Two Expectations For 2020
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”
Goodbye, 2019, and welcome 2020!
Every time we stand at the threshold of a new year, our hearts are filled with expectations. Somehow, there is a sense of fresh hope at this point of transition. There is the expectation that God will pour forth new wine and do a new thing in our lives. We long for a change. We yearn for a better year ahead. Whether that hope prevails and turns into reality is another thing altogether. For me, my hope for the new year rests on the prophetic words of God. If He has spoken, those words would certainly come to pass.
Sensing what God had said to me toward the end of 2019, I have two expectations for us and our church in 2020.
Expect to Experience the Miraculous
First, expect to see and experience the miraculous in 2020.
I ended the last Sunday of 2019 preaching a sermon entitled, “God of the Miraculous.” It was the last sermon in the sermon series, “Simple Stories, Profound Lessons.” While I had been focusing on drawing out principles and lessons from numerous Gospel passages in the course of this series, I felt led to focus on the miraculous in the last few sermons. By the time of the last sermon, the impulse to urge our church to cultivate a mindset that embraces the supernatural and miraculous was exceptionally strong. My concern is that too many believers are sceptical and they find little if any relevance of the supernatural for their lives. If they continue with this attitude, they are unlikely to experience the fullness of God when His Spirit begins to move mightily.
I believe that through my last few sermons, God was preparing us to expect the miraculous in 2020. Do not let doubt and unbelief rob us of what God has in store for us.
A picture paints a thousand words. A few days ago, I came across a picture of the parting of a sea. Obviously, it draws its inspiration from the biblical account of Moses parting the Red Sea by God’s power. It shows the sea being erased through the middle enabling a man to walk across it. It has a caption, which reads, “God Will Make A Way When There Seems To Be No Way.”
Upon looking at it, the picture and its message immediately struck a chord of resonance in my spirit. The stirring within me was quietly strong. There was this palpable sense that this was a prophetic picture of what the Lord would do in our lives and our church in 2020.
We can expect our Almighty God to work miraculously this year!
Expect to Gain in Wisdom
Second, expect to gain in wisdom.
Our preaching theme for the year 2020 is “Living Wisely.” I will be spending the entire year focusing on this theme. Wisdom is a precious commodity in short supply nowadays. While knowledge has increased exponentially and technology has advanced phenomenally in recent decades, wisdom in living has not matched the pace. Ironically, it could be argued that wisdom, in general, is on a steep decline. Common sense is no longer common.
You just have to open your eyes, observe and discern. In the words of Ravi Zacharias, an eminent Christian apologist, our generation listens with its eyes and thinks with its feelings. This postmodern generation no longer thinks objectively. Many educated and intelligent people dismiss the idea of objective truth. Nothing is absolute. Everything is relative. So, they claim. What I feel is right must be right.
Our society has gone topsy-turvy. Folly has consumed our generation, and Christians are not spared. As an example, many millennial Christians have bought into the lie concerning gender fluidity and same-sex marriage. They reject the absolute truth clearly stated in the Word of God concerning this issue. Untethering themselves in this way from the Holy Scripture is a dangerous step down a slippery slope toward the darkening of their minds as the apostle, Paul, clearly expounded in Romans chapter one, verses 18-32.
On another note, wisdom, as taught in the bible, is not merely the accumulation of knowledge; it has to do with developing skills in practical living. The bible has much to say about living wisely because God wants His people to live a flourishing life - living victoriously and successfully. Knowledge alone is not enough to achieve that. Wisdom is required.
The pages of the bible are filled with instructions for living wisely. I will be exploring the wisdom books in the bible – Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and Job. I will also look at the wise men in the bible like Joseph, David, Daniel, Paul and of course Jesus to uncover precious biblical truths for living wisely.
In talking about wisdom, I am not just referring to values and principles for wise living like discipline, prudence and diligence. You may be surprised to learn that wisdom also has a supernatural dimension. It can only be received by divine revelation. Joseph and Daniel were considered wise because they knew how to interpret dreams and visions of divine origins. They had the God-given ability to understand divine mysteries and foretell the future.
So, expect to gain in wisdom as we plough deep into the study of wisdom in the Word of God. Along the way, I hope that you will develop a desire to have greater wisdom both in the skills for practical living and in the understanding of divine mysteries.
Have a blessed year!
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua