KEY TEXT
Psalms 146:3-10 (RSV)
V3- Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
V4- When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.
V5- Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
V6- who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever.
V7- who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
V8- the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
V9- The LORD watches over the sojourners, he upholds the widow and the fatherless: but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
V10- The LORD will reign for ever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!
There are many messengers in this world sending us many types of messages in different ways. We have messengers like the postmen, the LBC or DHL Couriers. We also have high tech messengers like emails, SMS, messengers in FB or twitters and of course we have the no tact messengers like the gossipers relaying all the juicy gossips of the day to others.
But there is one messenger that matters dearly to God and that is us. We, as the believers of Christ, are the most important and needed messengers for God and for the world. Why? Because WE STEWARD THE ONLY MESSAGE ON PLANET EARTH THAT CAN GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEIR HEARTS NEED MOST, WHICH IS HOPE.
• Hope that sins can be forgiven.
• Hope that prayers can be answered.
• Hope that doors of opportunity, that seems locked, can be opened.
• Hope that broken relationships can be reconciled.
• Hope that diseased bodies can be healed.
• Hope that damaged trust can be restored.
• Hope that dead churches can be resurrected.
What is HOPE?
Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in “I hope something will happen.” This is NOT what the Bible means by HOPE.
The biblical definition of HOPE is ‘CONFIDENT EXPECTATION.”
Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown (Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 11:1,7). Hope is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous (Proverbs 23:18). Without hope, life loses its meaning (Lamentations 3:18; Job 7:6) and in death there is no hope (Isaiah 38:18; Job 17:15). The righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped (Psalms 28:7) and they will not be confounded, put to shame, or disappointed (Isaiah 49:23). The righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have a general confidence in God’s protection and help and are free from fear and anxiety.
Of all people, we as believers of Christ must claim that HOPE and live in it and radiate it to others. And we must proclaim that message of HOPE to everyone God gives us the opportunity to influence. Simply put, we must be the STEWARD OF HOPE – that’s the title of my message this morning. And I am sharing this message this morning in conjunction with the launching of the Essential Community for the second quarter of year 2017.
How to be a steward of HOPE?
1. HOPE NOT IN MAN
V3- Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
V4- When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.
Many today put their hope in the wrong place. They trust in wealth or a successful career or in a long-term relationship or in their image or status. There is nothing necessarily wrong with any of these things but none of them are a firm enough foundation upon which to build our lives.
It really matters where we put our hope: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.” (verse 3). Here, Psalmist David cautions us against making any man the object of our trust and hope. We are told that man lacks the ability to HELP. Man is a powerless creature.
The word ‘HELP” here in the Old Testament is translated as “salvation, deliverance and victory”. The idea here is this: man can be helpful from time to time in this life but MAN CAN NEVER OFFER YOU ETERNAL HELP. Therefore we are to be cautious in where we put our hope in.
Psalmist David also adds that man is a passing creature. “When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish” (verse 4). Man is here in this world for a short time and then he is gone. And when man passes from this world, all that he was and all that he offered to other men pass away with him (Ecclesiastes 2:16; 8:10; 9:5). God, on the other hand is eternal. What He does and what He gives are eternal.
I come to a point in my life where I refuse to lower myself to beg anything from any rich friends or Singaporeans any more. I do not want to put my confidence, trust or hope in any powerful people (princes in our Key text) or even in any people for that matter. The Word of God already prewarns me – THERE IS NO HELP FOR YOU THERE (V3- NLT).
God specifically spoke to me last year during my devo in two separate occasions:
“Do not depend on our allies” – Isaiah 10:20 – In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
“Vain Help from Allies”- Lamentations 4:17 (NLT)- We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us but we were looking to nations that could not help us.
As a Singaporean missionary to the Philippines, I must not look up to my own nation to help us in our Iloilo Missions. For the last four years, God has proven Himself true and faithful to us when our main Singapore ally turned against us and tried to destroy us by cutting us off and assassinating our characters. Today the ministries of Evangel Tabernacle at Iloilo City are still ongoing and thriving. We did not die as a result of not relying on powerful churches from Singapore anymore. We survive and triumph instead. This is due to the fact that God weaned us off from our hope in foreign ally and then to faithfully trust in Him. And when we just faithfully look to God and hope in Him, He never disappoints us. Hallelujah!!!
