Agape Methodist Church By the Name of Jesus 3rd April, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 4:1-22
Main Idea: To serve God by the name of Jesus.
Objective: To teach that we need to be filled by the Holy Spirit to serve in Christ’s name
A. Introduction
- When a traffic police stands right in the middle of the road and starts to direct the traffic with his hand signals will the public and the drivers follow the instructions? Yes. Why? It is because he is trusted with authority by the government to do it. The authority is given to them by the law of the country. All that the traffic police need to do is to exercise the authority.
- When you serve in the church as Local Church Executive Committee (LCEC) leaders; you serve in your family as husbands, wives, parents and children; in your small group as leaders and members; in Sunday School as teachers; in Methodist Junior Youth Fellowship as Committee members; in your companies, as you serve your clients or when you do business, etc, by what authority you serve God? By what authority you do it?
- For the church ministries, some of us may say, by the authority of the scripture, election, appointment by pastor or LCEC or you volunteer to do it, etc. At home, by the authority of the scripture, husband loves the wife, wife submits to the husband, parents nurture their children, children honours and obey their parents. For our career and working in office, we say it is by the authority of company rules, law of the country, etc. You acted based on these authorities, all of them, by themselves, are not wrong.
- After today, you must challenge yourself to add in the dimension of the authority by Jesus name when you serve God and people. You will understand the whole world of difference when you serve God and people by the name of Jesus as you see how the early apostles did it in the book of Acts and all the more the passage today.
B. Explanation of the text
- Even in chapter 3 verses 12 and 16, Apostle Peter said to the Israelites who were astonished that they did not heal the crippled beggar by their own power or godliness, it was done in Jesus’ name and the faith that came through him that had given complete healing to the beggar (cripple).
- After the healing event, it caused quite a stir in the town. Apostles Peter and John went on to preach all over the places about the death and resurrection of Jesus with all the excitement because they had seen with their own eyes how He resurrected. Their preaching was so powerful that the number of men (not including women and children yet) who came to follow Jesus grew to 5,000 (verse 4), an alarming figure by any standard in those days. Probably a lot of Jews were switching over to follow Christ, and the Jewish high ranking religious leadership like the priests, Sadduccees (not believe in the resurrection of the dead), elders and teachers of the law must have felt the threat of Jesus’ followers to their religion of Judaism and might be even their positions.
- The 3 groups (rulers, elders and the teachers of the law) made up the Sanhedrin, Israel’s Supreme Court.
- The next day, they managed to bring both Apostle Peter and Apostle John before the high priest to be questioned. You can imagine by now the burning question they wanted to ask. They were so mad by the preaching and healing as they caused great impact among the Israelites and the society in Jerusalem.
- So, they asked in verse 7, “By what power or what name did you do this?” The Jewish religious leaders really wanted to know by what authority the apostles did the healing especially.
- In verses 8 and 10, it says Peter was filled by the Holy Spirit, with courage, I believe without fear, he answered straight into the face of these high ranking Jewish religious leaders, it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom they had crucified but God raised Him from death, it was Jesus who healed the crippled beggar. Peter was so full of courage (as he was filled by the Holy Spirit) that he even dared to blame the religious leaders for the death of Jesus!
- Brothers and sisters, you understand the difference the Holy Spirit made to Apostle Peter and Apostle John. They were so courageous that even the whole of Sanhedrin noticed it because they were unschooled, ordinary men; they were not trained in the rabbinic school (verses 13). Yet they were able to demonstrate some authority and power of Jesus.
- The Sanhedrin was astonished by the courage shown by the two of them. They took note they were with Jesus before and they could not deny the powerful work of healing by them as this person was over 40 years old (verse 22). Normally, healing at such an advanced age at that time did not take place. The miracle was simply outstanding and they could not deny it. Everybody in Jerusalem knew it (verse 16).
- What makes the difference? The 2 apostles were filled by the Holy Spirit.
- The Sanhedrin could not punish them for the miracle but at the same time, they were very worried that the teaching on the resurrection of Jesus and in His name would influence more people. Therefore, they warned them not to teach in the authority of the name of Jesus anymore. You see, even the Sanhedrin knew very well it was the name of Jesus that carried the weight!
- Brothers and sisters, in serving God, in ministry, you need to do it in Jesus’ name, there is divine power, sacred power in Jesus’ name. Do not miss this key point of the passage today.
- Now, despite the warning, because Peter and John were filled by the Holy Spirit, they were not silenced by the so called authoritative religious figures. In fact, they even became more daring and courageous. They replied to the Sanhedrin in a form of challenge in verses 19 and 20 which you and I need to take up, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
- Based on a counter challenge to the so called Jewish religious authority which governed all Israelites’ religious life, now, Peter and John were no more abide by it, they, in fact, drop it and take on a new authority in the name of Jesus to continue to heal the sick, do deliverance, teach resurrection of Jesus and to set the captives free. This is a complete 100% paradigm shift in terms of the authority for what they are doing.
- The Sanhedrin still gave further threats and they could not punish them because lots of people in Jerusalem were very excited about Jesus and praising God for the great miracle. Then Peter and John were released.
C. Applications
- Do you see the relevance of this passage with your life and ministry? In the beginning I say,” You will understand the whole world of difference when you serve God and people by the name of Jesus as you see how the early apostles did it in the book of Acts and all the more the passage today.”
