Testimony…
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If Christ is not resurrected, what we preach is in vain, and what you believe is in vain, [1 Corinthians 15:14]
Easter is preceded by Passover, and the Qingming Festival is preceded by Cold Food Festival. The Cold Food Festival seems to have similarities with the Passover, one is not allowed to make a fire, and the other is not allowed to make a face. But the difference, of course, is more and greater.
Just like Easter and Qingming Festival, the similarities are only that the dates are close, and this year it is the same day. Other than that, it’s completely irrelevant.
The Meaning of the Qingming Festival
Because the meaning of the Qingming Festival is mainly “death”.
This is a day when you have to “face death.” On this day, people will worship their ancestors and visit tombs, clearly facing the fact that “everyone has one death”.
Last Monday, my wife’s cousin died of drunk driving. We were the first to go. What surprised me the most was that for a whole day, none of the relatives and friends I saw shed a single tear, including his wife and his father. Only his mother and sister seemed to have red eyes. For the first time, I seemed to realize that, in a sense, the world seemed to be “stronger” than us. They are certainly afraid of death, but the way they fight this fear is more likely to be numbness than tears.
The police found his mobile phone, but could not unlock the password. His widow called the child’s teacher and asked her ten-year-old son to answer and ask for the password. The password is 518518.
This should be a homonym for “I’m going to send it, I’m going to send it”. He has been working part-time for years, rarely at home, trying to earn money outside the home. But he loves to drink, drives after drinking and does not listen to advice. Until this accident, leaving orphans and widows, elderly parents.
People who are numb to death really sometimes seem to be not afraid of death and dare to die. In order to “fa”, desperately.
But this also shows another meaning of the Qingming Festival, which is “timely happiness”.
As the Scriptures say: If the dead do not rise again, let us eat and drink! Because tomorrow is going to die. 1 Corinthians 15:32
In the face of a mortal ending, if there is no hope of salvation and resurrection, it must be the most reasonable choice to talk about life and death and enjoy pleasure in time. Therefore, in addition to ancestor worship and tomb sweeping, since ancient times, the Qingming Festival has also had customs such as planting willows and wearing willows, spring swimming, tree planting, flower picking, kicking, kite flying, swinging, tug-of-war, cockfighting, giving painted eggs, and eating Qingtuan. And the “Book of Rites and Moon Order” recorded: “In the moon of mid-spring, men and women will be ordered, and those who run cannot help it.” Timely pleasure has been the real theme of the Qingming Festival since ancient times, and today’s small long holiday is also proof of this.
But the meaning is still the same. Although it is bleak and soul-broken, what can be done? Let’s have three or five bottles, you can relieve your worries, you can forget your worries because tomorrow you will die, so there is wine and drunk today. Du Mushi is not Pastor Du after all.
The meaning of Good Friday
This year’s Easter and Qingming Festival are on the same day, which is worth noting. As many people know, Christmas and the Sun God Festival in ancient Rome were the same day.
Just as Christmas replaced pagan holidays, Easter needs to replace and renew Qingming Day. The meaning of Qingming Day needs to be reflected, and the meaning of Easter needs to be revealed. This is the latest meaning of “anti-Qing and restoration”.
The meaning of Easter begins with Passover and even Christmas.
We are familiar with the incarnation of Jesus and the crucifixion, acknowledging its mystery and greatness without thinking. But just as distance often produces beauty, “familiarity” often deconstructs the sacred.
Therefore, strange and archaic descriptions are often divine rigidity.
In fact, Jesus was utterly “humble to life, shame to die.” Although he was a king of heaven, he was born in a barn and had no bed, so he could deal with it by laying some grass in the manger. He fell into the grass as king.
Later, as a prophet, Jesus rose to fame far beyond that of Pharisees and scribes. But he spoke amazingly, often claiming to be God, and he was killed. The ancient Chinese people are cloudy, and it is not humiliating to kill a soldier. Jesus, on the other hand, was first humiliated and then killed. Punched in the face, slapped in the face by thick phlegm. Wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe, people play like monkeys. Covered in scales, naked, not even the last fig leaf kept. The Duan players burst into laughter under the ten: “You come down!” “O great Savior, save yourself first,
His death, slow and painful, was extremely undignified and extremely shameful. Archaeologists have found an “Alexanémnon graffiti” depicting a man with a donkey’s head on ten racks. Written crookedly below: This is the God that Alexammenon worships. Yes, people at the time were so satirical about Christians, thinking that the god they worshipped was like a stupid donkey.
