Sage Voice

The Spotless Agenda: 014 Apologetical Ministry of Jesus Often we hear more about the preaching and teaching ministry of Jesus, but less about his apologetical ministry.   Well, the reason for the scanty information about his apologetical ministry might be that many preachers feel apprehensive to venture into apologetics. They think that apologetics is about organising debates to debunk other people's opinions about Jesus.  Many preachers think that apologetics is not spiritual but rather, only scholastic or academic. They say that it requires in-depth scholarship or avid reading and research. So they leave it for scholars and specialists.  To state plainly, Jesus had the best apologetical ministry. Besides preaching and teaching, Jesus also answered those who asked him to give reasons for the hope that he had. This is what apologetics is about - answering those who ask you to give reasons. Apostle Peter wrote to the entire Christian community then - they were followe...

 The Spotless Agenda: 013 Holistic Social Transformation Apostle Paul was a very influential minister of the gospel. He was a business person, an evangelist, a teacher and a missionary.  As a business person, he built tents (to use a more contemporary word, canopies) for money. As an evangelist, he preached and won many lost souls to Christ. As a missionary, he travelled around Asia Minor (present day Turkey) to preach, to win the lost and to plant churches. As a teacher, he explained the mysteries about Christ in the churches which he planted. Thus, he became very influential in the world which then was. Today, we read about Apostle Paul in the New Testament of the Bible. He has thirteen (13) epistles to his credit, out of the twenty seven (27) books that make up the New Testament. In his missionary journeys, Apostle Paul catered for the needs of the members on his team. With support from his churches as well as special ministry partners, Apostle Paul was able to reach out to...

The Spotless Agenda: 012 Travailing until Christ is richly formed in the church We are in a generation where many Christians have been brainwashed to think that conforming to Christ is too much work. Teachings about becoming more completely like Christ are subtly attracting labels as being legalistic.  You know, some Bible critics - sadly, a lot of them are in the church - wish that the Bible could be re-written. The discipline of attuning oneself to scriptural truth and enlightenment of the Spirit is waning down. Scriptural truth with enlightenment of the Spirit is being replaced with intuitive, mysterious and apocalyptic teaching.  In his days, Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia and said to them, "My children, I feel really like a mother who is giving birth to you again. I feel pain on your behalf until you become more completely like Christ." (Gal 4:19 Easy English). Like Paul, I feel the pain of a woman in labour on behalf of many Christians until they become more co...

The Spotless Agenda: 011 Be perpetual in your spotlessness Ephesians 5:27, KJV That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Easy English So then he could bring it to himself as a beautiful church, without any bad or dirty mark on it. He could bring it to himself as a completely good church, with nothing wrong. Ephesians 5:25-32 appears to be Paul's most profound message on marriage. He actually enlightens husbands and wives on what it means to be a husband or a wife. A husband is like Christ to his wife. A wife is like the church to her husband.  He dwells on the beautiful spiritual union between Christ and his Beloved, the church, to draw a husband and his wife into the same magnitude of love between Christ and the church. If a husband and his wife will situate their marital union in the context of Christ and his church, there promises to be happiness and glory in their marria...

The Spotless Agenda: 010 Witnessing  Preaching and teaching are parts of witnessing. Witnessing is the bigger picture.  To witness is to bear testimony about something or someone that you have seen, heard, handled, felt or smelt.  To be able to witness to Jesus effectively, he chooses to specially engage some people's physical senses in supernatural encounters so as to enable them enlighten humans about his unsearchable riches. Witnessing is giving details about unseen or untold spiritual realities. Witnessing is detailing supernatural realities with words that people can clearly understand. Witnessing is telling other people what you have encountered about Jesus.  Witnessing has nothing to do with assumption, presupposition, deduction, implication or inference. It is telling the truth just as it is. What underscores witnessing is truth, and encountering the truth yourself. And God's word is truth.  Good witnessing begins with knowing Jesus for yourself through ...

The Spotless Agenda: 009 You are not God's puppet Many Christians say things that they don't mean. Others say things out of misunderstanding. Meanwhile, Scripture teaches us to speak in agreement with God.  When a Christian commits, and regrets committing, a sinful act, he or she would say, "Lord, why didn't you prevent me?" When he or she begins to experience the bitter side of relationship, they would say, "Lord, why did you watch me enter this relationship?" And when he or she feels disappointed in someone they trusted so much, they would say, "Lord, why didn't you give me more details about this person?"  All of these questions indicate misunderstanding of one's relationship to God.  God is your real spiritual Father. He gave birth to you by his Spirit. He did not design you as a puppet. A puppet has no mind, will or emotion. It doesn't think, it doesn't feel, it doesn't reason. A puppet is totally programmed and remote-...

The Spotless Agenda: 008 Catch people where they are mostly lost Matthew 4:19, Easy English " 'Come with me and be my disciples’, Jesus said to them. ‘And I will teach you how to catch people.’ " Wonder why Jesus taught the lesson of caching people at the seashore? It is because his mode of teaching was Demonstration. At the seashore, he demonstrated how to catch people.  People who are into the business of catching fish don't waste time around streams and springs. They are always on the sea or river or lake. Some of them sleep on sea for days. Until they get a bumper harvest, they don't return home.  Evangelism is about winning the lost. Take note of this: not just any kind of soul, but the lost! If your business is picking up seeds that someone else has already sown, then you are not a farmer. If your business is collecting fishes from the boat when it arrives from the sea, then you are not a fisher. The farmer is the one who sows the seed. The fisher is the one...

The Spotless Agenda: 006 Answering the questions of "Can" in Christianity Many Christians have been asking, "Can the Christian commit sin?", "Can the Christian be poor?", "Can the Christian die?", "Can the Christian lose his or her salvation?", "Can the Christian experience brokenheart?" These and many other questions bother the minds of Christians, especially those who are beginning to gain ground in Christian spirituality.  I will be addressing these and other questions using two approaches: the textual approach and the experiential approach. The textual approach will base on the text of Scripture itself and the experiential approach will base on the various experiences that Christians have as they obey God and do his word.  Let's begin... The first declaration I want to make is that no word of God is unreasonable. Can the Christian commit sin?  1John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed r...

 The Spotless Agenda: 007 A Life of Voracious Evangelism Luke 4:43, Easy English " ‘I cannot stay with you’, Jesus replied. ‘I must go to other towns to teach everyone the good news. I will tell them how God rules in the lives of his people. That is what God sent me to do.’ " Ministry is not about pulling crowd. Ministry is about fulfilling the purpose for which you were called. Jesus demonstrated this reality by his life of voracious evangelism. When a person is very hungry, and at the same time has appetite for a particular food, they go all out to get it to eat, and when they find it, they devour great quantities of it.  That was how Jesus did his evangelism. Having great appetite for it, he never made excuse for it even if it had to mean abandoning his own family or not sleeping at home for days.  Evangelism is about winning the lost. It is not about convincing a Christian to change church. It involves going to places where Christ is not known at all or not richly kno...

 The Spotless Agenda: 005 Discipleship: Better be called a Christian than a disciple Discipleship is not even about you being a disciple of Christ. It's about Christ, who formed you in his own image and wants you to live like him. So don't let your discipleship focus on you but on him. He is the absolute example and you are a follower of his example. If your gaze is on him, then the focus is on him and not on you.  Self-centeredness is a spiritual plaque. It is a disease of the soul and mind. The centre of everything is Christ. This includes your very life: for you have inherited his form and image, his ability and power. He has occupied the centre of your life.  A discipleship that is based on self-righteousness and self-sufficiency is misleading. At best, you will break in pieces. But when you keep your eyes fixed on him, that is when you get to want to become more and more like him.  If Christ is not richly formed in you, this is the right time for you to renew yo...