The signs of a real christian

1) That he loves one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”John 13
2) That he bears fruits.
3) That he testifies the gospels of God without fear.

Two kinds of leaders

A)Set good example and made sacrifices.
B)Ｕｓｅ　ｈｉｓ　ｐｏｗｅｒ　ｔｏ　ｏｒｄｅｒ　ｏｔｈｅｒｓ　ｔｏ　ｄｏ　ｔｈｉｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ，ｙｅｔ　ｈｅ　ｒｅｆｕｓｅｓ　ｔｏ　ｍｏｖｅ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｏｎｅ　ｆｉｎｇｅｒ．
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."Mark 9:35

With God everything is possible

Having a lot of experiences may not be a good thing for a individual. If he or she had many bad experiences, these will be limiting factor on the individual. Past failures tended to erode a person's confidence.
This need not be the case, if he changes his mindset. He should release himself from the bondage of past experiences. Be creactive even he is the first to do something new.
Be faithful in the small things, do not keen on doing big things only.
Use the omnipotent of God to replace the finite of men.
Give back the grace of God for the benefits of many others.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Reference: John 6: 5-14

General revelation Vs Special relevation

General Revelation is still going on. But special revelation had stopped.
The Works of the Holy Spirit:
1) Moved people to write the bible
2) Jesus Christ is conceived through Holy Spirit.
Bible gave promises, Jesus fulfilled the promises.
The works are now completed.
There is no more the need for special revelation.
Holy Spirit illuminates what had been written.

Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason.
Yet God revealed to us through Bible and Jesus Christ.

39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.John5 NIV1984

How to make a decision

We can make a decision based on the following principles:
1) To Glorify God. To do anything for the sake of making money or profit only will bound to lead to failure.
2) To benefit others. There will be not much motivation if one is doing something for the sake of self only.
3) Don't try to please others. You will never actually please anybody by what you do.

The Sovereignty of God

Some people try to make use of religion for their own gain.
-They want salvation, not saver,
-Want grace, but don't want intervention,
-Want the Lord, but don't want to be lord over.

Do not take revenge into our own hands

Romans 12:19-21 NIV84

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When we try to take revenge, we tend to place ourselve in a paranoid
stage, where we minimize our weaknesses and magnify others' mistakes.
When we want to take revenge into our own hands, we are committing the following:
1.we are being selfish. We are not angry when he did these to others. We just want justice for
ourselves.

2. We try to play God. We exalt ourselves,while belittle others.
3. In the midst of anger, we may took actions more than others deserve causing irrepairable damages.
What should we do if others offended us?
1) Take a deep breath
2) Swallow 3 times.
3) Forgives others because God also forgives us. An eye for an eye is the nature of the non believers. If we behave the same way, we are offending God as He has said that He will take revenge Himself in His own time.
Please remember the following facts:
a) That the words of men are not truth.
b) That we are responsible to God not men.
c) If we had done what is good, do not be too bothered by what others' opinion. They have the right to voice out. Even the King is not exempted from criticism.
d)That it is very easy to criticize others.
e) Even Jesus Christ did not take revenge himself.
君子求诸己 小人求诸人-- 孔子

The reasons for following Christ

26 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”John 6

Do we follow Christ for the sake of Him or for the following reasons:
1) Prosperousity.
2) Fame.
3) Health
4) Success in life.

If this is the case, we are not much different from the followers of the other religions. They seek after their own gains instead of genuinely following their religions.

The infinite of God compared to the finite of men

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6
The vast experience of a man will not help him if he has had bad experience. This will in fact erode his confidence.
When someone else is doing great things, he will not say " how great are you, but "how dare you ?".
The infinite of God is incomprehensivable by finite men

God' s Revelation

Almost all religions emphasize on the seeking of God by human being. Christianity emphasizes on God's revelation. Only those lost need to be found. God is not lost, human being is lost.
The fact that we cannot see God is reasonable. Because the person who made a table is not a table, likewise He who created material things is not material Himself. What we can see through our eyes are limited. Can we see love? Can we see freedom? yet these all exist. God is unlimited, that is why He cannot be seen through our limited eyes.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. John 1

The doctrine of trinity

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1
1 太 初 有 道 ， 道 与 神 同 在 ， 道 就 是 神 。

2 这 道 太 初 与 神 同 在 。

3 万 物 是 藉 着 他 造 的 ； 凡 被 造 的 ， 没 有 一 样 不 是 藉 着 他 造 的 。約 翰 福 音 1
-The religions of the East and of the Greek are the seeking of the truth by men.
True God actively seeks for men.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19
-We cannot compare God to material things.
-Taking an analogy. A preacher spoken what was in his mind through his mouth. When somebody recorded what was said, there are two sermons yet they are the same one.
Father-Creation;Son-Salvation,Judgment;Holy spirit-Revelation,life

The calling of God

The calling of God is such that we may believe in Him and most important of all that we may suffer for Him.
Sequence of calling:
1) Jesus Christ died and resurrected for us.
2) We died together with Christ and resurrected with Him
3) We live for Christ and we will die for Christ