‘Pastor's Heart’

It’s almost become a cliché to hear someone say they are blessed. We hear it all the time and see it on bumper stickers, etc., ‘I’m too blessed to be stressed,’ being just one of the oft-recited homilies. A veritable cottage industry has sprung up based on a single word, but really, what does being blessed mean? Because we live in the material world of existence, we usually think about blessings only at that level. We think that God’s blessings are about health, wealth, and protection. But God’s blessings go far beyond that. His blessings do include supplying our material needs, but extend much further. To be blessed is to have the divine favor of the Lord, to have the divine approval in one’s life, to experience joy and contentment in life. Blessedness has more to do with the inner person more than the external.
In the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5:3-12, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples how they could live a blessed life. The Sermon, commonly known as the Beatitudes, gives several pronouncements, each beginning with the phrase, “Blessed are …” Each pronouncement speaks of a blessing or “divine favor” bestowed upon a person resulting from the possession of a certain character quality. The pronouncements, 8 in total, prescribe the kind of character disciples of Christ should have. The first set (verses 3-6) focuses on our relationship with God while the rest of them center on our relationship with others. This pattern reflects our Lord’s core message: first love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37).
The pronouncements are simple yet very radical in that they run contrary to logic and societal values. For instance, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who are “poor in the spirit,” and “those who mourn.” Who would think of poor in spirit and mourners as blessed people? This breaks with all our expected categories. It challenges our cultural assumptions. It totally defies logic! Precisely due to such apparent contradictions, the Beatitudes are often misunderstood and are seldom preached or taught from the pulpit. Some seem to think that the Beatitudes are ideals for the Christian life (that few would ever achieve) that have little practical values.
The Beatitudes are more than practical advice for successful living. They are prophetic declarations made by the Lord Himself. They declare an objective reality as the result of a divine act, not subjective feelings (blessedness is not mere feeling “happy”). They are written in unconditional performative language. In other words, when we possess the attitudes prescribed in the Beatitudes, we are ushered into an objective reality where God’s divine favor operates freely. That’s why blessedness occurs when we fulfill the Beatitudes. It follows that those who neglect the requirements of the Beatitudes will do so at the expense of missing out on a large portion of ‘blessings’ that should be experienced by every follower of Christ.
In light of the above, we are dedicating the month of July to learn more about the Beatitudes so that we can walk in those pronouncements and thus live a life of blessedness.
Be Blessed,

Pastor Chris Chan

June is a busy month for our church. After years of burning the candles on both ends, some university students will celebrate their academic achievements. Parents will travel from afar to be here in Seattle for their children’s commencement exercises. Children will be out of school and parents will be busy with summer activities to keep their little ones occupied. The summer games (iGames) will commence later this month. Last, but not least, we have Father’s Day celebration thrown in the mix.

With the flurry of activities around us, it is so easy to get distracted. Distractions can get our attention off the important stuff, leaving us pursuing matters that are of lesser significance from heaven’s perspective. The path of staying focused must go through the doorway of reexamination of priorities. “Put first things first,” wrote Stephen Covey in his bestseller, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Our first things should be to focus on God and things pertaining to His kingdom priorities. Are our priorities the same as heaven’s agenda? If not, we should stop what we are doing, repent and do the first works (Rev 2:5). Doing the first works mean that we continue serving Him not out of obligation but out of love. We have to examine our hearts to see if we still have our first love for Him (Rev. 2:4). Are we as passionate as the first time we receive Him into our hearts as our Savior and Lord? If not, we definitely need to take steps to recover that passion again.

The classic story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 illustrates how busyness and distractions can get us off focus from the essential. In that story, Martha had the chance to host the Son God in her home. She had a unique opportunity create a special memory that she could have cherished in her heart for the rest of her days. This should have been a blessed moment, but in the end it became a day of stress, frustration and anger. She was caught up in the preparation of a meal – the slicing and dicing; the cooking and cleaning. She was distracted by her chores. She was so consumed with what she was expected to do that she seemed to forget WHO she was doing it for. Mary, on the other hand, recognized the significance of the moment and that it was not determined by what was served but by who was there. “The Lord showed Martha what her priority ought to be. “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her,” said Jesus (v. 42). What Martha was doing was essential, but what Mary was doing was eternal. Likewise, we can be like Martha, busy fulfilling our obligations, meeting datelines and pursuing our goals. But our relationship with the Lord (which is eternal) must take precedence over all – relationships, career and ministries. Don’t let the essential drowned out the eternal. We must stay focused on the essential priority – seating at His feet, worshiping Him, listening to His Word and seeking to obey His Word.

