Sunday Sermon on Rahab, the type of people God uses

26-FEB 2006 Sunday Service

Speaker : Elder Peter Tsen

Topic : Rahab : The type of people God uses

Passage : Joshua 2, 6:17, 6:22-23

How God used Rahab, the prostitute in Jericho :

* Rahab sheltered & hid the 2 spies sent by Joshua

* Defied the King's order

* Misdirected the King's men

* Helped the 2 spies to escape

Sermon contents

* The attributes of Rahab's Life

* The impact of Rahab's Life

* The lessons from Rahab's sin

The attributes of Rahab's life

1) She heard testimonies about the Lord and taken them to heart (vs 8-11)

- I know the Lord had given this land to you and a great fear has fallen on us

- we have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea, destroy Sihon and Og (ancient cities)

- the Lord your God is in heaven above and on their side

2) Convicted and plead for salvation (vs 12-13)

- please swear to me ... You will show kindness to my family

- that you will spare the lives of my family and me

- that you will save us from death

3) Accept the Lord and trust His Word (vs 14, 18)

- "Our lives for your live!".. If you...

- don't tell what we are doing

- have tied the scarlet cord on the window

- have brought all your family into the house

Hell is timeless (eternity) and so is heaven. The difference is that hell is timeless suffering!

Rahab was facing a life or death situation here... Or to paraphrase that, she was facing either heaven or hell! She had to make a decision to save herself and her family by entrusting her life in the words of God's people.

4) Involved in the Lord's work (vs 6 & 15)

- Rahab took the spies and hid them on the roof

- And helped them to escape

James 2:25, 2:26

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

5) Discerning spirit (vs 16)

- Rahab discerned it would not be wise for the 2 spies to return to Joshua straight away

- she advise them to hide in the hills for 3 days until the pursuers give up pursuing

6) Faithful and obedient (vs 6:22-23)

- Rahab fulfilled the conditions laid down by the spies

- the spies recognised the household by the scarlet cord hanging on the window

- she made sure all her family members are inside the house.

The significance of the RED scarlet chord : this ensures salvation for her. RED signifies the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ saves lives from sin.

Hebrews 11:31

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

The impact of Rahab's Life

- The God fearing values are passed down, not curses of sins

Matthew 1:1-17 The genealogy of Jesus

Abraham (several generations later)->Salmon married Rahab -> Boaz (son of Ruth) married Ruth -> Obed -> Jesse -> King David(abt 1000 yrs later) -> Jesus Christ!

Both Ruth and Rahab are Moabites, not Israelites. This shows God can use anyone, even back then in the old days.

Sidetracked : Testimony from the Elder about how his forefathers came to salvation

The Tsen's received salvation after their ancestor's sick cow farted (miraculously healed from a terrible cow disease)! As funny as it sounds, it was a miracle that then saved the rest of the Tsen's family line thereafter. (Gab/Matt, if you are reading this, I hope you can comment in this blog how it actually happened! :D )

The lessons from Rahab's sin (as a prostitute)

1) It does not mean God approves such an evil profession

- Rahab became a true convert & abandoned her business

- God condemns sin but the people, He loves

- God commands people who have been delivered from bondages not to give the Devil anything

John 8:11

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

2) God can and will use anyone no matter how sinful the background one comes from

- God delivered Rahab and saved her life

Luke 19:10

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

***************************

By the way, I was typing this message using my Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard. Below are pics of this new toy of mine.

When folded, this is how the keyboard looks like... very portable. Brand : ThinkOutside - Stowaway.

This is how it looks like with my O2 XDAIIs in horizontal display. Still lovin' it!

ColOUrINg

ColOUrINg, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

This must be my kids favourite past time. For some reason, they are just so fascinated with crayons and colour pencils. Could it be that the beautiful array of colours around them intrigued them to try to produce it on paper (or sometimes on our walls, floors, living room, kitchen, etc... *groan*)? Or perhaps these non-toxic colourful art material another play toy for them? Whatever it is, it teaches them great dexterity as they learn how to hold and use these "tools" properly. Josh has got it while Jess is still learning to hold the colour pencils (crayons) properly. Chopsticks next??

Here are some more pics taken during lunch; colouring whilst waiting for their meal. The mind boggles at what goes on inside their little curious minds.

