John 14:18-21--JESUS SAYS: 'YOU ARE NOT ORPHANS--YOU ARE MY INSIDE CIRCLE OF LOVE AND TRUST!'

John 14:18-21--JESUS SAYS: 'YOU ARE NOT ORPHANS--YOU ARE MY INSIDE CIRCLE OF LOVE AND TRUST!'

John 14:18-21

New International Version (NIV)

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

 In this Bible passage we see that JESUS is preparing HIS People for him being crucified.  He tells them that they are not being left by JESUS and Father.  He doesn't want them to feel like spiritual orphans.  He wants them to know that there is a plan and Father has commanded JESUS to do what HE is about to do.

 Have you ever felt like you were not part of the team at a church, job, or some type of group? I sure have.  I remember one time my boss said that I wouldn't be allowed to go to a certain company party because it was only for his level of managers and I wasn't invited. It hurt for me to not be invited to the party.  Most of us want to be part of the party.  We don't want to be left out and considered not welcome.

 In churches, it can hurt even more when the leaders of a church can go away to a nice hotel or conference grounds for a planning meeting and you and I can't go because we are just regular people. It hurts because we all want to be accepted as a family in JESUS and we find that in our church life there is a hierarchy and we aren't part of the beautiful people.

 See, this is the best part of relationship with JESUS! He has not made any orphans or second-class citizens of Heaven.  HE has made us part of the inner circle of love and trust with Father, Holy Spirit and all the Elders and Angels of Heaven.  We are part of a team, we are never rejected, we are always able to meet and receive counsel from JESUS. We are shiny, happy people through JESUS.  We are part of a relationship with JESUS that never ends and is always fresh and new every morning!

 So, what do we do with this information?  
1) We ask our leaders at church how we can become leaders and develop.
2) We pray to JESUS for giving us a direction for what HE wants us to do in our life?
3) We look in the mirror every day and thank JESUS that HE has made us part of his loving Circle of Trust and to help us to be able to encourage others that they are lovely parts of God also!

 God Bless You!

Have a wonderful start to your weekend!

Pastor Ken Harley :-)
iwirehk.webs.com
kharley@gmail.com

GIRLS NIGHT OUT Last Night Was Great! Read An Update of HOW WE LEARNED TO LOVE AND LIVE in JESUS!!!

Girls Night Last Night Was Great: An Update of Praying For The Nations!

GIRLS NIGHT OUT Last Night Was Great! Read An Update of HOW WE LEARNED TO LOVE AND LIVE in JESUS!!!

 Last night in Tung Chung we had our latest GIRLS NIGHT OUT meeting at The TUNG CHUNG CRESCENT Recreation Centre.  We held the event from 730 until 930 as we finished a little earlier this week and had a time of fellowship after everyone got prayer and encouragement!

Please enjoy the photos.  Last night was themed PRAY FOR THE NATIONS!

We had photos from the conference taken by Daniel Yau and we showed them on the TV at the centre in a PowerPoint slideshow.  There are a lot of cool photos and we will show them this Sunday at The Comma Cafe Jesus Church from 1100am to 200pm.  Come for free lunch at 100pm if you want to see the photos.

 Please look at the gif picture above this sentence.  I am not sure how I am taking these photos on my phone camera, but in this photo you can see how we want to teach ladies how to freely dance and worship JESUS at all of our meetings.  We believe that JESUS wants us to have great joy and that church is a place where we get our joy!!!  Next month we will have GIRLS NIGHT OUT on Thursday, September 19th in Tung Chung.  Please come to receive encouraging PRAYER, healing PRAYER, joy from JESUS as you dance to JESUS and great encouraging teaching from the BIBLE!

 Here are a couple of videos from last night posted on YOUTUBE:

Pastor Nancy Sharing HER LIFE and GIRLS NIGHT OUT vision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IABYtbTKZQY

Worshipping JESUS with the song BLESSED BE THE LORD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ygD23h2TI4

 Here are some scriptures that motivate us to dance before JESUS:

Ecclesiastes 3:3-5

3     a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

Jeremiah 31:4

I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.

Psalm 149:3

Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

 Psalm 30:11

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

 Here are some scriptures to accept and embrace JESUS bringing HIS CHANGE into our life:

Matthew 18:3

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 9:29

As he [JESUS] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

1 Corinthians 15:51

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed!

Romans 12:2

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Have a wonderful start to your weekend!

Pastor Ken Harley :-)
iwirehk.webs.com
kharley@gmail.com

Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare seems to be teaching through this Tragedy the value of Christian Morality.

Romeo and Juliet:  Shakespeare seems to be teaching through this Tragedy the value of Christian Morality.

The other day I was watching a Shakespearean play called Much Ado About Nothing.  Someone asked me if I was one of those types of people that watch Shakespeare!  I laughed and told him that I have been teaching Romeo and Juliet for 7 years!