May God help us to reevaluate our lives, to look at ourselves and our schedule squarely in the face, and to ask ourselves, “What really is most important in my life?” And may we readjust our lives to do as Jesus commanded, “Seek first His kingdom & His righteousness.”

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

What should the focus of the Church of Jesus Christ be? Using Ephesians 4:12 as their support, many churches focus mainly on building up the believers in the most holy faith and to equip them for the work of the ministry. Zeroing on this emphasis, most of the ministries of local churches have been inward focused to the neglect of outward missions to the lost world. Reaching the lost with the Gospel, at best, becomes secondary, at worst, nonexistent. I believe the primary focus should be two-fold as echoed by the popular motto, “To know Christ and make Him known.” The former is reflected in Eph 4:12; the latter is outlined in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). While the word, “missions” is not found in the English Bible, the term is commonly used to refer to all of the efforts of the church empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim Jesus Christ and share the blessings of the Christian faith with all who are strangers to His grace.

Just how important is missions? Henry Martyn (an Anglican priest and missionary to India) said, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must become. Emil Brunner (a Swiss theologian of the early 20th century) wrote, “The church exists by mission, just as fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no church; and where there is neither church nor mission, there is no faith.” Emphasizing the importance of missions, the Lord Jesus’ final words to His disciples were to go and make disciples of every nations (Matt. 28:19-20). In other words, reaching the lost with the Gospel is not a suggestion but an imperative.

During this month, the entire IFGF movement is emphasizing on missions – both local and foreign. We are joining the rest of our IFGF family to dedicate this month as a Missions month. While our congregation has regularly send representatives (me and some leaders) to foreign countries like Africa, Indonesia, India and Pakistan for short term missions, we would focus on the mission field in our backyard. Thousands of international students from around the world are gathered in the Universities and Colleges in the Puget Sound. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the world has gathered in our backyard. We don’t have travel to Africa to reach Africans. We have hundreds of Ethiopians and Somalis living within close proximity to our church. The Gospel, however, is not for foreigners only but for everyone including Americans. So what should we do as believers in Christ and as members of His church?

Missions begin in the heart. Doing outreach to the lost without a love for them is merely a program which is not only ineffective but will lead to burnout. Let’s start by praying and asking the Lord to put in us a genuine love for the lost. With a renewed passion for souls, we will naturally share Christ with those whom we have contact with. Start inviting new people - colleagues, roommates, neighbors and classmates to church services or care group meetings. Pray regularly for their salvation and seek practical ways to care for them. Like our Lord Jesus, let’s become mission-minded believers – “to make Him known to those who are far from His grace!”

Blessings,

Pastor Chris Chan

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18.)

What is the most common religious symbol in the world? In our part of the world, the most common religious symbol is the cross. We see the cross on churches. We see the cross in jewelry. Athletes cross themselves sometimes during sporting events. But what does the cross mean to followers of Christ? We are dedicating this month to understand and appreciate the significance of the Cross of Christ.

We live in a time where the Christian message is being slanted by some in the direction of the current fashion in order to make it acceptable to the public. The message of the Cross is no longer central to the Gospel proclamation. Some preachers claim, “Don’t tell people about the cross, it doesn’t work. That’s why the Franklin Graham crusades are no longer effective.” Just tell them that God loves them & has a plan for them.” The message of a crucified Jew is ridiculous to the modern mind and so move on to something better. A crucified Messiah is stupid; just promise them prosperity, give them emotional experiences, provide them with self-esteem – then you’ll fill the pews.”

