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00:00:09 today's passage is taken from the book of Matthews chap 25: 31-46 when a son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him he will sit on his glorious Throne all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another as a Shepherd separates the Sheep sheep from the goats he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the
00:00:45 creation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in I needed clothes and you clothed me I was sick and you look after me I was in prison and you came to visit me then the righteous will answer him Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you when did we see you sick or
00:01:22 in prison and go to visit you the king will reply truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these bir brothers and sisters of mine you did it for me then he will say to those on his left depart from me you who are cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink I was a stranger and you did not invite me in I needed clothes and you did not clothe me I was sick and in prison and you did not
00:01:58 look after me they will also answer Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you he will reply truly I tell you whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me then they will go away to Eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life this is the word of God morning good morning FBC and greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Let's test the slides I they working sorry you know Stone there for a while thanks to the
00:02:42 worship team uh led by brother chuang and sister Liz uh sister sway for uh doing FBC together Sister Sarah and Pastor Kai for um the updates on the burmes refugee a program which is really apt for today's uh passage and sister Amanda for reading to the word to us and we also receive uh pastor Raymond and uh his family as well today is the uh last part of what is often referred to as the Oliver discourse that spans uh two chapters chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew now looking ahead looking ahead uh the next
00:03:22 3 weeks sermon will zoom into the last few days of Jesus's life before his trial and Al Ely his crucifixion Elder yiden will preach on the anointing of Jesus followed by Elder ulam on the the Passover and the Last Supper do and then Dr Peter will talk about Judas and Peter back to the sermon today it's um it's important to note that the the Oliver discourse uh comes immediately after Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the law of the seven in some men scripts eight Wes of hypocrisy of
00:04:03 wickedness and self-righteousness this was preached by Elder ulam weeks ago and we'll come back to this right just take note of this but let's let's do a short recap of our journey with ol the the Oliver discourse thus far um Dr Peter preached two weeks ago about the signs of the end of the age leading to the certainty of the Judgment of God when Christ comes again this was followed by five parables of what uh da Cen calls the facets of waiting for Christ's return Brother David Adams uh preached on the first three the first
00:04:46 was uh the homeowner and Thief that reminds us to keep watch and be ready so that we won't be surprised when the master returns followed by the parable of the the two servants reminding us to be faithful stewards when when um who must give an account of their service the third was the parable of the 10 virgins reminding us to always be prepared having enough oil in our lamps brother John Lee preached on the fourth parable of the talents it is a calling to invest our gifts talents our time money in fact our whole being our
00:05:29 whole self El boldly and Faithfully serving our master and today we will looking at the parable or more accurately and imagery of the sheep and the goats but before we continue let's start with a word of prayer and ask God to speak to us this morning gracious God our heavenly father we come before you this morning asking that you will open our eyes that we may may see you open our ears that we may hear you and open our hearts that we may receive and obey your Will May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts
00:06:14 be pleasing in your sight oh Lord our Rock and Redeemer amen amen this is Jesus's last sermon so to speak just two days two or 3 days before the Passover where Jesus would be tried and eventually crucified if this was a Netflix uh series is the what is the Tait C you know the the last episode of the season season three or something right the grand finale the climax so we must sck heat and pay extra attention today okay it's the final verdict of the last judgment after all the waiting after all the living of Our Lives when
00:07:03 Christ finally returns as he promised now The Narrative of this passage that was read to us is rather straightforward isn't it and maybe quite familiar to most of us but a a casual reading without understanding its context May at best um be mere Christian charity or social responsibilities or at worst salvation by works right is is okay for me I'm a I'm more of a visual person so I like to visualize things so I try to put this into a one slide of the scene of the last judgment in pictorial form okay
00:07:44 so Christ the son of man comes in glory together with his angels sits on the throne this was as prophesied in Daniel chapter 7 all the nations sorry it all the nations every single human ever lived including me and you are gathered before Christ Christ now wearing a different hat a Shepherd separates one from the other the sheep on his right goat goats on his left Christ now wearing yet another hat of a King has a dialogue with firstly the Sheep to the Sheep he says come you are blessed by my father take your