Do not put your hope in the wrong places especially in rich and powerful man.
2. HOPE ONLY IN GOD
V5- Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
V6- who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever.
Here, David tells us the right place to put our hope – in God. If you put your hope in the Lord, this hope is “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
David is able to have this firm hope in the Lord because of three things he found in God:
• The Greatness of His Power
V6b- who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them
He is the God of Creation! He is the God who said, “Let there be….” And there was. His power is awesome and it is limitless. It is this power that He extends to us in salvation and in our support day by day! When you are overwhelmed by life, remember who your God is and what He has done. Then remember that He is still ABLE (Ephesians 3:20) and that He is still the great “I AM” (Ex 3:14). WHEN YOU TRUST HIM, HIS POWER BECOMES YOUR POWER.
Illustration: Our new Navarra pick up can move down the highway at high rates of speed. It can keep up that pace for hours on end. It can climb hills that would wear us out long before we ever reached the top. Our pick up can do many things that we cannot do but when we trust its power and yield ourselves to its abilities, the abilities of our pick up become ours! Suddenly we can do what it is able to do, all because we trust it.
Application: The same is true in a far greater sense when it comes to the Lord. When we trust Him, His wealth becomes our wealth. His power becomes our power. His ability becomes our ability. We are enabled to walk, to win- all because we are resting in His power and not our own.
You can trust and hope in God because of the greatness of His power.
• The Greatness of His Promises
We are told that God “keeps faith forever”. In other words, “God keeps every promise forever” (verse 6b). This means that God will stand by His Word. Whatever God has promised, God will bring to pass. God’s children need not fear a single one of His promises passing away unfulfilled. God will do everything He has said He would do. Every promise from His putting food on your table and clothes on your back, to His saving you and keeping you saved, to His promises of a perfect home in Heaven someday, will be perfectly and completely kept. He keeps faith or promises forever.
F.B. Meyer says, “If any promise of God should fail, the heavens would cloth themselves in sackcloth; the sun, the moon and the stars would reel from their courses; the universe would rock, and a hollow wind would moan through a ruined creation the awful fact that God can lie.”
But we need never fear that taking place! Why? Because “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). You can count on Him. Therefore we should put our hope in the right place by hoping in the greatness of God’s promises.
• The Grace of God
David gives a list of the things God does for His people and we see the grace of God in operation among the different walks of life, which will bring us to our last point.
3. STEWARD HOPE TO THE COMMUNITY JUST AS GOD DOES
Our key text reveals to us the different types of people we can find in our community. They are:-
• The Wronged/Oppressed (verse 7a)
• The Poor (verse 7b)
• The Prisoners (verse 7c)
• The Blind or the Disabled (verse 8a)
• The Broken/bowed down (verse 8b)
• The Righteous (verse 8c)
• The Marginalized/foreigners (verse 9)
• The Bereaved (verse 9b)
• The Wicked (verse 9c)
How does God give hope to all these different people that we can find in any given community?
• He fights for the wronged/oppressed
V7- who executes justice for the oppressed;
God fights for the helpless – those who are wronged and oppressed. He helps those who cannot help themselves. Just as He delivered Israel from the cruel bondage of their captors, He has delivered His redeemed people from the cruel bondage of sin and Satan. When we could not deliver ourselves, He stepped in by grace and saved us.
I don’t have to elaborate more on this fact. I believe many of you have seen how God is vindicating both of us lately. A youth leader from LSBC was in my house in Spore recently and he gave both of us a prophetic download. He said he saw this image of a little boat that both of us were in and it was sailing on the sea. Then a big ship passed by us and due to its enormity, it stirred up big waves that rocked our little boat. He said the little boat did not capsized at all though it was shaking profusely. And he said despite its little size, this little boat has managed to fish so many fishes and they were inside the little boat – full. He said in the prophetic image, he looked into the big ship but there was no fish inside. Then this leader turned around and said that the little boat is Etab and the big ship was our enemy. Despite our small size and powerlessness, God did not allow a bigger and a more powerful church to overwhelm us. Etab was still being kept afloat by God and on top of that we are still bearing fruit. I was very blessed by such prophetic downloads. I know God is vindicating and his sun will shine till it is in the brightness of seven suns put together. He is a God of justice. He will execute for me and my hope is in the truth that He knows how!
