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Concluding our Christian leadership and stewardship series, guest speaker Bishop Kwan Kim Singh speaks on the topic of our giving and our worship. Let's prepare our hearts for the Word of God today.

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What a great joy it is to be here. And uh Daniel asked me to bring a word to bring a word from the I'm to bring you a word from Holy Scripture concerning giving, right? And I say, well, let me speak about giving and worship. Because giving is not just uh an act by itself, there must be a purpose to giving, right? And finally, giving in worship is uh is the ultimate act of what it is to live our lives for the glory of the king. Let me begin by doing this. I want to uh make some quick introductory remarks, and then you've got a sermon outline. I like to do my things, I like to do things systematically, right? That's the way I grew up, must be systematic in doing things. Right. Actually, I served for quite a few years in the army. And you know, in the army, everything must be done systematically, right? So I want to begin by uh making some remarks about the subject that we are talking about. And then uh after that, uh I will unpack for you, or we will look at a summary of the two sets of readings. Very important. We need to look at holy scripture before we make up our mind on what we are called to do, right? And then we will do, I will bring to you a definition of giving. What is giving, right? Important for us to define, to have a biblical definition, a biblical understanding of what we mean. Because we we can use words, but it can mean differently, right? And sometimes when we use words and they mean differently, it convey entirely different things, right? And then the I will also give you a brief, okay, very brief definition on what the worship of God is like. Very brief, because more time to do it uh in a session like this. Then I want to synthesize, I want to put together the whole uh the whole idea or the whole concept of giving and worship of God. And finally, ultimately, it is not about giving, it's about being a worshiper that counts. Right? Let me continue with some more introductory remarks, right? Uh you know, the whole issue of there are two things that mark us as human beings. There are two things. Now, if we look at our world today, our world is in a bit of a chaos, right? Uh by the way, I'm 73 years old, and uh I lived my life through quite a long season, right? Many of my contemporaries will know that when we begin to, when we were able to reason to think, right, Singapore was in the throes of being, well, we were granted political independence. We were kicked out of Malaysia, right? Uh we were kicked out of Malaysia. For those who are younger, I can say this to you. I have three citizenships. First, I was a British subject, meaning I belonged to the British. British subject, right? Then I became Malaysian, right? Then got kicked out of Malaysia, became Singaporean. Three citizenships. And during this season, we see many changes. See many, many, many changes, right? I grew up when we gained political independence or when we were, well, we were ushered of Malaysia, ushered out of Malaysia. Nicer way of putting it, ushered out, right? We decided we, well, the political leadership of those days, uh, of course, Mr. Li Kwan Yu and his colleagues decided we got to have an army to protect ourselves, right? So I was the first batch of boys after A level all got enlisted. Before that, they got draw lots who go in, who don't go in. After that, everybody got enlisted, right? And when we got enlisted, the first thing we were we were told or were taught is this, hey guys, this is no play play, huh? Tomorrow, war may break out. Like, Vietnam War was raging, anything will happen. And uh, we just came out of the May 13th riot. Hey, so please do your best. Train, train, train, train. And she went through. And for the longest time, actually, we we live in. I look at the world, hey, we actually the world is not bad, huh? After the Vietnam War, the world is not bad. Then suddenly in the last few years, what the world the world is in a mess, right? The world is in a mess. Right? Why? Because you see human beings fighting all the time. So if you ask people from space to look out on earth, hey, what is the chief characteristic of uh of human beings on earth, huh? They are fighting all the time, right? But actually, there are two things that should define us. Number one, and these two things come from the fact that we were created in the image of God. Number one, we are worshipers, we are created to worship. Now, by the way, worship is not the same as public worship. What we are doing this morning is public worship, right? Worship is far more than public worship. Public worship is part of worship, right? We'll say a little bit more about that. Secondly, is giving. How do we know that giving is an important characteristic? Answer is very simple. We all know John 3.16, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, right? God's