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“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
-John 3:3 (ESV)
The Hospital
November 26, 2025
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
-Luke 5:27-32 (NIV)
People go to church for all kinds of reasons. Some people go to socialize and network. Others go to feel uplifted and hopeful. Some people go out of tradition or because of family expectations. And some actually understand going to church is responding to being called out from the world and called to God individually and corporately in worship, submission, joy, fear and awe. Of course, the Greek word for church is ekklesia meaning an assembly called out from the world and called to God. I’m not saying all these reasons are good reasons, but I do know God can work with any circumstance for his glory (Rom. 8:28)! Some may go to church for all the wrong reasons, but if it’s in God’s master plan, some of these people will be followers of Jesus someday! Furthermore, some go to church expecting that church is full of “goody-goody” people and perfect people. With this last statement, nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus once said, “No one is good – except God alone” (Mark 10:8).
For this reason, I must tell you, there will come a time when you might be offended, have a disagreement, or come to church and feel unsatisfied for any number of reasons. How could that be? Isn’t the church described as being the bride of Christ? Indeed, that’s the case (Eph. 5:25), but the church is also full of messy people and it’s somehow out of this messiness Christ chooses to engage with the world, and he does it because he is faithful, even when we’re not (2 Tim. 2:13). And none of us has it right all the time!
Many pastors often quote Prov. 14:4 when referencing the church. If you want a clean and pristine manger, you’re not going to have oxen, but an “abundant harvest” comes from the strength of an ox. Similarly, if you want a clean, sanitized, efficient church that is easy to deal with, easy to interact with and easy to manage, you’re going to have an empty church – but at the same time, if you want an abundant harvest producing church, then you better be open to welcoming and dealing with uneasiness and messiness….Why? Because the church is full of sick people needing healing. For this reason, sometimes I like to think of a church as a type of hospital with the ultimate doctor being Jesus Christ!
Oh, if only the world realized what Jesus really does! He doesn’t condemn, he saves (Jn. 3:17)! As the greatest physician this world has ever seen, of course Jesus would spend much of his time around people that needed to be healed – sinners! I mean what good would a doctor be, no matter how great he is if he only spent time around completely healthy people? And what good would hospitals be if all the healthy people only went there?
Now there’s a few things worth noting here in our text:
1) Levi felt Jesus to be irresistible! For any classically trained reformed Christian, you know this is an example of the I in the TULIP acronym known as Irresistible Grace. Look, shortly after meeting Jesus and hearing his call, Levi dropped everything and followed Jesus, just like Peter did in Matt. 4:18-20. This is the effect of meeting the real Jesus! His grace is simply irresistible, but it must be from the real and authentic Jesus! And if it’s grace from the real and authentic Jesus, then we can’t go back to how we were living before! It wouldn’t make sense and we wouldn’t want our old lifestyles because our old lifestyles are too appalling!
2) Jesus gave a shocking answer to the known “experts” of righteous and moral living as seen by the world (the Pharisees and teachers of the law). In the context of healing (referencing a doctor called to the sick), he mentions calling sinners to repentance. Jesus also said, “People who are well do not need a doctor” (Matt. 9:12). And the ironic thing is people that think they are well do not seek healing.
Now think about the metaphor of a surgeon as a type of doctor. If a body is infected with say a flesh-eating disease like necrotizing fasciitis (the most common type), that will eventually kill a person if left untreated, and surgeons need to cut away infected and decayed matter before healing can begin. The Word of the Lord is described as a double-edged sword cutting into spirit and flesh right (Heb. 4:12)? Well, such a sword is not going to be dull at all! In other words, it’s going to hurt before it gets better when we’re pierced and similarly, it hurts to encounter the real Jesus Christ with his disarming word and humbling holiness, and a lot of pride gets hurt with the confessional part of repentance and sometimes relationships too….but if you want real healing to begin and if you want to live, Jesus is saying repentance is necessary to be healed!
So who needs healing *cough* I mean repentance? I do and so do you! You want to live right? Thank goodness we have a hospital *cough* I mean church, and thank goodness we have the most amazing doctor, and by that mean Jesus Christ! I did a lot of coughing…see, I already told you I need healing here, and so do you!
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Scratch an Itch
November 12, 2025
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
-2 Tim. 4:1-5 (NIV)
Lately I’m seeing more news of pastors or public Christian speakers arrested or muzzled on account of their Christian faith.
In Malaysia, Pastor Raymond Koh remains missing since 2017. His wife recently won a court case that awarded her family the equivalent of $7,377,132 USD for the abduction of Pastor Raymond Koh. The High Court ruled the pastor was abducted by police officials, the Royal Malaysian Police and the Malaysian government. The additional sad news is this pastor remains missing. The full article can be found here:
Of course, and for greater context, it’s worth considering the article mentions it’s illegal to lead ethnic Malays (considered Muslim) to Christ, where Islam is the national religion of Malaysia as indicated by article 3 of their constitution.
