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00:00 and mild in his own cause. Though he may be a lion in God's cause
00:06 or defending others. Now the meek inherit abuse and
00:12 dispossession, but they will inherit the earth when Christ the King reigns for a thousand
00:20 years in peace and prosperity. Let us invite the Lord as we go to him
00:27 in prayer. Lord of heaven and earth, for your word
00:32 is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
00:37 the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
00:43 the thoughts and intents of the heart. In the living name of Jesus Christ, we
00:49 exalt. Amen.
00:55 Morning.
01:07 Good morning church. Uh it's good to be in the house of the Lord again. Uh it's also good to see
01:13 each and every one of you here on this Sunday morning to be ready to worship and to praise our Lord and to see what
01:20 he has to offer to us today. And um at the same time let's just take this
01:26 opportunity to um praise and worship his name and to thank him for his goodness
01:31 to thank him for his loving kindness to us. Uh and let's just focus our attention
01:37 towards him. Uh let's just forget about what has happened in the past few days and let's just focus our attention
01:44 towards him so that when we focus our attention that we can know that he is true and he's the living God. All right.
01:51 So let's just all stand. Let's just take this moment to just spend time to just acknowledge him, to just spend time to
01:56 worship his name and to glorify his name.
02:03 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
02:08 Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
02:18 I want to see you.
02:23 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Sing. Open the eyes of my heart.
02:33 I want to see you.
02:38 I want to see you.
02:46 Crazy rising praise rising
02:52 my God to you.
03:02 Hope is scary. Oh my car
03:12 for you. belong to you.
03:19 So make me feel my strength to face the day
03:27 in your presence. All I wash away.
03:43 You are the God who saves us for our favor.
03:52 Hosana. Hosana.
03:59 Go have your way along. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus.
04:10 And I found out
04:18 you return to you
04:24 in your kingdom. in your kingom.
04:30 Oh my
04:45 take in your presence. Sing your praises. All
04:51 I wash away. Wash away. Oh, forget.
05:04 You are the God who saves us. Worthy of all praises.
05:13 Hosana. Hosana.
05:20 Come have your way. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus.
06:06 It's when we see you with my strength to face the
06:13 In your presence, in your presence, all our fears are washed away.
06:22 Cuz when we see you, we find you to take the day.
06:30 In your presence, all our fears are washed away.
06:36 for the hosana.
06:44 Oh, you are the God who makes us worthy of
06:52 all our praises. Oh
06:57 yeah. Oh,
07:02 don't have your way above us. We love you here, Lord Jesus.
07:10 Hosana. Hosana.
07:18 Hosana. Hosana.
07:29 Amen.
07:48 Brea on me. Breath of God. Breathe on me.
07:56 Brea on me. Word of God. Brea on me.
08:05 I come alive. Come alive. Can you breathe on me?
08:13 I come alive. Come alive. Can you breathe on me?
08:19 Awake. Awake. Awake. Awake my soul.
08:26 God resurrect his bones from death to life. To you
08:32 alone our soul.
08:50 Speak to me. Speak to me. Word of God. Speak to me.
09:00 Speak to me. Speak of God. Speak to me.
09:09 I come alive. I'm alive when you speak to me.
09:17 I come alive. I'm alive when you speak to me.
09:24 Awake, awake, awake, awake my soul.
09:30 God resurrected from death to life to you alone.
09:38 Awake my soul. Awake my soul.
09:46 God resurrect me from life to you alone
09:55 my soul
10:12 speak to me word of God speak to me.
10:19 Speak to me. Speak to me. Lamb of God,
10:25 speak to me.
10:30 I come alive. I'm alive when you speak to me.
10:40 I come alive. I'm alive when you speak
10:45 to me.
10:55 As we take this moment to just open our hearts to him and to just thank him for
11:00 his goodness. Let's just also just ask him to open our eyes so that we can see him. So that we
11:09 can see him high and lifted up. Shining in the light, his glory. Let's just take
11:15 this opportunity to worship him and to sing this song. Open the eyes of my
11:21 heart. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
11:28 Sing. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
11:37 Yes, church. I want to see you.
11:42 Open our eyes, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
11:50 Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
11:58 Yes, church. I want to see you.
12:12 Open the eyes. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
12:18 Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
12:25 I want to see you.
12:30 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see
12:39 you. I want to see you.
12:44 Open the eyes. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
12:50 Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
12:58 I want to see you.
13:03 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see
13:11 you. I want to see you. To see you. To see
13:18 you. High and lifted up. Shining in the light of your glory.
13:27 Pour out your power and love and sing and sing. Holy, holy, holy.
13:36 Open the eyes of my heart. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see
13:45 you. I want to see you.
13:51 Open our eyes, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
13:57 Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.
14:04 I want to see you. To see you. To see you. I am lifted up.
14:13 Shining in the light of your glory. Pour out your power and love as we sing.
14:21 Holy, holy, holy. We see you high and lifted up.
14:29 Shining in the light of your glory. Pour out, pour out your power and love as we
14:36 sing. Holy, holy, holy,
14:42 holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
14:51 holy, holy, holy. I want to see you.
14:58 Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
15:03 holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. I want to see you, to
15:13 see you, to see you. High lifted up,
15:18 shining in the light of your glory. Pour out, pour out your power and love and we
15:26 sing holy, holy, holy to see you high
15:31 lifted out. Shining in the light of your glory.
15:38 Pour out your power and love as we sing. Holy, holy, holy,
15:47 holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
15:56 holy, holy, holy. I want to see you.
16:04 Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
16:14 holy, holy, holy. I want to see
16:21 you.
16:30 Today's responsive reading is taken from the book of Psalms chapter 22 verse 26.
16:37 Church, will you will read it with me together. The poor will eat and be satisfied.
16:43 Those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. Amen.
17:04 Lord, thank you for the price
17:11 you bearing all my sin and shame.
17:19 in love. You came and gave amazing.
17:44 Now all I know your forgiveness
17:50 of grad
18:06 you now with many crowns you will victorious. Hold me around.
18:18 I am lifted up.
18:24 Jesus of God.
18:30 Beloved heaven.
18:38 Worthy is the lamb.
18:44 Worthy is the lamb.
18:50 Thank you for the
18:56 Thank you for the
19:03 bearing all my sin and shame. in love. You came
19:10 and gave amazing praise.
19:15 Thank you for love. Oh,
19:21 thank you for
19:27 wash me in your blessing. Now all I know you forgive my sins and
19:43 my sing
19:54 you down you may victori.
20:05 How can we
20:11 Jesus on
20:17 a love of heavenly
20:26 is the lamb. Worthy
20:32 is the lamb.
20:38 Worthy is the lamb.
20:44 Worthy is the lamb.
21:18 No one ever will compare.
21:24 to you.