- The word of God, which I preach to you today, is not only for your ears to hear only; for information and knowledge only; it is very much for your life transformation. You must ask yourself what the passage requires you to do after the service. What changes in thinking, attitude, actions, motives, purposes of your life, convictions, values, etc, you need to take? What sin to repent from? Most important of all, you need to ask yourself, what is the big deal about serving God (Jesus) by the name of Jesus Christ? What do I lose if the authority of Jesus’ name is missing in my life and ministry?
- By now, you should be awakened in your soul that serving in any way in church, at home and at work and in the society in any capacity, without the authority of Jesus’ name, you definitely have no power to overcome all the odds, temptations to lie, to be a hypocrite, to commit adultery, to watch pornography, to curse, to hate, to be jealous, to look down on others, to betray, etc. By our nature, we give all the excuses to fall into the temptations and sin, however, when we are filled by the Holy Spirit, we have all the power, the divine power, Jesus power, the sacred power to overcome temptations and fight against all the odds.
- If you still do not get my message of the importance and meaning of the name of Jesus, the big deal about Jesus’ name, the authority of Jesus’ name, please imagine with me this illustration, I beg you. Do not miss this point!
- Some people curse people when they have been offended, hurt, trespassed, denied certain interest, physical hurt caused, pains caused, misunderstanding, shamed suffered, etc. Have you ever cursed someone before in your heart or with your mouth? What is your thinking, attitude, hope and wish, your greatest heart desire about your opponent? You desire with your greatest strength, hope, wish, expectation, with the strongest determination, power, you desire that person dead in the worst scenario, he suffers like you suffer, hurt as much as you do and may be even more, he will fail in his business, marriage, his children will be knocked by cars, you desire with your strongest desire all the bad and evil things that will happen. You can imagine all the negative things and thoughts that will happen to your opponents.
- In fact, when you curse, you are calling on the authority of the devil, you are appealing to the devil to come and ‘bestow’ evil things on that person. In other words, you act in the power, authority, and the name of the devil to influence your opponent.
- Now, in the name of Jesus, in the authority of the name of Jesus I preach to you, do not curse, do not hate, do not sin against others, but use all your heart desire like your heart desire to curse or to hate someone and convert it and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to be empowered by the Jesus Spirit to love, to care, heal, to forgive, to show understanding, to reconcile, to nurture, to help, to counsel, etc, by the name of Jesus. Serve God in the name of Jesus.
D. Your action
- Can you now serve God in the LCEC, as Sunday School teachers, MJYF committee members, children, parents and husbands and children, your clients, colleagues, etc by the name of Jesus?
- At times, out of frustration and anger, my sinful desire appeared and I wanted to say something to hurt my wife. I wanted to give her a good scolding for all the mistakes. When my sinful nature is operating, I always thought it was her faults, not my faults at all, etc. However, in those critical times, most of the times, I had victory over the devil, because I did not end up calling on the power of the devil to influence my wife. On the other hand, I call on the name of Jesus and I always say in my heart I want to love her, understand her, forgive her, help her, and overlook her mistakes, by the name of Jesus. Sometimes, I even say sorry to my wife. When you go home, will you do that to your family members? Not based on Pastor Law’s authority, but Jesus’ authority. He desires you to do it. Start today, now, later, in the car, over the meal tables, etc.
- When you serve in the church, you do it by the name of Jesus, your heart desire, expectations, goals, will be all motivated by Jesus, your brothers and sisters in church and even non-Christians who are your clients, they will feel that you are very different? Why they feel that way, because they are affected by the power coming out of your life to them when you serve by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
- Today, when you leave the church, will you have this new conviction to do it on everybody whom you are in contact? Will you say Amen to it?
E. Conclusion
- In life, you have so many things to do, you need to major on important things, and living a life on earth by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is something you cannot afford to miss.
- It must be underlying everything you do; the bottom for everything you do; the motive for everything you do. Do it and see if there is anything wonderful that happens in your life and others’ life. I bet when you get it, you will want more and more of Jesus Christ.
Questions for Small Group Discussion
1. Discuss what are the implications of serving God by the name of Jesus Christ? Share your practical experience.
2. What difficulties, temptations and struggles you normally encounter when you desire to serve God in Jesus’ name? How do you normally overcome? How do we overcome it as a faith community?
3. After tonight’s bible studies based on Acts 4:1-22, what change or action you want to take to help you to serve Christ by His name?
Irreplaceable Fellowship
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 2:41-47
Main Idea: The Importance of Fellowship among Christians/ disciples of Jesus
Objectives: a. To teach the importance of fellowship in Church and its theological reason. b. To show the congregation how to fellowship in a biblical sense and do it.
A. Introduction
- After being an English speaking for 16 years in 4 English congregations in Bintulu (1995 to 1997), Kuching (1998 to 2001) and Miri (2002 to 2010), I always felt we need to work harder on fellowship in the church; we need to do more fellowship like that of apostles and disciples of Jesus in the book of Acts; all the more as it was mentioned in the passage today.
- May be this church has no problem in the area of fellowship; may be those churches which I pastor last time have improved in their fellowship.
