For God So Loved The World He Gave His One And Only Son, That Whoever Believes In Him Shall Not Perish But Have Eternal Life.
Hi, Blessed Christmas to all of you. My name is Janice Ong founder of Christ Unite. This is the 1st time I am actually preaching in front of the camera showing my face. I believe is time for you to know who I am in person after 8 years in this ministry without showing my face. Today, I will be preaching on John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Come. Let’s pray. Dearest Heavenly Father, today is a very special day to remember. Is Christmas Day. Enable me your child to be able to preach well your word that others may come to know you and your son Jesus Christ and the significance of today what is the real meaning of Christmas. Hope. Really hope that many people will come to know you O Lord through today’s message and may they be blessed by your word today. In your son name Jesus Christ I pray.
What comes to your mind when you think of Christmas? Santa Claus? Christmas Tree with Christmas presents? Feasting? Holiday?
For me, before I become Christian when I was young, I was brought up to believe that Christmas is all about Santa Claus, Christmas tree with Christmas presents, food, enjoying ourselves. All these through television commercials, TV shows, Christmas songs but are these the real meaning of Christmas? I only come to know the real meaning of Christmas after I believe in Jesus Christ, knowing more about Him and understanding the significance.
Today I will be telling you more about what is Christmas all about? It’s true meaning. What has it get to do with us? Why is it important we need to know about Christmas, the real meaning?
Over these 3 years since Covid-19 started, many lives have been lost because of Covid. People live in fear they will die, they will lose their loved ones. Is normal as a human having fear of death. For Christians, we are reminded by God not to fear as we are promised that we will not perish and have eternal life. This is found in the Bible with today’s verse John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Anyone who believes that Jesus Christ is son of God who comes down to earth born as a human baby, growing up to become man who is sent by God the Father to tell us who He is, what He has done for us shall not perish but have eternal life. He is the creator creating us giving us human being giving us life. He forms the universe, the air we breathe in, the water drink, the land, the plants, the sea, stars, the sun, the rain, the animals, your pets. Everything is all His creation. He heals the sick, making the dead resurrected to be alive. Jesus died at the Cross for our sins, defeated death and resurrected on the 3rd day after his death so we can have life. Eternal life and forgiveness of our sins. He became man, making the invisible God to be visible God for us. He is the reason why we have Christmas Day. Is to remind us of Jesus Christ birth and what he has done for us. That’s why we have Love, Joy, Peace and Hope.
Those who do not know about what Jesus Christ has done for us. They live in darkness in fear of crisis when they hit. Jesus is the light of the world, we Christian are representative of Christ. We live in light and bare His light. We are told in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is calling from God to us Christian to share His word to others. Is not the work of only pastors, apostles, preachers. Is for all Christian.
Probably this maybe the 1st time you are hearing there is actually God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit if you are not Christian. If you believe in Jesus, you are redeem, reconcile with God. You become children of God and will have God the Father, God the son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. You become heirs of God. We become Sons and Daughters of God. We have eternal life. We are saved from death. We will live in heaven with God. This is the reason why there is joy with Christmas. For a savior Jesus Christ was born to save us.
As Christian, we believe in one God. They are known as Three In One. We call them Trinity. Jesus Christ is your God, your friend who never leaves you, your counselor when you are down. This is found in Isaiah 9:6 in the Bible. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So do not fear for you have Jesus as your advocate to God the Father for your sins, your problems. His righteousness, his death at the cross cover us of our sins. You might ask What is Holy Spirit? This is the 1st time I am hearing about Holy Spirit. You might be wondering. When we accept Jesus Christ into our life, the Holy Spirit lives in us helping us to be holy, obedient to God and understand God’s word which is the Bible. He sanctifies us day by day, purifying us to resist temptation. To be holy.
