5th Feb, 2012
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 14:1-7
Main idea: Speak boldly for the Lord
Objective: To teach the congregation to depend on the Holy Spirit to speak boldly for Jesus.
A. Introduction
- Total population of Sabah, according to 2010 Malaysia Census, 3.2 million.
- Bumiputera (indigenous people) and citizens – 2.3 million; foreigners – 0.9 million
- Religions: Islam – 2.1 million; Christianity – 0.85 million; Buddhism – 0.2 million
- Let us see the breakdown: Malays – Islam – 0.18 millions
- Kadazans/ Dusuns, 0.57 million: Christians – 0.43 millions; Islam – 013 million
- Bajaus, 0.45 million: Islam – 0.43; Christianity – 0.02.
- Muruts, 0.1 million: Islam – 0.02 million; Christianity – 0.08 million
- Chinese, 0.3 million: Islam – 0.01 million; Christianity – 0.1 million; Buddhism – 0.2 million.
- Other bumiputera, 0.66 million: Islam - 0.53 million; Christianity – 0.12 million
- Foreigners, 0.9 million: Islam – 0.75 million; Christianity – 0.12 million
- I want to give you an overall picture of the Sabah population in terms of her religious beliefs, so that you know the target groups you need to reach out and speak boldly for Jesus in an Islamic environment like this. You also find that about 60% of Chinese have not come to be saved yet. So, your decision to start the Mandarin service is a very good move.
B. Speaking boldly for the Lord
- One way to help people or to draw people to the Lord or to the mandarin service, is to speak boldly for Jesus. If people do not know Jesus can save them from their sins and hell, how can they believe, repent and live a holy life. An information on the salvation in Christ and Christ alone must naturally come from disciples of Jesus like you and me.
- This was very much in the mind and practice of apostles of Paul and Barnabas in chapter 14 of Acts today. Take note, they were still continuing their first missionary journey, and persevere, continuing the preaching of gospel despite opposition and persecution at the end of last chapter, in Pisidian Antioch.
- This is a great mission point for me to learn as a disciple of Jesus, I learn from apostle Paul, when people reject the good news of Christ’s salvation, I must not give up preaching to them or some other people. If Jesus is the true saviour, why should I give up preaching Him? Because I truly believe in a true Saviour, I am never tired of preaching Christ. I shall never be tired of pursuing something is the truth!
- In verse 1 of chapter 14, Luke said Paul and Barnabas went as usual preaching the gospel in the synagogue at Iconium, and they were so effective that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
- But then, the scenario changed in verse 2 because those Jews who refused to believe the gospel stirred up the Gentiles to go against the apostles. We can understand why as the apostles were pulling away the Judaism believers and exerting influence of Christianity and establishing Christianity. Being threatened, and of course, to the zealous Judaism Jews, it was a battle of truth. Was Jesus the messiah? Was Jesus God?
- Despite the opposition, in verse 3, Luke still recorded they spent considerable time at Iconium, speaking boldly for the Lord (my emphasis today), the gospel of salvation, and Jesus confirmed their message of the gospel by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. Can we expect Jesus to do the same with us when we preach the gospel like Paul and Barnabas? Biblically, signs and wonders follow those who preach the gospel. Therefore, grasp every opportunity to pray for the sick, for the most difficult problem to be overcome, for the impossible to happen; so that it enhances the spread of the gospel, Jesus is glorified. Will you exercise your faith like this?
- How the apostles could be so bold in speaking the message of the gospel in view of the possible persecution of death? In verse 5, we were informed that there was a plan to stone them. It was a threat of death!
- May I ask you why the apostles were so brave in speaking the message despite the threat of death? I believe you know the answer. I pray that you are able to experience it as you obey Jesus to preach the gospel. The answer is none other than the empowerment by the Holy Spirit.
- Before chapter 14 today, at the end of chapter 13, we were told in verse 52, the disciples were filled by the Holy Spirit in the midst of preaching the gospel and facing persecution.
- In fact, apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians said it so well, in chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
- I strongly believe that it was not Paul’s spirit of timidity that caused them to flee Iconium when they discovered the plot to kill them. I believe that with their close relationship with Jesus, they knew it was not the time, the kairos, to die as martyrs yet, for Jesus still desired them to preach the good news at Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding country in verses 6 and 7.
- My prayer to Jesus is this, the day He thinks that I have no more use to Him on earth, He should just take my life. If I am living, there must be a godly purpose for me to fulfil on earth every day. Will you pray the same prayer with me? Our attitude on earth should be as long as we live, Jesus desires us to preach the gospel to the lost and unsaved.
- Therefore, while you are on earth, can you make full use of your life to speak boldly for Jesus?
C. Applications
- I have preached to you that you have the Holy Spirit but many of us are not filled the spirit. You need to pray to be filled by the Spirit to be bold to do Jesus’ job.
- If you are giving yourself all the excuses like you have no time; you are scared to tell people about Jesus; people will not want to believe or come to church; faith in Jesus is a personal matter; it is not the time yet; you do not know how to preach the gospel, you dare not invite, etc, I would really say it from my heart that you have not ask the Holy Spirit to fill you to preach the gospel yet.
- I pray that you will repent from it. My appeal to you today is simply this: ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and empower you to speak boldly your testimony of how good is Jesus to you; and you invite them to come to faith in Jesus.
- Can you bear testimony of how good is Jesus to you? How real is Jesus to you? How Jesus bless you in your business? As a mother? As a father? In your career? Protect you?
- Share your testimony and keep inviting them to your small group our church activity our Sunday services.
- As Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins and give you eternal hope of salvation, will you now obey Him and present Him to others who are so lost and who are on the way to hell?
D. Conclusion
- It will be an irony, if we have the Holy Spirit and not be filled to speak boldly for Jesus.
- It will be a greater irony, if Jesus is so good to us, and yet, we behave as if Jesus has never blessed us at all.
- If others do not get to hear our testimonies, how do they know Jesus and be saved and become His disciples.
E. Questions for Discussion
- (1). Discuss some opportunities we can grasp to share our testimonies with backslide Christians and non-Christians.
- (2). Spell out some names whom we want to reach out and help them to know Jesus and pray for them in the small group.
My 2012 New Year Resolutions
Dear brothers and sisters,
Praise the Lord for 2012.
I look forward to writing my pastoral thesis proposal and its completion by this year. Thanks very much for your prayer support and words of encouragement I received in face book and emails. My face book account name is Hui Seng Law. I have successfully completed 9 subjects which help my thesis writing very much. I have also completed my 2 Master of Theology examinations and I am waiting for my results. I have set my thesis proposal to be on 3rd February, 2012.
Do remember me again in your prayers. Praise the Lord and thank Him for sustaining my wife who coped with all the stress of taking care of 4 children without me in Miri, despite her heart valve leakage condition. Please pray that Jesus will continue to sustain her, and the children are understanding and be obedient to help out in the house chores. Pray for me that I am able to organize all the relevant information from the 8 subjects which I have put in lots of effort, to write a thesis on developing a BM speaking pastoral model among Iban Christians in Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference.
My new year resolutions continue to be the same as last year, except I will be more focused on reaching out to mother side relative, the Chieng’s family. Firstly, I shall continue to read the word of God and write reflection, from the book of Ruth onwards. Secondly, I shall evangelize the Chieng’s family with the help of Agape Methodist Church Mandarin service. Thirdly, I shall continue to read on how to bring up boys and girls in God’s way. Fourthly, I shall continue to encourage 2 persons a day.
Together, may we persevere to fear and love Jesus in 2012, by going out to make disciples of all nations.
A Faithful disciple of Jesus,
Pastor Law Hui Seng
(9th Jan, 2012. STS KK)
Posted By Teresa Han
Praise the Lord for 2012.
I look forward to writing my pastoral thesis proposal and its completion by this year. Thanks very much for your prayer support and words of encouragement I received in face book and emails. My face book account name is Hui Seng Law. I have successfully completed 9 subjects which help my thesis writing very much. I have also completed my 2 Master of Theology examinations and I am waiting for my results. I have set my thesis proposal to be on 3rd February, 2012.
Do remember me again in your prayers. Praise the Lord and thank Him for sustaining my wife who coped with all the stress of taking care of 4 children without me in Miri, despite her heart valve leakage condition. Please pray that Jesus will continue to sustain her, and the children are understanding and be obedient to help out in the house chores. Pray for me that I am able to organize all the relevant information from the 8 subjects which I have put in lots of effort, to write a thesis on developing a BM speaking pastoral model among Iban Christians in Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference.
My new year resolutions continue to be the same as last year, except I will be more focused on reaching out to mother side relative, the Chieng’s family. Firstly, I shall continue to read the word of God and write reflection, from the book of Ruth onwards. Secondly, I shall evangelize the Chieng’s family with the help of Agape Methodist Church Mandarin service. Thirdly, I shall continue to read on how to bring up boys and girls in God’s way. Fourthly, I shall continue to encourage 2 persons a day.
Together, may we persevere to fear and love Jesus in 2012, by going out to make disciples of all nations.
A Faithful disciple of Jesus,
Pastor Law Hui Seng
(9th Jan, 2012. STS KK)
Posted By Teresa Han
Filled with Holy Spirit
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
AMC Sermon Filled with Holy Spirit 8th Jan, 2012
Acts 13:4-13
Main Idea: Be filled with Holy Spirit to serve Jesus Christ
Objectives:
A. Teach the congregation to be filled with Holy Spirit to serve Jesus.
B. The congregation to learn the effects of being filled with Holy Spirit.
A. Introduction
- Too many disciples of Jesus Christ in the Methodist churches in Sabah and Sarawak have not discovered the powerful impacts of being filled with Holy Spirit.
- I pray that today’s passage will inspire you to desire to be filled with Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, to serve Jesus in the church and out there in the world to make disciples of all nations.
- All the more now, you have the afternoon Mandarin service, you have made a historical decision, that will cause many people to come to this (Agape Methodist church) and be saved and become disciples of Jesus, not just believers and Christians. You must desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit to go out there to touch people’s life and invite them into the kingdom.
- Let us see how Apostle Paul was so filled with Holy Spirit to serve the cause of Jesus.
- Before that, let us turn to the Jerusalem map at the back of the bible to see Apostle Paul first missionary route so that you can imagine the hard efforts involved by him.
- You see to the north of Jerusalem, there is a place called Antioch, from here, you go south-west, you see a place called, Seleucia, the sea port of Antioch. It is from here that apostle Paul, Barnabas and John (a cousin of Barnabas, a helper) departed went on sea journey to a big island called Cyprus. Many Jews lived there. Gospel had been preached there by disciples who were persecuted in connection to the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 11:19. May be the team was asked to follow up on the converts. May be they had to travel for months before they reached Salamis, on the eastern side of the island Cyprus. As they arrived Salamis, verse 6, they travelled through the whole island, and we can assume they preached the gospel along the way. Then, finally, they reached Paphos, on the western side of the island. We are going to look at what happened there later on. But, for now, I want point out that, from this town, the team continued their first missionary to Perga in Pamphylia, at the mainland, where John left them and returned to Jerusalem in verse 13. From there, you will notice, Paul and the team continued their maiden missionary trip.