21:38 Let's just take this moment to just pray for the offering that's going to be taken right now. Gracious God and
21:44 heavenly father, we want to thank you for this time of praise and worship and we can look up to you and we can spend
21:50 time to worship and to praise your name and to know that you're true and living God. Lord, we want to thank you for
21:55 blessing us throughout this whole week and we pray Lord that in the weeks to come that you continue to uphold,
22:00 preserve and sustain us day by day. Lord, we want to commit this time where the Titan offerings will be taken Lord
22:06 that it will be used for the extension of your kingdom and that your ministry will grow day by day. But once again we want to commit the titan offerings to
22:13 the hand and we pray for all cheerful givers in Jesus name we ask and pray. Amen.
24:54 Let's arise indeed Dr. Lord. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
25:06 Praise him all creatures here below.
25:14 Praise him above the heavenly host.
25:21 Praise father, son, and holy
25:26 ghost. Amen.
25:35 You may be seated.
25:45 We thank and praise God that no one will ever compare to our Lord Jesus. Amen church. Amen. Let's thank our worship
25:53 team for their wonderful blessing to us today. Thank you very much.
25:59 Like to welcome every worshipper to our church service today. It is so good to be in the house of the Lord. And um I
26:05 know that we got some uh newcomers today. I met them on the way here in here. So I show your hands. So please
26:11 raise your hands if you're new to us. Just raise your hands. Don't be shy. We know there's some new uh some of you
26:16 today. Just raise your hands. Yeah. Yep. There's one there. Yeah. Because we give you a package uh at the church and we
26:23 introduce oursel to you and uh uh there's one here, I think. Yeah.
26:28 Yes. There's a couple here. Yeah. Uh who else? Just raise your hands. Don't be shy because I'd like to invite you to
26:34 join us for a cup of coffee with us later. Okay? So, uh please uh and fill in the card inside the package. Just
26:41 fill in your names and and address and any prayer points for you. Shall we uh
26:47 stand up and greet one another and uh welcome one another to Lord's house today?
27:19 uh fit in the card inside a package is a card fill it in and pass it to Ash and come and join us for a cup of coffee I
27:25 believe. I'd like to uh thank our brother Yian who will be our speaker tonight who will speak gospel to us.
27:31 Thank you Yian. Um okay uh roll on the screen. Some announcement. uh beta 5 we
27:40 just finished alpha last uh Wednesday so this Wednesday we're going start a new series of beta beta 5 please join us
27:47 it's a 10e disciplehip course for alpha graduates and for new believers and anyone here in church like to join us
27:54 please come and join us it is a very good study know more about the lord and uh his word uh alpha 6 we just finished
28:02 alpha 5 last Wednesday so alpha 6 starts on September the 10th
28:08 which is uh bring your friends along. We have got a very interesting uh alpha when we started every time and we got
28:14 many many people joining us. So that ministry is growing. God is blessing uh this ministry. Um Sunday 20th of July
28:23 which is next Sunday uh drop cafe with hot uh bread classes. our chefs uh Steph
28:32 sister Stephanie and his team will teach you how to make all this wonderful bread. Um okay, health fair on the 23rd
28:42 of August, Saturday, we have another second one, our second health fair. Uh
28:48 and we have lots of activities here, a lot of freebies and um please come and join us for health screening, young and
28:54 old. You don't have to be old to come. Um come come join us. and also uh also
28:59 uh lots of uh spe uh speeches as well, free talks as well, health talks. Okay.
29:05 Uh I'd like to call upon Vincent to make announcement. Vincent
29:10 a video for you. You want a video for the wellness
29:22 addiction. A study last year by the University of Chicago found it can can be more addictive than cigarettes and
29:29 alcohol. Research shows likes and retweets give users a burst of the addictive neurotransmitter dopamine, but
29:37 a lack of endorsements can provoke jealousy and anxiety. So, how much is
29:43 too much? Psychiatrists say the alarm bells start to ring if you're looking at sites like Facebook and Twitter more
29:50 than 10 times a day. And if that amounts to more than 5 hours, then you might have a problem. And a lot more common
29:57 than you might think. So, how many hours a day do you think you use Facebook and Twitter?
30:03 24 hours. Can be up to 10 times a day. Between four and six. What would you say if I told you that
30:09 meant you were addicted? That's awful. I I'm not surprised though.
30:14 Consultant psychiatrist Dr. Richard Graham treats around 100 social media
30:19 addicts a year at this clinic in London. His patients range from as young as 10
30:25 to 35. They start to miss or avoid doing the necessary things in life. Even at a
30:32 fundamental level of self-care where they delay eating or avoid eating and drinking, delay sleep, miss meetings or
30:40 delay getting into work or college. There are certainly some young people easily passing 9 10 hours a day using
30:47 social media. Treatment begins with complete abstinence. But In today's increasingly
30:53 connected world, switching off may be a lot harder than it sounds.
31:00 Morning, church. Two weeks ago, we brought you
31:05 finance can be a powerful force for good. We can't rewrite financial history, but we
31:15 So, two weeks ago, we brought that uh chart that you saw from Pew Research.
31:20 All right. And you saw that um about the teenage group and also the young adults who are very into u the internet or
31:28 social media stuff and this is from Reuters. Okay. So we do have an issue on
31:34 hand and what we're trying to do is also find ways to counter that. Right. So on
31:40 August the 9th the youth will be having a session um to to learn how to deal
31:47 with this. But before that one week earlier we are also running a program for the uh parents. Yeah. So that we can
31:57 learn how to help them. Yeah. So I'm not going to say too much about this. You've
32:03 seen this before. Um the counter is outside. Let's work together help
32:08 equipping ourself to help our young ones. Thank you. Thank you, Mason. Please read through a
32:15 bulletin for all the announcements. from church.
32:42 Let's go to the Lord and pray.
32:59 loving heavenly father, we rejoice and honor you and come to
33:04 worship you because you are our God. We realize we're not perfect, just
33:12 forgiven. You added your blessings that set forth the ideal citizen of Christ's kingdom in
33:20 the petitudes. The qualities described and approved by you are opposite of world values.
33:30 Now that you reign in heaven, we thank you for the system of laws and principles that serve as our code of
33:38 behavior to be Christlike. We pray for the growth of your kingdom
33:43 in this country and the rest of the world. Your kingdom is not eating and drinking
33:51 but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit as it is displayed in
33:58 Romans 14:7. We pray and ask that you instill in us a
34:04 concern to carry out your greatest command to go out and make disciples.
34:11 We realize it requires believers like us to never become satisfied or distracted
34:18 from achieving this goal. Let our goal be to reach people for
34:24 Christ at any cost in any place with all we have.
34:30 igniting us a love for this ministry. We must reach out with greater intention
34:36 and sacrifice. We want to thank you for responding to our prayers for the unwell as you have
34:45 showed to us by your interference for our brothers and sisters.
