Sunday Sermon - Worship God, Not Man

Acts 14:8-18

This is wrong to worship person that are not God, or to idolize things made by man.King Agrippa was strike down by God for accepting man's worship.

Man are borne with the pride of life, believe in the power of man, as equivalent to God. Rom 1:21 - man did not proclaim God when they know God, but turn towards himself as God. We must worship the creator and not the created. Remember the first 2 commandments? Thou shall have no other God; thou shall not worship any graven image.

We must have a thankful heart- whenever someone praise us, we must always remember God and praise him instead. We have to determine in our hearts not to worship anyone except God. Another good example was the prophet Daniel and his 3 friends. They refused to bow to the king's God or statue. "We are not anxious to answer you in this matter. We believe our God will deliver us from the fire. Even if He wish to let us go through the fire, it is fine with us as well. We still will not worship your God." This should be our answer to all worship that is not for God.

A rule of thumb - bow to something that can bow back to you. To teachers, to judge who will bow back. That is respect, not worship. As such we should not bow to innate statutes, for they are but made out of man's hands.

"Thou shall have no other God but me."

Sunday Sermon - The Duty of the Christian Woman

Rev Quek, 2 September 2012

1 Timothy 2:9-10
"In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."

Different roles and functions do not infer the class of the gender. The bible does not teach first or second class but different roles and functions. The modern society is focused on the looks of a person, including artificial modification of photos of a person's looks. Apostle Paul referred to the looks of woman as it is of importance to them. We ought to dressed modestly, one the does not attract the lust of the eyes. Modest dressing must also come with shamefacedness - the demeanour that is also modest, and with self control. Self control in looks, works and conduct.

The reason why woman needs to focus on the looks and conduct is because the lust of the flesh is the key weakness of man. This can be seen in the modem marketing tactics of products, such as pretty woman to sell cars. Throughout the biblical history there were no record of any woman with many husband, but there are uncountable men who had many wives. Man has their own sets of sin and weaknesses that they need to deal with - spirituality, lusts etc; woman also need to deal with their own. Women as mothers also need to take care that their children do not learn the wrong concept and let such action affect their conduct. Do not be a stumbling block to both men and children.

Ladies need to refrain from being controlled or led astray by the modern fashion trends that aimed to lure men. There is nothing wrong in braiding of hair or any fashion so long as it does not cause men to fall and succumb to the sin of the lust of the flesh. Neither should ladies flashes their riches by adorning pearls and gold, for modesty is the key. Ladies need to wear appropriately for the location and occasion, especially for the purpose of the event such as for worship. Dressings should not distract others from the purpose of worship. Modesty must come before comfort and be done with self control. There is also no reason to go to other extreme as to not care about their appearance. Sloppiness and uncaring is unbecoming of a woman. Such dressing does not indicate spirituality.

Instead of outer appearance woman should be adorned with good works, that people would see you as someone that serving God faithfully.

"Be not conform to the world." Romans 12:2, but professing Godliness in all ways. Let modesty, shamefacedness and good works be the characteristics of our lives.

Dispute Resolution in the Light of the Bible

Acts 11:1-16

Does the bible teaches us anything on disputes and how it should be resolved?

In Acts 11, those who opposed to the salvation of the Gentiles were the Jews who were circumcised. According to their tradition, Gentiles were unclean and had no hope of salvation. This is the pride of a race.

Apostle Peter used the following virtue in his argument.
A. Humility - Peter could have used rank as the first Apostle of Christ, but he did not. He used this example to teach and instruct. Peter himself went through trials put forth to him, when he denied Christ three times. In the dream God instructed him three times to "slay and eat". As such he would not disobey the Lord this time. Be helpful and have the patience to explain and expound on the scriptures. Gently and patiently go through the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to convince, convict and convert the heart.

B. Honesty - Be truthful and factual in every sentence and word. Our testimony should not be spiced up or embellished with exaggeration. Expound and expose everything in order so that there is transparency. Be systematic, and orderly in order to reduce confusion and build trust. We should not be hiding any facts, including those the may not be to our advantage. Untruthful account will not stand under examination. So long as the account is pure from the heart, we have nothing to fear.

