High times, hard times, hand of God

High times

High times are those periods in our lives that were especially meaningful in a positive way. An example might be a time when a particular talent was applauded by others and a decision was made to pursue that talent further in life.

In 2008, I made a decision to commit myself to attending and serving in one church. It was a low point in my life. I was a resident doctor in career crisis: I knew clearly what specialties I did not want to do, but had no idea what specialties I wanted to do. I did not think I will have any chance of getting a boyfriend if I continue the same lifestyle working in the hospital. I felt stuck and was pessimistic, with a heavy weight on the top of my head constantly. If God had not intervened, I would have become clinically depressed. Fortunately it was during a church camp that I suddenly felt such a strong presence of God’s Spirit amongst me that it filled me with joy and all the heaviness on the top of my head lifted off. Such a transformation occurred in me that I burned with passion for God and no longer felt so disgruntled against my parents. Subsequently, my mother, who was quite critical of my faith, accepted Jesus as her saviour!

Hard times

Hard times are those relationships, experiences or seasons in our lives that were particularly difficult or painful. An example might be a childhood move from one school to another that was hard and caused you to build up some defensive walls that have been difficult to break down ever since. Perhaps there’s been a relationship conflict that has not been restored.

Dr Paul Kang, who leads the transformational discipleship group I am currently attending, mentions there are scholarly articles which demonstrates that suffering act as a catalyst for spiritual formation! I agree. I find it very hard to remember God when things are going along smoothly, even though I may still be able to keep up the routines of attending church and praying. I tend to feel desperate for God when things do not go according to plan, or when I face a great “unknown” in front of me. In fact, it is quite easy to say “I’ve got faith in God” when things are relatively smooth sailing, when one is blessed like Job was in the beginning of the book of Job. However, when faced with suffering, that’s when we know what we are made of: some people may renounce their faith, some people’s faith actually grows stronger. However, there will always be a wrestle before the gold becomes refined.

In May 2013, my father suddenly passed away. This event radically changed my theology. At that time, I had a “prosperity gospel” type of theology. Things were smooth sailing in my life, as well as in the church I had been attending. The predominant theologies in the environment I was in was that “if you got faith, you can do anything… if something doesn’t go according to plan, that’s because you don’t have enough faith and  haven’t been praying hard enough… God always wants us to succeed,” etc.

Coinciding with the passing away of my father was a call from God for me to study in a seminary. I had to stay in Taiwan for four weeks to sort out things related to my father. I went to a praying room in one church and saw a seminary school pamphlet. I had been to this praying room several times in the past and never seen this type of pamphlet before. Then, I went to another church’s praying room, and saw another seminary school pamphlet. When I returned to Sydney, the friend whom I usually pray with suddenly mentioned to me, “the Baptist churches have a strong foundation in the Scriptures, and going to a Baptist seminary school will be great to build a good foundation.” That was when Morling College popped into my mind, as it was the closest seminary school to my home, and it is Baptist in denomination. Since then, growth began happening in a way that would never have happened if this difficult time had not occurred.

Hand of God

There are the times when God revealed His sovereignty and grace in our lives in a special way. Maybe at a particular time of need God sent just the right person with just the right perspective that enabled us to keep moving ahead in faith. Or perhaps His Word came “alive” to us at a critical point.

I see the hand of God working on my life and on those around me constantly, including the high times and hard times I’ve described previously, so I will just pick another example here.

I have always liked the verse on the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). However, I also see my inadequacy when I read this verse, as I am quite an impatient person, and often wished I could grow fruits at a much more rapid rate. Well, my prayer got answered when I encountered Chris, who is now my husband.

I encountered Chris briefly at church in 2008 because his cousin’s family and I used to attend the same church, and his aunt got admitted into RPA (the hospital I was working in) that year, so I became a bit more familiar with them as a result of that. Anyway, Chris came to check out the church I was attending and we shook hands. I had a negative impression of him during that encounter, but he added me on Facebook.

Then, in the second half of 2014, a series of events occurred. In July, an elderly man suddenly gave me a painting of plum blossoms with a Chinese poem which is essentially asking “what is love?” In that same week, our small group watched the film “Fireproof” which kind of answered that question (google "the love dare"). In that same week I noticed that one of the trees on my investment property suddenly blossomed flowers that looked exactly the same as the elderly man’s painting.

