John the Baptist – Know Who You Are

27th Dec, 2009

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

John 1:19-28
Main idea: Know your own identity and live your life full potential.
Objectives: a. To help the congregation to realize our identity in Christ. b. To teach that we must live according to our identity in Christ.

A. Introduction.
- In life, you have to know who are you everyday. You have to be conscious of your identity everyday. If you don’t you cannot live properly as a person.
- You do what you are doing because of your identity. You are a mother, so you always wake early in the morning when the school reopens to prepare the breakfast for your children and husband. You are a father and husband, so you give part of your salary to your wife and children to feed them. You are a student, so you make sure you go to school and follow all the rules in school to make sure you study well. You are a Christian, so you come to church on Sunday. You are a manager, so you mobilize your staff to execute the trading policies and principles of your company.
- You behave according to your own identity. Know who you are is so crucial in everything. Know who you are, your own identity, you will do your roles in all circumstances. You live as the society and the church expects you.
- In our passage of concentration this morning/ evening, we see that John the Baptist knows who he is and he performs all his roles as desired by God.

B. How John the Baptist knows who he is?
- We see from the passage there is a need to for the Jews of Jerusalem to know who the John Baptist is (verse 19). Brothers and sisters, it is very normal for people to know who the other people are. So, you need to find out and you need to find a way to know so and so.
- In the case of John the Baptist, he might have behaved like a messiah, a saviour, the Jews who believe in the concept definitely want to confirm whether he is the one or not. It is through such effort of the Jews (Levites, priests) who are the authoritative figures in Judaism, that John revealed his own identity. Only when he himself knows his own identity, only then he can reveal.
- From the passage, in verses 20 and 21, you can see he knew who he was, so he could confess he was not the Christ and Elijah. He honestly told the Levites and the priests he was neither Christ nor Elijah. He was not the messiah and also not the Elijah of the Old Testament whom the Jews believed.
- John the Baptist knew his own true identity, he never tried to be someone else. A point of application for you here, you should never try to be someone else by behaving like that person. And so, the young people here, do not try to be Michael Jackson, an entertainer.
- When John the Baptist was challenged to give an answer about who he was, to help the Jewish questioners, he based the authority of his answer on the Old Testament, and quoted Isaiah the prophet in verse 23, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, Make straight the way for the Lord.” In another words, he knew his own identity with certainty. He even claimed that he was the one whom prophet Isaiah of the OT meant. He believed in himself he was raised and sent by God as prophesied by prophet to make the path of Christ straight. He knew what role God had given him. Can you imagine, when he was asked who he was, he claimed that he was the one as prophesied by Isaiah? What made him so sure? If you read Luke chapter you will find the answer. Zechariah, John’s father, after he was delivered, he was filled by the Holy Spirit to prophesy that John were to play that role for Jesus. I believe both the mother Elizabeth and father, Zechariah, raised up John according to the prophesy, and so John the baptist knew for sure his identity.
- But the Pharisees were not satisfied with his answer, they continued to hard press for more explanations. In verse 24, they asked why he baptized people if he were not the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet. He further insisted he was not anyone of them but emphasized he baptized with water and, he was just coming before Jesus to prepare people for His coming and he was not even qualified to untie the thongs of Christ’s sandals. He further defined his role.

C. Applications.
- I pray that the certainty of John the baptist’s own identity will inspire you to know especially your identity in Christ. You have lots of identity in this world but what is your one precious identity in Christ? Children of God/ disciple of Jesus/ saved with eternal life, etc. Let us apply this identity in Christ into your life now.
- Firstly, when you know you are a disciple of Jesus and see yourself as a disciple of Jesus, you will do what Jesus require you to do, right?
- Secondly, how you perceive yourself will decide whether you live the full potential in your life.
- Thirdly, don’t be somebody whom you are not created to be. Be the person whom God desires you to be.
- Fourthly, know who you are and you know your roles in life.

D, Conclusion.
- Do not a person whom the devil desires.

The Greatest Is Love

25th Dec, 2009 Christmas sermon

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Matthew 1:18-25; 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Main Idea: To challenge the congregation to pursue love in the person of Jesus
Objectives: a. To drive to the point that what matters most in life is love in the person of Jesus. b. To teach the congregation how to love one another.

