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00:00:01 today's scripture reading is taken from Romans 12: 1-8 therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to to test and approve what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will for by the grace given me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you ought but
00:00:44 rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function so in Christ we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the other we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us if your gift is prophesying then prophesy in accordance with your faith if it is serving then serve if it is teaching then teach if it
00:01:21 is to encourage then give encouragement if it is giving then give generously if it is to lead do it diligently if it it is to show Mercy do it cheerfully this is the word of [Music] God morning brothers and sisters can you hear me outside the hall behind give me a thumbs up yeah great all right um for those of you that I do not have a privilege to meet yet yeah um my name is Brandon Wong and uh pandemic has captured us uh away for a while so it is good to be back to the church and see so many familiar faces again yeah so in
00:02:17 succession to ulam's preaching last week uh on how we Christians are supposed to live our lives in Christ in the beginning of New Year this morning uh I have the privilege to bring forth a passage that Sarah has just read just now uh anyway thank you Sarah for reading that um a continuation of the Gospel along the same team entitled to know him is to reflect him yeah and uh it's a rather heavy uh topic just before the Chinese New Year uh but I ask that you bear with me because as you bring the hope of Jesus Christ back to your
00:02:54 hometown uh in your gathering with your family and friends you know I pray that uh you'll be be reflecting and be equipped as the sort and the light of God's kingdom yeah for your family and friends so but before we get down to the sermon proper I ask that uh you bow your heads and pray with me ABA father we thank you Lord now for all that you have uh gathered here to hear your words this morning we ask the father you attune our hearts and our mind to take in this truth and make be let our life be changed you know with
00:03:31 the truth you know so please anoint my lips as you bring forth your word through me for I cannot say anything of significance without you lord you know so I ask for your spirit to come on me right here right now you know we thank you in Jesus name amen thank you yeah okay now suppose if I tell you that I have a computer that I brought in this morning and the AI of the computer can capture and reveal the inner most private thoughts in your heart you know what principle would be revealed about you on these two big screen behind me as
00:04:08 you walk into this Sanctuary this morning now would it be me myself and I matter the most and the purpose the only purpose in my life is to pursue Fame wealth pleasure and power yeah now if you strike the CT in your heart please do not Stone me when the sermon is finished yeah I'm just delivering the word of God to you okay or would it be in view of God's mercies to me brothers and sister the purpose of my existence is to glorify is to enjoy God you know now which one would it be for you well I
00:04:44 would like to give you the benefit of doubts that you subscribe to principle number two that I've just mentioned wouldn't you now if this is true then the question would be why then do we often think and live more like the secular World rather than like Jesus Christ well in the text this morning okay uh taken from Romans 12: 1 to8 Paul will unrel to us on the why and the how we are to live not in accordance with the way of the world but instead we are to live like Jesus Christ and we will learn this morning that as
00:05:27 Christian we are to offer our whole life to God as a Living Sacrifice you know as God calls you and I to follow Jesus Christ so I ask that if you have your Bible in your hand please open it to chapter 12 Romans and utilize the outline that I'm showing on the slide for you to follow my sermon this morning now you may take a photo of it because I will change it uh soon yeah all right I'm going to move on yeah okay so let us begin the scrutiny of the verse one yeah and I Paul says that I appe to you therefore Brothers by
00:06:06 the mercy of God to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship now in order to unpack this words yeah there you know a lot packed into it we need to understand the context of what Paul has spoken about in the first 11 chapters of the Epistles of Romans that he have return to the Roman Christians when he was in jail yeah now Paul is reminding the Roman Christians also remindings us this morning of the doctrinal truth of the Gospel they had
00:06:40 received specifically the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ yeah now the truth is this yeah through the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross God has Justified and redeemed them and most importantly as Paul pointed out prominently in the words yeah the basis of this salvation is rooted purely in the mercies of God Alone period yeah nothing else to add to it now in his grace in God's grace God saved them through the blood of Jesus Christ which none of them actually deserve and none of us deserve it as
00:07:19 well yeah now having established that true now we can unpack verse one with greater Clarity so I paraphrase the Apostle Paul I say that there therefore in view of God's mercy in Saving you out of grace and mercy which you do not deserve by sending his son Jesus Christ to the Cross to redeem your sin therefore in response brothers and sister you are to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice yeah to God which is your spiritual worship which is what God expect and which is God God asked from you yeah now in other words in view of
