Date archive for July, 2008
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Sermons – 2008 Week 30 – Jul Wk 4
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18-20There are many possible answers when asked for the purpose of the church. It could be for the purpose of worship, Bible teaching, fellowship, service, etc.
However, if it is just for worship, or any of these purposes, that God wants, why does He not just take us all to heaven, where everything is perfect?
Our priority is to be the same priority Jesus had when He was on this earth. We tend to lose this priority in our busy-ness.
When Jesus asked His disciples to meet Him in Galilee, they were willing to be available to meet Him on His terms. Willingness is the key to effectiveness.
Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. This passage contains the last word of Jesus. The significance of these last words lies in the following:
1 They represent what was closest to His heart.
2 They explained what Christ’s followers were to do before His return.
3 They were to apply without exception to all churches at all time, in all places, in all possible situations.There are 3 key points from this passage:
A Great Claim
God gave all authority to Jesus by virtue of His victorious resurrection. This implies that Jesus had all the authority that God had, both in heaven and on earth. He had unlimited, universal authority.
A Great Commission
We are to make disciples of all nations – ie. We are to go and convert someone from being a bystander to an active follower. It is much more than evangelism. We are to be fishers of men. We should go out and make disciples and not wait for unbelievers to come to us. The church is not the primary place of evangelism, but it is the home, our workplace, schools, etc., where we are to carry out this mission. Our target is also to be ‘all nations’ – ie. across all ethnic groups, and we are to rid ourselves of all prejudices.
This act requires us to ‘go’ (evangelise), ‘baptise’ (assimilate), and ‘teach’ (instil discipleship).
The end result of all this is spiritual multiplication. A church of spiritual multipliers is 100% dedicated to fulfilling the Great Commission.
The Great Comfort / Promise
Christ’s last words also gave us comfort, as He said “I am with you always.”
His last words are therefore our First Command.
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
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Sermons – 2008 Week 29 – Jul Wk 3
End Time Living
1 Peter 4:7-11But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The reality is the end time is near.
Are we ready?
Are we storing up treasures here on in heaven?
What are our plans?
The need for leading an authentic Christian life is a clear one.
a. An authentic Christian living involves being serious and watchful in prayer. James 5:16b – The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.Are we in the right (frame of) mind?
Are we spiritually observant?
If we reflect on how powerful our God is, we would be living differently today.
Are our prayers limited to thanking God for our food?
Are we embarrassed when called upon to pray?
Is prayer / God the first thing we turn to when in trouble?
b. Authentic Christian living is having fervent love for one another. Prayer is important, but love is what drives prayer. Without love, prayer does not have life. Fervent love is ‘stretched out’ love – like giving 100% of our effort when running a race. The best illustration of love is Christ dying for us.
c. Authentic Christian living is being hospitable to one another, and this is not limited to just having guests over at our homes. Being hospitable is being generous in our giving.
d. Authentic Christian living is also ministering individual gifts to one another. Romans 12:3-8: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
When we speak the Word, we should be speaking the pure Word. The act of ministering includes acts such as administration and praying. Just as a body can be edified when we exercise our gifts, so can it be hurt if each member of the body denies the use of his spiritual gifts. We need to ask ourselves if we are serving in God’s strength or our own, and are we ministering with our gifts.
God’s glory is man’s greatest goal. Believers should do all things for God’s glory. We may not have much time left. In all that we do, we should be asking ourselves if each action serves to glorify God.
The end time is near. We must be ready for Christ’s coming.
Mr & Mrs E T Chua
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Sermons – 2008 Week 28 – Jul Wk 2
How to Win a Battle You Never Fought
2 Chronicles 20:1-37Jehoshaphat was faced with the threat of a vast army.
Yet, what did he do?
He called a prayer meeting of all his people and beseeched God to help them.
A man may do many things in times of crisis. Some cover up, some give up. Yet others panic, and others deny that they have a problem. Jehoshaphat resolved to turn to the Lord.
A crisis does not destroy man, but it is his response that determines what happens to him as a result.
The Chinese term for crisis is 危机。The first word means ‘danger’ and the second word, ‘opportunity’. With each crisis is an opportunity for us to trust in God. In a crisis, our greatest danger is discouragement.
There is nothing better, when in trouble, than to gather together to seek the Lord. Very often, this is done as a last resort, when it should be the first step to be taken.
We need to be students of the Word of God to know His promises and to claim them. Jehoshaphat’s simple prayer was a show of his faith in God’s character and His promises.
He had only one request – will you not judge them?
He had but one complaint – the enemies had repaid them by invading their territories. And he had one confession – the fact that he had no power on his own. It was a mighty worship service with a specific request.
