Omc: Family Chapel

During his Midian experience, Moses has an encounter with the living God. God reveals Himself to Moses as "I am who I am". Through this encounter we see the God who is utterly holy draw near with compassion and faithfulness to his people. And when we encounter God, not only do we get a clearer picture as to who God is, but we also get a clearer picture as to who we are and to what God calls us to.

In the face of deep despair, there is a glimmer of hope with the birth of a baby boy. Everything about Moses' birth narrative points to the makings of a great hero. However, Moses seeks to take matters into his own hands and carry out God's work in his own way. He ends up fleeing to the land of Midian, where he receives preparation to rightly carry out God's call on his life. If we want to faithfully carry out God's call on our lives, we need to patiently embrace the Midian Experience - the detours of life that lead us into obscurity and humility that ultimately teach us to carry out God's work in God's way.

For this Sunday, we will look at chapter 1 that sets the context and picks up the story of the Israelites in Egypt after many generations have passed from Genesis. Through the oppression of Egypt, the Israelites face bondage and suffering. God will then initiate his plan to deliver his people and fulfill his promise for them. In similar ways to our own story, through Exodus 1 we will explore the bondage that God calls us out from, the suffering we can confidently face, and the faithfulness we can live out in suffering.

While Easter is all about the glorious reality of Jesus' victory over sin and death, we can sometimes grow numb to this wonderful Gospel truth because we forget what this salvation means. Ephesians 2:1-10 reminds us why Easter is so amazing. Before Christ, we used to be spiritually dead in our sins. We were under the power of the world, the devil, and our flesh. But God made us alive together with Christ so that Christ's resurrection and exaltation is our resurrection and exaltation. We receive this gift of grace through faith, and because God has made us alive, we can now live for His glory!

Here in the modern West, many advancements have provided us with a greater measure of control over our lives. But when control becomes an idol, we become deluded into thinking that we are God. Unfortunately, the idol of control leads to crippling anxiety and depressing isolation. The solution to the idol of control is to rest in the One who is actually in control. God is sovereign and He exercises His sovereignty by supervising all things, sustaining all things, and succeeding in all things.

The idol of comfort promises a life of ease where you can enjoy whatever you want without having to make any sacrifices. Unfortunately, the idol of comfort always disappoints. Thankfully, Jesus offers a better way. First, Jesus actually invites us into discomfort in order to carry out his internal work of maturation as well as his missional work of multiplication. Secondly, Jesus provides us with true comfort. Unlike the world's comfort which is flimsy and fleeting, Jesus' comfort brings true peace which calms troubled hearts and casts out all fear because Jesus' comfort comes with Jesus' very presence.

We are starting a new topical series for a few weeks on the "idols of the heart". Through this series, we will explore the things in our lives that can be stumbling blocks to our call of seeking Christ first. For the first teaching, we will be looking at various passages to explore how our Family can actually be a big idol of our heart. Then we will see how Christ frees us by calling us to a greater discipleship. And lastly, how Christ redeems and heals us in our family relationships.

Jesus is the Great "I Am". He is not merely a good teacher or a traveling rabbi, but He is God in the flesh. The eternal God has stepped into humanity so that all who believe in Him would be liberated from sin and enjoy true freedom in Him. The key question is: do you believe who Jesus says He is?

Jesus is the True Vine. As the True Vine, Jesus unites His people to Himself so that they can enjoy true life and bear much fruit. As branches, our role is to abide in Jesus. We can abide in Jesus as we regularly partake in the Word and prayer, as we engage in loving and joyful obedience, and as we love others with Christ's love.

Jesus is the Way. As the Way, Jesus provides exclusive access to our true home with the Father. He opens up the avenue for sinful people to dwell with the holy God through his work on the cross. Since Jesus is the Way, we should know the Way, trust the Way, and walk the Way.

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He has defeated our ultimate enemy, death itself. Therefore, we can confidently die to self and experience the power of the resurrection life.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus exemplifies sacrificial commitment for his sheep, enjoys relational intimacy with his sheep, exhibits a missional impulse to find lost sheep, and exercises victorious authority over death to save his sheep. Because Jesus is the Good Shepherd we can wholeheartedly follow after Him.

Jesus is the Door. As the Door, Jesus provides protection in the midst of danger and Jesus provides entrance into a flourishing life. As such, we can take great risks for Christ because we are truly safe in His arms and we can enjoy great rest in Christ because we have true abundance through Him.

Jesus is the light of the world. As the light of the world, Jesus reveals the Father, so that we can rightly understand who God is. As the light of the world, Jesus exposes our sin, and thus lovingly invites us to confess and to repent of our sins. As the light of the world, Jesus leads us out of darkness, so that we have the hope that one day all will be bright and darkness will be no more.

For this Sunday, we will look at Jesus' declaration that he is the Bread of Life. We will see how Jesus teaches us that there is a false "bread" that will never satisfy, a "bread of life" that provides the ultimate satisfaction, and how we might receive this bread of life.

The very first thing that Jesus does before starting his public ministry is to go off to the wilderness in silence and solitude. As we seek Christ first, we need to seek to do the same. Silence and solitude can transform our lives as it exposes our insecurity and as it solidifies our identity. We can rightly practice silence and solitude as we reserve, remove, relax, and receive.

As we strive to seek Christ first, one of the biggest challenges many of us will face is our busyness. We live such hurried lives with too much on our plates as we constantly rush from one thing to the next - and tragically, we wear our busyness as a badge of honor. Instead, we need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives because a life of hurry leads to being distracted, discouraged, self-centered, critical of others, and too busy for Jesus. The solution to a hurried life is to slow down and to simplify our lives around Jesus as his disciples.

As we seek Christ first, we need to press on with godly dissatisfaction and we need to press on towards God’s Kingdom completion. We press on with godly dissatisfaction because we still have a long way to go and we do have a hunger for more. And we can press on towards God's Kingdom completion as we follow behind the right runners and keep our eyes on the prize.

The message of Christmas is that we worship God who went to great lengths to be with us. And this brought us light, fellowship and joy. Therefore, Christmas is also a season for us to reflect in what ways we are truly seeking to be with Him and near Him.

As we look forward to Christ's return in this Advent season, what does Jesus' return mean for us? We see three incredible hopes with the Second Advent: the restoration of all creation, the presence of God for all time, and the healing of all hurts. We can look forward with great joy and hope to the return of our King, not because we are so faithful in our waiting, but because God is so faithful in His coming.