00:07:58 God's mercy dispense to you God calls for the sanctification and consecration of your body as a Living Sacrifice and this is not a matter of choice brothers and sisters who are sitting in this Hall today Paul says yeah but it is a mandate yeah because God has saved you unconditionally if you are in Christ now this is your spiritual worship to God this is what you are supposed to do yeah and he expects this of you no now notice that Paul say that you are to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice and not just your mind
00:08:35 yeah why this is because placing One Faith in Jesus Christ is more than just a set of mental commitment or leap service yeah now although God's salvation cannot be earned by work yeah I think most of you know this you know but Faith by itself according to James chapter 2: 17 is death he say you know if it is not accompanied by works or actions so simply put we Christian cannot go on leaving the LA lifestyle yeah we used to live before God Saves us our life must change because being saved by Jesus Christ he has led us to be born
00:09:19 again now to be born again it leads us to do God's work yeah now this would mean that we need a transformation within brother and sister that must take place so that we could live differently from the rest of the world yeah now Paul is talking about genuine transformation here one that is not just superficial in words yes I love Jesus know or believes but evidence by works or actions I didn't say it yeah Paul say it you know that is a bodily sacrifice to God that's why he used the word bodily sacrifice yeah but what what is
00:10:00 the Living Sacrifice brothers and sisters yeah now what does it really look like in real life in reality and does it make any sense to you yeah well if you look at the the literal meaning of English it doesn't make sense because sacrifice would mean death right you have to be sacrificed no like Abraham trying to sacrifice his son to God you know yeah and how can someone be so sacrificed so de and also be leaving at the same time isn't it oxymoron yeah now well according to Paul it is absolutely possible
00:10:35 yeah now you see the Old Testament theats animal being sacrificed as a picture of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to redeem you and I from our sin now when Jesus Christ died on the cross for all who loves him like you and me we died with him and so we are no longer living living in sin because he took the sin of the world you know and sacrificed himself for you and I but when Jesus Christ was resurrected again we too were raised with him in a new life yeah so you no you and I no longer living the
00:11:16 old life the sinful life you know but because Jesus has paid for this new life that you and I now possess with the shedding of his blood therefore this new life does not belong to us anymore brother and sister but this new life belongs to God exclusively now don't take my word for you in the word of Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 6: 19-22 he says you are not your own for you are bought with a price so glorify God with your body you didn't pay uh for your salvation did you now if you did then you are looking
00:12:00 for a totally different gospel this morning yeah now so hence yeah the Hefty sum which Jesus has paid for the Redemption of Our Lives renders you and I to be belonging to God exclusively period yeah full stop and because of this it is only reasonable brothers and sisters you know that we live our new life in Christ for for Jesus Christ yeah nobody else yeah because he has given his life he gave his life for hours you know and that's why Paul told the Roman you ought to be a Living Sacrifice that's what it means you know yeah well
00:12:40 mind you what Paul did not just mention some kind of Living Sacrifice yeah he said he underscore that this Living Sacrifice has to be a holy and pleasing one to God so in the word of uh Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 5:9 yeah he says so whether we are at home or away whether you are here this morning or you're back home in your hometown we make it our aim our sole purpose brother and sister to please him now in other words once we are Christian we cannot strad between the best of two words yeah there's no be ground here yeah so
00:13:26 our life is either holy and pleasing to God or all be pleasing to the world you and you know who runs the world right do you who runs the world can you humor me yeah thank you sister no Satan runs the world he is the prince of the world you either please God or you please Satan yeah now holy and pleasing to God can be applied to many areas of our life brothers and sister it can be applied to the way we live the way we think the way we walk the way we talk the way we act and also the way we react
00:14:02 to other people the way we make decisions you know whether for our personal life or for God or for our workers you know and the manner you and I come to worship and serve God yeah has to be holy and pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ you know and essentially essentially I put a nutsh a holy life would be a life of obedience to God God doesn't demand for Perfection from you he demands obedience yeah a life in which you and I would worship only God yeah no other things you know you may not be worshiping Idols in your house but you
