Do you like “spoon-fed” sermons?

I have often heard a Sunday sermon preparation being compared to mom’s cooking. For a grand occasion, our moms can prepare for days, climaxing on a sumptuous meal. But normally, our moms will prepare a simple meal in about an hour.

As comparable a sermon preparation is to mom’s cooking, I am of the opinion that a sermon takes a lot longer to prepare (Maybe I say this because I never prepared a meal, but I am always preparing sermons). For example, did you know a sermon preparation can rarely be done in about an hour? There is no simple, quick way to prepare a sermon on a weekly basis. Almost every Sunday sermon by your pastor is like a sumptuous meal prepared for a grand occasion by mom. It takes days, and at times, months and weeks of preparation has already been invested prior to the weekly preparation that is involved for that Sunday’s sermon.

Did you know that I did four drafts for my last Sunday sermon? As much as I understood the sermon after the first draft, as I prayed and reviewed the sermon, I thought that it might be a little too difficult because of the Old Testament references as well as the historical background. So, after each time I reviewed, I kept re-working the draft to try to simplify the message so that His people will be able to understand, but most of all believe and obey God’s word, which you know is the purpose of hearing God’s word, that is, to believe and obey. So, as your pastor, my job and joy is to make the sermon as simple, understandable, and delicious for His people to eat. That’s my job!

Did you know that our members also have a job when hearing God’s word preached? There are times when I feel that many of God’s people want a “spoon-fed” sermon. (Btw, if this does not describe you, then rejoice and praise the Lord). What do I mean? Simply said, the desire of some is to hear a simple message that they do not have to think about. It is like wanting a food they don’t have to work for, and at times, not even have to chew. Normally a spoon-fed food is easily digestible and never worked for. If this is the mentality of God’s people, then we must repent. We must change our ways, our thoughts, and our approach to the Sunday sermon.

The better mindset of God’s people for a Sunday sermon is not to seek a simpler message, but a sermon that will provoke us to think deeper, a sermon that will stretch our hearts, vision and obedience, a sermon that will not leave us alone where we are, but will stir us to walk an extra mile for the glory of our God and His kingdom. Do you see, a spoon-fed sermon can make the hearing of God’s word more comfortable, but it will not cause our faith to grow into His grace and knowledge? Isn’t that what we want more than anything as His people? So dear beloved people of God, let us strive for greater things in life than merely our comfort. Let us pray that our God will enlarge our character to His likeness, and not just our land (as many seemed to have learned from Jabez’s prayer).

Let us not be content with “spoon-fed” sermons. Let us hunger for more. Let us dig deeper for God’s knowledge into His word. May God’s people delight to seek His thoughts more, to search more for what pleases our Father, and for every revelation, may we desire to obey our God more than ever before!

Are you Also a fool madly in love?

Ministering to people is one of the hardest thing there is in life!

One of the strangest and painful thing I have discovered is that with some people, the more I serve them, the more they demand from me. Meanwhile, on the other spectrum, there are some people whom I have served very little, but their appreciation is so great that I am embarrassed to receive their gratitude. How do you figure this? The people that should be most grateful are the least thankful, while with the people that I deserve the least gratitude are most appreciative. In some strange way, it is a balance. Who knew that people (you and I) could be so unpredictable? To such unpredictable and imbalance people, how is a pastor to minister to them?

In our last Sunday sermon, I dared to call our God “a fool madly in love.” Of course, I am completely wrong to call our God a fool. That is never true! But, hopelessly lost for appropriate words, searching for words that could help us grasp His truth, I shamefully called our God a fool, because that best described in human terms His actions towards us.

I mean how else can we describe our God who humbled Himself to stoop so low as to wear His flesh when He is in nature so glorious? How else can we describe an Almighty God, whom there is no equal in His power to helplessly hang on a cursed tree like a criminal? How else can we describe a God who not only overlooks but forgives and cleanses our sins, not just one small insult against Him, but literally hundreds, thousands, millions of sins, so grave, so serious that would tear anyone’s heart to pieces with pain and sorrow? I really did not know how else to describe our God than to call Him “a fool madly in love with us.”

