Find us, encounter us, pursue us so that we find you and meet you and receive all that is good from you. Pray for us to receive our worship, pray for us to receive the gospel, pray for us to receive the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Please be seated. Good morning. You may be dismissed to your Sunday class, Sunday school classroom. So forth, so forth.
Hello. Hello. Good. I don't know, this week is very gloomy the whole week. It's like it's been raining all week. I feel like I'm going to bed. I don't want to do anything. I can't do anything. I don't have the mood to do anything. I don't want to do anything today. But anyway, here we are on Sunday. Good morning. Welcome you all.
So today's lecture is our topical preaching. It's a sermon. I asked you all to ask questions on my Instagram before. Maybe no one, because everyone is too afraid of being ugly. There's no problem with Instagram. So today I'm going to say what I want to say.
Okay. You may not be interested. You can also listen to it. It's very boring. I want to sleep. It's okay. It's going to be boring. It's okay.
但你必须要问问题。如果你不问问题，那我会说我希望说的问题。好的，今天我想跟大家讲的题目是《世俗主义的危险》。大家可能不熟悉这个题目，这不是我们一般人的新题目，我们听过了，我听过很多，但是我想再深入一点，从社会主义的解释到一个短暂的介绍，然后我们会讨论这对我们有什么意义，对于基督徒来说，对于我们的信仰来说有什么意思，有什么意义。
好的，首先给大家看一些图片。我的年轻人也有看过，有些年轻人也有看过，所以请不要删除答案。请不要删除答案。首先问，有几个图画。我的问题就是有没有改过，有没有P图，有没有美图瘦了，有没有改过，有没有修改过。大家觉得呢？这位女士，这位美女，这张照片有没有修改过？Yes? No? Yes? Yes?
好的，为什么？为什么？头发太美了吗？Shiny, too shiny. Hair is too shiny. 太美了。我的年轻人很厉害。Oh, her skin shouldn't be that smooth. Oh, that's a lip too bright. 我的年轻人很厉害。化妆等等说得很有兴趣。Yes, it's modified，就是Photoshop改过的。改过的。OK，下一张了。OK，下一张了。这个呢，这个呢，这张有没有修改过？这张有没有修改过？What? What? Yes? No? Yes? No? Has this been modified? Has this been modified?
With the parameters,即是那些调调，contrast, white balance, and then the color cues, and then the color cues change a little bit. Well, at least according to that website，那个 supposedly the author，这个是unedited的。Unedited的。Well, the edited的那个照片是这样的。这是编辑过的，or after extensive changes，extensive的改变。OK，这个是真还是假？It's fake，这么厉害。Some argue that it wasn’t.
Actually, my wife said OK，这个。How about this one？Real or fake？It can’t happen, right？It can’t happen。It’s so ludicrous。这个呢，是不是真还是假？By the way，有个grave next to the kid。Is it real or fake？Real？OK。What about this one？这边是哪里，你们知道吗？Venice？Venice？Venice, yeah。威尼斯，这个湖海湖城，我忘记中文怎么叫。Venice。OK，well, it’s fake，yeah。What about this one？Is it real or fake？You don’t know， huh？Well, now you probably know。It’s cut from the same picture。Depends on how you look at it。The effect of deforestation, right？OK，最后一张了，这个没有答案的。Is it real or fake？Fake，有人说是fake。OK，我迟些再揭晓这个答案。OK，我迟些再揭晓这个答案。
When you don’t have the original, how do you tell？就是你没有原先那个图像的时候，你怎么知道它是真是假呢？开始我们听的时候可能跟世俗主义有什么关系呢？就是这样。We are living in a generation not there yet. So let me go through today’s sermon, and then to the end, we’ll tie back to this picture, or this set of pictures.
Oh, I do! It’s real, actually, with a mustache. 果仁先是非戒。OK？I forgot to delete this one, actually. OK, anyway, now we’ll come back to that, too。今天想讲的是secularism，世俗主义。世俗主义最基本的解释呢，其实是处理在人类世界里面的所有的interaction，所有的活动里面，尝试去撇除这个宗教的影响，将宗教离开，搬走这个世界里面，所有人和人之间所有做的决定里面，不要拿宗教，不要拿宗教，不要拿宗教，不要拿宗教进来，将慢慢将这个宗教在我们日常生活变得不重要，或者次要，甚至不在这里。OK？It's the removal of religion.
