Pastor James Fam

God wants to speak to us, and He does so through the words of Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit. Have you been longing to hear from God?

Vanity Fair from “The Pilgrim’s Progress” has many lessons for us today. By understanding the dangers of materialism, developing our discernment, and building a strong community, we can stay true to our spiritual journey and avoid being led astray by the distractions and temptations of the world.

Those that have participated in youth sports like baseball and football may be familiar with the mercy rule, where a game or contest is declared over if one team is ahead by a large margin in score or points. God intended the mercy rule to be in effect in our everyday lives as well. Being Christlike requires those with means to show mercy towards others that are in need or have suffered loss. The challenge often comes when we do not feel like being in a “winning” position to show sportsmanship, whether in our deeds or attitude. Why should I be merciful when others have not been merciful to me?

Some of you may be familiar with the reality TV show “Undercover Boss” where each episode features a top executive of a large company posing as a trainee or recruit to experience working at the ground level. The show usually concludes with the boss having a greater appreciation for the employees and the workers’ improved morale because of the validation. As a student of leadership styles and principles, I have always gleaned great lessons from the various stories to apply both personally, as well as within the ministry context of the church.

God has already placed a sword and a trowel in your hand, and may He raise up in you the kind of knowledge and wisdom of God that Nehemiah had to build His Kingdom. Who knows? Some of you may start to enjoy building IKEA furniture as well.

We learn from the OT that Israel experienced 120 years of unity before splitting into the Northern and Southern kingdom under the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. King Rehoboam had the opportunity to build and strengthen the community, but he chose to exert his power instead and this ‘family feud’ led to 430 years of ongoing conflict between the people of Israel.

When it comes to studying leadership from Biblical characters, Moses certainly stood out as one of the great leaders given his monumental task of leading a large group of Israelites out of Egypt. As incredible as his feat of escaping an army of Egyptian chariots was, what was even more overwhelming for Moses was the tedious task of managing a group of hungry and disgruntled people wandering in the desert wilderness.

We should be motivated to demonstrate loving kindness and grace to other people, including those that we may disagree with. After all, we are defined by how we treat others, but it all starts with how we treat ourselves. How can we be kind to ourselves?

At the end of the Day, the medals that we have hanging from our heavenly shelves will not be given according to our earthly wealth or our worldly achievements, instead we are rewarded by the influence and impact that we make in helping others know about Jesus and inspiring them to race for the eternal crowns that they too will have the opportunity to receive for generations to come.

It was well over a year ago (around March of 2020) when church leaders began to ponder the question, “What are we going to do if we can’t meet as a church on Sundays?” Fast forward to the late spring in 2021 as churches in our Province are allowed to resume in-person meetings, I want to share some of the lessons that church leaders, like myself and many other pastors, have gained to see the church not only survive the pandemic, but to THRIVE amid adversity.

Parenting during “normal” times can be daunting enough as is, but when moms and dads take on the additional role of homeschooling, while bringing work from the office at the same time, the toll that this take on families and marriages has been evident.

Many cultures have the tradition of making birthday wishes before blowing out candles on the cake. It is also not unusual to find coins of every currency at the bottom of water fountains, thrown in with the hope of better fortune. From wishing wells to genies in a lamp, tales of worldly wishes coming to pass are all too common in children’s stories.

Instant gratification has robbed everyone of patience and the advancement of technology has been a big culprit. Think about it, most innovations are developed to save us time, but we still seem to have less and less of it now than ever before. Why is that?

There is no escaping the culture of cause-driven protests that have been permeating in cities all over the world. Many of them involving young people that have often been mis-labelled as being apathetic or entitled. While there are differing opinions, often leading to heated debates, on the issues/cause, there is agreement that everyone has a VOICE and there are more platforms than ever before for these voices to bring about changes that would lead to a revolution.

In January 2015, 14-year-old John Smith fell through the frozen surface of a lake in St. Charles, Mo., and remained submerged for 15 minutes. He had no pulse when emergency workers pulled him from the freezing water, it was reportedly only after audible prayers by his mother, Joyce, that his heart finally started up again. And over the next several days

When the “teachers of the law” pressed Jesus to make his top picks among the commandments, he replied that the greatest act is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, followed secondly by loving your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31) This suggest that our priority is to love God first and then loving others and loving ourselves become by-products of our first choice to develop a relationship with God the Father.

“If it’s from God, it will only get stronger.” And with those words we ended our conversation in a coffee shop in the late Fall of 2007. Within a few weeks, I tendered my resignation from an engineering profession that I have enjoyed and excelled in for the past eight years to commit myself fully into ministerial vocation.

Jesus reminded the disciples, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26 NIV) It is part of the Holy Spirit’s role to teach and, to bring into our remembrance, the Truth that Jesus has spoken.

Most of us have probably been taught at a young age to show respect to our parents. The late Aretha Franklin is well-remembered for a popular tuneasking for some R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I would suggest that more than giving respect, what we need more of in our culture today is HONOUR. 

In the movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey’s character was given almighty powers by a fictitious God (played by Morgan Freeman) to teach him how difficult it is to run the world. While the movie does not focus on providing sound theology, there are many spiritual aspects in the story that are worth contemplating.

Have you ever owned a counterfeit? A fake designer watch, imitation brand name handbag, replica headphones, or maybe even a pair of knockoff sneakers that were way too cheap to be true. Whether by mistake or by choice, the satisfaction that a counterfeit brings is usually short-lived, and disappointment ensues once you have the chance to compare it to the real thing.

I enjoy animated movies and a recent 3D film that intrigued me is The Emoji Movie.  Go back a decade and emoji would not ring a bell in most people’s minds, but the widespread adoption of text and picture messaging led Oxford Dictionaries to make “emoji” the 2015 Word of the Year!What really caught my attention from the plot of the movie was the main character – Gene, a “meh” emoji.