Just going to do a quick write-through, elaborating on some notes I look a couple of hours ago during the Sunday Service. After this I’d like to go ahead and also share something in response to a conversation I had yesterday, and also a couple of hours ago, after the Sunday Service.
We have a wonderful music team, and we had a consequently wonderful time during the worship portion of our Sunday Service… So wonderful, in fact, that one of our song leaders, a younger lady – who once was quite stern and straightforward in saying that she’d rather not do the task of closing the worship portion in prayer – well, she prayed this afternoon. And it was pretty powerful – shades of her auntie who used to lead worship so long ago.
Following worship we observed Holy Communion, and to my surprise, one of the men who only started coming to our service for, oh, three or four Sundays now went to the podium.
Something about this guy – he used to be immersed in the Catholic faith, and we also had a conversation once regarding that exact topic of Holy Communion – or maybe it was Baptism. Anyway, I thought he had a lot of questions left unanswered, but to my surprise, not only was he already demonstrating boldness in facing the congregation – He also spoke quite accurately about what we should be remembering when we partake of the bread and the wine, or the juice.
In his words – by the sacrifice of Christ, we have life, and we have forgiveness. When we eat the bread, we take in Christ’s body broken for us. When we drink, we remember His blood poured out to make us whole.
After praying, he gave the mic to his wife, who was assigned to do the Offering exhortation. Just like the ‘straight edge’ Pastor’s kid she was, she was ready with a couple of points.
She mentioned that the act of giving is (1) true discipleship, going more than words, (2) a demonstration of generosity, commemorating how Christ was and is generous to us, and (3) an act going more than saying we trust in the Lord – by giving we put our money where our mouth is (okay, she didn’t say that exactly but I just thought that was nice).
To her I say, ‘You are your father’s daughter, indeed’; and to her husband, I say,‘You are your wife’s husband, indeed’.
Usually, after exhortation whoever was assigned would give an appropriate call to action, and then transition to the next portion, giving the mic to whoever would give a short testimony… but she stayed put, because apparently, she also wanted to give her own testimony.
She shared that she started her life like any other pastor’s kid, full of dreams – until she got into college. When she thought she had the freedom to do more, she ended up lost, and ended up pregnant at a young age. She had to stop school, and work – all this time under the shadow of condemnation. Eventually, the father of her child was, in her words, brought out of the picture, leaving her alone.
However, it was in this series of rough patches when she remembered the Lord… and in the process, she met another man who would she would eventually call her husband; This man (the guy who led Holy Communion just minutes ago) ‘lifted (her) up’, and, again in her words, she felt that the Lord saved me by her husband.
But she still had the shade of condemnation over her, asking God, in Tagalog, ‘hanggang saan po ba plano mo?’ (‘will Your plan for me go any further?’ / ‘how much further would Your plan for me be?’)
In the fullness of time, she happily transitioned from tears to joy, sharing that she received an opportunity, went back to school, and experienced restoration – Now, as a mother, a wife, student, and a worker, she encourages us with the following:
‘God’s timing will never diminish your blessing. God’s timing is not our own. God tells us in Isaiah that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are higher and grander than our own.’
Pretty sure she got that from somewhere but I’m assuming this was a whole lot more real for her, and we did draw motivation from her testimony.
I didn’t share what I had to tell both husband and wife earlier, but I did share this instead, to her and the congregation: In Christ you were made, and in Christ you are held together.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a good friend of mine, living abroad. He happened to be alone at home at the time, and his wife was on the night shift. He admitted that he remembered me (and our conversations on diet and fitness) after his recent stumbling with a packet or two of instant noodles.
So, yeah, we caught up. About the noodles, I reminded the guy of what I used to say when I found myself stumbling when it comes to eating food in questionable amounts and/or questionable nutrition value: I used to say, ‘Do better tomorrow’, and reminded my friend that as much as possible, he should exert more effort than the ‘energy’ he takes in. I also mentioned that it does take timing – in other words, if you find yourself hungry in a fasted state, you can eat, OR you can take advantage by working out while in said state, to ensure that you’re burning more of your… ‘reserves’, if you know what I mean.
But that wasn’t all we talked about. He wanted to tell me of a doctrine he’s recently into, one that he admits may sound ‘extreme’ to most ‘believers’… but he didn’t really get into it. Instead, we let the conversation ‘flow’, as we talked about what we had in common – we both had our questions regarding eternal damnation being the destiny for those who refuse eternal life.
We both understood that it was of utmost importance for us to rightly divide the word of Truth (as we’re about to talk about next Sunday, in 2 Timothy 2) – and with that said, we understood that context is key, and that it helps for us to look at the words used in the original Greek and Hebrew.