Have you tasted the love of this Fool, your God? He humbled Himself in the flesh because of His love for you. And again, He sacrificed Himself on the cross because of His love for you. Please, if these words do not sting your heart, if these words do not tear your heart in shame and thankfulness, then your hearts have become calloused, they are turning into stones. But even so, we can still turn to our living God, for He can turn the stones into His living children, not just figuratively, but He actually made His people out of dust. So, turn to Him this day, this month, seek His face while He may be found. Cling to Him, and ask Him to pour His grace unto you so greatly, that you will radically, completely change. Your heart can change when His love fills your heart.

Do you know what is the proof of His love filling your heart? When you love other undeserving and unlovable people, as Christ has loved you. If our God has loved us like a fool madly in love, then it seems right that we too should learn to be like a fool madly in love with others, don’t you think? Yes indeed, it is my earnest prayer for myself and for each of you, may we also become “a fool madly in love with others.”

Saying goodbye to Ella

Yesterday, before Ella went under cremation, I wanted to minister to her brother and sisters. They are so young, and to undergo what they had to go through, I cannot begin to understand their pain and their struggles. So, after some prayer and reflection, I shared with them that our naked eyes and our eyes of faith see things differently.

Our naked eyes tell us that Ella is dead, and therefore, leads our hearts to hurt because of the sadness we feel. But our eyes of faith instructs us differently. It sees beyond our bodies, it sees our souls. While her body was laid in her casket motionless, the Bible teaches us that even though we die, in Christ we live. If we are in Christ, then when we die, we truly live forevermore.

So, while our naked eyes want to nail her motionless to the ground or to the fire in ashes, the eyes of faith shouts at us louder and bolder, telling us that this beautiful baby is able to stretch her arms, kick her legs, breathe that fresh and magnificent air of heaven effortlessly. While we never heard her sing or saw her dance, we can only imagine how well she would do them, as she is more free than the birds to fly and sing more beautifully than any choirs can sing.

Dear God, thank You for sending Ella to us. Thank You for teaching us through her that each day is precious, a gift from You, never to be taken for granted. Thank You for showing to us that each day was truly meant to be a miracle for us. Thank You for showing Yourself more caring, more powerful, and more real than any person or caretaker in this world. And most of all, thank You for instructing us that all of us will also be called one day to enter into Your kingdom.

Lord, when You call us home, may we also be ready to enter like Ella was.

Sweeping My Garage

Couple weeks ago, the wind was particularly strong, blowing in leaves to my garage. I wished it away, but they would not budge. Then, I had imagined another strong wind to blow our way, so that it may drive away those leaves that settled in our garage. But as you all know, it didn’t happen. So, finally I did the only sensible thing to do, that is, I took out the broom and swept my garage.

Sweeping away the leaves and the dust that had congregated together, I realized that in our lives, something very similar also happens. Like a leave in a mighty wind, we are easily tossed and turned in our temptation. Unable (or unwilling, most likely) to obey the Lord, our lives seem to collect our sins, very much like our garage was gathering leaves and dirt. Are you troubled by your many sins collecting dirt in the corner of your heart’s garage (if there is such a place)?

Dear beloved in Christ, don’t neglect your sinfulness. Bring them to the Lord and confess them. As powerless we are in cleaning our dirt, our Lord has brought His powerful sweeper to cleansed us from all of our sinfulness. His cleansing power is not in a broom, but in His blood, as you already know. Your house is already clean, for even before you collected the dust, He has already gone all over your house, and swept them beautifully and perfectly, when He laid His life down for you.

Oh, what freedom we find in His Gospel, for it is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. Once cleansed in Him, there are no dirt or sin in our world that can cling to us, for He has given us His righteous robe, that are wrinkle free and stain free. (Forgive me for all of these cheesy expressions!!!).