- Whatever it is, I say we need to work harder because LCEC leaders (pastor is also included) tend to disagree and differ in doing ministry from one another. LCEC leaders seem not to discern the strong burden in their pastor’s heart for certain ministry; pastor may not know the actual reasons of the disagreement; pastor may not know the reasons for the struggles in their careers which may affect their view of ministry in church; church leaders or pastor may not know even most of our fellow church members’ name especially if a church is more than 100 persons; not to mention to understand their needs.
- I pray that as we learn from the early’s disciples and apostles’ fellowship, we will be challenged to work harder at our fellowship regardless of whether we have a problem or not.
- I name the sermon today as “Irreplaceable Fellowship” because it was something the early apostles and disciples emphasized all the time and it was something they could not do without. We cannot avoid modelling them as it was the most natural way the early disciples and apostles got close with one another and grew in spiritual maturity and impacted the non-Christian world at that time. I dare say that without the fellowship at that time, the gospel may not spread as far those countries in the Mediterranean seas.
- Let us see the exciting background leading towards the passage today.
B. Background of the early Disciples’ Fellowship
- Remember before the passage today, the 120 apostles and disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit in the most spectacular manner. After that apostle Peter preached the Holy Spirit empowered sermon which resulted in people from different nations far and near, including the Jews, experienced the cutting of their hearts, and they asked Peter in verse 37, “Brother, what shall we do?” Peter, still under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, answered in verses 38, 39, “ Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
- Obviously, the people acted in repentance for verse 41 in today’s passage says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” Wasn’t that exciting? Although these people who repented after listening to the sermon of Peter did not see Jesus with their own eyes, they repented because Jesus was real to them.
- After the conversions, what do you expect them to do? Some might have gone back home; a lot must have come from Jerusalem. Do you expect them to keep quiet and do nothing about their new found faith? Do you think they can afford to forget totally about the heart cutting experience; how they were convicted of their sins and repented; and not talk about it with their loved ones? No, no and no.
- Praise the Lord for the record in the book of Acts is very clear about their response after they return home.
C. Exegesis of the Passage
- In verse 42, the author Luke recorded with all the excitement , I can imagine, what happened to the new believers after they dispersed from the audience of Peter’s preaching, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Take note, all these 4 elements of Christian and spiritual practice started right there and then. The breaking of bread probably included having meal together and the holy communion which was commanded by Jesus for His apostles and disciples.
- The 4 elements of spiritual practices look so easy, simple and require not much effort to get together, each one of them is distinct in its function and meaning from others. Each time they gathered together, it was unavoidable that they taught and learnt the apostles’ teaching by word of mouths and recall from memory all the teachings of Jesus to the 11 apostles.
- They were very close in fellowship. In fact, in verses 44 to 47, we were told that they were so close and sympathized with one another in terms of great sharing of their possessions as they had everything in common. They sold their possessions and gave to everyone as he had need. Every day they met at temple courts. Most probably, they looked forward to see each other in the temple courts.
- They always met together for meals with sincere and glad hearts; also for the purpose of breaking of bread in terms of the Lord’s Supper/ Holy Communion as we called it today.
- And they praised God regularly.
- However, I do not know if you notice or not, each time they gathered for the 4 elements of spiritual practice, each one of them was undergirded by fellowship. In apostolic teaching, you need to do fellowship, you need to interact, exchange and sharing of ideas, asked questions, clear the doubts, and you have fellowship.
- When it came to the meals or the Lord’s Supper, you need to speak to one another in confession of sins, you need to pray to God and ask God for forgiveness, you need to share the food.
- In prayer, you need to fellowship, you associate and participate in the lives of others as you are asked to pray for others and others pray for you; you thank God and praise God, etc.
- The concept of fellowship, the Greek word is kononia. It means association, participation, sharing. However, when this word was used in the early apostles and disciples, it carried with it a great spiritual significance. You need to be conscious and be greatly aware of it. The early believers, the disciples and apostles had the Holy Spirit in their lives. In verse 39, Peter who was empowered by the Holy Spirit preached to those who repented would receive the Holy Spirit. In others, when the early believers met, they had the Holy Spirit who lived in them. That means the presence of the Holy Spirit in their fellowship whenever they gathered.
- Otherwise, you cannot explain the unusual phenomenon of many miraculous signs and wonders which were done by the apostles in verse 43. You cannot explain the glad and sincere hearts in breaking of bread; and enjoyed the favour of all the people, I believe including the non-Christian loved ones, relatives and friends and neighbours very much notice the differences in them. And in verse 47, it says, “... the Lord added to their number daily those who were saved.” It was the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit who was present in the believers who caused the conversions of family members, neighbours, friends and many others.
- It was the spiritual fellowship (unlike any other social gatherings which do not the presence of the Holy Spirit), the presence of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit who produced all the effects of conversions.
D. Applications
- This has very serious implications for the universal church of Christ on earth, do you know that?
- One very serious implication of the passage today is, you and I got to believe with the might of your heart, mind, soul and everything inside us that whenever Christians and disciples of Jesus like you and me gather in fellowship in Christ’s name, the mighty Holy Spirit, the spirit of Christ is among us, that same Spirit who did miraculous signs and wonders, is also with us, doing His work, in no lesser degree than what happened at that time? Do you have the faith to say Amen to that?