The gospel of anti-Qing and restoration
This is how our most glorious God endured humiliation. We are indeed worshipping a God of shame and failure. So today some people on the Internet say that our god is no different from a plate of flying pasta and that we believe in the flying god face religion, which is actually much more polite than the jokers and soul painters of the past.
As nominalists in a sense, I believe that Christ is free to become flesh as He sees fit. For example, become a lion in the world of Narnia, and become the number seven of the Yangtze River on the screen. So this kind of malicious humiliation, in fact, does not humiliate me, it will only make me more grateful. Because my Lord died for me, even for those drummers and keyboard warriors. He endured the humiliation and punishment we should have endured. That’s exactly what we believe.
Yes, from the perspective of an unbeliever, Jesus was a complete loser. This is not surprising, this is the result and cause of their being unbelievers. Recently, I was surprised to hear that a self-proclaimed pastor said in a righteous manner that Chengdu fat man: He has all gone in, can’t he explain the problem? Doesn’t it mean that he just has a problem?!
Oh. Then Jesus not only went in but also hung up, you know? If you judge justice by success or failure, what Christ do you worship? He failed much more than the fat man. You should worship the strong, worship the victorious Buddha, or the blood-red war wolf.
As for me and my family, in our church, we still worship Jesus.
We believe that he is a great savior, far more than Dongfang Hong. The “incarnation” reveals that Jesus is like God. That is, God is like Jesus. God loves us. He is a merciful Savior, not a dictatorial tyrant. He sees us as fish, not fish.
The early Christians also used the word “fish” to represent our faith. Because the Greek word for fish happens to be an abbreviation of the words “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
The gospel of anti-Qing and restoration
They may not be as comprehensive and profound in their theology, and they are all wild Reformed in today’s sense, but they truly love Jesus. They knew that Jesus was their lifesaver. They never knew Jesus from a logical and rational point of view. Like the writers of the New Testament, they did not hesitate to address this lifesaver by the four-character holy name “Lord.” They love Him, and He loves them.
The meaning of Easter
But how did all this happen, from shame to glory, from loser to savior, from humble prisoner to the Most High God?
That’s what Easter is all about.
If the story ends on Friday, the world is scarier than Ragnarok. If history stays on Saturday, the world will have to wait for salvation in a heart-pounding rest.
However, the time was set for Sunday. The day of the Lord’s resurrection became a day of glory, a day of rejoicing, a day of victory, a day of worship—the day of all days.
The resurrection changed all mindsets. It is no longer spring when Easter comes, but Easter when spring comes. From then on, we no longer subconsciously think that there is a spirit in the flesh. Instead, it turns out that man is a spirit, and this spirit has a skin bag. Since then, the covenant has been reinterpreted and history completely renewed.
Easter was as if the prisoners in the prisoner-of-war camp heard over the wall on their short-wave radios that the Nazis of the East had been defeated by the atomic bomb. So they rejoiced, knowing that they had won, even though they were prisoners, even though they would even be killed at once by their angry and corrupt enemy. But they still have to rejoice, knowing that their salvation is coming.
After the resurrection of the Lord, the meaning of “law” is renewed. Until then, there had never been a concept in the Jewish faith that man would rise in this world. Martha’s words are a representation. The resurrection of Jesus is a new and difficult event for all to accept.
This first time, the first Jesus who rose from the dead and never died, expanded the library of standard definitions of “law” and updated the underlying source code of “law”.
Chesterton said that believers receive miracles because there is evidence, and unbelievers deny miracles because their dogma denies miracles.
In other words, the dogmatic system in the brains and hearts of unbelievers is made of old leather bags, and the new wine of the gospel causes their systems to crash and their memories to overflow.
The meaning of resurrection is similar, but far beyond heliocentrism, relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity. Since then, the two natures of god and man have changed the world and mankind more deeply and comprehensively than the wave particle two elephants.
So each Sunday is essentially a continuation of the first Easter, and the core is “to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord and worship the resurrected Lord.”
After the resurrection of the Lord, the meaning of “history” is renewed. The apostles, touched by the Christ-glorifying Spirit, tell us that the risen Jesus is the first fruit, and at the end of the day, all will be resurrected in order, after which Christ will be victorious, kingdom, and glorified, and finally, we will be with Him and be King together (1 Corinthians 15:22-25).
