God's Story, Our Story

I continued enrolling in the Transformational Discipleship subject at Morling College while I wait for next year’s graduation ceremony. The theme this semester is “God’s story, Our story.” During prayer time of the first class on 31July, Dr Paul Kang played the song “Oceans”.

https://youtu.be/dy9nwe9_xzw

“Image management: a strategy to make life work. To “look normal,” be accepted, ad fit in like the rest… looking good in appearance, seeking academic achievement, being liked by everyone, responding appropriately to adults, being a “good Christian” – idols useful to make my life work apart from God.”

“Storytelling is the oldest tool of influence in human history. From ancient times, story has been a primary genre in the history of communication. For example, the very first words of Genesis: In the beginning.”[1]

“You can’t tell your story until you know it. And you can’t truly know it without owning your part in writing it. And you won’t write a really glorious story until you’ve wrestled with the Author who has already written long chapters of your life, many of them not to your liking.”[2]

“You are the only one who can live out the story God intended for you. No one else can live your story. Understanding your individual story as a vehicle for spiritual formation energises and frees you personally. You are the only one who can bring God’s glory through your story because it is your unique story. But don’t live your story in isolation. Understanding your story in light of this larger story, the ‘metanarrative’, encourages and gives relevance to corporate spiritual formation.”

“Looking at my life in the context of a story gives meaning and helps me accept more readily the ambiguities and disruptions in life.”

“Many people have never taken the time to step back and intentionally look back at our entire life, seeking to identify an overarching theme or identify lessons that God had continually been trying to teach us.”[3]

“Meaningful frustration is much easier to bear than meaningless frustration.”[4]

“We value individualism in our tradition, but individualistic Christianity is an oxymoron. The fact is we need other human beings and meaningful relationships to grow.”[5]

“One cannot understand the individual part in isolation from the whole because we are intricately connected with others.”[6]

Personally, I find it more useful to learn from the narratives/stories in the bible. It is more helpful for me to learn from the lives of the people than just taking a verse and declaring it like a formula. In fact, I think there is a danger in turning things into formulas. Recently, the author of the 1997 bestseller “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” got divorced and said he is no longer a Christian.

https://religionnews.com/2019/07/26/joshua-harris-and-the-sexual-prosperity-gospel/

Some people, eg. Katelyn Beaty (the author of the article above), have accused him of preaching the “sexual prosperity gospel,” which holds that God will reward premarital chastity with a good Christian spouse, great sex and perpetual marital fulfillment.

“The giveaway of any prosperity teaching is an “if/then” formula: If you do this, then you will get this. If you put a $100 bill in the offering plate, then you will get tenfold back. If you stay chaste now, then you will later be blessed by marriage and children.”

“Like all powerful myths, it offers the illusion of control in an unpredictable world. We are most tempted to adopt prosperity teachings for our greatest areas of vulnerability. This is why health and wealth teachings typically attract the financially struggling, and why the promise of sexual and marital fulfillment attracted so many sexually frustrated Christian teenagers.”

Meanwhile, this song floated into my mind (click subtitles for the English translation, which is not 100% spot on but caught most of the essence):

https://youtu.be/83I_5lq5MwI

I know about God's story through the bible and through some personal life experiences. I know my story as I reflect often on my own life. I think I need to explore further into the concept of "corporate" spiritual formation. I can only do so by becoming more involved in the lives of people around me.

Anyway, here goes the story:

Heritage:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/08/heritage.html

Heroes:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/08/heroes.html

High times, hard times, hand of God:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/09/high-times-hard-times-hand-of-god.html

Community:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/10/community.html

True bride vs false bride:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/10/true-bride-vs-false-bride.html

Visions and recurring motifs: the call of God, and making an impact:
https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/10/visions-and-recurring-motifs-call-of.html

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[1] Gail Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation," in Foundations of Spiritual Formation : A Community Approach to Becoming Like Christ, ed. Paul Pettit(Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2008).  

[2] Dan B. Allender, To Be Told : Know Your Story, Shape Your Life, 1st ed.(Colorado Springs, Colo.: Waterbrook Press, 2005).  

[3] Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation."

