GMC Sermon I Am the Bread of Life

18th November, 2012

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

John 6:25-40

Main Idea: Jesus is the bread of life.

Objectives: a. To explain why Jesus is the bread of life.

b. To teach how to bring the bread of life to others.

A. Introduction

- Why there are soldiers killing civilians (and vice-versa) in Syria? Why there are robberies and gun shots here and there in Sarawak? Why people resort to blackmail and killing? Why there are broken marriages? Why there corruptions are so rampant in our country? Why depression is such a phenomenon in our society? Why don’t people keep to moral standard ? Why don’t people keep to our behavioural boundary? Why don’t people keep to work ethics?

- It is as if people are looking for something and yet they do not really get it. They resort to cheating, blackmail, lying, threatening, killing, they thought they had got what they wanted, but they did not. For some who are not doing harmful things, thought they have found the peace and happiness, but they do not.

- I believe you will agree with me the answer lies with the sin of humanity of mankind. We desperately need a moral standard to follow; need to keep this standard. How to stop people from killing, hatred, divorce, depression, and greed? If people were to look into the Bible, they will find that the answer lies with Jesus, who has given humanity all the answers to our sinful problem. It is exactly because of our sin, He came to us.

- He claimed to be the bread of life. He claimed He could satisfy our life. He declared in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” What does Jesus mean by, “I am the bread of life”?

B. I Am the Bread of Life

- To find out its meaning, we need to know the purposes of John writing this gospel and the context of the passage. One of his purposes is to challenge the Jewish and gentile readers to become disciples of Jesus; to follow Jesus. So, you will find that the writer wrote in such a way that Jesus challenged His audience to follow Him; come to Him; believe in Him.

- After Jesus and His disciples fed the 5,000, people even got into the boats and travel from Tiberias to Capernaum to search for Jesus (verse 24). Why do they search for Jesus? What was the purpose? In verse 25, we are told they asked Jesus when He arrived when they found Him.

- After feeding the 5,000, the crowd experienced a great miracle, in verses 14 and 15, we were told that they began to regard Him as the Prophet and Jesus sensed that they wanted to make Him king by force. So, they searched for Jesus with a wrong intention, or motive, which I preached to you in May this year. With this wrong intention, they asked Jesus in verse 25 when He arrived? He was very resourceful and He made full use of the wrong intention of the crowd to teach and challenge them and direct them to come to Him, the bread of life.

- Making full use of the wrong intention, from verses 26-27, Jesus pointed out that they looked for Him not because of the miraculous signs but because of the food. Since food has everything to do with the bread and butter issue of life; we need food for survival, Jesus used it to turn the whole thing around and direct people to what He had to offer and said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

- To Jesus’ offer, they misunderstood that they had to work in order to get the food, so they answered in verse 29, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus corrected their misunderstanding by telling them what to do in verse 29, “The work of God is this to believe in the one he has sent.”

- The Jewish crowd still failed to understand Jesus, they even requested Jesus for more miracles so that they could believe in Him and they even compared the bread that Jesus gave to the manna that their forefathers received in the exodus desert for 40 years (miracle of 40 years) through Moses (verses 30-31).

- Now, Jesus linked directly the bread from heaven to His Father in verse 32 and said directly and most clearly in verse 33, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Notice the bread is for the world, the vision of Jesus and His Father. To this, Jesus had successful caused them to ask the bread, the bread that endures eternal life in verse 34.

- Next, Jesus grasped the moment, the most appropriate moment to declare His message, His intention (mission) of coming to the world, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (verse 35) The tangible image of bread of life is so crucial in bringing out a spiritual truth. Bread is something you need in life to survive as a person and Jesus used to it to say He is the bread of life. Jesus used an earthly image to say the divine person God, the God identity is now down on earth and become a human being. The divine identity is now joined with a earthly image. The audience now either takes it or leave it.

- Jesus really built on the idea of food that lasts, to the work of God, then to bread from heaven, and finally, He proclaimed, “I am the bread of life.” I am what you need to live towards eternal life. And from then on He challenged people, you and me and all people out there in the world to come to Him to believe Him, and not miss Him.

- And from verses 36-40, especially in verses 38-40, He promised people who come to Him He will never drive them away; when it comes to judgement in the last days He will resurrect them and grant them eternal life.

- Why Jesus promised that people who come to bread of life will never be hungry and thirsty? I believe it has to do with human needs of all kinds which can be met by Jesus. Hunger and thirst imagery has to do with food and drink that human need. But how can Jesus, God, make you full in your stomach; and how can make you not thirsty? I believe the food and drink here bring out human needs for a proper destiny and meaning of life on earth. Otherwise, you cannot explain why He says in verse 40, “…everyone who looks to the son, and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

- Today, this eternal destiny is offered to you, have you received it? Have you received Jesus into your life.

- But Jesus promises more than an eternal destiny because He says those who come to Him and believe in Him will never be hungry and thirsty. So, what needs do you have?

C. Bread of Life Applications

- Individually, you may be depressed about something, right? Being Christian, you still find life empty. Some of us still allow hurt, disappointment, sadness, pride, bad memory to rule you. You cannot change the reality, facts, something already happened, you still wish it should never happen; you still cannot go of the past, whether good or bad things, you want to be in control but you are not in control. I tell in the name of Jesus, this is the greatest reason why you are so depressed.

- A lot of people in the midst of struggles use alcohol, drug, cigarette, womanizing, karaoke, hang out late at night at pubs or somewhere, or watching countless videos, or spend much time at face book and websites, deliberately long hours or even watch pornography to search for a solution or some find meaning or solutions to our present life bad situation and issues. Issues of whatever kinds as long as you do not face the truth and deal with the truth, whatever you do otherwise, it will only make your situation worse.

- You need to come to Jesus, the truth, and seek Him and He will give the meanings and answers in life as He is the bread of life; He will make full and not thirsty.

- On the other hand, you are a disciple of Christ, how do you bring the bread of life to others, at your family, at your work place, to the government, the long houses, Tudan Ibans and indigenous people of Sarawak, the lost in Indonesia, Philippines, China, Africa or even in England as SCAC target these countries.

- Back home here in Miri and in your family, you need to live a life of testimony to prove that Jesus is your bread of life. When you meet with problems, you need to help them to find meanings in their struggles and problems. You need to help them to think in the positive light or better still in light of the word of God. You need to be empowered by Jesus’ resurrection power to do it.

D. Conclusion

- Jesus is the bread of life, what do you do with Him? Would you submit your life to Him and let Him rule you?

Preaching the Gospel like Apostle Paul

AMC

7th October, 2012

Written by Rev Lau Hui Seng

Posted by Teresa Han

Acts 22:22-23:11

Main Idea: Following Apostle Paul’s commitment in preaching the gospel.

Objectives: a. To teach the congregation to follow Apostle Paul’s example of commitment to preach the gospel. b. To challenge the congregation to draw a difference between our Christian faith and others. c. To teach the congregation to emulate Apostle’s faith in preaching the gospel.

A. Introduction

- I am sure for those of you who try to evangelize or invite family members and friends and colleagues to come worship Jesus or evangelistic meeting or small group meeting, at times we felt disappointed and felt like we want to give up.

- When we face difficulties in reaching out and bringing people into the kingdom of God, we allow rejections, peoples’ excuses, peoples’ cold response, teasing of people or even sarcastic remark to disturb and discourage us. Apostle Paul’s attitude towards the gospel and Jesus must inspire us not to allow those rejections disturb us; and challenge us to remain faithful to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations.

- Let us look at how Apostle Paul responded to the persecutions in his days as he tried to preach the gospel. I had preached to you before (chapter 21:1-16) that despite the prophecy that he would be persecuted in Jerusalem he still went ahead. Apostle Paul greatly pronounced in 21:12b, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” In fact, as prophesied, he was arrested in Jerusalem, beaten and his enemies tried to kill him.

- Today, as we deal with the passage, let us look at Apostle Paul’s attitude in advancing the gospel even in the midst of persecutions by the Romans, and the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees.

B. Apostle Paul’s attitude towards the Gospel

- Despite Apostle Paul facing physical suffering and persecution as mentioned in the last few chapters and this long passage, he kept his faith in Jesus Christ; and he still preached his new found faith. He was greatly committed to preach Jesus Christ. He used all ways and means to protect himself as far as possible and yet at the same time he was committed to preach the gospel.

- He used his Roman citizenship to avoid unnecessary physical flogging which could result in great pain and shortening of life. But he was not spared from the distress and beating of the Sanhedrin; and Pharisees. The commander wanted to find out from these two Jewish groups why they were accusing Apostle Paul. In front of the Sanhedrin, the great high priest ordered people to strike Paul at his mouth after he spoke in 23:1, where he address them as brothers, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience.” Take note of how in the midst of distress and tension, Apostle Paul is seeking opportunity to make friend with all his Jewish community hoping to find a common ground to bring the gospel across. He addressed them as brothers with the hope that they could communicate properly with him.