Some of you Christian and non-Christian may be asking why do Christian still suffer from illness and death even though these Christian are good people. God did not promise life is without suffering. Sometimes people suffer so they can turn towards God and rely on God for His strength, comfort and deliverance. They grow in faith through their suffering. These can be seen from many people of God who suffer and grow in faith. Some of them found in the Bible are David and Apostle Paul. David was actually a young shepherd. He is being called by God to become King but he didn’t become King immediately. He took many years for him to become King. He faced a lot of life threats but ultimately he become King David and he is very known to people, well loved by people and God. For Paul, he too suffer many death threats as well and had a thorn in him which could be an illness. He prayed to God for deliverance of his thorn but He said to him “My grace is sufficient for you.” So Paul has the thorn with him for his life in this earth but he still preserve, continue preaching God’s word to people around the world even though he face many persecution from others. Eventually he was killed. When God promise whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, this eternal life is actually life after this earth. In this life, we only 1 life in this earth. So you better treasure it and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. We only have 1 life. When you accept Jesus Christ as God into your life, when you pass on, we Christian pass on, we do not die, we are in the presence of God immediately after our death. So we do not perish, we do not go to hell. We do not go to purgatory waiting for us to be saved after death. So Christian who have died, they are actually not dead actually. They are given eternal life after death for Jesus Christ has defeated death and resurrected on the 3rd day.
Now, let me share with you my own experience as Christian for the past 8 years. Life as Christian is actually not an easy path these past 8 years. I have lost Christian and non-Christian friends who left me not wanting to be friends with me and block me in their lives. Even though I am doing good for the benefit of others but they do not understand me. They see me as threat. Not believing in me. Is disheartening to see these happening in my life. If you are facing the same problem, remember you and I are accepted by God. He is our defender. You are not alone. God loves you. He never leaves you or forsake you. Remember God said in Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. May those who leave us realize who God really is, what his message really means when he came down to earth as human. Is to tell us about reconciliation with Him and others. Is all about uniting people back to God back to Him and having unity with others.
In March 2021 last year, I lost my 6th aunt who passed away suddenly. She was Buddhist. My family and I were sadden to lose her. The last day I saw her was when she visited my family during Chinese New Year which happened to be Valentine’s Day too. That day, I published in Christ Unite Valentine’s Day Sermon Rescue. Food From God. I thought of telling my relatives about the sermon I wrote and publish that day but I didn’t. With her death makes me realize the importance of preaching the word to others that they can be saved. It also makes me more aware the importance of unity with God and with others.
In April 2020, my mum couldn’t walk at the beginning of Covid-19 circuit breaker as her right leg bones were broken. Circuit breaker in Singapore means we can’t step out of our house, I don’t know what to do. Only when she faced pain in her right leg and couldn’t walk at all makes me decide to bring her to see Dr immediately. I had to use my office chair at home to wheel her to take public transport to see our neighbourhood polyclinic. The Dr after doing Xray on her told us we need to go to A&E Accident & Emergency at hospital immediately. I didn’t realize the seriousness my mum’s condition. At the A&E, she was put on cast and scheduled to see a specialist consultant. The specialist was actually a senior consultant who examine her and told me more than 90% of her right leg calf area were broken. He put her on Aircast Boot and observe her. He said let her leg heal naturally. If really no choice, then surgery might be necessary. Miraculously, God grew new bones in her right leg calf area soft new bones and she was able to walk a few months later without any surgery. In fact, after r she sees the Dr, the Dr was telling me to get her a wheelchair so she is actually not able to move around at the house. She has to be on wheelchair and special care on her right on her Aircast boots not to be hurt at all. So I have to take care of her. And really thank God that new bones were grown on my mum’s right leg calf area and she is able to walk. Today, she doesn’t need any more wheelchair. Praise God and able to walk quite well without any walking stick, she doesn’t need sanity boot any more. So thank God for that. Praise God for answered prayers.
