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A very good morning to all of you, welcome to Gospel Light, our first English worship service this morning. This is our very first worship service of the Year and we are grateful you can join us on this special first Sunday of 2018.

Now, this is the year I turned 42 and since I turned 42, or actually, since I've crossed the big 40, the fourth decade of my life, I've been thinking, actually more about health.  I may feel healthy and I hope I look healthy, but I've friends around my age who have been diagnosed with rather serious illnesses.  I've friends around my age who have even passed away from serious illnesses so I don't take my health for granted, I, I can't see my health from the outside, I really think I may need a thorough, a deeper look, a health screening for myself on the inside but I'm not just concerned about my personal health, I'm also very concerned about the health of the church and I think if you are a believer of Jesus Christ you're not just a churchgoer but you're a real follower of Jesus Christ, you're Christian, you will, I think, also be concerned for the health of the church because you know that the church. The local body of believers is something precious to God, the church is what Jesus came for, the church is bought with the blood of Jesus Christ and you will be concerned that the body of believers here will be healthy and you know that the health of the church can't be just assessed by mere external things. You can't assess the health of a man by his size, isn't it?

I mean a big muscular guy can actually be very unhealthy. He may be strong, he may be having bulging muscles but who knows he may have a cancer hiding somewhere in his body. Likewise, a small-sized boy is not necessarily unhealthy. He has all the potential to be big and strong if you give him time so the health of the church cannot be known by the building, we have a nice building but that does not tell you anything about the health of the church, the health of the church cannot be assessed by the size, you may have a lot of people but we can be very, very unhealthy. So this series on health screening for the church is to take a deeper look, a closer inspection as to really are we healthy?

Now if you want to screen for health of a person what you do, you take some tests right, you take some tests and so you, you will probably go to a doctor and you'll put on a BP cuff, a sphygmomanometer to check your blood pressure. You can't tell blood pressure just by looking at the person you need to take some tests. Likewise, if you want to know your blood sugar level, you got to do a finger prick test.  You want to tell if your kidneys are doing well, one of the things you do is to take a urine test or you may take some more blood for further testing for cancer markers and so on or you may take a chest x-ray.  You do these simple tests to look at your health.

Now, these tests are not comprehensive, you don't check for everything in your body but they screen out what is common, serious and relatively treatable. Likewise, for health screening for the church, we are to screen some serious, common, relatively treatable issues that may plague church and cause ill health.

Now, we are going to look at some tests over the next four, five weeks and they are as follow.  We are going to look at the Word, the Gospel, Evangelism, Membership and Discipline. You say pastor, that's not comprehensive, I know. There are things like prayer, missions, worship, very important subjects not dealt with here but this is just a very simple basic screening tests. We actually based this sermon series loosely from the book called Nine Marks and some of you have already read it.  I'm grateful you have and if you have not, please take a look at it. They have nine tests, we sort of collapsed, combined some of them to make it a five or 5 sermon series but pretty much all will be covered in these five weeks alright, so five tests to assess church health today, so we are going to deal with the first test today and it is the Word.  The statement is this - a healthy church teaches the Word of God. That's as simple as it comes, alright. How can you tell if a church is healthy or not? Simple test, a healthy church teaches the Word of God.

Now, some of you will be say what a lousy test. I thought every church teaches the Word of God. Pastor, tell me one church that doesn't teach the Word of God. Well, I agree with you every church will refer to the Word of God but there's a difference between teaching the Word of God and teaching using the Word of God. Let me say that again, there's a difference between teaching the Word of God and teaching using the Word of God say what's the difference?

Well in preaching today, in teaching on Sunday services, in Sunday services essentially there are two kinds of sermons. We call them number one, a topical sermon or number two, an expository sermon. You say what's a topical sermon?  Very simple you think of a topic, you find a topic and then you take verses from the Bible to explain this topic. For example, you want to talk about the topic of grace, so you'll scan the Bible, pick up verses in the Bible that would teach about grace, so you take all the verses together, assemble them and you teach this topic on grace so topical preaching uses verses. Expository preaching means you explain the verses that's all, so topical sermons use verses, expository sermons explains verses, is that clear, pretty much?