- After being beaten at his mouth, it looked like Apostle Paul became very angry with the high priest Ananias and he responded in verse 3, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”

- After being told that Ananias was God’s high priest in verse 4, Apostle Paul toned down and became apologetic in verse, he said in verse 5, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.”

- His apologies helped to calm down the situation; and after noticing the presence of Sadducees and Pharisees, I believe he did not mean to create a conflict between the two, he just want to draw a clear line of what he believed between him and the others (Sadducees and Pharisees). He drew a line of difference between His belief in Jesus Christ, the gospel and their belief. Therefore, Apostle Paul said in verse 6, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.”

- Whatever the circumstance, it was Apostle Paul’s policy to preach Jesus Christ, the living God. It was his focus. He faced the risk of being killed but he was daring to do it because he was prepared to die for Jesus in the process of his mission in Christ.

- His untiring effort to defend the resurrection of Christ, preaching Christ was very much acknowledged by Jesus Himself as He appeared to Apostle Paul the following night and said to him in verse 11, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Personally, I feel that Jesus acknowledges my service in Him by His presence in my life by empowering me to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit and very much answering my prayers to do His will)

- At this stage you may ask why Apostle Paul perseveres in preaching the gospel despite the physical suffering from the persecution. Why he took all the trouble to bring the gospel to them?

- The answer is none other than he desired to complete God’s will for Him on earth. He had that great life transforming encounter with Jesus and Jesus gave him the life time mission on earth to bring the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles. Ananias, disciple of Jesus who healed the eye sight of Apostle Paul after he was made blind by bright light from Jesus received Jesus’ mission for Paul in a vision, Acts 9:15, 16, “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how he must suffer for my name.” (That is why I always believe that once you are sure of God’s calling for you or God’s will for you in doing something for you, you can trust Him all the way to carry you through to do His will or mission on earth) Apostle Paul was doing just that. We can emulate him.

- Then, still there is the next question: what protects Apostle Paul to maintain that conviction, that momentum, that motivation to preach Jesus Christ? You cannot deny that it must be due to that kind of FAITH he had in Christ. We need to emulate this faith very much. Unless we preach the gospel with Apostle Paul’s faith, otherwise, our preaching will hardly bear any effect at all.

- What kind of faith that Apostle Paul has in Christ? The answer is simply that He believes Jesus is the resurrected God of the universe, the true God, Almighty God. Otherwise, why he needs to risk his life; why he needs to preach?

C. Applications on how to preach like Apostle Paul

- My explanation of the passage today reflects Apostle Paul’s attitude towards the Gospel. I pray that his attitudes towards the gospel will be good examples to us; and by all means allow them to be absorbed into our lives and make them become part of our lives in Christ as we are united with Christ (as I preached to you last week). As we have resurrection power of Christ in us, we can share Apostle Paul’s attitude towards gospel in our lives.

- Firstly, we need to absorb Apostle Paul’s attitude of great commitment to the gospel. He has his own job as a tent-maker; he preached Christ all the time, despite the circumstances. Despite suffering in persecution, rejections and all kinds of ridicules, he persevere, he never gave up. Can you say that with him? As you listen to this word of God today, can you come to Jesus in humility and ask Him to grant you that attitude/ spirit of commitment to the gospel? Despite whatever future crisis/ hardship/ suffering/ challenges of any kind, your commitment to Jesus in preaching the gospel is not decreasing but ever increasing like that of Paul, can you?

- Secondly, in preaching the gospel, can you absorb Paul’s attitude of drawing a line of belief in the resurrected Christ with your transformed life in your work place, school, homes and the society at large? Can your life shows Christ’s teaching? Can your life say to others because of the living Christ inside me, I will do this (e.g., forgive someone who offended me; not take the corruption money or corrupt others; not enter into an adulterous relationship; not keeping hatred, jealousy, bitterness and anger against someone; not greedy; not pull down someone and you claim up the ladder of success; be a person of integrity)

- Thirdly, we need to absorb Apostle Paul’s kind of faith in Christ. Can you and I? Do you hesitate to say yes? Yes, no, why? I am afraid how humble, how powerful, how effective we are in witnessing for Jesus, how people are attracted to our lives and count on us to guide them and lead to Christ is depending on this FAITH! Without this faith, your prayers are just talking to the air; your praise and worship on Sunday is just some entertainment; your prayers before three meals will be mere rituals; your tithing or giving to church is just doing some good works which are not different from believers of any other faith; whatever your so called ministry is just some activity which keeps your time occupy and give you some meaning; but they all never end up with God, Jesus. You see why you must believe in this resurrected Christ 100%; 100%, not 50%, not divided loyalty? Failure to start this worship and belief in Christ, the rest is all human work. Jesus is not involved in your life.

D. Conclusion

- Are you taken off guard this morning? Is this Jesus whom we pray and worship ever live in your life or not? If so, then, it must show in your life and my life.

- Apostle Paul got the heart of the matter correct. That is Jesus Christ, the resurrected God, living God, no wonder he could preach with those triumphing and wining attitudes which become our examples.

A New Life

AMC

30th September, 2012

Written By Rev Lau Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Roman 6:1-14

Main Idea: A baptized Christian lives a new life

Objectives: a. To teach what is a new life.

b. To teach a few applications on a new life.

A. Introduction

- A lot of Christians after conversion, they live a life that may not be any different from before the conversion. The worst is he or she still continues to live in sin. He or she sins all the way till death. In his or her, you would not know what Christian life is all about.

- On the other hand, a person who is truly converted, baptized, a Christian who is born again, without he or she telling you, after you deal with him or her, living with her for a while, you will sense that he or she is a Christian. How do you know? The answer is very simple because he or she lives a Christian life.

- My sermon today deals partly with this Christian life. After conversion, Apostle Paul urged us to live a new life, new Christian life. Before going into the teachings on a new life, let us see the context of the passage today (6:1-14).

B. A New Life

- Chapter 3:21 to 5:21, Apostle Paul very much explains to us on how we are saved and justified in Christ, that is the reason we are accepted by God. Then, from chapters 6 to 8, he explained about the doctrine of sanctification, that is after our conversion, how we should grow into maturity in Christ. In Chapter 6, he explains about our Christian needs to be free from sin. In Chapter 7, we are freed from the law’s condemnation. In Chapter 8, Christians live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

- So, how do we live a Christian life after our conversion, or especially after our baptism or even our confirmation; or simply put, after we become a Christian?

- The concern that Apostle Paul raised in verse 1 is a very real question which every genuine church and all Christians throughout the ages must be concerned. Here and there in my sermons, I address it. Today, in this verse 1, Apostle Paul puts it clearly. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” He asked this question in view of his statement in 5:20, “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” The whole passage of today is dealing with the question: Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

- I entitle my sermon as “A New Life” as I believe this summarizes Apostle Paul’s answer to his own question. I pray that you will always remember the answer because this empower you to live a victorious life.

- To the question, of course, Apostle Paul answered in verse 2, “By no means! We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer?” Then he gave a great elaboration of how we should overcome sin in order to live a new life. A new life is a life overcoming sin.

- Apostle Paul spelt our 3 steps towards overcoming sin, living a victorious Christian life. The first step is called dead to sin (verses 5-7) and alive to God (verses 8-10). The second step toward overcoming sin is we refuse to let sin to rule our life (verse 12). The third step is to offer ourselves to God. I pray that you say “Amen” all the way to all these powerful steps. I am very convicted by the Spirit of Jesus to preach to you these 3 steps as they would transform your life. This is something powerful that Christianity, or to be more exact, Jesus Christ offers to the sinful human beings. You and I no matter how long, how matured, we have a disciple of Jesus, we still need it.

C. Dead to sin and alive to God (A New Life)- the First Step

- After conversion and especially at the point of baptism, a Christian experienced a change of identity, it is from non-Christian to Christian. But it is not as simple as that, something deep inside this Christian change, Apostle Paul called this dead to sin and alive to God. I called it a twist deep inside his heart happened. We need to pray that this happened to a person at the point of baptism or conversion.

- At the point of baptism, in verses 3 and 4, it says, a Christian is baptized into his death, he is buried with Christ into death, and he is raised from the dead just as Christ was raised from the death, and then, he lives a new life. That is dead to sin and alive to God.

- How can that twist or change happen? That twist happened when we are united with Christ in His death (verse 5) spiritually; our union with Christ in death means the sins which the old self (before conversion) are carrying are done away (verse 6) with because anyone united with Christ has died with Him and he has been freed from sin. The union with Christ can happen when you pray to accept Him as saviour; when you are baptized like today; when you agree in your heart Jesus saves you and gives you eternal life; when you worship Him and Him only. This is the good news for you and me. This should happen to all Christians.

