*** The Everlasting God

Author: Brenton Brown

When the words of Isaiah 40 were first written, Israel was in exile, punished for abandoning her first love, and scattered across the lands of the middle east. Her temple destroyed, Her people conquered in warfare and then enslaved or forced to live as aliens in other countries. In every way they were far from the blessing and peace of David and Solomon's reign. And then God, through Isaiah, speaks these words to her.

6 "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.

One of the things i love about God is how aware He is of our weaknesses - even more aware than we are i think. Aren't these words a healthy corrective to the 'you can do anything you put your mind to' approach we tend to adopt in the West when we want to get things done. The truth is we can't do anything we put our minds to. Sooner or later, no matter who we are, we are eventually confronted with our own mortality. Our own limits. We are weak and fragile and the time we have here on earth is very small. Unfortunately we tend to be mindful of this humbling truth only when we encounter tragedy. But God in this chapter not only reminds Israel of her fragility. He offers His people something they had not known for a long, long time - hope. God promises Israel His comfort and His strength if they simply call on Him. 'Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins....' What God says next to Israel offers all of us hope today because it depends not at all on where we are in history, but entirely on who our unchanging God is. 'See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young'. As God reminds Israel, He reminds us, the spiritual Israel today, that He is aware of us. He is aware of our needs. He knows exactly who we are and what each one of us is struggling with. And He gives us this hope. That those who wait on Him, those who entwine themselves in Him, like a cord is entwined with other cords and is strengthened, will be strengthened by the God who does not grow weary or weak. The everlasting God.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Doesn't this stir your heart to praise? I know it stirs mine. I've said it before, and I know it sounds strange, but I am so proud of our God. I am so proud of His consistency, His compassion, His awesome and unlimited power. But even beyond His power I am moved by the mercy and compassion He has for His people. This is a God worth following, this is a God who stirs my heart in adoration and worship.

***NO EVERGREEN LARGE GROUP MEETING THIS SATURDAY

Evergreen will not have our regular large group meeting this Saturday (May/27) due to the Gospel Camp!! We will see you next week!!

本周六晚上常綠聚會將暫停一次! 我們將去參加福音營!! 下週見!!

***角度與廣度

取自於生活大師

重要的不是你站的角度，而是你思想的廣度

一位老員外，特別喜歡牡丹花，庭內庭外都種滿了牡丹。老員外採了幾朵牡丹花，送給一位老翁，老翁很開心的插在花瓶裡。隔天，鄰居激動的和老翁說：『你的牡丹花， 每一朵都缺了幾片花瓣，這不是富貴不全嗎？』

老翁總覺得不妥，就把牡丹花全部還給老員外。老翁一五一十的告訴老員外，關於富貴不全的事情。老員外忍不住笑說：『牡丹花缺了幾片花瓣，這不是富貴無邊嗎？』老翁聽了頗有同感，選了更多的牡丹花，開心的走了。

有智慧的人， 不會和不同角度的人爭吵
每個人站的角度不同，說話的方式自然就有所差異，不管意見和你是否接近，每個角度的意見都值得去採納。親愛的朋友，多往積極的層面去思考，你會發現自己充滿活潑朝氣，學到的知識更多，任何問題都浮現著隱約的答案。

人，重要的不是你站的角度，而是你思想的廣度。

***Who is My Neighbor?

What Is Jesus Doing?

It’s not just the music. Bono is getting a lot of press these days. The Irish leader of U2, one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history was recently named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) and was invited to address those gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2, 2006.

Back in July he made a splash at the G-8 Summit, where the most powerful leaders in the world meet every year to discuss economics and world affairs. Not bad for a short little guy from Ireland.

But what strange images come to mind. Black leather clad rock star shaking hands with prim, proper and pressed Tony Blair. Screeching guitars and ear drum stretching decibels with bowed heads and folded hands. Rock stars on Capital Hill. Bono himself said, “There is something unseemly, unnatural about rock stars preaching to presidents and heads of state.”

