ORDER OF WORSHIP
Call To Worship
Psalm 84: 1 – 2
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
詩篇 84 : 1 – 2
1 萬軍之耶和華啊，你的居所何等可愛！ 2 我羨慕渴想耶和華的院宇，我的心腸、我的肉體向永生神呼籲。
Worship Through Songs
Good day blessed people of God—recipients of our Lord’s riches in glory through Jesus Christ, and bearers of the Life that is truly life.
Wealth—particularly the pursuit for more of it and the obsession over the things that come with it—is a common and serious pitfall for humanity since the dawn of civilization. It is the root of all kinds of evil and the cause of innumerable heartaches in our world. This is true not only for the world at large but even for those among the redeemed. Perhaps more than any other sin, Jesus warned us of the dangers of greed for money and possessions, as epitomized in his warning to ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed’, for according to him—the Embodiment of Truth himself—‘life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’
In his insightful book Counterfeit gods, Timothy Keller in the chapter about money explained how a true understanding of God’s grace in the gospel can uproot and disarm the power of greed in our hearts. He wrote in part…
“Jesus, the God-Man, had infinite wealth, but if he had held on to it, we would have died in our spiritual poverty. That was the choice—if he stayed rich, we would die poor. If he died poor, we could become rich. Our sins would be forgiven, and we would be admitted into the family of God. Paul was not giving…a mere ethical precept, exhorting them to stop loving money so much and become more generous. Rather, he recapitulated the gospel.
…Jesus gave up all his treasure in heaven, in order to make you his treasure—for you are a treasured people (1 Peter 2:9-10). When you see him dying to make you his treasure, that will make him yours. Money will cease to be the currency of your significance and security, and you will want to bless others with what you have. To the degree that you grasp the gospel, money will have no dominion over you. Think on his costly grace until it changes you into a generous [person].
The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel, how he poured out his wealth for you. Now you don’t have to worry about money—the Cross proves God’s care for you and gives you the security. Now you don’t have to envy anyone else’s money. Jesus’s love and salvation confers on you a remarkable status—one that money cannot give you. Money cannot save you from tragedy, or give you control in a chaotic world. Only God can do that.”
He then concluded the segment, “What breaks the power of money over us is not just redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ, what you have in him, and then living out the changes [which] that understanding makes in your heart—the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, our view of the world.”
‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.’
[2 Corinthians 8:9]
This is the gracious God we trust. This is the sacrificial Savior we love. This is the generous King who declared with solemn finality, ‘whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it’. The same One who promised with equal irrevocability, ‘‘Truly I tell you…no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’ Praise be unto him!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Generous King and Precious Friend.
Make the truth of your Word alive to us this day and every day. That we may not only think of or speak about them but know them intimately in all their raw reality.
By your Spirit open the eyes of our hearts and make us taste and see the lavishness of your love; the certainty of your promises; and the sweetness of your presence.
Make it so that we will truly find the fullness of our identity; our security; our purpose; and our satisfaction only in You, so that at the end of the day, each one of us can honestly and unabashedly say ‘I’d rather have Jesus more than anything this world affords today’—that ‘my life I live henceforth to live Oh Christ for Thee alone.’
For the glory of your most beautiful Name, amen.
Anthem
Glory Be
Scripture Reading
1st Chronicles 29 : 12 (ESV)
12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
歷代志上 29 : 12 (CUV)
12 豐 富 尊 榮 都 從 你 而 來 ， 你 也 治 理 萬 物 。 在 你 手 裡 有 大 能 大 力 ， 使 人 尊 大 強 盛 都 出 於 你 。
Matthew 6 : 33 (ESV)
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
馬太福音 6 : 33 (CUV)
33 你 們 要 先 求 他 的 國 和 他 的 義 ， 這 些 東 西 都 要 加 給 你 們 了 。
Sermon
Rev. Vicente Sia
謝國智牧師
Communion
Song of Reflection
English:
中文:
Tithes And Offering
If you are led by the Lord to give for the purpose He has placed in your heart as a way of sharing your blessings or giving thanks to the Lord,
Kindly click here for more information.
Benediction Song
Zoom Links
Contact Numbers
