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In 1Corinthians 16:9, Paul said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” The gospel door is great and effective, but great also are the opposition against it. This was not only the situation during Paul’s missionary journeys, the Early Church’s experiences are perfect examples of such oppositions, too.

On Pentecost Day, Peter stood up to preach and three thousand came to the Lord. Outside the gate called Beautiful, a man born lame was healed, and five thousand came to the Lord. The gospel door had indeed been great and effective, but opposition had also begun to appear. The first instance of opposition came from the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin had the Apostles arrested, tried them, threatened them and forbade them to teach in the name of the Lord. However, the Church was not to be cowered, they prayed to the Lord and asked for boldness and grace. After their prayer, the place where they were meeting was shaken.

But Satan is a relentless enemy, he will not abandon his attack on God’s church, and we see this with the incident of Ananias and Sapphira. We must note what Peter said in verse 3, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?” Peter said, “Satan has filled your heart, you lied to the Holy Spirit.” This is the first internal crisis that the Early Churched encountered – deception. Deception originates from Satan. Why did such a thing happen? Wasn’t the Early Church an outstanding church, a model church? There are two main reasons why such a thing happened:

I. The Early Church had Too Good a Testimony 32-37

Upon reading this passage, you will have an impression that this was an exceptional church. I tell you, it was indeed because the church was too good that Satan sought to destroy it.

D.L. Moody is called the prince of preachers. He was an excellent preacher. He used illustrations effectively to reinforce his messages. He once made an illustration which accurately explains this truth:

“A man had a dream wherein he saw angels took him to observe two churches. In the first church, he saw many demons on its rooftop, all the demons were busy doing something. And then, the man was taken to another church. In contrast to the other church, this church had only one demon on its rooftop and it was sleeping. The angel asked the man, “Do you understand what you saw?” The man replied, “Yes, I understand. The first church must be a bad church, for it is full of the devil’s work. The second church must certainly be a good church because only one devil is there, and it is not even doing anything.”

The angel said, “It is just the opposite. The first church is a very good church. The believers there love one another, they serve the Lord industriously, they honour the name of the Lord. Therefore, Satan sent many demons to try and destroy it, to divide the church. The second church is a bad church, there is division and strife among the believers, they aren’t sharing the gospel, they have no testimony, they have long disgraced the name of the Lord. Therefore, Satan sent only one demon and it doesn’t even have to do anything, so it just sleeps.” With that, the man woke up from his dream.

I don’t know how many demons are on our church’s rooftop, I guess there must be a lot, hence, we must be careful!

From this scripture passage, we can see three admirable testimonies of the Early Church:

1. The Unity of the Church – This was indeed a united church. The believers were one in heart and mind, they had everything in common, no one experienced any lack. At this point, the Early Church had already a couple of thousands in membership. A portion of those who became believers on Pentecost Day may have already gone back to their homes, yet, there were still about 5000 people in the church. How can 5000 people have unity? The church is a living organism, but the church must also have organization. Without organization, there will be chaos. As a pastor, I sometimes have to deal with some issues I don’t like to deal with; however, I cannot ignore them, for to do so would invite chaos. On the other hand, if we only have an organization but no unity of life, we will simply become a religious organization. The Church is a living organism, the Holy Spirit is in its midst, we are to be united in doctrine, in fellowship, in giving, and in worship. And the Early church was definitely such a picture of unity.

2. The Growth of the Church – “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” What does this mean? The apostles were filled with more and more power to preach the gospel, more and more people were being blessed and getting saved. The Early Church was a growing church. From chapter two, we see clearly that the church was growing continuously, more and more people were being added to the church; because in the Early Church, not only a few were witnessing for Jesus, not only a few were working, but all the believers willingly worked, because they wanted everyone to know the resurrected Jesus; as a result, members of the Sanhedrin grew envious.

3. The Generosity of the Church – Now, we must understand that the Early Church shared everything they had. The believers sold their land or houses and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet. This was not stipulated by the Early Church, the people did it voluntarily. And not every believer did so, thus, we see this was not out of compulsion. Yet, the Bible also tells us there were no needy persons among them. We can see therefore that there were many who were capable of giving! And how they gave! In v.36-37, Barnabas was specifically mentioned. Barnabas’ offering must have been noteworthy, just like the giving of the widow during Jesus’ time, it was commendable. Through the moving of the Holy Spirit, the Church shared with one another. To them, giving was not a burden but a blessing.

II. Satan’s Deception 5:1-10

Ananias and Sapphira were believers. There is no question about that. But they became tools used by Satan, there is also no question about this. Actually, each one of us believers who belong to the Lord, can become instruments used by Satan. Among the 12 disciples, Jesus had once rebuked Peter saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” On the night Jesus was betrayed, the Bible says, “Then Satan entered Judas.” May the Lord help us, may we not become unwitting instruments of Satan. Ananias and Sapphira were taken advantage of by Satan.

If it were not for the Holy Spirit revealing their sin to Peter, the couple could have become cancer (malignancy) in the church. Why? Because their offering could surely have earned the praises of men, and then they would have been elected as leaders of the church. With such kind of people for church leaders, you can just imagine how the church might have been corrupted. What was this couple’s sin? Why did the Holy Spirit have to slay them? If it was because they did not give their 100% in the offering, I think all of us would have been slain dead, because none of us gives 100% offerings. If not because of that, then what was their sin?

1. Lying to the Holy Spirit – They sold their land and kept a part of it for themselves, yet they told the apostles it was the whole amount. For example, they sold it for 10 million, they kept a million for themselves and offered the 9 million, but they told the apostles that they offered everything. Peter told him, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit…you have not lied to men but to God.” As a result of this, he fell down and died at the apostles’ feet.

The standard during the time of the Early Church was very high. Actually, that is how high God’s standard is at the start of every era. For example, when the Tent of Meeting was being built in the wilderness, it began a new era for the Israelites. The Tent symbolized God’s presence with them, so it was the beginning of the Tabernacle Era. God’s standard then was very high. When the High Priest Aaron’s two sons, who were priests, offered unauthorized fire, fire came from the presence of the Lord to consume them and they died. When Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, the first battle they fought was the battle of Jericho. God had forbidden them from taking anything, not even a piece of thread, not one garment, because this was the beginning of the Battle Era. However, Achan disobeyed and so his whole family was killed by the Lord.

Chapter two of the Book of Acts is the beginning of the Era of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot tolerate any hint of uncleanness or deception. I do not know whether to rejoice or to be sad with this following thought – if the Holy Spirit didn’t lower down his standards, how many people would still be here next Sunday? I believe that even the number of pastors and ministers will be significantly reduced. May the Lord have mercy on us, let us be more sincere and honest, and get rid of falsehood. We may deceive men, but we cannot deceive God. This is not man’s church, but God’s!

2. Envy – In Acts 4:36, a name was mentioned, Joseph, whom the apostles later referred to as Barnabas. Then, in chapter five, Ananias and Sapphira were mentioned. These are a contrast. Joseph brought the money from the sale of his land and dedicated all of it to the Lord. Everyone praised him for his action. The apostle even gave him a new name -Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement.

Barnabas must have been greatly esteemed by the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira took special note of this after witnessing the incident and they envied Barnabas. It is just like when there is a very beautiful sister in our midst. All the men would be staring at her, but then, some sisters would be unhappy about it. This is envy. However, do not suppose that only women are capable of envy, many men can be overcome by envy too. Envy never brings any good outcome. When we see others achieving much success, why don’t we learn from them, why do we envy instead?

As a pastor, my most important ministry is preaching. But I do not envy anyone who can preach better than I do, on the contrary, I seek to learn from them. So every week, I listen to sermons of other pastors, and try to learn from these gifted preachers how to preach better. But if all I do is envy them, not only will I not improve, I will regress in the end. Just like a Russian Doll, which can become bigger and also smaller, if I only know how to envy others, I will only become smaller; but if I learn from others, I can grow bigger and bigger.

3. Pride – This couple’s motive in giving was to seek glory for themselves. Their hearts were filled with pride. Barnabas’ offering must surely have earned praises from the church. And at that point, Satan must have whispered in the couple’s ears: `You can also earn the same glory! You can also be like Barnabas, people will deem you very spiritual!’ It was obvious that they didn’t resist the temptation from Satan, because their hearts really sought such false glory.

Theologian Daniel Defoe called pride the president of hell. Lucifer became Satan because of pride, he wanted to be equal to God. Adam and Eve fell into sin because they wanted to become like God. The serpent told them, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When a heart is filled with pride, pride will open its door wide to sin and worse sins will then ensue. Initially, it was only pride in Ananias and Sapphira’s hearts, then pride produced envy, and what happened next was that the couple conspired to deceive the church, they lied to the Holy Spirit and thus, were slain by the Holy Spirit. It is such a shame, for this couple was a very united couple; Peter said, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?”

Yes, many couples can’t cooperate with each other, they are not united, but this couple was united, yet sadly, they cooperated towards wrongdoing. I would like to advice the sisters in our midst. Sisters, you must be your husband’s helpmeet, this is the reason the Lord God created women. If you see your husband doing wrong, you must caution him and not help him; for to help him is not submission, but to harm him. My wife would sometimes caution me: “That is not right.” Initially, I would be displeased, but later on I would listen to her. Brothers and sisters, when you turn forty, the number of people who can tell you the truth diminishes, because we refuse to listen; so others will not tell you for fear they will get into conflict with you. But to be a good wife, a good husband, you cannot keep silent. When I see my children doing wrong, I cannot keep quiet. It is good to be in unity, but please do not be united in doing wrong.

III. Crisis Turns into Turning Point 5:12-16

We often hear the saying, “a crisis is a turning point.” Every conflict can turn into a blessing, as long as we handle it properly. If the issue of Ananias and Sapphira’s deception was not dealt with, the consequence could have been grave. Why? If the Holy Spirit didn’t deal with them, this couple could have been commended by people, before long, they could have become church leaders. We can just imagine with such people as leaders in the church, what problems could occur in the church! But praise the Lord, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church dealt with the couple. Probably, the Church then didn’t even know that the outcome would be that serious, that they would be slain by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” This crisis became a wonderful turning point:

1. The Church was feared and respected by the people – The Bible says: “No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.” The Bible spoke of fear and respect simultaneously. This means reverence, respect and fear. When the Church dealt with the deceitful couple, on one hand, the people became afraid lest they behave carelessly with regards to the Church, and on the other hand, they respected the Church all the more.

2. The Church Grew More and More – More and more men and women believed in the Lord. The Early Church had been a growing church since the beginning. After three thousand came to the Lord on Pentecost Day, the Bible says: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. After the Church dealt with the crisis, the Church became even more pure, and the incident served as a warning for the people to not follow Ananias and Sapphira’s example but Barnabas’. The Church became more upright, and with that God’s grace increased even more, as a result, many more believed in the Lord.

Next year is our church’s 25th Anniversary, and the publications committee came to me to interview me on my sentiments regarding my ministry in the church these twenty years. During the interview, they asked me a question, “In these 20 years, what unforgettable lessons have you learned?” As I thought about it, I recalled that there was a time when aside from myself and my wife, the church had three male pastors and three female pastors serving together. But in a matter of one year, the three male pastors and two female pastors left the church.

Among them, a couple (Ptr. Samson & Juliet) went overseas for further studies. At that time, I came under tremendous pressure. Not only did I have to take on the duties they had left behind, I also had to take on the criticisms that came. I felt like giving up then, but by the grace of God, I kept quiet; I simply continued doing my ministries.