- What happened at Paphos before they left for Perga? Along the whole journey from Salamis to Paphos there must be a lot of stops, rest and preaching of the word of God, but Luke, the author kept no records of the events. May be no significant events worth the mention, but when it comes to Paphos, Luke highligted this encounter of Paul with Elymas.
B. Paul’s encounter with Elymas
- It is very interesting to take note that Paul from this passage onwards, he is playing key mission roles in the book of Acts. It is here in this passage (verse 9) his name was changed from Saul (a Hebrew name which means asked of God) to Paul (Hellenistic name which means little). It could mean that from now on, he would reach out to the Gentiles as he was called by Jesus to do it in Chapter 9:15. Jesus chosen instrument to make disciples among the Gentiles was in action now. But for this passage, it was his encounter with a Jew, before he encountered the Gentiles in his other parts of mission.
- Let us see what happened at the mission field, at Paphos, where it was so significant that Luke wrote it down. In encountering Elymas, Paul was filled by the Holy Spirit (verse 9), the verse where I get my sermon title from. I regard this verse as the key verse as it is the verse where everything falls into place. Without being filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul would not be able to do mission with the proconsul, may be the governor of Cyprus. Anyway, right from verse 4, Luke says Pauls and Barnabas were sent by Holy Spirit to go for the mission. In verses 2 and 3, they say that, the commissioning of the 2 was as a result of Holy Spirit’s instruction, which happened during worshipping the Lord and fasting. For this matter, I strongly believe that when we worship Jesus on a Sunday service like this, we must expect the Holy Spirit to speak to us also. Do you say Amen to this? I start to reach out to my mother side uncle’s children (who are my cousins) and their children after I heard the Holy Spirit used a still small voice in my heart to tell me to invite them for last year moon cake evangelistic meeting during a service here at Agape Methodist.
- Now, why Paul was so harsh on Elymas, pronouncing something like a curse on him? In verses 10 and 11, it says, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery...Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” What was at stake that caused Paul to be so daring to pronounce such punishment on Elymas?
- I can understand why, and what is at stake. The proconsul, the governor, Sergius Paulus, he could be the most powerful person in the political position under the Roman empire at Cyprus, and he showed interest in the word of God. In verse 7, it says, he sent for Paul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear the word of God. What an opportunity to grasp! If the Chief Minister of Sabah, Musa comes to you and expresses interest in the gospel, as you do mission, what do you do? I am sure you will by all means help him to know Jesus personally.
- However, in this case, there was another, very influential person called Elymas, Jewish the sorcerer, in verse 8, we are told that he tried to pull away the proconsul from coming to the faith of Jesus. Before this, the proconsul must have mixed with Elymas who could do some supernatural power, and satisfied the interests of proconsul. Directly, Elymas gained some economic interest from the proconsul also. Elymas knew very well, the influence of God’s word on him would cause the loss of economic support for him. Therefore, he tried hard to prevent Paul and Barnabas influence on him.
- At the same time, Paul, who was directed by God to do mission knew the spiritual warfare involved. Based on the pronouncement of the punishment, you can see that Paul had discerned the devil at work behind Elymas if not, he would not call Elymas, a child of the devil, an enemy of everything that is right, full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. You think Paul and Barnabas were able to counter Elymas who empowered by the devil, with their human flesh wisdom, strength and might?
- How could Paul know the devil behind Elymas? Unless God helped him to discern. How could Paul be so courageous to pronounce a punishment on Elymas? He had no authority to do it. Unless God gave him the courage. At this critical moment, this is where in verse 9, Paul was filled by the Holy Spirit to do pronouncement. Take note of the supernatural power that Paul received after being filled with the Holy Spirit, receiving discernment and courage. The effects of being filled with Holy Spirit were Paul was blessed with courage and discernment. I believe, as you serve Christ, as you learn to love others and reach out to others for Christ’s sake, it does not matter who are they, Jesus Christ will be there to fill you with the Holy Spirit and give you courage and discernment. Do you say amen to that? You got to believe it and ask for it.
- I always get courage to pray spiritual warfare prayer and fight the devil head on in praying for the sick, in Iban and Penan long houses, in removing charms of all kinds and burning them. I always experience Jesus’ protection in terms of journey mercy, good health and wisdom to minister on mission trip. One of the questions that the Holy Spirit always remind me to ask when I pray for the sick and the troubled is always, what sin have you committed. If the person is not able to tell me, as the Holy Spirit leads me, I ask about, what wrong one has done, any conflicts with people, any enemy, any hatred, any greed, any pride, etc. I strongly believe that as I apply the teachings of James 5, as people confess their sins, Jesus will heal them; and the devil will not have any foothold to attack us. As we confess our sins and repent, Jesus forgives and heals. If their sickness continues after I pray, I always remind them to consult a doctor as not all sicknesses are due to our sins or the devil.
- Now, we know the immediate effect of the pronouncement of the punishment. In verses 11b, it says, “Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” It was an evidence of the Holy Spirit at work so mightily.
- Now, what is the ultimate result of Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit? The answer is found in verse 12, “When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” You see the powerful role of the Holy Spirit in converting an intelligent and powerful like Sergius Paulus?
- I pray that the sermon today on being filled with Holy Spirit is not for information and knowledge, it is for practice.
C. Applications
- On the practice of being filled with Holy Spirit, I think you want to know whether the Holy Spirit fills every Christian or not? My answer is very simple and I always emphasize this. As you come to know Christ, your life is transformed, you are born again, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Then, as you serve the purpose of Christ, you ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you, He will fill you and empower you to do his work. Luke 11:11-13 Jesus teaches us, “which of your fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
- One application you can do with this verse is that our heavenly father will fill us with the Holy Spirit as we ask Him.
- The trouble with a lot of us is we do not even ask. Now, why? May I ask you now, why? If you are ignorant of the teaching, after today, you should just ask as Jesus leads you.
- But, a lot of us do not ask because we feel we are not up to the mark to the mission of Jesus yet. This is a wrong thinking, and sometimes it is an excuse. Jesus can use any child of Him to accomplish His purpose. You need to exercise your faith to step forward and answer the call of Jesus, like Paul and Barnabas.
- Some of us are just to preoccupied with worldly things that we are all the time distracted from drawing near to Jesus and how can we even think of praying for Jesus to fill us with Holy Spirit to do His mission?
- Some of us under certain bondage of a sin, which you have not let go and allow Jesus to forgive you and you repent, and the devil always get you. To this group of children of God, I urge you, all the more, you must ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit to overcome the evil power?
D. Conclusion and action
- Can you now humble yourself, take a step of faith, and fill free to follow me in a prayer which asks Jesus to fill you to serve Him? If after listening to the sermon, you have heard the Holy Spirit telling you in your heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit to reach out to others, to solve your problems and to repent from your sins, please follow me in prayers.
- Lord Jesus Christ, I hear your calling to ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit, the spirit who filled apostle Paul to also fill me. I sincerely desire you to give me courage to open my mouth to give testimony about how you have blessed and invite them to come for small groups, fellowship and the Sunday services. I sincerely desire you to empower me to solve all my personal problems. I sincerely desire you to forgive me from all my sins and I repent from them. In Christ’s most powerful name I pray, Amen.”
Questions for discussion
1. Share some other effects of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. Share your experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
3. Share the verses from Acts 1 to 12 that touch on the doctrine of being filled with Holy Spirit.
By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
AMC Sermon Filled with Holy Spirit 8th Jan, 2012
Acts 13:4-13
Main Idea: Be filled with Holy Spirit to serve Jesus Christ
Objectives:
A. Teach the congregation to be filled with Holy Spirit to serve Jesus.
B. The congregation to learn the effects of being filled with Holy Spirit.
A. Introduction
- Too many disciples of Jesus Christ in the Methodist churches in Sabah and Sarawak have not discovered the powerful impacts of being filled with Holy Spirit.
- I pray that today’s passage will inspire you to desire to be filled with Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, to serve Jesus in the church and out there in the world to make disciples of all nations.
- All the more now, you have the afternoon Mandarin service, you have made a historical decision, that will cause many people to come to this (Agape Methodist church) and be saved and become disciples of Jesus, not just believers and Christians. You must desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit to go out there to touch people’s life and invite them into the kingdom.
- Let us see how Apostle Paul was so filled with Holy Spirit to serve the cause of Jesus.
- Before that, let us turn to the Jerusalem map at the back of the bible to see Apostle Paul first missionary route so that you can imagine the hard efforts involved by him.
- You see to the north of Jerusalem, there is a place called Antioch, from here, you go south-west, you see a place called, Seleucia, the sea port of Antioch. It is from here that apostle Paul, Barnabas and John (a cousin of Barnabas, a helper) departed went on sea journey to a big island called Cyprus. Many Jews lived there. Gospel had been preached there by disciples who were persecuted in connection to the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 11:19. May be the team was asked to follow up on the converts. May be they had to travel for months before they reached Salamis, on the eastern side of the island Cyprus. As they arrived Salamis, verse 6, they travelled through the whole island, and we can assume they preached the gospel along the way. Then, finally, they reached Paphos, on the western side of the island. We are going to look at what happened there later on. But, for now, I want point out that, from this town, the team continued their first missionary to Perga in Pamphylia, at the mainland, where John left them and returned to Jerusalem in verse 13. From there, you will notice, Paul and the team continued their maiden missionary trip.
- What happened at Paphos before they left for Perga? Along the whole journey from Salamis to Paphos there must be a lot of stops, rest and preaching of the word of God, but Luke, the author kept no records of the events. May be no significant events worth the mention, but when it comes to Paphos, Luke highligted this encounter of Paul with Elymas.
B. Paul’s encounter with Elymas
- It is very interesting to take note that Paul from this passage onwards, he is playing key mission roles in the book of Acts. It is here in this passage (verse 9) his name was changed from Saul (a Hebrew name which means asked of God) to Paul (Hellenistic name which means little). It could mean that from now on, he would reach out to the Gentiles as he was called by Jesus to do it in Chapter 9:15. Jesus chosen instrument to make disciples among the Gentiles was in action now. But for this passage, it was his encounter with a Jew, before he encountered the Gentiles in his other parts of mission.
- Let us see what happened at the mission field, at Paphos, where it was so significant that Luke wrote it down. In encountering Elymas, Paul was filled by the Holy Spirit (verse 9), the verse where I get my sermon title from. I regard this verse as the key verse as it is the verse where everything falls into place. Without being filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul would not be able to do mission with the proconsul, may be the governor of Cyprus. Anyway, right from verse 4, Luke says Pauls and Barnabas were sent by Holy Spirit to go for the mission. In verses 2 and 3, they say that, the commissioning of the 2 was as a result of Holy Spirit’s instruction, which happened during worshipping the Lord and fasting. For this matter, I strongly believe that when we worship Jesus on a Sunday service like this, we must expect the Holy Spirit to speak to us also. Do you say Amen to this? I start to reach out to my mother side uncle’s children (who are my cousins) and their children after I heard the Holy Spirit used a still small voice in my heart to tell me to invite them for last year moon cake evangelistic meeting during a service here at Agape Methodist.
