CMCA Methodist News 243 (Eng)

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persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes (Matthew 10:22-23a). But the Lord Jesus did not tell them the price that they might have to pay. Instead, he gave them promises and assurance in the same chapter: When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour (Matthew 10:19). When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes (Matthew 10:23). So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known (Matthew 10:26). And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31). Verses 38 and 39 actually talk about the ultimate price. Are we willing to sacrifice our lives for the price of following Jesus? Do we believe in his promise? Maybe we can love Jesus more than we do all of our family; just like Abraham, maybe we are willing to place our children second, but are we willing to place God before ourselves? Brothers and sisters, when we share the gospel, let us not only share what peoplewant to hear; instead, we should share from the Bible what non-believers need to know before they decide to convert. We have to tell them that believing in Jesus is so good and worthwhile even though life doesn’t automatically become smooth sailing after believing in Christ; in fact, it cancreate more conflict between us and our family, work, classmates, and neighbours. But I know that in times of trouble,Jesus will surely be with us; even if we were to lose our physical bodies, he will not forsake us. No wonder Jesus told us this parable concerning the heavenly kingdom: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46). Brothers and sisters, the conflict between believers and non-believers is unavoidable, especially when it arises as a result of you abiding by the will of God. If you experience no conflicts at all in your daily life, perhaps you have compromised, and you are no different to the non-believers. But as believers, we firmly believe that following Jesus is so worthwhile,and we rely on our God-given strength to uphold the truth and stay holy. That way, we can overlook possible sources of conflict. We will not argue over short term mistakes of the past, we will not stumble and fail to recover because of a loss in assets, and we will not have mental breakdowns because of relationship issues. Even when we face situations that threaten our lives, we can still be assured. May God help us understand who it is we really believe in, so that we can have this kind of faith in our journey of life. How different would that be? Our whole lives would revolve around glorifying God, and the focal point of our lives would be to preach his beautiful name. Dear friends, I pray that you will understand this price of believing in Jesus.Truly, it is as Jesus had said about the heavenly kingdom, that it is like a merchant searching for quality pearls;he found a valuable pearl, and went to sell everything he had in order to buy it. If you can have faith like this, then you will have the power to overcome possible impending conflicts. Not by our own strength, but by the strength of God the creator, alpha and omega. E10 AMYC SHARING REFLECTION After a busy year, AMYC Adelaide 2018 was a conference where I was able to clear my mind and focus on God. Delving into the Word of God helped to re-energise me. It was also a great joy for me to delve into the Word of God with my brothers and sisters in Christ. This was because it was encouraging to see people want to learn more about their God despite all of us being at different points in our lives. AMYC was also a great opportunity to connect and re-connect with people from other states as well as people from Melbourne. As we may lead busy lives, it can sometimes be very hard to connect with others. Therefore, I am glad that there are times such as AMYC where young Christians can come together to catch up, play games and Joseph Fung • Camberwell MC praise our God together. I am thankful for the effort that was put into the conference, as it is an enormous task to co-ordinate such a huge event. I am thankful for the commitment of the committee who helped to run the fourday conference. Moreover, I am thankful to the speakers who endeavoured to represent God’s Word well. I am also thankful for the participants who took the time to travel all the way to Adelaide for the conference. Praise be to our God. I hope that AMYC will continue to be a conference which helps young Christians to learn about their God. Moreover, I hope that young Christians will continue to connect with their brothers and sisters in Christ at future AMYCs.
E11 AMYC SHARING REFLECTION The first time I attended AMYC was last year (2017) when it was hosted in my home city of Perth. I enjoyed the experience and found it helpful to my spiritual walk, so I decided to go again this year. This was quite an interesting and unique experience for a number of reasons. Firstly, for the fact that it was my first interstate AMYC, and secondly, because I was the only attendee from the <strong>Eng</strong>lish side from my church (Kingsway <strong>Methodist</strong>). I got to be in a group with people I didn’t know so well, which was great as it gave me an opportunity to get to know more people better. Meals, games and skit preparation were great times and opportunities for me to connect with the group and form bonds. In addition to the relational aspect, I also enjoyed the spiritual aspect of AMYC. I felt like many of the talks by Pastor Michael Ting spoke to me, such as being shrewd and acting in wisdom, as well as the cost of discipleship being very high, and the fact that I would need to go as far as being willing to lay down my life for Jesus. It challenged and convicted me in many ways. I also found the special talks helpful, especially Reverend Sean Kong’s talk on homosexuality and how to relate well to non-believers regarding that topic, recognising the fact that we are all equally sinners, and just communicate with them effectively on a person to person level. One fact I really liked about this AMYC was that we had a Q&A session where I could just freely ask the burning questions I had after listening to the talks. Admittedly, many of the questions were mine. I guess with regards to what could’ve been improved was the fact that this AMYC was quite intense. 6.30am wake-up call and 7am devotion, especially for a WA attendee who was used to being 2.5 hours behind, was a nightmare, so the lack of time for sleep and being tired was something I didn’t quite like, although I guess to be fair, this was something that had to be compromised on given the number of programs we had, which I liked in themselves. Perhaps more time could be allocated to sleep next time for a better balance. Another thing about this AMYC was that it helped me to transition out of my long-term season of spiritual dryness, where I was lacking motivation to grow in my spiritual life and was just staying where I was because everything was so peaceful, by challenging me to Henry Yoo • really seek to grow in my relationship with God and to read his Word. Prior to AMYC, I had been struggling with the decision of whether to continue persevering with the campus walk-up evangelism I was involved in after receiving feedback that it wasn’t really effective, but AMYC did help me to gain a strong conviction to continue reaching out to others on campus no matter what discouragement I may face on the way. So I guess AMYC this year did help me to have a bit more direction and clarity in my spiritual work even though there is still a long way to go. AMYC was a helpful spiritual experience, different but no less unique to the last one, and I expect AMYC next year will also have another unique impact on my spiritual walk as well. It also helped me to reconnect with people I met at the previous AMYC, as well as form new friendships with some others. It’s always great to meet people from other states and hear stories about what God has been doing in their church and/or life. I really hope I can go again next year. This year is my third time attending AMYC, but each year is always a unique and rewarding experience for me. I always learn something new, and this year’s AMYC answered one of the biggest question I had since I became a Christian 6 years ago and which had been bothering me for a long time, and that was “how should I treat my homosexual friend?” The talk on homosexuality by Ps.Timothy helped me to understand it better, and gave me some guidance on how I should interact with my friend. Not only that, I am also very grateful for my team, Issachar; I enjoyed every single moment I shared with each individual team member. We cheered each other on and helped each other out, and even though we lost at some games, it didn’t matter because we had each other and that was what was important. Thank you AMYC 2018 for helping me to understand and truly Jialin • experience what team spirit is all about.
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CMCA Methodist News 243 (Eng)

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