Living by Faith

Written by Warren |Posted on September 23, 2008 | Comments

we stayed at our pastor’s house last Sunday night
Hazel and I felt that we needed to be with our pastor longer right before he departs for US for more than 6months
he and his wife needed to be there to minister to his father-in-law who is suffering from cancer
during that night while all was quite and peaceful
he told us lots of stories from his experiences in being a pastor

for most of those years being a pastor
extending ministries outside our church
preaching the gospel from one place to another
even being praised by the people that heard him preached because of his stand for the Truth
but in the end it seems that only a handful were convicted through his preachings
not to mention the other people whom he thought were on the right side
actually bailed out in the end
and bore hatred towards our pastor in most cases
most of the time he would take out money from his own pocket to support his ministry and doing them without complaining
he gets very little financial support from our church
enough only to support one average individual
but by God’s grace he managed to survived and still carried positive smiles with him
only his close friends would know of his difficult situation
his hardships, his pains, his tribulations
most people would think he is well taken cared of because of his jolly smiles and laughs everytime he shows up
but prior to that he just came in from deep sense of mourning over several brothers and sisters that were rebelling against God
I realized that evening the injustices that were given to him
as opposed to the many pastors of mega-churches who are living their lives in luxury
and yet doesn’t even teach the Truths of the Gospel
our pastor teaches in a secluded area
lives in a secluded area
the people in the Philippines who requests for free resources from Grace To You don’t even know that it was our pastor who mails them these resources
and sometimes if the budget taken from our church wasn’t enough, he would even use his remaining money to mail these resources to the filipinos
every year more and more filipinos are benefiting from the John MacArthur’s teaching thru the free resources sent to them by mail
and if ever they would provide donations, they would forward the donations directly to Grace To You while our pastor would raise his hands praising God filled with laughs and joys in his heart
our pastor would even refuse financial support from Grace to You
after sending those batch of mails yesterday he would turn to me smiling and say
nothing brings me more joy than serving God
all I could think of if only Hazel and I were wealthy enough to support him
probably buy him a decent computer
a decent car
or build a church a building
but we can’t
and when we share this burden to our pastor that we wanted to do this if only we have the funds
he would only say from scripture
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9
and now he has left us and will be staying in the US for more than 6months
we might want to think that he is in the US having a good time
but no
even there the persecutions on him still won’t stop
not to mention the looking for a decent church in Chicago
its really stressful to be away from your church
plus they will be staying in a house that has 21 people in it
imagine the discomfort of the crowd
and the weather there is too cold to handle
all I could do is pray to God to stop giving him a hard time
like please give the guy a break
but observing him I realized that it is thru these circumstances
thru these hardships
these pains and tribulations
hatred from friends and relatives
all these persecutions
it is thru these things that he learned to rely on God
and it is thru these things that his faith became more and more stronger
and becoming more like Christ
even if we live in a generation where “servant of Christ” means being a celebrity

—
update (March 06, 2009): only after several months did we realize the real story behind his persecutions. it all started with his teaching about me being disqualified from the pastoral position then later on his dark and dirty past was slowly being revealed. unfortunately for him, we tend to agree with his “enemies” and realized that, like his friends, we were deceived. please see these related posts for its brief history:

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/09/23/living-by-faith/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/11/24/a-friendly-encounter/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/11/26/torn-between-two-churches/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/12/04/shocking-revelation/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/12/06/confronting-our-pastor/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2008/12/14/two-great-lessons-god-has-taught-me-this-year/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2009/01/11/the-pharisee-within/

http://www.afterhisownheart.com/2009/02/17/rise-and-fall-of-a-preacher/