Accountability towards God outweighs all others in situations such as this.

When Jesus Comes to Dinner

 This story comes through an email, a very good illustration of God's teaching -" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 24:40.

Ruth looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter one more time...

Dear Ruth,

I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.

Love Always,

Jesus

Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer."

With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner."

She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Seven dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.

A loaf of french bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt satisfied as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.

"Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.

"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, lady, we'd really appreciate it."

Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and, frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to. "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him."

"Yeah, well, OK lady, I understand. Thanks anyway." The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.

As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart. "Sir, wait!" The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them. "Look, why don't you take this food. I'll figure out something else to serve my guest." She handed the man her grocery bag.

"Thank you lady. Thank you very much!" "Yes, thank you!" It was the man's wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering.

"You know, I've got another coat at home. Here, why don't you take this one." Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street . . .without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest. "Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"

Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. "That's odd. The mailman doesn't usually come twice in one day." She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.

Dear Ruth,

It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you too, for the beautiful coat.

Love Always,

Jesus

The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.

Caroling Sermon - John 3:15-16

How do we know there is a God - from nature, galaxies, stars, four seasons. As such man already seen and know that there is God. Man has a natural tendency to worship a higher deity. Some worship money, animals and seven superstars, political figures. They worship things that are dead and cannot protect themselves; and worship man that are fallible.

The bible says that God loves the world and sacrificed. The greatest love is to give the best of yourself to the person you love. We were made in the likeness of God. God loved his creation - us, whether we believe Him or not. Man does not acknowledge God as our creator. We are rebellious, disobedient to God. Man is greedy and yet exceedingly proud. Man is full of sins. Nonetheless God loved us regardless of our sins. He sent his only begotten son for us, to die and be sacrificed for us. God is love. He gave his son to save us even as we do not deserve it.

However we need to be accountable for our actions. We will die and face judgement after death. We need to recognize God's gift for us - his son as the sacrifice for our sins, so that we can have salvation. He bore our sins so that we can be saved. God loved us and is willing to give us his only begotten son to die for us. Christ died and rose from the dead on the third day. As such Christians fear no death for we will have everlasting life, just like our Saviour. We just need to believe in Christ and His salvation work in order to be saved from eternal death.

Commit ourselves to God and let go. Allow God to lead in your life and you will find that your burden is light.

The Pre-millennialism Church

Revelation 20:1-6

We believe in the pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pre - "before". Millennial - "one thousand years". This one thousand years will be the period of Jesus Christ's reign on earth. This is the physical ruling of Christ on earth. The other school of thought is Armillenialism, where there no physical ruling but spiritual. In fact Christ is ruling in heaven right now, and there is no 1000 years, it just refers to a long time. They also believe that we are now in the millennium, and Christ is already reigning in heaven.

There are couple of reasons supporting pre-millennialism.

1. In the millennium, there is an absence of Satan. Rev 20:2 states that Satan will be bounded for 1000 years. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." If the millennium is now, then we should not see Satan's presence on earth, but this is not the case. 1 Peter 5:8 says we need to be vigilant bacause Satan is still abound. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

2. The reign of Christ is a physical one on earth. Rev 5:19-20
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

The millennium is a period of peace where people worship the Lord on earth. There will not be war, but this is not so today. There are still war abound. There will be no peace until the Lord returns.

The lesson for understanding pre-millennium is to be vigilant, holy and live according to God's will for us. If we are found on God's side, we will be together with him at the first resurrection. Make sure that we are indeed so.

Sunday Sermon - Obey God and Not Man

Acts 5:17-42

Easier said than done? It should be easier said and even easier to be done.

Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. - Acts 5:28

This, apostles Peter and others did not follow, for it is important to "obey God rather than men". For it is true - the blood should be upon the people for when even Pilate declare Jesus sinless, they wanted him crucified. The command to stop preaching was borne out of guilt.

