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YA Ministry Pastor's Foreward
YA Ministry Pastor's Foreward
| Foreword From Our Pastor |
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If there is one message I will share with the YA’ers, what will it be? What is the one thing that I hope to see in the YA ministry? What’s the bottom line?
As the pastor of the YA ministry, I want my agenda to be God’s agenda. And the one agenda of God for His church that I know for certain, as revealed in His Word, is to crown Christ as the Lord of all.1 But for each of us, what is the outcome of knowing Jesus as Lord? It must be the transformation of our lives. Lives changed by God, and changed for God. A change that is total and radical. Jesus came to live, to die, to rise, to ascend into heaven and to come again, for this very agenda, that your life and my life may be changed.2 This is the hope of our Christian living, that when He appears, we shall be like Him.3 It is our final destiny, to become like Jesus, to take on His image. We do well if we begin each day with this end in mind.4 For we please and glorify God most when we become most like Jesus.5
But how can such a changed be possible? Is it not something reserved for the other side of heaven? Such a change is possible and it begins now for6
At the end of His ministry on earth, Jesus asked the leader of his twelve disciples, Simon Peter, the question that worth beyond the million dollars. He asked Peter in Lk 9:20, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” Peter was absolutely right! He would have scored 100 marks in a theological exam.
But it is not good enough to just being able to give the right answer. Jesus was and still is looking for the right response to who He is. Listen to Jesus’ follow up reply to Peter in Lk 9: 23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” A true confession must lead to a true following of Christ. Only a true following will lead to a genuine transformation.
The only appropriate response to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son whom God has sent, is to take up the cross and follow Him daily. It is a daily business of submission and obedience to Christ. This is what it means to carry the cross (Phil 2:3,8). It is a daily following, a daily kneeling in prayer, a daily feeding on His word, a daily looking at Jesus and a daily looking to Him.7 This man (or woman) is not satisfied merely with a superficial Christian life or an external display of piety. He digs deep and builds deep. He grows his inner life in God by making it his daily priority to seek God. His security and his hopes are anchored in God, because his life is hidden in Christ. A radical transformation is the deep cry of his heart. It does not matter if the answer to that prayer is met with trials, troubles and testing. This is the man who builds his house on the Rock.8
A man will do this only when he sees the hopelessness of his own depravity and recognizes that he needs Jesus desperately. Such a one truly means business with God, and God will take his cry seriously.
How can change be possible? Change is possible by following Jesus daily. Jesus’ promise to those who follow Him is this, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of man."9 This is the man or the woman God will use. By God’s grace, may we all press on and press in to become such a man and woman. Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool, Where then is a house you could build for Me? And were is a place that I may rest?
... But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." (Isa 66:1, 2) - Rev. Goh Hiap Siang
15th Sep 2008
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