2014 is God’s gift! We get to start fresh! We can leave behind the past and look forward to what can be. There is potential and possibility pulsing in the air as we look forward (more about that in the up coming articles). It’s time to look back, for 2013 was also a gift from God to Disciple Church to carve out the future according to His pleasure. I am excited!
Every Sunday at 7:30 am, praise team rushes in to pray and get ready for the worship service. I love them for their dedication and love for the church! At 8:30 am, our host team led by Joyce, promptly gathers to pray and to cast vision. Afterwards, she takes the team to survey the church to clean and to make sure that our worship room is ready to receive the precious souls God has sent us for that week. Who can forget the delicious coffee and the pastries, freshly baked by our freshman Sarah the night before the Sunday celebration!
Meanwhile, praise team is beginning to start to practice their set and the sound of worship envelops the whole church even before the ‘official’ 9:30 am service time. I often find myself soaking in the worship songs as the presence of God covers our church. What a blessing!
Now, prayer team led by Yesie prays over our church. I long to pray with them each Sunday. As our voices join together for the glory of God to touch our people each week, I say to myself, “I am so blessed to have them at DC.” Then the prayer team lays their hands on me and blesses me so that the congregation encounters the Holy Spirit’s special touch! What a blessing!
After our worship service, I walk through the halls to observe how our growth groups are doing. I let out a short prayer here and there for everyone to share honestly and genuinely because only in raw and vulnerable sharing can there be genuine community! Almost every week, I see people tearing up while sharing, which brings joy to my heart. I know there is honesty happening, which gives God room to shape and mold individuals and groups.
Throughout the week we have discipleship training, leadership training and bible studies. Someone recently asked me, “Aren’t you tired? How do you do it?” Another person suggested, “You need take a vacation!” Of course those things will come in due time, but physical tiredness drowns in the joy of being part of a community where God is working to make Jesus’ name beautiful. Besides, I’ll have eternity to rest in the arms of the Lord. For now, when I hear what God is doing in our peoples’ lives, my heart skips with joy!
Last Sunday, we had couples gathering at Elder Jonathan’s house for a night of hot pot and a gift exchange. The food was great! But for me, sharing is always the highlight. As couples shared what they are thankful for in 2013, I heard how God worked in their lives… and in my heart I thought, “Those sleepless nights were worth it!”
Exodus, our college and adults ministry, gathered few weeks ago to share gifts. Elder Paul and Joyce generously shared their home and food so we could all squeeze together! Someone said, “Wow, we have doubled in number since last year!” Yes… doubled in joy, doubled in laughter, doubled in gifts, doubled in personalities, doubled in hunger for God… amen! What a blessing!
Who can forget the Christmas Caroling as we went around few of our church members homes and the senior citizen center. I met a 90 year old woman name Clare, she was in tears by the time the caroling was done! I bless God we were able to touch her heart with His presence. I know part of her tears is the joy of Christmas, but partly it was because it’s been awhile since someone came over in love to see her! Heaven on earth friends!
So we have to wonder once again, why do we do this? Why wake up so early on Sunday morning to rush to DC? For some people it’s a 30 minute drive! Why come to Discipleship training after a long day of work? Why pray each Friday night when the rest of the world is basically sound asleep?
L-O-V-E! Love! We are recipients of unimaginable love! Emmanuel, God with us, is an expression of God’s love for us! The cross is the expression of God love for us! The community we have right now is an extension of His love for us! So we see in the life of Jesus, the overflow of God’s love towards us. And love naturally leads to commitment! Jesus’ love moved him to be committed to give it all up for you and I! And we say, Jesus is worth it all! We love him because he first loved us! And out of an abundance of love, we are committed to Him.
Christian commitment is rooted in love. We are committed to awaken the laity by training devoted disciples of Jesus to impact the world! Nothing happens until a commitment is made. Jesus did nothing half-heartedly; we ought to be the same!
I recently shared in my message a story about the Alps in Europe. Half way up the mountain is a nice "halfway-house." Climbers are encouraged to stop and rest there before they continue to the top. It is meant to be a resting place before the climbers continue. But many people come to the halfway house and remain there. The enticement of the warmth of the fire place, a cup of hot coffee and the view is to die for! This midpoint is such a warm cozy and enticing place that many people come to the half way house and relinquish their original goal of reaching the top... they are half-way committed.
I imagine, people are laughing and singing and sharing stories for the first hour in the half way house. But then the whole place is silenced as they look to the top and wonder what it would have been like to reach the top. Soon they may start to see the first group that made it to the top coming down with laughter and stories of what they saw and the whole half-way house with warmth of the fire, hot coffee and the view become quiet, uneasy, and dissatisfied! Why? Because people who once had a vision for the top settled for the half way house!
Commitment is an indispensable character that keeps us keeping on when the going gets tough. Commitment wakes us up in the wee hours of the morning when others are sleeping. Commitment makes a freshman bake pastry for the church every week. Commitment makes us set up to welcome the new comers to the church. Commitment keeps us up all night to prepare for the worship set! Commitment is a quality we cannot do without. Commitment helps us to find satisfaction and love in life when others are wondering what it would have been like!
Someone once said, “The way to success is built on a hill, no place is provided for a stop, it requires less effort to remain at the bottom but you will see so much more at the top!”
People say, “I am too busy for this or that.” I see lots of people busy doing nothing. Or if they are doing something, it’s not worth anything, which is basically nothing!
Martin Luther King Jr. once stated "if a man has been called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep the street even as Beethoven played music and Michelangelo painted, he should sweep the street until all the host of heaven and earth will stand and say 'here lived a street sweeper.’"
Are you committed to give your best for the glory of the One who is the best? Today we celebrate communion. Let us remember Jesus, who was committed to each one of you because of love! Let us express our love for Him through our commitment for His vision to extend His community through disciple making!
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
What was Jesus’ joy? To glorify the Father first and foremost, and to see you and I enter the fullness of joy in Him! May our commitments in life bring the greatest glory to Him and blessings to those around us! Happy New Year!
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