Introduction

It's a privilege for me to be here, sharing the Word of God with you this morning. Don't worry, I'm not going to give an update about my life. I'm not going to have another child or a change of different state of life. I'm still married, happily married for one and a half years. And I have a little boy, his name is called Elliot. He's about three months old. So I'm a new father and I growing and learning to be how to be a better father for my little boy, Elliot. We have named him Elliot because Elliot means The Lord is my God, Jehovah is my God. And it's my desire, my wife’s desire, that one day he will really come to know God as his God, that he will not have a borrowed faith, but he will have a faith of his own, believing in Jesus Christ. And it is also my prayer that he will grow to be more like Jesus, and go for Jesus one day. Let me bring you through his growth journey. This is him. Day one, very ugly. Many people will say is cute but I will say is a bit weird. But yeah, he's my son. I love him. He's day one old. Day three old. You can see a little bit of growth. And day seven, his eyes getting bigger, just like the father, becoming more handsome and tall and dark like his father. And he grow and continue to grow and grow. One of the most interesting distinctive that we share is actually the hair. Like I don't know why he has receding hairline pretty much. You know where it comes from? Yeah, and he grow and grow to the point that he’s not just crying every single day, he will react to your smile, he will move around, he will say no when it's too much of the meal. And he will learn to have tummy time where he will lift up the head. And he will now beginning at three months old, he began to smile back at you. I can see growth. We follow an app called What to expect and they will tell you what to look out for at different stages of his life. Yeah, and that's him. And hopefully one day, he become a little Yu Fei, like myself. And that's what we really desire that he will grow and grow and grow, no longer as an infant baby but to grow to become a man like you.

But however, there's one season of his life we were quite concerned that actually he wasn't growing for about three weeks. His weight did not grow, his weight actually dropped. And we were so concerned, we will consult all the experts, we will consult the parents, we will look up online. How can I make my child becoming a bit fatter, he's a bit of a skinny baby. And he was so concerned because we're comparing the baby with other babies. While every baby is bai bai pang pang (fair and plump in Chinese), fat, fat and plump, my baby is a bit skinnier on a skinnier side. We were concerned we will I will my wife and I will do everything that we can to make sure that he will grow in his health.

You know similarly, we are on the topic of growth. And sometimes as we look back our life, we will ask ourselves this question. Are we growing to be more and more like Jesus? Or are we actually becoming more and more like the world? Are we stagnating in our spiritual life and maybe it's time for a health check? We need to go to the expert, we need to find out how me and you can grow to be more and more like Jesus Christ. You know last week, Haniel talked about, are you alive or dead about knowing Christ in terms of salvation? Today we are talking about the topic of growth in terms of sanctification. The question that I want to pose to you right at the start of the sermon is, are you growing spiritually to be more and more like Jesus in His character, in his being? It is something that I want y'all to think about in the entire sermon. Today's sermon, I want to share three parts, I want to answer these three questions. What does it mean for us to grow in Christ? What is the biblical word for growing in Christ? What is this word called sanctification that we see everywhere on our lift, that our Church wants us to, know, grow, go, salvation, sanctification, service? What does it mean? Sanctification is a big word, what does it mean? Secondly, I want to help you guys to know, how does a growing Christian looks like. And thirdly, I want to help us to know some of the means of grace that God has granted to us to grow to be more like Jesus.

#The Meaning

So, number one, what is the meaning? The Bible tells us in First Thessalonians, “this is the will of God, for your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). The will of God is for us to grow in him, your sanctification, big word. What does sanctification mean? The Bible tells us in the original language, it means a status of being set apart from sin to holiness. The word gives us the dedication, consecrated, to be set apart, to be different from the world and to become more and more like Jesus. That is what it means to be sanctified in Christ. There's what it means, the word, sanctification, to be set apart. In the context of here, Paul give us some example of what does it mean to be set apart from sin to holiness, to become like Christ. (Refer to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, 7) He give us the idea of staying away, running away from sexual sin, not like who you were in the past, who does not know God. Because you are set apart, now you're becoming more and more like Christ, run away from sin, so that you can become more and more Christ-like, to become holy, and so on, so forth. So that is what it means to be sanctified, the word, sanctification.

Theologians give us three types of sanctification. Maybe when you read the Bible, when you look at our sanctified, sanctification, you may be confused. So, theologians gave us three explanation or three types of sanctification.

