We Are Strong As An Army. W372.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

*Video, CG, Svc, ACTION!

Being some time since I blog. I was really busy with all the presentations and exams preparation since last week. Now as I take a breather, I will be blog about last week's CG sermon and Svc sermon since Desmond will be away this week for mission.

Let us all keep Desmond in prayer, Amen!

And in case you wonder where is Eunice when you don't see her this week, she is having holiday at KL with her family from this Thursday till next Wednesday or Thursday.

So coming up first on this post will be an edited version of Alex's Gag. Do enjoy. Hahaha.

Follow by:
1. The CG sermon
2. The Svc sermon
Do meditate on the word and may it bless you. :)

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Alex's Gag (Edited)

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The Man with the Withered Hand
(CG Sermon 02/03/06)

Lk 4:6-19

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is not for us to rebuke people but to preach the Gospel and share the Good News, to bless and not to curse.

Now in order to feel the power of the Holy Spirit, each of us have to first step into the realm of the spirit.

In Mk 3:1, the word "withered" actually means "shriveled up, burnt or dying" in Greek.

As with the man with the withered hand, we also tend to "withered" when we shrink back from our problems or challenges.

The fact is that everyone will bound to have problems and challenges in life. The way we deal with them will determine whether we will enlarge or shrink. If we allow ourselves to mentally shrink, we will diminish and move back from where we are.

The good news is that God assured us that there is a solution to every problem out there and it takes someone with a good attitude and courage to find it.

Here is a favorite verse we are familiar with in the Good News Translation.
1 Cor 10:13
Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.

Keep this promise in mind and face every challenges with the glory of the Lord! Amen!

So another thing truth we want to face is that, the church is not a perfect place, not until imperfect people like you and I become a part of it.

There is still sick people in church, there are people who will bound to make you angry in church. Once in a while some usher will still come your way and irritates you.

Nonetheless, the church is like Noah's Ark. With so many animals in the Ark, it had to be very smelly inside. Imagine having step into animal droppings every time you walk around. Then in the night when you want to sleep, imagine all the night dwelling animals start to make all kind of noise.

Noah's Ark is not an ideal place to stay so to say. It is not like your leisure cruise where you can enjoy the sun and the sea. However, what Noah's Ark did, it kept it's passenger safe from the terrors of the flood water around it.

The flood is like the world out there and Noah's Ark is like the church. No matter how bad things can get in church, it is still much better than the world out there. Better alive in the smelly Ark than sleeping with the fishes.

Which brings us to the point, that just like the man with the withered hand, people need the LORD!

The church has being portrayed as the Body of Christ and continues the work and ministry of Jesus today. Different part of the body play different roles and today, we will just look at the different aspect of the upper limb.

1. The Arm represents God's Salvation

The church is portrayed as a powerful arm that reaches out to the lost out there. However, many churches have a withered arm. They find it hard or refuse to reach out to the unlovables or the needy.

Isa 51:5, Isa 59:6

We have the assurance that no matter how far away we are away from GOD, His arm can always reach us.

2. The Hand represents God's Healing Power

Mk 16:16-18

As we pray for the sick, we also lay hands on them.

3. The Finger represents God's Power over Demons

Lk 11:19

There are demons out there that torment people. However, God uses His finger to cast out demons and set us free!

Mk 5:2-13

Religious zealots are faster to accuse than to bless. Base on their own knowledge of God's law and their own standards, they will judge people, condemn people and even curse people more than having compassion for them.

Mk 3:3-5

Coming to church is not just coming to hear a motivational speech. We are called to step into the realm of the spirit and do the work and live the live of Jesus. Simply put, going to CG and Svc is to go to where Jesus is! Those who came with a hunger will see their life truly changed.

To step out from where we are, God wants us to do something that we never do before. Just like the man with the withered hand, Jesus asked him to stretch out his withered hands even though it is not possible to do so. However, the man obey and he was able to life up his hand and saw it healed right before his very eyes!

Every healthy living thing will grow and progress. Therefore as a healthy growing Christian, we must never stay where we are but we must keep on moving ahead of our vision.

Lk 5:17

In conclusion:
We must be whole in our walk with God for a touch from heaven is what will truly change our life. When we step forward to Jesus, we are stepping forward with our whole life!

"Following Jesus doesn't cost us something, it cost us EVERYTHING!" ~Dr. Ulf Ekman

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Reaching Out with Love
Service Sermon 4-5 Mar'06
Preacher: Pastor Kong Hee

First of all, in CHC, we don't believe in cold evangelism. We don't go around preaching to people on the street or knocking from door to door to shaft the Gospel down people's throat.

Everything we do is really out of love or lack of love for the people around us. We have to reach out with love because people don't care how much we know until they know how much we care.

Jesus showed the love of God everywhere he went. In fact, Jesus bless people more than he preaches!

Mt 8:1-3

In Jesus' time, lepers were considered an outcast. They were labeled unclean and they have to proclaim their uncleanness everywhere they go. In fact, they can even get stoned because of their leprosy. With sores all over their body, it is already enough to put people off for people will fear that they will get infected if they come near them.

However, Jesus didn't come to judge or condemn the leper. In fact, Jesus reach out to him and accepted him.

As Christians, we are walking bible. Our life, our words and our deed manifest the Word of God over us where people can see and sense.

Mk 5: 21-24

Even though Jesus was busy with all His outreach, He was still willing to make a trip to pray for Jaimus' daughter.

Along the way, many critics said Jaimus' daughter was dead and ridicule Jesus for making a futile trip and attempt to pray for her. However, Jesus wasn't bothered with all the critics. He choose to ignore them and went on to pray for the girl. When He did so, He went in alone without any fanfare. He did everything with much meekness and gentleness.

Mk 5:35-43

As Jesus revived the dead girl, He didn't even try to take the chance to preach the Gospel. Instead, He was more concerned that the girl may be hungry.

Mk 6:33

Once again, Jesus was concerned about the hunger of the thousands of people who were following Him. We can see that Jesus always seek to meet the needs of people first.

As we seek to reach out to people, God will always want us to do our best and He will do the rest.

Remember that we can always give without loving but we cannot love without giving! As we have learnt in previous sermons, we are to bless, to fellowship and to meet their needs before we preach the Gospel.

Jn 8:1-11

Religious people are always quick to judge and condemn. However, God called us not to condemn but to encourage.

Jn 8:20

Jesus reached out to people who are discouraged, people with poor self-esteem.

Jn 9:1-11

Very often, religious Christians tend to judge people by their sicknesses or their disabilities. They will say things like, "He is suffering from cancer now because God is punishing him for his sins. " or "Serve him right for being crippled. It is a retribution from God."

However, we know that our God is a God who loves us. He wants to heals us so how can He causes diseases? Jesus made it clear that no one is at fault when bad things happen. After all, this is a broken down world we live in so bad things do happen.

That is why when Jesus reach out to people, He didn't just try to meet the spiritual needs of people. He also meet the physical need of the people.

So keep in mind that winning is not hard selling the Gospel. The Kingdom of God will grow as we choose to serve both God and people. Amen!

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So lets not forget that this week and next week will be our Friendship Connection! Invite your friends! Reach out to them the Jesus's way!

GOD IS GOOD! :)

Benjamin @ 8:11 PM

GOD IS GOOD!!!