Sunday Sermon - 27 Aug 2023

Now, I've been to church all my life and heard messages and wrote down notes and kept them to myself any time I did, but what good is that if only I read them, infrequently too. So I share with you, who are here to look for a little encouragement or hope, to be blessed like God has prepared for you to be. 

I am a sinner. I am sinful in the eyes of God and probably in your eyes too. However I am saved by I grow and build my life in God. And so can you. 

A Rock Solid Foundation

Often times we try to shortcut the foundation of life - what we build our personalities around, what our core values are, what our reputation looks like, how we look - so that we can get things done cheap and quickly...

Usually stories around this passage goes on about choosing between eternal life and death, but this week, we go on about choosing pain and death. Pain of our badly and weakly built foundations when the houses built on weak foundation, which end up crashing to the ground, vs Death, where we die to our self interests. 

Pain where we are humbled by God and his works in us, vs Death where we can't let our pride and sins go and still think we are the Gods of our lives. 

Matthew 16:16-18

"16#Simon Peter replied, a “You are b the Christ, c the Son of d the living God.” 17#And Jesus answered him, e “Blessed are you, f Simon Bar-Jonah! For g flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, h but my Father who is in heaven. 18#And I tell you, i you are Peter, and j on this rock 2 I will build my church, and k the gates of l hell 3 shall not prevail against it."

Back then and now, people has different views on the religious belief of who God is, who Jesus is, etc. And we still have the same differences. 

Jesus asks the disciples, Who does the people say I am? And Who do you say I am?

People might have different views but what is important is who Jesus is to me. He is the Messiah, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. What does this mean? Is he going to save us from all our hardships in life? Is he in a high position that will lead us out from difficulties in life?

Who Am I?

Jesus is proof of the promises God has given us, that he is alive and all promised will come true.  (I was close to say 'one day' but that is not true... in the way that it has already happened, in the past, present and future.)

The Truth of Jesus Christ

How do we find out?

Follow the relationship of Jesus and Peter. 

Jesus has the answers. But to what? All the questions that Peter has asked. 

What this, what that, why this, why that, who am I, and who are you?

Despite all of the sins Pete

We are defined by God, the creator instead of the things that we think we are, what people think we are. We might think we are insecure, that we are sad, upset, weak, that we have no purpose. But that is wrong... Purpose is given to a creation by its Creator, along with its characteristics. 

You think you're sad, weak, dont fit into society or your community, have no purpose, but seek God and the Holy Spirit that will help us realise what our identities are, what purposes are, what we are in You, not in us. 

Who Are We?

You, me, the people around us, are a community in Jesus. Also known as a church. People, including us, may give it a name, call us things, but at the end of the day, we are the church. I am part of the church. Jesus reigns over what the church is and becomes. The Kingdom of God is, and a church is a reflection of it. He is, and we seek what he blesses us with. 

Church is a place we gather to worship God. We worship because He is everything, He provides, He takes, especially what we think of him. People might take this wrong - if God is everything why does He need more from us who don't have much in comparison? Well, everything is already his, just because we're holding onto it, doesn't mean it's not His. 

"I will build my life upon your love, 

It is a firm foundation. 

I will trust in You alone

and I will not be shaken."