characteristic is giving. The reason why human beings are in such a big mess is because we are no longer largely not functioning according to God's image created in us. That's why we've got all the killing and uh all the brokenness, right? I believe that as we look at Holy Scripture, as we allow Holy Scripture to shape our lives, it will bring us back to the all-important two things: worship and giving. Now let me summarize the two biblical texts, right? The two biblical texts for us before we unpack further. The first biblical text is about the making of, well, scripture refers to as the tent of meeting, right? The tabernacle, the tent of meeting. Now, here you've got a picture and an artist's impression of what it looked like, and I suppose it should be quite accurate, right? So what happened was God told Moses, Moses, I'm going to create you into a nation. You guys were slaves, right? The the Jew the Jew the Hebrews were slaves taken out of Egypt. They had no organizational structure. They were not a people, they were all slaves, right? So God was about to form a people, or people was about to form a nationhood, so to speak, out of a people who were slaves. How was that to happen? Worship. The worship of God is what defined the Jewish people. So God said to Moses, Moses, this is what you are to do. Okay? I will show you a vision of this tabernacle. Then you need to make it. You need to make it exactly as I told you, as I show you in this vision. Right? And the way you are to do it is to invite people to participate. Right? Say to them, guys, God is asking us to build this portable temple. Right? Portable, because it's 10, you can move it everywhere. God is asking us to build this portable temple. Please contribute whatever you like, right? To the creation of this temple, and God will enable us to build it. So people are supposed to give. Whatever you want to give, you give. There's gold, there's silver, there's bronze, there is the uh things to make the canvas, uh, they're precious to anything that people want to give, give, right? So, as the scripture says, they all, when they were moved in a heart, they take and they give. And then God set aside some people, and then and then there are two people who were, well, the the workshop leaders, right? The workshop leaders. People bring the thing, Pastor Moses, Moses passed to them, and then they they they accumulate the thing. The people brought so much until the guy had to tell Moses, Moses, please tell the people don't bring anymore. Too much. We only want to build one YCCA. That's enough to build three. Right? We only need to build one tabernacle. Enough. No, don't please don't please don't bring that anymore. We've got problems storing them after that, right? So that's what happened. The people built the tabernacle and the ten milk and the tabernacle, notably the Ark of the Covenant, right? Became the centerpiece of Jewish life for the longest time. Right now, where is the tabernacle now and so on and so forth? It's a long story, not a time to talk about it, but I can tell you a long story if you want to, right? Then the other summarize for you the second reading. The second reading, well, it's from Mark. Right? I've taken the Mark passage, but actually, there are also other passages as well, right? This this record of this rich young ruler who came to Jesus is recorded in all the three gospels, all the three, well we call it synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, right? They are synoptic because they all are chronological. They look it at they look at it from the same angle, from birth to death, chronologically. The Gospel of John is not chronological, the gospel of John is written along seven, what is called science. But the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are chronological gospels. Interestingly, all the three gospel writers included this text. Now, all the three gospel writers, they all have different perspectives, right? And they all don't include all the same stories, or else, you know, why you need why you need why you need to have four, right? But they all include this. Okay. And the reason why they include this, I believe, that this text is so important for the early church that the gospel writers put it in for all of us. Now, the story is very simple, right? Somebody came to Jesus and asked him. Now, this guy who came to Jesus is a very well-brought up young man. He grew up as a proper, well taught. His parents I think would be godly, taught him everything. Right? I drew a modern version. You look at my picture, modern version. This young fella came to Jesus and said to Jesus, and you know he came in a Ferrari, yeah? Just in case you don't know, that's a Ferrari, right? I park just now outside. I see no Ferrari, yeah. So I can tell Ferrari jokes. So he came to Jesus in his Ferrari and he said to Jesus, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do? The Lord Jesus told him, Well, do you know the commandments?

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Right?

