AMIDST AUGUST | CURATED CHRISTIAN CONTENT
Amidst everything going on in August, the message for the month is to be patient and to trust in God and His promises. Here are my personal favourite sermons, music, scriptures and book + quotes.
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| Amidst August |
This is the first of the monthly series of curated content. The list includes personal remarks and messages I experienced when engaging with the content. Of course, everyone takes a little something different from every content they see, so if you personally felt a revelation from any of these, share your thoughts and findings, your revelation might help someone else going through the same thing.
Sermons
1 | Under Doesn’t Mean Over // Planted not Buried [Transformation Church]
Pastor Mike Todd is truly a vessel of God’s message. The message he brings never fails to spark something in your heart. This time around, the message about God’s promise really struck a chord.
In this world of instant results, we have become extremely impatient about everything. In the sermon he talks about how Sarah had to wait 25 years for God to fulfil His promise. This isn’t because God was caught up doing over things but because, with every blessing and miracle that happens, He wants (and rightfully should be) glorified through it. Sarah gave birth to a healthy son so late into her life, at a time when everyone doubted it would happen and she was probably even made fun of when she told other people about God’s promise. But of course, the Lord fulfilled his promise, at a time where only He can be glorified and merited for.
There’s another thing that Pastor Mike had mentioned before; God blesses you not just for you, but for everyone else, through you. It’s like getting free food but instead of only having one person receive it, a thousand other people get it, with leftovers too (if you know the reference, you know).
So in this instance, God’s blessing to Sarah and Abraham was not only for them to finally have a child but so that a whole new nation of people would come about from that child. Talk about extra-ness amirite.
But as impactful as this understanding is, what really hit me hard is that, i’ve personally been questioning when i’d start fulfilling my purpose on this Earth. I’m a real over-planner, I was mapping out where i’d stay, what car i’d drive and where i’ll be even before I finished high school (and should have been studying for my IGCSE instead lmao). So the fact that Sarah had to wait 25 years for her promise, makes my whiny excuse and complaints look, well, whiny.
Music
1 | How Deep is The Love [Hillsong Young & Free]
It’s all about the Lord’s mercy and grace for us, even before we realise we made a mistake and said sorry. I guess this song really hit me because i’ve been battling with repentance this month. I’ve always aggregated my repentance to once a month where I say i’m sorry for everything instead of doing it immediately when I realise I did something wrong.
Scripture
1 | “No discipline is enjoyable while it’s happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” Hebrew 12:11 NLT
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One of the misconceptions about discipleship is that life will be a breeze. Although life with God can be filled with peace and joy, it’s not a walk in the park, and for good reason too. What do you think will happen if everything in life was easy? We wouldn’t learn anything from it and we certainly won’t be grateful to God for it, no matter what we say to ourselves, when life is easy, it’s easy for us to think we’re the reason for it. At the same time, life wouldn’t be torturous per se, God specifically plants us in certain straining positions and places so that we can grow and learn from it. So that when we try to connect with pre-believers, we would know how to relate and build a connection.
To take a page out of Paul’s literature, when he was in prison, he was joyous, because he knew God was above it all. It’s a bit of a steep step to fully overcome but, our time on Earth isn’t our entire life. So when we’re straining through life, it’s so that we can develop ourselves, for our sake and for everyone around us as well.
2 | “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” Luke 15:7 NLT
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With that in mind, it’s easy for us to pat ourselves on the back for being a ‘good Christian’. Going to church, serving, raising our hands in worship all seem to fit into the ‘good Christian’ mindset. This is a topic in it of itself, but the point i’m trying to make is that. It’s not suggesting that being a loyal servant of God is ‘nothing’. But that we should be more focus on saving souls, bringing people who were once dead to life, rather than focusing on how ‘good’ we are right now. There’s a saying that’s been tossed around the last month for me “When you think you’re better or you’ve fully grasped everything, you actually just lost it.” Or something along those lines. The point being, when we think we have it all, we actually don’t.
3 | “Jesus answered him, “The most important of all the commandments is this: ‘The Lord Yahweh our God is one! You are to love the Lord Yahweh, your God, with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, with every thought that is within you, and with all your strength. This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is this: ‘You must love your neighbour in the same way you love yourself.’ You will not find a greater commandment than these.” Mark 12: 29-31 TPT
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In our journey with God, it’s easy to forget the fundamentals and the basic because we think we’re past that. Sometimes it takes going back to the main things, to help answer the question you’ve been seeking for so long. Being a Christian doesn’t mean having a checklist of things to fulfil it’s important to serve and obey the other commandments and read the bible, etc. But doing all of this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re really being a Christian. After all, it’s not our works but our faith that earns us a seat at the table.
When deciding between different alternatives and actions, always remember the most important fundamentals. Love God with every fibre of your being and soul AND love your neighbour as much and if not more, than you love yourself.
It’s not about what you do, but where your heart is.
4 | “Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”” Mark 12:10-11 NIV
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What people reject, saying that it’s not good enough or on par, He will do the impossible and use it to be a centrepiece of his power and glory. So if you got rejected by people or from a job, the Lord may use you to be the cornerstone amongst them all.
5 | "We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If our gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then given encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:6-8 NIV
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We are all given different gifts, we do not decide what gifts we have (although because of the free will God has given us, we do decide whether we will use them). Our gifts can vary but neither is more important or more fulfilling than another, we all need to work together to play a part in saving lost souls, all of us are needed to make it happen. With that in mind, we might feel inclined to be jealous of others because they have a gift that you think is cool, but don’t belittle the graceful gift the Lord has given you. If your gift is to be merciful to people, go above and beyond yourself and do more. DO everything with a humble heart and love for God, and he will bless you.
Book Quotes
1 | Friend of Sinners [Rich Wilkerson]
“Religion makes you proud of yourself and your efforts, The gospel makes you proud of Jesus,” — pg.35
One of the biggest issues i’ve faced when trying to introduce the Gospel to people is that they reply with something along the lines of “i’m not religious”; to which I reply that Christianity isn’t a religion, because religion makes you work for it and through your works, you earn a blessing or something. That sounds fair, especially in this world where you have to work for what you want. Which is why the Gospel doesn’t make sense for people who are extremely logical, why would God do so many nice things for us, sacrificing His only Son who knew nothing about sin but became sin itself so that we may be free and even after that, continue to have mercy on underserving ignorant people like us? Well because God isn’t like humans, He is love and His love in particular is something that overflows and fills the void in us.
We obviously don’t deserve it, but God does it anyway and he continues to do it. Which is why, treating Christianity as a religion, where you ahem to work your way to get a place in Heaven, will lead you to be proud of yourself. However, humbling ourselves and believing in the Gospel as something that has already been done makes you proud of Jesus.
“Projects can be managed, but people must be loved” — pg. 125
People are people, not projects, not things to check off a list, they are complex human beings that God has designed every cell of. I tend to put people on a schedule of how much time I will devote to them and help them, only to realise how insane that concept is. Everyone has a different salvation story, one that is unique to them because they have their own personal relationship and journey with God. So we can try our best to get people saved but in the end, God doesn’t necessarily need us to save people, but to love them instead.
So this concludes the August 2018 series. This is my first go at doing something like this and i’m always open for some constructive criticism and feedback in general. This series is both motivating me to devote more time and energy to learning about God and building a better relationship with him and I hope this help you or at least entertained you.
Got any personal favourites to recommend? Leave a comment down below.
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