These aren’t photo ops; it’s not a ploy to sell more records or concert tickets. There is no catch. Josh Tyrangiel writes in Time that while many in the world wrestle with the best way to deal with poverty, “Bono’s contribution has been to forge … a surprisingly durable consensus on the need to do something.”

And although he looks out at the world through rose-colored glasses (literally) no one could confuse him with being a Pollyanna. Bono is not talking pie-in-the sky, “world peace,” or “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” President Bush said Bono “gets things done.”

When I read Time’s issue on the Persons of the Year, I was struck by the mark that both Bono and the Gateses are making and will, no doubt, leave behind them. They are tops in their field, and some would argue they are the best in the world at what they do. And yet, they have turned toward, sometimes, faceless and nameless brothers and sisters and stretched out their hands. They are not just digging into their pockets, but are inspiring many people to join them. Time named them The Good Samaritans. And I bet all three blushed a bit.

But Bono in his recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast spoke words that may have ruffled some feathers. Imagine that? He spoke not about charity, but about justice. He said, (and I believe, he was loosely referring to the American people, but perhaps not exclusively) “We’re good at charity. But there is a higher standard.” It is the standard of justice. In other words, it’s not just about taking care of the guy who’s been beat up and left for dead, but it’s about changing the system so that folks don’t get beat up and those who beat up won’t feel so desperate and so, choose to beat up on others.

He affirmed President Bush’s leading America to increased giving by doubling aid to Africa and tripling aid for global health. But he refused to let charity be the only satisfying end. Bono said, “Preventing the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of a free market—is not about charity. It’s about justice. Holding children to ransom for the debt of their grandparents is not about charity—it’s a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the office of patents—is a justice issue.”

He declared, “Where you live should no longer determine whether you live.” And in the end he challenged President Bush and Congress to increase giving to the poor by 1% of the federal budget. That would amount to $26 billion. President Bush did not comment on Bono’s proposal but certainly made a statement when later in the day the White House asked Congress to approve $70 billion in increased spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And on the same day the Senate approved $70 billion in tax cuts.

Twice Bono quoted from Isaiah 58. “And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” He spoke of the year of Jubilee from Leviticus 25. I dare say it was one of the most riveting sermons I have ever heard. He painted word pictures: “God is with the vulnerable and poor, in the cardboard boxes, in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with the deadly virus that will kill both of them. God is in the cries heard underneath the rubble of war, in the debris of wasted opportunity and lies. And God is with us if we are with them.”

It is a call to be a neighbor, to take responsibility, to do something on behalf of the poor. Bono is using his powerful voice to access and address world leaders to change the way the world works. In essence, what Bono is saying is, “it doesn’t have to work this way. It could be different.”

At the Prayer Breakfast, Bono told a story about his encounter with a man that has changed his life. He said that he used to go to this person and ask that whatever he was about to do, or the song he was writing, would be blessed. Until one day when this man told him, “Stop asking God to bless what you are doing. Get involved with what God is doing because it’s already blessed.”

What is God doing on your campus? As my friend Brian says, it’s not WWJD—what would Jesus do? It should be “What is Jesus Doing?” How do you see God at work in your community? As you read the paper or see the news on the internet or Google justice sites, how do you see the hand of God moving, bringing things together? Where is truth being spoken? Love forged?

Bono has honed his gift and is striving for excellence in his work as a musician. But he has not stopped there. C-Span listed him as “Musician & Activist.” He is using his renown and success to benefit others whom he will never meet. He is a neighbor to the world’s poor, especially in Africa. We may never come near to that place on the world stage, but we almost always have some circle of influence. How will you use your circle of influence to shape God’s kingdom?

***Who is My Neighbor?

An urbana.org column by Carolyn Carney

The Language of Hospitality

The rutted dirt roads were pushing our van's suspension to its limits as we plunged though the South African countryside. We were heading to a house in rural Bergville, where we would be staying for the week. It was dark, near to midnight, and we'd been traveling since four in the morning.