After two years, the Sunday worshippers’ attendance increased to a thousand, not counting the youth and children. Now, when I look back, I feel like the crisis became the church’s turning point. The church may still have crises to face in the future, but as long as we rely on the Lord and his grace, hold on to the word of God, every crisis can turn into a great opportunity.

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Acts 3 records the first miracle of the Early Church. Peter and John healed a man who was born lame. Because of this miracle, five thousand men believed in the Lord, and this prompted persecution from the Sanhedrin. In Acts 4:5-31, we find three groups of people: first, the Sanhedrin; second, the apostles; and third, the Church. The focus of the discussion and concerns of these three groups of people is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

V.7 “They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”” In v.10, The apostles said, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” In V.12, The apostles said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” In V.17-18, the Sanhedrin determined to stop the apostles from speaking in the name of the Lord. Verses 29-30 records how when the apostles reported everything to the Church, it prayed in unity. They asked the Lord `to stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’

We see that these three groups of people were discussing the name of the Lord, but the themes of their discussion were different. The Sanhedrin was opposing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; the apostles were exalting the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Church was calling out in prayer to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, let us reflect on this passage and learn how we must regard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Defend the Name of the Lord – Exalt the Name of the Lord 5 -11

V.5 “These people who were well-known, had position and authority in society, wealthy people ordered the apostles to stand in their midst. They surrounded the apostles, then questioned them, ‘By what power or what name did you do this?’”

From their question, we can see two things: First, they acknowledge that this was a miracle. The man, who had been healed, had sat daily by the gate of the temple asking for alms. These rulers, elders and teachers of the law and Pharisees went into the temple daily. They had certainly seen this man before. They may even have given him some alms, so they couldn’t argue that his healing was a fake. Second, they refuse to acknowledge that this was the work of God, so they asked the apostles: “By what power or what name did you do this?” In their hearts, they believed that the apostles had accomplished it by the power of the devil, by the king of the demons. When the apostles heard this, they could not keep silent, they had to defend the name of Jesus.

How did the apostles defend the Lord’s name? Let us take note of two aspects:

1. The Apostles Defended the Lord’s Name Upon Being Filled by the Holy Spirit

Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit. This happened only once. The Charismatics often claim that there must be two Pentecost, there must be two experiences of the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is unbiblical. The Holy Spirit only comes to indwell a person once, but a person can be filled with the Holy Spirit numerous times. In Acts 2, the apostles had been filled with the Holy Spirit, now that they stand at trial before the Sanhedrin, they were filled with the Holy Spirit again. Acts 2:31, “When they returned to the church, they prayed together and were filled with the Holy Spirit.” We see from this that being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience; we can be filled with the Holy Spirit again and again. We become indwelt with the Holy Spirit only once, but we must often be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? In simple terms, it is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, to not quench the Holy Spirit, to not grieve the Holy Spirit. Jesus instructed his disciples, saying: “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 13:11) This does not mean we are completely not going to be using our mind, but that the Holy Spirit will help us and give us what to say when we need it. When the apostles were filled with the Spirit, they were able to speak and defend the Lord’s name. When we are faced with persecutions or interrogations, we must learn to ask the Holy Spirit to help us know what to say.

There is a good example in the Bible and that is Nehemiah. Nehemiah had to ask the king of Persia for permission to return home to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 2, when the king asked him, “What is it you want?”, the Bible says, “Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king….” Nehemiah didn’t have time to pray because he could not tell the king, “Please wait a minute, let me pray first.” He immediately sought to answer the king but he first prayed silently to the God of heaven. He was seeking the Spirit of God to guide every word he will utter. This is what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians, “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.” When we do that, we will not forget to pray in every circumstance, to ask the Lord’s spirit to guide us.

2. With Truth and Courage the Apostles Defended the Lord’s Name

They said, “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

And the result can be found in v.13-14, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.” When the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, they defended the Lord courageously with the truth, as a result, their accusers were astonished and unable to say anything. Their enemies were speechless.

2a. The Truth the Apostles Presented – “He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.” This is quoted from Psalm 118:22. The apostles knew the Scriptures very well. They quoted from the Psalms in the Old Testament to point out the errors of the elders and rulers The cornerstone is the sturdiest stone, it can withstand tremendous pressure. Only the most experienced craftsman can spot a cornerstone, because the cornerstone must not only be perfect in appearance, most importantly it must be solid in its structure. Craftsmanship is different nowadays, we don’t go find a piece of rock and make it into a cornerstone anymore, but the spiritual principle here is that we must have spiritual foresight. The world sees Jesus as a useless piece of stone, but the Lord Jesus is the precious cornerstone. The world is spiritually blind, they have eyes but cannot see, they crucified Jesus on the cross. Peter wisely used the Scriptures and rebuked them, saying, “You have eyes but do not see, and you rejected the cornerstone.”

Let me share you a story. In China, during the Spring and Autumn period, a man by the name of Kahe discovered a piece of stone, inside the rock, he saw a jade. He presented the stone to Emperor Chu Li. The emperor then ordered a jade craftsman to take a look at the stone. The man came back and reported that the stone is but an ordinary piece of stone. The emperor was furious and had Kahe’s left leg cut off. Later, Emperor Chu Li died. Emperor Wu succeeded him. Kahe once more offered the stone to the new emperor. The emperor ordered the stone surveyed, once more it was deemed an ordinary piece of stone. Kahe’s right leg was cut off this time. Later Emperor Wen succeeded the throne, Kahe held the stone and cried for three days and night. Emperor Wen felt this very strange and asked him, “Why are you so sad?” Kahe told the emperor his story, and so, the emperor ordered the stone cut open. True enough, there was a piece of jade inside, and the piece of stone became named “He’ di bi`”. The world considers Jesus a mere human, it rejects Him. When we share the gospel, people make fun of us because they fail to see how precious Jesus is. Someday, when they can see with eyes of truth, they will realize Jesus is truly the treasure of life.

2b. The Apostles’ Courage – The apostles not only said Jesus is the stone you have rejected, which has become the capstone. The apostle said courageously, “salvation is found in no else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The apostles didn’t compromise, not only did they point out the people’s sins, they even told them `If you will not believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will not be saved.’ The apostles openly opposed the rulers, teachers of the Law and the Pharisees!

During the 16th century Protestant reformation, Martin Luther was brought to trial before a congress where many notable people were present, he said, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.” This was a very brave thing for him to have done. No wonder Martin Luther was able to change the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Church, we must courageously testify for the Lord, boldly exalt the name of the Lord.

The exclusivity of the Christian faith is very strong, because only Christianity asserts that there is absolute truth, that apart from him salvation is found in no one else. We do not accept that there is another way to be saved. There is a saying `all roads lead to Rome’ – they mean that it is alright whether you believe in Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism or Shintoism, for to them all religions are the same. They believe that Jesus is their Buddha.

In Taiwan, there is a religion called Yi Guan Tong or Oneness, it is a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity and Islam. It is a mixture of many different religions. This religion has attracted people from places all over because it is very inclusive. If I say, “From now on, Christians may worship their ancestors, even worship Buddha”, many parents will no longer forbid their children to believe in Jesus. However, that is not Christianity, neither is it the faith that can save men. The apostles said, “Apart from Him, salvation is found in no one else.” If they didn’t have courage and boldness, they wouldn’t have been able to say this.

II. Call on the Name of the Lord – Testify the Name of the Lord 23-31

When the apostles were released, they went back to their own people. `Their own people’ means the Church. When we say the church, we do not simply mean the church building; the Church refers to those called by the Lord. We are the Church. The Early Church had indeed been a family. When believers encounter difficulties, they immediately go to the church, because the church was their family, spiritual family. Family is where we run to when we are hurt; there, those who belong to the Lord pray and praise God in unity. In this prayer, we notice two things, the prayer lifted up together in unity and its outcome:

1. They prayed together in unity – This prayer is even greater than the prayer at Pentecost (chapter 2), because there were now 120 people praying together, not just twelve. At this point, there were about probably eight to ten thousand church members. With so many people and, therefore, many different point of views, how could the believers be in unity in their prayer? This was a marvellous thing! And, what did they pray about? V.29-30 tell us they prayed for two things:

1a. They asked the Lord for boldness to preach the Word of God – The Sanhedrin had already openly forbidden the apostles from preaching in the name of Jesus, yet they continued to do so, they defied the Sanhedrin. Now, let us differentiate between sin and crime. As Christians, we should not commit sins nor commit crimes, Christians ought to be the best citizens in this world. But we must understand that committing a crime may not necessarily be equivalent to committing a sin, neither is committing a sin necessarily committing a crime. Committing sin is sinning against God, committing a crime is breaking human laws. If for example, one day the law of our nation sins against God (banning prayer, reading the Bible, meeting as a church, preaching the gospel), if we obey these laws, we sin against God. We must rather choose to break human laws than sin against God, we must rather be punished by men than by God. The church prayed together in unity and asked the Lord seemingly to `give us the boldness to break the law of men, because we want to continue preaching Your word. We will face persecution and troubles, O God, give us courage to suffer for You.’ The church nowadays is too comfortable. We have a comfortable air-conditioned environment for assembling, with personal vehicles and church vans to bring us to and from church, as a result, some believers do not want to come if the church van isn’t available to pick them up. When the air conditioner is not cool enough we fret, with a little rain we fail to show up for church service, no one wants to suffer a bit for the Lord. May the Lord help us be bolder and stronger.

1b. Ask the Lord to Continue Performing Signs and Wonders in the Lord’s Name – The Church wanted to continue preaching the word of God. This is what the church is supposed to do and what it can do, however, signs and wonders are not what it can do on its own. These are the work of God. On one hand, the Church asked the Lord for courage to share the gospel, on the other, it asked the Lord to perform signs and wonders to substantiate their testimony. This is a very important principle. Our God is not a magician, he is not out to entertain. There is purpose to every miracle he performs, that is to confirm God’s Word, to help people know the gospel. From the Church’s prayer, we see the cooperation between God and man. 1Corinthians 3 explains this clearly. Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” The gospel work is a work of cooperation between God and man.

2. Outcome of the Prayer in Unity – v. 31 “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

We see three outcomes from this passage:

2a. The Place was Shaken. Was it coincidental that an earthquake occurred right after they prayed such that the whole place was shaken? I believe not, this is evidence of God’s presence with them. In the Old Testament, when God came down to Mt. Sinai, the whole mountain shook. When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, there was a loud sound and a violent wind such that the whole room was obviously shaken. This shows us God is in our midst. Jesus said, “When two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them.” When we pray together in unity of heart and mind, God is with us.

2b. The Disciples were Filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. In chapter 4, when Peter faced the rulers, Pharisees and scribes, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, after their prayer, they were once more filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit should be a constant occurrence. If we want to be victorious and strong, we must constantly be filled with the Holy Spirit. The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the stronger we become, the more victorious we are. This is called the cycle of goodness. Adversely, if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be filled with worldliness, fear, worry, arrogance, pride, inferiority and this will give rise to the cycle of wickedness. We will become more and more arrogant and proud, full of worry and fear. This is a question of choice, which one will you choose, to be filled with the Holy Spirit or with worldliness?

