Hope: Be Steadfast and Unswerving

Lesson 13: Exhortations From the Sanctuary

Wednesday Lesson on December 25th

What do the texts below all have in common?

Heb. 3:6  Christ in me if I hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. An assurance of Christ in me. 

Heb. 3:14 I have become a partaker of Christ if I hold the beginning of my confidence steadfast to the end. An assurance of becoming a partaker of Christ. 

Heb. 4:14 I have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let  me hold fast my confession. This is an assurance.

Heb. 6:18  it is impossible for God to lie, therefore I might have strong consolation, I have hope. An Assurance of the Hope I have. 

Heb. 10:23  "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful". An assurance of God's faithfulness.

All the texts above have these in common: Hope, Confidence, Assurance, and Confession. 
"An objective sense to the Christian belief. We can do these things because our hope isn’t in ourselves but in Jesus and what He has done for us. The moment we forget that crucial truth, we will surely lose confidence" (Probstle, 2013). How do have an immutable and unshaken faith? whatever the circumstances I'm in, no matter how tough it may be, my hope must remain the same and my commitment to God is unchanged because I can trust that He is faithful and will do what He has promised.

I must encourage myself not to waver at the promise of God through unbelief but must be strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. Be fully convinced that what God had promised, He is able to perform according to His will. He has guaranteed an Eternal life for me. He promised even before time began, before my birth. The only predestination of Hope is established in Titus 1:2 (NKJV)

2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

1 John 2:25 (NKJV)

25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

Even if I might die out of a tragic accident, God's faithfulness is immovable. Even if I fall short of my faithlessness, still He remains faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB95)

13  If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

In Memory of Andrew Chan Cheak Wan

Graveyard of Andrew Chan

Time flies, 19 years have passed. Today, I want to take time to remember a good teacher and acknowledge his contribution in teaching me the Word of God. As God's servant, He took the trouble to fetch me to church. Back in 1993, I had made up my mind that if no one takes me to church from Shah Alam to attend a KL  Seventh-dayAdventist church at Bukit Bintang, I would never bother to go. There's no internet access in Malaysia at that time. I had to use phone directory to locate Seventh-day Adventist church. I wasn't a believer at that time, I didn't have a good reason to go to church. I didn't think that it's logical for me to take bus from Shah Alam to KL. I thought if I called the church and if the Pastor said no one could fetch me up, then I would concluded that I really didn't have to go. What was my reason going to church anyway? It was actually trying to get a copy of the Sabbath School quarterly lesson . I enjoy reading the Sabbath School quarterly lesson.  I thought I just had to go to church with only one aim, get the quarterly lesson. 

Thanks to brother Andrew for fetching me to church. I purposely troubled him, I was very mean to Christian, for I thought if they claimed themselves as Christian, then they should do service "free of charge". Not only he fetched me to church, after church service he fetched me to work as a promoter in a shopping centre at Klang.  I  really amazed in his ability to explain the book of Revelation. He had assisted me to understand the plan of salvation. If it's not because of his encouraging words in urging me to finish my degree at the States and his advice to me, to help my parents understand that I wasn't a fanatic by showing good result in my study, I thought back then, it's really no point to study since my parents didn't trust me. My thought of quitting my study in overseas was what I wanted. But today I still remember his words as he asked me to complete my study and really study it so well, so much so that with a good result, my parents could not question about a God whom I believe. I showed my parents how I was changed for the better and not the worst. I would not have put efforts in completing my study if he didn't encourage me in my difficult times. At that moment, all I wanted was to work rather than to study. When I finally finished my study in 1995, I thought I could share my joy with him but sadly I could not do so.

Every year during this time, I'll go to his graveyard, just to do a deep searching of my heart and ponder upon my life as well as reflect upon the way I teach my students.  Whatever I do, I hope "finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8).

Lesson 10: The Eschatological Day of Atonement

Lesson 10: The Eschatological Day of Atonement

I'm happy today to see rainbow in the sky. My colleague told me that this morning rained, so sunshine and rain, wow! so I see Rainbow. I hope my daughter gets to see it too. She's always excited to see rainy day. When I asked her why, she said her anticipation was to see rainbow in the sky when the rain stops. I explained to her that it's provided that the sun came out, if not, it's a wet wet day. 

Today, I need to keep in mind of the Vision that God helps me to see at my lesson study. I need to remember to keep His words. I have lots of works to get done. No matter what, I told my daughter to memorize Matt 6:33 

"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well".

I'm thankful to the Good News I received. I treasure it and I pray to do my best and let God do the rest :-)