- For the reason of the presence of the Holy Spirit, I always tell people that, “When God’s people gather together, there are always wonderful things that happen!” It has become a spiritual slogan in my life and I hope it is the same for you. Can you repeat it after me and remember it so that you are very conscious of the work of the Holy Spirit in any fellowship.
- But wait a minute, why is it that the miraculous signs and wonders, the filling with awe, the favour of all people and the addition of people to our church daily are not happening?
- The top reason based on the passage today is majority of brothers and sisters are not able to practise meeting and fellowshipping everyday as verse 46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts...” Because we have not met as often as we must, the presence of the Holy Spirit is weak among us, so we now see less of miraculous signs and wonders, daily conversions, etc.
- How can we expect God to move if a church as a whole does not pray much? We do not even pray for conversions or salvations of the people around us, how can we expect God to touch lives? Even if we pray for them, we may be lukewarm in our prayers. Some of us may even feel that we are not up to the mark to evangelize to the people whom we know who have needs because we have disobedient.
- The sermon today really calls us not to cut down on fellowship but we must increase our fellowship in every manner possible.
- I want to encourage all of you to join a cell group where the 4 elements (apostolic teaching in the form of bible studies; fellowship as explained; refreshment; and much prayer) of spiritual practice are done. You may not Holy have Communion when you meet weekly but you can have simple refreshment.
- I believe when the new believers and apostles and disciples met in fellowship in the early days they always could not wait to witness to one another about God in the person of Jesus was doing in their lives. They were so excited to tell it day in and day out. The people around them could see the great transformation in their lives and so the believers invited them to join their fellowship, they would just go and see for themselves why their lives were transformed. Furthermore, they were blessed by the deeds (sharing of goods) of the believers; they felt loved by this God of the Christians through the deeds of the Christians.
- Similarly, when you all get together, you must go for deeper fellowship. It means your bible studies, prayer, fellowship and refreshment must first and foremost, focus on what Jesus is doing in your life. Link everything to it and make sure that it is reflected in your lives after the cell group. It means your witness and your everyday life must be consistent.
- Next, in a deeper fellowship, you must always learn to be open and transparent with one another. You got to be open about your struggles; even confession of sins as you are led by the Spirit to do it; your weaknesses; your difficulties and needs, so that your cell group members can support and pray for you. When you acknowledge your vulnerabilities before man and God, you show that you need God very much in your lives, you learn to depend on God with humility and let go of your pride. When you do that in a cell group, the presence of the Spirit of Jesus will be strongly felt as we pray for one another. And as cell group members commit to pray and help and support in any way possible, you see wonderful things happened. You see Jesus at work in your life and in others’ life.
- When a cell group is open enough to share personal things for prayer, do not condemn him or her, come in and support by all means. It is a wonderful opportunity to share how Jesus loves you with him or her.
- One word of conscious, by all means keep all the details to yourself and only use the details to pray and glorify God.
- Soon, you find that your cell group will multiply because new people are touched by your love for them and they will come and stay and be saved.
- As you pay the price to do it, at the end of the day, you will experience revival in the making in Agape Methodist Church!
E. Conclusion
- You see why I entitled my sermon “Irreplaceable Fellowship.” You miss the fellowship where the Holy Spirit is present, you miss so much.
- I preach to you today in Jesus’ name, failure for you to come for deeper fellowship, you cannot be a strong disciple of Jesus. In fact, you will become a weaker Christian or a disciple of Jesus when you are alone.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
6th February, 2011
AMC
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 2:14-24
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[c]
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Main Idea: Jesus saves
Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit like apostle Peter to reach out people for Christ. b. To teach the congregation that Jesus saves mankind from their sins and hell.
A. Introduction
- What is more precious than a human soul? A human soul is so precious because it exists for eternity. Once it comes into being, it goes on for eternity. The great question, the ultimate question every human must answer is where his soul or her soul going to spend his or her eternity. Hell or heaven?
- Nothing is more precious than a human soul. What can compare the worth of salvation of a human soul which spends his eternity with Jesus in heaven? What is more valuable than the salvation of human souls with Jesus? Whatever you can see and touch on earth; whatever position, wealth, status, and fame, qualification, education and knowledge, your children, etc you have worked so hard all this while, does not worth anything by themselves when it comes to comparison with eternity. This is because you cannot bring anything into eternity with you but your soul last for eternity!
- Therefore, the most important business in this world must be the business of salvation of souls. Our most ultimate concern is whether souls are saved or not, not any other things. Yes, all other things are important for living. But if you are not preparing yourself for the day that you will enter into eternity and you still focus on all the worldliness as the top priority in your life now, when the day comes later on, you will only be filled with regrets of all kinds. Some regret that they now do not know where their souls will go because they are never prepared for it. Some regret that they have spent their lives on wrong priorities and they do not do much to bring with them into eternity.
- Praise the Lord for Jesus who makes all the difference for the purpose of our salvation for eternity! Apostle Peter even quoted the Old Testament prophet, Joel, who prophesied about the plan of salvation of God through Jesus, in verse 21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Let us study the context for such quote. I pray that you will be challenged to call on the name of the Lord and find Jesus so real in your life and you will keep getting others to do it also.