00:08:35 inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world then he gives the reason why for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in needed clothes you clothed me I was sick and you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me the Sheep the righteous one on the right was surprised and asked when did we see you hungry stranger thirsty and needing clothes sick or in prison the king replies whatever you did for me
00:09:09 for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me Christ then turned to the left and the conversation is almost a mirror image except that it's the exact opposite Jesus says depart from me you who are cursed into Eternal fire prepared for the devil for they did not do exactly what the Sheep did the people on the left the goats were equally surprised he said when Jesus when do we see you hungry thirsty and so on and did not help you the king says whatever you did not do to the least of this brother brothers
00:09:54 and sisters you did not do for me and then comes the verdict the right will inherit eternal life but the unrighteous will be sent away to Eternal punishment now we will delve into each of these as we go along but one thing I want to say about the Bible is that uh the more you read the more consistent you find the themes that run from cover to cover isn't it uh and invariably points to Christ and the cross this is what we call scripture confirming or scripture validating scripture on the passage is
00:10:30 almost de Jau right to other Parables of Separation like the parable of the weeds um which I preached last year uh the wheat being separated from the weeds or the parable of the net where um good fish will be separated from bad fish or the narrow gate uh versus the broad road which I also preached last year it is about the choice that we take and there will be uh judgment uh there will be Judgment Day Judgment Day will eventually sift out the true the authentic the genuine disciples from the false or the fake ones as the saying
00:11:12 goes the proof of the pudding is in the is in the eating the the passage is a is a solemn wakeup call to each one of us as we wait upon the coming of the Lord it goes back to the basic it is the one 101 of what it means to be a true disciples disciple of Christ and what it means to be a Christian hence I entitled The Sermon faith that works the test of authentic discipleship and I believe we can learn at least three points genuine Faith follows Christ genuine Faith Works for Christ and is motivated by his love and
00:11:58 genuine faith unselfconsciously transforms us to be like Christ now uh first genuine Faith follows Christ since this is about ship and and goats I did some research on some ship versus goats fun facts yeah I'm not a not a farm owner not a not a Shepherd or a goat her I so do some research in North America and possibly most parts of the Western World sheep and goats are easily distinguishable due to how we how they were bred yeah sheep fluffy and Woolly goats are not that's why we have this them called Skinny goat
00:12:39 right however throughout history uh and still today in parts of Asia and Africa sheep and goats can sometimes be almost identical at least from a distance when they are grazing in the field uh like like this one okay this one I took from uh this interestingly there's a farm in Malaysia in joho called UK Farm w sounds so like United Kingdom right but joho all right um but the ship is as skinny as the goat here in this picture so sometimes at a distance you can't really you know differentiate them only the
00:13:14 shepherd um can easily can tell the difference outwardly they may look similar but sheep and goats are completely different species they diverge at the at the genus level for those who our scientists here and arrive at a distinct species sheep has 54 chromosomes uh but go 60 different genes different DNA sheep has a reputation of being not so smart bit dumb right but that's also because how they were bred right to produce fluffier Dumber sheep but they are and will and have always been dependent on their
00:13:57 Shepherd and defenseless they have neither defensive nor offensive survival abilities gats on the other hand have a reputation of being independent opinionated and curious at best or crude dangerous even destructive at worst I was reading and uh there are some fun fun quotes about goats you know uh you know they say if you if you leave goats uh with your horse they may two off his tail and those of you are dog lovers goats are like Jack rustles with Hooves you know you laughing if your fence won't
00:14:42 hold water it won't hold a goat and you know there many testimonies of goats climbing and butting cars I can show you some videos after this right it's really funny right um Shepherds Shepherds protect sheep from their environment Shepherd is the leader sheep follows his voice and trust him to lead them to food to water and to safety goat goat on the other hand goat is the leader the it doesn't follow anyone a herd of goats goes where it wants the goat her follows behind the other way around you know instead of grazing goats
00:15:20 will go and browse the forage foraging whatever strikes their fancy what does it mean to us between a God man relationship God sees in his sheep a gentle and a yielded Spirit they will say thy will be done goats on the other hand have a spirit of defiance of self will of independence from God's involvements in their lives they will say my will be done so the application here is for this metaphor would be that outward Conformity just being part of the herd isn't what is required of us there is something that only Our Shepherd can see
