TRUST YOUR FATHER
12.06.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Love of God
Matthew 6:25-30 •• “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you — you of little faith?
ADOPTION AND PRAYER
11.29.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Adoption
Matthew 6:7-12 •• When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him. “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
ADOPTION AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
11.22.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Adoption
Various Passages •• Welcoming us into out new home in the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ - our Savior and big brother - imparts to us the new way of living in this new family relationship. Imitate the Father. Glorify the Father. Please the Father.
ADOPTION: A NEW RELATIONSHIP
11.15.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Adoption
1 John 3:1-3 •• See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as He is pure.
OUR CREATOR BECAME OUR REDEEMER
11.01.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Gospel, Salvation
Various Passages •• Our Creator has become our Redeemer. The threat of divine judgment which Jesus’ death averted.
PROPITIATION: THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL
10.25.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Propitiation, The Gospel
Various Passages •• Propitiation is at the heart of the Gospel. A gospel without propitiation at its heart is “another” gospel, for which we are accursed if we propagate such a message.
THE WRATH OF GOD QUENCHED
10.18.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Wrath of God
Various Passages •• The forgiveness of sin found in Christ is not a commercial exchange that merely removes one's offense as with pagan gods. Christ Jesus is the atoning sacrifice (i.e. propitiation) that expiates and accomplishes much more - quenching the wrath of God against all that is contrary to His holiness.
ZEAL FOR OUR JEALOUS GOD
10.11.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Jealousy of God
Exodus 34:14 •• Because the LORD is jealous for His reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God.
JESUS: JUDGE AND SAVIOR
10.04.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Person of Christ
Ecclesiastes 11:9-10; 12:14 •• Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment. Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting … For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
09.20.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Kingdom of God, The Church
Various Passages •• Jesus Christ establishes the Church as an institution with Kingdom authority. When it comes to a Christian’s discipleship to Christ, the local church is the Christian’s highest institutional authority on earth.
DON’T SET ASIDE GRACE
09.13.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Christian Life
Galatians 2:20-21 •• I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
BY THE GRACE OF GOD
09.06.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Grace of God
1 Corinthians 15:10 •• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
WHAT WOULD AN OBSERVER SAY ABOUT YOUR LOVE?
07.17.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Love, Testimony
1 John 4:11 •• Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.
SIMPLE SUBMISSION
07.15.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Obedience
Isaiah 66:2 •• My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at My word.
MAGNANIMOUS LOVE
07.12.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Love of God
1 John 4:7-16 •• Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God — God remains in Him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
OBEY WITHOUT RESERVATION
07.09.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Obedience
Psalm 119:151 •• You are near, LORD, and all Your commands are true.
GOD’S WORD - THE TRUTH
07.05.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Bible
Isaiah 55:10-11 •• For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.
DISCERNING TRUE WISDOM
06.28.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Wisdom
Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 •• But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body. When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
CHANGE ME
06.21.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Repentance
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 •• For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
BEHOLD GOD’S MAJESTY
06.14.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Majesty of God
Isaiah 40 •• It is the unique greatness of God, that draws us into true worship. Our shortfalls and failures in worship is rooted in the fact that we fail to receive His greatness. Acknowledge God’s greatness, and voice our respect and worship. Realize how unlimited are His wisdom, and His presence, and His power.
GOD DOESN’T CHANGE
06.07.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Immutability of God
Exodus 3:14-15 •• God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
WHAT ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?
05.31.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Person of the Holy Spirit
John 14:15-17 •• If you love Me, you will keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.
THE ABUNDANT GOODNESS OF GOD
05.29.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Goodness of God
Amos 9:11-15 •• In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name — this is the declaration of the LORD; He will do this. Look, the days are coming — this is the Lord’s declaration — when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce. I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. The LORD your God has spoken.
JESUS: FULLY GOD AND FULLY MAN
05.24.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Person of Christ
John 1:1-18 •• The Incarnation - Jesus, fully God putting on full humanity - is a Divine grace. Having a clearer grasp of the Incarnation is a great comfort, and conforms us into the likeness of Jesus. “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.“ (Philippians 2:5)
SORROW AND SILENCE
05.15.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Repentance
Amos 8 •• Can one imagine anything more terrifying than a city standing in mourning and silence because of God’s heavy hand of judgment and discipline? Yes: Silence from heaven.
MEASURED BY GOD’S STANDARD
05.08.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Holiness of God
Amos 7:7-17 •• After being built upon God’s perfect foundation, if God were to pull out His holy plumb line to remeasure you, will you be found standing in obedience or in opposition to His Kingdom? Do you continue to stand according to how you were divinely built?
OCCUPIED WITH KNOWING JESUS
05.03.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Christian Life
John 17:3 •• This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent — Jesus Christ.
LORD, PLEASE RELENT
05.01.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Wrath of God, Repentance
Amos 7:1-6 •• The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts at the time the spring crop first began to sprout — after the cutting of the king’s hay. When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” The Lord relented concerning this. “It will not happen,” He said. The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” The Lord relented concerning this. “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.
