Archive for the 'Sermon Notes' Category
Posted by larry 21-Jul-2001
[The Way To Happiness]
[ Matthew 5: 9 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 21 & 22 July 2001
INTRODUCTION:
The word “peace” is found in each of the 27 books of the New Testaments. It appears a total of 88 times. The initial story of the Good News of Jesus Christ began with the words, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” [Luke 2:14]. Near to the conclusion of our Lord’s ministry His loving benediction is “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.” Not forgetting the apostle Paul who introduces each of his epistle with the familiar greeting, “Grace to you and peace.”
However, God needs human instruments through whom this peace may be shared. In this Beatitude [Matthew 5:9] Christ challenges each of us to become a peacemaker. Not everyone is a peacemaker. A person must qualify for the privilege of peacemaking. It is privilege only for those who meet certain requirements.
I. THE PRIVILEGE OF PEACEMAKING
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Posted by larry 14-Jul-2001
[ James 2:14-26 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 14 & 15 July 2001
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” [James 2:17]. “Faith without works is dead.” [James 2:26]
This passage, particularly the opening verse [v.14] is a challenge to anyone who professes to have faith in Christ by describing the difference between faith that is false and faith that is genuine.
I. SAYING THE RIGHT WORDS IS NOT ENOUGH.
“If someone says…one of you says…someone will say…” [v14,16,18]
“Can a person be saved simply by saying he is a believer?” Outright “No.” We have all seen people say that they are Christians when even a passing glance at their lives leads us to believe otherwise.
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Posted by larry 30-Jun-2001
[ Mark 9:23; 10:27; Ezek.37:3; Heb.11:32-35 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 30 June & 1 July 2001
Faith is the process of acting upon positive assumptions.
Two Kinds of Impossibilities:
a) Apparent/Seeming Impossibilities. An impossibility of the human mind.
b) Human Impossibilities. An impossibility of human abilities.
I. FAITH IS ALLOWING FOR “APPARENT IMPOSSIBILITIES!”
Faith Assumption #1: “All things are possible to him who believes” [Mk.9:23]
Faith is the practice which allows for the possibility of apparent impossibilities to become actual realities. How?
- Keep an Open Mind.
- Dare to Take Risk.
- Tap the Untapped Possibilities.
- Explore all Possible Alternatives.
- Exercise wise Management/Leadership.
- Spend much time with people of faith.
II. FAITH IS EXPERIENCING HUMAN IMPOSSIBILITIES!
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Posted by larry 23-Jun-2001
[ John 14:1; 20:24-30 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 23 & 24 June 2001
It is clear from John 20:31 that the primary aim was to encourage faith.
WHAT FAITH IS NOT
Faith is not religion.
Faith is not mental assent.
Faith is not a way to manipulate God.
WHAT FAITH IS
In the general sense of the word, to have faith is to believe in something or someone, to fully trust, to be so confident that you base your action on what you believe. To have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability of that in which you believe. [Heb.11:1]
WHAT IS TRUST?
Webster – Trust is basic dependence on someone or something. Belief that something will happen or someone will act is a prescribed way. Trust is simply defined as having faith.
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Posted by larry 09-Jun-2001
[The Way To Happiness]
[ Matthew 5:8 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 9 & 10 June 2001
A. WHO ARE PURE IN HEART?
The word ‘pure’ is used 28 times in the New Testament alone. But when does it really mean? Are the pure in heart half-divine, half human beings? Don’t they have normal desires, healthy drives, emotional feelings? Of course they are not. Jesus addresses Himself to ordinary people who have ordinary problems and He provides them with an extraordinary avenue through which to know happiness.
1. The pure in heart are those who are cleansed.
There is an initial cleansing that comes about when an individual commits himself to Jesus Christ as his Savior. Purity cannot be produced by any human will. In fact, Ezekiel says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” [Ezekiel 36:26]. Such purity is produced only by becoming a new creature, experiencing a new birth.
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Posted by larry 20-May-2001
[ Ephesians 6:10-18 ]
A Message by Pastor Lee Kuan Ming on 20 May 2001
A. KNOW YOUR BATTLE [Ephesians 6:12-14]
Christian prayer is a battle with the Flesh, the World and the Devil. Christians struggle in their prayer life.
- We are to be “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” [v.10].
- We are to “put on the full armour of God” [v.11].
- We are to “stand firm” [v.14].
B. KNOW YOUR ENEMY [1 Peter 5: 8,9]
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Posted by larry 19-May-2001
[ 1 Peter 2: 9-12]
A Message by Rev. Philip Lin on 19 & 20 May 2001
INTRODUCTION
Peter’s emphasis in 1 Peter is on HOPE. As believers scattered throughout Asia Minor faced suffering and persecution on account of their Christian faith. Peter wrote to the believers to provide them with a divine and eternal perspective on their earthly lives. He wanted to give practical guidance to those who were beginning to experience a fiery trial of suffering as Christians in a pagan environment.
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Posted by larry 13-May-2001
[ I Samuel 1:11-18 ]
A Message by Rev. Irene Lim on 13th May 2001
Happy Mother’s Day!
The greatest responsibility that a mother has is to pray for her children. Today, I am going to encourage all our mother to rise up and pray in confident faith. We are looking into the life of a faithful woman in the Old Testament. Her name was Hannah. She was unable to bear a child. That was a grief to her heart and the subject of her prayers. In the record of her seeking God and receiving an answer to her prayers, we can find principles to help in living for God today. The full story may be read in first Samuel, chapter one and two.
I. THE NATURE OF THE PRAYER OF FAITH
Faith is essential to answered prayer. Faith is the response of the human spirit to the faithfulness of God. It involves the totality of the personality – mind, emotion, and will. The illustration of the three aspects of true faith is manifest in the experience of Hannah:
- She believed God could give her a child so she asked Him to do so. [mind]
- She yearned for God to give her a child, so she presented her prayer with tears. [emotion]
- She accepted the promises that God would give her a child, so she went her way without worry any further. [will]
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Posted by larry 05-May-2001
[ Genesis 28:10-22 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 5 & 6 May 2001
“So he came to A CERTAIN PLACE…And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.” [Gen.28:11]
This is a place Jacob had never been before this night – a place of hardship where he exchanges the soft comfortable pillows he had always known for a ROCK. It was the hard rock of Adversity.
I. THE HARD ROCK OF AWAKENING [Gen.28:12-16]
“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” [:16]
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Posted by larry 21-Apr-2001
[ Haggai 2:20-23 ]
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 21 & 22 April 2001
Our text and the short book of Haggai close with some very comforting words. Listen to God’s final message: ‘On that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty [:23].
God’s destiny for Zerubabbel and for you!
“… I will take you…” “Take” is used in a special sense of selecting for God’s own purpose.
“…I have chosen you.” Zerubbabel was sovereignly chosen by the Lord. This choice is not an arbitrary act of God, but a selection determined by his good pleasure as one that will further His purposes. Divine choice of an individual implies not only status but also responsibility.
“…My servant Zerubbabel” [:23] gives him the title that is appropriate in the light of God’s purpose, rather than the one given him by the Persian overloads.
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