To Be in Christ’s Kingdom, You Must Be Changed

To Be in Christ’s Kingdom, You Must Be Changed

Based on 2 Corinthians 5:17

Khen Lim

Image source: suzannegiesmannblog2.blogspot.com

Introduction

Throughout our lives, we talk a lot about change. Nobody I know has never vowed to change for the better. Everyone does at some point in his life to improve in one way or another. 

Athletes promise change so that they can perform more consistently at an even higher level. Manufacturers talk about change where they can offer products that are more efficient or reliable. Or more profitably. People in general immerse themselves in change that makes them less fallible or vulnerable.

Christians, too, talk about change. Because we are, like everyone else, integral to change being an ongoing part of our life and faith. We are not unlike others in the sense things are in an ever-constant flux, persistently reinventing in order that we meet our life’s changing demands. 

Schedules change. Plans change. And sometimes, even the people in our lives change. And so essentially, the more things stay the same, the more they actually change. Change is the only thing that is constant. It’s our new norm.

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn't (Part 2 of 2)

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn’t (Part 2 of 2)

The Christian strategy against liberalism, political correctness and every change that is destroying the world

Khen Lim

Image source: IFL Science

No bright horizons

The world isn’t just an unhappy place but it is also doomed for destruction. Unless something miraculous happens that would turn it around, we have no way out. And even as we lay the blame squarely at the feet of liberals and corrupt politicians, perhaps we may be partly held accountable too because all these decades, many of us had placed so much importance on prosperity and growth that we ourselves ignored the changes that have shifted our social and cultural perceptions. Some of us might have thought they were harmless. Some might have even believed that these changes would never last.

Near-Death Teaches Us Valuable Lessons

Near-Death Teaches Us Valuable Lessons

Khen Lim



Image source: Shutterstock

Even before my wife and I were married, we made the decision to live with my aged parents instead of finding our own home. With my elder brother living with his own family and working abroad, there was little chance of him being able to help in any real way. The best we could expect from him was a once-a-year visit, which for all intents and purposes, wouldn’t make much difference. 

My mother passed away in October 2015 and would have painfully missed the birth of my twin girls, which was a mere week later. By all accounts, Heather and Bridget were supposed to be born the day after she died in the same hospital and with that in mind, she fell short by a mere fifteen hours.

After my mother’s passing, my father’s health steadily declined. A year before she was diagnosed with duodenal cancer, he was pulled up for an abnormally high level of platelets in his blood. On further investigation, it was discovered with a persistent case of low haemoglobin count. 

Eventually then came the shocking news that he also had Stage III kidney failure. Apart from all of this, his heart was weak and his longstanding fight with diabetes and enlarged prostate all added up to more than any family could handle in addition to my mother’s cancer.

The Church God Wants Us To Be

The Church God Wants Us to Be

Based on 1 Corinthians 16;13-14

Khen Lim




Image source: micahjmurray.com

On his dying bed, the U.S. Secretary of State (1861 to 1869) and architect of the Alaska Purchase, William Henry Seward was asked if he had any last words to remember him by, he said, “Nothing, only ‘love one another.’”

Last words are like parting shots. They are like the final opportunity to say something useful or something worth remembering or something that would work out to be quite important. The Apostle Paul probably knew this when he put his finishing touches to close his first letter to the Corinthians. Because of that, it pays for us to follow through and see what it is that Paul wants to tell us as he concludes 1 Corinthians.

Be God's Eager Worker and Reap the Benefits

Be God's Eager Worker and Reap the Benefits

Based on 1 Corinthians 15:58

Khen Lim




Image source: clipartkid.com

Many of us in church do our best to make sure that the pastor or the ministry leaders don’t end up choosing us to do the very work that we enjoy watching but least want to be involved in. Sending out tracts? Going on some evangelical mission? Get involved in some Bible study classes? How about volunteering for some charity work or helping out in a home for the elderly? These are tough asks for those who don’t quite understand the importance of abounding in the work of the Lord.

