Preaching at NCCC

My second 'yearly' sermon at NCCC. God already planted that desire in my heart before I was asked if I would be interested to preach, pretty amazing. Initially when I had that desire, I had the fear that it arose from my pride and felt that it would be too 'thick-skin' to ask if I could preach.

The passage is Ex 19:1-19. My dominant thought was, God pursues us, what is our response?-4Cs, Contemplate on who God is and His promises, Craving for God, Consecrate ourselves, Count the cost. Was confident of the content of the sermon and my greatest challenge in preparation was having the right focus, wanting to be an instrument for God to touch the hearts of the people listening and not for me to give a good performance for myself.

Woke up around 6:30 and I thank God that my focus was already on him, unlike many other mornings. Stayed away from the script the whole morning and simply did my own QT and focused on worshipping Him. Went for a run too. Was quite a rush to get to church because I checked the bus timings pretty late.

There were moments where the enemy cast doubts and fear. I prayed against the deceptions. Was reminded to embrace my humanity, that it's alright to feel anxious. Was reading Phil 3:12-14 and was encouraged when even Paul acknowledged that he have not taken hold of that which he wrote about. I realised it was my own pride in wanting to be perfect and felt that anxiety was wrong-a deception. Before the sermon, I started to become increasing self-conscienous and was distracted by practical stuff such as the projector. During worship, I realised that there wasn't any need to be concerned about anything, not even the sermon. I simply proclaimed that Jesus is Lord because I was preaching about Him.

I believe God used the sermon to speak to people and I am thankful for that. I am thankful that I felt comfortable delivering the sermon and could increasing see myself as an instrument wanting to make a difference. God has been so real and He is forever faithful. Thank you Lord. My prayer now is that people would stay inspired and convicted to deepen their relationship with God and offer more of themselves to Him. Well, it's a daily prayer for everyone of us isn't it :)