Many of Jesus’ disciples…no longer followed Him

GMC

17th February, 2013

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

John 6:41-71

Main Idea: Follow Jesus all the way

Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to be a disciple of Jesus and follow Him every day.

b. To teach the congregation to follow Jesus in every detail of our life.

A. Introduction

- The more I understand the word of God, the teaching of Jesus, the more I want to follow Him all the way. The more needs and problems I see in my family, church members’ families, society, Malaysia and in the world, the more I see the urgency of helping people to follow Jesus. I see a lot of Christians do not have joy, under bondages of pride, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, selfishness, superstition; immobilized by bad health and remained defeated and sad. I see how our society is so corrupted, unjust, the poor getting poorer and the richer getting richer and how we become richer at the expense of the poor. I see how people in Vietnam, in some parts of Africa who die of hunger that are not reported. I see how at the international stage big powers are bullying the small countries; how civil wars, political differences resulted in killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people.

- As you see the sin in yourself, in others, in the society and in the world, do you see the urgency for ourselves and as many people in this world to follow; to overcome our problems and to meet the needs by following Jesus?

- The more we are not following Jesus, the more the Church needs to do mission.

- What is at stake for you and me as disciples of Jesus is really, are we following Jesus or not?

- In verse 66 today, the writer John, wrote, “From this many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

B. Following Jesus

- The Greek word for ‘followed’ is peripateo, it means to walk at large (especially as proof of ability); figuratively, to live, deport oneself, follow as a companion or votary (a regular worshipper of a particular god, holy person or religion). In the context of verse 66, it means no longer walking after, no longer worship Jesus; no longer a companion of Jesus.

- Verse 66 says many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer followed him. The disciples in Greek is mathetes, a learner, pupil. The Greek for ‘turned’ is aperchomai, it means to go off (i.e., depart); figuratively, come, depart, go (aside, away, back out), pass away, be past. These pupils of Jesus who followed (peripateo) Him for some time, now, they decided to aperchomai (back out). They worshipped Jesus for a while and they backed out, probably, they never come back anymore.

- Why many of Jesus’disciples aperchomai (back out) and not peripateo (followed) Him anymore? It has to do with the dispute about Jesus’ claim of His divinity.

- In my last preaching I emphasize Jesus as the bread of life, and in verse 40, Jesus says, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Anyone who believes in Him has eternal life and Jesus has the power to raise people from death. Jesus claimed that He was sent by God and He was divine, God.

- The writer John is portraying Jesus as the one sent by God and all this readers (especially the Jews) are challenged to make up their mind whether to follow Jesus or not; whether they wanted to follow Jesus or not. Many of Jesus disputed about His divinity, about Him to be the bread of life coming down from heaven. They could not accept Jesus as bread of heaven. They could not accept the divinity of Jesus as He was.

-In verses 42, They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, "I came down from heaven'?" And then, in verse 52, they said again, “ Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

- This was especially so after Jesus taught in verse 51 He was the flesh which He gave for the life of the world.

- In the whole passage Jesus claimed His divinity as the bread of life; He could give eternal life; His relationship with God the Father.

- In verses 41 and 48, He highlighted again He is the bread of life. In verse 44, He claimed that people who came to Him were actually drawn by His Father who sent Him and He had the power to raise them from death in the last day, end time. He also claimed in verse 46, He has seen the Father. Take of His intimate relationship with His Father. In verse 47, He claims that those who believe Him have everlasting life. In verses 53 and 54, He claimed that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life and He will raise them up in the last day. And He went on to keep emphasizing on the need to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

- Jesus even asked in verse 61 if His such teaching offended His disciples. And He said in verses 63 and 64 there were disciples who did not believe though His words are spirit and life. And Jesus foresaw in verse 64 there would be disciples who would betray Him.

- Eventually, Jesus confronted His most inner circle disciples, the Twelve, if they wanted to leave Him or not in verse 67. In verses 68 and 69, Simon Peter, answered on behalf of the Twelve, recognizing Jesus to be the words of eternal life and He is the Holy One of God, affirming the divinity of Jesus. To this, in verse 70, Jesus still insisted one them would betray Him and He is the devil.

