Good morning, Watermark.
That's exactly how I felt this morning, very cold.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Graham.
My 中文 means gum, so you can call me me gum in Chinese today.
I'm married to Irina, my better half, and we have two children,
Elijah, who's five, and Daniela, who's two.
Now, there's one thing that we do as a family which is either considered incredibly brave or incredibly stupid,
and that is we make a trip to Toys R Us.
Now, if you're a parent, you understand how brave or stupid that experience can be.
So, anyway, for my five-year-old, the other day I said to him, we're going to Toys R Us,
and his face lit up with excitement.
You know, for me, I'm thinking he's going into a den of lions, and he's just, this is joy, this is Disneyland on steroids,
we're going to Toys R Us.
And then I said to him, but we're going to buy a gift for someone else,
because we were going to a birthday party.
And his face just dropped.
It was this actual idea, why would we even do that?
Why would we even think about someone else, right?
And that is really kind of what happens to us when we come into the family of God, the kingdom of God, right?
It's Jesus comes along with this radical message, and he changes us so much that we not only begin to think of ourselves,
that over time we start thinking about others and their needs, right?
And that's exactly what happened.
This trip in Toys R Us, we're walking along, and everything about him at first is,
is I want that, I want that, and I didn't even know I wanted that, but I want it.
And then he began to change, and I said, okay, you really need to think about your friend, right?
What is he like?
And he began to change, and eventually when it came time to actually give the gift,
he was really excited to see what he would think of the gift he had chosen,
which was a Star Wars something or other, by the way.
But if we think about it in terms of us, Jesus comes in and he says to us,
he says, I want you to go out and make disciples of all nations.
Now, he didn't say, I want you to go out and make converts.
He said, I want you to go out and make disciples.
Now, to make a disciple is a lot harder than making a convert.
It means a lifetime of walking, of crying together, sharing your life together,
to be known by someone, to know other people.
And at Watermark, that is one of our really founding and guiding principles.
We exist because it is our desire as a church,
and we believe it is something that Jesus has placed on us,
to help people grow, help them in their next step on their spiritual journey, right?
Wherever you may be, we want you to grow.
And how you do that is by having people in your life,
people who know you, love you, care for you, want the best for you,
and you yourself are there to know other people, love other people,
and give to other people.
So we do that primarily through community groups.
We do it on a big day like this where we all get together and celebrate.
But it's also our desire that it's not just something that happens here.
We have a burning desire, God willing, to plant churches, right?
Other little communities of the kingdom in Hong Kong
and hopefully in other countries around the world.
And that doesn't happen unless we're investing in people.
We're training people, we're spending time with pastors and leaders
and helping them grow and see how God's gifted them.
So one of those is the Mandarin ministry, right?
So we're going to have a first at Watermark today,
not just the coldest day,
but it's going to be the first time we have a sermon in Mandarin.
Okay.
So you can go.
All right.
So just in case you think it's me, it's not me.
Because it would be a very, very short sermon.
Okay.
But anyway, so David is going to be preaching for us.
And David has been at Watermark for the past year and a half on staff.
And he's involved in the university outreach with the Mandarin ministry.
And he's also involved in starting a Mandarin community, CG, right?
But, you know, this doesn't happen alone.
It happens with a team of people.
So David's got a team around him of fantastic volunteers.
And they all help grow this thing.
And one of the volunteers is Karen.
And Karen is going to be our translator today.
So there's Karen.
Okay.
Karen's going to be our translator today for the message.
But it's also, it's a real team effort today
because we've got other members of the Mandarin CG
who are going to help us do the scripture reading today as well.
So could we welcome them up?
They're going to come up and read for us now.
Thank you.
questões
缺頔多前书15章50-58
1 Corinthians 15, verse 50 to 58.
I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of a night, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the death will be raised imperishable.
And we shall be changed.
