Pastor Daniel Chua

I’ve really been enjoying Eugene Peterson’s interpretations of some of my favorite Bible passages. One of them is 1 Peter 5:1-7:

1-3 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.
4-5When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

6-7So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

Here are 7 thoughts for all those serving as leaders or are aspiring to be leaders:

1. There will be ups and downs in leadership – we will share in Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. So persevere through the hard times and also enjoy the good ones!

2. The Christian leader’s job description is CARE – how much do we look out for others? We care when we encourage with words and deed, we care when we remember them in prayer, we care when we take responsibility for their struggle, we care when we rebuke in love…

3. Our motivation matters – we lead not because we have to but that we want to please God. We don’t lead to impress men. Our ultimate goal is the pleasure of God.

4. Christian leaders must not be calculative – leaders must be selfless. It’s not what we can get out of serving. There may be surprises and we will have to act spontaneously when the need arises.

5. Christian leaders must not be bossy – we have no business in making unreasonable demands on others but instead ‘tenderly showing them the way’.

6. Christian leaders must be down to earth – be content in who we are, don’t put on airs, God is the One who promotes and rewards us.

7. Christian leaders live carefree before God – our lives are marked with joy. We should learn to celebrate our wins and cast our cares on God.

It’s a high call to lead God’s people. Let’s do it well and do it right!

Uncategorized leaders, Leadership, message

I have been thinking and praying about the series and brainstormed a list of possible messages. These are values that matter to me and what I believe are the necessary building blocks for The City Church:

1. Zion – The City of God
2. Glory – for through Him, and to Him and for Him are all things
3. Grace – Unmerited favor and divinely enabled
4. Gospel -A Missional Lifestyle
5. Generosity -Blessed to Give
6. Humility – Meekness and Service
7. Holiness – A Walk that is Worthy
8. Hunger – Passion for God
9. Honesty – Authenticity
10. Honor – The key to miracles
11. Fellowship – Community of the Spirit
12. Family – An Expression of God
13. Fear of the Lord – Intimacy breeds reverance
14. Compassion -The Heart of God
15. Creativity – A Beautiful World
16. Childlikeness – Simply Trust
17. Corporate Anointing – Unity in Diversity

The series will probably run till our official launch on 6 September. It is important for all at The City to share in these values and commit to living them out 24/7. They are the unseen foundation that holds up the structure. We may tweak and reword a few of them as we go along.

Let me know your thoughts.

Uncategorized church, Leadership, Sermons, The City, Values

We live in a world of words! Words are everywhere… there are at least 10000 words in an average newspaper and millions of words in the worldwide web.

The New Kings James Bible has 790,930 words.  Jesus said that we ‘do not live by bread along but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God’.  These words are our daily diet that gives nutrition to our spiritual men. However throughout history we had false teachers and prophets that have twisting these words, either for their own self engrandizement or they are truly deceived. Satan quoted Scriptures out of context when he was tempting Christ in the wilderness. 

We need to discern the voice behind the words. ’His sheep hear His voice.’  The more intimate you are with a person the more you can tell his/her voice apart. My wife sounds different and unique to me, and I can tell instantly if someone pretends to talk like her!

One of the signs that God truly owns us is the ability to hear.

 ³ The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.
      The God of glory thunders.
      The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.
 ⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful;
      the voice of the Lord is majestic.
 ⁵ The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars;
      the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
 ⁶ He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf;
      he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.
 ⁷ The voice of the Lord strikes
      with bolts of lightning.
 ⁸ The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake;
      the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
 ⁹ The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks
      and strips the forests bare.
   In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!” Psalm 29:3-8

The ability to hear God’s voice is absolutely essential in leadership. A good ear is more important than good head. Perry Noble, the Senior Pastor of New Spring Church, said that leadership is as easy as listening. Yonggi Cho built Yoido Full Gospel in Korea to a million members by listening and obeying.

What is God saying to you?

Leadership hearing God, Leadership, voice

We are living in a society where success is determined by our positions and monetary bottomlines – how many people do we have under us, how much money do we have in the bank and how many cars? We find ourselves categorizing people based on their type of work, the place they stay and their hobbies.

Sadly, many young Christian leaders have also used the same benchmark to measure the impact of their ministries. Huge budgets and big numbers are celebrated. While God wants us to be fruitful and healthy churches do grow, an unhealthy fascination about size and numbers may be a symptom that ministry has become an idol in our lives. Many leaders hide behind outward successes, refusing to yield ourselves to a deeper work of God in our hearts.

Revival of Biblical proportion always begins with a pulling down of man-made idols in a nation. Likewise personal revival begins when leaders allow God to destroy the graven images of the exalted self in our lives.

What safeguards should 20-something pastors have in place to avoid the idolatry of ministry fame and the attitude of big numbers equals success?

Tim Keller gave an amazing answer to the above question. This is what he said:

If you know it is a danger, that is a very important start. Additionally, when you find yourself unusually discouraged because things aren’t growing or people aren’t listening to you — you have to catch yourself. You have to realize “This is an inordinate amount of discouragement, which reveals the idolatry of justification by ministry.” Meaning, you say you believe in justification by grace, but you feel like and are acting like you believe in justification by ministry. You have to recognize you are making something of an idol out of ministry. When you do experience inordinate discouragement because things aren’t going well, you need to say, “It’s okay to be discouraged but not to be this discouraged. This is discouragement that leads to idolatry,” and you repent.

Additionally, idols create a fantasy world. You may think that you are just thinking about ministry strategy, but it could be you’re fantasizing about success. So be careful about doing too much daydreaming about success, what you would like to see happen. Because it’s really a kind of pornography. You’re actually thinking about a beautiful church and people acclaiming you: be careful about fantasizing too much about ministry success and dreaming about it and thinking about what it’s going to look like.

God’s word exposes our real motivation in serving. Let us not forget the high call of God in our lives to lead His people and forfeit that for a form of success and the applause of men!

What do you think?

Leadership idolatry, interview, Leadership, ministry, thougths, young pastors

• 11:38 PM: danielchua The purpose of the book unlocks the treasures of the book.
• 11:41 PM: danielchua Apostasy means to leave behind or give up one’s faith.
• 11:42 PM: danielchua Jude is a disciple of Peter and their writings are quite similar. Read 2 Pet 2.
• 11:44 PM: danielchua All it takes to kill a person is a little bit of poison.
• 11:45 PM: danielchua God’s word has feeding qualities. Wheat has nutritional value. Our ability to lead is determine by our ability to feed.
• 11:47 PM: danielchua Who is Jude? He’s mentioned in Matt 13:55. One of Jesus’ half brothers.
• 11:50 PM: danielchua What will be attacked in the last days are faith and love. It is our responsibility to keep ourselves in the love of God (v21) and God will keep us from falling (v24).
• 11:52 PM: danielchua God is speaking to him about being alert and be watching. It is while men slept that the enemy comes and sows tares.
• 11:59 PM: danielchua God wants us to contend for the faith. The hypergrace message is teaching people to live careless lives.
• 12:02 AM: danielchua We deny the Lordship of Christ by our unrestrained sinning.
• 12:06 AM: danielchua Verses 5-7 deal with God’s judgement on backsliders in times past – Israelites, Fallen Angels, the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• 12:14 AM: danielchua The root sin of Sodom is Ezekiel 16:49-50 – pride, fullness of food and idleness.
• 12:19 AM: danielchua We are ending part 1 and breaking for lunch. Will be back.
• 1:51 AM: danielchua Back in the meeting. Talking about being Pro family.
• 1:54 AM: danielchua Someone just said F.a.m.i.l.y stands for Father and Mother I love you. A cute statement!

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