- Now, you may ask how the union with Christ can free you from your sins. How the twist or the change happened? How the sins which the old self are carrying are done away? How can a Christian be dead to sin? How can you be powerful to overcome the sins? What happened to the sins? There must be some power or some means coming from somewhere or someone to overcome the sins, right? Do you want to know the answer?

- The answer is found in verse 4, 8, 9 and 10. I pray that you will not miss the answer; and you will forever remember the answer. You will see that it is real and true in your life. Now, that power that free you from sins, sins are done away with, you are dead to sin, that overcoming of sin is coming from Jesus Christ.

- In verse 4, we are told that Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, that we may live a new life. Through the glory of the Father, it means the power of the Father (the power gives the glory), Jesus was resurrected. As we died with Christ, united with Him and live with Him (verse 8), we obtained this resurrection power from Him who has overcome death (verse 9) to overcome sins which Christ died once for all (verse 10). We become alive to God. No more dead spiritually. Once sins are overcome, we are alive to God; linked with God; entered into meaningful personal relationship with God through Jesus. You see why Jesus makes all the difference in my life and your life. You see you must never miss Jesus in your life. You miss Jesus, you miss everything in life. There won’t be any answer to the sins of your lives.

- Do you now know for sure how you overcome sins and live a new life? Basically, it is Jesus who gives the power to overcome sins.

D. Refusal to let sin to rule our life (verse 12) – the Second step to New Life

- As you died with Christ in baptism, your union with Him gives you the resurrection power to overcome your sins and you become alive to God in Christ (verse 11).

- Then, Apostle Paul directed you to the next step of new life. A step which I can see involves your own human will to make a decision not to allow sin to rule your life. That is why, you learn in verse 12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” You see my point, it is your own decision not to allow your physical body to do sinful things like entertaining lustful desires, hatred, greed, gluttony, etc. Praise the Lord you have the power to overcome the sinful desires. That power is always available to you as you are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. You just have to come to Him in prayers and fasting, worship, in Holy Communion, baptism, fellowship, etc.

E. Offer your life to God (verse 13) – the Third Step to New Life

- It looks like for Apostle Paul, it is still not enough to live a new with those 2 steps, you need to add the third step, more holistic step, complete step of offering your life and my life to God (verse 13). No wonder he says in verse 13, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” And all this is because sin is not our master anymore but we are not under law but under grace (verse 14).

- If we continue to sin wilfully after our conversion or baptism, how do claim we have offered our life to God? A life that is offered to God will make sure that in every way we please God and not offend Him.

F. A few applications of a new life

- (1). First application is this: is your union with Christ genuine or not? Is your prayer of acceptance of Christ in your heart as your saviour real or genuine or not? Is your repentance genuine or not? If you believe that Jesus can be manipulated, cheated, and He does not notice the sins of your heart, and you continue to sin against Him, I honestly tell you are not genuine. Next, of course you do not have the power to overcome sin; you will sin again and again. You may be acting as a Christian outwardly, but deep inside you, you never belong to Jesus.

- (2). This new life implies that we now become very sensitive to sins in our lives. It can be compared to a sheep which is sensitive to dirt. One who is not overcoming sin can be likened to a pig who is not sensitive to dirt which gets dirty all the time. Which are you and I?

- (3). We need to exercise our willpower to resist temptations to sin against God. When we sin, do not blame the devil or the environment. We need to bear the largest responsibility for our sins. We need to choose what is right and reject who is wrong to live a holy life.

G. Conclusion

- A new life is really a life that we offer ourselves to God and live to please God. Jesus always empowers us to serve Him and He gives us the empowerment to overcome sins. Therefore, do you know how to live a new life now?

Ready to die for the Name of Jesus Christ 2nd Sept, 2012

Written by Rev Law Hui Seng,

Posted by Teresa Han

AMC


Acts 21:1-16

Main Idea: Be ready to die for Jesus

Objectives: a. To teach church members to be ready to die for Jesus.

b. To teach the congregation to do God’s will like apostle Paul.

A. Introduction

- I have preached about making sacrifice for Jesus here and there. I believe some of us who are ready (especially if you know Jesus and His teachings), you are ready for it. May be some of us who are not so ready you may resent it or be scared about it. All the more, you can be scared by the teaching today!

- Today, I go a step further, I bring you a model of how an apostle, like Paul who was ready to die for the name of Jesus. It is not just making sacrifices for Jesus but be ready to die for Jesus. I pray that at the end of the day, you will not misunderstand the teaching of the word of God today. I pray that you will not leave this church because of this sermon. I pray that as you understand Apostle Paul better through the whole book of Acts, you will understand why he was so ready to die in the name of Jesus.

- You may think that everything is so good, why be ready to die for Jesus? Those of you who are young, you have a bright future to look forward to, i.e., to find a career and to set up a family. Those of you who are established, and life is good. You may ask if we are facing the danger like Paul already, where because of faith, belief in Jesus, and preaching Jesus your life can be at stake.

- I want to preach to you this sermon because I want to prepare you when the situation comes.

- The title of my sermon is taken from Acts 21: 13, “…I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

B. Ready to die for Jesus

- This is part of Apostle Paul’s third missionary journey; it was full of challenges because the Holy Spirit urged him not to go on to Jerusalem. I want you to take note that the writer Luke in the whole of Acts emphasized the work of Holy Spirit in the work of mission by Paul and his fellow apostles and disciples.

- In verse 4, we are told that when their ship landed at Tyre, they found the disciples there who urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem through the Holy Spirit. Before this chapter, in addressing the Ephesian elders, in Acts 20: 22-24, he says, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Paul himself was also warned by the Holy Spirit concerning the dangers like imprisonment and hardships waiting for him at Jerusalem.

- Form Tyre, Apostle Paul and fellow disciples went to Ptolemais, and from there they moved to Caesarea and met up with Philip the evangelist (Acts 8: 26 -40, Philip and the Ethiopean), after more than 20 years (he was chased out of Jerusalem by the persecutor Saul then), they met again. You can imagine how the Holy Spirit used Jesus’ gospel to bring the two of them together. Verse 10 says they stayed together for a number of days.

- Then a prophet by the name of Agabus came down from Judea, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, in verse 11, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

- When the group of disciples heard the prophecy, in verse 12, they pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. This is when Paul differed from them, and he said something we need to learn from him in verse 13, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

- When Paul was not persuaded, in verse 14, Luke said they gave up persuading him, instead, they agreed with Paul that it was God’s will to go to Jerusalem.

- As I studied this passage, I noticed there seemed to be a contradiction between the works of the Holy Spirit. On one hand, the disciples at Tyre upon the prompting the Holy Spirit, they advised Paul not to go to Jerusalem; and prophet Agabus warned him in a symbolic manner how he was going to be chained and given over the Gentiles. On the other hand, Paul, disagreed with the persuasion not to go; and he responded with his readiness to be chained and die for the name of Jesus! Is there a contradiction of the work of the Holy Spirit. One commentator said no as Paul received a higher calling to do God’s will.

- My own reflection is this: It is very normal for the Holy Spirit to protect God’s people from harms and dangers, as we remained close with Him, we will be informed of the forthcoming dangers. For the fellow disciples to persuade him with tears not to go Jerusalem as his life was at stake. May be they did not want him to die earlier; and they did the persuasion out of love for Paul. They really hoped Paul would remain around on earth to accomplish more for Jesus.

- For Paul, his utmost concern was not life or death, his motive was whether his life was in danger or not! His motive was stated in Acts 20:24”…I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

- When confronted with choosing life and testifying to the gospel of God’s grace, Apostle Paul felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to choose the later. He was so focussed on the mission of Jesus!

- Can we pray for this spirit of Paul to prevail in the Methodist circles? That is why I entitled my sermon, “Are you ready to die in the name of Jesus Christ?”

C. Applications

- Now remember Apostle Paul was a tent-maker, he got a job like those of us who are working. What he was different from us may be in terms of the office hours he did not need to follow. He was like some of us, who was converted as an adult to be a Christian.

- He could be so focused in preaching and testifying Christ. What made him so much into doing God’s will? It is very clear that doing God’s will is more important than the security of his life. Why is there such focus and great priority? I strongly believe that there is no other answer than Jesus Christ is the saviour, Messiah, the true God, who is responsible for his eternal life and the rest of the world. If he was not sure of it, why he was so ready to be killed by His opponents? Before this, Jesus was also certain of His own identity as God, and He was prepared to die for this identity.

- Paul had known Jesus and experienced Him so much that He felt the best in life is to do His mission and will on earth. Will you and I do the same?

