2023.01.28/29

Hello, brothers and sisters of RCAC. May you all have a blessed Chinese New Year. You may not celebrate the Chinese New Year.  But no matter which new year you celebrate, one thing is certain, we will send our best wishes to each other.  Behind these best wishes is the wish that this year will be better than last year.

In the past week, I thank God for allowing me to share with the Mandarin Congregation through the Gospel of John. In last week’s sermon, I talked about what a fulfilled life is through the miracle of Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand. First, this miracle is recorded in all four Gospels. Apart from the resurrection of Jesus, this miracle is the only one recorded in all four Gospels. Since each Gospel was written for a different purpose, and each Gospel writer decided to include this miracle in the respective book, there must be a significance to the miracle.

Jesus Christ broke our inherent logic through feeding the five thousand. How did the logic come about? Logic is accumulated through our life experiences. In other words, the foundation of logic has a historical background behind. And because of this, no matter who we are, we approach things according to a similar logic.

Through feeding the five thousand, Jesus wants to tell us that to follow Him, we must first let go of our inherent logic. Because He is the source of all power. There is no Jesus in worldly logic. However, as a child of God, the logic of dealing with things must first put Jesus Christ in the most important position. In the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus fed the five thousand people (actually more than ten thousand people) with the five barley loaves and two fish that a child was willing to offer. Jesus can turn nothing into something, why would he rely on a child’s five barley loaves and two fish? It is logical that five barley loaves and two fish cannot feed five thousand people. But Jesus does not act with logic. Because God is above all, that is to say, logic cannot bind God’s deeds. When we face the present difficulties, we may all think logically. This is an inherent way of thinking, the apostles were like this, and so are we. However, Jesus told us that to rely on Him is to use a new perspective, a new logic, and this new logic is not taught by the world, but taught by Jesus. Everything starts with Jesus Christ.

In the new year, may we all put Jesus Christ first. May the Holy Spirit help us see that when we trust in Jesus, there is a life of fulfillment. This satisfaction is not given by the world, but by Jesus Christ. And this satisfaction can be obtained because Jesus Christ gave up everything in heaven, dwelled among us, and carried our sins.

May God bless you all. May God bless RCAC.

His servant,
Pastor Mark