(Further reflections on “Why Are You Troubled?”—Sunday 29-Jan-2023)
When was the last time you personally shared God’s word, specifically the Good News of Jesus Christ to someone? If it’s recently, like last week/month, praise the Lord, you are living in the Gospel and it is alive in you. Now if sharing the Gospel had been a while, chances are high that the Gospel in you life was somewhat rusty or jaded or faded or forgotten. When this happens, although you probably still go church on Sunday, “the Body of Christ” is not in you to be the church outside the Sunday meeting. If we don’t retell the Gospel to others. We might have forgotten What is the Gospel? And how precious and refreshing it is to hear it over and over again. Forgetting how powerful the Gospel is in shaping and transforming our life and even impacting the lives of those who get in touch with us. One way to check is to ask your close friends or colleagues about what they see in you regarding your faith in Jesus. I bet that there are some of you who dare not ask this kind of question. You’d rather ignore this or convince yourself that your faith is private. No! You’re wrong. Our faith in Jesus Christ is both personal and communal. Faith in God speaks, shares, and testifies the Gospel. You don’t have to become or be a preacher or pastor. The Lord calls all believers to be witnesses of His death, resurrection, ascension, and returning. People around us will be touched by our testimony about how we met Jesus. They can sense the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. And it will be evident to those around us that the Gospel is active and living in our life. The way to deal with our ‘memory-loss’ tendency is to remember/treasure God’s word in our heart/mind and life on a daily basis and to retell the Good News of Jesus Christ to ourselves and others over and over again. Pause here and ask yourself, Why are you troubled (cf. Luke 24:36-52) when you think about sharing the Gospel in person or online or in front of a camera? Honestly list it down and bring it to the Lord. Then ask another question, Why are you troubled when you face challenges or uncertainties in your life? Fears and doubts? Why? You may remember God’s word, but have you spoken out loud to yourself or retold the Good News to others recently? Fears of what? Doubts of what? If you connect the dots and be brutally honest about it, you will notice the connection or correlation between your fears, doubts, forgetfulness, joyless patterns, and praiseless stretches in your life. It is my prayer and hope that this is not the case for the majority of you here. But if you are experiencing it, there is no shame/guilt, you just need to humble or slow down your life and read the Word of God daily, go to a Bible study group, join prayer time, stay back for fellowship after Sunday worship service. During worship service, focus and connect with the Lord through praise and worship. During sermon, take notes, go home, digest/chew/eat it, and put into practice. Share and return the Gospel story to your friends during lunch break or invite them to your
home for snacks/meals and share your faith. Now when you struggle (which everyone does from time to time), the first step is to be honest and share in a small group or ask Pastor for coffee meeting / counseling. The Body of Christ, the local church, is alive and active because you are alive and active in the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Keep remembering, keep retelling the Gospel of Jesus and staying fresh, staying vibrantly in relationship with Christ.
—
Pastor Lap
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