Well, the understanding or the idea behind it is that as modernity goes on, as modernity progresses, the need for religion will decrease。宗教的需要会慢慢减低，因为我们以有科学去解决我们的问题，有人文科学去解决人和人之间的关系，或者有neuroscience，或者有psychology去帮我们解决我们人的behaviour的问题，所以我们说不需要有宗教信仰在当中。But on the one hand it might make sense，一方面可能make sense的。
譬如说如果你是一个以无术为主的部落里面生活呢，那里面的居民所有都说，Well, you have to do the witchcraft to get healed. You do have to perform witchcraft to get an answer about things. You have to perform witchcraft, a sacrifice, to mend a relationship with God, or to ask for rain, for example, to ask for crops。即是你可能用无术，在无术性行的部落里面，所有的东西都围绕着无术这件事进行的。这样我们会觉得，well，对于我们现在来讲，你们会觉得，well, it's unnatural, it's illogical, it's anti-science, it's unscientific，你不make sense的这件事。我们整个的，我们现在的架构，我们的世界观，已经会看一些东西是，well, witchcraft shouldn't be there，在社会里面，如果继续用这件事摆在我们的生活里面，it may not benefit everyone，right？即可能，大部分，大部分的人，在这个社会的运作或者架构里面，是未必得到益处的。
所以世俗主义或者secularism，通常讨论的范畴，在他们讨论的arena，都是在讲社会的运作。How does society work? It's within that arena we usually talk about secularism. How does government work? How does the system work? And most, and their one purpose, I guess, in a good way，通常有一个目的就是，so that most people, regardless of their religious background, that they can receive the same treatment, equal treatment, regardless of religious background。譬如，如果我们去到一个牧师人民国家，just because I don't believe the same thing as they do, that will I be forced to practice what they ask me to practice? Right？如果我一个不同的，我去到一个牧师人民国家，因为我的信仰不同，或者我没有接触他们的信仰，我是不是都要跟他们一样，一日三次，或者一日五次，向着麦加东面的方向去祈祷呢？Does that make sense？因为，theocratic就是以宗教为中心的一个国家制度的时候，所有人会被要求everyone was forced to obey the same religious law regardless of your belief regardless of your choice regardless of your situations。
其中一个很多well-known的例子或者well-known的事实就是在美国里面耶和华见证人，他们是against transfusion。在美国里面，不只是美国，其实全世界的耶和华见证人，他们不接受输血换血的practice。在2007年，Seattle有一个14岁的少年叫做Dennis Lindbergh，因为没有接受这个输血的治疗而死亡。Now the ethical tension comes up within this case. Should he? Does he have the right to decide for himself? Or does he have the right to choose not to receive the blood transfusion and die? Or does the medical profession or does the state have an interest to protect this life and force them to go through the medical process, the medical treatment？
根据当时的医生的估计，因为是癌症的一种，是白血病的一种，他如果接受治疗的话，有70%的机会是存活的。There are 70% of survival rate if he had chosen to receive the medical treatment. Now tension like that between one’s faith and the society’s system become in conflict. It crashes because of different world view because of different perspective。因为这些事件其实都会令人觉得可能宗教都有些负面的影响力，some negative influence, some negative impact。So that’s why we kind of understand，不是说我们接受它。我们能够明白未必接受的，明白为什么世俗化会在这个世界里面继续的增长，继续的去扩展。而西俗化的这个过程，这个secularization，这个process是也都慢慢是将宗教，不单止是基督教，所有宗教在这个公共领域里面去移除。
When you talk, when we get into bioethics，ethics of how to treat a person，What is the government’s role？政府的角色是怎样的呢？是怎样去保护所有的人，或者是接受治疗的人，或者也都同一时间，怎样去尊重每一个人个人的选择，或者他们的宗教的自由？那我们讲世俗化，secularization，通常都会听到的一个东西就是，the government took away the prayers and creationism and Bible from public schools。我们通常听到说政府将讨论创造论、圣经这些东西从公共学校那里移除了，拿走了。我们说这个是西俗化的一个表现，一个是这个secularism或者liberalism的主义出现。
西俗化，我想讲一个noted band，就是因为美国的主流宗教，the mainstream religion in America is Christianity，所以在美国出现的secularization或de-sacralization，看上去是anti-Christian。就是说，因为美国主流宗教是基督教的话，我们的主要的ethic是基督教的基督教的这个伦理道德的，所以当我们见到在政府或者是很多地方出现去宗教化的情况的时候，我们觉得好像反基督教。但是这件事如果发生在一个伊斯兰国家的时候，一个回教国家的时候，其实这件事都会反回教、反伊斯兰教。de-sacralization or secularization这件事是反所有宗教的。Just that in our context it becomes more prevalent and because it’s against our faith，我们是基督教的一份子，所以我们会更加感受到。OK, it’s against us, they are against us, but no, they are against all religions, so the prevalent ethos in the government is atheism。OK, whether or not, it depends, actually now may not be the case, but it depends. But the secularization is mostly in a scientific, naturalistic, humanistic way to proceed。OK, did I lose everyone yet? 有没有问题？Is it too hard？OK, I promise we’ll go back to the Bible，我们会回到圣经。
