"If you listen you'll hear it
A call to the nations
to show forth your praises
to every tongue, tribe and nation
If you will not tell them
How will they know
That there's joy in my presence
Like they've never known
Bring them into My presence
Let them worship before My throne"
Woke up to this song by Don Moen entitled "This is My Holy Place" (it's a very old song). Does anyone else know this song?
Woke up today quite late already. Before last night, I only had 7 hours of sleep for two days. It's busy days at work. Today I woke up and mom prepared breakfast for me. I thank God for my mom. Like I said before, the family and my friends are manifestations of God's grace and love in my life.
26 years. I may have come a long way, age-wise and some, but not to the point of contentment. In fact I consider myself yet far from the goal I've been pursuing, the goal of perfect peace and intimacy with my Father.
Lord, my prayer for my birthday is another 26 years of hot pursuit for You. Again, Lord, I want to follow hard after You. Forgive me if there are still lapses in my walk with You, I am alone at fault. In these unfaithful moments may Your precious grace abound. Lord preserve me, make me holy in the truest sense of Your Word.
Indeed Father You don't owe me anything, but in Your perfect love You chose to pursue me, even sometimes I think as if I deserve to be blessed. Who are you to think that your service outshine and outweigh His selfless outpouring of life and blood on the cross? Lord let Thou increase and I decrease. I am but a servant. Lord, give me opportunities to live out Your image one day at a time.
Thank You, Lord, for people who constantly love and care for me--one of Your truest and most practical manifestations of blessing and grace in my life. Remind me to always cherish them always and not to take them for granted. I ask Father that You preserve my family in Your grace and blessing and my future wife, preserve us both until that blessed day.
A very funny and interesting thing happened this afternoon during my Carecell. We ordered a large 18" yellow cab NY pizza cris-cut for Carecell. It was big and really good, it was done in less than an hour except for the last small piece. A partially "bald" slice with much of the surface is the edge of the crust.
It has been a way for us to refrain from eating the last piece of morsel on the table out of modesty. It's like when you eat the last piece the implications are a bit foolish but harsh. One would think he would be perceived by the people with him as a glutton and self-centered, by not giving way for others to have the last piece. So it becomes an endless finger-pointing telling the other person "you take the last piece."
So in order for this to end, I proposed a game that we would play kompyang or maalis-alis (black versus white). And the last one who remains finishes the slice. As we begin, it came into my mind that there was a donut that has been sitting on the fridge for over the week now from last week's worship team practice, also fell victim of the last-piece-curse. It was glazed with chocolate, frozen cold. I raised the bar of the game higher: The last two who will remain should play rock-paper-scissors and whoever wins gets to choose what the loser will eat between the last pizza and the cold donut.
So we began to play, with each turn the number of players got fewer until guess who were the last two to remain: Zarah Grace and me. The youth pastor and the youth president. And so there it was, me and Zarah Grace head to head for the power to choose who will eat what. And both of us knew that we don't wanna eat the cold donut. The game was race to three. Zarah got the first score, I got the next two, Zarah got the next. It was a tie. My rock lost to Zarah's paper. It was very funny, We were laughing our hearts out because my plan backfired. So I ended up eating the cold donut to the cheer of my members. I said to myself, "Humor talaga ni Lord o!" He knows I'm bad at losing games.
This afternoon my Friday Carecell group in City College of Manila gave me a surprise birthday celebration planned by Netty and Annie. I was really surprised because they hid it well, although I was kinda feeling 'something's not right'. Netty bought a Red Ribbon black forest cake, and Annie gave me a large collage of birthday wishes from their group. I was really, really blessed by the love received. I realize that ultimately it is God who is touching me through them. I remember my recent meditation on scripture saying not to give up in doing good even sometimes you lose heart and feel like giving up because in due time we will reap a reward. If my God could give me something like what we had this afternoon (more than the gifts and cakes), how much more when finaly I will be rewarded with His fellowship in His kingdom. "No eye has seen and no ear has heard what God has in store for those who love Him."