But according to the apostle Paul, the cross should be central to the Gospel message. In spite of the fact that the cross was a scandal to the Jewish mind and an offense to the Roman mind in the first century, Paul summed up the message of the New Testament as “the word of the cross” (1 Cor.1:18). The message of the cross is the manifestation of God’s wise plan to save all mankind from sin and death. The Bible clearly teaches that sin exacts a heavy price tag – death. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezek 18:4); “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Since all have sinned, all are doomed to be condemned. But God loves all sinners. There arises a divine dilemma – how can God genuinely forgive sinners without compromising His justice? The answer lies in Christ and the Cross. “God made him (Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). So when Paul says Jesus was made sin for us, that doesn’t mean that he became a sinner but that he died a sinner’s death in our place, as our substitute. Thus the cross makes possible a divine exchange between Jesus and us–that our transgressions were placed upon the back of Jesus so we might be covered with his integrity. On the cross something the Bible calls an “atoning sacrifice” was accomplished. An atoning sacrifice is the means by which justice is satisfied. The sins of every human being who’s ever lived and who ever will live were placed upon Jesus as he died on the cross. So what does this picture tells us about the cross? Since sin has made us guilty before God, the cross is where God provides forgiveness. The centerpiece of God’s perfect plan for humankind is the Cross.

Let’s embrace the Cross and experience the power of transformation that comes from it.

Blessings,

Pastor Chris Chan

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

1Thes 4:7

According to the Scriptures, the believers in Christ are supposed to be the salt and light of the world. Unfortunately, scandals do hit the Church from time to time. The shocking thing is that many of those misdeeds are perpetuated not by sinners from without but by those within the church who profess to be born-again, baptized believers of Jesus Christ. The scandals have served as a stumbling block and have further contributed to the unbelieving world’s mockery of the Christian faith. “The church is full of hypocrites” is a common excuse for people not to attend church or trust Christians in general

In light of the above, we are committed to live the Higher Life, a phrase that refers to the sanctification work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Higher Life promotes the idea that Christians should move on from their initial conversion experience to experience a second work of God by which we can live a more holy, less sinful or even a sinless life.

Living the Higher Life begins with the realization that salvation is a product of His grace alone. There is nothing we can do to earn it, to deserve it, to obligate God to give it to us, to buy it from Him, or to bribe Him into giving it to us. Salvation and eternal life are free gifts. However some believers stop there. They mistakenly assumed that since they live under grace, they are under no obligation to live under the Law. They claim that God’s law was abolished by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. They think that mankind is no longer burdened by the stringent requirements of that “harsh law” that stands in their way of freedom—of “having a good time.” Essentially they turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness (Jude1:4). Lasciviousness means “license to sin.” It could also be defined as “unrestrained liberty” or “abuse of privilege.” In essence, this meant license to do what seems right in one’s own eyes, according to one’s own conscience. But that is not what the Scriptures teach. The truth of the matter is the Christian calling (Rom. 8:29-30) is based on grace—unmerited pardon of past sins and forgiveness upon genuine repentance. Christians understand that the very salvation offered to them is a gift, and that they must continue to live a lifetime of obedience/submission to His will (Acts 5:32, John 14:15) and overcoming.

To live the Higher Life is not an exception but a norm to the Christian life. “For it is GOD which works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). God provides Christians with the WILLPOWER, FAITH OF CHRIST and MOTIVATION to do His good pleasure. God the Father and Jesus Christ have gone to great lengths to provide the grace—favor and divine mercy—to help Christians succeed in their calling. But God expects results! That is the message of Ephesians 2: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (vs. 10). “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:16) Let’s pursue the Higher Life and we will discover the grace of God to experience the abundant life that our Lord promises to all who surrender to his will.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris Chan

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Pro. 11:24-25)

Giving of tithes and offerings is a misunderstood topic among many believers. Some are reluctant to give because they felt they could not afford to give since they are living from paycheck to paycheck. Others do not give generously because of their lack of proper understanding regarding the topic. But the truth of the matter is – giving is the key that the Lord has designed to unlock the abundance of blessings for those who respond positively.

Our God is a generous God. All good things are from Him. The whole of creation is a gift from God for us to enjoy. He gives us light, air, food, water and clothes. And beyond this He gives us Himself. He gives us Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. He gives us forgiveness and He gives us love. He gives us the gift of eternal life and He is preparing a place for us in heaven. His generosity is unquestionable and He wants us to live in abundance. In His economy, He has designed the key to abundance is through generosity – giving with a cheerful heart. That’s why the Lord Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

There are numerous accounts of people whose generosity, even when they were extremely low themselves on the very basic necessities, lifted them into a place of true spiritual and natural abundance. One such example is the church in Macedonia (2 Corinthians8). The Scripture describes them as people of “extreme poverty” (materially speaking) but they were rich in generosity. They experienced the grace of giving and had overflowing joy. Their generous giving had brought about a level of existence that transcended their material poverty. They were a thriving church living in the abundant grace of God tough they did not have much finances.