00:16:08 in us and that unseen thing tells God whether we are sheep or goats it's not about doing Christianity regularly attending church live group prayer meetings participating in all sorts of Christian activities although that is important it's not about just checking the boxes it's about knowing knowing and following Christ John chapter 10 reminds us my sheep Jesus says my sheep listens to or hears my voice I know them and they follow me I give them eternal life and they shall never perish no one will
00:16:45 snatch them out of my hand a true disciple therefore knows Jesus's voice listens to his voice and follows him but the problem with sheep is they often wonder and lose their way they often what go Jalan you know Isaiah 53 says we all like sheep have gone astray each of us turning our own way now parents uh like me with young children especially boys uh will know this yeah my two boys when they were younger uh even up to today you bring them out to a mall or any place for that matter I tell you your blood pressure
00:17:32 will shoot up right they're like wound up Spring ready to to Sprint and run and speed off getting them to hold hands and to you know follow you requires constant reminders do do you do you need to teach them how to wander around and and get lost in a mall right who who does that right they just do it so it is with with us Christians as the song a broken spirit says we're prone to wonder prone to leave the God I love but we have a good shepherd who leave the 99 sheep to look for the one that wandered off so the first test is
00:18:13 this do you know Jesus do you listen to his voice are you following him following Christ means remaining in him the True Vine and he in us and must cause us to bear fruit Jesus says I am the vine you are the branches if you remain in me and I in you you will bear much fruit fruit that will last and what is this fruit Galatians 5 the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace or forbearance P kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control these are the manifestation of good work these are the the evidence
00:19:02 of genuine faith and that leads us to the next Point genuine Faith Works for Christ and is motivated by his love to those on the right the Sheep Jesus says come you who are blessed by my father take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world now inheriting uh the kingdom is synonymous to to inheriting eternal life and is synonymous to Salvation right we we see that throughout Matthew especially in The Sermon on the Mount um uh you know verses like blessed is the
00:19:39 poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth and so on and Jesus gave the reason why they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in I needed clothes and you clothed me I was sick you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me these are acts of mercy and love and you can potentially add more to this
00:20:10 list these are acts of mercy and love to those who are needy now as I mentioned earlier uh there are two cautions when reading this too literally the first is treating this passage as pure Christian charity or social responsibility or human rights activism don't get me wrong I'm not saying that all Christian that that any of this Christian charity including Community Care is not important in fact we have just heard of uh the burmes refugee outreach program it is on the contrary there are countless of passages
00:20:45 throughout the Old and New Testament that talks about helping the needy and giving to the poor our passage today included but as you will see later it is more than that right let let's face it how many of verse can be like Mother Teresa right or closer to home uh is someone like uh hadiqa some of you I'm not sure whether you know hadiqa she is a Malaysian social rights Advocate who founded refuge for the refugees rft it's an NGO that aims to raise awareness of the pressing conditions of the refugees
00:21:22 and provide them with support and this is just one of many Christian organizations in Malaysia Malaysian care uh keeps a directory of Christian social concern organizations um in Malaysia last I check there are like 369 entries and Counting if God calls you to that Ministry by all means go if that's your calling but this passage runs deeper than just pure Christian charity and social work but the second caution error rather I think is more concerned uh the the the caution the error is to read this passage to justify what we
00:22:04 call Salvation by works we have already seen in the story of the Rich Young Ruler that eternal life cannot be earned instead we are reminded of the cost of discipleship the willingness to lose our Earthly treasures and what we idolize in favor of following Christ Ephesians 2 um: 8 and 9 state state States clearly that it is by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast this is repeated throughout the Book of Romans which we learned in
00:22:43 the last GMA series but how then do we reconcile this so-called tension between faith and works if you continue to read in Ephesians 2 it doesn't just end there right in verse 10 it goes goes on to say for we are God's handywork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepare prepared in advance for us to do that is who we are created in the image of God that is our identity so James 217 summarizes very well right Faith by itself if it's not accompanied by action is is dead in other words genuine Faith
