Category: 牧者心聲 | Pastor’s Corner

Today’s devotion passage is from Genesis 8.   After a year in the ark, Noah emerged to offer a sacrifice to God and worship Him. At the time God made a solemn commitment never again to destroy all living creatures.

As I reflect on my personal situation, I am in this season where my family and I feel safe inside God’s protection from the rain and storm.  My family and I are taking time as we have a new addition in our family.  We spend lots of time caring for one another.  God’s Word remind me of how I should respond to God’s grace.

The world is full of chaos as we look to the news of terrorism attack and political unrest.  Closer to home, I already see many of my peers experiencing difficulties in their marriage.  I also see the uncertainty in the economy and job market, as young people are vulnerable to.  I pray and sense what’s going on with the teenagers I am ministering to.  God reveal to me their emotional distress and confusion through their sharing, through movies and music they listen to, and practically by the way they behave.  Of course most of us would not admit it, it is a stormy and uncertain world out there.  On the surface, we have material abundance and excess.  Deep inside, we are drowning from our emotional confusion, or in some cases, financial distress due to soaring living expenses.

My natural and sinful response to stress is to escape and hide.  During a season, God calls me to hide in the ark of his presence and experience his protection and saving grace while watching the chaos out there.  There is another season where the storm and rain will stop, and God is establishing a new relationship.  The faithful response to God’s saving activity is always worship.

The Bible did not give much details on what Noah and his family do in the ark.  All we know is that God remembered Noah and all the beast and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.  Noah and his family should be praising and worshipping God majority of the time. (Internet, computer games, etc were not available yet).

I thank God for this morning’s passage for guiding me to worship God as the proper response to God’s grace on me and my family.

Today’s 260 devotional passage is Luke 13:10-17.  Jesus out of compassion healed a woman with a disabling Spirit.  The synagogue ruler was indignant because Jesus broke the rule of Sabbath.  The woman who experienced grace praised God.  The message from today’s meditation remind me that I may be taking the rules literally in order to rationalize our lack of concern for others.

I am very touched by how brothers and sisters pray and care for those who are suffering from physical illness in PGC.  Also, I see the love of Christ bringing healing to those who suffering emotional and spiritual sufferings, as I recalled the testimonies given from baptism.  My prayer goes out to the Rosanna and Carmen for bring glory to God in witnessing for Christ.  Christ continues to do the work of healing and reconciling people to God.

Personally, I will be stepping down my role as the pastoral assistance in youth ministry beginning April 1, 2015.  The decision is not made rashly as I have prayed and discerned for a year over how to lead people to the presence of Christ for the years to come.  The growth of the English ministry has been slow in the past two years and there are many reasons for this.  As a leader, I will have to take responsibility.  I find that over the years I have become more and more like the Pharisees, who just try to keep the rules and regulation, and may neglect to love others compassionately.  I find that I focus more on keeping the rules and regulation of being a pastor and may do the work of ministry instead of out of the power of the Holy Spirit.  I prayed to God to restore my heart.  I would like to pray and love people purely because I love Jesus and not because my job is being a pastor and it is my duty to do the work of ministry.

I am thankful that God provided me with apprenticeship work as I step back from vocational ministry.  I was able to experience the power of this passage during my work.  One day, I was assigned to maintenance check-up work for furnaces in a co-op housing complex.  I did not want to do the work as the environment was dirty.  My boss told me to just do the work and minimize the amount of conversation.  As I finished up the work, I just want to get out as soon as possible.  The last house I service was a house of an old lady.  She lived by herself and she had a series of surgeries in the past year and she was in a lot of pain.  I have finished the work as she shared about her life.  The more I listened, the more I have compassion on her.  The Holy Spirit promoted me to share my faith and pray with her.  This is totally against what my boss would like me to do, and I would break a few rules.  The lady shared that even though she is poor, sick, and would not live a long life, she is willing to let God use her in whatever remaining time she has on earth.  She is a faithful member of her church as she would take 3 buses to get to her church for worship, Bible study, and prayer meeting, even though sometimes people drive her, but she tries not to burden brothers and sisters.  I shared my testimony and we prayed for one another.  

