The Work of His Hands

When Michaelangelo was commissioned by the board of Florence Cathedral during the Renaissance period, he was only 26 years old.  While he was already famous at that time, Michaelangelo accepted the challenge and work on this enormous task for two years.  Historians say that he kept the sculpture away from the public eye and when the day finally arrives, he unveiled it among the Opera Board which consists of famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci.  As he pulled the string, the veil falls to the ground, and the sculpture is revealed to the public in all of its glory for the first time.

The statue of David is a 14-feet white marble statue and is considered one of the best masterpiece produced during the Renaissance period.

If this unveiling moment is going to be captured in writing by one of the New Testament authors like John or Luke, the word that they would have used for it is the Greek word “apocalypse.”    We’re used to hearing that word in the titles of films like Apocalypse Now, and we forget what it means in the original language. In the English translations of the New Testament, the word ‘apocalypse’ is usually translated as ‘revelation’ which pertains to something that was hidden from us before and has now been revealed. An apocalypse is a revelation of God to us just like an master sculptor revealing the glory of his masterpiece for the first time. 


As most of you know, God has blessed my family with a wonderful time of vacation with our road trip from Vancouver to Sacramento and San Jose, California.  It was a 16-hour drive with about 3,500 kilometers, several full tanks, hotel check-ins and burgers from In N Out.  But it´s all worth it and we thank the Lord for the experience.  One of the amazing sights that we saw was Mt. Shasta which is what you see now on my slide.  It was a truly majestic creation of the Lord.

Just like this mountain, the creation of God is something that we can easily discover with our five senses.  We can see the mountain clearly, we can touch it, we can even feel it.  However, it´s creator God, is not a being that we can discover with our five senses. God is Spirit.  Therefore, the ordinary scientific methods of discovery don’t seem to work when we’re trying to get to know God. In fact, we could never discover anything about God at all, unless God Himself had made a prior decision to reveal himself to us. 

Our psalm for today, Psalm 19, shows us ways in which God is revealed to us, and then in the end, this Psalm teaches us how we ought to respond to God’s wonderful revelation of Himself.

Let us read from selected verses of Psalm 19.

 Background:

 Some people come to me and ask difficult questions about the Bible.  Let me pose that question to you.  We believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him, right?  And also the Bible says that “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” right? So what will happen to those people who die without hearing about Jesus Christ because, say for example, they lived and die in the remote jungles of the Amazon.  Or what about those people who lived and died before Jesus walked on earth?  We know from the Bible that there were people who got saved even prior to the ministry of Christ, people in the Old Testament.

Or let me make it more literal… what if the person is blind, and deaf, or mute? How can he confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and how can he hear the message if he is deaf?

Psalm 19 partly answers these questions because God reveals Himself to us in different ways.  Different people encounter Jesus Christ, even in the Old Testament, they just didn´t know it was Him.

I am sure you have heard or have read the story of Helen Keller — the little girl who was blind, deaf, and mute who eventually became a Christian author and political activist.   So how can a girl like Hellen Keller can come to know Jesus Christ?  We know about how Anne Sullivan, a blind teacher,  persisted in teaching her how to communicate by reading in Braille. Anne Sullivan even taught her how to speak by the age of 10. 
Shortly thereafter, Helen Keller was introduced to a Christian preacher from Boston named Phillips Brooks.  They sat knee to knee, and Brooks began to tell Helen, while writing the letters on her hand, the story of Jesus. Suddenly, Helen jumped up and muttered out, “I knew him. I knew him. I just didn’t know his name!” 
Helen knew Jesus — she knew Jesus was there, but only in the shadows. She just didn´t know His name. Helen Keller later on write:
 “The Bible is the record of man’s efforts to find God and learn how to live in harmony with his laws.” 
The shadows that she knew in that dark and quiet world became clearer through the light of Scripture that was proclaimed to her. 

God has his ways of revealing Himself to people. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans:

So we have no excuse not to know God.  We have no excuse not to believe that He exists.  All we need to do is to look around us and we can clearly see the work of His hands.  This is what Psalm 19 tries to communicate to each one of us.  The first four verses communicate to us a revelation from God.  It´s called GENERAL REVELATION.  This will be our first lesson:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech;  night after night they reveal knowledge.  The skies, the heavens, God´s creation around us reveal knowledge.  What kind of knowledge?  It´s knowledge about a majestic Creator.  David said in verse 3 – talking about the skies in the heaven… they have no speech, they use no words Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Perhaps David was walking one evening under a clear, starlit sky. There were no street lamps then, remember this was ancient Israel.  Perhaps he was on a hillside and spent hours just looking up at the night sky. The majesty of what he saw brought a sense of awe and wonder at God’s creative power.

I get the chance to go on business trips some times and you probably don´t know that with the frequency of my plane rides, I actually have a bit of a fear of flying. I don´t like the airplane taking off and landing.  I prayed my most sincere prayers probably during these times.  But you know what, once the plane settles at 30,000 feet and I can see the clouds and the sky, I would wonder in amazement how wonderful God´s creation is.  That´s the best part.  It´s as if I am looking at the Master´s painting canvass… and I can see a masterpiece, the work of God´s Hands.