The first kind is the positional truth, positional sanctification. The second kind is called the progressive sanctification which what we are focusing on today. The third kind is called a permanent sanctification, which also most of them will say is the ultimate sanctification that is going to come in the near future. So briefly, let me share with you what does positional sanctification means. It means this is the position that you have in Christ, after you come to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. This is something that God imputed to you, it is the righteousness of God that has been imputed to you. This is who you are, you are adopted. You're part of this new citizenship. You're no longer the enemy of God, children of wrath, now you are children of God. This is who you are, God has freed you from the penalty of sin. You have been sanctified (Hebrews 10:10), you were sanctified (1 Cor 6:11) and that is what it means that at the point of salvation, this is who you are in Christ.

The second kind of sanctification that we are talking about is the progressive sanctification. It means that God has freed you from the power of sin, where you are no longer slave to your old self. But now you can live a new life in Christ Jesus. That's why you have words like the Bible tells us that you are now a new creation, created for Jesus Christ. You put on a new self because that is who you are before God. The Bible tells us in First Peter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy. So you also be holy in all your conduct.” (1 Peter 1:14-15) That is the will of God for us. That is exactly what our church desire us to do right. To be leading generations into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, to know Him, to grow in him, to be more like him, to grow in our sanctification, to grow in our holiness, to become godly, to be Christ-like, in every single way. That is what we want to discover today.

And the third kind of sanctification is the permanence sanctification, that is the ultimate sanctification that we will be free from the presence of sin. Because God, ultimately one day will wipe away every sin and every tear, and there will be no more sin in the beautiful heaven where we spend eternity with Jesus Christ. He will be the one that sanctify you completely in the near future (Refer to 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

But we want to focus on this progressive sanctification, what is sanctification? In a nutshell, it means for us to grow in our sanctification, to be more and more like Jesus. In second Corinthians chapter three, verse 18, he says that “And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being”, once you become a Christian, you “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another”, which literally means you are being changed, you are being transformed, you are being molded and shaped from where you are, before you are a Christian, to where God wants you to be, to be more like, Jesus. The word, transformed, in the original text, in the original Greek is this Metamorpho, which means it's a change, it is a complete change, is a change that takes place from the inside out. We have this word Metamorpho, give us the word metamorphosis that we all came to know about in our education, right? It's a change that take place completely from a little egg, to become larva, pupa and a beautiful butterfly, mature butterfly. This change that God talks about is a complete change, a total change from the inside out. But it takes time. It takes time for an egg to become a beautiful butterfly, and it takes time for you and I to be transformed from the inside out to become more like Jesus. It is like the picture right? You can’t really put two wings to the larva and call it butterfly, you know is not going to happen. That’s not a real change. It's just a change on the outside but this metamorphosis, is a change from inside and that's what God desires us to do. It takes time to grow.

You know, I've been serving in a youth ministry for close to 15 years. And there will be parents once in a while that come and tell me, hey Yu Fei, can you change my children? You know, my children has been super disobedient at home and living a life that I don't think God wants him to be. Can I bring him to the youth ministry so that the leaders can do something about him, then suddenly he become godly and holy? Wah, I wish I can do that. There'll be a long line of people coming to Gospel Light youth ministry, right. And most of the time, I tell the parents that I can't change them. I can't change anyone. Because this change must come from the inside out. That's why the Bible tells us that this change “comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18) of God. The change must only take place because the Spirit of God work in the hearts of the child, and he change and change. My job is to not have behavior modification. My job is to point them to Jesus who is able to change them and the Spirit of God can enable them to become more like Jesus. So, what it means? How do we change? Change to what? Change “to mature manhood”, to the “fullness of Christ”, to become more like Jesus (Ephesians 4:13).

So, what it means? Sanctification means, growing means wherever we talk about growing in Christ, growing in Christ, it means to be more and more like Jesus. It means to be more and more less sin, and more holy, it means to run away from all the temptations and the presence of and all the power of sin, but to run to Jesus who is able to give us victory over sin. That is what sanctification means.