1. We must obey God because God commands it. "Go, make disciples from the people". That is Jesus' commandment to His disciples. This is precisely what Peter and the other disciples were doing. If God commands it, we must follow, for His commandment is always right. Be purposeful and determine what we should do when the commandments of man go against the commandments of God. Daniel is a good example, stand firm even if it means we will be thrown to the lions's den.

2. We must obey God because only God can save us. Know who our saviour is! And when we obey God, Satan will try to take us away from Him. God is very much alive and working in our lives, we will experience miraculous help from God even as God miraculously deliver the apostles out of prison during the days of Acts.

But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. - Acts 5:19. This is the same God that we have today. What he did in the past, He will do the same today. He is our saviour and protector. Go and carry out God's work by faith! God will be with us.

3. We must obey God because when we obey Him, it proves that we are truly saved. When we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit who allow us to obey God, for by our sinful self will not want to obey God. Naturally we do not want to obey God; supernaturally we cannot help but obey Him because of the Holy Spirit that is in us. The Holy Spirit compelled us to be grieved when we sinned and He brings us back to God when we confess our sins.

May we determine in our lives to obey God and not man.

Sunday Sermon - Fulfilling All Righteousness

Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus went through baptism, but he has no sin and did not need to be baptized. Why would Jesus want to go through baptism? Even John the Baptist refused to baptize Jesus, for he was in need of being baptized himself by Jesus. John saw his Saviour and immediately humbled himself. We need to learn this humility. Do we come to churn each Sunday thinking that God needs us or do we realized that we needed God instead? Each week we come bringing our burdens and sin that we committed in the week, and we come to seek God's mercy and grace. We come to seek spiritual wisdom to lead a life humbly and worshipfully everyday.

Jesus went through the baptism to fulfill all righteousness. For we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore Jesus has to go through the waters of baptism for our sake. There is the judicial, the moral and the ceremonial laws under the Jews requirements. Jesus kept all these law for our sake, and earned all the righteousness that will allow us to go to heaven. Galatians 4:4.

The significance of the baptism is that Jesus is identifying himself with man. Jesus was 100% man, he shall be man's representation and substitute. He will save mankind of their sin. Jesus also went through the baptism to obey God the Father's commandment. Verse 17 - God said "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." God is acknowledging Jesus' obedience to the Father. Throughout Jesus' life he worked hard to be perfectly obedient for our sake. So we need to now work hard for him. There are so many things to do and commandments to keep in our lives. We need to press on, looking forward to the time when our Lord will say "Well done my child."

Are we thankful for what the Lord had done? Instead are we ashamed of being a Christian? Is it because we live a different life outside church? Do we hide the facts of our Christian life from our friends? Are we being thankful to God by behaving this way?

Baptism is an outward confession of our faith, telling the rest that we are not ashamed of being a Christian. Baptism is both a commandment and a blessing from God. Such a blessing is special only to us. We can only live a victorious Christian life by partaking in this means of grace. Similar to the Lord's Supper, a means of grace for us where we receive spiritual forgiveness and strength to continue our lives.

Preserve and fulfill all righteousness in our life so that we can run the race and complete the course in perfection, to receive the crowd of life at the end.

Sunday Sermon - Overcoming Temptation

Luke 4:1-13, Matthew 4:1-11

Why must Jesus go through these temptation? It is to fulfill all requirement. He needed to overcome sin for us. The representative principle applies here. Adam the first man failed and sinned. By him all man sinned against God. Jesus, the 100% man needed to overcome sin as mankind's representative. He must prove perfect obedience to God's law so that he might earn the righteousness for us.

The lust of the flesh - turn stone into bread. Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness, he needed food. Adam was also tempted as he saw that the apple was good as food. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8 to resist this temptation.

The lust of the eye - the power and glory of the world. Jesus will have all these so long as he bow to Satan. Likewise, Adam saw how pleasing the apple was to him. Again Jesus quote from Deuteronomy 6:8 to repeal the devil.

The pride of life - to jump down so that the angle will protect him as promised by God. Adam was tempted with the knowledge that he will get by eating the apple. Yet again Jesus quoted the law against this temptation.

