0:00 1 John 2:25 This is the promise which he himself made to us. Eternal life. Let's do that one again. 1 John 2:25 This is the promise that he himself made 0:17 to us. Eternal life. It's a beautiful promise to hold on to. And I believe the entire Bible is written so that we can go and claim that promise. The very thing that we lost back in the garden. 0:36 God wants us to go back with this promise and claim it. Through the sufferings that we go through, through the lies that we see in the world that's happening, through the different struggles we go in life, we should always be reminded, God, this 0:53 is your promise and this is what I need, eternal life. People who have a lot of money I've heard, some billionaires, they invest a lot in finding life eternally. They They try to prolong their life. They try to live a 1:12 try to do all those experiments. But the true definition of eternal life is from our eternal God. And we can see the definition of eternal life as we go back into book of Genesis. In the book of Genesis we know when God 1:30 created Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were created so that they would live eternally. Now, let's go and ask their children, Cain and Abel, and ask, "Hey, what is your definition of eternal life?" 1:47 Their definition will be very different than the definition that Adam and Adam and Eve enjoyed. The definition is completely different. Adam and Eve can say to live eternally is to walk with the Lord. That no matter what I do during my busy 2:06 hours of today counting the number of animals going around eating fruits and plants. End of the day, I'm going to walk with the Lord. I'm going to tell him what I have done. And that is the definition of eternal life, God walking with us hand in hand. 2:25 That is a true definition of eternal life. But you go and ask Adam and Eve I mean their children. Their children do not understand the true definition of this eternal life. And come to our generation. Go and ask our friends what does it mean 2:43 to live indefinitely? It's to live a life without physical death, that's what they would say. But what good is life living indefinitely with all the struggles and with all the pains not knowing who created us to begin 3:01 with. What good is that? God enables us to understand this is God's promise. And when God promised it, he cannot lie. God wants us to have that eternal life and life in abundance. Jesus told us the next person we can go and ask what 3:20 is eternal life is to Jesus himself. Jesus would tell us in John 10:10 if you can turn your Bibles to John 10:10. Jesus will remind us 3:44 the thief comes to steal to kill and to destroy. The very thing that God gave us in our life, the very breath of God, the thief comes to steal the breath that God gives in us, to kill it and to destroy us. But, there's goodness. 4:03 Jesus has come back again to give us an eternal life. And this is God's promise. We can be fully assured that we will have eternal life as we abide in him. Imagine I go to the bank. And I tell them I need 4:24 a $10. I go put in my ATM. And I get my $10 bill. What's wrong about this bill? Who's What's the bill Who's picture is that in there? 4:41 Anyone recognize that man there? Mahatma Gandhi on a dollar bill? What would I do? I put my credit card and I get this bill with somebody's picture in there. Will I be happy with it? Will you be happy if your parents give this bill to 5:00 you? Like, you Yes, I owe you $10, so here is it your $10. Will you be happy? What would you say? Give me the real $10 bill. This is somebody's picture in there. He did not fight for the United States. We know that. It's a wrong wrong 5:17 wrong wrong note. And God wants us to recognize that what is true eternal life and what is not really eternal life. The world wants us to think that getting all the pleasures of this world, putting the logo of our great star, 5:34 Steph Curry, or whoever the the the great man is, like, let's put that logo on our note. And we go to the bank with that. God would say, "That's fake." And I pray at the end of our life if I 5:50 go and stand before God and I say, "Here is my life, God." And he looks at my life and sees picture of Steph Curry. Do you think God is going to be happy about that? Or puts a somebody else, Michael Jordan or somebody else. 6:07 God wants to see the picture of Christ in us. And that's when God says, "This man is real. Come with me." And I I pray God will enable me to realize that each and every day as I go to my work or come back from work, go play with my friends to remember 6:26 I do not want to imitate anybody else. I don't want to have the picture of somebody else in my life. I want the picture of Christ himself in my life. And God alone can help me with that. There's one man I was thinking today morning. 