34:50 We continue to pray for your care and love to be upon Auntie Young, Jonathan
34:57 Lee, Fanny, Yo, Peggy, Lim, Yepsi, Chin, Susana Lingham, Tina Chi, Annie, Hong,
35:06 Keno, Adelene, Punet, and Paul. May they show their
35:13 appreciation of serving and giving thanks to you in this church.
35:18 We thank you for the completion of alpha 5 and all those who endeavored to bring
35:23 the participants and exposed to know Jesus Christ. The participants we ask
35:29 you Lord to move on to better and ga so that they may get to know you better
35:34 learn to pray study your word obey and understand your commands. As for those
35:40 who are not in Christ may you use your servant to speak your word on a regular
35:45 basis to make disciples of them so they and bring joy to you and themselves as
35:52 they lead other believers into your kingdom. We also pray for the USG3 life group as
36:00 they will serve as facilitators for the alpha sick when it commences in September.
36:06 Father, we exalt you for your goodness and may you continue to inspire young
36:12 and his merry helpers and teachers. We bring the needs of our nation to you
36:18 so that you will guide this nation to justice and peace. We ask for the unity
36:24 of Rya and seek you to repel the ideas of secularization of races which began
36:31 in an intensive way after the last elections. Continue to lord over this nation
36:38 because you are greatly needed. Awaken us, Lord, that we in APC show that love
36:44 is a verb, an act of the will and not a feeling in one's heart. We must express
36:51 it by our own doings like Jesus and stop feeling insecure about losing control
36:58 over something. We have the Holy Spirit in your heart. And this is stronger than
37:04 any force outside, particularly with dubious intentions. We pray for those who ask for your
37:12 blessings to be upon them who are on a temporal tangential
37:17 deviation from you. Father, you are great and good. Receive
37:24 our praise and gratitude in the loving name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
38:04 Again,
38:15 it's my joy and privilege to be standing here sharing with you on the word of God.
38:20 After a lengthy study on the book of Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians for most of the year, we have
38:28 just started a short series on the biatitudes with Dr.
38:34 the first slot last Sunday you remember he touched on the first two biatitudes
38:40 blessed are the poor in spirit and also blessed are those who mourn
38:45 this morning we have come to the second installment in the series and we will look at the third and fourth batitudes
38:53 uh as you can see on the on the screen blessed are the meek and also blessed
38:58 are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness taken from Matthew Matthew 5:es 5 and six.
39:06 Now as an overview they are all together uh five eight all together eight
39:13 biatitudes from verses 3 to 10 in Matthew chapter 5. Now after this uh chapter after this
39:20 verse 10 there appears to be a ninth batitude in verse 11. But if you look
39:26 closely that is really an elaboration of on the the last one number eight in
39:31 verse 10. So we really have just eight. And these eight beatitudes are part of
39:36 the larger uh sermon on the mount taught by Jesus uh that stretches from
39:42 Matthew's chapters 5-7. Now some Bible scholars like to put uh
39:48 these eight batitudes side by side with the ten commandments based on the idea
39:54 that the two sets are somewhat complimentary. The ten commandments are given in the old testament while the
40:00 batitudes in the new. Uh the ten commandments we find in Deuteronomy
40:06 chapter 5 while the batitudes in Matthew chapter 5. More importantly, one
40:11 describes God's laws while uh the other reflect God's love.
40:18 But just how do uh the biatitudes reflect God's love? You see, God loves us and wants us to enjoy his many
40:25 blessings. Put another way, the ten commandments uh define God's holiness while the
40:32 biatitudes depict what it's like and what's in store for us as a result of
40:38 the grace of God. This is just an overview this morning. We shall focus on
40:43 the the attitude number three and number four and we shall go deep into the two
40:48 biblical concepts of meekness first and then the righteousness. Before we
40:54 continue, shall we commit this time to the Lord in prayer.
40:60 Father in heaven, may your word come alive this morning so that our lives may be transformed and shaped accordingly as
41:07 we enjoy all the many blessings that you have promised us. May your spirit teach
41:12 us this morning just as Jesus taught disciples as recorded in Matthew chapter
41:19 5 2,000 years ago. For this we ask in Jesus name.
41:26 It has been said uh partly in justest that the all time favorite uh passage in
41:32 the Chinese Bible among the Chinese Christians is the biatitudes. Perhaps I
41:38 should uh be more specific to say that is among the Chinese educated Chinese Christians because there are many
41:44 Chinese Christians who don't speak and read Chinese for example Dr.
41:52 He's not here this morning. So I can say that
41:58 they are also known as bananas. Although I'm not sure if that is an impolite term. It means they are yellow
42:06 on the outside but white inside. But if you speak and read Chinese, then
42:11 you would uh love this passage from Matthew 3 uh Matthew 5 3-10
42:17 because in the Chinese Bible, the biatitudes are known as
42:24 or the eight blessings of the kingdom of heaven. The word blessed in verses 3 to 10 is
42:30 translated as fu. And so you'll find the character fu all over the text which
42:36 I've highlighted in white. And there is nothing more uh wonderful to a Chinese
42:43 than to receive uh plenty of blessings and food. And what's more, eight of
42:49 them. I don't have to explain to you how the Chinese love the number eight.
42:56 You will agree with me that the character fu is by far the most popular among the Chinese.
43:02 As evident from this common view during Chinese New Year, you see it everywhere.
43:09 The Chinese are crazy about this character food, big one in the middle. Um, and uh, they hang it everywhere,
43:17 shops, houses, sometimes to the point of obsession. Can
43:22 also mean uh, good fortune, prosperity, or happiness. Occasionally, you will see
43:29 place upside down such as on this door. When I was young, I used to think
43:34 mistakenly that when when food descends from heaven supposedly it should be
43:40 coming down head first and which I thought was the reason why it is written upside down. But later I found out that
43:47 this is actually a play on the sound. You see we describe the the upside down
43:52 food as means food has fallen. That's why it's upside down. And food has fallen sounds
44:01 very similar to food or food has arrived. Blessings have arrived. So it's
44:07 actually a pun. But the harsh reality is that writing food upside down food
44:15 does not necessarily mean that food has arrived or will ever arrive.
44:21 In most cases, it is just an expression of a hope for blessings. a
44:28 a mere display of a yearning for blessings. And here I would like to point out that those of us who have been
44:34 saved by the grace of God, many of God's blessings have already been given to us.
