The birth of John the Baptist was announced by the angel Gabriel.  Before the appearance of Gabriel, God had withdrawn Himself from His people for 400 years.  God sent Gabriel to Nazareth in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy.  Nazareth was actually a despised place because the Jews in the Galilee area mixed around with the Gentiles and yet God had chosen Mary from Nazareth.

There are three things to consider from the text.

1.    MARY'S  SELECTION
She was just an ordinary girl chosen by God.  Mary was a virgin and kept herself pure until the day she was to be married to Joseph.  So, we should keep ourselves pure as the Word of God said that adulterers and fornicators (those having sexual relationship before marriage) will not enter heaven unless they truly repent and confess their sins and stop sinning.
We should also keep ourselves pure for God's blessing to come upon us.  Ask God for help to keep us pure.  Do you want to keep yourself pure ?

2.    MARY'S SHOCK
Mary was given a special task - she ws surprised and shocked at this task especially when the message was presented by an angel.  Each one of us has a guardian angel.  Mary was shocked but she surrendered to God's will.  The angel showed her that the birth of Jesus is supernatural, a miracle, like that which was happening to her relative Elizabeth.
Mary was shocked also by the implications of her getting pregnant before marriage because she had a pure reputation.  What sort of reputation do we have - a pure one ?  What would we feel if we are in Mary's position ?
 

3.    MARY  SUBMITTED  TO  GOD  (Luke 1:38)
Though Mary did not understand how the birth of Jesus will happen, she surrendered herself to God, to be used by Him.  We may not understand God's plans but we should submit to God as His plans are the best for us.  Do you believe that God wants to do good things for your ?
What are your concerns ?  Studies ? Having fun ? BGR ?  Career ?  God ?  Church ?  Your last concern may be Church or God.
Right now God may be your no. 9 or 10 priority.  We need to lift Him up to be our No. 1 priority - above our studies, above our relationships, above our careers.
 

6th December 1998
Advent – Focus on Joseph, the father of Jesus.
Dr. Roland Chia  {Summarized by Sharon Cheuk}
Text :  Matt 1:18-25

Background.
Mary was engaged to Joseph.  But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph, her fiance, being a stern man of principle, decided to break the engagement, but to do it quietly, as he did not want to disgrace her publicly.  At night, he fell into a dream, and in that dream, God revealed to Joseph that Mary was pregnant via the Holy Spirit, and that she would conceive a child to be named Jesus.  When Joseph awoke, he did as God commanded and took Mary home to be his wife.

Point 1: Joseph was a man of faith.
When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant whilst still a virgin, he must have felt a sense of betrayal as her chastity was challenged.  This is especially so as their betrothal was regarded as an official engagement, when sexual abstinence was expected to be practised for a year. Sexual relations would be considered as adultery.  Joseph could have disgraced Mary publicly if he wanted to, but being righteous and thoughtful, he did not do so.  However, the dream he had confirmed Mary’s righteousness, and satisfied, Joseph proceeded on with the marriage.

Joseph was a man of faith because he did not question God’s command but stepped out in faith.  The moment we accept faith, we have crossed the line.  This is the basis of Christianity.

Hudson Taylor was on a sailboat between West Malaysia and Sumatera once.  The Captain of the boat informed him fearfully that there was no wind to prevent the boat from drifting towards an island which was inhabited by heathens and cannibals.  The Captain asked Hudson Taylor to pray for wind.  Hudson Taylor told the Captain to put up his sail first.  After praying for 45 minutes, wind came as an answer.
 

Point 2: Joseph was a man of action.
Joseph did not wait for a year before marrying Mary – he did it immediately.  This is an example of works following faith.  C.S. Spurgeon once said that faith and works should travel side by side.

Living by faith is living with assurance.

