Need to be Scared?

Good morning/afternoon ladies...

Text :

Sermon Title : Need to be Scared?

Occasion : PLMGSS Chapel

Location : PLMGS Sophia Hall

MPP : You do not need to be anxious for the year ahead because God is with you

"Be Strong and Courageous"

'Look up, Lift up' from

Good morning/afternoon ladies...

I just want to start by saying that I am very glad to finally be able to come and share with you this morning, because (and I say this everything I meet young people) you are the most important in the planet...

Why? Because you are the future of our nation and the world... very soon, people like me wouldn’t be around anymore, and you will the ones who are running the country... (but sssh.... don’t tell your teachers and parents I tell you that ok? Let them feel important a little longer)

So, once again, I just want to state that I feel privileged to be here with you and I think I’ll better continue with the sharing today , before your heads get too inflated and if you’re parents ask you what did you learn from Chapel today, and you answer your parents saying “today my chaplain tell me that I’m going to be more important than you”...

Have you ever felt that you had been given a task that is so overwhelming, you don’t think you can finish it? You look at the task and you look at whoever gave you the task and asked him or her.... are you kidding me?

Perhaps when you think of the major exam at the end of the year for you, or the competition that you need to participate in or a project that you’ve been asked to complete...

Well, in today’s verse for reflection, the main character in the narrative sure felt like that...

Today’s sharing is taken from , and more particularly, the portion which we want to focus on is the part that reads “be strong and courageous...”

To understand this passage, you will need to know a little bit of what is happening here...

You see, just before this incident, Moses, the great leader that was appointed by God had just died...

And this great leader Moses was the one who had miraculously led the Israelites out of Egypt, out of oppression and was the one who had effectively led Israel for the last 40 years...

So, now, Joshua had been given the mandate to take over Moses...

Can you imagine how he felt? It’s like all your life, you see this big character and big leader who you look up to, and always count on to give good advice and lead you and whom you take comfort in for if all else fail, and you come to your wits end, you can still approach him and ask him for guidance and advice... and suddenly, you are supposed to take over his job...

And I tell you, Leading Israelites is not an easy task... how many times we read in the Bible in which Moses was discouraged and even feared for his life because they were ready to stone him...

And Joshua’s job wasn’t just to physically lead the Israelites to their destination....

There were still not at their promised land yet and there were still battles to be won, difficult neighbours to negotiate with and to say that his work was tough was an understatement...

But God gave Joshua the best form of encouragement anyone can receive....

God told him to be strong and Courageous because God is with him...

In fact, it’s either Joshua was a little hard of hearing, or he really needs it, but God said “be strong and courageous” 3 times in 3 verses...

And this wasn’t just a pat on the back for Joshua... God honoured His encouragement to Joshua by delivering him and granting him many victories after that, telling us that those God call, He empowers and delivers...

Well, if you’re like me, when you hear this story being shared, you’re going like...

Hmpf.. great story....

Can even cause a few goose bumps to rise.... this is great for Joshua who lived 4000 years ago, but what has it got to do with me?

Well, that’s what I thought not too long ago as well...

But things have changed for me and this verse started to take on new significance for me...

How?

For this, I would now need to share a little bit about myself...

You see, I've not been a pastor and chaplain for very long...

In fact, I’ve been a pastor and chaplain for a shorter time than most of you have been in this school...

You see, barely a few years ago, this was me...

Yup, I've been a pilot for quite a number of years and because of that am very comfortable with my job already... I knew more things about my plane than most people in the air force, I have somewhat established my career, and the organisation had already laid down some plans for me...

Then, God called me into the ministry... I was certainly quite unwilling to go down that path because I had to go from a place that had so much certainty and I was so comfortable with, to go into a path that was so uncertain...

Firstly, I had to quit my job and be jobless for a few years, while I was being trained...

More scary for me, was that I needed to enrol myself into a Bible College, and there lies the uncertainty whether I would be clear the interview and be accepted into the college or end up being rejected and being without income...

And when I got accepted into the college, I was uncertain whether I would be able to cope with the studies, being able to understand what’s going on in college, be able to pass the exams and be able to write good essays...

You have to understand that I came from an engineering background and maths and sciences are my forte and not humanities, so when I came to study theology, it was a totally different situation... Somemore all my classmates are so much younger than me... I felt like I couldn’t keep up... and was afraid I couldn’t remember all the important information needed for the exams and quizzes...

I felt many times like giving up...

In fact, do you know what’s the most stressful time for me in college? That’s the first week of school when the lecturers give out the assignment sheet for the semester...

So most of what you’re going through, I can empathise because I have gone through similar experiences and fears as well...

But you know what? God is faithful and God carried me through the college and even allowed to be the top student in my cohort...

But the journey is not over yet...

Even after graduating, I still had to clear the interviews to enter the pastorate, and when I did so, I went into the new church and there were so many new portfolios to take up, so many new people to meet and hope they like me, hope they like my style of working is acceptable to them, and the style of preaching is liked by them.... and now I have to come to a school and share with 300 girls and hope they like me... (yah... I never felt such out numbered before...)

But you know something?

God is so faithful because during my last meeting in my previous church, the passage that he shared on was exactly this verse... “Be Strong and courageous” which to be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to... to me at that point of time, it was just another verse and passage that I was very familiar with...

But when I became a pastor, and just got to my new office, one member of the church gave me plaque which had the verse on it... and she said she prayed over me and felt that this was the verse for me... again I didn’t think much about it... I must be quite thick-headed...

Then, the day I was about to leave for a mission trip, I got this assignment to share with you this morning through an email, and I almost fell off the chair when I saw the passage that was assigned to me...

The most amazing thing was that shortly after receiving the email, someone sent me a picture of an artwork she did... and I told her hey... that’s my name in chinese... then God reminded me that Yong is courage in Chinese and I was like now why didn’t I realise that earlier...

All these while, God was encouraging me with these verse as I was being overwhelmed by my circumstances, and looking back, it was the only way in which I could continue to work that the Lord had laid down for me...

I know that it’s only by His strength and help that I can carry on and complete the task set out for me...

This is what it means by the verse for the year in your school “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from”...

Here, the Psalmist wasn’t asking a question in looking for a solution, but he was making a statement... a statement of certainty that he knows that his help to continue and help him survive the onslaught of difficulties is from God... and the picture of the hill is a picture of certainty, stability for the hill is a picture of strength and stability as well as magnificence and soverignty... a picture of unmovable force and comfort who is God...

And that’s the reason Moses could continue with his task, and I don’t know about you, but similarly, that’s the same reason I can continue in the task that the Lord had laid down for me...

As we begin this new year, there may be uncertainties out there, that you may feel overwhelmed by... there may be things that seem so uncertain and scary...

The reflection that I want to leave with you is “Be strong and courageous”

Amen...

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