44:40 As a matter of fact, as far as Christians are concerned, food has already arrived. If you're a child of
44:47 God and you are not sure uh about the blessings that you're supposed to have already received, then please uh read
44:54 Ephesians chapter one where Paul listed about at least 10 spiritual blessings
44:60 from God that has already been lavished upon us which I've marked here in black
45:05 from forgiveness of sins to adoption to sunship from uh inclusion in Christ to
45:12 being marked in the Holy Spirit. I shall come to this point a little later but this is how we should understand God's
45:18 blessing in that we are redeemed people of God who are already blessed unlike
45:23 others who can only hope for blessings about writing food upside down for example
45:29 if writing food upside down won't actually bringing the blessings then
45:35 perhaps repetitions might help and that's why we see food place past placed
45:40 all over the place especially during Chinese New Year For those who are lazy or or or busy and
45:46 they find this too tedious, you know, putting up all this food character around the house, then this might help.
45:53 Uh it's known as the pu tool, which means a picture of 100 food. You see 99
45:59 smaller ones, you know, uh surround and then surrounding a big one, you know, in
46:04 the middle and all in different writing styles. And this is so much faster, you know, so much easier. 100 blessings at
46:11 one go you know and you can easily buy this uh at any Chinese art shop and they
46:17 are sometimes sold as a long scroll. Now this longing for for blessings among
46:24 the Chinese is perhaps something cultural I suspect and I must confess that I also succumb to my Chinesess and
46:33 so during every Chinese New Year I will put up a big food on my front door.
46:39 This is a picture of my front door during Chinese New Year. But with the intention to show that this house has
46:46 already been blessed by God. Okay. And in response to this many blessings
46:51 that my family has has received from God, there is another picture near the
46:56 front door which carries a verse from Joshua 24:15. As for me and my household, we will
47:04 serve the Lord. Okay, enough about the character food. That was Chinese 101, Chinese culture
47:10 101 for for for for you especially those who are non-Chinese and especially for
47:16 those who are banana Chinese as well. Okay, any of you don't know this?
47:22 Now let us get on with our topic for this morning. They are these are the two batitudes we
47:29 want to discuss and the two verses from Matthew chapter 5 in detail in full. Verse five, blessed are the meek, for
47:36 they will for they will inherit the earth. And verse six, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
47:42 for they will be filled. Now, as Dr. Peter pointed out last Sunday, each
47:48 batitude contains in the first part what appears to be a condition.
47:55 Now, in this case, we have meekness and then and also a hunger for hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is then
48:02 followed by in the second part a kind of an outcome or what can happen when the
48:07 condition is fulfilled which is the blessing. But Peter also pointed out that the biatitudes are not
48:15 a set of dos and don'ts that we have to follow in order to enjoy the blessings.
48:21 It is not as if uh that the blessings are conditional upon our fulfilling some
48:26 kind of rules. If it was so, the eight biatitudes would be no different from the ten commandments in term of purpose.
48:33 As I said a while ago, the ten commandments describe God's love, God's laws while the beatitudes uh reflect his
48:40 love. It is hugely important that we understand this that the biatitudes are not laws and hence in each biatitude.
48:49 What we find is not really a condition although appears to be so initially
48:55 rather it is a description of what a child of God is like and taken as a
49:00 whole. The biatitudes are hence a description of how a child of God thinks
49:06 and acts. It is it is a resume of the believer's character traits and
49:12 behavior. It is describing us believers. Now habits and preferences uh may differ
49:19 from person to person but there is definitely a welldefined and common spiritual DNA in in in the character of
49:27 all true believers. Then of course there is a blessing in each beatitude. But these blessings are
49:34 not conditional upon our display of these these character. The blessings are
49:39 not rewards for good behavior. We must be careful. Rather, they are generous gifts from our heavenly father to us his
49:46 children. Simply because we are his children. And just as an earthly father
49:53 gives good things to his kids, so also our heavenly father gives good things to his children. And towards the end of his
49:60 sermon on the mount, Jesus says in u Matthew chapter 7, which of you if your
50:06 son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will
50:11 give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
50:17 will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? Now the term
50:22 good gifts mentioned here is synonymous with blessings. But what kind of blessings? To be sure,
50:29 the kind of blessings that the Chinese are obsessed about are mostly material in nature. And that's why the character
50:36 food is often displayed with tyson or the god of wealth or sometimes it comes
50:42 with a phrase which means literally means money please come.
50:48 But the blessings from God are hardly material in nature. Sometimes Christians
50:55 expect material blessings from God. But it doesn't mean that God cannot bless you materially. But mostly the blessings
51:01 from God are spiritual in nature and not temporal. Bless the b the blessings from
51:07 God are also eternal and cannot be measured with an earthly yacht stick.
51:12 Nor can they be taken away or destroyed and therefore they should be greatly valued. Jesus says in the middle of his
51:20 sermon on the mount uh in Matthew chapter 6, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where
51:27 moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up
51:32 for yourself treasures in heaven where moths and verine do not destroy and
51:37 where thieves do not break in and steal. Material things cannot compare with
51:43 spiritual blessings." Now just a few more words about about God's spiritual blessings. I earlier
51:50 said that we are redeemed people of God who are already blessed. Now that's true if we are talking about the spiritual
51:56 blessings that Paul catalogs in Ephesians chapter 1 which I showed you earlier. After all the language there in
52:02 Ephesians chapter 1 is mostly in the past tense. But when we come to Matthew chapter 5 here we find that not all the
52:10 blessings have already been given. Now let's go back to the earlier slide. Matthew 5 the eight biatitudes although
52:16 the verses here are written mostly in the in the future tense certainly we have already received some of the
52:22 blessings for example beatatitude number seven for they will be called children of God that has already been given some
52:29 of the blessings have not yet been given for example in beatitude number three for they will inherit the earth which
52:36 will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to establish his physical eternal kingdom
52:43 here on earth as described in revelation chapters 21 and 22. Now the rest of the
52:49 blessings may be described as as work in progress uh or in the process of being
52:54 given out for example in beatitude number four for they will be filled or for they will be satisfied uh according
53:01 to the new living translation. But whether a certain blessing has already been given or or is in the
53:08 process of being given or will be given in the future, it doesn't really matter. We are to desire it earnestly,
53:16 wholeheartedly, and with full expectation because as I've said just now, God's blessings are of immense
53:23 value like the like hidden treasures or fine pearls to borrow two metaphors from
53:29 Matthew chapter 13. Now if a blessing has already been given or is in the
53:35 process of being given then we are to taste it in its full measure. But if the
53:40 blessing is yet to be given then we are then we ought to look forward to it with a heightened hope and anticipation.
53:48 The question is do you do you harbor such longings for God's blessings? If
53:54 not perhaps you should then ask yourself why. Is it because you largely derive
53:59 your satisfaction from material things? We are to we are to desire spiritual
54:05 blessings from God. And that's why when it comes to Sunday service, the part that I like most is the benediction.
54:13 Of course, every part of the service important, the the the worship, the tithing, the the the sermon, etc. But it
54:21 is the benediction that I enjoyed the most. That's when pastor Rama comes up and says, "Now receive benediction from
54:28 the Lord because he's pronouncing a blessing from God." For example, when he
54:33 says, "May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." And that's really my favorite blessing from Numbers
54:40 6:26. And that's why my wife and I like to sit in the front, usually in the second row.