• He feeds the hungry or the poor
V7b- who gives food to the hungry.
Not merely our daily bread but every need we have both physically and spiritually is met by our wonderful Father. We like to focus on those blessings which are physical in nature but the greatest of God’s blessings are spiritual. I can remember times when I needed a word for my soul and He never lets me down.
For four years, we were in financial constraint. But this is the fifth year and we are beginning to witness the flash flood of financial blessings. God really kept his word to me from Ezekiel last year that that He would be my Father Rohi to feed us and to guide us. Glory be to Him!
• He frees the prisoners
V7c- The LORD sets the prisoners free;
He delivered Israel from her tormentors and He can do the same for you and me. Jesus came to set men free. He delivered us from the greatest danger of all – hell.
• He lights the blind
V8- the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
Throughout His ministry Jesus did just that. He opened blind eyes on many occasion. But there is a greater darkness than physical darkness. That poor soul trapped in sin is blind to the things of God. He is held prisoner in his darkness by Satan. Many of us were once blind spiritually but now we see because Jesus opened the eyes of the blind so that we see the glorious light in Christ.
During the Youth camp last week, one of Mike’s contacts was totally blind in his two eyes. One of the youth leaders from LSBC on Friday felt that God wanted to heal someone on the left eye and they prayed for this guy and suddenly this guy was able to see light in his left eye for the first time. Glory be to God.
The blind here represents the disabled of any community or society. Singapore government is pouring in a lot of money to care for the disabled and the aged in our nation and I am proud of my government. Our government recently sent their representatives to our housing estate and asked each of us if we would like government to install free of charge either a free ramp in our house for the wheel chairs, or a railing along the house and CR for the aged or to repave our CR floor for anti-slippery tiles.
For 31 years, I haven’t really stayed long in Singapore but in this three-month sabbatical stay there, I suddenly notice there are many senior citizens. Many are on electric wheel chairs, accompanied by maids. I begin also to notice there are so many amenities that our government has installed to cater to them.
I was doing last-minute shopping at NTUC to buy pasalubong for my staffs and leaders when I noticed this frail old lady. She was limping badly and yet on her right hand, she was carrying a plastic bag of heavy things and on her left hand, she was carrying the grocery basket. She was struggling physically and yet she had to look around to buy some more stuffs. I was battling whether to help her or not. I alerted to Pastor Toh Nee about her struggle but he said nothing to me. So I went to her and I held her basket and I asked her nicely which aisle she would like to do her shopping in and I would carry it there for her. She was so shocked I offered to help and with a big smile on her face, she thanked me profusely for my offer and she said she could manage. I turned around and said Pastor Toh Nee, “ Look here at this old woman! She is much older than your mum, much frail and more crippled than your mum. Yet she is out there doing grocery shopping for her family whereas your mum keeps complaining about having to cook for the family. Please tell your mum to stop complaining about her life and to see how much more blessed she is than other senior citizens.”
• He lifts the bowed down
V8b- The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
The idea here is that God lifts the burden from the backs of the weary ones. Oh, how many times has He lifted my burden and given me rest. How many times have I been privileged to roll my burden over on Him just because He cares for me.
Are you bowed down today? Are you broken today? Are you depressed today? He lifts up the bowed down.
• He loves the righteous
Verse 8c – the LORD loves the righteous
God has a special place in His heart for those who are in a right relationship with Him. He tells us that nothing can ever sever that bond of love that ties us to the LORD. He loves us even when we are unlovable. He loves us when we deserve hatred. He loves us in spite of our foolishness and our failures. He loves us unconditionally, completely and eternally.
