March 22, 2020 by
We live in strange times 1 Peter 5:7 ហើយ​ចូរ​ផ្ទេរ​គ្រប់​ទាំង​សេចក្តី​ទុក្ខ​ព្រួយ​របស់​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា​ទៅ​លើ​ទ្រង់ ដ្បិត​ទ្រង់​តែង​យក​ព្រះទ័យ​ទុក​ដាក់​នឹង​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា។ Schools are closed, restaurants are closing, sporting events have been canceled, large assemblies are forbidden, and we’ve all learned about “social distancing,” which means you stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you. Some counties like our county here are under a “shelter in place” order, which means you stay home round the clock, with only a few specified exceptions. All because of a tiny microbe that is incredibly contagious and extremely dangerous, especially to those over 60 and those with compromised immune systems. Since I fit into that first category (I’m closer to 70 than to 60), I’ve tried to follow the rules. I’ve started washing my hands all the time. My wife and I take hand sanitizer with us when we go out, which isn’t very often. And when we withdraw money from bank we wrapped in Clorox wipes and wash when we are home. Such is life for all of us right now. No one knows when things will get better. This may last a few weeks, or it may last a few months. It could last even longer. We are living with a level of anxiety we haven’t seen for a long time. People worry about their health and the health of their loved ones. We’re worried about losing our jobs and our income. We feel trapped by events we can’t control. No wonder people are hoarding toilet paper. No wonder we can’t sleep. No wonder we feel shaky. So our most worry now falls into two categories: health and finances. These are universal human concerns. These are issues that will be with us as long as we live, but now worse with Coronavirus situation. You’re going to have to die in order to stop being concerned about your money and your health. Let try to understand about the word “Worry.” To worry is to “give way to anxiety or unease; allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.” The word itself comes from the Old English wyrgan, which means to strangle or to seize by the throat. That’s a helpful image because we’ve all felt the pressure squeezing us. Just like a lot of us feel right now. We are all stuck in house for 3 weeks or more. Let me give you a simple definition. Worry is excessive concern over the affairs of life. The key obviously is the word “excessive.” Worry happens when you are so concerned about the problems of life that you can’t think of nothing else. It is an all-consuming feeling of uncertainty and fear. And it is a sin. Worry is a sin for two reasons: First, because it displaces God in your life. When you commit the sin of worry, you are living as though God did not exist. And you are living as though you alone can solve your problems. Second, because it distracts you from the things that really matter in life. As long as you are worrying, you can’t do anything else. You are strangled by worry. How can we tell when the legitimate concerns of life have become sinful worries? Here are three practical guidelines. You are probably well into worry . . .   1. When the thing you are concerned about is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night. 2. When you find yourself thinking about it during every spare moment. 3. When you find yourself bringing it up in every conversation. Seen in that light, most of us worry a lot more than we would like to admit. Here is God’s answer to our worries, stated in one verse tucked away near the end of Peter’s first epistle: “Casting all your cares on him, because he cares for you”ហើយ​ចូរ​ផ្ទេរ​គ្រប់​ទាំង​សេចក្តី​ទុក្ខ​ព្រួយ​របស់​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា​ទៅ​លើ​ទ្រង់ ដ្បិត​ទ្រង់​តែង​យក​ព្រះទ័យ​ទុក​ដាក់​នឹង​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា។ (1 Peter 5:7). Let’s take a moment to unpack this text and see how to respond to God’s gracious invitation. I. A Definite Action: “Cast all your cares on him.” He has said, “Give me your problems.”  1 Peter 5:7 says we are to “cast” our cares on the Lord.  There is a fine line between worry and legitimate concern. I mention that so you will know that Peter is not telling us, “Blow off all the concerns of life.” You’ve got to think about things like your job, your education, your finances, your children, your health, your friendships, and your plans for the future. Every day you make decisions that touch all these areas. So what is Peter saying? Make wise plans in all areas. Make the decisions you need to make. But do not be “strangled” with worry about things you can’t control. Thus the command to “release” anxiety and “throw the full weight” of your anxieties on the Lord. We are to “unload all our worries” on him. II. A Divine Destination: “Cast all your cares on him.” Either he carries the worry or we do. Here’s another way to say it: “Jesus will carry your backpack as you hike toward heaven.” It’s not just that your burdens will be carried. It’s that he, the Lord of the universe, will carry them for you. He will personally carry all our worries. Here is an invitation both intimate and personal. Jesus says, “Will you let me carry your burdens?” How can you say no to him? III. A Delightful Reason: “Because he cares for you.” Ponder those four simple words: “He cares for you.” What truth they contain. What hope in the time of trouble. It means he has you on his heart. He is always thinking about you. Here is the great truth that makes this verse so powerful. Our Father has us on his heart. He is always thinking about us. Can God Be Trusted? Until you settle that issue, worry will rule your life. No wonder we’re so messed up! Here is the Heart of Our Faith Here is the heart of biblical Christianity: God cares for me. He proved it by sending his own Son to die for me. The issue was settled for all time at the cross. Any God who would sacrifice his own Son for a person like me must care for me. There’s no other reason he would do such a thing. When we come to God, we don’t have to convince him to hear us. We don’t have to chant or shout or burn incense or ring bells or use a priest or offer a sacrifice. We come as his children and gladly he hears us. We don’t do anything to make God care for us.  So let come back to our situation we have right now. How should Christians respond ? Here are three brief answers: 1. Be Calm Christians ought to be the calmest people on earth because we know the Lord, and he holds the future in his hands. There is no panic in heaven over this pandemic. If you spend all your time perusing the latest news, you will doubtless lose your perspective. Focus on the Lord, remember his promises, and all will be well. 2. Be Prepared Since no one can say what tomorrow will bring, we would do well to stock up on the essentials we will need. All of us will likely be quarantined to one degree or another. At the very least, we’ll all spend more time at home than usual. So be prepared. Stock up on your prescription drugs. Buy some cleaning supplies. Make sure you have enough food to get through a week or two. 3. Be ready to share Keep your eyes open for those in need. This includes senior citizens, the sick, and those who are otherwise overlooked by society. We will all find plenty of opportunities to minister in the days ahead. Hebrews 12:26 tells us that “once more” God will shake the world before the coming of Christ សំឡេង​ទ្រង់​បាន​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ផែនដី​កក្រើក​រញ្ជួយ​នៅ​វេលា​នោះ តែ​ឥឡូវ​នេះ ទ្រង់​សន្យា​ថា «áž¢áž‰â€‹áž“ឹង​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​កក្រើក​ម្តង​ទៀត មិន​ត្រឹម​តែ​ផែនដី​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ គឺ​ទាំង​ផ្ទៃ​មេឃ​ថែម​ទៀត​ផង». That perspective helps us think wisely about the coronavirus pandemic. God is using a tiny microbe to bring the world to a standstill. Why would God speak to us this way? Hebrews 12:27 says God is shaking everything that can be shaken (all the things built by man) so that