The Great "Omission"

I love to watch movies.  I also love to watch the Academy Awards.  The last Academy Awards had a terrible booboo when the presenters announced the wrong best picture. We know what happened during Miss Universe 2016 when Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner. Winners of major awards like the Oscars are very careful when they deliver their victory speech especially during the part wherein they thank those people who have helped them.  They certainly don’t want to OMIT anybody.  Sometimes they make a list of names so they won´t forget.
It´s the same thing when you get invited to a party, it´s frustrating when you arrive at the door, you can´t get in because your name was omitted from the list.  Or when you are supposed to be honoured during a ceremony but for whatever reason, somebody omitted your name.

In our lives as Christians, there is a sin of commission and there is a sin of omission.  If we do bad things to other people, we COMMIT a sin.  It´s a sin of commission.    Now, if we failed to do good things to others, it is also a sin.  It´s a sin of omission.  God does not want us to do bad things but He also expects us to do good things.  

I want you to pay attention to these words:  commission and omission.  The title of our message this morning is “THE GREAT OMISSION” and our Scripture is Matthew 28:16-20.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples the Great Commission.  A “commission” is a command from somebody in authority, it´s a directive.  It´s not the Great Suggestion.  Pretty much like traffic lights.  They say in the Philippines traffic light is only a suggestion. Jesus gave commands directly to His disciples and indirectly to us. Jesus gave the church a marching order.  

Let us read from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 28 verses 16 to 20:

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, His last words to His disciples were not “go to a mega church that provides good food” or “go and sing worship songs that make you feel good” or “go and have some fund raising so you can buy a comfortable church building.”  Jesus did not say those things.  Jesus did not say “go and convert people to Christianity” or “go and make people born again and forget about them.”
No.  Jesus was very specific.  He said “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  In the King James version, the command says “go and teach all nations” and the Greek word used for “teach” is matheteuo which is translated in English as “make disciples.”   So the NIV version basically tells us the English meaning of the original Greek word.  

The disciples took His command seriously and followed it.  They went into the world and shared the gospel and gave up their lives and thousands upon thousands were saved by the grace of God.  

These disciples delivered the message about Jesus which was so powerful and they have lived their lives as effective witnesses.  They were so effective that their enemies accused them…

If they did not follow the Great Commission, we would not even hear about Jesus Christ today.   The early church took the Great Commission seriously. That was then.  What about now?
What has happened to churches in our time today.

When something is omitted, it is “left out, undone, neglected.”  In most churches today, instead of making disciples in all nations, instead of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, churches today can not even take the gospel outside its church building.  WCCC has some mission projects but it´s not enough.  Personally, I am also guilty of this.  
It is also very clear from the Scripture we read earlier that the call to make disciples and share the Gospel is NOT a gift but a command. This is one of the common myths that we would to debunk today.   There is another myth that we will debunk later. 

It is unbiblical therefore to think that we should not share the Gospel because we lack the gift of evangelism.  Many people think if they don’t have the gift, then it is not their job to share the gospel.  You may not agree with me but in the Bible, evangelism is not a “gift.” Sharing the gospel of Christ is a command for all believers. A lot of people is confused with the “role” of evangelist which is mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 with the “gift” of evangelism. There is no gift of evangelism, but a call for everyone to evangelize. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:11 that the church is gifted with evangelists, and their job is to equip God’s people to do evangelism. 

If we don´t evangelize, we commit the sin of omission and the repercussion is very damaging.  I read an old English proverb attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

If we don´t evangelize, we commit the sin of omission and the repercussion is serious.  I said earlier that “In many churches today, the “C” is missing in the Great Commission, making it the Great “Omission”.  How about you?

This is our question for the day.  This question is addressed to each one of us, individually and to our church as a whole.  This is a question addressed to a lot of churches today.  Are we more concerned on property and not on people?  Are we more concerned on meetings more than missions? Are we more concerned on our comfort more than community?  Are we more concerned on the color of man´s skin than the condition of his soul?   We all want to see people coming to church, for as long as they are the right kind of people.  This is a hard topic church.  I don’t intend to hurt anybody´s feelings.  I myself am guilty of this.  Has the Great Commission become the Great Omission.
What do you think the “C” in Commission stands for?

