There are many trials and tribulations in life, and how to overcome these trials is a lesson that everyone must learn. A few days ago, Pastor Luke Zhang was invited by the Vancouver Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association (VCCEA) to preach in a series of 4 sermons from September 7 to September 9. The sermons focused on "Breaking through in Life", touching on the "trials and tribulations, value, road, and meaning of life" from various perspectives, in aims to reach the final stage of breaking through within oneself.
During the first day, Zhang quoted Mark 10:46-52 and spoke about the story of healing of the blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was a person with no name, who had lost his father, but was not forsaken by the Heavenly Father. According to his faith, Bartimaeus could finally see, and he followed Jesus.
Zhang stated, in this world full of materialism, there are many slangs among the youths , such as "life is like a coffee table, full of one after another cup and such" (in mandarin, the pronunciation for "cup and such" sounds like "tragedy"), or "God's steed is like a cloud". These slangs are full of bondage, confusion, and powerlessness.
Zhang also stated, while many professionally successful persons in America are viewed as role models, America lost Cash (a famous American), Hope (a famous Americans), and Jobs (Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, Inc.) during the attack of the worldwide economic crisis in 2008, which created much confusion and loss of motivation.
Besides, the widely publicized disputes of inheritance within the elite families in Macau and Hong Kong have caused separation and vengefulness between parents and children, spouses and relatives, just as the Chinese proverb says: "when the person is in Heaven, the money is in the bank, and the children are in court". This illustrates the powerlessness behind the fame and glitter.
Zhang summarized by saying that the root of these states of confusion is because they have fallen prey to three danger zones of Godlessness: "not seeing, not having enough, not winning over". Without God, one cannot see the truth behind the illusions. In this age of materialism, competition, and abandonment, there exists much greed, to the point where there is no such thing as satisfaction; trapped in an abyss of doubt and confusion.
He stated, in order to escape from this abyss, the only way is to reconcile with God, and re-establish the contact between man and God. As God is the head of the Holy Trinity and the only true God, He created man out of His own image, and placed His spirit within us.
"Only through knowing God and reconciling with God can we live a godly life. In this world, the person who loves you the most can give you anything except time. Only God can stop at any time to listen to our prayers and care for our needs."
He encouraged the congregation, "We must rely on God to make a break through our trials and tribulations. The key is to hand over our lives to Him wholeheartedly, through faith to recognize Him, through prayers to call on Him, and through perseverance to receive Him, and then to follow Him without doubts. Because Jesus once said: those of you who are burdened, come to me, and I will give you rest."
Zhang's sharing touched many souls in the congregation, who made the decision to receive Christ as their savior.
Brief introduction to Pastor Luke Zhang:
Pastor Luke Zhang is an experienced Pastor, who is fluent in foreign languages such as English, German, and Japanese. He received his calling to serve God full-time during his attendance at the Technical University of Berlin, and equipped himself to serve through attendance at the Fuller Theological Seminary and the LOGOS Evangelical Seminary. He participated in the establishment of the Berlin and Los Angeles Chinese churches, and had preached in Los Angele for 6 years. Since 1995, he held the role of chairman in the China operations sector of The Sowers International, and was active in the training and studentship, preaching, spiritual development, and missionary work sectors in the China churches to spread the Gospel.
[Carol Lee translated the report.]
