MTSnews
MTS 2021 School Opening Ceremony
The MTS 2021 School Opening Ceremony was held on 4th January at the Wesley Methodist Church, Sibu.
SCAC Bishop, Rev. Lau Hui Ming, asked : “Are you ready to die for the Lord?” when sharing his message during the opening ceremony.
Bishop Lau’s message was entitled “The First Calling” and he reminded the congregation that God’s first call to Christians was not to call them to be pastors, church deacons, or any ministry positions, but to follow Christ, as in Mark 1:17, “ ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ “
He pointed out that our relationship with the Lord determined how we responded to God’s calling, and how we responded to the first calling determined how we responded to other callings. In other words, if we value the first calling, we would also value the subsequent calling.
However when Christians respond to God’s calling, they should live more like Christ, always observing Christ’s will, to follow Jesus Christ throughout their lives and not to live by their own will.
“It is easy to get salvation, but it is not easy to live the life of a disciple. That’s why Billy Graham once said that, ‘Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.’ “
Bishop Lau also quoted another scriptural text, “Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9: 23)
By his understanding, “taking up the cross” can be divided into two parts, namely surrendering to God and denying oneself. “To surrender to God is to willfully surrender everything to God. Under all circumstances, we must seek to be more like Christ.” Denying oneself is the willingness to deny one’s own possessions or status, especially superiority and pride and to put God in the center of everything, take up the cross, and serve others.
Bishop Lau further quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous saying, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”, to encourage these students who committed themselves to serve the Lord.
The opening ceremony saw 14 first-year students with two unable to attend the ceremony because they were under quarantine. Out of these 14, 4 are in the new BM Department, 6 in the Chinese Department and 4 in the Iban Department.
At the same time, Rev. Lim Hock Sing enrolled into the 17th batch Master of Ministry program.