In late October, right before I left home to see a play called "Marriage" (where a sister from our small group, Naomi, played the bride), I noticed that the flowers outside the windows of the first room in my house were in full blossom, and couldn't help taking heaps of photos with the flowers outside the room.

Then, less a month later, the mysterious “plum” tree produced fruits, and it turned out to be a peach tree, which was a pleasant surprise as I like peaches much better than plums. It was around this time that Chris had a Facebook status update saying he’s been asked to vacate the rental property which had had been living in for seven years, because the owners wanted to renovate the place. I also had an empty room in my four bedroom shared house that I wanted to rent out, and was advertising it on my Facebook. It was the room where the flowers blossomed. I secretly thought to myself, “this annoying guy better not enquire about my place.” Then, in the beginning of 2015, Chris enquired about my place, because his next work project was located near my place.

As Chris returned to his car at the end of the inspection, we saw a butterfly at his windshield, flapping its wings furiously mid-air, but not moving anywhere at all (this looks a bit like when birds try to fly against the wind). We’ve never seen anything like this before. Chris said the butterfly had been there like that since he first got out of the car to inspect my house, which meant it had been like this for at least ten minutes. This unusual image stuck in my mind. Furthermore, he mentioned his project is only going to last for 6 months, which seemed very short term anyway. So I broke my usual rule of renting to females only, and rented this empty room to him.

Little did I know that once Chris moved in, he will never move out again.

When he first moved in, I was pleasantly surprised about how different he was compared to my initial impression of him. There were also many times where I got extremely annoyed by Chris’ rigid thinking and debating nature. However, each time I become like this, I get a supernatural sign happening along with a supernatural increase in my capacity to tolerate him. Many of these conflicts actually resulted in me seeing my own problems through self-introspection, and growing in a way I never would have if I had not encountered him. I knew that the hand of God is upon this encounter. This fruit-growing process continues repeating itself over and over again, and I believe it will continue until we return to our heavenly home.

25 August

Sunday 25th August 2019 marks the 150th Anniversary of the laying of the Christ Church Lavender Bay Foundation Stone. This is the church where I will be getting married at in two weeks’ time. The day began by re-enacting the steamer journey taken by clergy, government representatives, and community members on the 25th August 1869, who crossed the harbour from the Sydney side to Lavender Bay, then ascended the newly constructed steps up to the site of the new church building. However, I did not join the ferry journey because I get motion sickness on boats. I brought my friend along to join their celebration service.  

Although this is a day of celebration for Christ Church Lavender Bay, this was a day of lamentations in Taiwan 29 years ago, where the biggest boat disaster in Taiwan’s history occurred in the Sun Moon Lake.

Nicknamed the “heart of Taiwan”, the Sun Moon Lake is located at the geographic centre of Taiwan.

George Candidius (Chinese: 干治士; pinyin: Gān Zhìshì) (1597, Kirchardt, Palatinate – 30 April 1647, Batavia, Dutch East Indies), also recorded as Georgius Candidius, was a Dutch Reformed Church missionary to Dutch Formosa from 1627 to 1637. He was the first missionary to be stationed on the island. Sun-Moon Lake in central Taiwan was named Lake Candidius in his honour and is referred to thus in older English writings, although this name was not adopted by the local inhabitants and later fell into disuse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Candidius

Lalu island is a small island in Sun Moon Lake. The island used to be much bigger, separating the lake into a part shaped like crescent moon and another part shaped like a round sun. When the island was still bigger, people used to live on it. Two events decreased the size of the island. First, construction of a dam in the 1930s raised the water level in the lake and thereby flooded almost the entire the island. In 1999 the island shrank again during the 921 earthquake which also destroyed the pavilion.

The indigenous people believed the island to be the resting place of their ancestors' spirits and called the island "wulalaluwan". "Lalu" is the abbreviation of this name. It means "the holy island in the heart". It used to house an "old man under the moon" temple, which was relocated after the 921 earthquake because the island was sinking to the point where people cannot board the island to worship this idol.

