Sent With Love

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 3:3-6

There are some things that people are naturally good at. For example, if you wanted to learn about drums, you would head to the best drummer, Gerald. If you wanted to learn about design, you would go to Tom or Natt or Persie. If you weren't sure about legal matters, you would talk to someone who was a lawyer, or studying to be a lawyer like Keith or Si En. They all have their callings, their niche or talents.

We see here that Paul, was called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ. We see that he is in this position by the will of God. Its safe to say that he knew some things about Jesus. Paul begins most of his letters in the same way. He says this in almost all his letters. We always thank God...when we pray for you. Every prayer that they prayed for the church of Colossae always included thanksgiving. Just flip to the beginning of the letter to the Romans, the first letter to the church of Corinth, letters to Ephesus, Philippi and Thessalonica. They all mentioned constant prayer which included thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 says that we are to pray with thanksgiving. This makes me wonder, have I prayed for my church with thanksgiving?

It is interesting to note that the only exception where Paul didn't include a thanksgiving was in his letter to the church in Galatia. We should also take note from the way Paul phrased this letter, it seemed that the Galatians were returning back to the works of the Law. Paul goes on to reestablish the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. He reminds the Galatians that by faith they are redeemed and made righteous, that they are now sons and heirs according to the promise. He asks questions like "who bewitched you?" and "who hindered you from obeying the truth? He challenged their custom of circumcision, which was a good practice set in motion by God. But God now had something better. Jesus.

Faith can be heard
How can faith be heard? What is the sound of faith? Romans 10:14b asks the same thing. How can faith be heard without someone preaching? Faith needs a preacher! I'm not talking about the person who speaks behind the pulpit every Sunday. The Greek word for preaching is Kerusso. It means to proclaim openly, to talk openly with authority.

So how is faith heard? Its heard when we talk about it!
What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Have people been talking about your assurance? Has your conviction been causing a stir? If people aren't talking about you, it means your faith is TOO QUIET! It is time to get a bit louder. Time to pair your faith with Love and make your faith famous!

Love sends
We are to preach! Romans 10:15 asks How are they to preach unless they are sent?
Love is the loudhailer of your faith. It amplifies the volume of faith. If you want to be heard, you've got to have Love. Pastor Andy shared this brilliant passage during November's combined cell.

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:34

When Jesus sees, He sees more than what meets the eye. He saw people, but He also saw needs, He saw that there was neglect, He saw lack of knowlege. And because He saw, Love and compassion flowed. Love flows when we see needs. People talk when needs are met and when people talk, others hear. You are not expected to be the one to fulfill every need. But you can ensure that every need is fulfilled.

A hope laid out
Love and faith could not exist if we didn't have a hope laid up in heaven. That hope is Jesus. In Acts 7:55, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. In Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:1 and Hebrews 8:1, Paul says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. But here in Colossians 1:5, Paul says that we have a hope, Jesus, who is lying in wait for us to make that faith famous.

In the letter to the Colossians alone, Paul describes Jesus in so many ways. He is Grace and Peace. He is the Word of Truth, the Gospel. He is the knowlege of God's will in spiritual wisdom and understanding. He is Power, Glorious Might. He is our Joy. He is our qualification, our inheritence. He is our Deliverer, King of the Kingdom of Light. He is Redeemer, Forgiver. He is God made visible, the firstborn of all creation. He is Creator, the raw material, the process and the processed. He is the artist and the admirer, the performer and the audience. He is the Head of us all. he is the Beginning, the firstborn from the dead. He is first in all things. He is the fullness of God in man. He is reconciliation, the intimacy between God and man, heaven and earth. He is our lawyer, our vindicator. He is purpose discovered, the mystery revealed, the revelation, the riches of glory, the revolution which energises us within. He is encouragement, the knot that holds us together. He is our path, our foundation, our firmness, our structure and what fills us. He is our final authority, the baptism, burial and resurrection. He is our Life, our payment. He is Law fulfilled, He is the disarmer of rulers and authorities, He is our triumph. He is our nourishment, our growth. He is our focus, our hiding place. He is compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and Love. He is our Glory and He is our Song. He is obedience, respect and sincerity. He is our master. He is Jesus and He is the Hope that started it all.

