My Latreia

In this week’s CG meeting, we looked at Study 4 of the My First Steps book (ISBN 9980 62 618 6) from the Omega Discipleship Series by Omega Discipleship Ministries.

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The Call To Surrender

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

- Acts 2:36-41 NIV

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As part of the study, a number of questions were posed to the group.

Complete the following sentence with your own responses or others that you might have heard -

The story of Jesus is….

...like a fairy-tale. Its just another story.
...very ‘loh soh’ when i was a non-christian.. now it is awesome.
...about love.
...too good to be true.
...such a wonderful story (child’s answer)
...true?
...the story of life.
...good news.
...like an instruction manual. We ignore it most of our lives and we
…only look at it when we are in some form of trouble.

[Editor's note: 'loh-soh' - a colloquial in Chinese dialect implying being loquacious or long-winded]

What do you think is the highlight of that story?

.. his resurrection. most significant part of his entire ministry.
…Without it, he would no different to any other religious leader.
.. his teachings.
.. his crucification.
.. his entire life.
.. his death

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“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8 NIV

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What do you think was the objective of Jesus’ death on the cross?

.. to tell Satan Jesus has defeated him. Jesus’ death has redeemed all our sins.
.. wash away our sins.
.. to free us from sin.
.. accomplish God’s plan.
.. to be in total obedience to God.

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“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” - Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV

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What then do you think Jesus has achieved by his death?

..defeated Death (referring to our spiritual death)
.. defeated Satan’s plan to enslave all of us. Satan is still
…around because God has left the choice of choosing
…God or Satan to us.

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So we see that Jesus defeated the power of death. He did not defeat Satan. Satan is still around trying to lure people away from the right path. Jesus defeated death so that we can have eternal life. He will defeat Satan when Jesus next returns.

The story of Jesus is good news; the story of Jesus is love; the story of Jesus is awesome.

Why is it then that so many people have heard His story but have not yet received or accepted the Good News?

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“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”

- John 8:43-45 NIV

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From the beginning, Man has sinned and become the children of the Devil. When someone comes to tell us the truth, we question it because we are so conditioned to hearing something else that we do not recognize the truth is being told to us.

Then, there are those who are resistant to the change because they are comfortable where they are currently. Some people perceive that being a Christian has so many rules. And they don’t want to become Christians because they don’t want to be bounded by those rules and restrictions.

There is one thing that is a constant part of our life at home, at work, eating in a hawker centre.. and that is making decisions.

“.. what shall i drink this morning?”

“.. what am i going to wear today?”

“.. what work shall I do today?”

When it comes to listening to the Good News, it starts with a choice. God doesn’t force the answer on us. He leaves it to us to decide and to make the decision that we are comfortable in making.

In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15), Jesus talked about sowing the seed in different soils. The sower scatters his seeds. Some seeds will fall on the path but it is hard ground and it will not grow. Some seeds will fall on rocky ground. The seed will germinate but not grow larger. Other seeds may fall on thorny ground. These will germinate and grow but will eventually die because it is choked by the weeds around it. And finally, the seeds that fall on fertile soil will grow and flourish.

Those seeds represent the Word of God. People will hear His Word in 2 languages – the language of God ie. they listen with an open heart and in doing so, they want to receive Jesus Christ; And they hear His Word in the language of the Devil ie. Satan distorts the story and having done so, the listener refuses to recognize the truth in the story and they reject the story of Christ.

We shouldn’t be discouraged when we pray for someone – a friend, a family member, a neighbour, a colleague.. even a stranger. When you share God’s story with that person, the person may turn a deaf ear to us. That person may be like one of the soils Jesus mentioned. Satan uses the circumstances around us to distract us. These circumstances are like the rocks or the weeds in the soil.

We can be assured that the Holy Spirit will work on these people. We plant the seed but someone else may come along to water and nurture that seed. And yet another will sow the results of that seed. We sholdn’t feel discouraged by a lack of progress. All we can do is remain faithful to God and to continue to do His work. Therefore, we want to continue planting seeds. We can invite our friends, our families, our colleagues, our neighbours, even the person we are sitting next to on the bus or the train – all the people around us – to listen to Jesus’ story that we ourselves have heard and believe in.

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- Irene L