Regarding the boat disaster on 25August, 1990, it was an overloaded and unlicensed pleasure boat chartered by the Shell Oil Co. and carrying 88 vacationers. The boat capsized right after they worshipped the “old man under the moon.” More about that incident here:

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/08/27/More-bodies-found-in-Taiwan-lake/9296651729600/

My father’s first long distance trip was the Sun Moon Lake. My grandfather took him there when he was 4 years old. Relatives said he was especially unsettled that day and cried nonstop. I’ve been to the Sun Moon Lake twice in 2015: One time was when my paternal grandmother passed away and I went back to Taiwan and didn’t know where to go. The second time was a round island tour with my maternal grandma, and the Sun Moon Lake happened to be the first attraction site of the tour. During that round island tour, I also did a marching prayer. Four years have passed in a flash and the Taiwan presidential election is coming up again.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2015/12/round-island-trip-taiwan-2015-2016.html

In 2017 Christmas break, I visited Taiwan and our family hired a van and van driver to take us to Yi-Lan. The driver mentioned that he was in the Sun Moon Lake for work during the time of the boat disaster. People were celebrating the birthday of a god that that time, and they had a big fast in that whole region. All the hotels had gone vegan, except the hotel where the Shell employees lived! This form of idol worship still happens once in a while at the Sun Moon Lake region, with the most recent one being in 2017.

In 1990, a seven year old kid was stuck in that boat cabin for three hours. Just before the water filled the whole cabin, his father prayed with him, and the kid suddenly got flushed out of a hole in the boat and got saved in a miraculous fashion. I will be getting married to that person in two weeks’ time.

The Sun Moon Lake Church of Christ, a church built by Chiang Kai-Shek for his personal use, which subsequently became a tourist attraction spot, have just commenced Sunday services in August 2019. Now a functional church with active worship and prayers, it is hoped that tourists will encounter the presence of God at the Sun Moon Lake.

Food for thought:

Heroes

Heroes are those people whom God has used to play a part in shaping our character or influencing our direction. Perhaps there was a pastor or teacher whose encouragement created a desire to excel in a particular area. Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation."

I have a big dilemma when it comes to the term “heroes.” Since there is no such thing as a perfect human other than Jesus, and God commands us not to worship idols, the only human I can confidently call my hero is Jesus. I believe it is more appropriate to use the term "role model" when we talk about humans. There are certainly many people who I see as role models in my life, and many ancestors who have fought so hard to survive to make the current generation possible.

Recently the Ancestry DNA has matched me up with my second cousin once removed, and I was able to get a bit more information about the ancestral background of my paternal grandfather, who became orphaned at a young age. It turns out that my grandfather’s grandfather, Ju Wang, took the boat from Quanzhou to Taipei during late Ching dynasty (so my paternal line didn’t come to Taiwan as early as we had thought). He brought along his son Cheng Wang, but left behind an elder son in China. Cheng Wang's younger brother Ding Wang was my great grandfather. Ju Wang died young, leaving behind his young children to figure out for themselves how to survive in this strange land. Ding Wang and his wife Xiao-Hu Chen also died quite young, leaving my grandfather orphaned at a young age. Luckily, Cheng Wang adopted my grandfather. These days, despite his dementia, my grandfather still mentions that if his uncle didn’t adopt him back then, he would have been doomed. So I consider Cheng Wang to be a role model, to take on an additional child in an era where resources were very limited and people die like flies.

Ever since an young age, I felt inspired by my parents. To me, the stories of how they broke out of the poverty cycle because of their high achieving abilities sounded heroic. This in turn influenced my worldview and I had been very “performance oriented.” I had the tendency to look up to people who are high achievers. However, in the last five years or so, I gradually found out there is a trap to this type of mindset. I tend to get agitated when I see myself or others being “non-productive.” I have a tendency to see those who contribute more to society as being more valuable than those who don’t. Eventually I came to realise that no matter how dysfunctional an individual is, each human being is made in the image of God, and each human life is equally valuable in God’s eyes.

There are many other role models in my life, in the work place, in church, and some people whose stories I have read about in the Bible and in biographies, eg. George Leslie Mackay. Too many to name, and I believe this learning process will continue for the rest of my life.

Heritage

Heritage is the combined influences from our past that God has used to write our stories, to mould us, and to bring us where we are today: family influences, geography, natural gifting, genetics and temperament. Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation."