一个世俗化的过程就是将这个宗教从公共的领域里面移除的一个过程。OK, that’s what it means to secularize. Now，我们接着想说的是，What are the dangers? What are the dangers of this process going on in our society? Ever since the beginning of time has happened in different ways in America and has been going on in different arena. Now, what are the dangers？I would say there are the external dangers and also the internal dangers。有外在的危险带来的危险，也都有内在带来的危险。
首先，外在带来的危险，相信大家都不陌生的。我想你’ve heard a lot of it，在不同的，大大小小的基督教平台你都会听到不同的专家，Pundits提醒我们，Oh, the liberalism is clashing with our Judeo-Christian values，with clashing with our faith，冲击我们基督教文化。Transgender的运动，平权的运动，性文化的改变，开放带来不同的冲击。这些都是世俗化后社会出现的改变。These are the natural outcome of a secular society。以前的基督教圈子里要知道，看电影和跳舞都是taboo来的。Do you realize that? Do you know that? Back in like 20, maybe 20, 30 years ago，dancing and going to a movie theater is considered taboo because you’re getting into a dark place and things might happen。我觉得那是我听到的，我不知道，我不完全理解那个概念，但它是不应该做的。You’re not supposed to engage in that。But nowadays，there are so many Christian movies，there’s praise, worship, dances that we engaged in that we participate in。
世俗化的时候出现的东西是，我们会见到教会都开始接受这些secular的东西。是我们secular被出现的东西，教会都开始接受了。It changes us。Changes the whole Christian circle，Christian life。但是改变的我想最大改变不是我们的behaviors。The biggest change is not the behaviors of the Christian people or the Christians。The change is the biggest danger，the greatest danger is the change of values。我想你们都同意这一点。不是单单指the process of secularization and liberalism。It’s not just，oh we I don’t care how we make life。We cannot talk about God in school. We cannot talk about God in the government. We cannot talk about God in or teach creationism in classroom。The biggest danger is the value change within this process。因为我们在移除上帝的存在的时候，特别在public arena，我们所讲的东西全部都说没有上帝，不应该讲上帝跟宗教没有关系的时候，其实我们是将一个中文不太懂怎么翻译，removing the author and adjudicator of values，the author and adjudicator of the moral values。即是谁去订立这些道德准则？Who says so？Is it you, me, the government or someone else？But we believe in，at least in the Christian circle，我们相信有一个上帝，他说什么是好的，因为他是好的。And that when he said that he is good and then he demands something good to happen，that he decided a moral code。
大家明不明白这个问题？当上帝因为他是良善而他说这件事是好的时候，他其实就订立了一个道德价值的标准。所以这件事是好的，apart from this，除了这个东西以外，就是不好。It doesn’t meet the mark，it doesn’t meet the good，the definition of good。But when we remove God, then who decides this？Who decides the plumb line？Who decides the line which you draw on the ground to decide who is good and who is not，who is right and who is not？The change，the removal of God，将上帝带走的时候，移除的时候，我们就没有了这个仲裁者，不再以他订立的标准来建设这个社会文化架构。
不用他的标准或者架构标准去建立我们的价值观和世界观。我们很熟悉的transgenderism is the new heart，这个转性运动是最新的讨论的东西。这件事上其实我也看到，who decide，who define the sexes？谁去决定一个人是男是女？或者现在不是说一个人不是说人是男是女，而是说谁去define男女这个概念，一个abstract的概念，conceptual概念。Who define that？We back to that question，who make the choice？现在的社会可能，well, without God we can define it however I want。没有了上帝的话，我想说这个是男，或者那个是男，或者那个是女。Anyone’s game，任何人都可以对任何人都可以错。我们没有人知道这些混乱是会出现的，也都可能将来不知道会不会混乱到好像这个电影里面所出现的情况。这个电影是20一几年的，有一个movie叫做The Dictator。Have anyone seen it？OK, not recommended movie, but I just remember this。这个桥段我可以sound是个dictator，一个middle-eastern dictator played by Sacha Cohen Borat。Sacha Cohen，what’s his last name？I forgot。But yeah，played by a comedian。他 played a dictator and said that he is a middle-eastern dictator with a lot of money, with a lot of oil money。And then in this clip, he said that he changed the definition of 300 words，Arabic words，to Aladdin。Everything it means, it’s called Aladdin。So whatever that phrase stands for。He said, even positive and negative are also called Aladdin。即好或者不好都叫做阿拉丁。
