The Heart of God
1 st April 2012
Pastor Wu
The Heart of God
Date
1st April 2012
Preacher
Pastor Wu
Scripture Reading
Nehemiah 1: 1-4
Sermon Title
The Heart of God
MC
Gloria
Worship Leader
Jordan Wendt
Haidian Christian Church
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The Heart of God
Pastor Wu
1 st April 2012
Beginning Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to give all the thanks to you. Thank you for sending your most
beloved Son to us. Thank you for saving us. Lord, today we come to you, knowing that this week is
Passion Week, please prepare us to remember your salvation. Please let us remember you love us
so much. We want to run into your arms because the riches of your love will always be enough.
Please let us give the love to the people around us. Lord, please help us to surrender our lives to
you. We want to become the true followers of you. And may your Spirit lead us step by step
everyday. Lord, may you be the center of today’s worship. I pray for the worship team, may they
worship you with all of their heart. I pray for the congregation here, may you lead them so that
they can participate in the service today. I also pray for the preacher, may you anoint him, may he
be full of your grace and wisdom. May your Word be our comfort and satisfaction. We pray in
Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture Reading:
Nehemiah 1:1-4
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year,
while I was in the citadel of Susa,
2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned
them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great
trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned
with fire.”
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and
prayed before the God of heaven.
Pastor Wu:
“Jesus, all for Jesus. All I am, and have, and ever hope to be, all for Jesus.”
What a powerful song; what a powerful spiritual formation that we have this morning. I believe
the worship team and the worship service for this morning really brought us to the spiritual
banquet, in which we not only enjoy our time but also our relationship with Jesus Christ, and our
Heavenly Father. So I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to the Spirit, and also give
my heart-felt thanks to our worship leaders. They are very special, and they are very committed
Christians.
Explanation of Palm Sunday
Brothers and sisters, today is the Palm Sunday of 2012. On this day, a bit less than 2 000 years ago,
Jesus was entering the Holy City – Jerusalem. Before He entered that city, He knew what was
going to happen to Him; and before that, He shared what was going to happen to Him to His
disciples, Peter and the rest of the team. He was saying that He was going to be crucified on the
cross, and He was going to die, and in three days, He would come back to life. One of His
disciples, Peter, came to Him, “Wow, no, Lord, you are not supposed to do that. We are not going
to let that happen to you.” And Jesus said to Peter, “Demon, come to my behind!” Jesus knew
what was going to happen to Him, but He did not hesitate to face the death, to enter Jerusalem,
and to be crucified on the cross. He did not hesitate to come into our world that was hostile to the
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The Heart of God
Pastor Wu
1 st April 2012
gospel, hostile to the teaching of the Lord, and hostile to our Heavenly Father. He did not hesitate
to do that. He just walked in; actually, He entered Jerusalem on a humble donkey.
Stephen Marbury’s Witness
Brothers and sisters, I am personally a big fan of basketball. I love basketball even though I am
short (see I am short). But still, it does not matter if you are short or tall so long if you enjoy the
game. I enjoy it very much. Last Friday, I had a wonderful time! Last Friday, I had a very good
time! Beijing basketball team won the national championship! I was so happy that I came to tear.
A man in front of his wife, my wife was surfing on the internet, was crying in front of the TV. And
I was touched not only by the result, that result that I have been expecting and praying for so many
years, but also by a man who did a wonderful thing. And what he was doing really touched my
heart, my spirit. And the man is Stephen Marbury. When 18 000 people stood up, crying out, “We
are the champion!” this man collapsed onto the floor. He did not stand up, he collapsed. He was on
his hips, he was not on his knees, but he collapsed on the floor with two hands in front of his face,
praising and praying, giving praises to the Lord. Later he was interviewed by media, and a media
reporter asked him, “How could you have come this far?” What is the response he had for this
question?
“I thank God! I thank God!” When 18 000 people did not know the Lord, standing and saying,
“We are the champion!” This man was on the floor, praising the Lord, saying,
“I thank God…” in a hostile world towards Christianity.
And this story reminds me of my trip last February to one of the Christian universities in Ohio.
The university is located in the middle of the state, a nice and quiet environment. And this school
requires of all the students, one hour everyday of the study to go to the chapel to worship together.
All the faculties and students worship together. Because one of the primary intention and purpose
of this school, a key foundation of this school is to bring these young kids up in a Christian college
within a more and more secularized world, a country that is getting more and more hostile and
secularized, this kind of environment. And I was so blessed by the dean, and my relationship with
that university. And I have been trying to persuade my daughter to transfer from the university she
goes to now to that college, but that might take some time to do because the new situation is
challenging, that is something you have to conquer.
Today, we are so blessed that the president of that college, that university is with us. The president
who insists that a Christian college, who brings up young kids based on our Christian teaching,
Jesus’ teaching, in the future could contribute to the healthy growth of this world. And that
president is here.
Guest Speaker:
Thank you, Pastor Wu, my brother and my friend. It’s wonderful to be here with family. Christians
all over the world and throughout the history are family. We’ve got this where we come from.
Thank you for your nice words about Cillaville College.
Haidian Christian Church
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The Heart of God
Pastor Wu
1 st April 2012
The reality is of course that as Christians, regardless of what we do in life, we are called to be
follower of Christ, and how we live, how we think, and how we treat the people around us.
Because how we live tells the world that there is something more to life than merely making
money and having fame. Stephen Marbury showed that. He was key to that victory, and yet he
felled down to give thanks to God. Great testimony, don’t you think? And that’s for all of us;
because people may not understand what we believe always. They may question what we believe.
But when they see a life lived that honours Christ, then they will want to know what it is that you
believe.
