Category: Ramblings

Matt 16:13-18

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter (Petros meaning “stone”) and on this rock (Petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Luke 16:20-31

 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Eph 2:19-20

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

From Luke 16:20-31, we can easily interpret that “Moses and the Prophets” in the parable refers to God’s revelation to Moses and the Prophets which is the Old Testament Scripture, and it is noteworthy to note that “Moses” is mentioned in such a way to signify Moses’s prominence among the prophets.

Our Lord had given Simon another name Peter (petros meaning a small stone), and in a play of words, He said He would build His church upon the Rock (petra).  Just like Moses was prominent among the prophets so was Peter among the apostles. Apparently he was the first to make the divinely received confession that Jesus was the Messiah, Son of the living God. Peter’s prominence can be seen in several other ways.  Four lists of the twelve apostles in the New Testament – Matt 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:13-16 and Acts 1:13 – put Peter first in the list.  He was the first to announce the gospel to the Jews (Acts 2:14–41). Together with John, he confirmed the inclusion of the Samaritans in the church (Acts 8:14–25). Finally, he was instrumental in the conversion of the first Gentiles (Acts 10–11).  Just as Moses was prominent among the prophets so was Peter among the apostles.

It is clearly mentioned at Eph 2:19-20 that the foundation of the church to be built upon is the “apostles and prophets”.  And looking at the whole counsel of the various passages, we can easily infer that “Moses and the prophets” and “Peter and the apostles” (though not mentioned this way but inferred from Peter’s prominence among the apostles just as Moses was prominent among the prophets) refer to their divinely received revelation which are the Old Testament and New Testament Scripture respectively with our Lord – being revealed as the Messiah, Son of the living God – as the Chief Cornerstone. In short, it is just “apostles and prophets” in Eph 2:19-20 which refers to God’s divine revelation through the apostles and prophets contained in the New Testament and Old Testament Scripture today.

Heb 1:1-3 affirmed the same :

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Luke 11: 14-23

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. WHOEVER IS NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Luke 9 :49-50

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, FOR THE ONE WHO IS NOT AGAINST YOU IS FOR YOU.”

In my other article on the same subject, I shared that for matter of truth,  Christians should have unity but for matter of conscience,  we can have liberty.

Here is another example from the above 2 Scriptural passages concerning matter of truth and matter of conscience. You will notice that for matter of truth concerning the Personhood of our Lord in Luke 11:23, there is no liberty to disagree but strict adherence.  “Whoever is not with Me is against Me.”

But for matter of conscience concerning Christian service, such as casting out of demons in Luke 9:50,  there can be some liberty to agree to disagree.  “(Though not with you), the one who is not against you is for you.”

1 Cor 4:8-14

You are already full!  You are already rich!  You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you!  For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.  We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong!  You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!  To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.  And we labor, working with our own hands.  Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure,  being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.  I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.

Paul had used ironic or sarcastic words to admonish the Corinthian church. They prided themselves on the abundance of everything – spiritual gifts, luxury, comfort and ease.  They had no sense of need. They acted as though they were reigning already. Paul had stated clearly that his purpose was not to shame but to warn (1 Cor 4:14) and he did it in the spirit and zealousness of love for he called them his beloved children.

But sadly today, many have wandered from the truth and such admonishment will come across as judgmental.  Pastors who voice such admonishment,  like Paul, today will be construed as “ranting” against the respectable Christendom for leaving them out of their fellowship.

“It is positive disloyalty to seek our crown before the King gets His. Yet this is what some of the Christians at Corinth were doing. The apostles were bearing the reproach of Christ. But the Corinthian Christians were “rich” and “honorable”. They were seeking a good time where their Lord and Master had such a hard time.” – H P Barker. (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

Rev 2:1-6 NLT

 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first ! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do.

What were the works of the Ephesus church that our Lord Jesus had commended (though there was also rebuke) ?

1. They did not tolerate evil people.
2. They had examined the claims of the false apostles and found them to be liars.
3. They had suffered patiently without quitting.  (Contending against popular megachurch false pastors today will surely bring much backlash not only from these cults but also from the postmodern tolerant Christendom.)
4. They hated the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans who were false teachers at that time.

