29 January 2017 (11.30am service, New Creation Church at The Star Vista)
- Sermon delivered by Pastor Mark Ng
Sermon Notes (Note: These are personal notes and not a transcription of the sermon.)
I.
5Cs
of a Mother
The greatest need of men is food and rest. Thus, God says, “Come, feed on
me; come, rest on me.”
Pastor Mark used the theme of Chinese New Year to share about the
Gospel. He used the analogy of a mother’s role during the Chinese New Year
throughout the sermon.
Our mothers demonstrate 5Cs during the Chinese New Year.
The four Cs are: Choose, Clean, Cook and Connect!
The fifth C will be revealed at the later part of the sermon.
Choose- Our mum chooses the best vegetables, fish, and meat from
the market for the family.
Clean- She cleans the house for Chinese New Year
Cook- She cooks for everyone, and prepares the reunion
dinner
Connect- She connects everyone in the
household together. She connects the father to the children, and children to
the father; she connects all the relatives together. After she has cooked, the
whole family can sit down and rest, and eat.
The role of the mother during the Chinese New Year reminds Pastor of our
Father, who created man on the 6th day, with rest day on the 7th
day. God wants to provide. However, man sinned and failed. God did not forsake man,
despite man sinned and failed.
It is God who has found us. We are lost, we are the lost sheep. It is
God who initiates the reunion with us and connects us to Him.
2 Corinthians 5:18
Now all things are of
God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation,
This is a reunion that God has initiated. We are in the Ministry of reconciliation.
Man has been laborious for life, searching for meaning in life with his
own effort.
How did God reconcile?
God has asked us to come back to Him, just like how our mothers ask us
to come to the dining table to eat.
We can see God’s heart through His Son.
2 Corinthians 5:20
Now then, we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be
reconciled to God.
God is asking us to “come back”.
He needed a sacrifice as He needed someone to take over our sins:
2 Corinthians 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God made our Lord Jesus Christ who knows no sins to sacrifice on our
behalf. In order to reunite with us, He sent His son to take our sins. Our sins
are paid for by God who sent His Son to the cross. God can now freely bless.
Pastor Prince’s ministry is food for us to eat. The food is good news,
so that men can be transformed.
The fifth C our mother has done for us is “control her tongue”.
Control- When we care, sometimes it’s
hard to control our tongue.
Our mother controls her tongue in order not to say the inauspicious
words during the New Year. Everything you do, every mistake you make and every
curse become prosperous. For example, if you break something,
instead of scolding you, she controls her tongue and says “花开富贵” (in English: rich and honored, being in full
flower). She knows that the festive season is for joy and
happiness of the family and she has to control her tongue.
II.
Secret
to Health and Provision
3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that
you may prosper in all things and be in
health, just as your soul prospers.
God wants you to be in good health and be provided.
You have to see that God wants to be reunited with you, so that
blessings can come to you.
God loves us so much, the revealing of His heart that as He loves His
son shows that He also loves us.
God wants us to know that in life, we are all looking for food and work,
we have to know that we can rest on Him to provide:
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
“He who comes to me”— Jesus
invites all of us to go to Him so that we can always be filled.
Our Lord always wants us to depend on him so that we can have abundant food.
Now, whatever you are lacking in life, come to God, so that you will be
provided and sheltered. God wants us to rest. The food that we want to eat is
the most important food— the food of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 23:1
A Psalm of David. The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The Lord is my shepherd. The lord is always for us, so that
we won’t be lacking in blessing, in health and everything that is good.
Psalm 23:2
He makes me to lie down
in green pastures (food); He leads me beside the still waters (rest).
How did he provide?
Green pastures
(food)
Still waters
(rest)
We are now in the new covenant. Without Jesus, we can do nothing.
Hebrews 8:12
For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will
remember no more."
“no
more” (double negative)
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
And we
urge you, brethren, to recognize those who
labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem
them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among
yourselves.