The village had no electricity, no running water. It was so dark we literally could not see our hands in front of our faces or anything beyond the reach of the headlights. How Pumlani could tell where to turn I had no idea. But soon we arrived at the home of the Mhlangus. I turned off the engine and could here something like a radio playing music coming from the darkened house. There we were under the wide African sky, heavy with stars. My eyes grew increasingly accustomed to the dark as I tilted my head to the skies. Indeed, it was as beautiful as they say.

Someone opened the door to the house and as we entered the darkness, we were greeted with jubilant singing! It was no radio! We had delightful African choruses accompanied by a battery-powered keyboard. It took awhile for me to see anything more than warm eyes and smiling teeth. We greeted in typical Zulu fashion: a three-part handshake, with the left arm bent, hand lightly gripping the crook of the right arm. It seemed like an endless line of greeters, like a wedding receiving line but in reverse.

Then we were all ushered into a bedroom where there was more greeting. And body upon body filled the 10’ x 15’ space. There must have been two dozen people, huddled on beds, sitting on laps, standing pressed up against one another—all eyes glued on the three American visitors. The darkness dissipated with the help of a few candles. At one point, the younger ones erupted into laughter, blocking their mouths with both hands. The excitement in the room bubbled up into giggles and laughter, which were squelched by the opening of the Scriptures for the devotions before bedtime. We did not understand the language of the sermon, but there was no interpretation necessary for their language of hospitality.

They did not know us, yet they gave us their beds. In the morning, water was fetched, heated and waiting for our baths. They shared their simple food and in the light of their warmth, it became a feast. I can not remember a time that I have been made to feel more special. They did not know my last name, did not know my family—but they embraced me as if I were an important relative. Every night we went to bed singing the one language we shared: Christian choruses, sung in either Zulu or English. By the end of the week, we three Americans pulled special dresses, t-shirts, perfumed lotions, extra shoes, blouses, books anything we could find, to shower our friends with gifts for all they had done for us. It seemed so small; for we simply gave out of our abundance, they gave themselves.

The gospels are rife with illustrations of hospitality: Simon Peter’s mother-in-law graciously serving Jesus and the disciples after she has been healed, the tender touch of Jesus given to the leper and Jairus’ daughter, the comforting words uttered to the woman caught in adultery: “neither do I condemn you”, Martha and Mary hosting Jesus in their Bethany home, Mary breaking the alabaster jar of costly perfume to anoint Jesus, Jesus washing the disciples feet on his last night with his beloved friends. In so many of these stories, Henri Nouwen’s words on hospitality seem central. Nouwen writes in Reaching Out, “…in the context of hospitality guest and host can reveal their most precious gifts and bring new life to each other.”

I do a fair bit of traveling in my job. Sometimes I stay at conference centers or retreat places, and other times I stay in private homes. I’ve stayed in quite a wide range of homes from one where chickens, frogs, bats and lizards roamed or leapt or squawked through my bedroom at night to those where I had my own separate entrance and a bed so high I needed a step stool to get into. But no matter the socioeconomic status of my host, the places I felt most at home in were those where the host did not make excuses for an untidy room or a messy kitchen. In these places there was a freedom to enter, to accept life for what it is and to be accepted as I am. Nouwen writes in Reaching Out:

“It is indeed the paradox of hospitality that poverty makes a good host. Poverty is the inner disposition that allows us to take away our defenses and convert our enemies into friends. We can only perceive the stranger as an enemy as long as we have something to defend. But when we say, ‘Please enter—my house is your house, my joy is your joy, my sadness is your sadness and my life is your life,’ we have nothing to defend, since we have nothing to lose but all to give.” (p.103)

Recently, God has surprised me by using two very different messengers who have spoken a similar message. The first was Vinoth Ramachandra, a Sri Lankan theologian who I heard speak at the Veritas Forum in New York City in February. In speaking about our response to poverty, he said, that because humans are made in the image of God, "human rights trump the right to private property."

Then a few weeks later I began reading The Holy Longing, written by Ronald Rohlheiser, a Catholic priest living in Canada. In his chapter on "A Spirituality of Justice and Peacemaking", Rohlheiser writes,

“God intended the earth for all persons equally. Thus the riches of this world should flow equally and fairly to all people. All other rights, including the right to private property and the accumulation of riches that are fairly earned, must be subordinated to this more primary principle.”

