Pentecost: Plunging into the Depth of the Promise
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu
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To be a disciple, there is a non-negotiable rhythm throughout God's Word. The order of death, burial and resurrection is the divine pattern that He has set.
Baptism is the means by which God uses to turn death to life; it is the public declaration that we make to choose the path of life and become a new creation. Not only are we taken out of the world when we are baptized, but we are, from that moment on, purchased to God.
Throughout scripture we see the power of water and the promise that God has declared - anything that goes through His water that is not nailed to the cross WILL die. The flood brings destruction to sin and marks a fresh start for humanity, with the Holy Spirit appearing as a dove, signaling new life. When God takes the Israelites out of bondage in Exodus, he parts the Red Sea and drowns out all the powers sent against His people so that they may be free. The stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jonah, Peter and David all echo the pattern of God using water to turn death into life and resurrection. Water is what God uses to cleanse and redeem His people, and change the physical for His purposes.
When Jesus came, He asked to be baptized to humble Himself and identify with all of us, who need baptism to be free. When the dove comes on Jesus, it is a signal of transition, a passing of the mantle to become the High Priest; His baptism fulfills all righteousness and sets the path for Jesus to baptize His disciples with the Holy Spirit.
When the disciples are baptized on Pentecost, it is again an echo of the promise that God intended from Genesis - only this time, they were baptized with fire from Jesus. Water cleanses, but fire purifies. Fire sets us apart, opens our eyes to Him and signals His presence. When we are baptized, we don't just obtain life, but become life-giving. As the disciples were plunged in the depths of their heart and given new life, they then set forth to spread His fire to the world.
Holy Spirit, may you baptize us. May the headwaters from Heaven break open and engulf our hearts today. In this season of transition, may we recognize that we are not only being redeemed, but also sent forth; we are consecrated so that we may partner with You to spread Your fire to our city and break the strongholds of the enemy. May we receive the Holy Spirit so that we may release life to those around us. Amen!
Stay Through the Breakthrough
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu
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Tension is good. Sitting in tension is good.
Tension is what Jesus chose to live in when He, having come from the place where everything is made new, came down to us. When He came down to a world that is broken, and so in need.
To each one who is sitting in tension, to each one who has questions (Lord, just help me understand!): You are in a good place. You are in a place that pulls on the heart of heaven. The offending of your mind is what comes before breakthrough. In the not knowing, in the mystery, how are we allowing Him to mature our spirits? Are we yielded enough to allow him to tune our spirits to sense where there is life? To shift our pursuit of the tree of knowledge (knowing what is right and wrong), to the tree of life?
This place of struggling with our flesh, this place of invitation to fully-yielded surrender is where the 120 disciples found themselves during the ten days between Jesus' ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Before He ascended, Jesus gave them (us) the Great Commission. And, He instructed them to wait (Acts 1:4 NKJV).
In the GO of sending, there is a WAIT.
In the promise of building, there is a STAY.
In our gathering, our TOGETHER-together is in accordanceto His WORD.
Before fire, there must be a sacrifice. Before receiving an outpouring, there must be a yielding to the Holy Spirit. This was the pattern the apostles had to learn before building the church, and it is a pattern that our God continues to teach us in the way He moves and comes.~
On your altar, oh Lord, may we be found lowly and humble. You give grace to the humble, and we so need your grace. When our minds are offended, help our spirits to stay engaged. When our flesh wants to leave, to just go, help us to wait. For, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). And when Your outpouring comes, may You find us a people You can stay with. May You find us a people You can find rest with.
Invited to Carry the Promise
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu
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Happy Mothers’ Day!
God has used mums in the story of redemption to reveal aspects of His heart and nature.
The Lord divinely designed women and mothers to play a major role at every significant turning in His redemptive story. Mothers in the kingdom of God carry an eternal impact, and have influence that stretches into generations.
Eve was the first promise bearer. God used her to show that motherhood would become the vessel for salvation. She carried the seed that would crush the serpent’s head.