 When I was a teenager and a young adult and I watched the Romeo and Juliet movies and I studied Romeo and Juliet, I thought the story was horrible because several of the people in the plays end up dead and there is no happy ending.

Of course, I was young and I was brought up in a protective Christian environment and I didn't realize that life could be very hard filled with violence, longterm hate, suicide and all forms of premature death.  I thought Shakespeare was very un-Christian; especially, as my teachers were not very Christian.

 However, this year I began to realize that Shakespeare was very moral as he wrote this play.  Here are some of things that Romeo and Juliet do that are very Christian and moral:

1)  They fall in love with each.  The believe in love between a man and a woman.
2) They believe that God wants a man and a woman to committ to each other in a longterm committed marriage.
3) They believe they should marry before they have sexual relations.
4) After they are married they believe they should have sexual relations that may (with hope) produce children as many as God wants you to have.
5) Romeo knew He must forgive Tybalt and not fight with his relative (or anyone for that matter.
6) Romeo knew He was wrong for killing his relative (or anyone for that matter)!
7) Romeo wondered if he and Juliet were damned to Hell for their actions!

Scholars also see morality in Shakespeare's Plays:

Rev. Ralph Allan Smith (1999):

Well, first of all, and contrary to the opinion of some scholars, Shakespeare is profoundly moral. His plays, especially the tragedies, deal with the deepest moral themes and issues. Serious consideration of any of his plays forces one to think in ethical terms.

http://www.berith.org/hsres/shak/shak01.html

Roy Battenhouse:

Usually in Shakespeare's dramas a person's movement into tragedy is signaled by his neglecting or avoiding of divine grace.

http://www.connotations.uni-tuebingen.de/battenhouse00303.htm

I will write in the future more about Shakespeare's plays and how they point us to God for Grace and Joy!

God Bless!

Pastor Ken Harley :-)
iwirehk.webs.com
kharley@gmail.com

John 14:16-17--I will send you a HELPER, The Holy Spirit! Do you need help?

John 14:16-17--I will send you a HELPER, The Holy Spirit! Do you need help?

 John 14:16-17
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. 17 The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.

 Jesus wants to spend time with us.  He wants to walk with us and talk with us and tell us that we are HIS Own!

Jesus is a safe person for us.  He is not a man. We don't have to be afraid of HIM that HE may catch us off of guard and do something to hurt us. He is like a true and trustworthy Father.  Matter of fact, HE shows us Father in Heaven.  He models the TRUE FATHER of all of us!!!

 That is why in this passage JESUS tells that HE will ask Father to send us THE HELPER, THE HOLY SPIRIT!  JESUS does not want his People to think that HE will live them to struggle alone.  Actually, Holy Spirit is in us and helping us all of the time. Another name for Holy Spirit is Comforter or Counselor.  We don't have to go through things alone.  Holy Spirit will comfort us through the hard times and Counsel us through all times!

 Just like the photos show me in Mongkok today watching the city workers do work on a building, or work on the water sewers, or drive a mini-bus!  These city workers keep the city from destruction...so Holy Spirit helps us and keeps us from destruction!

 Remember to talk to Jesus today and tell HIM everything.  Share with HIM your joys and cares and pressures and hopes! Then ask Holy Spirit to Comfort you and Counsel You and Lift You So That You May Have Wisdom and Understanding...

Everyday as you pray this prayer and others, you will find that JESUS and Holy Spirit (according to Father's Plan) are nourishing you and encouraging you and renewing your mind so that you may live a better and happy life filled with wisdom and LOVE!

Remember these things and JESUS likes to BE with you because HE LIKES to be with YOU!

God  BLess You Today!

Pastor Ken Harley :-)
iwirehk.webs.com
kharley@gmail.com

Come to Tonight's Girls Night Out! It will be fun and JESUS will be there!!!

Come to GIRL's Night Out Tonight at Tung Chung Recreation Centre in Tung Chung at 730pm!

 Here are some photos from previous GIRLS NIGHT OUT meetings and our Women's Conference!

 I had a vision about 5 years ago to start having ministry to women and we have had three Women's Conferences so far with each one getting better and better! Why should we minister to women?

 1) Women were created in the Image of God and have a role and purpose in the home, the church and society.  It is a purpose that is greater than they have allowed in the past.

 2) Women need to learn to avoid wasting time or being very wordly and need to step into leading and discipling others to become Godly women.

3) Many women do not know their identity in JESUS!  They don't know they have the power of Holy Spirit in them and they can make a huge difference in the world!

Here are some scriptures:

Acts 21:7-9

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. ⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him.⁹He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. (NRSV)

Romans 16:1-6

¹I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, ²so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well. ³Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, ⁴and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. ⁵Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. ⁶Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you.

Acts 1:12-14

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. ¹³When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (NRSV)

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (NIV, Galatians 3:26-29)

Come to GIRLS NIGHT OUT!  YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!

