HOW should we work?

DTM | May 7th, 2023

May 7, 2023 • Pastor Stephen Hsu • Isaiah 61:1–6

Sermon notes


Church at Work: HOW should we work?

Pastor Stephen Hsu

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-6


Big idea: The Spirit empowers our work & witness to be His priests & ministers in the marketplace.

(Isaiah 61:1-6, NIV)


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3 Questions:


1. Why the Spirit?

2. How did Jesus work? (Luke 4:14-18)

3. Why Isaiah?


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How should we work?


3 ways:


1. The SPIRIT empowers our witness (v.1-2)

a. But is it appropriate for us to say this today?

b. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” - Acts 1:8


2. The SPIRIT empowers our work (c.3-5)

a. Why did Jesus Work?

b. Why do YOU work?


3. YOU are to be priests and ministers (v. 6)

a. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” - Luke 11:13

b. “I’m prepared to contend that the primary location for SPIRITUAL FORMATION is the workplace.” - Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places


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Conclusion:

‘and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”’

—Luke 3:22

Worship/Work

June 18, 2023 • Rev. Ho-Ming Tsui • Romans 12:1–8

Sermon Notes Church at Work: Worship/Work Rev. Ho-Ming Tsui Scripture: Romans 12:1-8 ——— How can we close the gap between Sunday morning and Monday morning? • Battle: Worship OR Work • Balance: Worship AND Work • Harmony: Work AS worship ——— When does work become an opportunity to worship? When we: 1. Recognize the mercy of God (v. 1a) 2. Trust in the purpose of God (v. 1b-8) ——— Conclusion: As a church… We want you to bring your work INTO our worship We want our worship to propel you back TO your work

Work in the New Heavens and New Earth

June 11, 2023 • Rev. Shu-Ling Lee • Revelation 22:1–5

Church at Work: Work in the New Heavens and New Earth Rev. Shu-Ling Lee Scripture: Revelation 22:1-5 NIV Introduction: 1. We will still be SERVING THE LORD (aka “working”) in the New Heavens and New Earth. (Rev 22:1-3, Col 3:23-24) The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom. —N.T. Wright - Surprised by Hope 2. There will be no longer any CURSE OF WORK in the New Heavens and the New Earth. (Rev 22:3, Gen 3:8-21) 3. JESUS CHRIST is the Center of the New Heavens and New Earth. (Rev 21:22-26, Rev 22:5) Conclusion Question: What is your ONE THING?

Why rest from work?

June 4, 2023 • Pastor Stephen Hsu • Genesis 2:1–3

Sermon Notes Why rest from work? Pastor Stephen Hsu Gen 2:1-3 2 Questions: Why and How do we rest? ——— BIG IDEA: We rest from work because God made rest holy, so that we can love Him more. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. —Genesis 2:1-3 ——— WHY REST FROM WORK? 1. Because God stopped work on the 7th day. (v. 2-3) 2. Because God made the 7th day holy. (v. 3) 3. Because rest comes before work. (1-3) Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge. —Subversive Spirituality, Eugene Peterson ——— HOW SHOULD WE REST? 1. Crawl: Be With Him (Mark 3:14) 2. Walk: Be Yoked to Him (Matthew 11:28-30) 3. Run: Delight In Him (Isaiah 58:13-14) If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day,If you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord…—Isaiah 58:13-14 ——— Conclusion: I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. —Song of Solomon 6:3