Day 2 - 7/1/18 - Un-bottling the Spirit Within Us
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
Hey everybody! Adam here, writing my first full blog. Before I delve into today's action-packed adventure of a day, I just want to say a genuine thank you to all of our supporters both at Taiwan and back at home. No matter where you are, no matter where how you are reading our blogs or hearing about our mission, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Through your prayers and support, God has truly shown why He is so powerful and amazing. Praise the Lord!
Now, time to unravel today's events. If I could sum up our day in 2 words, they would be "Godly" and "tiring." Hopefully you'll understand and sympathize with my feelings by the end of this blog. :)
In the morning, the boys (Josh, Jeremy, Jonathan, and myself) fortunately woke up early enough to do a devotion. Before this, Josh and I were privately studying God's Word. Funnily enough, of all the amazing passages we could have read in preparation for our fellowship time, Josh and I just so happened to read the same one...God truly has connected our team! Thus, we decided to do our devotion on the verses we both read, which were John 3: 22-36 (NIV: John Testifies Again About Jesus). We found that this passage was very applicable to our current situation, especially verse 30 in which John the Baptist says that "He [Jesus] must become greater, I must become less." In our mission, we must lower ourselves such that God and only God receives all the glory. We discussed that our team has to understand the significance of this mission, and that we must always humble ourselves before God's presence. To add on, relating back to yesterday's devotion in 1 Corinthians, Paul says that we must not rely on our own eloquence or human wisdom but rather speak the pure truth through godly wisdom. We also touched upon John 4, noting the importance of reconciling our differences with the Taiwanese kids (ex. our language/culture differences). All these passages served to remind us that we are so unworthy of experiencing God's love, yet He trusts that we will humble our hearts before Him.
After our morning devotion, we went to church for service and worship. The first thing we did was meet with the Taiwanese youth for Sunday school, where we studied Acts. Andy, one of the Taiwanese youth's (Jenny's) father, led the bible study. We began our discussion by sharing our personal testimonies and reasons behind why we wanted to do this VBS, which included (1) the urgent need to share God's Word with a place of little to no exposure to Christianity, (2) building upon old relationships with the kids and the youth, and (3) experiencing the fruits of our labor in the Taichung Christian Assembly. Yet, we also discussed how this excitement is easily hindered by various obstacles, like self-doubt, pressure, culture differences, personal pride, etc. This feeling of "personal pride" directly related to Acts and how Peter tried to remind the audience in Acts 2: 16-18 that it wasn't him who was speaking, but rather God. What's really amazing is that we just discussed this during our morning devotion - this idea of speaking through God and not through our own wisdom! How amazing is God, who can plan out every little detail of our lives and effortlessly connect all the day's events! Personally, I definitely felt a Godly presence watching over us.
Then, Vicky and Linda's dad (two more Taiwanese youth) shared a really interesting, impactful analogy. He started by drawing a stick figure with a bottle-looking body that represented that person's soul. He then explained that as Christians, the Holy Spirit lies within us (he indicated this by drawing a "spirit" in the body of the stick figure). And then he said something along the lines of this: think of the only Holy Spirit as a gas of some sort or like a perfume. As believers in Christ, it is our duty to spread the Gospel to others (beginning of blog - Matthew 28:19-20!!). In order to do so, we must be willing to go outside our comfort zone and "un-bottle" the Holy Spirit within us so that it "permeates" through to other people. I thought to myself: wow! What a cool way to summarize our goals for the mission! This analogy resonated with me and I really like how simple yet powerful it is. I hope that our team is able to "un-bottle" ourselves for God's glory.
After bible study, we then went to worship and service. I've heard many times from Josh, Emily, and Jeremy how joyful and genuine the Taiwanese church serves the Lord, but to experience it firsthand was quite amazing. I could feel a Godly spirit working in the church room. This sentiment persisted into the sermon (even though I had a very hard time understanding the Chinese), where the pastor discussed how we should treat God as God. In other words, it is our responsibility to return the trust that God so graciously gives us, and we should follow great leaders like Moses who consistently sought God's love and wisdom.
After the sermon, we ate lunch and fellowshipped with our fellow Taiwanese Church members. It was a really fun and relaxing time to further build our relationships with the youth...I even got the chance to teach a lot of the youth cool hand tricks!
Following lunch was our rehearsal for the upcoming VBS. Essentially, we went through all the camp's events just to make sure that everyone felt more comfortable with the schedule (we shortened some parts of the schedule to save time, like the Taste of American Culture presentation). What especially stood out was the amazing choreography the Taiwanese youth organized for their songs. We had a great time following their dance moves and learning the tunes to the worship songs; all in all, I can safely say I am now a better dancer! But in all seriousness, the rehearsal went very smoothly, and everyone was enjoying themselves - I know I was.