A day in Kuala Lumpur

A day in Kuala Lumpur, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

It was a beautiful day in KL today. After a heavy down pour last night, the sky ccleared up beautifully. This picture was taken from KLCC Tower 1, where we had our meeting today. The KL tower in the pic looks fantastic with the early sunrise at the background.

2 hours later... still clear blue sky with no smog!

Just before heading back to my hotel this afternoon, I dropped by KLCC Suria Shopping centre to try out a much talked about ice cream parlour by my colleague. It is called New Zealand Natural. I had the Butterscotch Walnut ice cream and it was just heavenly. Indeed, this ice cream parlour serves very good ice cream, with ordinary flavours like Chocolate to wacky ones like Crazy Monkey!

After heading back to my hotel, I decided to get my lunch prior to catching my flight back to Miri. I was in the mood for 'Char Siew' and roast pork. So I proceeded to my favourite place for roast meats; U-Village Hong Kong restaurant located at the back of Sungei Wang.

So here I am now at KLIA, waiting for my flight home and blogging here to pass time. Home sweet home...here I come.

Low Yatt Plaza, KL

Low Yatt Plaza, KL, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

I'm blogging this at Low Yatt Plaza in KL, one of my favourite pc / pda accessories (gadgets) place. Decided to get myself a bluetooth keyboard after much review from fellow bloggers, colleague and the net.



(30 mins later)

So here I am (at Secret Recipe) typing away on this "Stowaway : ThinkOutside" Bluetooth Keyboard. This is quite a nifty gadget. It opens up to a full size keyboard and it is easy to type. Pairing the device with my O2 XDA IIs is a cinch. The only difference compared to the desktop keyboard is the function (Fn) keys. But with a little practice, it'll not be a problem. Just lovin' this new toy!

Point Number Next

"Point number.. next", said the preacher this morning. He was on a roll and he "forgot" which point he was on.. it gave a smile on my face! That's a new one. I asked myself if that was one of the Nigerian type of english that he was using or he really forgot! Anyway, it was a good sermon about importance of housegroups or cell ministry.

After church, we went for lunch with my brother and sister in-law at another of our favourite haunt... Uncle Lai's. Yup, that's the name of the restaurant. It has been quite a while since we were last there and there has been a change in the menu... for the better, we think. It's good to have a change in the menu to tantalise our curious tastebuds and hungry tummys!

Here are a few pics taken from my PDA with the last one using the 'sepia' mode.
Wish my PDA had a higher pixel-count camera than the 800kb or so! One can wish...

Apam Balik

What shall I blog tonight? Hmm... it has been a looong day this Saturday. Perhaps I shall blog about one of my favourite dessert... no, not ice cream (I did say ONE of my fav.) but "apam balik"! It's like pancake but the difference is that it has peanut filling which is usually splattered with a generous layer of either butter or "Planta" (margarine) on it. It's best to have it hot i.e. straight from the pan. Last Friday, I managed to get some from my faithful supplier at the Saberkas "pasar malam". Managed to take a photo of him cooking the "apam balik".

















However, as it was so delicious, I did not manage to take any photos of the "apam balik"! : ( Maybe next time!

Car wash afternoon

Car wash afternoon, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

Today seems to be a day filled with 'waiting'. Now I'm at the Lutong car wash... my car is in the queue waiting for its much needed 'bath'. Together with the other customers waiting for their vehicle to be cleaned, I overheard a conversation between two 'uncles'. They were discussing why they brought their cars here. To sum it up, the reasons given are :

1. It saves time; because according to uncle, it takes the same time for him to wash his car at home! (duh, uncle... u driving a bus-meh that takes you more than 1 hr to wash your car?? Please-la.)

2. It is more water efficient! (At that point in time, I was already breaking out with a smirk on my face... Uncle, how much are you payimg for water?? Do you live in Miri or some other continent?? How can you justify the amount you pay for the car wash as being more water efficient = pay less for water bill compared to wash at home?? Please-la! Fyi, water in Malaysia is not that expensive.)

All I can say is the main reason I come here is because I am too LAZY to get wet and get all worked out and tired for washing my car. There, I've come out in the open and said it. Confession for the day...ha ha ha. (I could probably give reasons better than uncle like I like to find time to sit down and blog in peace! Go figure! :D )

Worship team rehearsal

Worship team rehearsal, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

Here's a pic taken during our worship practise.