54:48 The first row I I reckon is reserved for those with higher spiritual credentials
54:54 like pastors and elders. But it's okay. You can sit anyone can sit on the front on the front row. Okay. But to us,
55:00 second row is just just about right. So that we can get God's blessing in its full impact. You know, through Pastor
55:08 Rama, of course, those of you who like to sit in the back rows,
55:14 you may be too far. and only getting a a smaller measure of
55:20 the blessings. I still remember my physics Newton's law of gravity. Force is
55:27 inversely proportional to the square of distance. So you can do some calculation.
55:34 Now jokes aside, I think I've touched enough on the blessing part of the biatitudes and I would really like to
55:40 focus now on the on the description part of the biatitude especially from biatitudes number three and four which
55:47 is supposed to be our topic this morning. Biatitude number three says blessed are
55:52 the meek. Now what is exactly meant by meek? What is meekness? How does the
55:59 Bible describe a meek person? Now let's start with the obvious that is by
56:05 stating uh what is not meek what meekness is not.
56:10 Meekness is not for example being spineless or lacking in power in
56:15 willpower. Meekness is not being a pushover someone whom others can easily bully.
56:24 Meekness also should not be equated with uh timidity or cowardice or gullibility.
56:31 What then is meekness? Well, we can think of a number of words that may be associated with being meek.
56:39 Is is it being patient and tolerant? Is it being softspoken or gentle or or
56:47 humble? Has it anything to do with uh weakness or lacking strength? The Oxford
56:54 dictionary defines meek as uh quiet, gentle, easily imposed on
57:01 submissive and that is certainly surprising uh describing meek uh being
57:06 as being submissive but what we are really interested in is how the Bible describes meekness and the best way is
57:13 to check other verses that carry the word meek or meekness. Now to begin with
57:19 when Jesus says uh blessed are the meek uh for they will inherit the earth he
57:25 appears to be quoting a verse from Psalms uh 37:1
57:32 but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. Now in the context of the history of the
57:39 Israelites, the land referred to here is the promised land, land of Canaan.
57:45 But the word earth in Matthew 5:5 is much bigger and is undoubtedly referring
57:52 to the kingdom of God here on earth at the end of time when Jesus returns which I mentioned earlier.
57:58 Now I also said that I would like to focus more on the description and less on the blessing from now. But then Psalm
58:05 37:11 here itself doesn't really shed much more light uh on the word meek. But
58:13 fortunately for us, there is a whole chunk of verses before Psalm 37:11
58:19 that give us a rather good picture of what meekness is like. That is makness
58:25 of the biblical kind. Now I don't have uh time to go through all the verses in this text from Psalms 37 3-11 but I have
58:34 picked out seven descriptions of a meek person which I've underlined.
58:40 So from Psalm 37, a child of God who is meek is someone who number one trusts in
58:47 the Lord, takes delight in the Lord, number three commits his way to the
58:52 Lord, is still before the Lord, waits patiently for the Lord. Number six, it
58:59 is very important, refrains from anger. It also says turns from wroth, which
59:04 means the same. And lastly, someone who hopes in the Lord. And here especially
59:10 from verse 8 we get a good picture of a meek person who is calm and composed
59:16 who refrains from anger and turns from wroth. In other words, a person who is
59:21 slow to anger. And this is certainly a useful angle. But what has got to do
59:27 with trusting in God, waiting patiently for God or hoping in God from the other verses? uh all these other points
59:34 related to meekness and this is very important and I shall come back to address this uh in a short while. In the
59:42 meantime, what does the New Testament that was the Old Testament, what does the New Testament say about meekness?
59:49 Now, there is interestingly a verse in 2 Corinthians uh 10 verse one where Paul
59:54 writes, "By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you I Paul and so
60:00 on." that the verse goes on. Now, if you look up this same verse in the King James version, this is the NIV, but
60:06 let's compare with the King James version. And this is what it says. Now, I Paul myself beseech you by the
60:14 meekness and gentleness of Christ. You can see the parallel here. You see
60:20 the the Greek word the word uh used for me make in the New Testament which is the word priestess can also be
60:26 translated as humble and hence meekness in the Bible is really synonymous with
60:33 humility and also notice that in this verse in both translations the word gentleness is
60:40 used in association with meekness or humility. Now this is the second point
60:45 which will become clear from this other verse uh from Ephesians 4:2
60:51 be completely humble and gentle. Now this is the NIV the New International Version. Now the same verse in the King
60:59 James version with all loneliness and meekness. Now
61:04 you can uh match the word uh uh what do you call uh you can match the word uh
61:09 humble with loneliness but you you have no choice but to match
61:14 gentle with meekness. So so we what we see here is that meekness is the same as gentleness.
61:22 Now I can also show you examples from Titus 3:2, from Colossians 3:12, but the
61:28 picture is not very clear. Now the and to put it across in an equation, meekness in the Bible is humility plus
61:37 gentleness. In the Greek, they're both together, you know. So to be humble and gentle at the
61:44 same time. With this we can now describe what is like for a child of God to be meek.
61:52 Firstly he's slow to anger as as mentioned earlier from Psalms 37:11. He is calm and composed not easily
62:00 provoked which is an aspect of of gentleness. He has a quiet spirit in him which is a
62:08 phrase from 1 Peter 3:4 which mentions a gentle and quiet spirit.
62:14 He is also characterized by mal manners and Charles Wesley the famous English
62:19 hymnwriter once wrote a hymn in 1742 entitled gentle Jesus mick and mal and
62:27 that's how we get the the phrase mick and mal because meekness and malness go
62:32 hand in hand at the same time a child of God is also a picture of humility he's modest and
62:39 unassuming he values others above himself self, which is how Paul uh uh
62:45 defines humility in in Philippians 2:3. It is not that he's he's lacking in
62:51 self-esteem as uh in in he has low self-esteem. Far from it. The child of
62:57 God possesses acquired confidence. In fact, sometimes very high confidence.
63:02 And yet there is an absence of selfimportance. He doesn't ask to be served, but is
63:08 ready to serve others. Do do you see what it means now to be meek? It is a godly mixture of of
63:17 gentleness and humility. And to drive home this point, let me now
63:23 uh uh describe for you the opposite of meekness. The opposite of meekness.
63:29 I'm going to ask a series of questions. Are you loud and aggressive?
63:36 Are you imposing and pushy and demanding?
63:42 Are you are you are you the one the type that throws his weight around?
63:49 Please think through these questions to go on. Are you arrogant and boastful?
