The morning was sunny and hot, and it was almost an hour walk to Macedonia church from our Bible school. I had no umbrella with me and so by the time we reached the church I was tired, thirsty and sleepy! Anyway we rested nicely and talked with the pastor and the church elders. We had two worhip services--the firs
t one with the whole church and the second one with the youth. My student-friends presented songs, and participated in intercessions and interpreting for me!
In the first worship, I preached from 1 Peter discussing on the biblical context of persecutions and sufferings and yet their responsibilities to rejoice in the Lord (1:1-
2:10); to fulfill their responsibilities as believers and to submit (cooperate without compromising their faith and biblical values) to any authority(2:11-4:11), and lastly to help each other by serving and cooperating with each other so that believers remain united and strong in the Lord(5:1-14).
Later I concluded by encouraging the church that, though God is patient, He does not wait for us to be the most perfect church, riches church, intellectual church, nor the best gifted church to do His will--that is mission and evangelization. Just as the church has recieved many blessings, now despite the hard times that are around us it is
now the believers' responsibilities to share the hope to everyo
ne (3:15). So the morning's message revolved around the main theme "Saved to do Good in the Lord."
In the afternoon, I basically shared about the purpose of life basing from the text Mt. 22:37-40; Mt. 28: 19-20. I started by saying frankly and honestly that i do not know what God wants each of them to do in life, but for sure I know why God has given them (us) the gift of life. I also added saying that those who have not understood the purpose of life will not enjoy their lives, and instead of considering life as a gift from God they would see that life itselt is a burden full of prejudices, unsatisfaction, emptiness etc. But for those who have understood the purpose of life, their lives would be full and abundant despite the hardships around them. They would enjoy doing even the least thing which are often times overlooked!
t one with the whole church and the second one with the youth. My student-friends presented songs, and participated in intercessions and interpreting for me!In the first worship, I preached from 1 Peter discussing on the biblical context of persecutions and sufferings and yet their responsibilities to rejoice in the Lord (1:1-
2:10); to fulfill their responsibilities as believers and to submit (cooperate without compromising their faith and biblical values) to any authority(2:11-4:11), and lastly to help each other by serving and cooperating with each other so that believers remain united and strong in the Lord(5:1-14).Later I concluded by encouraging the church that, though God is patient, He does not wait for us to be the most perfect church, riches church, intellectual church, nor the best gifted church to do His will--that is mission and evangelization. Just as the church has recieved many blessings, now despite the hard times that are around us it is
now the believers' responsibilities to share the hope to everyo
ne (3:15). So the morning's message revolved around the main theme "Saved to do Good in the Lord."In the afternoon, I basically shared about the purpose of life basing from the text Mt. 22:37-40; Mt. 28: 19-20. I started by saying frankly and honestly that i do not know what God wants each of them to do in life, but for sure I know why God has given them (us) the gift of life. I also added saying that those who have not understood the purpose of life will not enjoy their lives, and instead of considering life as a gift from God they would see that life itselt is a burden full of prejudices, unsatisfaction, emptiness etc. But for those who have understood the purpose of life, their lives would be full and abundant despite the hardships around them. They would enjoy doing even the least thing which are often times overlooked!
So from the scripture passages I shared saying that the primary purpose of life is to "Love God," through Jesus Christ in the true Spirit, worship Him, giving Him the first place in our lives and trusting Him in all aspect of life at all circumstances. Then I added that that is not all, because if it were so we would be no better than escapist. So along with the first purpose comes another reason to live for--to "Love neighbours." Loving and caring for the well-being of fellow believers is the expression of true worship; in it we shoulder one another to mature and grow in the Biblical values. I added further saying that these two are not all,because if it were so we are not better than any group of thieves who also care for each other within their group. So another expression of true worhip is to "Love the world," though not in the sense of worldliness but cultivating the right attitude for the lost ones--having the compassion and passion, and setting out to reach out to every nations who are strangers to us and to the gosple.
I concluded encouraging the fellowship that each one of us have been blessed abundantly in so many ways and so no matter what we do and where we live, our focus should be these three things which is commanded and lived out by Jesus Christ himself.
By the time the second fellowship got over, it was around 2:30 p.m. and so I was so hungry (oh! I could even eat a horse myself!). Lunch was set so we got around the table; after the prayer song I was asked to pray so I prayed over the meal. The lunch was quite traditional--boiled rice, cucumber and green mangoes, chilli pickle and chicken curry with some green leaves and lot of soup. I was so hungry that I could eat a lot--i had two servings of rice and more of the others.
On our way back, we took a different route. We walked along the cool foot of the tall cliff. We came across a well established pagoda (Bhuddist worhip place). Its so surprising to see how hard they have worked and invested at an almost impossible place for their idol worship. They had built a place of worship inside a cave--I am just amazed how they could be so blinded by the traditional philosophy which they got from their teachers.
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