00:23:27 doesn't rest on its la s genuine Faith must result in Good Works not the other way around works-based Christianity including the Roman Catholics um believe in a faith plus Works formula uh as the requirements for salvation so you don't only need Faith you need to do work in order to earn salvation right or to prove your your your your your you know the worth of your salvation Works being the root right uh but the biblical understanding is it's not works that is root works is the the fruit we're justified by faith
00:24:13 alone but being a born again regenerated uh Christian uh our heart is continually Sanctified to produce the fruit of good works and good works according to James complete faith that is the biblical understanding each one of us without any exception will stand before the throne and be judged according to what he or she has done as recorded in the Book of Life in Revelation as we learn in Revelations uh 2012 the good works we do whether as part of Christian service or in our vocation we work with sincerity of our
00:24:58 heart heart and reverence for the Lord as if working for the Lord and not for human Masters it is the Lord Christ we are ultimately serving and this is what it means when the Bible says we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to Will and to act in in uh in order to fulfill his good purposes but what is our motivation for good works what why do we do this in the parable of the Good Samaritan the expert in the law asked Jesus what must one do to inherit eternal life and his answer
00:25:37 was the great Commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself but who are our neighbors we learn from the parable that is the one who showed mercy first John uh State this very clearly this is how we know what love is Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother and sister in need but has no
00:26:13 pity on them how can the love of God be in that person dear children let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth the last verse verse 18 uh let us love with words or speech but with not not with words and speech but with actions and truth is actually our CIA live group's Moto I still remember and up up to today um as a student in University uh a sister in the Christian Fellowship that uh that I served in by the way the new friend of uh of our here today celvin is from the same University
00:26:52 it's the same Christian Fellowship that we that we served in uh this sister has mentioned four words that will always remain indelible in my mind and that forward says Love Is A Verb let me say that again Love Is A Verb we love because God first loved us it is his love that compels us do we turn the Blind Eye or the deaf ear to those in need or are we too busy doing Church doing religion doing the bare minimum to get a ticket to heaven church let us not pay lip service we need to roll out our sleeves literally
00:27:35 and I'm telling that to myself otherwise I'm not practicing what I preach I'm not walking the talk and I'll join the goats gang right Christian service will involve sacrifice of time of energy of money of talent and this is the parable of the talent that brother John Lee preached a few weeks back hear from the burmes uh Refugee outreach program that was um updated earlier by Sister Sarah and Pastor Kai that is a fine example of how we can uh there are various ways in which we can put our faith and love into action whether in
00:28:13 the five areas of Prayer of connecting of packing of purchasing and delivery or contributing to the education of funds for the children adopting families and many other ways within the church and Community around us in in our workplace in our very our very homes even by the way soup kitchen soup kitchen will be soon launching a chat and snack dropin Center at Globe Cafe now I'm not going to steal their thunder so watch this space and by all means participate and Avail yourselves they're going to be presenting this and
00:28:51 launching this soon so the second test brothers and sisters is I missed this right is if your faith bearing fruit of good works for Christ is your good works motivated by the love of Christ and the love for others but how are we to to love and serve and here comes the ultimate test genuine Faith unselfconsciously transforms us to be like Christ now there's an element of surprise as you read on In this passage after the sentence was announced the goats the the sheep and the goats um the goats are as surprised as if not
00:29:43 more than the Sheep let's start with the Sheep the righteous on the right Jesus says uh no they they uh you know the Sheep says Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink when did we see you a stranger invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you when do we see you sick or in prisoned and and go visit you and the Lord's reply was the famous verse truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of this brothers and sisters of mine you did it for
00:30:16 me Jesus could be saying remember the time uh a stranger wearing rather shabby clothes walked into the congregation and nobody noticed or attended to him but you did you took him out for lunch oh yeah remember the missionary who had to move out of a rented place because the landlord chased her out and you took her in without hesitation oh yeah that that missionary what's her name again remember the mpsj garbage collector who smells so bad and where every everybody shut the door when a truck passed by but you always
00:31:02 say and gave him a cold drink every once in a while he accepted Christ later being touched by your kindness oh yes the the uh the faithful mpsj garbage truck that comes three times a week without fail I didn't know that he accepted the Lord praise the lord it's the it's the kind of surprise that is unselfconscious you're doing it you're trying to remember oh I didn't think too hard about this in fact uh it was a privilege it was a joy the goats are equally surprised and was called off God he said Lord when did we see you
00:31:46 hungry they also ask the same question when do you see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or imprison now the the sentence got shorter already because they think when you know they're more interested in you know what you know what did we not do and and when we see you and did not help you the goat sounded defensive even offended you know but Jesus says truly I tell you whatever you did not do for one of these least of of of of the resence you did not do for me it's like it's
00:32:16 like in an examination where you are pretty confident you answered all the questions already right all the sections but the result came back Z l l they call it Lord but I serve Faithfully in church I attended live group and prayer meeting regularly and participated in almost all Community Care activities I was there as far as I can remember here are my certificates of attendance and participation in terms of offer Tre terms of giving haven't missed a Sunday um I gave more than every everybody else the goats will already be
00:32:59 making a long mental list of the many times they have ministered to those in need recalling down to the minutest detail they have full Excel spreadsheets to keep account of all the monetary contributions to NOS complete with income tax receipts you know they put in long hours working and working for charity fighting for racial equality joining every bu campaign if I if I knew you were coming Jesus I would be the first to roll out the carpet the red carpet the goats have long forgotten The Sermon on the Mount do not let your left
00:33:35 hand know what your right hand does again don't get me wrong not that any of these activities are wrong by itself but it's the song that we sang earlier says you search much deeper within from the way things appear you're looking into my heart it's reminiscent of the Rich Young Ruler who thought he had checked all the boxes of the Ten Commandments but still missed the mark because he missed the greatest commandment to love the Lord with all his heart mind and soul and love his neighbor as himself it is not works per
00:34:06 say but love it's the same tone as in Matthew 7:22 remember the false disciple says Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles but it's a different kind of surprise here it's one that is self-righteous holier than thou Pharisee almost a disbelief you know it's like you got to be kidding me Lord you know what's the difference here between the surprise of the the sheep and the surprise of the goats now I think if you Circle three key words and key three
00:34:53 phrases see least of the brothers and sisters and for me now let me let me just explain uh This this term called the Le of the brothers and sisters first right who is Jesus referring to this has much been debated it's a whole wide spectrum of interpretation I'm not going to drain it today from Jewish Christians to Christians missionaries and leaders to Christian disciples to and to everyone in need whether Christian or not each having his own Bible verses and supporting interpretation I'm not going
00:35:22 to do a lecture on this today you can take a a picture and you know and and and for for further reflection most older scholarship interpret this as everyone the leades of the brothers and sisters are everyone in need right uh but more modern scholarship prefers Christian disciples my personal conviction is although the immediate context of fellow Christians as our priority the scope naturally extends to the genuinely underprivileged the oppressed and the needy also because who are we to judge who are the sheep and
00:35:52 the goats right this is aply summarized in Galatians 6 therefore as we have opportunity let us do good works to all people especially to those who belong to the family of Believers now let's go to the word c this is important right um both the sheep and the goats ask the question when did we see when did we see you Jesus of our five human sensus site if you know is the most important studies show we perceive up to 80% of our all Impressions by means of sight which takes up the most brain processing
00:36:32 compared to the rest of the senses that is why Bible says the eye is the lamp of your body if your eyes are healthy the whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy whole body will be full of Darkness our brains constantly process and evaluate what we see what we value what value we see someone will determine what we think say and act to the person doesn't it if you don't see any value in a person we are unlikely to bother so the difference between the sheep and goats is is how each saw and
00:37:05 valued the least of our brothers because sheep understands that every human is made of in the image of God and remembering they they were once lost and now found saved by God's grace they saw in their subconscious mind the value of everyone including the least valued in society through the lens of Christ through the lens of of Christ in other words they saw them as how Christ would see them we must remember Christ spent most of his time with the poor with the rejected with the despised the marginalized the prostitutes the tax
00:37:42 collectors the Sinners my wife always reminds me and tell me that I don't see enough especially the little things right hope I'm not the only one a husband's a husband's out there do you get the same allegations I'm either too busy or distracted too glued to my devices that's where I'm looking you know when he when she says come come darling I want to show you something you know uh I you know I say can you give me an executive summary bullet points husbands out there she quoted an example uh of the famous
00:38:30 Ka kry house in section 17 who who has been here before Kana kry house famous One H uh when she was there a couple of months ago with her mom she noticed just across the street a very poor burmes family uh with tattered clothes the mother was selling coconut water uh on like this really old Supermarket trolley with a baby and a child and and a toddler sitting in the same trolley she saw and and felt them and bought some coconut water and gave them some money I would have often missed something like
00:39:06 that most of us know that the percentage of b40 households are are increasing in Malaysia uh last year stat statistics show that more than half a million of m40s have been down classified to b40 this of course is accelerated by the covid pandemic which means we'll see more and more people in need around us both within the church and outside the church Community what we choose to see matters what we what value we see in people matters so in Philippians 2 it says do nothing out of selfish ambition
00:39:41 or vain conceit rather in humility value others above yourselves not looking in our own interest but each of you to the interest of others running out time but we are able to when we are able to see the Eternal value of others through the lens of Christ we will invest time and energy and this will certainly involve sacrifice the goats on the other hand saw little to no value in the leades of the brothers and sisters and hence they turned what they call the Blind Eye these are far from the VIPs that they
00:40:17 take notice of these are these are not people with status of course not of Our Kind they're not worth our time they always look looking for what's in it for me what's in it for me right that's what the value system in the world we living teachers say doesn't it everyone is talking about in the corporate world uh business value bang for the buck well this time I this phrase I haven't heard in a long time but in my last meeting someone rais this up where is the bang for the buck what the risk versus rewards what is the
00:40:53 ROI one this one we very good return on investment and the liks of this right and sometimes this comes into the you know in the way we think about church as well right the higher you climb on a corporate ladder the more you need to do more with less another term that I've been hearing as well in my world I'm speaking from direct fresh from the oven experience in my new job right the the ship on the contrary are always asking what's in it for Christ even when nobody is looking which is the next phrase for Christ
00:41:26 Christ identifies with the least of the Brethren so that whatever that is done for one of the least of them who who are disciples the people made in His image whom he loves is done for him to him in the same way as Jesus said in Matthew 18 you know the debate about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus says whoever welcomes one such little child in my name welcomes me or negatively uh when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the early churches you remember the road to Damascus Jesus said
00:41:55 to him Saul Saul why do you persecute me not the church not the Christians Jesus says I am Jesus whom you are persecuting now when I was growing up in the '90s there was this very popular what would Jesus do movement you remember wwjd now not the gimmicky part of your the bracelet The Wristband that you that still sell today by the way right actually this this this this wwjd grew out of the biblical concept of the imitation of Christ which later became a book written by Thomas a campus some of you may have read that I read that many
00:42:34 years back John Wesley built upon the foundation on this Foundation adding a social welfare component but it was Charles Spurgeon who created the fa the phrase wwjd what would Jesus do having been inspired by the campus book he writes hang that question up in the houses your houses what would Jesus do and then think of another how would Jesus do it for what he would do and how he would do it will always stand as the best guide to us dear brothers and sisters all this would not be possible if our lives are not first
00:43:11 regenerated our hearts the very core of our being our DNA are not continually being changed and transformed into his image from goat DNA to sheep DNA until it becomes a a natural thing for us until it becomes ingrained in our blood that's what Pastor Kai said becomes a habit to love and to serve Christ and the least of his brothers and sisters Romans 12 reminds us therefore in view of God's mercy 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
00:43:54 this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and see and approve what God's will is his good and pleasing and perfect will so the so the final test is is your life and are your values so transformed by the gospel that you unselfconsciously serve your brothers and sisters in Christ let me say that again if your life and your and are your values so transformed by the gospel that you unselfconsciously unselfishly serve your brothers and sisters in Christ in closing let me share a story
00:44:36 of William Wilberforce which most of us know uh most of us know he led the abolition of slavery and the slave trade wiber force was so profoundly influenced by Christ that he constantly remembered this fact that one day he were to stand before the Judgment seat of Christ wiber force was painfully aware during his time that religion and morals were in serious decline in contemporary England in his time the Bible lies on a shelf unopen the Fatal habit of considering separating morals distinct from
00:45:18 doctrines majority of the sermons scarcely have a trace of biblical Doctrine and so on and so forth in his famous book real Christianity wifor exposed the inadequacy of nominal or professed Christianity versus real true vital and practical Christianity the chief difference he says is how the the deferring place that we give to the gospel he says if you truly embrace the gospel there must be a radically new life a life is trans so transformed it is inspired by the a gratitude to God is characterized by Love by Holiness by
00:46:02 humility permeating every fiber of our being in private or in public I said I would come back to the to the eight woes earlier you I if you put side by side not moving sorry it's a bit of a lack here okay if you put the eight walls or the seven to eight walls uh side by side with the eight Beatitudes The Sermon on the Mount they are mirror opposite the final judgment will shake out the true from the false disciples the righteous from the religious The Humble from the hypocrite the ultimate separation is not really between the
00:46:56 sheep and the goats anymore but between God and those who insist on doing their own will to which Jesus would say depart from me for I never knew you but to those who live their lives transformed by Christ's love serving their brothers and sisters in Christ for his sake he will say come you are blessed you who are blessed well done good and faithful servant finally we must recognize that we are all struggling sheep that falls into the goat trap every now and then myself included there are no super
00:47:36 Christians because we all work in progress that is why we need to continually be continually dependent on God's grace on the power of his love to transform us to change our hearts to be more like Christ Christ himself have paved the way he chose to be the lamb that was led to the slaughter for our sakes will you also choose to deny yourselves to take up your cross daily and to follow him let us pray Heavenly Father how easy it is to be a professing Christian rather than a practicing Christian to be compassionate in a
00:48:22 meeting and selfish and cruel in private but thank you Lord for the cleansing Grace so freely available in the Lord Jesus teach us how to live by him valuing others more than ourselves transform Us by the power of Christ's love so that all we do and say in a is a manifestation of his life at work in US each and every day we pray this for jesus' sake amen let's respond in the song that we also sing last week the power of your love this stand for this Lord I come to you let my heart be changed renewed flowing from the
00:49:21 grace that I found in you Lord I've come the weaknesses I see in me will be Stripped [Music] Away by the power of Your Love [Music] be close that your love surround me bring me near draw me to your side and I wait I'll rise up by the go and I will s with you your spirit leads me on in the power of Your [Music] Love Lord unveil my eyes let me see you face to face the knowledge of your love as you live in me Lord renew my mind as your will unfolds in my life in living every day by the power of Your
00:51:33 [Music] Love hold me close Let Your Love [Music] suround bring me near draw me to your side and as I wait our rise of go and I will s with you your spirit leads me on in the power of Your Love let sing hold me [Music] close hold me close let your love [Music] suround me bring me near draw me to your side and I wait our rise of life and I will s with you your spir leads me on in the power of your love and I will s with you your spirit leads me on in the power of Your Love [Music] as the music continues to
00:53:30 [Music] play Psalms 95 says today if you hear his voice do not Harden your hearts some of you may have been struggling with your faith and you just feel tired of putting up a front every Sunday in every live group to look okay even good good but deep down you you know it's just a facade you find it hard to put your faith to work hard to love your neighbors as yourselves because there are many other priorities many other Idols or habits in your life that distracts that interferes and you find yourselves
00:54:22 losing the joy of serving Jesus in fact you're feeling that your heart know him anymore and we just need someone to talk to to pray with please stay back after the benediction and the elders are here to pray with you now let receive the benediction taken from Ephesians 3: 16- 21 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ May dwell in your heart through faith I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power
00:55:01 together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know his love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all fullness of God now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen go in peace those of you who wants prayer wants to someone to talk to
00:55:34 please please do stay back otherwise just enjoy the fellowship at the Garden Cafe thank you