6:45 There's an Ethiopian eunuch who walked far, far away. Well, not walked, but he went on a chariot far, far away in Ethiopian man was well known, well recognized. A man from the treasury department, if I can say. The 7:03 most senior, most man comes here, goes to Jerusalem from Ethiopia. I looked at my Google Maps, how long does it take? It probably takes two full days of driving if you had to use a car. But that man did not have a car back then. So, probably he took 7:20 15 days with his chariots, not not resting. Continuously going. So, he went to Jerusalem to Gaza in that direction to worship. And on his way back, we can read in Book of Acts chapter 8 verse 7:38 31. He was confused. He was not sure himself. He was reading the scripture as he was going back. He was not sure. This is what he read. Children, please listen to me. He was confused. He had something some question in his mind. Children, you're listening 7:53 to me, I hope. He read the book of Isaiah. He was not sure what this means. And there was a real need within this man to know what the true revelation is from God. And God did not leave him alone. God sent Philip to him. 8:11 God's spirit spoke into Philip and said, "Go over here. There is one person who wants to know the Lord." And we read that that Ethiopian eunuch that day believed in the Lord. And God's word says, "If you believe in God, 8:28 you will have eternal life." And that man that day, because of his curiosity, because of his desire to know the truth, and because God saw within his heart there's a great need. He's a well- known and well- versed with the treasury 8:47 department. So, typically when you are working, especially in my case, I can say, many times my mind and my heart is lost to things of work or things that I need to do and the things we need to do at home and the calendar and schedules. 9:01 My mind is lost. But this man was a good example. His mind was not lost with things of his treasury department back in Ethiopia. What he really go and do back there. But his mind was constantly meditating on something that was 9:15 bothering him. I want to know what this actually means. I want to know what this verse really means. "He was led as a sheep." This is a verse from Isaiah that was constantly bothering him. "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter as a 9:26 lamb before his shearer is silent. So, he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth." This has been bothering him. Some reflection 9:39 on God's word has been bothering him. God saw the need. Lord, I pray that you will see the need of each and every one of us who we here. And you will send your children. Today we have few brothers who are going to speak. 9:54 In the order we have We have uh brother Paul, then brother Rinju, brother Cliff who will be sharing from God's word. There might be something bothering in our heart. 10:13 Trust God. The Holy Spirit has already given to them what must be spoken to the church today. And God will speak to us through them. I pray God bless each and every one of us. Children, let's all be listening to what is being spoken because if God has speak 10:29 spoken to Philip to say something to this man from Ethiopia, God is faithful to speak to us today as we go before him because the Holy Spirit has as given a word. Let's go with full assurance that God is going to speak to 10:42 us. So I invite brother Paul, then brother Rinju, and uh brother Cliff to share from God's word. Amen. Thank you, brother Stanley. Thankful to be with you, brothers and sisters. Um it's really a privilege to be together. We don't know when we may 11:02 have this chance, so we can take advantage of it as much as we can. Um And I wanted to uh share out of Matthew 24. If you want to join me there, Matthew 24 11 uh sorry, 12 and 13. And it says, "And because lawlessness is increased, 11:20 most people's love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved." And I asked the Lord, honestly, that so I don't become cold uh knowing the Lord for a while, you know, in my love for him 11:38 and for other people. And these verses are referring to the last days, of which we are a part of now, but most it says most people's love, not some, not a little, but most, which could include me if I'm not careful. And so, the love for 11:53 God, the love for people can become cold. It wasn't always cold, but it can because as the verse says, they will see as we do today, lawlessness all around us. And 2 Timothy 3 also talks about this, that in the last days, difficult times 12:11 will come because people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without self-control, all kinds of addictions, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. And I didn't even read the whole list. And yet, verse 12:31 5 says, holding to a form of godliness, but no power of the Holy Spirit. It's basically hypocrisy. And people who may have been in church meetings like this, or as speaking like we're doing this morning, or this afternoon, but most people will 12:49 see all this and may even have in their own lives, and their love for God and love for others will become cold. And some of us may not have to look further than our own homes, right? I was guilty for a time. And such were some of you, like what 1 13:06 Corinthians 6:11 says, right? It's it's just so easy to forget our own sins and be hard on others, right? And be cold towards what God is interested in. And one truth of God, if you forget everything that I'm saying, one truth of 13:22 God that helps me here, is that the endurance of God with me, the endurance of God himself with me, not everybody else. And we see this in 2 Peter 1:3. Sorry, 2 Peter chapter 3:9. Says the Lord is long-suffering toward 13:41 us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is long-suffering toward Put your name there. You know, the Lord suffers long with undeserving Paul. You know, put your name there. 