I went to "The Gate" tonight at Times Square Church. It is a Friday night weekly service for youths and young adults. Technically, I still fall into this group because it is catered for people from 18-30 years old. I had an awesome time worshipping the Lord and just dancing uninhibited. The speaker was fantastic tonight, and I was so glad that I made the decision to go for the service. He was amazing. His speech was so youth-appealing (he got us cheering before he started preaching!) and he had all the young people (including myself) bawling with laughter. But entertainment aside, his sermon was sharp and he didn't mince his words at all. The message was simply this:
"You need to kill the lion and the bear in private,
before you can slay Goliath in public."
Basically, he was referring to how David from the bible killed a lion and a bear on two separate occasions when these beasts harassed the flock of sheep he was tending to. He did so in private on his own, by God's might of course. The pastor from Christ Tabernacle in Brooklyn (who is kinda plump, wearing this purple t-shirt, and perspiring profusely) likened the lion and the bear to the "idols" in our lives--basically sins like pornography, drug abuse, masturbation, pride, conceit, vanity, jealousy, etc. And to be able to do great things for God (// slaying Goliath in public), we need to tackle those sins aggressively. Additionally, if David didn't kill those creatures, he wouldn't have been able to slay Goliath. Why so? Because God showed him he could do those things, and hence, David had enough faith to stand up and declare that he was going to take Goliath on. The speaker had so many other mini messages embedded in his story of David that was so simple yet penetrating.
After his message, he gave an altar call. And although I didn't approach the stage, I was just worshipping and crying out to the Lord from where I was (which was pretty close to the stage). For the past one year and even till now, for almost every single day, the same worry pops into my head: "I have to get into a PhD program, a good one." I'm tired. Exhausted. Fatigued to the core of my bones. I cope by either telling myself that God will decide whether I eventually get into one, by praying, or sometimes just thinking of how to do more research. Tonight I laid it at the cross again and cried out to Him. I really need to "kill" my chronic worrying and self doubt. I've been trying too hard on my own.
I had an awesome time tonight, and most of today actually. It was raining but I had my rubber boots! I had some hiccups in the morning that got me frustrated but I eventually made it through even though things weren't as satisfactory as I would have liked them to be. Otherwise, everything was great! Yay, the weekend's here!(=
Pretty red boots! Nice??
Songs we sang at "The Gate" tonight:
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