#2 The Marks

But maybe you ask yourself this question, how do I know that I am growing? What are some of the marks of a growing Christian? How do I know that I have reached mature manhood? How do I know if I'm just a newborn baby or actually I'm growing in Christ. In the book of Ephesians, Apostle Paul tells us, give us some glimpse of someone who is growing in Christ. Ephesians chapter four, verse 17, says, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do”. Because you are a new creation, you are now a believer in Christ, you no longer walk like what you used to be, your life is changed because of Jesus. Now, “that is not the way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about him, and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belong to your former manner of life” (Ephesians 4:20-22), the old self, before you come to Jesus. And now because you come to Jesus, already, your life will change, and your life is no longer the same anymore. And he says, this, “be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self”. This is who you are, after you become a Christian, put on your new self, put on Christ, “created after the likeness of God in the righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24), being set apart, to become more and more like Jesus. This is what God desire you to be. God don't desire you to be staying as an infant, God desire you to be transformed from one image to another image. How do I know I'm growing? In fact, after this verse, Apostle Paul give us some of the description of someone that is growing, someone that is putting on Christ empowered by the Spirit of God. What are they?

These are people, growing Christians will “speak truth” with one another, especially to the people of God in the family. (Ephesians 4:25) They will be a group of people, they will no longer live their life as a lie, they will no longer lie to get what they want in their life. They will speak truth, they will not gossip, they will tell people what is truth. That is what it means to grow in Christ and one of the marks of someone that is growing in Christ.

They will not be so easily angry. In fact, the anger will not let us, the Bible tells us, Do not “be angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) A growing Christian will be one that will be slow to anger, quick to hear and slow to wrath. A growing Christian will be one, that will not let anger pass the bed, because they will resolve the anger in his heart. A growing Christian when a car cut in front of you, you will be like Thank You, Jesus for teaching me patience. Thank you Jesus for showing me my sinfulness because I'm prone to just beep bo ba (honk), and just scold all the words that you use to scold. You are no longer that person, you are now created in the likeness of God. There must be a change in your life, that shows that you are growing spiritually.

You no longer do work that get what you want. You will “do honest work” (Ephesians 4:28), you will not lie and cheat to get the deal that you want. You will not cheat and deceive your clients or your colleague to get what you want. You will do honest work. You will grow in generosity. Instead of keeping all to yourself, you will desire to share with people around you. You will no longer let “corrupting talk that come from your mouth” (Ephesians 4:29), the old self maybe you're full of vulgarities, full of things that is not good and edifying. But the new self, the new man, the one that you put on Christ and powered by the Spirit, you will speak life to one another, “building up” (Ephesians 4:29) one another and not tearing people down. The list goes on and on.

Let me give you just a few. When you put on Christ, when you are growing, you will learn how to forgive those that have hurt you the most. When you are growing in Christ, you will learn to be kind and tender hearted instead of your old self (Refer to Ephesians 4:30-31). Am I saying that this is easy? No. But are you slowly, day by day, empowered by the Spirit of God to become more like Jesus? In fact, it's not just Ephesians four, if you go to Ephesians five and six you will see that as you grow in Christ, do you love your wife more as how Christ loved the church? Husbands, do you understand your wife? I know, very hard, but we grow in our understanding to love and understand our wife, to show empathy. (Refer to Ephesians 5:25) I am speaking for myself. For wives, do you learn to submit to your husband's leadership? Yes, your husband may make stupid mistakes and stupid decisions, but do you learn to give them feedback and yes, submit to them as how the church submit to Christ? (Refer to Ephesians 5:22) Are you growing, youths? Are you children, are you growing to obey your parents because this is right? (Refer to Ephesians 6:1) Workers, are you treating your staff like slaves or are you treating them with honor and glory? You see, parents for myself, am I growing in teaching my child in the way of the Lord? (Refer to Ephesians 6:4) Or am I just being angry with them and just scold them wherever I can, I use cane and just cane them because I'm angry with them. Or are you caning them because you love them and you want to train them in the way of the Lord.