A. Introduction.
- What is the greatest in this world? It must be the most valuable thing. It must be something that everybody needs. It must be something that cannot be replaced. It must be something money cannot buy. It must be something that is lasting and you will carry it with you into eternity.
- What is the thing that qualifies for the greatest thing? Money? Status? Material Wealth? Fame? Knowledge? Scientific Discoveries?Etc.
- Non of the above qualifies for the greatest because each of them cannot satisfies mankind’s deepest need for meaningful moral relationship. Without meaningful moral relationship, life is meaningless. Look at all the relationships around us. Husband and wife; parents and children; classmates and classmates; teachers/ lecturers and students; colleagues and colleagues; boss and subordinates; government officers and the rakyat; pastors and church members; etc.
- All these relationships need to be nurtured with the special ingredient called love. Without love, you can hardly define any meaningful moral relationship.
- Without love human relationships will be so cold, impersonal, isolated, and it does not give much meaning and purpose at all.
- The bible has a great passage to inspire, challenge, teach, train and mould us on love.

B. Apostle Paul’s definition of Love
- Apostle Paul had addressed the issue of gift of tongue by saying in 1Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am only a resounding gong... If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that moves mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, ...but have no love, I gain nothing.
- And apostle Paul went on to give the greatest definition of love which nobody beside Jesus can match. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
- Then, apostle Paul concluded with verse 13 that says, “And now these 3 remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
- And so, today, in this Christmas, I boldly say to you in this world, the greatest is love. In view of the deepest need of any human relationship for love, so the greatest is love. So, what matters the most in life for any human beings on earth is love. Not money; personal desires; material wealth; fame; knowledge, etc.
- And to my amazement, I discover that all these definitions of love, attitudes of love, actions of love, activities of love, forms of love, languages of love, and all the things in this world on love is still meaningless if it is not done in the context of human beings.
- Only human beings can produce love; only human beings with soul and spirit created by God can show love. Material things, money, plants, animals, air, water, property, science and knowledge, cars, house, and all the resources in this world, you name it, they do not show love.
- They have no life, no breathe, no personality, no soul, no spirit, of course, they cannot do it. Only human beings can do it.
- So, all the talks about love can only become realistic when it is practised by mankind. But as I reflect further and deeper in this Christmas, I see that all our human love for one another is so fallible. We can fail to love someone (our husbands, wives, children, colleagues, neighbours, relatives, very naughty children, the orphans, the poor, the rich people who are so empty in their hearts, the professionals who find life so meaningless and feel so lonely, the underprivileged, the widows, widowers, prisoners, prostitutes, gangsters, drunkards, the sick and dying, people whose characters are questionable, the hungry, etc). We cannot love so much; love everybody. We have all the prejudices.
- This leads me to desire for a perfect person who can love and who can be the best model of love. And he must love everybody. I find that only God can do it. I find this God in the person of Jesus, the owner of Christmas. The person who matters the most during Christmas. You see why the birth of Jesus is so crucial for mankind.

C. The birth of Jesus.
- Let me share with you an encounter which God has blessed me. I will remember this event for a long long time as long as I keep close to Jesus. It was probably one of the most powerful spiritual experience which God allowed it to happen in my life.
- It was this year that I was on the same plane from the way back to Miri from Kulala Lumpur, with the Air Asia boss, Fernandez. The air steward announced for anyone who would like to greet him, he was welcome. I grasped the opportunity and I thought I must ask something that is most important, most crucial in his life.
- I also got ready my own answer. Somebody that is very dear to my heart. I went forward to the front, I asked just one simple question that required an answer of one word. The golden question was, “Give me one word to explain your success in life.” To which he quickly answered, “Change.”
- Then, I give him my one word also, “love.” Then, I discover he is also a christian.
- Then, I went back to my seat and I sat down, as I was seated, an inner voice coming to me saying, “Why didn’t you say Jesus?” As I try to reason with the voice, which I believe is God speaking to me. I realize, just a word like love, it does not mean much because it is still very impersonal. Jesus, the person Jesus would make it very personal.
- Why God has to be a person? Only a person can forgive a person. Only God can forgive our sins. You see how our sins destroy all our relationships, our morality. Greed, adultery, lust, hatred, jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, idolatry, pornography, corruption, injustice, etc.
- You need the best government, the best policies, the money, etc can solve these sinfulness of mankind. Only God can solve our problem of sin.
- Angel told Joseph in his dream that Mary was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit and the baby shall be given the name called Jesus because he will save people from their sin and his name shall be called Immanuel which means God with us.
- You see how personal is this God, in the person of Jesus to us.
- For God so loved the world is now expressed in the person of Jesus.