Dream Of JESUS Helping His People In Their Battle In Hong Kong!

I had a dream the other day about JESUS bringing help to HIS PEOPLE in Hong Kong.

Today, many Christians in Hong Kong feel tired and weary.  They feel like they are battling with the people around them and losing.

Christians here in Hong Kong are afraid of men and women and all kinds of people.  They are afraid of not having enough money and they are afraid they haven't done enough in their life.  My Christian friends in Hong Kong are struggling and fighting those around them because they are afraid.

Christians in Hong Kong are fighting and praying and wrestling with their fears and the Enemy.  They are weary, tired and in turmoil.  They feel like they have to do things to get JESUS' Love and they fast and pray to try to make God do things to stop the fear!

Christians in Hong Kong keep fighting and it seems like we are doing right and showing JESUS how much we love HIM. So we keep working and fighting and fighting!

But we accomplish very little when we wrestle with flesh and blood or we wrestle with principalities and powers.  Because we forget to look to the Son and be HEALED!

Instead we should look to JESUS:

Colossians 1:15-23 (THE MESSAGE Translation)

15 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. 17 He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. 18 And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. 19 So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. 20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe - people and things, animals and atoms - get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. 21 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. 22 But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. 23 You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message - just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.

So in this Dream...then JESUS and HIS Angels Strengthened US and sent prayer warriors to us to vanquish The Enemies of God through fiery arrows of God's Love.

 

All the enemies in the ground left because all Christians learned to love each other and work together and pray for one another.  Christians in Hong Kong began to see each other as part of One Body of JESUS Christ, A Beautiful Bride of JESUS!

We all remembered to look to JESUS and we were healed and we healed those around us!

Remember, We are never alone and when we look to JESUS we will give life and joy to everyone we meet!

Ephesians 4:15-16 (The Message)

15 God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love - like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. 16 He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. The Old Way Has to Go 

John 14:15---“If you love me, keep my commands."--LOVE JESUS :-) How we can meditate on the Word of God!

John 14:15---“If you love me, keep my commands."--LOVE JESUS :-)
John 14:15---“If you love me, keep my commands."--LOVE JESUS :-)
John 14:15---“If you love me, keep my commands."--LOVE JESUS :-)

What is my goal for writing this BLOG?  Here it is:

I want to return to JESUS!  I want to know HIM more and I want to show HIM more through my life and through the Bible!

These blogs are where you and I are on a journey together to learn more and more about JESUS!

Christianity is not about ideas or things to do or morals on how we live!  Christianity is where we have a relationship with the God Creator of all the Universe!

So...when JESUS tells us to keep HIS Commands...then we must try!

We don't keep God's Commandments to show that we love JESUS.  We keep HIS Commads because HE knows what is best for us and what we need to avoid so that we can truly be happy!

Psalm 119:11

New International Version (NIV)

11 I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.

Have you ever tried to read the Bible with JESUS? You choose a passage and then talk to HIM and wait and see what you think HE says about the passage or how the passage applies to your life.

Let's try it now:

We will use a verse from Proverbs.  I am using this verse from Proverbs because there are 31 chapters in Proverbs and every day you can read a chapter or a few verses and then pray them through and talk them through with JESUS!  As you keep practicing this, you will learn more and more how to have relationship with JESUS and you will also learn how to keep HIS COMMANDS!

Loving JESUS doesn't mean that you do what he says or HE will take back his love; rather, loving JESUS means that the more we know about what HE thinks and values, the better we will follow JESUS!

HERE is the scripture:

Proverbs 27:14

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

14 Don’t wake up your neighbors early in the morning with a shout of “Good morning!” They will treat it like a curse, not a blessing.

So here is a 5-Step Process on How We can talk to JESUS about things we read in the Bible:

1) Read the verse.  Pray and wait and read the verse 5 times.  This step should take about 5 minutes.

2) Ask Jesus for his input on what you think what the verse means.  Pray and wait.  This step should take another 5 minutes.

3) Ask Jesus why you chose to read this verse.  We don't always learn the Bible until we need to learn it for some reason? Wait another 5 minutes.

4) Ask JESUS if there is something that should be done because you read this verse? Pray and wait.  Wait another 5 Minutes.

5) Now spend the rest of your time thanking JESUS, worshipping HIM and resting in HIS PRESENCE!

So, what did I get from this verse?

I got that I need to think more about my neighbors and pray for them.

I need to be a better neighbor and I need to be available if they want to talk and tell me their troubles.

Now I want to rest in JESUS and thank HIM for always walking with me and talking with me and telling me I am HIS OWN!

Here is my family's favorite hymn that talks about walking and talking with JESUS:

Verse 1:

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Verse 2:

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Here is a youtube video of Alan Jackson singing this world famous Hymn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzzqhaLl_8w