00:14:39 Idols in your heart yeah a life in which we Embrace and we obey his words you know and we live according to his values what are the values of God you know is in the Bible yeah no matter where he places you and I it doesn't mean holy and pleasing mean you have to be a pastor like pastor Raymond know you don't have to be a full-time worker where God places you you have to be holy and pleasing to him notice that I use the words obedient yeah the word sorry I be of Pardon yeah not the word Perfection because God
00:15:14 doesn't demand Perfection for you all he demand is obedience yeah now the only perfect man is a very dead one do you agree okay this is where you should laugh a bit but I guess my plan F yeah now even the Apostle Paul is far from perfect if you know your Bible now knowing this on an intellectual basis I think most of us know on the intellectual basis you know uh um according to Paul is not enough it's not sufficient yeah because it's not leap service or mental commitment yeah God's words must be applied to our life hence
00:15:56 the command of our bodies as a Living Sacrifice and I hope I make it absolutely clear this morning yeah now this deats the spiritual life that you and I that God is expecting from you and I yeah now that we know you know the reasons why we should be a Living Sacrifice to God then I guess the natural question uh to follow would be how exactly can you and I be a Living Sacrifice to God now Paul offers some very practical suggestion yeah to the Romans in verse two to the Romans means you know to us as well yeah now he says
00:16:35 firstly do not conform to the world verse two yeah say Do not conform to the world now simply put sorry yeah simply put um he's saying that you got to be different yeah from the nonbelievers yeah I want to make it clear to the world you may not get it you know to the non-believers you cannot be worthy anymore this is what Paul says you know not being worly means that we have to resist the thoughts and the action of this world what are they we have to resist the secular culture know and the manner of thinking that is
00:17:12 selfish and rebellious to God yeah very self-centered know it's always I I I I I you know yeah the Apostle Paul put it very sucely and clearly in 1 John Chapter 2 ver 16 he says that not being worly means we have to resist the desire of the flesh every morning we wake up with the desire of our flesh you know of the eyes when we look at our neighbors when we look at the cars that other people drive you know the houses that they live in we have desire brothers and sisters you know yeah it also means that we have to
00:17:45 reject the pride of our life you know we always think that we are better than other people because it is not from the father yeah it is not from the father according to Paul yeah now our faith in Jesus Christ is not truly re it's only truly revealed brother and sister when we obey God not by just action not by just our mind but wholeheartedly you know yeah you can pray five times or 10 times a day you know it doesn't reflect that you are wholehearted to God yeah he has to be wholehearted now James chapter 4 James
00:18:20 say in 4 chapter 4 yeah he says that you adulterous people yeah he addressing you and I Yours Truly included don't you know that ship with the word means enity against God you are enemy of God yeah so therefore anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God if you are enemy of God then you are friends of Satan yeah again I remind you don't Stone me I take it from the verse yeah so on what basis then according to Paul can we resist the worldly Temptation now Paul gave his answer in verse 2B
00:19:02 yeah oh sorry yeah verse 2B he says you got to allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind what is renewing of our mind you know in other words the transformation must be propelled by the reconditioning of our minds brothers and sisters you and please take note that Paul uses a passive tense here he says be transformed he didn't say to transform yeah he said be transformed now that means the transformation which Paul is talking about here is precise yeah it is not propelled by human
00:19:41 ability or initiative but by the holy spirit of God okay why do I say that in 2 Corinthians chapter 3:8 Paul says that those who are in the Lord are being transformed yeah again the word is passive yeah being transformed you cannot do anything to transform yourself yeah being transformed into his image with ever increasing Glory which comes from the Lord who is the spirit so apart from the Holy Spirit who is truly God a trinity yeah of God who are not able to you are not able to Manifest this transformation on your
00:20:26 own but I want to say this yeah don't take it only one side but in order for the Holy Spirit to work in your life and my life we need human submission we need conscious submission to the Holy Spirit each time we are about to step into the zone of sin the Holy Spirit reminds us he put a guilt in our heart now it is up to you and I whether we are to conform to it you know or not yeah now 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 says this you know now the Lord is the spirit yeah so the Lord is Spirit yeah and where the
00:21:04 spirit of the Lord is there is there is freedom so God doesn't make you and I a robot know so we walk and we talk you know everything according to what is written in the Bible no he give you and I a freedom to choose because judgment will come upon those who choose to do otherwise he gave us a mind you know to make decision in life yes we have have the freedom to either submit or to defy God and then he continues to say Paul Contin to says and all um and we all yeah who with unveiled faces I be of Pardon uh contemplate the