- Now, why Paul was so harsh on Elymas, pronouncing something like a curse on him? In verses 10 and 11, it says, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery...Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” What was at stake that caused Paul to be so daring to pronounce such punishment on Elymas?
- I can understand why, and what is at stake. The proconsul, the governor, Sergius Paulus, he could be the most powerful person in the political position under the Roman empire at Cyprus, and he showed interest in the word of God. In verse 7, it says, he sent for Paul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear the word of God. What an opportunity to grasp! If the Chief Minister of Sabah, Musa comes to you and expresses interest in the gospel, as you do mission, what do you do? I am sure you will by all means help him to know Jesus personally.
- However, in this case, there was another, very influential person called Elymas, Jewish the sorcerer, in verse 8, we are told that he tried to pull away the proconsul from coming to the faith of Jesus. Before this, the proconsul must have mixed with Elymas who could do some supernatural power, and satisfied the interests of proconsul. Directly, Elymas gained some economic interest from the proconsul also. Elymas knew very well, the influence of God’s word on him would cause the loss of economic support for him. Therefore, he tried hard to prevent Paul and Barnabas influence on him.
- At the same time, Paul, who was directed by God to do mission knew the spiritual warfare involved. Based on the pronouncement of the punishment, you can see that Paul had discerned the devil at work behind Elymas if not, he would not call Elymas, a child of the devil, an enemy of everything that is right, full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. You think Paul and Barnabas were able to counter Elymas who empowered by the devil, with their human flesh wisdom, strength and might?
- How could Paul know the devil behind Elymas? Unless God helped him to discern. How could Paul be so courageous to pronounce a punishment on Elymas? He had no authority to do it. Unless God gave him the courage. At this critical moment, this is where in verse 9, Paul was filled by the Holy Spirit to do pronouncement. Take note of the supernatural power that Paul received after being filled with the Holy Spirit, receiving discernment and courage. The effects of being filled with Holy Spirit were Paul was blessed with courage and discernment. I believe, as you serve Christ, as you learn to love others and reach out to others for Christ’s sake, it does not matter who are they, Jesus Christ will be there to fill you with the Holy Spirit and give you courage and discernment. Do you say amen to that? You got to believe it and ask for it.
- I always get courage to pray spiritual warfare prayer and fight the devil head on in praying for the sick, in Iban and Penan long houses, in removing charms of all kinds and burning them. I always experience Jesus’ protection in terms of journey mercy, good health and wisdom to minister on mission trip. One of the questions that the Holy Spirit always remind me to ask when I pray for the sick and the troubled is always, what sin have you committed. If the person is not able to tell me, as the Holy Spirit leads me, I ask about, what wrong one has done, any conflicts with people, any enemy, any hatred, any greed, any pride, etc. I strongly believe that as I apply the teachings of James 5, as people confess their sins, Jesus will heal them; and the devil will not have any foothold to attack us. As we confess our sins and repent, Jesus forgives and heals. If their sickness continues after I pray, I always remind them to consult a doctor as not all sicknesses are due to our sins or the devil.
- Now, we know the immediate effect of the pronouncement of the punishment. In verses 11b, it says, “Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” It was an evidence of the Holy Spirit at work so mightily.
- Now, what is the ultimate result of Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit? The answer is found in verse 12, “When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” You see the powerful role of the Holy Spirit in converting an intelligent and powerful like Sergius Paulus?
- I pray that the sermon today on being filled with Holy Spirit is not for information and knowledge, it is for practice.
C. Applications
- On the practice of being filled with Holy Spirit, I think you want to know whether the Holy Spirit fills every Christian or not? My answer is very simple and I always emphasize this. As you come to know Christ, your life is transformed, you are born again, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Then, as you serve the purpose of Christ, you ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you, He will fill you and empower you to do his work. Luke 11:11-13 Jesus teaches us, “which of your fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
- One application you can do with this verse is that our heavenly father will fill us with the Holy Spirit as we ask Him.
- The trouble with a lot of us is we do not even ask. Now, why? May I ask you now, why? If you are ignorant of the teaching, after today, you should just ask as Jesus leads you.
- But, a lot of us do not ask because we feel we are not up to the mark to the mission of Jesus yet. This is a wrong thinking, and sometimes it is an excuse. Jesus can use any child of Him to accomplish His purpose. You need to exercise your faith to step forward and answer the call of Jesus, like Paul and Barnabas.
- Some of us are just to preoccupied with worldly things that we are all the time distracted from drawing near to Jesus and how can we even think of praying for Jesus to fill us with Holy Spirit to do His mission?
- Some of us under certain bondage of a sin, which you have not let go and allow Jesus to forgive you and you repent, and the devil always get you. To this group of children of God, I urge you, all the more, you must ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit to overcome the evil power?
D. Conclusion and action
- Can you now humble yourself, take a step of faith, and fill free to follow me in a prayer which asks Jesus to fill you to serve Him? If after listening to the sermon, you have heard the Holy Spirit telling you in your heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit to reach out to others, to solve your problems and to repent from your sins, please follow me in prayers.
- Lord Jesus Christ, I hear your calling to ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit, the spirit who filled apostle Paul to also fill me. I sincerely desire you to give me courage to open my mouth to give testimony about how you have blessed and invite them to come for small groups, fellowship and the Sunday services. I sincerely desire you to empower me to solve all my personal problems. I sincerely desire you to forgive me from all my sins and I repent from them. In Christ’s most powerful name I pray, Amen.”
Questions for discussion
1. Share some other effects of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. Share your experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
3. Share the verses from Acts 1 to 12 that touch on the doctrine of being filled with Holy Spirit.
By Rev Law Hui Seng
Praying for the Sick
Monday, 3 October, 2011
AMC Praying for the Sick
Kota Kinabalu
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9:36-43; James 5:13-16
Main Idea: Pray for the Sick
Objectives: a. To exercise faith to pray for healing of the sick.
A. Introduction
- What is the first thing you do when you get sick?
- Some of us may go to Jesus to ask for healing and get healed. Sister Lisa did it and she got healed from heart problem and thyroid.
- Some of us did not pray at all when get sick and you to see a doctor straight away.
- I hope that after the sermon today, you will change the order. The first thing you do is to pray for healing first. With all due respect, to doctors who are present here, God also uses medicine to heal or to bring about recovery in health.
- The bible, especially the New Testament talks about praying for the sick, healing the sick and raising the dead.
- Let us study the 2 passages today to learn more about praying for the sick. At the end of the day, after the sermon, I pray that you will love to pray for the sick.
B. Peter Raised the Dead
- Acts 9:36-43, the main event was about apostle Peter raising the dead woman called Tabitha (or Dorcas). She was probably one fruit of Philip in chapter 8:26-40 (after the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem where they scattered) to preach the gospel all over the towns. You still remember, after Philip baptized the Ethiopian, he was taken away by the Holy Spirit. Then he appeared again in Azotus, 8:40, says, he travelled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
- I believe Philip preached at Joppa, one of the towns, on his way to Caesarea up North.
- His preaching was very powerful and it resulted in conversion of a group of people, including Dorcas.
- After conversion, she was zealously serving Christ by doing good and helping the poor.
- In verse 37, we are told she became sick and died, and fellow disciples who might have been converted the effort of Philip quickly sent for apostle Peter who was at the nearby town of Lydda. Her body was delayed for burial for the purpose of prayer of Peter.
- Immediately before the paragraph today, we read that Peter healed Aeneas who bed-ridden miraculously. The news of the great work of Jesus through Peter must have spread to Joppa which was just a few miles away from Lydda.
- I believe Peter was told by these 2 disciples of great faith that Dorcs was dead and needed to be prayed for. By faith, Peter responded to the urgent to pray despite the death! Take note, it was out of faith, Peter went. Otherwise, there was no need to go as Dorcas was dead!
- The widows showed Peter the clothing and robes, probably she had made for the poor. These widows who were crying probably were ministered by Dorcas before.
- Peter, an apostle of great faith, now, faced with the impossible task of raising the dead.
- When Peter was with Jesus, probably he had witnessed how Jesus raised the deads. (Matthew 9:24-25, Jesus raised the dead daughter of a ruler. Jesus said, "The girl is not dead but asleep." After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up; Luke 7:11-17 is about raising the dead son of a widow - Jesus simply commanded, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"; John 11:1-44, Lazarus was dead for 4 days, Jesus commanded, "Lazarus come out!"
- Peter exercised his faith according to pattern of Jesus raising the dead. He sent the crowd out of the room as he learnt from Jesus, he just commanded like Jesus, "Tabitha, get up." And miracle happened.
- In verse 42, it said the miracle caused many people to believe in Jesus. Notice the purpose of raising the dead is to cause people to come to Jesus in faith.
- Then, in verse 43, it was specifically mentioned Peter stayed with an unclean man Simon, a tanner, treating animal skins for sale; it showed Peter's (a Jew) willingness to mix with the unclean as Simon treated unclean animal skin. He was prepared for the vision of eating the unclean animal in the next chapter.
- I want you to especially take note of the faith that Peter exercise to raise the dead. I am not preaching to you to raise the dead, but I am preaching to you to at least exercise your faith to pray for the sick and heal them.
- You may not have Peter's faith of raising the dead. But you are all challenged to exercise your faith to pray for healing of the sick.
C. How to pray for the sick by Faith
- It was something practiced in the early church.
- James 5:13-16, a passage that is very dear to my hear. I have been using it minister the sick and pray according for at least 10 years now.
- James is a letter written by the oldest brother of Jesus, a leader of the important council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13).
- The instruction by James to the sick, was to call the elders of the church to pray and anoint him in the name of the Lord. Today, in our church, we have church leaders (Local Church Executive Committee) and they are equivalent to church elders.
- The promise is this, in verse 15, it says the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
- What preparation we have to do before we pray for the sick? James says in verse 16, elders and the sick need to confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful an effective.
- Take note of the faith and holiness involved in praying for the sick.
- Now, I want to ask question why is it that the sick person and even the elders have to confess our sins?
- I believe it has to do with the holiness needed to usher in the healing power of God.
- The other reason could be the connection between sin and sickness. Your anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred, your worries, your sin of gluttony (of which I used to commit as I overeat), you smoke cigarette, you drink too much alcohol, you do not rest well, you commit adultery and get all the sexual diseases; our sins cause our body immunity system to go down and subject ourselves to all the attack of virus and germs.
- We do not take care of our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we sin against God.
- We repent from our sins, God will heal.
- As I pray for the sick, I always ask God for the forgiveness of my own sins first and I command the sickness or certain spirit (e.g., hatred, anger, lie, lust, jealousy, unforgiveness) to leave.
- On top of healing, then, I pray for Jesus to fill the person with love, faith, joy, etc.
- In all these, you got to believe Jesus heals.
- Personally, as I pray for the sick, as far as possible I lay hands on their forehead as I anoint them with olive oil.
- In some cases, I even lay hands on the affected partis as it is more personal to do so.
D. Applications
- (1) You really need to believe that Jesus heals. You must have the faith before you can pray for the sick. After your prayers, after the patient gets well or nor, we leave it to Jesus. Your role is to exercise your faith. Start to pray for healing for yourself when you are sick; then, your family members; then, come in person to pray for the sick.
- (2) When there is a healing, you can give a testimony of God's healing. Remember you are just an instrument, you are not a healer, Jesus is the healer.
- (3) There are people who are gifted to heal. If Jesus has given the gift of healing to you by all means, use it. 1Cor 12:9, specifically mentions gifts of healing. As there are so many kinds of sickness, Jesus distributes each gift of healing to a particular person whom he choose to use. Matthew 10:1 talks about Jesus giving authority to His 12 disciples to drive out evil spirits and to heal the sickness and every disease. I believe we are all authorize to pray for the sick to heal! Do you?
E. Conclusion
- Sickness and diseases will remind us of our mortality, weakness and fragility of life and physical body.
- When we are willing to exercise our faith to pray for the sick and healings happen, it helps people to come to know Jesus and be saved eternally and become His disciples.
- Those who are Christians who healed, we become more committted to serve Jesus.
AMC Praying for the Sick
Kota Kinabalu
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9:36-43; James 5:13-16
Main Idea: Pray for the Sick
Objectives: a. To exercise faith to pray for healing of the sick.
A. Introduction
- What is the first thing you do when you get sick?
- Some of us may go to Jesus to ask for healing and get healed. Sister Lisa did it and she got healed from heart problem and thyroid.
- Some of us did not pray at all when get sick and you to see a doctor straight away.
- I hope that after the sermon today, you will change the order. The first thing you do is to pray for healing first. With all due respect, to doctors who are present here, God also uses medicine to heal or to bring about recovery in health.
- The bible, especially the New Testament talks about praying for the sick, healing the sick and raising the dead.
- Let us study the 2 passages today to learn more about praying for the sick. At the end of the day, after the sermon, I pray that you will love to pray for the sick.
B. Peter Raised the Dead
- Acts 9:36-43, the main event was about apostle Peter raising the dead woman called Tabitha (or Dorcas). She was probably one fruit of Philip in chapter 8:26-40 (after the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem where they scattered) to preach the gospel all over the towns. You still remember, after Philip baptized the Ethiopian, he was taken away by the Holy Spirit. Then he appeared again in Azotus, 8:40, says, he travelled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
- I believe Philip preached at Joppa, one of the towns, on his way to Caesarea up North.
- His preaching was very powerful and it resulted in conversion of a group of people, including Dorcas.
- After conversion, she was zealously serving Christ by doing good and helping the poor.
- In verse 37, we are told she became sick and died, and fellow disciples who might have been converted the effort of Philip quickly sent for apostle Peter who was at the nearby town of Lydda. Her body was delayed for burial for the purpose of prayer of Peter.
- Immediately before the paragraph today, we read that Peter healed Aeneas who bed-ridden miraculously. The news of the great work of Jesus through Peter must have spread to Joppa which was just a few miles away from Lydda.
- I believe Peter was told by these 2 disciples of great faith that Dorcs was dead and needed to be prayed for. By faith, Peter responded to the urgent to pray despite the death! Take note, it was out of faith, Peter went. Otherwise, there was no need to go as Dorcas was dead!
- The widows showed Peter the clothing and robes, probably she had made for the poor. These widows who were crying probably were ministered by Dorcas before.
- Peter, an apostle of great faith, now, faced with the impossible task of raising the dead.
- When Peter was with Jesus, probably he had witnessed how Jesus raised the deads. (Matthew 9:24-25, Jesus raised the dead daughter of a ruler. Jesus said, "The girl is not dead but asleep." After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up; Luke 7:11-17 is about raising the dead son of a widow - Jesus simply commanded, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"; John 11:1-44, Lazarus was dead for 4 days, Jesus commanded, "Lazarus come out!"
- Peter exercised his faith according to pattern of Jesus raising the dead. He sent the crowd out of the room as he learnt from Jesus, he just commanded like Jesus, "Tabitha, get up." And miracle happened.
- In verse 42, it said the miracle caused many people to believe in Jesus. Notice the purpose of raising the dead is to cause people to come to Jesus in faith.
- Then, in verse 43, it was specifically mentioned Peter stayed with an unclean man Simon, a tanner, treating animal skins for sale; it showed Peter's (a Jew) willingness to mix with the unclean as Simon treated unclean animal skin. He was prepared for the vision of eating the unclean animal in the next chapter.
- I want you to especially take note of the faith that Peter exercise to raise the dead. I am not preaching to you to raise the dead, but I am preaching to you to at least exercise your faith to pray for the sick and heal them.
- You may not have Peter's faith of raising the dead. But you are all challenged to exercise your faith to pray for healing of the sick.
C. How to pray for the sick by Faith
- It was something practiced in the early church.
- James 5:13-16, a passage that is very dear to my hear. I have been using it minister the sick and pray according for at least 10 years now.
- James is a letter written by the oldest brother of Jesus, a leader of the important council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13).
- The instruction by James to the sick, was to call the elders of the church to pray and anoint him in the name of the Lord. Today, in our church, we have church leaders (Local Church Executive Committee) and they are equivalent to church elders.
- The promise is this, in verse 15, it says the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
- What preparation we have to do before we pray for the sick? James says in verse 16, elders and the sick need to confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful an effective.
- Take note of the faith and holiness involved in praying for the sick.
- Now, I want to ask question why is it that the sick person and even the elders have to confess our sins?
- I believe it has to do with the holiness needed to usher in the healing power of God.
- The other reason could be the connection between sin and sickness. Your anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred, your worries, your sin of gluttony (of which I used to commit as I overeat), you smoke cigarette, you drink too much alcohol, you do not rest well, you commit adultery and get all the sexual diseases; our sins cause our body immunity system to go down and subject ourselves to all the attack of virus and germs.
- We do not take care of our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we sin against God.
- We repent from our sins, God will heal.
- As I pray for the sick, I always ask God for the forgiveness of my own sins first and I command the sickness or certain spirit (e.g., hatred, anger, lie, lust, jealousy, unforgiveness) to leave.
- On top of healing, then, I pray for Jesus to fill the person with love, faith, joy, etc.
- In all these, you got to believe Jesus heals.
- Personally, as I pray for the sick, as far as possible I lay hands on their forehead as I anoint them with olive oil.
- In some cases, I even lay hands on the affected partis as it is more personal to do so.
D. Applications
- (1) You really need to believe that Jesus heals. You must have the faith before you can pray for the sick. After your prayers, after the patient gets well or nor, we leave it to Jesus. Your role is to exercise your faith. Start to pray for healing for yourself when you are sick; then, your family members; then, come in person to pray for the sick.
- (2) When there is a healing, you can give a testimony of God's healing. Remember you are just an instrument, you are not a healer, Jesus is the healer.
- (3) There are people who are gifted to heal. If Jesus has given the gift of healing to you by all means, use it. 1Cor 12:9, specifically mentions gifts of healing. As there are so many kinds of sickness, Jesus distributes each gift of healing to a particular person whom he choose to use. Matthew 10:1 talks about Jesus giving authority to His 12 disciples to drive out evil spirits and to heal the sickness and every disease. I believe we are all authorize to pray for the sick to heal! Do you?
E. Conclusion
- Sickness and diseases will remind us of our mortality, weakness and fragility of life and physical body.
- When we are willing to exercise our faith to pray for the sick and healings happen, it helps people to come to know Jesus and be saved eternally and become His disciples.
- Those who are Christians who healed, we become more committted to serve Jesus.
Living in the Fear of God
AMC
18th Sept, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9:31 Main Idea: Fear of God
Objectives:
a. To challenge the congregation to fear God more than anything else.
b. To teach the congregation how to fear God - Christ.
A. Introduction
- Fear of death, dog bite, pain, height, snake, business failure, loss of job, conflicts with people, etc. I guarantee you all these fears will drain away your energy.
- Most probably, all these fears lead to other negative effects like shock, being immobilized, feeling that you don’t what to do with yourself, scared, and felt cold.
- There is another kind of fear which the whole bible is talking about, that is very different in its meaning and effects on human beings, i.e., the fear of God.
- It is something Christians throughout all generations must practice as a way of life.
- That is the main idea of the verse today. Acts 9:31 “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened, encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of God.”
- Let us study the context of this fear of God. How this fear of God came about among the early disciples?
B. The context of fear of God among the early disciples
- This one verse is full of meaning and significance.
- The word ‘Then’ tells us that this statement is a development of the previous events.
- It could be events from chapters 1 to 9, coming down of Holy Spirit; conversion of 3,000 after preaching of Peter; continuous preaching of gospel by apostles and disciples; persecutions of Christians; the scatter of Christians; conversion of Saul and his aggressive preaching in Jerusalem and other places.
- You can imagine the impacts of the gospel as a result of Holy Spirit work, preaching of the gospel by the disciples in the church throughout Judae, Galilee, and Samaria. The term here is ‘church’ in singular. It is the church in unity. There were several new congregations spreading out in those 3 different places but there was one church only; other than congregations in Jerusalem and Antioch and other places.
- Luke summarized that Christianity had spread to Judea, Galilee and Samaria, where traditionally, people there were not in good terms with the Jews.
- It was expected by Jesus as the disciples and apostles were given the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8, they were empowered to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ...
- For a period of time, the church enjoyed peace, we don’t know for how long?
- But we know it is definitely owing to the work of the Holy Spirit as Luke says, ‘the church was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.’
- Take note of how Luke attributed the church growth to the work of Holy Spirit.
- Then the verse, further says, ‘...grow in numbers...’
- I believe that the early church as they experience conversion because of the work of the Holy Spirit, people of all kinds of languages, races and nationalities were involved; otherwise, the verse will not say. ‘...throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria...’
- And then, the verse ends with, ‘...living in the fear of God’; what is the meaning of fear of God?
C. Meaning of fear of God
- With all the personal encounter of the apostles and disciples with Jesus when He was physically present with the apostles; experience of the power of Holy Spirit in converting 3,000 through Peter’s preaching; healing of crippled beggar by Peter, the punishing death sentence on Ananias and Sapphira by the Holy Spirit; the great personal encounter of Saul with Jesus, all these lead to one thing – the reality of Jesus Christ.
- Disciples, apostles, new converts, and even non-Christians were awe-stricken, amazed; Luke cannot help but conclude at this stage, the church was living in fear of God. What is the meaning of living in fear of God?
- It is simply this: the church which made of disciples of Jesus submitting their lordship to Christ. That is to say walking a path, a life by submitting our lives to Christ; allowing Jesus to be our masters. We allow Jesus to have the final say about how we use our lives.
- To put it very simply living in fear of God is to obey Christ and Christ alone.
D. Applications and Challenge
- The process of living in fear of God, can only begin after conversion to Christ; if you have not personally known Christ, you will not be convinced to fear Him.
- A lot of people out there give these common complaints for being unwilling to become Christians: freedom will be limited (e.g., no gambling, no drunkenness, no corruption, no cheating and dishonesty, no practice of adultery, etc).
- They have not tested the goodness of Christ; joy of obeying Christ; freedom from sin; power over the devil; not scare of death, etc.
- Now, with all my knowledge of reading the bible; experience in answered prayers; my personal experience with Christ and my personal relationship with Christ, I preach to you that if you are to live a life of fearing God in the person of Christ, you got to be convinced that Jesus Christ is God, the master, the Lord, the King of Kings of your life.
-Notice I do not use the word ‘believe’ because you may believe Jesus is your Lord, with knowledge, but you may not be convinced, you will not see the reasons why you need to do it.
- Let me help you here, if Jesus is not the master of your life, a Christian can sing, pray, and can shout the loudest the name of Jesus, and he still goes out of the church and do all the illegal business; involved in unholy relationships; enjoy the lust of the eyes and the flesh. There is no obedience to Jesus at all in his life; no fear of Christ at all.
- My son Elliot, a dyslexia, now Primary 6, more than 2 years ago, when asked by me why he did not steal in a stationery shop as I let him to go freely shopping around; he said the temptation was there but he did not do it because God was not please with it. That is fear God!
- I fear Christ more than anything else because I am convinced he has forgiven my sins and loved me as an imperfect disciple, husband, father and a pastor, He accepts me just as I am. He is truly God; the resurrected Christ, who proved to be Almighty, who gives me eternal life.
- Allow me to humbly tell you how I fear Christ; I accept people who are in troubles; sinners, as they are. I never give up on them as they seek my counsel. I do it because Jesus Christ has not given up on any sinner. Can I be an example to you in this area of my life?
- As I get older, I tend to be more and more forgetful, I told Jesus, anything I remember to do; anything I am reminded to do, it is His call for me to do it.
- Another way I fear Christ is this, any sin (e.g., pride, selfishness, jealousy, unclean thoughts, ange) that comes to me in thoughts, attitudes, and actions that Jesus alerts me, I will confess immediately and ask Jesus for forgiveness. As a result, I confess, I admit my wrongs, I say sorry to people, I allow others to correct me without being offended. Will you join me in doing it for Jesus?
- You can guess what are the outcomes of a life living in fear of God? Please give me some answers.
- Personally, I experience joy, peace in my hearts and mind, harmonious relationships with people and most important of all, as I fear Christ, I am prepared to die anytime. I told Jesus about it.
- My commitment to Jesus at the ordination as an elder 11 years ago, was, if my life is of no more use to Him, He can just take me home.
- Can you do the same with me?
E. Conclusion
- Brothers and sisters, when you fear Christ, when Jesus is your Lord, your master, you have everything, you are most powerful for Christ.
- When you miss Christ, you miss everything, you will struggle with your sins, and you are not powerful for Christ.
18th Sept, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9:31 Main Idea: Fear of God
Objectives:
a. To challenge the congregation to fear God more than anything else.
b. To teach the congregation how to fear God - Christ.
A. Introduction
- Fear of death, dog bite, pain, height, snake, business failure, loss of job, conflicts with people, etc. I guarantee you all these fears will drain away your energy.
- Most probably, all these fears lead to other negative effects like shock, being immobilized, feeling that you don’t what to do with yourself, scared, and felt cold.
- There is another kind of fear which the whole bible is talking about, that is very different in its meaning and effects on human beings, i.e., the fear of God.
- It is something Christians throughout all generations must practice as a way of life.
- That is the main idea of the verse today. Acts 9:31 “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened, encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of God.”
- Let us study the context of this fear of God. How this fear of God came about among the early disciples?
B. The context of fear of God among the early disciples
- This one verse is full of meaning and significance.
- The word ‘Then’ tells us that this statement is a development of the previous events.
- It could be events from chapters 1 to 9, coming down of Holy Spirit; conversion of 3,000 after preaching of Peter; continuous preaching of gospel by apostles and disciples; persecutions of Christians; the scatter of Christians; conversion of Saul and his aggressive preaching in Jerusalem and other places.
- You can imagine the impacts of the gospel as a result of Holy Spirit work, preaching of the gospel by the disciples in the church throughout Judae, Galilee, and Samaria. The term here is ‘church’ in singular. It is the church in unity. There were several new congregations spreading out in those 3 different places but there was one church only; other than congregations in Jerusalem and Antioch and other places.
- Luke summarized that Christianity had spread to Judea, Galilee and Samaria, where traditionally, people there were not in good terms with the Jews.
- It was expected by Jesus as the disciples and apostles were given the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8, they were empowered to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ...
- For a period of time, the church enjoyed peace, we don’t know for how long?
- But we know it is definitely owing to the work of the Holy Spirit as Luke says, ‘the church was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.’
- Take note of how Luke attributed the church growth to the work of Holy Spirit.
- Then the verse, further says, ‘...grow in numbers...’
- I believe that the early church as they experience conversion because of the work of the Holy Spirit, people of all kinds of languages, races and nationalities were involved; otherwise, the verse will not say. ‘...throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria...’
- And then, the verse ends with, ‘...living in the fear of God’; what is the meaning of fear of God?
C. Meaning of fear of God
- With all the personal encounter of the apostles and disciples with Jesus when He was physically present with the apostles; experience of the power of Holy Spirit in converting 3,000 through Peter’s preaching; healing of crippled beggar by Peter, the punishing death sentence on Ananias and Sapphira by the Holy Spirit; the great personal encounter of Saul with Jesus, all these lead to one thing – the reality of Jesus Christ.
- Disciples, apostles, new converts, and even non-Christians were awe-stricken, amazed; Luke cannot help but conclude at this stage, the church was living in fear of God. What is the meaning of living in fear of God?
- It is simply this: the church which made of disciples of Jesus submitting their lordship to Christ. That is to say walking a path, a life by submitting our lives to Christ; allowing Jesus to be our masters. We allow Jesus to have the final say about how we use our lives.
- To put it very simply living in fear of God is to obey Christ and Christ alone.
D. Applications and Challenge
- The process of living in fear of God, can only begin after conversion to Christ; if you have not personally known Christ, you will not be convinced to fear Him.
- A lot of people out there give these common complaints for being unwilling to become Christians: freedom will be limited (e.g., no gambling, no drunkenness, no corruption, no cheating and dishonesty, no practice of adultery, etc).
- They have not tested the goodness of Christ; joy of obeying Christ; freedom from sin; power over the devil; not scare of death, etc.
- Now, with all my knowledge of reading the bible; experience in answered prayers; my personal experience with Christ and my personal relationship with Christ, I preach to you that if you are to live a life of fearing God in the person of Christ, you got to be convinced that Jesus Christ is God, the master, the Lord, the King of Kings of your life.
-Notice I do not use the word ‘believe’ because you may believe Jesus is your Lord, with knowledge, but you may not be convinced, you will not see the reasons why you need to do it.
- Let me help you here, if Jesus is not the master of your life, a Christian can sing, pray, and can shout the loudest the name of Jesus, and he still goes out of the church and do all the illegal business; involved in unholy relationships; enjoy the lust of the eyes and the flesh. There is no obedience to Jesus at all in his life; no fear of Christ at all.
- My son Elliot, a dyslexia, now Primary 6, more than 2 years ago, when asked by me why he did not steal in a stationery shop as I let him to go freely shopping around; he said the temptation was there but he did not do it because God was not please with it. That is fear God!
- I fear Christ more than anything else because I am convinced he has forgiven my sins and loved me as an imperfect disciple, husband, father and a pastor, He accepts me just as I am. He is truly God; the resurrected Christ, who proved to be Almighty, who gives me eternal life.
- Allow me to humbly tell you how I fear Christ; I accept people who are in troubles; sinners, as they are. I never give up on them as they seek my counsel. I do it because Jesus Christ has not given up on any sinner. Can I be an example to you in this area of my life?
- As I get older, I tend to be more and more forgetful, I told Jesus, anything I remember to do; anything I am reminded to do, it is His call for me to do it.
- Another way I fear Christ is this, any sin (e.g., pride, selfishness, jealousy, unclean thoughts, ange) that comes to me in thoughts, attitudes, and actions that Jesus alerts me, I will confess immediately and ask Jesus for forgiveness. As a result, I confess, I admit my wrongs, I say sorry to people, I allow others to correct me without being offended. Will you join me in doing it for Jesus?
- You can guess what are the outcomes of a life living in fear of God? Please give me some answers.
- Personally, I experience joy, peace in my hearts and mind, harmonious relationships with people and most important of all, as I fear Christ, I am prepared to die anytime. I told Jesus about it.
- My commitment to Jesus at the ordination as an elder 11 years ago, was, if my life is of no more use to Him, He can just take me home.
- Can you do the same with me?
E. Conclusion
- Brothers and sisters, when you fear Christ, when Jesus is your Lord, your master, you have everything, you are most powerful for Christ.
- When you miss Christ, you miss everything, you will struggle with your sins, and you are not powerful for Christ.
Who is Saul?
AMC
Saturday, 6 August, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9: 1-9 Main Idea: God transforms you
Objectives: a. To help the congregation to see that God is a God who transforms.
b. To demonstrate to the congregation that our sinful nature call for the need of Jesus in our lives. The need for disciples of Jesus to do mission.
A. Introduction
- Have you ever felt someone who is so sinful, so evil? Ever felt the world out there so evil, so sinful? Or may be, you yourself feel so bad about yourself. You could not overcome your sinful desires and you sin against God.
- When feelings and experiences like that happen, how do you deal with it? Some Christians, for example, when they get it, they can feel so disappointed that they just give up their faiths; they leave the church; they could not explain the inner struggles of sins and they just become cold towards God, Jesus, the bible, even the prompting of the Holy Spirit. They just let the why hanging in the air in their hearts. They allow a lot of doubts, hopelessness and unanswered questions bothered them. They allow themselves to be hurt, depressed, and refuse to find an answer, or refuse to accept an answer. They become their own greatest enemy.
- Today, I pray that the great encounter of one of the greatest servants of God in the New Testament with God will help us to find some answers to those questions. I pray that as we study the great encounter of Saul with Jesus, you will see and understand Jesus, our God as the transforming God.
- That is why, I entitle my sermon, "Who is Saul?" I do not call it "Who was Saul?" because it only talked about Saul in the past. I use the present tense ‘is’ because the conversion of the old Saul by Jesus is relevant to us to today in the 21st century. I still use the name Saul before the conversion because I want to show that despite his bad past records and the sinful past, Jesus still forgives and uses him.
- I pray that you do understand the significance of the title and it is not too complicated for you. So, who was Saul? May be you know the answers already. Today Who is Saul to you? Are you interested to understand him better today in your situation? I pray that you do.
B. Who was Saul? (Explanation of his background)
- Before the passage today in Acts 7: 58, we are told that disciple of Jesus, Stephen, was dragged out of the city of Jerusalem, and he was stoned to death, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And in 8: 1, we are told Saul was there giving approval to Stephen’s death. Who was this Saul so merciless and who wanted to see Stephen dead? Beside this account, we may not be able to find other accounts in the NT about his approval of killings of Christians.
- However, in the passage today, in verses 1 to 2, we are told he was continually and actively breathing murderous threats against Jesus’ disciples; he obtained approval letters from high priest to catch Christians at Damascus and put them in jail at Jerusalem.
- We know from previous preaching that the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Sanhedrin could not accept Jesus as Messiah. Both the disciples and the Jews believed God was on their side and pushed for what they believed. It was a ideological difference; a theological divide, that led to the martyrdom of Stephen.