2c. They Boldly Preached the Word of God. This was one of the content of their prayer. They asked the Lord for boldness to speak his word. Seemingly, after they prayed, they continued to speak the word courageously, then God performed signs and wonders, confirming his presence with them, and so they became bolder and bolder in preaching the gospel. This is what the Great Commission says. In Mark 16:20, it says, “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.” After Acts 4, we see how the Early Church is filled with signs and wonders, even Peter’s shadow was able to drive away evil spirits. When the Church prayed in unity of heart and mind, God was in its midst. As they boldly testified for the Lord, the Lord used signs and wonders to confirm the word they spoke.

Church! We must lift up the name of the Lord, call on the name of the Lord, testify the name of Lord! Have we?

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We have already studied seven miracles recorded in the Gospel of John. But there is an eighth miracle in John. In Chapter 21, there is a miracle of the 153 pieces of fish. John 20 is the conclusion of the book, because John 20:31 says “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John was referring to all that he had written in chapters 1 to 20, so he had meant for chapter 20 to be the last chapter. John chapter 21 is a supplementary chapter.

In this chapter, the main subject is Peter. If you know the Bible, you will find that Peter in the Gospel of John is different from Peter in the Book of Acts. Peter seems to have transformed into a different person. In John, Peter was impulsive, loved to be the leader and often spoke impetuously. But in Acts, Peter is a true spiritual leader, he is courageous and humble, his ministry was full of power; when he stood up to preach, 3000 – 5000 people turned to the Lord. John 21 records the turning point in Peter’s life. Because the Lord Jesus performed a miracle (of love), Peter’s life was totally transformed.

In this miracle, we realize the Lord requests three things from those who belong to him:
1. Love Him
2. Serve Him
3. Follow Him.

1. Love Him 1-15

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.” John 21:1-15 is the best explanation. Why? V.15 Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” This is the Lord’s first request for those who belong to Him – to love him. However, before the Lord made this request, v.1-14 tells us how our Lord Jesus loves us. These 14 verses record a miracle, the miracle of 153 pieces of fish.

When you read the verses carefully, you will see that there were 7 disciples present then. Suddenly, Peter told everyone, “I’m going out to fish,” and they said, “We’ll go with you.” And so they went. These men were all professional fishermen. When Jesus called them, they left their nets and their boats and followed him. For three years, Jesus provided for their needs as they followed him. Now that Jesus is gone, they went back to fishing. They returned to their old profession.

Once, I heard Rev. Paul Shen share his testimony. In the 1960-70’s, to be a pastor is to be poor. Rev. Shen had studied in a foreign school, he had a good grasp of the Chinese and English language. An international company wanted to invite him to be translator. The salary offered was very good, and he was allowed to have Sundays off so that he can go and serve in the church. When he told his wife this news, he said his wife didn’t say a word. He said she just looked at me sternly. Of course he immediately understood his wife’s meaning. He then told his wife, “I have already rejected the offer. I just wanted to know what you think of it.”

His wife burst into tears and told him: “No matter how poor we are, as long as you serve the Lord your whole life, I am willing to suffer with you.” And the two of them cried together. Those who have decided to serve the Lord must never turn back! Now, these seven men were turning back to their old profession. However, the Lord really loved and understood them; he was merciful to them. That night, they caught nothing. This is actually the Lord’s grace and mercy. If they had caught much, they would have surely returned to fishing. The Lord didn’t allow them the chance to turn back, he didn’t allow them to catch anything.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. And then he told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they were able to catch so much that they were unable to haul the net, a total of 153 pieces of fish. This is a miracle, two reasons evidence this:

1. The Lord commanded 153 fish to go to the right side of the boat – The disciples had been fishing all night, they caught nothing whether from the left side or the right side, because the Lord didn’t allow any fish to go near their boat. We should not be proud. If the Lord opposes us, nothing we do will succeed. It was the Lord who ordered 153 large fish (no small ones) to go near the boat’s right side. When they put down their net, they caught 153 large fish. Don’t you think this is a miracle?

2. The Lord performed a miracle he had done before – If you know your Bible well, you will have the impression that this miracle seemed to have happened before, right? In Luke 5, when Peter and his company were fishing. At that time, Peter was still a fisherman. He had fished all night and caught nothing, but when Jesus got into their boat and told him to put out into deep water, and to let down the nets for a catch, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break and their boat was about to sink. Immediately, Peter recognized this as a miracle. He fell at Jesus’ knees and then Jesus called him, saying, “… from now on you will fish for people.”

Three years later, Jesus did the same miracle. He is renewing his call for them to be fishers of men because they had turned back to their old profession. This is a miracle of love. You will find that in the whole chapter, Jesus never rebuked his disciples. If I were Jesus, I would have rebuked them first, “You had been with me for three years, yet you don’t even have a little faith! Just because I have gone away, you return to fishing, useless!” Not only did the Lord not rebuke them, the Lord prepared breakfast for them. When the disciples landed, they saw fish and bread; the Lord knew their weaknesses, the Lord called back his disciples with love. Just like the prodigal son’s father. The father didn’t rebuke his prodigal son at all, yet the prodigal cried and repented. Sometimes chastisement doesn’t work, only God’s love can change hardened hearts and cause the prodigal to return.

II. Serve Him 15-17

When they finished eating, the Lord Jesus had a man-to-man talk with Peter. The Lord Jesus asked Peter the same question, three times, “Do you love me?” Peter replied, “Lord I love you.” Why three times? Some people say because Peter denied the Lord three times, so the Lord had to ask three times.

Previously, I agreed with such an interpretation. But now, I find myself not agreeing; because I believe the Lord is not that petty to think -“you denied me three times so I have to seek reassurance three times and make you feel ashamed for what you did.” I don’t think it is so. Anyway, when we meet Jesus, we can ask him then. But one thing is for sure: the Lord wants us to love him. Three times, he asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter was the leader of the Church. In answering this question, Peter was representing the Church. The Lord is asking us, his church, “Do you love me?” Of course we say, “Lord, I love you.” But we are not only to love in words, but also in deeds. After Peter replied `Lord I love you’, the Lord entrusted to him three times the care of his flock. This is the relationship between love and service. Do you love the Lord? If you love him, are you serving him?

From this thrice-asked question, we see two kinds of relationship between love and service:

1. Service is a response borne out of love for the Lord – The Lord asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” What do `these’ refer to? Of course there are different answers, but from the context, this means the 153 fish they had just caught. These were God’s blessings, his provisions. The Lord was asking Peter: Do you love me more than these things I gave you? Meaning: Do you love the gifts or the Lord who gives these gifts? When Peter said, “Lord, I love you”, the Lord said, “Feed my sheep.” Then the Lord asked him twice more, “Do you love me?” Peter replied, “Lord I love you.” The Lord again said, “Feed my sheep.” The Lord wanted Peter to feed his sheep, to take care of his sheep.

Feeding the sheep and taking care of the sheep are the two missions of a shepherd. To feed the sheep means to supply the needs of the sheep, to care for the sheep is to oversee their needs. The Bible uses sheep to typify humans, because sheep are characterized by three unique traits: a. stubborn – sheep are stubborn, they don’t easily obey. Men are also stubborn, we become more so as we grow old. b. nearsighted – sheep are nearsighted. They can only see a short distance ahead of them. They can’t see the dangers that are farther ahead, so the sheep need a shepherd to guide them. c. blindly follows (no sense of direction) – sheep don’t know how to return home. Cats and dogs are amazing in that they know how to find their way back home, but sheep always lose their way. Men are like sheep, we are stubborn, nearsighted and have a bad sense of direction; so, we need a shepherd to feed and care for us. Serving the Lord is a response to his love. Do you love the Lord? If so, feed his sheep!

2. Serving the Lord is an extension of our love for the Lord – We cannot see God, but Jesus once said: “…whatever you did for these little ones, you did for me…” The Lord Jesus wanted Peter to feed his sheep, to care for his sheep. The Lord meant: If you really love me, love my sheep then. If you cannot love the brother whom you can see, how can you love God whom you can’t see? Serving is an extension of love. A Chinese saying goes: “If you love the house, you have to love the bird perched on its roof too.” If you love a person, you will love his family, even his cats and dogs. It is but reasonable, right? If you love me, then, you will also love my children, even my dog. On the contrary, if you don’t like me, you also don’t like my children. When you see my dog, and I am not around, you might even beat him, because the dog can’t tell on you. The Lord told Peter: “I am the good shepherd. I give my life for my sheep, because I love my sheep. If you truly love me, love those I love.” Serving the Lord is an extension of our love for the Lord.

III. Follow Him 18-23

The Lord’s first request is for Peter to love Him. The second is to serve Him and the third is to follow Him. Three years before, when Jesus called Peter, he had already told him: “Come, follow me.” Three years after, the Lord Jesus says again, “Follow me!” Why? Because Peter had started to turn back, he returned to fishing, to his old profession. A famous hymn says “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back”. On the evening Jesus was betrayed, Peter denied Jesus three times. Although he had already repented and the Lord had already forgiven him, Peter, in his heart, must have felt a twinge of unworthiness. So, he went back to fishing. Yet the Lord Jesus, through a miracle of love, recalled Peter. In fact, he entrusted the care of his flock to Peter. The Lord told him, “Follow me.”

But the Lord made two requirements:
1. Follow him even unto death
2. Wholeheartedly follow him.

1. Follow Him Faithfully Even Unto Death – The Lord Jesus told Peter: “When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” The Bible says this is to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. The Lord didn’t conceal it from Peter; he told him that if you follow me you will be martyred, you have to follow me faithfully even unto death. The prosperity gospel preachers nowadays say that as long as you believe in the Lord, everything will go well for you, you will be blessed. Although that is not totally wrong, it is only one-sided. There is glory and blessings, but there is also suffering, there is also the cross. We must tell the whole story, tell both sides of the story. According to church history, Peter was crucified on the cross for the Lord, but because he felt he was unworthy to be crucified like the Lord, he asked to be crucified upside down. We don’t know if that is true, but one thing is certain – Peter followed the Lord faithfully till death. After John 21, Peter never turned back, why? Because he experienced the love of the Lord; because of love, he faithfully followed the Lord to death.

2. Wholeheartedly Follow the Lord – When Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” This was most likely John. When the Lord told Peter you will be martyred for my sake, Peter didn’t say I disagree, but he asked the Lord about John. The Lord told Peter, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” He meant, “John has his path to take, you have your path to take. I require different things of every one of my disciples. What have you to do with him? Just wholeheartedly follow me, that is all I ask.”

Among those who have wholeheartedly followed the Lord, Caleb is the most famous one. When the ten spies said Israel cannot enter Canaan, Caleb wholeheartedly followed the Lord. He didn’t let the ten spies influence him, he strongly believed that they can enter the land. When a million Israelites were opposed to entering Canaan, and in fact, wanted to stone Moses, Joshua and Caleb remained firm. Caleb stood by Moses and Joshua and said, “We can certainly do it as long as we trust in the Lord.” The Lord was pleased with him and declared publicly, “… my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly…”

Brothers and sisters, the Lord desires that everyone who follows him follow wholeheartedly, refusing to be swayed by any human influence. Comparing ourselves with others is a big obstacle to our following the Lord. Because when we compare ourselves with others, we will either become proud or feel inferior; and this will affect how we follow the Lord. Sometimes, when we serve the Lord together, why is it that someone becomes more and more welcome, everything seems so easy for him, and he doesn’t encounter obstacles? While, we begin to think `I am not welcome, I face many criticism and attacks; it is so unfair. The church isn’t fair to me. Why can others do that and I can’t.” The more you dwell on it, the unhappier you become. As a result you turn back. Actually, each of us must tread the path set out for us by the Lord, we are each accountable to the Lord for what we do with what he has given us. We don’t have to blame anyone else. If the Lord gave you two silver coins, he will not ask you for 5000; but if the Lord gave you 5000, he will ask you for 5000. Someday, when we face the Lord, you will discover everything is fair, so, the Lord said, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

The Lord’s requirement for every believer is not the same, but the principle is the same: He wants you to love him, serve him, follow him. Do you love him? Serve him? Follow him?

