The 12th Sarawak Chinese Methodist Convention 2019 was held in Kingwood Hotel, Sibu from 3rd to 5th of June and over 2,500 members joined the convention.
The theme of this convention was “Desiring God’s Word, Studying Daily”. Going through the sessions of exploring Philippians, Happy Bible Reading and Prayer Seminar participants were again reminded that the *Bible is the precious Word of God. There were Revival Meeting sessions in the evening too.
President Tie officiated the official opening of the Convention by opening a large model Bible of size 4 feet high, 6 feet wide and one foot thick.
He shared three points: “like craving for water, like craving for gold and like craving for honey” to admonish the participants that they should hunger and thirst for God’s words like valuing and craving water, gold and honey.
President Tie hoped that the members would grow to read the Bible more and to study the Bible not only during the Methodist Convention but also to cultivate the habit of reading the Bible diligently in their daily life.
“We must not only read the whole Bible at least once a year, we have to study every book of the Bible in detail at least once in our lifetime.”
Rev Dr. Patrick Y. Tang of the Bible Exposition Institute (BEI) was the speaker of the Convention. A few months before the Convention participants were asked to do some homework on Philippians so that they could use their own method to study the text and later to share their answers in small groups during the Convention. Rev. Dr. Tang used the “Bible Analytical Layout Method”, a Bible exegetical method by him, to analyze the text and thus help the congregation to further explore and understand Philippians.
Full understanding of the Bible
“Is your knowledge of God based upon what others tell you or is it rooted in your own cognition? Do you get to know God by the most direct way or through what others tell you? As you read the Bible do you seek the answer by yourself or rely upon others?“
In the introduction message Rev Dr. Tang raised the above questions to guide the participants to realize that one should not just read the Bible but study and understand the scriptures.
Using the topic “Jesus’ plan for the church”, Rev Dr. Tang reminded the congregation of our Lord’s specific plans for the church and specific requirements for His disciples. Our Lord cares about our understanding of Him and knowing who He is.
In Matthew 16:13-17 Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The disciples gave all sorts of answers but only Peter’s answer was correct and direct, because the Father had instructed him.
Rev Dr. Tang emphasized that the church belongs to Jesus and thus He is sovereign over the church. When our Lord said upon the rock He would build the church He was referring to Jesus Christ and our understanding of the Lord and not Peter. The original root word of “rock” is Πέτρα (Petra, Rock) referring to Jesus Christ and our understanding of the Lord and not Peter (the original root is Πέτρος, Petros, Stone).
Rev Dr. Tang said that Jesus Christ paid a heavy price, went through many sufferings, was killed and on the third day raised to life, for the founding of the church. However at first Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him but Jesus told Peter that he did not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.
“Despite knowing that Jesus is Son
of God, Peter rebuked Jesus for going to the cross. This incident told us that Peter’s understanding of our Lord was not complete. He might know who Jesus was but he did not have a full understanding of what our Lord wanted to do. Similarly our understanding may be superficial and we may not fully understand.”
Rev Dr. Tang said that to develop the ministry of our Lord we need to have a correct, direct and comprehensive understanding of Jesus rather than just a superficial understanding.
Please “Ezra” Me
In the closing ceremony President Tie used the prophet Ezra as an example to remind the church members to set their sights on studying the Word of God closely and asking the Lord to help them.
“Ezra” means to ask the Lord to help us. “So if we say, ‘please Ezra me’, we are asking the Lord to help us. In fact we need to ask the Lord to help us to seek and study the Word of God every day.”
President Tie also encouraged the congregation to copy the Bible. He began copying the Bible in his 20s. He reminded the congregation to note those repetitive words or phrases when reading Bible because repetitive words or phrases are to emphasize the importance of that sentence.
He urged the members to make up their minds to do three things: LEARN, LIVE, and LECTURE. He said that in the process of teaching others, one would learn more and he/she had to follow God’s words.
He was most pleased that a few participants were under the age of 12 while the most senior participant was 95 years old. In addition there were several families coming as a group to this convention to search the Bible together. He sincerely hoped that Christians would actively promote family disciple-making and study God’s words together.
Reported by April
Translated by KT Chew