Tag Archives: god

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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Rivers of Living Water

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#11)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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We have studied eternal life in the kingdom of God, yet we can also have a foretaste of eternal life in the present age, which is a life of righteousness, peace, joy, freedom, and knowing the Only True God Yahweh and the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we are going to study another aspect of the foretaste of eternal life.

NAS John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  (Joh 4:14 NAS)

 Here the Lord Jesus says he is going to give us water to drink; whoever drinks of this water shall never thirst, because this water shall become in that person a well of water springing up to eternal life.

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The Importance of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ

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Resurrection Day Message (#1)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Resurrection Day (or Easter Sunday) is the day on which we commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago the Lord died on the cross on a Friday, then on the first day of the following week he was resurrected, he came back to life.

Most people in the world today, even non-Christians, are familiar with the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore I will not repeat the whole story here; but I would like to emphasize the importance of his resurrection, and the connection between his resurrection and our lives.

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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 is to know the Only True God and Jesus Christ

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#9)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Brothers, sisters and friends, last time we studied eternal life in the kingdom of God; if you want to have eternal life, you have to be in the kingdom of God, which means that you submit to the kingship of God, you obey God’s commandments. Apostle John defines eternal life as the life in Jesus Christ. If you live in Jesus Christ in the present age, you will have eternal life in heaven in the age to come; but if you don’t live in Jesus Christ in the present age, you won’t have eternal life in heaven in the age to come. Life in Jesus Christ in the present age leads to the eternal life in heaven. That’s what we studied last time, today we are going to study deeper about the life in Jesus Christ.

Eternal Life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ

NAU John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

This verse is in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ before he was arrested and then crucified on the cross. Here the Lord says that eternal life is to know the Father the only true God and Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent.

Are you surprised at this statement of the Lord Jesus? If you know the only true God and Jesus Christ, you will have eternal life, it sounds so easy! Today we are going to study this verse to see what it means to know the only true God and Jesus Christ!

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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 Can Enter into The Kingdom of God?

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#7)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Last time we saw that the greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who humbles himself to become a slave to save people. Of course ultimately that is our Lord Jesus Christ. If you follow the Lord’s example, if you humble yourself to be like a slave to save people, and if you obey God’s teaching to the point of death, then you will also be great in the kingdom of God. After hearing this, do you still want to enter into the kingdom of God?

NAU John 3:1 – 5 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

This Pharisee named Nicodemus came to talk to the Lord Jesus at night, and the Lord said to him, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. ” Nicodemus did not understand what it means to be born again, so the Lord explained further that, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

Please take notice of this statement, this is the very word declared by the Lord Jesus, if you want to enter into the kingdom of God, you have to be born of water and the Spirit.

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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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Joy in the Holy Spirit

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The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life (#5)

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Recapitulation

Brothers, sisters and friends, in the past few weeks we have been studying Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” We have studied the qualities of righteousness and peace, today we are going to look at the quality of joy.

Introduction

According to this passage if you live under the kingship of God, you will experience joy. But some people would say, “ I don’t believe in God, but I still have joy”; And some other people would say, “As long as I have money, my money can buy me joy; I don’t need to submit to the kingship of God!” Then another group of people would argue in a different way saying, “Does it mean that when Christians run into disasters in life, they will still laugh and rejoice? That’s crazy! Only crazy people would rejoice when disaster strikes!”

Brothers and sisters and friends, the joy in the kingdom of God is entirely different from the joy that people in the world have. Let’s look into the word of God to see what is the joy in the kingdom of God.

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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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