There was once a famous tightrope walker from Paris who could do the most wonderful tricks on the rope.  He could walk on the rope blindfolded.  He could ride a bicycle on the rope, and he could wheel a wheelbarrow on the rope.  One day, an American promoter made him an offer.  He offered to set up a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, on which the tightrope artist would perform all his tricks.  The artist agreed, and gave his performances to the admiration of the audience.  Then the artist asked the promoter,”Do you really believe that I could do this?”  The promoter replied,”Yes, I do!”  The artist said,”If you really do, then sit in this wheelbarrow as I wheel it across the rope!”
 

 Point 3: Joseph was a man of mission.
Joseph had 3 important missions:
(a) he had an extraordinary wife who would bear the Son of God;
(b) he would supervise the activities of Jesus during his boyhood, so that he would increase in wisdom and stature, increasing in the favour of God; and
(c) he was to fulfill the prophecy of the Old Testament.
 

Conclusion.
God wants us to be like Joseph, to be a people of faith, action and a mission.

There is a story about 3 trees.  Each tree had a dream.  The first tree wanted to be made into a treasure chest box, to hold the best treasures in the world.  The second tree desired to be made into a great ship, one that would transport generals and kings to new frontiers.  The third tree also had a dream.  It wanted to grow as tall as a tree can be, to reach up to heaven and see God.  Years passed, and the trees matured and aged.  One day, a woodcutter came and cut down the first tree.  “Oh good,” the tree thought to itself,”My dream is coming true.  I’m going to be a treasure box!”  But the lumberjack fashioned the wood into an ordinary box, and gave it to the neighbouring farmer to put hay and grass in.  The second tree suffered a similar fate.  It was chopped and made into a sailboat to be used on a lake.  The third tree, after being cut down, was left useless in a lumber yard.  One night, the baby Jesus was placed in the box filled with grass and hay, and the first tree realised that it was in fact holding the King of Kings, the best treasure in the world.  One stormy day, Jesus calmed the storm on a lake, whilst riding on a humble sailboat, and the second tree realised that it had indeed carried the General of Generals.  And one dark day, the third tree was used to hold the Son of God as he died, and from then on, the symbol of the cross pointed the way to heaven.
 
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13th December 1998
WE NEED  EACH  OTHER  TO  GROW.
Kenneth Thien  {Summarized by Margaret Kong}
Text :  

God is raising up young people to bring the gospel to the world.  About 1000 youth came to attend the Joshua 21 Youth Mission Festival in Singapore in 1998.  God's Spirit is clearly working among the youths.  The City Harvest Church in Singapore has 3 youth services which can fit 2400 youths every Sunday.  The youths are so enthusiastic about God that everyone is already seated 5 minutes before the service starts.  Nobody goes to the toilet during the 2 hour service as they are so eager for God.

In the past 10 years, there were more people saved compared to the last 1000 years.  This mean that Jesus is coming back very soon and God is using young people to reach out.  In the 1997 Pastor Conference in Moscow, the average age of Russian Pastors there was 18.  There are areas or people in your life where only you can reach - the people of your ag.  God wants to use you.

In Exodus 1:7 the Israelites were fruitful and increased abundantly.  Compare with Genesis 1:28.  The Israelites were prosperous because they were doing exactly what God commanded them to do.  It was when they were doing exactly God's will that Pharoah was fearful of them and used shrewed schemes to persecute them.  Similarly, God wants us to bear fruit of the Spirit and He wants us to be mighty, to stand up and fight the Enemy.  We need each other, to stand up together against the Enemy.

1 Thessalanians 5:14 shows us how to stand together, to be an encourager.

1        We are to warn the hard hearted with the love of God.  If you are not for God, then you are against God.

2        Comfort the fainthearted (those who had been injured in their fight against the Enemy).  We may be the only army that shoot at our own injured soldiers.  Comfort them - dont discourage them by saying "You're useless !"

3        Uphold the weak - How ?

Illustration - 10 participants ran in the 100 M finals of the 1996 Olympics for the Disabled.  During the race, one of them fell down and had difficulty in getting up.  About 7 of the other runners turned back to help their fallen friend and ran with him to the finishing line.  They ran together with their disabilities and problems.

