Rev Gideon Lee
Today I want to ask you what is our church theme? Called Out Ones. And what is the scripture? 1Peter 2:9
Before we start I want us to read this scripture.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
This morning I want to remind us and as a refresher to us what is our focus for this and next year. Our theme is from the scripture we read.
The bible says we are a peculiar people. It means weird and sounds a little negative. But here, Peter is talking about it in a positive manner. We as a peculiar people is distinctive because we belong to God. We are different in that way. We are in the world but we are not of the world.
We need to also understand that Peter is employing an old rabbinic meaning like beads that are stringed together, where it is to be read as a whole "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,"
The church is not an NGO. We do good works, we feed the poor, we give aid but we are not an NGO. We are not a political body. We are a church, our identity is in Christ. First a chosen generation, then a royal priesthood, and a holy nation.
And next is our function which is to "proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light"
So we need to know who we are and what is our function. This morning I want to remind us our identity to Christ, our first and foremost allegiance is to Christ even though we love our country. We are His representative here on this earth.
Peter said because we belong to Jesus rather than the world, therefore we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
First I want to talk about a holy nation. Why did Peter use the word holy? Why not powerful nation or prosperous nation? At that time, the Romans were in power and Israel was a conquered nation. Back in that time there was a decree called emperor worship. You have to worship Caesar, it was law. Their right to worship was taken from them.
What they would feel would be a sense of abandonment. Here Peter encourages them, a chosen generation. Jesus was referring to the OT scripture you just read. God chose them because He loves them and not just because they deserved it. Not because they were numerous or talented but because God loved them so much.
Peter is telling the Christians don't give up. They have a favored position in God.
When I was in hospital, I did not feel favored. Sometimes, we just feel like that. When you are sick, you may ask God why? I serve you and have been faithful. Why? Even pastors are human and sometimes we feel like we are not God's chosen people. But I want you to know in spite of how we feel, God chose us.
Then he said, you are a royal priesthood. I talked about this in my sermon before, what it means. When we use the word royal, it means we serve the King of kings. In the past there were different functions for the king and priest but Jesus changed that by being king and priest. And that's who we are in Him. Our job first and foremost is to be a priest. So do you know what is the function of the priest? To stand between the people and God. But this call is not for the few but he says you, and you and you, which means all believers. As a child of God you stand between God and the unsaved. As a child of God, we are blessed to be able to stand between God and the people.
Then he says a holy nation. I spoke about this just now. So you know holiness is a characteristic of our God. God says be ye holy even as I am holy. Not every god can claim that. We need to be a people that is set apart for our distinctiveness of holiness. We have lost this. We don't preach enough of this. As a Christian we have to be different from the world. That's why we don't sleep around. Or watch pornography. Because we are a holy nation.
Sometimes when we make a mistake our friends may say "you Christians do that meh?" Why? Because we are different and a higher standard is expected.
We are a people for possession. You belong to God. We need to let this sink in to us. A people belonging to God. How awesome is that. As we now know our identity, what is our function then?
So what is our function? You are to be a witness. So you can tell the people what God has done for you. Are you doing that? We have so many opportunities for that. I'll tell you why. How many of you are going for lunch afterwards? How many is going to the Batu Lancang market? I'll see you there. (laughs) Or at a food court.
How often we have to share table? What if during your lunch time, someone has no place and ask to sit at your table. What if instead of keeping to yourself, you chose to share how you are taken from darkness into His marvelous light.
Can? Why not? Or I use to take the bus and how often you have to sit with a stranger. It is often crowded and it is an opportunity. Linken, pray that God will give you someone that will let you sit with who have no choice but to listen to you for the next 4 hours.
There are opportunities but whether we are aware of it or not. I share with you a real testimony.
I know an old lady who say she cannot share as she did not know how. But she can cook. And she would cook up a storm and bring it to cell and invite her friends. One by one, her friends came to Christ. Because of her act of cooking, her friends one by one came to know the Lord.
How many of you can cook? I know TOP has many great cooks. And I am spoiled by the good food that when I go to other states, and I look at their food, no fight. In cooking you can sing praises to the Lord.
What about biking? When you cycle, you can always invite your cell leader to come with you and there is an opportunity to speak of His goodness in bringing you out of darkness into His marvelous light. If some of us do this, the church would be full very soon.
When we do business, can we talk to them? You may say pastor, work is work, business is business. But I want to tell you this, whether it's business, work, or family, Jesus is in it all.
Last, how do we have the strength and power to do it. I know this is not in the passage but I think it's important. Where is our power,? It's in the anointing of His Spirit. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. This morning, do we have the power? There is power when the Holy Spirit come upon us.
So this morning, who are we church? We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.
And what are we suppose to do? What is our function? To proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
That is what we want to do at CWC (Christmas with the Community). We want to make sure we do more than that because we are not an NGO. When you go for lunch, pray that God will bring strangers to your table. If you pray, God will do it because He does not want any to perish. He will give you souls.
Have you asked God to bring you someone who you can bring to church? Try it and let me know next week. God will bring someone your way.
After this we are going down to the basement car park for water baptism. There is about 10 of them so come and join us and give them our support.
Today I want to ask you what is our church theme? Called Out Ones. And what is the scripture? 1Peter 2:9
Before we start I want us to read this scripture.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
This morning I want to remind us and as a refresher to us what is our focus for this and next year. Our theme is from the scripture we read.
