Reflection on Judges

"In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes"  Judges 21:25

I just went through the book of Judges in the Old Testament and I was fascinated by how God delivered his people in that time of history.  I see various flaws in human deliverers (judges).  Human failures did not defeat God's plan of deliverance for his people.  This pattern repeats itself in the book of Judges "God sent a leader for deliverance, there is peace, people forgot about God, people worshipped pagan gods, God gave them up for oppression, people cried to the LORD for help, God sent a leader for deliverance."  The people of Israel lived in a very dark and evil period.

The behaviour of today's people and myself resembles how people were back then.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  It is remarkable that after such chaotic abuses and rebellion, God was still not prepared to give up on Israel.  It is God alone who sustain His own people.

God is the one who sustains me.  It is never my own effort and righteousness to bring peace and love to people.  It is always God's deliverance and I can continue to count on God to protect, to bless, to guide, to provide, and to lead me to do his work for his glory.

A challenge I received from God is the following:

Do I do what is right in my own eyes?  or Do I do what is right in God's eyes?

I pray that we all do what is right in God's eyes!

Wrath of God

Characteristics of Godly Wrath (By: Bob Deffinbaugh)

(1) Godly wrath is vastly different from the wrath of man (James 1:20).

(2) The wrath of God is always in accordance with the standards set down in Scripture for man’s conduct and the warnings God has given for disobedience (Deuteronomy 29:26-28; 30:15-20; 2 Samuel 12:9-10; 2 Kings 22:10-13; 24:2; 2 Chronicles 19:8-10; 34:18-28; 36:15-16; Jeremiah 22:11-12; 44:2-6).

(3) The wrath of God is in accordance with the deeds of men. God’s wrath is always in direct proportion to man’s sin (Psalm 28:4; Isaiah 59:18; Jeremiah 17:10; 21:14; 25:14; Ezekiel 20:44; 24:14; 36:19).

(4) God’s wrath is slow and controlled, not sudden and explosive (Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18).

(5) God’s wrath comes after warning of judgment (see, for example, the warnings given to men in the days of Noah (Genesis 6-9), of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), and throughout the Old Testament by the prophets).

(6) God’s wrath is always provoked by man’s sin (Deuteronomy 4:25; 9:18; Jeremiah 25:6-7; 32:32).

(7) God wrath is not exercised in sin but in righteousness (Romans 2:5; James 1:19-20).

Ministry Reflection

There were a few successful events and initiatives that should be highlighted.  I would like to highlight the June 4 bubble tea night which contributed to a burst in growth.  Also, the summer retreat in 2010 was another highlight in helping with the bonding and stabilization of the group.   In 2011, the group is more or less stabilized and the people from the gifted group returned regularly.  The new disciples were led by Vicky: Rosie, Brenda, Tiffany, Serina, Joyce.  I led Calvin to Christ in 2011. We give thanks for God’s gift and for this year, the great success is personal evangelism.  For 2012, let’s build up on the success in 2010 and do the big projects well and keep up with the zeal and passion for personal evangelism.  However, the follow up and retention efforts needs to be built up for this year.

           

It is clear that people who stay in the fellowship has friends who are in the group.  We see that in order for people to find loyalty and looking forward to come.  We are to reach out to our friends and connections.  We see success in Serina and Tiffany.  We see that they start coming regularly after they made a decision to follow Christ.  Jenny Wong, Joyce, and Calvin also made a decision and we need to pray a lot for them too.  There are people who came but don’t feel like coming and this would goes the same for Serina, Tiffany, Jenny Wong, Joyce, and Calvin: they are seeking to grow and know God.  That’s the purpose and reason for fellowship.  As a leader, I need the courage to have the judgement call to bring edification and growth so that brothers and sisters are edified and encouraged spiritually by God.  The question is how to create Crossroad to be a place where edification occurs.

           I am consulting the session on edification in the cell leader Intern guide book.  Brothers and sisters are encouraged by awesome worship, sharing/prayer, learning/growing from God’s Words, feeling accepted and belonged.  I am reminded to lead with courage and bring out the transformation in Christ through spiritual formation.  Of course this needs to be balanced with relevancy to the youth culture.  Brothers and sisters come back to small group when they are cared for and they experienced Jesus Christ building them up, ministering to their hurts, pains, needs, and problems.  As a leader, how can I plan and design Crossroad to implement all those strategies?  How can I convict leaders to implement those strategies?

            To begin, there is nothing I can do with my power and strength alone in planning and leading.  I am humbled by this process of engaging in the strategy and action planning.  Edification means meditation and applying God’s Words.  Practically, we are going to implement the review and application of last week’s sermon message every time we meet during small group. 

            The area of focus is personal discipleship.  This is the area to excel on.  First of all, I am to identify the people in the discipleship process.  After I have identify them through prayer, I am to groom them and empower them to serve and develop a deeper intimacy with Christ.  How did I develop deeper intimacy with Christ?  I believe everyone will have a different path for spiritual formation.  What inspired me and gave me the passion to pursuit God with all my heart and soul?  How have I grew spiritually in the past two years in PGC?  Relationship and care is very important.  I pray that Crossroad is a place where we grow in deeper intimacy with God, love and care for one another, and burdened to share the good news to others.

            For discipleship of mature believers, the strategy is to involve them in personal evangelism.  We start by identifying the friends they can potentially outreach to.  After praying and working through it, we narrow down to 1-3 people.  We are then committed to pray for those people weekly.  I will start doing that with the people I disciple (Alex, Ryan, Godwin, Ellen, Jenny, Steven, Serina, Tiffany, Calvin)  The action that follows is to come up with a list within the small groups. 

            Also, the strategy is for me to visit Dennis by getting him off school together with Alex.  This can be expanded to other guys down the road.  For Vicky’s case, she can involve Serina or Tiffany or Ellen down the road when she do personal evangelism.  I am praying for open doors for connecting with them.