- Brothers and sisters, with all honesty, as we face Jesus; and Jesus knew all His disciples then, their HEART, inside out; which disciple would back out, aperchomai and not peripateo (followed) Him; and it is the same for today, He knows us inside out, He knows which one of us would back out and not follow Him.

C. Applications on Following Jesus

- Some of us may not turn away from Jesus not in the sense of the totally disappearing from sight of Jesus like some of Jesus’ disciples in verse 66. We may not turn away from Jesus because of Jesus’ divinity issue.

- In my own experience with myself, with other fellow disciples of Jesus, we back out, aperchomai and not peripateo (followed) Him because of pride. With all my personal relationship with Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus, the word of God, let me define pride to you. It is the greatest sin of mankind, it is the devil inside us which we have to deal with all the time. It comes out every now and then to cause havoc in our life.

- What is pride actually? It is the putting yourself in the highest position in your life, it is the ego I who submits his willpower to himself and follow what is not true. A person who has pride in his or her life, he or she is blind to the truths or the word of God; or he or she may be having half truth. One of the most clear sign of a proud person is this: I am right, you are wrong. He himself or she herself could actually be wrong, but he or she could not see it. Today, in the name of Jesus I want to teach it and preach it, to help you to discern how you know you have been proud. How you sense it in your life? How you realize you have the sin of pride.

- The answer lies with the word joy. With all honesty, you know the word of God is the joy of the Lord is my strength, right? When you have pride, you are not more doing or serving Jesus’ will, God’s will, obeying Jesus’ teaching, YOUR SERVE YOUR OWN WILL, there is no more God’s will in your life, you suffer the consequences of your sin of pride, you only get frustration, anger, condemnation, complaint, unforgivenss, bitterness, and confusion.

- When you have pride, there is no more word of God in your life, no wonder you do not follow Christ at that moment.

- The moment you realize your pride, you repent, you submit yourself to Yesus, your will to Jesus, you say I choose to forgive, to tell the truth, to love, to be considerate, to be honest, to respect others, to be responsible for my sin of anger and awaiting God’s discipline, to be responsible for my wrong, for my carelessness, for my mistakes, you emphasize God’s word, His truth, Jesus’ teaching, Jesus takes over your will power, you will have peace and joy.

- When you choose to follow Jesus’ word, joy comes. Do you have joy now?

- When I participated in a recent deliverance I see clearly with my own eyes, how a Christian who is well versed with the word of God and not submit His life to Jesus but he submitted his will and life to the demons, how he was demon possessed.

- We have to encourage him to proclaim to the demons inside him that he belongs to Jesus and submit His life/ will to Jesus, and he did it and we see with our eyes, how demon left him one by one. He submit his life/ will to the demons by singing the unknown anti-Christ songs in foreign languages, spending lots of time on computer and internet games and video shows that are violent and demonic.

D. Conclusion

- Will you submit your life/ will to Jesus and obey His teaching and do His will, and experience joy and peace? And follow Jesus and not back out.

Overcoming Racial Barrier in Worship

FMC

Overcoming Racial Barrier in Worship

27th Jan, 2013

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

John 4:1-26

Main Idea: Jesus overcomes racial barrier

Objectives: a. To empower disciples of Jesus to overcome racial barrier to reach out to the indigenous people of Sarawak.

b. To teach the significance of worship.

A. Introduction

- The book of Revelation has great teaching about how we should do mission. It is a book which we Christians believe about eschatology, how our future will turn out to be. It is a beautiful picture of the future of God’s people. Therefore, when we live our lives on earth, we want to do mission, we need to bear that end picture in mind. This end picture or final picture must affect how we do mission on earth.

- Therefore, if you are expecting to see only Chinese when we see Christ in judgement or in heaven, we really miss the end/ final picture in Revelation. Revelation15:4 “Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” All nations will worship God. The Greek word for nation here is ‘ethnos’, it is also race or tribe. So, the final picture of people worshipping God in heaven is made up of different races.

