AMIDST AUGUST | CURATED CHRISTIAN CONTENT
Amidst everything going on in August, here are my personal favourite sermons, music, scriptures and book quotes for the month.
This is the first of the monthly series of curated content. The list includes personal remarks and messages I experienced when engaging with the content. Of course, everyone takes a little something different from every content they see, so if you personally felt a revelation from any of these, share your thoughts and findings, your revelation might help someone else going through the same thing.
Book Quotes
1 | Friend of Sinners [Rich Wilkerson]
“Religion makes you proud of yourself and your efforts, The gospel makes you proud of Jesus,” — pg.35
One of the biggest issues i’ve faced when trying to introduce the Gospel to people is that they reply with something along the lines of “i’m not religious”; to which I reply that Christianity isn’t a religion, because religion makes you work for it and through your works, you earn a blessing or something. That sounds fair, especially in this world where you have to work for what you want. Which is why the Gospel doesn’t make sense for people who are extremely logical, why would God do so many nice things for us, sacrificing His only Son who knew nothing about sin but became sin itself so that we may be free and even after that, continue to have mercy on underserving ignorant people like us? Well because God isn’t like humans, He is love and His love in particular is something that overflows and fills the void in us.
We obviously don’t deserve it, but God does it anyway and he continues to do it. Which is why, treating Christianity as a religion, where you ahem to work your way to get a place in Heaven, will lead you to be proud of yourself. However, humbling ourselves and believing in the Gospel as something that has already been done makes you proud of Jesus.
Buy Friend of Sinners by Rich Wilkerson here
Sermons
1 | Under Doesn’t Mean Over // Planted not Buried [Transformation Church]
Under Doesn’t Mean Over // Planted Not Buried (Part 1)
Pastor Mike Todd is truly a vessel of God’s message. The message he brings never fails to spark something in your heart. This time around, the message about God’s promise really struck a chord.
In this world of instant results, we have become extremely impatient about everything. In the sermon he talks about how Sarah had to wait 25 years for God to fulfil His promise. This isn’t because God was caught up doing over things but because, with every blessing and miracle that happens, He wants (and rightfully should be) glorified through it. Sarah gave birth to a healthy son so late into her life, at a time when everyone doubted it would happen and she was probably even made fun of when she told other people about God’s promise. But of course, the Lord fulfilled his promise, at a time where only He can be glorified and merited for.
There’s another thing that Pastor Mike had mentioned before; God blesses you not just for you, but for everyone else, through you. It’s like getting free food but instead of only having one person receive it, a thousand other people get it, with leftovers too (if you know the reference, you know).
So in this instance, God’s blessing to Sarah and Abraham was not only for them to finally have a child but so that a whole new nation of people would come about from that child. Talk about extra-ness amirite.
But as impactful as this understanding is, what really hit me hard is that, i’ve personally been questioning when i’d start fulfilling my purpose on this Earth. I’m a real over-planner, I was mapping out where i’d stay, what car i’d drive and where i’ll be even before I finished high school (and should have been studying for my IGCSE instead lmao). So the fact that Sarah had to wait 25 years for her promise, makes my whiny excuse and complaints look, well, whiny.
Scripture
1 | “No discipline is enjoyable while it’s happening — it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” Hebrew 12:11 NLT
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One of the misconceptions about discipleship is that life will be a breeze. Although life with God can be filled with peace and joy, it’s not a walk in the park, and for good reason too. What do you think will happen if everything in life was easy? We wouldn’t learn anything from it and we certainly won’t be grateful to God for it, no matter what we say to ourselves, when life is easy, it’s easy for us to think we’re the reason for it. At the same time, life wouldn’t be torturous per se, God specifically plants us in certain straining positions and places so that we can grow and learn from it. So that when we try to connect with pre-believers, we would know how to relate and build a connection.
To take a page out of Paul’s literature, when he was in prison, he was joyous, because he knew God was above it all. It’s a bit of a steep step to fully overcome but, our time on Earth isn’t our entire life. So when we’re straining through life, it’s so that we can develop ourselves, for our sake and for everyone around us as well.
2 | “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” Luke 15:7 NLT
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To view the rest of this content, please head on over to my blog CELIPHANY here.
Celiphany represents the epiphany when you realise you want God in your life. Coupling personal style and scriptures to rejuvenate your soul, you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your purpose in life.