only unshakable things can remain. របស់​ដែល​ត្រូវ​កក្រើក នោះ​ត្រូវ​រើ​ចេញ ទុក​ដូច​ជា​របស់​ដែល​បាន​ធ្វើ​ហើយ(ដែលមនុស្សបានធ្វើ) ដើម្បី​ឲ្យ​របស់​ដែល​មិន​បាន​កក្រើក​ទាំង​ប៉ុន្មាន បាន​ធន់​នៅ​វិញ។ Unshakable essentials. That says it all. God is shaking the earth so that we will figure out what matters most. Here’s the good news. Out of these shaky days will come a vast spiritual harvest. People are asking questions because they want to know who they can trust. What a wonderful door for ministry is being opened for us. Conclusion: Don’t despair and don’t give in to fear. We were made for times like these. Sovereign Lord, you are the firm foundation beneath our feet. We trust in you, and we will not be moved. When the kingdoms of the earth crumble to dust, your words will still be true. Amen. P.S. “Hey church, it looks like we’re still going to be unable to meet together in person for a while. I wish I could say we have enough savings to defer offerings while we aren’t meeting in person. However, the reality is, we still need people to be obedient and generous during this time so we can stay open to meet the needs of the church and the church members who need help. I’ve provided the link below to give online. Here is the church website: https://thepoint.church/ Thank you for your generosity.” We’re going to get through this. God is still building his church. Keep your head up and on straight. I'm praying for you. Thank you for everything you do to help build His church. Proverbs 3:21-22 My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. កូន​អើយ កុំ​ឲ្យ​សេចក្តី​ទាំង​នេះ​ចេញ​បាត់​ពី​ភ្នែក​ឯង​ឡើយ គឺចូរ​រក្សា​សេចក្តី​ដែល​មាន​ប្រយោជន៍ និង​គំនិត​វាងវៃ​ចុះ ២២ ដូច្នេះ​សេចក្តី​នោះ​នឹង​បាន​ជា​ជីវិត​ដល់​ព្រលឹង​ឯង ហើយ​ជា​គ្រឿង​លំអ​នៅ​ក ​ឯង។ Amen

March 9, 2020 by
Kingdoms at War Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come.” When you sign up for Christ’s kingdom, you parachute directly into a war zone. What is happening there? What is the kingdom of God? In what sense is it a present reality? In what sense is it yet to come? How would things be different if you had a “God invasion” in your life? Your family? Your workplace? Your neighborhood? Sometimes our prayers are too small, sometimes our prayers suffer because our vision is so small. If we truly want to honor God, we will believe what he says and then act on that belief by praying large prayers that require an Almighty God to answer them. When we come to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, it is as if God himself says, “Ask me for something hard. Ask me to send my kingdom to the earth.” Now that’s big. It’s a lot bigger than asking God to give you a good time on your vacation to Hawaii. As we will see later in our journey through the Lord’s Prayer, it’s perfectly appropriate to bring even the tiniest concerns of life to our Heavenly Father. But if all we do is pray about small things, we have missed the world-changing power of the Lord’s Prayer. Your Kingdom come. That’s serious business. On one level, you are asking God to send Jesus back and bring down the curtain on human history as we have known it. On another level, you are inviting God to invade your world and transform it. If that’s of interest to you, then let’s spend a few minutes thinking about what it means to pray this way. But what is this kingdom of God for which we are to pray?  It’s clearly a crucial topic, or Jesus wouldn’t have mentioned it. It is clear that Jesus talked to his disciples about the “kingdom of God” almost every day. It’s no small subject.  And Jesus said that when we pray, we are to petition God that the “kingdom” might “come.” What is the kingdom of God?  Ask 10 different theologians and you will receive 10 different answers.  For one thing, the term is never precisely defined.  In our thinking, a “kingdom” requires a king and a realm in which he will rule. For a kingdom to be operative, the king must have people who are subject to his rule. The kingdom of God is first of all a society, an organized group of men and women.  It is second of all “on earth.” It is thirdly a place where the will of God is done.  But why is the kingdom of God so important? Why would Jesus speak of it over and over again?  The parable of the Hidden Treasure and parable of the Pearl form a pair illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the need for action in attaining it. Most importantly, why is the kingdom of God so important that we should make it the subject of our daily prayers?  That’s a very good question and in this message I would like to offer four different answers. 1. The Kingdom of God was the central issue of Jesus’ ministry.  The kingdom of God is what he came to establish. He said that in various ways over and over again.  Consider the following verses: Matthew 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee . . . preaching the good news of the kingdom.” Luke 4:43 “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God . . . for that is why I was sent.” Luke 17:21 “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” John 18:36-37 “My kingdom is not of this world . . . my kingdom is from another place . . . You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” When Jesus began his ministry, he announced that the kingdom of God was “at hand” and “in your midst.” He said that preaching the kingdom of God was the reason he had been sent to the earth.  At the end of his ministry, he told Pontius Pilate that his kingdom was “not of this world” but was “from another place.” Jesus came to establish a new society on the earth. This society would be made up of men and women who are fully dedicated to doing the will of God.  When he was here, the kingdom of God was “at hand” because the King himself was “in the midst” of the people. And that explains why the people of the world will never understand the people of the kingdom.  The kingdom comes first in the hearts of men and women as they surrender themselves to Jesus Christ. That’s where it all begins. What was important to him must become important to us.  And that’s one reason Jesus taught us to pray “Your kingdom come.” But there is a second reason why Jesus taught us to pray this way: 2. The kingdom of God is the only thing that will last forever. If you are looking for significance and permanence in this world, you are wasting your time.  By definition, this world forgets the past, lives in the present, and dreams about the future.  And all those things we do to give ourselves significance-the degrees after our names, the houses we buy, the money we save, the cars we drive, the empires we build, the relationships we seek, the clothes we wear, the networks we create-in the end, those things will amount to nothing.  If you are living for this world, you are of all people most to be pitied. Why?  Because nothing in this world lasts forever.  That’s why Hebrews 12:28 says that God is going to give “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” Everything that is of this world is shakable. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he predicted that she would give birth to a Son who would “rule over the house of his father Jacob, and of his kingdom there will be no end“ (Luke 1:33). God desires to establish a kingdom on earth that will last forever.  That kingdom will be made up of men and women who have decided to live by God’s eternal values.  Therefore, the whole human race may be divided into two groups-those who live by earthly values and those live by kingdom values.  Living by earthly values produces earthly rewards that pay off quicker and disappear faster; living by kingdom values produces kingdom rewards.  They don’t usually come as quickly, but they last forever. You can live for this world or you can live for the kingdom of God.  The choice is yours.  That’s the second reason the kingdom of God is so important.  It’s the only thing that will last forever.  3. The kingdom of God gives a purpose, meaning and goal to history. Where is history going?  