B. Peter’s explanation of the phenomenon of the Holy Spirit (verses 14-21)
- Peter and the 11 apostles were very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Since there was a great crowd who assembled around them as a result of the mighty manifestation of the Holy Spirit, he grasped the opportunity to explain and preach on the person of Jesus Christ. The crowd was made up of Jews and those who lived in Jerusalem (verse 14b).
- Appealing to logic, he explained that the 120 disciples of Jesus could not be drunk because it was 9 o’clock in the morning (verse 15). As the disciples were Jews and they did not eat and drink so early in the morning. They could not be drunk!
- Then, Peter appealed to the authority of the Old Testament and quoted the relevant prophesies by Prophet Joel (verses 17-21).
- He needed to appeal to the Old Testament for the Holy Spirit phenomenon as the Jews in the crowd needed it for the purpose of authentication. Apostle Peter attributed the disciples’ ability to preach and declare the wonders of God in different tongues from their own mother tongues as the work of the Holy Spirit sent by God through Prophet Joel.
- I believe a lot of Jews were later on convinced and believed that it was the work of the Holy Spirit as some of them were cut to their hearts and asked what needed to be done after listening to Peter’s sermon (verse 37). They called Peter, brother.
- After appealing to the Old Testament, he got his perspective of the Holy Spirit, now, with all convictions, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he preached on the person of Jesus Christ. This was the person whom he and the rest of the disciples and apostles banked on for salvation of mankind.
C. Basis of Christ’s authority as God (verses 22-24).
- I strongly believe that, by now, Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, he was ready to preach with all the fire, convictions, courage, without fear of death, to tell his audience especially the Jews where his authority of preaching was coming from.
- Before the Pentecost he was such a timid, when his master, Jesus, was arrested by the soldiers, he denied his relationship with Him 3 times, now, because of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he was a completely different person, apostle.
- With all the courage, he spoke right into the face of the Jews in the crowd and literally told them this Jesus of Nazareth whom they had crucified had been sent from God as He had done miracles, wonders and signs witnessed by them. And raised Him from the dead, and now there was no way for death to defeat Him. He has defeated the death (verses 22-24).
- He really desired to tell the audience Jesus Christ was God sent and He is God.
D. Explanation of verse 21
- No wonder apostle Paul quoted Prophet Joel in verse 21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” After experiencing the reality of the resurrected Christ, who proved He was sent by God and justified everything He had taught the apostles in His lifetime, Peter now went out all the way without fear of death to preach, Jesus saved man from his sins. With excitement and all conviction he quoted Prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- Brothers and sisters, how much weight and belief you put into this authoritative word of God, Jesus saves? Save from what? Of course, sins of mankind! This is exactly the reason for the coming of Jesus. We have no power to overcome sin, unless we turn to Jesus and humble ourselves to allow Jesus to forgive our sins, be cleansed by His blood and repent.
- I strongly believe in the power of Jesus to forgive sin. When you call on Him with all sincerity and genuineness, Jesus exercises His grace and power to forgive your sins and the sins of mankind! My belief and conviction are very much illustrated by this true story!
- A prostitute came to this church and genuinely repented and became a Christian, a child of God. As she served in the church, the pastor’s son fell in love with her and desired to marry her! It was a big news in the church. The church leadership disagreed with his decision and they called for a church committee to deliberate on the case! During the meeting, they discuss all about the implications of the marriage and the social stigmas that came along with it. The pastor son stood up and said his piece, “What is being tested today is the blood of Jesus! Can the blood of Jesus cleanse the sins of my fiancé?” Brothers and sisters, how much do you believe in the power of Jesus and His shed sacrificial blood on the cross to cleanse and forgive our sin?
- My challenge to you is this: If you are forgiving towards peoples’ mistakes and sins (like hurts and pains that they caused you), you prove your conviction and belief; when you see others need (who may have rebellious children, marriage crisis, unforgiveness, hatred, etc ) Jesus very much in their lives, you lead them to Christ, you prove yourself of the power of Jesus’ blood. Otherwise, your talk about Jesus is just lip service.
- Calling on the name of Jesus is not just here said! It is not just a matter of calling only. When a person, like you and me call on Jesus, it includes faith, strong belief that Jesus can forgive our sins; strong trust that He forgives. It is not the kind of lip service that Jesus taught his disciples and people in Mathew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.’
- Therefore, calling on Jesus is not a matter of mentioning the name only. You call on Jesus and be saved by doing God’s will. If you call on Jesus just for the name’s sake and show no sign of repentance, sorry, you cannot be saved!
- Let us now apply this passage into our Christian life.
E. Applications
- Let me ask you before the applications. Do you find that God’s word is so good and so real? Do you have this hope and desire that you also want to experience the reality of the truth of the word of God. In short, you just want to experience God, Jesus in a personal manner!
- A lot of Christians do not realize that experiencing God is not just finding an experience with God. Some asked God when they would get a miracle and then, they would believe Jesus and accept Him. Some Christians asked Jesus for a miracle, then, they would grow in their faith. We got the order all wrong. Yes, you can always ask for a miracle, in fact, you pray for whatever you want. However, spiritually, when it comes to our God, in the person of Jesus, when it comes to experiencing Him, the order is to obey Him, to practise His word, first and foremost, then, the experience will come, miracle will come.
