Call to Apostleship

Galatians 1:11-17

Paul states that the gospel he presents is not of his own but from Jesus Christ. He was a zealous Pharisee and tried to destroy the church which proclaimed Christ. God called Paul through his grace and revealed Christ to Him that he might preach Him among the Gentiles. He did not speak to others about it immediately nor go to Jerusalem to the apostles who were already preaching the gospel of Christ but rather went to Arabia and returned back to Damascus.

1) The gospel is not man's handiwork but from Christ.

2) An encounter/experience with Christ is needed to have conviction in what you believe.

3) God can work through you no matter who you are as long as you allow Him.

4) God may call us to a different people/calling then we may imagine.

When we think of evangelism we must include God. Allow room for the working of the Holy Spirit. We have plans but we must bring them to God.

This is particularly more true for 2nd generation Christians. More often that not, the experience will not be as dramatic as Paul. But God works in ways beyond which we can ask or imagine. We can experience Him in different ways. A relationship with him would be essential for that experience.

For the many mistakes we make, we feel that we are beyond redemption. But God can work with us as long as we surrender our lives to Him. A complete surrender is necessary for God to work effectively though.

Sometimes we may expect God to use us in a certain ministry, to a certain people. But it doesn't always work out the way we expect. We should leave room for God to work with even though the calling may not seem to be part of your interest or talents. God can work through us as long as we have a willing heart.

Only one gospel

So its time for morning devotion albeit at late morning. Guess the early morning principle didn't work so well today. Let's get started.

I've chosen the book of Galatians to start off as it is not a very long book and we'll be studying it this quarter so its good to understand it better before we discuss anything.

FYI before I started I read some stuff about Galatians. You can probably find them in a Study Bible which I find useful things to know for understanding of the book itself. For example, such would include Author, Audience, Date of writing, Message, Outline.

Galatians 1:1-10

There is only one gospel which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any other form that is preached is false no matter who the person who carries the message. May that person be accursed. Since the gospel is of Jesus Christ, who do we seek to please? Is it man? Is it ourselves? Or is it God? Paul here chooses to be a bondservant of Christ.

1) Paul notes that he is an apostle not of man but of Christ.

- We should not seek man's approval but God's approval.

2) Jesus is our deliverer from this present evil age

- Who do I turn to in times of need? Shouldn't we pray more often than what we are doing?

3) The gospel is that of Jesus Christ.

- Christ is the only person we should lift up when sharing the gospel with others. It should not be ourselves, our church, our pastor etc.

4) We are bondservant of Christ.

- It actually means slave in the Greek word. Now we are slaves of many things. It could be money, games, addiction to something, our secret sins.

- We should be slaves of Christ instead of giving ourselves to other things of the world which is potentially dangerous. Christ is a good master isn't He? ;)

Many times when I do things it is natural to seek other's approval or at least not met with strong disapproval by many. But what is important here is that in the future, I should seek God's approval which is as long as it is Biblical, I should do it regardless.

Prayer is important and I admit I have not been praying as often as I liked to. Let's start with the 777 project of our global church today. 7 times a week, 7am and 7pm daily.

When I try to share the gospel with others, it is not to attract them to a church where people are loving. Yes that is important but I want to introduce them to the matchless charms of Christ which is the true purpose of Christianity.

Every day I want to commit myself to Christ through prayer and let him be master over my life. That's the only way to combat the deceitfulness in my heart. I would do that in my prayer above.

Okay, that is quite some things to do. Didn't think that in a short passage one could have so many principles to learn and apply did you? Anyway, by God's grace may I be able to live a victorious life through Christ!

May God be with u all too :)

The beginning of daily devotion

Hey guys, its been some time since I last posted here. Well I kinda have a new intention for my blog now. And that's to post my daily devotion here. It has to do with FAST yea :P

Anyway, if you don't like it then you don't have to drop by and read it. Just let u know in advance. About posting about other stuff hmm I'm not too sure about that. Maybe if I post often with daily devotion I would be more likely to blog about other stuff too. We shall see~

Let us see the outline of it

A Daily Study Plan

Prepare: Before beginning your study of the Word, spend some time in prayer, asking God to teach you through His Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can make the Word came alive. See John 14:26, John 16:13. As you pray, present specific needs, problems, questions, plans etc to the Lord, and ask Him to speak to you about those areas.

Paraphrase: Take out a blank sheet of paper and jot down the date and passage you will be studying. Cover only as much as you have time to digest thoroughly - even if it is only 6-8 verses. Read the passage through a couple times until you being to grasp what the writer is saying. Then, write a brief paraphrase of the passage in your own words. It is often best to read through one book of the Bible at a time, picking up each morning where you leave off the day before. We recommend starting with short practical books first, such as James or 1 Thessalonians.

Principles: Next, spend some time meditating on the passage. Look for principles - moral precepts that operate in all situations. Often the easiest way to find a principle is to ask yourself questions: Is there some sin to avoid? Is there a good character quality to develop? Is some cause-effect relationship revealed in the passage? Is there an expression of God's will? A promise? A wrong activity to forsake? etc.

With a little practice you will soon find yourself able to almost instinctively ask just the right questions. Principles will seem to burst off the page. As soon as you see one clearly, jot it down on your paper.

Projects: Find a principle is only half the battle. You must then go on to apply it to your personal life. This means transforming that principle into a project by answering more questions, such as: Who? What? When? Where? and How? What exactly does that verse suggest you should do? As the Holy Spirit brings certain projects to mind, jot them down, checking to make sure they PASS (personal, achievable, specific and Scriptural). Then, commit to carrying out your application promptly. Continue finding principles and projects as long as you have time to study.

