Lord’s Day Message: Matthew 16
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ……12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Questions for Discussion
- Please share your understanding of the Lord Jesus. For example, who is He to you? What works has He done to you?
- Why Peter just received God’s revelation but right after he became the one who hindered the Lord Jesus? What lessons we can learn from this?
Message Next Week: Matthew 17
Bible Reading Schedule: Mat. 17; Lev.5-8
Church Meetings/Time/Place
Home Meetings
Chinese Speaking Young People: 4/12 Mon. 7:30pm, Richard Cui’s (7:00 dinner)
@ Kingsgrove: 5/12 Tue. 10:30am, Shanwon Chow’s
@ Chatswood: 7/12 Thu. 8:00pm, Ming Pan’s
Pursuing of Uni Students:
5/12 Tue. 7:30pm, Yulin’s (7:00 dinner)
Sisters Meeting: 6/12 Wed. 10:00am, Hannah Dong’s
Prayer Meeting: 6/12 Wed. 7:45pm,
Lydia’s (Chatswood), David Tan’s (Warrawee)
Pursuing of Words: 8/12 Fri. 8:00 pm, David Tan’s
Saturday Home Meeting：9/12 Sat. 7:30pm,
Young People & Parents: Bill & Christine’s
Gospel Group: Olsen & Likun’s
Announcements:
- We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today. May God bless you and lead you into this family of God.
- On December 24 after the Lord’s Day meeting, we plan to wrap the dumplings for lunch. We welcome all to stay and enjoy.
- December 31 will be our last combined meeting in 2017. After the Lord Table, the meeting will open to all the brothers and sisters to share what the Lord’s grace we have experienced this year.
- The 2018 Gospel Calendar has arrived. We welcome all to purchase them. They are $5 dollars per copy. Please put the amount to offering box and write “Gospel Calendar” on the offering envelope. If you are willing, you can use this chance to offer more.
There are also bookmarks for all to take freely.
<Reminder>
- For the brothers and sisters, please come on time and bring your own Bible and hymn book for the Lord’s Day meeting.
- During the meeting, please turn off your mobile phone or put the volume on silence and not to walk around or to wonder/talk too loud in the kitchen.
- Please keep the play field and rooms tidy and put all equipments in place after use.
- When you prepare the love feast for Lord’s Day lunch, please do not prepare any food containing nuts as someone may have food allergy.
Please refrain from bringing uncooked food for the love feast so we may lighten the work for the serving ones in the kitchen.
Intercession:
- May the Lord bless the gospel friends among us that they can know how precious the Lord is and are willing to believe in Him.
- Pray for the new believers (6 brothers: Vincent Tai, YuMing Liang, Zylen Liang, Frank Wang, Stephen, and William as well as 10 sisters: Vanessa Lu, Li Zhou, XiaChun Li, YuRong Liu, Lili Chen, Jenny Zhu, Yun-Yue Lin, Li-Qin Wu, Yun Zhu, and Joies. May the Lord establish them in the church life and bless their growth in life.
- May the Lord bless the 9 brothers and sisters who plan to go to the US for the church conference. May they receive abundant supply in the Lord as well as peace and joy in their travel.
- Pray for the brothers and sisters or their relatives who are weak in body or spirit. May the Lord care for them and give them sufficient grace.
Serving This Week: (Dec. 3)
- Message: Thomas Wu & Yulin Wang
- Breaking the Bread: Shanwon Chow & Patrick Li
- Serving Bread and Cup: Sam Li, Jason Wang, Richard Cui & Chuan Ma
- Cleaning: Sam & Hannah Family, Tina & Fiona Jiang, Hannah Dong & Vic, Patrick & Lily Family, Baolin Lei
- Kitchen: Mandy & WeiQiong
- Children: Supervisor – David
Singing – Sarah & Vasya
Teachers – Betty & Berry
Serving Next Week: (Dec. 10)
- Message: Patrick Li & Yulin Wang
- Breaking the Bread: Yulin Wang & Olsen Yu
- Serving Bread and Cup: Sam Li, Sean Dong, Patrick Li & Richard Cui
- Cleaning: Sam & Hannah Family, Tina & Fiona Jiang, Hannah Dong & Vic, Patrick & Lily Family, Baolin Lei
- Kitchen: Margret & DiDy
- Children: Supervisor – Joe
Singing – Combined
Teachers – Angela & Esther
Comments are closed