by Ps Daniel Yaw

Introduction
A blessed Chinese New Year to all of you.  That is my greetings to you and we do so to one another.  The usual greeting exchange is “Gong Xi Fa Cai” – it is a greeting of wishing each other prosperity.  That is not all that wrong but there is more than just prosperity or material prosperity.  It is a life of blessedness and we wish each other the favor and the blessings of God.
When a Jew enters the house of the Lord on Sabbath, he will recite the Shema which is actually found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The Command to Love
The above sounds like a command and rightly so.  However, among the eastern religions around Israel, loving the LORD was revolutionary.  No other religion teaches about loving their God.  Devotion?  Yes, it is so.  Fear?  Again, it is constantly demanded.  Sacrifice?  That is a requirement.  But love?  That was something strange for one to be called to love God.
The God of Israel and his covenant with his people is based on a relationship that the very foundation of that relationship is love.
If there is to be any meaning to a relationship, any lasting value to a relationship, it has to be founded on love.  This is where the God of Israel and the God of Christianity stand out.  We love because He first loved us.
That is why we hear often that Christianity is not just a religion, it is a relationship and a relationship founded on love.  I wish you love and I pray that as we love the Lord, we learn always to love one another and love the world the way the Lord loves the world and his desire to save the world.

The Command on their hearts.
What is next in the verse is found in verse 6, which says, “And these words that I command you today shall be ON YOUR HEART.”
The question is “Why on the heart?”.  I guess that is the reservoir of the greatest of emotions and motivation.  What is on your heart?  What is on our hearts determines the way we conduct our lives.
The Heart directs our Path.
Ambitions are born from the heart.  Pursuit in life is born from the heart.  Our love life is also born from the heart.  When our heart is set on something, we will pursue it with great zeal.  It may be a career; it may be a value or it may be your life partner.  Once our heart is set on one thing, we are blind to all other things.  That is why the Lord commands his word on our hearts.
As children of God, loved by God and chosen by Him, what directs your hearts?  I trust that the Lord has placed his command and the greatest of all command to love Him on your heart this year.  That in everything you pursue, it is to the glory of God.  Then you will surely be blessed.
The Heart is restored by His Word.
The other aspect that I was thinking about is what is placed on your heart.  I think many of us have many things on our hearts.  And when the heartbreaks, whatever is on our heart will fall into it.
Think about it.  When your heart breaks, if it is bitterness in your heart, what falls into it is bitterness and unforgiveness.  If it is the idea of material prosperity, then disappointment with God will fall into it.  If it is doubt, abandonment of God will fall into it.  But if it is the Word of God and His love, what will fall into it is faithfulness.
That is why the Lord desires to have us place His word on our hearts.  

Conclusion
As we begin a new year, we have done so, Chinese New Year is a refresher, let us begin to place the love of God and his command on our hearts.  God bless our hearts.
 

By Rev Daniel Yaw

Introduction
A new year is dawning as we come to the end of 2024.  We welcome a new year.  We welcome the latest and I pray that it will be something better.
We often wish each other a better day, a better week, or a better year ahead. We sincerely do this because we hope for the best. Sometimes, our wishes come true, and sometimes, they don’t.
As we enter the new year, we celebrate also a new theme for the church – “Chosen, Changed, and Convey.”  The theme tells us that we are first privileged to be chosen by God to be his children – sons and daughters of God.  Then it tells us of the power of God in our lives in the changes that are taking place in our hearts and our lives, as we submit ourselves to His working.  Finally, it tells us that our responsibility and is to convey the wonderful things that God has done. 
As we enter this new year, we closed last year with something that we are all familiar with – a new resolution for the year.  However, before we even do that, let us consider what God has in store for us in our lives, as we dwell on the new theme.
I would like to share with all of us a better promise that God has given us.  It is stated in Hebrews 8:10b, "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
How is my relationship with God special today?  Looking at the verse above, I reflected with thanksgiving in my heart that knowing our God has become special – one that we will know.  It is internally planted and externally known.
This new thing that God has to offer to us is indeed different and better compared to the Old Testament.

The Past = a covenant external
God said here in Hebrews that he is doing away with the old covenant and replacing it with the new.  What are the old and the new then?  If you noticed that when the old covenant was given, it was held in fear.  The people appealed to Moses that he should go and speak with God as they would not want to for fear of death.  God is to be distanced from them.  But all those are going to be changed.
The breaking of the covenant means that God will forsake them as well as obedience brings blessings while disobedience brings curses.  That too is going to change.

The Present = a covenant internal
God said that He will put the law in our hearts and God will be our God.  What is different in the present is the dynamic and vitality of our relationship with God. 
The law will be put in our hearts - with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit will enable us to love God and be obedient to him.
The present promise is that God will be our God and we are his children. A promise that God will not leave us nor forsake us.  The sense of belonging is pronounced clearly that we shall be God’s people – belonging to God, precious in His sight.  God will seek all to protect and preserve His people who are made up of you and me.  Different as we may be, yet similar in our redemption – that we all know God.
This present promise gives us a push that we come before God with confidence and faith that God is our God today.
In verse 11, the writer tells us that we need not even tell each other to “know God” because we all do know him.

Conclusion
May the year 2025 be a year to reflect our position in Christ – that He is our God and we are His people.  May it be a year of readiness to live a life of obedience to His will.  May it be a year of sweet relationship with God, in humility and in trust.  Blessed new year.
 

by Rev Daniel Yaw

Introduction

What am I looking for in God? As I served Him, I still look at the God I "pursue" after. In the words of King David who said, "One thing have I asked the Lord and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and behold his beauty and inquire in His temple.” (Psalms 27:4)

• The King of Salem (the king of peace). He brings to us the comfort needed, peace in a world of tribulation. Lately, we have our troubles, the loss of a loved one, the trouble of family woes, and the need for comfort is high. This Christmas, as it brought peace to Israel and the world, this same King brings peace to us. Even the angels announced, “peace on earth….”, and this king is the king of peace.
• The King of Righteousness (v2) as his name suggests. He brings justice and he acts justly. He has done so in the way he deals with sin (he paid the price) and with sinners (he loved and showed mercy). Christmas is the coming of God whose name is Yeshua (Jehovah Saves!)
• The King Forever (with no beginning, no end). His throne is secured and we don't have to worry about changes in rule and character. Every change of government and ruler, there will be changes. Many times, we are disappointed with those changes. It is not so for the King we have in our lives.

• He is the priest of the Highest God. He is both God and the mediator between us and God. What more can we ask for a reconciliation we have? I am assured constantly of my peace because of Him, my high priest.
• He is the priest forever. Yes, another element of the priest where time “stands still” – forever. That does not change and my status does not change.

Conclusion