63:55 Are you egoistic and proud? Do you insist that others must look up to you
64:00 and pay you due respect? If you are any of the above, then
64:05 perhaps you must do some serious soulsearching because there's no such thing as an arrogant Christian or an
64:13 aggressive Christian. These are contradictions in terms or oxymorons if
64:19 you like. Now, I've tried to give you a full picture of Christian meekness from both
64:24 positive and negative angles. I've tried to describe to you Christian gentleness and humility. This is in order that you
64:32 can measure yourself against the character standards that are prescribed in the Bible so that you can see how
64:38 much progress you have made in your transformation to be more Christlike or
64:44 to see how much further you need to go. I know this is not easy for many of us
64:49 because the behavior expected from us Christians is often at odds with what
64:55 society imposes on us. We often told that life is hard, the
65:00 environment is harsh and we need to be tough, to be assertive, even aggressive
65:06 in order to survive so that others will not take advantage of us, step on us,
65:12 push, push us around and cause us to suffer loss. Meekness is certainly not a not a highly
65:18 uh sought after virtue in this uh dog eat dog world.
65:24 We need to be uh to use the Malay word we need to be gang you know to be fierce
65:29 so that others will not treat us unfairly. So this is a struggle for many
65:35 of us and that's why many Christians they prefer to mix around with only Christians because they find it so hard
65:41 to be a Christian to behave like a Christian out there in the open and they are also Christians who opt for a kind
65:48 of a double life. They behave as Christians only on Sundays but from Mondays to Saturdays they act just like
65:55 any other non-Christians. And to conclude this part on the third
66:01 beatitude, how then can we Christians be meek?
66:06 How can we practice meekness when people all around us are so unmeek? If ever
66:13 there's such a term. Now the answer may surprise you. We can
66:18 be meek because we can afford to be meek. Now what do I mean we can afford to be meek?
66:26 We can afford to be meek for the simple reason that the all powerful, the
66:31 almighty God is with us. The creator God, the Lord of heaven and earth, he
66:37 stands behind us. He goes before us. He walks beside us. And that's why we can
66:42 afford to be meek. We may be facing aggressive people, rude people,
66:49 unreasonable people sometimes, but God is always our strength and shield. And
66:54 Paul puts this across very nicely in Romans 8:31. If God is for us, who can be against us?
67:03 That's why the Christians breathe a quiet confidence. With God on our side, we need not be
67:10 afraid of losing out. Our heavenly father has our interests in his heart.
67:16 Things will eventually work out in our favor. I can guarantee you that.
67:22 As Paul says in Romans 8:28, in all things, God works for the good of
67:28 of those who love him. Although not necessarily always in the manner that we prefer or according to the timing we
67:35 wish for. But more importantly, our meekness is actually a sign of our dependence on
67:41 God. An indicator of how much we rely on God. And God takes delight when his
67:48 children come to him and depend on him. We tend not to be meek when we rely on
67:55 our own strength and our own abilities. So the the lack of meekness is actually
68:01 a sign of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. And God detests that.
68:07 On the other hand, the closer we get to God, the more we know him, the more we
68:12 we get a sense that he's in total control and therefore our soul can find rest in him.
68:18 And with these thoughts, we can now understand the other descriptions of meekness that we saw back in uh Psalm
68:25 37. I was asking why the other uh verses got
68:31 to do with uh with meekness. Let's take a look now. These verses will now makes more sense to us. A child of God who is
68:38 meek as I say is supremely confident in God and therefore he trusts in God.
68:43 Therefore he commits his way to God and he hopes in God and he waits patiently
68:48 for God. Do you now get the get the idea? Now let's uh move quickly to the fourth
68:55 biatitude. Biatitude number four says blessed are
69:01 those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
69:06 Once again we have the description in the first part followed by the blessing in the second part. In the description
69:12 there are two parts. He talks about hunger and thirst and then he talks about uh in the second part about
69:19 righteousness. Now I shall first explain what righteousness is and then we will take a
69:25 look at the part about uh thirst uh hunger and thirst. Now usually when we talk about
69:32 righteousness we think about moral uprightness correct
69:39 somebody who is morally upright and it is often associated with
69:45 righteous acts acts of righteousness. But I wish to point out here that while
69:52 righteousness may produce righteous acts, the converse is not true. That
69:59 means righteous righteous acts will not earn you righteousness.
70:05 So it only goes one way. I repeat, righteousness does produce righteous acts
70:14 but righteous acts will not earn you righteousness. Now this is difficult theology but simply put righteousness
70:24 is being right with God is being in a right standing before God.
70:31 That is righteousness and that cannot be achieved by by doing righteous acts
70:37 because the Bible uh uh talks about righteous acts in very differently from from the world. Now basically the Bible
70:46 describes for us three types of righteousness. Self-righteousness number one,
70:52 positional righteousness and practical righteousness. Uh sound like big words
70:58 but be patient. I'll go through them one by one. Self-righteousness
71:03 or or false righteousness is the thinking that you can be right with God through your righteous acts by
71:11 by being good. This is a fallacy because the Bible describes our righteous acts
71:16 as filthy racks. Our righteous acts are like futy racks from Isaiah 64:6.
71:24 No matter how hard we may try, we will never be good enough to reach the high moral standards demanded by a tric holy
71:31 God. The most holy man on earth, he still commits sin.
71:38 Nevertheless, people still try and and these people are generally good people, but the problem is in their
71:45 thinking that they are good enough and hence they are often full of self-worth,
71:51 self-drive and self-actualization. The Bible calls this selfjustification.
71:58 And Jesus gives a good example of this through a very nice parable in Luke 18:es 10 to to 12. Two men went up to
72:07 the temple and to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
72:13 The Pharisees supposed to be the good one, you know, and the tax collector did the the bad one. The Pharisees stood by himself and prayed, "God, I thank you
72:20 that I'm not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week,
72:29 and I give a tenth of all I get." Some people are fasting every day this
72:34 month. Okay. Now this is just a part of the parable.
72:41 The other second part, but you already can get a good picture of self-righteousness which doesn't get you anywhere near God.
72:50 So we come to positional righteousness. Positional righteousness is the
72:55 righteousness that God conferred to us as a gift when we accepted Jesus as our
73:00 personal savior. When we became Christians, the blood of Jesus shed on the cross cleanses of our sins and
73:07 therefore we became right with God. It is not righteousness of our own but
73:15 the righteousness of of of Christ imparted to us or to use a more technical word imputed to us. And there
73:22 are many verses in the Bible that describe this positional righteousness.
73:28 For example, Paul writes in Philippians 3:9, "Not having a righteousness of my
73:33 own that comes from the law, but but that which is true faith in Christ, the
73:38 righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith that comes from God."
73:46 or in Romans 5 5:19 for just as through the through the disobedience of one man
73:52 which is referring to Adam the many were made sinners so also through the through
73:57 the obedience of one man referring of course to Jesus the many will be made
74:04 righteous made righteous and one more in 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him once
74:11 again referring to Jesus God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so So that in him we might become we might
74:18 become the righteousness of God. That is positional righteousness.