Scripture memory tip: As you read through different books of the Bible, you will discover many verses you will want to memorise. Jot these references down on a piece of paper and keep the list in your Morning Watch notebook. Soon you will have dozens of choice verses you can look forward to memorising!

Just do note that any devotion done will not be perfect, you have to study it to be sure that it is Biblical. After all, I will not be using any exegetical tool to get the meat of the message.

I'll be starting tomorrow then, hope all goes well.

Good luck with your morning devotion too ;)

Wealth

When a sports car zooms past,

When you go to lavish weddings,

When you go to amazingly large houses,

When you meet multi millionaires.

Have you ever wished those were what your life was like?

Have you ever wished that luck and fortune was on your side?

The pursuit of wealth is for many an elusive dream.

Many are in the rat race to be a top earner, top businessman, top entrepreneur, top this, top that.

Now there is nothing wrong with aiming high, to live your dream.

Sometimes I wonder what if I obtain wealth but then I die the very next day.

Is that of any merit to me?

Imagine the things I probably have to sacrifice to obtain such?

Is it really worth it?

There are many things we want God to give us. Such that he sometimes has become our genie in the lamp. The thing I am covering today is wealth. Sure wealth is fine, if God blesses you with it, Praise the Lord. But if not, I wonder is it really worth it?

What am I getting at you ask?

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

My point here is will I go in the pursuit of wealth at the expense of my salvation?

If you could weigh it on a pair of scales, what would weigh more than your salvation?

If you want to know the answer of Christian living, it is within the context of the text.

Many times I live as if salvation is not important to me. Don't we tend to do that more often that not? We treat this life as the most precious thing that we could ever have and forsaking the eternal and embracing the temporal.

The devil wants us to live life and enjoy it to the fullest. Letting our passions and desires go free and squeezing as much pleasure from this life as we can ignoring the things to come. It is something that is likely to be common in the last days where living for the moment has become the mantra.

The question today is "Where do you dedicate your energies to?"

"What goal are you trying your utmost to fulfill?"

I think these can answer our direction in life. Now I do not mean to be lecturing anyone of you, I am far too young to do such. But I am merely writing a reflection of what matters most.

Just to make it obvious, the passage of Matthew 16:24-29 is that which that concerns our interest in this regard. However among these verses, one verse piques me. It is Matthew 16:25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Having heard all of this, I will like to do my best by God's grace to live life in a way that shows where I am heading. Won't you?

Jesus ate fish

Today, I would just share what I heard very recently.

You know that we are encouraged to be vegetarian. And I agree as much that it would be good since in the Last Days and even more so in heaven we wont get the chance to eat meat.

There was a pastor who was preaching on Jesus eating fish after his resurrection. You know the part where they roasted fish for breakfast. Its in John 21 and they even got 153 haha.

Well the point is that he was preaching and a man (who was obviously vegetarian) told the preacher to stop preaching on that topic. To preach something else!

The preacher replied that since its in the Bible he must be faithful to the text and continued to preach it.

The man then said that we are supposed to be vegetarian and that Ellen White said so herself. (That would be encouraged in our belief i believe)

The preacher countered by saying that Jesus himself did not eat fish.

The man replied that's because Jesus did not read Ellen White!

Now, that was most shocking but hilarious at the same time. Jesus came to the world thousands of years earlier than EGW and he is supposed to have read it?!

EGW herself said that her writings are meant to point towards the Bible which is in essence the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what went wrong? Sometimes we used EGW to justify too many things and that is not good.

EGW herself said "The Bible and the Bible alone, is our rule of faith."

Well maybe I should be using Bible verses here but there is a need for one to go on a self discovery. To find out more truth for yourself. Studying the Bible feels like digging for gold. Each truth discovered is as one that discovered gold. The joy and happiness of finding out truth for yourself and to be convinced through your study and not just someone else told you is really awesome in my opinion.

To conclude, we should not use EGW or the Bible as an excuse to justify our behaviour. But rather we should draw the authorial intention for the text. Also, the journey of discovery begins here! Bon voyage guys :D

Preaching

Have you ever heard of this statement "There is only one Lionel Messi" ?

Well for starters, Messi is the best footballer on the planet right now and has won the Best Player of the Year award the last few years I believe. Okay so whats my point? My point lies in the next quote.

"There is only one Messi but we can all play football".

It simply means that there is only one best or pure talent in football but we still all can kick the ball and play soccer however our standard is. Its just a matter of developing skill. Sure we may not ever be half as good as him but we still can enjoy the sport regardless.

Okay that was on the footballing side ;) I wanted to actually bring it to preaching which is my title of today's post. Yes I know the title is hidden using this format :P

So taking that quote and translating it into what is relevant, it would go like this.

"There is only one Mark Finley but we can all preach".

The example is just used as it is closer to home isn't it? Well anyway it shows we can all learn preaching by learning and acquiring the skills. Even if we may not be good, the Holy Spirit can work in us as we give ourselves in prayer.

Now, I know not all of you would like to preach. However, let it not be a stumbling block because you can never be as good as another or because it is too difficult.

The same applies for doing God's work. We tend to say how hard it is, but we sometimes don't realise that God doesn't always work with the cream of the crop. He works with whoever is willing and will submit his will to the divine will.

After all, in 2 Chronicles 4:11 "And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!"

God can work with many or by few. With those who are strong or weak. All he needs is our trust in Him, to submit our will to His.

Why the Bible is Divine?

I found this statement by John Wesley. Its pretty cool in explaining why the Bible must be of divine origin so just thought I'll share it with you all~

Here it is:

"The Bible must be the invention of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. It could not be the invention of good men or angels; for neither would nor could make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying "Thus saith the Lord" when it was their own invention. It could not be the invention of bad men or devils; for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell for all eternity. Therefore, I draw this conclusion, that the Bible must be given by divine inspiration."