Sunday Sermon Recap

Main Service - Elder Saw Lip Hean

Isaiah 1:1-20

1. Having The Right Concept of God.

In this passage, God is telling through Isaiah to the Israelites that they(the Israelites) do not know their God. You may wonder, how come? How can the God of Israel who have brought them through the desert to the promised land, having done so many wonders and miracles is not known to the Israelites themselves? They say they believe in God, and they do worship Him on Sundays but after Sundays, they return to their normal routines. As they see their neighbours who do not worship God began to reap more harvest than they do, they became anxious then they too began to worship other Gods but they also worshipped God Himself at the same time thinking that they could get the best of both worlds.

Similarly, God is saying to us, you don't know me. The Jews knew Yahweh but they did not worship Him and Him alone. They say they believe but they do not practice what they believe. 

So, how do you practice what you believe? 

It comes from having the right concept of God. What we think of God will determine how we live and how we live is what we practice. When our concept of God is right, it overflows in the things that we do, when our concept of God is wrong, everything else goes haywire. 

How do we know if our concept of God is right? 

You see, when we become Christians, we do not become brilliant overnight. We do read the bible but we may not understand what we read sometimes, this is why God gave us teachers. No man is an island, God has given us teachers, individuals who are gifted with better understanding and explaining skills to teach us in theology aspects of God, so that we can have the right concept of Him.

2. Having a Real Experience of God.

Not only our concept of God must be right, our experiences with Him too must be real. When we know why we live, how we live comes naturally.
How do we experience God? 
Through prayers, through reading the bible and through spending our quiet time with Him, we can speak to God and He too will speak to us. By spending time with God, He will tell us how to live our lives.

In this passage, Isaiah was trying to warn the people of Israel through the prophecy given by God that Assyria will soon invade their land. However, prophecies are conditional, it is given so that we may know what consequences we will face if we continue our ways. We need to react to God correctly, only then can his judgements be taken away from us.

3. Doing The Right Thing.

In this passage, the Jews are playing religion. They thought they could buy God's favour by coming to church on Sundays, worshipping Him, praying to Him and sacrificing lambs and goats to please God but they still sin on other days, not practicing what they believe in. 

Sometimes, we as Christians are like that too. We say we believe but we treat this salvation as an insurance programme. Often times, we get involved in superstitions.
For example, exams are coming next week but you haven't been studying for the past 3 months. Then, you start praying to God thinking that He will grant you good results without studying for your examinations. This is not saying that you should not pray but how can God bless you when you are not working hard to study for your exams?
Prayer works, but prayer works with the right action. Prayer leads you to do the right thing which God will reveal to you when you experience Him, and you can only experience Him when you have the right concept of Him.

Food For Thought.

Do you know your God or are you playing with religion?

Are you experiencing God, or are you caught up in superstitions?