Better to suffer and be commended by our Lord Jesus for doing what pleases Him than to gain the praise and favor from postmodern tolerant Christendom today.

2 Pet 2: 10-12

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant…

Jude 1:8-10

Yet in like manner these people also…reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Acts 23:4-5

Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

The above verses are clear that we do not blaspheme the rulers both in the physical and spiritual realms.

Even though the devil had no jurisdiction over Michael, yet Michael would not revile him for he recognized the devil to be in a position of authority. (2 Cor 4:4).

It is one thing to criticize unjust policies of government but quite another to speak evil of the rulers. (Acts 23:5). It will be foolish for naive pastors to join the false teachers (being described above as irrational animals) in reviling the devil or the government leaders (such as President Trump of USA and President Xi of China) and attributing the blame to them for the current hard times.

We must accept nothing happen outside God’s sovereign will. It is judgment and training for the wicked and the faithful respectively. God has warned repeatedly in Scripture of coming hard times and of course, ONLY the faithful listen, stay watchful, prepare and endure.

Postscript :

This is worth noting from the above Scriptural references that the false teachers, though they are agents of the devil, can even blaspheme the devil.  This shows that as long as deception works in its favor, evil can go to that extent of self inflicting blasphemy.

Isaiah 45:6-7

That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me.  I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’

Amos 3:6-7

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?  Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

Job 2:9-10

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

The above verses are self explanatory.  The faithful are expected to listen to the warning of the coming end time birth pains, stay watchful, prepare and endure when they come.  They should not be caught unawares.  In Rev 18 when God judges Babylon and destroys all wealth, He expects the faithful to come out of her before plagues of mourning, famine and death visit.

Scripture makes it clear that calamitous judgments from God are true and just.  It is wrong to believe that calamities are evil works and try to “absolve” God of His sovereign will to decree calamitous judgments.

Rev 16:5-9

And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.  It is what they deserve!”  And I heard the altar saying,

Rev 18:1-8

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”  Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, …she glorified herself and lived in luxury,… for this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine,…”

It is clear from Rev 18 that the Babylonian system, led by this latter days city of Babylon, is unmistakably the alliance of governments (kings of the earth),  global multi-national companies and the supply chain links (merchants) and the global shipping lines, seaports and financial centres (those who make their living by the sea) forming a global supply chain and financial system engaged in globalized trade.

All have grown rich from the power of this Babylonian system. (Rev 18:3).  This is the current capitalism we know today.   As a result, the nations have grown haughty to believe in their own wealth and might.  We see this haughtiness peaked in changing God’s universal laws of sanctity of life and marital relationship and His abhorrence of homosexual sins.  That also birthed the apostate Christianity in hyper grace, prosperity and NAR movements basking in her glory.

How do we come out of Babylon which is a haunt for EVERY impure spirit, unclean and detestable animal, and unclean bird ?

We have to get out of Babylon in getting out of :

1. All kinds of greed. Luke 12:15;  1 Tim 6:6-10; 17-19.  (A haunt of every impure spirit).
2. Being weighed down by carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life. Luke 21:34.  (A haunt of every unclean and detestable animal).
3. Being lured into the false gospels of hyper grace, prosperity and NAR movements.  Matt 13:31-32.  (A haunt of every unclean bird).

God had already so warned that if we fail to get out by the time He judges all wealth (Rev 18:17), we only have ourselves to be blamed for being caught in the plagues.

God’s judgment will be true and righteous and we should rejoice when it comes.

Rev 18:20; 19:1-3

Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah!  Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Postscript :

(In the book of Revelation,  chapters 5 to 16 talk about the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments.   Then chapters 17 and 18 talk about Babylon before the rest of the book talks about the return of our Lord, His final judgment and the coming of new heaven and new earth.   Babylon in chapter 17 and 18 talk about judgment of her religious system by the beast as the spiritual harlot, and judgment of her financial system by God in destroying all wealth respectively.  It is not chronological.  When the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are released,  all systems will be destroyed or made subservient to the Antichrist anyway.  So the destruction of Babylon will logically come during the birth pains to pave the way for the rise of the one world government and currency.)

Matt 13:24-30; 36-43

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.  ²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’  ²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.  “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’  ²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”  ³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”  ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.  ⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will WEED OUT OF HIS KINGDOM everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

The field is the world and believers and unbelievers are already living together in it, so it is pretty obvious that there is no need for the devil to plant his agents in the world outside the kingdom of God.  It is stated clearly in verse Matt 13:41 that at the end of age,  the angels will weed these devil’s agents OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  (Further scriptural references supporting the premise are found in Matt 8:11-12 and John 15:1-6).  When Jesus our Lord was explaining the above parable to the disciples,  He shared more parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.  In the parable of the net, He said that the Kingdom of Heaven Is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind till it was full. Later the men would sit down and sort the good into the containers and throw out the bad.  Again the sorting was done not with the whole sea of fish but only the fish that were gathered in the net.

Sometimes we really wish that the weeds (the false teachers and their minions who are agents of the devil) can be weeded out now out of God’s kingdom, but our Lord explained that if the weeding is done by the servants of God now, the wheat might also be uprooted probably because men are still fallen and are not perfect in discernment. The angels will do the weeding at the end of age instead.  An example was the Spanish Inquisition.  In the name of weeding out heresy in Spain,  the objective turned out to be consolidating the power of the Spanish monarchy.   Many innocent believers suffered brutal deaths.

So we must bear this in mind that not all who call themselves Christians are wheat.  We must also accept the fact that some whom many hold in high esteem as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness may be the devil’s agents who are skilled workmen in disguise and deception.  It is sad that most believers are so receptive of the feel good messages of these seeds sown by the devil.  When the few true prophets were proclaiming the judgment of Israel at the hands of the Babylonians, Israel chose to believe the feel good messages of the numerous false prophets then.   Likewise today, we should not expect the false teachers to preach on the coming birth pains, the nearness of salvation and the impending return of our Lord.

Dr John Stott, in his exposition on the book of Romans, gave 3 attitudes to the Law.

1. Legalists. They are under the Law and are bound by it. Their relationship to God depends on their obedience to the Law seeking both justification and sanctification by it. Crushed by the inability of the Law to save them, they fear the Law.

We will have forsaken the world to follow our Lord Jesus if we are genuine believers. And surely we will want to find out the purpose of life that God has for us.  Eph 2:10 tells us that when we are created in Christ Jesus, God has prepared beforehand we shall walk in good works which we will surely want to discover.

Whenever we talk about God’s will, we are actually talking about His guidance, or calling or ministry for us.  The three distinct initiatives of God refer to His directing of our faith journey, His calling, and the service He places us in His Kingdom respectively.

(The material is gleaned from the book, The Disciple, by John Stott with Tim Chester and I took the liberty to paraphrase it.)

Guidance

It is essential to differentiate between God’s general and particular will first.  God’s general will for all believers is Christlikeness.  Rom 8:28-29.  Particular will concerns decisions such as finding life-work or spouse.  Though there are general guidelines or principles laid out in Scripture, specific answers are not given. Take the example of marriage.  There are principles concerning marriage, yet Scripture will not tell us whether you should get married or remain single, or which man or woman you should marry.

How can we discover God’s particular will ?

1. Yield.  Without surrendering our will to God,  how is God going to reveal to us ?   God will only guide the humble.
2. Pray.  How bad we really want to know ?  Only persistent and sincere prayer reveals our desire to seek His will.  And God grants us wisdom generously when we ask for it. James 1:5.
3. Seek.  Wisdom can come from God through godly counsel :  parents or brothers and sisters in God’s family.
4. Weigh.  Although we yield, pray and seek advice,  we must ultimately make the decision ourselves. God does not want us to be like horses or mules without understanding,  that is, without exercising our rational minds as we weigh the pros and cons.
5. Wait.  From Scripture, we learned that most heroes of faith got their guidance after a lengthy period of time.  From experience, more mistakes are made in haste or rather than in delay.

Calling

God called us according to His purpose. Rom 8:28.  It is a more of a calling to a Person rather than to do something.  It is a wonderful fact that God cares enough to call us personally and individually. We are called to belong to Jesus Christ and to embrace and enjoy all blessings in our Lord Jesus. Like guidance, we have to differentiate between general calling and particular calling.

What is God’s general calling ?

1. We are called to fellowship with Jesus Christ. Rom 1:6.  Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ.  God calls us to know and enjoy Him and Jesus Christ.
2. We are called to freedom. Gal 5:13.  We are free from the condemnation of the law through God’s forgiveness and acceptance into Christ our Lord.  We are free from guilt, or a guilty conscience.  However it is not freedom to sin or freedom from social responsibilities. It is such a paradox that it is only through serving that we become free.
3. We are called to peace. Col 3:15.  Scripture is not referring to peace of mind but to peace (shalom) of reconciliation with one another in the one Body of Christ. We are not only called to belong to Jesus our Lord but also to God’s people.
4. We are called to holiness. Since God is holy, He also call us to be holy.  Holiness is not a false image of detached spiritual piety, but a lively Christlikeness lived out in the world.
5. We are called to witness. We are all called to be missionaries.  Matt 28:19-20.  We have obtained mercy through the gospel of our Lord Jesus and we ought to share this blessing with the unsaved.
6. We are called to suffering. Because we are called out of the world by our Lord, the world will hate us. John 15:18-19.  The world hates our Lord because He had testified against her evil works.  John 7:7.  We are called to share in the suffering of our Lord.  Rom 8:16-18.
7. We are called to glory. It was through suffering that our Lord entered into glory and it will be the same for us.  If we share in our Lord’s suffering,  we will also share in His glory.  God is not calling us for this life only, but also for all eternity in the new universe to come.

In short, the Christian calling is to be called to belong to Christ in this life and beyond, to love one another in the peace of his new community, and to serve, witness and suffer in the world.

If God’s general calling is to be free, holy and Christlike, God’s particular calling relates to our individual different vocation.  1 Cor 7:20 and 24 tell us that we should remain in the condition in which we are called.   In the context of 1 Corinthian epistle,  Paul gave 3 examples of remaining in our domestic situation, whether married or single, in our cultural situation, whether Jewish or Gentile, and in our social situation, whether slaves or free.  Paul had to remind the Corinthian converts then because they believed they ought to change their situation since nothing in their old life could be retained after becoming a new creation in Christ.

Martin Luther said,”Those who are now called ‘spiritual’, that is, priests, bishops or popes, are neither different from other Christians nor superior to them, except that they are charged with the administration of the word of God and the sacraments, which is their work and office.”

Every believer must benefit and serve every other by means of his own work or office, so that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community.  1 Cor 12:14-26.

William Perkins, a Puritan, said,”The action of a shepherd in keeping sheep…is as good a work before God as is the action of a judge in giving sentence, or of a magistrate in ruling, or a minister in preaching.  Thus then we see there is good reason why we would search how every man is rightly to use his particular calling.”

These 2 callings should be pursued in balance to serve our Lord Jesus and to serve others.  We must bear in mind that God does not work in us only after conversion, but He is at work in us even before our birth in our genetic inheritance, and then later in our temperament, personality, education and skills.  God’s sovereignty over us is not only on our spirituality, but also over all sections of our lives.

Ministry

Discipleship is never an option.  We are all called to be disciples of Jesus our Lord.  As disciples, surely we will want to know how best we can serve in the Kingdom of our Lord.  Like guidance and vocation,  we need to distinguish between a general and a particular ministry.

1. We are all called to ministry. That is, we are all called to serve.  It is the privilege of every disciple.  Due to the unbiblical clergy-laity divide,  it is sad that many believe ministry only belongs to the pastors and fulltime church workers.
2. There is a wide variety of ministries. That is, there are many ways we can serve God and people.  In Acts 6:1-4, we learned that both distribution of food and teaching of word were considered as ministry.   Even for the distribution of food, we learned that 7 Spirit-filled persons were chosen for that responsibility.  There should be no distinction in all ministries whether one is spiritual or secular, superior or inferior, pastoral or social.  All believers need to see their daily work as their primary ministry in penetrating secular environment for Christ and glorifying Him in the process.
3. The particular ministry to which we are called is likely to be determined by our given gifts. God is not a random Creator; He has not given us natural and spiritual gifts only to be wasted.  God has created us as individual unique persons.  So each one of us should ask ourselves how best we can serve Christ and others with the present gifts we have without them going to be wasted.