Both of these ideas seem to intersect Nouwen’s thoughts regarding hospitality. All seem to stand in stark contrast to the lifestyles we in North America typically have become accustomed to and too often become demanding of. I have a lot to learn about hospitality.

• 
  What would it mean for you to make a more concerted effort to be hospitable toward strangers, guests, relatives, international students, or even enemies?
• 
  What would it look like to hold loosely to our property for the sake of brotherly love?
• 
  How could letting our defenses down and adopting a willingness to be vulnerable create a safe haven for those who really are vulnerable?
• 
  Who do you know in need of hospitality?

A suggestion I heard recently really challenged me. Living near New York City, we encounter many homeless folks who often ask for money. There always seems to be a dilemma in how to respond. But the challenge came from someone who recently moved to the city and is trying to apply principles of hospitality in practical ways. She said, “No matter what you decide to say, look the homeless person in the eye. Let them know they are valuable, that they matter, that they are made in the image of God.”

After all, even on a crowded, dirty city street, that is the language of hospitality.

***荒漠甘泉

『過了四十年，在……曠野，有一位天使……顯現……說……你來，我要差你往埃及去。』（徒七章三十至三十四節）

神常從我們工作中召我們出來，叫我們休息一時，趁此靜心學習功課，然後重新出發到祂所定的工場中去工作。這段等候的時期，絕非耗廢。從前有一位戰士，從他仇敵手中逃出來，半途發覺他的馬有換馬蹄鐵的必要。焦急催他從速逃生，勿稍耽延；但是智慧教他停在路上一家鐵匠門口，花數分鐘重換馬鐵；雖然他聽見追蹤者的腳步由遠而近，他仍耐性等著馬鐵裝好。當仇敵和他只有一百碼距離的時候，他一躍馬鞍，似風馳去，頃刻間脫離了危險。他的暫停並不失算，反加快他的速率。 神也常如此：在我們工作之前叫我們有片刻的暫停，好恢復我們的體力和靈力來走前面的路程。

***讚美的生活

「你們要讚美耶和華，因歌頌我們的上帝為善為美。讚美的話是合宜的。」（詩一四七：1）

我要更加肯定讚美的價值。讚美是信賴的自然成果，一個真心信主的人必定會不由自己的讚美上帝。從前，我以為讚美必待行動之後才產生：我訴求，上帝應允，然後我讚美祂。現在我才知道這是一種軟弱無力的讚美。你看，耶穌在拉撒路復生以前就感謝上帝了。所以當困難與挫折到來時，我也應先感謝上帝。感謝祂給我機會來榮耀祂的名。假如羅馬書八章28節還保留在聖經中，並且仍然值得相信的話，則讚美應是我生活中最大的特色。

困難，對基督徒來說，就等於是未實現的神蹟。信心是沒有時間限制的，若說一定要先有神蹟才能讚美，這在信心的觀點攪來是不理的。因為對一個有信心的人來說，上帝將要做的事與上帝已做的事並沒有分別。

所以假如我永遠相信，我就應該永遠讚美，因為完全的信賴必定去除憂慮與恐懼，而只剩下感激與讚美充滿我心。

要過充滿讚美的生活，則我對患難也要心存感謝。不只泛泛地為世間的患難感謝，更要為我自己身在困境的寶貴經歷而感謝。面對困難時，我可以有兩種不同態度：硬著頭皮忍受它，或者使它變成祝福的媒介。聖經告訴我，上帝也不愛困難，但是祂利用困難成就更美好的事。

當上帝使我遇到重重困難時，祂是在為我的突破作準備，好引我進入別的方法所達不到的屬靈躍進。所以，自某種角度來看，困境實在是我的益友，我應當歡迎它們，使用它們，就如當年大衛利用獅子與熊來鍛鍊自己，日後才得打敗歌利亞一樣。假如我歡迎困難，我一定會感謝讚美；假如我讚美，困難就不是我的敵人，而要成為我的戰利品了。如此一來，當試煉重重包圍時，我就可以如雅各所說的為此「大喜樂」了（雅一：2）。

***"Attenders" or "Members"?

One of the first things that were talked about during the Sunday Sermon was the difference between "attenders" and "members". The key word? "COMMITMENT".

