Date archive for August, 2008
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Sermons – 2008 Week 35 – Aug Wk 5
Great Commission – Equipping (Discipleship)
Acts 2:42-47Equipping or Discipleship
What is a disciple?
What does a disciple look like?
A disciple is a learner, who learns the life-teaching of his Master. As a church, we are to reach out to people for Jesus, and to teach them to be like Him.
Discipleship equals discipline. The goal of discipleship is to make disciples, so that they, in turn, make disciples of others. (Eph 4:11-12, Eph 4:13-15)3 principles in Discipleship
Relationship
It is the most critical principle today, yet most neglected. Most people are intimidated by the word ‘discipleship’. We need friendship with a Christ-centred focus. We are all called to be disciplers. Only 2 types of people who cannot be disciplers:
a. Someone who is not a disciple himself;
b. Someone who disobeys God’s command and refuses to disciple.(Prov 27:17, 1 Cor 10:12, 1 John 3:10, Prov 18:24)
Discipleship is a partnership. Mentorship is part of the disciplinary process, but is not equal to discipleship itself. It comes long after relationship-discipleship comes to fruit.
Teaching
Faithful disciples must be committed to teaching others (as with Paul and Timothy). 2 Tim 2:1.
In many instances, we learn by experience. But in some others, we need to learn before we make any move. The only purpose of teaching is to move hearts so that they will obey.
To serve the Lord, we need to have patience to follow. Personal obedience reveals our love for Christ. 2 Peter 3:18.
Mentorship for Service
The Timothy principle: the ultimate goal of leadership is to give our ministry away. God is interested in our obedience and faithfulness and not so much in what we can do.
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.2MB)
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Sermons – 2008 Week 34 – Aug Wk 4
Great Commission – Evangelism
Acts 2:42-47Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.8MB)
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Sermons – 2008 Week 33 – Aug Wk 3
The Search for the Meaning of Life Ends Here
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.
These are the concluding verses of Ecclesiastes.
But, what conclusion?
The conclusion that all men have sought through the Ages. It is all there in the Scriptures. Yet man seeks his own conclusions that suit his lifestyles, conclusions that he wants to hear, and conclusions that justify his means. Man does not want to hear the inevitable, that, by himself, he is nothing in the eyes of the almighty God.
What is man’s all?
The wholeness of man, which is what makes a man. It is the chief happiness of man. It is also a description of every man or the whole of Man.
Why fear God?
All too often, the modern day teaching is all about a God of love without the other aspects of God. It is a popular teaching, “super grace” where God is elevated to love without judgment. It is the all powerful, all knowing God who exercises justice tempered with mercy and love. To ignore this is to say God condones everything because He loves and does not judge.
Fearing God is the realization of His unchanging power and the insignificance of all that we have done and of what we are (Deut 8:18), the unchanging power that is able to deliver. It is a reverence for Him.
Fear is an emotion.
Why use an “emotion” to describe this?
Why not respect God or pay homage to God?
One must cultivate this emotion – Fear. Know the emotion that penetrates our life. Fear is an acceptance of what it is like to be human before God. (Luke 12:4-7)
We need to cultivate the right emotions. It comes from humility, which is an accurate, biblical view of God. Being humble is to know who you are in the presence of God. It is having an accurate view of God, yourself and others.
Without God we are nothing. We must remember that. Our works by ourselves are nothing. Solomon, who had everything, wealth and worldly wisdom, came to that conclusion.
The right emotion is also cultivated by worship. “Fear God and keep His commandments”.
What leads to keeping His commandments?
It is the right feeling that leads to obedience.
Are we in the Word daily?
To keep His commandments is to pay attention to them, not keep them under lock and key without knowing or using them. To keep is to obey carefully God’s commandments. All too often, people substitute the Word of God with the Philosophies of our World.
Finally, we come to the accountability of life, and God will judge justly. We are all managers of every gift of God – time, talent, money, possessions, everything. We are thus stewards of God’s gifts, everything given to us is a gift. We have varying gifts and how we make use of them is what we will have to be accountable for in the eyes of the Lord.
Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
We live in the reality of the judgment of our lives.