The bible says we are a peculiar people. It means weird and sounds a little negative. But here, Peter is talking about it in a positive manner. We as a peculiar people is distinctive because we belong to God. We are different in that way. We are in the world but we are not of the world.
We need to also understand that Peter is employing an old rabbinic meaning like beads that are stringed together, where it is to be read as a whole "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,"
The church is not an NGO. We do good works, we feed the poor, we give aid but we are not an NGO. We are not a political body. We are a church, our identity is in Christ. First a chosen generation, then a royal priesthood, and a holy nation.
And next is our function which is to "proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light"
So we need to know who we are and what is our function. This morning I want to remind us our identity to Christ, our first and foremost allegiance is to Christ even though we love our country. We are His representative here on this earth.
Peter said because we belong to Jesus rather than the world, therefore we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
First I want to talk about a holy nation. Why did Peter use the word holy? Why not powerful nation or prosperous nation? At that time, the Romans were in power and Israel was a conquered nation. Back in that time there was a decree called emperor worship. You have to worship Caesar, it was law. Their right to worship was taken from them.
What they would feel would be a sense of abandonment. Here Peter encourages them, a chosen generation. Jesus was referring to the OT scripture you just read. God chose them because He loves them and not just because they deserved it. Not because they were numerous or talented but because God loved them so much.
Peter is telling the Christians don't give up. They have a favored position in God.
When I was in hospital, I did not feel favored. Sometimes, we just feel like that. When you are sick, you may ask God why? I serve you and have been faithful. Why? Even pastors are human and sometimes we feel like we are not God's chosen people. But I want you to know in spite of how we feel, God chose us.
Then he said, you are a royal priesthood. I talked about this in my sermon before, what it means. When we use the word royal, it means we serve the King of kings. In the past there were different functions for the king and priest but Jesus changed that by being king and priest. And that's who we are in Him. Our job first and foremost is to be a priest. So do you know what is the function of the priest? To stand between the people and God. But this call is not for the few but he says you, and you and you, which means all believers. As a child of God you stand between God and the unsaved. As a child of God, we are blessed to be able to stand between God and the people.
Then he says a holy nation. I spoke about this just now. So you know holiness is a characteristic of our God. God says be ye holy even as I am holy. Not every god can claim that. We need to be a people that is set apart for our distinctiveness of holiness. We have lost this. We don't preach enough of this. As a Christian we have to be different from the world. That's why we don't sleep around. Or watch pornography. Because we are a holy nation.
Sometimes when we make a mistake our friends may say "you Christians do that meh?" Why? Because we are different and a higher standard is expected.
We are a people for possession. You belong to God. We need to let this sink in to us. A people belonging to God. How awesome is that. As we now know our identity, what is our function then?
So what is our function? You are to be a witness. So you can tell the people what God has done for you. Are you doing that? We have so many opportunities for that. I'll tell you why. How many of you are going for lunch afterwards? How many is going to the Batu Lancang market? I'll see you there. (laughs) Or at a food court.
How often we have to share table? What if during your lunch time, someone has no place and ask to sit at your table. What if instead of keeping to yourself, you chose to share how you are taken from darkness into His marvelous light.
Can? Why not? Or I use to take the bus and how often you have to sit with a stranger. It is often crowded and it is an opportunity. Linken, pray that God will give you someone that will let you sit with who have no choice but to listen to you for the next 4 hours.
There are opportunities but whether we are aware of it or not. I share with you a real testimony.
I know an old lady who say she cannot share as she did not know how. But she can cook. And she would cook up a storm and bring it to cell and invite her friends. One by one, her friends came to Christ. Because of her act of cooking, her friends one by one came to know the Lord.
How many of you can cook? I know TOP has many great cooks. And I am spoiled by the good food that when I go to other states, and I look at their food, no fight. In cooking you can sing praises to the Lord.
What about biking? When you cycle, you can always invite your cell leader to come with you and there is an opportunity to speak of His goodness in bringing you out of darkness into His marvelous light. If some of us do this, the church would be full very soon.
When we do business, can we talk to them? You may say pastor, work is work, business is business. But I want to tell you this, whether it's business, work, or family, Jesus is in it all.
Last, how do we have the strength and power to do it. I know this is not in the passage but I think it's important. Where is our power,? It's in the anointing of His Spirit. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. This morning, do we have the power? There is power when the Holy Spirit come upon us.
So this morning, who are we church? We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.
And what are we suppose to do? What is our function? To proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
That is what we want to do at CWC (Christmas with the Community). We want to make sure we do more than that because we are not an NGO. When you go for lunch, pray that God will bring strangers to your table. If you pray, God will do it because He does not want any to perish. He will give you souls.
Have you asked God to bring you someone who you can bring to church? Try it and let me know next week. God will bring someone your way.
After this we are going down to the basement car park for water baptism. There is about 10 of them so come and join us and give them our support.
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| Pastor Gideon giving out membership certificates to new members and associate members. |
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| And here are our Mission team members who will be leaving for Sarawak next week. |
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| Bro Allan Tan praying for our Mission team sending them forth in the name of Jesus! |
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| Our baptismal candidates each shared a short testimony before baptism. |
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| And here they are after baptism, one for the album before Bro Koay Kheng Hin prayed for them. |
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