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians (Part 3 of 3)

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians 

Final Part 3 of 3 

Khen Lim




The 45th President of the United States Donald J Trump (Image source: Christian Today)

The surreal number ‘45’

In the recent days after the shocking election fallout, both sides of the political spectrum have been asking a lot of questions. The Democrats are doing two things – they are tearing themselves asunder but they are also pointing the finger to blame everyone else except themselves. Meanwhile the Republicans are fighting among themselves for a place in Trump’s cabinet and my guess is that they still have no idea what it was that made the results look so astonishing and unexpected.

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians (Part 2 of 3)

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians 

Part 2 of 3

Khen Lim




President-elect Donald J Trump (Image source: Sputnik International)

God hath spoken… and acted

In August 2015, World News Daily (wnd.com) published an article entitled, ‘Firestorm Erupts over Trump’s Bible Connection.’ Written by a young Pastor Jeremiah Johnson, who, at that time, knew next to nothing about Trump, the article was his witness to God’s calling. It was a prophetic message about a person he had never met whom God has anointed to be His trumpet to the people. Here is what he said:

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians (Part 1 of 3)

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians 

Part 1 of 3

Khen Lim




Image source: hellogiggles.com

Every four years in the United States of America, the presidential elections take place. This year was no exception but this November 8 will long be remembered as one that is quite different from any of the others in the nation’s modern history and for good reason – for a change, liberalism is about to spin on its head.

In Death, We are Raised to be Imperishable and Eternal

In Death, We are Raised to be Imperishable and Eternal

Based on 1 Corinthians 15

Khen Lim




Thomas and Jesus (Image source: youtube.com)

Unlike all others, in death, Christians expect amazing things to happen beginning with resurrection and ending with having a ‘brand new’ body that will last eternally in heaven. 

A more theologically accurate way of putting it is to say that our present physical natural bodies will be transformed into ones that are either as good as if not better than new. This transformation must not imply that we are to literally receive new bodies; at least not in the sense that these are different bodies that have no relation to the bodies we have while alive. 

What If Christ Remained Dead

What If Christ Remained Dead

A look at 1 Corinthians 15

Khen Lim




Image source: acts17.net

To any Christian to find out that Christ was after all not resurrected would be more cataclysmic than coming to terms with a nuclear detonation. It would be unthinkable. Unacceptable. Un-everything. It would be… un-Christian. 

Why? The plain reason would be that Christianity itself would simply evaporate into thin air like spontaneous combustion. A more complicated answer would require a few more words than that.

Why Christians Are A Misunderstood Lot

Why Christians Are A Misunderstood Lot

Khen Lim




When churches conduct themselves poorly, Christians become misunderstood (Image source: cnn.com)

How difficult can it be to be a Christian? Easy, you just go to church often enough, learn to read and understand the Bible, become a prayerful person, maybe get involved in some ministries or attend a cell group. You’ll inevitably meet many people who offer you great encouragement to become a Christian and then one day, you wake up realising you’re baptised! That can’t be a bad thing, right? Wrong.

The Essential Christian

The Essential Christian

Loosely Based on 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Khen Lim




Image source: answersingenesis.org

Needless to say, the essential toolkit for any Christian only need to contain the Bible and not much else. The Word of God is indisputably the single most indispensable component of the Christian faith because it defines the seven crucial elements that are the embodiment of the essential Christian as they encompass our understanding and belief when we follow in the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Making Sense of Gibberish

Making Sense of Gibberish

Based on 1 Corinthians 14

Khen Lim




Image source: bible.org.nz

Here’s an embarrassing story to tell about myself. In the early Eighties, I accompanied a fellow employee of the music school I worked at in Geelong to go along with her family to visit her pastor’s home one quiet evening. I was a man of the world then and my biggest ‘weapon’ in intimidating young Christians was to breathe into their faces and ask questions they couldn’t answer. And that was how my friend suggested that I asked that to her pastor.

