The Sin of Samuel - Part2

Fatigue is not bad, we are working. This function results to fatigue, neglect and what’s next? Neglect to pray, priorities in life, or communion to God, though the Bible told us “Samuel build an altar in Ramah.” That gives us an idea that Samuel was still sensitive to his communion with God. But for how long before fatigue takes over? I heard of a church when a pastor have a Bible study until 1am and the managers under that small Bible study group and the executive told the managers that they still need to report for work at 8am, and so with the pastor still need to report for work at 8am. While the ministry is strong the neglect of home is pretty obvious.

The Sin of Samuel - Part1

The more you admire your mortal mentors you might be guilty of offending God. What is the sin of Samuel? What is his weakness? Remember no matter how thick the armor, there’s this weak spot. What can we learn about the weakness of Samuel? The weak link in the life of Samuel is not about his morals but a sin of neglect. Is that really dangerous? On the outset it’s not but ultimately this little sin can be fueled by the enemy and blown into a lifestyle of silent rebellion and then later disobedience.

Brokenness in Waiting

By : Rev. Arnel Tan

“Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14 NLT

What is the difference between ‘waiting for the LORD’ and ‘waiting patiently for the LORD?’ I think the first waiting is our response to the circumstances that demands our compliance to wait, while the second waiting is a result of God’s dealing with us in brokenness that results in a willingness to wait for the Lord. Somehow, life is designed by God with many deliberate stops or pauses. We see God’s appointed waiting sheds and from there we gain better perspective and live simple lives of faith.

On the outset, to ‘wait upon the Lord’ means a circumstance leaves us no choice … like, we wait for flights, for the weather to calm down, for our numbers to be called while falling in line at government offices or movie houses. Waiting is a part of existing. Waiting patiently for the Lord is the result of God’s dealing with us in brokenness. ‘Waiting for the Lord’ is compliance while ‘waiting patiently for the Lord’ is friendship. It takes brokenness to see this point and more brokenness to appreciate and desire this state of waiting patiently for the Lord.

How long is our waiting time? Honestly, it is difficult to tell or to predict. One can be certain the Lord will meet us at His appointed time. It is here that we are confronted with the humbling truth that we are not in control of everything. It is here that we see our helplessness. It is also here that we hear the invitation of the Almighty to cease striving and to slow down … and know God. This is not easy to appreciate … but when we learn to wait patiently for the Lord it becomes a hunger hard to deny.

The delays and denials are actually preparations for the blessings that God is more than willing to give. Why is it so necessary to be broken before enjoying whatever God wants us to have? It is because in being broken, we actually learn to savor and truly enjoy God’s blessings. Here, God is honored and we are humbled. In waiting patiently, our need for grace is so clear, our dark side is exposed and our prayers are intense. It is also in waiting patiently that our appetite for the glory of God and for Him to be glorified grows strong and deep. Waiting, praying, worshipping patiently is now the delight of our souls.

The Sin of Eli The Priest - Part2

We have messed up our priorities today as we see ourselves as provider. You know what’s good in Filipino culture? “I don’t care if I am in poverty as long as my children will have diploma one day when I send them to school.” Is that good or bad? That’s good but that’s also bad because the father’s priority is not sending your children to school and give them education, the father’s priority is to worship God and from there to get instructions from God how to raise children. Now, you who you are provider, look what have you done. You have provided too much education but you have not worshipped the Lord your God but honored your kids.

The Sin of Eli The Priest - Part1

This is the generation today that we are not aware that perhaps maybe we are honoring our kids more than God. There’s a bill in congress that they might pass to outlaw spanking our kids of course there’s abuse rather a father long time ago. A father in the name of Eli. His story is very sad. I think we learn more on sad stories than success stories. Success stories will lead us to smile but sad stories will lead us to prayer. Being a father is not easy but here’s the question, if being a dad is not easy, why are we not led to prayer? Why we are led to work more, earn more? Instead of pray more? When it’s about prayer the father would say your mom prays, your dad works. I think it’s the other way around. Fathers should pray.

