Tag Archives: faith

The Light of The World

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Titles of Christians (#3)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we continue to study the titles of Christians in the Bible. Last time we studied “The Salt of The Earth”; today we are going to study another title:

NASB Matthew 5:14 – 16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Mat 5:14-16 NASB)

The Function of Light

Here the Lord Jesus says that we are the light of the world; in verse 16 he says specifically that we have to shine before men.

When we enjoy all the modern conveniences in life, we don’t realize how important light is. In the year 1993 Pastor Bentley and I went to a certain country in Asia to preach the gospel. At that time there were frequent blackouts in that place. If a blackout happened during day time it wasn’t that bad, but if it happened at night, it was really inconvenient. But the worst is when the blackout happened at night time while we were walking outside on the streets. A big part of the city would become pitch dark; it was more than just inconvenient, it was really dangerous. There were many open manholes on the roads without covers, because these would be stolen. Indeed there was an Englishman who fell into one of these manholes and died. We all had to look carefully when we walked on the roads. A few times we went out in the evening, and on the way back home suddenly there was a blackout. We couldn’t see anything on the road. I was really scared, and I turned to our Father in heaven immediately and asked Him to protect us bringing us back home safely. After that, we would always carry a flashlight when we went out in the evening.

Besides the open manholes, there were all kinds of garbage on the ground. When I walked on the roads during the blackout, I couldn’t see what was on the ground; I didn’t know what I was stepping on. It was only until we came back home, under the candle light, that I saw that all kinds of garbage were stuck to my shoes and my pants, sometimes there was even excrement!

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The Salt of The Earth

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Titles of Christians (#2)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we continue to study the titles of Christians in the Bible. Last time we studied the title “Fishers of men”; today we are going to study another title:

NASB Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”

Here the Lord Jesus says that Christians are the salt of the earth. What does it mean to be the salt of the earth? Today we are going to find out the meaning of this statement.

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Fishers of Men

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Titles of Christians (#1)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Brothers, sisters and friends, in the past few months we have been studying an important topic in the Bible: “The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life”. I have put all the 14 messages on this topic on the website: http://www.gospelandsalvation.com. You can go to the website to read all those messages; you can also download a PDF copy of the messages that you like. Today we begin to look at another important topic: The titles of Christians in the Bible.

Many years ago, when a Christian sister heard the term “Titles of Christians,” she said to me, “What? Christians have titles?” She was very surprised to hear the term “Titles of Christians.” Oh yes, Christians have many titles in the Bible. We know that Yahweh God has many different titles, and that the Lord Jesus Christ has many different titles, but people don’t talk much about the titles of Christians. Indeed Christians have many different titles too, and each title carries a different meaning.

But why do I want to study the titles of Christians? Because when we understand the meanings of these titles, we will know what we should do and how we ought to live our lives in this world. We have to always bear in mind that if we live a life according to the teaching of the Bible, we will bring glory to our Father in heaven and to our Lord Jesus Christ, and the people in the world will praise Yahweh God and our Lord Jesus.

The first title that we will study today is: “Fishers of men”.

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The Small Gate and the Narrow Way

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#14)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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In the last two messages we have looked at two very important questions: Why is it that we cannot have eternal life simply by doing good deeds? And will Christians who still live in sin have eternal life? Today we are going to study another important aspect of eternal life.

NAU Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Here the Lord Jesus says that if we want to have life, we will have to choose the narrow gate because only the small gate and narrow way leads to life, but few people find it. Most people will enter though the wide gate and the broad way, but that only leads to destruction.

  • Why do so few people find the small gate and the narrow way? Why do most people find the wide gate and the broad way?
  • What do the small gate and the narrow way stand for? What do the wide gate and the broad way stand for?

Now we will look into the word of God to find the answers.

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Will Christians who still live in sin have Eternal Life?

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#13)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we are going to study another important aspect of eternal life, that is, after we have come to know Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, if we continue to live in sin, will we have eternal life in the kingdom of God?

I had this question in my heart before I became a Christian, before I committed my life to Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? At that time I thought I was quite a good person, even though I did sin, but those were very minor sins such as selfishness, arrogance, looking down on people who were worse than me, being jealous of people who were better off than me, and I did tell some minor lies a few times etc. But I felt that all these were very minor sins, while some so-called Christians had committed far more serious sins than I, they were far worse than me. If on Judgment Day Jesus Christ will punish me for those minor sins that I have committed, yet grant those so-called Christians eternal life in the kingdom of God, that would be really unfair! This judgment is unfair! That’s why I didn’t want to become a Christian!