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Recite to him the commandments. Now, by the way, it is important for us to know the commandments, right? I know there are some people who teach it's not necessary to know the Ten Commandments, okay? Now, anybody who teaches you not to know the Ten Commandments, and I'm referring to my wife say, Hey, please don't always mention the fella's name now. You know, okay, today I don't mention the fella's name because my wife is here. If my wife is not here, I mentioned the fella's name. But you know who the fella is, no, knowing Ten Commandments. Now let me ask you, if you do not know the Ten Commandments, how do you know you have broken the laws of God? That man, you see, is setting people, Christians, to break the laws of God. But he said, No, don't worry about Ten Commandments. So Jesus gives the fella the commandments. They essentially are Ten Commandments. And this young man says, Well, I've kept them. I've kept them since I was a youth. In other words, from the day I, from the day I attended, from the from the day that I graduated from boy to man, right? And in the Jewish custom, the Babitzva. The big celebration of transiting a boy to manhood where he can become a member, he can he can participate in the church, uh, in synagogue and so on and so forth. He said, From that time onwards, from my youth, I have kept all the commandments. In other words, since I became responsible for my own life, I have been godly. Jesus looked at him. And the scripture, if you look at the gospel of Mark, it says very clearly, Jesus loved him. The reason why I chose the gospel of Mark for the reading instead of Luke and Matthew, is because Jesus, because Mark has got this words. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. Say to him, You like one thing. Sell everything you have, give to the poor. Follow me. Maybe Jesus was seeing in this young man. Somebody who became, who could become, like the apostle Paul. Paul was used by God so significantly because he was willing to give up everything. So back to this, this car. So this guy came in in his Ferrari, and Jesus said to him, Well, nice car. Jesus to him, Well, young man, I heard your questions, I heard your answers. One thing you like, one thing you need. I make your suggestion. If you want to hear from me, this is why this is what I suggest to you. Go sell a Ferrari. Go sell a Ferrari. And okay, I can see that you like fast cars. Okay, downgrade your Ferrari to a Honda saving type R. Some of you who know cars, type R, not bad, fast, fast enough, but not as fast as Ferrari. Go downgrade your car. All the money that you make, that you save, go and uh expand this Bible school that you have been, that your church has been praying about. Go expand this Bible school in uh Indonesia, in Batam. You know, Singaporeans they all love Bhutam, they and uh go and expand the Bible school in Batam. Save the money and the rich young man. I can't part with my Ferrari. I don't mind going to church, but don't ask me to part with my Ferrari. Now, by the way, friends, if you own a Ferrari, I'm not asking you to part with your Ferrari, okay? I'm not God. Okay, but if God's asking to part with a Ferrari, you better deal with it. So there's this young man, and the Bible says he went away, sad, depressed, because of his great possessions. Now, friends, listen to this. In the Bible, every person who came to Jesus asked him for blessings, asked him for teaching, everyone left blessed, except this fellow. Wow. I suggest to you that this young man is like many Singaporeans today. We got lots of problems because we got lots of material wealth. Okay, let me move on. I told your pastor, I need 40 minutes. So you kindly give me 40 minutes. Now do now define for you what is giving as it is taught in Holy Scripture. Right? Not giving as as human beings, define it, but what is taught in Holy Scripture, by the way, I'm very skeptical about many philanthropic organizations. Because many of these philanthropic organizations, uh, I think are a little bit doubtful in the way things are, right? Because finally, only God can rule the human heart. If we human beings try to rule ourselves, we've got lots of problem. But let me define for you what is giving in Holy Scripture, right? In order to understand giving, we need to go back to Scripture in Leviticus. Let me read for you. Leviticus, please turn your Bibles with me to Leviticus chapter 27. Now I know nowadays it's the habit of people not to bring Bibles to church. Now let me tell you this, okay? If you don't bring Bibles to church, it's okay. And it's okay if you memorized the entire Bible. If you have not memorized the entire Bible like me, like that, better bring the Bible to church. And I know that some people, okay, nowadays they use digital Bibles. Also, okay. So long as you bring out your digital Bible. But let me tell you this: you can't really study scripture deeply without a printed copy. Because our brain doesn't have the kind of capacity. So, anyway, turn your Bibles with me to Leviticus 27. If you have memorized the Bible, you know to turn, but let me read for you. Leviticus 27. Now, by the