Sunday Service – Conclusive Message 04 for “Adding Disciples Year”

25/12/05
<James 1:2-8>
ASK IN ALL THINGS, RECEIVE ANSWERS IN ALL THINGS

• I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you will have a breakthrough in your
prayers so that you can once again renew your understanding and hope in God.
• May we will receive the mystery to ask in all things and receive answers in all things.
• As such, we will become one who believe in prayers, enjoy prayers, and love prayers.
• The last 3 messages talk about the Burnt Offering, the Grain Offerings and the Fellowship
Offerings.
• If we receive through these offerings the loving relationship, eternal thanksgiving and trust
towards God, God will definitely listen to all our prayers and we will receive what we’ve asked for
• Therefore, we must now discover what are our spiritual problems:
(1) If you always do not see your prayers get answered or even always receive the opposite of
what you’ve asked for, what you’d prayed for, then you have not restored the life and fixed
perspective of being loved by God. You had prayed wrongly.
(2) If you are one who does not like to ask God at all, then you are most probably one who
cannot give thanks to God. Because only those who receive answers will keep asking. And
these are the ones who have reason for thanksgiving. But if you are one who do not like to
ask and receive answers through your own human efforts, then you are one who does not
give thanks at all.
(3) And if you are one who always ask but do not have any hope or expectation in God after
asking, then you are probably in a state of disheartenment. While asking, you are
disbelieving. Such person will surely not receive answers at all.
• Therefore, who are the ones who will really ask? From <Eph 1:17-19>,
(1) He is one who is sure of his eternal hope. Thus, since God has given him eternality, what will
God not give to him? Therefore, he is one who asks with hope and expectation in all things.
(2) He is one who knows of the eternal inheritance given to him. Thus, how can the things and
luxuries of this world be compared to this inheritance? Therefore, he is one who will ask for
things that is related to the eternal kingdom. His prayer contents will be related to the building
of the kingdom and people’s life.
(3) He is one who has experience the great power of God. Therefore, while he prays, he will
receive the confirmation of the Holy Spirit at the same time. He naturally believes that
answers will come.
• For such a person, his prayers methods and contents are different from those who pray in the
temple. He knows he has already received the answers when he prays because he prays
according to the will of God and thus had the confirmation of the Spirit. And his prayer contents
are those with eternal value. For those going to temple, they pray with much fear and uncertainty.
And their contents are all related to their temporary lives on earth (e.g. peace, prosperity, health,
etc)
• Therefore, by looking at the prayer of a believer, you will know if he is living a gospelized life or a
religious life. A person with a gospelized life prays with the reality.
• During this week, please check with yourself: what is your first reaction when you are faced with
problem / difficulties? Do you come to the Lord Almighty first with your problem? And when you
pray to your loving Father, do you receive the confirmation of the Holy Spirit?

Read <James 1:2-8>

v4 “and complete, not lacking anything” – we will receive what we’d asked for, when we are
successful in the 3 offerings.
v5 “…to all without finding fault…” – our Lord does not find fault with us, however, sins and Satan
will find fault with us. Therefore, to receive the assurance of answered prayer always, we must
know how to do away with sins and Satan’s accusation.
v8 “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” – Therefore, fixed perspective is a must to
answered prayer.

Read <Eph 1:15-23>

• We must know the content and hearts of Paul when he prays
v17 Paul’s prayers content are all related to building God’s kingdom
v21 God is almighty and He knows what will take place even before we pray
v23 The church is the body of Christ; therefore will not our Lord listen to His body (i.e. our
prayers)? God will listen to us no matter our faith is weak or strong
• It is not because our Lord does not know what we want that He commend us to ask. He asked us
to pray because He wants to give us blessings, credits, eternal crown in the Kingdom and
complete trust in Him during our earthly days.
• Read <Jn 15:16> <Jn 16:24>. Time and again, Jesus Christ promised us that if we pray in His
name, we will receive whatever we asked for.