- Take for instance; when you obey Jesus in forgiving someone, you experience how God set you free from bondage of unforgiveness and bitterness; and you experience joy. When you experience how real is Jesus when you receive an answer in prayer from Him on how to solve a problem. When you are willing to live a righteous life and do the will of Jesus, Jesus will help to see lots of impossible things to become possible.
- I pray that now you see the importance of applying word of God after every sermon.
- The first point of application for today is this: since Jesus is so powerful in overcoming our sins, then, we should feel the need for Him in our lives. Most of the times, when we ended in sins, we turned to all the so called human wisdom and even sinful methods to solve our problems. How many of us use a lie to cover up a lie? We dare not confess we have lied! So, before God and man, we lied! How do you expect the powerful Holy Spirit whom apostle Peter to fill and empower you to witness for Jesus! When we face a situation of choosing the truth or the sin, and lots of personal interests and pride are at stake, we must, by all means feel the need for Jesus and quickly turn to Jesus for an answer. Always ask Jesus what need to be done now. I pray that Jesus will show you His authoritative word and you know what to do next.
- Secondly, if Jesus can save, then, by all means, we must be instrumental in helping others to find Jesus. Look around you and see the people who need Jesus. They can be the poor people; people in great financial loss; people who are in illness; people who are in jail; widow or widower who are struggling with their children; people who have marital trouble for the mistakes they made; the divorced; people who are addicted to pornography; people who are depressed, etc. They need love, will offer the love of Jesus to them. Will you buy them a lunch; invite them to a small group; invite them to church?
- We need to see that if people are not saved from their sins, and repented from their sins, eventually they face the eternal judgement in hell! Where worms will not die, fire will not goes off.
F. Conclusion
- Can yourself first and foremost, come to Jesus and feel the great need for Jesus to forgive your sins and repent? Then, I pray that you will find Jesus is so real in your life as you are transformed by His word as you obey Him, you will not be able to hold your joy that you will be so excited to help others to call on the name
Our Life Time Goal
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Posted By Teresa Han
Our Life Time Goal: To Glorify God (1Cor 10:31) & To Be Like God (1Cor11:1)
1Cor 10:31; 11:1 30th Jan, 2011.
Main idea: To glorify God and be like Him
Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to glorify God by being Christ-like. b. To teach the congregation to be Christ-like in all godly characters.
A. Introduction
- Have you ever asked yourself why am I here on earth? What is the meaning of my life on earth? What do I want to achieve when I am living? In other words, what is your life time goal? If we are able to answer this kind of crucial questions in view of God whom we are answerable to, at the end of the day, at our deathbeds, we will have no regret. In fact, those of us who are very certain of the answers, we are very confident of seeing Jesus anytime and allow Him to take us home any time. We are not afraid of death. Your life on earth can only live for one time, like a coin, you can use it for one time. What do you do with your life on earth?
- As long as you have a mind you will ask about it.
- I believe all of you as adults you have asked those questions. You have given yourself answers. Some of us are very satisfied with your own answers as a Christian. May be some of us are still searching for a good answer. Some of us, I bet, you will reexamine your answers after a life crisis like in a serious illness; financial loss; marital problem; serious relationship problem with your colleagues; a broken heart, etc.
- Unfortunately, a lot of people only begin to think more seriously about our life meaning and purpose only when we are strike by crisis. However, Christians look at life crisis as opportunity for spiritual growth.
- Yes, pains, illness, hurts, disappointments, loss and death of loved ones, and distress, are most unwelcomed in our lives. However, when it comes, you must remember to examine your life especially your life goal on earth. Do not waste an opportunity to grow as a Christian; a disciple of Jesus.
- People like, mentor minister, Lee Kuan Yew, his life time goal is to build a nation of Singapore. He said that Singapore was still not a nation yet! It is because her people still think in terms of race! You see his life time goal is so challenging.
- What about Jesus life time goal? Can you give the answer? To save the world from their sins and enter into eternity with Him! Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (New Revised Standard Version, NRSV)
- Praise the Lord, the authoritative word of God (the Bible) has the best answers to our search for our life time goal. Whatever life time goal; life purpose; meaning of life you have set for yourself, it cannot deviate from the biblical teaching, “To glorify God and to be like God.” These passages, 1Cor 10:31; 11:1 will challenge us and teach us to do it.
B. Explanation of the passages
- Apostle Paul said in 1Cor 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (NRSV) This verse was said in the context of the issue of whether Christians could eat food offered to the idols.
- In facing the issue of whether Christians could eat the meat (that was sold in the market that might be offered to the idols) or the food (which might have been offered to the idols) which was laid before the Christians upon accepting the invitation to the non-Christian functions (verses 23 – 30), Paul offered very firmed answers. These answers also become our practice today.
- His guiding principles are very clear in verses 23 – 24: All things are lawful but not all things are beneficial; but not all things build up. Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other. So, he applied the principles into the food offered to the idols situation. He taught the Corinthians, for the sake of not offending the conscience of the neighbors who told them the food had been offered to idols, the Corinthians should not eat it. If they ate it, then, the act would not be beneficial; not building up, the neighbors. If they did not eat it, then, they really thought of the advantage of others.
- It is in this context, that Apostle Paul said, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” After this careful instruction, he went on in verses 32 and 33 to urge the Corinthians not offend the Jews, the Greeks, and fellow Christians (the church of God). He even dared to use himself as an example, he was pleasing everyone and not seeking his own advantage and he sought the advantage of others so that others may be saved.