14:00 And the wonderful thing about this is that God sees our silent sufferings to not sin and to not speak what we feel against our spouse or anyone. God sees that silent refusal 14:17 to be bitter in a difficulty. And instead, we say, regardless of how we feel, how hard this is for me, Lord, I'm going to praise you regardless for enduring with my slowness to show mercy. As you have shown mercy to me so many 14:36 times. And my slowness to have compassion as you, Lord, have so many times have been compassionate to me. So, my love for you doesn't cool off. But by your Holy Spirit and your grace, I will come out having a stronger love for you and a 14:53 stronger love for others. Whether I'm 1 day in Christ or 100 years in Christ, the Lord suffers long with us and is patient, and we can learn to be that way, too. And so, he will help us turn to him and turn from sin, turn from worry and 15:11 the cares of this life, out of discouragement, and say, "Thank you, Lord." You know, just one of those terrible things that I read from the list of uh Matthew 24 there was just ungrateful. And I thought of men, you know, 10 15:26 lepers were cleansed. Only one said thank you. Nine were not saved. And so, Lord, please have mercy on us. And thank you for your loving kindness. Praise God. Thank you, brothers, for what you shared. And thank you, Paul, 15:42 for that reminder. Um I was blessed by a phrase from the Bible. And if someone can get tell me I mean as in school there's these questions of who said this to whom. And so, this is uh Teacher, do you not care that we are 15:56 perishing? Anyone? Any guesses? Going once, going twice. This was the disciples of Jesus to Jesus in a very difficult moment. Lord, do you not care that we are perishing? And um the at the brother's prayer last uh week, a couple of brothers spoke on this 16:13 and my reflections were driven because of that. Um and you know, there's they're going through the storm. Jesus sends them into the storm. And you think you obey Jesus, things will be nice and peachy, but they go straight into a storm. And when they 16:26 go into the storm, Jesus is there in the boat, but he's sleeping. And you know, I'm I'm sure they're like Jesus, we're sleeping. Uh you're sleeping, we're in a storm. Can we help? Can you help? And they're doing all that they can just 16:37 to fight the storm. But then they get so worked up and eventually they say, Lord, don't you care that we're perishing? And well, what brother shared was there's nothing wrong in waking up the Lord when you're going through trouble. 16:48 That's probably the right thing to do. But their attitude when they woke him up is what was wrong. And for me that phrase, don't you care that we are perishing, really stuck with me. Don't you care? And for me I have I have I feel like I 17:02 have enough theology. I know enough of the Bible that I I won't ever say that with my mouth. Like, Lord, don't you care about me? But I feel like you know, I believe God's good. I believe God's sovereign. He's controlling all things. So, that that 17:13 word those words will may not come out. But I as I was judging myself, I found that I I let myself sometimes stay in a discouraged mood or in a meh, this is this is just how life is, kind of mood. And I I let the devil steal away the joy 17:27 that God wants me to have. And I found that that circumstance is me saying this not in words but through my attitude. Lord, don't you care what I'm going through? Why don't you figure this out? Why are you letting me go through 17:39 this? And as I dealt with that thought, I felt that what Jesus could have He didn't say that here. But, I felt what Jesus could have said is Guys, do you Do you know who you're talking to? Who am I? Where am I? Does that ring some bells? 17:53 And for me, those were questions that I could think about and helps and is helping me as I fight with these moments of extended, you know, discouragement or lack of joy that come into my life. And so for me, it helped me to think about 18:04 who is Jesus. Where was he at this time? He was God incarnate. He had left heaven and come down to live on this earth for many, you know, you know, things that encourage us. But, he had left the comforts of earth and had come down and 18:16 had lived with the disciples in first century, you know, Israel with none of the comforts that we have. He had done that for them. And is that not sign enough that God cares for you? But, for me, as I thought more deeply, there are a couple of 18:28 things It's just a few verses that I wanted to run through that helped me remember how much God cares for me. Uh Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, right? As soon as we sinned, as soon as my great great great great great grandparents 18:40 disobeyed God and ate from the the tree that God told them not to eat, God right then knew that I had a problem of sin that I could not solve. And right then in in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, Jesus promised that he would 18:52 come down and crush the head of the serpent. As soon as God saw that I had this impossible problem, he cared enough to create a a solution for it. And that It helps me to remember that. It helps me why when Jesus came down to 19:03 the earth, what did he do? John chapter 1 verse 18, right? No one has seen the Father, but the but the Son Let's turn there real quick cuz it's a It's a lovely verse that encouraged me this week. John chapter 1 verse 18. 