1. Ask in Jesus’ Name (Receive the very heartbeat and thoughts of Jesus Christ)
• What is the heartbeat and thoughts of Jesus Christ? It is to love God, to build up others, to
acquire God’s will and heartbeat.
• Then some people will ask if in that case, shouldn’t we pray for our daily needs, our worldly
needs, etc? We live in this world after all.
• Actually, those who asked this question has misunderstood God
• We should pray for all things, and God even tells us to pray persistently and not be
discouraged, like the persistent widow.
• But when we pray, we must pray with the correct intention. We should pray for all things with
the very intention of seeing God, not just for the sole purpose of acquiring our needs. E.g. If
what we pray for do not come, our intention is to see the reason for waiting/not being given,
and not be discouraged by the ‘unanswered’ prayer. This then is the heart of a mature
Christian.
• And when we pray, our first concern should be to glorify God, benefits others and build His
Kingdom. God will long to give more worldly blessings when our concern is on His kingdom.
• <Matthew 6:33> is the answer for us. When we seek God first, all things will be added to us
so that we will glorify God more, give more benefits to others, etc.
• Some people might ask: if we really do not have God’s concern/heartbeat for the Kingdom,
but still ask things from God, will God give to us?
• If the things that those people ask do not cause any harm to them, God will still give it to
them. It will be different if a small child asks for a knife or for some candies.
• However, God’s wish is that we cannot always be asking like a spiritual baby in our prayers.
God wants us to be a spiritual grown up. We must grow up spiritually to understand the deep
intention and heartbeat of our heavenly Father.
• The question we must ponder is whether we will really be totally satisfied or joyful if we are
given every worldly need that we’d asked for? Will our joy really be complete if we’ve own the
whole world, and prove to everyone that we are successful and right in every of our doings?
• When does our joy, our satisfaction come from? As a people of God, our joy comes from the
things related to glorifying God, benefiting others and building God’s kingdom
• Moreover, there are some things which we do not need to ask for and God will also add them
upon us abundantly. If our hearts, expressions and daily living are filled with the glory and
grace of God, God will be extremely worried if we do not enjoy success and prosperity on
earth. God will be worried if our families are not blissful, our careers do not succeed, our daily
livings are always in financial needs, etc… Because we bear the full and clear image of God
in people’s eyes. God will want others to envy us and our belief. Thus, God will add upon us.
• But if our lives are full of confusions and worldly humanism, God will not want to give us more
worldly prosperities for fear that they will bring us more confusions, frustrations and
temptations.
 • But if our lives are very neat and orderly, God will definitely give us more things because He
knows we will be able to manage them.
• Therefore, to pray in Jesus Christ’s name means to have the very heartbeat and thoughts of
Jesus Christ. This means to pray for the purpose of seeing God; and for the purpose of
glorifying God, benefiting others and building His Kingdom.
• And when we have prayed this way, we should receive the fixed perspective of answered
prayer:
(1) That is, we have received what we’ve asked for because our prayers are not those of
the gentiles, but we are praying to our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit will thus give us
the confirmation and assurance of answered prayer. This is the prayer of authority.
(2) And because we prayed according to His will. Our prayer itself has eternal value in it.
Thus, while we are praying, we have already received our eternal crown. E.g. if we
pray for our parents’ salvation, we have already receive our crowns, even if our parents
have not receive Christ. E.g. If we pray to God to open the doors of our career for world
gospelization, our prayer has already brought us crown, even though the content of our
prayers are still in the process of being answered. This is the prayer with inheritance” –
we have already receive the inheritance/crown when we pray
(3) And the conclusion of our prayer is to give the sovereignty to God. We can pray for our
families, our careers, our ministry, but the method of fulfillment lies with the Lord.
Therefore, the result of true prayer is to commit fully and expect fully. We pray for the
purpose of committing to the Lord Almighty. Our joy and hope lies in Him taking full
charge because HE knows what is best for us! But If we want the result to be our way,
then why should we commit to the Almighty at all? Therefore, one who is willing to
commit fully to the Lord will receive the complete expectation and complete joy. Many
Christians cannot wait in full expectation for God’s work because they do not commit
fully.
• This is the secret to: Asking in all things, receiving answers in all things. These have to be
experienced deeply in our prayers. If we do not receive such answers in our prayers, no
matter how much worldly needs and prosperity we receive, our life will not grow at all.
• Jesus Christ said: “Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name, asked and you
will receive, and your joy will be complete.” This means, the moment you ask, you should
have received the conformation, crown and full expectation in Him. And no wonder the Lord
says: “Your joy will be complete”.