- As I serve in the area of indigenous people evangelism and mission in Sarawak, as Board of Evangelism put in efforts to mobilize SCAC churches to do mission among local indigenous people, I find all kinds of excuses, prejudices, lacking in vision, and reasons for Chinese Christians reluctance, indifference, and inaction not to make disciples among the indigenous people of Sarawak. Some of us felt it is the ministry of Sarawak Iban Annual Conference because of Iban language; some feel it is difficult to do because of language and cultural barrier; some even feel they cannot be helped as it is very difficult to transform them; some say there is no manpower to reach out; some say they do not know how to preach to them; some honestly say they do not have the burden to reach out to them.

- Could all these excuses or reasons be due to our Chinese superiority mindset and our clannish identity? We subconsciously look down on other races or the indigenous people.

- I look to the Bible to find answers to answer all these challenges. In light of the word of God, all these so called reasons cannot justify their claims.

- So, here locally, in Sarawak, if we do outreach, evangelism and mission, we only focus on Chinese, we have totally missed the big end picture of nations, and we get our Missiology wrong. Jesus has a very teaching about overcoming racial barrier in evangelism. It is a very direct passage urging us to reach out to people of other tribes and races in John 4:1-26. Can you and I follow His example?

- Let us examine the context of the passage to bring out a message today for you. I entitle my sermon/message today as ‘Overcoming racial barrier in worship’.

B. Context and Brief Exegesis

- Traditionally for many centuries, Jewish Judeans of the south were in enmity with the Samaritans in the north. The Samaritans are the descendants of a mixture of two groups. (1) The remnants of the Israelites who were not deported at the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 772 BC. (2) Foreign colonists brought in from Babylonia and Media by the Assyrian conquerors of Samaria (2Kings 17:24ff). The Samaritans (northerners) and the Jews (southerners) were in theological conflict because the Samaritan refused to worship at Jerusalem. After the Babylonian exile, the Samaritan blocked the Jewish restoration of Jerusalem. In 2nd century BC, the Samaritans helped Syrian monarchs to war against the Jews. In 128 BC, the Jewish high priest burned the Samaritan temple on Gerizim.

- Jesus was aware of such hostile background and He went to the North to engage in this powerful conversation with the Samaritan woman. Jesus rested at Sychar, Samaria (verse 5). He was tired after the journey, sat down by Jacob’s well when it was very hot, at the sixth hour, midday (verse 6). Into such conditions, the Samaritan woman came to draw water. Her arrival at this unsociable hour (because of the hot sun), tends to lead to the suspicion that she was an outcast. What caused her to be an outcast? Suspicion she has earned, for drawing water under the hot midday sun was not a consequence of her personal sin (sexual or otherwise) but of racism, that had isolated her and her people (of whom she was a representative) from their rightful place at God’s messianic banquet.

- Jesus totally disregarded the woman’s protest at the impropriety of the situation. He offered her a role reversal: if only she knew who she spoke to, she would ask Him for living water. From then on, Jesus tried to direct her to understand who God is. Jesus used the metaphor of living water to direct her to a knowledge of God. In verse 10, Jesus responded to her protest, “…If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” At this pivotal point, Jesus turned His request for a drink into an offer of living water for her. He engaged her in very deep theological talk, along the lines of living water. She did not understand the metaphor of the living water, as she was still stuck thinking of ‘physical living water’ in verses 11 and 12.

- To help the Samaritan woman to realize what the living water was, Jesus explained that He is the source of living water and a receiver of it would never thirst again. This living water would lead a person to eternal life (verses 13 and 14). Jesus had successfully stirred her to desire this living water so that she answered Jesus in verse 15, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” This positive response to Jesus also reflected her willingness to disregard cultural codes regarding men and women; and Jesus’ success in drawing her closer to God. Jesus was in the midst of His mission to reconcile both the Judeans (Jews) and Samaritans, and direct both ethnic groups towards God, through Himself.

- How did Jesus do it? He boldly created new systems, to break down cultural codes that limited opportunities for the sharing of resources between different groups of people. The new systems here referred to is the open interaction between men (it started with Jesus Himself) and women in a conservative society; and the metaphor of living water which leads to eternal life.

- How did Jesus try to reconcile Judeans and Samaritans? He did not do it directly. The answer probably lies with “Jesus’ Johannine mission: to call people away from commitments to man-made systems of identity and into rebirth as children of God.”