God used the Kingdom Invasion (KI) ministry worker in Singapore to touch my heart last March during the Conference and to affirm His great love for me as the righteous. On the second day of the KI, Pastor Yang, the organizer of KI told us that he felt led to pray for one nation and that was Thailand. Then he called out those who were from Thailand and then he added the nation of Philippines. I was out at the altar but the prayer line was not well organized. There were so many ministry workers without uniform and I couldn’t differentiate them from those from Thailand or Philippines. So Pastor Toh Nee and I just stood casually and nobody came to pray for us. I was a bit disappointed but thinking that this was only the second day, I may have opportunity to be prayed for the following day. After the leaders closed the prayers for these two nations, I stood at the altar waiting for Genevie (one of Etab KI attendees) to be prayed for as I was thinking of going lunch with her and Winston. Then a lady with an ID came to me and asked me if I was a ministry worker or was I out there to be prayed for. I just told her, “I am a missionary to the Philippines.” She exclaimed with joy and quickly held my hands and prayed in tongues for me and then she gave me the prophetic download that almost knocked the daylight out of me because of its accuracy. This was what the Lord used her to prophesy to me, “My delight is in You. I have put a bubble of protection round you. You will never run dry. I will straighten all your bones and I will give you good health. Your heart – I will expand it to love more, to give and to forgive. I will give you a bigger heart and a new vision. The sun will soon rise on your darkness. No harm will touch you because my protection is around you and your family. My delight is really in you. I will enlarge your tent. I will strengthen your heart. I say to you, rest, rest, rest.” After the download, she looked at me and told me that the prophetic image she saw was a very big bubble surrounding me and a bright sun shining. She stressed on these two prophetic images. When I revealed to her about my fractured bones and scoliosis, she wowed! Then I told her that the name of my church in Iloilo is Tabernacle and she wowed again because she prophesied that my tent (my tabernacle) shall be enlarged; then I told her about the painful breakaway I had had with my sending church and she wowed again because of the sun lighting upon my darkness. Finally I told her about the ongoing three-month Sabbatical that we were taking in Singapore after 31 years in the mission field, she wowed again because of the “three rests” she stressed to me.
I went home with all these affirming prophetic download and I meditated on them. It is one thing to know God’s love for me but it is quite another thing to have a total stranger come and affirm what God has already been telling me. So I left that conference very amazed and stunned by the real delight and love that this God has for me. It boosts up my confidence even more when I draw near to his throne. In other words, it is so “amazing” to be really loved by God so personally and so REALLY. “To hear what He’s saying, brings life to my soul. To love Him, to love him alone!!!”- That is how I felt according to what the lyrics of this song says. To you, such kind of words that God loves you may not mean anything but for me – it means the whole lot to me, seeing that I am someone greatly hated by many.
• He safeguards the marginalized or the foreigners
Verse 9-The LORD watches over the sojourners (aliens/foreigners).
In this Psalms, God even watches out for those who are not even part of the nation of Israel. He cares for those who are strangers by birth but have adopted Israel as their new home. What grace!
In an indirect sense, you and I are strangers and pilgrims in this world. And as we travel through this earthly land as pilgrims headed for a city, we can count on the Lord to watch over us. We are secured by His protection and by His promises.
There is a lot of construction going on near my flat in Singapore. There is going to be an MRT that runs from Johor Bahru to Spore and one of the stations that MRT line will run through is the one below my flat. Due to this MRT station, I have been seeing many foreign workers, namely the Sri Lankans or the Bangladeshi. I saw so many working right into the dead of the night and I pitied them. One day, after being treated by someone, my host gave me the take-out composing of salted egg crab. They are very expensive stuff. While coming out of the car from the carpark, I saw a few Bangladeshi from the MRT construction site, sitting on the curb, resting. I went over to them and gave them the crab and they thanked me profusely. Then on another occasion, I was coming home at 10.30 pm and I saw two Bangladeshi watering plants on the compound surrounding my flat. I know I have so many delicious Chinese New Year goodies that were left untouched or unfinished and I ran upstairs to pack all of them into one big plastic bag to give it to them. When I came down, they already moved to the next block to water the plants. I crossed the road and just gestured to them to eat. They thanked me profusely. Then on another occasion, I was walking on the void deck, limping in my new shoes and I saw two Indians riding on a little buggy pulling all the big bins of garbage behind them. They alighted and walked towards me. Then one of them stopped and called out to me, “Aunty!” I was shocked and I stopped. Then one of them said, “There is something on your shoes!” Before I could do anything, he ran over to my foot and pull out a string that got attached to my shoes when I was taking the elevator down. I thanked him and I remembered his face. A few days later, I met him on the buggy again and I greeted him. He waved back to me. Then I motioned him to come to me. He stopped the buggy and ran to me. Seeing it was Chinese New Year, I pulled out from my bag one red packet and I gave it to him. He was so happy. I am happy too because I can be a blessing to these foreigners. I just want to be the steward of hope that Christ gave me and share it with this group of aliens that many Singaporeans despise. And I am glad that Joy (my eldest daughter) has the same DNA as me- always having a soft spot for the marginalized people.