In my observation, Evergreen consists 3 different groups of people. The "explorers", the "attenders" and the "members". Although in Evergreen, there is no membership but by the definition given by Pastor Dave, it really gives us a look on "Who is Who" in this fellowship.

The "explorers" are those who came to check things out. Mostly None-Christians who just want to learn English or Christians who are still looking for a Spiritual home. These groups of people are irregular attenders. We do not see them in the fellowship on consistent basis. They come and go through the year. For those who decide to come on the regular basis, they become "attenders".

"Attenders" are those who comes to the large group meeting most of the time but are either unable to, still need time or just simply do not want to commit to serve in the fellowship.

Of course for those who are willing to commit to serve in the fellowship, they will be considered "members" by the definition of Pastor Dave. Jesus said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind." I do believe that Jesus is calling us to commit ourselves wholly to Him. This is how He showed His love to us and He certainly deserve and wants us to do the same for Him.

Evergreen has seen a growth of "attenders" this past year. Some are from being "explorers" and some are from being "members." It would be a good time to ask ourselves, are we "attenders" or "members"? Then, are we willing to commit ourselves of being a "member" of this fellowship…………

***Bear in your Body the Marks

by Northcote Deck

“Our supreme desire and ambition must be not service, though that is necessary, but that we might become more and more conformed to the image of God's Son.”

In Galatians 6:17 Paul the Apostle writes: "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." The Apostle, confronted by these Galatians could not refer to his mighty missionary work; the provinces evangelized, scores of churches founded, thousands of converts won. Instead, with unerring spiritual wisdom he says: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

Our supreme desire and ambition must be not service, though that is necessary, but that we might become more and more conformed to the image of God's Son. That is just what the Apostle Paul claims, and that is the surest title to trust and confidence.

I turn from that verse to a similar passage, John 20:24-25. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."

"I will not believe." Now, it's very easy for us to criticize the Apostle. I don't think Thomas had a right to speak like that; he should have believed. But what Thomas claimed as his right (although it was not his right) the world also claims. The world looks at us who call ourselves Christians and says in effect to us, "Except I shall see the print of the nails of the Lord Jesus in you Christians, I will not believe; why should I? There ought to be some evidence."

We claim that by faith in Jesus Christ we now have a new kind of life called eternal life. Not an improvement to ordinary human life, but quite different. Not only eternal in duration but divine in quality; Christ is our Lord. We claim further that we now have a second nature called the divine nature which is incapable of sinning, though we may be plagued with the old nature still. We claim still more remarkably that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us, that actually God has taken up His presence in our unworthy hearts.

Those are big claims. And the world, and that rightly, demands evidence of those claims. We come to some friend and say rather tremblingly, "We have seen the Lord." And he looks us up and down rather critically and says, "It doesn't look much like it; there's not much evidence of it."

We ought to be hallmarked; there ought to be something about us that's evident, that's divine and supernatural. We are to be "living epistles, read and known of all men." Don't forget, we're not just postcards, and the writing to be read by the village postmistress. Alas, there's so little worth reading very often in our lives. What God needs today is living Bibles six feet long and bound in human skin. They're scarce today, but we can be those living Bibles.

Mr. Hudson Taylor was a great missionary - great in common sense and great in spirituality. A young missionary asked him, "How can I count most for God in China?" And so he took a glass of water, filled it to the brim, struck it with a ruler, and capsized it - nearly broke the glass, with the water running all over the table. And he asked the young man, "Now, what spilled out?" "Well," said the young fellow, "evidently what was in." And he said, "My young friend, what's in will spill out. You'll get knocks; what's going to spill out when you get knocks? Is it going to be irritation, anger, or is it going to be the grace of God?"