It is so pathetic that some people look for God in the wrong places. They look for God in their religious rituals.  They look for God in other people.  They look for God in their situations.  Little did they know that all they have to do is look around them… look at the sky, the stars, the planets, the mountains, the oceans, the living things around them, the animals and the birds, the hills and the forest.  God certainly reveals Himself to man through the work of His hands, amen?  Have you ever marveled at the creation of God around you?  Even here in Canada, haven´t you been amazed by the beauty of the mountains here in British Columbia?  The pine trees? The quiet lakes?  

We can learn a great deal about people by observing them. I am a very observant person when it comes to someone else´s personality and character.  If we keenly observe people, we can learn whether they are male or female, young or old, rich or poor, old fashioned or up to date. We might even be able to learn something about what they do for a living, or about their religious beliefs. But if we really want to get to know someone, sooner or later we have to talk with them, and listen to what’s on their mind. A person’s words reveal their thoughts in one of the most intimate ways we know.  The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

In the same way we can learn something about God by observing His creation.  God reveals Himself to us through the works of His hands.  But if we want to know more about Him, we certainly should listen to what He has to say about Himself, about His relationship with us, about His plans and we can know these things by reading His Word

The second point I would like you to understand which David clearly spells out in verses 7 to 10 --

The Scripture is God´s Words.  The Bible is a revelation from God.  We get to learn a lot about God through the Bible.  David said ---
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.  The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.   The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.  The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.

Here David called the Scripture in many ways:  the law, the statutes, the precepts, the commands, the decrees and the fear of the Lord.  We know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  The fear of the Lord is the true knowledge of God and because of that knowledge, we trust Him well enough to follow His ways.  

The word of God refreshes our soul.  Do not believe the enemy´s lie that the Bible is a compilation of very complicated principles that an average human cannot understand, that you need Theology degree to understand it.  That´s not true.  Having a formal education in Theology would help but remember what David said, the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple!  

When we read the Bible, and if our hearts are right, the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and helps us understand what God is trying to say to us.  We don’t need a master´s degree.  All we need is a doctorate degree in humility and we can certainly understand God´s revelation for us.  David said God´s Words “are more precious than gold, they are sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.” 

Third and last point:

In verse 14, David said -- May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

God reveals Himself to us through the works of His hands. Through His creation.  This is His general revelation.  Likewise, God reveals Himself to us through His words, this is His personal revelation.  In the same manner God reveals Himself to us through our worship experience.  Once we start living the way God wants us to live, once we start applying the Scripture in our lives… we can live a life that is pleasing to Him.  David said “may the meditation of my heart be pleasing in God´s sight” … that´s worship.  God will reveal to us, more and more of Himself, as He sanctifies us day by day.  As we get more and more intimate with Him through obedience, we get to know Him more.  It´s like spending more and more time with a friend, we get to know our friend more.  The more we know our friend, the more we trust him.  The more we know about God through our life of worship, the more we can trust Him and the more our faith in Him increases.

Final Thoughts:

Let me end by reading a verse in Psalm 19 that we earlier skipped.  It´s verses 5 and 6 and it´s about the SUN.
It goes like this and I want you to listen closely 
“In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.  It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.”

The sun has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometres, in fact you can fit one million earths inside. It´s core temperature is 15 million degrees Celsius.  The sun keeps all mankind and everything that lives and moves alive. There would be nothing alive on Earth without the sun. It dominates the world, its magnificent, and yet the sun cannot say, “I don’t feel like rising in the east this morning . . . I will just zigzag across the heavens and then take a little rest.” No, the sun obeys its Maker and operates by his laws. God has pitched a tent for the sun, and that tent is the sky, stretching from one horizon to the other.    Some people like the Egyptians even worship the sun.  

It´s very clear that God reveals Himself to us through His creation, and we get to know more about Him through His words and we get to experience God through worship.  But make no mistake about it.  The revelation of God is not merely to keep us amazed, or to keep us informed or to make us feel good.  God´s ultimate goal is to fully reveal Himself to us so that we can be with Him for eternity.  His intention is to turn that revelation into a personal relationship with Him.  God´s revelation is intended for us to worship His Son. 

So if God has revealed Himself to you today, in a personal way, you should not stop there.  He expects you to respond in a way that He expects you to respond.  
Some “smart” people tried to nit-pick the Bible in order to prove that the Bible does not really contain everything.  Well, I agree that the Bible does not contain everything, i.e. every detail of the world we live in.  The Bible does not even contain the INTERNET.  But God assures us, that the Bible contains everything we need in order to know Him and know how to be saved and gain eternal life.  God's concern is that we may not perish but have an eternal life in Him and with Him. 

The Bible says ---

The Bible tells us that if you have Jesus in your life, you will have eternal life in Him.  You will become a citizen of heaven and one day, all things on earth and even the earth itself will pass away.  God will create a new earth and it´s holy city the New Jerusalem.  You know what… this city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Let us pray.