"The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [So] let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary" (Galatians 6:8-9)
Life is not in pursuit of the future without looking into the past. As we live our lives every day, every hour, every second, we sow the seeds of which in due time we will reap--they will catch up on us. And it's simple math. Sow to one's flesh and reap your own corruption. Sow to the Spirit--invest your life to Him, walk by Him (Gal 5:16)--and we will reap our long-fought-for reward. It's a lonesome waste giving up so soon for something we have fought for, bled for, got up again for (after the enemy's blow to keep us from pursuing deep in our hearts is the real deal.) The good that we do, no matter what the situation tells us at face value, will never return barren. The good we have sown will soon grow and flourish and benefit life. Never lose heart. It doesn't hurt to gather up one's strength and push some more, because it is worth fighting for. He awaits that day, when finally He welcomes us and say, "Son, you've finally made it through and I am well-pleased (or I am proud of you.)"
Last Sunday I preached about Phinehas, a rarely heard young character from the book of Numbers (25). I decided to preach about him when I felt that sometimes as Filipinos we avoid confrontations, even if the issue badly needs one such as sin. Confrontations are good, just like most things, when used properly. This personally happened to me when one of the faithful students in our campus bible study got entagled with some dead serious sin. And I felt that as her pastor, I failed to address the issue though I did something about it. I felt that I didn't do much about it. Being outrun by too much "kindness", sparing harsh discipline and "it already happened, what can we do now?"
The Zeal of Phinehas
Scripture:
Proverbs 8:13, "To fear the Lord is to hate evil."
Numbers 25:10-13, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying “Phinehas … has turned My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.” Therefore I say, “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.”
In Numbers 25, we find the Israelites crossing Moab and after Balak's failed attempt to curse Israel through the prophet Balaam (ch 24), he took an alternative to destroy Israel by sending Moab's most beautiful and sexiest women of the land to entice Israel to engage in lust and idol worship (Rev. 2:14). God was furious that He asked Moses to execute all guilty parties among Israel. But there was one rebellious son of one of the tribe leader who in his defiant stance brought a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of Moses and all Israel. Then the focus zooms to a young man named Phinehas. We read in Numbers 25:7-9:
"When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. Those who died by the plague were 24,000." (Numbers 25:7-9)
God was very impressed with Phinehas action that He said to Moses,
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying “Phinehas … has turned My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.” Therefore I say, “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.” (Numbers 25:10-13)
Phinehas had a lot of Z.E.A.L.:
Phinehas had ZERO-TOLERANCE for sin
He loved God so much that he despised sin in the same manner as God. God said Phinehas was "jealous for My jealousy." Phinehas didn't turn the blind-eye when he saw this upfront defiance against God's law. Proverbs 8:13 say, "to fear the Lord is to hate evil." Living in a fallen world always challenges our "fear of the Lord" when we compromise our stance against issues, turn the blind-eye against injustice and evil especially when we have a power to do something about it, and moreover when we are deceived by our own pet sins (Psalm 36:1-2, Proverbs 9:17-18). The true test for every believer is his displeasure towards sin and anything that is evil (1 John 2:15-17).
When we are tempted to take in temptations and nurse sin in our lives let us take God's prescription for Moses:
Numbers 25:4, "The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”
Finally after three mondays of class suspensions because of typhoon, holiday and school retreat, we've got to finally have class again in Hebrew. I missed the class. So this morning I went an hour early to school to do some review (although we usually have group study as early as 11AM). The difference what three cancelled meeting makes. It needed some effort to get back to speaking and understanding the language again. I remember this is the same effect it had on me after I graduated highschool. I almost forgot to speak, understand and write Chinese.
We usually don't speak Chinese at home, being a child of second-generation Filipino-Chinese. Sociologist say there are three orders of Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines: the nearly extinct First Generation (they are the one's who came from the mainland and marry a Filipino), second generation (the children of the first generation, who speaks Chinese at home, but speaks Filipino outside), and the third generation (who rarely speak Chinese anymore). They say 10 generations further, intermarriages among Filipinos and Chinese would've blend and neutralize each cultural uniqueness. That is why some elder Chinese try or force the younger to marry their own kind to preserve the culture and values, and even sometimes their economic status. And sadly this kind of mindset made its way in the church. A sad but true anecdote: A young Chinoy grows an interest with a Filipina, his mother is concerned. "We have different values," she tells me. Though I wouldn't approve also just because the girl goes to a "different" church. But the close-mindedness lies within the person themselves, situations vary, so I warn you not to stereotype people, because that's bad.
So let me end this day-in-a-life-turned-rant post by quoting Paul: "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For [we] are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
