Translated from the original sermon notes.

Read 2 Samuel 13 (consequences after David sinned).
Amnon, David’s son, fell in love with his own sister, Tamar (the same father (David) but with a different mom). In the Torah, it’s not allowed to marry with your own sibling, therefore Amnon forced and raped Tamar (verse 14). Amnon changed though, from loving Tamar to hating her. In verse 15: “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her“. Absalom, his brother, knew about this and swore for a revenge. Two years after, Amnon was murdered by Absalom.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM 2Samuel 13

1) Know when we’re really fall in love

In verse 1, the Bible says that Amnon fell in love. But the forgot about things that he need to think about really seriously. He fell so deeply in love but it’s all lust, not pure love.

Test yourself whether you are really fall in love with someone:

• Time: love needs time. If it happens all of a sudden, then it’s lust, not love.
• Knowledge: love means to know a lot of his/her good and bad characters, not just a particular one or from physical appearance.
• Focus: true love focuses on the others, to the other person that we love.
• Distance: true love doesn’t change even when distance breaks us apart.
• Physical attraction: crazily in love (not true love) only focuses on physical appearance.
• Barriers: people who are crazily in love doesn’t care about rules, regulations, or word of God.

2) Don’t focus on physical appearances

Amnon loved Tamar just because she was beautiful (verse 1). The world always views love as physical attraction (appearance) first and spirituality comes last. We, as children of God, focus on spirituality first, appearance last! Focus on someone who loves God, not because he is handsome or because she is beautiful.

3) Amnon can’t differentiate between love and sex

World view: “If you love me, give me your body”. Sex is beautiful but only in marriage. Sex outside of marriages is an adultery and destroying our lives! Learn from Amnon so that we have a full control of ourselves, not being controlled by lust!

The word “hate” that is being used on the original meaning (Amnon to Tamar) is the same as the word being used to explain Absalom’s hatred to Amnon.

True love consists of: Eros (romance), Phileo (friendship, giving time, communication), Agape (pure love, sacrificial, love that is giving)

Learn from Amnon’s mistake!

Joy in Ministry
EBC sermon summary, translated from the original.
21st June 2009
by Pastor Victor Liu
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Many people are looking for that “Joy”ful feeling and sometimes we are too busy to feel it. Joy is one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and it is a pity if we have never felt it in our lives. Little kids are normally more passionate and joyful than us adults. They should be set as examples!

Read from these bible verses:

• Philippians 4:4
• Psalms 37:4
• Colossians 2:7
• Philippians 2:17
• Acts 2:46-47
• Psalms 100:2
• Leviticus 28:47-48
• Nehemiah 8:11
• 2 Corinthians 9:7

1) WE MUST LIVE WITH JOY

a. We are ordered to live with Joy
Read Philippians 4:4. This verse stresses how important it is for everybody to live with joy! “Rejoice in the Lord always” (“Always” – it means that it doesn’t depend on our mood or our situation).

This verse also uses imperative words (something that we are ordered to do) and we must obey! Rejoicing is not a “terms and conditions” to be a Christian but it is the consequence of being a Christian! Happiness is your choice!
Read 1Thessalonians 5:18.

b. Rejoice in the Lord
Many people measure what they have in the world as the measurement of Joy: money, position, etc.

Lots of celebrities look happy but most of them actually feel lonely and they never experience a true joy! Oh brothers and sisters, let us all have a true joy in Christ Jesus. Feel and experience His Wonderful Grace in our lives and understand what He’s done for us on the cross! It’s not what we have in this world that matters but focus on your characters and what God has done in our lives!

c. Rejoicing means present, now.
Not later, but NOW. Sometimes you may say “Only if I have ……. (fill in the blanks yourself), I will then rejoice in the Lord”. Really? Will you really rejoice in the Lord when you have what you want? Most of the time, we’ll still complain even when we have got what we wanted. When we graduate, when we get a job, when we get married, even when we already have children, we are still complaining. True?

2) THE MORE YOU REJOICE, THE BIGGER YOUR CAPACITY TO GLORIFY GOD

Read again Psalm 100:2, Leviticus 28:47-48.
When we rejoice while we do our minsitry, we will be more effective. Apostle Paul always rejoiced and asked us to rejoice in the Lord, even when he was in prison and suffered!

The more we rejoice when we are doing something for the Lord, the more grateful we will be to Him and the more He will bless our ministries.