D. Applications.
- You see why you are called by Jesus to love all the people around you and especially all who are nearest and closest to you. Those who are closest to you you need to love the most because you may tend to take them for granted.
- Those who are far from you, it requires your love also because Jesus desires you to do so.

E. Conclusion
- What do you lose when you love as Jesus loves? You have everything to gain. You gain Jesus and eternal life.

Prayer of Faith

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
13th Dec, 2009

James 5:13-20
Main Idea: To Inspire the congregation to exercise faith to pray for the sick.
Objectives: a. To teach that prayer of a righteous person heals. b. To teach that our sins can lead to sickness. c. To teach that we need to exercise our faith to heal the sick.

A. Introduction.
- Human sickness calls for a need to be addressed. Because people are sick, our belief and faith need to address it.
- You get sick or ill, do you? No matter, how healthy you are, how holy you are, you fall sick or ill once a while. Some fall sick more often than others. And so, it calls for us to do ministry.
- Praise the Lord, today’s passage is a great passage to address it.
- I pray that the sermon today will inspire you to do the social concerns of praying for the sick. I pray that you will exercise your faith to pray for the sick.
- You will find that the passage greatly challenges you to do it by faith.
- And so, the question of how much faith you put into prayer when you pray for the sick?

B. What consists of prayer of faith for healing?
- The above in the introduction can only be answered if we know what consists of prayer of faith of healing.
- The prayer of faith of healinng is characterized by the following descriptions:
- Firstly, you need to pray when you are in trouble and you need to praise God in songs when you are happy as taught in verse 13. That is your faith must get you to totally depend on God no matter in good time or bad time.
- Secondly, when you are sick you need to have the faith to call for the elders of the church to pray for you; and to use the anointing oil to pray for the sick (verse 14). It is not the oil that heals but it is the exercise of faith that calls upon divine power to heal. So, this is the sacred power of prayer. Notice it does not say only those who are gifted in healing of sickness can do the job. It spefically mentionss the office of elders. In our context today, it is the pastors, lay leaders and LCEC members.
- Thirdly, you need to exercise your faith to pray for the sick, then, the sick will be healed and also you need the faith to expect the sins of those who are sick to be forgiven (verse 15). James here links the possibility of sins that cause sickness. This is something we must take seriously and not lightly. And he went on to emphasize the need for confession of sins to one another in public in the event you call for healing of the sick (verse 16). So no confession, no forgiveness of sins, and no healing of sickness.To encourage us to exercise our faith to pray for the sick, he now even helped to see who can pray for the sick beside those who are elders. On the one hand, the elders could be the righteous man whose prayers are powerful. On the other other hand, the righteous persons can be those in the community of faith who confess his sins and follow the standard of holiness of the church community. So, he says in the end of verse 16, the prayer of a righteous man is pwerful and effective.
- And then, even in the closing remark (verses 19, 20), he still emphasizes the need to reach out to those who have wandered away from the truth and sin against, we need to direct them. Otherwise, they still face the consequence of eternal death. In chapter 1, verse 15, James says, “Then, after desires has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
- To drive home his point to get us to pray for the sick, James is trying to say Elijah is not like an angelic being, he is no God, he is just like anyone of the christians or disciples of Jesus at his time, God uses his prayers. So James is saying God can use our prayers to ask God for healing of sicknesses (verses 17, 18).

