If you have given any
God-given-authority, what would you do? I would make every day longer than 24
hours, due to the fact that 24 hours are not enough for me and I am weak at
time-management. Actually, my wish would be making days longer and night
shorter. If it becomes true, I would read Christian books and the Bible a lot,
in order to gain knowledge of God. the main reason for this is that I want to
be a Christian Writer, to influence everybody, especially who are
non-Christians, to know what gospel of Jesus Christ really is. However, the one
biggest disadvantage about making days
longer is that we probably would not value our time. For instance, if every day
is longer than 24 hours, we probably would not repent before God and we
would keep on doing what is the best in our own eyes and perspective.
Nevertheless, if we
are Christians and the followers of Jesus Christ, then we have given a mission
to do by Him. Of course, obeying Him through the Holy Spirit is our main
priority, but Jesus has called us to proclaim His name to the ends of the earth
(Acts 1:8) and evangelize who Jesus Christ
really is to the whole world (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; John 17:20-26). The main reason that He has
called us to be His ambassadors is that God wants to restore us back to His
kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ, due to the fact that He has loved us so
much from the beginning (John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9-10). God has created us and when
He saw everything that He has made, He declared that it was very good (Genesis 1). Therefore, spreading the gospel
of Jesus Christ to others is really important. There are two reasons for this.
One is that we may persuade and influence non-believers to know who Jesus
Christ is so that they may follow Him until the rest of their lives by
believing in Him (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The another reason is
that we may encourage and build others up if they already are following Him (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11). Although I cannot
speak properly, I am very thankful that the Spirit of God has been empowering
me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God, and about the kingdom
of God through writing. Because of this, I have a reason to live (Psalm 139:13-16). This does not mean that all
of us have to be a Christian writer, missionary, or pastor if we became
Christians and the followers of Jesus Christ. God wants us to evangelize and to
make disciples of Jesus Christ in any where we are and what we have been called
to do for the glory and the kingdom of God. I believe that becoming a
Christian-writer is the will of God for me because of the Spirit of God. I also
feel very satisfied when I have done the writing, due to the fact that I feel I
am doing the writing for the glory of God and I am building and expending the
kingdom of God.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you
will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will
seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
Baptism is the
symbolism for Christians. This is because it shows and represents us and God
that we have crucified and resurrected with Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-11). Jesus states that we cannot
see the kingdom of God, which means to have eternal life within us, unless we
are born again by the Spirit and water (John 3:1-7). This does not mean that we
have to be baptized each time when we realise that we have sinned against God. We
just have to repent (1 John 1:8-2:2; Acts 3:19-20). I once thought that I have
to be baptized again because I felt the baptism of mine had no real meaning.
Although I have committed to follow Jesus Christ, my selfish desire had not
taken away. My desire was to make myself valuable to the crowd. Because of
this, I invited my friends to my celebration events. After a while, I saw Colossians 1:15-20 or watched a sermon of
Francis Chan about it, so I meditate on it. It spoke to me that everything
actually has been though and for God. Because of this, I thought Hebrews 10:14, which probably means that
every follower of Jesus is being made holy and perfect for God (Colossians 1:21-23). Nonetheless, I kind of
wanted to be baptized again, so I asked Jacqui Caetano, my spiritual mentor and
teacher, whether I have to be baptized again or not, because of my selfish
desire that I had. She said, “Baptism marks
the beginning of the journey. Growth happens afterwards and may take several
years before you come into a full realisation. No need to be baptised again. -
that's an outward declaration of a spiritual decision.” Therefore, my thought of being made perfect in Jesus Christ for God
was right and I do not have to be baptised again. Furthermore, the angels of God rejoices when we
repent earnestly before Him (Luke 15:1-10). Does this mean that we have
to turn repentance into religious routine, in order to make them to rejoice
over us? No, we should not turn repentance into religious routine. If we have
not been maturing in Jesus Christ and keep on repenting before God, then we are
basically crucifying Him again and again (Hebrews 6:1-8). In fact, we should rejoice
in the true repentance because when we do this earnestly before God, we tend to
be more holy and perfect for Him.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law,
locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was
our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that
this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of
you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:23-28)
Every follower of
Jesus Christ needs to know that our mission for Jesus is only to evangelize who
He is by preaching the gospel. It is the Spirit of God that can really change the
hearts of people. I kept going and joined the first church in New Zealand that
I went to, in order to just hang out with my friends. I completely did not know
God at that time and I just did every kind of church routines, such as volunteering, to make people happy and because I liked helping people out. I was
in the religious side for one and half years. When I went to New York, I joined one of the
Connect Groups that were happening in the church. After a while, I intensively
felt that the Spirit of God is saying that I have to know Jesus more and from
that time on, I became a true follower of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the
Great-Commission work is our work that is mixed with the work of the Spirit (Acts 1:8). We also have to remember that
God repeatedly said that He is going to never leave nor forsake us (Joshua 1:9).
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send
him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin
and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me;
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no
longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands
condemned.
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he,
the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not
speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is
yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what
he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why
I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:7-15)
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