Prayer:

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, March 19, 2017

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any,  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

Worship When God Seems Distant

We have a saying that goes like this:  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”  We normally use this saying for long distance relationships.    In the Philippines, it is very common for a husband or a wife to go overseas as a contract worker. Most common reason is financial which is understandable, life was never easy for most people.  They stay overseas for one year, or two years, or sometimes even ten years.  Even here in Canada, we meet people who had to come here without their families, some of them came as nannies or caregivers,  for two to three years with the hope that they can bring over their families.
Does absence really make the heart grow fonder?  It´s a good saying but if you ask me, being apart from each other if you are in a relationship is not easy.  It is prone to a lot of challenges and problems.  It is subject to a lot of temptations and we heard stories that a big percentage of these relationships suffered. I still believe that a relationship gets better if both parties are together, physically and they face all their challenges together.  I know there are some exceptions to this rule and some couples really made it work being in a long distance relationship.  I know it´s hard work but also with the advent of technology, we can always Skype or FaceTime but still, I think there´s no substitute for being together, I think it is hard to keep a relationship if you are far apart. Don’t you agree?

Our relationship with the Lord is no different.  Intimacy is very important.  God is a God of relationships. Within the triune nature of God which we call the Trinity, there is intimate relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  If we say that the Holy Spirit indwells in us, if we say that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then we can conclude that the believer´s relationship with the Lord is a very intimate one.
The problem is sometimes, we don’t feel this intimacy, there are times when we feel alone and away from God.  There are times when we feel that God is distant.
What do we do?  What if we keep on calling to God but He seems quiet?  Sometimes we do feel that our problems are too trivial that God may have been busy with bigger things and divine plans. Is this really the case?
The title of the message is:  Worship When God Seems Distant and this is from Psalm 13.

Have you ever felt that situation when it seems that your prayers are just bouncing off the walls and ceilings of your home?  Do you sometimes feel that not that God is not answering your prayer, and you begin to doubt if He hears your prayers in the first place!
I also hear this sometimes usually from worship leaders – Pastor Ramil, it seems like our worship songs are not reaching God!  If we feel that God is not answering us, or if we feel that God is not listening even to our worship or if He is not paying attention, should we stop bugging Him with our prayers? Should we stop worshiping Him for the time being? What is the right attitude when God does not seem to answer our prayers?

The big question is – is God really not answering?  Is He really distant?  This is the reason why I entitled this sermon Worship When God Seems Distant.  Please take note of the word “seems.”  Even if we think or feel that God is distant doesn’t make it a fact.  It´s pretty much like when somebody comes to you and say they do not believe God.  Well, you can refuse to believe God all day long but that doesn’t make it a fact.

There are a lot of reasons why we can feel that God is distant… and in most cases, it is because of us.  It points back to us. It´s because of our situation. We feel that God is distant not because He is distant.   Sometimes we may be preoccupied with so many things that is why we cannot feel God anymore, we cannot hear God anymore. Sometimes we are so troubled with our problems, or we are so problematic with our troubles that we cannot feel God anymore.
Let us see what David, the man after God´s own heart, has to say about this in the thirteenth Psalm.

BACKGROUND:

Psalm 13 is one of my favorite Psalms.  You know why?
First, because it is short, and I like short chapters in the Bible.
Second, it is a very emotional Psalm.
Third, it conveys not just one emotion but three different kinds of emotions.

Old Testament scholars believe that …
David must have written this Psalm during the time he was running for his life from Saul.
We know the story of David.  How Saul was so envy of his accomplishments to the point that he would like to kill him.  Imagine, if not for David, Saul´s kingdom would have fallen to the Philistines because nobody can face the challenge of Goliath, not even Saul himself. But still Saul has this ungrateful spirit.
He was blinded by his jealousy and he can hear the shouts of the people… Saul killed thousands but David killed ten thousands!
So Saul chased David like a fugitive.  Saul's jealousy had prompted him to make a vow that he will kill David at all cost. David flees for his life and hid in the mountains. Several times, David had a chance to kill Saul but he did not lay a finger on the king.  What did David say? 1st Samuel 24:6 “I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD's anointed.”
He waited approximately fifteen years from the time he was anointed up to the time he finally became King of Israel.
In the process of that long wait, it wasn´t easy for David.  He was filled with fear, with exhaustion, with humiliation… Saul´s followers were mocking him.  But he waited for God´s timing.   But of course in the process, he asked God “how long Lord?”
The outline of Psalm 13 is very obvious.  It´s divided into three parts:
Put a note in your Bible.  
Verses 1 to 2 – David´s Problem
Verses 3 to 4 – David´s Prayer
Verses 5 to 6 – David´s Praise

Point to Ponder:

Let´s ponder upon three important points.  In the first two verses, David cried. 1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?  2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Four times David asked the question “how long,” it´s an intense cry.  Paulit-ulit, it's persistent. How long Lord?  You know what they say? If you keep on asking “how long?” “how long?” “how long?” it sounds like “howling!”

You know most of us are not very good at waiting!  How many of you like to wait?  We don’t want to wait.  Especially not in this day and age when almost everything is instant.  Instant Mami Noodles. Fast food chains.   Instant Coffee.  Text.  Microwave.  eCommerce.  ATM. Online banking.  In general, we are not patient. Patient lang tayo when we are sick.  Diba we patiently wait for the doctor for so many hours.  That´s why you are called patient by your doctor.  I was at Surrey emergency from 4pm to past midnight.  I patiently waited for hours.  How long Lord? How long before the doctor can check me up?

When we have problems and when we call upon the Lord and we don’t get immediate response or resolution to our problems, we cry “how long” Lord? But listen to this,  the Bible says …
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV)

God may seem quiet sometimes but it doesn’t mean He is distant. He promised not to leave nor forsake us.  God is with us, indwelling us in the person of the Holy Spirit. God is Omnipresent.  David was getting impatient.  He was wondering if there is an end to his suffering.  Lord, you anointed me to be the next king of Israel, 15 years na, its still not happening.  How long Lord?

