Author: Al Ngu, MDiv

Sunday preaching

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

My wife and I attained a Sunday preaching service in a local church in New York today, it was one with a lot of verses. Generally it’s exhortation from the Bible however there was the repetitive nature of some of the obvious points. The high amount of Bible references scripture brought into the sermon makes it impossible to expound them sufficiently and neither do people have the energy to keep tag of them. It therefore can get a feel of “touch and go” kind of a sermon without the deep exposition people are looking for. This is problematic because it’s sort of giving you a mixture of all kinds of spiritual feeding without a direction of in-depth exposition from the text passage.

 

I think preaching requires substantial time of meditation and reflection on the scripture to bring out the depth of the word of God as per the revelation of the Holy Spirit. And that revelation and the reflection you got will have to sync with the needs and the fallen conditions of the modern contemporary society that we live in. Without all these things we will be finding ourselves doing a technical theological discourse without feeling and connection to the modern time.

 

Also exposition will require us to exegete the text from which we preach based on the context and the culture and the historical background of the passage when it was written. Without knowing the background of such it will be not accurate exegesis. Once we execute the context the real meaning of the passage at that point of time, we are able to move forward to project that to the modern community today and saying what it means. That kind of exegesis will really require a good commentary to help you to bring out the original meaning original historical context.

 

I don’t think you will need highly technical commentary to achieve that purpose. Or else you’ll find yourselves being too  immersed into the technical highly  theological thinking which is not suitable for the congregation.

 

In conclusion after learning from preaching lab one in my MDiv hybrid class preaching lab 1 in RTS Orlando, I discovered that I myself have a tendency in bringing a lot of verses to expound on the message but insufficiently in depth. Although mine is deeper exposition with the side verses. Actually my problem is expounding the sidekick versus too deep that overwhelms the main passage. This is this is actually the exact words or almost exact words of my professor.

Case in point I was preaching from the text of genesis 12 about Abraham’s obedience at one point, and I quoted Hebrews on Jesus struggling and with loud cries of tears in prayers to God the Father to save him, and Jesus learned obedience through suffering. That exposition impacted my professor more than the actual passage of Genesis 12. I learned a big lesson. I think I need to go back to Martin Lloyd Jones book preaching and preachers. Lloyd Jones is such an expert in exposition message preaching. Thank God for his servant like Martin Lloyd Jones and others like Tim Keller etc.

God will show you the way when He calls you

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

Al Ngu, Orlando, January 11, 2023

When Abraham was called by God to go to a new land he would show him, God promised he will bless him make his name great, make him to a great nation and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through him. The tricky part of it is that when God called Abraham God didn’t tell him where he was going, he just told him go and I will show you. Is a bit like us today a lot of times God doesn’t give us a details by God.

He stirs in our hearts to go somewhere and/or to do something for the Lord based on his calling but you don’t have the exact idea itself what to do or where to go. Very much like Abraham. Though there is a huge difference though because God appeared personally to Abraham and God spoke audibly to Abraham to call him and give him instructions and give him all the promises for him and make him so sure that it is God. In a sense this call is so emphatically important and significant because this will impact the entire humanity because Abraham’s call is to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. The blessings does not just rest on Abraham but on the entire humanity in the entire whole world, and it’s not just through Abraham but also through the offspring of Abraham.

That offspring is a is a singular noun not offsprings. It only one person that is included in that and that is that is Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham God who will bless the entire world. And that blessings come through the promise of God to Abraham and all the way down to all believers. It was fulfilled 2000 years ago in the son of God who became a human himself. And through him and through his death and resurrection as a redemption substitute for our condemnation and our sins when he conquered death. He defeated the devil and death.

God has called all of us because we are children and offspring of Abraham by faith in Christ also similarly to be a blessing to the entire generation entire world. We are all called, we are all In it. The call is clear we have no doubt, however some of us may be called specifically to be pastors or engineers doctors or deacons elders or musicians or worship leaders or Sunday school teachers or whatever vocation.

It doesn’t have to be some vocations in the House of God but they can be in the community we live in. But the overall goal remains the same – to be a blessing to all the families of the earth period now between the call and the fulfillment.