C. Applications
- This is really a very practical passage for us today. I pray that you take up the challenge to pray for the sick. This passage calls for the following 3 applications in your life:
- Firstly, there is a place for prayer of faith for the sick. I can see the challenge here is not very much on whether we believe prayer of faith can heal or not. The faith involves here is the person who prays, the elder, the pastor or whoever qualifies as the rigteous person has the courage to ask, “What sins have you committed?” And the challenge of those sick people who are being prayed for is to cofess his or her sins publicly.
- Secondly, can you qualify yourself as a righteous person to pray for the sick? I believe we can ask God for forgiveness of our sins and repented. Our challenge is whether we have the compassion and time available to pray for the sick.
- Thirdly, any one of you who are willing to leave your worldly concerns temporaray and join me to pray for the sick when there is a need?

D. Conclusion.
- If our prayers of faith for the sick and confession of sins do not work, at the end of the day, we must still respect God’s sovereignty to heal or not to heal anyone.
- Where medicine is concerned, it is a way that God bless mankind to use it for healing. If you go for medication, it does not mean that you do not believe God can heal. However, every time, you get sick, do you confess your sins to a righteous person and ask him or her to pray for healing before you go to see a doctor?
- Our responsibility is to put our faith to test and exercise our faith to pray for the sick. Will you?

Patience in Suffering

6th Dec, 2009
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

James 5:7-12
Main Idea: To teach the congregation that there is value in suffering.
Objectives: a. To teach that suffering can train you to be patient.

b. To teach that the right perspective towards suffering will determine whether we gain anything from it.
c. To help the congregation to identify areas in their life that require the training of patience.

A. Introduction
- Have you been suffering lately? Suffering of whatever degrees, be it physical illnesses, psychological hurts, mental stress or even break down, or anything that makes you feel suffering.
- What do you gain out of it?
- There is value in suffering for us christians according to the teachings of the bible.
- C. H. Spurgeon says, “Faith that does not tear at all is not living faith.”
- Baker says, “Temptations in life do not mean to destroy us. They are meant to build us. Difficulties may cause a person to lose his job but they are meant to build up his characters. The setbacks that an external person faced may become the greatest blessings of the internal person. If God allows a challenge to come to us, you need to know that the real danger and difficulties are because of our escape and rebellion; and we lose a chance to be trained by them.”
- The passage today has very clear teaching about patience in suffering. One value of suffering is that at the end of it, as you learn, you will become more patient, which all humans on earth need.

B. The Context of Suffering.
- For James, the context of suffering that he talked about was the christians and disciples in his days were persecuted by the Jews because of their belief.
- In the midst of the persecutions, James used the coming back of Christ to comfort them; to encourage them to persevere in their faith and not to give up in view of the fast coming back of Christ.
- What is the big deal about Jesus’s coming back? It is because Jesus will honour and reward them for their suffering. Whatever loses, Jesus will make up. Failure to keep the faith will result in losing all the rewards.

C. How to be patient in suffering?
- That is why James says in verse 7, Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming...
- And to be patient. James has the answers.
- Firstly, learn patience from the farmer who waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and also waits patiently for the autumn and spring rains to come, says James.
- Notice the patient waiting here does not refer to the long time waiting. It refers to the long process of endurance to face the persecutions of the enemies of faith; and not give up on their faith. That is why verse 8 says, ... be patient and stand firm...
- Also patience in the sense that the disciples of Jesus must not judge the wicked people (the rich landlord people) who exploited and oppressed the poor; and they just need to wait for God avenge them.
- Secondly, to help us to be patient in suffering, James advises his readers not to grumble against each other, verse 9. Why? Because grumbling against one another in church can cause disunity in a church community. The grumbling will produce judgement. That is grumbling will produce guilt that God will deal severely and therefore, it must be avoided.
- Thirdly, to help us to be patient in suffering, James advises his readers to set an example of suffering verse 10. He simply challenged them to follow the prophets of the Old Testament, who, for the purpose of serving God, who spoke in the name of the Lord, they suffer. They endured suffering, and so do the readers of the letter of James. James even backed up his illustrations with the Old Testament Job (verse 11), who lost almost everything because of the attack of Satan on him. He did not give up his faith and persevere. He was blessed with double blessing and so the readers will experience the same if we are patient and not give up our faith.
- James is really using his writings to tell his readers and all of us today, God does not love to see people suffering; but rather he is full of compassion and mercy, in verse 11.
- Fourthly, to help us to be patient, James says we must not swear, let our yes be yes and no be no, in verse 12. This is being truthful to God, yourself and people around you. It is the best policy we all must have in nurturing patience. Being truthful in our speech is also part of patience for James.