- After preaching to you all these, I still need to ask you the question: Are you ready to die in the name of Jesus? If your answer is no, I can understand why. My mission here is to help you to upgrade from ‘not ready to die in the name of Jesus’ to ‘ready to die in name of Jesus’. It is not by might and power but in the power of the power of the Holy Spirit.

- I must tell you I myself is ready to die in the name of Jesus anytime. I have come to the point in life after studying the bible as a whole and experiencing Jesus, I find that what counts the most in life is Jesus and His mission. And so I want to preach to you this morning, in order to get ready in the name of Jesus, you need to work at these two things:

- Firstly, know Jesus Christ, your Lord, as far as possible, inside out by studying the whole bible. You have your whole life to do it. You have to be convinced by the person of Jesus, His words and works (mission).

- Secondly, you will expect me to say it: in view of Jesus (especially His words and works), when you compare the values of your life, your soul, your material possession, your family, your status, your money, your time on earth, with all the eternal values that Jesus offers, whatever you have is so insignificant; and so in order to be ready to die in Jesus name, you need let go and let God in the person of Jesus to have the final say about your everything in life. When someone challenges you to give up your faith or stop you from obeying Jesus and threaten to kill you if you do so, ready or not to die in the name of Jesus Christ all depend on whether you have let go of everything, especially your own life. If your bottom line or utmost concern is your parents still need; your wife or husband or children or your company or your money still you to take care, you simply are not ready to die in Jesus’ name. You are still very far from the readiness.

- On the other hand, if you are ready to die for Jesus, in whatever circumstance, then, you are going to be strong and powerful for Jesus. You are strong because you are not afraid to die for the mission of Jesus. You are powerful because your mission on earth for Jesus is going to bring lasting fruits in terms of people of all races becoming disciples of Jesus.

D. Conclusion

- I pray that you venture into the privilege of getting ready to die in the name of Jesus in your life time. This is not talking about not afraid to die; but be ready to die in the name of Jesus, in other words, to die for the cause or mission of Jesus.

E. Discussion Questions

1. How your readiness to die for the name of Jesus affects your ministry?

2. Share a few possibilities in your environment where you have to be ready to die for the name of Jesus.

Teaching them the Word of God

AMC Sermon 1st July, 2012

Acts 18:1-17

Main idea: Teach the word of God

Objectives: a. To teach that teaching is not just giving information.

b. To show them how the truth is not taught but caught by walking the talk.

A. Introduction

- Today, at every level of the church of God, and especially the Methodist Church of Sabah and Sarawak, we are particularly about teaching the word of God, the Bible, in Sunday School, Youth Fellowship and all the age group fellowships, small groups and during Sunday service like this.

- Why are we so particular about teaching the word of God in the church to children of God and disciples of Jesus? You may give your answers. Whatever your answers, at the end of the day, you cannot deny that we want to train ourselves, direct ourselves to be like Christ. In our attitudes, beliefs, behaviour and practices, perspectives, life values, principles, personality, characters, and worldview; we want to be like Christ. Christ is our best example/ model. To achieve this purpose, we need to teach the word of God. Can the Methodist Church in Sabah and Sarawak be faithful to teach the word of God (Bible) from generation to generation?

- In my personal term, I always see myself as training children of God in the church to become disciples of Jesus/ followers. I disciple my own children also. To do that teaching is of the key element of the process.

- May be Apostle Paul had similar thought in the passage today. In verse 11, it says, “…Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” The phrase ‘teaching them the word of God’ attracts my attention very much.

B. Context of Apostle Paul’s teaching

- Why it does not say Paul staying back at Corinth for a year and a half to pray with them? Caring and loving them? Doing some planning to reach out? Spend the time there to do business of tent-making and make more money to support his own ministry? Out of so many things, the author Luke said Apostle Paul spent the time to teach the word of God.

- Apostle Paul must be believing that teaching the word of God is the top priority in order to build a long lasting church or congregation at Corinth. If not, I cannot think other more worthwhile reasons to stay back for so long.

- After Athens, he proceeded to do mission in Corinth. He joined venture with a Jewish convert Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, to do tent-making. At the same time, he preached to the Jews and

Greeks. After the arrival of Silas and Timothy, Paul devotedly himself exclusively preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. The Jews opposed him in the face and became abusive towards him. Paul was disappointed and he decided to move on and went to Gentiles.

- After he left the synagogue, we are told in verses 7 and 8, he went next door to reach out to Titus Justus, a worshipper of God and, he also reached out to the synagogue ruler, Crispus and his household; they believed and he baptized them. Besides, many Corinthians believed and were baptized. These peoples probably made up of the group whom Paul had to teach them in the one and a half year mentioned in verse 11.

- But why Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision in verses 9 and 10, and said, “…Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”? Jesus assured Paul of protection. May be God used Gallio a proconsul of Achaia to protect him from the attack of Jews who pursued Paul. He just dismissed the Jewish request to prosecute Paul based on the grounds of words and names and Jewish laws as nothing to do with the government of the day; they need to settle it internally (verses 14 to 16).

- Apostle Paul being a human being, after the bad experience with the abusive Jews and the possible attack from them; moral decadence, corruption filled and idolatry of the Corinth city caused him to be depressed and helpless and scared. He needed the intervention of Jesus to uplift Him.

- Obviously, the vision of Jesus helped him very much. He was greatly encouraged and so he stayed back to attend to his sheep in verse 11.

- I can understand the need for Apostle to stay back at Corinth to teach the newly converted Christians the word of God. If he were to be serious about planting a church there in response to the evils of the day, he must build them up with the word of God so that they became permanent followers of Jesus.

C. Applications

- If Apostle Paul stayed back at Corinth to just teach the word of God for the young believers, the church, the Methodist churches must take heed of it seriously also.

- I always ask myself: can I produce strong and matured disciples of Jesus to help others to become disciples of Jesus? Can SCAC do it? Can SPAC do it? Can Agape Methodist Church do it?

- Can our preaching, teaching, worship and ministries produce people who are honest, responsible, mission minded, forgiving, caring and loving, become servants of God/ church leaders, ready to make sacrifice like Jesus, not agree to sex before marriage, not agree to homosexual practice, not practice corruption, practice good business ethics like practice good accounting system, not compromised on biblical principles like tithing, give willingly, be accountable to one another in marriage by being faithful to one another, responsible father and mother and children, not practising hypocrisy, etc?

- To do that we need to face two very important challenges in teaching the word of God.

- Firstly, whoever is in the position (pastor, Sunday school teacher, youth advisor, small group leaders or those leading the bible studies, church leaders, parents, etc) of teaching the word of God, can you and I not just give information? How do you bring across the word of God to your children? How do they understand the meaning of the 10 commandments? How do you bring across the message of God’s forgiveness of their sins? So that your students, your children, disciples of this church, and your family members will not just it as knowledge and mere information, where they can afford to listen and forget.

- I believe one answer lies with relevancy of our teaching of the word of God. If you are teaching forgiveness of Jesus for our sins? How do you help a person to feel the need for God’s forgiveness of his/her sins? To do it you need to understand what is a sin? Understand as much as possible the consequences of it. Why the need for a human being to forgive another human being? So, what you do and say must be relevant to the people whom you are teaching or ministering? So, is your teaching relevant to their life? When it is relevant, it attracts attention, people, young and adults will take it as a big deal. When that happens, the word of God, the truth strikes them, and it results in transformation of life, to be more like Christ.

- Secondly, the truths we are teaching are not taught but caught. Have you hear what some people say: Do what I say? If truths are to transform people they have to catch the truths from us, from those who teach by seeing us practising it. You only catch the truths and living it righteously from someone who is practising it. Do you still remember how are you are so convinced of believing Jesus and following Christ? Is it because you see the goodness of someone practising the truths of Christianity? How realized it is so important to be an honest person? How you realized it is so important to be forgiving? How you learn to be polite and respect others? How you realized the importance of doing mission? You must have caught it from a disciple of Jesus around you.

- So, we as church leaders, pastors, disciples of Jesus, can be good models for others to follow because no matter how good is a truth in Christians, it is not taught but caught. A person who is forgiven by you catches the meaning of forgiveness for his life from you. He will have a reference on how to do it to someone else.

- This is a real story told by E. Stanely Jones (died in 1973), a well known American Methodist missionary to India for 50 years. A Japanese Buddhist professor became blind as a result of a detached retina at the height of his career. He became a Christian. He came across the story of a person born blind from birth. Jesus answered the question of whose sin caused this man to be born blind, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” This professor believed the work of God could be made manifest in his blindness. People flocked to hear his testimony because he could take the severe blow with Christ’s help and turned it into a victory. He went to Scotland to learn theology and got higher degree and came back to Japan to teach theology and wrote great books during the remainder of his days. He did not ask why but he only asked how. He is definitely a good example of how to turn something bad to something victorious. He was not self pity, helpless and depressed. He turned to Christ, and lived a life of victory despite blindness. Can you and I do better than him?