- In the midst of dealing with the issue of food offered to idols, he taught and challenge Corinthians to glorify God (as their life time goal) in whatever they did; yet at the same time, he was so mission minded (part of his life time goal also), he wanted to make sure these people whom the Corinthians had in contact to be saved!
- Can you also do the same during this Chinese New Year as you do your reunion and visitations? Make sure that you glorify God in whatever you do in CNY. Make sure you do not gamble, get drunk, curse, throw tantrum, quarrel with relatives and friends, etc. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
- After Apostle Paul taught and challenged the Corinthians to glorify God, he went to say something quite tangible to help the Corinthians to glorify God. He exhorted them to imitate him as he imitate Christ, in 1Cor 11:1, he said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (NRSB) This is tangible because it answers the question of how to glorify God, an abstract concept/ idea.
- Apostle Paul now said, for the sake of glorifying God, you look at me how and I show you to do it. He told the Corinthian Christians, “You all must learn to be like me as I learn to be Christ-like.” The Corinthian Christians learn to be like Christ through the concrete model of Paul. He showed them how to be like Christ who is God. So, whatever he was doing to glorify God in the person of Christ, they would follow, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
C. Applications
- Our life time goal is to glorify God and be like Christ who is God. You can see from here, the best model to follow to glorify God is Christ our Lord and master.
To glorify God in the person of Jesus is to honor, respect and submit our lives to Him. You will say, “Here I am Jesus, my life is at your disposal, use me at whatever cost.” You will constantly be bothered by the question whether you are pleasing to him with what you do.
- Even Apostle Paul had to follow Christ and imitate Him.
- As Christ is the best model for Apostle Paul, Christ must be our best model. Christ is my best model. Each time a situation requires me to make sacrifice, as I do my human calculations, I always ended with the conclusion that it is not worth it. But when I am reminded by the authoritative word of God in the bible, in the midst of God’s calling to do lots of counseling, to preach a sermon to point out the sins of congregation and challenge people to repent, to go the extra mile to pray for the sick and do follow up, to choose honesty, to choose forgiveness, etc, I stick to/ hold on to Christ on the cross, He gives me the best example of a godly model of what it means to sacrifice. I am convinced by His sacrifice and love for me on the cross. Each time I need to make sacrifice in terms of spending less time for myself, for my family, paying less attention to my own interest, exercise less for my health, etc, I understand why Jesus had to die. He needed to die so that His disciples and apostles at that time understood the price they had to pay to follow Him to do His mission. Today, as I preach to you, I understand why Jesus has to make a life sacrifice like that. For Jesus, no sacrifice, there is no forgiveness for all of us, we all will not get that love of Jesus. How people get blessed by me and you? Unless I sacrifice and you sacrifice, make time for others, they will not come to know the Jesus whom we believe who will give them eternal life and salvation.
- So, are you convinced why you need Jesus to be your best model so badly? Why you need to be like Christ so badly? In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray that by all means you get personal with Him. As you get personal with Him, you cannot help but your life has to show godly characters, that are like the characters of Christ.
- As you glorify God in your life, one mandatory thing you must do is to reflect all the Christ-like characters in your life. If you claim that you are a disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, you want to glorify God in your life, prove yourself with your godly characters. You need to take a close look of all the characters of Christ in his life time and especially when he was crucified on the cross.
- You need to name them and ask the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit to empower you to express them in your lives. The greatest character of Christ is love, a character which all the other characters built on. You can go on to list other great characters like sacrifice, humility, forgiveness, faith, joy, merciful, gracious, patient, compassionate for the lost, wise, honest, responsible, etc.
- Do you know or not, like it or not, you as a Christian or a disciple of Christ, your Christ-like characters are tested by the world every day? Satan loves to see you fail the test! Take for instance; when you do not forgive, you do not glorify God, you put Jesus to shame. You make Jesus so powerless! People will question what Jesus is doing in your life. What the church/ the pastor is doing in your life?
- However, if you are keeping a close relationship with God in the person of Jesus, you are empowered to forgive your wife, husband, your children, your colleagues, your neighbors, your enemies, etc, people will Jesus in your; the power of Jesus in your; people will be attracted to know what makes you so powerful; people would question their own faith and start to challenge their own faiths and they will turn around ask you for your Jesus! In all these, you glorify God.
D. Conclusion
- Have you heard God in the person of Jesus speaking to you today? As a disciple of Jesus, do you now understand what is stake everyday?
- As Jesus has done so much sacrifice for you, He paid for your life salvation with His life, is it too much for Him to ask you to stand up for Him and glorify Him every day with your life?
The Element of Faith
12th Dec, 2010
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
John 5:1-15
Main Idea: Exercise your faith
A. Introduction
- In Christianity (in our personal relationship with Jesus), the element of faith is a great subject because it is something powerful, challenging and mysterious. It is powerful because it can accomplish unbelievable things (miracles) for Jesus. It is challenging because many think that it is difficult to do and normally we do not persevere in expecting God to show up; also because most of the times, we believe by sight. We want it to happen immediately after we pray and do. It is mysterious because you may not understand how it works (how God works out things) when things are happening. You just have to attribute them to God.
