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ISSUE 162 December 2015

WRITE TO EDITOR

CONTENTS

FEATURE＞BE RECONCILED TO GOD............................................................. CHURCH NEWS＞REPORT ON THE HOLY WORK IN THE GERMAN

SPEAKING AREA................................................................... INTERCESSION………………………………………….……………………….. ONE DOLLAR ONE SOUL…….………………….……………………………...

Feature

Be Reconciled to God Daniel Chin

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (II Cor 5:17-20) This passage is Apostle Paul describing himself and the believers at the time; as well as the believers in the current time. We used to be enemies to God, but now are reconciled with Him and returned to Him, and have good relations with Him. This reconciliation is fulfilled by God, through Jesus Christ. According to Ephesians chapter 2, you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and

of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Eph 2:1-3). This is the fallen life of the past, living in sin. Even though we are living, but we are actually dead. Since we are dead, we are like the dead fish in the water, floating away. We do not have dominion over our actions, which causes us to follow the trends of this world and submit to the deeds of the evil and lose control to the fleshly desires. This type of person becomes a child of wrath and God’s wrath is often upon him. During such a time, he will have no part with Christ, apart from God’s life, a life without hope and without God. Today, Ephesians 2:4-6 continues to say, “But God, who is rich in mercy.” The word “but” has the most power. It is the biggest turning point. He allows us to live with Christ while we were dead from sin, due to His great love towards us. He also lets us sit in heaven with Christ Jesus. In the past, our life in this world did not have hope or God, but now, we are close to God and reconciled with God in Christ Jesus and though His blood. He also re-established us to become a holy dwelling through the Holy Spirit. This is such a great change! This is the greatest event in this world that God has done in Christ; which is to have men reconcile with Him. This great event affects the entire world. God wants the people of this world, regardless of who they are, to reconcile with God. God does not blame people in Christ, nor does He count their trespasses. Not only has He not dealt with us according to our iniquities, He forgives and saves men through grace and mercy. God has entrusted the truth of reconciliation to the Apostles and those who believe in the Lord in later days, sending us to pass on this good news. Therefore, we must become the messengers of God and introduce Christ Jesus to mankind. Preaching the Gospel and introducing Christ is a great mission that through our work of sowing the seed, men and God can reconcile. This work is very important and urgent! Because it is Christ who asked for God to reconcile with men (Eph 2:21), emphasis on “ask,” our Lord Jesus has asked God to reconcile with men. How can our hearts stay hardened and reject His request? The best method to reconcile with God is to accept Christ. God let One without sin to carry our sins so that we may become God’s righteousness in front of Him. Lord Jesus once said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 1that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:14-15) In the ancient days, if the snake bit the Israelite, killing the snake cannot save them, eating medicine cannot save them, and even praying cannot save them. Only believing in God’s words and looking up to the bronze snake saved them. On the same token, Christ through His death made reconciliation between men and God.

We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you to not receive the grace of God in vain (II Cor 6:1-2). Since the Lord entrusted the glorious role of peacemaker to us, we should spread this beautiful truth during this time of acceptance and salvation so that we may repay the Lord’s grace!

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Church News

Report on the Holy Work in the German Speaking Area The German speaking area includes churches in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Currently there are four prayer houses and one place of worship.

Germany Hamburg Prayer House Hamburg Prayer House is situated in the northern region of Germany. Currently there are about 20 members who mainly live in Hamburg, Berlin and Braunschweig. Since the dedication of the church there have been several spiritual convocations and other trainings. This year there was a convocation for children and a youth fellowship. Additionally the RE teacher training for the German speaking area was also held in Hamburg. Its goal was to strengthen the RE-teachers, so that they are able to teach according to the will of God. In Braunschweig, a city more than 2 hour drive away from Hamburg, there is a family, who invite truth-seekers to have a Sabbath Bible study and prayer every Saturday from 3:30pm to 5pm. After the service they have dinner together. The truth-seekers come from Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and the Philippines. More and more Christians are interested in the truth of the TJC (e.g. members of the Indonesian church and the Seventh Day Adventist church). Currently there are about 13 truth-seekers. 3 preachers were visiting and had an evangelical service. May God guide the work and spread the gospel, so that one day there will be a Braunschweig prayer house.