Our giving to the Lord and the reciprocal blessings that come with it can be likened to the great rivers of the world. They are flow into the oceans. The oceans never overflow nor do the rivers run dry. Oceans and rivers are all water, and water, whether it is on the ground in the form of a liquid as a river or lake, or in the heavens in the form of vapor as clouds - is still water. This miracle of water always returning to its previous state is one of the great cycles in nature that make life on the planet earth possible. That unending cycle of water flow symbolizes the nature of our Father the Creator of the universe. He has never stopped giving and has never exhausted His supplies. We are all part of Him and He is our unending source. Everything comes from Him and everything returns unto Him. He is like that Great River that continues to flow and empty itself into the ocean while never running dry. (Romans 11:36). So when we give (not just money but) of ourselves, we are connected to the never ending flow of life and resources that find its source in Him. That’s the key to an abundant life!

Blessings,

Pastor Chris Chan

“Happy New Year!” What a blessing it is to acknowledge the end of one year, and embrace the possibilities of another. For many, 2009 proved to be a challenging year. The state of the economy is still on everyone’s mind. The recession in this country has triggered massive layoffs, home foreclosures and widespread failures of financial institutions and businesses. News of political turmoil, terrorists attacks and natural disasters occurring all across the globe further added to the bleakness. Believing that the recession has not bottomed out yet, the world at large does not anticipate a great year in 2010. But the people of God have a different view regarding the future.


Having a sense of security in our God, we believe He, the maker of heaven and earth, is in complete control. Nothing takes Him by surprise. We may face yet another challenging year ahead. But when faced with difficulties or problems, the people of God are encouraged to seek Him for help. In Psalms 42:1-2, the Psalmist boldly declared “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” Our focus should be on the Lord, not our circumstances. He will surely help and deliver us when we call upon His name.


During this month, we are calling a time of fasting and prayer from the 11th to the 31st. We are seeking the Lord not only for our personal needs to be met, though we will be doing that. More importantly let’s unite our hearts to pray for a great harvest of souls in our church and our city throughout the year. This is a beginning of a new decade. Let’s this be a decade of unprecedented work of the Holy Spirit in bringing repentance of lost souls and sanctification in the lives of believers. The second coming of Christ is drawing closer and God is accelerating His work. John 9:4 says , “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent us. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Let’s get a sense of urgency and be active in the harvest field while we it is still day. The world has gathered in our backyard in Seattle. We trust that the prophecy found in Isaiah 2:2-3 (nations gathering in the House of the God of Jacob) that was given to us years ago will be fulfilled in 2010.


Having a heart that seeks wholly after God is the one sure way for living and fulfilling the Christian life to its full potential. But it is also a difficult endeavor, not because it is complicated but because human nature gets in the way. By nature, we seek our own good and we seek our ways first. Even when we seek to do good our motivations are usually self-centered. We do good because it makes us feel good; we seek God because we see the benefit His goodness has in our lives. While it is true that we cannot separate the benefits God gives from the relationship we have with Him, the benefits should not be our sole motivation. We are human and it is not possible to be completely selfless; however, it is possible to seek God for the purpose of knowing Him and not merely seeking the rewards in His hand. God told Abraham, “I am your exceedingly great reward”. Knowing Him is our greatest reward and nothing in this life can truly be enjoyed as it was intended outside of Christ. That’s why we are setting aside time, effort and attention to focus on Him in the beginning of the year to build a closer relationship with Him. That way we start the year on the right footing. We will have a better chance of ending the year right. Let’s seek the Lord together and expect a great and fruitful year in 2010.

Blessings,

Ps. Chris

What is the true meaning of Christmas? It is a perennial question. It is a question heard often during the Christmas season year after year, from pulpits, TV personalities, newspaper writers, and just ordinary people bewildered by the hectic pace of the season. It seems a little strange that as popular as this season seems to be, we should continually have to ask that question. The meaning of Christmas seems to be forever in danger of being obscured by all the commotion and promotion of the season. So, the search for the true meaning of Christmas is a recurring one. And yet, too often the answers we hear are more sentimentality, comfortable traditions, or “warm fuzzies” than they are any deep reflection on the significance of the Son of God becoming human (Incarnation). As much as those things are a part of the season, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” is not the meaning of the season. It is not about the “spirit of giving” or the quest for global peace, or the importance of family, or the beauty of a snow-decorated “silent night.”

