HUNGER & THIRST (PSL)

[The Way To Happiness]
[ Matthew 5:6 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 3 & 4 March 2001

INTRODUCTION:

There are no two people exactly alike in all the world. There never has been. There never shall be. We are different in so many ways. We have different fingerprints, personalities, heritage, intelligence, not to speak of height or weight.

But every one of us are alike in that we all hunger and thirst. Jesus in his usual manner of simplifying the complicated, uses this common demonstration to communicate the truth of the 4th, way to happiness.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” A rather strange statement indeed. How could hunger and thirst ever make a person happy. To be quite truthful. I am not only unhappy when I am hungry and thirsty, I am might be in an angry mood. But Jesus contends that the right kind of hunger and thirst will lead to happiness.
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MEEKNESS (PSL)

[The Way To Happiness]
[ Matthew 5:5 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 24 & 25 February 2001

INTRODUCTION:

Can you picture a meek person who is also a happy person? It is difficult, isn’t it? Our misunderstanding of “meekness” creates this difficulty. In a world which thinks that only the super aggressive, hard-driving person will ever get ahead in life, it is hard to believe that the “meek” shall inherit anything, much less “the earth!”.

Many of the bliblical writers has much to say about meekness.

a. James writes that meekness is to characterize our initial response to God’s truth
[James 1:21].

b. Peter says that Christians are to witness to others in a spirit of meekness
[1 Peter 3:15].

c. Paul lists meekness as one of the integral part of the fruit of the Spirit
[Gal.5:22,23].
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SPEAKING, STIRRING AND SHAKING

[Stirring of the Spirit]
[ Haggai 1:12-15; 2:6,7 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 17 & 18 February 2001

How does God communicate with His people so that they will do His work? What does it take to motivate and mobilize a people? It takes God speaking, stirring, and shaking His people!

I. GOD SPOKE … THE PEOPLE BELIEVED AND OBEYED [1:12,13]

How had the voice of the Lord come to the people? “And the message of the prophet Haggai, because their God had sent him.” “And” here, might well be rendered “that is.” It does not add another source of information but clarifies how the Lord’s voice had come to the people. They recognized that it was indeed the Lord who had commissioned Haggai.

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THREE PRIORITIES FOR LIVING

[ Haggai 1:1-11 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 3 & 5 February 2001

Haggai is a very brief book of two chapters and thirty-eight verses, and the events that are narrated cover a period of only four months at the end of the year 520 BC. His message contains five separate proclamations.

What is Important To You?
What do you consider “top priority” in your life?
Three Priorities for Living:

I. GOD’S WORD MUST COME BEFORE OUR WORDS [:1]

“The Word of the Lord came.” We have no record of any prophetic voice in the promised land since the time of Jeremiah. Daniel and Ezekiel had been prophets in Babylon, but now the long silence is broken and the restored community hears the voice of the Lord again.
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PURSUING THE WAY OF HAPPINESS -THROUGH MOURNING (PSL)

( Matthew 5:4 )
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 27 & 28 January 2001

INTRODUCTION:

As stressed the last time, the teachings of the Beatitudes were meant for the disciples not for unbelievers. Verse 4 says, “Blessed are those that mourn.” Does this mean that the person goes around with a dismal, deary, gloomy, mournful countenance? No, not at all! J.B Philips translates this verse as Christ saying, “How happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given the courage and comfort!”

They are two kinds of sorrow. One leads to happiness and the other leads to misery. One has a blessing and the other has no blessing at all. One leads to life and other leads to death. Paul distinguishes between the two in 2 Cor.7: 8-10. One he calls, “Godly sorrow” and the other he calls “worldly sorrow”. He states, “Godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation,…but the sorrow of the world produces death.” To understand this Beatitude and to experience the happiness it promises, we need to distinguish between sorrow that leads to misery and sorrow that leads to happiness.

I. SORROW THAT LEADS TO MISERY
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HOW DO YOU SEE?

(Haggai 2: 3-7)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 6 & 7 January 2001

Notice the question in the middle of the third verse, “And how do you see it now?” [NKJV] or “How does it look to you now?” That is a good question to ask during the first few weeks of a new year, “How do you see it now?”

Behavioral scientists have discovered that we usually see things we are prepared to see, and that is all centered in a network of nerve cells called the “Reticular Activating System.”

So let’s ask the question, “How does it look to you now?” and consider it in 3 different areas.
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VITAL LESSONS AT YEAR END!

( John 11:1-16 )
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 30 & 31 December 2000

Today, I would like to share with you some foundational truths which hopefully will help you make sense of what has happened this past year and renew your faith in the coming year.

I. THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM (:4, 11-15)

In verses 4 and 15 we see an important principle: As bad as things seemed…God was doing something good.

• Where we see conflict…God sees a training ground for character (Romans 5:3-5).
• Where we see pain…God sees a tool to wean our hearts from that which is temporary (2 Cor.1:4).
• What we call a burden…God calls a chance to develop empathy (2 Cor.1:4).
• Where we see struggle…God sees a laboratory for building faith (2 Cor.1:9).
• Where we see hardship…God sees a pulpit through which He can show His grace (Phil. 1).
• What we call suffering…God may call discipline (Heb.12:5-11).

Read 1 Kings 6:11-7
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I BELIEVE!

( Luke 1:26-38 )
A Christmas Celebration Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 24 December 2000

What is Christmas all about?

I. CHRISTMAS: IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!

1. THE KING WHO CAME

What is the center of attraction at this first Christmas? For Mary. The focus of attention was not upon herself, but rather upon the Child (1:31-33) – HE shall be the Son of God.
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HOW TO INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? (PSL)

[Pursuing the Way to Happiness]
( Matthew 5:3 )
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 9 & 10 December 2000

INTRODUCTION:

Continuing with the theme on Pursuing the way to happiness, if God were to say to choose any 8 things that will make you happy, what would you choose? Would you choose to be “poor in spirit?” Would you choose such things as mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst, being merciful, being pure in heart, being a peacemaker or experiencing persecution? Do you think that experiencing these 8 things would make you happy? Jesus seems to think so. Let us consider this particular Beatitude today of being poor in spirit.

When Jesus spoke of the ‘poor in spirit’ he was referring to our recognition of a lack in the inward man not in outward circumstances. Consequently, to be poor in spirit is to recognize one’s poverty spiritually before God. The person who is ‘poor in spirit’ is the person who does not boast of his attainments or talents since he knows what he has nothing that has not been given to him. Read Full Entry

SERVING GOD: BEYOND DUTY TO DELIGHT

( Luke 17:7-10 )
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 2 & 3 December 2000

PARABLE OF THE UNWORTHY SERVANTS

The parable was designed to guard against the subtle peril of satisfaction in service, and the expectation that service shall be recognized with reward. In the four verses forming the parable Jesus impressed upon His own the arduous and unceasing nature of the service required of them, and the spirit in which such service should be rendered.

I. GIVE YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE (cf. Romans 12:1)

1. God Owns Everything
We are His by right of Creation, by Redemption and by the Surrender of our lives to Him. We belong to Him He demands our all and at all times, in all matters.

2. God Owes Nothing
The servant is always a debtor of service; the master is never a debtor of reward. Do your duty, and when you have done it, however laborious and painful it may be, remember that you have only done your duty.

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