Sarah laughed at God’s promises, but God used her womb, which was dead, to be the birthplace of an entire nation. The promise was given to Abraham, but it was carried and born through Sarah.
Naomi was broken and bitter, but she became the instrument that pulled an outsider into God’s redemptive story. Her grief did not disqualify her from taking part, but God wove it into the story of redemption.
Ruth teaches us what true loving relationships look like. Her willingness to stay, sacrifice, and to serve placed her directly in the lineage of Jesus.
Hannah interceded for a son just when Israel was losing their way. She pours out her soul in prayer and her travail brings forth Samuel, the prophet who would anoint Israel’s greatest king.
Her prayer is the seed for Mary’s prayer, and they echo one another through eternity.
Elizabeth was past the age of child bearing, yet God used her pregnancy to make sure Mary kept her baby. Without Elizabeth it would have been very difficult for Mary. Generations birth things that pave the way for each other. We are not in competition with each other, instead, two generations can carry God’s redemptive purpose at the same time.
Mary became the ultimate vessel for God’s promise to Eve. She was a young ordinary woman that was chosen to carry the living God. Her response to this, “Let it be unto me according to your word,” represents the most significant act of surrender in all of human history. She carried, she birthed, she raised, and she gave the saviour of the world. No one has loved and lost at a greater cost than Mary.
The mothers in God’s story reveal in the natural our call to carry and travail in the spiritual. Intercession is about carrying God’s burden, His heart deposited into us. May we step into this calling of carrying and bringing forth the things that are on the heart of God.
Lord, we say we are willing for it to be unto us according to your word.
The Sign of Jonah: Death, Burial, and Resurrection
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu, Pastor Richard Kao
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There is a fellowship with Christ that can only be experienced through suffering.
When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees to show a sign from Heaven, He points to the story of Jonah. The three days he spent in the whale's belly mirrors the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
As we know, dwelling within the stomach of a whale isn't the most comfortable experience. However, Jonah was transformed inside the whale. When he came out, he carried a new zeal that became the catalyst to overturning the destiny of an entire city.
Jonah was able to be a part of this just because he was called to it by God; in fact, he ran the opposite way from where he was supposed to be. Despite him turning away, he was able to be transformed because of his experience of suffering, and the revelation that He received in knowing that only through Him did he still live.
In the same way, the death and resurrection of Jesus is our testimony. If we experience and share in the suffering that He went through, only then can we begin to understand the magnitude of His love. Without the blood of Jesus, we would have no presence to experience for ourselves. Our faith rests on the foundation of the finished work that Jesus did on the cross.~
Lord, may you touch our hearts and make us more like Jonah. Fill us with a lifelong zeal for you that comes when we recognize the power of your resurrection. May you do the work within us in preparation for us to touch our city. May we fellowship in Your suffering so that You can transform us. Turn our feet to where you have called us even if we are fearful!
Leviticus: It’s All About Jesus
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu
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It's all about Jesus.
Everything. Is about Jesus.
Even in Old Testament books like Leviticus that may seem dry at first read but, as we look closer, reveal the wisdom and poetry of a God, of a Father who had a plan for redemption all along.
Leviticus 14:1-8 details the process by which a person diseased with leprosy is pronounced clean by the priest. In God's masterful wisdom, it is also a picture of the Gospel - of how Christ, our Great High Priest, cleanses us from sin. We are made clean through the cross (cedar wood) and through His blood (scarlet yarn). And it is through our faith and confession (hyssop) that we apply His blood to cover our lives.
Christ's death (the bird that is killed) and resurrection life (the live bird that is released) come together. Like the live bird dipped in water and blood, we are released to spread the washing of water and the covering of His blood over our families and communities, as we overcome the accuser - by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11).
~Holy Spirit, open our eyes and stir our hearts to the profound affection of Your redemption of our souls.
Father, this was Your plan all along - that the suffering Lamb would release life and make a way for us to come home to You.
Jesus, perfect Lamb who was slain and raised to life, thank you. May we never lose the gift of tenderness and tears.
May we never become familiar with the Gospel.