way, let me uh say a few words about Leviticus, huh? Now, what is Leviticus? Leviticus is the national constitution that God gave to the Jews to make them into a nation. Okay, no time to unpack for you today. If uh your pastor buys me lunch, I will I will teach him. If you want to know more, buy me a cup of coffee, I'll explain to you why it is the national constitution for Israel or for the Jews. Now, at the end of the constitution, right? Da da da da da da da so many chapters, chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, final chapter, right? Interestingly, it is about giving. Okay, actually it's not about giving, actually, it's about the tithe. Let me read for you. Leviticus 27. You know it's the last chapter of Leviticus. Every tithe of the land, whether of the seeds of the land or the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of the tithe, he should add a fifth to it. And every tithe of the herds and flocks, every tenth animal that pass under the shepherd's herdsman's staff shall be holy to the Lord. One shall not differentiate between the good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it. And if he does make a substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy, and it shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. The finishing touch of the national constitution for Israel is the tithe. Now some of you say, hey, excuse me, uh Pastor. Don't take the Old Testament and teach and talk to us. When people talk to me like that, my answer is very simple. I say, okay, hold on. First now, are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Yes, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I say, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, please tell me which Bible did Jesus Christ use. Jesus Christ never used the New Testament, by the way, because there was no New Testament. For Jesus Christ, his Bible is the what we call the Old Testament. Anybody who says I'm a follower of Jesus. Christ and does not believe in the Old Testament is a liar. Because he's not a follower of Jesus Christ. In fact, I once had a friend who came to faith quite late in age. He was in his 30s or 40s when he came to faith. And when he came to faith, he was so vibrant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And what did he tell me? Hey, you know, keep saying, you know, I've not become a Christian, and I am, and I'm a New Testament Christian. I say, brother, there are no such thing as New Testament Christians, okay? I say, how can we be a New Testament Christian? Because all Christians are followers of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ's Bible is the Old Testament. If you are a New Testament Christian, you are not you are not a follower of Jesus Christ. Therefore, you are not a Christian. So don't say, hey, but it's Old Testament. This is the word of God. This is the Bible of Jesus. Right? Now, three truths I want to talk about. I call them the threefold truths, right? Number one, giving is not the same as tithing. So when people ask me to teach about giving, I say I need to bring you back to Leviticus 27. What is tithing? Tithing is returned to God. What he says belongs to him. And what is God? What did God say? Well, 10% of the economic wealth that you generate, I'm using Singapore language today, yeah? 10% of the economic wealth that you generate belongs to me. Now, by the way, God doesn't need pocket money, yeah. Right? So why did he say that? Well, scripture will make it clear, right? Belongs to me. And in the context of Leviticus 27, it is so clear, right? Three times. God says, it is holy unto the Lord. It's holy to me. Holy means set apart for God, don't meddle with it, don't tweak it, don't touch it. 100%. Returning to God. Right? And so the tithe is not giving. What is the tithe? The tithe is what God uses. It's the instrument that God uses to release our hands. So that we learn to give. Until we tithe, it is impossible to give. I teach people to say this. Say, we return to God his tithe. Biblical teaching. Right? We give to God our offerings. Return, give. Different. Right? Return means what belongs to somebody. Give means, well, what doesn't really belong to him in the first instance, although we always pray, all things come from you. Of your own, do we give you? God gives to us, yes. But God says, no, I give to you, it's yours. Right? You can give to me if you want to. You can sell a Ferrari if you like. Right? So tithing and giving are different, right? Then remember there is the danger of masquerading, transacting as giving. And this is what I see in the world all the time. Some people say, I give to you, but you must do this. No, that's not giving, huh? That's manipulating. Now, some of us here are old enough. By the way, I by the way, I'm going to give I'm going to give you an example, right, from a film show. From a film show, I never watch films. Well, I do watch films. I never actually I never used, I used to never watch film in my life until we went dating. And then my wife, she likes to go watch film. I said, Okay, I'll follow you, follow you, lah. Right. One time she asked me to go with her, and I still remember we went to the film called, what's the name of the film? Uh it's the film about the towering inferno. That's right, the towering inferno. So we went to the towering inferno. Oh, it's supposed to be so exciting. Friends, you won't believe this. I slept through the towering inferno. The fire did not affect me, I just slept. After my wife never asked me very hard, my girlfriend then. I don't watch films because I think it's a waste of time, you know. All the stories are the same, right? And all tragic stories are the same, right? The Bible is anyway full of stories to read already. Why you want to go and look at all these funny stories, right? But I know, not so many years ago, but quite a long time ago, there was this there was this film so famous that even I didn't, I'm not the type who watched films. No, the title of the firm is called Indecent Proposal. Right? Somebody say I give you a million dollars, but you must do this. That's not giving. Giving is transfer what I have to something, no string attached. That's giving. Right? And the only person whom we give finally no string attached, I think is God Himself. Right? So don't believe people who so-called give when actually is manipulating, right? And we must be quite wise enough to know, right? Now, it is very, very, very, very, very difficult to give. Why? Because it is in our fallen nature. It's in our fallen nature, it is very, very hard to give. That's why God has to put in place mechanisms to help us. And I told you the first mechanism he helps us is the tithes. Now, friends, listen to me. Listen to listen to this, okay? If you are not returning to God his tithes, you got a problem. Because you do not know this God. You do not know this God. Now, some people might be in church. Pastor, I don't mean so holly. Okay. I speak in fervent language, directly as it is, right? It is very hard to give. Why? Because of the fallen nature, right? Because of our fallen nature, we want to grab everything for ourselves. Giving the capacity, the ability to give is God's grace upon our lives. When we begin to obey Him, right? Now I'm going to give you one of my favorite passages of scripture. Read for you, right? And I won't explain too much for the text, right? But I will read it for you. Please turn your Bibles with me to the same text, underlying go back. Think about this part of scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. One of my favorite passages of Holy Scripture. By the way, my favorite passage of Holy Scripture used to be John 3.16, when I was a new Christian, John 3.16. Right? But when you grow old, cannot be John 3.16. Mean more, you've got to have other better passages of scripture. This is one of them, right? Now, Paul wrote, we want you to know, he was writing to encourage the church in Corinth. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace. Look, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in the severe test of affliction, the abundance of joy and the extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of generosity on their part. For the gift according to the means, as I can testify, and even beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Now, Paul here is talking about a church that was giving out of their poverty for crisis relief, right? For the relief of the saints, and this not as you expect, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urge Titus that as he has started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. As you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel also in this grace. What grace? The grace of giving. What is grace? Grace is something that God works in our lives. That you become part of us, that we become like Him. Grace of giving. Okay, let me quickly bring to, ooh, eight more minutes, bring you to the third point or the fourth point. Why does God put in place giving? God put in place giving. He used it to release us from slavery. Which is slavery? From the slavery of being possessed by our possessions. And this is for many Singaporeans. We are possessed by our possessions. And if you are not if we are not set free from the slavery of being possessed by our possessions, there's one time. Finally, it will happen. You know when it will happen? When we die. When you die, you are set free. We are set free from the slavery of being possessed by our possessions because there's nothing more you can do. You can't bring gold to heaven, right? God, in his kindness, teach us, allow us, work deeply in our lives to set us free from the bondage of being possessed by our possessions. Now let me quickly, I gotta remove this quickly. Now, brief definition of worship as taught in Holy Scripture. I really need to, I really need to quickly do this in two minutes because I got more. I'm running out of time. You can see my time is not so good. Now, giving and worship are intertwined. They are intertwined. What is worship? Now we know we are familiar with public worship. Church organized public worship all the time, right? But worship is far more than public worship, especially far more than singing. By the way, there are five there are five Bible words, Greek, Hebrew, parallel, that are translated