Rev Gideon Lee
This
morning I want to preach from the he book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity
under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to
die,
a time to plant and a time to
uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to
build,
4 a time to weep and a time to
laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a
time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to
refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to
give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw
away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to
speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their
toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
11 He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom
what God has done from beginning to end.
Do you
know that Malaysia has 4 seasons? The dry season. Then the drier season. The
wet and the wetter season.
We are
now entering the raining season and then flooding during the wetter season.
There's a place and sequence to everything. Winter does not come after summer.
There's spring before summer. And autumn before winter. And Ecclesiastes says
there's a season for everything.
A time to
be born and a time to die.
To be
born and to die is out of our control but I said last week that God is in
control. Last week we just had two funerals. Beyond our control but we know who
is in control. There is also a time for us to be born into the kingdom of God.
How we responded to his word as it was shared to us. We were once the enemy of
God but now we are a friend to God.
We have
gone through seasons of war, like during the Japanese occupation and I was told
by my parents that they survived on tapioca with chilli padi. But these don't
last. There is a season to everything. These kind of season do not last. If you
are going through a season of suffering or lack, it will come to an end. Just
as summer will come after spring.
A time to
scatter and a time to gather. You must understand these were written in a time
when agriculture was their life. What do you do before you plant? You have to
clear the land by gathering the stones. And they collect the stones to build a
wall around to protect the land.
A time to search and a time to give up.
Once I
lost a poodle and I prayed hard to find it. I prayed really hard that time and
the good news is I found it in a drain. I'm glad God searched and found us and
did not give up.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
We all
know what this is talking about. We often keep things because we always say one
day we will need it. But that day often don't come.
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
How often
sometimes we wish we had not spoken something? There was once I tried to
impress my boss and I realised the more I spoke, I realised the less I know.
And what do we do like all salesmen is to goreng.
This
morning I'm going to talk about stepping into a new season.
- It will bring changes
- It will bring new challenges
- It will bring new champions
It will bring changes
We all
know change is inevitable but we all know who holds tomorrow. Some of us are on
the mountain top and we can see everything in the horizon. Or some of us are in
the valleys, when we are going through a tough time. But these seasons don't
last.
Matthew 4:18-20
18 As Jesus was walking beside the
Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.
They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come,
follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At
once they left their nets and followed him.
One
moment a fisherman and another he became a disciple of Jesus Christ. We know
Peter one day did great exploits for God. A new season of his life came in a
moment. This new season brought new changes in his life. One encounter with God
and his life changed.
How many
of you look forward to new seasons in your life? No meh? When in school I
always look forward to the school holiday season. No school, no homework. No
seeing the teachers for two weeks.
Do you
know on the first day of school holidays I would throw my school bag at a
corner and one day before school opens it's still where I left it. That's me
la.
New
seasons bring about new changes. Whether we like it or not, it'll come.
It will bring new challenges
But with
it comes new challenges. Like when we first accepted the Lord, we have to put
away the old ways.
Peter had
challenges that he had to face following Jesus. Like walking on water. Like
Peter, learn to step out of the boat and meet new challenges.
Like
Joshua, who shared at cell that he will be studying in UK for his masters.
There will be new challenges. No more char koay teow, only fish and chips. He
shared how God miraculously provided the scholarship. New challenges.
Peter was
the only one recorded to ever walk on water besides Jesus. Peter also denied
Jesus three times. Jesus already said that and he denied Christ. New
challenges. Peter went through this period of time but it did not stop him from
following Jesus.
Jesus
appeared to Peter and gave him a new challenge. Peter do you love me? Three
times Jesus asked him. Some theologians said Jesus had to ask him three times
for the three times Peter denied Jesus.
Are you
going through a new challenge today? New job? You do not have to be afraid to
go through new challenges.
It will bring new champions
Last but
not least, new challenges make new champions. Peter was transformed from a
fisherman to become a powerful preacher of the word. There was a power that
rested upon him at the upper room that made him a champion.
He
preached one of the most powerful sermon that day and 3,000 was added to the
church that day. New champion.
We all
became new champions the day we asked Jesus to come into our life. Sometimes we
look and say it's impossible for my old grandmother to accept Jesus but it
happens. New champions for God.
Jesus
said follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
I want to
leave this with you. Just as changes is inevitable, we praise God that Jesus
never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. His character
never changes.
These are
some things that never changes.
- The Bible will never change. God's word does not change.
- Prayer does not change. It changes us and the situation but prayer to God never changes because he will still answer.
- The Holy Spirit does not change. He is still moving in our midst like he did before.
- God still inhabits the praises of his people. That never change.
- There will still be singing in God's house. That will not change because of our gratitude for what he has done.
- God will still bless his people. That will never change.
- There will always be room for one more soul at the cross. He does not wish any should perish.
- God's love for you and me will never change. Things may pass away but his love for us will not change.
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