Finally, we were in line and in agreement that it’s Christ and His finished work that takes priority and precedence over everything. We didn’t really talk on what he thought was extreme, and we just let the conversation run its course until I took the initiative to pray for him and his family, and promptly ended the call.
The rest of yesterday was spent mostly slacking and doing nothing (which is probably another reason why I’m playing catch-up with my writing here), and I turned in and slept early.
The next day I receive a couple of screenshots from this brother of mine, followed by a message saying that this was what he wanted to share… and after going through it, whoever wrote the social media article that he screenshot-ed was saying something that, upon first glance, did sound pretty extreme – that the concept of salvation was an old one.
This writer was saying that Christ did all the work, and we’re saved, without the need for us to ‘accept’ Christ. Now I got what my friend said when he mentioned, during the call, that he wasn’t really saying he was a ‘univers-alist’… but I could understand why, after sharing this, some people would call him exactly that.
I was ready to tell him off, saying, first, that the writer of the article only cited two verses out of the entire Bible to make such a claim… and, second, he only covered how we shouldn’t be ‘accepting’ Christ, making it sound like a ‘work’.
The thing is, I held back on slamming verse after verse, and just being defensive about all of it… I didn’t have the time to come up with a point-for-point response, but I’m glad I was led to respond the way I did.
I told him that it’s definitely not something I’m about to add to our Statement of Faith any time soon… but I will place it under consideration…
Obviously, he didn’t have a total grasp into this ‘new’ teaching because he would have told it to me straight up, instead of sending it behind the cover of chat and letting me go through it myself. With that in mind I also said that we should both be praying about this.
Just hours ago, immediately after the Sunday Service proper, I was approached by one of our more… ‘seasoned’ former missionaries, who told me, as he did once before, that he wanted to share a ‘prayer point’, apparently for everyone within the sound of his voice to pray about.
I told him that I said we should wait till everyone is finished praying for each other, and while we were waiting I asked him about this prayer point.
He was straightforward in telling me that it was all about former president Duterte’s being in the Senate and how he was thinking that whatever ‘crimes’ this man ‘committed’ must be exposed, and I thought right then and there, that’s more of a political standpoint than a prayer point. I told him that I would handle this, and he was gracious enough to go back to his seat.
At that point, a majority of the congregation were in fact finished praying for each other and I slowly eased in what I wanted to say – in response to what our former missionary insisted to be shared – by reminding them about our newsletters, and about how they had prayer points for us to go over throughout the week.
I then ‘added’ some prayer points – weaving in how we should be praying, throughout the week, regarding the Philippines, and particularly how our former president Duterte is involved in Senate hearings. I specifically told our congregation that I didn’t know where they stood regarding him and his policies (equally cheered for being strong and lambasted, being called murderous), but they should pray for our country at this time…
…just as they should be praying for the United States, and for the integrity of the elections. I have my own personal opinions about who I want for President, and so on, but I’m not sharing here. I just want to pray and KEEP. PRAYING. that the voices of the people of the United States are heard, and oh, God, please don’t let the plans of the enemy prosper, and don’t let the curses of the enemy come to fruition.
Ahem. I’m sorry, that’s what I’ve been praying for, personally, for a good while now.
Anyway, after what I said, I made my rounds and caught up with other folks, before eventually ending up with this former missionary engaged in conversation with a couple of other men.. And, apparently, one of them was more vocally supportive of the former president, and in no time, they were speaking over each other, gently and graciously, but still speaking over each other. I had to step in and say that they both have a common ground – that is, they both love our country and that they should pray for each other and our country.
This is just a mere speck, a grain of sand in an endless beach of people, souls with things going on in their lives, and souls exposed to theologies, ideologies, and so on. Souls seeing the big picture of Christ and His finished work, while there are those who seem to have additional time to think of things such as new teachings and doctrine, and politics.
I’m not bashing on anyone. I love my brother whom I spoke with yesterday, just as I love the former missionary – they both trusted me with what they thought was important.
But as a response to them, as in anything else, I thank God; I mean, I didn’t mention this, but I added, to my reply to my friend with the screenshots, something from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – particularly where it says that we are to test all things, and to hold on to what is good.
That’s precisely what I intend to do, for the couple praising God while going through their rough patches, for our brother who’s ‘exploring’ these new perspectives in theology with his wife, and for our other older brother, with his own perspective in politics…
And it seems that it’s something we’re going to be doing a lot of in the coming days, all while recognizing that God is our baseline for goodness, Christ is our Way, our Truth, and our Life, and the Holy Spirit is who leads us into all Truth.
Yeah I just thought I’d let this all out before I go any further.
It’s a new week ahead… and a LOT is coming up. Let us pray. Let us continue to place our trust in Jesus. Let us continue to claim the promise of the Word – that because we trust in Him, we shall not be put to shame.
Until the next post, God bless us all, greatly and abundantly. Amen.
346365/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment