Peter Chen
Revelation 7:13-14, Rapture unto Paradise

Rapture is the next biblical prophecy to be fulfilled and it is the anticipation of the church given in Scripture. But what exactly is the rapture and when will it take place? What is the overall eschatological timeline in Revelation and where does rapture fit in? Moreover, what is the significance of an imminent return of Christ? How should we respond to those who hold to a different view on the timing of the rapture? These are the questions we consider in this study of Revelation.

Peter Chen
Psalm 127:1-5, Without the LORD, Frustration! ...

Without the LORD, it is all frustration. Be on His side and live under His favor. May the Lord this year teach us to trust in Him and to pray. May we learn to depend on Him knowing that this is His world. Where we have failed to trust in the Lord and we lived independent of Him, may we repent today and seek the blood of Christ to cover our sinful skepticism toward the LORD. May we find in Christ renewal and healing to still every murmur in our heart and instead to trust in our heavenly Father and learn to sleep in the stern of the boat amid the storms of life with peace that transcends understanding that guards our heart and mind.

Peter Chen
Psalm 127:1, Without the LORD, Frustration!

This familiar psalm reminds us that the ultimate worker and provider in all our endeavors is the LORD. While the natural principle of cause and effect is indeed taught in Scripture, this psalm shows us that that principle must always be accompanied by the understanding that the LORD is the crucial provider in all our affairs. Whether it's our homes or the house of God, our greatest need is the LORD’s provision. In this unique psalm of Solomon, the Holy Spirit teaches us that human strength and ingenuity alone do not guarantee success. It is the LORD and His provision that ensure true success. May we learn to pray, depend on the LORD, and carry out His work with hearts that wait on Him.

Peter Chen
Revelation 7:1-14 The Protection of God's People

Revelation 7 shows that the wrath of the Lamb will be poured out on those who dwell on the earth, not upon Jesus’ own beloved people. John is shown two groups that will stand despite the intense judgments to come and contrary to the unbelievers’ outcry (6:17): the 144K Israelites and the raptured Gentile church of God. This sermon is part one of two sermons on Revelation 7 on the important topic of the rapture and its implications.

Peter Chen
Micah 5:2-4 The Messianic Message of Micah

Micah prophesied of the Messiah that He is the LORD God and that He is the shepherd over His people. This is the true message of Christmas that woos us to worship Christ, to love, honor, and serve Him. May we ponder deeply the wonder of Christmas, that the LORD, the eternal God, came from heaven in human flesh, born in Bethlehem, born of a woman, in the person of Jesus, to seek and save that which was lost and to shepherd all His elect who repent and trust in Him, to guide them away from sin and in the pathway of sanctification all the way home to glory.

John 14:12-14, The Promises of Christ for His People: Answered Prayer (Part 2)

It is the will of God that His people bear much fruit. Jesus described this in terms of the greater works (v 12). But how are we to bear much fruit and do the greater works? Were the disciples strong enough and godly enough to do these things? Are we strong enough and godly enough to do the same? Jesus shows us in this discourse that we are not. The one resource we need to do what we are incapable of doing on our own is Jesus Himself. He is our greatest resource to be and to make disciples (do the greater works), and we tap into this tremendous Christological resource by means of prayer (vv. 13-14). Prayer, in this sense, enables the greater works, because through prayer, we witness Jesus doing through us the remarkable works of God. Furthermore, prayer is worship, because in prayer, we affirm and uphold the revealed will of God as supreme and wise and righteous. Prayer is also worship because God is glorified in its effects. May we learn to pray in Jesus’ name and may we, through His doing in us, do the greater works for which God has saved us.

John 14:12-14, The Promises of Christ: Answered Prayer

Jesus promises answered prayer for His people. His promise brings up many questions. Is His promise a blank check or a magical formula for getting whatever we want? Is this just another version of the pagan idea of prayer? What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? How does this passage reconcile with the rest of the biblical teaching on prayer? The teaching of our Lord regarding prayer is this: We pray in accordance to His likeness and His will. We pray as those who abide in Him and His words abide in us (John 15:7). In short, we pray Christian prayers. We pray to seek the purposes of God to be advanced in this His world. May the Lord evermore teach us to pray as we should: in His name!

John 14:12, The Promises of Christ: the Greater Works

Jesus promises for His people provisions for the time of His physical absence from them. In John 14:12-20, Jesus assures His people that they will experience the greater works, answered prayer, and His Holy Spirit. The first of these is the focus of this study. What are the greater works? How should we respond if we are not seeing the greater works being carried out in our lives?

John 14:4-11, Jesus Is God

Jesus possesses a perfect overlap with the Father in His divine nature. He is truly God. But this familiar and orthodox doctrine has ramifications. Jesus first points out the implications of this doctrine to show that the disciples actually had failed to believe the doctrine. There is an important lesson for us in this. If Jesus is God, then certainly, that doctrine must flesh itself out in our lives also. That belief should be evident in our perspective, lifestyle, worship, and obedience to the Lord. May the Holy Spirit, our Helper, give us the grace to embrace Jesus as Lord and God more fully and deeply as we should.

John 14:2-3, Comfort in Times of Trouble (Part 2)

Hope is what enables us to endure times of trouble. Jesus knows the needs of His troubled disciples and points them to the vivid hope of heaven. He portrays heaven as a home, a return, and a reunion. What will mark our reunion with our Lord is His return. This is the rapture explained further in 1 Thess. 4:17. The Lord Jesus Christ will indeed remove His church before unleashing His wrath upon the world for its wickedness and its persecution of His people. May our Lord find us busy about His work whenever He should come for us. Maranatha!

John 13:36-14:1, Comfort in Times of Trouble

Have your dreams ever been shattered? Or, have you ever felt that your situation was outside of your control? This is precisely what Jesus’ disciples faced in this scene in the Upper Room. Jesus’ impending departure from them (13:33) meant shattered dreams. But it was also a loss of control. SImon Peter tried to offer his own life to take control of the situation, but Jesus assures him that that could not be. This was troubling for them all. The shattered dreams and the loss of control weighed heavily upon their hearts. But Jesus is fully aware of their disappointments and sorrows. He, therefore, comforts them with the only assurance that we can hold onto in the midst of trouble: Trust in God. That God is sovereign, that He loves them, and that He is all-wise to orchestrate all things for their eternal good, this is the God-ordained comfort for His suffering people. Jesus also shows us that the object of our faith must be the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Son. We are to place our trust in the Jesus kind of God, the triune God, whose character and glory we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the secret to comfort in times of trouble. Trust in the only true God whom we know in Christ.