Come to Jesus that you may have life

 2 July 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.            Come to Him

God, through his finished work, is pleased with us.

In our life, we are always very legalistic but God wants us to rest in His love.

We are not here to preach theology but to preach about His son.

John 5:39

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

 “You search the Scriptures”; “these are they which testify of Me.”

        -      Looking through the scriptures is all about Jesus. It’s all about Him!

John 5:40

But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

       -      Come to Me that you may have life!

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

“uneducated and untrained”

        -          It’s okay if you are uneducated or untrained. You have Jesus to lead you through in life!

II.         Forgiveness Detoxes Our Mind

Church is a place of refuge, the father’s house.  Forgiveness of sins is very important. Without forgiveness, we have unhappy family, and are filled with conflicts and pain.

The house of God- the first entrance is always forgiveness.

Forgiveness detoxes our mind.

Lord Jesus Christ gives us anchor that brings us and our thoughts together.

Pastor Mark was thankful that Pastor Joseph Prince takes complicated theology and break them into right believing and right living for us.

Pastor Mark shared that the more he wanted to forgive a person, the more he hated the person in 1998. For 2 years, Pastor Mark was trying to forgive, but it was so difficult. He thought that he has to forgive before God can forgive him. However, it is not the case.

He then started to serve God without knowing how to serve. He was put to speak to people who have problems. He thought to himself —I have my own set of problems, I don’t know how to answer your questions/issues!

Then he started to remember Pastor Prince’s words— it’s not about you, it’s about the Lord. Pastor Mark then leaned on the Lord and found himself giving wise advice while listening to the problems of others. The wisdom came from the Lord!

Stop trying.

You cannot.

If you can, you don’t need Jesus.

If you can save yourself, you don’t need Jesus.

III.       Receive and Grow

Pastor Mark shared that when he began to receive, he began to grow.

Colossians 2:6

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

“So walk in Him”

        -       Your thought must be in Him, not in yourself.

When Pastor Mark knows he is forgiven much, he can love much.

It is He who first loves us. He gives Himself up for me. He first loves me.

Walk in Jesus and receive what He has done for you.

IV.        Be Rooted in Christ

Colossians 2:7

rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

“rooted”- Once it is rooted, you can fix your mindset and follow him.

When we rooted, we know that we are forgiven and we can grow. We see ourselves leaning on him more and more.

He has paid for all our sins so that we can have a good life.

“Built up in Him”

        -      Thus, it is not about ourselves.

V.           Conclusion

God puts us in Christ, we are thus represented by Christ before God.

Don’t think of it as instant noodles. You need to plant the seed.

Pastor Mark gave an excellent example shared by Pastor Prince— you should not force a child to grow beard; there is a growing process. God wants to walk with you. He knows that you have weaknesses and yet He is with you.

SIN- must take out the I and put in the O, and become the Son.

Pastor Mark shared the following by Pastor Prince (5 Feb 2017):

“Now what is the flesh? The flesh is not your body. But Pastor Prince, flesh, I know. Sarx in Greek. It’s actually the part of you that wants to sin. That part of you that sins. The part of you is not you. The real you is now a new creation in Christ. But the part of you that wants to sin, that part of you that wants to do wrong. Let me tell you this. In our flesh dwells no good thing.”

Psalm 5:12

or You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Galatians 5:24

And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Hebrews 4:14

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Jesus is the “great High Priest”.

Hebrews 4:15

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Come to the One who understands you— who understands that you are hurt, who understands that you experience pain.

God wants you to breathe. Breathe in Jesus.

Christians are not “good people”. They are forgiven people.

Come to Him, and you will receive.

Reunion At The Table of Grace

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 6^th day, with rest day on the 7^th 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.