Dr Yvonne Wang's blabberings: April 2016

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Morling Tuesday Chapel Ephesians: Mystery

26 April, 2016

Topic: Mystery

Speaker: Ian O’Harae

Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-13

There are times when we want clarity, there is not clarity.

V1-7: Talks about mystery: something that can only come from revelation. Symbolic or metaphoric significance, using the correlation of husband and wife to Jesus and His Church.

V2: Surely, you’ve heard about the administration of God’s grace that’s been given to me. A mystery with a purpose.

Mark Twain (the great 19^th Century theology): two most important days of your life are the day you’re born and the day you find out why.

V6: Gentiles are heirs together.

Question of our identity: these days it’s not like first century where it’s just whether you’re Jew or Gentile. It’s who am I?

In Christ, we are new creations.

V7: Gift of God’s grace: the mystery made known to Paul by revelation. Gospel help us understand this. New humanity.

You’re a Christian: what difference does it make?

Some are born in a Christian home while others don’t have that privilege.

V10: Displays this through the church? Uses everyday people like us. God chose Paul despite his horrible past. If God can use him, He can use you.

Identity issues today:

1) LGBTIQ community: Wrestling with sexuality, even in and amongst Christians. Not to demonise them because it’s not an unpardonable sin. Who are we in Christ? Don’t be gay bashers, but be manifesting the love of Christ.

2) Intersectionality: the way we conceive us as individuals.

3) Transhumanism: a movement (Stephen Hawking is a big mover in this), plan to bring people back from the dead by freezing their brains and then resurrecting them with artificial intelligence. Humai, 30Nov 2015: We can clone your DNA. You can download your experiences into Nanotechnology. A company claims that it’s developing technology to bring people back form the dead!! Humai claims the technology will be available in 30 years’ time!! http://humaitech.com/

Also, just a little theology excerpt from Erickson's on God's creative work vs humans!

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Morling Tuesday Chapel Ephesians: Eulogy and Emulation

5 April, 2016

Topic: Eulogy and Emulation

Speaker: Tim MacBride

Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22

Eulogy: speech in praise of someone.

We usually do it in funerals.

We also do it as speech in praise of God.

Ephesians is eulogy, inspiring us to praise God.

V11: Once, we were excluded. Gentiles were treated as second class people. Labels and status, who’s in and who’s out. Before we heard the gospel and respond to it, we are the excluded ones, who miss out on grace. So remember what we were saved from.

V13: Now, we are included. Through the blood of Christ. So that we are at peace with God. It doesn’t just stop here…

V14-15a: We have peace with one another. In Jesus, we have a far superior revelation, of God in flesh.

V15b-16: Peace not by works or trying very hard, not world leaders gathering to think up the best solution or hippies singing songs of peace. Peace brought about by God’s actions, not our own. Brought about by the cross, the work of Christ.

V17-18: By the work of the Spirit.

V19-22: We are no longer foreigners or aliens, but members of God’s household. In Christ, we are being built together, to become a dwelling that God’s Spirit lives in. Bringing us back from estrangement from one another and from God.

Emulation:

For example, “go be like this hero!”

No racial barriers:

We don’t just tolerate. We rejoice in the diversity. Get different insights in God and the Bible in such a diverse group that we can’t get in a less diverse group. Intercultural Bible reading: a researcher did a study, the same parable told to different groups, the young white males turned the discussion into how one should do your wealth, the group of older women turned it into how to raise your children, etc.

No class barriers:

If we’re wanting to emulate God and end the dividing walls of hostility, we also have to cross these barriers. Don’t adopt the prejudices of our group. Don’t look at the poor and think they brought it on by themselves, “waste of tax payer’s money” etc. Imagine what would it be like if God looks as us this way? We are incapable of rescuing ourselves, why should we look at others the same way?

V15b-16: this is God’s purpose. Peace brought about by God’s actions, not our own.