REDEFINING WORK
04.27.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Christian Life
Acts 20:33-35 •• I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
THE ABSURDITY OF PRIDE
04.25.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Pride
Amos 6:8-14 •• The Lord God has sworn by Himself — this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies: I loathe Jacob’s pride and hate his citadels, so I will hand over the city and everything in it. And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die. A close relative and burner will remove his corpse from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?” That person will reply, “None.” Then he will say, “Silence, because the Lord’s name must not be invoked.” For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble. Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does anyone plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood — you who rejoice over Lo-debar and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?” But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel — this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies — and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.
STAY NEAR THE WORD OF GOD
04.20.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Bible
Acts 20:32 •• And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
STAY NEAR GOD
04.13.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Christian Life
Acts 20:32 •• And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
BE ON GUARD
04.05.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Church Leadership
Acts 20:28 •• Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
DOCTRINE: THE ROADMAP FOR A HOLY AND BLESSED LIFE
04.03.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Holiness, Hermeneutics
As you face a myriad of decisions, sound doctrine is critical to navigating all of life’s demands. Possessing healthy teaching results in a healthy life - holy and blessed. Sound doctrine truly is your roadmap for this earthly pilgrimage.
RISE UP AND WATCH OVER
03.29.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Church Leadership
Acts 20:25-27 •• And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.
REMAIN FAITHFUL (P2)
03.22.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Obedience
Acts 20:22-24 •• And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there, except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me. But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.
REMAIN FAITHFUL (P1)
03.15.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Obedience
Acts 20:17-21 •• Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church. When they came to him, he said to them, “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house. I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY & THE CHURCH’S MISSION
03.08.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Church, The Gospel, Hermeneutics
Various Passages •• False gospels. False churches. Missing the point of the Bible, ignoring accurate Biblical context, distorts the church’s mission. Biblical theology is foundational to shaping the church’s mission.
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY & THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL
03.08.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Gospel
”Churches that espouse a prosperity gospel dishonors Christ and diminishes the Christian’s hope. Instead of magnifying who Jesus is and what He has done, proponents of this heretical view make Jesus and trusting in Him the means to a worldly end.” (Roark & Cline, Biblical Theology - 9 Marks)
HATING JUSTICE AND DESPISING INTEGRITY
03.06.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Justice, Holiness
Amos 5:8-13 •• The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth — the LORD is His name. He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the fortress. They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates. Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil.
PREACH JESUS, NOT PROOF-TEXT
03.01.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Preaching/Teaching, The Bible, Hermeneutics
Biblical theology guards against proof-texting, which tampers with and distorts the Word of God. We are to draw God’s people deeply into the Bible by faithfully unpacking the meaning of a given text, which guides us to proclaim Jesus instead our own whims and desires.
PREACH JESUS, NOT MORALISM
03.01.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Preaching/Teaching
Biblical theology guards against moralism, and guides us in showing how Jesus is the centerpiece of Divine revelation. No matter what passage you are reading, teaching, praying, you have not reached the end or highest goal until you clearly see how the passage points to and exalts Christ.
SOVEREIGN GOD - EXALTED SAVIOR
02.09.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Sovereignty of God
Acts 13:26-37 •• Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham’s race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent. Since the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him or the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they have fulfilled their words by condemning him. Though they found no grounds for the death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm: You are my Son;
today I have become your Father. As to his raising him from the dead, never to return to decay, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure promises of David. Therefore he also says in another passage, You will not let your Holy One see decay. For David, after serving God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and decayed, but the one God raised up did not decay.
MIGHTY GOD - WORTHY SAVIOR
02.02.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Person of Christ
Acts 13:16-25 •• Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen! The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty arm. And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness; and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. This all took about 450 years. After this, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will.’ “From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus. Before his coming to public attention, John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Now as John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’
A GLOBAL KINGDOM
01.26.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Kingdom of God, The Gospel
Acts 11:1-18 •• The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Peter began to explain to them step by step, “I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ “‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’ “Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house. He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning. I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?” When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”
A BETTER QUESTION FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY
Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Church, The Christian Life
The Church must teach the whole counsel of God for the building up and equipping of believers to better serve Christ and witness to the lost in our community and throughout the world.
SHARING LIFE (PART 2)
01.19.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Church, The Christian Life
1 Thessalonians 2:8 •• We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
ABUNDANT JOY - LOVING GENEROSITY
01.15.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Joy
Various Passages •• A message delivered at the The Connection School (Houston)’s 8am Chapel service to admonish the faculty, staff, students, and families of the root of loving and sacrificial living.
SHARING LIFE (PART 1)
01.12.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Church, The Christian Life
1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 •• Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
LOYALTY TO THE FAITH
01.12.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: Obedience, Faith
2 Timothy 1:15-18 •• You know that all those in the province of Asia have deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he diligently searched for me and found me. May the Lord grant that he obtain mercy from him on that day. You know very well how much he ministered at Ephesus.
SCRIPTURE AND CONTEXTUALIZATION
01.10.2020 // Linus Nguyen
Topic: The Bible, Preaching/Teaching, Hermeneutics
Various Passages •• If you are a Christian, it’s your responsibility to be involved in building a healthy church. The moment you leave the Text, you step foot onto foreign territory, placing yourself in the way of danger and deception, and you stop hearing from God.