3) REJOICING IN THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH

Read again Nehemiah 8:11.

Rejoicing to the Lord doesn’t mean that we never shed any tears. No, no. Serving God doesn’t mean that we will never grow tired or feel down. However, those feelings have to be crushed with rejoicing in what we are doing! God has given us strength so that we can keep on serving Him. However, it is our duty to decide whether we want to rejoice in it or not!

Are you rejoicing in the Lord in what ever you are doing at the moment?

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cliapart from christart.com

Sermon @EBC Melbourne by Victor Liu – translated by me.
How to finish well – Start Well
Mark 1:35-39

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Often we start something with enthusiasm, however our spirit then gradually decreases and sometimes we stop half-way. So then, how do we finish what we’ve started?

Read Mark 1:35-39.

Learn from the ministry of Jesus (for around three and a half years) – from the start towards the end. Even Jesus said Himself: “It is finished.” towards the end of His ministry life.

HOW TO FINISH WELL : START WELL

Jesus started well. He knew what He came for.

1) Start with maintaining your relationship with God (verse 35)

Jesus maintained His healthy relationship with the Father and started His day by communicating with the Father. This shows that relationship with God has to be the center of our lives. When we fail to maintain it, we become dry! Often that we are too lazy to come to God (or too “busy”!)

Maintain your spiritual health by ingesting spiritual nutrition. What nutrition do you take? Movies? Games? Or the Word of God? You will die spiritually if you don’t maintain your relationship well with God!

2) Start by focusing on the goal (verse 37-39)

Many people came and looked for Him (after He healed many people and performend many miracles).

“..because for this purpose I have come forth..”

Since the beginning, Jesus already knew His goal of life. He connected the “present” with the “future”! Often that we focus on the present and never have a thought of the future. It’s all a routine.

“Start with the end in view”

“Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be” – John Gardiner.

3) Have the courage to say “No!” (verse 37)

Jesus was much more popular on His early days of His ministry. Even though this people came looking for Him, He went to a secluded place and prayed. He even avoided them. Learn how to say No, especially if it’s not what God wants you to do.

Start to eliminate all barrier! People are easily changed.

Read Proverbs 4:23.

The barriers that we have to eliminate:

• Not focused. Doing too many things.
• Trying to please many people. Learn to say No!
• Procrascination. Do it now, not later!
• Fun first, play layer. The “Enjoy life” mentality.
• Indiligent

Jesus was focused and dilligent even until He ended His life. He knew why He came for (His goal of life) and He never gave up until He reached that goal.

How about you?

A prayer is like the breath to a Christian. When we stop breathing, we’ll die and so does a Christian! We are given power by God as believers. However, remember that the power is given from God! So don’t be arrogant and claiming that it is yours!

Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.

When we pray, often that we get impatient waiting for the answer. God always answers your prayer and He answers it at the perfect moment, no more no less! Sometimes the answer is NO. Apostle’s Paul’s prayer was rejected even though he has shouted the prayer 3 times.

Why 3 times?
It’s a serious prayer. “A thorn in my flesh”: must have hurt so much and making him suffer. It’s possible also that he’s following what Jesus did at Getshemane.

Paul is a great apostle. He erected lots of congregations at that time and he also wrote letters that we read and study up til now. He is so close to God, but yet his prayer was rejected.

7 Reasons why Paul wasn’t disappointed when his prayer was rejected

1) Verse 7: So to keep me from becoming conceited
We as human beings always tend to be arrogant in what we do.

2) So that he cannot claim that it is his
Don’t have an attitude on your church: “This won’t happen if it’s not because of me!” or “If I don’t do it, no one will!”. If God can use you, He can certainly use other people. Don’t get cocky!

3) To teach you so that you don’t steal the Glory of God to yourself

4) So that God’s grace is enough for you
Look at the positive side and be grateful to it. Don’t look at the negatives!

5) By suffering, he could understand other people’s sufferings

6) He knows God’s power. When God says no, He knows what’s best for you and even sometimes He has a plan to give you something better

7) Paul knows there will be eternal life with God (with new eternal body)

When we pray, give authority to God! Don’t ever feel disappointed when your prayer is rejected! God knows what’s best for you! Have a faith

Sermon Notes: Obstacles in Praying Part II
Fire up your prayer’s life series (IV)

This is a sermon note translated from my church’s Sunday sermon about Prayer life some time ago. This is the fourth series of the “Fire up your prayer’s life”.

