2 days ago, on 1st September, we completed our first Anniversary of the online ministry of ‘The Preaching Platform’. I well remember the day this ministry was launched 1 year ago by Pastor Dishan Wickramaratne, the Senior Pastor of the Peoples Church (Assembly of God).
As we look back over 1 year of God’s faithfulness, we thank Him for the way He has blessed our efforts and for the lives He has touched through this ministry. The sermons and devotionals on the blog have had 10391 page views in 142 countries over the past year, besides the views on Facebook and Twitter.
Since last week, the eyes of the sports world have been firmly fixed on the Rio Olympics. As expected, new records have been set, new talented athletes haven been discovered and some of the more seasoned campaigners have also proved that they are still at their best!
Personal Sports Memories-
I have always been a fan of sports and my favorites have been cricket, football and tennis, in that order. As a schoolboy, I remember waking up very early to listen to cricket commentaries on short-wave radio from Australia, staying up late when they were being transmitted from England, and staying up even later to listen to commentaries from the Caribbean. All the listening was done through a small radio we owned.
Another sports memory that will always be entrenched in my mind is tuning in at around 3 in the morning to listen to the 1970 Football World Cup final between Brazil and Italy, being played in Mexico. I still remember the thrill I felt when the legend Pele scored the 1st goal and very specially, the final goal scored by the Brazilian captain, Carlos Alberto, later to be described as one of the most memorable goals in World Cup history! The commentary team from BBC Radio made you feel like you were actually watching the game!
“A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, give her the reward she has earned” (Proverbs 31:30-31)
The world is celebrating Mother’s Day as usual on a large scale and I’m so happy that The Peoples Church is celebrating our mothers, at our services on May 13th. I thought however that this was a good opportunity for me to express my appreciation to the 2 mothers who have had the most input and the most impact in my life.
It’s a tough call being a Preacher. I deeply respect the men and women who faithfully teach or proclaim the Word of God to hungry hearts regularly. Preachers however can find themselves preaching in many different situations that can be quite challenging.
In this article, I would like to discuss the subject of preaching with an interpreter.
‘When preachers are on fire for Jesus, people come to watch them burn for Jesus’.
‘God’s method is a man, and you are that man’ (Dr. Colton Wickramaratne)
I heard a dynamic preacher proclaim the first statement above at a Conference I attended recently. It came out from his lips under the fire of the Spirit’s anointing. The second quote is a favorite statement of the Founder Pastor of Peoples Church, Sri Lanka, Dr Colton Wickramaratne; one he has consistently shared in his ministry over the years.
There’s something special about a preacher who’s on fire for Jesus. It has been my joy to hear many of them in my Christian walk. As I’ve tried to identify what keeps the fire burning within them, here are 5 characteristics I have noticed of a preacher who’s on fire for Jesus.
Many buildings that look strong on the outside develop cracks and some collapse, due to the foundation being weak. Bad foundations produce bad buildings! It’s no different with building a blessed family. Didn’t the Lord Jesus Himself give us the parable of the house on the Rock and the one on sand (Matthew 7:24-27)? The house on the Rock stood firm because it had the right foundation.
In this article, I would like to share what I believe are 5 vital foundations for building a blessed family. They are:
I was wonderfully saved by the grace of God at the age of 16. Since that day, I always believed that one day I would be preaching the amazing Word of God. I therefore decided that I would listen as best as I could to the preaching of God’s Word and learn that Word as much as I could.
I remember sitting on the edge of my seat as a teenager, as the Founder Pastor of our church, Dr Colton Wickramaratne would preach his anointed and inspiring sermons week after week, trying to learn as to what made those sermons come alive. Besides Ps Colton, I would eagerly look forward to hearing other men of God who would come in to our church as missionaries or guest preachers. Among the many who did come, I vividly remember the preaching of Pastors Mark Buntain, Syvelle Phillips and Arthur Speldewinde, besides many others, as they expounded God’s Word skillfully. Being an avid short-wave radio listener, I would also spend many hours listening to Christian Radio Stations. Memories of programs like ‘The Hour of Decision’ and ‘Unshackled’ come to mind. I was listening and trying to learn.
I have been preaching the amazing Word of God for over 25 years and still love doing it. During that time, I have preached many sermons, some of which went off very well, others that were fairly good and many that failed badly (at least that’s what I think!). In this article, I want to focus on the sermons that didn’t do too well. At such times when I have known that the sermon didn’t go off well, I used to look for excuses to justify a bad presentation. Here are some of the excuses I have given.
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