ORDER OF WORSHIP
Call To Worship
Habakkuk 2 : 20
The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
哈巴谷書 2 : 20
唯耶和華在他的聖殿中，全地的人都當在他面前肅敬靜默。
Worship Through Songs
Good day family of the Eternal Unchanging God—chosen and loved since before the dawn of time.
Love is central to the Bible’s message. It is a crucial thread in its dogma and ethic. It’s peculiar place and unique treatment in Scripture presents one of the most important distinctive between Christianity and other world religions. All the Bible’s injunctions can be summed up in the two greatest commands—‘to love God with our all; and to love others as we love ourselves.’
Christopher Wright, in the chapter about Love, in his book Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit, wrote about how the apostle John, in his first epistle, urged his flock to a stronger assurance of the reality of their salvation. He wrote…
“John wanted his readers to know for sure that they had eternal life. But how can you know you’ve got the life that God gives? When you see the evidence of the love that God produces in your life. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 Jn 3:14)
How do you know if a believer, or a church, is alive? Look for the love. Where there is love, there is life. When Christians truly put love into practice, it is evidence, assurance, that the life of God is present among them and in them. But when we don’t put love into practice, when we fight and squabble, divide and denounce each other . . . what does it say about us? If there’s no love, says John, we have not come to life at all; we “remain in death.”
Love is a life and death thing.”
Love is a matter of life and death because genuine Christ-like love is evidence of eternal life. When it is present, the life of Christ is evident among us. When it is absent, then all the external trappings of religion—regardless of Christian labels—mean very little.
What does this love look like? A big part of the answer comes from that most celebrated passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul—after correcting, admonishing, and exhorting the squabbling immature believers in Corinth—reminded them of the ‘most excellent way’. In The Voice Translation, the first part of chapter 13 is rendered…
‘What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.
Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. Love will never become obsolete.’
A love like this will stand out and make the world take notice. Jesus himself said that other people will know that we belong to him because of our love for one another—an extraordinary affection for, and commitment to one another marked by his own unmerited, sacrificial love for us. This is only possible through Christ’s own transforming presence within us and among us as He grants us the grace to daily experience—truly experience—the depth, the height, the length, and the width of God’s love for us in Him.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Forgiver of our sins and Lover of our Souls.
Fill our minds with your Word that they may be renewed and we will learn to think your thoughts after You.
Fill our hearts with your love that we may treat others the way You treated us—with grace, compassion, patience, and kindness.
Fill our eyes with the light of your truth—with visions of who You are and who we are to You—that we may see things from your perspective and understand deeply your purposes for us. So that regardless of the turmoil and strife that may come our way, we will always find hope in You—as we constantly remember that because You have bought us with the highest price, You will never leave nor forsake us no matter what.
So grateful for your love, Lord Jesus, amen.’
Anthem
The Love of Christ
Scripture Reading
Mark 12 : 28 – 34 (ESV)
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
馬 可 福 音 12 : 28 – 34
28 有 一 個 文 士 來 ， 聽 見 他 們 辯 論 ， 曉 得 耶 穌 回 答 的 好 ， 就 問 他 說 ： 誡 命 中 那 是 第 一 要 緊 的 呢 ？
29 耶 穌 回 答 說 ： 第 一 要 緊 的 就 是 說 ： 以 色 列 阿 ， 你 要 聽 ， 主 ─ 我 們 神 是 獨 一 的 主 。
30 你 要 盡 心 、 盡 性 、 盡 意 、 盡 力 愛 主 ─ 你 的 神 。
31 其 次 就 是 說 ： 要 愛 人 如 己 。 再 沒 有 比 這 兩 條 誡 命 更 大 的 了 。
32 那 文 士 對 耶 穌 說 ： 夫 子 說 ， 神 是 一 位 ， 實 在 不 錯 ； 除 了 他 以 外 ， 再 沒 有 別 的 神 ；
33 並 且 盡 心 、 盡 智 、 盡 力 愛 他 ， 又 愛 人 如 己 ， 就 比 一 切 燔 祭 和 各 樣 祭 祀 好 的 多 。
34 耶 穌 見 他 回 答 的 有 智 慧 ， 就 對 他 說 ： 你 離 神 的 國 不 遠 了 。 從 此 以 後 ， 沒 有 人 敢 再 問 他 甚 麼 。
Sermon
Dr. Ricky Recodo
中文翻譯
Tithes And Offering
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