The post The 8th Miracle in the Gospel of John: The Miracle of Love appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

Recently, one of the biggest piece of news is the passing of Steve Jobs. If you visit the Apple website, you will see a photo with the caption – `Steve Jobs, 1955-2011, only 56 years old, but he had touched the lives of many in this world. He was co-founder of the Apple Computer. Forced to leave Apple in 1985, he returned in 1996. In the decade following his departure from Apple, Apple faced bankruptcy. When Steve returned to Apple, he turned the company around such that the company had reserves more than that of the United States Government by July 2011 (Apple: 75.876 by Billion / U.S. Government: 73.768 by Billion). This is really a remarkable thing. He also began the so-called i-generation – the iTunes, the i-touch i-phone, i-pad. On the day he left the world, the newspaper carried the headline “i-Sad”. Steve Jobs had indeed affected the whole world.

In the Bible, there is a man known as having disturbed the world, too. This is the apostle Paul. How are Steve Jobs and Paul similar and different? Their similarity: both of them were full of visions, they both wanted to change the world, they were both great salesmen. They are different in that Steve Jobs did not simply sell some products, but he sold dreams. This was one of the reasons for Steve Jobs’ success; while the Apostle Paul did not sell any product, but offered the life-changing Gospel.

I recently read a book entitled: “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs”. In it, Steve Jobs shared the seven principles of his success. After finishing the book, I felt deeply that since the church has the life-changing Gospel, which is more valuable and more important than any i-product, how then can we become a church which turns the world upside down with the gospel? I borrowed four of the seven secrets mentioned by Steve Jobs and applied it to CBCP, hopeful that we may become a church that turns the world upside down.

A. Do What You Love

When reporters interviewed Steve Jobs on the reason for his success, he said, “The only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” If you do not like the work that you do, you will never find real success, because you do not have the kind of passion that will keep you going. A person with passion isn’t exempt from difficulties and obstacles, however no amount of difficulty can put him down. We see this in the lives of many successful people and Steve Jobs is one of them.

From the time I graduated from seminary, I have been shepherding the church for 23 years now, do you think that pastors don’t encounter difficulties? Do you think that people in the church are all virtuous? I believe the difficulties I have encountered couldn’t be any less compared to yours, however, because of my passion for the church, I continue and remain in this place to serve God. Paul had been a successful evangelist, and it was all because he loved what he did.

In the Book of Acts, in 1 Corinthians and 2Corinthians, we see Paul’s heart for the Gospel. Last month in Canada, I preached a sermon in a large church, I spoke on the topic, “Three Keys to Opening Prison Doors”. One of the keys I mentioned was the key that opened the prison door for Paul, the key of praise. Paul had often been beaten for the sake of the Gospel, he often sat behind bars, the most famous of which was his imprisonment for preaching in Philippi. There, not only was he beaten but he was dragged into prison. Yet, Paul and Silas sang praises unto God in the middle of the night. Do you know why they were not sleeping but singing in the middle of the night? It was because they could not sleep, their bodies had wounds and cuts all over, they simply couldn’t lie down, so they sang praises instead. If we had been in their place, I am sure we will sing too, but it probably wouldn’t be praises to God, but songs of complaints – perhaps we’d groan, “Oh, what a difficult life! What a difficult life!”

Hudson Taylor and his wife went by faith as missionaries to China. Once, they faced a very difficult time, such that they didn’t even have rice to eat. The couple put their heads into the jar where they store the rice, and the two sang the doxology aloud. How could they sing when they had no food to eat, unless you love the gospel more than having rice? This was the case with Paul and with Hudson Taylor, how about you? Do you love what you do now, your ministry? If you do, would that bit of criticism or that small incident of persecution cause you to give up your ministry? If so, you do not love what you do, you only love yourself. Oh Church! Do we love what we do for the Lord?

II. Put a Dent in the Universe

Steve Jobs was a man who had vision. This is one characteristic that a leader must have – to see what others cannot see. During the decade after he left Apple, the company floundered. When he returned to Apple, he gave the company its vision. He made his team understand the company’s long-term vision. When Steve was only 23 years old, his property was worth one million U.S. dollars. At 24, he had more than 10 million U.S. dollars. By the age of 25, he had 1 billion dollars. But he said, “I never work for the money. To be buried as the richest man in the world holds little attraction for me; what I care about is, “Can I tell myself – `I have done a great job.’” This year, he was buried and he had indeed done a great job. He had left his mark in this world. Church, how about you? God had given the Great Commission to the Apostles, the apostles left the world a good example, it had been passed from generation to generation, the baton is now in our hands; when we leave the world, how much of a mark will we have left behind for the Gospel?

Our church is a purpose-driven church, for without a purpose, without vision, we cannot leave any mark. A church without purpose and vision wouldn’t even know what it is doing. But we know, we use “Carry the Cross” to remind us of the five things we are to do: 1.Celebrate Christ, 2.Reach the the Lost 3.Obey the Word 4.Share our Lives. 5. Serve One Another. May we not forget that these are the five major purposes of our church. To `Reach the Lost’ is one of our goals. Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save the lost.” This is the mission and vision of Jesus. Paul said: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”

Paul sought to left a mark for Christ, how about us? One day, when we are about to leave this world, can we tell our children, `I have done a great thing for Jesus, because I left a mark for the Gospel of Jesus in this world’? When Pastor Rick Warren’s father was about to leave this world, he suddenly wanted to get up from his bed. His children and grandchildren, who were surrounding him, asked him, “Where are you going?” He said: “I’m about to leave this world, I want to save one more for Jesus.” But before long, he passed away. His father’s words, `Reach one more for Jesus’ touched Rick Warren deeply and so, he asked someone to write a song called “Reach One More for Jesus, which became a well-known gospel song.

III. Say No to 1000 Things

In 1997, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he discovered that the company had 15 different Apple products. Each product had many different models. He said that even he himself couldn’t know all the unique features of each product. Three weeks later, he decided to retain only four products and he pooled all efforts into developing those four products. He succeeded, and as a result, the I-generation began. I often remind my co-workers that we don’t have to do too much, however we must excel in whatever we decide to do.

For example: October is Mission Month. We hold Missions’ Night and Missions Fair. We don’t have to hold this yearly as if it is a tradition, as though it is mandatory. We must check if the situation warrants it. And if we want to do it, we must do it really well. Sometimes, we want the whole church to attend these activities, but if we do not properly prepare this year, next year they will no longer come. On the contrary, if this year we do a great job, those who didn’t come this year will come, because they will hear good testimonies regarding it. This is the same for all ministries. For example, if we prepare well for Sunday worship services (from the praise and worship, to the song offering, to the sermons, even the church reports), people will naturally be delighted to come to Sunday worship. Conversely, if the lead singer did not properly prepare, if the sermons were carelessly delivered, the reports were long-winded, do you think people would still like to come?

One secret to doing the various church ministries well is simplicity, that is, simply focus on one thing. This is what Paul said, “I do only one thing, forgetting what is behind, pressing on towards what is ahead.” If we consider its population, CBCP is no longer a small church; when the new church building is finished, and we consider its land area, it would be an even larger church. However, I would like to remind each co-worker, whether you are a pastor, a deacon, a small group leader or a lay man involved in some church ministry, you must remember this acronym: ASAP – As Simple As Possible.

We must not let CBCP become a complicated church; do not lay down too many rules – should not’s, may not’s, do not’s, must not’s. In CBCP, I am your senior pastor, every one of you can come and approach me directly or see me in my office. We have no hierarchy; we have only one purpose – to proclaim the gospel with one heart and mind. Do not let gospel work become very complex.

For example, we have Classes 101-104. All these courses are interrelated. Therefore, we ask you to take 101, 102, 103, 104 in succession; but from Class 201 upwards, the courses are independent of one another, so there is no need to take them in succession, particularly Class 203. Class 203 is a training class on the use of the Evangelism-Cube (E-Cube), every believer can attend this class. Some churches require their members to participate in a lot of training classes before going out to preach the gospel. They do that because they fear that, 1.they will share the gospel erroneously or 2. they will not be able to answer questions thrown at them. Because of this, gradually, sharing the gospel becomes a task they leave only to the experts; lay believers become afraid to go out and share the gospel. The gospel is very simple, all of us came to believe the gospel through the moving of the Holy Spirit, not because those who shared it to us were eloquent or highly-educated.

If we want to be a mission-minded church, not only should we ask: “What should we do?” We must also ask: “What are we not supposed to do?” As businessmen, you have to ask: “What should we do?” But more than that, you must also ask: “What are we not supposed to do?” Do not think that by having many products, you will have many customers. In fact, it is just the opposite, think about it.

IV. Kick-Start Your Brain

Jesus said:” The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” King Solomon said: “Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” Solomon was of course not referring the heart as an organ. Asians usually refer to the whole being when they say heart, while Westerners usually say the brain or mind to refer to a person’s being.

If we really want the church to become a church that influences the world, we must use our mind more, we cannot be too narrow-minded; we must be big-hearted. When a church has too many `no’s’- cannot, may not, must not, should not – this church is closing its own doors. In the Garden of Eden, only the fruit of one tree was forbidden for consumption, that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the fruits from every other tree can be eaten. However, some churches have slowly changed this rule, forbidding the eating of fruits from all trees except one; they have narrowed down the truth more and more, and curtailed the freedom of Christians more and more. We have forgotten that Jesus said, “The truth will set you free indeed.” Church! We must have a generous heart to become an influential church.

Steve Jobs came up with a very significant term: Innovation. What is innovation? Innovation is a new way of doing things which brings about positive changes; innovation can improve life. Innovation is not necessarily more costly, the most important goal is increasing something’s effectiveness or efficiency. The ability to innovate depends on whether we know how to employ the power of association- that is making connections between seemingly unrelated matters. Steve Jobs said that once he walked into a Macy’s Department Store to buy something, there, he saw a blender, noticed its color and appearance. Immediately, he said to himself, “This is how the Apple II computer should be designed.” A blender and a laptop computer, how can they be related? Yet, with innovation, one can associate these two things together.

Apple has a popular slogan – `Think different.’ Oh Church, we often say, `The truth never changes’, but we must remember the method for transmitting it can vary according to the times and situations. Although we say this, however, whenever we hear a new approach, we put forward many reasons to oppose it. We argue that we have never done things that way, we limit our present and future work by our past experiences!

Next year is the church’s 25th anniversary. We are already 25-years old, we have 25 years of experience, but we must not allow any past experience to limit our growth. We must be more innovative, and think of more effective ways to spread the gospel of the kingdom. Steve Jobs left this world a better place. Christians! When we leave this world, how many people would we have helped enter the kingdom of heaven, how many lives would we have helped changed?