This is where we draw our lesson points for today.

LESSON POINTS:

Remember who gave the command in the first place.  Who gave the Great Commission.  It´s Jesus Christ.  The first C that we need to bring back to the Great Commission is Christ.  We can have all the mission and evangelism projects in the world.  We can make ourselves very busy, just like Martha – she was very busy in the kitchen.  Just like some of us, we are so busy with ministry activities but remember what Jesus said “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”  She chose to worship Jesus.  
In Rick Warren´s book PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, he talked about five purposes that answers the question “What on earth am I here for?”  And these purposes were presented in chronological order.
The very first purpose is WORSHIP, then FELLOWSHIP, then DISCIPLESHIP, then MINISTRY and the last one is MISSION. Our priority is our relationship with Jesus.  It goes first before anything else.  Jesus goes above everything else.  It´s the first greatest commanded anyway.  We shall “love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.”  The fifth purpose in this book is MISSION.  This means that we don´t just jump right away to the mission field if our relationship with Jesus Christ is not right. The challenge of churches nowadays, we´re usually stuck in the fourth purpose, that is MINISTRY.Jesus said in verse 18:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  (v18)
Remember church that whenever we engage in fulfilling the Great Commission, the devil works double time to frustrate.  If you think with our own abilities, we can fight the devil then you are being misled.  We have to work on the power and authority of Jesus in us through the Holy Spirit.  We must ensure that when we are engaging ourselves in this warfare against the devil, Jesus is taking the lead.

The second point which is the second “C” is commitment.

  
I put this second point to make emphasis.  I know that if we truly have Jesus in our hearts, there should be “commitment” to His words.  We must be committed to His commands.
Commitment.  Commitment.  Commitment.  I know is a very abused and overused word.  Jesus said in verse 19:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit  (v19)
The mandate of the Great Commission is to “go!”  This is a word of action.  We cannot go if we are just standing still or sitting still.  We cannot say we´re committed to follow Christ if we are just sitting comfortably in where we are.  Jesus said “go!”
When Jesus said “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” – This statement is not a defensive statement.  During Biblical times, the gates of the city is very critical.  When the city is attacked, it´s the gate that can spell the difference.  If the enemy can overcome the city gates, then they can lose the battle.   What Jesus meant that the church that He will build, the gates of Hell shall not prevail.. it means that the Church should take an offensive stance… attacking the city of the enemy and overcome the gates of Hell.  It means action.  It means commitment on the part of each believer.  First, we have to be committed to live a life worthy of Christ´s calling and second, we have to be committed to follow His commands.   If we are not committed, then the Great Commission becomes the Great Omission.   

Most of us evangelizes others through our lifestyle and there is nothing wrong with that.  We always hear that the first Bible that other people will read is our lives.  But we should not stop there.  We must have genuine concern in teaching others to obey God´s words.  
Jesus said…
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (v20)
This is the second myth that we would like to debunk today.  We think that we follow the Great Commission by just living our lives.  Sharing the Gospel involves not only our lifestyles but it also our lips.  We are commanded to “teach.”  This is where most Christians fail.  Why?  Because they do not have the confidence. Why? Because most Christians are not equipped.  So we go back to proper training.  We are told to share our faith.  We are to tell the lost world what Jesus did for us when He saved us and what He can do for them, if they will trust Jesus.
It is not enough for us to show it.  We must also SAY it.  Can you repeat this statement?  It´s not enough to SHOW it, we must also SAY it.  We must have genuine concern in teaching others to obey God´s word.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
The read the following story in the internet.  I apologize if I wasn´t able to take note or make proper reference to the original author.

It is about a small rescue station run by volunteers to assist the US Coast Guard.  They put their station near a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often happen.  They had a small and primitive building, they only had one boat and there was only a few of them.  But the members of this rescue station were committed.  They kept constant watch over the sea.  Whenever a ship went down, they would bravely go out day or night to save the lost.  Because of so many lives saved by this rescue station, they became famous.