D. Conclusion

- Can you be a good example of a father or mother, a son or a daughter? Are you are a good example of a disciple of Jesus? If so, your life is actually teaching others around you. If not, let us work towards it.



I am in you

Senadin Methodist Campus Gospel Centre
27th May, 2012.

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
John 14:15-28 (Pentecost Sunday)


Main Idea: Jesus is in you


Objectives: a. To teach the roles played by the Holy Spirit in our lives

b. To raise awareness of the Holy Spirit inside us


c. To challenge the congregation to obey the Holy Spirit inside us


A. Introduction

- Praise the Lord we are always reminded by the annual Pentecost Sunday on the mighty works of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Jesus Christ by Apostle Paul in the letters to the Philippians. So, each time you think of Holy Spirit, you must relate it to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. You are very sure it is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and not any other spirits. Apart from the Spirit of Jesus Christ, all other spirits will destroy you. Philippians 1:19, “for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

- The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is a belief that the Church of God cannot do without. A wrong understanding of the doctrine, ignorance of it, lack of understanding of it, misunderstanding of it and weak awareness of it, will result in the church becoming powerless and cause us Christians and disciples of Jesus like soldiers going to the war to fight the enemies without weapons.

- I am much convicted to preach to you as a lot of Methodists (Christians) are unaware of the presence of the Holy Spirit inside us. This is the promise of Jesus for us in the gospel and yet we live as if there is no Holy Spirit in our lives, and we live a defeated Christian life.

- Jesus says in John 14:16,17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth…”

- For us Methodist Christians and disciples of Jesus, we believe especially upon baptism, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. As Jesus promised, we receive the Holy Spirit at the point of baptism. So, the Holy Spirit of Jesus is living inside us, in our body. Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:13,14, says “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”

B. Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ

- I do not simply tell you that the Spirit of Jesus is living inside you. Whatever I say here at the pulpit must not carry any weight, any authority at all. If I say it, it is only a human being who says. Human sayings can be a flaw; not the truth. What I say is just quoting what Jesus says in the passage today. You must believe what Jesus says when He says in today’s passage verse 20, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Hence, my sermon title, ‘I am in you.’ Jesus says, “I am in you.” That is why I say Jesus is living inside you. Do you believe? Are you aware or not. There are serious implications to this believe.

- This promise of the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ way of preparing the disciples before He is crucified and ascended to sit on the right hand of His Father in heaven. The preparation is needed so that the disciples can still continue to be empowered by Him to carry on His work after He left them. That promise of the Holy Spirit was materialized in the history of the church recorded in details in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples as promised by Jesus (during Pentecost) and they were empowered by Holy Spirit to do mission and make disciples of all nations.

- The passage before this is about Philip asking Jesus where He was going; he and the other disciples did not know where Jesus was going. And Jesus answers in verse 6, 7 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…” And then, Philip requested in verse 8, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” And Jesus goes on to elaborate He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him in verse 11. And in verse 12 He tells the disciples that anyone who has faith in Him will do even greater things than Him because He is going to the Father. Unless we believe in the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus; and believe in the power of Holy Spirit, otherwise, how can we explain about 2 billion (out of 7 billion of world population) who are Christians.

- See what Jesus will do in your life as He is living in you. I pray that you become very conscious of Jesus who lives inside you after the sermon today, if you are not so conscious yet.

- This is a very rich passage on the roles of Holy Spirit in your life. I pray that you are excited about it and live according to the teaching of Jesus on His Spirit.

C. Roles of Holy Spirit and Applications

- What is the Holy Spirit doing in your life according to John 14:15-31?

- Firstly, in verse 16 Jesus asks the Father to give another counsellor (parakletos in Greek) to be with the disciples forever. Other translations for parakletos are helper, advocate, and comforter. It is a legal term which means counsel for the defence. It refers to any person who helps someone in trouble with the law. The Holy Spirit, who is the counsellor / advocate, is also ever ready to help Christians who are in trouble. The counsellor stands by Christ’s people.

- Secondly, in verse 17, the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of truth. The verse says this Spirit of truth lives with disciples and He will be with the disciples. This Holy Spirit is characterized by truth. He brings people into the truth, you see. You and I need to be aware of this and realize the powerful Holy Spirit will lead us into all the truths. Therefore, anything that happens, in sickness, in decision making, making a choice, in accepting advice of people, and in deciding the next cause of action, we are all the time asking and praying for the truths. Make sure whatever we think, do, and say is based on the truth. And you go to the Holy Spirit to listen and receive the truth. The Holy Spirit is the still small voice inside you all the time telling you the truth. You always need to be quiet before Him to hear the voice of the truth. You need to spend time before Him to find out the truth. If you are too busy you cannot hear the truth. Ask Jesus what is the truth and He will tell as He is the Spirit of Truth. How do you know somebody is lying or not, confirm it with the Holy Spirit inside you.

- When I counsel people face to face or over the phone every now and then, I always ask the Spirit of truth to help me. As I counsel and talk, deep down in my heart, I turn to Jesus to depend on Him. Therefore, helps in terms of truth always come to me. Recently, Jesus helped me to save one sister’s life. She wants to end her life in that critical moment. She asked for the reasons why she should continue to live. Deep in my heart, I asked Jesus for a quick answer right there and then. I know all the theological answers will not do the job. I was amazed how Jesus immediately told me to tell her relevant things in her life; truths that are important for her to know and things that are dear to her life. I told her if she died her husband will be the most guilty person throughout his remaining life as he would blame himself for not taking care of her; and her youngest child who is still dependent on the mother would suffer very much without the mother figure around. Eventually she thanked me for saving her life! Coincidentally, when she needed to talk to me I was available. Therefore, when people are depressed, they may ask what the purpose of life is. Be sensitive to the prompting of the Spirit of Truth to help them. Your friends who face failures in the examination; have nervous breakdown; suffered broken relationship; suffered from sickness or in the depressed condition, be there to give them meaning of life.

- Do practise this godly habit as I always try to do it. Live your life everyday expecting Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the counsellor, and the Spirit of Truth to help you any time you need help and you need to know the truth.

- Jesus kept reassuring the disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit as the disciples might be fearful without Jesus around. That is why Jesus kept saying in verses 18, 19, 20, 21 that “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you; on that you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you; whoever loves me I will love him too and show myself to him”

- And when Judas asked Jesus why did He show to the disciples only and not to the world, Jesus answered in verse 23, if anyone who loves Him and obeys His teaching, His Father will love him; and they will come to Him and make their home with him. What a great promise, Jesus and His Father make their home inside the disciples’ life!

- Thirdly, in verse 25, Jesus says His Father will send the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, He will teach the disciples all things and will remind them of everything Jesus taught. Can we be sure that we are reminded by the Holy Spirit, the counsellor about the teachings of Jesus in the gospel; including the meanings of Jesus’ teachings? For this reason, I urge you to spend time and understand God’s word not only on your own but also study it with others especially through the different levels of 9 month discipleship course. While you are students here for few years, grasp the opportunity to be familiar with God’s word and Jesus’ teaching to equip yourself and make disciples of all nations and face the whole world. God’s word answers all your questions in life. You do not have the confidence in God’s word; you easily fall and overcome by temptations.

- Jesus knows He has left the most precious words with the disciples and the disciples need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth to understand them. And He continued to reassure them in verse 27 not to be troubled and afraid after He left as He has given them peace.

- He kept reassuring them and now in verse 28, He says He would come back. Still, He has to leave them and the prince of the world (Satan) cannot stop His mission on earth as commanded by His Father (verse 31).

D. Conclusion

- Holy Spirit, counsellor, Spirit of Truth, is living inside us. That is the truth. Failure to realize or be aware of it, you are so powerless. You will be afraid of ghosts; worry a lot; living in fear of failures, disappointments, sadness and depression; overcome by sins and temptations; living a defeated life and there is no joy. As you obey the Holy Spirit and loves Jesus, you have all the resources available to live a victorious Christian life. That Holy Spirit inside you, have you turned it on?

Your intention matters before God

GMC Sermon Your Intention (79) 20th May, 2012

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

John 6:1-15
Objectives: a. To teach the congregation to come before Jesus with the right intention.

                    b. To teach the right intention (motive) will result in worship of God.

A. Introduction

- Do you still remember what I preach to you last year 29th May? It is about one year later, I now ask you this question. My sermon then was, ‘Can your life testify for Christ?’ based on John 5:31-47. Today, I am going to continue from there. I pray that every time I come back as your former pastor, I shall be able to preach and continue from where I stop. I pray that through the gospel of John, Jesus will transform you to be like Him.

- Let us see what Jesus has to offer you today. At the end of the day, I pray that you will at least remember one point that strikes you. And the next time I ask you the same question (what was my last sermon about?) again, because you have practised what has been preached, you will be able to tell me the answer.