The post The Church that Turns the World Upside Down (Acts 17:6) appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

There are two unique elements in this story narrated by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31:

1. Jesus depicted a true situation in hell. No one has ever been to heaven and no one has ever been to hell, but the Bible reveals to us the true situation in heaven and in hell.

2. This is a true story. During his ministry, Jesus used to narrate parables and stories; the characters in his stories and parables don’t have names, except for this one. The name of the character is Lazarus. During Jesus’ time, there really existed a person by the name of Lazarus and what is amazing is that this Lazarus did get sick and die. And even more amazing, he was raised back to life after he had been dead for four days by the Lord Jesus. Those who didn’t believe in Jesus wanted to kill Lazarus, since because of him many believed in Jesus.

From this, we realize that the story of the rich man and Lazarus is a true situation. When we depart from this life, there is no other place we can go to apart from heaven or hell; therefore, before we leave this world, we must make a choice for ourselves.

Today, we will see an amazing gospel conference and in it, we will see three different representatives:
– Abraham is a representative of God,
– Lazarus is a representative of heaven, and
– the rich man is a representative of hell.
These three people are discussing which one is the best method for evangelism:

I. The Rich Man – Hell’s Representative

Let us first understand the rich man, who he is, why he was in hell, and what request he was making.

1. He was a rich man who knew how to enjoy life – V.19

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” Jesus was really a good preacher for with three simple sentences he was able to reveal the rich man’s philosophy of life. The rich man was someone who knew how to enjoy life, he knew how to use money. Some rich people don’t know how to use money, they live miserably and die leaving tens of millions in property, these are misers. However, this rich man wasn’t so, he wore the best branded clothes, he ate the best food, and not only did he himself enjoy life, he knew how to enjoy life with his family and friends. The man was really wise, he knew that to enjoy along with a group is to increase the pleasure tenfold.

2. He was a rich man who knew how to do good – V.20-21

“At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” There is a very important implication in this sentence – this rich man was a well-known philanthropist. How do we know this? The beggar Lazarus was sick, he could not even walk, but someone left him at the rich man’s gate to beg for alms, for food.

If you know who the kindest and most wicked man is in Talayan village, to which one will you go if you have a need? Will you approach the barangay captain? There was one time, the barangay captain brought someone to see me. This man was here in the Philippines with his daughter, but their residency had expired, and they wanted to leave the Philippines, however they had no money to buy plane tickets. So the barangay captain came to me, hoping the church could help them. To cut the story short, after verifying the veracity of their story, I asked our lawyer to help them with their papers and the church bought two plane tickets to send them back to their home. What I am trying to say is they came to us because they have confidence in the church. If that rich man had been famous for being wicked, people would not have left Lazarus at his gate for he might harm Lazarus, right? Instead, he allowed Lazarus to remain at his gate and he even gave him some food, the rich man must have had a compassionate heart.

3. He was a rich man who did not know the Lord

Sometimes, we wrongly assume that this rich man went to hell because he was rich, because he had lived in luxury. There is nothing wrong in having money, in being rich, there is nothing wrong either with knowing how to enjoy one’s riches. Going to heaven or hell does not have anything to do with a person being rich or poor; neither with whether he lived in luxury or not. There were two rich men in this story – there was the rich man in hell, and the rich man in heaven. Remember, Abraham was a rich man and when he died, he went to heaven. The rich man was not in hell because he was rich nor that he lived in luxury, but because he didn’t know the Lord. Brothers and sisters, if we have everything in this life but do not have the Lord, someday, when we leave this life, not only will we not be able to bring any of our wealth with us, we will have to face eternal suffering. Do you have the Lord in your heart?

4. He issued two requests from hell

After the rich man died, he was brought to suffer in hell. V.23-24, “In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’” This was his first request – `send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue.’

This was not a big favour to ask. He was in agony in hell; because the fire in hell never goes out, his soul couldn’t die either, he is eternally suffering, and he was not asking for a cup of ice-cold Coca-Cola, he was not asking for a cup of ice water, only a little water, this is really a very small request, yet his request was rejected. Why? V.26 “Abraham said to him: “… between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” He meant, “It is not that I do not want to help you, it is not possible at all. It is not possible for us to go over there to you, it’s too late.”

Too late – this is the most regrettable thing in life. Dear friends, brothers and sisters, do not be too late. If you don’t make the right choice for the future now, you will forever regret it. Do not be too late! V. 27-28 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

This was a really good request. He was not asking for himself, he sought this for his brothers’ sake. Because he was suffering, he did not want to see his brothers suffer the same way he was suffering, but his request was still refused. V.29, “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.” Moses and the Prophets represent the entire Old Testament of the Bible. What he meant was that Lazarus need not go back, they need only heed the Bible, then they would not have to suffer in hell. The rich man did not agree, so, he and Abraham began a debate about which one is the best evangelistic method. Let us first identify the character Abraham, God’s representative, who he is, what his point of view is.

II. Abraham – God’s Representative

V.23 records how while the rich man was suffering in hell, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. Why was Lazarus not in God’s arms but in Abraham’s? Abraham is God’s representative; he is the ancestor of the Jews. The Jews call themselves the descendants of Abraham, they think that as descendants of Abraham, they are saved. Jesus is showing them that not every person who is Abraham’s descendant will be saved. That is why one man was in heaven and the other one was in hell. Similarly, not everyone who claims to be a Christian is saved. If we do not acknowledge from the heart, confess our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior, even if we undergo baptism, we will perish. Abraham denied both the rich man’s requests, not because he was unloving, but because he had to speak the truth and say `no’. The rich man’s first request was for Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue. Abraham said: “Between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” The rich man’s second request was for Lazarus to be sent back to the world and warn the man’s five brothers so that they will repent and not have to go to hell. This was a very noble request, but Abraham rejected it too; he said there was no such need, because they have the Old Testament of the Bible to which they can take heed. As long as they accept the truth and the teachings of the Bible, they would not have to suffer in hell.

1. The Rich Man’s Point of View – V.30

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” The rich man didn’t agree with Abraham’s view. He argued that if someone from the dead would preach the gospel to them, they will surely repent. At first glance, this seems to be the best way to share the gospel – a man rising back from the dead to share the gospel to those who are living, to tell them the horrors and sufferings of hell or the beauty of heaven. Everyone would surely believe in the Lord then; just like the miracle crusades that are held nowadays, where those who have been healed miraculously are invited to testify and many believe in the Lord. We will not deliberate whether those so-called miraculous healings are real or false, or whether the power is from the Lord or from evil spirits. What I want to point out is: If a so-called miracle occurs again and again and again, people will become used to it, the miracle will no longer be a miracle.

If our faith is built on miracles, then our faith has no sure foundation. True faith must be built on the Words of Moses and the Prophets, that is the truths in the Bible. After the 911 incident, many people started going to church. Because of the tragedy, people felt deeply life’s uncertainty, that none of them could tell what might happen the next day. They felt strongly how they could not face tomorrow without real faith. However, a year later, the number of those who go to church slowly declined; two years after, the number of people who attend church returned to almost that before 911. How about that? Would it have to take another 911 for them to return to church? True faith must be based on truth rather than on so-called signs and wonders. I am not against miracles, signs and wonders, because our God is a God of miracles, but our faith must not be based on signs and wonders, but upon the Lord himself.

2. Abraham’s Point of View – Abraham refused the requests of the rich man.

V.31 “Abraham said: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Strangely, the meeting ended with that reply from Abraham. There were no further discussions. The rich man did not say anything about it anymore, neither did Abraham. The Bible seems to tell us, ‘Whether you want to accept it or not, it is up to you, it is your own choice!’ Which method do you think is the best for sharing the gospel – through signs and wonders, or through the word of Truth? I think a lot of people are like the rich man, they believe that miracles are the best way to share the gospel. We have really been deceived by Satan, no wonder so many people are heading towards hell. The Gospel of John, chapter 12 records an actual incident. A disciple of Jesus named Lazarus, fell ill and died. Four days later, Jesus raised him back to life. What resulted from this? John 12:9-11 “Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.”

Here we see three results:

2a. People Curious to See Lazarus – They came, not only because of Jesus, but to take a look at Lazarus. These are a group of curious people. They wanted to see this miracle, but we should note that these people may believe in Jesus today but tomorrow they may convert to another faith. They will believe as long as there are miracles for them to see, it is not God they believe in but the miracles.

2b. People who Wanted to Kill Lazarus Out of Jealousy – The chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus. The rich man said in hell: “If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” Now, someone who really resurrected from the dead is before them, yet not only did they not believe, they even wanted to kill him. And this was because many believed in Jesus because of him. We see therefore, that if men do not believe God’s Word, even if someone from the dead goes to them, they will not believe.

2c. People who Believed on Account of Him – Lastly, there were those who believed on account of Lazarus. They believed in the Lord Jesus, but do you think there were a lot of them? There were not a lot, because after Jesus’ resurrection, those who believed were no more than 120. Previously, tens of thousands followed the Lord Jesus, but later, they all disappeared. It is not miracles, but the Word of God, which bring men unto salvation.

III. Lazarus – Heaven’s Representative

If you notice, Lazarus was silent all throughout this story. While he was still on earth, he was a beggar and he was sick, the Bible says he was covered with sores. The Bible goes on to say that when Lazarus died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. Seemingly, Lazarus wasn’t even given a burial.

However, we need to understand that Lazarus went to heaven after he died not because he used to suffer while on earth, not because he was ill, not because he was poor, but because he knew the Lord. In heaven, he was in the arms of Abraham, yet he spoke not a word because he knew that it is all by the grace of God that he was in heaven. He had done nothing at all, it was all because of God’s grace that he was in heaven; thus, there was nothing he could say.

Some people say it well, when we die and reach heaven, we will be amazed by three things:

1. The person you thought would not be in heaven is there. Sometimes, we think that some people can’t be saved, but God’s grace reached them and saved them.

2. The person whom you thought would be in heaven isn’t there at all. Some people look pious and seem to love the Lord, but they are hypocrites. As a result they are rejected at heaven’s door.

3. At that moment you will find most amazing that `I am in heaven’. When we look at our own life, we cannot but feel unworthy. Paul said, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—so that no one can boast.”

There are Three Applications We Can Find from Today’s Message

1. The rich man was in hell not because of anything he did or did not do. He was there because he did not know the Lord, he did not have the Lord in his heart. It was not for the poor or the rich that Heaven was prepared. Heaven was prepared for those who accept the Lord. Have you accepted the Lord?

2. Lazarus was in heaven not because of anything he had or had not done, either. The reason he was in heaven was the grace of God. By faith, he had accepted the Lord’s grace, and he was saved. He had nothing to boast of at all. We must give thanks to the Lord for his grace.

3. Abraham tells us the way to salvation is not through miracles and wonders but by believing in the words of Moses and the Prophets. The Bible contains the words of eternal life. The Bible says: “Faith comes by hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

The rich man had five brothers. How many brothers, relatives, friends do we have? If they do not have the Lord, they have no eternal life, they will have to suffer some day in hell. Have we shared the gospel to them? Let us pray!

The post Amazing Gospel Conference appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

The Gospel of John records seven miracles. Today we will be studying the last of these seven miracles: Jesus’ raising Lazarus, who had already been dead for four days, back to life. This can be called the greatest miracle, because this miracle defeated death and sin. The Bible says: “It is destined for man to die once.” From history’s beginning till now, no one had been able to overcome death by his own power. Even in China’s thousand years of history, many had sought to find the elixir of life.

