In the story we have just read there are three people. Two are in debt to the third. One owes a little, the other owes a lot. But both had nothing with which to pay their debts.

Can you imagine the scene as these two men come confessing that they cannot pay a penny and their tremendous joy when the man says, ‘It’s quite all right, I will forgive both of you’? What a surprising end to the story!

But it is not really the end. There is the application. Christ asked this question: ‘Which man would love him the most?’ His host, Simon, said, ‘The one who owed the most’. Then Jesus went on, ‘Do you see this woman Simon? She loves me because she knows the joy of sins forgiven. You don’t really know that joy, Simon, because you don’t realise your need. You are a sinner just like she is, but she has been forgiven. Why don’t you ask for forgiveness too?’

We are not told what happened to Simon. He would have to overcome a lot of pride to seek the Saviour’s forgiveness. But if he asked for it, he would have been immediately forgiven.

Have you asked for the forgiveness of your sins? If not, why not ask Christ to forgive you today? ]]> http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/03/will-the-real-sinner-please-stand-up/feed/ http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/03/the-sower-the-seed-and-the-soils/ http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/03/the-sower-the-seed-and-the-soils/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:36:38 +0000 admin http://www.chinesechurch.cn/?p=713 THE SOWER, THE SEED AND THE SOILS Day 9

Bible Reading: Luke 8: 4 - 15 This is the first full parable Jesus told. He had used all kinds of illustrations before this. But when the people around him began to openly reject him, he used parables or stories which could only be understood by those whose eyes and ears were open to what he was saying. This parable of the sower is given to us by Matthew, Mark and Luke.The story of the sower is a wonderful picture of missionary work. In fact it covers all kinds of evangelism wherever the gospel is given out. The harvest does not always depend on the sower nor on the seed, but on the nature and response of the soil on which it falls.

The first seed fell on earth which could have been different. (Was it the same kind of soil as elsewhere in the field?) Instead of opening its heart to the seed, the soil refused to allow it to enter. The soil was hard and Christ said the seed lay on top. In the spiritual sense, Satan was able to take away the seed before it could possibly take root.

In the same way Christ carefully explained each type of soil. Don’t you find encouragement as a Christian in this story? The seed was sown in four places but only one place really gave the harvest that was looked for. Even in the good soil the harvest varied (see Mark 4:8).

Your harvest will vary and it will not always be your fault. There has to be a response on the part of the hearers too. But, thank God, if we are faithful in sowing the seed, God will see to it that there will be an eternal harvest.

A PRAYER:

Lord, help me to be faithful in sowing the good seed today. ]]> http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/03/the-sower-the-seed-and-the-soils/feed/ http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/01/homosexuality-infiltrated-the-mainland-china-by-the-beauty-contest/ http://www.chinesechurch.cn/2010/01/homosexuality-infiltrated-the-mainland-china-by-the-beauty-contest/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:21:48 +0000 admin http://www.chinesechurch.cn/?p=709

Chinese homosexuality movement go a step further ,through the beauty selection, to promote the trend of homosexuality.

One called “Mr. Rainbow Chinese competition”, a male homosexual beauty contest, will be held on January 15^th. In addition, some gay groups also perform drama with the theme of sexual fantasies in Beijing.

In fact, homosexual groups not only promote that homosexuality is a intimate partner of heterosexuality, transgender and so on, but also promote sexual fantasies, sexual abuse and so on. They used to say ” why cannot?” as a Criticism of traditional family moral values.

Most of the gay groups claim they are social “small groups”. In fact, homosexuality is a huge movement in every place of the world. China’s gay community emulate the practice of Taiwan and the Western countries in order to “emerge” in the society, which is called “out of the closet”. They introduce the trend of homosexuality to strike for public acceptance through street demonstrations, publishment and so on.

Same as the western countries, chinese gay groups are also fight for legalization of same-sex marriage.

This movie let people know that everyone should change his attitude to life and  live base on “Tomorrow is the end”.Do not drag the words which should say today to tomorrow, including a simple sentence “I love you”,and should never avoid any difficult but to face it, including one’s own mistakes as “Love your neighbor as yourself” which is the Lord Jesus Christ has instructed to us.

Shepherding is very important in church. In the mainland of China, the number of Christians is growing rapidly while the workers of God don not increase in the same portion. As a result, lots of sheep are without shepherd. Besides, many works are not well trained so that they feel tensional and being challenged when they face social issue and the variety of church. These below are the conditions of the current shepherding of mainland of China.

The worker’s quality and number are not enough

The workers and adherent are out of proportion, so limited workers cannot fulfill all the Christians鈥� need. Some churches need this workers do variable works and make them extremely busy. Besides, some workers of God don not accept complete theology training, so they feel difficult to the shepherding. These two factors lead to the condition that the shepherding is not effective and the churches are weak.

Different groups of people have various needs and different shepherding according to different people is important.

Generally, the church works include praying, comforting, visiting, teaching, training and so on. However, all kinds of reasons lead the works to a humdrum mode—-just preaching on Sundays.

The main reason is that the mainland is lack of workers of God, besides the heavy works of pastors make them have decreasing time on shepherding and cannot deeply know their disciples’ condition. All the time, churches pay high attention to the preaching on Sundays and it tends to take the place of the shepherding. 

On the other hand, most of the shepherding are just the teaching of the pastors. This makes the real conditions and feelings of Christians cannot be considered.

The gap of background of Christians is growing, so in accordance with the different needs of different groups has become increasingly important for targeted shepherding.

For example, university Christians say the church life is lack of ethical and moral teachings, no special care and guidance shepherd them understand the biblical work ethic and principles. Now the secular trend in society hurt the believers especially the youth, so churches need urgently to shepherd this targeted group to set up solid spiritual nurture.

Besides, the church’s marriage counseling should not be overlooked. As divorce cases of Christians are growing, more and more pastors are deeply embarrassed. Many pastors are lack of training and do not know how to lead believers to face the crisis of divorce, so the result often end in divorce. When Christians divorce, it will bring about a crisis for the church. Mainland shepherd need to be strengthened and equipped and be more familiar with the Bible truth, and grasp the shepherding and counseling skills to guide the believers enjoy marriage which pleased the God.

The Purpose of this consecutive five-day conference is to encourage chinese christian sisiters to carry the baton for missionary.At the end of the meeting,chinese sisters are eager to respond to the call to dedicate missionary,the scene was very moving.