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The Call of Ezekiel

This particular passage in Ezekiel 2:7 has a special significance for pastors like myself. It is the responsibility of every Christian to speak God's word to one another, but of special significance to pastors who are called to "specialize" in teaching and preaching the word of God. It is such a huge responsibility and privilege. I am reminded of that every time I preach on Sunday morning, as well as any other times I am given the opportunity to teach his Word. The danger for every pastors and believers is to "tweak" the gospel message to cater to the audience. I think this temptation is especially common in our day. Ezekiel's call was to be uncompromising and to do it whether people listened or failed to listen. I believe that is the calling of all of us and particularly of pastors. Please pray for me, that I would be uncompromising as I preach and teach everything that is in the word of God to you!

Posted by Pastor James

A Backsliding People

the passage today cuts to the heart. the prophet jeremiah uses a series of metaphors to illustrate judah's refusal to come back to the Lord. outwardly the people made a show of confessing and repenting of their sins through a series of reforms instituted by king josiah, but the Lord knew it was "only in pretence". whatever profession of faith they made was irrelevant because they persisted in their evil ways.

the warning of jeremiah is just as relevant today as it was in his own time. jeremiah was mocked, derided and abused by the people to whom he was sent to preach. he was told from the beginning of his ministry that none would return to the Lord, even as he was commanded to tell them to do so.

this is alarming. we are much too like the people of judah. like them, we have the privilege of hearing God's Word on a regular basis. we are lulled into thinking our situation before God is not that serious by the relative stability of our lives. nothing that "bad" happens--therefore we keep putting off doing the very thing that is most urgent and needful.

we will give account one day for every word we heard from God. did we repent when the word was preached, or did we ignore what we heard? Jesus states that for some, the preaching of the word leads to repentance; for others, it leads to a further hardening of the heart. the word hardened the hearts of the people in jeremiah's time. i pray that the same may not be said of us--if it is, how great and justified and right the condemnation will be on the day of the Lord's coming!

may God give us a spirit of true repentance for our sins. not outward, not temporary, but permanent, eye-opening, life-changing. may we leave our life of sin once and for all.

the Prophet's Commisioning

"Here am I. Send me" should be the attitude of every believer in Christ. Whenever a need arises, that should be the attitude with which we should serve the Lord. Most of us would rather say, "God will send someone else or someone more qualified should do it, send them". But Isaiah's response was to take personal responsibility for it. He said in essence, "I'll do it".

Yes, Isaiah 6 is well known as a missionary text but it is also a text for all Christians. We are all commissioned to proclaim the gospel; it is our duty and our privilege. One practical way to apply this text is in the ministry of the church. Whenever you see some work that needs to be done in the church, you should volunteer and take responsibility for it rather than wait until someone asks you to help them. If more people did this, working for the church would be a joy!