Not long after, many people came and wanted to be associated with this rescue station.  They have given their time, their talent and their money to support its important work.  New and modern boats were bought.  New crews and volunteers were recruited.  Lots of training sessions were conducted.  As volunteers join the station, lots of ideas poured in.  Some of them became unhappy with their old building, so they wanted a better place and a new building was constructed.  They wanted a bigger place to welcome survivors of shipwrecks.  They also bought new beds, new furnitures and new equipments.  
Now the rescue stations became a popular gathering place of its members.  They met regularly.  They loved each other.  They enjoyed the company of every one.  They get to know each other more.  They hugged each other.  They shared their lives with each other.  As time goes on, the members are now getting less and less interested in what´s going on at the sea beside them.  Fewer members are now interested in going to the sea for life-saving missions.  What they did was to hire lifeboat crews to do the job for them.  

One day, a large ship was wrecked off the coast.  The hired crews brought into the station boatloads of dirty, wet, sick and half-drowned people.  People from different walks of life.  Some of them were from first class cabins, some were from the lower decks.  People with different colors.  Some are black. Some had yellow skin.  Some speak English.  Some could hardly speak at all.  The beautiful building became a place of chaos.  Their new carpets got dirty.  Their furniture were damaged.  The committee decided to build showers outside the building so that the victims can clean up themselves before getting inside the building.  

In their next general meeting, there was a heated debate.  Some members wanted to stop the stations life-saving activities as these activities have become a hindrance to their normal fellowship.  Few members insisted that their primary purpose was to save lives.  Unfortunately, they were voted down and they were told to leave.
So the small group of members of the old station started a new station.  Years passed, the new station experienced the same problem.  It evolved into a place of meeting, of fellowship and never-ending training sessions.  The cycle continues.  A few people started another station, with the goal of saving lives, then after a while, they grow big but only in numbers only.  If you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of stations with ample parking and nice facilities.  Shipwrecks still happen a lot of times in the area.  Unfortunately, a lot of people drown and they are not being saved.

This story is a parable. It´s the parable of the rescue station.  But we can also call it the parable of the modern church.  I am not saying we are like this church.  But if we don´t do anything, we can be like them.  If we omit C in our commission, if Christ is no longer the reason for our mission, if we are not committed to saving lives and if we are not genuinely concern for their eternal destiny, our great Commission becomes a Great Omission.

This happens not only in the church in general but also to each one of us.  We can become so comfortable of being a Christian that we forget the Great Commission. Why do you think God did not just take us up to heaven the moment we received Christ in our lives? 

There are people around us in shipwrecks.  They are drowning. They are losing hope.  Some of them are not even aware of their situation.  God has given us the command to help them.  Not only that, He promised that He will always be with us to the end of the age.  He also sent the Holy Spirit to empower us, to give us confidence, because He knows we cannot do it ourselves. Jesus said “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

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, May 7, 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

Tithing Under Grace

Today is stewardship Sunday. It´s one of those Sundays that we are tasked to preach about giving.  You know,  the pastors job is not easy. It´s hard enough to preach a sermon on salvation or sin, it´s even harder to speak in the pulpit about stewardship, about giving and most especially about tithing.  I have no business standing here and speak about tithing if I myself does not give my tithes.  Probably the first person to walk out of this room is our Accounting Ministry.
Our church is full of gifted people especially in preaching.  Sometimes, people would ask me, Pastor Ramil, why don´t you let this person preach.  He´s been in the church for a long time.  He has a gift in speaking .  In fact, with all due respect, Pastor Ramil, he is better than most pastors.  (One thing I learned over the years, when a person says “with all due respect” please expect that the next few words will be a bit disrespecting).  So what can I say, I agree with everything the person said, except that I cannot tell him why.  If I ask that person to preach about tithing in the pulpit "Houston, we have a problem..."
Your pastors may not be the most talented preachers but one thing I can assure you, we practice what we preach especially in the area of tithing.