After the resurrection of the Lord, the meaning of faith is renewed. The paradigm of faith shifted, from a Deuteronomy system (but with Christ) to a Christian system (but with the fulfillment of the law). Jesus’ conversation with his disciples on the road to Emmaus describes this shift:
Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about when you walk with each other? They just stood still, with sad faces on their faces. Luke 24:17
The paradigm shift is the shift in focus, and from then on the core of the faith becomes the “resurrection.” Paul says:
If Christ is not resurrected, what we preach is in vain, and what you believe is in vain, [1 Corinthians 15:14]
After the resurrection of the Lord, the life of the believer is renewed.
Peter, who denied the Lord three times, the mean, weak, rude fisherman, received the command “You shepherd my sheep” three times before the risen Lord, and he did so.
Saul, who persecuted Christians, the fanatical, hard, and cunning scribe, became Paul before the risen Lord. He received the mission of the gospel and did it.
Countless believers whose lives have been changed by the resurrection of the Lord, as written in the Scriptures:
When we die in trespassing, we are brought alive with Christ (it is grace that you are saved). Ephesians 2:5
Even Easter directly renews the status of women. Today’s Christianity has inexplicably become the enemy of women’s rights, but it has always been the greatest driving force for the liberation of women. In ancient Rome, women’s testimonies were unacceptable in court, but the four Gospels consistently state that it was women who saw the risen Jesus first. The Holy Spirit ignored worldly standards and declared these women’s testimonies not only valid but earlier than men’s.
However, the most important reason why Easter should and has prevailed over Qingming is that after the resurrection of the Lord, the meaning of death is renewed.
Henceforth, death is no longer the supreme power:
For knowing that Christ rose from the dead, He would no longer die and would no longer be His Lord. Romans 6:9 And death no longer meant the misery and terror of yin and yang, Paul says:
If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God will bring those who have slept in Jesus with Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Those relatives and friends who slept first in the Lord, loved ones, will bring them to us and pick us up when we die. Then everyone went home together.
This is our communication on WeChat before our dear teacher Huo died:
The gospel of anti-Qing and restoration
For me, he left us for heaven, just as he used to leave us for America. The small difference is that Heaven does not use WeChat, so we can no longer communicate for the time being. But in a short time, we will meet. At that time, we will remember the Changchun Church together and remember the past of the earth.
Exhortation
So, this Qingming Day and Easter, I would like to exhort you:
No shame
I am not ashamed of the gospel; This gospel was meant to be the power of God to save all who believed, first the Jews and then the Greeks. Romans 1:16
Do not be ashamed of the gospel, do not be ashamed of Christ. It is a fact that He has suffered the greatest shame, and it is even more true that He has now received the greatest glory. He is my glory, so I am no longer swayed by other people’s opinions. Do not fear dishonor in Jesus’ name. Rest assured, if you don’t deserve it yet, you won’t. Don’t be afraid of other people’s strange eyes and judgments, pray when you eat, no matter if there are people or how many there are. Preach the gospel when you should, whether you know it or not. You invite as you should, even if the other person rejects you seventy or seven times.
The secret is: that as long as you are not embarrassed, it is they who are embarrassed. The day when they are not embarrassed, you will have them in the Lord.
Do not burn paper
Brothers and sisters, we are already new, don’t go back to the old. It is written in the Scriptures:
Another disciple said to Jesus, “Lord, allow me to go back and bury my father first. 【Matthew 8:21】
So don’t celebrate the Qingming Festival again. Let Easter replace Qingming Day. It can be commemorated, not mourned. You can mourn in silence and do not bend your knees. You can have flowers, don’t burn paper.
No more fear of death
Resurrection gives true life, and true life must produce true courage. From now on, Christians are not afraid of death, but why should they fear death? If someone threatens to kill you, you can say That’s just right, thank you, I can finally stop all my toil. If he threatens us even more descendingly: Are you not afraid that your wife and children will suffer? I hope that then I will smile and say to him: I am not afraid, because I will see them again in the future. I hope to see you there too.
The resurrection gives true faith, and true faith must produce true hope. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer is alive and will stand on the earth in the end.” Job 19:25
A foreign brother spoke of his witness to Christ. Once he was on a plane, he encountered severe air currents and lightning, and after ten minutes of bumps, everyone’s hope of survival was extinguished. But he suddenly found that the old lady next to him was smiling and did not care. So he couldn’t help but stop the pen for writing his will and asked her why she was laughing. The old man said that I was going to see my daughter this time. I have two daughters, one on earth and one in heaven. I laughed at the thought of not knowing which daughter I would see first.