[4] Annette Simmons, The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, ad Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling, (New York: Perseus Books Group, 2002), 37.

[5] Dieter Zander, “The Apprentices,” Leadership 26 (2005): 25.

[6] Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation."

City of Ryde Prayer Breakfast, 26July 2019, 7am

Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

Guest speaker: Tim Silberman

·       City of Ryde: has cultural diversity, eg. Taiwanese night market in Eastwood.

·       We may tolerate other cultures, but still want to keep an arm's length. We think "our way" is right, and the "other way" is wrong.

·       Ever since the global financial crisis, there is increasing opposition to migration.

·       There passages are God's vision for cultural diversity.

·       Looking at creation: God loves diversity, eg. 360,000 different kinds of beetles, etc.

·       Cultural differences: Individualist: recognises individual uniqueness. Communalism: the beauty of people committing to each other and sacrifices made to the whole group.

·       Even more important than difference is unity in diversity: being unified in worshiping Jesus, v11-12.

·       God's grace in sending His Son: everything is a gift. We should never look down on another, but to learn from one another.

·       "Our way" is not the only way.

·       Multicultural engagement leads to growth as we come together.

·       When Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs can say "I love you" to each other, this is the power of God. Let us be a blessing for the nations, for the glory of God.

The Word and the Spirit joined

Recent readings:

Since finishing up my MDiv, I haven’t been reading as much. These are the two books I’ve been reading recently.

One is a book on Revelations. I was originally assigned to do a sermon on Rev19:6-9 in September, but it is too close to my wedding, so the church assigned someone else subsequently. However, I continued to read the book anyways.

Another one is a book I picked up from the “second-hand” book sell outside Morling library several years ago by Smith Wigglesworth. I was listening to a talk by Bill Johnson a few days ago and heard him mention Smith Wigglesworth, which made me remember this book I bought several years ago. Some of Wigglesworth’s prophecies about end time revivals were quite interesting. For example:

The Word and the Spirit joined:

“When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidence in the churches of something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit. When the word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed, the world has ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and Welsh revivals of former years...”

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=l3U1AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=%22During+the+next+few+decades+there+will+be+two+distinct+moves+of+the+Holy+Spirit+across+the+church+in+Great+Britain.+The+first+move+will+affect+every+church+that+is+open+to+receive+it,+and+will+be+characterised+by+a+restoration+of+the+baptism+and+gifts+of+the+Holy+Spirit.+%22The+second+move+of+the+Holy+Spirit+will+result+in+people+leaving+historic+churches+and+planting+new+churches.&source=bl&ots=X9t8g8898u&sig=ACfU3U3lOhH30DsRhhL4aTHO3vqCZm-NGg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwii_sip1MXjAhWC8XMBHbooDBsQ6AEwAnoECAUQAQ

And some people even claim that he had made a certain prophecy about Australia (Barry Chant made a detailed investigation into this and didn't really have a conclusion about the authenticity):

http://www.barrychant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/That-Wigglesworth-prophecy1.pdf

Even though none of these prophecies are anything central (as Christ is the centre), it is quite interesting. The joining of the Word and the Spirit seems common-sense: that is what should normally happen in the life of a Christian (and sometimes I just don't understand the bickering between some charismatics and evangelicals... dialogues are more useful than criticisms... God is sovereign and works in many mysterious ways: no one can ever claim to know "complete theology").

2019 CABC-WR Church Camp: One Body One Mission

Speaker: Rev Dr David Pao

Judges 7:1-14 Who are you fighting for?

Are you fighting for yourself, or is God fighting for you in your deepest hour of helplessness?

Gideon fought for God in fear for the first half of his life. In fact, it was God who fought this battle for him. Gideon fought for himself for the second half of his life, and named his son "My father is king." After his death, the Israelites continued to worship Baal.

Has your existence made an impact on anyone?

How will you impact the next generation?

What has been passed down through your existence?

Matthew 6:9-13 First seek His kingdom

Rev Pao interpreted “daily bread” as “our spiritual food for the last days.”

Rev Pao’s first wife died of cancer, diagnosed in 1993, and passed away in 1994.