During Qin Shi-Wang’s era, he sent 3000 young boys and girls to seek the elixir of life, but in the end, he still died. Some people said it well – death is like a pair of invisible hands, when it has caught you, you cannot escape it no matter how you try. Death is frightening. But this miracle tells us death and sin had been overcome. The Bible says: “For the wages of sin is death.” Death is the result of sin, thus all men are destined to die once, because all men have sinned.

However, this miracle brought forth a man, four-days dead, back to life. This miracle not only proves that death has been defeated, but sin has also been defeated. No one has ever defeated sin and death except the Lord of Life, He proved that death and sin can be defeated.

Today, I want us to study this great miracle from another perspective – how to resurrect the spiritually dead. The Book of Ephesians tells us we are all dead in our sins, we are all spiritually dead. But the Lord Jesus made us alive, that is, we were born again. How do we become born again?

In this miracle, Jesus spoke three commands:
1st: Take away the stone;
2nd: Lazarus, come out;
3rd: Take off the grave clothes and let him go.
These three commands resurrected the 4-day dead man.

By the same principle, these three commands can bring a spiritually dead person back to life:

I. Take Away the Stone – Preparatory Gospel Work

This is the first step towards the resurrection of a dead man. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” This can be called preparatory gospel work. This is a very important step although the gospel is not directly preached. If the stone is not taken away, the dead cannot come out even if he returns back to life. The longer a non-believer lives in this world, the deeper the influence the world will have had upon him, including cultural and religious ones. It would not be easy for us to make him believe in the Lord. The younger a man is, the easier it is for him to come to Christ; the older he gets, the harder it is for him to become a believer.

E.D. Starbuck, the founder of Religious Psychology in the United States, pointed out an alarming statistical finding: “The earliest age a person becomes a believer is at about 7 years old; from 7- 11 years old, the number increases, while the number peaks during the period from 11 to 16 years of age. From 16 -20 years of age, the number begins to decline, by 30 years and above, the number who turn to the Lord continue to decrease.” The reason is simple, the stone that obstructs their way to believing in the Lord gets bigger and bigger! So, on one hand, the sooner we lead a child to the Lord the better. On the other hand, we must learn to take away the stone that obstructs men from coming to the Lord.

Today, we would like to specifically take away two pieces of big stones that obstruct the Chinese people from believing in the Lord:

1. Ancestral Stones – Many people don’t want to believe in the Lord because they know they can no longer worship their ancestors after they accept the Lord. If they do not worship their ancestors, they will be called un-filial. Failure to exercise filial piety is a great offense especially for many traditional Chinese families. To resolve this issue, we need to tackle it from its origin.

Ancestral worship originated from teachings on filial duty. Therefore, we must begin our pre-evangelism work by addressing the aspect of filial piety. We must honour our parents, respect our ancestors; we must not make people feel that Christians are un-filial and do not respect their ancestors. However, what is true filial piety, what does it mean to truly honour our parents? Truly honouring our parents is to honour them while they are still living, not after they are dead. Isn’t it so much better to bring your parents out to eat more siomai’s while they are alive than offering a whole roasted pig before their tombs? Nowadays, many parents are more open, they are beginning to understand this simple principle. So, if we want our parents to come to know the Lord, we must begin by honouring them now. Regarding ancestors, we don’t worship our ancestors (because our ancestors are not gods); but we remember them. On special days, we can bring flowers in order to show that we remember them. Do not make people feel that we renounce our ancestors after we become Christians. To put it simply: the way we honour and respect our family is our best pre-evangelism work.

2. Stone Idols – The Chinese have so many gods and deities. Before many of us became Christians, it was a normal thing to have many different idols in our houses, the most common of which are the ` tho ti kong, kuan kong, kuan im’,etc. My parents had also been idol-worshippers before they became Christians. In our house, we used to have `tho ti kong’ and `kuan kong’ . Some people don’t want to believe in Jesus because they are afraid that the idols will be displeased if they do so. Actually, idols are not anything. We must help them understand this concept: “The true God created man, and man created the false gods.” Idols, which are made by the hands of men are false gods, they do not have any power at all.

Psalm 115 describes the powerlessness of idols –“They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

Idols are made from gold, silver or wood, they don’t have life in them at all. But sometimes, evil spirits may enter into them and deceive people. However, we need not be afraid, because the spirit that is in us (that is the Holy Spirit) is greater than all other spirits. 1John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Our God is a great God, He is greater than all idols, He is greater than any evil spirit. I have already been a pastor for more than twenty years, I have helped many people get rid of their idols. Idols are nothing, we don’t need to be afraid of them, because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Our God is the only true God, the greatest, most awesome, glorious and true God!

Of course there are other stones that need to be taken away. But the principle is: if we are to bring people to Jesus’ saving grace step by step, we must take away the stones that hinder them from coming to Christ, one by one. However, I discovered a strange thing: when Jesus said take away the stone, someone opposed it. This person was Martha. She told the Lord, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” I believe that among all the people there, Mary and Martha were the ones who would have wished most intensely for Lazarus to return to life. But now, one of them is opposing the act that can bring him back to life again. We, who serve the Lord, must be careful not to allow our experiences, our actions, our views, our testimonies to become stones that keep people from believing in the Lord.

II. Lazarus, come out – The Power of the Gospel

When the men took away the stone, Jesus approached the tomb and did two things:

1. First, Jesus prayed. Jesus didn’t pray in all the other miracles he performed before. This is where Jesus and the prophet’s miracles differ primarily. Jesus is God, so he didn’t need to pray for power to perform miracles, because power was within him. The prophets had to pray first before they performed miracles, they had to draw power from above. The greatest prophet in the Old Testament, Elijah, had once called down fire as well as rain from heaven, but every time he performed a miracle, he prayed first. He needed to draw power from God above to perform miracles. But Jesus didn’t have to. But with this one, why did Jesus pray first? Jesus said, “…for the benefit of the people standing here…” so that they may believe that He has been sent from God. So, this is not a request, this is a testimonial prayer.

2. Jesus called for Lazarus to come out. After Jesus prayed, he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” This was a very simple command – `Lazarus, come out.’ The Bible says, “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.” Probably, Lazarus must not have come out by stepping out, he must have jumped out. Lazarus had been dead for four days; his body had begun to smell due to decomposition, he couldn’t have come out. Try calling out the dead in the funeral parlors, see if they will stand up; even if you shout till you are hoarse, no dead man will rise up. But this amazing thing happened, Lazarus came out. Although he could not walk because his whole body was wrapped in burial cloths, because the Lord’s words are full of power, he came out!

The Book of Genesis records that the Lord created everything in six days. All things were created by his word. The Lord said let there be light, and there was light; the Lord said let there be the heavens and there was the heavens; the Lord said let there be land and there was land. The Lord said let there be birds in the air, fish in the sea, and there were birds in the air and fish in the sea. God said let there be animals on the ground and there were animals on the ground. Not one word of the Lord is spoken in vain. Every word of the Lord is true for God’s word is powerful.

The Lord Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out.” When Jesus said this, the power of resurrection came upon Lazarus’ body, the power of resurrection overcame death and caused Lazarus’ spirit to return to his body and his decomposing body to return to life again. 2Kings 5 tells the story of a commander of an army, Naaman. He was a very powerful man, but he became afflicted with leprosy. When he came to Elisha for healing, the prophet told him to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times. When Naaman did so, he was healed of his leprosy. And not only so, the Bible says, “…his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” What is flesh like that of a young boy – beautiful smooth skin, just like what all women desire. If there is such a river in this world, where if a 50 year old dips in it, her skin would become like that of a baby’s, then all the women in the world would be there. Actually, not only women, even the men will rush to that river. The skin of Japanese and Korean men are said to be as fine as the ladies’ nowadays, because men today seek cosmetic surgery too.

Lazarus had been dead for four days, his skin had already decayed, but when resurrection power came upon him, not only did he rise back to life, his skin was restored like that of a baby’s. If I had been there, I would have tried to touch him and see his skin texture. Resurrection is being born again. Jesus told the Jewish rabbi, Nicodemus, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. We are all dead in our sins, we are in bondage to sin, we are not free, but when resurrection power comes upon us, we find true freedom. This is not the work of man, it is the work of God. The only thing we can do is believe and accept. O Church! We must spread the Good News, tell the world to believe and they can be like Lazarus, they can come out from their bondage to sin, rise from the dead. The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

III. Take off the grave clothes and let him go – This is Follow-up Gospel Work

Taking away the stone is preparatory work, Lazarus coming out is the power of the gospel at work; taking off the grave clothes and letting him go is follow-up gospel work. Probably, this is the aspect that many churches tend to neglect the most. We share the gospel, but we do not do follow-up work. After accepting the Lord, many do not receive nurture; thus, many do not grow spiritually; many do not know have a sound knowledge of the truth. If you tell these believers to open the Bible to the Book of Zephaniah, they will stare at you blankly, because they don’t even know that there is such a book in the Bible. Their spiritual life failed to grow. When Lazarus came out, his whole body was wrapped in cloths, he couldn’t walk at all; so Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

A baby can’t walk; it is the same with a spiritual baby. We need to walk beside them, care for them, support them, so that they will grow up into maturity. In 1999, we began holding Classes 101 to104, later on we added Classes 201-203. Our purpose was that we will have a curriculum that will equip our brothers and sisters to grow spiritually and in the knowledge of the truth. This year, on Thursday nights, we started “Equipping Nights”. The purpose is the same, we want all brothers and sisters to grow in their knowledge of the truth, and not remain spiritually immature. Many problems in the church happen because of spiritually immature believers. As decades-old believers, old Christians presume they already know everything, because they have been listening to sermons for 30 to 40 years long. They are full of knowledge (actually they only know half of it) and as a result they do nothing but criticize and complain endlessly. These people only grew old but not into maturity.

Many years ago, I heard a seminary president state in one of her messages, “Many churches only fulfill half of the Great Commission. They neglect the other half of the Great Commission.” She said, “When Jesus issued the Great Commission, there was only one goal and that is to make disciples of all nations for the Lord. To fulfill this Great Commission, we need to divide it into two parts: first, make believers of all nations – baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; second – turn believers into disciples, teaching them to obey everything the Lord have commanded. And this second part, we have neglected to do.”

When I heard her message, I felt that the Church had indeed neglected this part, so I decided to do my best to educate the brethren in the truth. Four years ago, I began in the Friday night bible study class a chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse study of the Book of Genesis. When I finished Genesis, I proceeded to Exodus. After four years, we have already gone through ten books, now we are in 1& 2 Kings. I hope to be able to do that with the whole Old Testament. But I feel this is still not enough. So, this year, we started the `Equipping Nights’ classes. I have already taught the Pentateuch and 1&2 Thessalonians in these classes. Ptr. Danny Balete had also taught many truths from the Bible. I hope you will build yourself up in the truth, grow in your knowledge of God. This is the follow-up work of the gospel.

