Naturally, as a follow-up to the people returning to God in repentance, the people enter into a curse and oath to walk in God’s law and to do all that he has commanded his people to do. In their covenant renewal they focus on three areas where the people of God have most prominently failed to do: Mix marriages, observing the sabbath, and giving sup…

After God's word has been read, the Israelites humbly repent in response to that word. However, true repentance is rare in our day because we often harbor too small a view of God, which trivializes our sin. Through this remarkable prayer, we learn how to enlarge our vision of God through repentance. Along with Nehemiah and his people, we discover h…

On that first Easter morning, the three women at Jesus’s tomb were not anticipating a resurrection. They were coping with the loss of their beloved master and merely hoping to honor him with a proper burial. But what they encountered instead aroused a mix of trembling fear and great joy – transforming these women into history’s first evangelists.…

The attention has shifted from rebuilding physical walls to rebuilding spiritual lives. Nehemiah and Ezra now work together to ensure that God’s Word is foundational to the reconstituted covenant community. This is achieved by conducting a massive worship service where Scripture is read and studied for hours. It results in mournful weeping due to t…

Completion of the wall was only the first step in the process of reestablishing Jerusalem as a spiritual center for God. Nehemiah chapter 7 is a transitional chapter, where the focus has shifted from the project to the people. The city's physical structure was rebuilt. Now the people’s spiritual lives needed to be rebuilt. They must embrace their i…

Once again, opposition to the restoration of the wall, and to God’s city, is faced with opposition from the same adversaries we have encountered throughout Nehemiah. This time, their attacks are focused on Nehemiah himself. In these chapters we see their failed attempts to make Nehemiah stop the good work of God by trying to make him afraid. We’ll …

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In Nehemiah 4, the builders of Jerusalem’s walls experience unremitting opposition. Enough to demoralize and deter the best of them. But they’re exhorted to remember the Lord. Because when you remember that the Lord fights for you – that your ultimate battle is not against flesh and blood – you can focus on the task at hand. You can remain vigilant…

Nehemiah 3 is a chapter we typically gloss over. It’s like reading a genealogy. It’s filled with unfamiliar names and monotonous repetition. But if all Scripture is profitable for teaching, then there must be helpful, edifying truths that we can glean from this ancient record of who worked on what section of the ruined gates and walls of post-exili…

Prayer and planning complement each other in working out God’s will. While we depend on God’s power and sovereign rule, we carefully organize plans that can further his purposes; while we wait, we prepare. God supplies his people with what they need to accomplish his purposes.โดย Houston Chinese Church

The book of Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem after the people’s return from exile. But walls and gates aren’t the only things being rebuilt in this story. On a grander scale, they were rebuilding their ruined identity as the covenant people of God and restoring their ruined mission as his representatives. And wha…

God stirs us up by showing us work that needs to be done. He often uses our concerns to stir us up. We feel concerned that our congregation fails to welcome newcomers well. Work needs to be done in welcoming others. We feel concerned that believers struggle to think biblically. Work needs to be done in helping believers think biblically. What shoul…

This Sunday’s theme is on the Sanctity of Life. Every year, we set aside a Sunday to reflect on what the Bible says concerning unborn life. This morning we’ll be looking at Psalm 139 to see what David has to say about unborn life.โดย Houston Chinese Church

For this MLK weekend, we want to designate today as Ethnic Harmony Sunday where we’ll consider how the gospel calls us to pursue ethnic harmony in our personal lives and in our life together as the church. In our text, we’ll see how the blood of Christ has established a unity – and forged an identity – between Christians that runs thicker than bloo…

HCC’s legacy and vision is rooted in church planting. For nearly fifty years, we've been on a mission to make disciples and to plant churches. This morning we have the privilege of sending off a team to start Ethnos Church – a church-planting church hoping to reach the nations that have come to Houston, particularly in the neighborhoods surrounding…

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. He is transcendent over all creation. He sits enthroned in the heavens above. And yet during this season we celebrate his nearness. He is immanent among all creation. He lays enwrapped in a manger below. This juxtaposition accentuates the love and mercy of our Savior God – who made himself nothing so he could g…

