Join us here Sunday at 10:00AM for the Combined meeting with the Chinese Speaking Congregation. Or join us on our Youtube Channel Facebook Live . We will resume our regular schedule next week; the English message starts 9:15AM and the Chinese message starts 10:45AM.

(07/04/21) Jeremiah Cua
How A Servant of The Lord to be Faithful to The Entrustment of The Lord?

Hymnary 306: Living for Jesus

Scriptures: Matthew 25:14-30

Outline:

I. The entrustment of the Lord and the settling of account

1. The meaning of ‘possessions’ (Ephesians 1:3, 11, 13-14)
2. The entrustment of the ‘possessions’ — talent — speaks of the Lord Himself — The death — the resurrection — ascension — glorification — dwells among the saints through the Holy Spirit
3. The talents of the servants — the capacity of one’s faith

II. The good and faithful servants – receive the doubling of the talents, the accolade and entrustment of the Lord
Matthew 25:16, 17, 20-23

1. Good servant – A saint who accepts the leading of the Holy Spirit and takes up his own cross, so that he understands and does the will of God and becomes the “good servant”. (See Luke 9:23, 24b)
2. Faithful servant – one who carries the cross and follows the Lord throughout his entire life, so he is faithful to the will of God, and becomes the faithful servant of the Lord.
3. On the date of account settlement, he receives the accolade and the rewards from the Lord (Matthew 25:21, 23)

III. The wicked, lazy, and useless servant – he dug a hole and buried the talent, and at the end he was rejected by the Lord. (Matthew 26:18, 19, 24-30)

1. The ‘wicked’ servant – one who refuses the leading of the Holy Spirit, is not willing to carry his cross to follow the Lord, believes the Lord is a ‘hard man”, does everything according to his own will, and this is a ‘wicked’ servant in the eyes of the Lord.
2. The ‘lazy’ servant – one who is lazy in seeking the will of God, does everything according to his own will. Even though he cared so much about the talent and eventually dug a hole and hid the talent (referring to the entrustment of the Lord) there because of the fear of theft, he became a wicked and lazy servant. (See Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-24a)
3. This servant is not willing to live in the reality of the church – the church is the depositor of which the servant of the Lord deposits the entrusted talents there and earn the interest. When the Lord returns, he can return the principle and the interest to the Lord. Unfortunately, he buried the talent in the ground instead. As the result, he was rejected at the end. (Matthew 26:26-30)

IV. The testimony of the good and faithful servants of the Lord

1. A brief introduction of Job’s experience
   He lost everything under the cross, at the end he saw God with his own eyes. He received double possessions. (See Job 1:3; 42:5, 12-15)
2. A brief testimony of Paul
   – God was please to reveal His Son in Paul (Galatians 1:16)
   – God led Paul to be a captive in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
   – Paul became a prisoner for the testimony of the King of the kingdom. (Acts 20:22-24)
   – The higher spiritual level when Paul bore the testimony of the King of the kingdom (Philippians 3:8, 10, 12-14)
   – Paul died in faith (See Hebrews 11:13)
   – Paul is waiting to receive his crown. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Speaker: Jeremiah Cua

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. In-Person Meeting:

   In order to ensure we operate in a safe environment, we ask all visitors to observe the following tentative rules and guidelines when coming to our church physical meetings:

   1. Please make a reservation for the Sunday Worship Service and or Breaking of Bread Meeting. We ask brothers and sisters to make a one-month reservation by visiting  http://www.hocla.us/rsvp/ or call/text Brother Caleb Kwok at 626.888.9746. For Chinese Worship Service, please call Sister Käte at 626-757-6992. Reservation is required only for the Sunday Worship Service and the Breaking of Bread Meeting.

   If you come to our Sunday Worship Service without a reservation, we may or may not be able to accommodate you depending on the available seating capacity at that time.

   2. Anyone regardless of the vaccination status who comes to church meetings is subject to health screening and temperature check.

   3. Please wash your hands upon entering the church building. The church provides two hand sanitizing dispensers. One is placed in the entrance and another one on the second floor around the elevator area.

   4. Please wear a face mask while inside the church building. We will provide you one if you do not have one.

   5. When attending church meetings, please sit in every other seat to maintain a certain distance.

   6. Please sanitize the meeting place after each use.

   7. Children under 12 years old are not allowed to come in at this point.

   8. We will post the above rules and guidelines on the entry door.

   Physical and online English Sunday Worship will begin next Sunday 7/11. We are also evaluating how to conduct the Breaking of Bread Meeting. Please keep this matter in your prayers.

2. Prayer Meeting: Hybrid physical and online Prayer Meetings will begin this Tuesday 7/6

   The prayer meeting is from 8:00 PM to 9:15 PM. If brothers and sisters wish to attend the physical Tuesday prayer meeting, please come to church no earlier than 7:45 PM and no later than 8:15 PM. If you arrive after 8:15 PM, please call Sister Käte at 626-757-6992.

   1. After the combined session, we will separate into different groups according to your language.
   2. You may park at Lai Lai Dental, the Kidney Doctor Office, or on the street.
   3. Please comply with all the entry rules and guidelines.

   You may also join virtually, joining Webex for the combined session of the meeting (Meeting number: 627 564 274 Password: 4000). We are using Zoom for the English group session, please reach out to Richer for login information.

3. Offering: If you would like to make offerings, you can send your checks to: Home of Christians, L.A., PO Box 507, Monterey Park, CA 91754. Our accounting department will handle the offering every Sunday from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM.
4. Feature Pages: Checkout our worship YouTube channel for our latest music productions. Also checkout the two new webpages on the Chinese site featuring hymns and the sharing of our brothers and sisters.
5. Howto: There are several ways to watch the HOC Sunday Sermon. Here are two methods
6. Bible Reading Plan: For this year’s Bible reading, we will be using the BibleProject | Biblical Storyline Reading Plan. With a reading plan, we can keep one another accountable in our Bible reading. For more details or to join the plan, click here.

See our sermons page for past sermons.