You see, growth takes time and God is not looking for sinless perfection. God is looking for sincere progression. It takes time for us to become more and more like Christ, to be mature and equipped followers of Jesus Christ. It takes time. Be patient with yourself because we are still under construction. If I can, okay I cannot, I wouldn't do that. But in Youth, I will tell them, tell to one another and speak to them and say that you are under construction. But don't worry, we are not going to do that this morning. But it's true. We are all still under construction. We are still in the process of growth. I hope that your life is on the right track of growth, rather than the other way: Turning more to sin, and turning away from Jesus. It is our desire as a church to help you to grow in our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see what is so wrong with this picture? If you really think about it, something is wrong with this picture. A newborn baby with teeth. Weird, isn't it? Of course, someone photoshopped, it is not real. If it's real, I think I'll be shocked. If my son now have teeth, I will be like, Wah, God help me. I don't know happening to him. But this is weird, right? Because if you expect a newborn baby to grow slowly and steadily, there's different stages that he grow. You can't expect a baby suddenly to say, I am three months old, my baby Elliot will say, Daddy, I love you. Wow, if he can, praise God, but he can’t because it takes time for him to be able to speak, to construct words and to say, Daddy, I love you. Similarly, sometimes we have a wrong expectation of one another. We expect our spouse or our kids or the people in our CG to grow up immediately, but it takes time for them to grow. Be patient with them. That's why the Bible says in Galatians five, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These are marks and characteristics and virtues of Jesus, of God. And it's something that God desires to have, right? But the Bible tells us it is the fruit of the Spirit of God. Only when you're abiding in Christ, when you are being filled with the Spirit of God, all these things begin to come out in your life, the fruits, but only when you're abiding, when you are falling in love with Jesus. So, what's the meaning of sanctification? It means literally to be set apart from sin, to holiness, to be more Christ-like. How do you know that you're growing? Just look at the whole Bible, you can see many things that the Bible desires us to be because of who we are in Christ.

#3 The Means

Thirdly, how do you know you are growing? Right? How the third question I would ask you is not how do you know you're growing but what are some of the means of grace that God has granted to us as believers to grow in him? What are some of them? What are some of the means of grace that God has given to us? There's a lot but just want to name a few.

* • Spiritual Disciplines

Number one, God has given us spiritual disciplines. What are spiritual disciplines? Spiritual disciplines are things that Christians in the past and now do on a regular basis. They discipline themselves in the Word of God and in prayer, and these two spiritual disciplines, they do consistently in their life, to help them to promote their spiritual growth. So, what are spiritual disciplines? Spiritual disciplines are some things that we do on a regular basis. First Timothy four tells us, “Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value” (1 Timothy 4:7,8), all right bodily training is of some value. For those of you that exercise, you understand that right? Bodily training is of some value, you gain some muscle, you can show off your muscles. Most of you say, Oh, I do it for health, but actually, you're doing for your looks. You know what I mean, right? But bodily training is of some value, definitely of some value, so you can be healthy. But the Bible say, “godliness is of value in many every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). And God tells us to train, the word, train, in the original language, means gymnazo. The word, gymnazo, give us the word, gymnastic. Gym is something that we do consistently, on a regular basis. And God says, you want to grow to be more like Christ in your holiness. You have to put yourself under some spiritual discipline, in the Word of God, and in prayer.

You think Christian Bale, from this picture, can suddenly in the next years become that picture? You think all he did was (do nothing), then suddenly the muscles pop out and suddenly become as fit as that guy over there? No, it doesn't miraculously really just happen like that. He went through trainings after trainings, eating the right food, putting the right weights, having enough sleep, and allow him to become who he is, in this picture. Similarly, God want us to train ourselves, spiritual discipline in the Word of God. That's why in First Peter two says, “Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk.” (1 Peter 2:2)

What are the two spiritual disciplines that we all have to embark in? The Word of God, and the prayer. One is what we learn, what we gain from God. And the other is how we respond to God in prayer. Both are necessary to build a healthy relationship with Jesus. You can’t do one without another. And God desire Christians like us to be like the infant baby. You know what infant baby do? They cry every three hours, Mommy, mommy, mommy, I want milk. Of course, they won’t say mommy, mommy, I want milk. They will just cry and cry and cry, because they want your attention. They want milk. In fact, maybe my wife is feeding my child now, because he's just crying and just wanting milk. It is a natural thing. To desire the pure milk. It is a natural thing for us as believers to desire the spiritual milk, which is the word of God. If you are not in the Word of God, how can you expect yourself to grow? If you're not opening the Bible on a regular basis? How do you expect yourself to be like Christ? You think you just (do nothing) everyday, you will become more like Christ? No, we have to train ourselves to be more and more like Christ in the Word and in prayer.