As finite creatures, we can only be in one place at one time. But God is different. He is everywhere all at once. He is omnipresent. Studying God’s omnipresence is an experience that can be comforting, chilling, and confounding – all at once.โดย Houston Chinese Church

Thinking about God being independent can make God seem pretty cold and distant. It can make us feel like there’s really no point in trying to be in a relationship with him or to relate to him at all. So why would God being independent be a good thing for us?โดย Houston Chinese Church

Time. We wish we could slow it down, speed it up, stop it, reverse it, ignore it, escape it. But time is a formidable foe and no respecter of persons. It takes it toll on everyone. Except one, the Lord of Time.โดย Houston Chinese Church

Because we live in a world of constant change, all of us are longing for stability – for an immovable, unshakable Rock upon which we can anchor our volatile lives. Scripture would point us to the immutable God who never changes.โดย Houston Chinese Church

It is not about God being able to wait for something for a certain amount of time, but it is about how He responds to our sin with mercy and kindness. In His patience, we see the goodness and beauty of the heart of God for the world that stands against His will. A heart that longs to show this world unending mercy and grace.…

We praise people, places, and things we find good. We extol the qualities of our spouses. We comment about the beauty of exotic locales. We express our enjoyment of gourmet meals. But if God is the source of all good people, places, and things, then why do we find ourselves not praising Him more often? This morning, we’ll discuss three reasons we s…

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians concludes with final instructions for this young and troubled church. He already addressed a number of problems that threatened their peace and unity. And he had alluded to the underlying solution in chapter 13. The answer is love. In these concluding remarks, the Apostle explains how a church can practically love e…

As our bodies age, they grow weaker and more prone to illness and injury. Making them constant sources of pain and frustration. Yet our Christian hope is not to one day shed this burdensome body – but to see it radically changed. We anticipate being raised, like Christ, in an imperishable, resurrected body.…

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We live in a world that is broken. It is filled with news of discord, death, disease, and disaster. Yet as Christians we live with hope because of the gospel. The gospel is not just merely about Christ dying on the cross for our sins to restore us unto a relationship with God. It is also about resurrection, which is the promise of new life. Why doe…

When a church just assumes their people know the gospel and neglects to regularly proclaim it, they are one generation removed from confusing the gospel to outright abandoning it. This was happening in Corinth. Some were already confusing the gospel, so Paul’s first response is to make the gospel explicit. He reminds them of the good news they had …

Passages like the one we’re studying today can make us cringe, wondering how in the world one can reconcile a good God with the kind of things said in the Bible. In this case, when it comes to the kinds of rules and restrictions placed on the way we gather for worship, why do we need to heed these principles when they seem to not only stifle sponta…

The Christians can legitimately disagree on whether the gifts of prophecy and tongues have ceased or if they continue in the church. But even if they have ceased, that does not mean our text ceases to be relevant. Churches that practice neither prophecy nor tongues are still expected to order our corporate worship in a way that edifies believers an…

The Corinthians sought out excellence. They put value in great speakers, people with wealth and power, and as we discussed last week, people with “better” Spiritual Gifts. All of these created division within the church instead of building up the body of Christ. Paul wants the Corinthians to see the most excellent way is Love. Love is the way the c…

The Corinthian church was a divided body with some claiming to be more spiritual than others. As a sign of their advanced spirituality, some point to their gift of speaking in tongues. Paul responds with a reminder that the church is the body of Christ and every Christian is a part of the body – with an essential role to play and a spiritual gift t…

Unaddressed division leads to disorder. What contributes to division? Jealousy. Greed. Impatience. Grumbling. The Lord knowing that the church would be susceptible to division gave us a way to remember the unity we have in Christ. A family meal. The Lord’s Supper. How does the Lord’s supper help us guard against division?…

Some Bible passages are notoriously difficult to interpret because they were written to people living in a very different age within a very different culture. 1 Corinthians 11 is a prime example. It instructs wives to wear head coverings while praying or prophesying at church. What are we to make of such odd instructions and what relevance is there…

We as God’s children should represent God well by being set apart from the world. May we learn from past failures of over-estimating our rights, which led to disunity and even temptation of idolatry. Instead, may we be united in the Lord, who is faithful and has set us free. May we be willing to surrender our rights for the sake of unity in the bod…

