Shalom brothers and sisters!

The sermon this week  is a continuation from last week, and that is why it is titled “Spiritual Immunization” based on 1 Timothy 4:6-11. This week Pastor Lawrence was sharing the word.

1 Timothy 4:6-11

(6) If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. (7) Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

(8) For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

(9) This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (10) (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

(11) Command and teach these things.

“Immunization” is the action of providing a person protection for from infection. So it is protection, keeping yourself safe from harmful things.

So the first step in Spiritual Immunization is to have spiritual vaccination! Vaccination is something like getting an injection so that you become immune or protected from a disease. Unfortunately, I’m studying engineering, so I might not have the accurate definition for “vaccination”, so maybe Sis Alexis will explain for us, haha.

So how do we perform spiritual vaccination? There are three main things that we must do. First, we must be nourished in the truth of our faith, as said by Paul in verse 6 – “truths of the faith”. In order to be nourished in the truth of the faith, we need to have continual and constant input of the truth, which is by always reading God’s Word. Second, we also need to continually receive good teachings, also mentioned in verse 6 – “the good teaching that you have followed”. Good teachings are important because that helps us to discern between truth and error. So brothers and sisters, learn as much as you can from Word For Life classes, haha.

Third, we must point out errors. In the first part of verse 6, Paul told Timothy to “point these things out to the brothers”. What are “these things”? These things refer to whatever that was said in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, which is the truth that people will abandon the true faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. But before we are able to point out any errors, we must first be nourished in the truth and also have received good teachings.

The next step in Spiritual Immunization is to avoid spiritual infection. Ps Lawrence gave the following example: If you knew that someone had the H1N1 virus, would you still want to share food and drink with the person? Of course not, because that would be inviting trouble. It’s the same with our spiritual life. We don’t purposely involve ourselves with things that we know are harmful to our spiritual life and our relationship with God!

We need to avoid useless and harmful input, or what Ps Lawrence called “spiritual junk food”. Just as Paul said in verse 7: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales”. Have NOTHING to do with things which have no benefit to our spiritual life!

We need to avoid things that do not add value to our walk with God. There are many books out there which talk about controversial topics, or discuss about contradictions in the Bible, and these kind of false information can really shake our faith! These kind of harmful books can make us doubt God and His truth. But if we are spiritually immunized, we would know how to differentiate truth and error, and we would know to avoid such ‘infections’.

Finally, the third step to immunize ourselves spiritually is to train. Train ourselves to be spiritually fit! In verse 8, Paul said that “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things“.

In order to train ourselves to be spiritually fit, we must take personal responsibility also. Yes, we need to receive good teachings. Yes, we need regular one-on-one shepherding. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your own effort. Because when we die and face God, we are the ones being judged. Not our church coordinator, not the core team, not our CG leaders. Ourselves. Yourself. Myself. So learn to be disciplined and develop good spiritual habits. Discipline is doing the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable. I’m sure many of us are very disciplined because we still attend church every Sunday morning even when we are tired, Amen? Praise God for that. 🙂

Besides that, see the value of being spiritually fit. Because in the second part of verse 8, it says: “…holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” This means being spiritually fit or disciplined has benefits even right now! God promises rewards are waiting in heaven, but He also promises that rewards are waiting for you right now. And we can claim and receive His blessings if we train ourselves to be spiritually fit. Living a godly life guarantees God’s blessing in anything and in everything, Amen?

Also, we ought to strive hard at it. Some people put their hope in 4D or Toto. Some people put their hope in their family members. Some people put their hope in themselves. But we put our hope in a living God. And because God is living and His Word is the truth, all the more we need to work hard to strengthen our faith in Him!

So brothers and sisters, remember that anyone of us can be vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. The Holy Spirit tells us that there will be people who will abandon the faith. Let us plant ourselves deeply and strongly in God’s Word and truth. We don’t want to be shaken. We don’t want to receive toxic infections. Rather, we want to be spiritually fit and we want to point out any errors we might discover in our church.

Let’s be firm in God, and let’s rely on God for His protection and guidance. God bless you all, and see you all soon.

P/S Exam results were released just last Friday, and congratulations to all brothers and sisters who got excellent results in exam.