ICS Daily Devotions
Talk About a Beating
Luke 6: 48-49 (NKJV) “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, ICS has experienced many challenges. Firstly, we had to switch to online services since no physical church gatherings were allowed. This was challenging, as I am not gifted in preaching to the camera. I do not belong to the Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat generation. I am a preacher who need to see the response of the congregation when I speak. Now I had to preach by faith to the camera to an imaginary audience and I had to learn to flow with the Holy Spirit when I am on camera. But praise the Lord, His grace is sufficient for me. When I am weak, then I am strong in Him. To further complicate the situation, the district authorities asked us to password-protect all our online sermons and daily devotionals, and no online seminars or in-person cell group meetings were to be held. We submitted to these requests and complied.
Nowadays, since there are no physical church services, everyone can choose whoever they want to listen to online during this pandemic. In fact, people are presented with a spiritual buffet or smorgasbord whereby they can tune in to listen to world-renowned pastors and preachers. Who would want to listen to an unknown Singaporean pastor of an international church in Shanghai? There have been reports of overseas churches closing down due to the pandemic; attendance dropped when church services moved online and financial giving declined significantly, in some cases by as much as 70-85%. Some overseas local churches are also closing down, their sheep have scattered and preachers have had to take up secular jobs. Talk about the stream that beats against the house!
But we at ICS did not panic in the midst of the pandemic. The Kids Church staff quickly launched an online Kids Church on WeChat and delivered craft work to the homes of all our children. Our Media team came up with a popup studio which has now become quite professional. The Trailblazers youth service went online. We record our Sunday sermons on Wednesdays, teach our cell group leaders online on Thursday nights and record our bilingual sermons on Saturday mornings. The viewership has been close to 1000 weekly, the Kids Church posts receive approximately 130-140 views weekly and the youth service is also healthy. And last but not least, financial giving for the 2020/21 financial year exceeded our budget by more than Rmb 500,000. Glory to God! Though there are adversities, affliction and tribulation, the church of the living God marches on despite all setbacks. The gates of hell cannot stand against her. And a strong foundation in Christ keeps all of us resilient, enabling us to work together as a team.
Sermon Series: Resilience