- The tension, the difference and the divide also affected this staunch Pharisee, young Saul very badly. Probably in those, any religious Jews knew their faith was been attacked by disciples of Jesus and it was their responsibility to defend their Judaism faith and not allowed Christians to blasphemy their God of Yahweh. Saul was in the same shoes.
- You see how eventually Saul confessed in his letter to the Philippians in 3: 5-6 how he was a jealous Jew. He said he was circumcised on the 8th day; regarded himself as a people of Israel; belonged to the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; with regard to law, a Pharisee; zealously persecuting the church; with regard to legalistic righteousness, faultless.
- The ideological and the theological crash of Saul with disciples of Jesus was the heart of matter. You can imagine the stubbornness of Saul in what he believed about Judaism and how he genuinely and sincerely defended his faith. You really cannot blame him for the holiness of God of Yahweh was at stake. May be if you are honest, if you were Saul, you would do the same.
- He was real stubborn about his defense of his faith. It was his theological stand, a stand he was very proud and all Pharisees were religiously proud. There was no way you could expect him to change that stubborn stand and conviction. In fact, all religious Jews until today still very kept it. He was stubbornly, deadly strong about it. Can you convert a person like Saul to Jesus?
- So, you know, in terms of our human eyesight, following all logic and theological reasoning, with the best philosophy and psychology you can have, do you expect Saul to change his well founded, theologically grounded minded? Humanly speaking, it is impossible and it takes a divine intervention, a miracle to happen.
- At this point I wanted to ask a question why is it that Jesus was not satisfied with the 11 apostles and many disciples whom He left behind to reach out to the Gentiles and the rest of the world? Why Jesus had to target Saul, so stubborn and the least possible candidate to do His mission work? Honestly, I do not know the answer as I am not Jesus. Only Jesus knows the answer.
- I do not want to speculate the reasons behind the act of God by Jesus. However, based on my reading of the NT, I dare say Jesus who is God can choose anybody on earth to do His will and mission on earth, including a person from another religion. I strongly believe without a single doubt that He transforms whoever He wants to use. It is His prerogative to do it. Do you have the same conviction and faith as me? For this reason, I hope you do not mind I preach like this to you, God can use the greatest sinner in this world to serve Him.
- God in the person of Jesus chose to use Saul, the most unlikely candidate, a great persecutor of Jesus, the church of Jesus! It blows our mind. It is unbelievable. But it happened. You know how it happened Saul. You know how Jesus break in history again and break down Saul; how Jesus ‘cracked’ Saul mindset and disbelief in Him.
- From verses 3 to 6, the precious record of Luke said that while Saul was reaching Damascus to catch more Christians, he suddenly experienced a light flashed from heaven, he fell to the ground and he heard a voice said to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" To this, Saul, just like any other human being, when you are accused like that and you do not see where the voice is coming from, of course, you want to find out who ask and accuse you like that. In this case, Saul was strike with awe and he experienced something supernatural as a Pharisee whose faith was in Yahweh, he naturally and logically asked, "Who are you, Lord?"
- This was when Jesus answered, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Then, we are told Saul could not open his eyes as he got up from the ground and he was blind for 3 days. You can imagine the deepest reflection about that encounter and the repentance that happened and how he would plan to serve Jesus and preach Him with all conviction and faith.
(C). Applications and Responses
- A few points of applications I pray you will buy about Saul’s great encounter with Jesus.
- Firstly, Jesus decides to personally appear to Saul, the great church persecutor, the most stubborn follower of Yahweh, the most unlikely candidate Jesus should choose, in order to prove to him that the resurrection Jesus, the Messiah was real and the truth that he must not deny. This hardest nut mindset must be cracked that way in order for Jesus to use him.
- Does this point inspires you to believe with all conviction as we preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, the hardest mindset, the most difficult sinful habits, attitudes and bondages, the most difficult cultural barriers will not stand a personal encounter with Jesus? So, we see the point of healings, appearance of Jesus to people, miracles given by Jesus, etc.
- Secondly, Jesus was the one who transformed Saul by breaking into the history and broke his stubborn mindset. Therefore, it was very important for Jesus to claim as such. If Jesus did not say, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting" there may not be a transformation effect. That personal appearance of Jesus to Saul was most crucial to turn tide of history, to change the course of history. Take note nobody transformed Saul except Jesus. We need to believe this is still the same today. Do not use your human power to change things, call on Jesus’ power. Only Jesus can transform lives. I know most of us are very frustrated when your husbands, wives, children, parents, students, colleagues, neighbors, and your own-self do not repent; change attitudes; not united in one heart with you; you may think that it is hopeless and helpless.
- You must come before Jesus and believe that He can do the transformation for you in His timing. Utilize the power of prayers. My late grandfather who used to believe that Mao Tze Tung saved the whole world finally accepted Christ and got baptized before he left this world. My Primary 6 twins were not serious about education and I prayed for a breakthrough, now I see they realized it. From now on, I believe they improve much more in studies. It happened to my eldest daughter, Grace. I pray for me and my wife to be united to discipline our children for a few years and it happened this year.
- Thirdly, in view of Saul was one of the enemies of God, Jesus still forgave him and used Him, we must now believe with strong faith and actions (and not condemn) the most evil and sinful people in this world can be forgiven by Jesus and they will repent.
- Can you develop this foresight, mindset and the faith to see it? Can you practice this on someone now? You must be like Jesus, though you cannot be Jesus, no matter, how terrible, how evil, how sinful he or she is; the whole political system; whole society; whole company; whole family; whole group of people like the prostitutes, the gangsters, corrupted people, gamblers, Jesus will save them and cause them to repent. The Jesus who forgave Saul will do so for them.
- I pray that this precious point help you to see that people out there need Jesus. When you see people who are poor, and oppressed, practicing corruption, unemployed, depressed, you see people need Jesus, you need to do mission, you need to act on behalf of Jesus.
(D). Conclusion
- Can Jesus count on you to bring that little transformation needed in yourself, in your family, in your company and in your society? If not, question yourself, how come the Jesus is not powerful in your life. I strongly believe Jesus who converted and transformed Saul can equally convert and transform you and me and anybody out there.
- Can you say Amen to it?
Saturday, 6 August, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 9: 1-9 Main Idea: God transforms you
Objectives: a. To help the congregation to see that God is a God who transforms.
b. To demonstrate to the congregation that our sinful nature call for the need of Jesus in our lives. The need for disciples of Jesus to do mission.
A. Introduction
- Have you ever felt someone who is so sinful, so evil? Ever felt the world out there so evil, so sinful? Or may be, you yourself feel so bad about yourself. You could not overcome your sinful desires and you sin against God.
- When feelings and experiences like that happen, how do you deal with it? Some Christians, for example, when they get it, they can feel so disappointed that they just give up their faiths; they leave the church; they could not explain the inner struggles of sins and they just become cold towards God, Jesus, the bible, even the prompting of the Holy Spirit. They just let the why hanging in the air in their hearts. They allow a lot of doubts, hopelessness and unanswered questions bothered them. They allow themselves to be hurt, depressed, and refuse to find an answer, or refuse to accept an answer. They become their own greatest enemy.
- Today, I pray that the great encounter of one of the greatest servants of God in the New Testament with God will help us to find some answers to those questions. I pray that as we study the great encounter of Saul with Jesus, you will see and understand Jesus, our God as the transforming God.
- That is why, I entitle my sermon, "Who is Saul?" I do not call it "Who was Saul?" because it only talked about Saul in the past. I use the present tense ‘is’ because the conversion of the old Saul by Jesus is relevant to us to today in the 21st century. I still use the name Saul before the conversion because I want to show that despite his bad past records and the sinful past, Jesus still forgives and uses him.
- I pray that you do understand the significance of the title and it is not too complicated for you. So, who was Saul? May be you know the answers already. Today Who is Saul to you? Are you interested to understand him better today in your situation? I pray that you do.
B. Who was Saul? (Explanation of his background)
- Before the passage today in Acts 7: 58, we are told that disciple of Jesus, Stephen, was dragged out of the city of Jerusalem, and he was stoned to death, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And in 8: 1, we are told Saul was there giving approval to Stephen’s death. Who was this Saul so merciless and who wanted to see Stephen dead? Beside this account, we may not be able to find other accounts in the NT about his approval of killings of Christians.
- However, in the passage today, in verses 1 to 2, we are told he was continually and actively breathing murderous threats against Jesus’ disciples; he obtained approval letters from high priest to catch Christians at Damascus and put them in jail at Jerusalem.
- We know from previous preaching that the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Sanhedrin could not accept Jesus as Messiah. Both the disciples and the Jews believed God was on their side and pushed for what they believed. It was a ideological difference; a theological divide, that led to the martyrdom of Stephen.
- The tension, the difference and the divide also affected this staunch Pharisee, young Saul very badly. Probably in those, any religious Jews knew their faith was been attacked by disciples of Jesus and it was their responsibility to defend their Judaism faith and not allowed Christians to blasphemy their God of Yahweh. Saul was in the same shoes.
- You see how eventually Saul confessed in his letter to the Philippians in 3: 5-6 how he was a jealous Jew. He said he was circumcised on the 8th day; regarded himself as a people of Israel; belonged to the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; with regard to law, a Pharisee; zealously persecuting the church; with regard to legalistic righteousness, faultless.
- The ideological and the theological crash of Saul with disciples of Jesus was the heart of matter. You can imagine the stubbornness of Saul in what he believed about Judaism and how he genuinely and sincerely defended his faith. You really cannot blame him for the holiness of God of Yahweh was at stake. May be if you are honest, if you were Saul, you would do the same.
- He was real stubborn about his defense of his faith. It was his theological stand, a stand he was very proud and all Pharisees were religiously proud. There was no way you could expect him to change that stubborn stand and conviction. In fact, all religious Jews until today still very kept it. He was stubbornly, deadly strong about it. Can you convert a person like Saul to Jesus?
- So, you know, in terms of our human eyesight, following all logic and theological reasoning, with the best philosophy and psychology you can have, do you expect Saul to change his well founded, theologically grounded minded? Humanly speaking, it is impossible and it takes a divine intervention, a miracle to happen.
- At this point I wanted to ask a question why is it that Jesus was not satisfied with the 11 apostles and many disciples whom He left behind to reach out to the Gentiles and the rest of the world? Why Jesus had to target Saul, so stubborn and the least possible candidate to do His mission work? Honestly, I do not know the answer as I am not Jesus. Only Jesus knows the answer.
- I do not want to speculate the reasons behind the act of God by Jesus. However, based on my reading of the NT, I dare say Jesus who is God can choose anybody on earth to do His will and mission on earth, including a person from another religion. I strongly believe without a single doubt that He transforms whoever He wants to use. It is His prerogative to do it. Do you have the same conviction and faith as me? For this reason, I hope you do not mind I preach like this to you, God can use the greatest sinner in this world to serve Him.
- God in the person of Jesus chose to use Saul, the most unlikely candidate, a great persecutor of Jesus, the church of Jesus! It blows our mind. It is unbelievable. But it happened. You know how it happened Saul. You know how Jesus break in history again and break down Saul; how Jesus ‘cracked’ Saul mindset and disbelief in Him.
