First Chinese Baptist Church San Gabriel Valley

Jesus wants the church to grow up, not just to grow old. The goal of His church is to become more and more like Jesus. To help us mature, God did not only just give us leaders to equip us, God also gave us each other so that we may speak the truth in love to each other. When we speak the truth of Jesus to one another, we grow in Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Rather than living in our childish ways, the Body of Christ can help each other to grow up to become more and more like Christ by speaking the Gospel truth to one another through actions and words.

In this new sermon series, we return to the mission of our church. We'll explore each component as we prepare to enter into a new church year. Our church's mission is to multiply disciples who love God, love one another and love the lost by abiding in Christ through His word, prayer and the Holy Spirit. This week, we explore the greatest commandment - love God. Loving God is more than just doing things for God. We can do things for God without loving God but when we genuinely love God, we will always do things for God. In Matthew 26:6-13, we saw a portrait of love toward God. Mary loved Jesus because she was first loved by God. Loving God means that we give God our very best. To many, our best to God may seem like a waste but to God, it is a beautiful thing. Rather than waiting till later to love God, now is always the best time to love God wherever we are, whatever we do.

We have gotten to meet many people with our life and may think to ourselves "Well ____ will never change." In Acts 9, God changed Saul to become the person we know as Paul. This radical transformation was first initiated by God, responded by Saul and Ananaias was sent as the changed agent. This encourages us that even when we don't see changes in people, we should not give up on the person. Instead, we must wait actively and pray faithfully. We must trust that God knows the right time and knows what He is doing.

Forgiveness is never easy. Many times we don't think we can or we don't want to forgive those who have hurt us. In this sermon, we explore various myths that might cause us to hold grudges toward those who wrong us. The strength to forgive others comes from us being forgiven by God through faith in Jesus Christ. We can and should forgive because we were first forgiven by God.

Through commercials and media, the world around us tells us that we should believe in ourselves. But this lie will not lead us toward life as God creates for us to live. Instead, it will lead to our downfall. We believe in ourselves because somehow we think that we can control our lives. What matters most is who Jesus says He is and who Jesus says we are. Having faith means that we will trust His Word and trust it enough to live by it.

Follow our hearts is destructive because our hearts are faulty and deceitful. Because of our sinful nature, our hearts are one of stone but by the grace of God, through Jesus we have been given a new heart - a heart of flesh. Rather than following our hearts, God calls us to follow His Son Jesus Christ through saying no to our flesh, committing to Jesus even though it may cost us and living like Jesus.

The second lie that many Christians believe is that “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle." However, all of life is more than we can handle. The Bible instead tells us that we will go through suffering, but God will be with us through that suffering, even when our lives are falling apart (See Psalm 23:4, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 43:2 for more). When God gives us more than what we can handle, we come to know God - 1) The sovereign God who is always in control, 2) The all powerful God who empowers us when we can find no power, 3) The loving God who can sympathize with our weaknesses. We have Jesus in us and therefore we have everything we need to face whatever that is going on in our lives. Rather than believing in the lie, we must trust that God won’t give me more than what He can handle through us. 

As we kick off our new sermon series Lies Christians Believe, we tackle the first lie: "God just wants me to be happy." This lie leaves us believing that we can choose whatever we want to do just because it makes us happy, even if that means it hurts others or sin against God. This a lie because we can't always be happy. Happiness is based on circumstances and it is very fleeting. Instead, God gives us joy as the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Joy that is from God is not based on circumstances, but on the person Jesus. Our joy remains because Jesus Christ remains in us. Because of this, we are commanded to rejoice in always because we can always trust in Him.

God's love for us is not determined by what we ought to do but by who we are. We are His creation and He loves us with His everlasting love. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to redeem us. Our Heavenly Father's love is not marked by what He can give us but who He is to us. His greatest sign of love is His presence with us everyday. Our response to this love is by delighting in His presence by listening to Him through His Word and talking to Him through prayer.

English Sermon (06/13/21) – Theology of Sexual Identity (Gen 1:26-28) God's perfect design of us includes our sexuality. He created males and females. Our hormones and genetics confirm God's design. Contrary to the world's definition, our sexuality is not different from our gender. Sex and gender are one and the same. While gender roles may be generalities based on social and cultural values, gender identity is absolute. Gender identity is not a preference or a choice. Rather it's God's perfect design for us. Our gender is hardwired into how God has made us. Any sexual behavior that is against God's perfect order is considered a sin against God. But the good news is that the Gospel is good enough to save anyone, including those who struggle with sexual identity.