[gospel Remnants] English Youth Fellowship (audio)

Heaven is not a place where Christians go after death. In fact, heaven is tasted not later but now, here, on earth, when we drive out the influences of Satan in our lives. As children of God, we need to be aware of Satan's influences which do not come to us blatantly all the time. Instead, Satan invades us subtly and when we least expect, making us more self-reliant, grow colder towards the Truth of God, and love other things but God increasingly. We cannot experience the kingdom of God because Satan has led us astray! Through the Word of God, Jesus once again reminded us of the strongman in our lives which calls for our spiritual sensitivity to be turned on all the times, so that we can detect the attacks from the strongman and quickly cling on the Spirit of God to drive them out. Not only so, we ought to do it not only once but repeatedly, because the devil is like a roaring lion which is always looking for cracks and chances to invade us again. Ever wonder why is life such a misery and pain? That’s becau

Do you know what is the meaning of Sabbath? How often do you hear people saying "I need to give my Sunday to God because it is Sabbath"? Through today's scripture, Jesus rebuked the senseless law-keeping Pharisees because they did not understand the Word of God correctly. As a result, they caused a lot of "misconceptions" about the Gospel, misinterpreting the purpose of Sabbath. It is never law but love that God has been emphasizing since the beginning of Creation. Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath. He does not need us to give Him Sabbath, instead, He has come so that we can have Sabbath, i.e. rest. Only when we restore peace through focussed time with God can we be recharged to fight the flesh and temptations that come our way, it is only through resting in God can we receive inner healing and empowerment to continue our race on earth for the kingdom. Are you restless? Run to God and find rest in Him!

It is not a simple affair for man to find rest in their souls. They attempt to find rest through travelling, meditation, and leisure activities, but often, the rest doesn’t last long enough. Unless we are brought to bond with the Creator of our souls, our search for rest will be a futile attempt that only brings us into more bondages. When the Father sent Jesus to the world, He has the clearest idea of the chaos and unrest in the world, thus He sent Jesus to them and invite them to find rest in Him. Are you wearied? Come to Jesus. His yoke is light. When you take His yoke and be reconciled with the Father, the Holy Spirit that empowers you will make the burden and tiring pursuit in life strangely weightless in light of His love.

“Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:20-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬ The people in these cities like Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom thought that they could do without God. Little did they realise that their arrogance is actually rejection of God's grace - for God opposes the proud, but shows favour to the humble, judgment and destruction await them. Today, are we also u

In our faith journey, we often face ironical situations that make us doubt God. What do we doubt about God? When we are in rough patches, when what we see are incompatible with what we read about God’s promise, we start to doubt God if He is indeed the living and active God who has come to redeem us. If you find yourself doubting, do not entertain the thoughts of “running away” from God, and brush it off thinking God is not as He promised. Remember, even the great John the Baptist doubted Jesus when the goings get tough, and faith in Christ is tested. However, how John dealt with doubt is what we ought to learn from today - John confronted Jesus, he did not run away from God. Instead, he went to seek clarification from Him. Do you doubt Jesus? What do you do about your doubts today? Clear your doubts with God through prayers and wrestling with God, only then you will enter the Kingdom decisively!

In , Jesus told Matthew, a tax collector to “Follow Me”. Matthew, who was financially sound but deeply accused inside, dropped everything and followed him. Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners. He associated Himself with those who were being despised and rejected by the society, or rather at that time, the Pharisees, who perceived themselves as holy and righteous. Jesus’s heart goes to those who desire mercy, not sacrifice. Do we tend to trivialize our own bads but magnify others’? Do you see yourselves as the accused sinners or the self-righteous sinners? Do we see ourselves in need of God's mercy, instead of our own's merit?

It is another new year. We just bid farewell to 2015 and now we are at 2016, a new year. Have you ever felt that, despite wanting to start anew all over again in this new year, certain things just continue to follow us and weigh us down in life? In Isaiah 43, God said, "forgot the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!.. do you not perceive it?" Why is it that we're always unable to have a breakthrough in the old failures, old problems and old mindset; and why is it that we are unable to see the new things that God claims He's doing? The answer could be very simple. We could be still putting the new wine into the old wineskins. We could still be holding onto our fixated mindset about people and things, the condemnation we have programmed into ourselves that guarantees failure and inferiority , the beliefs that magnify our weakness more than the omnipotence of Christ the Savior. We could be so used to holding onto them, to the point of making them absolute and truth in our liv

"A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?" - (Mark 4:35-41) Often, we find ourselves asking God the same question - God, don't you care if I am upset, if I have enough money, if others bully me, if my loved ones leave me? If you do care, why are you not helping me? " Like the disciples, after seeing the miracles Jesus had performed, it is easy for us to forget that God still loves us and He is in control when storms attack (unrest/ unexpected turbulence) us in life. When the storm becomes so overwhelming yet God does not release us from the circumstances, we may feel that God really does not care and He is harsh to us! Indeed, God does not remove us from our discomfort, inconvenience, and problems at times. But the greater truth is, like this story, Jesus is in the same boat as us! He is omnipotent and most importantly, He cares! S

Do you resolve in following Jesus? Many a times, we have not seriously considered why we follow Jesus, or are we following Jesus wholeheartedly as we claim ourselves to be? A person who wants to follow Jesus is one who comes to realize that there's no other way - salvation comes through Jesus Christ. Are we often hinging on the many things we can see such as financial security, people's love, recognition, subconsciously putting our hope in them, only to find ourselves entering more desperation and woes? Through this message, may we once again confirm the reason of our faith in Jesus Christ, pin down the distractions that dilute away our focus on following Him, so that we can follow Christ resolutely and not look back. Following Jesus is not an one off declaration but a daily confession and resolution, for we see that indeed we intensely need to rely on His grace and the renewal through the Holy Spirit to finish our heavenly face.