Fear Not For He Fails Not

Anything we’ve done that offended God, let us ask for His forgiveness. We want to make right our relationship with God. Only through a sincere repentant heart, can we hear God’s message. As we come together, we also carry each other in prayer, to seek God’s mercy and to receive strength from God’s Holy Spirit to help us live lives that will glorify our Sovereign Lord. May God remove in us the redundancy in the way we treat the Lord’s day. May He give us the freshness of His presence so we may experience newness. May we all be rejuvenated together as a church, solidified in our conviction, to uphold our faith and to strive towards our goal.

31 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. 4 And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Is it possible to be a Christian and still be lost? You do the church thing, you pray, you tithe, you even enjoy hanging out with people from church and actually like some of them. You know the Lord’s Prayer, almost able to memorize the Creed, and the first few lines of Amazing Grace. Beyond that, you’re just going through the motion, and some of you here do just that.

I’ve been going to church since about 4 or 5, and all through high school. I joined fellowships, went to retreats, sang in the choir, went Christmas caroling, and served with other brothers and sisters at the leprosy center. And even though I was known to be a Christian when my non-Christian friends asked, or when I had to declare my religion when filling out paperwork, I gave little thought to what I learned at church as I was too busy trying to learn how to fit in to the world I existed in. The only thing different between me and all of my friends was we didn’t have an altar at our home like my Buddhist and Hindu friends. I struggled with my own identity as who I was just so I could fit into ‘my world’ at the time.

This problem became greater when I was in high school. First, because almost all of the 7th grade students were a year older than me, smarter and more mature, and spoke fluent Mandarin, while I didn’t. Second, because of their religion, whenever I’m around them, I would abandon my identity just to blend in with theirs. But I still go to church every Sunday.

I didn’t do anything ‘bad’ per se, but I didn’t do anything to share Jesus with anyone. I was just a church-going person that never really grew or mature spiritually. When I saw the various colorful rituals that my Buddhist and Hindu and Muslim friends practiced, little did I know, my simple act of going to church on Sundays were also ritualistic. I was a so-called Christian, but was totally ineffective in my purpose as a real Christian.

“I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin.

Question #1 – What is God doing in my life?

• God has been at work in me since the beginning.

o World of the person – Your World

? Family background

? Character

? Motivations

? Values

? Social issues of your day

? Religions, moral system, philosophical worldview people live in (A worldview is the set of beliefs about fundamental aspects of Reality that ground and influence all one's perceiving, thinking, knowing, and doing.)