God’s Calling to Samuel - Part2b

You are a child of God by faith in Christ, amen. May we remind the church, we are not the only child of God, there’s a lot of others who trusted Christ and they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Answering the call is not about me but to exalt God. All of the songs the modern ones specially the “me” songs, that’s true but the entire truth is for the glory of God. So when I read the Bible and it’s all about me “I don’t like my devotion today I was not touched because I read the Book of Numbers, boring to read this book and that book” because it’s all about what? Me. Ministry that is all about me and at the end of the day there’s no recognition, no nothing because nobody recognized who? Me.

God’s Calling to Samuel - Part1b

What is your calling to God personally? What is your calling to your church? What is your calling as a family? What is your calling as a single person? What is your calling as a married person? What is your calling as a professional? We realize that the call of God is not planned by men but of God, the verse reference, “suddenly the Lord calls Samuel.” To whom it is called suddenly? To Samuel, to God it’s been planned no sudden is for God. God’s call won’t stop until an answer is given. A lot of us way back high school days or we were still in college and we were young but now we are not young anymore we are mature we thought that God’s calling has faded. No way. It is still there.

Brokenness In The Life Of Moses - Part2

Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” There’s meaning to the name, it is not about Gershom growing up to be a foreigner in some place or some land, it was actually a confession by Moses of himself of his own experience, He gave the name Gershom because Moses lived as a sojourner in a foreign land. In other words he’s now beginning to realize who he really was. Moses became a pilgrim whether in the land of Egypt and in the land of Midian. He was a pilgrim in the land of Midian and that he declared who he was, and that is, his own identity. In other words Moses were now rooted more deeply with the God of Israel.

Brokenness In The Life Of Moses - Part1

Deep wounds of the past create a burning commitment never to see these sorts of things again happening. So even Moses flight from Pharaoh his natural impulses still have control over his life. Although he’s in a different location now remember he flees a different set of people. Moses exhibit what comes naturally. “Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.” Moses acts comes naturally to defend those who are oppressed because he have a problem himself with injustice.

Waywardness as a Result of Brokenness - Part2

A pastor breaking the rules only to get caught and then repented, integrity is lost. What else is lost? Vitality to life is lost. David prays “Let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice”. “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Now many of us look like discouraged, we look like there’s no joy, there’s no vitality in our lives, there’s no energy at all maybe because of the sin that is hidden in our lives.

Waywardness as a Result of Brokenness - Part1

There are brokenness brought about by pain and wounds of life and God leads us to a point that we are just simply broken. But there are also brokenness not as a result of woundedness but as a result of our waywardness and God breaks us. It is as a result of personal decisions that were gone so bad that our lives began to unfold and get shredded. What do we do? God’s Word tells us what to do.

Woundedness a Sister of Brokenness - Part2

Remember Job when he was struck by the devil with the skin disease? Then Job’s wounds became even more deeper as he shared his agony with his friends about the depth of his wound, “Oh that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; Therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, Their poison my spirit drinks; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.” Hard to imagine a wound that pushes us to the edge, because we simply do not understand. And there are certain wounds that we will never understand. This kind of wounds re-emerges when we are convinced that God hates evil and will not use evil against His chosen ones and the answer is wrong.

Woundedness a Sister of Brokenness - Part1

Pain is a gift. In fact Dr. Paul Brand illustrates the gift from lepers and leprosy. He said without pain sensation they are susceptible to cuts, bruises in their extremities, the hands in particular, they are vulnerable including their fingers being cut-off without them knowing they don’t know if their fingers touched something that is burning. And so, pain is a gift and it warns, it alerts, it informs. Pain is a gift from even more horrible wounds in our lives.

Pulpit To Pew

FROM MY HEART

Let me greet all fathers today a Happy Father’s Day! I am hopeful that this day will bring joy and celebration to each of our families here in church. As a father, I am also thankful for allowing me to preach in just two services today and the afternoon will be a special time for me and my family. In order to enjoy the true meaning of celebrating this day, I think it should be done out of love and not obligation or guilt. I am sure that the pressure to express and the pressure expected is high. It is here that I would like to pour some oil of grace, that the tension to express and expect be done away with.