D. Applications for today.
- Let us get practical with this passage. In our present situation, you may not be challenged to give up your faith because of persecutions of your faith or even oppressions as experienced by the readers of the letter of James.
- But we definitely face suffering of different degrees because of different reasons I mentioned earlier. I believe we face the same temptation like the early disciples to give up our faith because Jesus is not real; He does not answer our prayers when we need Him so much.
- With this, I have 2 points of application for you:
- Firstly, in suffering of whatever kind, you need to identify areas in your life where you need patience. In whatever suffering you face, sit down and really ask Jesus what is the purpose of it. There must be a purpose as Jesus loves you so much and died a sacrificial death on the cross. Knowing the purpose, then, you will improve the areas of your life which still does not glorify God yet. May be it is in the area of unforgiveness, relationship, something you cannot let go, etc. Remember, God always uses suffering to develop you to become a strong disciple to help you to go very far for Him. If only you are humble to take it.
- Secondly, in suffering, you need to have a right view of it, then, you can be patient. How you perceive it is so crucial. It will determine whether you gain something from suffering or not. How do you see a personal accident? You blame yourself, the other driver, etc? All these are negative attitudes, you will gain nothing out of it, you never learn and do not become more matured.
- If your attitude is positive, you ask: Have I been careless? Is it sign send by God to wake me up in certain areas of my life so that I do not sin against him anymore? God want me to preach the gospel to the other driver? Is it a sign that my car is not safe to drive anymore, it needs some repair?

E. Conclusion.
- In Christ, when you face suffering, you will do reflections based on God’s word and you will arrive at Godly conclusions and you will always be a winner at the end of the day.

Sermon God has sovereignty over our life

Written By Rev. Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

1st November, 2009
James 4:13-17

Main Idea: Order your life to do God’s will.
Objectives:

a. To teach that God has sovereignty over our life.

b. To teach that we need to order our life to do God’s will.

A. Introduction.
- Who is in control of your life? Most people, may be even most Christians will say of course we control our own life. We make our own decision to get married; to further studies; to accept Jesus as our Saviour; to do business with so and so; to enter into a boy-girl relationship, etc.
- We are in every sense in control of our life. This is absolutely true and we have no doubt about it because God has given us a life and we need to be responsible for it and we need to decide how to use it.
- However, at the end of the day, especially, things which are beyond us, we have no control. Take for instance, we do not know when we are going to leave this world. We do not know whether our children will grow up to be God fearing and become a faithful disciple or not. For those of you who are not married, you do not know who is the best husband or best wife for your life. When you go to a place by plane or by car, you may take for granted that you will arrive but in actual, anything can happen in the air and on the road.
- But for us Christians, we believe that although we cannot be in control of our life beyond us, God has control over our life. This is because God has sovereignty over our life. He has the final say about things which are beyond our control. Do you believe this?
- The word of God today has very strong words about God’s sovereignty over your life.

