First, one amazing fact: every time I feel like skipping church and don't, something fantastic always happens in church!! Coming back after 3 weeks of no church, it was extremely uplifting to hear the worship and sermons. I didn't realize how much I missed it.
Today, Pastor Dave gave a sermon on the visions for 2005. Verses to remember: Psalm 16:5-6, Psalm 18:34 and 1 Timothy 1:5.
Psalm 16 talks about our portion from God. Pastor Dave says that usually boundaries are created in gullies, valleys and seas. Places of not much use. God instead has pushed the boundaries of our portion out from such places onto pleasant places because it is in valleys and such places that God can really use us to show His blessings. By taking on advesaries, we will triumph and come out on the other side stronger. Thus, when we finally have covered the entire portion of our inheritance, we can rest in the pleasant places that God has provided for us.
Psalm 18 basically mentions the powers of God and how even faced with strong opponents, our faith in Him will help us overcome them. Pastor Dave pointed out verse 34 because it mentions "He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze." God's relationship with us is not one way. It's a relationship where our own decisions also matter to Him. First, He will have a relationship with us. The next step, He will prepare us for the battle ahead as we go forth and do His bidding. He did not promise us a life of ease. Rather, He promises to prepare us for the battle life throws at us.
But, the part that I found most profound today was 1 Timothy 1:5 which says "The goal of the command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." Pure heart means a heart that is not corrupt. A good conscience means a conscience that will always lead me to the right path, no matter how hard it is. Sincere faith means following Jesus with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind. It means not having second thoughts or putting something else as equal importance.
The part where Pastor Dave talked about good conscience was something I could really relate to. He said that if we keep steamrolling our conscience, we will end up with a very quiet conscience. We cannot say we will override our conscience on one matter and not expect it to affect the other parts. In everything that I do and learn, I have realize that nothing can be isolated. Whenever we do something to something else, invariably the other things around it will be affected and a chain reaction is observed. The same goes with our conscience. Many people say that a white lie is OK because it's a small lie that gets no one hurt. However, where do we draw the line between a white lie and a real lie? If we keep lying about the small things, we might be very, very tempted to lie about the bigger things. And if someone catches us lying even a white lie, it is going to be very hard to convince them that we don't lie about other things.
Pastor Dave spoke about his own trials with lying. I can relate to that because just like him, whenever I try to lie (even white lies), I can't. My conscience will stop me from going on because I KNOW it's wrong. A lie is a lie no matter how small or how insignificant. Hehe... so, you can always tell if I'm lying because I'll probably stutter or end up beating around the bush. Going on further, I also cannot do something I know is wrong calmly. For example, bending/breaking rules. I'm talking about the little things, like borrowing a friend's youth card so that I can get cheaper rail tickets. Others can do it without blinking an eye but for me, I'll probably be uneasy throughout the entire ride. So, from this day onwards, I'm going to try to follow my conscience more. I'd rather be on the right side than to float the law and spend the time worrying and having a hard time. Sometimes, the guilt will return later and haunt me too. To avoid this and to have a better conscience, I will not override my conscience.
Pastor Dave also reiterated the idea that God works miracles through the humble. Examples from the Bible are such as using a 17-years old David, Rahab the prostitute and Simon the tanner. As Pastor Dave says it, God uses Mr. Ordinary, not Mr. High and Mighty because with power comes pride in oneselves achievements. From that, I realize is everyone of us is not really all that special. Whatever we have, whatever we have gone through, chances are there are others who have or gone through something similar. However, we are special in the sense that we are unique. No one else, however similar their lives might be, will ever have exactly everything that we have or gone through all of our experiences. That might explain why we don't always go to the same person for advice on every single aspect of our lives. So the conclusion I could draw from this is, we are all the same but at the same time, uniquely different.