Now came the most tiring part of our day in my opinion: preparing for tomorrow's English lesson. First and foremost, I did not expect the amount of work and tedious planning needed for this 1 hour and 15 minute period. Organizing an entire lesson for a group of 10 young kids is something I'll never underestimate ever again. The main issue lied in the logistics of how we structured certain parts of the English lesson, with emphasis on the group activity. From trying to figure out how to best satisfy the needs of each kid to actually preparing all the supplies needed, it was a very tiring process. The heat didn't help either...good thing I brought my portable fan from Qingdao (well, it didn't help that much). On another note, I'm thankful that Josh, Jonathan, and Emily were able to pretty much get over their jet lag without too much trouble.
Finally, after this long, tiring day, the whole team went out for dinner - sukiyaki style (Japanese hot pot). While the rest of us took cars to the restaurant, Josh and Emily rode motor bikes with Kevin and Daniel (Taiwanese youth)!
The food was so delicious! In fact, our table ate over 40 plates of meat and 10 packs of noodles (we ate more than any other table)! If this is the kind of food that we will be having for the rest of the week, then that'll just be amazing. We all had a great time fellowshipping with one another and just goofing around. It was a great way to end the day off!
And that's pretty much where our tiring, godly day ended. After dinner, the team briefly video called in preparation for tomorrow, but nothing else happened other than me typing up the blog. Sitting here, I have confidence in our team - confidence that God will carry out His will through our labors. I still have my doubts, as I'm sure everyone on our team does. We will always lack God's all-encompassing wisdom. However, as previously mentioned, God still trusts us to disciple the nations, and my hope is that this VBS is a stepping stone for whatever God has in store for us. We pray and have faith that as we begin our camp tomorrow, God will open the kids' hearts to what we have to say. Let Him fully unleash the Holy Spirit that we may have tethered within us!
We continue to thank everyone for their support and love. Please continue to pray for:
Notes from Sunday School and Sermon:
Hey everybody! Adam here, writing my first full blog. Before I delve into today's action-packed adventure of a day, I just want to say a genuine thank you to all of our supporters both at Taiwan and back at home. No matter where you are, no matter where how you are reading our blogs or hearing about our mission, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Through your prayers and support, God has truly shown why He is so powerful and amazing. Praise the Lord!
Now, time to unravel today's events. If I could sum up our day in 2 words, they would be "Godly" and "tiring." Hopefully you'll understand and sympathize with my feelings by the end of this blog. :)
In the morning, the boys (Josh, Jeremy, Jonathan, and myself) fortunately woke up early enough to do a devotion. Before this, Josh and I were privately studying God's Word. Funnily enough, of all the amazing passages we could have read in preparation for our fellowship time, Josh and I just so happened to read the same one...God truly has connected our team! Thus, we decided to do our devotion on the verses we both read, which were John 3: 22-36 (NIV: John Testifies Again About Jesus). We found that this passage was very applicable to our current situation, especially verse 30 in which John the Baptist says that "He [Jesus] must become greater, I must become less." In our mission, we must lower ourselves such that God and only God receives all the glory. We discussed that our team has to understand the significance of this mission, and that we must always humble ourselves before God's presence. To add on, relating back to yesterday's devotion in 1 Corinthians, Paul says that we must not rely on our own eloquence or human wisdom but rather speak the pure truth through godly wisdom. We also touched upon John 4, noting the importance of reconciling our differences with the Taiwanese kids (ex. our language/culture differences). All these passages served to remind us that we are so unworthy of experiencing God's love, yet He trusts that we will humble our hearts before Him.
After our morning devotion, we went to church for service and worship. The first thing we did was meet with the Taiwanese youth for Sunday school, where we studied Acts. Andy, one of the Taiwanese youth's (Jenny's) father, led the bible study. We began our discussion by sharing our personal testimonies and reasons behind why we wanted to do this VBS, which included (1) the urgent need to share God's Word with a place of little to no exposure to Christianity, (2) building upon old relationships with the kids and the youth, and (3) experiencing the fruits of our labor in the Taichung Christian Assembly. Yet, we also discussed how this excitement is easily hindered by various obstacles, like self-doubt, pressure, culture differences, personal pride, etc. This feeling of "personal pride" directly related to Acts and how Peter tried to remind the audience in Acts 2: 16-18 that it wasn't him who was speaking, but rather God. What's really amazing is that we just discussed this during our morning devotion - this idea of speaking through God and not through our own wisdom! How amazing is God, who can plan out every little detail of our lives and effortlessly connect all the day's events! Personally, I definitely felt a Godly presence watching over us.