Here´s what I want you to understand.  God may be quiet when you have problems but it doesn’t mean He is distant.  In fact, He might be communicating something to us but we just simply don’t listen.  We are caught up with our problems that we don’t have time to listen to God anymore.  We just keep on talking and asking and talking and asking… how long Lord? But our ears are not open to listen.  Our eyes are not open to seeing the things that God wants us to see. Or He may be quiet because He wants us to learn something or to do something.  Here´s another thing… sometimes God is waiting for us to do what He commands us to do but we are just so stubborn to obey and then, we get impatient.
Maybe God wants you to do something first?  Maybe you haven’t fully obeyed Him that is why He seems quiet.  He is patiently waiting for you to do your part.

But you know church, for most part, it is perfectly normal to feel that God is distant.

Isn´t it encouraging that our Lord Jesus felt what most of us are feeling when we feel down and abandoned.  Isn´t this a cry of abandonment? “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  That somehow, at some point, Jesus felt the same way.  Of course, it´s not always the same experience.  Jesus never sinned and yet He experienced these things.  In our case, some of us have problems sometimes because of our own wrong doing.

The first two verses of Psalm 13 focuses on David´s problem.  How his enemy in gaining victory over him.  How he is suffering from depression.  He said he is “wrestling from his thoughts.”  He said day after day he has sorrow in his heart.  Have you experienced that? I experienced wrestling with my thoughts, I experienced having sorrow in my heart.
But you know, something happens in verses 3-4.  We know that David is called Man after God´s Own Heart and thirteenth psalm somehow tells us why.  Listen to our second point…

David wrote in verses 3 and 4: Look on me and answer, Lord my God.  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.  

Now David is really praying.  Now he has petitions.  He is asking God to answer him.  What was his prayer in these two verses?  He said Lord, give light to my eyes.  It´s like saying, Lord, please give me wisdom to understand what´s going on.  Now David is recognizing that there is something wrong with Him.  God is not really distant.  He just seems distant, why? Because David is not seeing clearly. He was blinded by this own situations and his own problems.  Did you catch that?  Verses 3-4 is a prayer.  A prayer asking God to open David´s eyes so he can see clearly.
We often sing this:  “Open the eyes of my heart Lord.  Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see You. I want to see You.”
Verse 3 and 4 conveys a different kind of emotion compared to the first two verses.  This time… David is praying and God is probably glad at this point and probably saying: “Good job David! Now we´re talking!”    The Apostle Paul said something about prayer --
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Phil. 4:6)
So EVERY situation!  When things don’t go well, we pray.  When things don’t make sense, we pray.  When God seems distant, we pray. Paul said, present your requests to God!  The Bible says “you have not because you ask not.”  Choco nut!

When we pray, even before God specifically answers our prayers, He is already working in us.  When we pray, God is changing our attitude.  HE is changing our focus.  He takes our attention away from our problems.   There is a clear benefit when we pray even if we don’t receive a direct answer to our prayers or even if God´s answer is a “no,” there is still a benefit for us - prayer changes our attitude.  Prayer promotes our dependence on God.  How many couples came to me and my wife in the past, with marital problems.  There is one advice that we always give and I´m sure if you are one of those couples, you can attest to this… we always advice the couple to PRAY TOGETHER! It changes our attitude, it shifts our focus from ourselves to GOD!  It´s hard or even impossible to fight when you´re praying together.
The third and last point and please take note of this.

First two verses were about David´s problem.  The 3rd and 4th verses were about David´s prayer.  This last two verses were about David´s Praise.  Let´s read once again: 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
So the big question is:   What happened?  Why did David´s lament or howling suddenly turned to praise?  God may not have answered David´s questions in verses 1 & 2 yet and but you know what, I am pretty sure God answered David´s prayer in verses 3 and 4.  God has opened David´s eyes.  Now David is talking about TRUSTING the Lord!  Now he is talking about REJOICING, now he talking about SINGING the Lord´s praise.  Listen to this – David said he rejoices in God´s salvation.  He remembers that in spite of all the problems he may be facing at that very moment, so what? God has saved him!  God has been good to him!  The Apostle Paul said…
But Jesus said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. (2nd Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

It goes back to grace.  It´s always important when we encounter problems in this world that we remember what God has done for us.  God has been good to us… not only in material blessings but most importantly He´s been good to us because He gave us eternal life in Christ Jesus.
I was watching Ptr Charles Stanley one Sunday.  He said some of our bad situations or problems are obviously caused by some really bad people or maybe even the devil and God seems to be nowhere around.  But Ptr Stanley said think of those problems as coming from God.  He is in control, and in His infinite power He allows those problems to happen or He even allows the devil to cause us pain, remember Job?  Because He wants the accomplish something good for in us in the long run.

CONCLUSION:

This is what David did.  From focusing on his problems, he prayed and he ended up praising the Lord.  Isn´t it wonderful? God did not necessarily answer his “how long” questions but his attitude changes.
Like what I said earlier, when we have problems and God seems distant, remember that in reality He is not! God is never distant!  The song of Bette Midler is not accurate… “God is watching us from a distance.”  God is always near to us.  He lives inside of us.  All we need to do is to call up to Him and cast our burdens upon Him.

