Pastor How to Read LukeSample

Please read the Gospel of Luke 2:52,

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

This verse is very close to my heart. I remember when our church was full of teenagers, God spoke to Pastor Lia and I through this verse. It became our vision for that season. We challenged our youths to grow in these 4 areas.

• Wisdom - That is the season when we pushed Academic Excellence. The whole church focused on training, learning and discipleship. We coined the mantra “What youths lack in experience, they can make up through exposure.” We even sent a team to NASA to learn their best practices. But most importantly, we asked God for wisdom like Solomon and James (1:5).

Pastor Lia and I have witnessed this verse come to pass. It’s amazing how just a single verse can transform a church. That’s the power of God’s Word – just one verse, and it can raise up a generation of young people. This verse brought our church from an overgrown Sunday school to a world-class church.

• Stature - from a marginalized kid’s church to a church with community impact and global influence.
• Favor with God - God looked upon a bunch of kids with no money, no connections, no expertise and He gave us His favor. 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 (NLT) is the testimony of Heart of God Church. 26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
• Favor with men - From parents being upset with us, Christians accusing us of being a cult and online attacks/fake news, to favor with parents, media, online and government.

From a youth church to a Strong GenerationS Church.

I have seen this verse come to pass. I have personally witnessed God’s faithfulness and goodness.

How can I not worship Him with all my heart and strength for the rest of my life?

How can I not give every drop of glory back to God?

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This is the last day of the plan "Pastor How to read the Book of Luke".

You can read more leadership insights from Pastor How on his website PastorHow.com.

Pastor How and his wife Pastor Lia are co-founders, co-senior pastors of Heart of God Church (HOGC) Singapore and co-authors of the book GenerationS: How to Grow your Church Younger & Stronger. A lot of ‘co‑this’ and ‘co‑that’ because they are like Siamese twins who even co-share the same office space. They share the same love for sports and steaks. The only thing they don’t share is coffee as she needs a full cup every morning.