as worship in the English language Bibles. Same thing in other translations, right? And uh we need to we need to know, right? Now, no time to unpack for you. And uh, well, let me move on, except to say this. In John chapter 4, there was this conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus, right? John chapter 4. And she was telling, she was telling Jesus, Lord, Rabbi, teacher, we Samaritans say we worship God here. You worship God in Jerusalem, right? Then Jesus made this remark. Very important remark, very important for us to know. Jesus says, you know, you worship what you do not know. Now listen, friends, it is possible to worship in ignorance. And don't say, no, the church got no problem. The church got a lot of problems, right? We worship, our so-called worship is ignorant. I'll give you a test, right? Do you know what the five words? Uh, excuse me, don't be so difficult, eh? What five words? The five great words. If you do not know, then how do you know? Right? Much of the worship that we see in the in the church today actually is worshiped in ignorance. And it's a great danger because when you worship in ignorance, the great danger is when the antichrist appears on earth. Many people will follow him, including many people in churches. Okay, let me move on quickly. Let me synthesize, right? Again, the first point worship and giving are intertwined. Don't have time to unpack too much for you, but you go back and look at Deuteronomy chapter 16. Right? Deuteronomy chapter 16. Let me just quote the verse or this part of the verse which I want to highlight. God says, No one, right, no one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. I tell people, look, if you want to follow scripture carefully, empty-handed worship is not worship. And sometimes the song we sing is bad. I come as I am. No. The scripture says you come with a gift to God. It's not that God is hard up on gifts, God is concerned about our eternity. Now I want to quickly move on by saying this. What is worship? Worship is ultimately the giving of ourselves. Now, more than the giving of things, the giving of ourselves to serve God's glory. This is the chief purpose of man. To love him, to serve him, to worship him. Okay, I want to quickly move on to this. Lord, make me a true worshiper. And for this, I need you to turn to John chapter 21. Please turn your Bibles with me to John chapter 21. Although I won't read the text for you, but please follow the text. John chapter 21. Story is very straightforward. The disciples, whom Jesus has said to them, Go to Galilee, wait for me in Galilee. They went to Galilee, and a group of them went fishing. They went fishing, they caught nothing. And then Jesus stood on the shore and said, Excuse me, your net is on the wrong side. Please put on the other side and should get some fish. Right? They put a net on the other side, they got all fish, and they realized, oh, this one is Jesus. Because he appeared to them this way before. Right? And then when he came on shore, they said to him, Jesus said to them, Hey guys, come sit around me and have breakfast. Sit around me, you have breakfast. Now, in the record, actually there were only seven of them. Okay, there were only seven of them. The film is quite accurate. This is taken from the film. Uh the uh Jesus video, it's quite accurate, seven of them only. So he came forward, and then Jesus says, Well guys, sit around, have breakfast. Breakfast. Right? A fire was there, there was uh roti prata being cooked properly. There was some fish. Hey, sit around for breakfast. Right? Then they all sat around. Peter, when he said, I guarantee you, he did not sit next to Jesus because he was very shy. After he rejected, after he said, No, this guy, I don't even know him. I think he must have felt very bad. I guarantee you he sat furthest away, right? Opposite Jesus, and then the rest sat around. Then Jesus began to ask Peter very important question. And this is the same question he asked us all the time. He said to Peter, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Now, by the way, in the Greek texts, there are two different words that are translated as love in the English translation of the Bible. Two different words. Okay, so I will I will unpack them for you. Actually, there are there are more than two, there are several, there are five or four or five different words that are translated as love. Uh Greek words that are translated as love, but in this context, only two words were used. The first word is agape. Agape. The other word is phileo. Agapeo, phileo. Agape love and pileo love. Agape love means it's a love that comes from God. It's a divine love, the love that is 100% for the object of love, not for myself. Divine love. 100% love, right? The love that comes from God, agape love. Let's call it okay, first class love. The other love, the other word that is used is Phileo. I love you because we are, okay, we are the same tribe. We are the same family, right? We I love you because okay, we are friends. Phileo. Okay, where we get the word philosophy, pileo. Right? Second class love. Agape love is the love that will die for you. Phileo love is, well, I