Lastly, I want to point out a special principle. When Lazarus came out, he couldn’t even walk, because his whole body was wrapped in cloths. A newly born-again person is like a new-born baby. He doesn’t know anything at the start, just like a baby. A baby only knows to sleep and eat; later on, he sits up, crawls, stands, and much later on, he learns to walk. In this whole process, how do his parents help him? By encouragement. When he says his first words, his parents are thrilled, they tell everyone “He can say papa/mama now!” When he first learns to sit up, they are ecstatic. With his first step, we applaud him endlessly. When he falls, not only do they pick him up, they encourage him and tell him, “Don’t be afraid, you can do it.” By this, he is encouraged to stand up again. As a result not only does he learn to take a few steps, he learns to walk. But what is strange is that the more the child grows up, the less we encourage him. We tend to replace encouragements with rebukes. If our parents had endlessly rebuked us when we were babies, we probably wouldn’t have learned to walk at all, because we would have been afraid to stand back up! With new believers, we should rebuke less, encourage more; criticize less, help them more. Give them time to grow up. Take off the grave cloths that are binding them, let them go.

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During the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan, an assassination attempt involving two bullets occurred. Then incumbent president, Chen Shui-bian, won the election by a narrow 0.228 percent margin over his opponent. There was great dispute between the two political parties, the Kuo Min Tang (KMT) and the Progressive Party. The KMT alleged that Chen Shui-bian faked the assassination. The Progressive Party, of course, denied such allegations. Later, Detective Henry Lee from the United States was invited to investigate the incident. However, a KMT leader said: “No matter what Henry Lee says, I will not accept it.” Why? He had already formed an opinion; for him Chen Shui-bian faked the assassination attempt against himself. Similarly, the Progressive Party also had its own conclusion – it was an attack from the KMT’s. No matter how much evidence was presented to them, both sides were not willing to accept the report from the investigation, because each had their own prejudices.

This is the message we want to reflect on today. In chapter 9 of John’s gospel, Jesus healed a man born blind. This was a glorious and exciting thing. But after reading the 41 verses, one realizes that no one felt excited, no one gave glory to God, apart from the blind man who was healed. The blind man’s neighbors and those who often saw him beg for alms only asked one thing: “How were your eyes opened?” The Pharisees asked his parents, “Is this your son who was born blind? How is that now your son can see?” Although they got answers to their questions, in fact, firm evidence proving that the man was born blind and that Jesus made his eyes see, they refused to accept them. In their hearts, Jesus was a sinner who breached the Sabbath. No matter what good he did, their minds were already set on the idea that he is a sinner. This is called prejudice. This is spiritual blindness. Jesus said: “The blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

We must be like the blind man and turn from darkness to light; do not be like the Pharisees, who turned from light to darkness. Let us study this miracle by reflecting on how the blind man gradually came to recognize Jesus:

1. He is Jesus 10 -12

This man was born blind. He had never seen another human being before, including Jesus, so he had only heard of Jesus’ name. This man was not the first blind man Jesus had healed, for he had healed many blind men before. We have reason to believe that this man had heard of Jesus healing the blind before. In his heart, he must have longed to meet Jesus and ask Jesus to heal him. Maybe he had prayed to God, asking for Jesus to come and heal him. Anyway, this day, Jesus did come; putting some mud mixed with his saliva on the man’s eyes, He told the man “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam”. So the man went and washed and came home seeing. The Lord employed a special means to heal this blind man. Sometimes, Jesus healed by simply saying “your faith has made you whole”; sometimes he just touched a blind man’s eyes; sometimes he used saliva, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and healed the man. We discover that Jesus, the Great Healer, heals people in marvellous ways. This shows us that the method is not what is important, what is important is the God who employs these methods. We must simply follow what he wants us to do.

Jesus told the man born blind to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Siloam means to send. V.4 Jesus told his disciples, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.” V.33 The blind man said, “If this man (Jesus) were not from God, he could do nothing.” When we connect these two verses, we see that Jesus was sent by the Heavenly Father. Jesus obeyed the Father’s will, he came down to earth from heaven to do the Father’s work. Now Jesus is sending the man born blind to the Pool of Siloam to wash; as long as he obeys Jesus’ command, his eyes can be healed, for that is how obedience and restoration work. Some Bible interpreters say the Lord made man from the ground, thus, Jesus is using mud from the ground and his saliva to perform restoration on the man’s eyes. I find that very interesting. However, what is important is that if the man didn’t obey, his eyes wouldn’t have been healed. Let us understand the principle of obedience: the Heavenly Father sends Jesus, Jesus sends us. Jesus obeyed the Heavenly Father, as a result he accomplished the great salvation work; we must obey Jesus and accomplish the great and holy task of saving men.

He is Jesus – this was how the man born blind first identified Jesus. He had heard of Jesus’ name, he had heard stories about Jesus. His faith in Jesus came from having heard about him and it produced in him a faith that was submissive; what Jesus told him to do, he did. He was willing to be sent, as a result he received great blessing. Church, are we willing to obey Jesus’ command, to be his messengers?

II. He is a Prophet 16- 17

The man born blind was brought to the Pharisees who were investigating this incident. It was right that they do this, for they had the responsibility to find out whether this miracle was from God or from the devil. But they had already made a conclusion: Jesus did this miracle on a Sabbath; they concluded that since Jesus did not observe the Sabbath, therefore he could not have come from God. First, we need to understand that the Pharisees were not necessarily wrong. For since the Law was given by God, how can someone who violates God’s Law have come from God? For example: The second command in the Ten Commandments says do not worship idols. How can someone who worships idols come from God? Do not commit adultery, do not steal – how can any man who steals or commits adultery come from God?

So, the Pharisees’ conclusion was not without reason. They used the 4th command in the Ten Commandments to convict Jesus. They concluded that Jesus is not from God because he didn’t observe the Sabbath. To resolve this issue, we must first return to God’s purpose for establishing the Sabbath. Let us first look at Jesus’ explanation regarding the Sabbath. In Luke 14:5, Jesus said, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” Of course, one would pull it out. If we are unwilling to let an ox die, would we let a man die because it is a Sabbath day? Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” This is the essence of the Sabbath. The Jews observe the Sabbath legalistically and so it became “man was made for the Sabbath”. However Jesus said, “No, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath”.

Let me ask you, was the church established for the pastor, or the pastor established for the church? The pastor was made for the church; because if there were no churches, there would be no need for pastors. Similarly, the Sabbath was made for man. If there were no human beings, then, there would be no need for the Sabbath.

But the Jews regarded the Sabbath as greater than men. They observed the Law legalistically; as a result, no one can do anything on Sabbath days. There is a 60-storey Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv. During Sabbath days, pressing the elevator button is prohibited. If you live on the 60th floor, what will you do? You have to take the stairs up to the 60th floor, how truly rested would you be?! And so, the Jews thought of a solution. They programmed the elevator to stop at every floor automatically during Sabbath days so they won’t have to press the button. However if you live on the 60th floor, you will have to go through the elevator doors’ opening and closing for 60 times before you can reach your floor. This is called legalistic observance of the Law.

Actually, during Sabbath, God does not cease to function, for Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day.” The author of the Book of Hebrews says God sustains all things by his powerful word. If God literally ceased to work, Satan will be very happy, because the Sabbath day will become Satan’s day. He will take the opportunity to attack God’s Church, right? This is exactly what happened in World War II. Japan took advantage of the United States’ observance of the Lord’s Day, and launched a successful attack on Pearl Harbour. Sabbath was established so that man and God may commune, that man may find renewed strength to serve God even better. Jesus’ healing of a man born blind on Sabbath – isn’t this the very purpose of Sabbath? But the scripturally well-educated Pharisees observed the Law legalistically. Paul said: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Do not be a legalist. The man born blind said, “Jesus is a prophet.” Because in his heart, he understood that a mere man cannot have done such a thing. It had to be the work of a man of God, so he said, “Jesus is a prophet.”

III. He is a Man Sent from God 30-33

The Pharisees refused to believe that this man had been born blind, so they called for his parents. They asked his parents the same question, “How is it that now he can see?” His parents replied, “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” The Pharisees already had a decision; for them, whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. What does it mean to be put out of the synagogue? In our contemporary language, it is to be excommunicated. This was a frightening thing. So the parents didn’t want to deal with the question. The Pharisees asked the man born blind once more, and told him, “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” And they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” What they meant was: `With what kind of evil spirit did he make your eyes see?’

This was not the first time they accused Jesus of such. Once, when Jesus drove out an evil spirit from a man, and the Pharisees couldn’t prove that there was no healing, they said publicly, “Jesus drives out demons by the prince of demons, Belzebub.” Because the Pharisees were prejudiced, they couldn’t accept that Jesus was from God. Jesus is the Christ. The man born blind said, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” He meant Jesus was sent from God.

Why did he say so? He stated two reasons:

1. He used his experience as proof – v.25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” This is the famous line in the hymn “Amazing Grace” – I once was blind, but now I see. This was the blind man’s experience. No matter what others say, this was a reality that could not be changed. Experiences are important to our faith. In Exodus, when God wanted to bring out the Israelites, he performed ten plagues. Actually, there was no such need; the Lord could have simply sent his angels and killed Pharaoh and all his high officials. The Israelites could have simply left Egypt then. But God sent ten plagues, afterwards, the Israelites left Egypt. Why? The Lord not only wanted to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, the Lord wanted the Israelites to experience and know Him. The ten plagues were meant to dispute the ten well-known gods of Egypt. For example: turning water into blood was a challenge against the Nile god of Egypt. The plague of frogs was to oppose the god of fertility. The Lord wanted the Israelites to experience him, to know him, to know that He alone is the one true God. Church! May we truly experience Him, just like Job said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

2. His Common Sense as Proof – v.30-33 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” This blind man, having been born during that time, must probably not have been able to go to school, more so he couldn’t have studied theology, but his theology was more correct and more clear-cut than that of the Pharisees. That is because he used the common sense God gave him to arrive at an accurate conclusion. God does not listen to sinners. No one, apart from the God of creation, can open the eyes of a man born blind because he didn’t have eyes at all. The man was able to make a simple yet accurate claim, Jesus was sent from God. Church! Sometimes we are too complex, we must seek to be simple. The ‘Bible says: “The Lord protects the simple.” Simple doesn’t mean the fool but the simple man, those whose hearts are pure towards God. Such people are truly blessed by God.

IV. He is the Son of God 35-38

This man born blind was thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus found him, and asked “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. At the beginning, he only heard of Jesus’ name, later on he felt that Jesus was a prophet (servant of God). When the Pharisees denied Jesus, he insisted that Jesus was sent from God. Later, he recognized Jesus as the Son of God.

There is only one reason he was able to recognize Jesus as the son of God: God’s revelation. In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter said, “You are the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” After Jesus rose from the dead, Mary Magdalene was crying at his tomb because she couldn’t find Jesus’ body. Jesus appeared to her and Mary didn’t recognize him, she thought he was the gardener. Only after Jesus called her “Mary”, did she realize it was the Lord. After Jesus rose from the dead, he had a glorious body, Mary didn’t recognize him by his physical appearance, but when Jesus called her name, her heart knew that it was the Lord. This is called revelation. In John 21, after the disciples went fishing, Jesus stood by the shore and told them, “Come and have breakfast.” The Bible mentions something unusual – no one of disciples dared ask him “Who are you?” It was because they knew it was the Lord. From his physical appearance, he didn’t look like Jesus, but in their hearts, they knew it was the Lord. This is revelation.