How does God empower us God’s sake to Abraham leave your country leave your homeland leave your tribe and families and go to the land I will show you. The four words “I will show you” is the empowerment of God. Similarly God promised us he will show us. He’s not gonna leave us groping in the dark fumbling on the way. But at the time of calling he’s not telling us. And you know why? Because that’s the way to build faith in us; that’s a way for us to completely thrust ourselves to trust him and put our faith in him to make a better you in this conversation in this story. So God will show us:  I myself personally am transitioning my ministry from pastoral to nothing, I’m awaiting for God to show me. And based on that I know in my spirit God will show me. You know why because this is important to him because the calling is to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey everything I’ve taught you. And because it is so important so significant he would definitely tell you tell me tell us. So that is so important period : the guidance of the Lord, the leadership of the Lord, the direction of the Lord and they are all in the book of psalms, “ lead me or Lord, direct my path of God, command me the way I should go I should walk.” I rejoice in the fact that we have a God who promised to show me the way.

I hope you’re going to continue to put your trust and your faith in him as he leads you into the next chapter of your life Your ministry.

Or you may be seeking for a soul mate marriage partner in your life and you know that God has called you to live a life that is pleasing to him, glorifying his name in other words to be equally yoked with a spouse they’ll raise a godly family pleasing to him glorifying to his name. But as you looked around your environment you may find that there’s a lot of eligible women in the House of God but very few eligible young eligible men as is the case usually as there are more brothers than sisters in the house. There are more sisters than brothers in the House of God. Then as a woman who loves the Lord seeking a soul mate life partner what do you do? All I can say as God has called you, he will show you. And he must keep his words and he will as he’s a God of integrity ,of immutability, of the God of covenant with us. Nothing will change his mind and he will never break his word.

Or you were in the middle of difficult decisions as going through business or going through marriage or going through children’s lives struggles etc, you cry to the Lord and you asked Lord “show me your way”. I will not say the words he’s duty bound to show you the way but I will say his love is bound to show you the way.

However sometimes it may seem that we are not getting much direction, and it seems to be so quiet. Never doubt because he’s in the process of making things happen preparing you for greater things, shaping and molding you. Just like the way he matured Joseph who was thrown into the pit with 1001 questions with anger boiling on his mind and his anxiety and fear in his spirit. He was sold to the Egyptian army captain. And incredibly God was with him even in the pit and through the pit process. Its amazing how the entire journey through the pit, through the slavery, through the slavery as Egypt’s captain’s house, he eventually rose to become the Prime Minister of Egypt miraculously with God’s providence clearly. This all happened in the midst of apparent failure of his life and the silence of God. That is so powerful.

That is indeed as God says “I will show you.”

Baptism of Water & Receiving the Holy Spirit

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

Al Ngu.      January 8, 2023.      New York

Acts 8 describes a phenomenally interesting and strange event that took place in Samaria after Philip had gone there to preach the gospel. Philip did great signs and wonders the many were amazed and believed in Christ and they were baptized in the water by Philip. And the news got to Jerusalem headquarter the eldership the apostles ship the supreme council, they heard that people and Samara had received the word and being baptized in water.

Acts 8: 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

They said something very intriguing and very revealing. The Apostles said the believers in Samaria had received the word of God, they have not received the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit had not fallen on them but they had only been baptized in the name of Jesus. So they decided to send Peter and John to Samaria to lay hands on them so that they may receive the Holy Spirit. Now this is becoming even more intriguing now: this is precisely what the charismatics and Pentecostals are doing, laying on hands on the folks for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Note the words “to receive the Holy Spirit” is highly confusing because theologically and in all other instances in the Bible a believer received the Holy Spirit the moment he believes in Christ Jesus. And this is also recorded for a number of cases in the Bible too.

Now what is the difference is the fact that it is clear on the two baptisms, the baptism in the water and the baptism of the Spirit. The fact that the apostles said, “ the Holy Spirit had not fallen upon them but they just received the baptism in water so let’s send John and Peter down there to lay hands on them so that they may receive the Holy Spirit.” What is that telling you? That is saying baptism in water does not make you receive the Holy Spirit in itself.

Well you have to believe in Christ Jesus first so you can be baptized in water, and yet not received the Holy Spirit, that is so contradictory in theology of the gospel. Now the only way I can interpret that is they have received the Holy Spirit however they have not received the Holy Spirit in terms of baptism of the Spirit. Almost in all cases, baptism of the Spirit is manifested as speaking in tongues as recorded numerous times in the book of Acts. The book of Acts gives us a blueprint on a lot of things for the church life for the doctrines of the church and of God, and the receiving the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Spirit, the filling in of the Holy Spirit is clearly demonstrated in this book. So I interpret that when the apostle’s council in Jerusalem decided to send top apostles Peter and John to Samaria to help Philip to to get them being filled with the Holy Spirit in order to receive the Holy Spirit in terms of baptism or Spirit, I wish there were instances after that they all started speaking in tongues but it was silent. But this is sufficiently clear to me that receiving of the Holy Spirit refers to this second experience that baptism of the Spirit. To say this is a not not the normative pattern in the book of Acts because it is a book that records the formation of the church and advancement of the church as I read from Carson and ESV commentary is hard to substantiate. Carson writes, “The period of Acts is a time of transition, and the book’s purpose is to show the gospel’s relentless advance, not to establish normative patterns for church life and polity.”[1]

There is also the argument saying that because Samaria is hostile to Jerusalem and now some folks in Samaria believed in Christ so they sent apostles from Jerusalem to them so that they receive the Holy Spirit so that they feel that it is really one church not two churches that united in  Christ.[2] But what they said in the apostlilic council does not reflect that. The apostle’s council is as clear as it is you can read into it, but what is clear is that they are concluding they’ve received Christ they have been baptized in the water they need another one for receiving the Holy Spirit . Not that they don’t have the Holy Spirit, they do. However the need for the baptism in the Spirit because Apostles were actually using the words they had only been baptized in the water, what does that tell you?

And if you synchronize & harmonize that with a number of scriptures other places there are talks about baptism of the Spirit like the Lord Jesus himself said you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit when he was saying that the folks already been baptized in the water in his name. Bcause he has not ascended to heaven yet the Holy Spirit was not give, was not poured out yet and that’s why he said you will be baptized. Now now guess what? In the book of Acts chapter two of the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down, the Spirit of God came down in tongues of fire and rested upon upon them and they were all being filled and being baptized with the Holy Spirit and they all spoke in tongues. Immediately that tongue at that time are known language of other tribes but not known to the speakers themselves which also amazed a lot of Jews that came from other countries. They were amazed to find there Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem praising God in their languages which is not known by the Jewish people in nearby cities.

But proceeding from the first Corinthian 11 onwards the gift of the Spirit you can see clearly Paul said, “ I wish that you all speak in tongues even more I wish that you all prophecy.” What is he saying?  Paul has never for one second downplay tongues or prophecy as the gift of the Spirit. Paul said “earnestly desire the spiritual gift”.  Earnestly means don’t be a lame duck arguing the mind theologically and given up the the spiritual gift simply because doctrinally a lot of denominations have written off tongues and baptism in the Spirit etc. And that’s so sad that is actually going against what Paul says earnestly desire the spiritual gift. And then he said when you speak in tongues in church you should have an interpreter. And if you prophecy in church take turn. The gift of the prophecy reveals the secrets of the hearts of the man and woman who come to church and they will be convicted by the Holy Spirit as they hear the Lord speaking. That is prophecy. I know this is a hard spiritual gift to really operate well but the bigger question is and the bigger problem is most churches have given up on that or dropped that because of the constant battling about the theology of baptism of the spirit and the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy and the gift of healing by the doctrine of cessation of gift. It’s a matter of interest, doctor Martin Lloyd Jones, a renowned reformed Baptist preacher in London who held such great pulpit and influenced millions and millions of Christians and thousands and thousands of pastors in the reformed world in particular, he believed in the distinct second experience of baptism. He believed in baptism the water and baptism of the spirit. John piper believes in speaking tongues and is asked the Lord for it I recall listening to one of his videos. All right bottom line the apostles the the council say so about the baptism of the spirit receiving the Holy Spirit, churches today should not drag their feet. We must move on to earnestly desire the spiritual gift and lay hands on the people to receive the Baptist and the Holy Spirit Amen.

[1] Carson, D. A. (2018). The Gospels and Acts. In D. A. Carson (Ed.), NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (p. 1968). Zondervan.

[2] Ibid

Gospel is the antithesis to our culture and also the fulfillment of our longings

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

Al Ngu.    New York.    January 7, 2023

1 Corinthians 1: 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The antithesis and fulfillment of the cross to the culture of the world is astounding. That’s why Paul in first Corinthians chapter one says that to the Jews the cross it’s a stumbling block, whereas to the Greeks the cross is foolishness, but to the believers Christ is the power of God for salvation. When Jesus hangs on the cross, people scoffed at him saying he said “destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days”, now he can’t even save himself. Our culture today doesn’t understand the power of the cross, in fact mocks at the person hung it on the cross as foolishness and weakness. And that’s why culture today never gets it. Which is why Christianity it’s constantly baffling to them, even as it continuous to pose a threat and challenge to their worldliness and sensual desires. Thinking that they would do it their own way, to achieve personal fulfillment, satisfaction and in fact gratification, they missed the glory and power of the cross of Jesus Christ. This is self exertion, self will power and self ascension to the throne of life, completely pushed God out of his throne in our lives. It’s always a tension between God’s way or my way. Looking at the tower of Babel, they intended to make a name for themselves, and they ended up completely dispersed and in disaster. Why? Because they do it for their own glory and not for God.

A chapter later, God called Abraham to greatness. God called Abraham to leave his country his homeland and go to a land he will show him. God will bless him and promised to make his name great and make him to a great nation. The greatness from yourselves will lead to destruction but the greatness given by the grace of God will lead to true greatness and fame in the name of Christ, for the sake of Christ. It would not be our own endeavor, so to speak, but it will be empowering from the Lord himself to achieve the purpose he has called us. And that’s what God did with Abraham. It was a complete reversal of the tower of Babel when they wanted to make a name for themselves, they ended up in total dispersion and destruction. That shows the man’s greed and self actualization as in our modern society today and see where that leads them. That’s why the call of God is so powerful. We need to realize that true success comes from God and God alone. True blessing comes from the Lord and him alone. And if its from where else, it will just bring us to complete disappointment and discouragement.

Abraham was not exactly seeking for fame or greatness (Gen 12), he was a mere immigrant migrating with his clan his father from or to Haran and that’s all we know about him. And out of the blue God called him to greatness in total contrast to the Tower of Babel where the people wanted to make a name for themselves (Gen 11). This is also in contrast to Eve who wanted to make a name for herself. All of them ended in disasters breaking the covenant with God.

This is the same for us today as believers in Christ, our only channel and way to success and glory is one that comes from God in Christ Jesus. And not from anywhere else or anybody else. Especially not from ourselves the self ego the self ambition the self gratification and actualization is truly a dangerous path to go.

So the gospel actualizes, and realizes the dreams of the world. By the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And by his resurrection, he destroyed the devil who hath the power of death. All effort to self-glorification, self-achievement, self actualization, is simply going into a  path of darkness. That is led by the Evil One. And that’s exactly what happened to Eve. Who was tempted? By the devil. So if we continue the path of self-desire, self-planning and self-ambition, we will end up to be like the Tower of Babel. Or like Eve, who was cast out from the Paradise.

Therefore the cross. is the fulfillment of the very thing that the world longs for. And fights for. And can never get. Because the cross made peace with God between. God and man. The peace that can only come from God by the reconciliation brought by the blood of Christ. Jesus reconciled mankind to God through the offerings of his blood on the cross. Therefore the cross or the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the absolute power of God. To bring salvation to anyone who believes in Christ. And the cross is a fulfillment of the deepest longing and desire of every sane human being. Only human being who is so out of the right thinking reject Christ. Who died on the cross for us all.

Therefore, anyone who thinks the death of Christ on the cross is irrelevant to us is completely blind sighted to total darkness and judgment of God’s coming.

And that’s why Gospel is the antithesis or opposite to our culture. Our culture’s longing is self gratification. Self ambition. Self ego. Without any reverence to who God is, and his love and his glory. Therefore Gospel is constantly a threat to the culture because it is the antithesis of the culture today. But at the same time Gospel can fulfill human’s deepest longings. Whereby. Culture can only watch with helplessness. And in fact going the way of culture will bring us down the path of destruction.