30 August – 01 September 2015RE-teacher training in Hamburg Prayer House

7-9 September 2015 Evangelical service in Braunschweig

Rheinland Prayer House Thank God for His guidance, the church in Rheinland was dedicated during the convocation which was held from 22nd to 24th May 2015. Around 80 members from the German speaking area, France and UK were attending the dedication. The new chapel was big enough to accommodate all attending brothers and sisters. The autumn convocation of the German speaking area was also held at Rheinland church in October. About 50 members attended the convocation, 5 were baptized. Usually there are about 20 members attending Rheinland church. Many members were coming and going, therefore Heidelberg Prayer House was asked to support the work in Rheinland 3 times this year. Within the first half of 2015 the youth fellowship met every 2 or 3 weeks. RE is held according to the attendance of the students. Please continue to pray for Rheinland Prayer House. May God guide and strengthen the church. Especially pray for the financial situation since the refurbishment of the church cost more than estimated. Also pray for the newly baptized members and all those who cannot attend service regularly, due to their work.

Autumn convocation 2015: Place of baptism

Heidelberg Prayer House

Heidelberg Prayer House takes care of about 20 believers and supports the work in other areas such as Rheinland, Switzerland and also helps out with RE in Spain and Italy. In April this year the spring convocation and the youth training was held in Heidelberg. The topic of the youth training was “How to lead a Bible study.” In August a special service with Holy Communion was held for members, who live too far, to attend service on a regular basis.

Heidelberg Prayer House is currently looking for a church building. A piece of land, which was considered, did not receive the approval for use as a church from the city council, therefore the search continues. Please continue to pray for this task.

Spring convocation in Heidelberg, April 2015

Switzerland

There are 8 members in Switzerland. Heidelberg Prayer House takes care of them. There are regular Sabbath services in Basel and Zurich. Besides that, there are members in Bern and Luzern who have their own family services and are visited from time to time.

Austria Salzburg Prayer House & Vienna Place of Worship The two places of worship in Austria have about 10 members each. Every year they each have two convocations and a special service or a preacher visiting. Friday evenings there is a joined Bible study via Skype for both members from Salzburg and Vienna to attend. Many visitors pass by the two places and attend the service. The members mainly consist of students and retiree with a high fluctuation. Please pray for the holy work in Austria, the health and faith of the members.

Group photo with visitors in Salzburg Prayer House in August 2015 TOP

Intercession 1. Please pray for IA work assignment as below:

Date Location Program Personnel

12/20-1/10/2016 Australia STTTC & NWYS ACB local preacher

Peter Shee

12/13–12/20 Hong Kong

CB Divine workers Spiritual Nurture & National Hong Kong Meeting

MY Chao

11/24-12/14 West

Malaysia

Youth Theological Training Course (Chinese/English class)

DM Lee

12/14-12/20 Theological Training Course (Adult Class)

12/11-12/27 New Zealand Volunteer workers (Auckland) Peter Yang

12/24- 1/5/2016

Myanmar MC

Spiritual Meetings & Sermon speaker Isaiah Chang

12/8-12/22 Kampuchea MC

Spiritual Meeting/Conduct sacrament, pastoral, evangelism, teaching hymns

Ｅn-Ling Lin

12/19-12/26

Canada

College Youth Spiritual Convocation (Vancouver)

Samuel Kuo

12/20-12/25 SSC Counselors’ Workshop & SSC-E2/J1/J2 (Toronto)

Raymond Chou

12/11-12/13 Brazil Pastoral Work & ES/SC Derren Liang

12/2-12/10 Foz Pastoral Work & Training Derren Liang Ming Tao Kuo

12/26- 1/3/2016

Germany ECC Convocation(Heidelberg) FF Chong

12/18-12/24 Italy Spiritual Convocation (Napoles) FF Chong

Bao Qin Wang

Dec.-Jan. 2015-2016

Spain Visit & Concern (Madrid/Albacete/Barcelona)

FF Chong

Dec.-Jan. 2015-2016

Greece Member Visit & Concern FF Chong

12/3－1/3/2016 West Africa Pastoral Ministry & Student Convocation

(Ghana/Togo) Johnny Liu Volunteer

12/1－1/1/2016

East Africa

Student Convocation (Zambia/ Malawi) Steven Shek Volunteer

12/3－1/3/2016

Student Convocation/ Training (Kenya/Tanzania)

Michael Chan Raymond

12/3-12/8 Mid

East-Dubai Training Seminar for Youth Steve Hwang

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You Could Help the Worldwide Evangelism Mission Simply by Contribution

a dollar a day… How You Can Help You are called to take action for the sake of worldwide evangelism and the spreading of the gospel…with a dollar a day. If everyone could daily extend one dollar towards the International Assembly World Evangelism Fund, we could, together, accomplish the commission that our Lord Jesus Christ left behind. Your financial commitment will open up possibilities and resources that will lead us to save many souls. Please take time to fill out the offering sheet available at your local church, to pass this message on to loved ones and family, and to pray for God’s ministry. May the Lord be gracious to you! To find out more about the dollar-a-day program and donation options, please contact ia@tjc.org or tjciatwn@ms25.hinet.net. May our Lord remember your contribution and bless you abundantly! TOP

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