Most of us have spent many years reading the Bible and looking at pictures of Jesus performing miracles and speaking to great multitudes. I can recall standing in the museum in Europe, just a few feet or so from Michael Angelo’s powerful painting of Christ being taken from the cross. We believe that the Jesus who is the subject of that painting, the one who died on the cross and rose form the dead, is actually, literally, bodily, physically and personally returning to the earth one day. And he’s not sending a representative. He’s coming back in person. That’s a mind-blowing fact. No wonder the skeptics think that Christians believe in fantasies. If you stop and ponder what we believe, it is truly an out-of-this-world truth. In order to reclaim the world from Satan, God entered the human race in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The battle rages on between the two kingdoms, King Jesus on one side and Satan on the other. You are praying that God’s whole program for human history might succeed and that Satan’s counter-kingdom might be destroyed.  4. The kingdom of God is the only possible explanation why some people live the way they do. This is the final reason why the kingdom of God is so important. Without the kingdom of God it is simply impossible to explain the way some people choose to live.  There are men and women all around us who, although they seem perfectly normal as the world counts normal-ness, in some ways seem to behave very differently. They have decided to “seek first the kingdom of God,” and that has made all the difference in the world. Should that surprise us?  No, because Jesus predicted that some people would choose to live that way.  These are his words in Luke 18:29-30, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers 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." Jesus is teaching us that the kingdom of God changes the values of life. When you sign up for Christ’s kingdom, you parachute directly into a war zone. You are leaving a life that makes sense (from the world’s point of view) for a life governed by eternal realities. People will do things because of the kingdom of God that they would not do otherwise.  Conclusion: If you ever decide to make the kingdom of God the first priority in your life, you may not become a missionary, but you will become fundamentally different from the world around you.  Praying, “Thy Kingdom come,” means asking the heavenly Father to help us in our own lives to be faithful, obedient, authentic, and effective Christians. We spread God’s kingdom not only with words but also through our actions and the observable qualities of our character. You become a kingdom man or a kingdom woman when you decide to live by the values that matter to God-righteousness, holiness, humility, compassion, zeal, sacrifice, charity, joy and forgiveness.

March 2, 2020 by
Taking God Seriously Matthew 6:9 “Hallowed be your name.” Before we begin: What does the word “hallowed” mean? What does God’s name represent and why does it matter so much? The Lord’s Prayer is the best-known prayer in the world.  No other prayer is known to so many people or said in so many places in so many different languages.  Every Sunday, in churches around the world-from the mud huts of equatorial Africa to the great cathedrals of Europe, Christians of every denomination recite this prayer as part of their worship experience. And no matter how long you study this prayer, the more it reveals to the earnest seeker. Though brief and simple, it is also profound-indeed, it is the most profound prayer ever prayed.  I. The word “Hollowed” Now it’s time to look at the first phrase of the first half of the prayer-"Hallowed be your name.”  I think it’s fair to say that this phrase is the one that makes the least sense to us and therefore it is the phrase we pray the least.  Almost all of us will pray “Give us this day our daily bread” and many of us will pray “Deliver us from evil.” Still others will pray “You will be done” and some will even pray “Your Kingdom come.” But few of us, if left to ourselves, will ever pray, “Hallowed be your name.”  In the first place, it simply sounds strange.  “Hallowed” is not a word we use very often. The phrase itself sounds like it belongs back in the 12th century.  We really don’t know what to do with it in the 21st century. Our other problem is that we don’t know what it means.  Since we don’t know what it means, we’re not really sure what we’re praying for.  Since we don’t know what we’re praying for, we tend to skip right over it so we can get down to the part we do understand, like “Give us this day our daily bread.” Daily bread.  Now that’s something that makes sense to us. But it’s of paramount importance to note that Jesus didn’t begin with the part we understand-like bread and forgiveness.  He starts with the part we don’t understand.  There’s a crucial point here.  Prayer doesn’t begin with our concerns; prayer begins with God’s concerns.  Or to put it in its simplest form, prayer doesn’t begin with us; prayer begins with God.  So when we pray to the Father, we are to begin by praying, “Hallowed be your name.” Let’s take the word “Hallowed.” It’s not really that difficult. The word itself means “holy (abstract)” or “sacred (concrete)(ពិសិដ្ឋ សក្ដិសិទ្ឋ).” So the prayer is this.  “Lord, may your name be treated with respect and honor because your name is sacred and holy.” You make God’s name holy when you treat it with the utmost respect. II. What’s In A Name? That immediately raises another question.  Why did he say, “Hallowed be your name?” Your name is important to you.  It may not matter to anyone else in the world, but you care about your name because it identifies who you are.  Think of how much time parents spend naming their children.  They spend hours thinking about the possibilities-discussing, debating, arguing, writing down a first name, then adding a middle name, then reversing the order or dropping one and adding another. Names mean something.  They communicate history and tradition and family heritage.  They identify us with our past, drawing across the generations a shared set of values. In the Bible, a name normally stands for the character or the basic attributes of the person who bears the name.  For example, “Adam” means “man” and “Eve” means “life-giver.” “Abraham” means “father of multitudes” and “Jacob” means “Cheater.”  In the New Testament, “Peter” means “Rock,” a reference to Peter’s rock-like faith.  In Bible times, when you called a person’s name, you weren’t just identifying him.  You were also identifying his character. We do the same thing today. We all tend to associate certain names with certain emotions.  For instance, if I mention “Pol Pot” you instantly think of Khmer Rouge and the horrors of the regime.  If I mention “Mother Teresa,” you think of her selfless work for the homeless and dying of Calcutta.  Two people.  Two names.  Two completely different emotions. The names mean something. They say something about the character of the person. What pops up on your mental screen when you hear the word “God?” The answer depends on who you are and how much you know.  For most of us, the word “God” brings up images of the stories of the Bible, how God created the world out of nothing, how he parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel, how he caused the walls to come tumbling down at Jericho, how he enabled David’s tiny stone to slay Goliath, how he shut the mouths of lions so Daniel could get a good night’s sleep.  We know God through the things he has done.  We hear the stories and then we refer back to the God who stands behind the stories.  God’s “name” is his character and his reputation.  The Bible mentions the name of God hundreds of times. Consider these examples: Psalm   8:1 “How majestic is your name, O Lord.” Psalm   20:7 “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm   23:3 “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm   25:11 “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.” How about this famous verse? “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  That’s found three times in the Bible: Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13. God’s name represents who he is.  It embodies his character.  That’s why the Third Commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)  To take God’s name in vain means to take it lightly or flippantly.  It’s the exact opposite of “hallowing” God’s name.  Therefore, we might say that to “hallow” God’s name means to take it seriously.  II. What Does God Look Like? Now if you pull all that together, this is what “Hallowed be your name” really means.  “Lord, may your righteous character be seen in the world so that men and women will respect you for who you really are.  May your name be made great so that your creatures will give you the honor and respect that is your rightful due.” Or you could say it this way: “O God, show us who you are.” “O God, may we see you as you are.” “O God, may we treat you as you ought to be treated.” We “hallow” the name of God because he is holy and good.  We take it seriously because God’s name represents who he is and what he does.  What does God look like?  The Bible doesn’t leave us to wonder about the answer to that question.  Nearly 2000 years ago a little baby was born in Bethlehem who forever answered that question.  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.  Hebrews 1:3 calls him the “shining forth of the glory of God.” Does God have a name?  Yes.  His name is Jesus.  In him, the abstract becomes concrete.  And now through this prayer Jesus wants me to make God’s name become concrete through the way I live my life. When I look at Jesus all those theoretical ideas about God suddenly become reality.  -God now has hands. My hands. -And feet. My feet. -And eyes to see. My eyes -Ears to hear. My ears. -Lips to speak. My mouth. -God has a voice! My speech. -He speaks a language I understand. I live my life that people can know him. I see him touch a leper, and I know no one is too dirty for him. I see him pause to speak to a beggar, and I know he’s never too busy for me. I see him feed the multitudes with loaves and fishes, and I know he can supply my needs. I see him with the towel and the basin, and I know no job is too menial for him. Finally I see him hanging on the cross, suspended between heaven and earth, beaten, bruised, bloodied, mocked, scourged, spat upon, jeered, booed, hated, attacked, scorned, despised, rejected, crucified.  When I hear him cry out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” I suddenly understand that Jesus has no enemies. In Jesus I discover a God who takes people seriously.  He never treats people casually.  He never brushes them off.  He never says, “You’re a loser.” He’s a God who cares enough to get involved in this ugly, twisted, unredeemed world. Conclusion: That’s who God is.  If he never took people lightly, then I must never take his name lightly. Every thing I do is to honor God’s name.

February 9, 2020 by
God is Our Dad Matthew 6:9 “Our Father in Heaven.” Before we begin: What words describe your earthly father? Do you feel comfortable addressing God as “Father?” Why or why not? “Who is God?” God is an infinite, personal, eternal Spirit who created the universe by His own power. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and present everywhere at all times. And he exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” I like the first two words: “God is.” Everything after that, while very true, sounds like a recitation from a theology lecture. The voice from the burning bush told Moses to tell the people that “I AM” has sent you (Exodus 3:14). And what precisely does that mean? The only further explanation is “I AM who I AM,” which points to God’s eternal self-existence. If you know that “God is” and that he is the great “I AM,” you know the most fundamental truth in the universe. I. When You Need to Know In Psalm 81:10 God gives a wonderful invitation to his children, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." Ask what you need, God says, and I will do it for you. Years ago I heard someone say that Jeremiah 33:3 is “God’s telephone number” because it contains a very clear promise: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” 1. We Do Not Pray Alone The Lord’s Prayer begins with a simple statement about who God is. Jesus invites us to say “Our Father” when we pray. The key to understanding the Lord’s Prayer is rightly understanding what that phrase means.  First of all, when you say, “Our Father in heaven,” you are admitting that you do not pray alone. The Lord’s Prayer is not a “private” prayer. This is an important insight because it is very easy to become me-oriented when we pray. But when you pray “Our Father,” you are confessing that your problems are not the only problems in the world. You are admitting that there are millions of people around the world who have concerns just as great as yours. To pray like this imparts a bigness and expansiveness to your prayer because it includes all of God’s children everywhere. When we pray “Our Father” as a congregation, we cease to be individuals coming to church with our own particular burdens. Instead, we become part of a family with a common heritage and with shared values. It is a family created by the new birth and made possible by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ for our redemption. And that leads us to a crucial theological point. The first step in prayer is to learn to call God “Father." In a true biblical sense, the only people who can do that are those who are the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ ដ្បិត​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា​សុទ្ធ​តែ​ជា​កូន​ព្រះ ដោយសារ​សេចក្តី​ជំនឿ​ជឿ​ដល់​ព្រះគ្រីស្ទយេស៊ូវ   (Galatians 3:26). I know it is popular today to say “We’re all God’s children” with a kind of glibness that blurs the distinctions between those who know Jesus Christ and those who don’t. But in contrast to those who would apply the Lord’s Prayer to everyone, even to non-Christians, we must declare that this is a prayer only true Christians can pray. 2. Like Father, Like Son Second, you are to call him “Our Father’”.  When you call God “Father,” you are saying there is one in heaven who hears and knows and understands and cares. Sons and daughters have family rights that guarantee them access to their father. That’s a big part of what being a father is all about. My children don’t need an appointment to see me, and I don’t need an appointment to see my Heavenly Father. Even in the midst of running the entire universe, keeping the stars in their courses, and making sure the planets don’t run into each other, and while he oversees six billion people with all their troubles, cares, worries, fears, problems, and difficulties, our God still has time for us. He listens to us as if He had no one else to listen to. 3. A Friend in High Places Third, we pray to our Father who is “in heaven“.  That’s usually a throwaway line for most of us. We tend to think it means that earth is where we are and heaven is where God is, which we imagine is beyond the farthest star. That’s not what it means. The phrase “in heaven” refers to heaven as the center of the universe and the seat of all authority and power and dominion and greatness.  You are on earth and are therefore limited to this little ball of dirt floating around the sun in a little corner of a big galaxy called the Milky Way. To say that we are “on earth” means that we pray from a position of weakness and comparative insignificance. God is in the seat of all authority and all power.  Therefore, when you say, “Our father in heaven,” you are proclaiming that he has the authority and power to hear you and to help you when you pray.  It is precisely because God is in heaven that he has the power to help you.  