We often confuse the form with the substance of prayer. We tend to focus on the manner in which we pray, but God looks at the internal quality that comes with it – our faith, sincerity, and honesty. Not whether we are praying while standing, sitting, with eyes open or shut.
Worship is an admission of dependence.
In Old Testament days, God spoke through His prophets. Today, we hear Him through the Scriptures.
In the battle that Jehoshaphat readied his men, worship was their only weapon. The choir led his army in the worship, which, in turn, led to their victory.
Two important applications
1. Great things happen to us when we realize our powerless condition. God delights to intervene on behalf of powerless people. It is said:
Blessed is the desperate that catches God’s hand
Blessed is our sense of helplessness if it gives us the energy of a desperate faith.Our Christian living is a continuous process by which God is breaking us, and stripping us of everything until we say we need Him. He does it not to destroy us, but to take everything else away so that we have nowhere else to go but to Him.
Worship is the preparation for our weekly warfare. When it becomes our lifestyle, the battle is not ours, but our Lord’s.
2. The cultivation of worship is our only means of spiritual victory.
Worship is our response to God as we turn to Him in our helplessness. In Jehoshaphat’s time, they worshipped before, during and after the crisis.
Praise is not the prelude to the battle, it is the battle.
Worship is not the preparation for the strategy, it is the strategy.Worship releases God’s power, and it honours Him. When we pray, we worship out of need. When we obey, we worship out of love. When we sing, we worship out of joy. When we give, we worship out of gratitude. And when we praise, we worship out of reverence.
The message can be summarized in the answers to 4 simple questions:
Who do I trust?
God.
How do I see myself?
Powerless.
What do I do in a crisis?
Worship.
What does God do?
Fight the battle for me.
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
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Sermons – 2008 Week 27 – Jul Wk 1
Are You Bored With God?
Malachi 1-3John 4:21-22
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
Very often, we worship at our work, work at our play, and play at worship.
How often do we ‘play church’?
We come to church as a matter of routine, but in John 4:21-22, we learn that worship is an issue of the heart. We should worship the Father in spirit and in truth. It should be a way of life for all of us. All too often we ask
“what can we get out of the service?”
Instead, we should be asking what can we give to God.
The heart of biblical worship shifts from focusing on ourselves (and our concerns) to focusing on God and His concerns. The ritual itself makes no difference. Worship is a form of ministering to God. The worship leaders are the prompters, the congregation the performers, and God, the audience.
Malachi 1:6-8
“A son honors his father,
And a servant his master.
If then I am the Father,Where is My honor?
And if I am a Master,
Where is My reverence?
Says the LORD of hosts
To you priests who despise My name.Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’
“You offer defiled food on My altar,
But say,In what way have we defiled You?’
By saying,
The table of the LORD is contemptible.’And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice,
Is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you favorably?”
Says the LORD of hosts.
The ‘cancer’ of complacency had taken root in the Jews in Malachi’s time. They offered God defiled food and inferior sacrifices. However, we know that God deserves only the best. A flippant attitude towards worship comes from a flippant attitude towards God – ie. the outward expression reveals the inward feelings.
The Jews in those days were guilty of a deliberate sin. Such worship is spiritual profanity, and is not acceptable to God.
Preparing for worship – Are we adequately prepared for worship?
Just as the preparations for Sabbath by the Jews begin on a Friday evening, so should we be prepared for our worship on Saturday evening.
Half-hearted participation – some people go to church, and then go through the motion, playing their ‘role’. We should, instead, be praying to God “Lord, speak to me today.”
Improper motivation – what are our reasons for coming to church?
Is it to get something for ourselves, or are we having an appointment with God?
Ultimately, the question we ask at the end of the worshipping is:
did I meet God today?
We are to take our eyes off our problems, and direct them at God. In true worship, our earthly problems assume a different proportion, and our daily trials will not seem so overwhelming.
The eternal solution, when we are ‘bored with God’ and ‘bored with worship’, is to get a new view of God. If we realize that He is the almighty God, we will not play at worship anymore.
There are 2 kinds of worshippers:
The flat landers – they live in 2 dimensions, and are well versed in the faith. They know the lie of the land, the routines, and they live it. But they are living horizontally.
The high landers – they are formerly flat landers who have discovered worship and have pushed upwards to know God.
Malachi 3:8-10
“ Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,‘ In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,“ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.Are we withholding our tithes, giving our worst and our least to God?
We need to realize the joy of tithing, as it is based on the grace of God.
No matter how much we give, we cannot out-give Him, who gave us His Son to die for our sins.Mr and Mrs ET Chua
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