 
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Background
When Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, all her neighbours rejoiced.  On the eighth day, the child was circumcised.  He was about to be given the name Zechariah, as his father was named, but his mother objected and said he was to be named John.  However, her neighbours and relatives pointed out that there was no one in their family with that name.  To settle the matter, the matter was brought to Zechariah, who was still dumb at that time.  To everyone’s astonishment, he confirmed Elizabeth’s decision.  Immediately, his tongue was loosed and he began to speak and praise God, and everyone was filled with awe.

Point 1: Like John, we are part of God’s design.
John's birth was foretold by an angel of the Lord to his father Zechariah.  John’s life had a purpose and meaning.  Likewise, our lives are part of God’s great design – God planned us from the beginning.  When we try to change and modify this design, we are virtually “slapping God’s face”.

Point 2: Like John, we should accept our parentage and heritage.
As John was born into a Jewish home, he was circumcised on the eighth day as per Jewish law.  (Circumcision was God’s way of keeping the male line clean and healthy.)

We are not Jewish – we are Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and so on.  We should be proud of who our parents and ancestors are, as well as what we have inherited by way of culture.

Point 3: Like John, we should love and accept our names.
John’s relatives wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father.  Zechariah, however, intervened and John was named according to God’s will.

Each of us have a name of our very own.  We should accept it and love it, as it is part of God’s will.

Conclusion.
From the birth of John the Baptist, we gleaned 3 lessons:
(a) We should accept that we are part of God’s plan and design;
(b) We should be proud of our parentage and heritage; and
(c) We should accept and love our names.
 

  27th December 1998
The Message of Christmas.
Speaker:  Kenneth Thien   {Summarized by Margaret Kong }
Scripture Ref: John 3: 16

Christmas is a story about God who came to earth to save us.  John 1: 1-12 shows God becoming a man and He speaks to us through His Son Jesus.  God is real and He is not a silent God.  He speaks His love to us clearly.  John 3:16 is the central theme of the Christmas message.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus Christ so that whoever believes in Him will not die but have eternal life.

Unless we ourselves have experienced God's love, we are unable to give God's love to others.  During a recent visit to the Bukit Padang Mental Hospital, a lady patient said that she still remembered when and why she first entered the hospital.  It was when she saw her daughter committed suicide right in front of hr eyes.  An Indian man of about 50 years old entered the hospital because his family left him for India.  Jesus also came to people like these who have been forgotten by the society.  Who will demonstrate God's love to them ?  We want to be Christians who will speak love, live in love and act in love.

How does God look at man ?  Let's take a look at John 3:16 again.
For God so loved the world ... what does the word 'so' mean in this verse ?
Refer to John 3:14 ...  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so  must the Son of man be lifted up.
The word 'so' means 'in the same way'.  The serpent was lifted up so that the Israelites can look up to it to be saved.  At that time, God was saying that the Israelites had sinned and that sin causes  death where only God can save them.  God saw in us as perishing mankind and our destiny is death.
In the same way when God sent His Son, He saw our sins which bring death and only through His Son we will be saved.  For God who loved His people the Israelites during the time of Moses and in the same way He loves the whole world.  He saw that we are perishing and He saw that we are precious, that He did not even spare His Son.  Jesus is the only hope for the nations, for us.  The nations need Jesus because man has a spiritual problem.

God did not come to save mankind on the spur of the moment.  He predestined  our salvation.  We can ask Jesus to come into our lives to destroy the work of the enemy (the devil) in us.  We are created in the image of God but when sin came into the world the perfect image was distorted.  God executed a plan that started with Christmas, to save us, to restore us to that perfect image.

What is Christmas about ?  Christmas is about

• God who saw us perishing
• God who saw us precious
• God sending salvation through Jesus
• God looking at us and remembering the perfect image that He had first made in Adam and Eve
• God reversing the whole world order to restore us to what we ought to be.

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