I pray that as you hear of Jesus and discover Him, you will develop a love that sends and a faith that is famous.

Did You Enjoy...

I haven't worshipped in a while. I've led worship and I've had conversations about worship, almost boasting about how I don't even need a full band to lead worship in church. If I had to lead worship alone, just me and my acoustic guitar, I could.

I stank of pride.

Pride is a sneaky thing. It creeps up on you like a hyena stalking its prey. Always in the shadows but never daring to meet face to face. Waiting for the precise moment when the prey is most unaware of itself and it's surroundings. We are like that prey. Before we realise it, pride is all over us along with its awful smell.

Tonight, God asked me if I could worship Him without an instrument. I don't know why I insisted on picking up the guitar and playing it with the remaining three healthy fingers. It was awkward and uncomfortable like I was trying to play it for the first time. I put the guitar down and started to sing about His goodness, about how I was healed by His blood. I sang for about 10 minutes. And then I stopped. I couldn't help thinking about how badly I wanted to play again. I wanted to feel my fingers breeze over the frets of the guitar, to touch the strings to make them sing. I told God how much I wanted to recover really soon so that I could make music and write songs again. I did not expect Him to answer me. He said, "I enjoyed your playing and your singing. Did you enjoy Me?"

Did you enjoy Me?

Worship isn't just a song we sing or a performance we bring. Worship begins when we encounter Jesus. How we react to Him is our worship. There's no requirement for a song or music. It is a connection, a conversation with God. His Spirit and us.

So I laid down, and just enjoyed His presence in my room. And I slept. And worshipped. And slept. And when morning arrived, Hope came along.

I Just Wanna Say I'm Not Afraid... Anymore

This week has not been the best week for me. During the last futsal session on tuesday, I was playing goalkeeper. Just a few minutes into that round, I was left with a one-on-one with the opposing striker. I moved forward to cover the angle of the shot and reduce his chances of scoring. The next events happened so quickly that I was lying on the ground in a matter of seconds.

According to Dennis, the striker, had booted the ball towards goal with his toe. Being a goalkeeper in my secondary school days, the natural reaction was to dive towards the ball while swinging my arms. I think I had covered my angle well because although I did not block the shot, it hit the post and bounced back towards my hand. My left hand was already opening up to brace my fall on the synthetic turf when the ball came crashing into my straightened fingers. The first thought that came into my mind was that the ball was going to bounce off me and into the goal and our team would be out. Dennis says I'm crazy.

Thats when everything in my body started screaming in discomfort. Before I realised it, I was on my back clutching my left hand, eyes clenched shut as if the light would make it worse. Usually it would take 10 seconds, or less, for any knock that I received on the pitch to subside. This lasted 20... 30 seconds... a minute... 3 minutes... I didn't realise how much time had passed because I was fighting off wave after wave of the pounding pain. I could hear the guys around me telling me to get off the pitch so that they could continue with the game. I somehow found myself sitting outside the pitch nursing my fingers which seemed to be keeping straight on their own, almost in rebellion to the instructions of my body, after the trauma they received.

It is interesting to note that even through the dizzy haze of discomfort, dread and fear were still vivid and clear. What would happen to my fingers? Would I be able to play an instrument ever again? What good am I to God if He's called me to music and I can't play?

The line separating my talent and my self-worth became a blur.

I guess this is the reminder that I needed. That even if I lost every talent and anointing that He gave me, I would still be alright. He's convinced me that it is not the end of my calling. That my worth is not tied to what I have to give. That I always have Jesus. We are all looking for Love, Acceptance and Purpose, and when things look like we've lost our way, we start to panic. The needle of our compass goes beserk, and it drives us nuts. We try so hard to make it right. We forget that we can navigate by the stars.

Pastor Prince spoke yesterday about making Jesus the centre of every situation. He made me cry. Because God was speaking to me through him. Telling me to put Jesus in the middle of my crisis. About keeping my heart right in the area of worship, remembering that it is about Jesus and His people. About talents that cannot stop growing when we invest it in His Kingdom. So broken finger or not... I'm fulfilling my calling! I've got the stars.