KNA: Lessons from Dr. Isabelo Magalit's Sermons

Opening Service (Matthew 5:13-16)

• What is the perfect role of Christians in the world? To be salt and light of the world.
• The Greek word for "blessed" in the Beatitudes is makarios. Its best meaning is "to be the object of God's favor."
• How the characters in the Beatitudes influence the society for good is explained by the two metaphors, salt and light.
• Salt referred here is salt taken from the Dead Sea which is different than that produced from the ocean. It is gravels and limestones with NaCl. When it is watered, the NaCl will dissolve into water and leave only the gravels and limestones. The form before and after the NaCl has gone are the same, but it is not salty anymore. That's why it's used for filler in the roads to be trampled.
• Christians can be like the salt. Their physical forms do not change but their "saltiness" has gone.
• Mr Bel prefers the role of preservative of salt to flavor. That's the most common use of salt at the time of Jesus, especially to preserve fish.
• Three qualities of salt as preservative: 3P
  
• PECULIAR: the salt is different from the fish. The salt must be different than the fist to be able to preserve it.
• PURE: a little pure salt is much better than much unpure salt. It describes the role of 24/7 Christians.
  
• PENETRATING: the salt should be distributed not only on the surface of the fish, but also everywhere inside it.
  
• Like the pure salt with great preserving effect, Christians do not have to be majority. What Christians should become is an OVERWHELMING minority.
• Christians should be everywhere. An ubiquitous Christian.
• Three D's of light:
• DIFFERENT: we serve the world best when we are different that it is.
• DISPLAY: light must display deliberately!
• DEEDS OF GOODNESS: why can night clubs be found in dark places? Because what people do there is evil.
  
• The challenge is to be human as anyone else yet a different one.
• Christian life is not difficult. It is IMPOSSIBLE without the power of God. (Griffith Thomas)
  
• What are the good deeds? All kinds of good works, especially which man can see clearly so that the glorify the LORD.
• If the population of Sodom and Gomorrah was 50,000 then all it took to save the city was only ten believers, a 0.02% of the total population. Roughly, about 6% of220 millions Indonesians are born-again Christians. It's much more than 0.02%.
  
• The question: why is it not influential enough?
  

First Exposition on Nehemiah (Topic:Who is Nehemiah?)

• Who was Nehemiah
• He is a cupbearer of the king
• He is a patriot / nationalist
• He is a man who knew Yahweh his God as the God of heaven and earth, the God of Covenant, and the God of history
• He is a man of prayer. Prayer, not planning and strategy, was always his first response to problems and troubles.
• He is a practical visionary. He was not a dreamer. He worked his dream. But dreaming is important. If you don't dream, how will you make your dream come true?
• He is a biblical reformer
• He is devoted to duty. He is perseverent.
• The question: WHO AM I?
  

Second Exposition on Nehemiah (Topic:Who is Yahweh?)

• Sinful nature is no good enough reason for rationalizing disobedience. Sinful nature is like earth gravity while the power of the Holy Spirit is like the power of a space shuttle rocket.
• Who is the perfect mediator between the Arabs and the Israelites? A diplomat whose father is an Arab and mother an Israelite. Who is the perfect mediator between God and sinful men? God in human flesh, Jesus Christ.
  

Third Exposition on David's Fall

• Idleness is the devil's workshop.
• Temptation may seem innocently enough when it comes.
• Any sin, especially adultery, leads to hipocrisy.
• Everyone is temptable and everyone has their own price (maximum resistance to sin). Yet there is no irresistible temptation.