Praise be to Yahweh God, He understood me, He didn’t punish me. On the contrary He granted me grace upon grace, He helped me again and again despite my criticism against Him and His Son. Finally His great love changed my heart! You can read my testimony “Goodness and Lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life” on the CDC website.

I think many people think in the same way as I did. Today we are going to look at this question: Will Christians who still live in sin have eternal life in the kingdom of God?

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Why We Cannot Have Eternal Life simply by Doing Good Deeds?

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#12)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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In the past messages we have looked at various aspects of the foretaste of eternal life in the present age:

  • The link between eternal life in the present age and eternal life in the kingdom of God in the future.
  • Eternal life is to know the only true God Yahweh and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Eternal life in the present age is a life of freedom, a life of righteousness, a life of peace, a life of joy, and rivers of living water flowing from the innermost being.

Today we are going to study another aspect of the Kingdom of God and eternal life. First let me tell you the true story of a middle aged woman; we will just call her Auntie C. She did not believe in Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, but followed Chinese traditions in worship­ping different deities and family ancestors. Auntie was a very moral person, she took very good care of her husband and her children, she had three girls and one boy; all the family members loved one another deeply.

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A Life of Freedom

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#10)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Brothers, sisters and friends, last time we saw that the apostle John defines eternal life is to know Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ; If we truly know Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ in the biblical way, our lives in the present age is the foretaste of the eternal life in the age to come. Today we continue to study the eternal life in the present age.

ESV  John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

This statement is from the Lord Jesus Christ, “the Son” refers to the Lord himself, he likes to refer himself as “Son of man”, that is his prefered title. The Lord says if he sets the people free, then they will be free; that means they won’t be free if he doesn’t set them free. That means right now the people in the world have no freedom!

This contradicts with most people’s thinking; most people think that when they become a Christian they would loose the freedom, they can’t do this, they can’t do that, a lot of things they can’t do. But the Lord says exactly the opposite, you don’t have freedom unitl the Son of Man sets you free.

Now let’s look at the Bible to understand the Lord’s teaching on this.

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Eternal Life in the Kingdom of God

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#8)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Brothers, sisters and friends, in the last several messages we have studied different aspects of the kingdom of God; I hope that the glory of the kingdom of God will attract you to pursue after it. Today we are going to look at one important topic: eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Introduction

Many years ago I met a Christian sister, she said that having eternal life is different from entering the kingdom of God, because the term “eternal life” and the term “kingdom of God” never appear together in the Bible! According to her reasoning, if you want to have eternal life, you only need to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you can have it right now! But if you want to enter into the kingdom of God, you have to obey the commandments of the Lord Jesus, which are very difficult! She said that if you believe Jesus is the Son of God, you will receive eternal life right away; after that even if you don’t obey the Lord’s commandments, you won’t die, because you already have eternal life! Someone who has eternal life would not die, right? If you don’t obey the Lord’s commandments, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God, but it won’t affect your eternal life!

This teaching is dangerous; it can lead to very serious consequences in people’s lives because people would simply disregard the commandments of the Lord Jesus as well as the commandments in the Old Testament Law, they have nothing to fear anymore! Indeed there are whole groups of people who believe this teaching. Through all these years, the more I know about the Bible, the more I see the danger of this teaching. That’s why I decided to address this wrong teaching.

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Who Is The Greatest in The Kingdom of God ?

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#6)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Brothers, sisters and friends, in the past few weeks we have seen that being in the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you don’t experience righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, then you are not in the kingdom of God; If you are not in the kingdom of God in this age, then you won’t be in the kingdom of God in the future when the Lord Jesus comes back. Today we are going to look at another aspect of the kingdom of God.

NAU Matthew 18:1 – 4 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Some people may say, “That’s nothing new, I have known this for a long time!” But have you ever put this teaching into practice? How are you going to practice it?

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Peace in the Holy Spirit

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Christmas Message (#1)

The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#4)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Last time we saw that if you live under the kingship of God, you will have righteousness, peace and joy; righteousness includes sinlessness, justice and lovingkindness, Yahweh God is the embodiment of righteousness. It is impossible for us to attain righteousness, but God will grant us righteousness if we have faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Today we continue to study the second quality: peace.  

Introduction

Today is December 24th , Christmas Eve; December 25th is the date the western churches celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the eastern Orthodox churches celebrate on a different date. Actually no one knows when the Lord Jesus was born, and I am not going to debate about the exact birth date of the Lord, but I will look into the meaning of his birth. 

NAS Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

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