- From verses 3 to 6, the precious record of Luke said that while Saul was reaching Damascus to catch more Christians, he suddenly experienced a light flashed from heaven, he fell to the ground and he heard a voice said to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" To this, Saul, just like any other human being, when you are accused like that and you do not see where the voice is coming from, of course, you want to find out who ask and accuse you like that. In this case, Saul was strike with awe and he experienced something supernatural as a Pharisee whose faith was in Yahweh, he naturally and logically asked, "Who are you, Lord?"
- This was when Jesus answered, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Then, we are told Saul could not open his eyes as he got up from the ground and he was blind for 3 days. You can imagine the deepest reflection about that encounter and the repentance that happened and how he would plan to serve Jesus and preach Him with all conviction and faith.
(C). Applications and Responses
- A few points of applications I pray you will buy about Saul’s great encounter with Jesus.
- Firstly, Jesus decides to personally appear to Saul, the great church persecutor, the most stubborn follower of Yahweh, the most unlikely candidate Jesus should choose, in order to prove to him that the resurrection Jesus, the Messiah was real and the truth that he must not deny. This hardest nut mindset must be cracked that way in order for Jesus to use him.
- Does this point inspires you to believe with all conviction as we preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, the hardest mindset, the most difficult sinful habits, attitudes and bondages, the most difficult cultural barriers will not stand a personal encounter with Jesus? So, we see the point of healings, appearance of Jesus to people, miracles given by Jesus, etc.
- Secondly, Jesus was the one who transformed Saul by breaking into the history and broke his stubborn mindset. Therefore, it was very important for Jesus to claim as such. If Jesus did not say, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting" there may not be a transformation effect. That personal appearance of Jesus to Saul was most crucial to turn tide of history, to change the course of history. Take note nobody transformed Saul except Jesus. We need to believe this is still the same today. Do not use your human power to change things, call on Jesus’ power. Only Jesus can transform lives. I know most of us are very frustrated when your husbands, wives, children, parents, students, colleagues, neighbors, and your own-self do not repent; change attitudes; not united in one heart with you; you may think that it is hopeless and helpless.
- You must come before Jesus and believe that He can do the transformation for you in His timing. Utilize the power of prayers. My late grandfather who used to believe that Mao Tze Tung saved the whole world finally accepted Christ and got baptized before he left this world. My Primary 6 twins were not serious about education and I prayed for a breakthrough, now I see they realized it. From now on, I believe they improve much more in studies. It happened to my eldest daughter, Grace. I pray for me and my wife to be united to discipline our children for a few years and it happened this year.
- Thirdly, in view of Saul was one of the enemies of God, Jesus still forgave him and used Him, we must now believe with strong faith and actions (and not condemn) the most evil and sinful people in this world can be forgiven by Jesus and they will repent.
- Can you develop this foresight, mindset and the faith to see it? Can you practice this on someone now? You must be like Jesus, though you cannot be Jesus, no matter, how terrible, how evil, how sinful he or she is; the whole political system; whole society; whole company; whole family; whole group of people like the prostitutes, the gangsters, corrupted people, gamblers, Jesus will save them and cause them to repent. The Jesus who forgave Saul will do so for them.
- I pray that this precious point help you to see that people out there need Jesus. When you see people who are poor, and oppressed, practicing corruption, unemployed, depressed, you see people need Jesus, you need to do mission, you need to act on behalf of Jesus.
(D). Conclusion
- Can Jesus count on you to bring that little transformation needed in yourself, in your family, in your company and in your society? If not, question yourself, how come the Jesus is not powerful in your life. I strongly believe Jesus who converted and transformed Saul can equally convert and transform you and me and anybody out there.
- Can you say Amen to it?
Jesus - the Righteous One
AMC Sermon
3rd July, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 7: 1- 53.
Main Idea: Jesus, the centre of focus of Christianity
Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to honour Jesus as Stephen in everyday life. b. To challenge the congregation to be righteous as Jesus is righteous.
A. Introduction
- Jesus is the centre of focus in our faith. You remove Jesus away, you do not have Christianity on earth. You cannot consider yourself as a Christian if you do not believe that Jesus is God, the Almighty God who is in-charge of your life. For the Agape Methodist church or any Church, if Jesus is not at all worshipped, I guarantee you nobody will come to Agape Methodist Church. This is simply because people believe Jesus is the true God and they desire to worship.
- You take Jesus out of your faith; I assure you will have nothing left. You have nothing to be proud of. Everything in Christianity and anything to do with church becomes meaningless without Jesus!
- If Jesus, a real person, a real human being, who desires to be personal with each of us is set aside, the so called religion, Christianity will collapse any time. Jesus matters so much to Christianity.
- The long passage today really inspires us to take the person of Jesus, seriously, and all the more personally. I pray that at the end of the day, you will take Jesus so seriously and personally like Jesus’ disciple, Stephen.
- Let us see how he took Jesus so personally.
B. Explanation of how Stephen took Jesus so personally
- Remember Stephen in chapter 6 was one of those selected by the Apostles, to do the ministry of taking care of the widows; full of Spirit and wisdom; full of faith and the Spirit; full of grace and power. He did wonders and miraculous signs. He was arrested and handed over to the Jewish Sanhedrin by the members of the synagogue of the Freedmen to be questioned and confronted in every sense for his new faith in the resurrected Jesus, the Jesus who died, buried and resurrected.
- They accused him of blaspheming against Moses and against God. They conspired to accuse Stephen of speaking against the Holy place of the temple and also speaking against the Law of Moses.
- Now in chapter 7 verse 1, the high priest asked, “Are these charges true?” For the Jews, blasphemy against the Law of Moses which was given by God was equivalent to blasphemy against God. The punishment was death sentence. Can you imagine how critical is the question and all the more the answer. A Yes to the question means death. That was what was at stake. If you were Stephen who had probably witnessed the resurrected Jesus, what would you say?
- This was question of the truth or not. This was when the Jews from the Sanhedrin believed Jesus was not God; the dead could not resurrect. That was the truth, the whole truth. That was the conviction of the Jewish highest religious body. On the other hand, Stephen and the rest of the disciples and apostles, believed Jesus who died, buried, and resurrected; He is sent by God, the Yahweh, He is the Messiah, the Saviour; Jesus is God. This is the truth, the whole truth which cannot be denied and compromised. That was the conviction of the disciples and apostles of Jesus.
- Therefore, it was a question of the truth. It was a battle of truth. What is the truth? The truth of whether Jesus had resurrected and He is God was at stake right at the confrontation of the Sanhedrin.
- Stephen knew the moment had come for him to make his defence that Jesus is God, the Righteous One, the son of God, sent by God the Father that is the truth. Stephen knew his Jewish heritage and the origin of Judaism. Before he answered yes to the charge, he traced back to the history of the faith of their own Jewish ancestors, right from Abraham to Moses and the later prophets. Highlighting God’s call of Abraham to the Promised Land for his descendents. Highlighting major Jewish historical events which helped to trace the roots of their faith in their forefather’s God, God of Abraham.
- Highlighting the circumcision covenant that God made with Abraham. Highlighting Isaac who became the father of Jacob who became the father of the 12 patriarchs. How Joseph and the whole family (patriarch) migrated to Egypt because famine and how their descendents were ill treated and oppressed (400 years). How God raised Moses to deliver the Israelites with signs and wonders at the Red Sea and 40 years at wilderness before entering the Promised Land. God gave his word to Moses at Mt Sinai and how their ancestors disobeyed God by worshipping idols. How God instructed them to build the tabernacle and remained with David and eventually Solomon built the temple.
- After giving a brief history of Jewish faith to show how Jesus was linked to the God of Abraham, he now turned his defence into attack. I strongly believe he was filled by the Holy Spirit to have courage to prepare for the worst, the death, after answering yes to the charge.
- You see how he turned the defence into attack and at the same time link God of Abraham with Jesus and at the same time, he answered Jesus was God, the Righteous One.
- For the Sanhedrin, linking Jesus with God was blasphemy, for Stephen and apostles, it is the truth, not a blasphemy, and it was a huge theological difference, a difference that could not be compromised. For both sides, it was a great offense to God. For both sides, they want to their lives to ‘bet’ on it. That means they were willing to die for what they believe, they want to die a death of martyrdom for what they believe. Do you see the great convictions from both sides? How can you blasphemy my God? You see the great battle for truth.
- Obviously, Stephen was prepared to die for what he believed about Jesus, if not, he would not attack the Sanhedrin and crucify them like this (verses 51 to 53), “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him – you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
- What an intimidating, sarcastic and daring attack on the top Jewish religious leaders. The attack was very serious, it meant they were circumcised outwardly which supposed to make them holy and close to God but now Stephen said they were uncircumcised in their hearts, they were most unholy in their hearts; they outwardly seemed to obey the law and Stephen accused them they did not obey the law inwardly.
- It was outright humiliation; most unacceptable accusations according to Jewish theology, the stage was set for a death sentence according to the Mosaic Law!
C. Applications and Actions
- What is the big deal about this Righteous One that deserves Stephen to stake his life on it? Why not Stephen played smart and gave a so called white lie answer in modern terms since his life was at stake? Like what Chinese proverbs say, “Keep the green hill and you will not afraid that there will not be wood to burn.” Tell a lie, save your life, and you can continue to serve Jesus. Why not he just denied it, like Apostle Peter denying his relationship with Jesus 3 times? Why he didn’t just keep silent and save his life as silence is gold in our modern understanding?
- My personal reflection which I want to share and preach to you is this: Firstly, I strongly believe that when you are so filled by Holy Spirit, you are so intimate with Jesus, you will be so focused on Jesus and whatever He desires you to do, you will do, you will not use your mind to think of negative things like denying, lying, play smart, you will go all the way out to make sacrifice for Jesus, including your life. Secondly, the powerful reality of the resurrected Christ was such strong evidence that how could you deny the divinity of Jesus. Stephen encountered Jesus in such a personal manner, real manner. How could he deny the divinity of Jesus? How could he say Jesus is not God?
- No wonder at the end of the day, in his attack on the Sanhedrin, he called Jesus the Righteous One, the Son of God, sent by God. The one is who is always right, the Righteous One, who never sins.
- To such a God, Stephen was willing to die for Him; he wanted to honour Jesus so much so that he was willing to pay the price of death. Rather than at the crucial moments, choosing to dishonour Him by denying Him.
- Brothers and sisters, by now, I pray that you will find in life, in everyday, our life has everything to do with Jesus. Can you honour Jesus with your life? Especially at crucial moments? When you are entrusted with big amount of money? When you are alone out there, as a married person or a single person, do you relate to opposite sex with all holiness? When you are angry, do you use foul language? When people are poorer than you, less qualified than you, do you look down on them? When you are taken advantage, hurt, defeated, embarrassed, do you take revenge, hate, fight back and show your true colour? When you are given a certain kind of trust, a position of trust, do you abuse the trust? When your children give your all the troubles and frustrations, do you dismiss them as stupid? All these, you see, in our everyday life, if your answer is Yes, you are not honouring.