那个人去到医院看，医生问他，Do you want the Aladdin news or the Aladdin news？Is that the good news or the bad news？And then he said, the Aladdin news？然后医生就说，You got HIV，Aladdin。所以他就像，he’s like, ah, oh, ah。And then that’s how his facial expression changes。When the definition is changed，when the definition is confused，then who decides？The good and the bad，right？Who decided？But，我想讲，一个世俗化后的社会不是一个没有价值观的教会。不是一个，It’s not the absence of values in a secular society。It’s the value has been changed，has been replaced by something else。是被其他东西取代了。我们的原先的伦理，原先的道德标准被其他人也取代了。It’s not without value。It’s not without，we try to do，yeah，it’s not without value。It’s replaced value。It’s a different set of values。Now，the good and the bad，我们不知道。Depends，right？Depends on what we are talking about at the time，what’s the definition of the things at the time。And that’s one thing。The outside world’s changing。And that imposes an external danger。To our faith。外面的世界的改变，带给我们带来一种，我们信仰上面的危机，危机感。
Now, let’s move on to，Okay, let’s move on to the internal。世界，世俗化带来的改变往往都是在外面的。因为我们刚才讲过，在一个公共领域里面所出现的，的情况，The removal of God in the public spheres，或者removal of Christian values in the public sphere。所以，令到我们开始，开始越来越多的confusion，越来越多的confusion。但是我会说，更加大的danger，the greatest danger，even more dangerous than that，is the secularization of the Christian lives。The secularization of the Christian lives。为什么我会这样说呢？Why do I say that？Why do I say that？
首先，The outside dangers will never go away。外面世界的危险是永远都不会走的。Jesus said it himself。Jesus said it himself。一直都会存在直到世界的末了。在《马太福音》十三章的杂草，两种杂草的比喻，Jesus used two parables of the weeds to explain that。他特别说，Leave the weeds that will go away, and let it be sown by the enemy, by the evil one. Let it grow with the wheat，麦子和杂草一同生长，但等候收割，一同等候收割。这是上帝特别允许，特别安排的。God allowed it, not that God intended. But God allowed it to happen。The external danger would always be there。The secular society will be going。And then things will be going south on the one hand。As we see it, like, oh, it’s getting worse, it’s getting worse, it’s getting worse。Yes, Jesus says so。But then our response，我认为教会的反应，大部分的教会的反应是，oh, we have to fight it, we have to get rid of it。We have to completely change this thing，completely get rid of it，completely fight this kind of liberalism，这种secularism，completely eradicate it。But it’s not going to happen if God allows it to survive and go on。How would the church do that？How would the church do that？God may not want us to do that。At least not our main focus。To counter，or to completely conquer these things。
On the other hand，我会说，我会争辩，that God asks us to hold fast to his teaching。And it’s far more important than fighting the enemy in this case。在这个case，OK，let me be very clear。在这个case，holding on to the truth，to his teaching，it’s far more important。The second reason，just now我说，why is it more important or more dangerous for us to internal secularize？It’s because we are enticed。We are enticed by the world。We allow the world’s glory and fame to attract us。Attraction is not something we have to nowadays。It’s not something we have to nowadays。We are not going to attract the world。I think the danger is not that we abandon our Christian faith and then accept the world，the irreligious world，the atheistic world。But the danger is that we accept a different kind of gospel。A different kind of gospel that sounds like gospel, but it’s not。A gospel that promises peace and wealth and health, but then it does nothing to our life because we don’t know the God who gave us the life，the real life。But that’s not what God said。Yes, there is part of that, but you don’t know the whole counsel。But that’s not what God said。Because we selectively，我们pick out我们想要听的，and say, oh, this is the gospel of God。But we don’t talk about the cross。We don’t talk about what we want to write about the cross，the part we want to write about Jesus。And then we just seek the comfort，seek the good。在这个过程中，是我们移除上帝从我们的生活。This process is that we take God away from us，and put him in our生活。Because it’s not，Logan, what you said。