Posted by Pastor James

Proverbs-

As I endure a season of suffering, I am coming to terms of God's answer to my plight. It's not a soft and comforting answer but a humbling revelation of God's truth and the truth of the reality I'm living in now. After I read pastor James' entry about Job, I was reminded of how little comfort Job received from God when God first answered Job's cries. As a man of extraordinary faith, perhaps Job was comforted with God revealing and asserting His authority and His all-powerful reign over everything and every situation. As for me, I begin seeking comfort in the lines of sympathy and empathy-God acknowledging my pain and my right to be indignant. I would want God to let me know that He understands what I'm going through and that He will guide me through it. I think Job certainly was a man who deserved this kind of comfort especially in the light of how little he deserved his time of suffering. I was puzzled at how God did not approach Job with a soft hug but a powerful revelation of who He is.
I think a soft hug can do a lot of good at the right time and place but I realized that for me to seek a soft hug at this particular time of hardship is to seek what you can call cheap grace. It feels good while it lingers but it will fade sooner or later. I think the process of being humbled by God is what helped calm Job's inner turmoil and allowed him to fix his attention on what really matters. It is a process of turning from focusing on one self to focusing on God. I think this is the process of repentance. Incidentally, I think God is leading me to repent from being a sluggard.
As I was lamenting my job at my aunt's cleaners I came to reflect on how I got stuck in this awful situation. I came to realize that indeed, this must be God disciplining me for being a slacker. Ti's true, for when my uncle passed away this pass summer, I was the only slacker that was free to help my aunt. I was immediately obligated to help her out. At first i was very willing because I was very sympathetic. I even defended her request against disapprovals and warnings from my close friends and family. But now, I'm crying out to God to please deliver me! I truly am suffering; God please save me! I grow impatient and resolve to act on my own behalf. But then, I am lead to reflect on Christ's love. I then lament on how I really don't know enough about Christ's love. I "know" because I've learned and felt happy about it in church but I don't "know" how it can help me as I suffer through this particular situation! I cry and continue lamenting my lot of suffering. Then from one small thread of thought blooms a truth about how God loved us without expecting anything in return. I know this truth could not have come from my mind. I am fully convinced and testify that this was God's answer to my plight. It's not the answer that I was hoping for at the time but now, I can't imagine anything else better. Christ gave His life, His all. No one can match that price-ever. Yet He paid the price for my eternal salvation, eternal forgiveness. No one can return the favor and nor does He expects us to. He gave so freely and willingly so that we can freely recieve- only if we are willing. It humbled me and it stomped out my lamenting and made me focus on being more like Christ. To be honest, I never thought about Christ's love this way. Perhaps i should say, i never experienced the power of Christ's love this way. The doctrine of Christ's love is very deep and complex to me. I am often too lazy to even dip my toes in it. (I use to say I was too intimidated but I learned today that irrational intimidation and fear is like the sluggard that lamented about a lion outside his house.) And God, knowing my woeful state, rebuked my whiny heart by revealing Christ's love to me in a new way. It enabled me to do what I was unwilling or unable to do on my own.
But it's still so hard working there! This week was even harder to bear! Much like last week, the end of this work week was the most stressful but this week, I keep my ears open and wait on God to speak to me again. Before I reminded myself about today's blog, I was again lamenting what I was suffering through and I reflected on the slacker theory again and decided I was suffering God's poetic justice. Be caught being a slacker and get pulled into slaving your days away. Ha ha very funny God. I think the humor was suppose to help me deal with not having a clear message from God. But i think it was God preparing me for the poetry in Proverbs. The verses i read were not soft nor lovely-nor were they funny. Last week my will was rebuked and humbled but I was comforted because God spoke. After I read the blog on Job, I realized I was waiting more for the aspect of comfort than for the fact that God spoke. God spoke and He revealed His Glory. I realized it is in this revelation we can find comfort and joy for God does not speak to give out cheap grace. In light of this, I was able to hear God say in response to my lamenting this week, "this is what happens if you live in the ways of a sluggard." It's a hard blow to my pride. I'm still digesting it but i accept it as true.

Job's Comforters

The story of Job has always intriqued curiosity. He went from having everything to nothing then back to everything. But through it all his relationship to God has always remained the same. Even in the midst of great pain and sorrow, he did not blame God... although he was close to doing that or maybe he did "indirectly" when he questioned God's wisdom in creating him. But there's no doubt that Job knew his place in relation to God... that God was God and he was a mere creature! Whether good or bad, he would worship God. I wonder why we worship God?

What always amazes about this story is the story behind the story... the main story (God vs. Satan) behind the lesser story (Job and his three friends). And what the main story is about is the wager between God and Satan. God believes that Job will worship him even if it involved the greatest suffering. Satan doesn't think so! God believes that Job loved him because He was God and not for some lesser, self-interested reason, like saving his skin or getting material blessings. I suppose nothing brings out the true intentions of our hearts like suffering does, especially unjust suffering like Job experienced. When we go through suffering whether as a result of someone's decision or our own, will we worship God? Suffering exposes us to where we are weak and shows us where we need the grace of God the most. Our weakness is where God wants us to concentrate our effort. Let us all stand fast on the true grace of God

Posted by Pastor James

the wisdom of solomon

in the light of the upcoming election, i find solomon's request for wisdom to rule over his people with justice particularly interesting. when God tells solomon in a dream to ask for whatever he wants, he asks for neither wealth nor fame, neither long life nor victory over his enemies, but wisdom to govern rightly.

God is very pleased with this request, and it is noteworthy that not only did He grant solomon his request, but "all the other things were added" as well.

thinking about this gave me a clue as to how to pray for our political leaders, most especially the current president and the incoming president.

we ought to pray for the president that God would give him "the wisdom to govern the people rightly". i know our current political system does not allow for the absolute power that solomon enjoyed.

but God's justice and righteousness are the foundations for any successful government. we should pray that the president would have the heart of solomon and desire the wisdom to govern rightly and justly, whatever his religious convictions might be.

i wonder then if "all the other things" (military victory over our enemies, national wealth, and fame (that is, international renown) would be added to him and to the country as well.

a president who has the humility to recognize that he can't do it alone is the kind of president this country needs in these troubled times.