Ok. Now let’s talk about my own health. Last year from 2021 April, I had prolong bleeding lasting more than a month most of months when my menses come. They stopped only for a few days and the prolong bleeding just keep coming back each month. I really don’t know to do. Is not the typical normal menses cycle. So I don’t know is it what is going on with me. I thought is actually menopause and then I was thinking that time, I took my Covid-19 vaccine, I read some online articles that some people actually has prolong bleeding after they took the Covid-19 vaccine. So I thought this could be one of the reasons why I have prolong bleeding. I told some of my friends and one of my friend actually advise me to go and see a Dr and I listened and went to see the Dr. The Dr said that is very unlikely is due to Covid-19 vaccine as my bleeding started a few days before my vaccine but I still not very sure about that. So the Dr actually get me to do an ultrasound and we discovered I had fibroids which is some growth benign tumor outside my uterus area which is not the norm actually. Normally for fibroids is actually growing inside the uterus. So I had to see a specialist in hospital and given some medication to stop my prolong bleeding. But the medication doesn’t really work at all, various side effects like not able to turn my right neck. When I turn is very painful and there is one medicine that cause me to bleed even more and causing me more allergy skin allergy and also headaches as well. So none of the medicine actually work, I have various side effects which I don’t really like. So Drs told me I had tried all kinds of medication and none work, and they advised me to try having a surgery putting an insertion inside my vagina using a Mirena disperse some medication inside. As I really don’t have much choice, the Dr was also saying they want to take some samples to some investigation. I agreed to their suggestion so I had the surgery. The test result is actually benign. Thank God for that but the Mirena it was actually pushed out by itself a few days after my surgery. It caused a lot of pain in me and I had to quickly go and get an appointment to see a Dr to get the Mirena out because is so painful. So it was push out on that day the Dr was saying it was almost coming out. Yah. Mirena doesn’t work. Medicine doesn’t work and the Drs were telling me now my only option is actually surgery. They told me I need to go for either an open surgery or laparoscopy keyhole surgery to take out the whole womb with the fibroids on it. They actually advised me to have a open surgery because my fibroids are growing very big but I was reluctant and I prayed to God about it. Please Lord stop the bleeding, let the bleeding only come once a month, not more than 5 days each month. Amazingly God actually answer the prayer most of the months after I started this prayer. So I thought I won’t really need the surgery after all. I actually postponed the surgery quite a few times. After I observe for a few months, the prolong bleeding didn’t come back, I actually cancel the surgery. I also tried TCM that time as well, the TCM medicine works as well. It stop my prolong bleeding for a short period of time. But recently my prolong bleeding come back and it lasted for than a month and my ultrasound results shows that my fibroids had grown bigger. Within 6 months, it grew by 1cm which is not the norm. Fibroids normally grow 1cm in a year. So I get concerned. And there is also a new fibroid discovered as well, is just growing too fast. I decided that maybe this time is really the time for me to have the surgery after all because I tried all options. I went to see the Drs again, see various Drs. The Drs still tell me I still need to have surgery and they highly recommend me to have open surgery as my fibroids have grown too big. They are unlikely to have key hole surgery. I also seek TCM physician advise as well, amazing she told me that TCM medicine may not necessarily fix my problem. I need to go to hospital and get my womb off as it might affect my organs area as well. So ok I prayed to God and this time I had peace compared to my past. Yah. I don’t have peace that time. But this time, when I prayed to God I had peace to proceed with the surgery. I was deciding which surgery to do. Is it an open surgery or is it laparoscopy keyhole surgery? And I still prefer to have keyhole surgery because it recovers faster compare to open surgery which takes about 6 months. And the hole is also smaller so making the recovery to be faster. So I had the surgery recently at last month on 22 November. I am actually right now recuperating at home. Thank God the surgery is successful and I am able to preach to you today. The test result is actually benign. Thank God for it. The surgery procedure is actually difficult because the fibroids are growing outside my uterus and some of my Drs were telling my main Dr telling her to actually change it to open surgery from keyhole surgery to an open surgery but my main Dr decided to stick to it keyhole surgery. Thank God for that. Thank God for answered prayer that my Drs will be good and God is with them.
Throughout these problems in my life, I am reminded to turn to God and pray to Him. Never giving up of Him even though He took away many things from me and I had to suffer. I realize that God is always there, never leaving me compared to my friends who left me. He is the friend that sticks closer to me than anyone else never forsaking me. He listens to my cries, my prayers. He knows my thought and my heart. Even without saying a word, He really knows what I am thinking. He knows I know that. He knows who I really am. He never gives up on me. He forgives sins. He is a loving compassionate God slow to anger abundant in love. Who else but such a nice loving God who really knows you? He loves you unconditionally. Really amazing God.
