Like a Pre-Primary School Teacher

The topic of today’s sermon is titled ‘Living Life in the Kingdom of God Today’ by guest speaker Ms Jeanette Hui. Almost 60 years of age, she has a tone of voice that made some of us feel like we were back in pre-primary school, listening to the teacher with a very motherly voice. The strangest part is that she occasionally refers to us as ‘children’… & it feels so weird…

Despite these motherly gestures & tone of voice, I really thank God for using her to bring us new insights to learning how to live in the kingdom of God, referring to ourselves as the kingdom, with the Holy Spirit of God living within us.

One of the most impacting words that she shared was about this man who chose this phrase to describe his life. And this is what this man said – “My life cannot be explained, except that God is in it.”

When I heard that, I had to ponder for the next few seconds, coz it is a very deep statement to make of a person’s life. Yet it is a life statement which the speaker Ms Jeanette Hui wanted to describe her life… & after some thought, it is also a life statement which I want for my life too.

I thought about my job & all that is laid before me to do… & decided that I will give God the glory for all the good that I will be able to accomplish in this job which He had provided for me.

The second point that spoke to me was the words - “Giftedness without Godliness can be very dangerous.” I find this very true coz something good can be bad, if manipulated to use in the wrong way.

The third point which impressed on my heart was about God’s word telling us not to worry. Jeanette Hui explained that when the Bible tells us not to worry, it does not mean to tell us that we should not plan, but rather not let our distracting thoughts worry us so much that we end up having sleepless nights. In short, unhealthy distraction that leads to inflictions on us.

Jeanette Hui went on further to illustrate the story of the Israelites wondering in the desert for 40 years. During this time, they did not worry about their clothes or whether their sandals would wear out (after all, it is 40 years), etc. Was that a miracle? I don’t know, but the point that God wanted to show was that He’s trustworthy! His word can be trusted!

Finally, the speaker shared about how obsessed people are nowadays over chasing after material wants… & her study showed that Christians & non-Christians do not behave any different in this manner, which she finds very sad. How are we to share the good news with non-believers, when there’s no difference that they can see in the way we live our lives?

She shared that it is very important to know what drives us… & warned us not to fall into the trap of getting all bottled up by all the economical factors like recession. Thinking about it, it’s strange… coz people can be rather extreme in this aspect. Either they are obsessed about storing up wealth, or they are fearful of economic downturns & recessions that may befall them.

Jeanette Hui shared that - “If what drives us is economics, then our god is economics, not God.” It is very important to learn how to discern, coz there are many messages being communicated to us all around. And it is essential that we "listen to the voice of God, rather than the voice of advertisers" who keep on sending messages to create more wants & that having more is better.