2015: The Year of Overcoming Power

The same power, the same power that crushed the enemy

The same power, the same power, the same power lives in me!

–Risen, Covenant Worship & Israel Houghton

As I was minding my own business, listening to ‘Risen’, the Lord placed upon by heart the theme for 2015, With every accurate Rhema word, there must be scriptural backing (Logos word) as well as confirmations, both which have been evident throughout the past month. The word ‘power’ has been spawning all over the place, from sermons to sharing and even to songs. But what power are we talking about here?

I present you the theme of the year: 

And the theme verse:

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. [1 John 4:4 KJV]

And not to forget the theme song:

Risen by Covenant Worship & Israel Houghton

A good place to start is the definition of power. In the Greek, ‘power’ is ‘dunamis’, where we get our English word ‘dynamite’. It refers to strength, power and ability, and it’s used in many areas of the New Testament. However, what about overcoming?

2015: The Year of Overcoming Power

This overcoming power is the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:4 GNT, MSG), whom Jesus describes as a person who convicts unbelievers of sin and believers of righteousness (John 16:9–10). This same power raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:20) is also known as ‘resurrection power’, implying that death, an enemy of God (1 Corinthians 15:26), has been crushed. It is the fully realised power of the sample that Jesus imparted in Matthew 9, the power that overcomes demons, disease and death, the effects of sin.

As such, the power in us is the exploding strength, power and ability to overcome the effects of sin, namely condemnation (ref Romans 8:1), fear (the antithesis to love, ref 1 John 4:18) and stress (ref Genesis 3:19), that lead to the more apparent issues that surface:

This power will provide things that pertain to life and godliness to overcome the above. The growth of this power, how it multiplies, is brought forth through the increased knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:2–4). While ignorance of Jesus will limit the power, knowledge causes it to multiply. And the knowledge is that we have been completely cleansed from all our former sins (2 Peter 1:9).

Contextually, the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit, on which the disciples spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4) and when Peter preached to a multitude, 3,000 being saved (Acts 2:14–41). But prophetically for Singapore, 2015 is Singapore’s Jubilee Year, 50 years of independence, paralleling the Pentecost that occurred 50 days after the Passover, thus implying an explosive nature of the Holy Spirit to fall upon the nation, the power that will overcome the above-mentioned struggles that we face.

This overcoming power is released from God and into us. It is supernatural, not one of self effort, and is received, not earned, in the unity of the body of Christ. As John Piper puts it, “You will not experience the overcoming power of the gospel in your life without the local church.” When the Church in Singapore is united, putting aside trivial matters and focused on Jesus, then a mighty outpouring of the Spirit forms the overcoming power that enables the above to come to pass. Why? So that you may have the power to live and share the abundant life which Jesus promised to all who trust and obey Him. Through overcoming power, we can substantively testify of the Gospel to our unsaved loved ones.

So get ready for 2015: the Year of Overcoming Power. 

It's Not Over

It’s Not Over, It’s Not Finished
It’s Not Ending, It’s Only The Beginning 
When God Is In It, All Things Are New
All Things Are New

—Israel and New Breed, 2012

Joel Kindiak's Malaysia Tour

For all you stalkers out there who read my blog (haha) I'll post the links to snippets of my Malaysia Tour vacation here:

Day 1 – http://youtu.be/wdvRMulVW08

Day 2 – http://youtu.be/1-_zf2v7iz8
Day 3 – http://youtu.be/vyTFeTfoOlo 
Day 4 – http://youtu.be/Z8PwaSspRdw
Day 5 – http://youtu.be/Ad9djdgMgVU
Day 6 – http://youtu.be/rl1GchSbNuI
Day 7 – http://youtu.be/pdX84lvbPaA

God’s Justice, My Justification

Joel Kindiak Expositions (6)

Date: 6 October 2014

Topic: God’s Justice, My Justification

Q Is punishment of sins due more to God’s mercy or God’s justice?

A Many of us undoubtedly believe that God is love. (1 John 4:8) In fact, two expositions ago, I wrote on how Christianity is first about God’s love for us (1 John 4:10), then our love for God in response. (1 John 4:19) We also believe that God is merciful. (Exodus 34:6) And, for the purposes of this exposition, we believe that God is just, just as David described Him as a righteous judge. (Psalm 7:11) However, in specificity, forgiveness of sins is on the basis of God’s justice rather than God’s mercy.

Proponents for God’s mercy argue that mercy is, by definition, being exempted from the curses that we deserve, and God, through the cross, has exempted us from death (John 3:16) unto everlasting life, saved by grace, not by works but unto good works (Ephesians 2:8–10), being spared of God’s wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9) By this definition, yes, God did indeed save us by His mercy on us and we are spared of God’s justice. God being rich in mercy has not imputed sin on us (Romans 4:8) and thus saved us not only from hell but also made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4), when His justice would destroy us in accordance to His holiness. It is inevitably by God’s mercy that we died with Christ and resurrected with Him (Romans 6:5), being born again in accordance with the Spirit (John 3:6) and these would not come to pass if God judged us based on our works according to His holiness.