Under Grace we will be very grateful, grateful to the vessel that brings
water to us. However, many of us try to be “假厉害”, we try to be God or work with own effort to achieve
things in life.
We should just live in God’s love for us.
Christ’s obedience has made us blessed.
Where did our righteousness of God come from?
God gave that to us.
It is not just the word/knowledge that we need, but the spirit of grace.
To know versus to enter to have a relationship with God is different.
Rest always comes by hearing and hearing. You listen your way out of
your problems and depression.
Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul; He leads me in
the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
God wants to restore your soul. God wants you to get rid of all diseases
and troubles.
1 Corinthians 15:34
Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for
some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
We don’t need to use our actions to please God, as we know that we are pleasing
God by just resting in the finished work of God.
Awake to righteousness, sin out,
sick not, lack not,
It’s not about your work.
We always say “if I know [then I won’t do this or I would have chosen
another path or I would have not made that decision]”, but we don’t know. The
Lord is all knowing. E.g. Jesus knew that Peter will deny Him three times before
the rooster crowed the
next morning.
The voice of grace is louder than the sound of condemnation when we are
in Christ.
All our sins have been punished.
Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil; For You
are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me
“I walk” because “He is with me”—thus, there is no fear on
the journey.
“Your rod and Your staff” –
the rod and stick that formed the cross
For us to have no condemnation, someone has to pay for us. The Lord has
paid for us already.
Psalm 23: 5
You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies; You anoint my
head with oil; My cup runs over.
“You prepare”— We failed, but
He still prepares the table for us.
At the table of salvation, whatever you need, just partake. Focus on the
food in front of you, and don’t look around at other people food. If you are
looking around at other tables while having your meal, you will have
indigestion.
The table is the symbol of grace in our family.
God wants us to see His finished work; the table is a table of grace. He
is saying, “Come to the table”.
At home, the table is the table of “grace”. The mother let the family members
eat their meal with joy and peace.
Let us give grace to our family. Don’t give them stress, tell them that the
God will sure supply.
God will give us an abundance of grace.
III.
When He Counts On Us, We Have Countless Blessings
Man’s count cannot be like how God count:
Romans 4:3
For what does the
Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness."
God’s count is the best. God counts us righteous, and when He counts on
us, we have countless blessings.
Romans 4:5
But to him who does not
work but believes on Him who justifies
the ungodly, his faith is accounted
for righteousness,
With our right believing, He sets us free from our sins, our lack, our
diseases.
When we fail, don’t look at our failure. We are counted for
righteousness.
Romans 4:13
For the promise that he
would be the heir of the world was
not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
“the heir of the world”— Not through
the working/ our own effort but “through the
righteousness of faith”
We first seek
the kingdom of God, and later the provision will come to us. Thus, we don’t have
to plan for what to wear, what to eat, etc
Psalm 23:5
You
prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head
with oil; My cup runs over.
“My cup runs over” (overflow)-
Provision from God will be overflowing.
Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
The battle He has won previously, He will win the battle in front of you
again.
“Surely”— not “maybe”.
When you follow Jesus Christ, goodness and mercy will surely follow you.
We are not seeking wealth or health, but these are fruits. As long as we
follow Jesus Christ, the fruits will come to us.
Dwell in the house of Lord through hearing and hearing. Listen our way
out of disease and problems of life!
As long as our heart is on the Lord, we will have health and provision in
all the days of our lives.
God wanted the reunion.
IV. Conclusion
How to live it out?
Live 活 =
water 氵+ tongue 舌
“with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation”:
Romans 10:10
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
You are already is into righteousness.
To subdue the enemies, we just have to blow the ram’s horn.
Salvation-
God wants to save you in every way.
Romans 10:11
For the Scripture says,
"Whoever believes on Him will not
be put to shame."
John 6:57
As the living Father
sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live
because of Me.
Our Father will feed us at the table of grace.