- After reading and studying the great miracle of Jesus on feeding 5,000, I decide to focus on verse 15, “Jesus, knowing they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” I used to focus my interpretation of this passage on the provision of God. This time, I notice something very special about the comment that John made about Jesus after feeding the 5,000. I begin to ask why John commented that ‘Jesus, knowing they intended…’ I discover the key word here is intention. Hence, I entitle my sermon, ‘Your intention.’

B. The Context of Intention

- John must have sensed the purpose of Jesus’ action for him to write a statement like that.

- It was such a great miracle that Jesus did, why did He not stay around to perform more miracles to convince people that He is the most powerful on earth? Why did He not prove that He was God who became a man right there?

- A great clue to the answer is found in verse 14, “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

- These people whose stomach were full and amazed by the miracle of Jesus, they were familiar with Deuteronomy 18:15,18, they thought about Moses said about God raising prophet like Moses; and through Moses, God had provided food and water for the Israelites in the desert in the old days. This is how they see Jesus – a prophet who had come to provide for their food.

- Through the feeding of 5,000, Jesus is directing people to Him as the Son of Man who provide of eternal life. That is why He says in verses 26 and 27, “…I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do now work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

- Jesus claims Himself to be the Son of Man who offers eternal life but He read that these people only come for food and regarding Him as a prophet only. They want also to eventually make Him as a political who could save them from Roman ruler. It was a great honour, right? It was a position with great authority and power. If Jesus became a king, the whole race of Israelites and Jews would be at His command. Peoples’ surface interpretation of Jesus’ power in performing the feeding of 5,000 with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish was mere prophet. They could not see how Jesus was offering eternal life.

- The interpretation of the miracle and the way they see Jesus were totally out of God’s plan for Jesus. Jesus knew their intention of coming to Him was all wrong. It is not in line with God’s intention/ mission for Him in this world.

- The original Greek word for knowing is ginosko; a few other versions of the Bible translated it as perceiving. NIV translates it as knowing their intention. In normal Greek, it means absolute knowledge.

- Jesus has the ability to discern the wrong intention, ginosko. When knowledge of the intention of people is wrong Jesus knows. Jesus did not buy into the prophet position and kingship though both these two bring great honour and status. He had the courage not to buy into it; not to say yes to it; not to identify with it; not to agree with it; to resist the wrong mission/ intention. I pray that you will have that Holy Spirit given courage also when you are tempted to do something that is not of God’s will. A lot of Christians do not ‘switch on’ this courage given by Holy Spirit when they are tempted and so they sin and suffer the consequences of it.

- How could Jesus resist such huge temptation of honour, status, position of power and authority? Of course it comes along with lots of money and all kinds of rewards being King and prophet.

- As a result of my meditation of the move of Jesus not to buy into kingship and prophet position, I strongly believe that Jesus holds on very tightly to His mission purpose on earth. What was He coming to the world for? Was it to become a political king as the Jews very much expected Him to be? So, what is His mission purpose on earth? To pay with His life, to die a sacrificial death, redeeming death, in exchange for penalty of our sin, that is eternal death and punishment in hell. He held it dear to His heart. He did not compromise on it. He did not allow earthly political kingship to distract Him. He was very focused on His mission on the cross. Actually, nowadays, we are faced with the same test. Regardless of what happens in life (sickness; disappointments in ministry and with people; discouragements experienced because there is lack of support from the church and from your own family members), can you still stick to; persevere to bring the message of the cross? Can you still focus on the cross; the crucified Christ?

- When your focus is the mission of the cross, then, you will be very strong, the spirit of Jesus (the Holy Spirit) will produce the great character of humility in you. Jesus focuses very much on the mission of the cross and therefore, He could humble Himself and resist the temptation of the kingship; instead, He chooses the path of suffering and death.

- I want to put it in a very simple manner, only if your focus in life is the mission of the cross or Jesus Himself or His teachings, then, you can humble yourself to do God’s will on earth. Now, let us apply these 2 points into our lives.

C. Application

- Brothers and sisters, with all conviction, I speak to you Jesus knows our every thought (this is always in my thinking), therefore, you do not think He does not know your intentions. I dare to say the same for non-Christians, He created them, of course, He knows their intentions also. Jesus who is living in your heart knows your ginosko. For this reason, I always practise honesty with Jesus, people and myself; for this reason, I always tell myself to be able to face Jesus who is God; be able to face people (my wife and 4 children, my loved ones and my relatives, my fellow pastors and SCAC top leaders, my neighbours, government servants, private sectors, top politicians both from Barisan National and Pakatan Rakyat, and everyone out there) – and I always learn to see them as Jesus sees them; they need God in their lives; and be able to face myself as I am own greatest enemy.

- Jesus knows whether your intentions is greedy or not, self-centred or not, lying or not, self-pity or not, pride or not, lustful or not, stubborn or not, love Him or not, serve Him or not, worship Him or not, love your wife or husband or children or not, take revenge or not, hate or not, angry or not, you witness or not, you do mission or not, you let Him down or not… Therefore, do not think that things you do in secret as long as people do not know, nobody knows; but Jesus knows will tell your husband, wife, children, parents, your colleagues, your bosses, your relatives…

- Here comes the most powerful application in your life and my life: If Jesus minds about your intention of doing things, then, He must be the master of our lives; your intention must be godly; based on the word of God; your intention must be submitted to Jesus; your intention must be right, only then, Jesus can bless you and empower you to do His will. Jesus wants to have a say about how you live your life every day (not just Sunday) with yourself, people and God.

- The first point of application, as Jesus knows your intention likes He knows the intention of the crowd to make Him as the King, your intention must pass His test. Why your intention matters so much to Jesus? Your intentions are very much coming from your heart and let us hear what Jesus has to say about the heart.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Matthew 6:21 “For where treasure your is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 15:18.19 “But the things that come out of the mouth comes from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Matthew 22:37 “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

- This last verse is the greatest foundation stone of my intentions before; all my the practice of my loving God and man (including myself) hang on this verse. This verse guides my intention very much because if my intention is not loving Jesus, the Holy Spirit will tell me in a still small voice.

- The second point of application is this: Jesus will only bless the right and godly intention. Do you agree with me? Do you say amen to it? I strongly believe in it. When your intention is right, Jesus is with you to make sure your intention is carried out for His glory; He is with you’re and give you all the resources to materialize it. Therefore, whatever this church needs or you as individual disciple of Jesus need as your intention is to serve Christ’s purpose or the message of the cross, you can trust Jesus to provide. I experience this in my thesis writings. The books I need I get them in time; ideas just flow and flow; there are connections from ideas to ideas. God uses the church and His disciples to provide for our needs.

- A very important word for those of you who are doing mission as you make the sacrifice; leave your comfort zone to do mission both locally and overseas, mission is always a spiritual warfare. In the spiritual realm, the evil spirits are all the time trying to stop mission. Therefore, as your intention is to serve Jesus’ purpose; the message of the cross, you need to always go to Jesus for protection from accidents, diseases and attack of the devils. You need to be filled/ empowered to pray for the sick for healing; to ask Jesus for whatever you need in the mission field.

- The third point of application is this: as Jesus humbles Himself and let go of the kingship, you need to humble yourself to let go of all honour and status. If there are any conversions, transformation of lives and baptism as you serve in Sunday Schools, i-youth, BB and GB, young adults fellowship, small groups, discipleship course, visitation, LCEC, worship and music team, prayer ministry, prison ministry, outreach and in your personal evangelism and discipleship effort, by all means humble yourself to attribute all the success, breakthrough and growth to Jesus. He is the one and only who transforms life! We can give testimonies as instructed by Christ and give glory to Him. When you are able to focus on Christ and His humility, no matter who is the pastor here, you will serve well; who are in LCEC; who encourages you to serve and make disciples, you will do for Jesus.

- At the end of the day, through you and GMC, mission of Christ in making disciples continue.

D. Conclusion

- In my conclusion, I pray that you will not underestimate/ ignore/ push aside, what the word of says. That is when you serve Jesus with godly intention, whatever it may be, you have the divine power to overcome all challenges. The power which raises Jesus from death is available to you as by taught by Apostle Paul to the Ephesian Christians. You tell me what problems you have that Jesus cannot overcome. Do you have such faith to believe that Jesus gives you all you need to serve Him.

- As your intention is to serve Christ, I pray that Apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-20 will be materialized in your life. I pray as Apostle Paul prayed that Jesus will give you spirit of wisdom, and revelation so that you may know Jesus better; I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope in the rich glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe - the power which raises Jesus from death, to be available to you.

AMC Sermon What is Salvation? 

