Tag Archives: god

Immanuel – God with Us

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Christmas Message (#2)

Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:22 – 23

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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When Pastor Bentley and I were preaching the gospel in Hong Kong, I saw that every year when the Christmas season was drawing near, there would be signs “Immanuel – God with us” or simply “Immanuel” everywhere: at the entrance of buildings, on the streets, at the front doors of houses. We could hear Christmas songs all the way from the central business district to the countryside.

But many people may not know the significance of this phrase “Immanuel – God with us”; what does it mean and where does it come from?

Christmas is the date Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Around 700 some years before the Lord Jesus was born into the world, Yahweh God had proclaimed through the prophet Isaiah:

ESV Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14 ESV)

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Priests

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Titles of Christians (#11)

Revelation 1:5—6

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we are going to study another title of Christians. Last time we saw that Christians are compared to the living stones that build up the spiritual temple of God. Today we are going to study Christians as priests in the spiritual temple of God.

NAU  Revelation 1:5—6 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood — 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev 1:5—6 NAU)

The book of Revelation is a message revealed to Apostle John. This particular passage, Revelation 1:5—6, is a greeting from the Lord Jesus Christ and Apostle John. It says here that the Lord Jesus loves us; his blood which was shed on the cross washes us clean from all sins. As a result we are free from both the guilt of sin and the power of sin. (Please refer to the book “Becoming a New Person” by Pastor Eric Chang on the guilt of sin and the power of sin; I will not repeat the whole explanation here.) Then the Lord Jesus made us to be a kingdom, and priests to serve his God and Father. According to the word of the Lord Jesus in this passage, Christians are the priests of Yahweh God.

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Living Stones

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Titles of Christians (#10)

1 Peter 2:4—6

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today we are going to study another title of Christians:

NAS 1 Peter 2:4—6 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed.” (1Pe 2:4—6 NAS)

Here Apostle Peter is calling Christians to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here the word “Him” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ; he is a living stone, rejected by men. They killed him by nailing him to the cross. As the Lord Jesus is a living stone, so Christians are living stones. We are being built up into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, and we offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please take notice that in this sermon today, I only focus on the living stone. I am not talking about the holy priesthood or the spiritual sacrifices; I will discuss these topics in my next sermon two weeks from now.

This passage contains several spiritual terms, and we need to find out the meaning of these terms one by one. Now let us study this passage step by step.

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Saints

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Titles of Christians (#9)

1 Corinthians 1:1 – 2

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Brothers, sisters and friends, today we are going to study another title of Christians:

RSV 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 2 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: (1Co 1:1 – 2 RSV)

This passage comes from a letter that Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. In verse 2 he says the brothers and sisters of the church are those sanctified in Christ Jesus, and they are called to be saints.

Christians are called saints, the holy ones

Most people think that only outstanding Christians who have accomplished a lot for Yahweh God are called saints, and that ordinary Christians are not saints. But here apostle Paul says all the brethren in the church who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus are called saints!

Indeed according to the New Testament all true Christians are called saints! Let’s look at some passages in the New Testament to confirm this point:

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Ambassadors for Christ

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Titles of Christians (#5)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Last time we studied the title of Christians, “Witnesses of Jesus Christ”; today we are going to study a very interesting title:

ESV 2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2Cor 5:20 ESV)

Here it says that Christians are ambassadors for Christ.

The meaning and task of “ambassadors for Christ”

What does it mean to be “ambassadors for Christ”? According to English dictionaries, an ambassador is the highest-ranking person who represents his or her own government while living in another country.

Certainly ambassadors for Christ are different from the international diplomatic ambassadors, for we are not dealing with diplomats in foreign countries, but dealing with the people in the world, so we implore them to reconcile with God.

When an ambassador is sent to a foreign country, he represents his own country. Christians are the people of the kingdom of God; Yahweh God sent us into the world to represent the kingdom of God. What is our task? What are we supposed to do in this world?

ESV 2 Corinthians 5:18 – 20 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconcilingthe world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2Cor 5:18-20 ESV)

Here it says that Yahweh God wants to reconcile the world to Himself through Christ, not counting their sins against them. There are two steps: first He reconciles us to Himself; after that, He entrusts the message of reconciliation to us and sends us into the world to be ambassadors for Christ. Our job is to tell the world that God doesn’t count their sins against them; and we are to implore the people of the world to be reconciled to Yahweh God.

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Witnesses of Jesus Christ

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Titles of Christians (#4)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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In the past few weeks we have been studying several titles of Christians; today we are going to study anther title:

NIV Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NIV)

These are the words of the Lord Jesus to his disciples after he had been resurrected from the dead. He commanded them to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and all the way to the ends of the earth.

Even though most people on earth today know the name Jesus Christ, they know very little about the Lord or know about him inaccurately. I was one of the Vietnamese refugees. My family in Vietnam followed Buddhism and Chinese traditional ancestor worship; my family and I used to say blasphemous words against Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus. Today when I look back at our words in those days, I feel pain! Why did we do such a horrible thing? One of the reasons is that we didn’t know about Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, no one told us about them accurately. So we just followed what the other people were doing!

Christians have the responsibility to tell people about our Father Yahweh God and our Lord Jesus Christ; and we don’t just preach the easy gospel of believing in Jesus to have eternal life.

Do you want to be a witness of Jesus Christ? If we want to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, what are we going to tell people?

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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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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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