A solder was brought up before Alexander, the Great, the world conqueror and Emperor of Greece one day for negligence of duty, for sleeping as a sentry. The great Emperor demanded of this trembling soldier what his name was. The man replied that his name was Alexander. "Well," said the emperor, "you've just got to change your name or change your behaviour. You can't behave like you've been doing with the name Alexander." We can't change our name; we don't want to. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We are Christians in a real sense, praise God. We can't change our name, and wouldn't. But we can and need to change our behaviour.

We want to reproduce by God's grace the marks of the Lord Jesus. Now, I only have time for one mark. We'll read Galatians 6:2, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." That's a very evident mark. Jesus Christ came into this world to give a new emphasis to life. Up until then men had lived mostly for themselves. He came to live for others. He lived for others; He loved men before He died for men. You and I must learn to have that same supernatural love for others. That's the shortest challenge you can have - one word - "others." If you and I are self-centered, they say a person wrapped up in himself makes a very small parcel.

I want to bring you a new arithmetic that young people don't always know yet. I read in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

I think I know where the Saviour saw the illustration. I think that one morning in Nazareth he saw in a little bazaar at the side of the winding street two ancient Eastern men with long beards, a great pile of golden grain between them. And one of them took an old earthenware measure and filled it up and shook it, and forced it down and piled it up, piled it up till he couldn't get more grain to stay in that pot. Well, I don't know whether he was the buyer or the seller; he might have been the buyer. But that's what they were doing in the Lord's day, and that's just what God can do with your life and mine: make it just run over with His blessings.

In the Solomon Islands we have very broken English. They can't say "God bless you very much," but they say "God bless you too much," which means God bless you so much you can't contain it all so that it must run over into somebody's else life.

How can I be such a person? How can I be a living Bible? How can I exemplify the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, that when I'm provoked something worthwhile will spill out? You see, it's in our unguarded moments that the world will judge us, not when we are in our best clothes on Sunday and on our best behaviour.

If I couldn't control my temper as well as the old schooner I lived on for nineteen years in the Solomons, then some fool would make sure that I let go of the wrong rope, and we'd let the mainsail down with a crash on the deck, And someone would say, "My word, the doctor, he talk one way, but live another way." It's our unguarded moments we must watch. But it's only the Holy Spirit who can watch. And as He has thus gained control of us only so can we be kept and be living epistles worth reading.

I shall have to deal moment by moment with the Great Physician. Now, He's attending here by special appointment these days - He's here. I'm so glad to say He doesn't prescribe a long series of treatments as most of us poor doctors must to get rid of our patients. Again and again I read in His miracles that immediately the leprosy departed from him, immediately she was made strong, immediately the fever was reduced, and so on.

No long course of treatment, but (and it is a very important but) he does prescribe care in after-living. That's where you've got to look out. He can make the adjustment in your life these days; I've seen it done again and again around the world, in a moment, but then it's up to you for the care in after-living. He's what you might call a divine Dietician. He prescribes a needful diet, and that, of course, is the Word of God. No paper can takes its place; no Christian magazine can take its place. Don't be robbed by these other things; That must be your diet. Nothing I've ever seen done around the world is done except by the Word of God.

And then He's prescribed plenty of fresh air, the fresh air of prayer. And don't you forget - if you say you're too busy to pray, then you're too busy. And then exercise? Weld, how can we be happy unless we are making our Saviour known to someone else? But remember this prescription must be dispensed and taken.

I preach in about ninety places in America every year for God, and that means I sleep in about ninety beds every year, some of them two or three times. And I would always find on the wall prescriptions – yes, pious texts – not always being dispensed by what happens in that home. Thank God they mostly are. Now, surround yourself with these wonderful prescriptions, but dispense them. Make them your own by faith. Claim that God will do these mighty things.

