Chinese for Christ Church of San Jose
English Worship Service
Worship Service: 10:00 –11:10 am followed by snacks in the Fellowship Hall.
Call To Worship* -Alison Law
Praise & Worship*- Praise Team and Congregation
Welcome & Announcements – Kenny Chan
Sermon “Wake Up to the End!” Malachi 3:13-4:3 – Joey Wang
Communion (Lord’s Supper) – Baptized Believers
Song(s) of Response* – Praise Team
Doxology (Words of Praise)*- Congregation
Prayer & Benediction (Lord’s Blessing)* – Joey Wang
*Please stand, if physically able. Also, please set your cell phones to “silent.” Please exit through the ‘front’ of the sanctuary at the end of service. Thank you
Previous Week’s Sermon Notes
We are currently going through a sermon series through the book of Malachi, titled, “A Wake Up Call from God.” The book of Malachi was God’s last words to the people of Israel for 400 years (until the New Testament).The primary purpose was to wake up the people of God from spiritual complacency.
Malachi 3:6-12 “Wake Up to God’s Blessings!”
1.Wake Up Call (vv.6-7)
– Don’t Be Clueless (Unaware) About Sin: We all have blindspots– just like we have spiritual blindspots. Israel becomes clueless about their sin.
– Don’t Forget God’s Faithfulness:
Reflection:
– Are you aware of any blindspots in your (spiritual) life? Ask someone (Community Group, friend, coworker/classmate, spouse, etc.) this week.
– In what area(s) of your life do you need to be reminded of God’s unchanging nature, His faithfulness, His promises? How does God’s immutability encourage you?
2.Wake Up To God’s Blessings (vv.8-12)
– OT Background on Tithe: Leviticus 27:30-32, Numbers 18:26, Deuteronomy 14:22-26, 26:12
– Giving as Worship of God (cf. Romans 12:1, Matthew 6:19-24): The issue was partly Israel’s disobedience in not giving fully — but the heart issue was worship. Worship is more than just singing — worship includes our entire life, including our finances.
Reflection: What do your finances (spending, saving, giving, etc.) reveal about your heart and what you worship?
– Blessed – not Saved — as we Give to God: God challenges us to “test” him — that when we give of ourselves to Him we will experience His blessings (not limited to material but also spiritual blessings — cf. Matt 5).
Reflection: How have you been experienced God’s blessing as you given to God and others?
– Blessed by God to be a Blessing to Others (cf. Genesis 12:1-3, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, 2 Corinthians 9:6-14): The running theme throughout the entire Bible is that as God blesses His people, they are to bless others — as a witness to God’s goodness and grace!
Gospel Truth: Worship of God isn’t just about giving, but includes it. Our giving is in response to our belief that all we have belongs to God — it’s a response to God’s grace and blessing through Jesus Christ.
We are glad you are here this morning to worship God together with us! We hope that this morning you would know and experience God’s graciousness and generosity towards you – ultimately through Jesus!
Please fill out one of the cards in the pew and pass on to any of our ushers if you would like us to contact you with more information about our church.
Announcements
- Blood Drive: Saturday, November 14th from 10 am-3 pm in the Fellowship Hall. See Christine Tsao to register or you can register online. Any questions contact Christine (christine.tsao@gmail.com).
- Community Groups (Operation Christmas Child event): Next Sunday we’ll be joining together to purchase and assemble gifts for children in need. We’ll be meeting at 2 pm in the Fellowship Hall to purchase items and then gathering at Ellin’s Parents’ Home afterward to pack, decorate and write notes to the children. Please contact Ellin (ellinchen@gmail.com) for more information or to sign up.
- Saltshakers (Youth Group): We will be gathering this Saturday (11/7) from 7-9pm in the Church Sanctuary. For more information, please contact Daniel Chen (dantchen83@sbcglobal.net).
- Palo Alto Church Planting: We will start our first Sunday worship service on December 6 at Palo Alto Community Child Care Center. We will have a prayer meeting for church planting at 2pm today (11/1) at Palo Alto Community Child Care Center. You are welcome to join us.
Prayer Requests & Praises
- Praise God for our Family Night (outreach) event yesterday. Praise God for all our volunteers who helped out! Pray for the seeds that were sown of the Gospel would take root or continue to grow!
- Pray for our young families (Paul & Jamie Yuan, Jay & Pui-Yun Sha, David & Ivy Lee, Kenny & Yun Ho, Daniel & Hue Han) — that in the midst of adjusting to newborns/young children that they continue to grow in the Gospel, to experience God’s grace, and to follow after Jesus.
- Pray for Intersect, the English ministry of Mountain View Chinese Christian Church. Pray for minister Pat Yao and his family as they transition back from his sabbatical. Pray that they as a church would continue to grow in their worship of God and in reaching out to the people around them.
Recommended Books on Giving
The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn
– The best (and short!) book on understanding the principle(s) of stewardship and giving from a biblical perspective. This is required reading for every Christian family or individual!
Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
– This book is the longer/expanded version of The Treasure Principle which addresses in greater detail the issues of money, faithfulness, generosity, stewardship, debt, etc.
Recommended Commentaries on Malachi
Joel, Obadiah, Malachi (The NIV Application Commentary) by David W. Baker
– User-friendly commentary that spends equal time on original context as well as contemporary significance. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) by Andrew E. Hill
– An excellent shorter commentary that provides good background as well as exposition of the verses.
The Books of Haggai and Malachi (The New International Commentary on the OT) by Peiter A. Verhoef.
– A very technical and detailed commentary that gets into the original Hebrew text (verse-by-verse) and interacts with other scholarly works. Not for the faint of heart but those that want to dig deep into the passage.
New Bible Commentary edited by G.J. Wenham, J.A. Motyer, D.A. Caron, R.T. France
– The best one-volume commentary (on the entire Bible). If you can only have and use one commentary, this is the one. While the information provided on each book won’t be as detailed as single volume commentaries on a specific book of the Bible, this commentary is a collection of the works of some of the best biblical scholars on the different books of the Bible.
New City Catechism (adapted from www.newcitycatechism.com/intro.php)
We hope that this will be a tool for us to use in disciplining our children, one another and ourselves as a church community. The New City Catechism is also available online and for your smart phones.
Question 8: What is the law of God stated in the Ten Commandments?
Answer: You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below – you shall not bow down to them or worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet.
Passage(s): Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:7