The day before my surgery on 21 November, I come across a worship song Every Praise Is To Our God. I was looking for worship songs to encourage me. This song Every Praise Is To Our God caught my attention. Is the first time I hear it and see the video. Is a flash mob where Bishop Hezekiah Walker lead his team to this song singing dancing happily. When I saw the video, I started to think can we do this here in Singapore in my country? It will be good if we can sing Christian songs in public as flash mob generating public awareness. I google and find out I will require a permit to do flash mob. So for now, no plans for me to do flash mob. If your country allows flash mob, you might consider doing it. Getting you and others ready. But make sure you don’t get yourself in trouble. I don’t want anything to happen to you all. Just obey the law and practice the song, the dance steps and all these. Let me read to you the song of this song the lyrics Every praise is to our God.
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise, every praise is to our God
Sing hallelujah to our God
Glory hallelujah is to our God
Every praise, every praise is to our God
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise, every praise is to our God
Sing hallelujah to our God
Glory hallelujah is to our God
Every praise, every praise is to our God
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise, every praise is to our God
Sing hallelujah to our God
Glory hallelujah is to our God
Every praise, every praise is to our God
God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes He is, yes He is
God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes He is, yes He is
God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes He is, Yes He is
Yes He is, Yes He is
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise, every praise
Every praise, every praise
Every praise, every praise
All of my worship
Every praise, every praise
Every praise, every praise
Every praise, every praise
Is to our God
This song the lyrics I can really really identify with it. God is my Savior, my Healer, my Deliverer. Yes He is, yes He is. Every praise is to my God.
Thank God for letting me listen to this worship song at the right timing before my surgery, reassuring me. I will put up the Youtube music video link at the end of my sermon text which you can watch after the sermon.
Although, now I can’t have any babies after my surgery, I am not married. I don’t have any children. But is ok. I am reminded that we Christian are all children of God. I have the responsibilities of caring for God’s children with His word. God showed me many of his little children after my surgery. He also reminded me how I was like when I was a little child. When you face a crisis, you start to recall about the past. He remembers how I was formed, how I grew up. Today, this Christmas Day, let us remember Jesus Christ birth and what he has done while in earth for us.
I hope you find this sermon useful. If you like to accept Jesus Christ into your life, please follow me and say this prayer. Please close your eyes and follow me to say this prayer. Dearest Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your one and only son Jesus Christ to come to earth as a human being born as a baby and growing up to become human telling us what you had done for us, sacrificing your son Jesus Christ for our sins that we can be reconcile with you and have eternal life that we can be children of God that I can be children of God. I really want to be your child O Lord, please come into my life from today onwards. Forgive me of my sins. I repent from my past sins. O Lord for your son Jesus Christ had died for my sins and I am forgiven. Thank you Lord. Please O Lord come and live with me. Let me have your Holy Spirit that I am able to know more about you and understand your word, sanctify me, purify me of my sins day by day and helping me to be holy and pure. Let me from today onwards live a life that is meaningful and be able to glorify you through my life. Let me be in your light and not in darkness. O Lord let me able to enjoy the love the joy, peace and hope for the rest of my life before I come and see you in person after this life in earth. Thank you O Lord. In your son name Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
If you had said this prayer, congratulations you be a new born Christian. Feel free to contact me and share the good news and please to share with your Christian family and your Christian friends as well. Do get yourself a Bible to read and you can start off with the book of John. I really hope you find this sermon helpful and do share with others if you have benefit from it. Do let me know of good news.
Now, let’s close with a benediction prayer for all of us. Let’s pray. May the grace of God, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. In your son name Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
God blessed. Enjoy your Christmas Day and Happy New Year. If you like to listen to more of my sermon, watch my sermon, do subscribe to my new channel ChristUnite https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq_kLHgZ4_FVP8_jQbHUK3w?sub_confirmation=1. Do share with others as well. Do like my channel. I hope you will be blessed and have a good year ahead. Thank you.
God blessed.
Sermon Text by Janice Ong founder of Christ Unite.
Every praise is to our God Youtube music video https://youtu.be/UuuZMg6NVeA