• He supports the bereaved
Verse 9 b- he upholds the widow and the fatherless.
The bereaved are those who have lost their spouse or their parents. They are the widows and the fatherless. God upholds or supports these two groups of people – the bereaved. Society and people may ignore these two groups of people but not God. They are never off the mind of God. God cares for the bereaved. When you are bereaved and hurting, we can trust God to comfort us in our suffering for His glory.
You all know that Pastor Toh Nee’s brother-in-law passed away on 31 Dec 2016 and we arrived on 1 January 2017 just on time for his funeral. While on our way there with my daughters, we were quite concerned for the two sons whom Amos left behind. Joy asked me if they needed financial help for their studies. The eldest just completed his 4th year high school and waiting to enter into Polytechnics. The younger one is in Grade 6. The pastors of Amos from People’s Church came to conduct the cremation service. After the cremation, it was Pastor Toh Nee who graciously offered to help his widowed sister to facilitate all the legal papers of Amos’ asset. Alicia – the sister of Pastor Toh Nee was a very clueless lady. She has no idea how much money was in the bank, not to mention what bank Amos deposited the money into. Amos didn’t let the family know his laptop password or even the cell phone password. He just left without putting his house in order. So his son had to hack into his account. When finally the passwords were hacked open, they saw all the different accounts Amos had had in the banks and all the different insurance policies Amos had taken without the knowledge of his wife. Do you know what Pastor Toh Nee found out? All in all, Amos left behind $500,000/- for his family. I was very amazed by the way God takes care of widows and the fatherless. We thought Pastor Toh Nee’s nephews would be impoverished. Turns out God knows how to take care of the widows and the fatherless.
• He sentences the sinner or the wicked
Verse 9c- but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Just as God cares for His own along the path of life, He frustrates the plans of the wicked. In the end, God will vindicate His Name and exalt Himself.
Just look at what God does for the different types of people in the community and you will agree that God is the only one God we can trust and hope in. Jesus is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. And because His hope is deposited into our spirit man, we can bring new hope to the oppressed, the poor and the hungry, to those in prison, to the blind and the bowed down, to those seeking asylum, and to the widows and the orphans- just like how God does it. Let us follow the example of God and be that faithful steward of hope to our community. Give hope to those who need it most.
After I arrived at Singapore on 1 January 2017, I received an invitation from Susan Wong to preach in her Filipino Church on the third week of January. I was very unwilling because it was my sabbatical leave and I really wanted to leave my preaching field fallow and not sow or plow anything on it. My antenna for receiving messages of God was down. Now that I received this invitation, I was burdened again to pray for the right message for the Filipino Church. For 31 years, I have been preaching to Filipinos and for once – just for three months – I don’t want to be in a Filipino congregation but to be in local Singaporean congregation. But then God persuaded me to accept the invitation. Having none of my sermons with me, I was a bit exasperated for a message and then the Holy Spirit led me to read one of the devos which God has spoken to me on 22 Dec 2017 and the sermon was on this key text – the Power of Hope. I shared very casually to the Filipinos and I remembered concluding my sermon with this statement -We steward the only message on planet earth that can give people what their hearts need most, which is hope.
The following day, I was at Cold Storage – a supermarket at Holland Village, where many expats were staying. I went there to shop for things to cook for Menudo Manok (a Filipino dish). As Pastor Toh Nee was driving me there, we passed by rows and rows of condos along the way. Normally I would ignore them but that particular Monday, I felt very led to study and read the name of each condo located along the road to Holland Village. Out of the many condos, one name appealed to me and it was the name –SPANISH VILLAGE.