- The word of God always reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Why we have to please God? I have always this question. The answer must be because He desires us to obey Him. He knows what is the best for us. So, we must please God in order to obey God. When you please God, you exercise your faith.
- Let us see a significant case on exercise of faith in today’s passage.
B. The process that led to healing
- Let us see how Jesus healed an invalid. He was physically very weak because of his sickness. He could not move about. He could not be the first person to jump into the pool when the water stirred. Whoever was the first one to jump the stirring waters, he would be healed of his sickness as the tradition went.
- Jesus asked him whether he wanted to get well in verse 6. He did not give a positive answer to the son of God, Jesus, who can heal. I believe he even did not know who was Jesus. In verse 7, we were told that his focus was the stirring pool. He just said he was not in time to be the first one to go in as the others were so much faster than him.
- Then, in verse 8, we can see that despite the lack of faith for the invalid, Jesus still decided to heal him and so He said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Usually it takes faith for Jesus to heal (Mk 5:34). In this case, the invalid as shown by verse 13, he did not even know who Jesus was, Jesus healed him. Isn’t it amazing! If Jesus desires to heal anyone, he will do it. So, can you put faith to practice and pray for the healing of the sick so that Jesus can release the divine power of healing upon you.
- What happened after Jesus commanded the invalid to get up and walk? The word of God ins verse 9 says, “The man was cured.” You may wondering by now why I entitle my sermon as the element of faith based on this passage as the invalid does not have in Jesus to get healed for he did not even know who was Jesus!
- The last part of verse 9 explains the sermon title. It says, “… he picked up his mat and walked.” Brothers and sisters, if after the invalid was healed by Jesus, he refused to believe as he was an invalid for 38 years already, you think he was healed or not. For whatever reason he stood up, there must be the element of faith in Jesus. He might not have known Jesus at first, he eventually he knew as Jesus introduced himself in verse 14 later on.
- Therefore, it was very the faith element of the invalid that made him stood up. Sometimes, when you do not even pray for your healing of your sickness, you get well, do you attribute it to Jesus?
- Now, eventually, after the healing when the invalid showed himself around, the legalistic Jews condemned the healing because he was healed on Sabbath day. The Jews misinterpreted the Sabbath and they do not allow people to heal on Sabbath day.
- My point now is that encounter must have caused the healed person to think about Jesus. Eventually Jesus met him and told him not to sin again or else something worse may happen to him again. Brothers and sisters, do you believe your sin can cause to be sick? In this case Jesus says so! Let me give you examples, you worry too much and get depressed, you will get mental diseases; when you are so negative in your outlook of life, you are not happy, your body produces lot of toxic which destroy your body immunity system and then, all kinds of diseases including, all kinds of cancer will come.
- This person who was healed, in verse 15, eventually, he knew the real identity of Jesus and what happened next? He went around, giving witness that Jesus made him well. Brothers and sisters, when you are healed, you must do likewise. Do not just attribute your healing to medicine.
C. Applications
- In view of this passage, how can you exercise your faith like the invalid? Of course, you must pray for healing of your sickness. I have taught you to do it based on James 5, where you need to confess your sins and lay hand on the sick for healing because the prayer of a righteous person will heal. That is the promise of the scripture. Please also take note that we also must see doctor for medication; and seeing doctor is not lack of faith for God also uses doctor to bring about healing. This is our Methodist stand.
- However, do not just exercise your little faith in sickness only. Take note that in Hebrews 11:1,” Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” You do not see it is there yet, and yet you believe God will do it in His timing! This is faith. I find that it is such a practical definition that I always use it in my life, my family, my ministry, when I make disciples of all nations.
- I get you to pray for 100 girls and 100 boys on Thursday night prayer meeting and now it happened for 100 girls. Now, we need to trust God for more brothers and sisters to step forward to do the ministry at Pujut school on Wednesday afternoon at 2.30pm when the school reopens. Anybody who is willing to forward by faith? I now get you to pray by faith that God will provide the helpers and officers.
- The reading bus and alpha in Tudan have resulted in lots of children coming to Tudan Church, how can we keep them after reading bus. Sister Chew Moi want to give English tuition to them. Praise the Lord 2 have signed up. If 100 children turned up, they cannot cope. Can we exercise our faith that God will provide, by prayer? This is great opportunity to use our English ability to make them disciples of Jesus. You see the power of exercising our faith, so many others are blessed. Our personal relationship with Jesus must result in bring blessing to ourselves. If that is so, we are so matured a disciple of Jesus yet. When you pay the price to bless others with your money, time and energy, your expertise ability, you are much more powerful and matured for Jesus.
- No matter, how you exercise your faith, one thing I cannot afford not to preach and teach you, you must do it based on the word of God or focus on the person of Jesus. Failure to do it, you are not exercising your faith. You are just doing some activities. If it is not based on God’s word, you must not even pray and do it. Do you realize that I get you to pray based on God’s word of making disciples of all nations?
- One great implication of my preaching today is you must not depend human calculations as you do and pray by faith. Do not calculate in such a way that you do not put faith into your ministry. When we do not have manpower to do certain things, do not say no to it. Say yes, to it and trust God to supply the manpower, or whatever resources.
D. Conclusion
- Living by faith, the secret of a joyful life.
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