00:21:44 L's glory and and are being transformed again passive tense yeah so you notice yeah you have no power to transform yourself Yours Truly included only by the prodding of the Holy Spirit and you and I submit to God into His Image he say you know the ever increasing Glory who comes from the Lord who is the spirit so he reaffirms it again yeah now perhaps yeah this will help you understand what Paul is trying to say here now John Newton yeah in the 18th century most of you know him yeah was a depraved sailor a miserable
00:22:27 Outcast and a dis speakable man you know that so other human beings the blacks African in the slave trade for profit now listen to the one of the Memoirs that he wrote yeah he say I was capable of anything who has that thinking you know yeah I had not the least fear of God before my eyes nor the least sensibility of conscience does it remind you of someone that you know or someone once before before you know God yeah now he was a retch nless to say but on that faithful day on March 21st 1748 during a
00:23:07 violent storm when he was transporting the slave back to UK there was a violent storm and he cried out to God you know at a corner when the Sheep was sinking and God saved him God saved him with his Amazing Grace you know and with that Grace John Newton was transformed by the prodding of the Holy Spirit and turned a new Li his life changed you know and he abandoned this lucrative slave trade his profession you know his Rise Bow now his transformation from a faithless seaman to a man of deep faith is not his own
00:23:45 doing brother and sister but through his obedient to the Holy Spirit and in the transformation yeah is evidence in his life and shown in the world many years after God spoke to him God Save You Now Newton later dedicated his life to God yeah he became uh an Anglican Pastor in 1764 at the age of 54 and he wrote 280 hymns you know for you and I to enjoy for God you know including the famous Hymn of Amazing Grace and as he mature further into his faith John Newton became a spiritual mentor to the Abolitionist of the slave
00:24:23 trade for 20 years until his death in December 26 uh 21st I be pardon 1807 at the age of 82 years old you never retire from God's word now this is a great example brother and sister of a transformation in Jesus Christ brought about by the renewal of our mind with the proing of the Holy Spirit and willing submission to God now when my eldest son Ryan left for his ter education you know many years ago I told him my number one expectation of him is not for him or not the academic result yeah now the number one
00:25:04 priority for him is to find a church and engage in the continuous study of the Bible why would a foolish father say that you know because the study of the word of God changes our values system brother and sisters yeah but you and I must be willing to submit or to enroll in the study of his word yeah now only with the prompting of the Holy Spirit and our willingness to submit to his Spirit God's words can renew your mind and my mind you know now this means that we do not only need to hear the word of God every Sunday but we
00:25:43 need to approach God's word and study it with the vi of being changed by it now the purpose of studying the Bible is not for entertainment not for a self edification know I'm knowledgeable in God you know I can know a lot about Duan you know I can read about it if I never taste aurant before I do not know how aurant taste yeah yeah the study of the Bible the purpose of it is for us to attain a radical mental transformation without this radical transformation your life and my life Remains the Same it
00:26:17 will not change you know now approach the Bible yeah with the aim of letting it change our thinking and renew our value system now only by doing that by changing our value system through the study of God's word we are transformed from the old self-focused and rebellious worldly thinker to a new obedient and selfless gospel thinker we put all our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you know by changing our value system only then you and I are able to say that we can touch the life of other peoples other
00:26:54 people with the gospel words really you know uh com uh words really change a person yeah or bring a person to Christ is the way you and I live our lives you know now instead of us selfishly focusing on our so-called security and well-being in this broken world now in the words of osward Chambers yeah a renowned 19th century Scottish Evangelical teachers and also Minister who this book call My Utmost For His Highest he says this yeah he says listen to this carefully brother and sister obedience to God is only
00:27:38 going to ca other people more than it cost us us Christians yeah now if we are in love with the Lord he say obedience does not cause us anything yeah now I want to remind you know once upon a time when you were chasing after you were cotting your spouse you know you would do anything in the world know for your spouse right because you love her or him you know you will go out the way to please her or him you will postpone you will push away all all appointments know just to meet him or her why because you
00:28:12 love the person yeah okay now so the is similar you when you say when you profess that you love you and I love Jesus Christ it causes nothing in fact he say it is a delight to obey the Lord and it's caused only those who do not love him a great deal yeah now brother and sister if it's costly for you then perhaps you know you are not in love with the Lord Jesus Christ yet now brother and sister considering the mercies of God in giving you salvation you unconditionally in our text this morning you know how my God
00:28:56 you mercies yeah his Mercy leads you to offer him your costly obedience today your costly sacrifice are you the one who is free in Jesus Christ you know but at the same time you are also trapped in [Music] worldism now in what areas of life brother and sister you need God to reinforce the renewal of Your Mind through an obedience uh obedience living now may I humbly suggest you know could it be the way you you treat your staff in your office could it be a domestic helpers you know even on a not so good
00:29:41 day you come back you know things don't work right you snap at her or the way you declare your taxes you know and even your marital faithfulness to your spouse now I often hear this remark from our Bible study members yeah how fortunate are the Patriarchs of the Old Testaments you know that God appeared to them and spoke to them personally but God doesn't do this today he doesn't speak to me personally my response to them yeah if you have the same question in your heart you know my response is the same yeah
00:30:14 how much more fortunate you and I are today because God speak to each and every one of us exclusively reviewing not only his purpose he reveal his full and final purpose Pur to you and I you know in the Bible if you have a Bible I have it in my phone now God may not appear to you know in in dreams like in the life of Joseph yeah or he appears to you in as an angel in the life of Abraham but he undoubtedly appeared to you and me to each and every one of us through the Bible in our hands you know his full and
00:30:55 final purpose on Earth and all you and I need to do is to study it so what is stopping you for attending the Bible study that the church offer free for you yeah takes a lot of time to prepare yeah for those who volunteer to do so yeah GMA beta you to discern the word of God now we cannot say that we know and love our spouse if we have not made the costly sacrifice or spending enough time in understanding each other can we can you truly say that turn around and say to your wife or your husband that I love you but you never
00:31:32 spend time with each other now in the same way we cannot say that we know or love our Lord Jesus Christ unless and until brother and sister we made a costly sacrifice out of your you know your professional work your hobbies you know of studying and Discerning God's will through his word in the Bible and let me assure you that our life will not be transformed and our value system will remain exactly the same no matter how many years you have become Christian no matter how many Sunday sermon you come
00:32:05 to you know until and unless brother and sister we encounter the word of God mentally bodily and wholeheartedly so Believers yeah are called to to renew their minds you know and be transformed by the Holy Spirit through God's word to resist the world may I just have a drink of water I notice I'm losing my voice now continuing in verses um 3 to8 Paul talked to us about how we can go about offering ourselves to God as a Living Sacrifice yeah continuation but first and foremost he say Paul ask that
00:33:01 we look inwardly first we look at ourselves before we look at other people elsewhere he outlined the principle for how we are to think about ourself particularly within the church which is FBC now Paul says you know do not think of yourself more highly than you ought because but rather he say think of yourself with sober judgment what does it mean you know now by Nature brother and sister yeah if we can be honors this morning Yours Truly included we have the tendency to inflate the perception ourselves isn't it yeah I live in a
00:33:37 bigger house than you you know I have a better car than you more luxurious you know yeah I know somebody will drive a porch here but don't Stone me brother no yeah he's a good friend of mine yeah so I you know I can make this joke please don't make this joke might he might not be happy with you I'm smarter than you you know I have a PhD yeah what do you have you know I work harder than you my boss like me better than you you after all it makes you and I feel really good when we inflate the perception ourselves you
00:34:14 know yeah when we think that you know we are better than other people are know we also tend to measure ourself against the standard of our own perspective and impose it on other people don't we yeah now we often hear this remark right this condition sending remark I've been told many times if I can do it why can't you do it Brandon but this Behavior according to PO is a stumbling block to sacrificial living now how are you going to offer your whole life am I off the mic can you hear me yeah how are you going to offer
00:34:48 your whole life poor ask if you think that you are more highly or more Superior or better than other people in other words if you're lacking in humility how are you going to to serve others you how are you going to do this yeah he says now the Lord Jesus Christ is a great Storyteller yeah if you have studied a book of the gospels yeah now the Lord Jesus Christ Illustrated a story in the Book of Luke yeah addressing those who thought that they were better than others and all and they look down this this person looked down
00:35:18 on everyone else you know he says two mens come in the temple yeah to pray one was the Pharisee and the other one was the Despicable tax collector they hated for collecting text you know for the Romans yeah now the Pharisees stood over by himself at one corner and he prayed he said God you know I thank you for I'm not greedy like all these people I'm not dishonest he say I'm very honest and uh you know I'm not Unfaithful in my marriage I'm very faithful know not like other people he says you know and I'm