Then, Vicky and Linda's dad (two more Taiwanese youth) shared a really interesting, impactful analogy. He started by drawing a stick figure with a bottle-looking body that represented that person's soul. He then explained that as Christians, the Holy Spirit lies within us (he indicated this by drawing a "spirit" in the body of the stick figure). And then he said something along the lines of this: think of the only Holy Spirit as a gas of some sort or like a perfume. As believers in Christ, it is our duty to spread the Gospel to others (beginning of blog - Matthew 28:19-20!!). In order to do so, we must be willing to go outside our comfort zone and "un-bottle" the Holy Spirit within us so that it "permeates" through to other people. I thought to myself: wow! What a cool way to summarize our goals for the mission! This analogy resonated with me and I really like how simple yet powerful it is. I hope that our team is able to "un-bottle" ourselves for God's glory.
After bible study, we then went to worship and service. I've heard many times from Josh, Emily, and Jeremy how joyful and genuine the Taiwanese church serves the Lord, but to experience it firsthand was quite amazing. I could feel a Godly spirit working in the church room. This sentiment persisted into the sermon (even though I had a very hard time understanding the Chinese), where the pastor discussed how we should treat God as God. In other words, it is our responsibility to return the trust that God so graciously gives us, and we should follow great leaders like Moses who consistently sought God's love and wisdom.
After the sermon, we ate lunch and fellowshipped with our fellow Taiwanese Church members. It was a really fun and relaxing time to further build our relationships with the youth...I even got the chance to teach a lot of the youth cool hand tricks!
Following lunch was our rehearsal for the upcoming VBS. Essentially, we went through all the camp's events just to make sure that everyone felt more comfortable with the schedule (we shortened some parts of the schedule to save time, like the Taste of American Culture presentation). What especially stood out was the amazing choreography the Taiwanese youth organized for their songs. We had a great time following their dance moves and learning the tunes to the worship songs; all in all, I can safely say I am now a better dancer! But in all seriousness, the rehearsal went very smoothly, and everyone was enjoying themselves - I know I was.
Now came the most tiring part of our day in my opinion: preparing for tomorrow's English lesson. First and foremost, I did not expect the amount of work and tedious planning needed for this 1 hour and 15 minute period. Organizing an entire lesson for a group of 10 young kids is something I'll never underestimate ever again. The main issue lied in the logistics of how we structured certain parts of the English lesson, with emphasis on the group activity. From trying to figure out how to best satisfy the needs of each kid to actually preparing all the supplies needed, it was a very tiring process. The heat didn't help either...good thing I brought my portable fan from Qingdao (well, it didn't help that much). On another note, I'm thankful that Josh, Jonathan, and Emily were able to pretty much get over their jet lag without too much trouble.
 |
| The team preparing for VBS |
Finally, after this long, tiring day, the whole team went out for dinner - sukiyaki style (Japanese hot pot). While the rest of us took cars to the restaurant, Josh and Emily rode motor bikes with Kevin and Daniel (Taiwanese youth)!
The food was so delicious! In fact, our table ate over 40 plates of meat and 10 packs of noodles (we ate more than any other table)! If this is the kind of food that we will be having for the rest of the week, then that'll just be amazing. We all had a great time fellowshipping with one another and just goofing around. It was a great way to end the day off!
And that's pretty much where our tiring, godly day ended. After dinner, the team briefly video called in preparation for tomorrow, but nothing else happened other than me typing up the blog. Sitting here, I have confidence in our team - confidence that God will carry out His will through our labors. I still have my doubts, as I'm sure everyone on our team does. We will always lack God's all-encompassing wisdom. However, as previously mentioned, God still trusts us to disciple the nations, and my hope is that this VBS is a stepping stone for whatever God has in store for us. We pray and have faith that as we begin our camp tomorrow, God will open the kids' hearts to what we have to say. Let Him fully unleash the Holy Spirit that we may have tethered within us!
We continue to thank everyone for their support and love. Please continue to pray for:
- The Taiwanese kids and their willingness to build positive relationships with us
- Our ability to erase any doubts or stresses we may have, and to fully trust in God
- Our ability to overcome any other obstacles that we may encounter
- The overall success of the VBS starting tomorrow
Notes from Sunday School and Sermon:
Bible Study Notes:
- Reasons for reaching out and participating in the VBS
- The need to share the gospel with those who have never heard of it before
- The joy of the harvest when seeds sown finally mature
- Adding to the missing demographic of Taiwanese who convert to Christianity
- Building upon old relationships built with the kids and the youth
- Returning to see the work God’s been doing in the Taichung Christian Assembly
- Relationships as the most effective method of testifying
- Luke 24 - Jesus sets an example for his disciples with the travelers on the road to Emmaus
- Hwa-chi’s advice that prely stuffing information into the children’s minds is futile; rather, it’s better to build memorable and meaningful relationships with them
- The credit goes to the LORD
- Peter through Acts 2:16-18 - reminding his audience that the words he is speaking are from the LORD’s spirit
- Peter’s heart and attitude were entirely transformed by God
- During the first three years of his following Christ, he was half-hearted at times like all the disciples
- But after the resurrection and the 40 days, the miracle of God bestowed the Holy Spirit upon him along with all that it entails
- What are some obstacles to our faithful service and worship?