Saturday 2 April 2016

Rev James Liaw’s Sermons at 1503 Mission Network 廖雅各牧師在我們教會講過的道

http://www.krtnews.com.tw/church/item/19753

I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing away of Rev James Liaw, a dentist/minister in healing and deliverance from Canberra, Australia. He visited our church a few times and gave some sermons which I personally found very helpful.

聽到廖雅各牧師於澳洲突然辭世的消息很難過。他是澳洲的一名牙醫/牧師，長期致力於在台灣傳講醫治釋放信息。來我們教會講過幾次道，每次都受益許多。

The Orphan Heart (Rev James Liaw) 孤兒心態 (廖雅各牧師) 8Dec 2013

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/AUDIO131207001.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-orphan-heart-rev-james-liaw.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

Performance mindset (Rev James Liaw) 成就導向 (廖雅各牧師) 8Dec 2013

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/SS_N_2013_12_08.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/performance-mindset.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

Not living in fear (Rev James Liaw) 不要活在恐懼中 (廖雅各牧師) 6July 2014

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/SS_N_2014_07_06.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/not-living-in-fear-rev-james-liaw-6july.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

Friday 1 April 2016

Terrorist activities and sadistic killings: The tip of the iceberg

There is a massive increase in terrorist activities and sadistic killings lately:

In March, there were mass suicide bombing in many places including Brussels, Turkey, and Pakistan.

ISIS brutally crucified a Catholic priest on Good Friday.
http://www.catholic.org/news/international/middle_east/story.php?id=68121

Multiple shootings and stabbings everywhere, including the horrific decapitation of a four year old toddler, nicked named “Little Light Bulb”, in Taiwan in broad day light in a random attack on Monday, 28 March.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201603290025.aspx

And a very bizarre incident of a man hijacking a plane with a fake suicide vest because he wanted his ex-wife to speak to him!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/31208016

It seems like people are getting crazy everywhere.

Some questions come to mind:

Why are all these things happening? Terrorism, sadistic killings, etc.

Some people blame it’s the teachings of the Islamic religion. However, let’s say if Islam doesn't exist today, does that mean terrorism and sadistic killings will not occur? Or will it still exist, in some other form, under some other organisation or religion?

We see a lot of anger and debating on the internet about the current or historical world events, with people blaming one thing or another. However, a lot of these comments only remain at a very superficial level, mostly condemning the horrific act itself and making abuse remarks/personal attacks on the perpetrator.

I wonder how many people look deeper. The outward action/expression/behaviour is just the tip of the iceberg… The captain of the Titanic, for instance, only saw the tip of the iceberg but couldn't see how big the ice was under the water....

An outward action/expression/behaviour is actually just a response/symptom... It is the inner feelings (of pain, anger, sadness, bitterness, etc) that lead to the expression.

And what drives feelings? The underlying beliefs and values of an individual is what leads to a person feeling x way or y way when something arises.

What happened to Little Light Bulb is a mother’s worst nightmare. Yet, on the day of the incident, Claire Wang, the toddler’s mother, amazed the Taiwanese community with her insightful statement:

“I believe the suspects in these kinds of random killings lose their minds at that moment,” Wang told TV reporters at the police station Monday. “This is not a problem that can be solved by passing a law”, she said. “I hope we can address the problem from its root, from the perspective of family and education, so that there will no longer be people like him (the perpetrator) in our society.”

“After the incident, many friends advised me to close my blog and Facebook page, but I really hope that her death can leave something behind, stir up some discussion, remind people of the importance of love, and call attention to the many issues in society,” Wang said the next day.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. (Saint Francis of Assisi)

May God bring comfort to the family of Little Light Bulb.

May God give wisdom to those in positions of power so that they see the fundamental root causes of the social issues.

I have personally found the book, “Changes that Heal”, by Dr. Henry Cloud, very useful for my own self-reflection. I made notes on the book, but it’s in Chinese as I read the Chinese translation of that book.

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/blog-post.html