74:25 You cannot earn it. It's given as a gift. The third type of righteousness is
74:30 practical righteousness. And this is the righteousness that we are supposed to pursue or to seek in response to our
74:37 calling as God's people. Now Paul addresses the believers as saints in Ephesians chapter 1. calls the
74:45 the the believers in the Ephesian church as saints. Now, we are also uh uh saints. Saints
74:53 because of positional righteousness. And now that we are saints, we ought to
74:59 live in a manner that is worthy of our status as saints. And this is what is
75:05 meant by practical righteousness. I sometimes tell my kids, don't do
75:11 anything that will bring dishonor to the family name. Okay, I'm sure many of many parents will
75:17 tell the children that same thing. And similarly, if we call ourselves Christians, we don't do things that will
75:24 dishonor God. Same concept. To put in another way, we are not
75:31 supposed to to to just be righteous, which comes from positional righteousness. We are also supposed to
75:39 do righteous, and that is practical righteousness. Pos positional righteousness is
75:46 sometimes described as as external righteousness like a covering
75:51 while practical righteousness is internal righteousness which comes from within us. In practice however it takes
75:59 time for us to achieve practical righteousness. While positional righteousness is in
76:05 instantaneous given to you as a gift. Practical righteousness is a process and
76:12 throughout that process we are aided by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and that's why he's called the
76:18 counselor. But please do not get the wrong idea that practical righteousness is needed
76:24 to keep your place in heaven. Some of you are afraid to lose your place in heaven. You know so you ask am I still
76:30 safe? Your place in heaven is guaranteed and secure as long as you have positional
76:38 righteousness. Your practical righteousness on the other hand is a reflection of your level
76:44 of of obedience to Christ and it will grow along with your transformation to
76:50 be more Christlike which I briefly mentioned uh just now. Now very quickly
76:56 I have a few verses from scripture to substantiate this concept of uh practical righteousness.
77:03 Hebrews 12:1. No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. Later on it it produces uh
77:11 look here it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Notice it says
77:17 a harvest harvest of righteousness. 1 Timothy 6:11, "But you, men of God,
77:24 flee from all this and pursue righteousness." Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and
77:30 gentleness. Pursue righteousness. And lastly, 2 Timothy 3:16. This is a popular verse.
77:37 All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in
77:43 righteousness. Training in righteousness. And all these are referring to practical
77:49 righteousness. Finally coming back to the fourth
77:55 batitude he says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
78:02 Now is the righteousness here referring to positional righteousness or practical
78:08 righteousness? You're right. It has to be practical righteousness. Of course, the answer is
78:14 given there. Okay. It can't be positional righteousness because Jesus is speaking to his
78:20 disciples who are already believers. They already have positional righteousness.
78:26 Now, why am I pointing this out? Why do I elaborate these two types of righteousness besides the of course the
78:32 first one, the self-righteousness? Because if a Christian lacks a hunger and thirst for righteousness, which is
78:38 practical righteousness, if a Christian h lacks a hunger and thirst for practical righteousness, it
78:45 is a sure sign that he's struggling with his uh with his transformation to be more Christlike.
78:52 We don't just stop at positional righteousness. Okay, we already in heaven, you know, we
78:58 already got to heaven. It's okay. I can do anything I want. No, we don't do that. A faithful believer is
79:05 characterized by a by a continuous hunger and thirst for practical righteousness which will come from
79:12 within. Now what does it mean to hunger and thirst? I'm inclined to think that while
79:18 we know well the meaning of these words hunger and thirst, we don't really understand them uh experientially
79:25 speaking. This is because many of us live a life of material well-being. We
79:30 are spoiled for choice when it comes to food and beverages. Many of us have not ever experienced uh
79:37 real hunger and thirst. But if you are familiar with the with the geography and climate of Israel, then you may be able
79:45 to better appreciate what real thirst is like. So we should look at the context
79:50 of what it was like in the time of Jesus when we read these verses. Three years ago, my wife and I traveled
79:56 to the Holy Land. And one day we were being driven by the local uh guide from Jerusalem to for a visit to the Dead Sea
80:04 uh which was not a very long journey by road. But along the way it was just
80:10 miles and miles of barren desert and and wilderness, hot and dry without even a cloud in the
80:17 sky from which we might hope to get some shade or some rain, not a drop of water to be seen until we reach the Dead Sea.
80:25 even so that it's too salty to be drunk. You get a sense of what it is like to be
80:32 really thirsty. And I began to understand what Jesus meant when he said in John 7:37, "If anyone is thirsty, let
80:38 him come to me and drink." If anyone is thirsty, not just a little bit thirsty,
80:44 but very, very thirsty. Hunger and thirst here in the fourth beatitude points to a kind of emptiness
80:52 inside. so empty that it must be filled or the person will will feel or suffer a lot of
80:60 discomfort. By linking it to righteousness, Jesus is talking about a relentless
81:08 pursuit, not a vague interest, an intense desire, not a passing fancy.
81:17 It points to a deep longing in our hearts for righteousness akin to a very hungry man looking for
81:25 food or a very thirsty man looking for water. And as I did this now once again we go
81:30 back to the Psalms for a picture of this intense desire or deep longing.
81:37 The psalmist says in Psalm 42:es 1 and 2, "As the deer pens for streams of
81:44 water, so my soul pens for you, my God,
81:50 my soul thirsts for God, for the living God." And another wonderful verse in Psalms
81:57 63:1, the psalmist says, "You, God, are my
82:03 God. Earnestly I seek you. I thirst for you.
82:09 My whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no
82:14 water. Look at the language of the psalmist. How he longs for God.
82:22 The fourth beatitude carries a promise that if if we feel this type of hunger and thirst for righteousness, God will
82:29 fill and satisfy us. And that's a great blessing. It is an ongoing blessing that
82:35 is continuous being given out to us which I briefly mentioned earlier. With physical hunger,
82:42 it normally comes in cycles. When the time comes for you to have your
82:47 meal and you have not taken your meal, you will feel hungry. But as soon as you
82:53 have your feel, the hunger goes away. And that's how physical hunger is like. You the hunger goes away until the next
82:59 next cycle or your next meal, which is about six hours later. Of course, some people have a much shorter cycle and
83:05 they become hungry quickly. You know, like my son Jeremy, he's not here.
83:12 Well, that has been our daily experience with with physical hunger. Spiritual hunger is a little bit different. I must
83:19 emphasize this in conclusion. Now, the beatitude uh tells us to to
83:25 hunger and thirst for righteousness and by extension to hunger and thirst for God.
83:30 And the beatitude also promises that God will satisfy this hunger. But the amazing thing we find is that the more
83:37 God satisfies this hunger, the hungrier we become.
