Intimacy With God

21st March, 2010

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Exodus 33:9-11; 40:35; 2Chronicles 16:9; Jeremiah 9:23-24; John 17:21-22
Main Idea: Need to have an intimate relationship with God
Objectives: a. To teach that you need to give priority to intimacy with God; b. To teach the effects of intimacy with God.

A. Introduction
- God looks for men and women who live and minister out of an intimate relationship with God. Do you believe so?
- Our faith with this creator of the universe, God almighty is such that He actually desires us to have intimacy with Him.
- Look at these verses in the Old Testament and New Testament.

Biblical Foundation of Intimacy With God.
- Exodus 33:9-11 “As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud could come come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses... The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speak with a friend.” You see how God initiates to speak to Moses as a friend. Is it eye opening for you to know God can be your friend? Have you been so close with God, in the person of Jesus?
- Exodus 40:35 “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” You see God’s presence can be with the tabernacle of Israelites in the Old Testament. God could be close with His people.
- 2Chronicles 16:9 “Thus saith the Lord run to fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on the behalf of him whose heart is perfect toward Him.”
- Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.”
- John 17:21-22 “ Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in us...”

B. The Problem: Wrong Priority
- Our serious problem is that we do not give God, the intimacy with God a priority. Sometimes, we feel so lonely, so empty, so shallow, we feel we are enslaved to a schedule that controls us.
- Or, we may not be aware of such thing as intimacy with God.
- Some us may see the need for an intimate personal relationship with God but we do not know how to do it.
- Lots of Christians may know a great deal about God and godliness without really knowing him.
- Richard Foster, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
- The solution is for us to go deeper in our relationship to God.
- See what the book of Daniel says, 2:2 “He reveals the deep and secret things: He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”
- 1Corinthians 2:10 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,’ but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.”

C. Where Do We Start?
- Psalm 42:1,2 “As the deer pants for stream of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
- You need to fall in love with Jesus all over again. John 21:5 “Peter, do you love me?”

D. Effects of going deeper in our knowledge and experience of God.
- Firstly, you are empowered by God and you have great energy for God. You see this in Daniel 11:32 - “With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will resist him.”
- Secondly, you will have great thoughts of God. Daniel 9:4 “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands,...”
- Thirdly, you show great boldness for God. Acts 5:29 “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather men!”
- Fourthly, you have great commitment in God. Philippians 4:11-13 “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

E. Conclusion.
- Our God is the God who is in the form of a person. As a person, He can relate to you personally in an intimate relationship. Would you respond to relate intimately with Him.
- You miss this, you miss Christianity.

Integrity – A Life That Is Whole

14th March, 2010

Written By Rev Law

Posted By Teresa Han

Main Idea: Practise integrity as a way of life.
Objectives: a. To promote strong sense of integrity among disciples of Jesus. b. To teach the 3 aspects (inner self; commitment to promise; actions consistent with your promise) of integrity in our life.

A. Introduction
- One of the greatest challenges of a Christian/ a disciple of Jesus is to maintain integrity.
- Integrity according to our bible is being the same in heart, mind and actions. Are your actions consistent with your words?
- When in your life do you have the most difficulty maintaining integrity? Even in the secular world of business, the issue of character, where integrity is part of it, integrity is a major issue. When there is no integrity, people do not trust you. For disciples of Jesus, christians, integrity is very much of holiness and purity of life. When we christians fail to maintain integrity, our position in the company, our family and ministry, and even the church suffer the consequences. We have failed to witness for Jesus, our Master.
- In the scripture below, the psalmist shows us that integrity has inward and outward aspects

