These days, whatever I am learning at
Morling College just keeps comes alive in real life. For example, this week I
am doing an assignment on Baptist identity, and the “Abundant Life” class talks
about the topic of baptism, giving me more clarity on the topic from a Baptist
perspective. There is also a project assignment which coincided in topic with
the church’s big revitalisation process!
On Saturday, I attended the leaders’
retreat at church. We read a devotional about the first, second and third commandments.
(This teaching is also available online on youtube)
We are given the reminder to worship God
for who He is (because He is worthy), and not because of He will provide you
with ultimate comfort (eg. a relationship with the person of your dreams)/ answer
your heart’s desire for significance (eg. prestige, a certain kind of job).
Coincidentally the Sunday Bible Study on the following day is on the book of
Job, and I had been assigned to do the question on what can we learn out of
James 5:11 “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You
have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought
about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
Sometimes we only see half of the gospel: we expect to get blessings but
fail to see the need for hardship and perseverance in character building and
for growth towards the likeness of Christ. We see the resurrection
but forget the cross. We see grace and salvation but forget about discipline and judgment.
In the retreat, we learned a few very practical acronyms that can serve as daily reminders for a life in faith:
Think BIG
Bonding: strengthen relationships
Investing: life in God
Growing: in the body of Christ
3Cs
Christ: Disciples Making (to develop
disciples)
Church: Grow in the Body of Christ
Community: To witness Christ in the
community
3Ps of serving: priority, prayer,
preparation
Priorities:
l A professor took many pebble stones. Some big some small. He also
got sand and water. If we put the biggest pebbles in first, can we fit more
things in? Yes. Do the most important things first. When our priorities are
wrong, ie. When we put the sand in first, then we can’t fit in the pebbles.
l Priority: love God (prayer, bible reading, spiritual disciplines).
Second: love others.
l A book on spiritual disciplines, eg. Celebration of Discipline (屬靈操練禮讚) by Richard Foster.
l Pastoring others, who’s pastoring us? God!
l Quiet time, listen to God. It’s easy to become frustrated in
ministry and burnout.
l Why do we burnout if God is almighty? Who takes responsibility if we
burnout? We often blame others for it, but it’s really our own responsibility.
Do you know when you’re sick? If we’re tired, we need a rest. We need to know
our limits. Quiet time helps us understand our limitations. We need to take responsibility
for our own lives. When we have negative emotions, ie. when we’re angry we
confess to the Lord that we are handing over our anger to God. If we really
love God, it helps us prioritise our life according to God’s will. Leaders
think discipleship is the priority, but lay people might think “pastors need to
care for us.” How do pastors encourage people to be outward looking? We need to
practice listening to God’s voice, so that we see God’s priority.
Prayer:
l When we pray, God works. Prayer is more important than preparation.
We can pray anywhere and everywhere. It’s easy to forget to pray though. Make
prayer a habit. Capture the rhythm of our stage in life: eg. Single, married
with young children, empty nest, etc. Often, we may need to multi-task, eg.
Praying when we’re exercising.
Preparation:
l God is the greatest so we have to prepare the best for Him. So, when
we lead in any ministry task, we need preparation. Whole heart, whole mind, whole
will. Experience takes time to accumulate. We need to build up foundations
first, so that our ministry life can be more stable and enriching. Be a lifelong
student of God. We learn the will of God from God.
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