B. God’s sovereignty over your life.
- Let us take a close look at today’s passage to see how God has the control, the sovereignty over our life. I pray that upon your discovery, you will recognize it and you will trust God more and you will grow in your faith. You will love Jesus more.
- The preceding passages in this chapter dealt with the major theme of work, the rich and their sins, which result from the love of the world. The passage today is not directly linked to verses 1 to 12 but it has a flow of thought that moves to this passage. This passage deals with 2 distinct classes of people: merchants and landlords. They have been mentioned in 1:9-11, 27; 2:5-7.
- Now, let us examine what James has to say about them in detail.
- James’ complaint about them is that they are secular. In verse 13, James criticized them that they thought they could plan for their business, destinations of cities and their chief value of life was financial profit. They were simply worldly Christians, who are no different from the rest of the business people and landlords.
- With that complaint, now, James came out with strong words to question them and told them life was not in their control. That is why James says in verse 14, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...” And then, he went on to remind them that life was very temporary. It is just like “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (verse 14b)
- In fact, Jesus our Lord says almost the same thing about how temporary is life in Luke 12:16-20. It talks about a parable where Jesus says a rich man could store up lots of grain for many years and enjoy life; but God says it is stupid because what if God takes away your life tonight. And Jesus says that we may be rich on earth by storing up but we not rich toward God.
- In view of the temporariness of life, we need to look to God who has the sovereignty over life and allow Him be the ultimate concerns of our life on earth.
- This is where James without hesitation, he says we must order our life in terms of God’s will in verse 15. Whatever these rich people would do, they had to make sure whether it was God’s will or not. Because at the end of the day, we are not in control of life but God is.
- Next, you see how he condemned the rich for not doing God’s will. Because these people planned and acted as if God did not exist and as if they were in control of their own life, James said they were boasting about how they made money and they were very evil in verse 16. This was despite the fact they could be holy in church and at home. God was not in their commercial lives.
- Very naturally, James emphasized to these business men and of course all of us today, business interests led them to forget God in their life. No wonder he levelled those who know the good and not doing it, it was a sin in verse 17. Hopefully, this would deter them from boasting about how good they were at making money. Instead, they must do good to bless others.

C. Applications.
- In view of the God’s word today, can we apply the teaching into our lives and allow God’s word to transform our lives.
- The first point of application is this: As James has taught, you need to use your life in terms of God’s will; you need to do God’s will. It is life time challenge. You as a business man, a teacher, an accountant, general manager, a doctor, a dentist, a clerk, sales agent, lawyer, a student, a lecturer, a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, at the end of the day, what is your ultimate concern? Is it just profit making, money making, and the salary? If this is so, then, you will do anything to get money, wealth, benefits, etc, you will have no God, no Jesus in your dealing. You will do things which are not ethical, you will lie; you will go for dishonest gain; you will use crooked means, you will hurt people; you do not fear God, etc. You will not ask what is God’s will in this matter. You will not consult God on what is the right thing to do. You do not think of the punishment of God for the sins you committed.
- The second point of application is this: In view of God’s sovereignty over your life, do not labor for what is temporary and evil; labor for whatever that pleases Jesus and last eternally. We are in the midst of the evangelism movement, have you labored to reach out to the lost and the backslide. Do you invite people to come to church.

D. Conclusion.
- As Jesus has sovereignty over your life, you need to define your life in terms of what Jesus desires you to do for the rest of your life.

Parable of Lost Sheep

11th October, 2009
Written By Rev. Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

Matthew 18:11-14
Main Idea: Find the lost sheep.
Ojectives: a. To result in the congregation preaching the gospel to the lost sheep. b. To identify the lost sheep and bring them back to the fold of GMC.

A. Introduction
- Are there lost sheep that belong to GMC or any other churches? Lost sheep refer to those who are baptized and not attending any church or small group anymore. They are out there in the world and being secularized. You may say there are thousands of them out there, right?
- However, in GMC or in any church, there may be so called christians who are phsically in the church but they are lost. Could you be one of them? You may ask me what do you mean.
- This is what I mean. If you do not know why you are coming to church or the purpose of coming to church, you are lost. If you do not why you are on earth, you are lost. If you are not sure if you die tonight whether you go to heaven or not, you are lost. If you continue to sin against God and anybody, you are lost. If you think that by doing all the good works or all the ministry, you are lost. If you believe that without repentance from your sins you are saved for eternity you are lost. If you believe that all believers of religions will eventually cause people to end up in heaven with Jesus, you are lost.
- Why lost? Because the path you take will not lead you to salvation in Christ, eternal life with Christ in heaven. No wonder John Wesley very much emphasize Philippians 2:12, 13 “...continue to work out the salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
- The parable of lost sheep has very strong motive to teach us to find the lost sheep of the church.

