Proper and sound teaching of the 'Gospel' or 'Good News' was a concept deeply engrained in God's chosen people since Old Testament times. Therefore, proper and sound teaching in the faith is essential to the spiritual growth of Christians, and to the development and betterment of the Church. As teaching in the Christian faith and Christian doctrine was validated by the Lord Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. Thus, the concept of teaching is to be distinguished from preaching and the proclamation of the 'Good News' or 'Gospel' especially to the non Christian world.

Indeed, it is for Christians to teach, proclaim, and to preach the behaviour which goes with proper and healthy doctrine. So, keep as our pattern the proper and sound teaching we have heard and learned from the apostles, prophets, disciples in the faith and love that are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians have been trusted to look after the 'Gospel' or 'Good News' something very precious. Thus, we must guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. What is this word? It is 'Good News' or 'Gospel' that has been brought to us, from the everlasting word of the living and eternal God.

Testimony of God existence and to be witnesses of the Good News or 'Gospel' to the world is represented the witness of the apostles, prophets, disciples, who are the Lord Jesus Christ, special witnesses. The zeal generated by "Pentecost" together with growing persecution of the apostles, prophets, disciples, and the Lord Jesus Christ faithful, led them to preach and proclaim the greater glory of God, the Father, and the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere in the known world. As a result, the Christians was nourished by preaching and proclaiming the Gospel or the Good News.

John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. - Rev. 1:2 -

Then I knelt at his [angel] feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'Don't do that: I am a servant just like you and all your brothers who are witnesses to Jesus. It is God you must worship.' The witness Jesus gave is the same as the spirit of prophecy. - Rev. 19:10 -

And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. - Mark 16:19-20 -

Apostle Peter, and all the apostles, disciples, and the preacher's personal testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ power in his own life was featured in many sermons. As a consequence of such evangelistic passion, thousands was saved when apostle Peter preached and proclaimed God greater glory at Pentecost.

I [apostle Paul], the prisoner in the Lord, implore you therefore to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:
                                    When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,
                                    he gave gifts to men.

When it says, 'he ascended' what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Eph. 4:1-16 -

Christians must always remembered that God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So we are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we start teaching, preaching of the 'Good News' and the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of us insist on the dignity of our qualification by quickly reprimanding those who show us disrespect or who disagree with us. In fact, most of us practices it, including the Church and it has became a norm. But truly, qualification cannot be apply to the Church and to practicing Christian, because the reason Christian missionary societies attract the young, unbelievers, pagans, and atheists, is that members give a living witness to their zeal for Christ Jesus, the Lord. The hardships they endure, the souls they convert, the complete trust in God despite poverty and even persecution, these make them love God.

Christian primary duty is to search out the lost sheep and stay with it once found. This is what distinguishes the true disciple from the hireling disciple, the intellectual from the intelligentsia. Both are learned and scholarly. The difference lies in their relation to the people. The intellectual never loses that compassion for the multitude which characterized the Word Incarnate. The intelligentsia, on the contrary, live apart from tears and hunger, poverty and ignorance. They lack the common touch. Only the cream of bookish learning, not the milk of human kindness, flows through their veins.

But Peter and John retorted, 'You must judge whether in God's eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.' - Acts 4:19-20 -

No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me. - John 6:44-45 -

'If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.' - John 8:31-32 -

Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 -

Jesus answered his disciples:
I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but be brave:
I have conquered the world. - John 16:33 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless. 

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Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -