ORDER OF WORSHIP
ANNOUNCEMENT
Call To Worship
Psalm 134 : 1 – 3
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
詩篇 134 : 1 – 3
1 耶和華的僕人，夜間站在耶和華殿中的，你們當稱頌耶和華！2 你們當向聖所舉手，稱頌耶和華！3 願造天地的耶和華，從錫安賜福給你們！
Worship Through Songs
Good day dear people of God—precious bride of the Heaven’s Divine Bridegroom and Victorious Champion, Jesus Christ.
Writing about the very real danger for well-meaning Christians to sometimes live as ‘impostors’: as people not living authentically, Brennan Manning, in his book ‘Abba’s Child’ wrote…
“The sad irony is that the impostor cannot experience intimacy in any relationship. His narcissism excludes others. Incapable of intimacy with self and out of touch with his feelings, intuitions, and insight, the impostor is insensitive to the moods, needs, and dreams of others. Reciprocal sharing is impossible. The impostor has built life around achievements, success, busyness, and self-centered activities that bring gratification and praise from others. James Masterson, M.D., stated, “It is the nature of the false self to save us from knowing the truth about our real selves, from penetrating the deeper causes of our unhappiness, from seeing ourselves as we really are—vulnerable, afraid, terrified, and unable to let our real selves emerge.” …
We even refuse to be our true selves with God—and then wonder why we lack intimacy with Him. The deepest desire of our hearts is for union with God. From the first moment of our existence, our most powerful yearning is to fulfill the original purpose of our lives—to see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly, as the old prayer says. We are made for God, and nothing less will really satisfy us.”
‘You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You’ wrote St. Augustine. Highlighting the ‘original purpose of our lives’, he also exposed the essence of our troubling tendency to live inauthentically: that is, our lack of rested-ness in the character of God. The need to hide our true selves betray a spiritually crippling insecurity about God’s love and acceptance—far removed from the truth of 1 John 4:18, that emphatically declared, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”.
Friends, let us remind ourselves that God loved us even while we were worthless to him—while we were hostile, rebellious, and unrepentant. Spiritually dead and totally incapable of doing anything remotely pleasing to him, God cleansed us; transformed us; and made us alive in Christ. It is because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus that we are acceptable and pleasing to our Heavenly Father. It is true when we first came to faith and remains true for the rest of our live. His grace is not because of anything deserving in us but is every bit because of his great mercy in Jesus Christ. As He has been merciful and gracious then, so He continues to be so even now. As He loved us then, so He loves us still.
As we understand this more and more, and allow it to define who we are, we can learn to live authentically, and begin to rest—and grow—in the unchanging and inexhaustible love of God.
‘Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.’*
For Christ’s sake, Amen. *[J. Edwin Orr]
Anthem
Praise The Lord
Scripture Reading
James 1 : 19 – 27
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
雅 各 書 1 : 19 – 27
19 我 親 愛 的 弟 兄 們 ， 這 是 你 們 所 知 道 的 ， 但 你 們 各 人 要 快 快 的 聽 ， 慢 慢 的 說 ， 慢 慢 的 動 怒 ，
20 因 為 人 的 怒 氣 並 不 成 就 神 的 義 。
21 所 以 ， 你 們 要 脫 去 一 切 的 污 穢 和 盈 餘 的 邪 惡 ， 存 溫 柔 的 心 領 受 那 所 栽 種 的 道 ， 就 是 能 救 你 們 靈 魂 的 道 。
22 只 是 你 們 要 行 道 ， 不 要 單 單 聽 道 ， 自 己 欺 哄 自 己 。
23 因 為 聽 道 而 不 行 道 的 ， 就 像 人 對 著 鏡 子 看 自 己 本 來 的 面 目 ，
24 看 見 ， 走 後 ， 隨 即 忘 了 他 的 相 貌 如 何 。
25 惟 有 詳 細 察 看 那 全 備 、 使 人 自 由 之 律 法 的 ， 並 且 時 常 如 此 ， 這 人 既 不 是 聽 了 就 忘 ， 乃 是 實 在 行 出 來 ， 就 在 他 所 行 的 事 上 必 然 得 福 。
26 若 有 人 自 以 為 虔 誠 ， 卻 不 勒 住 他 的 舌 頭 ， 反 欺 哄 自 己 的 心 ， 這 人 的 虔 誠 是 虛 的 。
27 在 神 我 們 的 父 面 前 ， 那 清 潔 沒 有 玷 污 的 虔 誠 ， 就 是 看 顧 在 患 難 中 的 孤 兒 寡 婦 ， 並 且 保 守 自 己 不 沾 染 世 俗 。
Sermon
Dr. Gerardo Lisbe, Jr.
中文翻譯
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,
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Response Song