6th May, 2012 

Written by Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted by Teresa Han

Acts 16:25-40 Main Idea: Meanings of salvation Objectives:

a. To explain the meanings of salvation 

b. The change in life that salvation brings. 

c. To teach to use life circumstances to preach the gospel. 

 A. Introduction - Today we are dealing with a central doctrine of Christianity. A doctrine we cannot miss in our lives. It is one of the very fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Some of us can be very familiar with it and yet we may not fully appreciate the importance of it in our daily living. - To a non-Christian, the term or the concept may be a totally new idea to them. So, you need to explain to them its meaning and relevance for their lives. For the non-Christians, we are actually offering them a totally different worldview. When you talk to them about salvation, their response may be why do they need to be saved. To many of them, if they first hear about the word salvation, and you talk about Jesus saving them from their sins and gives them eternal life, they may be wondering what you are talking about because they are doing well in life; happy and satisfied with life. - They may ask what salvation is. - How do I arrive at the topic today? What is salvation? - It all starts with the jailer’s question of, “What must I do to be saved?” Have you ever asked the question? It was a most genuine question in the jailer context.

B. What must I do to be saved? - Let us take a close look at how the jailer arrives at the question. See the process involved. - Paul and Silas were jailed in the dark prison at Philippi for delivering a slave girl from spirit possession. It caused her owners to lose a lucrative income for she was no more capable of fortune telling. (If you are imprisoned in jail because of preaching to the Muslims, what do you do in jail?) - Before the great encounter of the jailer, we were told (verse 24) the jailer exercised his full authority to put them in the darkest inner jail (you can imagine without light; smelly, warm, stuffy and horrible atmosphere) and fasten Paul and Silas’ feet to the stocks. - Though the jailer was just following the order, he was harsh and cruel to them. Paul and Silas might have been badly injured by the attack of the crowd; and ordered to be beaten and flogged severely; and let us imagine they must be bleeding and experiencing exhaustion, feeling great pain, the jailer was so merciless, he still treated them like that! May be he was very proud to carry out the order also. And it was at night, he felt so secured that he went to sleep. In his mind it was possible for them to struggle and let loose the stocks and chains. - On the other hand, the spirit of Paul and Silas were not dampened (depressed) at all. Only the presence of the Spirit of Jesus and empowerment by Jesus could explain this behaviour of joy. (Can your faith in Jesus/ relationship with Jesus produce such calmness, peace and hope? We need to work towards this kind of faith. Especially when you are sick, so disappointed with people and your failures, can you still persevere with great trust in Jesus to bring you out of the bad circumstance. Or, you give out on Jesus totally) They must have caught the rest of the prisoners by a great surprise! In great injury and physically weak, they still had the spirit and mood, and the energy to pray and sing and the other prisoners listened to them in verse 25. - Either it was coincidence of an earthquake or it was a powerful genuine act of God that caused huge shake. All prison doors flew open and everybody’s chains came loose (verses 26). If you were Paul and Silas, what would you do? - The proud jailer was so depressed that he wanted to suicide ( verse 27). He had better killed himself, rather than been put to shame and executed for the escape of prisoners. In the case of Peter’s escape from the prison in Acts 12:19, Herod killed all the security guards who allowed Peter to escape. So, you can imagine the great stress, hopelessness and shame the jailer faced that caused him to be so depressed to suicide. - At that crucial moment, I believe the divine moment, where Paul and Silas, with all the opportunity to escape they could grasp, they decided to stay back to do evangelism. They ceased the divine moment to save the jailer and direct him to Jesus. (This is a great learning point for us in evangelism. Do you sense the divine moment that Jesus has provided for you in your life circumstances?) - They shouted to the jailer at the top of their voice so that in the midst of chaos, jailer could hear clearly and saved himself, “Don’t harm yourself, we are all here!” (verse 28) - I strongly believe that this daring move of Paul and Silas to stay behind was a step of faith; and it caused a paradigm shift/ a change in worldview for the jailer, and coming to know Jesus and be saved. - The jailer was so surprised to see Paul and Silas and other prisoners who were still around and not escape. He must have sensed that it was an act of God they stayed back. He must felt these 2 persons were truly sent by God. This explained why he fell trembling before them. May be by now, in his mind, he flushed back about what he heard in verse 17, when the girl who was spirit possessed who shouted crazily, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” - It was because of the deliverance of the girl that caused the duo to be imprisoned. Right at that moment, he must have linked all these events together, and he out of reverence towards the duo for saving his but also he truly believed in the message of the girl and also the gospel message spread by the duo, he asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (verse 20) - The duo gave what is the most needed by the world today, and it was recorded in verse 21, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” Their preaching did not end there, this jailer must have ignored all the prison rules and brought the duo into his house and allowed them to explain further the word of the Lord (verse 32) and eventually it led to the baptism of the whole household (verse 33). Methodists use one of the many verses like this to support our argument that there were children in the family who were baptised by the duo. - It was the message of salvation that Paul and Silas preached that caused them to end up in jail. What is this salvation that is so precious that caused life transformation and change of worldview? - Take note of the change in attitude after the conversion of the jailer. The jailer was so daring to break prison rules to bring the duo home; the jailer treated their wound (verse 33); he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God (whole family); asked them to leave in peace. - But Paul, for the sake of well being of the fellow converts and believers in Philippi, he ‘jual mahal’, he brought the magistrates’ officer to the attention of their identity as Roman citizen which they were not supposed to beat without a trial. They wanted the authority to treat the future Christians according to law. They did not want to leave secretly but wanted an escort to show that things were done legally. Then, they proceeded to Lydia’s house.

C. Applications on the salvation 

(1) What is the salvation? Saved from what?

  - Most of us will give a standard answer of we are saved with eternal life. That means our soul will be saved in heaven with Jesus. This is evangelical right answer but it is a very simplistic answer that will not help us to commit to grow as disciple of Christ. Basically, the answer only tells us to wait on earth and live until we see Jesus and to be with Him. - That is why a lot Christians stop to grow into Christian maturity. We have no problem in accepting Jesus as saviour. We also believe that Jesus has forgiven our past, present and future sins. Some Christians as result can take the liberty to sin. May be he or she can end up even worse after accepting Christ. Some have this idea that since Jesus is always forgiving me and he has guaranteed me an eternal life, I have all the freedom to sin and ask for forgiveness. I am a married person, at my convenience, I can see prostitutes, practice one night stay, after all Jesus forgives my sin. I am a pastor and I know Jesus forgives my sin, I can take my liberty to tell lies to gain personal interests. I want to seriously ask myself has Christ saved me from the sin or the power of sin? Is Christ my saviour? - Brothers and sisters, we are saved from what? We are saved from sins that lead to the eternal destruction in hell. If we say that Jesus is my saviour or my salvation, it means also mean that Jesus has empowered us to overcome sins of all kind. That was what happened to the jailer, his life changed after he was saved. His attitude changed; his worldview changed. There must be some changes from sinfulness to holiness all the time, between now on earth and the day we Jesus. - An important point I want to preach to you today is you are saved from your sin. Yes, you may sin but Jesus who is your saviour will empower you to overcome your sin. You will love to repent and admit you are wrong; you feel sorrowful about your sin; you will hate sin; you are sensitive to sin; you want to distance yourself from any temptation to sin. - A rich man interviewed 3 prospective drivers. Which one you think he will employ. The first one says, “I have the best skill in the world, I can drive you to the cliff and I make sure the car is one meter away from the cliff and we will be in a safe position.” The second one wants to beat the first one, “I will drive you so near the cliff until the tyre is only one centimetre away from the cliff.” The third is most humble, he says, “I will make sure the car is as far away from the cliff as possible. I expose you to no danger.” At the end of the day, which driver will be employed? Of course, the third one. - If you claim you are saved from sin, this should be your attitude towards sin. You want to be as far away from it as possible.

(2) If one claims that he or she is saved, you must expect that that person is all the time desiring changes in his or her life towards Christ-likeness.

  - Every now and then, he or she may fall; he may be imperfect, but he or she will always become like Christ. - Following Christ is the goal and top priority in his or her life. Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 11:1 exalted the Corinthians to follow his example, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” - Brothers and sisters, you have the whole life to do it. To help yourself on that journey, you need the word of God or teachings of Jesus to lead you.

 (3) As Paul and Silas grasped the divine moment in the jail to preach the gospel to the jailer and resulting his whole turning to Jesus and be saved, we need to sense the divine moment that Jesus provides for us in our daily circumstances for us to help people to come to know Jesus and be saved. - I just want suggest some divine moments for you to consider: when people experience emptiness in life (a good sign to watch is when they ask you what the meaning of life is); when someone is seriously sick; when people experience failures of all kinds; depressed people; people experience crisis in life (marriage, finance, etc)…  

D. Conclusion - Christianity is most powerful because of the saving power of Jesus over sin. However, if we as disciples of Him do not want to turn on that power; exercise that Jesus power within us, we need to ask ourselves, are we saved or not?