In the UK, street preacher John Steele was wrongfully arrested for reportedly asking a question about Islam. He was arrested and detained for a “non-crime hate incident” and afterwards was released and vindicated. Video footage showed Steele holding a banner showing verses from Acts and 1 Timothy. The full article can be found here:
https://christianconcern.com/news/christian-preacher-vindicated-after-arrest-for-questioning-quran/
In 2019 pastor David Lynn in Toronto was arrested for preaching the gospel at an LGBTQ pride event and was since released on bail. The full article can be found here:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5355366/church-wellesley-village-david-lynn-released/
And now I see surprising news about “Minister” Marc Miller, the current “Minister” of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in Canada and a member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Ile des-Soeurs. Notice I put his title of Minister in quotations as he’s certainly not a Christian minister and is a head of a government department (the secular form of the minister title). Marc Miller has publicly declared passages in Leviticus, Romans other passages as “hate speech” towards the LGBTQ. Potentially this could one day lead to charging individuals using these biblical verses and perhaps others. Here’s one video clip summarizing the situation from a Christian perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJts_gdlJqs
This tells me increasingly, Christians are becoming public enemy #1 in the world, but that’s nothing new! Perhaps one day I may be detained in prison and if you’re a Christian reading this, you may too! Verse 3 in our reading tells us that people will gather a great number of teachers around them to say what their itching ears want to say. They want their itching ears scratched and not healed! Only Jesus and by the washing of the Holy Spirit can people be healed (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Currently much of the public in North America doesn’t like to hear anything biblical about the LGBTQ. Globally, much of the public doesn’t want to hear anything biblical about the real Jesus being the Son of God, the only Saviour of the world, God in human flesh, that he died for our sins and rose from the grave in victory, etc!
….but should that stop Christians from sharing the gospel? Absolutely not! Preach the word and be prepared! Moreover, and when we read Matthew 28:19, where does it tell us to make disciples of some people and some nations? This instruction was given to the disciples of Jesus’ time, but is now handed over to us to make disciples of ALL nations! Where in scripture does it ever tell us to stop making disciples? Where in scripture does it tell us to not be bold in our faith? I’ll borrow a line from Jon Dykeman’s last sermon when he quoted fitness expert David Goggins by saying, “Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done.” We’re not called to heaven yet and so we’re not done yet! Be encouraged and be thankful God chose you, yes YOU to evangelize and make disciples of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, because all Christians are commanded to do so! And don’t you worry about outcomes. Let God take of that and let God take care of his people as he has always done in the Old Testament, New Testament and beyond!
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It’s Not Too Late!
November 5, 2025
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
-John 21:15-19 (NIV)
Perhaps someone out there needs to hear this message. Perhaps you’ve been far away from Jesus and perhaps you’ve been far away for a very long time. Perhaps you’ve even rejected Jesus completely or have behaved in ways unfitting to his holy standard. Perhaps you’ve walked with Jesus at one point but find yourself in a rut where Jesus seems distant….or just maybe you’re further away from Jesus than you think.
Whatever the case may be, there’s time and it’s not too late to come back to Jesus! Whatever wrong you’ve committed, whatever failure you made, no sin is greater than the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and by his work all sins have been defeated, thereby making the work of Jesus completed (Jn. 19:30).
Can you imagine how distressed Peter must’ve felt after denying Jesus three times when he was handed over to the authorities? Let me repeat that again – Peter denied Jesus not just once, not twice, but three times and this happened after Jesus told him it would happen, and it happened after Peter told Jesus he would follow Jesus until death (Lk. 22:31-34). I can tell you it distressed Peter immensely because it says he wept bitterly (Lk. 22:62).
Now the beauty is Jesus always wants to restore, reconcile, save and bring life from death! And Jesus even restored the relationship he had with Peter or many people know this story as Peter being reinstated. Even after the terrible situation of Jesus being deserted by everyone (including Peter) leading up to Jesus being crucified, Jesus simply wanted a right relationship with Peter once again. Even after all of the pain and suffering until death on the cross that Jesus endured and after his resurrection, Jesus simply wanted a right relationship.
In response, Jesus wanted Peter’s full commitment to love him “more than these” and probably meaning more than his life of being a fisher as Peter probably went back to that lifestyle. By showing this committed love, Jesus asks Peter to feed his sheep, tend his sheep and feed his sheep once again. I think Peter eventually got it and committed because Peter even emphasized this teaching later on in 1 Peter 5:1-4.
It wasn’t enough that Jesus would be okay with Peter just being a casual friend, but that Jesus reinstated Peter to be a redeeming force in the world once again. That’s a full restoration!
Now what’s your story? You’re not too far away that Jesus can’t get a hold of your heart no matter what you’ve done! He loves you and he cares for you! It’s not too late to return back to him!
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