II. New Way of Looking At God Without a doubt, the central word is Father. A quick glance at a concordance reveals that the name “Father” is applied to God very infrequently in the Old Testament and never by a person referring to God as “my Father.” It always refers to God as the Father of the nation of Israel. When we come to the New Testament, we discover that Jesus called God “Father” more than 60 times. Why this enormous difference? Because the revelation of God as our personal Father is based on the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.  It’s not that he wasn’t a Father to his people in the Old Testament, but that’s not the primary way He revealed Himself. Only in the New Testament do we discover that God is now the Father of those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. The word “father” in the Bible means three basic things.   1. First, it refers to source or paternity or origin. God is the source of all that you have. When we sing the Doxology, we begin with the words “Praise God from whom all blessings flow“.  Or as the Scripture says, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25).  When you call God “Father,” you declare that your ultimate origin rests with him. 2. Second, the word Father speaks of parental authority. He is God and you are not.  He is running the show and you are not.  He is a father; you are his child.  We should affirm our confidence in his goodness toward us at all times. 3. Third, when you call God “Father,” you confess that he is a God of tender loving care.  It is the love that keeping on loving no matter what we do or how badly we blow it or how many dumb mistakes we make. He is a God who never lets his children go. He loves his children with an everlasting love that is faithful and loyal no matter what happens. When we were far away, he loved us.  When we turned our back on him, he loved us.  When we broke his law, he loved us.  When we went our own way, he loved us.  That’s what loyal love is all about. That’s the Father’s love for his children. He is always near us whether we see Him or feel Him or even whether we believe He is there or not.  Is There Anyone Up There Who Cares For Me? The Lord’s Prayer answers the greatest question of the universe-Is there anybody up there who cares about me?  Is there anybody up there who watches over me?  Is there anybody up there who knows my name?  And the answer comes back-Yes.  Yes. Yes. There is a God in heaven who cares about you.  And he is called Father This prayer is the answer to the deepest problem of mankind-the problem of fatherlessness.  The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that if we know Jesus Christ, we are not orphans in the universe. Conclusion: Jesus made prayer simple because in the end, we are simple people. If it were difficult, most of us would forget it or mess it up somehow. Yet these simple words are profound beyond our understanding. Everything God has for us and that He is for us is wrapped in the word “Father." When we come to Him in Jesus’ name, we are not coming to an angry God, but to a friendly Father. So don’t be afraid to talk to God. Your Father is waiting to hear from you. A Truth to Remember: In Jesus Christ we’ve discovered the most important truth of the universe.  Our God is a father.

February 3, 2020 by
Getting into the Heart of God Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray."  When I started working on this lesson one question came into my mind. If God did not teach us the Lord prayer, how Christian in all the world would know how to pray? So before we begin: How old were you when you first learned the Lord’s Prayer? How often do you pray the Lord’s Prayer? Why does this prayer (of all the prayers in the Bible) matter so much? I. A Prayer for All Seasons That one sentence, rightly understood, is the reason we began this study. In twenty centuries of Christian history, no prayer has surpassed the eloquent simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer. There aren’t many things that unite Christians of all persuasions, but the Lord’s Prayer is one of them. All the major catechisms (Doctrine) of the Christian faith include the Lord’s Prayer as one of the three foundational documents.  The other two foundational documents are the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments. Every essential truth you need to know is contained in those three documents.  The Apostle’s Creed tells us what we believe.  The Ten Commandments tell how we are to behave.  The Lord’s Prayer teaches us how we are to pray.  Think of it as belief, action and prayer.  It’s all right there.  For many of us our problem may be stated very simply: We have heard the Lord’s Prayer so many times that by now we take it for granted.  You could say it by memory without even thinking about it. It’s easy to see how that could happen. We know it too well.  We understand it too little.   The Lord’s Prayer is given to us as a guide or a pattern or a model or a framework for what Christian prayer is all about.  It is the answer to the question: what does Christian prayer look like?  Christian prayer looks like the Lord’s Prayer. It is given as a pattern to teach us what prayer is all about. II. The Prayer That Has It All God is in this prayer.  We are in this prayer.  The past is in this prayer.  The present is in this prayer.  The future is in this prayer.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in this prayer.  Everything is here. Let me share a simple outline for the Lord’s Prayer.  The first half of the prayer talks about God, about “I am you child, God, get Your thing done though us. His name, His kingdom, His will.  The second half of this prayer talks about man, us, give us, forgive us, lead us, about “You are my God, my Father, get my thing done through you.  So God and man form the two great subjects of this prayer. Look now at the second half of the prayer.  You’ve got the past: Forgive us our debts.  You’ve got the present: Give us today.  You’ve got the future: Lead us not into temptation. Notice the Trinitarian structure of the prayer in both halves of the prayer: Hallowed be your name, it is the Father who magnifies his name. Your kingdom come, it is the Son who establishes his kingdom. Your will be done, it is the Holy Spirit who executes the will of God. The above parts are about “I belong to you, Lord, I am yours. Get Your thing don through me” Give us today our daily bread, the Father’s provision. Forgive us our debts, the Son’s pardon from sin. Lead us not into temptation, the Holy Spirit’s protection from temptation. These last parts are about “Lord, You are my God, You are mine. Get my thing done though You5” III. He Knows What We Need Before we jump into the prayer itself, let’s take a moment to consider a question that has troubled many people: “If God is sovereign, why pray?” I would suppose that most Christians have wondered about it at one time or another.  Here are five biblical truths that we need to keep in mind: 1.  God knows all things.  We call this aspect of God’s character his omniscience.  It speaks to the fact that because God is God, he knows all things that could be known-past, present, and future-and he knows them at the same time.  That means that God is never surprised and that he never learns anything new. 2.  God has committed himself to provide for his people. We can state it even more forcefully than that.  God wants to provide for us, he intends to provide for us, and he will provide what we need. In Philippians 4:19 Paul assures us that “God will meet all your needs,” which is the New Testament version of Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The whole record of the Bible teaches us that God is the Great Provider, which is why one of his divine names is Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). 3.  God has invited us to bring our needs to him.  We are told to ask, to seek, to knock (Matthew 7:7-8).  Why?  Ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.  In Psalm 81:10 the Lord declares, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” This is where prayer becomes intensely personal.  Our Heavenly Father, who already knows our needs, invites us to make our needs known through prayer. 4. We don’t know what we really need.  We think we do, but we don’t.  Or to be more accurate, we know part of our needs, but not all of them.  Our perspective is inevitably limited by our own experience, desires and personal knowledge.  Romans 8:26 reminds us that “we do not know what we ought to pray for.” How true that is.  God knew that we would often be baffled in prayer so he sent the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us.  He prays for us when we don’t know how to pray for ourselves or for anyone else. 5.  God knows what we need before we ask him.  Matthew 6:8 says this very plainly: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” That means we don’t have to impress God, or use big words, or pray long prayers. We don’t have to repeat ourselves when we pray and we don’t have to worry about getting all the details correct or throw in flowery language when we pray. Since God knows us through and through, he knows our needs better than we do.  When you pray, you aren’t informing God of anything.  He knew your need before you bowed you head. Every prayer is the cry of a child saying, “Help, Father, I can’t do this by myself.”  IV. The First Rule of the Spiritual Life A few years ago I came face to face with a truth I call The First Rule of the Spiritual Life: He’s God and We’re Not. All prayer is based on this simple truth.  He runs the universe, we don’t.  We pray because he’s in charge and we’re not. And here’s a crucial insight: When we don’t pray, it’s because we’ve forgotten who’s God and who’s not.  A lack of prayer means we’re still trying to run the show.  It’s a sign that we’ve decided we can handle things on our own. Sometimes you see little signs that say, “Prayer changes things.” I believe that’s true.  And the first thing prayer changes is us.  It teaches us to depend completely on our Heavenly Father and it reminds us that he is God and we are not. Why pray if God knows everything in advance?  Because God has ordained that our prayers are part of his plan for the universe.  Our prayers really do matter to God.  In a sense God limits what he can do in the world so that he can work through our prayers. It’s not that God “needs” our prayers. He doesn’t.  But in his grace, he has invited us to join him in the great adventure of bringing his kingdom to this sinful world.  Through our prayers, we partner with God in changing the world starting with us. Our greatest problem is not with God’s sovereignty but with our own sinful unbelief. The Bible says, “You have not because you ask not” (James 4:2). But Jesus himself invited us to ask God for anything that we need. So why don’t we pray more than we do? Conclusion: Let’s wrap up this message with a very simple theology of prayer.  Our part is to pray fervently, sincerely, and honestly, bringing our deepest concerns to the Lord.  God’s part is to listen to our prayers and to graciously answer them in his own time, in his own way, according to his own will.  If we do our part, God cannot fail to do his. Through prayer we journey from wherever we are on earth to the very heart of God. The Father invites us to come into His throne room any time and all the time. The King of Kings wants to hear from you.  Don’t keep him waiting any longer.   Pray: Lord Jesus, we say with the disciples, “Teach us to pray.” Give us hearts that truly want to pray. Without you we can do nothing. Even our prayers are ineffective without your help. May our study of the Lord’s Prayer be more than an intellectual exercise. Set our hearts afire with a fresh desire to know you. Amen.

January 19, 2020 by
Gifts Given by Spirit Part 2 Romans 8:9-17 From the lesson last Sunday, let me mention again that there are many different ways of living the Christian life.  You can live by different ways, different formula, and different experiences. So by themselves alone, rules lead to legalism, formulas lead to mechanical Christianity, and experience alone leads to an emotional roller coaster. Illustration: When I working on this lesson, it reminds me of my old illustration about a poor eagle living among the family of chicken since he was hatched and never know that he is an eagle. We will see how it works out in this lesson. Rules and formulas and experience have their place. But taken alone, they lead to a sub-standard Christian life. God has given us something better than rules, better than a formula, better than experience. God has given us the Holy Spirit. With that as background, we turn to Romans 8:5-17 where we discover three gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to every believer. Last Sunday we leaned about the first gift the Holy Spirit gave us when we became his child. Now we can learn about two more gifts. II. A New Nature (9-11) “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Verse 9 gives us a clear definition of what it means to be a Christian. A true Christian is one who has the Spirit of Christ within him. One mark of genuine Christianity is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He actually takes up residence inside those who know Jesus Christ. When you say, “Lord Jesus, I want you as my Savior,” the Holy Spirit answers that prayer by coming into your life. The Third Person of the Trinity comes to live within you. He becomes incarnate in your life. That’s what Paul means when he uses the phrase—"in the Spirit.” To be “in the Spirit” means that the Holy Spirit himself moves into your life. He actually and literally lives within you. These verses suggest two direct implications of this truth. 1.  First, because the Holy Spirit has given you a new nature, you actually have a brand-new life. That’s the meaning of the phrase, "your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The Holy Spirit makes your spirit come to life. The seeds of death have been planted in your body. That’s why it eventually wears out and dies. “The body is dead because of sin.” Your physical flesh is slowly wasting away. Yet God has placed life, eternal life, resurrection life, on the inside through the Holy Spirit. Dying on the outside, yet new life on the inside. Where death once reigned, life now reigns within. 2. Second, we have the promise of future resurrection. The Spirit who raised up Christ will one day raise up your mortal body out of the grave. Verse 11 is an explicit promise of future resurrection from the dead. The Holy Spirit who presently lives within you is like a “down payment” on God’s future deliverance. Do Christians die? Yes, we die like everyone else. But death for us is not the end. When your body is laid to rest, your spirit goes to be with Jesus. That’s not the end! When Jesus returns, your body will be raised from the dead—immortal, incorruptible, eternal, never more to die, never more to decay, never more to waste away. By virtue of the promises of God, the work of Jesus Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, when you die, you will not stay dead forever. You will one day experience a glorious resurrection. We have the promise that if God raised his Son Jesus from the dead, he will by that same Spirit raise you from the dead. III. A New Identity (14-17) “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ’Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order than we may also share in his glory.” Paul uses two different phrases to describe believers. He calls us “sons of God” and “God’s children.” There is a slight difference, although sons are children and children are sons. The term “child of God” speaks of the intimate relationship you have with God. God’s children call him “Abba"—an Aramaic term of endearment. It means “Daddy” or “Poppa.” Because we are God’s children, we can speak to God the same way little children speak to their earthly fathers. The term “son of God” refers to your official status within God’s family. It speaks of your privileged position. You have the official right to be a son of God. That’s our new identity in Christ. We are now a son of God. You are no longer in the flesh; we are now in the Spirit. You no longer live according to the world; you now live according to God’s Word. You are now a blood-bought son of God. Our text lists five privileges you have as a son of God: 1. Personal Guidance of the Holy Spirit 14 To be “led” by the Spirit is a very personal term. It means to be led by the hand, to be personally escorted by a tour guide. The Holy Spirit takes your hand and leads you through the difficulties of life. So many Christians have said, “If it had not been for the Lord, I wouldn’t have made it.” But we don’t know the half of it. When you are perplexed, you have the right to say, “Holy Spirit, please show me what to do.” “Holy Spirit, I am confused. I don’t know which way to go. I’m counting on you to lead me.” He will do it. Thank God for the leading of the Holy Spirit. 