MAS office

MAS office, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

We're at the Miri MAS ticketing office this morning... Long wait, as usual. I guess this waiting time is the price to pay for SuperSavers tickets. Thank God this office is air conditioned; it's a hot day out there.

Word Cloud... ever heard of it?

Came across this website whilst paying a visit to the kuching FH2O kayaking website today. It is interesting as it tries to sum up your blog content in just one single picture or cloud of words! This is what mine says....














Interesting isn't it? A picture paints a thousand words... so they say *grin*grin*. This picture gives me a new perspective of my blog contents. Thanks FH2O for the link! To all who blog, follow this link to get your own Word Cloud : http://www.snapshirts.com/custom.php

For my Valentine...

Today's the day called Valentine.. a celebration of love worldwide. Flowers do convey pretty words of love but what matters most of all is love from the heart. To my Valentine, my love, my wife... I love you!
















Bought these flowers for my Valentine...
















... three pink roses...
















... to say I love you!

Stuck in traffic

Stuck in traffic, originally uploaded by Yong Family.

Stuck in traffic after buying flowers for my Valentine... It's not too bad a jam. I seldon take this road back home as I work on the other side of town. Nevermind, at least it is not a blazing hot evening.

Happy Chap Goh Meh

Happy Chap Goh Mei to all! This marks the end of the 15th day celebration of the CNY. Wishing you all a wonderful dinner tonight with your families.

So how am I celebrating it? I fell ill yesterday (due to "heaty" body) and went to see a chinese physician (no offense to our doctor readers out there but I do find that these physicians sometimes are better for treating "heaty" bodies.).

It was a typical scene, with drawers, containing the chinese magical cure (herbs actually), lining up on the wall of the counter. I managed to take a pic with my PDA and wanted to blog but was feeling too lousy to do it then. I waited for my turn and I can tell you the wait was agonising for me (even though it was only a short 10 mins wait) as my body was aching real bad.

















When my turn came, the chinese physician took my wrist and started feeling for the pulses and lo and behold, gave me a good diagnosis of what my body was going through! He suggested "kua sar" (a chinese back rub massage)! I have had such a massage before but I forgot how painful it can be! Now, those saying going to the dentist is a torture should try this back rub massages! It was so, so painful... I thought it lasted for an eternity but in actual fact, was only for 5 mins.

After the massage, I felt so much better! Some may say it was the pain that gave the body relief but I tend to disagree. I was given some "yellow" pills instead of the usually concoction of herbs to cook. This made eating the medicine easier. Believe me, drinking the cooked herb medicine is no fun... bitter like anything. I take it with the view that it will make my body better and indeed, these herbs do wonders to the body. But anyway, I do not have to take these cooked herbs this time. Only the pills.

I do feel so much better today although my nose is still stuffy and my rather severe sore throat is still there. Hence, I am at home now blogging and will go to bed soon. My family is having dinner at the Piasau Boat Club tonight with friends and family (originally planned earlier, so they had to go ahead with the dinner). Anyway, I'm glad that I will be hitting the bed soon... to fully rest my body before the start of a new week tomorrow!

Our 2006 CNY in Kuching...

Finally found the time to blog about my Kuching trip in late January early February of 2006. I have been so busy lately and with the misfortune of "losing" part of the HTML script of my blog after returning to Miri, there was just no time to blog this Kuching trip until now.

Every CNY, it is our duty to perform the annual "pilgrimage" to Kuching as my parents are living there... plus the numerous relatives that we have there that we need to visit to exchange our yearly greetings!

Anyway, as usual, our trip back to Kuching is filled with more than just the CNY celebration with family and friends, but also a real need to "devour" our favourite missed Kuching foods (at least that is the case for my brother and I)! :D

This blog entry depicts some of the highlights of the trip (i.e. those I remember to take pics of!). You may have already seen some of my blogs that was written using my PDA whilst in Kuching (on location so to speak!).

Sarawak Club
















This is one of the oldest and elite Club in the heart of Kuching city itself. Located next to the Civic Centre, this Club was established since 1846(?) or some where around there! Despite its age, it is a beautifully, well maintained club with good facilities.
















Jessica exploring the walkways at the Club (pic above) and curious at the huge potted plants (pic below).































After a busy running around the Club grounds, Jess is ready for lunch.






























