HIS FINAL WALK (PVL)

(Matthew 20 – 28)
A Multimedia Easter Message by Rev Dr Vincent Leoh 23rd April 2000

There are twelve separate appearance of Christ recorded in scripture after His resurrection. In the four Gospels, 28 of the 89 chapters are given to consider the last week of Jesus’  life, death and resurrection. During this last week of the Savior’s earthly ministry I have noticed what I consider Christ’s Final Walk – amazing events that happened not accidentally but according to the precise timing and perfect plan of God. I want to share with you today, “His Final Walk”.

So let’s take a walk. His walk. His final walk. We shall follow his steps and stand in his shadow.

We watch him walk – Purposefully to Jerusalem… Angrily into the Temple… Wearily into Gethsemane… Painfully up the Via Dolorosa… Powerfully out of the vacated tomb… and Triumphantly into Heaven.

I. HIS FINAL WALK FROM JERICHO TO JERUSALEM – FRIDAY
“They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people to laugh at him and beat him with whips and crucify him. But on the third day, he will be raised to life again.” (Matthew 20:19)

It was this walk that promised you freedom.

Read Full Entry

DIFFERENT AND DEVOTED (PVL)

(Joshua 5)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh 16th April 2000

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!
“…that you may know that the Lord does put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” (Exo.11:7)

“And that you may put a difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean…” (Lev.10:10)

“And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezek.22:26)

The world is dying to see people who are different, to observe someone who has an alternative. So, what’s the Difference between Believers and nonbelievers?

I. DEMONSTRATE BIBLICAL STANDARDS OF MORALITY AND CONDUCT
(Joshua 5:1-9)

A Whole New Generation Had Not Been Circumcised!

Rite of Circumcision (5:1-9)
Through the ritual the Jews became a “marked and separated people” because they belonged to the true and living God. The mark of the covenant reminded them that their bodies belonged to the Lord and were not to be used for sinful purpose.

Read Full Entry

PASS IT ON (PRP)

(Deuteronomy 6 : 7-9, 11:8-20)
A Message by Pastor Raymond Pu on 9th April 2000

Introduction

Why does God want the Israelites to remind their children about God’s law? Why is it important for the next generation to know the law and the works that He has done for their parents? It is simple. God wants them to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

It is the responsibility of the parents of Israelites to Pass It On of what God has given them. If today parents know how to invest so much into their children’s earthly future, then they too should invest seriously into their heavenly future!

I.     LET THEM SEE THE FAITH

This is the observing faith. A person watches what parents and Christian do. When a child is growing up, he/she observes what parents do. Their observation comes through the impression made by parents. The character and values of a child is first develop at home. Therefore, parents play a big role in modeling for their children to see.

Read Full Entry

WHAT DO THESE STONES MEAN? (PVL)

(Joshua 4:1-24)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 2nd April 2000
   
The Lord was in control of all the activities at the Jordan River that day. He told the priests when to enter the river and when to leave and go to the other side. He told the water when to roll back and when to return. Both the water and the people obeyed Him, and everything worked out as God planned it. It was a day that glorified the Lord.

At this point, God instructed Joshua to create a memorial. Two heaps of stones were set up as memorials of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan River: Twelve stones at Gilgal (:1-8, 10-24) and twelve stones in the midst of the river (:9).

I.     THE PLACE OF MEMORY STONES (:1-14)

1.   MEMORIALS ARE HELPFUL AND MOST SUITABLE

This heap of 12 stones was a reminder of what God did for His people. To an unbeliever, the heap of 12 stones was simply another stone pile; but to a believing Israelites, it was a constant reminder that Jehovah was his or her God, working His wonders on behalf f of His people.

Read Full Entry

THE HIGH TOUCH OF CHRISTIANITY

(Acts 9:1-9)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 26th March 2000

Introduction

Author and futurist, John Naisbitt in his 1982 book, “Megatrends” first introduced an idea in a smallest chapter of that book, coining the term, “High tech, high touch” to emphasize the intrusive pace of technological change. Many who read his book considered that this “high tech, high touch” idea is the most important concept presented.