You see whenever we preach about tithing, we take a step of faith and a huge risk of being misinterpreted.  A lot of people shied away from the church because they think the pastors are just there to take away their money.  That the church is just a big excuse to collect people´s hard-earned money by some wolves in sheep´s clothing pretending to care because they want to enrich themselves at the expense of others.  I can´t blame some people to think that way. Because sometimes we´ve seen in the news how extravagant some pastors live their lives.   

Jesus did not say during His ministry here on earth was "Now that you´re under grace in the New Covenant, forget about tithing because tithing is found in the Old Testament.  It´s passé, no need to do that!”  No, He did not say that.  

Tithing is not a very popular word to use.  People would rather hear about “love offering” or “love gift” or “generous giving” or “sharing” but the word “tithing” seems to have some sort of stigma in it.  Even in Tagalog it´s not popular, the word “tithing” in Tagalog is IKAPU, sounds like INAKUPU!

Among the questions that I get about tithing are the following:
1. Is tithing only applicable in the Old Testament and that it was never commanded in the New Testament?
2. Is it based on Gross Income or Net Income?
3. Here´s a logical expression:
Tithing is under the law.  
The Bible says, we are no longer under the law but under grace. Therefore, tithing is unbiblical.  
Therefore, again, It´s perfectly all right to give less than 10 percent or not to give anything at all.

Every time I talk about tithing and we mention Malachi 3:10, some people will say “that´s Old Testament, not applicable.”  But Abraham gave his tithes to King Melchizedek – nope, Old Testament, not applicable.
Well, let us read a New Testament passage & listen what Jesus Christ had to say about this.  

The first thing we need to understand this morning is the word TITHE:

But maybe before we even argue about the 10% of what we are supposed to give back to God, let us first understand who owns the 100%.  The Bible says in Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”  So this simply means that God owns you and everything you have, including your money.
But pastor, I worked hard for the money…so hard for the money.  You may have this job but who gave you this job in the first place?  But Pastor, I studied hard and worked hard and used my talents to get this job.  Well, who gave you those talents in the first place.  Who gave you your life in the first place.  So if God owns everything, what are we?  We are stewards.  We are caretakers.  If we have internalized this principle that God owns everything and we own nothing, then it will not be very hard for us to give something back to Him.  Not because we are forced to do so, but because of that overflowing gratitude in our hearts that while we give back a certain portion of what we earned, God in His generosity allows us to use the rest for His glory.

LESSONS:
Let´s talk about the first lesson that we can derive from the passages that we read this morning.  Since a lot of people here are logical people, I wrote a logical expression here to prove a point:
Tithing is under the law.

Jesus has nothing against the Old Testament law.  Why? Because He created those laws in the first place.  In the beginning, Jesus was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
When Jesus walked here on earth, He had to explain or maybe let´s use the word “expound” the law because people are getting it wrong.  For example, the Pharisees were questioning Him about healing people or helping the needy during the Sabbath.  So Jesus said, “wait a minute, you´re getting it wrong …. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath!  God commanded the Sabbath so that people can rest and worship the Lord.

How did Jesus want us to fulfill the law?
Jesus wants us to fulfill the law from His perspective.  He wants us to follow the law not for the sake of following it but because we love God.  Jesus wants us to obey the law so we can please God but not to put others down or not put ourselves better than the others.

One time Jesus told a story:   A Pharisee and a tax collector went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
 “But the tax collector would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  The tax collector went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
That is how Jesus wants us to fulfill the law.  He does not want us to forget the more important things in life and not to become self-righteous. Let us say you are faithfully giving your tithes in the church but you´re the queen or king of gossip, you have a bigger problem sir… or ma´am.  Or let´s say you are top giver of tithes in the church, but you are living an immoral life… you are certainly missing the point.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

Now question, did Jesus abolish tithing in the New Testament or not? Or not!

Let us go to our second point. Some people likes to use the word “grace” when they talk about giving.  Sometimes, the intention is good and it´s biblical but I do hope they know what they are talking about.

