Sep 06
… in your minds be grown men .
Purpose of church gathering — 3 ways to worship God:
1. Sermon meetings: to teach and comfort?v.3?
2. Prayer meetings: to pray and sing?v.15?
3. Gospel meetings: to glorify God and save sinners ?v.23…25?
Only if all of us magnify Lord and follow the Spirit in our private lives , can make our meetings full of blessings and glory of God!
?Live again?…An American sister Minnie Vautrin was an outstanding student in college. In 1912 she arrived Hefei of Anhwei in China. She sharred the gospel and founded a secondary school there. Late she ran the Ginling Women’s University from 1919 to 1940, contributed very much in education . In 1937 when the Japanese army killed several hundred thousands in Nanjing, she set up safety zones in university, risking her life to save many women. Her diary aroused attentions both in China and the West. In 1941 she rested in peace, her last words, “if I can live again, I still choose to serve the Chinese!”
Sep 05
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace… <14:33>
How to make use of your gifts in church meetings…3 principles:
1. for strengthening the church?v.26?… prophesying more constructive than speaking in tongues!
2. Speeches should be understood by all?v.6…25?…hearts can only be changed if people understand God’s will!
3. Everything should be in order?v.40? …so that men can meet God among saints!
?Last week, youth counseling centre of the Dawn Society HK was intruded by men with knives. 6 were injured in the event. Sing Tao Daily interviewed Uncle Guang, the chief secretary of Dawn. He testified that he himself was involved in gang fighting at the age of 11. During his 28 years life in the gang society, he was in and out prison , also seeking for drug addiction treatment . In 84’ he believed in Jesus in Thailand. Afterward he devotes his time in counseling problematic youths.May Jesus strengthen his ministry.
Sep 04
And now abide faith, hope, love…the greater of these is love.
Abba Father, fill my heart with your holy love:
1. All gifts are for building the church
2. Christ is the summary of the 15 virtues of love
Lord, do not let this “psalms of love” (1 Cor 13) a checklist for me, but a living Christ who is manifested in my personality!
?In the 1930s , civil war in China. Gangsters were common. A brother was taken captive with many people in Shaanxi. His hands were tied kept in robbers’ house. He remembered that Peter was saved by angels , so he prayed. Then he really freed his hands by himself. He asked Lord to make the robbers asleep again -the robber slept even snored! Finally he escaped & told this story in Sunday meeting!
Sep 03
… But God has tempered the body together… <12:24>
Don’t over-emphasize of gifts — grace most needed in God’s household:
1. spiritual gifts — Leaders of multiple gifts might still be spiritual babies . When they act in flesh they can bring forth splitting of churches & even sins?1 Cor Ch.1…11?
2. spiritual grace— All talents & spiritual experience are only for the glory of God, to serve others and build the church! ?1 Cor Ch.12…14?
?Sam Kong reports — God’s love overflows — Our church 10 gospel meetings in summer just finished. 449 new friends came – total while 212 of them believed in Jesus. O Praise the Lord, glory be to Him!
Sep 02
… the Christ is the head of every man… <11:3>
in memory of our Lord —
1. Looking backward: remembering Lord’s body was broken for us?v.23…26?
2. Looking forward: relighting the hope of Lord’s return?v.26?
3. Looking inward: rcovering our attitudes of godliness and holiness ?v.27…32?
4. Looking around: refreshing the love towards brothers & sisters?v.33…34?
?Young girl Ah Wing has been rebellious, turning her family into a battlefield. She even ran away from school and home. Her heart-broken parents wept before God, God reminded them to put her right with the unfailing love of God. The girl was moved and repented; their family prayed in one heart. A Christian school principal admitted her back to school, and Ah Wing got the first place in exam in F.5 at last. Her story was cast into a film “Love -Home” ??????. .
Sep 01
…are we stronger than He? <10:22>
Lessons of History— 3 warnings:
1. Miraculous experience not lifelong protection?v.1…4?– be mature -this is target of life.
2. A promising start is not reliable?v.5…12?– to stand till the end , finish the race !
3. Take special attention ?v.13…22?– Be single-hearted – live for the glory of God!
?Bill Gates & the Bible…I have read through new book — 9 Advices to the Youths– written by Bill Gates of Microsoft. A paragraph caught me. It’s about once when Bill Gates was young ,he attended a boring Bible class. The pastor came up & challenged the students to recite a long-winded passage from the Bible. He promised to give a prize for winner- a meal in the restaurant on Space Needle in Seattle. Bill really memorised it and won his meal. See -the Bible is not really hard!