B. The biblical foundation (Psalm 24:3-5)
- Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. (Psalm 24:3-5)
- The Psalmist asked who could stand in God’s place? His answer is: he who has clean hands and a pure heart, the first part of his answer. The clean hands and a pure heart are related, what comes from the heart, the hands will do. Integrity begins from within our heart and is based on holiness and sincerity (a pure heart).This is the inward aspect of integrity. If your heart is pure in terms of thoughts, attitudes, motives, purposes, and fill yourself with godliness, you will use your hands to do the right things, it result in holiness in life.
- Now, the pure heart here refers to sincerity. The word “sincere’ comes from the Greek for “without wax”. In the ancient world, dishonest potters would disguise cracks in low quality clay pots by covering them with wax. The pots looked perfect, but when exposed to heat, the wax would melt, exposing the cracks (and the potter’s dishonesty) and rendering the pot useless.
- If your heart is pure, you are sincere, you do not need anything in life to cover yourself so that you look good. If you do so, all your pretension, will be exposed like the wax on the cracks when exposed heat will melt. Disciples of Jesus with integrity will not do that.
- Now, the outward aspect of integrity. It is the second half of Psalmist answer to the question of who could stand in God’s place. He has to be “... who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” This is referring to the part of integrity which include our behaviour which is to be blameless. You do not swear by what is false, your souls and body do not turn to the idols to worship them. They are outward things. This has to do with your mouths which swear. What you say, people hear. People will take your word. So, to be holy in your speech, make sure you remain pure in heart and say and do the right things, then, you are a person of integrity. Now, you see the importance of being the same in your heart, mind and actions?
- Let us apply the biblical foundation of integrity.

C. Applications.
- Jesus desires you to strive to be whole or complete in Him. Integrity means that your beliefs, attitudes, words, and actions are consistent with God’s nature.
- So, your what I am is very important. Are your beliefs, attitudes, words and actions in line with Jesus’ nature?
- Jesus models integrity by living a whole and integrated life in which His inner life (intimate relationship with the Father) and the outer life (the life the world saw) were consistent. Let us see Mark 12:14 “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You are not swayed by men because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.”
- Your unforgiveness, greed, broken promises, hatred, hypocrisy are against Jesus’ nature of forgiving, sacrifice, fulfilling promise, love, sincerity, etc.
- The next time you literally want to break your promise, for example, remember, your integrity is stake, God’s name is at stake, your witness is at stake.
- Next, in integrity, what you stand is of utmost importance. It is a commitment to your promise. Integrity means you are faithful to the words that you speak and the promises you made. Matthew 5:37 “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ your ‘No’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
- Integrity in its simplest term is keeping promises. The person of integrity is one who says something, can be trusted. When he or she gives her word, you can count on it.
- Next, integrity is what you do: Your actions are consistent with your promises. Your beliefs must be reflected in your words and also your actions. It is critical that our actions are consistent with God’s command for integrity.
- Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
- You see now how your actions must be integrated with your words and hearts. Our life must be an integrated life as opposed to a segregated life.

D. Conclusion
- You see how Daniel and his friends who were men of integrity, even in the midst of persecution of fire, from the beginning till the end, they fear God, they did not bow down to the idols. God rewarded them with protection as practise integrity.
- So, as you are living in a fallen world, when you are challenged in your integrity in your daily life, at home, at work place, market place, in the society, you stand firm on integrity, you will leave a strong and lasting impact in others’ life.But this will only happen if you seal your hearts with a commitment to integrity and you do not allow circumstances to determine our actions.

Is Jesus Calling You As His Disciples?

7th March, 2010

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

John 1:35-50
Main Idea: Jesus Is Calling Every Christian To Be His Disciples
Objectives: a. To examine how Jesus calls His disciples; b. To challenge the congregation to respond to Jesus calling to be His disciples.

A. Introduction
- Why do I entitle my sermon today as, “Is Jesus Calling You As His Disciples?”
- There are too many so called christians or believers around and we are not making a difference for Jesus. We are very much remaining at the level of doctrinal beliefs of our faith. We know what to believe but we do not do the right thing with what we believe.
- For example, we know scolding bad words or dirty words, cursing words are against the teaching of Jesus which says that what enters the mouth does not dirty us but it is what come out of our mouth that dirty us; Mat 15:11 “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean.”
- We know it is immoral to do adultery but we do it anyway. We know lying is wrong, we lied. Mat 5:37 “Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No” be “No”; beyond this comes from the devil.
- We know that hatred is sinful, we hate anyway. Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are 6 things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among others.”
- We know that our anger until sunset is wrong, we do it anyway. Ephesians 4:26, 27 “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
- Do not get drunk with wine, but we ignore the teaching and get drunk. Ephesians 5:18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.”
- Do you see my point? We do believe in what is right, but we do not practise it. We live like any other non-christians who do not know the word.
- I strongly believe that the problem has to do with whether we are disciples of Jesus or not every now and then; whether we obey the person Jesus or not everyday. That is why my sermon today: “Is Jesus Calling You As His Disciples?”
- As long as you call yourself, a believer, a convert, you will just believe in the doctrines, and you never practise the doctrines. Some of us may be converted into a ritual called baptism or confirmation; you may just join a religion called christianity; you may the person Jesus just as any other idol, etc.
- We never regard Jesus as God whom we have to be responsible to; who will judge us; whom we have to obey, to follow. Are you following Jesus everyday, every moment? If you are, you are a disciple of Jesus. You will fear Him more than anything else. You will not be a Sunday Christian only.
- Is Jesus calling you to be His disciples? In Jesus’ days, he called people to follow him. He called disciples.