Let me go a little bit deeper into topical sermons using verses. Now pastor are you saying that topical sermons are not good sermons?  Are you saying that topical sermons are bad, no I'm not! Why, because I'm preaching a topical sermon today, in fact, for the next four weeks we are going to go on a topic called healthy church. I'm not going to exegete, I'm not going to explain a passage of Scripture as it were, so we are not saying, I'm not saying that a church that preaches topical sermons is bad, is unhealthy, no, but what we are saying, I'm saying is that if the church only and largely preaches topical sermons, they preach topic using verses, in the long run that would not be healthy because the staple, the mainstay of preaching should be expository, teaching the Word of God and not just teaching a topic using the Word of God.

Os Guinness said something very insightful.  The preacher, in topical sermons, the preacher instead of looking out upon the world, looks out upon public opinion, trying to find out what the public would like to hear.  The public, turning to our church culture to find out about the world, discovers that there is nothing but its own reflection.

The danger about topical sermon is that the preacher of the church likes or generally preaches things that people would like to hear and they are therefore dangers about going to different extremes, there are problems with imbalances, there are problems with wrong emphasis, they may be preaching what people want to hear and not what people need to hear, it may be very narrow, it may be very specific, the preacher may get on some hobbyhorse and just preach about what he likes and doesn't give you the whole counsel, the whole teaching, the richness, the vastness that God intends in His Bible and I've heard actually some of you come from churches that are, in your opinion, too specific, too narrow in its preaching, it's always about church history, it's always about law and grace. You say that I, I, I don't feel satisfied, I don't feel fed in those churches, you say because they always preaching about certain topics and I think that is very real that if we are majoring on topics we may not teach people the whole range of Scripture as God intends it to be so let me be clear again, we are not against topical preaching, there is a time and place for topical preaching but we believe it is far better and it is healthier if we were to major or this is the mainstay, this is the staple diet for the church, expository teaching and that is we explained the Bible as it is, that's I think the best.

Now that takes, that takes a confidence by the people, by the preacher, takes confidence in the Word of God itself. We need to believe that it is definitely worth the while, for the church, not to just talk about random topics - about how to overcome depression, how to succeed in life, but to have confidence that God's Word is absolutely sufficient and is absolutely what we need.

Well the Scriptures itself say that all Scripture is given by God, is breathed out by God and it is necessary for us that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Hey, herein is the sufficiency of the Bible.  He does not need to run around looking at world philosophy, public opinion but he can believe that if I know the Scripture, I have enough, I can be complete in terms of scriptural information to be able to do every good work God has called me to. So a preacher, a church, looks at the Scripture and say, we believe this is sufficient, this is indeed what the church needs and we confidently exegete, explain, give expository sermons about the Scriptures. Elsewhere, the Bible tells us, Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, that's our confidence, every word deserves to be explained, to be taught. The Bible tells us that the apostles in the early church devoted themselves to prayer and to the Word.

They were explaining the text, they were teaching the Scriptures. 2nd Timothy, this is what Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor, he said that they are living in last days, dangerous times. There is a period, this is a time where people will not want to hear sound doctrine, they want to heap to themselves lies, they like to heap to themselves what they like to hear, so Timothy what do you do? Give them what they like?  No, Timothy, you preach the Word. Even if people don't like to hear it? You preach the word. Even if people will go to another church to hear what they like? You preach the Word.  I think the church that is healthy is not looking to public opinion.  A church that is healthy says we want God's Word.  We want to understand God's Word so preacher don't just give us topics the whole year round, give us the Word of God and the Word of God is to be understood in such a way, in the days of Nehemiah, Ezra they read from the book, from the law of God, that's what they had, the Old Testament clearly and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading so when we gather on Sundays, we don't just read the Bible alright. I mean that's quite important but that's not sufficient.

What they did in those days is that they read and they explained.  They gave the sense, so that the people say, aah, I understand what Romans chapter 1 is all about, aah, I understand what Deuteronomy 13 is all about, I understand now, that's what proper teaching and preaching should accomplish so you take the Bible, you read it and you learn from it. This process is what we call, this is the technical word, I, I will explain why this is important for you to get, this word is called Exegesis. Exe, you read something from the text, you draw out something from the Bible so exegesis is when the interpreter makes the Scriptures say what God has to say, you just plainly explain what God wants to communicate, that's exegesis. Can you say with me, one, two, three, exegesis …… very good, great!