Then as you go out to be a living epistle, by His grace there will be nothing worthwhile of you, but there will be somebody wonderful in you. If Christ is living in your heart, He should be seen looking out of the window sometimes - out of your lives. There should be the grace of God evident in your life and mine, moment by moment

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***Christ's Power, Our Weakness, and Prayer.

by Paul Grant

What possible good does it do for us to pray for God to change the world, when it seems he won't even answer that prayer in our own lives? I'm not asking for an apologetic here - this is a question to which I know the theological answer. The question is deeper than doctrine. It is a question of the character of God. I used to take offense at Nietzsche's comment regarding the inhumanity of Christianity; no longer. Because the more I understand Jesus and the Holy spirit, the more counterintuitive I find the story at the very center of the Gospel.

Perhaps the greatest mystery of the Gospel is the Upside-Downness of it all. In Jesus’ good news, the weak become strong. Or, as Jesus’ mother put it, God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. God’s reign is all about inversion of power. Jesus was at his greatest when he was dying as a contemptible criminal. At that same instant, Satan’s greatest triumph turned out to be his greatest failure.

Yet it is wrong for us to read the gospel as a revolutionary message, just as it was wrong for the disciples to expect Jesus to knock down the Roman Empire. Don’t you understand, Peter, Jesus asked, the reason I am not destroying Rome is because I am destroying something immeasurably bigger: Satan’s rule over the world; and Satan’s claim on your souls. The Holy Spirit, not a defeated Caesar, is the witness of my power.

Unfortunately for impatient people like me, who’d rather have joined Peter in smashing imperialism, the Holy Spirit is exceedingly patient. In fact, the Holy Spirit’s response to social injustice is prayer. But this posture – turning to prayer before turning to arms – is not namby-pamby impotence. No “in the by-and-by all things will be made right, so for the time being, slaves obey your masters” is contained in prayer for God’s kingdom to come. Rather, the prayer posture is firmly grounded in reality. And a realistic vision of the world acknowledges weak human beings’ finiteness, relative to an infinite, activist God.

Our God is also a God who promises amazing things about the power of prayer. The saints of the civil rights movement were entirely dedicated to prayer, even as they marched. Indeed, they couldn’t have marched except by the power of prayer. Prayer is no surrender to the world, but an act of absolute sedition. And while God does not always answer our prayers, he invariably changes our perspective on the world. He shows us a little bit of his upside-down power when we pray.In prayer our vision becomes clear, so that at the moment of greatest injustice our sanity remains solid, while the oppressor, mentally shackled to fleeting power, loses his mind and confuses the here-and-now with the limitless. When we pray, God changes the world, and he usually starts with our hearts and minds. When we pray, even amid stultifying injustice, God demonstrates greater power yet by giving us our right minds.

Schism and Repentance

The reason prayer is confusing to us is twofold. First, prayer is counterintuitive to humans. We value power we can see with our eyes and feel with our hands. We don’t like being told to change our perspective, especially when people are dying.

The second reason for our confusion over prayer is historical, and particular to Evangelical Christianity. Approximately one hundred years ago, a devastating argument rent the American church in two. To oversimplify the events, on the one side stood those who emphasized ministry in society as the work of the church, the "social gospel" as it was called. In reaction, evangelicals put exclusive emphasis on "saving souls".

Ultimately, there came into being two camps, who defined themselves relative to each other, instead of learning from each other. This is because the good news of Jesus Christ is both an eternal, spiritual message, as well as a message of hope and transformation for the here and now.

The evangelical camp was wrong in reducing the power of the gospel to a disembodied numinous wind, with no more call to change the world than to sacrifice to idols. How much evil was tolerated because we evangelicals failed to intercede against it? We need to repent. Repentance means more than saying sorry; it means changing course. As evangelicals we need to repent of our otherworldliness and get on our knees and intercede for God’s mercy in the immediate evils of our day.

On the other hand, the social-gospel camp was fatally flawed by its neglect of God’s power in prayer for changing the world. With a focus on good works in a suffering world, absent God’s leadership, the social-gospel people became tumbleweeds blown this way and that across the social landscape. Subject to pop psychology and fashionable causes, they grew decreasingly relevant by trying to become more relevant. And today this camp, having left God out of the equation, is in a deeper hole than the evangelicals, and will need a lot of help getting unstuck.