Jesus sets a higher standard under grace in fulfilling the law – not just in giving but in every aspect of the law. (V19)

What´s Jesus´ standard?
If you read the Bible you´ll know what I´m talking about.  Jesus made His standards very, very clear.  Let me give you some examples:
Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 21-22: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[Exodus 20:13] which is part of the Ten Commandments.  Why did Jesus use the word “heard?”  Well because at that time, the Old Testament laws were read to people.    Jesus continued “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Raca is an Aramaic term for “contempt” so Jesus was saying… wait, “you shall not murder” does not simply mean you need to take the life of someone else… if you are character-assassinating somebody, that´s also murder from God´s standpoint.

Then Jesus continued -- “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
Ok, life application … you are faithful in giving your tithes.  You placed your love gift in the collection bag.  but you have issues with people, you have lots of enemies, you have offended somebody… what did Jesus say?   Go and be reconciled to them… then come back and offer your gift… now your gift becomes a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord.

In Matthew 5:27, Jesus said “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Lustful thoughts is already adultery.  These are Jesus standards under the age of grace.  Now tell me, which is the higher standard? Under the law or under Grace? Well, if you want to be technical about it… there is only one set of standards, it´s God´s standards but like what I said, over the years… man has corrupted God´s law.  They were faithful, but they were faithfully wrong.  They were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.
  Here´s our third point:

Jesus said in verse 20  “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This applies to everything, including giving.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The sad thing is this – some people uses “grace” sometimes as a rationale for not giving at all. Once I heard somebody saying this.  God owns everything, right? Everything!
- If my kids are really the Lord's, then I can count the money I spend on their food and clothing and college tuition as falling into the 'good steward or tithing or giving' category.
- If I use my home for hospitality and hosting Bible study group, then I can spend for furniture acquisition and home makeovers. I use my computer for Bible study and my phone to store worship songs, so those items are “steward” deductible" or “steward applicable” expenses
- If I send money to my relatives in the Philippines, this means I a a good and helpful person and I can count this as part of my giving back to God
- I pay taxes, this makes me a good citizen so I can consider this part of what I give back to God
- Well, God owns everything, including my body.  So if I treat myself to “the Keg” and eat a $50 dollar steak, I can consider this as part of my giving to the Lord.
- I watch the sermon of Charles Stanley on television so I can consider my 60 inch LED TV as part of my givings to the Lord
- I play golf and share the Gospel with my golfing buddies, so my green fee and the cost of my Callaway golf set is also considered as part of my tithes.
We can go on and on and on… but this type of "all-grace giving" where we give "everything" to God looks suspiciously tantamount to giving nothing back to God.

You know, if you read the Bible, you will learn that in many occasions, God tests His children.  Our life is a test.  God wants to know who is faithful and who is not.  However, there is one instance when God allows His children to TEST Him.  What? Me testing God?

Malachi 3;10 says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test Me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing there will not be room enough to store it.'"
God invites human beings into an experiment. He challenges people to test Him.  How can we know what God has in-store for us if we don’t do what He asks us to do.

You can start giving to the church… if you cannot afford to give 10%, start with something smaller… but be consistent and be faithful.  Give with a cheerful heart, because God loves a cheerful giver.  If you want to give 10% based on your salary and you are confused whether its based on Gross or Net Salary… well, you can start with your Net Salary.  But remember we reap what we sow.  I do believe that the more generous we are in our givings, the more blessings God will open up for each one of us.  And even if He doesn´t give us something back, it´s ok.  We trust Him with His plans.  And this is something we have proven over the years in my family.  God provides – in different forms.  We have proven that.
One good example is about our children – He did not give us money to pay for my daughter´s tuition fee in the university – but He made her hardworking enough to get full scholarship.  God did not give us money so we can send our son Ram to study music like piano or guitar or flute.  But He blesses Him with a gift in music so he can still play just by listening on his own.  God is good, amen?

Let me leave you with this statement from one of my favorite preacher:

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, May 21, 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

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