Does anyone know what's the opposite of Exegesis - anybody knows?  Wow… you're all paiseh [local dialect: shy] I'm sure.  I'm sure some of you know, the opposite of exegesis is, so instead of drawing out from the text, you, you, you read into the text what you want so that's called Eisegesis - the interpreter makes the Scripture says what he wants it to say so a proper expository sermon, proper expository teaching of the Bible is not saying I want to talk about this topic, I'll make this verse say my topic, you get what I mean, you don't come to the Scriptures with your own personal bias, but you say Lord, I am reading Your Book as it is, I want to draw out from the text what you want me to learn and very importantly, I need to read the context, I need to know what this verse is about, within this chapter, within this book so that you're honestly, faithfully explaining the text the way God wants it to be.

Now I think this might be very abstract for you so I enlisted the help of a preacher, his name is David Platt. He is a young man and I heard this illustration he has given about how we sometimes can project our biases into the Bible to say what we want it to say and get it all wrong and so I thought let's hear from him – it's an interesting little illustration, take a look.

David Platt's video plays…..

Now the story I'm going to tell you is completely true, you are not going to believe it's true, but I promise you, inerrancy every, every single detail of the story I'm going to tell you it's true, so I, I'm worrying, how am I going to make the team, if I'm short and.. How am I going to impress the coach so one day I was sitting in my room I was actually reading the Bible and I came to Luke 1:37, it says, for nothing is impossible with God and it was like the Words of Scripture leapt off the page and into my heart and in that moment I read that verse, it..., nothing is impossible with God and somehow it triggered and went from there to, if that's true, then I could dunk the basketball and if I can dunk the basketball, like, coach God put me on the team, ...I can't even dunk it on I guess so I left where I was sitting there in my room, I went outside where we had a basketball goal.

I got a basketball and in our driveway, I got a basketball, I went to the back of the driveway and I I got down on my knees, and said God, these words that say, nothing is impossible if I believe, with your power I can dunk this basketball and so I got up and I wanted everything to be perfect so I planned out how many steps it's going to take for me to get from the back of the driveway to the goal so I planned out how many steps it's going to take and in my plan was, so follow me, my plan was the last two steps, I was going to close my eyes, I was going to jump with my eyes closed, that way I could picture angels, lifting me up to the goal, the next thing I want to feel is the rim, I'm going to throw the ball into the rim and then my plan was I'm going to hang for a while because, I have never been up there before, so that was the plan so I go back, true story, true story, I go back to the back of the goal, I got down on my knees one more time, I mean normal day, cars driving by, people walking by, normal day for them, I'm having revival right here in this driveway. I got to believe with your power I can dunk this ball. So I picked up the ball, I started running and running, I got every step planned out, I got two feet away.  I closed my eyes,well, before I tell you what happened, just be honest and obviously, I can't see people in the….How many of you, knowing this is a true story, how many of you think that I dunked the basketball on that day? Show of hands, two hands, three, now you just kind of feel sorry for me. How many of you say there's no chance, alright.... true story, I run, every step planned out, I get two steps away, I closed my eyes, I take the last two steps with my eyes closed.  I could feel something on my right and my left, I could feel something and the next thing I felt was that basketball pole right in my forehead....... loud laughter!

I want you to imagine walking by my house on that day, you see this little kid get off, off his knees, supposedly in prayer and just go running and jump into a pole, huh, huh, huh, aah! So, so the reason I tell you that story, Luke 1:37, the whole passage is about the virgin birth, alright? That's the point of the text, not you can dunk as a four foot, nothing can and that's not what the text means, it's about the virgin birth. So anyway, it's important before you hurt yourself like,learn the context of the passage, alright?

I think he makes a clear point. I don't have to labor that, exegesis or expository teaching is to explain the text as it is. I think that's why people say today, Jesus is coming soon. You know why, because they say the last Trump is already here- Donald Trump. Well, that's not exegesis, that's eisegesis, you see a Donald Trump and you add that Donald Trump into the Scripture.

Well, faithful preaching is key so we are saying that expository teaching is to take the Word of God, read it, explain it, so that people understand what God has to say. So in health screening for the church, the first test is that the church is not just teaching topics using the Word of God but the mainstay, the staple of the church is that it teaches the word itself. You say pastor, why is this so important? I mean you, Mark Dever, the author of Nine Marks, and yourself, you put this is the number one test why is this so important. Very simple reason, fundamental reason and it is this - the Word of God reveals the God of the Word, that's why teaching the Word of God is of utmost importance because the Word of God reveals the God of the Word.