Many American Christians have a lot of catching up to do in our understanding of scripture. We learned a broken gospel from earliest childhood: a gospel that talks of being "washed in the blood of Christ” without obligation to Christ’s call to justice. Our disobedience has bitter consequences when we allow injustice to continue unchecked in our society and in our world and in our local churches.

God commands us to tear down injustice, but to do it on our knees. A mature understanding of injustice sees the big picture, and seeing the big picture invariably makes us turn to the heavens in prayer.

Somewhere in here the miraculous happens: he sends us to do the very same work we were just despairing of ever being done. If we were previously ready to turn over the money-changers’ tables, only to be prompted to patient prayer by the Holy Spirit, sometimes that same Holy Spirit will move us to clear out the temple, just as we were going to beforehand.

But something is now different. This time our minds have been sharpened with the eternal perspective of the Holy Spirit. Our actions have more power in the banal here-and-now, because of our spiritual surrender. Even if the Holy Spirit leads us into the exact same fray he called us away from mere moments or days earlier, we won’t go insane with the crush of human passion. Our sanity will be grounded in greater passion – God’s – and less human passion. We will feel more deeply about the injustice, and find ourselves much less helpless than before.

And if, in prayer, God tells us not to get up and march, we can rest assured that God remains as in control of the circumstances as he does over the very fabric of space and time: God is God. If in prayer he tells us to remain in prayer, asking for his kindgom to come, we can understand that he is honoring us, not humiliating us.

As this election season ebbs, turn to the creator of the world and cry out for his justice to come down, and then watch as he disburdens you of delusion and emboldens you to proclaim God’s kingdom into a world of petty kings and foolish lords and would-be lords.

福音營會報名截止日5/13~~報名要快喔!! ~~~~~~~ Gospel Camp Registration deadline 5/13

***遇見神營會見證分享

大家好,我是Vivian,我不知道這裡有多少位基督徒,也不知道大家是怎麼走進教堂的,也許有人是自己走進來,也許有人從小就在基督教的家庭長大;我仔細的回想,我第一次進到教堂是在專科時期,那一次是因為有錢拿,所以我到教會幫忙當褓母
第二次是在2004年的三月底,有人帶我走進教堂

在約翰福音中有一位門徒叫安德烈,他帶領彼得來認識耶穌,他也帶領那有五餅二魚的小孩來到耶穌面前.我們看來安德烈所做的好像沒有什麼,聖經中也沒幾次提到他的名字,但是,他領的人--彼得,大大被神使用;--耶穌用那小孩的五餅二魚行了大神蹟

所以,在我脆弱無助的時候,上帝揀選我的時間到了的時候,我的身邊出現了一位安德烈,(不過是女的安德烈),她把我帶進教會,帶到耶穌的面前.如果這個人沒有在當下把我帶到耶穌面前,也許我現在還沒認識耶穌,還沒得救;我知道沒有人可以攬阻上帝的作為,但是,我會永遠感謝那位帶我進到教會的人,因為她願意在聖靈的感動下就領我到教會,因為她願意被神使用,因為她願意成為安德烈.

或許大家會擔心你在帶領人來教會時,對方沒有得著;或許大家會擔心是否帶領人來教會之後,必須負擔這個人以後的生命;或許,大家會擔心你帶領的這個人是否會決志信主;但是,我們要相信神,只管帶人來教會,其它就是神的責任了

不是每個人都可以成為像彼德一樣偉大的門徒,但是我們都可以成為像安德烈一樣,把人帶到耶穌跟前; 認識神之後,生命被改變被更新的喜樂,是非基督徒所不能體會的,你願意與你周圍的人分享嗎??

所以,弟兄姐妹們知道該怎麼做了嗎?趕快報名Evergreen的福音營會,並且帶領人一起來認識神,也許是你的家人,也許是你的朋友,也許是你的鄰居,不管是誰,快帶他們來認識神喔~ 因為認識神真的很好~~

想知道帶我進教會的女安德烈是誰嗎?來福音營會就告訴你!!

by Vivian :)