Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Savior

Lake Okanagen, British Colombia, September 2007
How each storm has come and gone, 
You stilled the waves of the ocean deep within my heart. 
How the waters crashed and pulled me toward the ocean floor,
but a Savior came and lifted me toward the shore.
Now under the sun and over the mountains I dance with you,
For this life I owe you have rescued and renewed.
You are the savior, my Lord, my everything,
Raising me up a victor from the depths of shame, from the depths of sin.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Comfortable Church: Breaking the Comfort

The problem remains for the church today: We are just too comfortableThe "problems" we see are but a speck compared to the reality of the world we live in today, a world beyond the confines of our comfortable "problem filled" lives, a world that desperately desires a hope... a world that needs Jesus Christ. 

So the questions is: "What can I do? How do I get out of my comfort zone?"

The bible did not complicate things when it recorded how Jesus commanded us to take part in sharing God's blessing of salvation (Matt. 28:18-20). The misconception is that a Christian has to follow one ideal formula in sharing the love of God through Christ. It doesn't have to be that way. We can do it in many different ways. How? In our case today as a comfortable church, breaking the barriers of sharing the love of Christ and breaking the comfort can be done in two ways:

1) PRAYER

Have you been proactive in praying for the concerns of other people? Or have your prayers been focused on only yourself? Do you remember your country men during their time of need, ceased on helping when relief operations have slowed down, or have you been helping out still?

What we can do is simply pray. We should continue to pray for our country men still affected by the recent floods, who have lost loved ones and have lost their homes. Relief operations may have stopped but our prayers continue, our prayers should remain.

We can also pray also for the unreached people groups remaining in the Philippines and in other parts of the world! Get to know them through The Joshua Project, a website dedicated to research about ethnic groups who have yet to know Jesus Christ. Pray for these groups together with church members through the upcoming 1Gospel Conference, a conference encouraging young people aware about the power of prayer in missions!


We do not have to leave our country to be involved in cross cultural missions. We do not need disasters and relief operations to remember the needs of the less fortunate. We bring the love of Christ to other people through the power of our faith in the Lord, and it is proven in earnest, honest prayer.


2) PARTNERSHIP

Like prayer, partnership is not a one-time thing. It is being able to connect to people who need a more definite, clear, and real gospel message. 

Join an NGO, look for an orphanage, school, children's hospital or community and help the needy on a more concerted, intentional and consistent basis. Show love to them not by just simply reading to them the story about Jesus' sermons, but by sitting beside them, talking to them, asking them about their dreams, aspirations, having lunch together with them, interacting with them side by side. You can even support and partner by simply buying a shirt from Liberty Street Clothing and help survivors of human trafficking, child sexual abuse, or extreme poverty.

Pray and Partner for the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(IGSL - PMA Ministry Week, Sept 2012)

So this is how we roll up our sleeves, how we can be less comfortable, be less concerned about ourselves. This is how we can be thankful, how we can be exposed, how we can pray. This is how we can break church norm and obey God's command to "Go and make disciples", how we can share God's blessing of salvation today. 

People need the gospel message personally applied, not impersonally preached. 

Monday, September 3, 2012

The Comfortable Church

My kids in Kaunlaran High School in Navotas (through the partnership of International Graduate School of Leadership-Asia and Breakthrough Community Church-Navotas) wrote the following down when I asked them about their dreams and aspirations: 


"Know Christ"

"Change"

"Be Helpful and responsible"

"Expect more knowledge (Know) about God"

"Help my parents"

"Help my family"

"I want to help others to be God's followers"

These are what these kids hope for, what they desire in life. They desire a life out of poverty, out of daily financial hardship, out of broken down communities, and they desire Christ. They desire God. 

A couple of months back I asked the Lord why he wanted me to serve in this community. God's answer? The kids themselves. He wanted to expose me to his heart... a heart that longs to be connected and reunited to his people from all cultures, nations, from every tongue, every tribe and from every land. 

A recent study shows that most churches today do not share the GospelThis is what is happening in churches nowadays.

In light of the study, one of the problems today is that as a church, we look inward, instead of outward. We fret about poorly air-conditioned worship auditoriums, frown upon bad sound systems, and complain about the poorly seasoned lunch offered in our monthly ministry meeting. These kids? They have their algebra class during midday, under the shade of the quadrangle stage due to the lack of classrooms. The Track and Field team practices on 40 feet of parking space on worn out training shoes. No grass, no track oval. They miss out on school 1-2 times a week during the rainy season due to constant and regular flooding in the city. That is their reality. 

We are simply just too comfortable. The "problems" we see are but a speck compared to the reality of the world we live in today, a world beyond the confines of our comfortable "problem filled" lives, a world that desperately desires a hope... a world that needs Jesus Christ. 

The bible says:

"Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace"  (Acts 18:9b)

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ"  (Romans 1:16)

"(Pray)...that I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak"  (Ephesians 6:18-20)

"Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Timothy 1:8a)

"We were bold...to speak the gospel of God"  (1 Thessalonians 2:2)

God wants us to reach out to all people, and we achieve this by not just simply sitting comfortably, sipping freshly brewed coffee in the posh cafes where we hold weekly bible studies. God wants us to get out of our comfort zones, roll up our sleeves, and to confidently go. 

Are you too comfortable? Be thankful. Be exposed. Pray for divine appointments outside your comfort zone. Share God's blessing of salvation today.