Worship God 2010 Plenary 5

Pastor Chris Kam, 18/09/2010
You live the 1st half of your life learning how to live the 2nd half better. Pastor Chris believes life really starts at 50. This is the time we have a lifelong experiences before us. With all the mistakes we have learned from, we have a lot of wisdom to live our lives. And we have a bigger clout / influence. Pastor Chris wants his 3 sons to do better and far more than he can.
Pastor Chris started leading worship at the age of 17 as a 1-year old Christian. He grew up with the Beatles and Cliff Richard and the gramophone. He grew up with songs like Yesterday.
He remember old songs and also round singing. He let us into a round (pun not intended) of round singing. It was beautiful.
There are a few concerns in the worship ministry.

We are not living our life right

Worship leading is not about choosing good songs and seeing people cry. Worship ministry is about us. It about what God can do for us. It is a very public ministry. It is also a very dangerous ministry because everything bad about us is revealed. God deals with us as we function as the priests. God takes priests very seriously. Thank God we are living in the age of grace. But we do not take the grace for granted.
Many starts well but they don’t end well. Those in their 20’s who are exciting to serve God, will they remain that way when there are in the 40’s? Not many are ready for the long haul. Many cannot go the distance because of all the distractions. If our lives evolve around our children then we will be distracted. When we have the first child, we need to be careful. Careers and other pursuits can also distract us,
Eph 5:16-17  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  (17)  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

we are not holy

Holy in the Bible means being set apart. We read in the Bible people who failed God time and again. Holiness = set apart from the world and not doing what they do.
In Sesame Street there is a segment for children to pick one object that doesn’t belong to a group. If we have 3 non-Christians and 1 Christian driving on the car, can we tell them apart? If we cannot,  then it’s sad.
Can people tell us as Christians from others in a non-condescending way? Can they tell that we are different? Who we are in the church should not be different from who we are outside. There has to be a connection.
As a pastor, he spends a lot of time counseling. When a church spends a lot of time counseling, there is something wrong with the way we disciple people. If discipleship is done right and the church deals with the inner life, then there will be less problems. This is the enemy’s strategy to keep the church busy with problems. The root cause is people not being careful with their lives, not living out the life according to the  Bible. Are we any different from our friends, family and colleagues? Are we giving the best that we can within our capacity?
What is the hardest thing in life to do? It is to die to self. Sin is spelled with I in the middle. If we want to build great ministries, we need to die a million times and rebuild a million times. Paul tells us he dies everyday. We need to die everyday.
In the OT (Deut 15), a slave can be set free by the master. However, if a slave decides to serve his master for the rest of his life, then the master will take an oaf and pin his hear to the door post. This indicates that the slave will follow his master for the rest of his life.
God cannot force us to follow him. The greatest gift that God has given us is choice. He releases us and allows us to choose if we want to continue to follow him.
A Christian  life is about choice. It is about freely making the choice willingly to follow God.
If we don’t understand this, then everything becomes a chore.
We cannot hear God clearly because we have a lot of things in our lives.
We have this idea that when we don’t do our quiet time God will
Rom 15:4  For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Eph 6:10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Eph 6:6  not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
David grew as as shepherd. He played the harp very well possibly because he has nothing to do watching the sheep. He has a lot of practice. He probably perfected his slinging skills while tending his sheep too. He lived a colourful life. He did not end well. He is still called the man after God’s heart. He almost broke every one of the 10 Commandments at one go. When he was confronted, he repented. And he never worshipped idols.
In 2 Samuel 11, we read the story of King David who was at the pinnacle of his ministry (monarchy). When he was to go to war, he took a sabbatical. Do not take a break when God did not call for it. If it’s not for spiritual retreat, then it’s for the wrong reasons which may lead in backsliding. David got up from the bed in the evening. David walked on top of the roof and saw a women bathing. How do you know a woman is beautiful? Only when you take a second look.
The are many temptations that come into our lives that may keep us from being holy. We cannot prevent that. Don’t take a second look!
He sent his men to ask about the woman. He found out she is Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite. He sent for her and slept with her. All this took place within a short time. If we want to live the first half of our lives well, learn not to take a second look. When temptation comes, things can happen very fast.
Bathsheba got pregnant. The Bible is very clear that Bathsheba just had a period, i.e. the child is clearly David’s. David was caught.
David called Uriah back from the battlefield and sent him home in the hope that he would sleep with Bathsheba and try to pass the child as Uriah. But Uriah being an honourable man and did not sleep with his wife with his men are out there fighting a war.
David got Uriah drunk. Still, even when drunk, Uriah remained an honourable man.
David instructed Joab to send Uriah to the front line for him to be killed. David married Bathsheba soon later after that. David thought he got away,
God sent Nathan to confronted David.
Pastor Chris told this story to explain the Rooftop Principle. Do not go to the rooftop because we may see something we should not see. Do not even go near because we are weak. Paul reminded us not to think too highly of ourselves because we will fall. Put our guard around us.
People who recognize the condition of their soul should be respected. They guard their heart not just for their own sake but also for the sake of their family.
God loves us so much that he values the lives he saves with a high price. He leaves us with free choice. If ever we stumble and fall, the only person we can blame is ourselves. “It’s my fault!”
If we can look at ourselves honestly, there is no reason the Lord cannot take us to places he intends for us.