OBSTACLES IN PRAYING (part II):

(1) NO PERSISTENCE

Read Luke 11:5-9
Motivation: Luke 11:13.
God wants to teach us to keep praying continually and depends solely upon Him. It’s wrong if you pray continually because you want God to “give up” and just give you what you want! The point is that He knows what’s best for us, but we have to keep on knocking at His door and seeking Him.

Persistence: continuous, determined.

Luke 22:44 – And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (NKJV).
“”..more earnestly”" is to extend (make longer, lengthen)
Jesus was praying in Gethsemane for hours (note: “midnight” until “dawn”, when the soliders came)

Hebrews 5:7 – “”For Jesus , in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared..”"

Acts 1:10-14, Acts:12:5, James 5:17-18 (1King 18 – notice how Elijah prayed)

Persistence in Prayer means committed to pray and wait for His perfect timing. And waiting is not easy!

In Hebrews:
a) Dumyah (Psalms 62:2)
b) Chakah  (Psalms 33:20)
c) Qayah (Isaiah 40:31)

How long should we pray?
(a) Until you know it is not God’s Will (example: David prayed until his son died)
(b) Until God answers your prayer
(c) Until God releases you (when we have a huge burden, that means until God takes out that burden from us). Example: Nehemia.

(2) UNREPENTED HEART

Psalms 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-3.

Sinning is a choice that we do in our life to fight the standard morality of God.

In Psalms 66:18, RA’AH, to enjoy, to approve, to have experience, respect.
There is no way you can live continually in sin and respect God at the same time!

Symptoms of unrepented heart:
- Keep sinning
- Ignore God’s convicting Spirit about the sin
- Turns into a hard heart
- Is more interested in learning how to manage sin effectively than learning how to overcome sin or bad habits victorously
- Have a tendency to be self righteous & blame people

This is a sermon note translated from my church’s Sunday sermon about Prayer life sometimes ago. This is the third series of the “Fire up your prayer’s life”.

Our God always wants to hear our prayer. However, most of the time, we have to do some “housekeeping” in our lives first, so that we can pray better.

Read 1 Peter 3:7
“Hinder” or egkopto (from the original language), from military: to break up a road/road block so that enemy armies can’t get through.
This word is being used in a Prayer, meaning that sometimes our prayers are not answered by God because of the obstacles that we created ourselves.

OBSTACLES IN PRAYING
1) IMPROPER MOTIVE / WRONG MOTIVATION
Read James 4:3
• Wrong motives (NIV)
• Spend (NIV)
• Pleasures (NIV)
Motivation is crucial in our life. It’s what drives us forward. The question “Why do we do what we are doing?” has to be asked by ourselves continually.

Spend.
What we spend the most, that’s us. If you like to spend your money on shoes, that means you love shoes very much.

Pleasures (Lust, Hedone; Hedonism)
Often we are focusing on a request to satisfy our own pleasure!

When we pray, we learn not to be self-centered. God sees through our motivations and our hearts.
Read Hebrews 4:13, 1 Chronicles 28:9

How to build the right motivation when praying? When you pray, ask yourself:
a. Why am I asking God for this?

Do I need this? Why would I want this for?
b. Am I willing to lay aside my will so that God’s will can be done?
When the answer to the prayer is “No”, are we ready & believe that He knows what’s best for us?

c. Is it my concern that God gets the glory for it?

(2) Broken Relationships
Matthew 6:14-15, Mark 11:24-26, 1 Peter 3:7 (in the context of praying)

Broken relationships (both horizontally to other human beings and vertically to God) will hinder our prayer’s life!
When we are having relationship problems with our wife, our husband, our friends, our brothers & sisters in Christ, our relationship with God will be affected too.
Remember that the Devil is smart to make use of your current situation! (Ephesians 4)

Before you start praying, start asking for forgiveness. Ask for restoration from God (admit that we are angry, full of hatred, an urge for a revenge, then let go of our rights to judge people). Then, ask God to restore us, to heal us. Let His love heals you and then take a step to forgive & love the person.

Forgiveness is a process. The devil won’t stand still! Read Rome 5:17.

Take out your hindrances in praying RIGHT NOW and have a more effective prayer’s life!