Smack in the middle of the Club building is a playground for kids. Both Josh and Jess enjoyed having a go at the "rides" there!



























































This is the first and only time Josh rode a "motorbike" with my blessing! (pic above and below)!
















"Bla bla bla" Restaurant
















My brother and I went to this restaurant which was reviewed by Kenny in his blog. It's interesting how they have renovated an old shoplot into such a "cosy" place. We were there just for desserts. Whilst we were there, there was this rowdy group of "uncles & aunties" there. Yes, it wasn't a pleasant sight especially when they started demanding for dance music from the owner. Neither was the dancing pleasant! Ugh. It's a sight not to behold! Trust me. I guess it is because they were trying "hard" not to act their age. Besides the crowd, the desserts is alright. I Oh and the drinks! The cup is so huge!! I ordered an ice lemon tea and boy oh boy, I was pleasntly and delightfully surprised. Really a thirst quencher. Took some photos with my PDA but due to the "cosy" lighting (another word for too dark, too many msquitoes), they photos did not turn out well.
















Durians during CNY

One of the most memorable event during our trip is the feasting of the King of the fruits...durians! You'd be surprised that we Mirians are so deprived from good durians as they are sold by weight i.e RMXX per kilo!!! So when we see durians in Kuching, it is cheap, cheap and eat, eat! We had ours in our parents' home. My dad bought the durians from the seventh mile bazaar. All the durians bought were SUPER DUPER yummy... ate 'til we could eat no more. So what do we do? Save them in containers and sent them to the fridge for consumption the next day. (Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out when we were back in Miri, we did not bring the lovely durian leftovers with us... Dang!)

Oh, there're also downsides to having durians during CNY...
1. no alcohol when eating during as alcohol and durians don't mix... they ferment in your tummy if you do so and you will not be well...and I mean not VERY well after!
2. CNY guests will have to bear with our durian fragrances in our parent's house! (actually this downside is not too bad as most, if not all of our guests love durians... but we do not serve durians though. Hmm, maybe we should start that in the coming CNY celebrations! That's a thought.... a very fragrant thought... over powering one might say!)
















Dad opening the durian (pic above)... I also helped-la but for this one, I was busy snapping away using my PDA (apologies for the poor quality of the pic).
















Yummy durians.... we miss you!
















Eunice couldn't wait to eat the durians and dived in to have a piece of the action in opening the durians!
















Durians... when will we meet again?


Hong Kong Bun Coffee Shop

That was the name of the coffee shop as depicted on the workers' bright red shirts. However, I reckon this may not be the direct translation from the Mandarin signboard outside the shop. (anyone knows what the Mandarin characters mean or translate to??? please help... Mandarin iliterate here!)
















This coffe shop is along the main street of Padungan and has a nice cosy ambience to it. It is clean, bright and has a nice selection of Tim Sum. I was told this shop is not new and has been around for quite awhile. It is famous for its "sio pau" but that morning when we were there, there weren't any (maybe bakers still in CNY celebration). We had the other Tim Sum dishes and what we liked best is the "Char Siao Pau". It is really good although most of the Tim Sum offerings were not as good as the ones in Miri.






























Pic above is looking towards the main entrance but as you can see, they have opened up the side of the shop too for a more airy and brighter feel! Well done!






























Josh checking out what his Crysanthemum tea is made of.... just kidding!


Kuching International Airport

All good holidays have to come to an end. On 4th February 2006, we found ourselves in the newly renovated Kuching international airport (this was the second time of course since 8 days ago then. Before the completion of the airport, I could always remember the half completed airport as being extremely busy, congested, dirty, unplanned, chaotic, ....) This newly completed airport is a fresh change and a much welcome sight for all who travel in and out of Kuching city. It is almost a replica of the Miri airport as I guess the design of all the "new" airports in Malaysia uses the KLIA design.
























































































Saw this advert in one of the shops at the airport and decided to snap a picture of it. Why? Maxwin is not a very common name in Malaysia... it's Scottish (or is it Welsh?). How do I know? Because one of our church member's name is Maxwin. So Maxwin Chong, if you are reading this, you are not alone! *grin*grin*
















So at the end of the day, all the kids were tired out of an exciting trip in Kuching... as for the parents, this was yet another memorable CNY trip to Kuching!
God bless!