4 Dec 2013 by Natasha Kim CM-
The President of SIB (Sidang Injil Borneo) Sabah, Rev Datuk Jerry Dusing recently graced SunwayMas Community Centre (SMCC) where he shared just how easy it is to understand the ways of God. Jerry is a man with many titles and well known for the good works he has done. But most of all, he is a human like you and I who has been transformed by God’s love. In the year 1993, he gave up his career as a Consultant Engineer to go into full-time ministry as the Senior Pastor of SIB Likas. “If God created a clown, he has got some funny side in Him, so do not think that your God is so boring. Your God is an interesting God and He knows you personally,” he said.
If we look at the nation at this very moment, we can be very confused at what is happening. Jerry wanted to help us understand God’s ways so that we can stand in unwavering faith in the face of challenging situations. “You will be tested particularly in this nation where you need to understand the fundamentals of what you believe so that you will not be confused. The man of God and the woman of God founded in the Word of God, irrespective of what happens in the world will not be confused,” he shared. In the midst of confusion, you may feel depressed or uncertain but when the Lord speaks to your heart know that you (God’s child) and this nation has not been forgotten! How do we make sense of what is happening around us? God works in our lives to give you hope and a future, to allow the good and the evil to flourish alongside, and through them, to perfect you through these life challenges. To answer this question, he also shared three scripture references for the principles above.
1) Hope and future (Your future is guaranteed in Jesus)
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
(Jeremiah 29: 11-14)
2) The Tares and the Wheat (Don’t expect present challenges to disappear, they are good for you)
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”
(Matthew 13: 27 – 30)
3) God’s ways are progressive and purposeful (You are being perfected through all these challenges)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(James 1:2-4)
“Your future is guaranteed in Jesus. In the midst of difficulty, remember that God does not intend evil and difficulties for you but in fact he purposes for you to know peace and hope,” he said. Jerry shared that as humans, we tend to degenerate when we have too much of a good thing. God allows evil to challenge us so that we begin to think who is our God. He allows the good and the evil to flourish together. “Do not think that there is no purpose in the evil, the Lord allows it for your good,” he shared. Everyone reaps what they sow and the time will come when God will sieve the harvest accordingly, separating the evil from the good.
The evil and the challenges that you face in your life perfect you and establish whether the truth (the Word of God) has been seared in your hearts. Is the word of God just something you say with your mouth without believing it in your heart? “It is important to not be foolish, if God removes all the evil, do you think you will be better? If we were to remove evil today many of us will also be removed along with it,” shared Jerry. God gives everyone an opportunity to turn because none of us ha been perfected yet. Once you have learned to grow and accept that there are certain challenges that has to be faced to make you stronger, you will continue to grow in perfection, just the way God intended.
In the midst of an evil and perverse generation that we are in, ask yourself what does God intend for you to do instead of just praying for the evil to be removed. “God’s ways are progressive but purposeful, He does not do things as an after-thought. Everything He does, He has thought through all of it. Be rest assured that He has a plan and a strategy that is more refined than our brain can even think of,” he shared. So remember that God intends for evil to perfect the good that is in each of us so that the good will not just remain good, but the good will become better and the better will become the best, and the best will be complete, lacking in nothing!
For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
(1 Peter 4:17)
Picture References
www.12stepstoanewlife.wordpress.com
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