Aug 31
… they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible? <9:25>
Train strict – to win the reward in both the present life and life to come:
1. Be a slave for the gospel?v.1…23? — Are we giving out our all – even our rights – for gospel’s sake?
2. eternal work of the Kingdom?v.24…27?– Are we training ourselves strict like Olympic players – every details of our life is working for eternity?
?A teacher, who was once a patriotic youth, led teachers and students to strike. Afterward he got successful in business. He moved to New Zealand first and then to Canada. He devoted his time for children, methods tokeepfit , and Buddhism. But after he got in touch with saints, he was amazed by the wonders of the Bible. He read it through nights and felt the clling of God. He was baptized in 2004 with his wife in Vancouver – finally he found the truth!
Aug 30
But if any one love God, he is known of Him
That weak brother — but Christ has died for him!
1. The greatest service — Lord had poured his life for every one of the brothers. If we are to achieve great for Him, serving the weak saints humbly is the way!?v.1?3?9?11…13?
2. The most respectable deed — To sacrifice freedom because of love – this is the choice of Christ & should also be the decision of those who love God?v.3?10?
?The world changed — A friend now in Vancouver has served in China’s air force since his 17. His fortune was good till retirement. He was used to be a atheist, but after his migration to Canada he reviewed his life. He had led a life of striving and struggling, but now the love shown in the Bible attracted him much. In 2002 he put aside his warlord character and was baptized into the name of God. From then he loved his family, and once his daughter told him, “You are changed, dad!”
Aug 29
… waiting on the Lord without distraction. <7:35>
A Way of No return — Christian Marriage lasts until death?v.39…40?:
1. Marriage is not the tomb of love nor the prison of freeman. It is the fortress of blessing given by God!
2. Choose your better half – according to God’s will but not your preference, otherwise…
?God knows — I am reading a book about environmental protection. The author is a newly believed scientist. He wrote about the sunlight…the visible light with wavelength 380-670 nanometers have crucial ecological meaning. Because photosynthesis can only be carried out under this light, and then light energy can be transformed into chemical energy, the life cycle of the plants and animals can be kept. Who adjusted such a huge and delicate system? Only God knows!
Aug 28
…use the world, as not disposing of it as their own; for the fashion of this world passes.
Why get married & raise children? — to please God with your family :
1. Why get married ? — We are nearsighted if we place the happiness of our spouses and children first!
2. Why remain single? — We are not called to be slaves of our families .
Serve God with your household, for we are bought with high price!
?Arnold Strange who had been to China from Canada in 1925 ,served with love in Shaanxi. He preached to jailors and helped victims in disasters. 16 years later, he got typhoid from the refugee and died at the age of 44, leaving his wife and 2 daughters with age 8 and 11. He had written down words from his heart when he decided to come to China: …I think the greatest contribution I can make to my own church is…togive myselfto far away country . By this we can tell the world the sincerity of our faith…
Aug 27
for you have been bought with a price…<6:20>
3 mysteries — Saints, Temple and Spirit:
1. Saints?v.15? …Christ in heaven is taking actions on earth through us – His body!
2. Temple?v.19? …Our bodies is holy Temple! Treasure it as the Creator of heaven & earth dwelling in it!
3. Spirit ?v.17? …We are united with Lord! And our spirit even becomes one with the Lord’s Spirit!
*In 1962 So Cho Yeung ??? visited a company chairman in Europe. The chairman, then living on a wheelchair, led a life of tears in grief. So sang the hymn “A Bruised Reed” for him. On the fourth times the chairman smiled & said, “I am the bruised reed , the feebly burning light, but Jesus love me till the end. I must not be despair from now on.” From that day he sang it everyday. When people visited him he sang it to them , invited them to sing together – until the day he returned to the Lord. (
Cantonese/
Mandarin )
Aug 26
Purge out the old leaven… <5:7>
Give No Room to darkness and hatred among us!