Let us remember that the heart of any celebration is done from the heart . . . minus the guilt trip. Therefore, let us not pressure others to celebrate the way we do. Let everybody enjoy the freedom on how they will or will not celebrate today. To simplify things, let us all have grateful hearts everyday, Take time today in prayer for your “dad” . . . most of all, take time to worship our Heavenly Father together with all other saints.

Not everyone is blessed to have good memories of their fathers. In fact, others are traumatized when they remember the abuses of their own dad. My suggestion is to give them space to grieve and not pressure them to celebrate. Rather, offer a silent prayer for healing. Let us remember that not all families here in church are complete. Let me encourage you . . . even though you are not complete, you are still a family! And by the grace of God you can still rejoice!

To my fellow dads, if your wife or kids remember you today, humbly give thanks. If they don’t, humbly accept, for there just are things in life which we cannot demand. To the children, find time to pray and somehow give your dad a break today . . .how you express your thanks is your style. And to those who have been so disappointed with their dads, I suggest, bring it to God in prayer so you will not have bitter hearts. Express your grief to the Heavenly Father. He is in charge of transforming . . . not us. If you never had a dad in the flesh, thank God . . . in church, God gave us a lot of “dads”.

“Pray like this…..Our Father….” Matthew 6:9

HAPPY NO PRESSURE FATHER’S DAY TO ALL!!

Prayerfully,
REV. ARNEL TAN

Brokenness In the Life of Naomi - Part2

Rejection is not easy, we have too much pride, too much of us, that’s why we are hurt so badly. Lord why are you doing this to me and Lord why now? And even though our future is in Your hand it is hard to be broken still. Naomi felt that way. Wherever she went she felt a corner and there’s nowhere to go. God was hamming her in, what does God want? Certainly He wants our attention. It is easy to say He has my attention maybe but I think God wants our attention the way He expects the kind of attention from you. Maybe the kind of attention that we’re giving Him is not enough and He wants more and then He breaks us.

Brokenness In the Life of Naomi - Part1

When everything you try to do as good as you can, always ends up with a close door, you try very hard and yet life seems to be against you. There is a day where nothing seems to work or where everything seems to go wrong. Think about those moments and ask what God is up to. What does He want in my life? Why does He allow many things in my life to happen that are negative as far as I can see? What’s the use of endurance in such moments when everything in life seems to be out of step with what I want to do? These are some questions in life when we experience the rock bottom of our life or brokenness.

A Subtle Take Over - Part2

A beginning of subtle take over is a tolerated greed. What is a tolerated greed? I want that, I want it now, I want it right away. It is also a case of unconfronted or unchecked desires, you call it dream, achievement, hard work but deep inside it is greed and there’s this difficult one, the wounded pride. It is no longer the issue of land about Naboth who said to King Ahab “no”. If you are a person who no longer can accept a “no” then you just turn to be a monster even when you are a king. If God can accept a “no” how can you not accept it? Sometimes power, influence and even the things that you have done to others tend to buy their hearts but it should not be, but always give them the freewill to say either yes or no.

A Subtle Take Over - Part1

I have a question for you that you must answer on your own and between God. Is it still an issue for you today to ask the question how did I get this property? How did I own this car? How did I own this house? Or how did I win this woman? Or how did I ever get this position? It’s a scary question because all the while, it will reveal some subtle take over along the way. To be honest it is easy to say to wait for your turn and wait on the Lord but the longer it is the more irritating it becomes.

God's Calling to Samuel - Part 2a

How did God prepare Samuel for the task? How did the purpose of the Lord fulfilled in the call of Samuel? How do you glorify God in your call? What adjustment are you willing to make? Adjustment may mean transfer, resignation, or leaving a good job for a lower one, adjustment means temporary separation for a time.

God's Calling to Samuel - Part 1a

What is your calling? Like Samuel called to ministry as a priest and a prophet, this message may not be only for a full time missionary or full time ministry, not at all but what about if God calls you to be a teacher, God calls you to be a godly police officer, God calls you to be a righteous businessman, God calls you to be a married person, God calls you to a singlehood and a lot of calls. What we want to achieve to this message is to create a desire in our hearts to be sensitive enough to listen and willingly obey to God’s calling.