God reveals to me that I am to listen to Him humbly.  If I allow the Spirit to lead me instead of I use my own self-will to follow the regulations, I will see Jesus Christ and people around me with compassion. 

Reflection from Romans 3:21-31

When  I was engaging in my personal devotion, in my devotional time with my wife, in my youth group, in my men’s group, and in my attempts for evangelism, we all seemed to have no fear of God.  Yes, we do preach on the Gospel message, but not getting the tough message of the wrath of God.  We worry more about our own health, wealth, family, comfort, jobs, education… than being right before God.  What makes me different than the oikos I am praying for and trying to share the Gospel with?  

Today’s Words from God reminds me of the real spiritual condition of everyone on earth.  We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Like prisoners on death row, all people are guilty, condemned and awaiting the execution of God’s wrath.  They sit silently in the miserable darkness of their cell, all hope extinguished.   I know how to get pardoned.  I get pardoned by putting my trust in Christ through repenting from our sins and obeying our master Jesus Christ.  The message of God’s grace become real to me when I surrender my brokenness and being real to God.  The impact of God’s Words in my life right now is that it is rebuking and getting me back on the path that God wants me to be on.

I thank God for revealing where I should go as I engage in 260 devotion this morning.  As I prepare the work of proclaiming the Gospel to the peoples, I am reminded to preach the message of God’s wrath and righteousness.  I grow in the love for the Gospel by realizing and being convicted of what God did to save me from my real spiritual condition.  Finally, as I reflected on all the activities on the past thanksgiving weekend, there were church meetings, family gatherings, friends gathering, outreach nights, fellowship with church families…  I realized how I am very different than the brothers and sisters in our church in terms of gifts and personality.  We are all connected because we are righteous before God.  With the foundation of being right before God, we can face the challenges of ministry and life.

I was at the Festival of Hope last weekend.  It was an inspiring evening full of songs and testimonies that touches the hearts of young people.  Rev. Graham shared the message of the Gospel.  By God’s grace, hundreds of people went down and responded to the Gospel message.

This morning’s devotion draws me to Psalm 149:1 “Praise the LORD, sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.”  The artists at the concert were famous Christian bands.  They were singing new songs in pop, R &B, rap, rock style that are relevant to the culture of the young people.  People rushed to the front and jump up and down with excitement with musics that expresses one’s love for Jesus Christ.

The  last time Billy Graham Foundation came to Toronto was in 1995.  My teens were asking me, “I really felt God’s presence and the music spoke powerfully.”  Let’s go again next year.  There are powerful worship experiences at Teens Conference, Urbana Conference, at Camps, at Hillsong Concerts…  I cannot count on going to events after events to get the spiritual high.  The people of Israel did not have the conferences with fancy sound systems.  They lived out the reality in the Psalm by singing and playing their ancient instruments for what God did for them.  The artists were able to deliver powerful songs because of their intimate personal relationship with God.

How about myself?  When I sing praise songs during personal devotional and church worship, am I singing with the reality of what God did for me personally?

Psalms 124:1-8

1  A Davidic Song of Ascents. If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel now say—
2  if the LORD had not been on our side, when men came against us,
3  then they would have devoured us alive, when their anger burned against us.
4  Then the flood waters would have overwhelmed us, the torrent would have flooded over us;
5  the swollen waters would have swept us away.
6  Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.
7  We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s trap. The trap has been broken, and we have escaped.
8  Our help is in the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

What is the meaning of the text?  If the LORD had not been with the people of Israel, they would have been completely destroyed.  Throughout the history of the people of Israel and even so today, they were attacked by surrounding enemies.  When the people of Israel were led by a God fearing judge or king, they had peace and prosperity in their land.  God promised His people that if they fear Him and keep the commandments, God will bless and protect His people.  

What is the meaning of the passage to my personal context?  If God had not been with me personally, I would have been completely destroyed.  God blessed Vicky and I with some Oikos (friends that we pray to know Jesus Christ) from high school and university days.  The Holy Spirit is stirring my heart to make efforts to connect with them.  Through social interactions like BBQ and parties, Vicky and I caught up with our oikos, we listened to what is happening to their lives.   Here are a few themes that struck our hearts when we pray for them.