Do you remember the day, many years ago, that you fall in love with Jesus, that you become a Christian, that you know God in terms of salvation? And then immediately, you remember the day that you just love God so much that you just want to know who he is and what is his will for you. What he like and what he doesn't like in the Word of God? Do you remember the day that you will pour yourself in the Word of God, that you will set aside time every single day to grow to be more like Jesus? Do you remember the day that you just pray so regularly, because you just want to talk to Jesus on a regular basis because of what he has done for you in your life.

I remember the day. I remember in the year 2004, when I made a decision to follow Jesus, by the way, it is God that worked in my heart to believe in him. And he worked in my heart to grow in him. Ann Choo gave me a Bible at the age of 15, 16 years old. And when I received this Bible, I was like, wow, so expensive, 50 over dollars, I can't even afford that Bible. But she gave it to me during that time, I don't have phones, and we last time, not now everyone have phone and your Bible, and you have all the apps in your phone that help you to know Jesus. But last time don't really have. So she gave me a Bible and I fall in love with God and I fall in love with the Word of God. I long to spend time to know Christ, even though my English was limited then. And a lot of things that I don't understand, but I will still love, I will still read it because I want to know Him. Do you remember the time that you will write journal? Write down your prayer, write down how God answer your prayer. I remember those times, I have books and books where I write down my journal and because I love Jesus and I see how he works in my life and how he works in the life of people that I'm reaching out to.

Do you remember those times that you long for spiritual milk, that you will have consistent devotional life? Have you lost that desire? Have you lost that hunger like the infant baby? It's time to grow up and to grow up in Christ, to be more like Him. It takes certain effort. That's why in Second Peter chapter one verse three says, By his divine power, God has granted us everything that's pertaining to life and godliness. God has granted us the Word of God so that we can grow up to be more like him. And in verse five he says make every effort to add on to your virtue, to your brotherly love, to your self-control and so on and so forth. Something that we have to do on a regular basis.

You know after I married, I got a house right, and Pastor Kay Hong beautifully, graciously granted me a new plant, very nice plant. My house has a lot of wood but need some greens so it gave me this plant, very beautiful stem of greens. And he told me, all you need to do, I know you're busy, all you need to do is actually twice a week, just pour two cups of water into the soil and just leave it there, it will grow. Of course, me being me. I will do likewise right? Every twice a week I will pour the water and eventually the plant gave birth to another stem in the middle if you see here. Wow, so amazing. If I continue to do that, the tree will continue to grow and grow, maybe I have one whole bucket of stems or whatever. And guess what after a few months? It will grow more? I wish it will grow more but yeah like this, it just died. I ask myself why this, from what Pastor Kay Hong gave me to become something like this and the baby die already and other side of the leaves become brown, I have no idea why. But as I look back, I begin to find out what happened. I find myself giving excuses. Aiya, you know why the plant die? Because I have no time. You know why the plant die? Because I am busy in ministry, I am serving Jesus, I will go to Club39 and I reach out to the unbelievers. I invest in my life with the youth, I will spend time with the youth or I take care of my family. During the newborn phase, the baby’s newborn phase, there's a lot of things to do. I can give excuses, after excuses, after excuses. If my desire is for the plant to grow healthily, I have to put in effort. In fact, the effort is twice a week.

If you want to grow to be like Jesus and if you don't put in effort, I can tell you for sure. You can grow, you can be doing a lot of things but not growing, you will eventually get burn out. And eventually your spiritual life is going to turn not towards Christ, but away from Christ. Because you are bitter, you are not growing, you're not taking care of your roots. And that's why the fruits doesn't come. You're not taking care of your being. That's why all these things fall apart. Busyness is an excuse that we all use but priority is a choice that each of us make on a day-to-day basis. I love it when family prioritize family devotion, because they know that the word of God give growth. The children may not understand what it means but they understand you and your life, and you display Christ-likeness to them. That's where they grow and that’s where you grow as a family as well. If you don't intentionally come apart, to spend time with Jesus, you will inevitably, eventually come apart. I pray that you and I will grow to be more like Jesus. How? Um (do nothing), no, put in effort. Read the Bible, spend time, maybe it's at night maybe it's in the morning.