It’s not，Logan, what you said。It’s what I said，what I want，what I decide that it should be about my life，my children’s life，my society。It becomes us。We become the gods，not God anymore。These choices are usually made by our own desires。They come from our own temptations，our own desires。It’s like the book of Acts，chapter 1, verse 14。Every person is saved because of his own desires。It’s not God who is saving you，it’s not God who is testing you。Satan，the enemy，only put a bait there，and we bite it。We bit it，and then we get yanked away。So I think I’m going to...撒旦根本不需要说他抓住你将你扯回来，他只是把舌头放在那里，我们自己就爬上去，然后就被人拉走了，好像一条鱼一样被人扯走了。It is us。Because we decided we want that。We decided我们选择了我们需要的那样东西，我们想要的那样东西，而去这样做。
有位叫陆尊恩传道，他说西族化的生命是一种去上帝化的生命，是让上帝在我们的故事里面变得可有可无。A secular life，It’s a life that’s getting rid of God，Treating God as a dispensable character in our stories。He’s no longer the protagonist。He’s no longer the main character。He’s no longer the main character。He’s just like，Oh, good that you show up，这样的character。哦，你好啊，今天你出现了，上帝刚刚见到你，今天出现了什么。It’s a bystander。It’s a bypasser。It’s not the center character。It’s not the God whom we worship。It’s just someone that we met along the way。I think this is the greatest danger。出品人世界发生的自由主义反击，都是教的运动，共产党的逼迫都不能够摧毁基督教。Nothing can get rid of the Christianity。Not communism。Not the anti-Christian movement。Not liberalism。It will never get rid of the Christianity。But in the Christian movement，in the Christian society，actually more people have become the nominal Christians。We talked about faith in our mouth，but we don’t live that way。反而是一个以基督教为中心的社会，反而更多的基督徒变成一个挂羊头卖狗肉的基督徒，只是把信仰放在后面说No，我信的，我信的，但是他们的生命没有任何的改变。
主耶稣吩咐说，你们要爱神，也要爱人。在马太福音的二十二章三十七到四十节，第一最大的诫命，爱神，用尽你所有的一切。第二，其次也相反的是要爱邻如己。这两个诫命是律法先知的纵纲。Love your neighbors yourself。But first love God。First love God。主耶稣特别提到的这两条诫命是律法和先知的纵纲。他提到specifically that this is the summary，All the commandments。This commandment depends on all the Law and the Prophets。It’s the summary。It’s the synthesis of the Law and Prophets。What does it mean？Well in the Law，specifically，Law is the first five verses。The first five verses of the Bible，头五卷书，特别在你未记的十九章里面提到爱邻如己，爱人如己这个概念。但是这个的出现，这句话出现是在整个摩西对以色列民吩咐他们的社会，那个律例章点应该怎样做，你的社会应该怎样运作的当中说，You have to be，You are to like God，Because I am Yahweh your God。Love your neighbor as yourself。这句话不是在civil code or civil law ordinances。That Moses was giving to the Israelites。This is how you should conduct your society。Love your neighbor as yourself。爱你的邻居，爱自己。
And you can go back and read it before, after, for pages. It's how your society should work based on this principle. Because I, Yahweh, is your God。到后来，Prophet的时候，我们jump to the Prophet，prophetic books。先知耶利米在二十二章，这样同约西雅的儿子沙龙讲。有一个Prophecy，我要用英文读，因为我觉得中文是比较容易读的。This is what Prophet Jeremiah said to the son of Josiah, Shalom, with the Word of God. He said, Woe to him who built his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbors serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages. Who says, I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling with cedar, and painting it with vermilion. Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and the needy. Then it was well. It's not these to know me, declares the Lord. But you have eyes and hearts only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.
The Lord said, especially to Shalom, this king, who had been a king for a few months, for such a short time, he had to make a promise to him, to tell him, you became a king just to build a big house? You became a king just to show yourself, to show yourself, to show how good you are? Are you doing this for righteousness? Are you building this house for righteousness? But he said, you are not only building a house, when you build a house, you are not doing this for justice. You are shedding innocent blood. You are taking away other people's money. You are using your white workmanship.