1. Stress and hopelessness in their workplace.  Most of our friends are very dissatisfied with their job.  They shared that work drains them physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  They have no time and energy for anything.  This is not just happening to our oikos, this is happening in the lives of the brothers and sisters we worship with.
2. Indulgence in harmful activities.  During the social time with our oikos, we discussed activities we engage in.  Some oikos of mine have a schedule like this: Sleep, work, computer games, and parties involving addictive substances.  I do not judge my oikos and I feel sad for them.  
3. Type B unbelievers.  My oikos are open for purely social events and they are comfortable to open their hearts to us.  There are great resistances and fear in them when they sense that we are attempting to share the good news of Jesus Christ to them.  Some of them explored and attended churches before.  They were left hurt and neglected.

Vicky and I had our difficult moments at our work respectively, but it is nowhere close to the stress and hopelessness that our friends shared.  We thank God for the work he provided us.   We believe that work is toiling and stressful after the Fall of Adam and Eve, but we do have many moments of joy in our work.  There was a time when I sought to indulge in harmful activities before I know Jesus Christ.  One harmful activity is call basketball, I would play like 6+ hours a day when I was in school.  Today, my knees and ankles are in bad condition.  I acknowledge and have personally experience hurt and neglect from church life, but God has placed mentors and other loving brothers and sisters to encourage me to remain in the love of Jesus Christ.  
                
How do I respond to God’s Words today? I acknowledge that apart from the love of Jesus Christ, I would get completely destroyed and be in a similar predicament as my oikos.  Vicky and I commit to open our home and time more to LISTEN and be a place and instrument of rest to our oikos.  We share how God is blessing and protecting us in a natural manner in our conversation.  We show to our oikos the hope we have in Christ through listening and being Jesus Christ to them, giving natural life testimony, praying for them continually, and seeking more prayers from our small group brothers and sisters.   

Thoughts on 260 Devotional: June 12, Acts 13

In this passage, worship, prayer and fasting are integrated into the selection and installation of Barnabas and Saul as missionaries.  Today worship and prayer are common in the ordination of pastors and installation of missionaries, but fasting is not.  Why has fasting been dropped from the preparation for these times of consecration? 

Worship: Expressing in words, music, rituals, and silent adoration the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God, by means of which we enter the supernatural reality of the glory, of God.
Prayer: Interactive conversation with God about what we and God are thinking and doing together. Therefore, there is talking and also the silently listening.
Fasting: The voluntary abstention from an otherwise normal function – most often eating – for the sake of intense spiritual activity. Other examples include websurfing, TV, favourite food, sports, etc.

Today is the opening day of the World Cup.  I believe World Cup is one of the biggest sport event of the world.  I relate today’s passage on the mission of Barnabas and Paul with the World Cup.  Paul and Barnabas travelled aboard had the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile nations.  All 31 teams except the host nation Brazil travelled aboard to proclaim the greatness in their nation’s soccer pride.   The players playing in the world cup could count on the prayer (literally) and fasting and inappropriately worship from fans in their home nation.  Paul and Barnabas relied on God’s grace through worship, they are confident that brothers and sisters were praying and fasting for them.

The work that Paul and Barnabas did was very demanding.  They were persecuted as their life were often threatened.  The work that the soccer players engaged in is physically and emotionally demanding.  The work that we are called to do as pastors, teachers, small group leaders, missionaries is physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding.  

Why do may pastors, teachers, small group leaders, missionaries get burn out?  God is calling me to worship, prayer, and fasting for this season as there will be great challenges ahead.  I am challenged to pray for my brother Chun who commits to serve the LORD for 9 weeks leading children in the Ontario Pioneer camp.  Also, I am challenged to pray for Ernest and Steven who are serving for 9 weeks in the GCGC children camp.  

Please note that there are updated prayer requests from the English congregation.  We can count on you to pray and fast for us.