00:35:49 really glad that I'm not like that tax collector over there you know yeah and he say I go without eating yeah for two days in a week he fast two days in a week yeah so I want you to know intermittent fasting was created yeah in the first century it's not new yeah most of us think that is new he say I give 10% Like pastor Raymond say 10% God know to you and conversely this tax collector know he stand at a corner yeah he doesn't even think that he is good enough to look up to heaven you know to seek God you know yeah
00:36:28 and he was so sorry for what he did for a living what he does for a living and he pounded his chest you know and he he prayed you know he said God you know please have pity on me you know I'm such a sinner and Jesus told told his audience including his disciple on that very moment they said that when these two person went home it was the tax collector over there and not the Pharisee over here who was pleasing and acceptable holy to God why in other words if you put yourself above others you will be put down in the
00:37:03 kingdom of God you know the first shall be last and the last shall be first but if you humble yourself brother and sister you will be honored yeah and therefore the only right way we ought to see ourselves according to Paul is to see ourselves as God see us yeah God sees us how does God sees us you know in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ all believers are equal worth and equal value no matter whether you're short or or or or tall or or fat or thin or rich or poor yeah God made all Humanity in
00:37:36 His image isn't it yeah every one of us is Made In His Image yeah not like the musang king you know you got great a great B great C God doesn't great us ABC yeah and everybody is the same price you know not $70 for a you know $50 for B and $38 for C no yeah God give you and I also second thing God give give you and I the same holy Spirit yeah my spirit and your spirit is the Same Spirit only one Spirit yeah don't DW in all believers you and all believers without exception are the part of God's plan whether you believe
00:38:11 in him or not whether you are God's people or not you are part of God's plan yeah God can use every creation yeah for its purpose and on top of that every one of us has strength and weaknesses now yeah don't you yeah anyone who is perfect in this Hall this morning may I see a hand no hands thank you for being humble no one is perfect okay now Romans chapter 3:23 says this yeah for everyone has seen and fall short of the glory of God you know you may be strong in one area but conversely you be weak in another you
00:38:49 may be able to paint whereever but you cannot count You Can Count very well you cannot paint God is fair yeah he give us specific talents you know and you are not better or greater than other believers and other believers so in view of this we are to see ourselves equal and only by doing that we are allowing God to work through us via the gifts the spiritual gifts that he has given to you and I according to Paul in verse 3B Paul does not say that I want to say this clearly Paul does not say that you
00:39:20 and I have to think of ourself as terrible worthless person no yeah you are Christians you you are God's people instead he want us to step away from the mirror of distorted view that you see in the fun house that caus us to see ourself as giant you know as Majestic as more powerful more beautiful or more important than other people now it takes great faith to see ourself objectively with humility in the way that Paul is instructing you and I then Paul changed gear in verse four to talk about Unity specifically unity
00:40:02 in church now he uses the illustration of different parts of a human body to hammer home the point that the church is a Unity Body of Christ with many Believers like you and I you know many Believers yeah now perhaps yeah the U outcome of the reason World Cup final I know you will create a controversy between Argentina and France best sums up what Paul is trying to say here yeah you know L of Mercy right anybody know Mercy Oro Mercy is no doubt the best player yeah in the world you might disagree but
00:40:34 I'm speaking on behalf of him because you know of his tangible results yeah and the best individual contributor in his team nevertheless yeah in order to win the World Cup he selflessly assisted two goals you for his teammate to score against France you know and finally took them to the podium Yeah by penalty yeah now Messi doesn't see himself above the rest of the team team and for the good of the team he humbly uses his gift to create opportunities for his teammate to score against the opponent now this is
00:41:05 not only this is very consistent yeah the humility and teamwork in him you know you can actually watch YouTube video and this is dated back to his day in Barcelona yeah he is different from other grades in soccer yeah he's a team player now Messi is exalted as the greatest of all time after the World Cup yet after winning the World Cup you know what he say he selflessly attributed the success to the entire team of Argentina and this is what he say he took to the Instagram he says so many times you know
00:41:36 so much I wanted it he say that I still don't fall I cannot believe it he said we prove that once again the Argentinian when we fight together and united we are able to achieve what we aim for yeah and he says this the Merit is of this team which is above birth individual is the strength of all fighting for the same dream that was also the one of all argentinians and he said we did it now simply put yeah brothers and sisters in Ephesians 4:6 yeah from whom the whole body joined and held together
