Some additional thoughts.
I had dinner with two lovely sisters yesterday night. We reminisced bout the past, we shared bout our experiences after having to work for some time now, we share bout our passion and gossips. But one thing that kept me extremely thankful is that none of us has changed. We still share the same dreams of seeing God to work wonders in our lives. We still continue to pray for God to work among us, we longed to see more people being raised and more workers to be raised. We long to see a revival in our church, in our homes, in our work places and in our country.
Along the way, a sister pointed out that unknowingly we were taught to stereotype. We paused and thought. She was right. I remember in my conversations with my colleagues on life partners. I said that he must not be a smoker. They all jumped at my statement and claimed that smoking is a habit and like other habits, can be changed and improved. The Bible teaches us to love the sinner but hate the sin but here I am judging even the person. And even when I join other assembly's camps, I tend to see them in a different light. I was judging them in the way they read or sing. Oh God, please forgive me for my sins. I'm at not position to judge and there's no reason for me to think that I'm in anyway higher than anyone else. God, You alone deserve the praise and glory.
It's really important to keep our feet on the ground and be humble at all times. Lord, be my guard.
Friday, September 05, 2008
My God is good
The past few weeks have been different and a fresh breath to my almost-becoming-mundane life. It has just been about work , a little of church, friends and family. The pace of life was so quick for the past months that I lost track of a lot of things. I was quickly ushered in into a new project even before my previous project ended. Life was speeding past me and I couldn’t catch up.
Timely, however, it’s the month of August, the month of camps. I believe this is timely because it wouldn’t be if not for God. I went for a bible conference where speakers like Peter Ferry and Shawn Abigail spoke. It drew many stares for the fact that I’m going for this conference instead of my annual family camp, held on a adjacent-yet-not-so-adjacent hill. Some gave me blunt-beyond-shocked faces punctuated with many whys. Having decided, I went ahead. It was a great conference. Peter Ferry spoke on Malachi and Shawn Abigail on Dispensationalism. If you think dispensationalism is a higher learning, you are deadly wrong. In fact, it is very fundamental and in my opinion, crucial to all believers. Dispensation talk about stewardship and how God dealt with people of and at different periods. There are dispensation of innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace and kingdom. It is an orderly arrangement, administration and interaction between God and His people.
Dispensation of innocence begun in the Garden of Eden where God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Innocent and all they need to do was to obey and Adam was given authority to rule over all the earth. But they failed to obey and just when they sinned, they realized they were naked. Then, dispensation of conscience begins. After being driven out of the garden, they had to feed themselves. And despite having conscience to distinguish between right and wrong, man still sin. Cain murdered Abel. People thought they could reach heavens if they unite, hence the tower of Babel and many other instances. Man still sin. Their conscience is marred. Then, they wanted ruler to be over them, hence the dispensation of human government. But despite having human leaders, man fails to obey too. God then promised Abraham that He would through him, bring forth many descendants. This is the dispensation of promise. But Abram didn’t believe and had Ishmael with his maid servant. Man fails yet again. God then brings forth the dispensation of law. Man had to obey 613 laws and needless to say, they fail. Then it was the dispensation of grace, This is the period that we are living in. God sent His Son to die on the cross for us and by His grace, we are saved. But man still do not believe God. The bible speaks of the return of Christ by which the dispensation of millennium will begin. The bible also speak of the failure of man to believe for many will be cast into the lake of fire. In each dispensation however, God still gets the glory.
The reason why I say this is fundamental is because it really is and it helps you understand why God treats people differently at different times. I find it really helpful and now I’m being able to see the bible in a different light. I always thought that the OT has nothing to do with me, all the more when the church is not Israel and Israel is not the church. But now I see why it’s this way. God deals with His people differently at different time. You would see how gracious our God is in each period and how sinful man is. God truly gets the glory in the end because He’s God. I always thought that God would definitely get the glory because, well, He’s the main player and He does what He wants but now I understand the sovereignty of God. He just deserves and He gets the glory ultimately because man is useless. We cannot outbeat or out wit God. Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the glory! Amen!
I didn’t intend it to be a message but I felt the need to explain because it would really be good if all of us understand this truth. To read more, go to Shawn Abigail’s website at brethrenonline.org. He has many writings there. Apart from the enlightening messages, conference was good because you get to meet people from different assemblies. It’s good to make friends. Though I went alone and many thought it was weird, I survived it and I met some really wonderful people who loves the Lord and are passionate for His work. I am looking forward to next year’s already. It would be excellent and beneficial for everyone, especially the youth in our assembly to attend. Healthy exposure.
Then, last weekend, I was at another camp. This time round, it was a youth camp for students up to young working adults. It was another refreshing camp. I didn’t have much of a cultural shock and it was acceptable. There, I see something which I longed to see within my assembly. I see out poured passion for God. There was so much energy and I believe God could use these passionate and energetic youth for His work. It wasn’t the hype or spur of the moment, though I would say intense repetition of verses and choruses are not necessary but it’s impactful. It has been my prayer lately that God will raise more and more people for His work. More workers to go out and bring people into the church. For His people to love Him more, so much that it overspills and non-Christians testify to that testimony and be saved. My heart aches seeing my unsaved family and friends at different juncture of my life. My heart aches when I see the condition of our country. As grateful as I am that I’m in a country that doesn’t discriminate against Christians, I longed to see more souls being saved. And I see such love and passion at the camp. I remember someone said that we are so heavy in knowledge that we lacked the doing. We failed to allow God to work or to use us for Him. Because we don’t trust in our hearts though we do by head, we deny God in displaying His mighty power.
