Two Words That Make Discipleship Difficult

God is in the picture, even when He allows discomfort — because everything of real value has to go through fire. 

In this message, Rev Dr Kenneth Chin unpacks a powerful truth using the picture of a pearl: it only forms when an irritant is allowed to stay, and if we run from every discomfort, we short-circuit the very process God is using to shape us. He challenges a common but costly habit among Christians — jumping from church to church the moment things get uncomfortable — and warns that well-meaning advice to “just leave” can actually block what God is doing in someone’s life. 

Drawing from the Apostle Paul, who was broken again and again yet grew stronger and more used by God each time, Rev Kenneth reminds us that suffering was literally part of Paul’s calling from day one. Discipleship, he says, is simple in theory but hard in practice — it all comes down to two words we resist: “no” and “go.” A convicting call to stop running from the process and start becoming a true disciple.