SANTA CLARA— The Bread of Life Church (Ling-Leung) challenged itself to look beyond its needs and to reach out to the city with the love of the Lord, while concluding its annual conference.
"Today we must breakthrough, not only for the benefits of ourselves, of our cell group or of our church, but we must change the season… We do not only expect to see the growth of the church, but we also want to see the change of the entire nation," Rev. Shen-Chu Chow, head of "Ling Leung" headquarter office in Taiwan, said during the sermon.
Rev. Chow prayed that the Lord would help all believers to look at this land through the eyes of God.
"God loves the world so much that He sent His only son Jesus Christ to save us. Jesus also said he came to call the sinners. There are most sinners in the city, therefore God loves the city. We must also love the city and win the city for the Lord," Rev. Chow explained.
The reverend added that love is not "just merely words from the lips," so Christians "must really pray and take actions."
While many churches focused on attracting people to the church through many special programs and activities, Rev. Chow emphasized the key to success of evangelism is rather to attract God’s attention. He cited some examples from the book of Acts to elaborate the point.
On one occasion, Apostle Peter was imprisoned with other disciples. During the night, they sung praise and hymns. Suddenly the land shook and the chains broke, freeing them. Seeing this miracle, many prisoners also turned to Christ.
"Our praise and worship is the throne for the Lord. As He listened to the praises coming from the prison, His presence came down to that place, and the miracle was performed as a result," Rev. Chow suggested.
"Therefore, we must attract God to have His presence among us. That is when His power can be revealed and people will come to repentance."
Rev. Chow then shared a vision a missionary, in Jerusalem, had while praying.
In the vision, the missionary saw a lion opening its mouth, which was filled with fire. An angel stood beside the creature. In the mouth of the lion, there was a key. The missionary tried to grab the key with his hand. The next day, the missionary came back to the place where he prayed, and found a mysterious ancient key.
The vision, Rev. Chow continued, was interpreted from Isaiah 22:22, which mentioned key from the house of David, meaning the vision revealed that God’s glory will be revealed and that revival will be seen all over the world.
"Today, God is going to rebuild the tent of David all over the world. He has also given us the key from the house of David, so now the city and nation that cannot be opened in the past, will be opened up again!" Rev. Chow proclaimed.
Toward the end of the conference, Rev. Chow lamented though the "harvest is near," there "are no workers to reap the harvest." He asked the Bread of Life Church members to respond to the calling of the Lord.
Over a thousand believers tearfully responded "Lord, I am here, please send me."
Following the three-day event, which started last Thursday, participants gathered on Saturday evening for the conclusion of the conference, which incuded a communion service led by Rev. Chow from Taipei Bread of Life Church headquarters.
