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The Unconditional Love of Christ (Easter @ Acts Church)

April 29, 2014 cm-admin News 0

29 April 2014 by Natasha Kim CM-

An Easter Sunday celebration was in store as many headed over to Acts Central, located at Dorsett Grand Subang Hotel for their morning service. There，they began with an upbeat praise and worship， followed by a little treat；an originally produced short film to commemorate the Easter season. The heart-warming story “The Promise” premiered simultaneously on the 20^th of April 2014, in various Acts Church locations. Many people were moved by the story of love, family，and sacrifice that was created and made successful by the combined talents at Acts Church! Immediately after the premiere, Elder Kien Yiak preached to the crowd.

约定 The Promise
(An original short film)

Summary

Mr Chan is a workaholic with six months to live. Already estranged from his family through his years of absence, he despairs in telling his family and they’re driven even further apart. At work, he is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at a price. It all comes to one fateful night when lives hang in a balance; a desperate situation, an impossible decision, and a promise you’ll never forget.

“If His motivation was love, His purpose was people.”

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. (John 3:16)

“All of us do have a destination to where we are going and we have a purpose of why we are heading to a place. True? We do not simply drive our car endlessly and park ourselves near the shopping mall without at least getting down the car and going shopping,” said Kien. Likewise, Jesus loves you and I. He did not just come to earth for fun but He came with purpose. “He was motivated by His love for you and me. We can go through our life daily without realising the one important fact and that is that God loves us,” shared Kien.

Elder Kien Yiak preaching the Word in Easter morning

Due to Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden, all of us have inherited a sinful nature. Hence, no matter how hard we try by our own strength, we will still fall into sin one way or another. Also because of our tendency to sin, we can never reconcile ourselves to God by our own efforts. This is why Jesus came to do what we are powerless to do, which is to take the punishment for our sins through His death on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God. Jesus died for us while we were still sinners and before we even made the choice to be reconciled to God. For those of us who are feeling stuck in our circumstances today, Jesus came to set us free! He came to give us life and life more abundantly. He sacrificed Himself on the cross to give us a hope and a future that is never-ending.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

“No matter how much we invest in expensive pillows or mattresses, it does not give you a peace of mind or a peace of heart. The health that you have, the things that you own, might make you feel like you’ve made it, but that feeling of making it there is just for a couple of weeks or days and then you’ll feel empty again. God knew that no matter how much we tried we can reconcile ourselves back to Him and that’s why He came. He came before we can reconcile ourselves back to Him, and that’s amazing,” shared Kien Yiak. Regardless of our response to Him, God still chose to love us.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10)

We may think that Christianity is a list of do’s and don’ts, and that Jesus only came for those who are deserving of Him. However, Jesus broke the religious teachers’ mind-sets at that time by eating with tax collectors (an especially hated and despised group of people at that time). And just like the king who threw the wedding banquet and invited people from the highways, “both bad and good” (Matthew 22: 1-13), Jesus died for all regardless of how holy or sinful we may be. Jesus is also the God of second chances. No matter what lie in our past, especially the things that we are not proud of, God’s words to us, just like Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery at John 8:3-11, are “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”.

Elder Kien Yiak also shared his testimony about how he came to personally know and accept Christ – how when he responded to the salvation altar call, God began to reveal His bigger plans for his life. He also shared from his own experience how it is necessary to honestly search our own hearts before we can admit our own weaknesses or sinfulness in order to return to God. Let us not allow anything to prevent us from coming to our loving God! Truly, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!