That’s why the cross is so powerful. It is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Why aren’t we thinking of the eternal home?

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

Al Ngu, New York        January 7, 2023

We were walking to our car tonight by Costco on on the month of January in the deep cold weather tonight. It’s dark and cold and I could see shoppers getting out of Costco are all trying to get back to the cars and go back home with all the shopping. There is nothing better to come home to the warmth and coziness in this cold weather.

Then I thought of the of the eternity home. Do we human beings actually long for coming home to a home that is warm and well prepared for us to crash,  to relax,  to listen to music and have dinner etc. Do you see the eternal home that we are destined to return to that will be eternal; not the kind of home that we’ve put in all our savings literally with all our monthly savings going to the mortgage of the home specially in places like New York city. Totally so ironic in life that we put in all our savings into a very temporary home, while we put hardly anything into our eternal home. That’s a question befuddles me or anyone if you know there is such a thing called the eternal home. Walking through this cold night to the car parked by Costco makes me think how many how many people long and wish and hope to get to the eternal home that is warm and comfortable and eternal?

If we don’t think about the eternity home., we will be the saddest people in the world. So the question is, what are we going do about it? Taking things too much for granted. And being shortsighted, and I mean totally shortsighted, will be the  most regrettable thing in life ever in the future. If you read the Bible from what Jesus said about being thrown into the lake of fire with burning sulfur. This is no laughing matter. As like in the Book of Revelations 21. And also numerous places Jesus talked about hell. The reality is that people don’t want to talk about hell. And don’t want to think about it. It is something that is so dreadful. And people would rather think it is just vague human imagination. And a lot of people also question why would a God of love and mercy and kindness send people to the eternal burning fire? To that, the answer is that why would the loving, caring God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a ghastly death on the cross publicly? To be shamed by the Romans. And by the Jewish Pharisees. Why? The answer is:

The justice and the righteousness of God demands so. All sins of mankind are to be paid for. Otherwise all will be facing the prospect of eternal Hellfire. If anybody’s beginning to question the wisdom and the justification of the action of God, of sending anybody to hell fire, to be burned for all eternity, he needs to look at the cross. Why? Would the glorious Son of God be tortured publicly. To die on the cross 2000 years ago. And the reason is. He has to pay for the sins of the world in order to save the world.

So this is sort of a very brief explanation. And the justification of these Hellfire? From the Bible. Question is, are people convinced? Are people willing to take it seriously. The problem is,  people ignore it. People would  just ignore it. To bury the concept of Hellfire. People think that. by not thinking about it, it will go away. But that’s not true. And anybody with any sense, we agree with that just because you don’t want to think about it, hell fire will NOT go away.

Now if that’s the case, shouldn’t this be the biggest news on every television and news media. Today? Of course it should be! So for so for those who believe in this, while we are holding the tension of the prospect of eternity, bliss in heaven, and the eternal condemnation in the Hellfire., and remaining silent is the hardest thing in life.

First, if you share with folks about this heaven and hell, they will write you off. It is interesting how powerful the powers of the Prince of this world has taken  control on the philosophical propaganda and human thoughts for this Millennium. That any one questioning or talking about the eternity will be deemed as out of date and even on the wrong side of history. This has to be dealt with. Seriously. However, if you don’t share with anybody, this issue will burn in your soul, because the prospect of seeing your friends and loved ones burning in hell for eternity, not for one month, nor for. Two years. Not for 50 years, but for eternity is frightening and dauting.

We are at this juncture in our society when any thought about eternity, long term is deemed out of fashion, because we are supposed to be scientifically minded. In reality, the scientific minded people actually do not have any answer for the eternity; for the creation and the beginning of life in this world. We have to begin to acknowledge the shortcomings! Brilliant scientific minds in this world are weak, simply do not have any answer for that. To say that humans who die were eventually become fertilizer is the complete moronic thought that is the most dehumanizing at the highest order.

Christians who have the message of eternal life in Jesus Christ: we have to come to the knees. Regularly praying and crying out to the Lord of Harvest. To send out harvests laborers to bring in the harvest., as Jesus said. Today. We literally stand at the forefront of spiritual redemption, of the scale of eternity that this world has never seen ever before. And we must act and act fast. And act with passion.