It was at that moment that he came to Christ.
In fact, the testimony of the old man is also the testimony of my family. When I fly home, I always think about whether I will see Jiawen Jialin Jiamin first or Jiahe first.
Twelve years ago, my wife and I asked five-year-old Jiahe, if you leave your parents and go, what will we do? He said, God will give you better children.
Today, his blessings and prophecies have been fulfilled. I don’t know if these kids are really better than him, but three are more than one. Two sisters and one younger brother have not met their angelic big brother, but I believe they will meet in the future. I believe so much, I hope so much, that I work hard for it, hoping to lead the whole family, the church, and “work of our salvation” in Christ (Philippians 2:12)
May we live in the rhythm of Easter instead of dying in the Qingming festival? Live in the joy and hope of the resurrection, not in the joy and despair of clarity. The meaning of clarity must be reflected, and the meaning of resurrection must be revealed. May the Lord have mercy on us and deliver us and our friends and relatives from the curse of clarity and the gospel of the resurrection.
The gospel of anti-Qing and restoration
2nd floor singing (God’s unexpected peace, will be in Christ) Posted on 2021-5-7 08:33 Just look at this person
Grace 365 | May 7 Prophet of the Times – Jeremiah: God has love in his heart
Ko Shaun’s Daily Grace today
Scripture: If I can speak the tongue of all men and the words of angels, but without love, I will be like a gong and a cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
Grace 365, three hundred and sixty-five days, we live together every day in God’s love and God’s grace.
These days I will share with you what kind of person God uses. If you’re a company boss and you go to interview some people who are coming to apply, you probably have some conditions. You see, how is this person’s language ability? What about this person’s ability to coordinate with others? What are the professional conditions of this person? Can he work in a team with others…? If you’re a boss and you’re a supervisor, you probably have some conditions that you care about when you hire people. God also uses us, and God wants some of the qualities in us that He wants.
In Jeremiah’s body, these days we see what kind of person Jeremiah is. Jeremiah was in him, he had a lot of his timidity, he had a lot of his considerations, he had a lot of his own thoughts, but he was obedient to God. In the process of following the Lord to fulfill God’s trust in him, he will have doubts, and he will have times when he is afraid, but he chooses to keep walking even though I am afraid in me, I rely on the Lord. He didn’t stop halfway, ran away halfway, didn’t do it, no! He persevered.
I feel like I see myself a lot of the time in my talk about Jeremiah. In fact, I have this problem, I am the kind of encounter who does it smoothly, I do it desperately, but when I encounter some setbacks, especially when that setback may encounter some of the things in me that I care about the most, I may say, I don’t do it, don’t do it.
But Jeremiah was not. He encountered many great setbacks, and great difficulties, and may even endanger his life, but he chose to persevere for the Lord and persevere. What kind of people does God use, God uses obedient people, God uses people who persist for the Lord, and God uses people who shared yesterday and cared about. He doesn’t cry for himself, he doesn’t just care about himself, he cares about what God cares about. God wanted him to go, proclaim God’s warning to the Israelites, and then God would redeem him. Does he care about the Israelis? He cried many times for his country and for his people. I ask God to help us so that one of us cares and cares about what God cares.
And what’s behind the care? It’s love, love will care. I have two children and I love my kids very, very much, so I care about them. The happiest thing for me is to come home from a busy day of ministry, our family of four, I am with Qimei’s mother and two children. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as we are together, I am happy. Why? Because I want to see them, I care about them because I love them.
What kind of person does God use? I often talk to some young people in our church who are learning to serve, and everyone wants to say, Pastor Cole, teach me! Teach me how to preach, teach me how to govern, teach me how to. I often tell them that you can learn all these things, but the most important thing is, do you have love in your heart? It’s not indifferent, it’s not that I preach on stage very movingly, but I don’t really care about these people in the audience, I seem to be performing. I ask the Lord to help us, what kind of people does God use? With a person who has love in his heart.
To conclude with this passage, we can do many, many things without love, and without love, it is a gong ringing, a cymbal, only sound, no meaning. Pray that if we don’t have love, there is a very important connotation in it—love.