- On the surface, Jesus and the Samaritan woman may have shifted from one subject to another subject such as from the well and water to husbands, prophets, places of worship and the Messiah but below the surface of this narrative, lies a consistent thread: Jesus the ‘prophet’ knew the underlying Samaritan history of hostility with Judean Jews (cf. 2Kings 17:24-41; Ezra 4). Jesus’ mission in going to Samaria (John 4:4) was to offer an alternative to both Judeans and Samaritans to end their endless struggle over ethnic identity. In His effort to draw them to rebirth as God’s children, He urged them to disregard the racial barrier (man-made identity).

- He subtly broke down this great barrier of ethnicity by answering the woman’s question of dispute on the presence of God, in the choice of place of worship (this mountain or Jerusalem). He answered, “neither place”, in verse 21, “…Believe me, woman, a time is coming, when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” God is present where worshippers worship in spirit and truth (verses 23 and 24). Jesus told the woman that God is not concerned with which race worships where, but He is concerned about all worshippers (all ethnic groups) worshipping Him in truth and spirit.

- The build up of insights from the metaphor of living water to the Messiah had enlightenedthe woman’s spiritual blindness, overcoming racial hostility and boundaries. The woman (regardless of the shame of living with a man and not being married) responded by being the first ‘apostle’ (in the sense of being sent forth), rushing back to her people and becoming a messenger for the Messiah, causing many people to drop what they were doing and follow her to see Jesus (verses 28-30). As the woman shared her testimony with her own people, many of them believed in Jesus (verse 39). Jesus had successfully reconciled some Samaritans with Judean Jews (starting with Himself). SCAC churches need to follow Jesus’ example, in regard to the Iban, and start with themselves. This Samaritan woman belonged to another race and another identity. She was a woman difficult to transform.

-The Samaritan woman belonged to a different race from Jesus, and was thus a social outcast. The Iban belong to another race, and some are marginalized economically. If Jesus, a Jew bridged the racial barrier to reach out to a Samaritan woman from another race, and a social outcast, He has set a precedent for SCAC Chinese (a race) Christians to do likewise to the Iban.

- The story of the Samaritan woman is used only to serve as a biblical response to the SCAC Chinese Christians mindset and identity barrier, the main reason being that through this story Jesus calls His disciples in SCAC to move away from a commitment to man-made racial identity and turn to help another race, such as the Iban to be reborn as children of God. A secondary reason is that though the woman was an outcast and marginalized, Jesus disregarded her status and still reached out to her. This should challenge SCAC to reach out to marginalizedIban who are weak socially and economically.

-Biblically, according to the Apostle Paul’s teaching, SCAC Chinese Christians need to be like Christ. In Christ-likeness, we need to be like Him in bridging racial barriers.

- Jesus, out of compassion for the lost, in His mission to direct other race, the marginalized and the social outcast to the kingdom of God, reached out to the Samaritan woman. Jesus rejected any excuse to avoid her. This move of Jesus must challenge SCAC Chinese Christians to change their superiority mindset towards the Iban. All races are equally accepted by Jesus Christ: He loved the world (John 3:16).

C. Applications

-Firstly, one fundamental implication of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman is that SCAC Chinese Christians can no longer say that the socially and economically marginalized and outcast Iban are not related to them.

- Secondly, SCAC needs to change its clannish mindset to teach Iban the word of God; and accept them despite their race and economic and social status. SCAC cannot make excuses such as ‘the Iban are difficult to transform’, ignore the need to reach them, or leave the ministry to SIAC.

- Thirdly, since the Iban are another race, SCAC needs to overcome cultural barriers to bring the gospel to them in terms they can understand and accept; if they do, the Iban will own it.

D. Conclusion

- 1st January, 2011, I joined a brother in sending a piece of furniture to a poor Iban family. In fact, the next day, 2nd January, I flew to KK for 2 years of theological studies. We were faced with a self-accident Iban with his motor bike lying on the road. We stopped our pick up and upon examination, we found it must be drunk driving as smelt alcohol. He was unconscious and his skull had a hole bleeding profusely. I thought to myself if I did not save him he would die of blood loss as I learnt in first aid. I quickly press my palm on this small size Iban guy and we carried him up and put him at the back of the pick up with me holding him and put my on my 2 thighs, while I sat.