What is Life Without Love? (Part Two/Final)

What is Life Without Love? (Part Two/Final)

From the first three verses in Part One, we now look conclusively at the biblical overview of the entire Chapter 13 of First Corinthians

Khen Lim




Image source: whitegoldsilver.blogspot.in

More than face value

Even though the world talks incessantly about love, that love usually comes with conditions or it is compromised. There is no pure love that any of us know of without a catch somewhere. Yet none of this applies to what we know of love in the strictest Pauline sense and this is best characterised in 1 Corinthians 13. For what Paul teaches us about love, we find it nowhere more inspiring, more enlightening and more meaningful.

What is Life Without Love? (Part One)

What is Life Without Love? (Part One)

A discourse on 1 Corinthians 13

Khen Lim




Jack Lemmon and Robby Benson in The Tribute, 1980 (Image source: cinema.de)

All but his son

In December 1980, playwright Bernard Slade launched a theatrical play and later a motion picture by the name ‘Tribute,’ which earned the brilliant Jack Lemmon an Oscar nomination as the leading actor. Lemmon played the role of Scottie Templeton, a shallow Broadway press agent who learns he is dying of cancer just as his twenty-year-old son Jud arrives for a visit. 

Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts

Three Basic Steps to Find Your Spiritual Gifting (1 Cor 12:28-31)

Khen Lim

Image source: gracethrufaith.com

Have you ever asked yourself what your purpose is in life? Have you ever thought that your life has something to do with what God intends for you to be? Have you figured what you must do with the life that has been given you?

That sense of purpose invariably leads us to an understanding of what God has endowed us that we can then use to forward His kingdom by playing our part in the building up of the Body of Christ. And God does that by giving each of us the opportunity to discover the spiritual gifts that He has stowed away in us and if there is anything more amazing and intriguing in life than this, I’m still waiting to know because, believe me, it is thrilling, overwhelming and powerful.

Dem Bones Make Up the Whole Body

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:18-21

Khen Lim




Gift of healing (Image source: lds.org)

Author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson was born in 1871 and died in 1938 at the age of 67. In February 1928, he recorded his composition called Dem Dry Bones, which soon became a very well-known spiritual song. As you may suspect, the lyrics were inspired by Ezekiel 37:1-14 in relation to the Valley of Dry Bones and symbolic of Israel’s national resurrection. Over the years, countless artistes added it to their repertoire including Rosemary Clooney, The Kingsmen, The Lennon Sisters, Mills Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Fats Waller and as late as 1986, The Cathedral Quartet.

The Modern Approach to Unity in Diversity

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:14-27

Khen Lim




Image source: euintheus.org

In 1 Corinthians 12:14-27, Paul uses the human body to draw comparison to the Church, likening it to how our diverse body parts coalesce as one as a way of idealising the notion of unity in diversity. He explains, “For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” 

We may be of different social dynamics, cultural roots and inherited backgrounds but we all have a common origin vested in a common purpose even if we are reminded that we are not identical.

Sorting Out the Holy Spirit

What to make out of the Evangelical-versus-Charismatic debate

(Based on 1 Corinthians 12:13)

Khen Lim




Image source: samdepreacher.wordpress.com

Not too long ago, I had spent time in different churches where I got to feel what they were like. Among the few that I did invest some years with was a charismatic Indian working-class church loosely tied with the Assemblies of God denomination. Coming from an essentially conservative evangelical background, the initial experience was overwhelming. Despite spending a few years acclimatising, it was tough going for an old dog like me.

Sum of the Whole is Greater than Sum of its Parts

Reflections of 1 Corinthians 12:11-13

Khen Lim




Image source: franklin.edu

You probably know that the title came from somewhere else and you’d be right. Wikipedia links it to the definition of Synergy but it was in 1890 that the Gestalt concept surrounding this phrase was conceived by Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) who said that, “it’s the perception of a composition as a whole while each of the individual parts have meaning of their own (but) when taken together, the meaning may change. Our perception of the piece is based on our understanding of all the bits and pieces working in unison.”