1. To sins ?5:1…13?… Judge and cleanse the old yeast in grief!
2. To sinners?6:1…8? … Restore and help them repent!
A little evil will contaminate the whole batch. But holiness and truth, which is the witness of the church, is powerful enough to overcome!
? Bro MC Yeung ??? in HK used a few years to copy the whole Bible by hand., using 197 books. Copying the Bible delicately renewed his mind and he found much benefit in it. For example when Mrs. Yeung was facing a major surgery , God comforted them by the Book of Jonah. Yeung was baptized in 98’. everyday he reads a chapter of the Bible with his wife . He kept all program sheets of Sunday services for many years in a plastic box . He and his wife revised them several times every week and pray for the world .
Aug 25
…the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power
Who is the true servant of God — 3 examples?
1. Faithful in God’s words ?v.1…6?
2. Humbly and live as a spectacletoowhole universe ?v.7…13?
3. Teach gently in love as a father?v.14…21?
?A youth Ah Kit?? is called by Lord to serve in Cambodia. as he read Judges 6:14 on the plane, he was reconfirmed by Jesus — “The Lord…said, ‘…Am I not sending you?’”And so he went forward in courage. He reports that Cambodian are thirsty for the truth. It lacks pasors and bibleteachers of Bible in numerous villages . Pray for the souls in Cambodia.
?Sam Kong requests — This Sunday (27/8) 11:00am – gospel meetings in 5 places HK . (TST, SKW, ST, YL and KT). I am going to speak on the topic “3 Secrets of Life” in KT, but my partner Ah Shing ?? who will lead hymns- is still not recoverd fr sickness. back us up in prayer!
Aug 24
.. all are yours, and you are of Christ … (v.22-23)
Say goodbye to kindergarten —- pathetic church & believers:
1. Be mature and grown up in God’s home (v.1-4) — Are we still envy and divisive among us, act in flesh & uplfting leaders, ignorant in God’s will – these are all childish behavior(spiritually)!
2. Be of good quality in God’s planting (v.5-23) — Offer experience of life which is eternal, beautiful and scarce to the Lord. No inferior goods can be included in Lord’s project!
* 2 days before I met a father who has just brought his daughter to the Lord. He asked God to strengthen her faith. His daughter received exam result recently (she has to get 2 A’s and 1B to enter a foreign – but she only got 1A1B1C) . The girl thought she had lost the place, but the university insisted to admit her. She didn’t believe & phoned the university again . Still she can’t understand why and could only knee down and praise God!
Aug 23
For I resolved to know nothing …except Jesus Christ – and Him crucified! (v.2)
Put aside the wisdom of men and turn to God:
1. Core of the gospel – Christ’s death (v.1-5)
2. Focus of gospel – The eternal will of the Father (v.6-9)
3. Revelation of gospel – Work of the Spirit (v.10-16)
* Footprints of saints — The Tse Man Sung family (with his wife Suk Ching??, children Hiu Ching, Hiu Hei?????) which is loved by Lord , have moved to America from Hk in August. (Virginia Beach of Virginia) Pls pray for them -to become new blessings for church there!
* Man Sung reluctant to leave. He quoted Oswald Chambers: “You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing…Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is! “ ( to see the city the Lord marked for them?
click and
Virginia Beach
Aug 22
God [ is ] faithful… <1:9>
God called us — for 3 Wonderful Purposes :
1. Called to sanctify?v.1…9?…Offer your life to Him, live in His grace , wait for His return. Don’t wander anymore!
2. Called to unite?v.10…25?… only Christ is the Lordin your church !
3. Called to glorify God?v.26…31?…great leaders or miraculous experiences are nothing. All glory to God only!
? Sam Kong requests — Our church 5 gospel meetings this Sunday (27/8) – 11:00am: (“The Almighty God” in TST, “3 Secrets of Life” in KT, “Who is Jesus” in SKW, “Why Believe” in ST ,& “Does God Exists” in YL. Pls pray for souls in HK!
?by Rev. S.M. Tong???, Indonesian pastor — “I can’t repay a little of the grace of my Lord -even at the cost of my life a thousand times!”
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