He said, look at your father, Josiah. Because he was a king, he also would have eaten and learned, but he was able to enjoy his happiness. But the only difference between him and him is, he judged the cause of the poor and the needy. He, for injustice, for the sake of the poor, that he would have happiness. And then he asked, is this not to know me? 认識我不就在此嗎？認識我不就在此嗎？認識我不就在此嗎？你根本唔認識上帝，枉你做猶大嘅王。You do not know God at all. By the actions that you do, by the way you conduct your society, by the way you rule, you do not know God。認識上帝的標準，at least在耶利米先知，在上帝耶和華在这里的标准来说，唔係有多少神学知识，唔係可以解释多少的Systematic theology，唔係有多少荣耀地位，而係我们点样对待我们身边的人，特别是有需要，无权无势的人，反映我们有几咁认识呢一位上帝。
And who is this God that we know? It is our choices and our action. The way you will rule, it reflects our knowledge of Him. So if I may point, the danger of becoming a secular Christian, the danger of becoming a secular Christian is this word, to know. Do we know基督徒有几咁认识呢一位上帝？How much do we know this God? If we don't know Him, how do we do good? Or how do we act by His righteousness, by His moral call? How much do we know this God？
Now, here you have a dollar bill. Is it counterfeit? Or is it a real one dollar bill? Do you know if this is a real one dollar bill? Just by looking at it, can you know? Do you know if this is a real one dollar bill? Do you believe me? If I said it's fake, it's counterfeit, would you believe me? It's a bill, I think the bank issued in 1934, according to the website from which I downloaded it. 1934. I forgot what it said. But I don't know. 我不知道这张一元纸是真还是假。 Because I have never seen the real one.
就算我现在拿回一张一元纸出来去对比, it's not the same one. I'm using a different dollar bill to compare to the original dollar bill issued in 1934. It's not the same. 我们可不可以用另外一个gospel去对比，当作它是上帝，当作是上帝，原先原有的福音呢？I cannot. 但是当我们不去看过，不去摸过，不去点过，不去仔细去查考过的时候，how would you know what is real, what is true？不是听某某人讲说上帝是这样的，基督教是这样的，就算了。When are you going to find out? When are you going to search? Search the Bible and read it. 如果我们不去查考的时候，我们永远都只是从其他人的口中，从牧师的口中，从传道人的口中讲，听上，听了，都是这样的。But no, go search the Bible, go read it yourself. And you should check my word too, fact check me all the time. Because I may misinterpret, I may misspoke. And that happens. But the thing is, we are too late.
Sometimes, sometimes we just don't want to do that. Sometimes it's not exciting to do that. And I understand that, yes. But I trust that that's the only way. You, yourself, knowing this living God, is the only way to prevent our lives being corroded by the secularization of this world. And it's how we prevent secularization in our church, in our society, to continue to spread.
Now, 爱来的世俗化其实不可怕，对于我来说。因为单靠它是不足以摧毁我们的信仰。不足以摧毁我们的生命。前提，但有一个前提。前提是我们扎根，扎得深。The premise is, is that we have been rooted in the Word. We have been rooted in the faith. 我们扎根，扎得深的时候，其实我们不会被任何的东西摧毁。我们反而更加能够在这些风雨里面继续的成长。但是更大的danger，最大的danger，it's come from within。The greater danger is from within。When we decide that we don't want this anymore, that we decide that we want something else, and that's when our lives become derailed。
Now, as I think about this topic, when I think about this topic, why is it so hard to know God? Why is it so hard to seek Him and pursue Him？几个月前，Patrick Dale跟我们讲，When we know God is this good, do we want to speak to Him more? Do we want to approach Him and in humility come before Him？知道上帝好的时候，为什么我们会选择不去选择去寻求祂多一点，爱祂多一点，或者去摆祂在第一位呢？我想，It’s unnatural。The whole thing is very unnatural。Become a Christian，做基督徒是非常不自然的一件事。我们的生命由出生开始就是将自己摆在第一位，将我们眼前的利益摆在第一位。接着可能是我们的亲人，或者是我们附近的extended family，或者是我们的公司，我们的career，不同的东西摆在我们的第一位。但是一个看不见我们看不到的上帝，我们很难将他摆在第一位。我们很难将我们看见的上帝摆在第一位，因为我们的出生是这样的。我们总是先注重我们自己的利益，我们自己的期望，然后是我的家庭，然后是我的extended family，然后是我的career，然后是我的学习等等。但是摆在第一位是有点奇怪。