Now, 18 years later he comes out with his latest book, “High Tech, High Touch” explaining, developing and defining this concept.

So, what is “High Tech, High Touch”? Naisbitt says, “It is embracing technology that preserves our humanness and rejecting technology that intrudes upon it.

It is recognizing that technology is an integral part of the evolution of culture, the creative product of out imaginations, our dreams and aspirations ‘ and that the desire to create new technologies is fundamentally instinctive.

Read Full Entry

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY

(Joshua 3:1-17)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 19th March 2000

I. WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

1. God Will Make a Way – When There Seems To Be No Way
“…for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of the harvest” (:15)

The Israelites were brought to this river at the worst possible season of the year. During most of the year the Jordan River was about a hundred feet wide, but at the spring flood season, the river overflowed its banks and became a mile wide. God, who overlooks nothing, and times carefully the ways of His providence, selects those very days of the flooded river for the passage. The darker the room the greater the need for light. The more hopeless your circumstance, the more likely your salvation. The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers. God loves to bring us to our difficulties when they are at flood tide, that we may not attempt to cross them without His help. God delights to help His children in their absolute necessities, that the remembrance of His love and power may be more abiding.

Read Full Entry

A PEOPLE MOBILIZED FOR ACTION

(Joshua 1:10-18)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 26th February 2000
 
Moses is dead. God has spoken. Joshua, fresh from his individual encounter with God, returns to the camp and faces the people. They need to be mobilized for action, to move out into the Promised Land. But what does it take to mobilize for action?

I.    BE ACTION-ORIENTED (1:10)

To do nothing indefinitely would have ended up being a negative course of action. Joshua could have rationalized indecision and lack of activity for another decade or two. Instead he knew that the time for action had come. He was willing to mobilize the people, to move out into the Promised Land.

Read Full Entry

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

(Joshua 1:1-9)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 19th February 2000
    
The book of Joshua is a book of new beginnings for the people of God. And many believers today need a new beginning. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Israel claimed their inheritance and enjoyed the blessings of the land that God had prepared for them, “as the days of heaven upon the earth” (Deut. 11:21). That’s the kind of life God wants us to experience today.

FOUR INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

I.      THE NEED FOR BOLDNESS

“Do not fear”; “Fear not” is mentioned 365 times in the Bible, “fear not.” For every one day in your life, God has a “fear not.” See Ps. 27:3; Acts 28:31; Eph. 3:12; Heb. 10:35 Read Full Entry

GOD – A HELPER OF HUMAN SITUATIONS

(Exodus 15:22-26)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 13th February 2000
 
Think with me for a moment. Try to imagine some of the situations in life you might be facing or currently facing : education, choice of a career, marriage, loss of health, upbringing of children, inward struggles and countless others. Perhaps you might be asking yourself, “How can I cope with these situations?” Let me encourage and challenge you to bring God into every circumstance of your life.

The section from Exodus 15:22 to 18:27 tells us about the Israelites’ journey from the Red Sea to Sinai. It relates their pilgrimage in the wilderness.

Read Full Entry

THE PAULINE MODEL FOR CHURCH MISSIONS

(Acts 14:21-23)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Stanley Lim on 16th January 2000
 
The 20th century has officially come to an end, so to say, and missions leaders are still continuing their debate on the church’s mission in the world today. Numerous questions have been asked and are still being asked. What are to be included in our mission? What are to be excluded? Have we defined our mission too broadly? Are we guilty of settling for simplistic answers? Are we inconsistent? Are we inflexible?

The Apostle Paul in the Book of Acts has left us with a model for defining and describing the Church’s mission. Paul’s model for carrying out God’s appointed mission to the Gentiles is found in Acts 14:21-23. The historical setting of this passage places it at approximately 48 AD some 18 years after Pentecost. Paul was nearing the end of his 1st missionary journey. The geographical setting is southern Galatia, where the cities of Antioch, Iconium and Derbe were located. Although he always preached to the Jews where possible, Paul launched out to reach the Gentiles, his primary target people.

Read Full Entry