B. The insignificant one sheep/ person.
- Jesus desires to use this parable of lost sheep to emphasize that God pays attention to the insignificant lost sheep in His church. He desires to see the insignificant lost sheep returning to the church.
- He addresses these lost sheep as little ones, in verse 10, He says, “See that you do not look down on one of these littles ones...”
- Those lost sheep out there are the insignificant people because they do not catch our attention but today Jesus exhorts us to pay attention to them today.
- They are on the fence, half in and half out, they are half-hearted in their devotion to Jesus and to the church. Their insignificance is in part becasue of their own spiritual indifference.
- The temptation for those who are spirituallly serious is to look down on these half-hearted christians.
- Jesus really uses this parable to teach us not to look down on these insignificant lost sheep. Jesus now upgrades them.
- He even uses an unusual reason to justify why we must not look down on them, in verse 10, the second part, He says, “...For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” Wah, they had angels constantly looking at the face of God; who are so close to God. So, we are making the wrong enemies when we look down on the insignificant lost sheep.
- To emphasize Jesus’ point and to further elaborate His point, He uses this powerful, simple parable to drive home the point.
- The emphasis is upon “the one,” highligting the importance of that single person, that single soul.
- He likens the owner to be a man who owns the hundred sheep. May be that owner is the shepherd of the hundred sheep. I believe that Jesus Himself or His heavenly Father is that shepherd, the Great Shepherd who will actually leve the ninety-nine to find the insignificant lost sheep. What is challenging is Jesus desires us to be that shepherd.
- The parable does not underplay the importance of the ninety-nine sheep. It is just that the one lost sheep requires the shepherd and care must be shown before the worst can happen.
- Why the one lost sheep is so emphasized? Jesus even go to the extend of saying in verse 13, “And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.” So, you see the one lost sheep wandered off, he has a need that deserves the shepherd’s attention.
- Nromally, the one lost sheep is statistically insignificant. Human pscyhology says, “Let is go, we still have ninety-nine.” Our heavenly Father’s thinking is, “I really care for that one person, one soul.”
- Jesus is trying to convert us to the “mentality of the single person.” To pay attention to the statistically insignificant one. The unimportant one.
- And this person is the weak christian among us; not the lost non-christians.
- This challenges all disciples of Jesus, the church of God, to do an active visitation program. It means we need to re evangelize those who are baptized and lost.
- For Jesus says and really reminds us, “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

C. Actions you can take to visit the lost.
- In view of the significance of the lost sheep in our heavenly Father’s sight, you and I cannot take lightly the reminder of our Lord Jesus.
- What actions can you take to evangelize to the lost sheep? I want to encourage you to take the following actions:
- (1). Come to Jesus in prayer and seek God who are the lost sheep of GMC or any church. Then, pray for the Holy Spirit to touch him or her or the group to come back to church.
- (2). I strongly believe that there are a lot of lost sheep in primary and secondary schools; and colleges here in Miri. You can identify them and reach out to them by inviting them to go to your small group first and the church.
- (3). More concrete action is you give them a call and pay a visit to find out more about their struggles or problems. And continue to do follow up. You may also refer them to me or church leaders, especially the Membership and Evangelism committee.
- (4). If there is someone among us who is lost, then, you should spend time to talk to him or her and counsel them. You may like to refer him or her to me or to any pastor.

4. Conclusion.
- Christians who are lost out there are plenty; countless of them. Just GMC alone, you have a record of about 600 persons in the book of life but those attending the service and Sunday School is only 350. Where are the 250? Many of them are lost. They are in Miri but not committed to Jesus.
- They need Jesus. Will you bring Jesus to them again? Will you evangelize them again?

Do you see the crowds?

4th October, 2009
Written By Rev. Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Matthew 9:35-37
Main Idea: Be compassionate like Jesus who can see the needs of the crowds.
Objectives: a. To preach the reason for evangelism is that the needs of our society (crowds) for Jesus. b. To help the congregation to see the needs of our society (crowds) for Jesus.

A. Introduction
- Do you see that people out there need God? They need Jesus. When you see people who are sick; depressed; having extra-marital affairs; threatened by divorce; beggars; rich but proud; full of hatred, ineffectiveness, and bitterness; lazy and not working; worshipping idols; corrupted; the uneducated Penans; lots of indigenous people in Sarawak who are perishing and lost; lots of Chinese out there who do not know where they are heading in life, etc, do you see that they need Jesus to come into their lives and save them?
- For God so loved the world that He gave us His begotten son, Jesus. This son Jesus see the needs of the crowds for God. He sees that the crowds need salvation.
- Do you see as Jesus sees?