2. Sin Offering, Guilt Offering

• How is the sin offering and guilt offering related to today’s topic?
Ans: Read: <Ps 66:18> & <1 Jn 3:21-23>
• Most believers do pray and seek God with their needs. However, the problem of many
believers is that after they prayed, they do not have the assurance that God will listen to their
prayers.
• This is because of the channels of accusation which many believers do not know how to rid
themselves of. The channels are very real. They may not be very serious sins, but it is the
area where the thoughts of sin, weaknesses and temptations can sip in easily.
• This is where Satan uses the areas which we have not fully sanctified or healed to accuse
us. E.g. Areas which we flare our temper easily, areas which we love the world easily, areas
which we live according to the lust of flesh and eyes easily, etc.
• For those who had already established a covenant (i.e. to remain in His love and submit to
Him) with God, they are reconciled with God as a whole. but we might still have some small
areas that are not in tune with God. These are the area where Satan’s accusation will come
in as he is the spirit that accuses us day and night.
• Though these are little sins and weaknesses, but it kept as from leading powerful lives in the
Lord, especially when the weaknesses recur again and again.
• During such times, we just cannot simply choose to ignore those small things and continue to
ask from God. Though God will always listen to the prayers of His children, we however
 cannot receive the assurance of answered prayer deep inside us when accusations are left
unchecked.
• Therefore, for God who loves us so much, He would want to free us from all struggles and
gives us absolute freedom more than anything else, so that our prayers will not be hindered
at all.
• Thus, God gives us a bonus of Sin Offering and Guilt Offering so that we’ll not only be healed
from accusations, our weakness will be healed and channels of Satan cut off.

(1) So comes the sin offering which clears us of all unrighteousness.

• Therefore, when there are weaknesses and unholy things in our lives, God wants us to
hold on to the full promises of <1John 1:9>, such that if we confess our sins uprightly
before Him, he who is faithful and just, will clear us of every bit of unrighteousness.
• God wants us to hold on to this promise without any doubts and discount so that we can
be truly set free and receive strength to overcome our weaknesses. Many a times, we
have no strength to overcome sins not because we are born with a weak nature, but
rather we in our heart had minus the perfect redeeming grace and infinite forgiveness of
the Cross of Jesus Christ
• But many Christians faced the problem of committing sins over and over again helplessly
after confessing their sins. This is because there are some sins that cannot be overcome
overnight.
• For that, God wants us to hold on to <Isaiah 1:18> by coming together to reason with
God.
• If we go to Him with a broken and contrite spirit, wanting very much to rid of our sins,
God will definitely listen to us & cleanse us immediately. He will wash our sins (which is
as red as crimson) to become as white as snow.
• For the Lord do not despise a broken and contrite spirit. Therefore David found full
cleansing of his sins from a broken and contrite spirit <Ps 51:17>.
• The reason that we cannot be set free from accusation is because we don’t have a
broken and contrite spirit. We do feel guilty and groan because of our sins. But guilt and
groaning cannot overcome accusations. Only a broken and contrite spirit could.
• This is the power of the Sin Offering! The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse all our sins!
This is the best outlet (i.e. redeeming grace) God has for us. If not, why should we even
be called a Christian? If we can’t have answers through sin offering, we’ll be much worse
than the pagans, as we as Christians will be accused day and night.

