Sunday 17 July 2016

A Time for Everything


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.
  1. It will bring changes
  2. It will bring new challenges
  3. 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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