B. Unique ways used by Jesus to all His disciples.
- Jesus’ calling of each disciple is very unique, let us examine from the passage today.
- See see each one of them is convinced to follow Jesus.
- The 2 disciples of John upon hearing John saying,”Look, the Lamb of God!” Then verse 37 says, “When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.” One of them could be Andrew. And then, Andrew who told his brother, Simon, they had found the Messiah (verse 41), Andrew brought Simon, his brother to see Jesus. Take note of how Jesus called Simon in verse 42, “...You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas (translated, Peter)” Jesus has that kind of attraction and divine power to convince just by naming and Simon, then, he felt called to follow to Jesus.
- Then Jesus went on to call Philip in verse 43, where it says after Jesus found Philip, He just issued the calling to him, “Follow me.”
- Then Philip introduced Jesus to Nathanael by telling him that the group of them had found Jesus of Nazareth, the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and also the prophets wrote about in verse 45. But Nathaniel was sarcastic towards the person of Jesus and he asked, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (verse 46)
- Philip did not give up but he continued to invite Nathaniel to come and see Jesus in verse 46. When Jesus Nathaniel approaching Him, Jesus used His prophetic gift to tell him of his faith toward Israel and how honest he was as he had nothing false. And Jesus was able to tell him what happened before Philip called on him. Upon encountering Jesus in such a powerful manner, Nathaniel felt convinced to follow Jesus and he declared in verse 49, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” And then, Jesus went on to promise him that he would see heaven open and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man in verse 51.
- As I reflect on the methods used to called each of His disciples, I see that the method varies from individual to individual. However, I do see that the underlining factor, the common factor, that caused these people, even a fisherman like Peter, not an educated man, would like to respond to Jesus calling to be His disciples.
- I believe the common factor that caused people to respond to his call is in essence, in nature: His divinity; His sacredness; He has the power from God which the respondents were convinced. You see the first 2 disciples were amazed by the power of Lamb of God; Philip must have seen or heard of Jesus divinity or divine power in somewhere, before he responded to Jesus calling, “Follow me.” Nathaniel was amazed with Jesus prophetic power and even affirm Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel and responded to Jesus calling.
- May be another common factor and it could be a more important factor than the first one that caused people to follow Jesus was that Jesus was believed and perceived to be the Old Testament divine person, saviour, whom Israel had been waiting. You get the clue in verse 45, where the group of disciples said they found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the one whom the prophet wrote about.

C. Applications.
- Now, I strongly believe that Jesus whom God has sent to us is still very much calling us, each one of us to be His disciples. This calling is not very different from calling to be a clergy like an ordained pastor; serving God as a full time missionary, etc.
- Basically, people who are called by Jesus has this essential encounter with the divinity of God. Therefore, your knowledge of Jesus as God; your recognition of Him as your personal God; how you are in touch with Him in a powerful manner is very crucial in determining whether you follow Him as His disciples or not.
- My personal encounter with Jesus in His calling for me to be a pastor happened in my devotional prayer time. I just felt led to give up all my personal ambitions of becoming rich physically, owning a big house and big car, and aspiration to become a politician which eventually lead to becoming a deputy chief minister of Sarawak. Basically, I encounter God by presenting my life as a living sacrifice to God as taught by Romans 12:1,2. I just felt so convinced by His word. I felt at that time, if I did not make that decision I would regret for life. It was during my university second year I made that decision.
- What about you? Could God be using your life crisis to call you to respond to his calling to be his disciples? Your prayer and bible reading time? Your fasting time? A convention like Wesley Heritage on 20th to 22nd August, at Sibu, this year? While you are serving in any capacity in this church? Some of us have sensed the call and you have responded to it.
- But many still have not got it as I see you are only Sunday Christian.

D. Conclusion.
- You only have one life. Use your limited time on earth to be Jesus’ disciples.