Defense, Offense, or Preaching

Every believer is entrusted with the Gospel of Jesus the moment he accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour through the Holy Spirit who draws us near to Him and gives His wisdom abundantly. Therefore, it is our responsibility to preach to everyone without any exceptions. However as we try to share Jesus' Good News, we either trying to be caught in emotional defensive and/or offensive conversation rather than victorious salvation of souls. We all fall in this invincible trap that almost unrecognizable and later becomes our habit already.

A habit of defensive and offensive preaching of the Gospel is not the main characteristics of it. It may only lead to sending people away from hearing the Word of God. The good news of Jesus, indeed, exaggerates the image of God such as Kind, Love, Mercy, Grace, Just, and Eternity in heaven.  Paul summarizes it in Titus 3:4-7 says "4 But "when the kindness of God our Saviour and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life."

On the other hand, some believers preach the Gospel of Jesus that emphasizes the God's wrath, Punishment, Hell, and Eternal Death. Though these are equally important to be known, it is not suppose to come out of our voices at first. Rather, we mixed it along with our exhortations as part of truth and knowledge. Our goal is to bring the good news of Jesus to as many people as possible that we can to reach out everyone. We must be bold in sharing the Gospel of Christ that unleashed the power behind it and that is the Salvation of all humanity for those who believe in Christ. In Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." 

God bless us all!!!

Wisdom, a Sweet Delicacy

As we age, most of us are prohibiting ourselves from consuming too much of sweet delicacies as part of prevention to any future diseases like diabetes. However, we cannot avoid it completely as eating sweets is truly part of our lives since we were a child. In the same way in our walk of faith with Jesus, we all started as a child. In 1 Cor 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child..."

When we grow in faith, we also grow in wisdom. Proverbs 24:14 said, "Likewise, know that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will not be cut off." Wisdom is a sweet that prolongs our lives, indeed, with great future and hope as we often find and consumed by it. Wisdom is the sweetest food of our soul, which is sourced from God Himself. Job 12:13 "With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are His.

We have to seek God through Bible reading, Personal Devotions, Prayers, Fellowship with other believers, hearing testimonies of God's people. Therefore if we scarce of it, we have to seek it from Him as it says in James 1:5, But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. My only desire for everyone is to be continuously consumed by the Wisdom from God and not of our own understanding.

We have to be mindful of every words that comes out from us as words from God's wisdom has power while ours are nothing but a dead phrases. Paul, indeed, affirms this in 1 Cor 2:4-6, "4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God. 6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. 7 Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory." 

God bless everyone!!!

Branching from the True Vine

Today, the inauguration of FBGC Pointcook , is a celebration of the birth of a new bud (this church) branching from The True Vine (Jesus) who is under the care of our Gardener (God, The Father) --- John 15:1. Everyone enjoys the atmosphere of Spiritual Breakthrough as a product of this blossoming creation of God, the opening of our church here in Pointcook. We, our church, are a work in progress. We are not made of any non-living raw materials. We are God’s most loved living creations who have body, soul, and spirit. We are rational, social, and spiritual being. But like any full grown branches, we are starting from being a bud. Our main goal is to grow, glow, and go.

Jesus reminded us in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.” In order for us to grow, we have to keep a solid connection to vine, to be fed by his living water, and hold us firmly even in the time of adversities. Jesus wanted the church to GROW autonomously, but remain dependent to The True Vine (Jesus) who source life and keeps the branch to GLOW in leaves, flowers, and fruits.

And as we keep our church connected with God, we will stand still with Jesus even if the seasons change. We sway when the wind blows, rejoice when the rain comes, work when the sun shines, and cool when the night appears. These continuous dynamic changes will develop our bud to branch to fruits. Then it is the time to GO, the fruit has to leave the tree and its seed needs to be scattered in the soil (hearts) of the ends of the earth. This is the process which we need to understand that the new Church has to take place. If we remain with Jesus and Him in us, there is no other reason that will keep our bud not to grow into branch. I encourage everyone to take hold of our faith in Jesus, to be fed and nurtured by Him, with the care of Almighty Father and bear fruits through the works of the Holy Spirit that has entrusted with us.

God bless everyone!