However true these truths of God’s mercy may be, they reflect the nature of God’s sacrificial act for us and not the function, which is in accordance with God’s justice. God being holy is far from incognisant of sin (Habakkuk 1:13) and cannot tolerate one speck of sin, as opposed to God’s mercy which withholds judgement in light of sin (2 Peter 3:9), and thus seemingly contradicts the acts of unmerited favour and restrained punishment that follow His mercy. In order to make us free from the imputation and yet maintain a holy stance in punishing our sin, God needs to punish our sin in another person, just like how the verdict of a judge on a prisoner needs to be accomplished, and the punishment that brought us peace was upon Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 53:4) At the cross, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin punished on behalf of us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Thus, the process of Jesus receiving God’s wrath exacted upon our sin was more accurately brought about by God’s justice, a punishment of sin rather than the refraining of it that God’s mercy entails.

Furthermore, while God’s mercy introduces the connotation of God’s emotions, where God is merciful when He feels good and is wrathful when He feels bad, the nature of God’s justice lies in an action independent of God’s emotions, thus providing the believer a full assurance of His ever–righteous standing before Him. Some believers are unsure of their salvation as they perceive their sinful acts to pull them out of righteousness, since it was by God’s mercy, seemingly wavering, that pulled them in and by sinful acts, they fall out of God’s mercy and disqualify themselves from salvation.  Whereas by God’s justice, the believer can have full assurance in salvation, as it is not provided by wavering emotions that human comprehends but by the irreversible action of Jesus at the cross. It is by the action of God’s judgement of our sin on Jesus that imputes Jesus’ righteousness onto us (2 Corinthians 5:21), confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus on account of us being justified. (Romans 4:25) In order for Jesus to be raised from the dead, the believer needs to be made righteous, and logically, since Jesus did indeed rise, the believer has been, according to Scripture, judicially made righteous before God Almighty, thus having complete confirmation to salvation and allowing him or her to stand in faith, the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1), in Him.

Also, by the justice of God, salvation of the believer upholds the holiness of God. God’s justice demands punishment of sin whilst God’s mercy demands exemption from such punishment, by death, according to the Bible. (Romans 3:23) If God were to mercifully sweep our sins under the carpet and forgive us without anyone requiring death, it would violate His holy demands. However, if salvation depended on God judging our sins, it would require a perfect Man who also is God. No one fits the bill except Jesus Christ, the Son of God born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:18–25) in the likeness of sinful flesh. (Romans 8:3) And Jesus taking upon the punishment of sins and the corresponding punishment of the separation from God and death upholds God’s divine holiness that demands judgement of sin.  As such, through the cross, the sins of humanity were not spared; they were judicially punished but in the body of another, satisfying the demands of God’s justice. In that sense, God’s mercy gave Jesus, the sacrifice and substitute, to God’s justice, thus settling the debt that mankind incurred by robbing God of His joy of fellowship in the Garden of Eden, and God’s mercy is validated by God’s justice in the forgiveness of sins and imputation of righteousness.

Ultimately, while all believers can agree that where God’s mercy and God’s justice coincides at the cross, bringing about justification, the location where punishment of sins occur is by the grace of God while the act which punishment of sins is dealt with is by the justice of God. Through God’s justice and concrete actions, not His emotions toward us which we perceive to waver, we can stand fully assured that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) and that we may boldly enter the the throne of grace to receive mercy in the time of our need (Hebrews 4:16), securing our faith even in the fiercest of storms, where it’s not about us but about Jesus and how God punished our sins in Jesus righteously to make us righteous mercifully.

Let Endless Praise Resound!

You are God, and we lift You up
Weʼll keep singing, weʼll keep praising
We wonʼt stop, giving all we got
Cause You're worthy, of all glory

Oh, there is no other
You are forever, Lord over all
Thereʼs nobody like You, no one beside You

To You
Let endless praise resound
Every night and day, and with no delay
Let endless praise resound

Boundless love
Light before the sun
Your glory eternal
Never stops
Giving all You got
Creation keeps singing

We lift You up up up
Weʼre giving You our love love love
For everything Youʼve done done done
We give You all the praise

Planetshakers, 2014

A Dream

And no, I'm not talking about my foresight of the future. Just a brief account of my dream last night.

I found myself in what seemed like the Axis Theatre, the meeting site of my new home church, Hope Church Singapore, and me in my regular attire, red or black jacket and my knee-length shorts. Though the place was packed, I saw Natalie, Pamela and Tamara at distinct locations of the Axis Theatre just declaring what I believe to be a blessing over the congregation, which I was certain was mostly Megalife.

Why are they praying?
Why is it Megalife congregating and not Ablaze?

Then came what I remember to be an altar call, a call for provision of boldness and faith to those who lack, and being one whose spirit is willing but flesh is weak, I went up to receive prayer, later surrounded by three prayer warriors, one of whom was Hilary.

Hilary, what are you doing here and not in some European region?

Of course, I saw the other Megalifers, like Samuel, Faith, Marc, Alvin and so on, but I'll still wonder the significance of these distinct scenes that I remember after more than 12 hours unlike other dreams which I forget instantaneously.

Just a brief recount.

–Joel (8/12/14)