Patrick Tan

Day in the Life: Our 5th Wedding Annivesary

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. How time flies so fast. And tonight as I reflect about it all I can think of is how blessed I am, for giving me a lovely and caring wife, best-friend, and partner in ministry and life.

It's an interesting series of events leading to today as we planned for our wedding celebration. Last year, we've already been wanting to watch the Beauty and the Beast musical at CCP when it was promoted. We were dreaming about it, hoping that one day we will do our first musical experience. January came in, and as our anniversary came closer we started researching about it. The price was quite steep for first timers like us. But thank God for His provisions, we purchase our ticket.

Then came tha Papal Visit. We learned that major roads near CCP will be closed because the Pope will be in the area the same day (MOA). So in order to avoid the traffic, we opted to stay at a hotel nearby. So we book it. And we thought all is set.

Pure Compassion

How do you respond to unfavorable situations? Do you react in anger (fight-mode) or fear (flight mode) without thinking through? Are you easily provoked?

In Matthew 14, evil king Herod brutally murders Jesus' cousin, John the baptist. "When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick" (v. 13-14). Jesus could've easily sent them away, or he could have left them, take an AWOL and go somewhere else to mourn. Or he could easily provoke them to start a rebellion. But he responded in pure COMPASSION.

If you think about it, putting aside your personal feelings to first meet the needs of others is quite a sacrifice. But Jesus didn't only put the feelings aside, but whatever he was feeling then, it turned into compassion the moment he saw those who were in need. Now that's SUPERNATURAL. Only the love of the Father that is in Him can do that. Only an intimate experience of God's unconditional love can provide that kind of security and ability to see the needs of others and then respond with compassion. When God's love is in us, nothing is impossible. When God's love brims from our hearts, it can overflow in ways that can touch the lives of others.

That makes me worship Jesus all the more, and aspire to be like Him. #TAWG

The Lord is our banner

What a wonderful revelation by God to us that He is our banner, Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:15). Whenever armies go to war, the banner serves as a visual reminder of His guiding presence.

Bible Gateway commentary reads, "The Lord is my banner. The Hebrew word translated “banner” underlies “staff” in v. 9 and is used for the “pole” on which the bronze serpent was later placed (Num. 21:8). Since “banner” suggests cloth to us, this connection is lost. A spear could serve as a standard in battle, with or without bits of cloth tied to it. Later, a staff might have a device on it to mark the rallying point for troops. In the ancient world, these were sometimes images or signs of the gods. Moses’ staff is the ensign to which Joshua’s army could look and that symbolized God’s saving power. Moses declares that God Himself is the Standard, the Ensign of His people."

For me, our Lord our banner reminds me of these things:

1. We are at war - As believers in the world, we are at war, with the enemy, sin and its effects. Paul says that we are at war against spiritual forces of evil (2 Corinthians 10:3, Ephesians 6:12), but Christ has equipped us with "the spiritual armor of God" that can "demolish strongholds" (Ephesians 6:13-17).

2. The Banner represents whose kingdom we belong - The banner represents whose kingdom we belong. As believers we belong to the kingdom of God.

3. The Banner rallies us forward - The banner serves as the rallying point for troops to advance toward enemy lines. As believers Jehovah Nissi gives us the confidence to face every battle in faith and victory.

4. The Banner restores our strength - In the midst of the battle, the banner reminds us of our identity and purpose. When we are overwhelmed with life's challenges, we look to Jesus, as the source of our strength, identity, and purpose. In the book of Songs, Christ's (represented by the lover pursuing his beloved) banner over us is love (Songs 2:4). His love us the strongest force that motivates us to do His will.

5 Leadership and spiritual insights from Exodus 17:8-15

Someone cautiously observed that after victory comes adversity. And this is true with the Israelites, they just experienced a dramatic victory over the Egyptians. And as they continue to travel through the desert en route to the Promise Land, soon the experience another attack this time from the Amalekites. Moses deploys young Joshua and his men to fight, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up a hill to find a bird's-eye view of the battle. And as long as Moses held up his staff with his hands, they are winning. They held on until victory was won that day. Here are 5 leadership and spiritual insights we as leaders can glean from this story.

1. Successful leaders provide leadership and spiritual insight especially in times of crisis (v. 9). When war broke out, Moses provided leadership. He assumed full responsibility for his people. As leaders, we are to provide leadership and direction for the people we lead, especially in times of crisis. We do not anymore make decisions that is only for our own good, but for the good of the body. Moses most importantly provided spiritual insight over the crisis. Christian leaders are first kingdom servants. We do not lead on our own, but we follow and wait upon the Master's orders. That's why it is very important for us to be faithfully connected to God in Word and prayer, because God communicates His visions and plans through His faithful servants.

In Matthew 3, we find a contrast between Pharisees (Jewish religious figures) and Jesus. There is a huge difference where they base their identity and authority. And it's a good reminder for us followers of Christ and Christian leaders on where our identity should lie:

1. Jesus did what was right and followed the process - When Jesus went to John to be baptized, John "tried to deter him." But Jesus insisted because "it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (v. 15). Being the promised Messiah didn't mean Jesus could cut corners, He modeled and fulfilled "all righteousness", He did what was right. He says in another passage that He didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The Pharisees on the other had displayed an outward and legalistic religiosity that was in the end self-serving. As leaders, we are to obey His commands from the heart and model a righteous life.