2. Freedom From Fear 15a No more slavery, no more bondage, no more abject fear, no more living in terror. All of that is gone because we have received the “Spirit of sonship.” 3. The Right to Call God “Father" 15b This is truly good news. You don’t have to scream at God to get his attention. You simply say, “Daddy,” and he hears your voice. You whisper his name in the darkness and he comes to your aid. A father knows when his children are speaking to him. The same is true with our heavenly Father. He hears the faintest cry of his children. 4. Inward Assurance 16 You as a believer have the right to expect that the Holy Spirit will give you inner assurance that you know Jesus Christ. This is the “peace that passes all understanding.” Is that important? You are a child of God.” When the devil whispers in your ear, the Holy Spirit speaks up from deep within your heart to testify that you are indeed a child of God. 5. Right of Heirship in God’s Family 17 You are an “heir” of God. We all understand what heirship means in human terms. My will specifies that my sons are my heirs. It specifies that after my death my sons will inherit all that I own. Why? Because I want to ensure that what I have worked for will be passed on to the members of my family. I don’t want my fortune, such as it is, to be given to people I don’t know and who have no relationship to me. God feels the same way. He wants the riches of heaven to go to the members of his family. When you trust Christ, he writes you into his will, so to speak. Not that God will ever die, He won’t!, but you are included in God’s family fortune because as a child of God you now share in the family wealth, which includes the riches of the universe. All that God has is yours in prospect … and some day will be yours in reality. So we have three great gifts of the Spirit, a new mind, a new nature, and a new identity. That leaves us with one great obligation. III. One Great Obligation 12-13 “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” These verses tell us two things about our obligation: 1. We owe nothing to the flesh. 12 Why don’t we owe anything to the flesh? One, because we’ve been set free from the power of the flesh. We are no longer “in the flesh” but “in the Spirit.” The flesh once controlled us, but now we are free. You don’t have to live in the flesh any more because you don’t owe your flesh anything. 2. We owe everything to the Holy Spirit. 13 I once heard Dr. Ryrie call Romans 8:13 the most important single verse on the spiritual life in the New Testament. He liked it because it contains a beautiful balance. There is God’s part—"if by the Spirit"—and there is our part—"you put to death.” Spiritual growth comes when we do our part as we rely upon the Holy Spirit’s enablement. True spirituality is neither entirely passive ("Let go and let God") nor entirely active ("I’ve got to do this all by myself"). This verse balances a moment-by-moment dependence upon the Spirit with a tough-minded attitude toward the flesh. Is the spiritual life dependent upon God or upon me? The answer is Yes! I cannot do it without God. God will not do it without me. Conclusion: The Christian life operates on the contact principle. Just as the Maglev train moves forward as long it stays in contact with the third rail, even so your spiritual life moves forward as you stay in constant contact with the Holy Spirit. The whole question of the Spirit-filled life resolves itself into this: Are you keeping in contact with the Holy Spirit? Your job, your only real job as a Christian, is to stay in contact with the Spirit.  

January 19, 2020 by
Gifts Given by the Spirit (Part 1) Romans 8:5-8 Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, in his massive, seven-volume systematic theology, calls Romans 8 “the consummating (complete) Scripture.” It is that place where certain key doctrines of the New Testament find their ultimate expression. Romans 8 begins with “no condemnation,” ends with “no separation,” and in between there is no defeat for the believer. No other chapter mentions the Holy Spirit as much as Romans 8. It is the heartbeat of what the Bible has to say about living in the Spirit. How important is life in the Spirit? Dr. Robert Mounce said, “How to live in and by the Spirit is the single most important lesson a believer can ever learn.” Think about that, and about all the things you need to know as a Christian. It struck me for a moment. It certainly puts the Holy Spirit in a new light. By way of background, let me mention that there are many different ways of living the Christian life. There are seminars and there are books and there are study guides galore, each offering a different perspective. There are so many different ideas floating around out there. But first let me mention at least three faulty ways of trying to live the Christian life before we get the right ways. I. Three Faulty Ways to Live the Christian Life Many Christians have their lives trying to follow these ways. So let look at them. A. By Rules The first faulty way is trying to live the Christian life by a set of rules. “Do this, don’t do that.” There are many people whose view of the Christian life is just a list of do’s and don’ts. For some, it is simply the Old Testament law warmed over and brought into the Christian church. The problem of living by rules is that it can lead to legalism just like the Pharisee in the New Testament. Legalism is any attempt to please God on the basis of what you do in the flesh. But rules are good. After all, “Do not steal” is a rule. That’s a good rule to live by. “Thou shalt not bear false witness” is another rule worth living by. “Thou shalt not commit adultery." That’s a good rule to live by. So rules are not bad. But flesh without help from the Spirit is weak and cannot have victory with rules. B. By a Formula Second, the next faulty way is you can live the Christian life by a formula. We’ve all heard the formulas: Three steps to answered prayer, four keys to Christian victory, five ways you can walk in the Spirit. Three ways, four ways, five ways, the bookstores are just filled with formulaic admonitions for living the Christian life. But, formulas can be very helpful. You discover five ways to pray or use a Prayer book. That’s great. You discover three ways to be filled with the Spirit. Good. Formulas can be helpful. The problem with formulaic Christian life is that it can produce mechanical Christianity. (A robotic Christian).   