Cross-Purposes

Sunday, 11th October 2009

Today, it was Ps Reuben's turn to preach again in my own home church. So needless to say, my wife and I did not go to the Rock.

He entitled his sermon "Cross-Purposes" (hence the title of today's blog entry) and the passage in question was Mk 8:27-33. Before preaching, he touched on what it means to "deny oneself, take up one's cross and to follow Jesus" and crossed-referenced that to what Paul said in Gal 2:20 which talks about how we are crucified with Christ.

In his sermon proper, he mentioned that in the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit was limited to just kings and prophets and only for a moment in time. However, in the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit now indwells the believer upon us being born again and remains in us forever.

He also challenged us to expect to see signs and wonders accompanying the preaching of the gospel, and that resonated very deeply in my heart. My church just turned 77 in July this year, and I am very much looking forward to seeing her embark on her next stage and season of growth. I remeber how her membership grew from about 600 back in the early 1980s to about 2,400 in 2005, but has remained at that number for the past 4 years. There is no reason why she cannot grow beyond 3,000 when PLMC becomes a "signs and wonders" centre :-)

Like I have mentioned before, God is no respecter of persons (or even churches), but He is a respecter of faith. NewCre is able to experience exponential growth because her pastors never fail to unveil Jesus in their sermons. PLMC can also do likewise if her pastors also keep true to the gospel and keep Jesus central in their messages. Amen?

You can listen to Ps Reuben's "Cross-Purposes" sermon at the following link:

http://www.box.net/shared/x497uc7zn6