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (10.7MB)
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Sermons – 2008 Week 32 – Aug Wk 2
Ablaze with a Passion for Souls
Luke 16:19-31If we know that heaven and hell are real, why are we not spreading the Gospel?
The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is not just about teaching or about winning souls. It is a combination of both. Every Christian’s role should be characterised by a passion to lead others to Christ.
The secret to soul winning is a love that yearns, a love that seeks, and a love that gladly suffers. Every Christian has a debt to discharge that cannot be repaid in any other ways. (Romans 5:10, Col. 1:21)
I. Love for Souls is Yearning Love
All we are and all we have, we owe it to God’s great love for us. God depends on us to pass on this love. The love of Christ creates in us a yearning for the salvation of souls.
When we look at people, do we have a compassion for their souls?
Great soul winners are those who long for and pray for souls.
II. Love for Souls is a seeking Love
Luke 15:11-32 – The love of the father for his son was what sent him going out to meet him on his return. Likewise, it was the seeking love that drove the good shepherd to look for the one lost sheep despite having another 99 which were with him.
Luke 15:6-7
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
How can we sit still and not seek the lost?
It is either salvation or hell. Agape love drives us to seek out the lost. Rev 7:17; Rev 21:4, Nehemiah 1:4-11.
How to seek the lost most lovingly and effectively?
It is crucial to seek the unsaved quickly, and be totally dependent on the Holy Spirit in soul-winning.
III Love for Souls is a sacrificing love
(Matt. 10:37-38; Matt. 8:20)
Seeking love can be costly. We must be willing to deny self. Soul-winning involves Christ-like identification with the people. We feel their struggle against sin, their heartbreak and their woes.
Soul winning involves spiritual battles. These battles are not easily won. It involves not giving up, and involves a martyr’s death, Gal 6:17. It involves sacrifice.
2Corinthians 12:15
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.6MB)
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Sermons – 2008 Week 31 – Aug Wk 1
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:19-20Why do we not have the power in our lives?
Is not the God of Paul, of Peter or Moses the same God. Why then is there power in their lives and not in us.
Is it the wrong God?
The answer is in our lack of separation from the world. In 1 John 2:15-17, it tells us of the need to be separated from the world.
Can be pray this prayer and ask this of God:
“Lord, do things we are not used to.” It is such a simple prayer but it packs in a whole lot of power, which if fulfilled, would turn the world upside down.
No one wants change yet they want progress. Our God is not a God of the status quo. He will shake us up so that we shake up the world. We must be changed if the world is to be changed.
Matthew 9:36-38
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
In verse 36 what exists was a Neglected Flock. Jesus sees the crowd, He feels compassion for them and He knows their true condition.
Anyone who is emotionally, mentally and spiritually worn out after a busy day is unable to see the true condition of the crowd of the world. By nature we like to hang out with people we like or know, thus we do not feel for this crowd. We like to remain within our comfort zone. The disciples did not see what Jesus saw.
There was a feeling of compassion. You will not feel until you see, you will not know until you feel, you will not care until you know, you will not pray until you care and you will not go until you pray.
He knew their true condition. They were like sheep without a shepherd. They were harassed and weary and helpless and scattered. Jesus looked past them to see their real needs.
Verse 37 tells us of a Wasted Harvest. Harvest cannot wait forever. The produce will rot. There are many people, broken and hurting. The field is always white, all waiting to be saved. If only, we would tell them about Jesus.
There is a surprising opportunity, a somber observation, and a solemn obligation.
The truth is people are ready all the time but where are we?
Habakuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.How is it to happen?
Not unless we set out. It is hard work if we are to be to workers in a harvest.
The question one asks is
how would you be remembered at the end of your journey on earth?
Is it for all the wealth we have accumulated on earth?
Is it for being highly intelligent or smart?
Is it for being a CEO of a thriving company?
It will be for your obedience to the Lord.
A solemn obligation. All too often we form committees, let others go, let us prepare or let the pastor do. One excludes oneself and never seems to send oneself. The Lord does not delight in leftovers. We send the best and the brightest.
Finally prayers are what Jesus asked. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to move the people to reach out to the fields, to send forth the workers. Pray that the Lord will light a fire under us and send us out with a burst of power!
Mr and Mrs ET Chua
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.4MB)
