Within minutes of returning to my office after Chapel, I received a message thanking me for the sermon plus the feedback that the audio was uneven and at times, inaudible what a shame. But preaching was what I did yesterday at the Seminary's Chapel assembly. I preached for exactly 30 minutes in English and translated into Malay which means my sermon was only 15 minutes' long. I spoke in English because I wanted a few of my international colleagues and visitors to understand the sermon direct and also as a way to encourage non-English speakers to pick up the language as it is the global language of our times. Preaching is really a holy encounter, an encounter with God through His spoken Word. Only the speaker needs to be anointed as God's Word will touch many lives.
When I stopped preaching and said "let us pray", I could see everyone was ready to bow their heads in worship because through the sermon, some people have encountered God. A mature student came up to me and said he wept or shed tears and it had been a long time since he felt that during preaching. I remember a Timorese from Indonesia of my former church 20 years ago said the same things that he often wept at my preaching. God be praised. A few colleagues came up and thanked me and one said something most affirmative and it was an encouraging, though I know I was just doing God's bidding and it was His gift working in me mightily by the Spirit. I realised it was one of the better sermons I had written with the main theme, "the knowledge of God is understanding" (Prov 9:10) and "I will make you fishers of men" (Matt 4:19). I will not preach again until maybe by the end of the next Semester by April 2024 but it was by providence that I started off the preaching ministry of the Seminary as last Thursday, we heard from an overseas speaker who was visiting with us. I was welcomed as a new faculty member last week, and yesterday all the College's community heard the word of the Lord through His servant.
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