19:16 No one has seen the Father at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. Jesus could have just sat up in heaven and, you know, the God and Jesus could have maybe made some other way for to forgive us of our sins, 19:28 but Jesus came down on the earth to just to not only forgive my sins sins, but to show me who the Father is. I don't have to live life living under the the the whip of a hard taskmaster, but Jesus came and through his life, through the 19:41 way he interacted with his disciples, through the way that he interacted with the people that he dealt with, he showed me the love and the mercy and the long-suffering of God that we just heard about. And so Jesus did all of that. So, 19:51 as that question comes up, Lord, do you care for me? I can remember Jesus came down, he left the comforts of heaven, he came down on this earth and lived in much more difficult circumstances than any of us are do to show me the love of 20:02 the Father. And as if that was not enough, Hebrews chapter 10, if you go to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10 verse 14, it's it's a lovely passage that I'm sure all of us are very familiar with. But it helped me to remember these 20:14 verses again. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 14, for by one offering he has perfected for all times those who are sanctified. People who lived before 20:27 Jesus, they had to go and every time they sinned or once a year they had to go, you know, give sacrifices. There was an atonement for their sins that they had to do. I don't have to do that anymore because of that perfect 20:37 sacrifice that Jesus paid for me. And going down through verse 19 it's it's a longer passage so I won't read it. But what that passage says is, I now have the confidence to come into the presence of of the Father. What it says 20:50 just a few phrases, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Christ, which is inaugurated for us through the tearing of the veil that is his flesh. We have a great high priest. Let us draw near with a sincere heart 21:01 and full assurance of faith. If you read this passage to a Jew or a Gentile before Jesus came, They could not imagine that that if you know, before Jesus came a high priest went in once a year with a lot of preparation before he 21:15 could go into God's presence. But because of what Jesus did, I can so freely like how my son talks to me, I get to talk to God. I get to get to take my burdens to him. I get to repent for my sins because of what Jesus did. I get 21:27 to ask him for his advice and his wisdom and his his word for me in my moment because of what Jesus did. And so it it helps me to remember in any moment that I think, Jesus, don't you care? To say, this is what Jesus did for 21:39 me. As soon as there was a problem with sin, he said he'd make a way for me. As you know, he knew I didn't know who God was. I would never have a clear picture of who God was. So he came down to show me who this God was. He knew I could 21:49 never come into God's presence and so he paid the price for my sin and tore the veil so that I could easily go in into God's presence. And so when I'm struggling with this feeling of, Lord, don't you care for me? I want to take a 22:00 quick sword to that and say, no, Jesus cares so much for me that he left heaven and came down and lived on this earth as a man for me because he loved me, because he cares for me. And I don't want to let the devil steal my joy. 22:13 Just a last word of encouragement um as I look at the disciples, I love the fact that Jesus picked disciples who were men just just like us, just like me. You know, he there were some who were fishermen, there were some who were 22:25 accountants, there were some who were there was one at least who was a a zealous freedom fighter, people of different shapes and intellects and personalities. And I see through that, you know, their failures that Jesus picks people who who struggle and that 22:40 gives me hope. But what blesses me is this isn't the only time that they went through a storm. If you read it, there's another passage again Mark 6. Um it's also in Matthew where they go through a storm again. Again, Jesus sends them out 22:51 to go over the lake and they get into a storm. And they didn't do it perfectly that time either. There's there's things that they did incorrectly, but what blesses me is they didn't um ask Jesus the same question again. They didn't ask him, 23:03 "Lord, why don't you care?" What blesses me even further is that when Peter realized that it was Jesus who was walking on the water, he said, "Lord, if it's you, command me to walk on the water." He had the courage to ask 23:13 Jesus for that. And so, it encourages me that the Lord gives me redos on some of these trials where I've I've let myself struggle longer than I should have. The Lord gives me redos and it gives me hope that the next time around, maybe I can 23:25 lean on my father for more strength and I can ask him, "Lord, I don't want to ask you in doubt again don't you care, but I want to say, 'Jesus, on the water just like you did. Lord, would you help me?'" So, I pray that God will help me. 23:35 Amen. Good afternoon, family. I want to quickly share from