Preacher Huijun - 10 September 2015

Jesus' Calling And Our Response

["Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." At once they left their nets and followed Him.] Do you feel happy when God calls you? We're often very happy when we're called by VIPs and influential people in the world, but when God calls us, do we feel awesome and happy about it? Sadly, a lot of times, we don't, and perhaps, we look down on His calling too. Unless we know the nature of God's calling, we will not be able to respond correctly to it, and as a result, we lose a great deal of blessings He's prepared for us. Jesus called Peter at where he was - when he was a sinner, when he was fishing day in day out yet gaining no yield. His concern was on the tangible things which he deemed important. But as God called him, Peter was utterly broken because he saw how sinful he had been and how unworthy he was of the grace lavished on him freely. Being reclaimed by Jesus' love, he left everything and followed Jesus upon His call, because he had found God as all, what he had gotten was more than the good catch of fish. Jesus' calling of "follow me" was so captivating to him even though he had no idea how this calling would be fulfilled. Peter displayed a healthy fear in response to God's calling - a fear of knowing there's no other way but to follow God, hanging onto Him as if He's the only lifeline. Is such also our response to God's calling today? God wants us to be broken and humbled before Him, and thus need Him even more when we meet His holiness as He calls us, but how often do we complicate God's calling and our response to His call with our added emotions, pride and inadequacies, forgetting He is the One who seeks us proactively first, the One who surpasses all?

From Series: "Synoptic Gospels"

Gospel Series for EYF

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Prone to Stray; God to Save <Mt 18:10-14>

Every one of us is prone to stray from God. The pull of the world is ever so strong – things of the world, they prick at us, stir up our desires, our feelings of lack, unworthiness, discontentment, etc. Our own sinful inclinations are very real, so is the cunning work of the devil. All these made us turn our attention away from God to pursue something apart from Him. Even when God’s people have a genuine heart to follow God, the devil can also mislead them into false teachings or half-truths.
 
But the good news is, the Good Shepherd never gives up on His lost sheep. No matter how lost or weak His sheep is, the Greatest God cares for the least of His sheep. Every one matters to Him.
 
Through this familiar story, we realize that in our Christian journey, we take turns to be either the one straying sheep or 99 other staying sheep. God reveals His heart to both kinds of sheep. When we are weak, lost and powerless, God wants us to be assured that He will take the initiative to seek us back. Thus, we should find evidences of how God is constantly seeking for us. On the other hand, when we are following the Shepherd closely like the 99 sheep, we need to know that the Father is not willing for any of the little ones to perish. Hence, instead of looking down at the wandering sheep, we need to evangelise to them, build them up and disciple them. Indeed, even the 99 good sheep have the tendency to stray as well. However, if we are meaningfully occupied with God’s purpose, our hearts can be better guarded when we are mission-centered. God desires that we imitate Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Therefore, we need to reflect on how we can practically help the ‘straying sheep’ of God.

 



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