The Flock

Friday, March 28, 2014

Righteousness & Moon Cake

Anna, our Chinese friend, came over again last night. We have finished the gospel of John.  Praise the Lord.  Now we are starting Romans. Praise the Lord! The only chapter we studied last night was chapter 1 because of its depth.  Anna now understands what faith is, and she understands the basics of righteousness according to the Word. If you want to know the background of our friendship with Anna, click here.

Here are some things that Anna communicated:

  • She desires to "do good" and even wants to teach others to "do good" by teaching them the Bible.
  • She believes in the existence of Jesus--how He lived on Earth and how much He loves us.
  • She wants to learn from Christians and sees that they are different because they have the Holy Spirit.
  • She may believe that Jesus is "the Christian's God's Son", but she struggles to believe that this God is the God who created the Universe.
  • She knows many Chinese people that teach moral standards to live by, therefore, they know not to commit "unrighteous deeds". She understands that Christians only can be made righteous by faith in Jesus.  However, I do not think she likes this idea and chooses to believe that a society that educates well to produce morality in their people is good enough.
  • She says the Chinese Christians that she has met in China may not rightly divide the Word (She did not know she was quoting scripture..ha) because the Bible translation is in Old Chinese and not in Modern Chinese. She says it is not a good translation and prefers to read in English.  She also wants to help them to rightly divide it. 
How we can pray after knowing these things:

  • Pray that God will help her to understand that all of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.
  • Pray that Jesus will be real to her as someone who is alive now, and not just a historical figure.   Pray that she will not just know that we believe that He now lives at God's right hand, but that this will be a reality of His living and reigning over us and the world.
  • Pray that God will give her the faith to believe in Him!
  • Pray that He will help her to desire the Holy Spirit that she sees as such a wonderful thing in Christians' lives. Pray that as she is used to us asking the Holy Spirit to help us as we read His Word and try to understand, that He will show her the work of the Holy Spirit.
  • Pray that she will see God as Creator as she looks on His creation--as she explores, takes walks, admires the spring flowers--she loves all of these things.
  • Pray that she will not see Christianity as an American cultural tradition, and that she will see that many all over the world have believed in Jesus---and that it is not because they adopted it from Americans.
  • Pray that God will show her the sin that is within her and that her good works cannot save her.  Pray that she will see the seriousness of sin.
  • Praise Him for giving her a desire to share what she has learned in His Word, to do good, and to help others.  Pray that He will continue to do this good work in her and transform her, save her.  Then, that she may teach His Word without falsely holding back the truth of His gospel because she will have believed ! 
  • Pray that God will help Chinese Christians rightly divide His Word, and He will provide a way to have a better translation published.
Just for Fun:


 
We were excited that they brought us some Chinese treats to try! 

 This is called a Moon Cake. That yellow thing in the middle, yea, it's an egg yolk--a dried candied yucky egg yolk.  The one on the right had more of spicy taste.  I thought Paige was going to vomit. ha.









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