For all three temptations Adam failed miserably. Jesus overcomes all of them by being faithful to God. Jesus used the law to prove that he come to fulfill the law. He did not sin, and he did it for all man. Jesus even went through greater temptation than Adam. He was driven in the wilderness while Adam was in the garden of Eden. During the 40 days in the wilderness, he was repeatedly tempted over and over again. Yet Jesus overcome all for our sake.

Jesus was our representative, and he set an example for us to resist the same type of temptations that we face today. The lust of the flesh - the love of money. We need to replace this love with the love of God's words. The list of the eyes - the outward beauty of people. The roving eyes of man that caused us to be unfaithful to our spouse. We need to resist such immorality by avoiding such temptations. The pride of life - the power we thought we had. Our pride and self- esteem caused us to think that he can do things ourselves and forget the only God makes all things possible.

Holy Week Sermon - Not Guilty!

Luke 23:1-25

This is the start of the passion week before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Jesus did no wrong, except to rebuke the Pharisees of their wrong teaching. He did not pervert the nation of Israel (v2) for his teachings were the truth. In fact, everyone marvelled at his teachings. He was accuse of forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the King. Luke 20 documented that Jesus himself taught the people to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God whose that belongs to God. This was false accusation against him. Nonetheless Jesus did no deny that He is the King of the Jews, for he indeed is so.

Pilate saw through the wickedness of the people towards Jesus. If the Jews really thought that Jesus is their king, they would protect their king and not deliver him to Pilate. As such Pilate saw through these false accusations and lies of the people. Lies and false witnesses are works of the Devil. As child of God we must not lie, even white lies. We must feel guilty if we do so - confess our sin and repent.

Both Pilate and Herod declared Jesus not guilty. Pilate and Herod were crooked men, but even they did not find Jesus guilty. Those people whom Jesus were to save asked for Barrabas instead, a murderer and a sinful man.
Pilate himself was not without guilt. He wanted to chastise Jesus even though he declared him innocent. He listened to the people's demand to crucified him. We as child of God should not listen to man but strive to please God. The wonderful grace of Jesus was clearly demonstrated on the cross where He died for those who put him to death.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:36.

We are guilty, all are guilty. Repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Bible Study - 2 Samuel 18

Civil war, David and Absalom.

The foundation of this war is the belief that King David is the rightful King. As such, the people did not allow David to go to war with them, for his safety's sake (v3). King David felt responsible for Absalom's action due to the consequence of his action with Bathsheba. That's why he asked his men to deal gently with his son (v5).

The wood of Ephraim was in the middle of Israel, a dangerous and treacherous place. More people died in the forest than the war - God was on David 's side. Absalom was caught by his hair, his pride and vanity (chapter 14), and irony with God's humor. The men refused to kill him by virtue of David's command. The men knew that David was strict towards the commands he issued to his men. Joab did not agree with the men and went ahead to kill Absalom (v14).

Was what David asked of his men right or wrong? As a father, it was right; but as a King it was wrong. This was David's dilemma. However, the biblical way was to be objective and not allow anyone to escape the law just by the fact that he was someone special. No one should be spared under God's law. David allowed his feelings to interfere with the affairs of the nation of Israel. This is evident at the end of the episode where David wept and moaned for his son's death. The lesson to learn here is to bring up your son fearing God. Don't let any area of your life hinder with your work for God. Let every area of your life be God honouring, else you will find yourself in a dilemma where you need to choose between different areas.

Joab - a strange character in the Bible. Did he kill Absalom out of his personal revenge or for King David's sake? He was capability but cunning, he seemed to do right, yet he can be ruthless. A character worth studying.

The war was over at the sound of Joab's trumpet, and the people that supported Absalom fled to their houses, hoping that no one knew they supported Absalom (v17). Absalom's life ended sadly, with only his pillar as a symbol of remembrance ( v18), a reflection of his unfruitful life. We must not aim for glory but for a spiritually fruitful life. May Absalom's life be a reminder to all Christians to live according to God's will and serve him so long as we are on earth.