Certainly we can immediately say that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. But exactly why is that fact so significant beyond the affirmation of a historical fact or a creedal confession? How does, or how should, the meaning of Christmas impact our lives on a daily basis as the people of God?

Christmas, at its best and purest state, is a promise of something that no holiday or experience or earthly thing can satisfy. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” At the heart of the nativity narratives in both Matthew and Luke, is a simple fact: amid the struggle of a people who had longed for 500 years for God to act in the world in new ways, God came to be with them in a way that totally identified Himself with us, as human beings. Amid the most unlikely of circumstances, to the most unlikely of people, God became a human being to reconcile all peoples to himself (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Christmas is celebrating God’s greatest gift to humanity that came in the simplest and humblest of wrappings. The gift came in the form of a baby, born not in a palace of gold but in a stable, clothed with rags and laid in a feeding trough. Yet this baby, because He is Immanuel, God with us, will forever change the world and all humanity. It is this same God who has promised to be with us, with His people, with the church and with us individually, as we live as His people in the world. Our calling is to be the light of the world, pointing them to the Savior. In light of this gift, we should live a life worthy of the calling you have received (Eph 4:1). This gift, like no others on earth, has the transforming power to make us become like Him if we yield ourselves to Him (2Co 5:17).

Christmas isn’t about those gifts that you have under your tree during this season. All of those “gifts” will be gone one day. All that will be left after this life is the human soul, and that will live forever. We put so much stock in what we have, but this is all going to pass away. Life is about what happens beyond the grave. Life is about knowing the God who made you and who gave you the greatest gift you will ever receive. Let’s celebrate God’s gift with great joy and thankfulness!

Wishing you a very Blessed Christmas,

Pastor Chris Chan

The weather patterns in Seattle – frosty mornings, rainy days, colorful leaves, getting-dark-early - remind us that autumn is here and so is the month of November. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving before the month is over. There is much to give thanks for and we don’t have to wait till Thanksgiving Day to do that. This month we are thanking the Lord for the redemptive work of salvation He secured for us.

It is against human nature to be thankful. In fact, we are better at complaining than appreciating. We’re good at telling the Lord what we want him to do for us than thanking Him for all He has done for us. In order to wash out that complaining spirit and replace it with a heart of gratitude to the Lord, David wrote in Psalms 103 a prayer in which he talked to his own soul and reminded himself to “bless the Lord” and “forget not all his benefits.” Three benefits we are to remember according to this Psalms.

Pardon
“Who forgives all your iniquity.” David begun by reminding us that God forgives all our iniquity. He started here because this is the foundation for everything else. Our greatest problem is the guilt we feel because of our sin, and our greatest need is to know forgiveness from the Lord. Note that David said that God forgives “all” our iniquity. That’s good news, isn’t it? Some of us have really blown it big time, and we have messed up over and over and over again. And we’ve done the same dumb things repeatedly even after promising never to do them again. The word “all” is included because it means that God intends to forgive our future sins.

Most of us secretly imagine that when we come to Christ, all our past sins are forgiven, but then it’s a footrace race with the devil until the end of life. But when Christ died, all our sins were in the future. And when we come to Christ, all our sins are forgiven, even the yet-to-be-committed sins, ones that would shock us if we knew about them right now. What a God we serve! What grace! He forgives all our sins—past, present and future. That’s a huge insight because it touches how we see God. He’s more willing to forgive than we are to be forgiven. He is eager to forgive. He is ready to forgive. He wants to forgive you and me.


Healing
“Who heals all your diseases.” After doctors and nurses have done all they can do, and after we have used all the latest technology and taken the newest drugs, healing must come from the Lord. That’s why we pray for the sick. They may be healed by medicine or by surgery or by some other course of treatment or they may find healing through prayer or by a miracle from the Lord. All of those things are possible, and they are not mutually exclusive. If you were sick and are now healthy, give thanks to the Lord. If your cancer is in remission, give thanks to the Lord. If you nearly died after an accident but somehow survived, give thanks to the Lord. And remember that any healing in this life is limited and temporary. Our ultimate healing comes when we are raised immortal and incorruptible. In that happy resurrection day, when Jesus comes and the “dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), then at last we will be totally, completely, and finally healed once and for all. Between now and then give thanks to the Lord for every bit of healing you experience.