When Christians are too influenced by the wisdom of this age, they tend to adopt an ethical framework that says, “I can do whatever I want as long as it’s within my rights.” But a truly Christian ethic goes further to say, “I will do whatever it takes to advance the gospel and to remove any obstacles, even at the cost of denying myself and laying a…

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Abraham's story concludes with an account of his death – one that is conspicuously bookended by two genealogies listing out his children of the flesh. But the focus is squarely on Abraham's child of promise and his descendants. The juxtaposition of these two lineages challenges the reader to ask, “To which lineage do I belong? With the people of th…

We fear doing God’s work because we don’t have the assurance of success. We hesitate to participate on a short-term mission trip because we fear not raising enough support. We prefer to remain in an unhealthy relationship because we fear that we might not find another one. We refrain from serving because we fear the time commitment. If we only had …

Death isn’t necessarily the topic of choice for most of our day-to-day conversations. But it’s a reality that stares us in the face, whether we like it or not. How should we face the reality of death, either for ourselves or for our loved ones down the line, when it’s just such an uncomfortable topic to begin with?…

Abraham’s story has been marked by sacrifice. He has been asked to leave behind family and land. But at least those sacrifices were accompanied by promises of blessing – of a new family and a new land. But in today's text, Abraham is asked to make a sacrifice with nothing to gain. He is asked to kill – not just his son – but what he perceived to be…

Christian life is a journey filled with highs and lows. Our goal is to grow in our faith so that we represent God well. The key to growth is how we respond to trials. Abraham just had a humiliating experience with Abimelech. But he learned from his mistakes and embraced God, who demonstrated His grace and power.…

Since Genesis 12, Abraham has had his share of stumbles and shameful moments, but on the whole, he has matured into a man of faith and a prophetic leader. And yet on the cusp of receiving his promised son – and his greatest demonstration of faith in giving that son back to God – Abraham reverts back to an old sin pattern. This episode in his life m…

People refuse to believe in the gospel for different reasons. The idea of needing a savior for their sins repulses them. Some refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness. Others refuse to believe in the gospel because of the hypocrisy they see in the church. What should we do when we encounter such people?…

God already appeared to Abraham on a number of occasions, promising a son. In Genesis 18, he appears again with the same promise, but this time it is directed more at Sarah – with the goal of growing her faith, turning her cynical laugh into a cheerful one. Her encounter with God Almighty speaks to all who question if his promises are too incredibl…

In Genesis 15, God established a covenant with Abram, guaranteeing great promises of land and offspring. But by Genesis 17, thirteen years have passed and circumstances have yet to change. So to reassure Abram, God reaffirms his covenant, sealing it with the sign of circumcision. And to this day, God continues to use covenant signs to remind us of …

We may find ourselves thinking sometimes: Does God see me? Does he know that I’m in a bind? Does he know my needs? Will he ever provide for me a job I enjoy? Will he ever help me to overcome this chronic illness? Will he ever cure me of this feeling of loneliness? We feel that God averts his gaze from lives. What should we do when we feel that God …

Today’s text is a needed reminder that a relationship with God is ultimately based – not on a bilateral contract with mutual obligations – but on a unilateral covenant where God carries the load. Where he willingly bears the covenantal obligations and curses for us.โดย Houston Chinese Church

These days, people tend to trust only what can be proven or verified or what makes sense in their minds. So if you can’t see, touch, taste, feel, or hear something, there’s no reason to consider it worthy of your belief. But Christians have this thing called faith. And in a world where seeing is believing, what does it look like to trust in a God w…

How do we make wise decisions when unexpected challenges pop up? We need to demonstrate courageous faith in the midst of uncertainty. When God gives us the victory, we might be faced with another challenge. How do we handle success? We are vulnerable when we face success as we are tempted to compromise. Again, we need to demonstrate courageous fait…

As we follow along in Abram’s story, we come to two seemingly unrelated stories. In the first story, Abram lies about Sarai being just his sister. In the second story, Abram and Lot get in a scuffle and part ways. We’ll actually see many things that make these two stories parallel with each other and that both stories point us to one God and His pr…