His Testimony
I have a degree in mathematics from university; my dream was to go into outer space, to be an
astronaut. But I came to know Christ during that period of time. It was difficult for me because I
had to decide science or God. In my mind, you could not have both; it was one or the other. Then I
began to realise after I heard about Jesus Christ, the God who created the world also created
science. And there are the greatest scientists throughout history even today who are followers of
God, they know Jesus Christ. So when I heard that Jesus came and died for me, just as we are
saying, I gave my life to Him. I did not know where my future was going to lead, but I knew that I
was going to walk with Him.
In the passage that we looked at just a moment ago in Nehemiah chapter one, it’s an great example
that what it means to be a Christian in a unchristian world, a follower of God in a world that can
be antagonistic to God. It didn’t bother Stephen Marbury when eighteen thousand people cheering,
because in his mind, he wanted them, in one way or another that, to know he gave thanks to God.
The Background of Nehemiah
Nehemiah was a man who knew God, and he lived in cultural that was antagonistic to God. He
was the cupbearer to the king. The cupbearer didn’t mean that he was just a food taster, but rather
nothing got to the king Artaxerxes unless it got to Nehemiah first. He was a man of profound
power and authority, of great respect and trust. He was a man of excellence, that is why he had
such a prominent position. He was not a prophet, not a priest, not a pastor. In fact you might say
that he was not even a politician. But he was a man of God.
When you read the book of Nehemiah, you are actually reading the last book of the Old Testament,
at least historically. Because the prophet Malachi actually delivered the prophecy during the time
that Nehemiah was in Jerusalem. As we read through the text we realized Nehemiah was serving
the king in Susa which was the winter palace. It was November and December; it was twentieth
year of Artaxerxes’ reign, which made 445 BC.
The Heart of God: Nehemiah’s First Concern
One of his brothers, Hanani, had returned from Jerusalem, which was eight hundred miles to the
west of Susa, through a long and treacherous journey. Nehemiah asked him about two things. He
was concerned about two things. he said, “How are the people in Jerusalem? How is the city of
Jerusalem?” Now why would Nehemiah be concerned about these two things? Because God was
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The Heart of God
Pastor Wu
1 st April 2012
concerned about these two things. As you read the Old Testament, you find that God has chosen
for Himself a people, through whom He would bring the Word of God, the written Word of God
and the incarnated Word of God – Jesus Christ. The whole focal point of God’s blessings and
promises were these people. That is what the heart of God is beating, and that is what Nehemiah’s
heart is beating as well.
The Heart of God: Nehemiah’s Second Concern
And the second thing he asked about was the city itself, how is the city? Why was he concerned
about the city Jerusalem? Because God was concerned about Jerusalem, the only place in the
world where the law of God could be fulfilled. And if that was what God’s concern was, that was
Nehemiah’s concern as well. Nehemiah has heart and mind for God; Nehemiah has a concern for
the things of God.
Just reading this is a challenge, because for you and for me, we must ask the question, “What is
that our heart concerns? What God is concerned about, is that the same thing that I am
concerned about?” You must realise that Ezra has been living in Israel for twelve years; you also
must realise that a hundred years before, Jerusalem had been destroyed, the temple had been
destroyed; and all the dreams and hopes of God’s people were rubble. And when the Persians
conquered the Babylonians, they allowed the Jews to begin to return to Israel, but there was
nothing there. Ezra came, and they rebuilt the temple. Worship could be restored, but it was still
very sad because Jerusalem itself was rubble; no one could live there. Ezra preached and read the
Word of God, but to no effective was that as the Israelites came back, they began to realise that the
hopes and dreams they had as God’s people were still rubble; the rubbles of those walls and the
gates, which symbolized the rubble of their own faith. For the very first time, because what they
have heard frightened them right. May God give us the courage, that strength to live what it is we
believe. Amen.
Let’s pray,
Father, thank you for your good work to us. Thank you for the example of Nehemiah for all of us,
for you. Give us minds that think with yours, eyes to see what you see and heart that breaks with
yours that we may be made one in God. And the people who want to come before you because of
what they see in us, not because they are perfect, only because we love as you have loved us. In
Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
Pastor Wu
What a powerful message Doctor Brown has given us. It tells us how we, as Christians, live in a
no-Christian world, even though it challenges us with many difficulties, so long we have heart of
God, and we will be the champion. Thank you Doctor Brown, for many blessings this morning. I
will try my best to persuade my daughter to transfer to your college. Let’s say what might happen.
And my wife was, actually this morning, working on that.
Another Personal Testimony
And again, this morning we are very much blessed to have another special guest, who is going to
sing in a very special way, a style, Mongolian minority singing style, a Christian song. About two
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The Heart of God
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1 st April 2012
years ago, he came to Haidian Church for the first time because of his girlfriend. His girlfriend’s
father was struggling with cancer. So the girl was very sad, and she urged her boyfriend to come to
church to pray together. So he was kind of very hesitant. Anyway, he came to the church, he was
not sure if God was real or God existed. But at the end of the service, before he left church, he said
to God,
“God, if you are real, I have a sister whom I have not seen, or spoken a single word with for three
years because three years ago she was fighting with our father, and she left home. For three years,
I did not know where she was; I did not know what she was doing; I did not know if she was still
alive or dead. If you are real, please Lord, help her to contact me in whatever ways.”
The following morning, he was contacted by his sister, whom he had not been communicating for
three years. Based on that testimony, he wrote a song, Great Love, based on 1 Corinthians, chapter
13, “The Lord is love, and love is the Lord”. So he is going to sing that Great Love now. Let’s
welcome!
Transcribed and revised by Esther MA and Franz HONG with grace and patience from the Lord.
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