While in the Cold Storage supermarket, I sent Jan to pick up some ingredient for me in another aisle while I asked Pastor Toh Nee to carry the basket for me and I said loudly to him that I would be going to this aisle to pick up a small can of cooked green peas. A foreign looking Eurasian lady was also in the same aisle as I was and she looked up and stared at me. I thought I was being too loud and rude. She stopped me and spoke to me, “Sister, I have cooked many Mexican dishes. Never buy canned peas.” Without waiting for my permission, she locked her arms into mine and led me to the freezer department to pick up a pack of fresh peas. She told me fresh peas are better than canned peas. I had no choice but to take it with a smile and I was about to go but then she kept calling me “sister.” She said she felt very drawn to me when she saw me and she just wanted to talk to me. There in the middle of the shopping aisle, she unloaded her problems to me. I looked into her eyes and I could tell she was injured on her right eye and cheek. There were bruises on her right cheek and her right eyes had some blood clots. I found out later that she purposely injured herself by banging her head to the wall. She unburdened her sorrow and brokenness. She shared about the adulterous affair of her husband. She told me a little of her background – her French husband used to be an ambassador but now he is a perfumer working in Spore. They are residing now in Spore and both of her sons are PR. One is a commando in the armed forces of Spore while the other is a student in NUS. She also has a daughter who is an equestrian. Her family owns a horse in Spore. As she was sharing, she confessed that she was feeling very down and was at the rock bottom that day. She was under medication for her clinical depression. As she was asking me how to get out of this dump, I shared with her about Jesus. I told her to tap on Jesus for the power to forgive her adulterous husband. She replied, “Oh, sister, stop talking like my mother. Talk like a sister to me.” I didn’t know what to say but I just felt led to pull her towards my shoulder. I just hugged her and whispered to her – Jesus loves you. She cried and cried on my shoulder and as I was hugging her I saw in the distance Ptr Toh Nee and Jan laughing at me and scurrying away from me in “embarrassment”. There were a few shoppers who kept looking at us but then I didn’t care. I began to share the gospel to her right in the middle of the supermarket. She asked me if this Jesus could be trusted. I answered, “Of course. Then why do you think as a Singaporean I would give up such a good life in Spore to go to Philippines and be a missionary for 31 years?” My questions made sense to her. Finally, I called out to Pastor Toh Nee and Jan to join us. She liked Jan so much that she wanted to match make Jan with one her of two sons. She even spoke to Jan in French. Then she began to show us all the family photos. After conversation, she held three of our hands and she prayed such a sincere prayer to Jesus in tears. She thanked the Lord for letting her meet us and she was so happy to know that we are Christians. After she prayed for us, I took over the prayer and I laid my hands on her heart and I invoked the finished work of Jesus on the cross for her. I prayed the kingdom prayer. After I prayed, she couldn’t stand still. She became tipsy and tears streamed from her eyes and she said that was the most powerful prayer she has ever heard someone pray. Then she turned to Jan and commented, “Your mum is wonderful. Her prayer is so powerful, isn’t it? Oh my! When she was praying, I felt something from high hit me on the inside and I am feeling very weak now. But it was so good. It was so good. I feel I can breathe again.” Then we asked her where she was staying and you know what? She said- Spanish Village. Pastor Toh Nee didn’t know where that place was but I knew because the Holy Spirit already quickened that place to me while we had yet to meet this lady by the name of Kay. We fetched her home and on the way she kept thanking God for letting her meet us.
That day was the day when I thought I could punctuate my sermon on being a steward of hope just for that Sunday service with the Filipinos, not knowing that God wanted me to live out my sermon by literally being a steward of this message of hope even to the unlikeliest person at the unlikeliest place – a supermarket for the expats. God really tested out my declaration to the Filipino Church that we are stewards of hope. I thought I could take off my garment as a missionary, as a priest but no – even on Sabbatical – I am still a steward of the message of hope. That’s who I am – in season and out of season.
The following day, in my devo, God spoke to me in Psalms 23:3(NLT) – He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. God spoke to me that it was him who guided me along a right path to meet a broken soul, a soul who was very bowed down so that I can give her the message of hope in Christ and this encounter will bring honor to his name. In my devo that day, I thank Jesus for His guidance upon me to a needy soul that honors his name.
We as pastors can give you the message of hope. But what are you going to do with that message of hope once you are blessed and lifted by it? Get out of the four walls of this church. Go out to the community – whether it is your school, your work, your family or even a casual grocery shopping and ask God to use you to influence the community around you with this powerful message of hope in Christ. Ask God for divine guidance to a needy soul that will bring honor to His name. BE A STEWARD OF HOPE FOR THE NEEDY AND BROKEN COMMUNITY!!!
END
Preached at etab 1st eng service on 9 april 2017