You know Pastor Jason, I remember his story that when he go for holiday, he will bring a commentary with him so that he can know Jesus. Maybe you don't need to bring a commentary, you have tablets, right? You have all the means of grace that God has given to you on your phone to know Him. But you need to open it, you need to spend time in prayer with him. Why do some people becoming more like the world? Is because their mind is not being renewed. How do you renew your mind? Is by the word of God, so that you can know and test what is the will of God in your life (Refer to Romans 12:2). I want to encourage you, spend time in the Word.

You know, it's a privilege for me to serve the youth and one of the youths that I used to reach out to, his name is called Alastair. I'm not sure if he's here, he is someone I shared about him before, he came to faith after reaching out to him in the basketball court. And after four years, five years, suddenly he says, Oh, you Fei, after all the things that you say, I now believe, Okay, wow, thank God, you came to faith. And he began to join Bible study and begin to grow. For two years, he has been with me and growing in the Word of God, understanding what the Bible says about many things. And now he began to go for Jesus. Isn't that amazing? Now he say, just two days ago, he asked me, Yu Fei, I want to reach out to my parents who are Taoists. They really don't believe in Jesus. They believe in many gods, they believe that, the parents tell him don't 走火入魔 (don’t go crazy in Chinese). You can go to church, but don't get baptized, you know, as if baptism, like, you know, there’s a zap or whatever. And he say, Yu Fei, how can I reach out to my parents? Because he wants to serve the parents, he wants to help the parents to know Jesus as well and to grow in Jesus as well. You see, that’s a young man that I know, I came across, that know God, grow in God and go for God.

There is another young man Jarius. I can talk more about him next time. But you can see his life growing in the Word of God, desiring to serve people around. There is another young man, he has this telegram channel: The Pursuit of Holiness. He asks people, he just wants to be accountable for his spiritual life. And he will say, Yu Fei, I'm going to post every day, what God is teaching me in the Word. And he will say this, “Help me to live my life in my Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, in remembrance of Jesus. That is someone that is growing, that is not someone that is like, passively waiting for God to zap them or whatever. They take steps on a regular basis to grow. Maybe you ask yourself, why am I not growing? Is because maybe you're not spending time in spiritual discipline, in the Word of God and in prayer.

* • Community

Not just spiritual disciplines that God has given to us, the means of grace. God grant to us, community, to help us to grow to be more like His Son. God gave us CG, DG, mentoring group, LOLMD. God gave us family to help you to grow to be more like him. In fact, if we look at the Acts church, do you know what the community did? “They devote themselves to apostles’ teaching and the fellowship”, in “prayer”, and in, “the breaking of bread”. (Acts 2:42) In fellowshipping, in provoking one another unto love and good works (Refer to Hebrews 10:24). They meet, they gather, they encourage, they poke one another because they see the guy that's falling and they restore the person. They see the guy that's not loving Jesus, they encourage the person, and so on and so forth. We need community. And if you're not in CGs, maybe it's time to rethink whether you're growing. And if you want to grow, why not consider joining some Care Groups in our church? And I am excited, I hear from Aunty Sue Juian, that last year, there were 180 people that join CG last year, is because they want to be part of a community to help them to grow in their sanctification process. So we thank God for them. “Exhort one another every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:33). We need one another, God give us community for a reason. So stay back, engage with one another so that we can speak life to one another.

* • Adversity

The third means of grace. Sometimes it's something that we don't actively go about. It's something that maybe sometimes God allows it to happen in our life. God give or God allow trials and adversity in our life, to train us up, to grow us, to test us, to stretch us, so that we can be more like Christ so that we can depend on him lest we become so comfortable in our Christian walk, that we think that we don't need Jesus. “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6), many problems, many difficulties, many adversities in your life. For why? What is the reason? “So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7) God allow trials and difficulties in your life to train you up. Look at James chapter one. By all his trials and tribulations, your faith can be tested. So, God grant all these things for us. Look at the life of Pastor Chee Kean, through that trials of disease that God allow him to have, he came out stronger, rather than bitter. Look at the life of your CG mates. How they go through trials, you see how they come out stronger? Do you know that they are growing, they are growing, they are growing. Sometimes we like to run away from problems. But God gave us trials and problems in our life so that we can face it. So that we can depend on him so that our character can be mold and shape, our patience will be tested. Sometimes God grants, not sometimes, most of the time, God grant your family, your spouse to, of course they're not the trials that God sent, but God grants spouse and family and children in your life, to grow you to teach you how to be patient, to show the love of Christ, and so on and so forth. Thank God for trials and difficulties in our life.

