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.