17.4.12, Tues, for Sunday 15.4.12
Sunday was uncle Ben's second time preaching on stage, to me, it's his first official debut. He said he always avoided preaching sermons because he is nervous on stage. So I listened carefully to his debut message, wanting to know where he was coming from, and what forms his central message and the focal point of his entire 'career' on the lectern.
He shared with us John 17:3, which is rare being one single verse only:
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
3 認 識 你 ─ 獨 一 的 真 神 ， 並 且 認 識 你 所 差 來 的 耶 穌 基 督 ， 這 就 是 永 生 。
Now, I'd heard a similar message from Stephen Tong before, so I was expectant of some great message to come out of this verse.
What uncle Ben preached was what eternal life is -- eternal life is not a once off acceptance of Christ prayer into your heart only. He mentioned four key points for faith:
So I found out: That the Word in its pure form, when humans do not add their own words to The Word in their prepared sermons, it is in this case that everything each Christian believes in is the same. It is the same and it is common because it is pure and it is right.
And I make it a point to add that many pastors of today's lecterns no longer preach a faith whose focal point is God Himself, but rather they have adulterated themselves to detract their focus onto something that is less than God Himself -- they want His healing physically, emotionally, etc, but they just want His something, as opposed to wanting God Himself. This is a sad state that so-called Christians all over the world has watered their faith down into, and they take an increase in numbers as revival. Which can be but is not necessarily true. It is when we stop watering down our faith and what we think we believe in, and return to focus on God in all His Holiness, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy, Love, Grace, Judgement, Humour, Kindness, Wisdom, Knowledge and Intellect, and End-to-end Accountability (Alpha, Omega), and His Will (from The Father), His Word which became flesh (The Son), and the Him who imparts Himself as He dwells within us (The Holy Spirit) -- it is when we solely focus on our One Trinity God (三個位格而一體的一位神), that there will we find meaning, we will find that fuller life, and there we will find Joy.
Now anyway, the main purpose of writing this post is that... I wanted to share what I realised lately. I realised that God's power through His Word is not bounded by our expression of His Word. Uncle Ben, when on stage, was firm, but a lot more soft spoken than Tang, and yet because of his firmness and true believe, without raising his voice, God's power manifested through him, and God's authority through His Word was with him.
This is me understanding more and more, it is not about how loudly or sternly I speak (as I am a little ungentle at times in my expression), but rather His Word is powerful as it is. There are times that we need to be stern but there is also no need to be too stern. This is a breakthrough point for me, so now I will seek to speak God's Word gently in a manner that people will be able to listen easier, with the aim of inspiring people to Love God and come respond to Jesus' calling: "Come to me, and have eternal life".
Sunday was uncle Ben's second time preaching on stage, to me, it's his first official debut. He said he always avoided preaching sermons because he is nervous on stage. So I listened carefully to his debut message, wanting to know where he was coming from, and what forms his central message and the focal point of his entire 'career' on the lectern.
He shared with us John 17:3, which is rare being one single verse only:
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
3 認 識 你 ─ 獨 一 的 真 神 ， 並 且 認 識 你 所 差 來 的 耶 穌 基 督 ， 這 就 是 永 生 。
Now, I'd heard a similar message from Stephen Tong before, so I was expectant of some great message to come out of this verse.
What uncle Ben preached was what eternal life is -- eternal life is not a once off acceptance of Christ prayer into your heart only. He mentioned four key points for faith:
- To Solely believe -- 單單地信
- To Truthfully believe -- 真實地信
- To Repentfully believe -- 悔改地信
- To Continuously believe -- 不斷地信
So I found out: That the Word in its pure form, when humans do not add their own words to The Word in their prepared sermons, it is in this case that everything each Christian believes in is the same. It is the same and it is common because it is pure and it is right.
And I make it a point to add that many pastors of today's lecterns no longer preach a faith whose focal point is God Himself, but rather they have adulterated themselves to detract their focus onto something that is less than God Himself -- they want His healing physically, emotionally, etc, but they just want His something, as opposed to wanting God Himself. This is a sad state that so-called Christians all over the world has watered their faith down into, and they take an increase in numbers as revival. Which can be but is not necessarily true. It is when we stop watering down our faith and what we think we believe in, and return to focus on God in all His Holiness, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy, Love, Grace, Judgement, Humour, Kindness, Wisdom, Knowledge and Intellect, and End-to-end Accountability (Alpha, Omega), and His Will (from The Father), His Word which became flesh (The Son), and the Him who imparts Himself as He dwells within us (The Holy Spirit) -- it is when we solely focus on our One Trinity God (三個位格而一體的一位神), that there will we find meaning, we will find that fuller life, and there we will find Joy.
Now anyway, the main purpose of writing this post is that... I wanted to share what I realised lately. I realised that God's power through His Word is not bounded by our expression of His Word. Uncle Ben, when on stage, was firm, but a lot more soft spoken than Tang, and yet because of his firmness and true believe, without raising his voice, God's power manifested through him, and God's authority through His Word was with him.
This is me understanding more and more, it is not about how loudly or sternly I speak (as I am a little ungentle at times in my expression), but rather His Word is powerful as it is. There are times that we need to be stern but there is also no need to be too stern. This is a breakthrough point for me, so now I will seek to speak God's Word gently in a manner that people will be able to listen easier, with the aim of inspiring people to Love God and come respond to Jesus' calling: "Come to me, and have eternal life".
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