- I kept my palm at the bleeding skull with much blood on my shorts, shirt and hands. Jesus spoke to me in a very deep manner in this encounter. As I looked at the blood on the head, it doomed on me that every human blood is red in color. My mind at the time thought of the white and black skin people (especially African), their skin can of different color but there is all red. Chinese blood is read, Iban blood is red, Penan blood is red. All the human beings are red. The powerful conviction comes when God told me as long as we are human being with red blood we deserve to be saved by Jesus. Jesus shed blood for all the human beings with red blood.

- Therefore, by no means practicing the bad theology of allowing racial barrier to prevent us from preaching the gospel to the indigenous people.

Apostle’s Creed

Brunei Sermon Apostle’s Creed 13th January, 2013

Bethel Church

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Main Idea: I believe in God

Objectives: a. To relate the Apostle’s creed to our Christians’ life.

b. To teach the doctrines of God, creator and Christ the Son of God.

A. Introduction

- You may have been reciting the traditional Apostle’s Creed Sunday in and Sunday out, but you do not much about its meaning and how it is related to your spiritual life or daily life. I pray that as I preach and teach you its meaning and background, you will appreciate it and each time you recite it, it will strengthen your faith in Christ.

1. 我信上帝，全能的父， 创造天地的主。

　　I believe in God, Father Almighty, Creator of heavens and the earth.

　　2. 我信我主耶稣基督，上帝的独生子；

　　I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord,

　　3. 因着圣灵感孕，由童贞女玛利亚所生；

　　conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, given birth through Virgin Mary,

　　4. 在本丢•彼拉多手下受难，被钉在十字架上，受死，埋葬；

　　suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried,

　　5. 降在阴间；第三日从死里复活；

　　was descended into the Death, and the third day risen from the dead;

　　6. 他升天，坐在全能父上帝的右边；

　　He ascended into the Heaven, seated at the right hand of Father Almighty,

　　7. 将来必从那里降临，审判活人，死人。

　　and will come back from there to judge the living and the dead.

　　8. 我信圣灵，

　　I believe in the Holy Spirit,

　　9. 我信圣而大公之教会、圣徒相通，

　　I believe in the holy universal Church, the communion of the saints,

　　10. 我信罪得赦免，

　　I believe in the forgiveness of sins,

　　11. 我信身体复活；

　　I believe in the resurrection of the body,

　　12. 我信永生。阿们！

　　I believe in everlasting life Amen!

- I will begin with what is a creed, a simple historical background and the reasons to use it for the universal Christian church. Then, an explanation of its meaning and how it relates to our Christian life through a series of sermons.

B. What is a Creed?

- The word creed in English is coming from the first Latin word of the Apostle’s Creed, ‘credo’, I believe.

- There are 2 meanings in reciting the Apostle’s Creed. Firstly, it is an individual’s believe in the Trinitarian God, therefore, out of the 12 statements, every statement begins with the phrase ‘I believe’. Secondly, it is a demonstration of the whole congregation’s faith origin and worshipping the true God.

- Historically, there are other 3 creeds: Nicean Creed; Chalcedonian Creed; and Athanasian Creed.

- Apostle’s Creed is among the simplest creed, it was formed out of early believers’ faith development.

- A creed is simple, short and precise for the purpose of memorizing.

C. A Simple Historical Background

- A creed was formed out of the problems faced by the early church believers. It was used for personal devotion, public worship, dealing with cults and persecutions.

- There are quite a lot of creedal formulas in the New Testament. They became the backbone of the later creeds. For examples, popular ones are ‘...if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’. And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’ (Rom 10:9); the shortest ones are ‘Jesus is Lord’ or ‘Jesus is Messiah’.

- In the days of apostle, they used scripture as their creeds. Then, in the later days, it was not suitable. On the one hand, one or two verses cannot include the whole faith of Christianity. On the other hand, the challenges faced by the church were very different. For examples, to counter the cultic teachings, the church cannot just respond with one or two verses as the cults also used the scripture as their basis. The challenges had been thrown to Christians by the Ebionites, they made Christianity to be Judaism; Gnostics, they tried to Hellenize Christianity.