B. What does Jesus see?
- I am very encouraged, inspired and challenged by what Jesus had done when He was on earth. Verse 35 says, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”
- Are we disciples of Jesus? If we are, then, we must be like Jesus. Paul exhorted the Philippians in 2:5, where it says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” In verse 7, Paul went on to say in verse 7, that Jesus made him self nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...
- We should like Jesus in every way. If we cannot be like Him 100%, we should have 10%, 5%, or even 1%. If you are not like Him at all, you must at least begin somewhere. Do what Jesus does.
- I am very inspired by the bible says today, that Jesus went through all the towns and villages. What were the purposes? It says, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
- No wander Jesus sees so much. He went to every town and village. Some more, He was in touch with people by preaching and healing. No wonder He sees a lot of things in people.
- What is the big deal about seeing the crowd? What is the big deal about seeing a lot of things in people.
- Brothers and sisters, the answer to these questions is the main point/ the emphasis I desire to put across to you today.
- The answer is found in verse 36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Why we need to do evangelism? Why we need to bring the good news of salvation in Christ to the crowds/ the society? In the name of Jesus Christ, I preach to you that because people out there are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus’ heart feels for these people. Jesus had compassion for these people who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
- Evangelism and mission are motivated by the simple fact that Jesus has compassion for the lost people.
- As you learn to be like Jesus, as your attitude should be like Jesus, are you like Jesus, you have compassion for the lost people?
- As Jesus says, “The lost are like sheep without a shepherd.”, in the name of Jesus Christ, I preach to you that the first of mission is for disciples of Jesus to go out and compassionately help people out by presenting them with their Shepherd, that is Jesus.
- When Jesus looks out over the world it is the helplessness of people, their depression and suppression, that affects him most deeply.
- They appear to him like sheep who have lost their shepherd.

C. Why we cannot see the crowds like Jesus?
- By what are the people harassed and helpless (oppressed)? By the deceitfulness of worldly life. This is one very important reason why we cannot see the crowds like Jesus?
- What is this worldly life? Materialism, secularism, greed, hatred, pornography, injustice, etc. All that causes us to obey God is worldly life.
- You see how we are deceived? Earn our millions and push the question of salvation to when I get old; some say I have no time for God; I have no need for God; God is not my priority, etc. Unbelievers are deceived in so many ways.
- Ironically, sometimes, we christians, disciples of Jesus are also deceived by the worldly life. We spend so much time pursuing our careers that we become not sensitive to the needs of the lost around us. We lost our focus on Jesus and not preach Him. As a result, we do not develop compassion for the lost.

D. How do you help yourself to see the crowds?
- In my case, my compassion for the lost grows stronger and stronger every year as I am in touch with the harassed and helpless people here locally, in my office, at coffee shop or among the Belaga Penans. I believe my compassion for the lost (both christians and non-christians) will only develop and become stronger if I take the steps to help them in any way I can. I pray that you follow my example.
- I pray that God will send to your life, your house, your small group, and your office the lost, the people who need Jesus, the good shepherd.
- How do you help yourself to see the crowds? You must get personal with people; you must enter the crowds; you must get to know the problems of people; you must humble yourself, and not be proud and relate to people; you must dirty your hand and sit down with people and use John 3:16 to preach to people.
- You must be deliberate in praying for the lost. You must mention their names in your prayers. If you do not even pray for them, how can you give God a chance to speak to you to preach to someone? If you do not even pray for someone who is lost, how can God empower you to preach the gospel?
- If you do not pray for people, you will not feel with them like Jesus feels with them and of course you do see their needs for Jesus.
- For Jesus He is very much with them, pray for them, and He sees their needs, He feels for them and so He has compassion for them. Can we do the same?

E. Conclusion.
- Jesus today ask you: “Can you draw all resources like all the teachings on evangelism, the tools of evangelism, the courage from the holy spirit to overcome fear, the word of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and humble yourself to discern the needs of others to do evangelism?”