ON PREACHING, POST-ITS AND HOLINESS

In a church our size and a pastoral staff who have designated ministry assignments, I only get to preach once a month, for which I am thankful. My main assignment is in the area of worship, but I also love preaching so much that I grab every opportunity presented to me.

Last night in our midweek worship I had the wonderful privilege of preaching God's Word again.

Preaching a message titled, What Drives You? based on Galatians 5, on what it means to be led by the Spirit was precipitated by a conversation I had with a lady a number of weeks ago. The lady, who used to come to our church (and admits that she now goes to another) held a view about being Spirit-led that is not exactly Biblical. I figured, if a lady her age who has been in church for a decade now has deficient views on the Life in the Spirit, there must be a huge number of folks who also do.

Judging by the vibrant response of the congregation, unwavered attention (despite the fact that we went 10 minutes overtime*) throughout the message, I'd say, the people had fun learning about what it means to be Spirit-led as we went along the study of God's Word. It was amazing to see how the people were so hooked and interested in the topic, perhaps because it was something close to their hearts- or perhaps to all of our hearts! To be Spirit-led is a call of God to every Christian, and choosing to be led is a constant struggle because of the presence of the two natures inside of us- the Spirit, who leads us to do God's will, and the sinful nature that tries to prevent us from doing so. Everyone struggles with what St. Paul referred to as the two forces that are in conflict within us. But still, we are a people called to holiness-- and I say that in a generic and Biblical way. As Christians, regardless of denominational loyalty or theological leaning (Calvinist-Arminian), we are all called to holiness.

(We went overtime- the clock in the Fellowship Hall ran out of battery power that it stopped at 8:10! I kept glancing at it so I'd finish at 8:25, and be done with the benediction by 8:30!)

We closed the Midweek Service in a non-traditional way. I had the ushers give away Post-its® on which I asked congregants to write down the issues/sins they struggle with the most and we will altogether post it on the large wooden cross in the Fellowship Hall! After a brief prayer, I read Galatians 5:24-25, Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed (in our case "post-its") the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. I asked each one that once they're done, they can stand, walk down the aisle, stick their "sins" on the cross and walk out of the Fellowship Hall.

I stood at the door to shake the hands of the people when they come out. It was so moving to see some people write down their struggles on a little yellow Post-it® with tears. One by one they stood, to stick their Post-its® on the cross.

After dinner with Joel and Ces, and meeting briefly with Joy, I came back to the Fellowship Hall at 10 to pick up the Post-Its® so I can pray for the people whose struggles are summed up in those tiny pieces of paper. I have the Post-Its® on my table here at home. Later, I'll bring the post-its to GCF's Prayer Room.