And the recent Passion conference I went to, it brought a grim reminder that greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city. There’s so much work more to do, within or outside our assembly. I remember I gave up in my service with the youth because I didn’t see myself contributing to them. Now thinking back, maybe it wasn’t the area for me. How Lord can I be used? I want to see changes. I want to see your people being passionate for you. I want to see the spirit of sharing being manifested in church.
Would you use me, Lord?
My prayer is this, that this desire to serve and to make a change for our God will not die of with time. And my fellow friends, there are so much more to do for our God. Let’s strife harder.
Timely, however, it’s the month of August, the month of camps. I believe this is timely because it wouldn’t be if not for God. I went for a bible conference where speakers like Peter Ferry and Shawn Abigail spoke. It drew many stares for the fact that I’m going for this conference instead of my annual family camp, held on a adjacent-yet-not-so-adjacent hill. Some gave me blunt-beyond-shocked faces punctuated with many whys. Having decided, I went ahead. It was a great conference. Peter Ferry spoke on Malachi and Shawn Abigail on Dispensationalism. If you think dispensationalism is a higher learning, you are deadly wrong. In fact, it is very fundamental and in my opinion, crucial to all believers. Dispensation talk about stewardship and how God dealt with people of and at different periods. There are dispensation of innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace and kingdom. It is an orderly arrangement, administration and interaction between God and His people.
Dispensation of innocence begun in the Garden of Eden where God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Innocent and all they need to do was to obey and Adam was given authority to rule over all the earth. But they failed to obey and just when they sinned, they realized they were naked. Then, dispensation of conscience begins. After being driven out of the garden, they had to feed themselves. And despite having conscience to distinguish between right and wrong, man still sin. Cain murdered Abel. People thought they could reach heavens if they unite, hence the tower of Babel and many other instances. Man still sin. Their conscience is marred. Then, they wanted ruler to be over them, hence the dispensation of human government. But despite having human leaders, man fails to obey too. God then promised Abraham that He would through him, bring forth many descendants. This is the dispensation of promise. But Abram didn’t believe and had Ishmael with his maid servant. Man fails yet again. God then brings forth the dispensation of law. Man had to obey 613 laws and needless to say, they fail. Then it was the dispensation of grace, This is the period that we are living in. God sent His Son to die on the cross for us and by His grace, we are saved. But man still do not believe God. The bible speaks of the return of Christ by which the dispensation of millennium will begin. The bible also speak of the failure of man to believe for many will be cast into the lake of fire. In each dispensation however, God still gets the glory.
The reason why I say this is fundamental is because it really is and it helps you understand why God treats people differently at different times. I find it really helpful and now I’m being able to see the bible in a different light. I always thought that the OT has nothing to do with me, all the more when the church is not Israel and Israel is not the church. But now I see why it’s this way. God deals with His people differently at different time. You would see how gracious our God is in each period and how sinful man is. God truly gets the glory in the end because He’s God. I always thought that God would definitely get the glory because, well, He’s the main player and He does what He wants but now I understand the sovereignty of God. He just deserves and He gets the glory ultimately because man is useless. We cannot outbeat or out wit God. Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the glory! Amen!
I didn’t intend it to be a message but I felt the need to explain because it would really be good if all of us understand this truth. To read more, go to Shawn Abigail’s website at brethrenonline.org. He has many writings there. Apart from the enlightening messages, conference was good because you get to meet people from different assemblies. It’s good to make friends. Though I went alone and many thought it was weird, I survived it and I met some really wonderful people who loves the Lord and are passionate for His work. I am looking forward to next year’s already. It would be excellent and beneficial for everyone, especially the youth in our assembly to attend. Healthy exposure.
Then, last weekend, I was at another camp. This time round, it was a youth camp for students up to young working adults. It was another refreshing camp. I didn’t have much of a cultural shock and it was acceptable. There, I see something which I longed to see within my assembly. I see out poured passion for God. There was so much energy and I believe God could use these passionate and energetic youth for His work. It wasn’t the hype or spur of the moment, though I would say intense repetition of verses and choruses are not necessary but it’s impactful. It has been my prayer lately that God will raise more and more people for His work. More workers to go out and bring people into the church. For His people to love Him more, so much that it overspills and non-Christians testify to that testimony and be saved. My heart aches seeing my unsaved family and friends at different juncture of my life. My heart aches when I see the condition of our country. As grateful as I am that I’m in a country that doesn’t discriminate against Christians, I longed to see more souls being saved. And I see such love and passion at the camp. I remember someone said that we are so heavy in knowledge that we lacked the doing. We failed to allow God to work or to use us for Him. Because we don’t trust in our hearts though we do by head, we deny God in displaying His mighty power.
And the recent Passion conference I went to, it brought a grim reminder that greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city. There’s so much work more to do, within or outside our assembly. I remember I gave up in my service with the youth because I didn’t see myself contributing to them. Now thinking back, maybe it wasn’t the area for me. How Lord can I be used? I want to see changes. I want to see your people being passionate for you. I want to see the spirit of sharing being manifested in church.
Would you use me, Lord?
My prayer is this, that this desire to serve and to make a change for our God will not die of with time. And my fellow friends, there are so much more to do for our God. Let’s strife harder.
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