We as sinners don't know who God is.  We as sinners are blinded spiritually as to who God is until God reveals Himself to us through His Word.  Otherwise left to our own self, we would have imagination, imaginations and speculations that come up with a mutant form of god, that is not God.  It's a god of your own creation and if you're not teaching the Word of God faithfully people will have a wrong understanding of a wrong god and that is disastrous, don't you think because what you have then is not worship, is not Christianity, it's idolatry - wrong god, wrong faith everything salah [Malay: wrong], the real, the Word of God reveals the Word of God (sic Pastor meant "God of the Word").

Mark Dever has an illustration, he said in his book, I remember sitting in a doctrinal similar and making an observation about God from the Bible. Bill, another student in the class, responded politely but firmly that he liked to think of God rather differently. He liked to think of God as being wise but not meddling, compassionate but never overpowering, ever so resourceful but never interrupting, this, Bill said, is how I like to think of God.

Mark Dever then says, my reply was perhaps somewhat sharper than it should have been I was a very rather harsh or rather sarcastic but this is what I said. Thank you Bill for telling us so much about yourself but we are concerned to know what God is really like not simply about our own desires.

You see, we all have our own preferences for what God should be like. I want God to be loving and therefore He should not send anyone to hell - that's the kind of God I want.  I want God to be sovereign but He has no right to elect those who should be saved or not. I want God to be righteous but I want Him not to treat people quite differently. I want God to be just but He should not again damn anyone in the fires of hell. I want a God like that, I want a God who is wise but He should never send trials into my life.

You know how it is, we all have some desires about God and if you're not careful, we let our desires dictate the kind of god we want to worship.  We want a god who gives me money, health and wealth and that's the kind of god we want.  God must reveal Himself, that's the point of the Bible because of our own sins we could never know God otherwise.  Either He speaks or we are forever lost in the darkness of our own speculations.

I read the Bible with my kids in the past when they were younger, it's called a big story Bible and in the first page of the big story Bible, it simply says the Bible is God's Word and the Bible is about God, that's the whole point!  The Bible is not a set of good advice for you to succeed in your life. Many people, businessmen say, oh, I do not know what I can learn from so I go to the Bible to read some business advice, wrong!  The Bible is primarily about God and that's why we go to the Scriptures, otherwise we wouldn't really know God.

There's an old Indian story you might be familiar about seven blind men who wanted to find out what an elephant is. They have never seen an elephant, they are blind.  They have never encountered an elephant so one day they all stood before an elephant and they all stood at different parts of the elephant. They were allowed to touch the elephant, feel out the elephant and conclude for themselves what an elephant is, except that they cannot touch anywhere else except that designated part so after touching, they all got together and they discussed what an elephant is.

One of them said an elephant is like a rope, the other guy says, no you are lying, an elephant is like a wall, no, you two are lying, you are wrong, elephant is like a tree. No, no, no, no, an elephant is like a fan, they all got very upset one with another, because they all said different things about the elephant, they were all very convinced that what they feel an elephant is, is correct but they were all different observations. You say why, because each was, each of you have very limited experience with an elephant, you see you are a blind man and you have very limited experience with this elephant so if you just touch the side of the elephant you will say the elephant is a wall and that's all until you go to the tail and say, oh, it's like a rope and only if you spend time going around the elephant, feeling the an elephant for long while then you say I think I know what an elephant is now and here we are sinners who have been darkened in sin, blinded by our sin, we say, I think I know what God is like, He is like Santa Claus, He is not very different from the other gods I've heard of or known of or people worship of. You say why, because you never really take time to feel God out, learn about God in the Bible. So important to read and learn of God in the Bible because the Word of God reveals the God of the Word, that's why it is so important that the church is faithfully teaching the Bible, not just teach topics about the Bible or using verses from the Bible so the logic is this, a healthy church, what does it mean?

Fundamentally, a healthy church is one where the people of God have the right relation with God, agree? What's a healthy church? Good, good lighting, good sound, good chairs, good air-con. Healthy church is when God's people have the right relationship with God. How can you have the right relation with God? Well, you need to have the right information on God, to, to understand who God is and this information on God cannot be from your own imagination or speculation or desires, and once they are corrupt, they are wrong, they're darkened so the only way you can have reliable, accurate information on God is the revelation from God in the Bible. Make sense and you can't always, it's not so easy to understand everything until there is proper exposition of the Word of God so a healthy church is a church that exegetes the Word of God, explains the Word of God faithfully in expository teaching. So Dever says, a healthy church is a church that hears the Word of God and continues to hear the Word of God.

