Sunday Worship 15 February 2009
Speaker: Pr Lim Soon Hock
Text: Judges 7:1-25
Lesson from a parking meter: we lose money standing still!
There is a place for resting and renewal in order to gain strength, to move forward, but standing still perpetually will cause us to miss out on opportunities and our destiny.
God means for us to move forward for our own inward good and for an outward goal.
Who was Gideon? He was a farmer, full of fear, lacking in self-esteem and faith in God. The success of Gideon was more about God than about Gideon. It started with Gideon's first encounter with God. How did God greet Gideon? "When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."(6:12)
God saw past Gideon's weaknesses and saw his innate strength and potential. After all, God made Gideon. He spoke and awoke the warrior in Gideon: a prophetic word to Gideon's spirit.
If we are to become who we are meant to be, we must:
1. Let God speak into lives.
God may speak directly to us, or sometimes through people, as Paul did to Timothy: 2 Timothy "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
However, we need to be careful to check every word with the Holy Scriptures, whether we are the speaker or the recipient of the prophetic word.
We must also practise affirming other people's potential and giving encouraging words.
2. See what God sees in us.
Do we know who we are in Christ? Paul in Romans 8:37 wrote that, "... in all these things (trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, or death), we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
We need to read the Holy Scriptures, and believe what it says.
3. Believe what God sees in us and act upon it.
In the end, it isn't so much about ourselves or our ability, as it is about God.
Before God gives a man a task, He first makes the man.
Before God gives a man a message, He first makes the messenger.
We can see how God worked in Gideon's life as well as in other figures in the Bible: Abraham, a man who did not have much faith was made a man of faith. Gideon was changed from a coward into a mighty warrior. It takes time to develop a man, by a process of training and testing: each test passed leads him to a higher level, for one needs to be proven faithful in little things before one can be given greater things to do.
Gideon responded well to each test and so moved on to the next level. God's question to him as to each of us is not "Can you do it?" but "Can I trust you?"
sc
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Psalm 118
Sunday Worship 8 February 2009
Speaker: David Wang
Text: Psalm 118
This is a song of celebration for God's deliverance from exile and oppression.
v 1-4 The Lord's enduring love
The psalmist gives thanks in the midst of trouble. He begins with giving thanks for the Lord's goodness and enduring love. How do we receive this love? According to Galatians 2:20, by living by faith in Christ. His love is enduring or never ending: He will never forsake us, as Jesus explained in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15).
v 5-9 The Lord's answer to prayer
In answer to a cry in anguish, the Lord sets the psalmist free: free from the grip of fear. He then affirms that his security is in God alone: the safest place to be on earth is to be in God's will and protection. God hears and answers our cries, and is our refuge and security.
v 10-14 The Lord's deliverance
"in the name of the LORD I cut them off" - there is power in the name of the Lord. We can pray with authority in His name, for with God all things are possible.
v 15-21 The Lord's mighty hand
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"
The Lord's power in the affairs of all nations and in our lives has been revealed: Exodus 15:11,12.
We need not be fearful; we can hold on to His right hand and be led by Him, and accept and submit to His discipline and chastening of us because of His love.
v 22-27 The Lord's wisdom
This is a messianic psalm which prophesies about Jesus the capstone. If we compare with the world's wisdom, we will find that it is only in God that we can find true success: 1 Cor 3:18-19, James 3:17, Matt 22:15, James 1:5.
v 28-29 Doxology
In times of trouble, we can turn to God in prayer and experience His enduring love, know His presence and right hand holding us, and ask for His wisdom.
sc
Speaker: David Wang
Text: Psalm 118
This is a song of celebration for God's deliverance from exile and oppression.
v 1-4 The Lord's enduring love
The psalmist gives thanks in the midst of trouble. He begins with giving thanks for the Lord's goodness and enduring love. How do we receive this love? According to Galatians 2:20, by living by faith in Christ. His love is enduring or never ending: He will never forsake us, as Jesus explained in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15).
v 5-9 The Lord's answer to prayer
In answer to a cry in anguish, the Lord sets the psalmist free: free from the grip of fear. He then affirms that his security is in God alone: the safest place to be on earth is to be in God's will and protection. God hears and answers our cries, and is our refuge and security.
v 10-14 The Lord's deliverance
"in the name of the LORD I cut them off" - there is power in the name of the Lord. We can pray with authority in His name, for with God all things are possible.
v 15-21 The Lord's mighty hand
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"
The Lord's power in the affairs of all nations and in our lives has been revealed: Exodus 15:11,12.
We need not be fearful; we can hold on to His right hand and be led by Him, and accept and submit to His discipline and chastening of us because of His love.
v 22-27 The Lord's wisdom
This is a messianic psalm which prophesies about Jesus the capstone. If we compare with the world's wisdom, we will find that it is only in God that we can find true success: 1 Cor 3:18-19, James 3:17, Matt 22:15, James 1:5.
v 28-29 Doxology
In times of trouble, we can turn to God in prayer and experience His enduring love, know His presence and right hand holding us, and ask for His wisdom.
sc
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Kingdom of Heaven Forcefully Advancing
Sunday Worship 1 February 2009
Speaker: Dr Chan Ah Kee
Text: Matthew 11: 11-19
John the Baptist was praised by Jesus as the greatest "among those born of women", yet Jesus said, "he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
How can it be? "Among those born of women" refers to the Old Testament saints, while those in the kingdom of heaven are those who have been born of the spirit and have been given new natures and become new creations. Only in Christ is there new birth.
In other words, each of us who have been born again by the Spirit is greater than all the OT saints! They did not have the privilege of new birth. Hebrews 11:13 says of them: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."
Peter wrote: "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." (1 Peter 1: 10-12)
We have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in us, as we live in these last days where the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh as prophesied by Joel (2: 28,29):
"And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
"Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." (Matthew 13: 12, 25:29)
We need to respond rightly to God's grace: with goodness and faithfulness, as we can see in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30).
sc
Speaker: Dr Chan Ah Kee
Text: Matthew 11: 11-19
John the Baptist was praised by Jesus as the greatest "among those born of women", yet Jesus said, "he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
How can it be? "Among those born of women" refers to the Old Testament saints, while those in the kingdom of heaven are those who have been born of the spirit and have been given new natures and become new creations. Only in Christ is there new birth.
In other words, each of us who have been born again by the Spirit is greater than all the OT saints! They did not have the privilege of new birth. Hebrews 11:13 says of them: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."
Peter wrote: "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." (1 Peter 1: 10-12)
We have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in us, as we live in these last days where the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh as prophesied by Joel (2: 28,29):
"And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days."
The Gospel is marching on throughout the world, and the church will always be victorious. There are revivals and fervent prayer all over the world (S Korea, S America, India). To enter into the kingdom of life, there needs to be repentance and change of lifestyle on our part (Matt 3: 8 - John the Baptist preached: "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.")
The Kingdom lifestyle is one of warfare, not a passive but an active life. Paul taught about discipline and hard work like a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, about being deliberate, diligent and focussed.
"Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops." (2 Timothy 2: 3-6)
Peter, after describing the great salvation that God has given us, then tells us: "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy.""Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." (Matthew 13: 12, 25:29)
We need to respond rightly to God's grace: with goodness and faithfulness, as we can see in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30).
sc
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