The Word

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/23/walking-bibles

In my sermon last Sunday that I shared in my local church, I structured my message by starting with the narrative on Lazarus in John 11 and from that last miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after 4 days, I expounded on the two points that God put in my heart to speak on: (i) the perfect and sovereign timing of God, and (ii) that nothing is impossible with God. However, as Lazarus was raised from the dead in his own same natural body unlike Christ’s glorified body, he eventually had to die even though as we can see in John 12, his resurrection from the dead was a marvel that brought many to believe in Christ. Then I moved on to Ecclesiastes 7:2 where Solomon (as believed by most) declared that the destiny of every man is death and thus the living must take this to heart since Lazarus later had to eventually die. Thus I asked the question by just picking on 3 verses – what should we do in the meantime before our destiny comes a calling? I shared from Matthew 6:33 (seek ye first the Kingdom of God), Matthew 6:19 (store up treasures in heaven) and Jeremiah 1:5 (our calling in God).

The structure of my message was a departure from my usual exegesis of a chosen text or narrative, which would then form the gist of my sermon. This time the Lord led me to use a chosen text as a springboard to deliver a reminder on what we should all do before death comes a calling; no matter what is our present age, education, social status, ministry or calling in God.

I believe that my daily reading of ODB and the accompanying Scriptures have helped me to have this versatility to expound on a topic beyond a selected biblical text and I am grateful to the Holy Spirit for teaching and guiding me along the way. I never believed that I am able provide an exhaustive exposition on any given text or topic in the bible but I believe that those 3 Scriptures were timely reminders to all that there are just some things that we must always aspire to do amidst our “busyness” in coping with life and its pressures, to earn a living and live in this world but always deferring to God’s will for our life.

My exaltation to all of us this morning is to strive on reading God’s Word as the more we read, the more may the Holy Spirit teach and guide us in the knowledge and fullness of God and His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The more we read the Bible, the more we may be transformed into the image of Christ, in our actions, reactions, thoughts, motivations and character. We cannot avoid but become a better person in Christ as we allow the Word of God to speak to us, change and transform us from within! Amen