Downtown Pastoral Library
“Jesus, the Only Way to Salvation”
The passage for today is one that has been met with quite some controversy. It focuses on a core theological issue (“salvation”) that has been debated heavily.
“Jesus the perfect High Priest”
In today’s sermon, we will see how the writer of Hebrews argues how Jesus is the better high priest and how we should continue to move forward towards Jesus and not look back on our old ways.
“Entering into God’s rest (Pt. 2)”
Last week we looked at the idea of rest for God’s people by entering into God’s rest. However, the people of Israel were unable to enter into God’s rest because of their hardened hearts. The key to entering God’s rest is genuine faith, a faith that Jesus provides for us. This week we will continue to look into what this rest looks like.
“Entering into God’s rest (Pt. 1)”
As we are focusing on the theme of Running the Race together in this year of 2022, we've been going over the Book of Hebrews to rekindle our spirits to go all the way with Jesus. The theme for the next two weeks is this: Learning to rest in Jesus gives us the strength to run the face faithfully.
“Experiencing God’s Presence through Obedience”
Elder Yong Kim shares some of the origins of New Hope Fellowship downtown as well as his personal testimony to faith.
“Running the Race with Jesus”
With the new year and a new vision for our church, we venture into the Book of Hebrews. It has been highly debated but still no one knows who the author of Hebrews is.
“Superiority of Christ”
With the new year and a new vision for our church, we venture into the Book of Hebrews. It has been highly debated but still no one knows who the author of Hebrews is.
“Running the Race Together”
For the first Sunday of 2022, we will be tuning into our home church’s home church to listen to the vision message for this year.
“Preparing for a Successful Year”
With one week left in 2021, we should take a moment to prepare our hearts for the upcoming year. Not only should we await positive changes in our resolution, but we should also prepare for unanticipated storms waiting around the corner. But we know that when we encounter these storms, when we choose to devote a firm faith in our God, He will bring back our calm and peace.
“Making Room for God Who Comes”
In the 1940’s, business leaders employed “mystery shoppers” as individuals hired to assess how the shop was doing, while under disguise. The jobs of these “mystery shoppers” were to evaluate employee performance while the boss was not around.
“Who He Is, Why He came”
As we near Christmas, we remember the celebration surrounding the birth of Christ. The birth of Christ is symbolic for it is the beginning of when the work of Jesus began on earth. In remembrance, today’s sermon will speak on the person of Jesus Christ: what He is and what He has done.
“Continuing on the Spiritual Legacy”
In today’s text, we are introduced to the character Elisha who God calls to be the next prophet after Elijah. Elisha is essentially receiving the spiritual baton from Elijah to become his successor. For us, how do we prepare to pass the spiritual baton to the next generation? How do we prepare to receive this baton as the next generation?
“Recovering from spiritual depression (Pt. 2)”
Last week we saw how God provided rest and nourishment for Elijah when he was going through spiritual depression. In the article “7 Things to never say to a depressed Christian” by C. Michael Patton, Patton lists several statements of “advice” that when spoken to depressed people, can inadvertently cause more harm than help. We may not always recognize the complications of spiritual depression, but in today’s story we can see how God lovingly restored Elijah.
“Recovering from spiritual depression (Pt. 1)”
Spiritual depression can come upon anyone in any way. Last week, we witnessed a climatic point in Elijah’s life and ministry: he won a mighty battle in the Name of the Lord against the false prophets at Mount Carmel, courageously declaring the power of God. In rain and fire, God had answered Elijah’s prayer. Though Elijah had personally experienced the sovereign might of God, he is quickly brought very low in the next few verses. Does this drop from a spiritual high sound familiar to you?
No one is immune to going through lows no matter how on fire they are spiritually. Today, we’ll be looking at some of the causes of spiritual depression, symptoms, and our response as God recovers and restores us.
“An Encounter with the Healer” - Luke 5:12-26
In today’s passage, we read about the encounters of two individuals who desperately needed Jesus’ help. One of them was a man with leprosy who was an outcast because of his condition. The other, a paralyzed man who had no physical way of making his way before Jesus. Yet in both stories, we see that it is not what we offer nor who we are that Jesus is looking at, for Jesus looks at our heart and desires to heal and restore us.
“Overcoming Temptation” - Luke 4:1-12
Do you remember the last time you struggled to withhold yourself from something you knew was bad for you? That’s temptation, and that’s something we as humans dearly struggle with.
The Bible is full of stories of failures and consequences when dealing with temptation. Jesus was also faced with temptation, and today we’ll look at 3 different temptations Jesus faced to understand some characteristics of temptation and how to overcome it as followers of Christ.
“When He Comes (Part 2/2)” - Luke 3:15-22
Jesus brought about a counter-cultural way to live life, with God’s Kingdom as the aim of it. We see how God’s plan to redeem His people started from the very beginning: from creation, into the fall with Adam and Eve, to them being banished from Eden, to God’s covenant with Abraham to bring about restoration for His people – all culminating with the Word as found in Luke.
“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.” (Luke 3:4)
With the coming of the Lord, all will be turned upside down. Those who are prideful, powerful, and comfortable will be brought low. Those who are poor, weak, hungry, and humble will be lifted up.
“When He Comes (Part 1/2)” - Luke 3:1-20
Job interview results, college acceptance letters, promotion results, the waiting game is hard for many of us. Even in the Bible, Israel had to wait 2000 years since God’s promise to Abraham to enter the promised land. They had to wait 1000 years since God made a promise to King David that his descendent would secure the throne and His kingdom would reign forever.
We as Christians are also in a waiting period: Is God really going to come again? When is it going to happen? When is he going to work in my life? Today we go over what happens when God comes and how do we prepare for it.
“The Wisdom for Marriage” - Proverbs 2:16-17
In today’s culture, marriage is commonly viewed as an old social custom centered around happiness and fulfillment. This newer view of marriage has also consequentially made divorce more common practice and acceptable.
However, in the Bible, God designed marriage for the ultimate purpose of glorifying Himself. Marriage is a holy act between two partners and in today’s sermon we’ll look at 2 essential attributes that constitute this sacred practice.
“Wisdom of Justice (Part 2/2)” - Proverbs 21:2-3
We continue off from learning that in God’s eyes, worship without justice is worthless. We defined justice as “giving people what they are due, whether it is punishment or protection or care”. This refers not only to personal justice but also to our neighbours.
There are many of us who think if we do right by our personal justice, this is enough. But God is pleading with us through today’s passage that we are called to stand up for those around us and work to make right the things that are unjust in the world. For the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to transform and restore all injustices, brokenness, and forces of evil that are against the people of God.