E. Small Group Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the meanings of salvation. 2. Discuss the some divine moments that Jesus may be calling you to share your testimonies (or preach the gospel or render help in any way you can) with others. 3. Share with one another what Jesus is doing in your life so much that you feel others can be encouraged by your sharing.

Who Is This?

AMC Sermon
1st April, 2012
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

Matthew 21:1-11 (Palm Sunday)
Main Idea: How much you know Jesus?
Objectives: (1) To challenge the congregation to know Jesus Christ personally.
(2) To teach the congregation to obey Jesus in their lives.
(3) To challenge the congregation to introduce Jesus to the lost.

A. Introduction
- In business, before you know who you are trading with, you want to know who are they. Who are the directors of the company you are trading with. When you ask the questions who are they or who is this person, you want to know the credibility of the persons whom you are trading with. Can this person be trusted? After the goods or service delivered, can he pay for the service or goods? Is his company registered? Or the person is a conman? The other company is not registered.
- You ask the question who is this, for a good purpose. It has to do with the characters of the persons. You want to know the good standing of the persons in the society. You do not know the person whom you are dealing with, naturally you ask who is this?
- In the days of Jesus, he was coming from Nazareth, he grew up as a boy at Nazareth; he was born at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem. He did not grow up at Jerusalem. He ministered more at the northern part; he performed many more miracles in the north than the south. Do you still remember what were the miracles he performed in the north near sea of Galilee?
- Anyway, my point is, as Jesus was not as well known in the south before the crucifixion, during the Roman Empire’s time. During His 3 years of ministry, he moved from the north to the south, he did not spend much time in the south, though he performed miracles like raising Lazarus from the dead.
- No wonder the writer Matthew, recorded that people asked, “Who is this?” when Jesus was heading for Jerusalem on a colt. Before I preach to you the significance of the question, “who is this?”, I like us to look at Matthew’ readership, and purpose, then, we may even better understand the significance of the question.

B. Readership, purpose and context
- The readers of the gospel must have been Jews. The author Matthew was very particular about the origin of Jesus – tracing of Jesus’ descendent from Abraham (Matt 1:1-17); the fulfilment of Old Testament; his reluctance to use the name God and used ‘kingdom of heaven’; his emphasis on Jesus as the son of David. Matthew may target his readers to be the Jews, as he try to convince them that Jesus is God, the Messiah, he also challenged them to reach out to the whole world by giving the commission at 28:18-20.
- Matthew’s purpose of writing to the Jews was to tell them Jesus is God, the Messiah, the Saviour. He tried to prove from the OT scriptures that Jesus’ life and ministry was the fulfilment. Like in today’s passage, verse 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew quoted Zechariah 9:9 to hint that the Messiah was going to be sacrificed as foretold by the OT scriptures.
- Today’s passage is in the context of Jesus heading in the direction of Jerusalem, before Passover, where a few days later, the Messiah was going to be crucified. Jesus knew he was going to be killed and yet he went in the direction of Jerusalem. May be it is not fair for me to ask you this question because our context is different. Anyway, I still ask you the question to provoke you to do reflection in this Palm Sunday. The question is simply this: If you know you are going to be killed upon arrival at a place, do you still want to go ahead with the plan?

C. Explanation of the passage
- The world may think Jesus was so stupid to go ahead with His plan. But for Jesus, He had done His calculations of all aspects as He is God. I believe Jesus deep down in His heart, He believed it was worth the sacrifice of His life. Why? Can we imagine with Jesus for a moment? Why it is worth the sacrifice? What is the worthwhile purpose? Why not live longer? Why die at the age of 33? The disciples might need more time to be trained to become more matured. Why it had to be the cross? What about being killed by knife? Or stoned to death?
- Before I give my answer, please try give your answer? Christians down the centuries, disciples of Jesus throughout the ages can only give one purpose, one reason, one mission for Jesus’ willingness to go to the cross, that is for the purpose of redemption for the sin of mankind. That people come to know God, repent and be saved for eternally.
- Now to help us to do some soul searching at this season of Palm Sunday and the coming holy week. If you know you are going to be killed by your enemies, for what is the worthwhile purpose you are willing to die? For the Libyan rebel soldiers and even the courageous civilians who fought the Gaddafi soldiers, for them, they were to die in the war just to topple the regime and set up a government that cares for the people.
- I am asking this question so that we all are encouraged to make sacrifice for Jesus; or at least, in view of Jesus, the true God, our saviour, we respond to Him, and really believe what we do for Him is worth all our time, energy and money.
- Now, as Jesus was on the way to enter Jerusalem, note that He was fully aware of His crucifixion ahead. He did it with only one purpose and mission. He entered dramatically and he caught people’s attention. He did it purposely at the outskirt of Jerusalem, starting from Bethphage, on Mt Olives. Jesus sent for His disciples to go ahead of Him into a village to request for a donkey and her colt, when the owner asked who needed, the disciples just had to say the Lord needed it and the owner would give. It happened. The owner knew Jesus as the Lord.
- As Jesus entered Jerusalem on the colt, with the accompaniment of the donkey, (typical for mother donkey to remain close to the baby donkey) crowd shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’. These are quotes from Psalm 118: 25 and 26, where hosanna in Hebrew, it means save us now.
- Psalm 113 to Psalm 118 is a collection of praise psalms sung at the great Jewish feasts: feast of dedication, the feast of the new moons, and by families at the yearly observance of the Passover. At Passover 2 of the psalms were sung before the meal. Before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, He and His disciples gathered at the upper room for the Passover meal probably sung 2 psalms.
- Jesus entered Jerusalem during Passover week, thousands of lambs would be killed for the Passover and that lines of Psalm 118 were on people’s minds and they shouted the Hosanna lines. I believe Jesus chose the Passover to come into Jerusalem so that He was the lamb of God who came to be slaughtered by the Jews for the redemption of mankind’s sin.
- Did the people mean to say that Jesus, son of David come to save them from their sins as they shout Hosanna? Not at all, probably they misunderstood Jesus, as the triumphal political king, coming to save them from the rule of Roman Emperor.
- Only a few persons, including, Mary of Bethany (John 12:7) who knew Jesus purpose of death.
- They did not read the colt on which Jesus was riding, it was meant to bring peace; Jesus did not come on horse, which was meant for fighting.
- When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “who is this?” They did not know the real purpose of Jesus’ coming; and most did not know Jesus at all, of course, they asked “who is this?”

D. Explanation
- The crowd asked the question because: they did not know much about who was Jesus; the real purpose of His coming; they did not know Jesus was going to die for their sins; Jesus had no personal relationship with them.
- At the end of the day, only some know Him to be Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. This was the best that some of them in Jerusalem knew about Jesus.
- Brothers and sisters, Jesus, then, was not crucified yet, therefore, a lot did not know him as saviour. Especially after resurrection, then, news spread, what Jesus claimed to do became important and His disciples preached about it and a lot of people repented from sins and became saved. You read about it in the book of Acts.

E. Applications
- Do you still ask who is this Jesus? You may still ask. I pray that you come to know Him as your personal saviour.

- (1) The more you ask about who is this Jesus, the more answers you get, should help you to build up a personal relationship with Jesus. Can we do an exercise here? Please give answers to this question: who is Jesus to you? Whatever knowledge you have about Jesus, should build up your closeness with Jesus. This is the greatest foundation stone of your faith. If not, all that you know about Jesus does not have anything to do with your life. At the end of the day, with or without Jesus, your life is the same.

- (2) That closeness with Jesus can only be developed through your obedience to His teachings. If you believe Jesus is your saviour, then, you must come to Him for forgiveness of your sins and repentance. If you believe He is the true God, then, you will practice what He is teaching you, your daily life will stand up for Jesus. You know how to do business in Jesus’ way. You know how to relate to your boss in Jesus’ way. You know how to treat your employees or those under you in Jesus’ way. The more you do unto Jesus, the closer you are with Him.

- (3) The more you come to know Jesus, you realize how good Jesus is to you, you will introduce Jesus to others who do not know Jesus; to those who asked: Who is this Jesus? Can your Christian life show to Christians and non-Christians alike, and cause them to ask in their heart: who is this Jesus that cause you to be so good?

E. Conclusion
- The question who is this Jesus, can be asked by anybody on earth. Christians can continue to ask; all of us who know Jesus more, should become the reason that causes people to ask who is this Jesus?
- You and I need to take up the challenge.

Small Group Discussion Questions
1. In view of Jesus Christ’s purpose of death, that is so worth of His self sacrifice, share your most important purpose to continue to live on earth.
2. If you are not a Christian today, what will you be like? Give thanks to Jesus for all the precious lessons He has taught you in life.