Reading through the culmination of Israel's deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 12-15), I appreciated how God became Israel's Law Giver and Fighter. These roles that God took upon Himself is also true to us as believers in Christ:

God as the Law Giver
Some of us would think today that the laws that God gave Israel were too long, too detailed, or even weird.
But if you think about it, Israel were slaves back in Egypt for 430 years (That's more than our 300 years of colonization from Spain). Israel lived under Egyptian law where they were viewed as slaves--dispensable and without dignity. And now that the Lord is bringing them out of that world, they wouldn't have a clue of what it means to live in freedom. God had to give them new system for living that not only gave them order, but gave them dignity as a human being. Exodus 12 & 13, provided new laws and ordinances for them to observe as they begin to exist as a free nation (more will be added to them in the succeeding chapters).

This makes me appreciate God as our Law Giver. We were also slaves once, operating under the law of sin and death, but when we found freedom in Christ, we now operate under the law of the Spirit. This freedom doesn't mean that we can sin all we want, but it is a true kind of freedom that enables us to say no to ungodliness and live holy lives. I am reminded of David in the Psalms when he said that "the law of the law is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple." (1) To operate under a kingdom system where the law-giver is God who is transcendent, and not just another human being, defines a firm and unchanging picture of what is morally right and wrong. To deny a divine Law Giver discredits the moral laws of our society. (2) God's commands when followed will give us dignity as a human being and children of God. God knows what's best for us.

Last night, I was reading through Exodus when I again came across the passage where God says to Moses, "... I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen ..." (Exodus 7:3-4). And I thought, why would God demand Pharaoh to let His people go, while at the same time hardening the Pharaoh's heart so that the Pharaoh will not let His people go? Of course the surrounding passages tell us that God does this so that (1) He can judge Pharaoh and Egypt (v. 4), (2) so that He can display His power to the people against false gods (v. 5), and (3) so that Egypt will not just let them go, but drive them out, "favorably disposed ... so that when you leave you will not go empty handed" (v. 5, 3:21). God's judgment on Pharaoh was not without cause. Pharaoh enslaved the Israelite people, and on top of that, he challenged the Lord by saying, "who is the Lord, that I should obey him?" (5:2).

Sadly, this rejection of God persists today. Paul writes about "men who suppresses the truth by their wickedness" (Ro 1:18), who "exchanged the glory of the immortal God" for false objects of worship" (v. 22). Some of them are even professing believers but they live as though "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). And because of man's deliberate disobedience, God "gives him over" to the consequences of his actions, a downward spiral of moral depravity and destruction (Ro 1:21-32). This is what happens when we deliberately rebel against God.

Is there still hope for restoration and reconciliation? A resounding yes!

Sunrise vs. Sunburst: On discovering God's will

I was reading through a sermon on the life of Joseph and this excerpt struck me:

I heard someone say that God’s will is more like a sunrise than a sunburst. Out of the darkness and chaos of life, God’s will rises slowly over the horizon. It’s not so much that we see the sun. It’s that by the sun we see everything else. So it is with God’s will ...

http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/do-you-know-why-you-were-born/

What it means to be a martyr for Christ

Tonight I found this book "Tortured for Christ" by Richard Wurmbrand on a second-hand bookstore. I've been seeing this book promoted via Voice of Martyrs. This excerpt in the foreword by Tom White struck me:

Many today believe that a martyr is simply someone who dies for his faith. Unfortunately, by this definition we have lost the true significance and depth of martyrdom. St. Augustine once stated, "The cause, not the suffering, makes a genuine martyr." In his play Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot describes a martyr as one "who has become an instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom."

Matthew McConaughey on faith

Another interview I found interesting. I still have a hard time spelling his surname I had to copy and paste it. I loved his recent work for Dallas Buyers Club where he won an Oscar, and the recent Interstellar movie with Christopher Nolan which blows my mind. It's hard to come by for a Hollywood actor to talk about faith.

Does your family go to church every Sunday?
Yeah. In Texas. It's non-denominational. It's based in the faith that Jesus is the son of God, that he died for our sins, but many different denominations come in.

Was that a return for you, or had you been going all along?
As soon as we had children, I was like, "You know what? That was important to my childhood." Even if it was just for the ritual of giving an hour and a half on Sunday to yourself, to pray and to think about others, even if you're tired or whatever. I noticed how much I missed it and needed it. It's a time for me to take inventory of my last week, to look at what's in the future and say my thank-you's and think about what I can work on to do better.

When you talk about God, do you imagine him as...
The Prrime Moovah! The Waave Maker!

But it's an identifiable presence? Someone who can hear what you're saying?
Yes. And somebody who can help answer my questions. Someone who has a hand in all of this miracle we call life, which I believe is a miracle. But, see, at the same time, I completely believe in evolution.

Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
[long pause] Well, it's a heaven of a story, ain't it?

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201411/matthew-mcconaughey-career