Tuesday Slot

I have been preaching every Tuesday morning at Chapel. Often the message goes beyond the 15 mins allocated and we break late for lectures. I felt strongly in the beginning of my term that I needed to speak regularly to the whole College community. Today I spoke from Ezekiel 17:22-24 about the parable of a young shoot taken from a tall cedar and planted by God on a high mountain. I took this parable to represent most students at College here. Some are barely into their 20s and most are under 30 years old. They are young shoots which God took from their villages and now they are planted at Namaus, spiritually a high place though we are on a plain.
I spoke about the high mountain as Mount Kinabalu that towers in the skyline about 35kms away. This young shoot will grow and have branches and become a tall cedar where birds of every kind will flock and take shelter. I talked about the servant of God/pastor being like a tall cedar. I shared my experience as pastor in two churches and how in each church that I had pastored had borne fruits of growth in numbers. It is bearing much fruit we glorify God the Father (John 15). I ended today's message by speaking about the need to learn Greek well and encouraged my Greek class to soldier on though I sensed many are at the point of giving up.