I hope you'll continue to desire to hear the Word of God. I hope this church will never come a day where they say, Pastor I think we have enough of going through Matthew and John and Hebrews, can you preach about something more interesting, can you teach us about financial success, about wisdom in making decisions, fill our church calendar with all these topics because they are more practical. Let me tell you, I think these are important subjects, don't get me wrong but I don't think there's anything more practical than knowing God and there's nothing more valuable than hearing the Word of God and not just having the Word of God used to support some thesis, theory or topic we like to hear so the preaching of the Word of God must be absolutely central, sound expos, expositional preaching is often the fountainhead of growth in a church.

Now, expository preaching, after so long, I realize it's not always going to create an immediate impact in your life, it's not so obvious sometimes when you teach a topic the impact is very obvious, we teach about how to overcome worries and some of you immediately say that's a great series, I've been helped. Wonderful, I'm not against topical, however, I'm saying the staple the mainstay should be expositional and expositional teaching does take patience to see fruit but I see that fruit will be general, broad-based, holistic toward God and I think that's worth the while. So this is all I have to say - health screening for the church is necessary because we can't judge a church health just by externals, by size, by facilities, you, you got to dig a bit deeper and the question you want to ask is, does the church faithfully teach the Word of God as their mainstay? So what does this mean for Gospel Light?  I hope with the end of this, this sermon, I want just to encourage you in a few things.

Number one, I hope you will continue to support and encourage expositional preaching here in this church. I hope you do and it takes both the church and the preachers to, to understand this together so that we can preach with great liberty and confidence. I'm here for, I've been here for a long while already, more than a decade actually, I'm not sure when God is to going to call me somewhere I do not know but if there should come a time when there's another pastor, another preacher who will take this pulpit, please as a church, encourage him to keep preaching the Word. That's what is key to the health of the church, alright. Would you do that?  You'll probably forget by then but please do continue to encourage, support the teaching, the preaching of the Word of God.

Number two I want to say, if the Word of God reveals the God of the Word and a right relationship with God is key to your spiritual health then let me ask you, are you reading the Word of God for yourself?  Now, a healthy church teaches God's Word but a healthy Christian doesn't just wait for Sunday to hear God's Word. You can't eat once a week to survive well.  You've got to feast on God's Word regularly.

I met a man this week, he represents a certain church or para church background and he said and he tells me every time he meets a Christian, one of the first questions he would ask is this, what book of the Bible are you studying now?  He doesn't ask what church you go to, he doesn't ask who is your pastor, he asks this very simple question, what book of the Bible are you studying now and you know what he says, most people can't give an answer and he's sad he says, how can people have dynamic God-centered lives if they are personally not going to the Word of God that reveals the God of the Word.

We are just kidding ourselves that we love God, we want to serve God, we want to grow in Him but we're not having a right relationship with God.  Why, how do I know that you are not even knowing Him.  I've a great relationship with my wife you say, I never talk to her, I only talk to her once a week for 30 minutes and I've a great relationship with my wife, are you sure? I have a great relationship with God but I'm not studying any verses, I'm not reading the Bible. You say, pastor, I don't know how to study the Bible, it's very difficult. I know talking to your wife sometimes can be difficult but you still have to talk right, you still have to listen right?

Well, we want to help you, well, this is a little advert alright, starting in March, starting in March, we are planning this I, I feel more and more that we don't just want to do Sunday church services, it's necessary but that's not enough so we feel that we really need to help all of you, we are serious about helping all of you grow in Christ and you can't grow without information, you can't grow without knowledge, you can't grow without the truth so we want to equip all of you with skills and knowledge or information that you may succeed and grow in your Christian life so starting in March, we are going to do a weekly, this is a high commitment alright, a weekly teaching of subjects that are related to Christianity that will be very useful for you. For example, we are going to deal with how to study the Bible. You say, I do not know how to study the Bible, I say you have no excuse, come March you come for these sessions on how to study the Bible, we want to equip you so that you can go back home and say, Lord, I want to know you today and every single day, I want to read the Bible and get to know you, we want to help you do that so starting in March that will be taking place after that, we are going to have a series on the Christian and the workplace. Most of you work, I think you probably spend 30, 40, 50% of your life at work, does Christianity have anything to do with 30, 40, 50% of your life, you bet so we want to help you understand what that theology means.