Deliverance
“Who redeems your life from the pit.” To redeem means to rescue from danger in the time of trouble. The “pit” refers to death itself. We are not to fear death as death is our passage to heaven. The Apostle Paul said that to be “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor 5:8). We have been delivered from “hell,” a place of judgment and torment for those who died without Christ.

God has preserved us to this very moment and has protected us every step of our journey. If God willed it to be so, we would die today—and we might die today—but it cannot happen without God’s permission. Satan himself cannot touch us with God’s permission. We ought to live life with no care for how or when we are going to die. Every day the Lord rescues us in a million ways that we don’t see. His angels encamp around us to deliver us from trouble. Think of the things that could have happened to you but didn’t. No one robbed you. No one shot you. You weren’t fired. A truck didn’t hit you. You weren’t rear-ended. No one scammed you on the Internet (though some people tried). Your identity wasn’t stolen (as far as you know. You don’t have cancer—or if you do, you’re not dead yet. You’ve got your health (what there is of it), your friends (most of them, anyway), your money (maybe not as much as a three months ago but you’re not broke), your job (if you don’t get let go tomorrow), and on and on it goes. Think of all the bad things that could have happened to you today that didn’t. So let’s be thankful


Blessings,
Pastor Chris Chan

For those who were away for Summer vacation, we welcome you back to Seattle. For those of us who remained in Seattle all this while, we too welcome you - to the fall season where the days get darker earlier, wetter and colder. For the past two months we have been emphasizing on topics that pertains to God’s presence and we are thankful that His felt presence are more evident in our corporate gatherings, especially on Sundays.

With the dawning of the fall season comes opportunities. Every year, fall is a time of harvest for our church. Hundreds of new students arrive in Seattle from all over the world to pursue their higher education, thus presenting us many open doors to share Christ with them. Besides sharing the good news with others, we too must reestablish our faith in Him for after a busy Summer. Now that vacation is over, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We dedicate this month to be a time of Knowing Him (in a deeper dimension) and Making Him Known.

KNOWING GOD
Our greatest responsibility as Jesus’ church on earth is both to know Him and to make Him known. Knowing Him will be unfulfilled fully unless we develop the following virtues that results from being in right standing with God and attainments received only through obedience.

LOVE.
Though faith is what’s required to please God (Heb 11:6), it is love that remains the greatest of all virtues (Cor. 13). Love never fails. Love never fails. It is perfect, totally unselfish to the point of the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus loved the world so much that He gave His life to save it. Faith, on the other hand, should work through love. So these two virtues remain the two absolutes that mark someone to be a true believer. We must grow in love and faith.

PURITY.
Christianity has been shaken by scandals committed by prominent ministers. Purity must be emphasized again if the church of Christ wants to win the respect of the world and make our voices heard. We can never hope to see God move in our midst without holiness (Heb 12:14). Holiness is the absolute evidence of the Gospel’s effect on a believer’s life. Without it, our good intentions collapse under the weight of God’s purposes. God shakes whatever that has faulty foundations.

Power.
It is difficult to represent God without power. Jesus is not an idea, a philosophy or creed. He is all-powerful God. And we have been selected as agents of His powers, to confront and destroy the works of darkness in the same way Jesus did. He promised that we will do greater works. So as we develop a closer walk with Him, let His power work through us even to a greater measure.

MAKING GOD KNOWN
In order to make Jesus known to a world crying out for Him, we must allow Him to be known and seen through each of us. Releasing Jesus’ presence, and thus the kingdom of God itself, is done through power evangelism. It is often effected through the laying on of hands – an intentional act for healing, blessing or impartation (Mark 16:18). We can make Him know also by making sharing our testimonies as to how Christ has changed our lives for the better. And finally do not forget to invite our friends and colleagues to church services or Care Group meetings. During those meetings, the presence of Jesus is heightened and many could get touched. Friendship evangelism has proven to be the most effective way to bring people to Christ.

Blessings,
Ps. Chris Chan