Reflections

Date: 23-08-26
Preacher: Bro Ezekiel Seah
Title: The Great Commission

The Great Commission

This morning’s message was in essence Part 2 of Bro Ezekiel’s message delivered earlier in the year. He shared that his earlier message was divided into 3 parts: 

1) The Great Commandment, 2) The Great Commission and 3) The Great Advocate. He then said the first two are a pair of chopsticks with the Great Advocate’s hand holding the chopsticks.

This morning’s message shared three points how we can do the Great Commission and the first of which is through prayers. Bro Ezekiel said that Christian living is all about communication with God. Likewise, so long as husbands and wives do disagree and even quarrel, there is a good chance the relationship is still strong. However, when couples stay silent, the end of the relationship is near. Hence, communication with God should also be reciprocal; while we ‘petition’ God with our prayers, we must also be prepared to listen to Him too. He quoted Jere 33:3 in support.

He asked the congregation whether we see prayer the way Billy Graham saw prayer as the Christian’s greatest weapon. Then he quoted Matt 9:37-38 to say that even before workers are sent to the harvest field, Jesus himself saw the need to pray. He then asked the congregation whether we pray for the people around us: for open doors and open hearts and the opportunities to share. He then shared a two-in-one testimonies involving his pastor and himself. His pastor was praying for his own wealthy father to be saved and ‘petitioned’ God with a request that if his father could be made to be saved as a result of losing his wealth amassed through the underground gambling industry and if this was also God’s will, then let it be done. Likewise, Bro Ezekiel also petitioned God with a request that if his own father could be saved then let him go through a crisis too. He admitted these are not easy prayers for children to make for their parents and yes, both fathers were saved as a result of serious personal crisis and are thriving.

The second ‘how’ is through obedience. Bro Ezekiel shared on 3 types of obedience: 1) delayed obedience (Luke 9:59-62), 2) partial obedience (Matthew 19:16-22) and 3) instant obedience (Genesis 12:1-4 and Genesis 22:1-3). He gave the example of Abraham as one who obeyed instantly and is known as the Father of Faith. He said that while the first two types of obedience are not harmful, they are disobedience. 

The third ‘how’ is to trust God’s timing. Bro Ezekiel said most of us would just give up when we don’t see the result of our effort after a while. He shared we should just do our part and leave the outcome to God, for our efforts would never be wasted (1 Corinthians 3:6). He then said that God would be more anxious than us in the Great Commission. 

Before the Sunday service concluded, one of the brothers in Bro Ezekiel’s entourage, Bro Jonathan, shared a testimony on his addiction to gambling and how God saved him through the brothers of the New Charis Mission.