Then some of you are sharing the Gospel with others and you have questions that you do not know how to answer so the 3rd thing we are going to lineup is what we call apologetics, nothing to do with making apologies, but apologetics means a defense of the faith, how do you answer questions that are difficult so this is what we lineup for this year, but we are going to plan for a lot of topics, we have I think if I'm not wrong, 50 topics, but we are going to plan that all out. You can be sure all this is to help you in your Christian life.

Then you say, Pastor you're doing topical already what. Well yes so that will not take place on our Sunday service timeslot, our service timeslot will be a time to learn God's Word itself so 9 AM to 11 AM is still going to be that, but that Christian education program, we call this, the teaching of the subjects necessary for the Christian life will take place after lunch, so 1:30 onwards, for one hour, we are going to be strict with the timing, so that you can plan your time well. 1:30 to 2:30, we just encourage you to after service have lunch, have a short chat one with another then come back up learn and then go home. That's I think a minimum you can do for yourself to grow as a Christian alright so we hope that you will be serious about your walk and discipleship to Jesus.

Finally I want to say, but pastor, preaching the Word of God not very practical because there's so many needs in the church, people need to serve.  I say this is my confidence, my confidence is, if people know God in the Word of God, I don't worry about whether you're serving or not, you will. You will radically give your life to Jesus, you say, you say why, because when Isaiah had a vision of God when Isaiah saw God, one of the first thing he said is, woe is me, right, he recognised he's a sinner, God cleansed him symbolically with the coal from the altar and the next thing Isaiah said, having known the grace of God is, here am I, send me.  I don't believe church will be the same if you deeply know God in the Scriptures. This is my confidence, this is what the Scriptures say and I'm longing to see that in all our lives. A healthy church teaches the Word of God that we may come and know the God of the Word, may this be true for Gospel Light.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. I hope that as you hear this message, you will have a prayer in your heart for the church, in a world where churches I think, are sadly following trends and fashions and success and numbers, it is very tempting to say let's do what everyone else is doing. Let's do what draws the crowd but I think our objective here is not trying to be big or successful in the eyes of the world. What is important is that the church of Jesus Christ remains faithful to Jesus Christ and to be loyal to His Word. Over and over again the Bible says preach the Word, teach the Word and that is what we need to do.

Let us not as a church be drawn aside to deal with topics that people want and not teach on God Himself who is most needed. I pray this will be the culture of Gospel Light for all the years till Jesus returns and I pray today personally in your heart you will say, Lord, I want to know you more, you know, you are not going to know God more sitting in your room watching television, you are not going to know God more just lying on the beach and imagining things about God.

God has graciously revealed Himself in Scripture and you today, can know God in His Word.  We want to help you grow in God, in knowing the Scriptures so would you commit yourself to this process in 2018, let this be a year of knowing Him. My friends today, you may be saying I'm burned out in my ministry, I'm very tired. I've been serving and serving and serving, serving and things are so stressful. The problem is not the ministry, the problem is knowing God.  If you know God, you will serve God with joy and composure. I'm not saying ministry will be easy, it may be very challenging but deep in your heart there is that wellspring of life, of abundance, there is joy in difficulty, there is peace in trouble, what an amazing thing when you really know God.

To all our friends who are here for the first time, let me tell you this church is all about helping you know God. This church is not about helping you succeed in your career, this church is not about you getting healed from all your sicknesses. God can, but that's not always the case, but this is what you can look forward to, you will know God and when you know God, it beats having all the money in the world, being cured of all the sickness of the world because your soul has finally found his resting place in God.

Let me tell you in advance, knowing God is only possible through Jesus Christ.  The Bible tells us, God so loved the world He gave His Only Son. Why? So that Jesus would sacrifice Himself, to die and pay for your sins and because He did that, whoever repents of his sins and believes in Jesus will be saved, he will have this relationship with God, not because the man himself is good but because Jesus and what He has done is now yours. So this morning, how can I know God? Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ, may you enter this beautiful life-changing relationship with Jesus.

Father, thank You for this morning, bless now Your Word, this mindset, this paradigm, this perspective to the hearts of Your people, may we be a people who will be confident and joyfully proclaim we can and will know the God of the Word in the Word of God, we thank You in Jesus Name, amen.

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