Photo by Barry Dean
This Sunday, we are going to have our Preview Sunday Celebration here in Karawaci at 10:30AM. This is the service before the official inaugural launch on September 6th. The team and I are so excited to get things officially started. Even though we have started LIFE groups in Karawaci and Jakarta several weeks ago, there is something special about being able to gathering together as a whole church to celebration God’s Goodness and Greatness.
As I am preparing for this Sunday, it dawned upon me that I have not preached a sermon since May. But Christina, might say that I have been preaching mini-sermons throughout the week 🙂 This will be first time where I will be preaching in Indonesia for a Sunday Celebration.
I am looking forward to it, not only because of my love and passion for preaching but because we will be laying a foundation on God’s Word as we launch this church. But in the process of preparing the message, I have concluded several things:
2) The importance of Revelation. It would be easy for me to just go on the past sermons or past revelations, but one thing I am learning here in Indonesia is that God is constantly speaking to us. Some of the things that God spoke to me about back in the States might not be what God wants me to share with the people here in Indonesia. We constantly need fresh revelation. There is a difference in the food quality when you compare something that is processed and something that is made with fresh ingredients. God’s Word, which is food for our souls must be freshly prepared and delivered, so that God’s people can grow up to be healthy.
3) The importance of Reliance. When a person is gifted in preaching or even seasoned in preaching, it is easy for him or her to rely less on God and more on their abilities. God is no longer in the equation. This signals of this kind of attitude is pretty clear – there is less time spent in prayer, there is less time spent in studying and preparing the message, and there is less time spent in listening to the Holy Spirit. With the new context, culture and people, it is crucial that I learn to rely upon God more.
As I have been trying to listen to God, I feel that He has given me a message to share this Sunday. I am excited to share God’s Word with His people. But I might have to warn them that I haven’t preached for about four months, therefore I feel like what the prophet Jeremiah felt – “But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jer 20:9).
It should be fun.