PRAYER - Pastor G Khankham
Greetings to one and all,
We are greatly blessed to resume online service again almost a month after a severe 2nd lockdown.
Psalm 23 read aloud.
Prayer for Church members by Pastor Khankham (Anniversary, Birthday, Recovered Covid patients, Students, Employees etc)
SERMON – Pastor Thuamminlian Guite
- “God on mute” by Peter Greig describes the silence of God when he was dealing with unanswered prayers and difficult questions. This story is quite relevant especially in Covid times.
- Sufferings, Pain, Misfortunes, misery and deaths are very much a part of life on Earth. Even more so in the past year, we have lost our love ones and witnessed the hospitalization of many of us. A natural question that arises is Where is God in times like this? Or is it a rebuke from God because of our sins? How do we make sense of all these things?
- How should we respond when we face sufferings and misery? Is God silent? Why is He silent? Where is he?
- Job 23:8-12 talks about how Job wanted to defend his righteousness before God. Where is God when he is at his worst time and suffering?
- Silence doesn’t mean that God is absent. Just because we do not feel His presence doesn’t mean He is not there.
- Let us not depend on our feelings for God’s love and presence. His Silence is a call to go deeper into his relationship with Him.
- In the book by Peter, He sits behind the seat of cycle to teach his son how to ride. He did not consistently hold the handle with him, but would let go intermittently to let his son learn to control the handle on his own. This is similar to how God guide us in our spiritual journey so that we can also learn on our own. Just because he is not at the handle doesn’t mean he is not there. He is there beside us teaching us how to control the handle.
- Paul wanted us to reflect as we go on about our lives. So, silence is a call to Pause.
- Martin Luther Junior said that Pain can be responded with bitterness or constructiveness. And he chose the latter.
- Let us not forget the blessings and mercy that God has shown to us over the past years. Has he really been silent to us this whole time? Let us rethink!
- An experiment conducted at Wisconsin University showed that pain becomes bearable when friends are with us. We must see how God is good not only to us but also to people around us. we should be willing to share God’s blessings to others.
- God is a personal God who is interested in our lives.
- How do we respond when God seems silent and far away? We need to renew our faith and enhance our strength in Him. Let us be grateful to Him as His presence can be seen and felt in each of the lives around us.
