Feed, Not Fleece the Flock

How should a Pastoral Ministry be?

Acts 20: 17-38

Acts 20:19
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.

A Pastor is Pastor for the long haul. Learning from Apostle Paul, he served The Lord with all humility, like a bond slave in the old times. A bond slave serves his master willingly and whole heartedly, for the rest of the his life. We should learn from Paul, and serve The Lord joyfully, willingly and full of love.

Acts 20:33
I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Acts 20:36
And when he had thus spoken, he keeled down, and prayed with them all.

Paul gave his mind, heart and life to his ministry and did not expect anything in return. In return surely The Lord will provide all that we needed. Pastors need not set the amount of salary he should get, The Lord will lead the church to give what is due. The most important is to have enough to sustain body and soul so that the Pastor can continue to work for The Lord. There should not be any complains, quietly and diligently serve The Lord, trusting in His good hands.

Acts 20:27
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Apostle Paul did his work well by teaching the flock the whole counsel of God. It is not just some part of God's Word, but ALL of God's word. That's the sole purpose of the Pastor and the church - to teach God's word and all of it, including doctrines and fundamentals. We need to know these doctrines to know how to do things right. With these then can we act upon it. We should be careful not to act and work without preparation by understanding God's word.

Study to know God's will, and then wait upon The Lord before we act. Quiet time, Sunday school, bible study, church sermon, bible college night classes, online courses - there are so many avenues to study God's Word. We should take the opportunities to study in order toast correctly. Don't blame God when things goes wrong if you have not done your homework!

Please spend time with God, there is no other way.

Why Sunday?

In the days not too long ago, a department store along Orchard Road in Singapore, one with an iconic green roof, was always closed on Sunday. As it appears, the owner of the store was a Christian. He bore the good testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He honored his God, and wanted his workers to do the same. What a great testimony!

Our God is a good God, He instituted the holy Sabbath Day as a day of rest. We were called to put aside our work and rest on this day, to have fellowship with fellow Christians and have a taste of heaven on earth.

Acts 20:7
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

1 Corinthians 16:2
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Since the death and resurrection of our Lord, Sunday became the first day of the week and it has become a tradition for Christians to gather on this day to remember The Lord's resurrection and the second coming. It is a day of rest, as we ponder on the eternal rest when our Lord comes again. We also dedicate this day to worship The Lord, teach the children on God's word, study His word during Bible Study and evangelize the gospel to others. We fellowship over food and share with one another our trials and how The Lord has been good to us.

Hebrews 4:9 - 11
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Note: a few hours later on this very same day, I walked passed the sign in front of CK Tangs again. There is a bronze plated sign on the side of the wall that stated the date at which that building was officially opened. A quick glance, it was dated 1995.. and at the bottom of the sign, a clear, simple yet powerful line - "To God be the Glory". Amen!

Blood So Divine

Acts 20:28 -
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Was the blood shed 2000 years ago man's blood or God's blood? Acts 20:28 states that the blood shed was from God. How can God have blood when God is a spirit? God is invisible, the only way to shed blood is for God to become man, and he did so 2000 years ago.

To save the sinful man we need a sinless man, but God is the only one sinless, none else. For man to be saved, we need a man to represent us to die for our sin. Therefore the only way for man to be saved, God needs to become man to die for man so that man can be saved. It is not impossible for God become man, for man was made in the image of God.

When God become man, He does not cease to be God. He retain all the attributes of Godliness. Yet He was man, having blood. He needed to shed the blood to redeem us from our sin, for the Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Romans 5:8-9. There must be the shedding of blood and death, before man can be saved.

1John 1:7 - it is very clear that the blood of Christ has the power to save. Human blood can only give physical life, but Christ's man is different. It is the blood of God-man, the only one with the power to save. The blood of Christ is separated from the death of Christ, it does not just refer to death, for it is not the death that save man, but the blood. The blood that shed 2000 yrs ago can still wash away our sins today and in the past and future. This is the miracle of God, we cannot explain it, but we accept it by faith.

Signatures of a Disciple of Christ

Lord's Day, 3 March 2013, Nehemiah 9:1-7

What makes Christians different from others?

1. Read the Word of God with understanding. Nehemiah 8:2 - the Jews read the law, they understood who God is. W can start with Psalms and Proverbs. Psalms teaches us about God and who He is; while Proverbs tells us how to deal with others. 10 version of Psalms and 5 verses of Proverbs takes only 6 months to complete.

2. Be convicted and confess your sins. Nehemiah 9:2 - They submitted to The Lord and confessed.

3. Be separated from the rest. Distinct yourself. Nehemiah 9:2 - they need to step parts from the rest as they confess their sins.

4. Sing praises to The Lord for He deserves our prayers. Bless the name of the Lord. Nehemiah 9:5-7.

What we do represents us as a person and our belief. Demonstrate the right signatures as we are all called to do. "The steps of a good man are ordered by The Lord." Without God's guidance we can never hope to live the life of a good man.

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.