- Apostle’s Creed was slowly formed in the midst of all these struggles. It was not written by the apostles but by the early believers through a long process of debates in the first few centuries

D. Reasons to use Apostle’s Creed

- Firstly, the apostles of the early Christian churches always repeated their important content in their preaching. And this method could have been learnt from Jesus, for example in preaching sermon on the Mount. Apostle Creed could be formed out of the need for preaching.

- Secondly, the young churches were newly formed, they needed established liturgy like the Holy Communion and baptism for public worships. An example is in Philippians 2:5-11. The declaration of their faith in their worships in the midst of persecution and cultic teachings had several functions: teaching, comfort, encouragement and expressing Christian stand with Jesus, therefore, confronting the evil power.

- Thirdly, the early church did not have a pure mentality as we assume, before Emperor Constantine made Christianity the national religion, different churches had their own separate individual explanation for their belief. There was no systematic teaching on their belief. The animistic believers of the Gentiles who converted had difficulty grasping their Christian belief. This called for the need of Apostle’s Creed.

- Fourthly, the cultic teachings had caused the formation of the creed. The creed would tell the believers what to believe and at the same time, pointing out the wrong teachings of the cults.

E. I Believe

- When a person has a blur understanding of his belief, his object of belief will disappear, he will be disappointed with his past, he will have no hope toward himself now, and he has no expectation for his future.

- He does not feel important of himself, he has given up on himself, and now, anything can own him or her.

- Let us now examine our Christian understanding of ‘believe’. It has 2 parts, i.e., (1) the object of belief and (2) the response produced because of the belief, the meaning of belief.

- Christian believes in God, the object of our belief is God. We believe God in Christ who accomplished all the things for us. Because we have understood what He had done for us, we responded to Him in Christ, we commit to Him, love Him and obey Him.

- Therefore, the more you know the object of belief, the more you will respond to Him.

- The first part of belief is knowing and the second part is action. Knowing is knowing the object of belief; and action is actually the emotional response towards the object of belief. The 2 actually happened at the same time. After you know what you believe, then, you have a response. This process involves a relationship.

- So, the more you know this God whom you believe, the more personal in relationship you will have with this God. If not, you will not have a personal relationship with Him.

- It is very crucial for us Christians to understand our object of belief, God.

F. I believe in God

- What do you mean when you declare ‘I believe in God’? It means I do not believe in a God who is defined by someone else; not believe in a God defined by myself because God is God on His own, He acted and spoke and reveal Himself throughout history.

- He entered time and space, and through His work on earth, we know Him.

- He is given to us; He presented Himself to us.

- Therefore, when you declare ‘I believe in God’ you believe in God who reveal Himself to you. You are not believing in a God whom people voted as God with such a definition.

- When you let this God be God on His own in your life, you have a relationship with Him. He definitely wants to know you and vice-versa.

- It becomes like a boy-girl relationship. In such a relationship, you want to know a guy better, you need to allow that person to ‘reveal’ himself or herself to you.

- You cannot imposed your own understanding about him or her on him or her.

- Similarly, when anybody wants to know God, it cannot be depending on his/her effort only. There must be initiative coming from God, revelation coming from Him, and words coming from Him. It must be the participation of both sides. In knowing God, there must be a dialogue. Otherwise, God is just what we made Him to be, our narrow view of God.

- God’s revelation to us through His creation, salvation and end time theology (eschatology), all are deeds of God which we can know in the bible.

- Through the deeds of God, we come to know Him in our inner life, so, in the process, if there is any mismatch, contradiction, etc, e.g., in view of God’s revelation of Himself to us, our own wrong understanding of him must be corrected in order to allow God to be God in our life. We cannot change him to match our understanding of Him.

- Take for instance, for many years, I assume that God does not love Muslims. This is my own understanding of God which is wrong in view of the Bible, where Jesus said, “For God so loved the world” and also Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations.

- So, when you said I believe in God, you mean, “I believe in God who has spoken, acted. He is not a dumb God.

G. Conclusion

- Do you mean what you declare as you say, “I believe in God”?

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.