City Life Church Values
1. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill can’t be hidden. 15Also, people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5: 14 – 16
2. Life was in him, and that life was the light for all people. 5The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not overcome the light. John 1:4-5
3. Here is what God says about the Son. God has given us eternal life. And this life is found in his Son. 12Whoever belongs to the Son has life. Whoever doesn’t belong to the Son of God doesn’t have life. 1 John 5:11-12
1. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill can’t be hidden. 15Also, people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5: 14 – 16
1. we are a church in the City Centre
2. We are a Light to the City and the world.
As a church in the City Centre- the heart of Manchester, we are to shine and be a light to the whole of Manchester
Discussion
1. What are the characteristics of light?
2. How can we be lights to the City?
2. Life was in him, and that life was the light for all people. 5The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not overcome the light. John 1:4-5
The Motto of City Life is : Revealing the Life of Christ.
Shining as light is essential, because it becomes the life men are hungry for.
Light is life
This light is unstoppable.
3 men who shined in their cities, giving life to many;
John G. Lake
Hudson Tailor
John Sung
1. James Hudson Taylor
James Hudson Taylor was born on 21st May 1832, and was founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM), one of the largest Christian movements in the world. This organisation, continues today as OMF International, was responsible for taking over 800 missionaries to China.
Hudson Taylor would spend much of the rest of his life in China, He preached in several Chinese dialects and is widely regarded as the father of the Chinese Christian movement. in 1904, Hudson Taylor returned to China for the final time where he died on 3rd June 1905.
Hudson Taylor was, ...one of the greatest missionaries of all time, and... one of the four or five most influential foreigners who came to China in the nineteenth century for any purpose... —Kenneth Scott Latourette
More than any other human being, James Hudson Taylor, …made the greatest contribution to the cause of world mission in the 19th century. —Ralph D. Winter
He was ambitious without being proud... He was biblical without being bigoted... He was a follower of Jesus, without being superficial... He was charismatic without being selfish." —Arthur F. Glasser
2. John Sung
John Sung was born in Hong Chek Village, Putian, Fujian Province on September 27, 1901, the sixth child and fourth son of Sung Xue Lian, a Methodist pastor.
He was known as “little pastor” because he accompanied his father and even preached to his classmates. After some more training from his father, he also spoke to other church meetings, including Sunday worship.
he was sent to the United States, where he studied chemistry, enrolling in Ohio Wesleyan University in 1920.
He returned to China with fire in his heart to shine across the country with the gospel.
After his visit to southern China in 1937, a missionary wrote, “A new song has been put into the mouths of Chinese Christians and they are going around singing, literally, on all the roads, singing the News out of the Joy of the Lord which they have learned as never before” (Lim 206). “These joy-filled lives, touched by the Spirit and expressed through songs, were a mark of John Sung’s work” (Lim 206).
At his funeral, his old friend Wang Mingdao in an eulogy called John Sung “The Iron Preacher of China.”
Though not without faults, John Sung brought hope and the knowledge of God’s power and love to thousands who were distressed and destitute, and he left a legacy that endures.
Today’s unregistered churches preserve several features of his ministry, including adherence to the Bible, fervent prayer, tireless evangelism, faith that God can heal people through prayer, and a longing for the return of Christ. The vitality of these churches cannot be explained without reference to the ministry of John Sung.
3. John G. Lake
Lake was born in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada and moved to Michigan with his family in 1886. He was born into a large family of 16 siblings (eight of whom died young). He was ordained into the Methodist ministry at the age of twenty-one.
He left his $50,000-per-year job, initially on a three-month leave of absence, and never returned to it. He was now in full time ministry. He said, “I am through forever with everything in life but the proclamation and the demonstration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
His faith carried him from America to Africa, and again, back to America. In every place, lives were changed as he shared the gospel and power of Christ.
One of Lake’s converts said this about him:
Dr. Lake came to Spokane. He found us in sin. He found us in sickness. He found us in poverty of spirit. He found us in despair, but he revealed to us such a Christ as we had never dreamed of knowing this side of heaven.
He was used by God for raising over 1,000,000 converts, 625 churches and 1,250 preachers in five years of ministry.
Individual God used.
God using us is not absurd.
Darkenss should not be normal to us.
The story of an Eagel which did not fly –
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill can’t be hidden. 15Also, people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5: 14 – 16
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Discussion
What can we pray about for Manchester, the Church, young people and the nation?
Let us pray together.
3. Here is what God says about the Son. God has given us eternal life. And this life is found in his Son. 12Whoever belongs to the Son has life. Whoever doesn’t belong to the Son of God doesn’t have life. 1 John 5:11-12
We have a responsibility to shine! The life of others depend on it.
5 things we can do to shine
1. pray
2. read the word of God
3. preach the word of God
4. Make sacrifices
5. Serve God with our resources (Christians give 3.2% of their income- UK. Gospel causes should not be the least funded. No one will fund them if we do not)
CLC – helps to serve
1. Outreach
2. Bible Study
3. Worship team
4. English class – share the gospel, make friends.
