we believe It and It will stay in our heart. We do It, and It will be on our hands, and we can know God and ourselves, until we know Satan.

The resultsare as follows.
Deuteronomy 30:14-16
30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
30:15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
30:16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

We get life and goodfrom God. The contrary is death and evil.
'I have set before you today life and good, death and evil' means that everyday God always puts before us life and good, death and evil.

If we are willing to take the true Word, we listen, understand, believe, and practice the Word, we will have the sanctification and we will earn life and good.

On the other hand, if we won't have the sanctification, we will face death and evil. We will be in the atmosphere of death, sadness, tears, and failure. We will never have success. Our marriage and children will fail, they fall into sins and so on.

If we are in the atmosphere of death and evil, we need to check ourselves the way we respond the Word.

Lifemeans as follows.

• Physically, we have a long life, health, safety, and happiness.
  The heavenly happiness isn't measured from money or anything else. It can be measured from the happiness in our family. We can minister God together, and we will enter the marriage supper of the Lamb and the New Jerusalem together.
  
  If in our family we are not ministering together, we need to pray a lot to God! Nothing is impossible for God.
  
  
• Spiritually, God will forgive our sins, the price was fully paid at the cross. God will sanctify and change us.

Goodmeans we are blessed and covered by God.
When Moses went to the land of Canaan, he was not willing to go if God didn't go with them. What does it mean that we are going to the land of Canaan, but without the presence of God? We will be destroyed in our way. God's left and right hands are life and good. God's hands will hug and take care of us. We belong to God until we become the perfect Bride of Him, perfect and happy forever and ever.

God blesses us.