(2) Ok, if sin offering clears us of all sins, why is it that God wants us to do the Guilt Offering?
• Because God is a righteous God. He is a God of justice. Moreover, his intention is not
only to clear us of accusations; He wants to heal us completely and gives even more
blessings after we are cleared of our sins.
• Therefore, in Guilt Offering, God wants us to compensate for the unrighteousness things
we had done, both towards God and men.
• In <Leviticus>, God teaches the Israelites to compensate by paying back the original
amount with an additional 20%. E.g. anyone who steals God’s tithes will have to pay
back the original amount plus another 20%. E.g. If anyone has cheated his brother, he is
to pay him back with an additional of 20%.
• If we do that, the accusation from Satan will not be able to attack us so easily and we will
receive great renewal from His grace.
• Many people do not see the need to pay back, thinking it's a condition to the forgiveness
of sins.
• Though God will forgive us and it’s not a condition for the forgiveness of sins, but If we
are really broken and contrite over what we’ve done, we will definitely want to
compensate.
• Compensation is not just about financial compensation. It can also refer to inter-
relationship problems.
 • E.g. if we have quarrels with a brother, not only we need to patch up with that person, but
from then on, we should love that brother even more and be more patience with him.
Only then will the hard feelings go away and the relationship being knitted closer than
before.
• E.g. if we have done unfaithful things to our spouse, we should not only seek God and
our spouse from forgiveness and get over with it. We must first cut off the channel of
unfaithfulness (i.e. the original price). And after that, give all our heart and sacrifices to
our spouses to make up for it for our whole lives (i.e. compensation)
• If our spirit is broken and contrite, we will naturally want to compensate. Therefore, Guilt
Offering is very important and always tie in with Sin Offering
• But if you are really are not able to pay back the compensation because of the huge
amount and enormous wrong that we’ve done, and then the Lord’s teaching is: you must
do your best to compensate.
• If we are really broken and contrite, we will want to do our best to compensate, and not
take it lightly or for granted.
• E.g. If we are not able to give tithes, God will be pleased if we can do our best to give
what we have and God will be pleased with it.
• E.g. If we cannot over the temptations, God will be pleased with us if we do our best to
run away from temptations.
• E.g. If we’ve hurt our brother beyond hope of reconciliation, God will be pleased with us if
we’ve tried our best to love him in all other ways.
• This is the greatest blessings that God has given us. God gave us all these commands to
protect us, not to harm or restrict us. Though God has forgiven us through Jesus Christ,
but he wants us to do the guilt offering to protect us from the guilt and consequences of
sins.

3. And the conclusion of the 5 sacrifices will be: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all
your mind and all your soul. And love your neighbor as yourself.
• No matter how much we’ve learned about prayer, kept God’s laws, served him ardently
and done great ministries, if however each time when we come before God, we cannot
give our all to love Him, and feel indifference towards those whom God love, our prayers
still needs to receive breakthrough.
• But if each time we close our eyes and start to pray, we feel the great hunger and need
for God, and we also naturally want to pray for those whom God put around us, then our
prayer life is a successful one.
• Therefore, if a person can receive the heart to love God and men in prayers, this is
already the greatest answered prayers. God will definitely reward him.
• While all of us have different timetable, we should press on to take hold of what Christ
took hold of me <Phil 3:12-13>.
• How to press on? i.e. if we have understood the God’s truth through hearing the word of
God (e.g. the message of this 5 sacrifices), we do not run away but try our best to obey it
with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul, this will become the breakthrough point in
every step of our prayer life.
• Jesus Christ said: Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves
me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself
to him <Jn 14:21>

Prayer and Sharing Topics

1. Jesus says “you may ask for everything in my name. Ask and you will receive and your
joy will be complete”. When I ask, did I do it with the heartbeat and thoughts of Jesus
Christ (i.e. glorify God, benefits others, build God’s Kingdom)?
If yes, do I see the following as I pray:
1) I’d already receive? (power)
2) I’d already receive the eternal crown? (inheritance)
 3) I’d given my sovereignty to God and wait in full expectation upon Him (Hope)

2. The Lord says “if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and
receive from Him everything we ask”
1) Sin Offering Find out in which area am I still under accusation? And cleanse all my
unrighteousness by holding onto the grace of Jesus Christ’s complete
forgiveness. With reference from <1John 1:9> & <Isa 1:8>
2) Guilt Offering Find out in which area have I shortchanged God and man? And in
accordance to God’s instruction, I must compensate God and man in
the areas of my unrighteousness

3. Resolute: I am willing to accept the five offerings that God had taught me, with all my
heart, soul and mind.
Press on to take hold of: the greatest answer I acquire is to love God with all my heart,
soul and mind, and to love others as myself.