Apart from God’s revelation, no one can know God. Whether now or in the future, we can only know God through his revelation. But why did the Lord reveal himself to the blind man and not to the Pharisees? Again and again, the Lord revealed himself as the Christ, but the Pharisees were prejudiced against Jesus. They didn’t believe in Jesus, no matter what Jesus said, they refused to believe. Paul said we must combine faith with action. If we don’t have faith in Jesus, if we are prejudiced against Jesus, not only will we not acknowledge him as the son of God, we will even be angry, because we will think Jesus speaks nonsense, this is the reason the Pharisees opposed Jesus. HG Wells is a historian, he wrote a short story called “Blind Man’s Valley”. Everyone in the Blind Man’s Valley is born blind. One day, a plane crashed in the valley and the pilot who survived began to live among them. The man would often describe to the people in Blind Valley how the world looked like, he told them about the sun, the moon, the trees, the plants, the fruits, etc. The people in Blind Valley began to hate him more and more, because they cannot see anything. When they couldn’t stand it anymore, they gouged out the man’s eyes and he became blind. The people felt glad because all of them are now alike, they are all blind.

Isn’t that how our world is like? Jesus is the Light of the world, He is the true light that had come to the world; but the world hated the light and loved the darkness. People would rather live in darkness. We must let go of our prejudices, have faith in Jesus, only then can we know Jesus as the Son of God. Have you come to know Him?

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Acts 3:1-11 records the first miracle of the Early Church. Through the name of Jesus, Peter and John had healed a man born lame at the gate called Beautiful, consequently, this attracted a big crowd. Through the apostles, the Lord performed this miracle and opened a way for Peter to share God’s message, as a result, five thousand came to believe in the Lord (4:4). This was a message that brought salvation to five thousand. What was this message about? I entitled this message, “The Powerful Name of Jesus”.

In chapter 3, verse 1, Peter said, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” Peter told the Israelites directly that it is by the name of Jesus that this man was made well. The name of the Lord is filled with power. In this message, let us study the three kinds of power that can be found in the name of the Lord:

I. There is Resurrection Power in the Name of the Lord v.13-15

Peter told the Israelites, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Jesus performed many miracles while he was on earth, 35 cases of which had been chronicled. The Jews had seen them with their own eyes, but still they handed Jesus over to Pilate. Pilate couldn’t find Jesus guilty of any sin and wanted to release him, but the Jews demanded for Barabbas to be released instead. They disowned this holy righteous man. Peter told them, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” Jesus had risen from the dead; there is resurrection power in the name of Jesus. A name not only represents the identity of the person, what is more, it carries his authority, position, and reputation.

When I say Jeremiah Cheung, not only does the name refer to myself, but it represents my identity (senior pastor), my reputation (good or bad), my capacity (wise or foolish). Let me share with you an experience I had with regards to the power behind a name. It was 1988 when I first arrived from Hong Kong; but because of my status, I had to leave the Philippines after one year and re-apply for missionary visa so that I may re-enter the Philippines. A week before I was to return to Hong Kong, I went to visit a family. During our conversation, I mentioned that I had to return to Hong Kong and did not know when I will be able to return. Suddenly the man told me, “No problem, after a week, you can return,” and then he gave me a letter and a business card. It turned out that the Philippine ambassador to Hong Kong was his brother-in-law. When I was in Hong Kong, I went and tried to see the man, I gave the letter and the business card to one of his office staff. Before long, someone ushered me into his office and gave me a cup of coffee. Then, the consular came out. I told him Mr. XXX told me to come see you. He replied, “Good.” When he finished reading the letter, he told me, “No problem. Come back after three days, I will give you your missionary visa.” As a result, after a week, I was able to return to the Philippines. Some names are really influential!

However, there is an important principle – the person who bears the name has to be a living person. If he is already dead, all the power behind his name will vanish; because a dead person is powerless. If you use the name Marcos today, it will be useless because Marcos is already dead. And, if you use Chang Kai Shek’s name in Taiwan, it is also useless because the man is already dead. No matter how powerful he may have been while alive, a dead man’s name is nothing more than a memory. Peter said, “It is Jesus’ name that has completely healed the man.” And the man was able to stand up. This proves one important reality, Jesus is not dead, Jesus is risen from the dead, Jesus’ name is full of power. In Matthew 28, the passage on the Great Commission, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus’ name represents all the authority in heaven and on earth, so when we pray in the name of Jesus, we are praying in the name of the resurrected Lord. The name of the Lord is full of resurrection power, because he is alive; he is the Lord who is alive forevermore.

II. There is Healing Power in the Name of the Lord 16

Verse 12, Peter denied that this miracle was done through their own power or godliness. In verse 16, Peter directly acknowledged that this miracle was done through the name of the Lord Jesus. Peter told the Jews that Jesus’ name has power to heal. Exodus 15:22-26 records how the Jews escaped from Egypt. After crossing the Red Sea, they couldn’t find water for three days. Later on they reached Marah. They found water but it was not drinkable because the water was bitter, that is why the place was called Marah (meaning bitter). Moses prayed to the Lord, who instructed him to throw a piece of wood into the water; amazingly, the water which was bitter and unclean became sweet and potable. Then the Lord told the Jews (Exodus 15:26) “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” The Lord is your healer, in the original text, it is written as Jehovah-Rapha.

The Bible contains many names of God:
(1.) Jehovah-jireh (The Lord will Provide) Gen 22:14;
(2.) Jehovah-nissi (The Lord our Banner) Exodus 17:15;
(3.) Jehovah-rapha (The Lord our healer) Exodus 15:26;
(4.) Jehovah-shalom (The Lord is peace) Judges 6:24;
(5.) Jehovah-Tsidkenu (The Lord our Righteousness) Jer 23:6;
(6.) Jehovah-rohi (The Lord is my shepherd) Psalm 23:1;
(7.) Jehovah-Shammah (The Lord who is present) Jer 23:23.

Our God is magnificent; each of his names is full of power. Jehovah-rapha (The Lord our Healer), our Lord is full of power to heal, there is no illness that he cannot heal. We are afraid to hear the word cancer, because for us, cancer is like a death sentence. Actually it is not so. In 1960, when the doctor tells a patient you have TB, it was like saying he had cancer, because there was no drug yet to cure it. During that time, someone who contracts TB in Hong Kong will be sent to an island, because they feared he may infect others. Many patients die in that island. When he was young, my father also contracted TB, and was sent to that island. We all thought he would die in that island, but he recovered and was sent back home. It was truly the mercy of God.

Nowadays, when the doctor tells you that you have TB, you don’t need to be afraid, because there are available drugs to cure it. I don’t know, maybe after ten, twenty years, medicine might even advance to the point of finding a cure for cancer. By that time, cancer may become easily treatable, like an ordinary flu; a person could be alright after taking some medicine. Jehovah-rapha, the Lord is our healer, he can heal any disease, there is nothing too difficult for him. Moses told the Jews: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, he will heal all your diseases.” Peter told the Jews: “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed this man who was born lame.” The name of the Lord is powerful, the Lord’s name is full of healing power.

President and founder of Overseas Bible Seminary, Rev. Johnny Chang, passed away this year. Rev. Chang stepped out to be a pastor in his twenties and passed away in his nineties. He had served the Lord for 70 years; however, 40 years ago, he was found with cancer and he often fell ill. Repeatedly, the doctor told him to go home and prepare to die, but the Lord healed him again and again. He left this world only on July 17 of this year. During the graduation rites this year, he had even went up the pulpit and delivered a message. We can see from his life how the Lord is healer. As long as the Lord wills, there is no disease, physical or spiritual, that he cannot heal.

III. There is Saving Power in the Name of the Lord 17-19

Peter told the Jews: “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.” There are five kinds of offerings – burnt offerings, fellowship offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. Sin offerings and guilt offerings are both offerings for sins committed, but they are different in that sin offering is for sins one is aware of having committed. For example, knowing that stealing is sin and a person still commits it, the person would have to make sin offering for this. If a person was not aware that he was sinning while committing the sin, upon realization that he had committed a sin, the man must offer guilt offering.

Jesus prayed to the Father on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Jesus meant that they acted out of ignorance and was asking the Father to forgive them. When we say ignorance, it is not stupidity, it may simply mean being unaware. In 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, experienced breathing difficulty. After several hours, three doctors came and all agreed to do bloodletting. Two thousand three hundred milliliters of blood was let out of 67 year-old Washington’s body. It was highly possible that he had died as a result of severe loss of blood. Those doctors may seem ignorant, but no, we all know that doctors are intelligent men. It was just that during that time, medical knowledge was limited. When we sin, it is not because we are stupid, but it is because we are spiritually ignorant. But praise the Lord, the Lord Jesus’ name has power to save.

What does Jesus’ name mean? Matthew 1:20-21, the angel told Joseph: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus means `to save us from our sins.’ There is saving power in name of the Lord. The Bible says: “All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” But the Bible also says: “Not all who calls me `Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” We see, that some who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, but some will not be saved. How do we know the difference? Acts 3:19 gives us a very good answer, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

This verse tells us a person who truly calls on the name of the Lord must do two things first:

1. Repent – What does it mean to repent? To repent is not only to feel remorse for one’s sins, to repent is to feel very ashamed of sins that one has committed. This is true repentance. In Chinese, the word repent is made up of two characters, the first character refers to repentance from the inner heart and the second character refers to change in one’s external behavior. We are all familiar with the story of the prodigal son. Let me ask you, when did the prodigal son repent? Some say he repented when he returned home. But I don’t think so. When he was still outside and suffering, with nothing to eat, he thought to himself of how much food there must be in his father’s house, and so he decided to return home. I believe that at that time, he had not yet truly repented, he only found himself at a dead-end; because he had no other recourse, he decided to return home. But then, he was afraid his father would not accept him back, so before he returned home, he thought of ways to meet his father, he prepared what he was going to say. He said: I will tell my father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” He had prepared a speech. There is no true repentance with someone who does this.

But when he saw his father and how he treated him, how he loved him; the Bible says: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” At this point, the father’s love transformed the prodigal son. This time, the prodigal son truly repented. Look at Luke 15, you will discover he only uttered half of his prepared speech, he did not finish it. I believe he simply broke down and sobbed. This was when he truly repented. Aren’t we just like the prodigal son? Only when we experience God’s love, when his love melts our hearts, will we truly repent.

2. Change – If repentance were like a coin, one side would be contrition and the other side must be transformation. Through our actions, we show whether we have truly repented. Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, spoke of two roads – the broad and the narrow road. Many take the broad road, but perish. Few take the narrow road, but that is the road to eternal life. When a person repents, he will not stop there. He will begin to take the narrow road, the road of mending his ways. This road is unique: this is a narrow road. What does this mean? This is not an easy road to take, praying isn’t easy, reading the bible isn’t easy, giving isn’t easy, to let God be the center of one’s life isn’t easy. These aren’t things that our flesh likes. If it were up to our flesh, we would love pleasure and honor. However, we must take the narrow road, a road where we observe discipline. Do you know what discipline means? It means to “temporarily let go of pleasure”.

A disciplined person is willing to forego pleasure temporarily in order to attain the better end. For example, if a sister wants to have a beautiful physique, she would be willing to forego the pleasure of staying in bed longer and go exercise. She is willing to let go of mouth-watering food (lechon, peking duck, siao long pao, roast beef), and consume only vegetables and fruits. In the spiritual path, it is also the same, we are willing to forego pleasures for the moment, leave the broad path, and take the narrow road, the path of change. When a person truly calls on the name of the Lord, his inner heart will repent and change, when he calls on the name of the Lord, the Lord’s power of salvation will enter his heart, he will receive mercy and be saved.

How great is the Lord’s name, the Lord’s name is full of resurrection power, healing power and salvation power. Paul said in Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

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