We just need to keep on asking Him.  We just need to keep on knocking at His door.
He deserves our true worship because of His unfailing love and His gift of salvation.

One time, my wife and I were reading her daily devotion from Turning Point magazine of Dr. Jeremiah. In 1995, in Uganda, King Oyo ascended to the throne of the Toro Kingdom when he was three years old. In 1908, Pu Yi became emperor of China when he was two years old. In 1422, Henry VI became king of England at eight months old, and also king of France two months later. And there have been many more child monarchs. David was anointed as a young shepherd by the Lord through Prophet Samuel.   What qualifications did these children have? They had the right genes! They came from the Royal line.  
In other words, they had done nothing to demonstrate their ability to rule. David was the youngest child in his family, a shepherd.  Yet God said to Samuel, “This is the one!” God didn’t say, “I have set my love on David because he will be a perfect king.” Instead, “I am choosing to love him for My purposes.” God disciplined David severely during his life for his sins, but God never stopped loving him and He never kept His distance from him.  In fact, God’s discipline was a demonstration of His love for David.  
God doesn’t love you and me because we are perfect—or try to be or want to be perfect. He loves you, He loves me because He chose you and me to be His children. God´s love is unfailing and because of this love, He gave us the greatest gift.  It´s the love of Jesus for each one of us demonstrated by His sacrifice on the cross.
Church, we can definitely worship God even if He seems distant.

Let us pray.

Prayer:

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, February 12, 2017

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any,  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

Worship When Things Don't Make Sense

Our Scripture reference is found in Genesis 17:1-19.

This is probably the fourth time I am discussing from this story. It happened on a mountain called Mount Moriah.  Why do I keep coming back to this mountain? One reason is because we need to be reminded, over and over and over again about the wonderful story that happened in this mountain. I remember the first time I preached a sermon about this, the title was Approaching Moriah, then my second sermon was Revisiting Moriah, the third one was Return to Moriah.  Maybe next time I will preach a sermon about this story, I will entitle it Moriah Carey (just kidding)

Another reason why God probably wants us to hear the story all over again is because most of us are simply not getting it.  It doesn’t matter how many times we hear a sermon, what’s more important is – are we practicing what we have heard?  Are we applying the principles in our lives?  This is the reason why we always pray that we should be active doers of the word and not just passive listeners.  It doesn’t matter how many times we listen to a sermon of a similar story from the Bible, I believe God will always have a fresh revelation for each one of us.

So we are going to learn once more from a man who is called “friend of God.”  He is the patriarch of our faith especially by the Jews.  Whenever we talk about worship, whenever we talk about faith, Abraham’s name is always mentioned. He is the real deal.  The New Testament makes numerous references to him. This guy is a hero of our faith and a true worshiper of the living God.

Let us read  from Genesis 22:1-19:

One of the biggest challenges we face today in relation to our faith is logic.  Skeptics say that the Christian worldview is inconsistent with rational thinking.  They say faith goes against reason.  I don’t agree with that.  Faith is not against reason. On the contrary, biblical faith and reason go well together. The problem lies in the fact that many people have a misconception of faith.   If you go to Hebrews 11, whenever we have confidence in something that we cannot see, hear, taste, smell, or touch, we are acting upon a type of faith. All people put their faith in something, even if it is not a saving faith in God.

Now, Christians who openly profess their faith in God are faced with a similar dilemma.  In our lives,  sometimes things just don´t make sense.  Since we are rational individuals, we ourselves try to find reason in everything that is happening in our lives.
A lot of times, our worship gets affected when things happening in our lives don’t make sense. We tend to question God. We tend to worship less.

As rational human beings, don’t we need to analyze each and every event happening in our lives and just proceed on those things that make sense.  Don´t we deserve some explanation from the Lord when things don’t make sense?

Before we proceed, let´s get to know more about Abraham.  Like what I said earlier he was a man of faith.  He was a man who worships God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.  James wrote in 2:23 --
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.  Who doesn’t want to be called “God’s friend.”  But Abraham didn’t just get this title, he earned it!  Before he can really be called a man of faith, God had to put him in a situation that doesn’t make any sense for him.  God wanted Abraham to demonstrate his faith and his worship.  This is the reason why when we pray to God to make our faith stronger or to understand the true meaning of worship – God will for sure create situations that will test our faith just like what He did with Abraham.
Abram was about seventy-five when God made a covenant with him for the first time (Genesis 12:1-3). His wife Sarah was barren.
The Lord said to him: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Despite this promise from the Lord, Abraham thought that obviously he cannot be a great nation because logic and even science dictates that he cannot have a son because his wife Sarah was barren.  So Sarah had him sleep with her Egyptian slave named Hagar. You can find this in Genesis 16:1.  They want to make sense out of God´s promise so they took matters in their own hands.
Abram was eighty-six when Hagar bore him Ishmael (Genesis 16:16)
This particular sin has caused mankind serious consequences through generations even up to our time today.  The Arabs and the Bedouin tribes claim that they came from the lineage of Ishmael.   But God was not referring to Ishmael as the child of promise.  God said Abraham will have a son through his wife Sarah.
The Lord changed his name to Abraham when he was ninety-nine and reminded him of the covenant (Genesis 17:1-5)
And true enough,
A year later, his son Isaac was born.  Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5) 
Abraham loved Isaac so much.  He meant the world to him. If you are a father like me, you know how much a father can love his son or daughter.
Abraham loved his son so much that God wanted to test him whether God is still occupying the first place in his heart.  God wanted to test him whether he is still up for that covenant that he will make a great nation out of him.

