Preaching is my main gift

Why was it so tough to preach last Sunday’s anniversary thanksgiving service? It was because I had to balance between self-deprecation and testimony of God’s power in my life. I told the 70 plus adults present that my main gift in Christ was preaching and I could see a few of my guests nodding their heads agreeing with me as these leaders invited me to preach in the past couple of years. But preaching is a rare gift. It involves body mind soul and spirit. After more than 3 days I still feel tired due to the exertions of the weekend.

I preached three times over the weekend and the Saturday trip took a lot of me because I had to get up at 4.30am and drove at 6am to a nearby town arriving there just after 7.20am and my host was there and we had a long chat over coffee in a shop because making our way to the church and had another breakfast from 8.20am to 8.55am before being ushered into the church building and I preached at 10.25am for about 50 minutes and my energy was sapped. But the efforts were worth it as at least 6 or 7 church leaders came up to me and thanked me for the message and I could see their faces lit up as they lapped up the sermon even as Scripture says the lips of the wise feed many. 

But the detour to my first place of ministry took 25 minutes as it rained cats and dogs on the way but praise God the event in church finished before the rain came. Then we stopped over in my first church 30 years ago and lo and behold I met a former student there who remembered me well and the names of my wife and son. I could see she was really happy to me her former teacher and I gave her a copy of my newest book in return of the hospitality I received. Then 2.40pm exactly two hours after I left the first church where the event was held I drove back to Kota Kinabalu in the rain and the journey took one and a half hours arriving in Kota Kinabalu at 4.10pm where I stopped in a shop and had afternoon tea (bread and two eggs) before reaching home at 5pm sharp. I went to sleep at 6pm out of exhaustion and got up at eight for dinner. 

By 11pm I was asleep again and got up at 4.30am fresh ready to preach my first sermon as pastor at a 9am service. I was more than ready but as the church was having children’s Christmas celebration 40 kids sat on the floor in front where normally tambourine dancers danced. I preached for a whole hour on rebuilding the tabernacle of David that had fallen. I heard chatter throughout as the younger children 5-7 but the older kids were paying attention to their pastor. As it was close to 11.40am before the service ended and I stayed back for another hour plus to make sure everything was ready for the night’s main event. I even followed the team’s rehearsal the three songs I chose for the welcoming of pastor. 

Because of my unique circumstances which I only hinted in my new book, I had to be careful with I said in my night’s sermon and it went really well by God’s grace and wisdom. I managed to get my message across with light humour and seriousness at the same time, witty, sincere, truthful and filled with conviction. One time when I told them of my breakthrough year, when a seminary in Miri Sarawak invited me in Sept 2024 to speak in their 10hb Nov's convocation service: "Do they really want to invite me, a nobody in SIB Sabah?" That line hit home. 

By the time I went down to the dining hall for dinner at 9pm after signing 20 books the food was gone but there was quite a bit of food left on the table prepared for my guests though it sat like 18 guests but 22 of my friends stayed on until the end with three leaving earlier for an overnight drive to Sandakan.