SJAG Sermons

SJAG Sermons carries the preaching of Subang Jaya Assembly of God, and what defines it is who stands at the front. In the recent run, no two episodes share a preacher. Rev. Ronnie Ding, Rev. Philip Sung, Rev. Francis Yip, Ps. Lim Jit San, Rev. Calvin Lee and Rev. Cheryl Lai each take a turn, and more than one of them starts by thanking the church for the invitation. The rotation pays off most when the church sets a shared theme. Prayer is the clearest example. Rev. Francis Yip notes that the month had five Sundays and that the four sermons before his had already preached everything about prayer, then jokes that the service might as well be dismissed early. He preaches anyway, reading God's promises in Jeremiah against a backdrop of siege, famine and disease: help, healing, peace and truth, cleansing, pardon. His closing charge is to break 'the limited mentality' and dare to ask for great things. Ps. Lim Jit San follows a woman in scripture who asks God for a son, arguing that humility only becomes real in brokenness. He ties this to Matthew 5:3 and ends by opening the altar to anyone tired of carrying the weight alone, promising that their tears are not wasted. Rev. Calvin Lee starts by having the congregation tell a neighbour they are handsome or beautiful. Then he turns serious. His subject is intercession as spiritual warfare, and his sharpest line, that God will not move until the church intercedes, comes with a careful note that he is not saying God cannot move. He leans on John Wesley and on the picture of Aaron standing in the gap. Rev. Cheryl Lai offers the gentlest way in: a family trip to Tokyo, packed trains, and the idea that prayer carries our thoughts to God and carries God's thoughts back. No communication, she argues, means no relationship, whether in a marriage, among siblings, or with God. Resurrection Sunday brings a different energy, with Rev. Philip Sung reaching for a dictionary definition of revitalize and for Luke 9:51, where Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. Church attendance, Bible reading and prayer all matter, he says, but it is the relationship with God that revitalizes a life. Rev. Ronnie Ding, moved during worship by the song 'Living Hope', asks whether believers have embraced a new identity or still miss the cluttered, familiar 'old house' and its good old days, and he closes by challenging SJAG to let its ripples splash far and wide through sharing the gospel. For a first listen, Rev. Cheryl Lai's 'Commune with God' is the easiest way in, and 'Raising Intercessors In The Church' is where the preaching is most urgent.