C. By an Experience Third, some people live the Christian life by seeking for an experience. By that I mean, by seeking for a deeply moving, life-changing, earth-shattering, emotional experience with God. There’s only one problem with that. Experience doesn’t last. If you try to live according to experience, you’re going to either give up the Christian life altogether or you’re going to be on an emotional roller coaster. You feel great as long as you have an experience, but what happens when it runs out? You’re going to be down, discouraged, depressed, and you may feel as if God is angry with you. So you’ll seek for another experience, and the whole cycle starts again. You’re going to be constantly going up and down. But experience matters. There are times and places where God comes to visit his people in tremendous emotional power. Most of us who have been with the Lord for any length of time have had those moments when you’re alone or in a small group, or in a church service, or in a revival meeting, when God has met us with great power. We don’t want to ever say that experience is not important. So by themselves alone, rules lead to legalism, formulas lead to mechanical Christianity, and experience alone leads to an emotional roller coaster. Rules and formulas and experience have their place. But taken alone, they lead to a sub-standard Christian life. Why? Because they tend to lead you away from the one thing that is most important. God has given us something better than rules, better than a formula, better than experience. God has given us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the secret of living the Christian life. If you want to know where the Christian life is found, if you want to know how to live in victory, then you must learn how to live in, by and through the Holy Spirit of God. That is the secret. The New Testament tells us that the Holy Spirit is always here. Our job is to stay in contact with the Spirit. When we stay in contact with the Holy Spirit, he continuously provides the power we need for effective Christian living. With that as background, we turn to Romans 8:5-17 where we discover three gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to every believer. These are not things that you should seek if you are a believer like what we call spiritual gifts. These are things that are given to you at the moment of conversion. You are told not to seek them, you’re told to realize that you have them and to live on the basis of the fact that they’ve been given to you. II. Three Gifts of the Spirit A. A New Mind 5-8 “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” There are two ways and only two ways of living in this world. You can live according to the flesh which leads to death or according to the Spirit which leads to life. There is no third alternative. It’s one or the other. But people likes to create the third and I call it “Playing with God.” Those two ways of life are constantly moving in opposite directions. Let me give you three practical applications of that truth.  1. First, when you encounter Jesus Christ, he gives you a new way of thinking. There are basically only two world views. There is the secular or humanistic world view and there is the truly Christian world view. There’s a Christian way of thinking, there’s a Christian way of speaking, there’s a Christian way of acting, there’s a Christian way of approaching the problems of life. God has given you a new mind so that you might develop a thoroughly Christian way of thinking. We remember what Jesus said. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:29-30). When you meet Jesus Christ, he will change the way you think. 2. Second, one part of following Jesus Christ is having your mind continually transformed. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The word in Greek is a form of the word metamorphoses, the change of shape that takes place within a cocoon whereby a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Let a “mental metamorphoses” take place in your mind. Let the very shape of your thinking be changed by the renewing of your mind. This is the basis for all Christian education. It’s the basis for what we are doing in our Bible Study. This is why we have a Kid program. It’s why we support Christian colleges, Christian publishing, and Christian research in every field. We believe that our great calling is to go out into the world, into every field of endeavor, with truly renewed minds. How does that happen? I know of only one way in which your mind can be transformed. It must be filled with the Word of God. Spiritual metamorphoses takes place by the careful, intentional, repeated, deliberate, thorough study of the Bible. God gave us his Word so it would be a spiritual change agent in your mind. As you study the Bible, it will change the way you think. And as your thinking changes, so your life will slowly change. 3. Third, we need Christians who will serve God with their minds. If you know Jesus Christ, it ought to make a difference in every area of life. The way you speak, the way you talk, the way you write, the way you relate and yes, the way you make decisions in the public arena. If you know Jesus Christ, that will radically affect the way you approach the great moral decisions of life. Nothing will be simply private or personal. There’s no such thing as a purely private Christian faith. If it doesn’t affect all of life, how can your faith be called truly Christian? We will continue with other two gifts of the Spirit next Sunday. Or        Conclusion: For too long we who have been given new minds have been too willing to check them (get rid of) at the door as we leave church on Sunday. We think like pagans during the week but like Christians on Sunday morning. No wonder the world is little impressed with our Christianity. They’ve never seen the real thing in action. What a difference it would make if we began to “think Christianly” and “act Christianly” in the workplace, at home, or where you are this week. You were given a new mind so you could make a difference for God. God gave you a new mind so you could be a difference-maker for the kingdom of God.

January 14, 2017 by
This is the website that has most of the Khmer sermon in mp3. In the menu, click "music / sermon"  and in the genre, you shall see all sermons. Also, if you click all albums you could see music and sermon albums. Use "google chrome", you will be able to download directory from each player. More sermons are being added.  If you register, you will be able to listen more songs that are added by members, in their music profile. (Registration is through invitation only, let me know if you want to sign up, we’ll send you an invitation through your email).

January 12, 2017 by
To add your church, just use our contact and send us the information. Asian Evangelical Church  376 Center street. Bridgeport, CT 06604 (203) 218-9556  > Website: www.asianevangelicalchurch.org;  Sunday Facebook Live at 10 am Eastern time @ facebook.com/aphou Decription:  An intercultural congregation with the majority are Cambodians. Pastor Amra Phou.   Cambodian Harvest Church 1948 E 20th St. Signal Hill, CA 90755 (562) 597-2014  > Website: www.cambodianharvest.org Decription:  Our senior pastor is a graduated student from Fuller Theological Seminary. With his great burden for Cambodian people, pastor Mony Mok and his wife Kunnary Mok came to Long Beach to start the ministry, and at the same time traveling back and forth to help planting churches in Cambodia.      Cambodian-American United Methodist 1700 Temple Ave. Long Beach, CA 90804 (562) 494-7505   Cambodian Fellowship 507 Pacific Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 435-2915   Cambodian Evangelical Church 12722 Woods Ave. Norwalk, CA 90650 (562) 863-4949;  Website:  www.norwalkcechurch.org   Cambodian Baptist Church 3321 Cleburne Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76110 (817) 921-6150   First Cambodian Baptist Church Aldine   2046 Aldine Bender Rd, Houston, TX 77039     Directions   Cambodian Baptist Church of Houston 8325 Fuqua Street Houston, Texas 77075 Pastor Panha Mey; panha@att.net; 210-508-5444;  website: www.cbcoh.org Description: Our worship service is conducted in both English and Khmer languages in a blending style of worship that includes praise choruses, traditional hymns, and Khmer traditional tunes     Cambodian Church of Christ 11426 Lake June Rd. Mesquite, TX 75180 (972) 286-4985  

January 12, 2017 by
Resource: Cambodian Christian Resources - Books, Articles, Audio, and Video in ... Khmer Worship - A wonderful resource with Khmer Christian Worship Lyrics, Chords, Sheetmusic, Videos, PowerPoints, and more...