New sermons uploaded

I am very mindful that my last blog-post was in April…

Since then, I have been really busy with service in church, on top of my daily work: assisting in the organising committee of our church’s family camp, monthly worship leading, and preparing and delivering 2 sermons.

The 2 sermons I delivered are in our church’s series in the books of Acts – The Longest Sermon Ever! (Acts 7) and The Almost Christian (Acts 26). The abridged versions of these an be found in the Articles section of this blog, along with others.

Enjoy, and as usual, I welcome any feedback! 🙂

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Holy Week – towards the Cross

The following are the daily key verses for the past 6 days (from Palm Sunday leading to Good Friday), as published on the YouVersion Bible app:

Jesus on relationships – new article

It has been 2 weeks since my last post.

Yes, I have been busy… who wasn’t? 😉

I had spent a good part of the last 2 weeks thinking about, and preparing for a message I was invited to preach at our church’s Youth Ministry. It was not an easy message for me to prepare, as I’m more at home dealing with concepts or theology, rather than topics that are very practical.

The responsible pastor for YM had asked me to speak on: what Jesus taught about relationship between people (as part of their series on the who, what, and how of ‘Eternal Life’).

In the end, by God’s grace and timely reshuffling of my sermon structure and thoughts, I was able to present to the youths what I perceive to be the most important lessons Jesus taught about interpersonal relationships.

You can read the abridged version of the message here.

As always, it was a joy to be able to preach. And I am thankful that I have at least 2 more opportunities later this year! 🙂

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The Worthy Goal

As we had gone for a family holiday last week, we missed the 2nd last sermon of the mini-series on the definition of a Disciple. Back to church yesterday, and the series concluded with the sermon titled “The Worthy Goal: Christ-likeness”.

Christ-likeness.
Something Christians have been told we have to aspire to ever since the day the commitment to Christ was made.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
[2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV]

Wholehearted Commitment

Our assembly is now on a short series exploring the characteristics of a disciple of Christ, as part of the mega-series on the new mission statement.

Yesterday’s sermon dealt with the issue of commitment – where the pastor preached that a wholehearted commitment is an “essential requirement” of a disciple.

57- As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58- Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59- He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60- Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61- Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

62- Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
(Luke 9:57-62 NIV)

The Deeper Life

The “deeper Christian life” is a term coined by Andrew Murray, as a title of one of his many books.

I came across this term from listening to podcasts by Frank Viola (who, you’d realise by now, is an author I’m reading and listening to a lot), because he talks/writes about the deeper Christian life.

But, what does “deeper Christian life” really mean?

I’m not entirely sure. From what I have heard, the topics and discussions raised in the pursuit of the deeper Christian life, I can surmise that the “deeper Christian life” is about being blown away by the truth and reality of what becoming a believer of Christ truly means.

The Job of Declaring

“The Joy of Declaring” was the headline for the sermon last Sunday. We looked at the witnessing aspect of our church’s new mission statement, taking cue from Acts 1:1-8.

As I consider what was delivered, it dawned upon me that the sermon did not speak on the joy that is in declaring Christ, but very clearly speak of the Christian’s job of being a witness of our Lord Jesus Christ. A happy job, but not labour. A labour of love, perhaps.

The focus from the passage was on the instructions of Jesus just before He ascended to heaven.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NIV)

Priority: Discipleship

(I thought I would be writing a long post, but decided to scale it right down to just some brief points…)

Last Sunday’s message aims to point us towards the assembly’s view that discipleship (or, disciple-making) should be the church’s top priority. Not just a priority, the top. Of course, the church is involved in many other activities, which are important in themselves, but discipleship has to be the top priority.

Because Jesus commanded Discipleship (Matt 28:18-20).
Because Jesus modeled Discipleship.
Because Jesus’ disciples commanded and modeled Discipleship.

I agree. Discipleship has got to be a top priority in the things the ekklesia (read: local church/assembly) does!