- Peer pressure creating doubts in our faith
- Our own ever-present doubts regarding the truth of our beliefs
- Outside mocking
- Etc.
- How can we be filled by the Holy Spirit?
- No action that will immediately bring the Holy Spirit down into us besides faith
- Wait for God’s time and his decision to do so, but actively encourage it by praying and reading his word
- On the other hand, we could simply be locking up the Holy Spirit within us
- In that case, we have to actively choose to let it out, to let it both fill us up entirely, which motivates/enlightens us and shine out to the world around us.
- Think of it as perfume; we’ve pushed the Holy Spirit into a perfume bottle, and to release it, we need to voluntarily spray it out or even shatter the bottle entirely
Sermon Notes: The Wind of the Holy Spirit -
Connect to the praise songs: we should open our hearts in genuine worship, pray that God’s beauty and majesty will transcend all borders and tongues, thank God for the blessing of His Son/Holy Spirit, fight with our faith, and pray to change the world.
Acts 2
1. Foreword and Introduction
- Sometimes, we find ourselves coming late to Bible study/worship and at times missing it entirely
- We should treat God as God; fear and respect Him, place Him in charge of our hearts
- How do we do this? We’re too caught up in the webs of this world
- No real answer that I heard and understood
- If we value God, He values us
- Some people fear other people, some fear guns, but very few fear God because we can’t see Him directly
- Come to Bible study! Value every shred of time you can find with Him and don’t let worldly things get in the way
- Be in awe of Him!
- Psalm 112:1, 34:7-9, 103:11-17
- Remember the story of Ananias and Saphira, who gave only halfheartedly because they were too concerned with the world and did not appropriately fear/respect Him
2. The Holy Spirit’s Breakthrough
- All things stem from our faith, which is built from respect, fear, and preparation?
- Will we be ready when Jesus comes?
- Jesus’ return to the disciples marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit as much as Pentecost
- This transformed the covenant struck between God and us
- From the 10 Commandments on stone to Jesus’ commands on our hearts
- We should follow Moses’ example, who even in his “impossibly old” age, still sought heart, words, and wisdom from God to lead his people
- But we should remember that we’ll still always fall short
- Back to Acts 1:4-8, where we see the difference between baptism by water and by the Holy Spirit
3. God’s Command to Us
- The Holy Spirit will carry us to the ends of the Earth to be His witnesses
- Hebrews 10:35-38 - remember to always persevere through any difficulty
- Peter’s 3 rejections of Christ represent all too well what our tendencies are
- Jesus then redeems Simon Peter by asking him three times “Do you love me?”
- Strive to be like the Peter who loves Jesus rather than the Simon who rejected Him to save his own life
- Reject our past like Peter did when God offers us a chance at redemption
- Learn to anticipate God’s love and second coming as God’s people?
- Ezekiel 37:9-12 - God has promised to bring us to our homes
- Psalm 68:1
- Proclaim God’s works as if we were Jesus feeding the five thousand?
- Always feel the urgency of the gospel; we can never have enough time to spread the gospel
- Deuteronomy 11:11-12, again God’s promise
- 1 Chronicles 4:10 - God’s promise of protection
4. Church’s Duties：
- Be a church that:
- Speaks and learns God’s Word
- Is united in its beliefs
- Is filled with God’s great and mysterious works
- Is daily saved and sanctified
Thank you, Adam! Good writing! I enjoyed reading it. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteWOW, really enjoyed reading your blog, Adam! May your understanding of God gets deeper and deeper everyday. God bless you and the team 🌹
ReplyDeleteAMAZING! I couldn't stop smiling while reading your post :) I'm so amazed to see how God uses His WORD to actually SPEAK to all you guys. I can hear Him speaking just through reading your blog -- I can't even imagine how you guys feel experiencing first hand how clear His voice is.
ReplyDeleteGod is TRULY working among you guys, and I'm amazed that you are all willing to humble yourselves and rely on Him. He will work in BIG ways this week. I know it and will keep praying!!