- As a disciple of Jesus, if your answer to all these is a definite Yes, you really bring shame to Jesus; you really sell Jesus away; you really deny Jesus as your God; Jesus is not your master; Jesus is not personal to you; Jesus is not living in your life. Jesus is not there in your life. Of course people cannot see the presence of Jesus in your life.
- On the other hand, if your answer is no to all those questions, of course, you honour Jesus. You are very powerful for Jesus. People will become attracted to your life as you offer Jesus to them. Because you have righteousness of Jesus which they do not have. They want to come to this Agape Methodist to see what Jesus has done to your life and they want to learn. You will be like Jesus, people see righteousness in you. So, by all means your life must smell Jesus. Can you?
- Since Jesus is the righteous one, your life needs to be righteous like Him. It does not mean you need to be perfect. If you can be perfect, then, you do not need the Almighty God anymore. It is exactly you are not perfect, you need Jesus to forgive you; to empower you with His Spirit; to enlighten you with His word, etc. Though you are not perfect, you work towards being righteous; doing things right. When you answer no to the above questions, you do it right.
- What if you do it wrong? You answer yes to some of the questions above. Remember you have Jesus to turn to, you can do self-correction; you can delete and give the right answer with the help of Jesus; you can say sorry; you can ask for forgiveness; you can compensate (like Zacchaeus, he paid back double to people whom he wronged); you can repent; you can turn around; you can start all over and do it right with the help of Jesus and His Church.
D. Conclusion
- Do you now see the presence of Jesus is at stake all the time in your life? It is not only when you come to church on Sunday; not only when you do not serve Him.
- Stephen honoured Jesus with his life as he felt worth to do so. Are you now convinced that Jesus is worth your life investment, your honour, your living for Him? I pray you honour Jesus with your life on earth.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Share as many reasons as you can how convinced you are to honour Jesus in your life.
2. Share testimonies of how you honour Jesus in the past or how you plan to honour Jesus.
3rd July, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 7: 1- 53.
Main Idea: Jesus, the centre of focus of Christianity
Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to honour Jesus as Stephen in everyday life. b. To challenge the congregation to be righteous as Jesus is righteous.
A. Introduction
- Jesus is the centre of focus in our faith. You remove Jesus away, you do not have Christianity on earth. You cannot consider yourself as a Christian if you do not believe that Jesus is God, the Almighty God who is in-charge of your life. For the Agape Methodist church or any Church, if Jesus is not at all worshipped, I guarantee you nobody will come to Agape Methodist Church. This is simply because people believe Jesus is the true God and they desire to worship.
- You take Jesus out of your faith; I assure you will have nothing left. You have nothing to be proud of. Everything in Christianity and anything to do with church becomes meaningless without Jesus!
- If Jesus, a real person, a real human being, who desires to be personal with each of us is set aside, the so called religion, Christianity will collapse any time. Jesus matters so much to Christianity.
- The long passage today really inspires us to take the person of Jesus, seriously, and all the more personally. I pray that at the end of the day, you will take Jesus so seriously and personally like Jesus’ disciple, Stephen.
- Let us see how he took Jesus so personally.
B. Explanation of how Stephen took Jesus so personally
- Remember Stephen in chapter 6 was one of those selected by the Apostles, to do the ministry of taking care of the widows; full of Spirit and wisdom; full of faith and the Spirit; full of grace and power. He did wonders and miraculous signs. He was arrested and handed over to the Jewish Sanhedrin by the members of the synagogue of the Freedmen to be questioned and confronted in every sense for his new faith in the resurrected Jesus, the Jesus who died, buried and resurrected.
- They accused him of blaspheming against Moses and against God. They conspired to accuse Stephen of speaking against the Holy place of the temple and also speaking against the Law of Moses.
- Now in chapter 7 verse 1, the high priest asked, “Are these charges true?” For the Jews, blasphemy against the Law of Moses which was given by God was equivalent to blasphemy against God. The punishment was death sentence. Can you imagine how critical is the question and all the more the answer. A Yes to the question means death. That was what was at stake. If you were Stephen who had probably witnessed the resurrected Jesus, what would you say?
- This was question of the truth or not. This was when the Jews from the Sanhedrin believed Jesus was not God; the dead could not resurrect. That was the truth, the whole truth. That was the conviction of the Jewish highest religious body. On the other hand, Stephen and the rest of the disciples and apostles, believed Jesus who died, buried, and resurrected; He is sent by God, the Yahweh, He is the Messiah, the Saviour; Jesus is God. This is the truth, the whole truth which cannot be denied and compromised. That was the conviction of the disciples and apostles of Jesus.
- Therefore, it was a question of the truth. It was a battle of truth. What is the truth? The truth of whether Jesus had resurrected and He is God was at stake right at the confrontation of the Sanhedrin.
- Stephen knew the moment had come for him to make his defence that Jesus is God, the Righteous One, the son of God, sent by God the Father that is the truth. Stephen knew his Jewish heritage and the origin of Judaism. Before he answered yes to the charge, he traced back to the history of the faith of their own Jewish ancestors, right from Abraham to Moses and the later prophets. Highlighting God’s call of Abraham to the Promised Land for his descendents. Highlighting major Jewish historical events which helped to trace the roots of their faith in their forefather’s God, God of Abraham.
- Highlighting the circumcision covenant that God made with Abraham. Highlighting Isaac who became the father of Jacob who became the father of the 12 patriarchs. How Joseph and the whole family (patriarch) migrated to Egypt because famine and how their descendents were ill treated and oppressed (400 years). How God raised Moses to deliver the Israelites with signs and wonders at the Red Sea and 40 years at wilderness before entering the Promised Land. God gave his word to Moses at Mt Sinai and how their ancestors disobeyed God by worshipping idols. How God instructed them to build the tabernacle and remained with David and eventually Solomon built the temple.
- After giving a brief history of Jewish faith to show how Jesus was linked to the God of Abraham, he now turned his defence into attack. I strongly believe he was filled by the Holy Spirit to have courage to prepare for the worst, the death, after answering yes to the charge.
- You see how he turned the defence into attack and at the same time link God of Abraham with Jesus and at the same time, he answered Jesus was God, the Righteous One.
- For the Sanhedrin, linking Jesus with God was blasphemy, for Stephen and apostles, it is the truth, not a blasphemy, and it was a huge theological difference, a difference that could not be compromised. For both sides, it was a great offense to God. For both sides, they want to their lives to ‘bet’ on it. That means they were willing to die for what they believe, they want to die a death of martyrdom for what they believe. Do you see the great convictions from both sides? How can you blasphemy my God? You see the great battle for truth.
- Obviously, Stephen was prepared to die for what he believed about Jesus, if not, he would not attack the Sanhedrin and crucify them like this (verses 51 to 53), “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him – you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
- What an intimidating, sarcastic and daring attack on the top Jewish religious leaders. The attack was very serious, it meant they were circumcised outwardly which supposed to make them holy and close to God but now Stephen said they were uncircumcised in their hearts, they were most unholy in their hearts; they outwardly seemed to obey the law and Stephen accused them they did not obey the law inwardly.
- It was outright humiliation; most unacceptable accusations according to Jewish theology, the stage was set for a death sentence according to the Mosaic Law!
C. Applications and Actions
- What is the big deal about this Righteous One that deserves Stephen to stake his life on it? Why not Stephen played smart and gave a so called white lie answer in modern terms since his life was at stake? Like what Chinese proverbs say, “Keep the green hill and you will not afraid that there will not be wood to burn.” Tell a lie, save your life, and you can continue to serve Jesus. Why not he just denied it, like Apostle Peter denying his relationship with Jesus 3 times? Why he didn’t just keep silent and save his life as silence is gold in our modern understanding?
- My personal reflection which I want to share and preach to you is this: Firstly, I strongly believe that when you are so filled by Holy Spirit, you are so intimate with Jesus, you will be so focused on Jesus and whatever He desires you to do, you will do, you will not use your mind to think of negative things like denying, lying, play smart, you will go all the way out to make sacrifice for Jesus, including your life. Secondly, the powerful reality of the resurrected Christ was such strong evidence that how could you deny the divinity of Jesus. Stephen encountered Jesus in such a personal manner, real manner. How could he deny the divinity of Jesus? How could he say Jesus is not God?
- No wonder at the end of the day, in his attack on the Sanhedrin, he called Jesus the Righteous One, the Son of God, sent by God. The one is who is always right, the Righteous One, who never sins.
- To such a God, Stephen was willing to die for Him; he wanted to honour Jesus so much so that he was willing to pay the price of death. Rather than at the crucial moments, choosing to dishonour Him by denying Him.
- Brothers and sisters, by now, I pray that you will find in life, in everyday, our life has everything to do with Jesus. Can you honour Jesus with your life? Especially at crucial moments? When you are entrusted with big amount of money? When you are alone out there, as a married person or a single person, do you relate to opposite sex with all holiness? When you are angry, do you use foul language? When people are poorer than you, less qualified than you, do you look down on them? When you are taken advantage, hurt, defeated, embarrassed, do you take revenge, hate, fight back and show your true colour? When you are given a certain kind of trust, a position of trust, do you abuse the trust? When your children give your all the troubles and frustrations, do you dismiss them as stupid? All these, you see, in our everyday life, if your answer is Yes, you are not honouring.
- As a disciple of Jesus, if your answer to all these is a definite Yes, you really bring shame to Jesus; you really sell Jesus away; you really deny Jesus as your God; Jesus is not your master; Jesus is not personal to you; Jesus is not living in your life. Jesus is not there in your life. Of course people cannot see the presence of Jesus in your life.
- On the other hand, if your answer is no to all those questions, of course, you honour Jesus. You are very powerful for Jesus. People will become attracted to your life as you offer Jesus to them. Because you have righteousness of Jesus which they do not have. They want to come to this Agape Methodist to see what Jesus has done to your life and they want to learn. You will be like Jesus, people see righteousness in you. So, by all means your life must smell Jesus. Can you?
- Since Jesus is the righteous one, your life needs to be righteous like Him. It does not mean you need to be perfect. If you can be perfect, then, you do not need the Almighty God anymore. It is exactly you are not perfect, you need Jesus to forgive you; to empower you with His Spirit; to enlighten you with His word, etc. Though you are not perfect, you work towards being righteous; doing things right. When you answer no to the above questions, you do it right.
- What if you do it wrong? You answer yes to some of the questions above. Remember you have Jesus to turn to, you can do self-correction; you can delete and give the right answer with the help of Jesus; you can say sorry; you can ask for forgiveness; you can compensate (like Zacchaeus, he paid back double to people whom he wronged); you can repent; you can turn around; you can start all over and do it right with the help of Jesus and His Church.
D. Conclusion
- Do you now see the presence of Jesus is at stake all the time in your life? It is not only when you come to church on Sunday; not only when you do not serve Him.
- Stephen honoured Jesus with his life as he felt worth to do so. Are you now convinced that Jesus is worth your life investment, your honour, your living for Him? I pray you honour Jesus with your life on earth.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Share as many reasons as you can how convinced you are to honour Jesus in your life.
2. Share testimonies of how you honour Jesus in the past or how you plan to honour Jesus.
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