this week's memory verse. So, 1 John 2:25. And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. This is the promise that he himself has made to us, eternal 23:54 life. For for many years, I thought like eternal life is something that I go into after I die until I've been taught that eternal life has no beginning and no end. And today, I can be in eternal life if I live in fellowship with Jesus 24:09 Christ. And eternal life is not something that I can earn, but it's a gift that God is giving us. In Jesus' own words, John 17:3, Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 24:28 whom you have sent." So, to know God, to be in fellowship with God, is eternal life. If I had to give a title for my sharing today, it would be eternal life is to know God is good. So, eternal life is to know God is good. 24:44 Irrespective of whatever trial that I face today or trial that I'm going to face tomorrow, I'm totally convinced that God is good. If suppose say I'm going to face a a as big as what Job faced. So, like tomorrow if I'm going to lose out all my 25:00 possessions, all my family is going to be wiped off, and I'm I get deadly sickness, do I have the confidence to say that God is good? Uh to be to be honest, in the bottom of my heart, I don't know if I could say God is good. 25:14 But, I have total confidence in God because he said in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that he will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I what I can bear. And together with it, he has given me the grace to endure it. So, I have total 25:28 confidence in God that he will not allow me to be tempted without beyond what I can bear. Um I want to turn my Bible to Mark 10. Mark 10 uh verse 17 through 22. I'll give you outline. This is the incident where this rich rich man comes 25:46 to Jesus and he throws himself at the feet of Jesus, and kneels down and asks Jesus, "Jesus, what should I do to get eternal life?" Uh good teacher, what what should I do to get eternal life? And Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? Only God is 26:00 good." And then he Jesus asks, uh "Did you keep all the commandments?" And the the rich man says, "Yes, I did from very young." And then Jesus says like, "Go sell all your wealth, give it to the poor, and then come back and follow me." And in 26:15 verse 22, it says, "At this, the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth." So, I learned two things from this rich man. The first thing is I was very very marveled to see that way the rich man came to Jesus. He threw himself at 26:34 Jesus' feet, knelt down, and asked, "Jesus, what must I do to get eternal life?" I may have the same attitude to come to Jesus like Rinju was sharing, right? I might have the right attitudes to come to Jesus because I know only Jesus can solve my 26:49 problems. Only Jesus can be my savior. But but when Jesus gives me a solution, do I obey? Do I have that obedience to what Jesus is responding back? Uh I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I pray that Jesus helps me 27:04 to have this obedience, to have a confidence, to have a will that is really strong to love Jesus irrespective of whatever my situations are. The second point I want to share is um uh when the rich man calls Jesus good teacher, 27:22 uh Jesus is asking him, "Why do you call call me good? Only God is good." And later Jesus actually I understand Jesus tells what's the problem that this rich man is actually facing. For for this rich man, more than God is 27:37 good, his wealth is good. Let me repeat that. For the rich man, the problem for the rich man is the wealth is good more than God is good for him. So, so that's why he walks away uh because he finds that his his wealth is really 27:52 good. So, today in my life there are many things, legitimate things maybe um uh really good things that I trust on, but God wanted nothing to be counted as good in my life other than God himself. There are I have a lot of skills in my 28:10 professional in my profession which I counted good. If I lose my job today, I can get another job in the area quickly. Or my wealth or my health. I have good health. If I lose couple of days in my work, I can just get on to a new 28:25 project quickly and work it out. So, that is good. But God counts all that if I count all that good, I'm going to not see God as good in my life. And God says if you don't see me good, and you're going to not going to be in eternal 28:38 life. You're not going to inherit the eternal life. So, I pray God fill me with Holy Spirit and have no confidence in my flesh, but rather only on him. In um um on a closing note in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 10, "Though the mountains 28:56 be shaken and the hills be moved or removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you." Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, all these 29:13 legitimate all these rightful mountains of hope that I have in my flesh, like my financial status, my experience, my skills, all these mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, "yet my unfailing love for you will not 29:27 be shaken," says our Lord. He has made a covenant of peace. He has made a covenant of the peace not be removed, and the Lord says he is a compassionate father who is always caring for us and planning every day for us in love. Amen.
