Sunday, July 29, 2012

主题:海水分开了

主题:海水分开了
日期:2012年7月29日
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Kang Rong
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出埃及记14:10-31

主要信息:如何活出信心的生命
Main sermon message: How to start living a life of FAITH

1) 舍近求远 - 信心的开始
The beginning of our Faith in God – When we’re brought to take the long way.

舍近求远例子: 摩西带着以色列百姓在旷野走40年
Example: Moses brought God’s people out of slavery from Egypt and experienced 40 years in the desert before getting to the promised land.

Analogy: 
To go from Tampines -> Pasir Ris, 

God brought Moses to go: 
Tampines -> Bedok -> Tanah Merah -> … …. …. …. … (~40 years?!!@#%^$%^&@) -> Pasir Ris

有的时候,上帝会带我们走“远路”。这是我们信心的开始!
Sometimes, God will take us the longer way to bring us the destination. These are the times which marks the beginning of our faith in God!

信心路程要记得:
Things to remember for our faith in God:

- > God is with us! 
神的同在 (云柱,火柱)

-> God’s teachings! 
神的指导 (仰望,寻求,顺服)

-> Human’s weakness
人的软弱,无助 (摩西vs百姓)

Especially when we’re 1) down and out, 2) in times of success, these are the times when our weakness as humans show itself, and we tend to forget God and forget to have faith in Him. Be careful!

2) 走投无路 – 信心的锻炼
The building of our faith in God – When we’ve reached what seems to be a dead end.

在我们的日常生活里,我们必定会遭遇到各种困难,有时候会觉得根本不可能克服。
In our lives, we are bound to meet into all kinds of difficulties which may seem impossible to overcome.

但就如摩西过红海的例子,我们一定要学习:
But like in the case of Moses crossing the Red sea, we MUST learn to:

- 不要惧怕
Not be afraid,
- 原地不动
Stay put and keep calm,
- 看神作工
Witness God’s wonderful work!

Analogy: Tom & Jerry.
Whenever Jerry runs into a dead end and can’t find his mousehole to hide from Tom, he’ll turn around and shiver when he sees Tom right there waiting to deal with him.
(In some cases), when that happens, while Jerry shivers in fear, suddenly the house owner appears and brings Tom away, Jerry gets saved! 

3) 出死如生- 信以致得救
The reward of faith: salvation – After we’ve been through “life and death” situations.

After overcoming our difficulties,
- 惧怕 的心 -> 信心
A heart of Fear will turn into A heart of Faith.
- 不被周遭环境时局左右
Remember to not be distracted by our surroundings.


- **信靠顺服,坚信不疑,完全交托,终必得救
**In short: Trust & Obey -> Be firm and be doubtless in God -> COMPLETELY entrust everything to Him -> Salvation awaits!

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APPENDIX

Aiyoh. I realised Chuandao hor, really included lots of life testimonies and sharing on Faith which I can’t find a good way to slot into the sermon content. So here they are, some food for thought:

4.1) When our religion and faith is being tested, what will we do?

- Our faith will surely be challenged! Its just a matter of sooner or later.

Archaeological evidences of Moses crossing the Red Sea: 
- How the Red Sea opened up
- Egyptian chariots’ wheels
- The piece of land before the crossing of the Red Sea which could possibly stand 2 million people who Moses’ were bringing out of Egypt.
- Etc.etc.

Qn(s): We all know the “story” of Moses leading the Isrealites crossing the Red Sea, but:
Do these evidences make up the truth?
Is this story that we all know possible? 
Is this miracle real?

ANS: What is our perspective when we read this?
a) Read/see/hear (first) -> (then) Believe
b) Believe (first) -> (then) Read/hear/see

*** There can only be ONE perspective: Believe BEFORE reading the Bible!
We believe not because the evidence tells us that the story or Bible could be true. We believe because we believe.

4.2) Faith is like God’s signal (analogy: handphone signal)

- It has been prepared for us but, do we want to receive the signal?

- When our faith waivers, 1st thing to do: pray! (don’t look for crutches aka help from human eg. pastor)

- One encounter cannot support our faith forever! 
Faith must be renewed, everyday. It is never enough, and will never be too much to ask from God. There will ALWAYS be more than enough for us, all we need to do is to ask!

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