think it's good to have a nice time together. So Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me with first class love? Now I'm quite sure you know Peter couldn't say, Yes, Lord, I love you in first-class love. Even though Peter liked to talk that day, he couldn't talk like that. Right? So he said to Peter, he said to Jesus, Lord, I love you with Phileo love, second class love. And then Jesus says, This, look after my sheep. I restore you to ministry. I restore you to ministry. There was it was tense, huh? This conversation. I'm sure the other disciples around, they all were very happy that Jesus asked Peter. Right? Didn't ask them, right? But Jesus also asked them the question because he spoke loud enough for them to hear. Right? And I always I tell people, if these disciples were Singaporeans, uh, they would say, Hang on, never ask me. After a while, Jesus asked the same a second time. As if he was not happy with the first answer, Peter. Do you love me with first class love? Same answer, Lord. I love you with second-class love. Okay, take care of my sheep. I restore you to ministry. After a long while, Jesus asked the third time, Peter, do you love me with second-class love? The third question was a painful question. Do you love me with second class? Do you love me even with second class love? That's why the Bible says, and Peter was hurt. Because Jesus asked him, Do you love me with Phileola? And he answered, Lord, you know everything. In his brokenness, Lord, you know everything. You know I only love you with second-class love. Take care of my ship. Now, please, friends, I don't want you to leave this worship hall believing that Jesus Christ is interested in our second-class love. Because Jesus is continuing. Peter, now you are young, you walk wherever you like. When you're old, you don't walk wherever you like. You will keep people carrying you, and well, you're forced to go wherever you want to go. Now, John, who wrote this, knows that today, if we read this text, we can never understand. So John added an explanation. Right? John says, and Jesus said this to indicate to Peter what kind of death he was to glorify God. Now, you know, but you know by the way, our death can glorify God. When we die for the sake of God, we glorify him. Martyrs glorify God. There are many martyrs in our world who glorify God, who would rather die for Jesus than to deny him. How do we know about Peter's life? Well, we know from church, not from not from uh not from the Bible, but from church history and tradition that Peter died, he was crucified, right? In fact, he was crucified upside down. That's why in Singapore we have a hall called St. Peter's Hall. That's why your pastor trained. That's why I trained. St. Peter's Hall. Right? Because Peter finally died for Jesus. Now, friends, let me let me let me say this. It is impossible to die for Jesus on second-class love. Jesus said to Peter, Peter, I know you only love me second class. It's fine. But you will grow into first class love for me. Friends, your pastor asked me to speak about giving. Finally, is the giving of our lives. Giving of things is nothing compared ultimately to the giving of our lives. Giving our lives to serve his purpose. So Jesus always asks us this question. In fact, he asks us this question all the time. Do you love me? If you are struggling with your faith, hear the question of Jesus for you today. Do you love me? Do you love me with first class love? If you are vibrant and happy, same question. Jesus asks us. In all our life situations, Jesus asks us, do you love me? And the reason is very simple. Why he asked this question? Because love is the foundation of relationship. What is Christianity? It's a relationship with God. And so, friends, Jesus asked us this question today. He asked me this question today. He asked me this question all the time. He asks us this question. And so this morning, we are in the presence of God. He asks us this question. Do you love me with first class love? I don't know what your answer will be. Whether you can say yes, Lord, I love you with first class love or Lord, I love you only with second class love, or even say to God, God, no, Lord, you know, my love is third class. Whatever it is, Jesus says to us, I call you back to me. I call you back to me. Serve my purpose. Grow in your love for me. Friends, I ask you to stand. Please would you stand? I'm going to hand the time over to your pastor, but I'm going to say this. Where we are now, as we stand in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, hear the question he asks us today. Do you love me? With first class love. Because upon this question, everything hinges. Everything. And as he asks you this question, I urge you to answer him. Don't say, God. I just attend the service. No, no, no, no. You are here this morning because God wants to do a deep work in your life. He wants to do a deeper work in your life. Do you love me? With first class love.

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We pray that you've administered too by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about the Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.