所以那是为什么当我们来到教会要大家来一起唱歌赞美上帝，一起去敬拜上帝，好像有时候会觉得，Oh, it’s got an egomaniac，就是一个自大狂。我们要去pamper他，一个跨群组去输送这些情绪价值，现在是一个新的情绪输送这些情绪价值给他，让他觉得make God feel good to propitiate him to make him feel like Oh, God is good to me。Oh, yes, I deserve all the glory。But it’s not that God is not that God is not an egomaniac。He doesn’t need us to praise him when he have thousands and millions of angels doing that。
不需要我们去pamper他，上帝的荣耀，我们去赞美。It’s a response. But then the glory of God, when we think about it, it’s for you and I. For you and I. And I, it’s the glory of God. It’s for our good。上帝的荣耀是为了我们的好处。刚才我们很简单地看，上帝在以色列的大家回去看历史，记所有的律例典章都是为了保护以色列民，为了他们的好处，保护他们当中的弱势的群体，当中的流离失所的群体，以至他们得到祝福，就如他应许亚伯拉罕要万国直着你得福。The blessing through Abraham to flow to the nations will happen within the community of Israel. And that’s what he promised. And that’s why all the laws and decrees and the commandments protect that and ensure that benefits goes to the people。It’s not for God。The glory of God is for his people。
In the same way, on the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus opened the flood gate of heaven and allowed people to see, this is the blessing of the heavenly kingdom. Now the invitation is, will you join? Will you join and come forward into the kingdom with me? And that is the glory of God. And the ultimate display of that glory is Jesus on the cross。最终的，最终的，最终的表现是十字架上的耶稣。上帝荣耀张献祥，上帝说我已经荣耀了，还要再荣耀。I have glorified and I will yet glorify again。And that’s when Jesus was nailed on the cross, become the lamb for our sake，让所有的人都有一个机会回到上帝身边，have a chance to go back to God and become to the new life to the new planet under the fire hosted by var iosa。Reconcile to him.
Now, is this God? Does this God worth our praise? Do you want to get close to him? Know this God and approach him? Now that's the question you have to answer.
Let us pray. Thank you. Time and times again, we see in the scriptures, in your words, we see you’re full of grace, you’re full of love. Let all of us who believe follow Jesus Christ and return to your side. Enjoy this life, the eternal happiness of the future. Yet we, many times we don’t know how to go back. Or we are too lazy to know you who are full of love. Amen.
Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Even the will to do good, the will to know you, Father God, comes from you and your power alone. Enable us. Holy Spirit, fall fresh again and fill us until we're full. So that we will be, that our hearts will swell with gladness and joy as we open up and open the Bible and see the words that you illuminate. And allow us to see the glory that you display on every page of the book. Help us, Lord. Help us to know you. In Jesus' name we pray.
Let's pray. Let's pray. Amen.
I'm sorry for taking up so much time. Next Sunday we have a family meeting. Please make time to attend. We will update you on the latest situation of our church, other updates, finances, etc. I hope you can attend and participate.
Camtune will start to report its name today. I don't know if you can see the graphic. Camtune will start to report its name today. If you want to join our church, you can start to report your name today. You can see the selection criteria on the Internet. There is a slight change. I hope you can pay attention to it.
Then in March, we will have two more classes on Wednesday and Tuesday. In March, we will invite a friend of mine, Cindy, to tell us about the 10 events of the pandemic. There will be 10 classes on Monday and Tuesday. 大家可以上网看看他对这个课程的介绍，还有我们讲完的老师的介绍。台湾断孙开始报名，大家祈祷去看看自己上帝是否也想今年参与这个断孙的服侍。其他的东西我就没有了，不知道我们有没有第一次来的朋友呢？我们有第一次来的朋友来到我们的面前欢迎。我们是很熟悉的，大家也是熟悉的。我们立起来接受祷告。愿主耶稣基督的恩惠，天父神的恩惠，祈祷上帝的慈爱，还有圣灵的感动，帮助上与我们的宗人同在，从今时直到永永圆圆。Amen.
Go in peace。我们下个礼拜见。Good morning.
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on Feb 16, 2025
