Sunday, August 16th, Michiana Chinese Christian Church

 Sunday, August 16th, Michiana Chinese Christian Church

Chinese | English Worship service

Chinese Worship and Service: click here: http://mcccin.org/
Sunday school Materials for the Youth and for Children:  https://mccc2020youth.blogspot.com/

CALL TO WORSHIP:

WORSHIP:  ENGLISH WORSHIP MUSIC:

I give myself away/ Here i am to worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoVe95c0zWo

Michael W. Smith - King of Glory ft. CeCe Winans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JGS9WICtIg
 
The Love of God - Mercy Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWnvmKoLWUU

BEGIN PRAYER | SCRIPTURE | SERMON VIDEO LINKS:   
English version: click here>   https://youtu.be/RcgLHBv9Plc

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

SCRIPTURE READING:       

Mark 12: 41-44  |  Matthew 19: 16-22

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”  Mark 12: 41-44   NKJV

 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”  So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

 He said to Him, “Which ones?”  Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’  ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”  The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 

 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Matthew 19: 16-22   NKJV

                           

SERMON:

Red Letter Words of Jesus that Really Convict Us!

*If Jesus walked in to our church building, and sat down amongst us, would His Words commend us, as in, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”  Or instead, would He say: 

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—"  Revelation 3: 15-17   NKJV

*If our attitudes and lives reflect "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, we are ‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked’ because we do not spend our lives seeking after Him who gives us life.

*‘Wretched’ as “deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressed in body or mind.”  People are distressed about the pandemic and we protect ourselves.  People are distressed about the lawlessness and destruction of public and private properties by anarchists and protesters, and we wonder if that is coming to our own community.

*Our misery confines us to our homes and it breeds in us further discontent and contempt for others.  We were created to live social lives!  By staying at home, we close ourselves off from friendships and fellowship.  

*Our absence of relationship causes us to think we are alone.  We are cut off!  We feel cut off!  We do not even pursue God with our whole hearts.

*We are poor and blind and naked.  We count our riches by our worldly wealth.

*Our blindness is seen by what we refuse to see because our hearts have grown cold and indifferent toward others and to Christ!

*Our nakedness is revealed by our walking in shame for those things we know we should be doing, but are not.  It is revealed in our hypocrisies and unloving attitudes.  

*We do not live the lives Jesus wants to lead us in.

*Jesus’s Words to the Laodicean church do not end with the rebuke.  Jesus, turns their eyes to where their true wealth is found.  He calls them to repent and find the treasure that He offers. 

18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  Revelation 3: 18-20   NKJV

 *Those wonderful words: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. 

Therefore be zealous and repent.”

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Romans 8: 28, 29   NKJV

*We can only see the things that are right in front of us right now.  But Jesus is looking at the eternal picture of your life.  He is always going to perfect things in our lives that we will walk in righteousness before Him! 

*No one can spoil us like God does! 
*“If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him…”  You have to open the door of your life to HIM!

*The poor widow gave it all!  Out of her poverty, she put in everything she had.  The contrast between the widow and the rich young man is both obvious and startling!  The rich young man could not even part with a portion but valued his worldly possessions as greater than anything that Jesus could offer.

*If there is anything in our lives that we hang onto, value more than Christ Jesus, we are not fit for His kingdom.  He tells us so Himself.

*As Jesus is about to face the cross, there one account of two events that powerfully show us what it means to give it all for Him!  

3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” 

 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.  Mark 14: 3 – 11   NKJV

*Two events told in one story, powerfully tell us of a woman who is willing to give it all, and a man who is trying to get whatever he can.  She gave the total of that flask, all of the Spiknard, and then broke the flask as well.  There was nothing remaining for her.  Gospel of Mark actually sets a price on that alabaster flask: 300 denari or a year’s wages for most people in that time.  
*Gospel writers tell of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  To the priests who paid that sum, it was the price of contempt.  The priests were willing to pay almost nothing for Jesus.

*Judas had come to a point in his life where he had lived for three years walking with Jesus, listening to Jesus’ teachings and witnessing His miracles, completely surrounded by truth!  But he had never applied it to his life.  

*God’s view is very different from mans.  To God, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, we cannot outgive God!  But we can give our lives to Him!  

*It begins by saying ‘Yes’ to God in everything!

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

    as much as in obeying the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

1 Samuel 15: 22, 23   NKJV

*Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer said:  “A religion that does nothing, that saves nothing, that gives nothing, that costs nothing, that suffers nothing, is worth nothing!

*Today is your day!  I have brought to you a truth of God that is found in story after story, life after life throughout the Bible of men and women who lived their lives with truth all around them.  Many never learned to apply that truth to their own lives.  They refused thinking they knew better. 

* And then there were those who grabbed hold of Jesus as their way, their truth and their life.  And they found the true eternal riches that He promises to give.

RESPONDING HYMN: ENGLISH

Every Praise Gospel Song / the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choirs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8XJPNliPr4

English Pastor                                                Chinese Pastor
Pastor Kevin Haislip                                      Pastor Rocky Yang
972 800-0307                                                                 574-256-9422
vinzeig@gmail.com                                      rockyfjf@gmail.com