In some ways, our fears are a result of more than just fearful things. They are a result of the fact that we are not dense enough, not substantial enough. In the presence of someone more substantial, we are threatened, and in the presence of circumstances that seem so strong, we crack.

How do we stand in the midst of dense, powerful reality? How do we stand before God? The great news is that God is putting substance in us.

The Lord has paid the price and died so that we can meet Him face to face. We can look up to him and not hide our face from him. We can look to him and find that he, in his mercy, receives us. That is the biggest loss among Christians - we don’t look at him face to face. We miss out on a precious opportunity and would rather relate to God on a secondary, cheaper level. The problem with us is that we have seen so little light, our lights are so dim, that we have leveled it off down and we have opted for a certain comfortability with God, so God becomes the sum total of all our projections of good. No, God is other. He is other than that.

The problem with consumerist Christianity is that we always think of God in relation to a problem or an injustice or something about us, so much so that our relationship with God is curved back in upon ourselves so that it is really about us. God is wanting to speak to us and draw us into relationship with him, even though it may seem quite useless to our mind. God is saying, "I want to give you myself. I want to set the agenda and conversation." When we come before God, we die to all other things. If that doesn’t happen, you are just going to have God among the other things you have on the agenda of your life.

Today’s Christianity has too much emphasis on technique and less on the presence of God. We therefore lack density. When we are planted in the house of God and the presence of the Lord, we will flourish in the courts of God, where we do things in front of other people. When we are planted in God -- not in ministry, not in justice, not in ethics, but in God -- then we will flourish in the courts of the Lord. That is the way God wants us to be.

Pastor Michael Koh preaches from Psalm 34, Psalm 97, 2 Chronicles 20, and Deuteronomy 32 on Sunday, November 11, 2018...

"There is power in the words that we speak. We speak them today, and tomorrow they will manifest. We need to be very careful. We can build or destroy. Let’s trust in the Lord and speak positively. The Lord is going to be with us and will help us."

-Pastor Stephen Mubanga preaches from Numbers 14.

We may sometimes feel that God needs us. We strive to do all these things for God and others, thinking we originate everything that God is doing in our lives.

Of course God wants to use us, but as we seek to do the works of God, our “nets” may break if we don’t know that Jesus has already done the work. We try to juggle everything but our capacity for life and ministry gets overwhelmed.

If you don’t want your capacity to break, if you don’t want your net to be torn, you have to understand that He actually does everything. Jesus is inviting you in to what He has already done.

So throw down your net and follow Him. Take notice of what He is doing and join Him. You will find that as you do so, your capacity will grow in such a way that your net will not break and you can hold the weight of glory! You will no longer produce things of no lasting value, but rather you will bear fruit that will last!

Rajeev Nandakumaran preaches from John 21, Luke 5 and John 15...

Hope is an anchor to the soul, but faith is an activator of the present. Hope is lousy for now. What's needed for now is faith. Faith changes our present. It changes the way we are now in the present moment. Faith comes by hearing, and happens when God in His Word enters us and makes us different. Most Christians live life in time hoping for something to happen and they wonder why nothing changes. When nothing changes, they lose hope. God is present immediately, even if there is a process of being set free, of healing, of redemption that we are going through. God does not start with hope, but with what He has done through Christ on the cross. Even if we have yet to experience the fullness of what we hope for, today we can experience the fullness of God that will activate things that will bring us to that future.

Pastor Michael Koh preaches from Isaiah 52, Hebrews 11 and John 11.

"Our problem in America is that we don't want to look bad. What God wants to do is to cause the ugly and the misshapen things in this world to confound the wise. If you reject that, you are actually rejecting the calling of God. Don't give excuses by saying, "No, I'm just not good enough." That is not humility; that is pride. You have to be willing to be held up by God, and look as foolish as you are. God would rather use someone whose misshapen flesh is held up by Him in humility, than someone who is really good at things but the goodness that they have is shallow; the more you get to know them, the more disappointed you are in their life. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses because Moses rejected the humble way. God allowed Aaron to speak on Moses' behalf, and this led to the separation of words and the Being of God. We have silver tongue orators who lack substance. The substance of God makes the mountains melt. A silver tongue doesn't cause anything to melt.

"When God is with us, we, in our flesh, are still lousy. But God will hold our flesh up, so that people will believe. Only the Holy Spirit, not our mouth, skill or brilliance can cause belief to come. He doesn't need you to be that good. He will just pop out of you. Does He pop out of you? He only pops out of a dead person, a staff thrown to the ground. You will make mistakes. You will not be that glorious in the flesh. It will be just you. But God will pop out of you and stand in front of you. He holds up our flagging flesh. Forget about trying to look better. God's power is predicated upon a barren womb. God doesn't say he will make you look good, He says, "I will be with you."

-Pastor Michael Koh preaches on Exodus 4...

Exodus 4:10-14 - "But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses..."

Abraham lived with respect to God and the promises He made, while Lot lived with respect to what looked promising in his own eyes. The Bible doesn't tell us that God fulfills our dreams, but rather that God has a dream for you and me.

Do you feel that your life counts with God?

God has a heart and a love for this world. Your place in this world is as a servant of Him, one who is sent by Him. If you are not sent by Him, you may be well established, but you will have no place. There is a bigger story going on. This bigger story will give your life meaning. If you do not get into the bigger story of what God is doing, your life will be lived in a niche for yourself and the small world around you. No matter how comfortable or happy you are, you won’t know whether your life is significant, because the only one who can give your life significance is God.

For more, view last Sunday’s sermon by Pastor Michael Koh...

You may not know what your future holds or where you belong. The Lord says, “You belong with me”.

Pastor Michael Koh preaches from Exodus 3…

The spirit of poverty is the crippling fear that your perceived, relative littleness can't be used by God in a big way. If you feel like you have little to give, give yourself to the Lord first and ask Him what He wants of you. He became poor to make you rich. He will give you a joy that overflows as you give generously of your treasure, talents and time.

- Excerpt from sermon by Dr. Sanjeev Nandakumaran