Conversation with God

This passage came through an email. Simple yet meaningful. We must not forget the sovereignty of God. He alone governs the universe; He alone governs our life.

Me: God, can I ask You a question?
God: Sure
Me: Promise You won't get mad ... ... ... God: I promise
Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?
God: What do u mean?
Me: Well, I woke up late
God: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start
God: Okay
Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait
God: Huummm
Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call
God: All right
Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?
God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that
Me (humbled): OH
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.
Me: (ashamed)
God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.
Me (embarrassed):Okay
God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.
Me (softly): I see God
God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to put out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I'm Sorry God
God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me.... in All things, the Good & the Bad.
Me: I will TRUST You.
God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.
God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children

Sunday Service Sermon - The Greater Son of David

Matthew 1:17

This is a long passage of begats, usually the most neglected passage of the Gospels. Few realized how precise this account of genealogy of Christ is. 

Matthew as the first Gospel written, it was targeted for the Jews, for the gospel of salvation must be given to the Jews. The accounts allowed the Jews to search the old testament, confirmed the accuracy of the accounts, and believe by faith that Jesus was the son of David. The study of history must be accompanied by theology, God must be at the center of the historical events. 

The Jews, after much reading and studying of the earthly works of Christ, should realize who Jesus really was. However did they seek Christ and the salvation He brought? What about us? The Gospel was written clearly for the whole world. Have we heard the good news and receive the gift? Those who have ears let them hear!

Let us not be unbelieving for the scriptures also predict the second coming of Christ, for He can come anytime, like the thief in the dead of the night. The signs of the times are clearly written. Dont miss out on the blessings of God when he comes again. Do not let worldly desires blinded our need to live circumspectly, waiting upon the coming of Christ. Labour on for God's glory and kindom, til the day He called us, and when we finally hear to sweet sweet voice saying, "Welcome home, thou faithful servant."

Oh Lord,  how I longed to be with thee in heaven.

Christmas Day Service Sermon - Be Wise to Christ

Matthew 2:1-12

How to be wise in and to Christ?

Seek the Lord - The wise men came to seek Christ. They were likely Persians wise men, scientists and philosophers. At that time the Persian was one of the Superpower of the World. The people forgot how God had delivered them out of Egypt and so God gave them to other Kings as chastisement. In the end, God also allowed the King of Persia to let the people go and rebuild the land. At the time of Christ's birth, how did the wise men know of this? Those remnant Jews that remained in the foreign land continue to testify for God. Therefore the wise men heard and sought the Lord. We need to seek God and He will provide so long as we seek Him. The Jews asked the right question and they got their request granted. Have we done the same? Seek God and study his words to better understand our God. Study it systematically and we will be sanctified by it.

Worship Him - fall on our knees and worship whole-heartedly! For all those who come and worship the Lord they will receive a gift, the gift of salvation. Don't let pride get in the way like King Herod who came to destroy Jesus. This is self- destruction to want to destroy Jesus. Herod was judged by God and died within the year. Don't play afoot with God. Know Him and bow in humility. The wisest men came seeking Jesus with gifts, carrying gold, the symbol of royalty and only fit for a King. If God is the King of the world, do you come to church offering gold too? Or do you only offer Him grass? The other gifts that the wise men brought - Frankisence - pure incense. Myrrh - something to preserve the body after. This speaks of Christ's sacrifice to us so that we can have life.

Obey him - the wise men was told to leave without telling King Herod. This obedience is expected from us too. The wise men were rewarded by being led to baby Jesus.

Learn from the wise men and do wise things. This year has passed, learn from our mistakes and walk in the ways of the Lord in this new year. Seek the Lord and you shall be rewarded. 

Shout Out - Open Thou Mine Eyes

Open thou mine eyes and I shall see,
Incline my heart and I shall desire,
Order my steps and I shall walk
In the ways of thy commandments.

O Lord God, be thou to me a God
And beside thee let there be none else,
No other, nought else with thee.
Vouchsafe to me to worship thee
and serve thee

According to thy commandments
In truth of spirit,
In reverence of body,
In blessing of lips,
In private and in public.