We can learn something from this church.  How many of us would pray to God for something:  Lord, give me a son or a daughter.  Or Lord, give me a husband or a wife.  Or Lord, give me a job.  Or Lord, please bring me to Canada.  Or Lord please let me have a permanent residence visa.  Sometimes, our prayers are very specific.  Lord, please give me this scholarship.  Lord, please let us go on this vacation.  Lord, please heal my disease.  And I promise you Lord, I am making a covenant with you Lord that I will worship you even more, I will serve in WCCC, I will do this and and I will do that…

Then, the Lord answered our prayers.  He gave us the things we are asking from Him. And since we are now busy and occupied with the things that we prayed for… we are now busy with our children, with our spouse, with your new job, we are physically healed… we forget our covenant with the Lord. We forget our promise to Him.  We did not honor our part of the bargain. And since God loves us so much and He does not want us to go astray, He then puts us into a test.  He wants us to demonstrate if we are a still going to worship Him.

In the opening verses of chapter 22, it says there
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

What can you say about this command?  Don’t you think it’s too much?   Well, this is a pivotal period in history, a time when God was starting the foundation of the great nation of Israel.  Who knows what’s in His mind?  Whenever I read this story, I thank the Lord that He does not test us this way and I just pray that He wouldn’t.   Otherwise, we’ll probably fail the test.

There were lots of pagan religions during this time and child sacrifice was common among them, but not with the God of Abraham...not with Yahweh!  Yahweh is known to be a God with compassion to His people. Abraham was a hundred years old when the Lord gave them Isaac... the promised son.  Sarah was about 91.   God promised Abraham that his descendants will be like the stars in the sky that he cannot count them -- and it will be fulfilled through his son Isaac.  That was God’s promise and now...God was commanding him to offer his son as a sacrifice?   It does not make sense at all.

How can we relate our own life situations to the story of Abraham? I am sure each one of us encounters situations in our lives that don’t make sense.

Let us learn from the experience of Abraham.

We must be certain that the command is indeed coming from the Lord.
Our relationship with the Lord is very important.  Our relationship with God must be intimate enough for us to know who He truly is in our lives.  We must acknowledge and remember that God deserves to be worship even when things don’t make sense.

But how do we know God? We know God through His word. The Bible best describes to us who God is and how He has shown His great love for us.  The Bible tells us how God sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for us.  If the Bible is not enough for you to know God, look around you and be amazed of His creations. The Bible says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  If the creation of God around you is not enough for you to know Him, look at the people around you.  A lot of them has been changed by God and they reflect His image.
Jesus said…
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 10:27 NKJV
If we truly know God, His command, even if it doesn’t make sense to us, we know that it´s coming from Him.

If you notice from the story of Abraham, even if the command is not making sense for him, he got up early and made preparations.  He did not dilly dally.  He did not make excuses.

If we have the right relationship with the Lord, we know that even if the things that are going on in our lives are not making sense --- it will be for our own good.  We may not see it at first, we may not understand it at first, it may not be rational or logical but as we obey the Lord, He slowly reveals to us what His plans us.

We should trust God well enough that He knows what he´s doing.
And this third point is very important and I would like you to take note of this…

I remember the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha who died and later on brought back to life by Jesus.  Jesus said that his sickness will not end in death. He said it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.
He accomplishes His divine plan through things that don´t seem to make sense to us.
God puts us in certain situations that don’t make sense because He has a plan.  He is accomplishing something far beyond what we can understand or imagine.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 NIV
We don’t have the mind of God.  We cannot always understand Him.  He has no obligation to explain to us what´s going on in His mind.  He is God.  People sometimes try to play God. They want to understand everything.  They try to reason out everything.  They try to make sense out of everything that is going on in their lives.  They go to universities, they take Master´s degree, they take Doctorate degrees –they think they already know everything.  They study the Bible, they think they can explain everything.  Remember that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.”
We already know the story of Abraham in Genesis 22.  This is the reason why I didn´t not spend too much time on the details.  Like what I said, I preached three sermons about this story already.

Approximately one thousand years after Abraham’s visit to Mt. Moriah, a righteous king in Israel bought a land on the same mountain -- a threshing floor from a man named Araunah to build the Lord’s Temple.  The name of this king is David.  Araunah offered to give the land to King David for free – but King David refused. It was a kind gesture, but David insisted on paying for the land, and he gave Araunah fifty shekels of silver. David said “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. (2 Samuel 24:24 NIV)”

From the time of David, another one thousand years have passed, a sacrifice is once again required.  But this time, it’s different.  This time, the sacrifice is to substitute for the sins of mankind.   Biblical scholars believed that this sacrifice once again, happened on the same mountain,  that the apex of Mt. Moriah was actually Mt. Calvary where Jesus was crucified.
This time, the sacrifice is not a ram caught in thickets or a son of an important leader like Abraham, the sacrifice is not 50 shekels of silver like what David gave to Araunah – this time the sacrifice is God’s only begotten Son,  the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world...not a Ram but a Lamb.