It seems as though we are born into a life of suffering, before we see the kingdom of heaven.

During a spiritual warfare, let’s think to ourselves, “Is there peace in my heart?” Peace is a sign of victory.

According to some studies, when the wife passes away, 25% of the husband will also pass away within two years. However, when the husband passes away, this doesn’t seem to impact on the life expectancy of the wife.

Rev Pao’s mother-in-law was not willing to believe in God, even though her daughter wrote a letter pleading for her to believe in the gospel before her death. Then, after some time, she suddenly said that she was willing to believe in God.

An alternative reality:

Rev Pao’s wife is now in a better place, and fought a great battle for God before going there.

God-centred life leads to a God-centred prayer.

Jonah 4:1-11 Righteousness and Mercy

Jonah is a person with a strong sense of justice: He is tough to others and tough on himself, ie. when he realises he’s not doing the right thing, he jumps into the sea.

When he thinks others are not right, he is unable to accept how it can all be forgiven out by a “raise of hands.” How can God's justice allow such a thing?

His relationship with God is problematic: He cannot accept such a God like this.

“Do you think that only other people need grace, and you don’t?”

Jonah did not understand grace and this affected his relationship with God.

Unforgiveness vs a group of people under God’s grace.

One’s relationship with God affects one’s relationship with brothers and sisters.

Acts 6:1-6 The Choosing of the Seven

Should we divide people into two categories?

One type of people preach, and the other type of people serve meals?

Why did Jesus eat all the time in the Bible? We eat with the people who we mix with.

Jesus often crosses the boundaries and eats with marginalised people.

The Gospel is to be passed to the marginalised: to the ends of the earth.

Peter’s vision: it is about eating.

The holy land of God is not limited to Jerusalem. The place where God called Abraham and Moses was not in Jerusalem. The places where God reveals His power and miracles are not limited to Jerusalem. The Holy Land is any place where God can do His work.

Our workplace is also a place where God can do His work. It is easy for God to do things. Let us not hinder God from doing His work like Peter did.

It is a mandate for Christians to act as full-time ministers in our workplace, and that as a group, the Body of Christ should not be hindering God's work.

Personal Devotion on Sunday 7July:

God created all things: natural landscapes such as mountains and sea, and the man-made structures such as ships... Which piece of the jigsaw do you want me to be? What I can do by myself is extremely limited. I pray for God to expand me.

Who am I? What do I want to leave behind for the next generation?

Sometimes, I am as impetuous as the “Sons of Thunder” when I get angry. Too impatient, wanting to rush out before waiting on God or listening to God.

I pray that God will make my tongue build others up.

I pray that I can completely submit to You, and become a vessel that can be used by You.

Let me know you, and understand more about Your righteousness and Your mercy, especially Your mercy. To imitate Jesus’ compassion.

2Timothy 4:1-5 Preach the Word

This passage tells us to preach. What is so special about these verses? What is a preacher? The noun version of this word is rare in the Bible. In the English non-Christian setting, it can be derogatory. In Chinese it refers to the eunuch! Eunuchs make proclamations about the king’s messages. The preacher acts as “the herald”, “ambassador”, “diplomat.”

For Christians, Jesus is the king, and we are all called to be preach.

Three important questions in reading this passage:

What does the herald do?

What is the content?

Who is the audience?

A professional: needs to be very switched on and have the right qualifications and experience.

A herald: not your qualifications, but who is backing you? ie. If you represent a powerful country, people listen. If you represent a poor country, people ignore you.

The important thing in the church is not how talented we are, but who are we representing? Be faithful.

The herald doesn’t just teach people to be a goody two-shoes. They send out messages about how great their empire is.

Our task is to convince people that there is an alternative reality that is better than the worldly reality.

In suffering, Paul found the alternative reality.

Where is the source of our hope? How is our life different? The preacher’s role is to live a different life so that people can see the alternative reality.

A herald is different from a pop singer. A pop singer has an audience of fans. A herald only needs one person to trust him: the person who’s backing him.

Whether the listener wants to listen or not, we should still be preaching. Our job is to please the one and only God. People often succumb to peer pressure. Move from pleasing people around us to pleasing God.