83:42 Indeed, this has been the the testimony of many great men of uh uh men and women
83:49 of God throughout the ages. This is their testimony that the more they desire God, the more God fills
83:56 them. And the more God fills them, the more they desire for God. And this is
84:01 the wonder of Christian living. With physical food, the more we have, the
84:06 less we want it. And there's a term for it, the law of diminishing returns. With
84:12 spiritual food, the more we consume, the hungrier we become. With God, the
84:19 more we taste of him, the more we want him. It is the law of increasing
84:25 returns. We can never get enough of God and his love and his goodness and his
84:30 righteousness. And I shall close with this little prayer from Awtoer,
84:37 the well-known American preacher and writer. He once wrote this little prayer. Oh God, I've tasted your
84:44 goodness and it has both satisfied me and made me
84:50 thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.
84:55 I'm ashamed of my lack of desire. Oh God, the triune God, I want to want you.
85:04 I long to be filled with longing. I thirst to be made more thirsty still.
85:13 We have covered a lot of grounds today. We have looked at meekness in depth. We have also discussed uh righteousness in
85:20 detail. We also have talked about what it means to be spiritually hungry and thirsty. With all this in mind, the
85:27 question is, will you not in your meekness, now read that as humility,
85:34 will you not in your meekness come to God and seek him with increased hunger
85:40 and ask him to satisfy you in increasing measure? Shall we close in prayer?
85:49 Our father in heaven cause us to ponder and think through the beatitudes over the next few days and weeks and months.
85:57 In our meekness, cause us to thirst for you and your righteousness more and more
86:02 and more until our cup runth over. For we humbly ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
86:34 Thank you brother for the message that was given today. Um hopefully the message has spoken to each and every one
86:40 of you and it'll continue to bless you. U we'll sing the last the closing song which is through it all.
87:17 You are forever in my life.
87:22 You see me through the Jesus.
87:29 Cover me with your hands
87:34 and lead me. Your rightousness
87:40 and I look to you
87:46 and I we are you.
87:51 I'll sing I'll sing to you Lord your name
87:58 for your
88:05 car everlasting.
88:10 You never let me go.
88:20 You are forever. You are forever
88:26 in my life. Receive me
88:36 cover your
88:44 right
88:50 to you and I
88:55 wait on you. We are the king of love for your
89:06 faithfulness.
89:14 Everlasting arms. You everlasting
89:20 go. How sweet you are again.
89:27 your life for your life to me.
89:35 I'm caring everlasting.
89:41 You never go to
89:51 Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
90:00 Hallelujah.
90:17 I thank you Lord my name
90:23 for your faithfulness to me
90:29 I car everlasting ar
90:35 you ever let me go
90:41 I'll sing to you The hymn of love for your faithfulness
90:50 to me I car
90:56 everlasting arms you'll never let me go
91:06 through it
91:20 The blessedness of the meek spirit is an evidence of our
91:26 union to Christ. It is a unity with the spirit of noble sufferers and martyrs of
91:33 the past. Enjoy the benefits of divine providences.
91:38 Inherit the earth in a mystic sense for superior to worldly possessions.
91:44 Enjoy a superior measure of the spirit of God. In the end, literally enjoy the
91:50 earth. Now receive the benediction. The heavenly father's gracious and
91:57 unfaltering assurance is upon all of us as we study to grow in real harmony with
92:04 the will of heaven and its love. Please be seated
92:10 after the silent meditation. Please don't leave the room because I'd like to get Sister Vivian up here to make an
92:17 announcement. Sister Vivian.
92:32 Good morning church. It is indeed God's timing that this agenda is pushed to the end. Uh it shows
92:38 the importance. Thank you for staying back. Okay. uh uh
92:44 as part of uh uh our community projects, take it as the blessings. Yeah. Uh our
92:51 family enrichment uh uh team uh will be running the marriage course in this
92:57 coming August. So uh is the clicker here? Yeah.
93:06 Okay. Uh so I'm here to talk about the marriage cause. So what is the marriage
93:11 cause? Marriage course is simply a program where we put together some modules uh will help uh your marriage to
93:20 become stronger and sweeter.
93:27 If you come with open mind, I can assure you the objective will be met.
93:34 Okay. And this course is for any married couple. Be it you are young couple, you
93:39 are middle-aged couple or you are senior cuppper. Okay. Uh and uh uh the our goal
93:47 is to provide uh the opportunity and the avenue for you to enhance your
93:53 relationship. Okay. Uh and also uh this course is also
93:58 designed for those who are uh at a challenging stage of your marriage uh such as the birth of a child, a career
94:05 change, having challenging teenagers at home or facing emptiness syndrome or you're
94:13 simply struggling with marital issues. Okay. uh and this course is open to
94:20 Christians and non-Christians. While it is based on Christians principles,
94:26 uh it is still very helpful for couples with or without church background.
94:32 How do we run the course? Food of course we'll start with food and uh uh we we we
94:39 will start with a candlelight uh dinner uh and uh followed by a video
94:45 presentations. Coupers will go through questionnaires yourself and uh couple discussions and
94:52 uh privacy is uh is totally respected. You don't have to disclose to anyone
94:59 anything at all other to than your own partners partneress.
95:05 Okay. All right. Pardon me. I thought I would have
95:11 escaped this presentations but God's timing is strange. make me stress for
95:16 one week and later on stress through the whole sermon.
95:22 Okay. And at about 9:15 we will close with a word of prayer
95:28 and uh the topic we will be running the marriage wheel. Here we'll be talking about uh building strong rel uh
95:35 foundations uh the art of communications uh resolving conflicts the power of
95:42 forgiveness parents and in-laws good sex love in
95:48 actions and uh when is the course mark your calendar
95:54 August 2nd for 8 Saturday evening and timing is 6:30 to 9:30 30
96:02 your investment. Uh so usually when we talk about uh cost like this outside it
96:08 does can cost up to a thousands of ringit right here we are only offering it at just 300 ringit to cover your food
96:18 and some cost material. Yeah. So uh last but not least uh I believe you would be
96:26 strongly agree with me that strong families build the foundation of a
96:31 strong society just like the confucious said right? Okay so what takes uh to
96:38 build a strong family it is simply happy marriage. Yeah. Right. Okay.
96:47 So, thank you. So, do visit us uh at our
96:52 booth. Our brother Israel and uh sister Mary will be there to attend to all your queries and hopefully we can sign you up
96:60 and uh I strongly encourage you to sign up early uh so that the team the working
97:05 team can sprung into actions uh so that we can do our work uh as perfect as
97:10 possible for our God's glory. Thank you.
97:53 I love
97:60 this.
98:15 We didn't know how to come in today.
98:23 My bad. My bad. My bad. My bad. My bad.
98:28 I wasn't sure whether you were actually doing that song. So
98:43 light up.