Isaac is a typology of Jesus.  His story points to the greatest sacrifice of all.
Come to think of it…
Jesus´sacrifice didn´t make sense as well but He did it out of His great love for us.
Jesus is innocent.  He did not sin and yet He suffered the most inhumane treatment known to man.  He was mocked, he was tortured, he was crucified.

Does that make sense to you? That Jesus died for your sins and mine?  It doesn´t make sense to me but it makes perfect sense to God because He loves us.


Let us pray.

Prayer:

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, January 29, 2017

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any,  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

Worship When Things Don't Go Well

Who among you love to watch “Awards Nights?” Like the Academy awards or Golden Globe awards?   I love to watch awards nights especially the part when the host would announce the winner and the winner will go on stage and thank some people.  Lately I hear some winners giving glory to God for their victory which is good.Even in sports – you now hear the interviews of Tim Teebow or Jeremy Lin or Manny Pacquiao --  when they get interviewed after a touchdown, a winning three-point shot or a knock-out,  they give glory to God.  In the midst of the glitters and the achievements– they acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and that’s good.

On the other hand, I seldom see an interview with the loser of the game, and you hear the person saying “I thank God for allowing me to lose tonight” or “I praised God that I missed a winning shot.”  “I thank God that I got knocked out tonight.”
Even for ordinary people, we seldom hear people saying “thank you Lord that I lose my job” or “thank you Lord that I failed my exam” or  “thank you Lord that I am sick today.”
Let us make it more serious – we seldom hear people thanking the Lord for getting cancer or thanking the Lord because he lost a loved one.

It´s hard to worship the Lord when things don’t go according to our plans.  It´s hard to worship the Lord in the midst of pain or sufferings.  It´s hard to worship the Lord when we feel that our world is upside down and that we are on the verge of losing our sanity because the things that are happening around us don’t make sense.  It´s hard to worship the Lord when friends or loved ones betray us or when those people whom we are hoping to protect us are the ones oppressing us.

Can we truly worship God in the midst of pain?  What does God expect us to do if we are in crisis?  Does He expect us to continue praising Him and worshiping Him even when we are in our moments of deepest loss or sorrow?  Well, if we are children of God and since He is God and He allows these things to happen to us,  maybe He can cut us some slack.  Maybe He can give us some “moratorium” to worship Him.  Maybe He can allow us NOT to worship Him during those times when things don´t go well.   Is that what He really expects from us?  When God says love the Lord with all your heart, strength, soul and mind…is there an exception?

There are a lot of reasons why things won´t go well in our lives, why we might experience pain and sufferings. Sometimes it is because of our own mistakes and because of the consequences our own sins.  And since God loves us and He disciplines whom He loves, He allows certain things to happen:
• If you choose to cheat at work, you may lose your job.
• If you choose to have sex before you’re married, you may get pregnant.
• If you act inappropriately with someone of the opposite sex at work, you might end up having a sexual harassment lawsuit
• If you cheat on your spouse, you might end up getting divorced and pay a huge amount of money.
Sometimes the consequences of our sin seems too much.  We cry “its unfair!”  Sometimes, the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime…so we say.

And do you know what is worse?  Sometimes, things don’t go well even if we are following the right path.  We have read from different stories in the Bible that bad things happen to good people.  We knew what happen to Job.  He was blameless and yet things didn’t go well in his life.

So whether or not we are guilty of something, things don’t go well sometimes.  To some people rather than turning to GOD and worship him, they become bitter and angry… even blaming God for the mess they are in.  They give up.

Can we truly worship God when things don’t go well?  This is our overarching question  and we shall hear from a not so familiar prophet in the Old Testament.  He is the prophet Habakkuk.

Let us read from the last words of this prophet in Habakkuk 3:17-19.

The name Habakkuk is a Hebrew word meaning “to embrace.”  So my wish is at the end of the message, you shall Habakkuk your loved ones, meaning you should embrace them.

He cannot understand why God doesn’t just take their sins away and draw His people back to Himself. He can do that, He is God!  Habakkuk is a lot like Job or Abraham.  He argues, he complains but  realizes that God should be worshiped simply for Who He is.  He is our God.

Habakkuk had all reason to complain, but he chose to be thankful instead!  He chose to continue worshiping God.

LESSON POINTS

I can draw three lesson points from the Scripture we read today.  I would like to think that these three lesson points are progressive.  It goes in the right order. The first one, this is not a very good one, I know,  but it’s a reality that we have to face.

Look again at verse 17 – “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.”  What is the picture that Habakkuk is trying to paint in here?
Remember that the economy of Judah at this time was based  on agriculture and livestock. The permanent agricultural crops were  fruit trees, olive trees and grape vines  and the annual field crops, like wheat and barley. According to this verse,the permanent crops: figs, grapes, and olives.   Same with the annual crops and the staple foods -  both the permanent or the annual crops have yielded nothing. The flock and cattle – these are the sheep and cows and all their livestock are dead.

Habakkuk was talking about losing everything.  He was talking about losing every source of income and every source of food.   In our language, we might say say, “Even if I lose my job and the E.I. runs out,  even if my money in the bank is all exhausted.”