You see, God desires us to grow, not just to know Him, to grow in him and also to go for him. Ultimately, for what purpose, all these spiritual means of grace, that God grant to us is not the end. The end of all this means of grace is for us to be conformed to His image, to be like His Son, so that we can enjoy Jesus so that we can have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, who came to save you from your sin.

I want to end with this testimony from one of the youths. His name is Micah Dumo. She was Sec 3 when she was writing this statement. This is what she said, a testimony or evidence or proof of something. “As a second-generation Christian, I grew up going to church every Sunday, learning about Bible stories, memorizing verses until I knew them by heart. As a 12 years old then, I may have thought that yes, I got it all. I know so much about the Bible here. Because of that I went on living my life thinking that I was a true Christian. It was clear that I did not really understand what God was teaching me to the Bible story and how I could apply the memory verses in my life.”

She continued to say, “It was when I attended my first youth camp in 2018”, when she was Sec 1, then she realized how wrong she was to think that she already understood what it means to be a Christian. She understood, “I realized how sinful I was. And I was so grateful to know that God has sacrificed his son to save me. I never truly appreciated the abundant love that Jesus had for me. It was a turning point for me, knowing that there’s so much more to Christianity than just memorizing verses and stories. It was then when I truly believed in Jesus and made a decision to pursue Him more. Growing up in church does not really guarantee a ticket to heaven. I'm thankful that God has saved me and changed my heart”. Remember that transformation, it is a change from the inside out. The parents can change his behavior. But this change is from the inside out. That I thank God, “God saved me and changed my heart to seek sick Him more. I started to live my life humbly and prayerfully depending on him more and more. Whenever I make mistakes, I am thankful that I can confess, repent and come back to Jesus”.

She quoted this verse, “I am the vine, we are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “This verse above tells me that I cannot be fruitful as a Christian without God.” She cannot grow, she cannot serve without God. “Because of God's love for me”. That is her motivation. “He forgave me and now, I'm motivated to love and forgive others too. I pray by the grace of God, I will continue to walk with him, serving and blessing others all for the glory of God.” That was when she was Sec 3 and now she is one of the facilitators in the youth ministry, helping the other youths to grow in Jesus. This is the story of someone that know Jesus personally and desire to pursue Jesus intentionally. And prayerfully, one day she can go for Jesus fruitfully. My desire for us as a church, as individual, for myself as well, that we will grow. Don't just because you think that you have white hair, you are old in your faith means that you are growing. Maybe not. Maybe some of you are serving in ministry on a regular basis but yet you know that your heart is far away from God. God desire you to grow in him. Take care of your root, before God will give you your fruit. Take care and keep on abiding in Christ, then you will abound for Christ. Take care of your being before your doing. Take care of your devotions before your duty for Jesus. Be like Mary, wanting to be sitting at the feet of Jesus and not Martha, busy with many things, by yet forgetting that one good thing: to be sitting at the feet of Jesus. That's my encouragement to you, and also a challenge to you this year. Make your New Year's resolution to be pursuing Christ, in His holiness, in godliness.

Prayer

Let us bow with a word of prayer. Spoken a lot of things but you know what I've shared, you know what God has shared in His Word. God is more concerned for your being than your doing. God is concerned for your soul. God is concerned that if you are growing and to becoming more like His Son, to enjoy Him, in the fellowship of one another, in the fellowship of Jesus Christ. That's God's desire, God save you so that not just to give you a ticket to heaven, God save you so that you can view and start and cultivate your relationship with Jesus. That’s God’s desire for each and every one of you. If you are not growing, maybe it's time to reflect back upon your life. Ask God to give you that new heart, the desire in the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to grow. God, we commit the rest of this afternoon into your hands, we know that your Word has spoken to us. We know that is sometimes uncomfortable, but we know that it is your desire, it is your will, our sanctification, that we can be set apart, away from sin, understanding the power of sin that has been broken. And now we can live the kind of life that you desire us to live, because the Spirit of God lives in us. So, God will you enable us this year, to grow to be more like your Son, to grow in our relationship with you, to be more and more like you before we go for you. God, we thank you for this time. ask that you bless our hearts. Help us not to be hearers by be doers of Your Word. We thank you, we love you because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Thank you. We love you, in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.