I was born in Taiwan, a region some people have nicknamed as "the orphan of Asia." The population of this region is comprised of people from three major waves of migration very distinct in terms of historical origin, language, custom, and culture. Having been under the control of various rulers we did not choose, the population is in an acute multilayer identity crisis. Personally, I would consider myself Taiwanese in nationality and Chinese in ethnicity. I had done the “Ancestry DNA test” which revealed I am 100% Chinese, which was very surprising for me because my ancestors were part of the migration wave from the Ming Dynasty approximately 400 years ago, and I had expected to have some indigenous Taiwanese ancestors.

My parents are both very high achievers, being the top of their classes in elementary and junior high school, always getting into their first preferences for high school and tertiary studies. In fact, my mother was nicknamed “100%” by her maths teacher at the Taipei First Girls’ High School because she always used to get 100% in her tests. Genetically I inherited some of that cleverness, and sailed along relatively smoothly study-wise and work-wise. However, my parents had pretty frustrating careers. My mother worked as a teacher for a few years and got too bored with that job, so she sat the diplomat exam and got into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was a difficult exam in general and they capped the number of positions for females so it was extremely difficult for a woman to become a diplomat. However, Taiwan has not had much success at building diplomatic relationships with other countries, and even the most skilled diplomat cannot change this situation.

Meanwhile, when my father did his mandatory military service in Taiwan, one can get a position as an army officer if they did well on an IQ based exam. He did very well and became a cannon officer in Kinmen. After the military service, my father worked as an electrical engineer. It was a luxury government job where he was given a high salary with hardly any work to do. However, living a semi-retired lifestyle most of his working life seemed to have an adverse effect on his brain. In fact, he seemed rather unmotivated and depressed most of the time.

Being a diplomat’s daughter meant that I grew up under many different cultures and find it difficult to identify which culture influenced what in my mindset and values. A lot of times I feel I don’t belong anywhere, and cannot identify any group of peers with whom I have a “sense of belonging” with. I followed my mother in my elementary school and middle school years, while my father worked in Taiwan. Subsequently I went off to New Zealand alone to study high school. On top of that, I am the only child. So I had been a very independent person most of my life and find it difficult to build relationships with people. Temperament wise, I am introverted. Furthermore, there seems to be autistic spectrum traits running on my father’s side of the family. This may have influenced my EQ, and I think my EQ is lower than the average female population.

It is by grace that I even have a relationship with God, as there were no Christians in my family to begin with. I was placed in a Christian kindergarten, which made me became aware of someone named Jesus. I was placed into a Sunday school, which my parents saw as a “free day care service” for Sundays. My family was able to access these services mainly because we lived in close proximity to churches and hospitals that were established in relation to George Leslie Mackay, one of the most influential missionaries in the history of Taiwan. Then, when I went to the US, a family friend influenced me to do the sinner’s prayer. When I went to New Zealand, my mother bumped into a nice Christian family at the airport and that was when I became 100% certain that the God described in Christianity is the true God.

The past influences described above meant that I tend to see things quite differently from others. When people say things or give me information, rather than taking things in without any questions, I tend to research further into it. I can understand why people hold very different perspectives on various matters, and wonder why people engage in certain futile debates instead of accepting that diversity is a fact of life and just “agreeing to disagree” on certain matters.

In terms of giftings, the spiritual gifts questionnaire say that I am gifted in the areas of faith, prophecy, teaching, wisdom and knowledge. However, I am a bit sceptical about questionnaires. One tends to discover their gifts in a communal setting. I have a clear calling in the area of “missions in the workplace” but have difficulty in grasping the concept of how one can bring Christianity into the workplace. It is unprofessional to go off on a tangent talking about God in a busy work setting. In fact, it is seen as offensive. Sure, people might admire you if you have good character, but you don’t have to be a Christian to practice good character. I find that even though I am influencing the physical health of the community in my work as a general practitioner, I do not think I have influenced anyone with the “spiritual gifts” described above (or, at least I don’t recall anyone telling me they are influenced by me in these areas). I do not recall being able to practice any of my gifts in the church setting either (other than perhaps preventing a few people from dying from some medical emergencies). I guess I am still asking God, “which piece of the puzzle does God want me to be?”

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

---

[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.