8:00am Mum woke me up; got a shocked, tot i overslept (; p)
8:30am Reached church
9:00am Svc start
11:00am Svc ended; prepared for Daniel Bible lesson
11:45am Class started
01:00pm Lunch at Hola
01:30pm Preparing worship for Chinese Svc
02:30pm Chinese Svc started
04:30pm Svc ended; worship practise for Easter outreach
05:30pm Went home
07:00pm Dinner; and go to sleep
10:00pm Woke up; go on MSN
PIERCED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS
The preacher was talking about a church in Manhattan. It was called St. Paul's Church. It is situated just nearby the World Trade Centre. During the 911 incident, it became a resting centre for the many firemen and nurses. There was an interesting sight in that church. There were a number of shoes hanging on the fencing. Later, it was found out that it belongs to the firemen. Many firemen after receiving the recall, immediately went straight to the incident site. They changed into their fire-fighting gear in the church and they left their shoes hanging on the fence. However, some of the firemen didn't make it out alive and their shoes were left on the fence. In memory of these brave firemen who sacrificed their lives to save those who they did not even know, the shoes were left untouched.
Today's sermon is taken from the book Isaiah 53. It talks about Jesus being despised and rejected even though He was the true Saviour. Many did not believe Him because the Jews expected their Saviour to be someone great, a King, a ruler, somebody who can help them to overturn their enemies. But Jesus came on a donkey, He was a carpenter, He was just any other person. In this chapter, it also mentioned that His appearance was not appealing. Many people didn't take Him seriously and even reject and despise Him. Despite all these, Jesus knew that His final destination is to die on the cross for us. In verse 5, it says "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." He went through all these sufferings just so that we could be reconciled to God. Isn't that wonderful? But it is a high price or rather an invaluable price to be paid.
The firemen sacrificed their lives while saving people trapped in the burning building. What a noble act.
Jesus died so that all mankind can be saved. That's even a more noble act.
In Mark 8:34, Jesus told His disciples to 'deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me'. To take up the cross doesn't mean that we should go and die. Rather what Jesus meant was that as we walk the path of our faith, we may have to make sacrifices. It is not easy but it is not impossible. Becoz Jesus had gone through the toughest sacrifice. So let's us not give up hope and continue to persevere on because we know our treasures are in heaven. Let's continue to stir one another till we finish the race. Amen!
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