Things don’t always go well in the life of a believer.  I know even at this very moment, to some of you, things are not going well.  Jesus said… Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.  For as long as we are in this world, there will always be trials, and sorrows and persecutions.  Jesus said that.  Jesus experienced that.
But you know what, things don’t go well with us in the world.  Sometimes, things don’t go well within the church!
One time I told my wife “You know, in my twenty something years of working in the secular world, back there in the Philippines and here in Canada, I have never been disrespected, doubted, oppressed and questioned – and we`re talking of mostly unbelievers.  But in the church, I experienced all those things from people who call themselves Christians, from people who call themselves family, from people who call themselves “brothers.”

Do you want to know what my wife told me? Well, when Jesus walked here on Earth, who were the first persons who mocked Him, ridiculed Him, persecuted Him and even crucified Him?  Pharisees! Religious people!  Church people if you want to use the term!  People who are supposed to be models of righteousness and godly living.  So nothing is new!  History just repeats itself.  Do we, as Christ´s followers expect to be treated differently?  Things sometimes don’t go well even in the church.  Why?  Because we are just people, imperfect human beings who still commit sins.  This is the reason why Jesus have prayed for His sheep over and over again.

I heard Charles Stanley saying that 80% of problems that pastors deal in the church are internal problems and it consumes their energy and their time. I disagree with him.  It´s probably 90%.   No wonder it gets even more difficult to go out there and evangelize.

Things don’t always go well in the life of a believer. Habakkuk knows that. But he did not stop there.  He moved on.  In verse 18, he said “yet I will rejoice in the Lord,    I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  We cannot control these bad situations from happening.  A lot of times, we cannot prevent all these afflictions, in fact, most of our problems and trials happen on a day and time we do not expect.  No, we cannot control them most of the time.  But you know what?  We have a choice on how we are going to react.  We have a choice on how are we going to respond.

I believe Habakkuk got it right.  I hope and pray that we do too. Habakkuk did not lash out at God in anger.
• He does not say “God,  you have no right to destroy your people!   He doesn’t withdraw himself into a fantasy world, saying, “That’s too terrible!" He does not sit in front of the TV  set and tune himself out from what is happening around him.”

With the imminent Babylonian siege, Habakkuk not only foresees the possibility that he could lose everything.    Looking what lies ahead with the terrors of Nebuchadnezzar, he said “I will be joyful in the Lord and I will rejoice in God my Savior.”

This is consistent with what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Jesus speaking to Him saying --
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”  2nd Corinthians 12:9 NLT

So the secret to all this -- which is no longer a secret because God is revealing everything to us now -- we can be joyful in the Lord, we can rejoice in God by realizing that He is our Savior. We can rejoice in our situation because of God´s grace.  Because He saved us.
Things won´t go well sometimes, and it’s a certainty but we can still rejoice because Jesus said “my grace is all you need.”  No matter what kinds of trials and problems and persecutions you are experiencing… these are nothing compared to the grace that Jesus has given us, the same grace that allows us to spend eternity with Him in heaven.  We are heading towards a permanent place where tears and sorrows are not known, where there no mourning or weeping and these are all made possible because of the grace of God.
Isn´t that wonderful?  God´s power works best when we are weak.  His power works best in our lives when things don´t go well!
The third and final point that Habakkuk is trying to make, he said “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
You see church, after recognizing the fact that things don’t always go well, and realizing that we can always be joyful in the Lord because He is God who saves us, we now have that grateful and thankful heart.

Habakkuk said “God makes his feet like the feet of a deer and God enables him to tread on the heights.  In the New King James translation, it says there “He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.”

Let us try and understand this.  Why a DEER? And what is interesting about a deer´s feet?  The King James version used the word HIND instead of deer which clarifies that he was referring to a female deer.  What is significant about a hind.  Well a hind is a female deer and with her unique feet, when she runs, she can place her back feet exactly where her front feet stepped so she is able to run with great strength and speed without getting off-track.  A hind´s feet is very strong and thick and tough that she can tread on high mountains, on difficult terrains and even in snow.  She doesn’t slip, she doesn’t fall.  It´s in the design of her feet. God designed a hind´s feet for climbing to higher terrains.

Yesterday, I was so happy that I was able to buy a pair of boots that is perfect for snowy conditions.  It´s insulated and it has thick soles. It gives me more security and safety while walking on snow.  I thank the Lord for the gift card that I received from someone.  The hind´s feet was like my winter boots, it´s strong and it has a special design.
Just like Habakkuk, we can rejoice because God gives us strength and enables us to overcome difficult situations and even achieve greater things for Him.  Amen?
Let´s wrap up this message with these final thoughts.
When things don’t go well, we should continue to worship God even more.
And we know why.  He has saved us and He gives us the strength and specially designed us to overcome difficult situations.

The Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians…sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”
God had to remind us today, through the prophet Habakkuk, that yes we all face difficult situations in life, but we can rejoice in Christ.  We can sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord, we can worship Him when things don’t go well because that is how God has designed each one of us.  He has set eternity in the hearts of man.  We are supposed to see beyond what is in this world, beyond what is temporal.  We should see what eternity would bring.

Just like the female deer, the hind with that special feet, when we run in this life´s race, we don´t go off-track.  We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

I would rather have security in my eternal life in heaven.  Knowing that full well, it gives me the strength and the will to persevere even when things don´t go well here on Earth.  Can we worship God even when things don´t go well?  Yes, we certainly can!

Let us pray.

Prayer:

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, January 8, 2017

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any,  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com