00:42:13 yeah whom is God you by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly make the body grow so that it builds itself up in love it's talking to you and me now can we consciously say that we will selfishly step out and give our god-given talents to this church so that we can build FBC up in love and therefore Paul says you know in verse six yeah he says that let us use this spiritual gift from God to serve other but first what is a spiritual gift that Paul is talking about here
00:42:57 now according to the Bible all the verses that I gathered here according to the Bible a spiritual gift is a special Divine empowerment bestow on each believer yeah he didn't say some Believers each Believers every one of us yeah not just some Believers yeah by the Holy Spirit to accomplish a given Ministry in God's way not your way and my way according to his grace and discernment how much he give you is according to your faith yeah and his grace you know to be used within the context of the body of Christ you so in
00:43:32 other words the spiritual gift given divinely by God are for the purpose of God's kingdom in the context of the body of Jesus Christ yeah now I want to emphasize that Paul's instruction given here is directive in manner yeah now look at verse seven verse 7 says if it is serving then serve now I don't know how much you know about Nike you know Nike as a shush And the tagline is just do it no need to argue yeah it's Nike you know yeah now in the word of U Kurt villum yeah the principal and professor at the
00:44:13 Systematic Theology of Toronto Canada he says serving God is what we were made to do in the beginning of creation you know this is you know Creations are made to serve yeah God as his creature but our service has been corrupted by our sin and Rebellion the only reason that we are not able to step out to serve today is because of the corruption of sin it's because of all the selfish ambition that we have in our hearts independent of God you know even though we profess Jesus is the Lord you know yeah which has rendered us unable
00:44:52 to please them you know now an important part of the Gospel he say is that in Jesus Christ we can begin to serve God we can begin to serve god with the promise of being able to serve him perfectly yeah and forever in the age to come now this Christian service yeah is our privilege and Delight now in other words Christian service is not optional brother and sister yeah it is in accordance with the creation order even the Lord Jesus Christ serve his subject during his Earthly Ministry and how can you and I
00:45:24 who profess to be a Christian but not serving the lord at all now Paul went on to say you he say some of you can teach so teach some of you can encourage so encourage and don't keep it to yourself brother and sister I know many of you can do that some of you can give and so give generously yeah praise God I know most of you give generously some of you are leaders you know among your peers so lead he say many of you are corporate leaders you know in your in your own rights yeah but is that a timer for me
00:45:58 thank you yeah I see that now U now in in in his parting words Paul say this he say okay you have to serve yeah because you have to give your faithful service to God but don't do it half-heartedly say if you do it half-heartedly don't do it don't do it for the sake of doing it he said do it with Zeal yeah do it with Zeal oops oh sorry do it with Zeal yeah do it with commitment and do it with cheerfulness brother Chang asked the service the worship him to smile to you this morning do you notice that yeah
00:46:31 this is serving God know with joy in our hearts he prayed for it in short being transformed by Christ should result in us having a commitment or an obligation or responsibility to serve other people in FBC or in your church now the gift from God I want to repeat are not for our self edification but they are meant for God's purpose and Glory only do I hear an amen amen so brother and sister we stand shoulder to shoulder at the foot of the cross one day yeah the gospel allows you and I those who are in Christ to freely enjoy
00:47:09 our differences our diversity our dichotomy you know Christians are one body yeah we belong to one another so love one another Paul says yeah and so because of that I want to take a moment yeah and ask humbly ask you to look around you know to the left and right you know and as you turn you know as you see the eyes of your neighbor how can you express your expectation to your neighbor who are different from you in every way and what are the opportunities that God has put before you so that you can
00:47:40 use your gift he has given to you to serve the body of Christ you I'm talking about the body of Christ in this church today not limited but I want to address this you know how would your response be different after this morning brother and sister when your elders yeah like yidan you know like Anor like Peter Dr Peter yeah ask you to serve step out to serve or your ministry leaders ask you to step out to serve yeah to serve in many areas of this church they are so diely short of workers do you know that Sunday
00:48:10 school is crying for teachers no teachers you know pastoral care yeah for the sick for the widows have you ever thought about that the widows in our midst who are suffering or the doers let's not be sexist as sure Ministry leaders how about Bible study you know Alpha Beta gamma we need facilitators yeah so brother and sister you um Believers are caught to sacrificial living you engaging and serving others with great humility Grace in church now in closing um I want to ask the worship team to join me on stage now Paul reminds us
00:49:04 that because of all that Jesus has done for us you know God has done for us in Jesus Christ to be precise we must respond not just in our heart not just in our mind but also in our bodies you know we must offer our whole life to God as a Living Sacrifice yeah and you and I will call ourselves Christian must some kind of one kind of one commitment at least you obligation or responsibility to for follow Jesus Christ and Paul reminded us that we can only truly follow Jesus by the renewal of our minds
00:49:34 and our value system uh letting the Bible change that value system no longer worly but gospel compliance you know now we need to give ourself in some faithful Services otherwise just liap service it's just mental Commitment if you do not do it yeah he says so as I bring my sermon to a close this morning I would like to ask that you to pray with me brothers and sisters I believe most of us in this sanctuary if not all of us here are longing for the transformation amen amen yeah at the bank amen amen but the reality is this you
00:50:15 know one thing stands in our way that is our rebellious nature yeah which is a lifelong struggle for many of us Yours Truly included many many years you know before I understood the transformation you know so I want to end my sermon with this picture I want you to look at it and I want you to take it all in and I want you to imagine you how God has given up the body of Jesus Christ in death in excruciating pain that you cannot not even begin to imagine you know the weep that they used to weep our Lord Jesus Christ you know
00:51:05 at the end of it is tied with pieces of matters you know every lash that they release on him you know Cuts deep into his body you know and blood uses out and look at that picture by the time he was on the cross that pain you cannot imagine to understand the nails that they put through his hands you cannot begin to imagine the excruciating pen he take all this in you know so that you and I may live in perfect eternity with our ABA father in 10,000 years in 100,000 years I'll be fellowshipping with you worshiping our
00:51:49 Lord and therefore it is only right brother and sister for you and I who love Jesus Christ you know to submit to the holy spirit and give our body to God in life not in death in life for his glory so to know Jesus is to reflect him remember to reflect him you know in our lives and it is not a choice reflecting Jesus Christ brother and sister calls for a life of sacrificial living to God do I hear an amen amen shall we close and we pray AB father we want to thank you Lord for your living words you know that
00:52:33 touches our hearts you know and we ask that father you so graciously grant us the will and the power to step out our comfort zone to be a living sacrifice for you to magnify and glorify you Lord you know in every area of our life be at home in office or even as we hate for our respective you know families gathering this Chinese New Year we ask that father you Empower us to be The Sword and the light of your kingdom know for those around us and as you dismiss us this morning Father we ask that you dismiss us in your blessings in
00:53:09 Jesus name and all God's people say amen thank you Brothers for tuning in yeah To God Be The [Applause] Glory Church shall We rise to respond to that [Music] take my life and let it be consecrated to thee take my moments and my days let flow and seas this prise take my hands and let them move at the impulse of th love take my feet and let them be and beautiful [Music] for take my voice and let me sing always only for my king take my lips and let them be filled with messes from the take my silver and my gold not of might I
00:54:53 with take my in and use every Power as [Music] choose all of me take my love it's all for thee take my will and make it it shall be no longer mine take my heart is thy own it shall be thy Royal Throne take my love my Lord I pour at your feet is treasure St take myself and I will be ever only all take myself take myself and I will be ever only all for thee [Music] here and my all of me take my life it's all for thee We All of Me [Music] take my life it's all for [Music] thee all of me take my life so for
00:57:35 me all of me take my life it's all for thee and as we come to a close I want to call anyone who has the um heart you know and a desire to surrender your life to God you know to come forth for prayer so we have all our uh pastors and Elders you know and um even the chairman of our church you know um ready to pray pray for you yeah so please come forward yeah if you feel that you have obstacles in your life and you feel that you know you want to serve God but you are not brave you know God gives God does give us a
00:58:25 spirit of Bravery yeah and all you need you know is allow him to change you or you have anything that's hurting in your heart you before you go back and meet your family this Chinese New Year before those who don't celebrate know as you go for your holiday please come forward and to we prayed for you and uh I urge that you do that yeah now um now uh please receive the benediction yeah now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory and
00:58:56 with great joy to the only God our savior the Lord Jesus Christ be glory and majesty and dominion and authorities before all times now and forever amen yeah I want to wish you blessed Chinese New Year for those who celebrate and happy holiday to those who doesn't yeah and uh with um the prayer and moment moment of silence meditation and prayer the service is over you thank you guys than [Music]