这必死坏的总要变成不死坏的。
这必死的总要变成不死的。
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
这必死坏的即变成不死坏的。
这必死的即变成不死的。
那时经上所记,死被得胜脱灭的话就应验了。
死的独够就是罪。
死的独够就是律法。
死的独够就是罪。
死啊,你的独够在哪里。
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
死的独够就是罪。
罪的全是就是律法。
死的独够就是罪。
感谢神使我们可以借着我们的主耶稣基督得胜。
但祝福是罪。
祝福是罪。
所以,我亲爱的弟兄们,
你们物要兼顾,不可摇动。
常常竭力多做主功。
因为知道你们的劳苦在主里面不是突然的。
祝福是罪。
永远的书。
弟兄姐妹们,平安。
我们一直在讲哥林多前书。
哥林多前书。
哥林多教会呢,我们知道他们有一个特点,
就是他们有能说方言的恩词。
哥林多教会呢,我们知道他们有一个特点,
他们能说方言的恩词。
跟他们相比我们在说方言方面呢,
我们也是很有恩赐的。
今天呢,我说的话可能很多人听不明白。
可能很多人可能不明白我说的,
因为我说的就是这个世界上最大的方言。
但今天我们在说方言的通常是通常的通常。
但说方言呢,并没有什么。
最难的是翻方言。
其实,其实,他们也不太难说或者在讲。
并没有那么难说。
而且保罗说。
如果你能说方言但是别人听不懂,你就不要说。
其实,他说了,如果你是可以说方言,
但是别人听不懂你要说话。
并没有认识。
并无法认识。
感谢神赐给我们有翻方言恩赐的。
但是我们相信他会成为方言的方言。
have an interpreter of tongues.
Today, not only do we bring you tongues,
but we have this cold weather.
Actually, I was born in the coldest part of China.
So maybe I brought the snow.
But we know that when we're together,
maybe it doesn't feel so cold.
What's coldest is a coldness in the heart.
Of course, it helps also if we're working out
as we did stretches earlier,
and then your heart is pumping,
you feel warmer.
You know, if you go to the gym often,
not only do you feel warmer,
but you can build some muscle.
The men can even develop six-pack or even eight-pack.
As for sisters, the women,
perhaps they do other exercises
that can also make them healthier.
We all work very hard to make ourselves healthier.
We would like to live a little longer,
live a little better.
We want to protect our lives
and protect our bodies.
But actually, no matter how hard we try,
actually, our physical bodies are wasting away.
So we read the Bible.
And so when we read to this,
when we get to this passage in 1 Corinthians,
when we read Paul saying
flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God
that means no matter how hard we try
to maintain our physical bodies
flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God
one more rep with that dumbbell
that cannot accomplish something
and sometimes it seems like
everything we do is in vain
I don't know how you see your lives
some people they say
oh another day has just passed
as though they've lost another day
now some people think
wow I've lived another day
I just gained one more day
but when we do stop and ponder death
sometimes we do think
we are so small
our lives are so small
and when we focus on ourselves
suddenly we find
we don't have much hope
we can work really hard
but it seems like
it may all be in vain
but thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ
he's rose from the dead
and he's given us
an eternal hope
so all our labor
doesn't have to be in vain
so all our labor doesn't have to be in vain
actually for myself
I was once in a zombie-like state
in the time
I don't know if any of you
have experienced death
of someone very close to you
in the time
my mother and my sister
just went to the dead
actually when I was quite young
both my mother and sister passed away
at that time
I had a deep experience
a deep taste of death
I had such a warm embrace with them
and then suddenly
it's cold to the touch
physically they're so close to you
but actually they're so far away
and my whole world became very dark
you know when you're so close to death
suddenly you think that
everything you're working for
no matter how much money you have
no matter what you've accomplished
it doesn't mean very much
in that moment
so when I was reading
the book of Ecclesiastes
I resonated with it saying
meaningless, meaningless
everything is meaningless
but then I came to know Christ
and I discovered
there can be great meaning in life
He was crucified
and then He rose from the dead
and He's given us
a new hope in life
after I experienced death
I waxed philosophical
I thought
you know
seven billion people
in this world
and they're all just plunging
to their deaths
as though there's this huge gate
which is death
and it's swallowing up everybody
what hope was there
what hope was there in that
but the Lord Jesus Christ
He has opened up a new door
this is a door of life
so we can see
and we have hope
and all of our labor
in the Lord Jesus Christ
is not in vain
I don't know if people feel afraid
if we're talking about death up here
but only in Jesus Christ
you can have victory
when you think about death
Everyone who dies
in Jesus Christ
we know they are just sleeping
Actually
last year
I experienced another loss
but it brought greater richness
to my life
I had an American teacher
and mentor
He spent many years in China
going from city to city
preaching the gospel
and training up leaders
This American finally passed away
in the city of Xi'an
As we thought back over his life
we thought of so many lives he touched
so many people
whose lives were transformed
because of this man's teaching
and ministry
in his life
people看到
the people看到
the people
they看到
the people看到
of his
and when we thought
about his life
actually we didn't even
think that much about him
but we saw
Jesus Christ
in his life
when he was still living
a friend of his
had cancer
He asked his friends
when you found out
that you had cancer
how did you respond
how did you feel
His friends said
actually at that moment
I felt that
I came to a new
understanding of life
You suddenly realize
what is important
and what is not important
You know
you should do
and you know
where your priorities
should lie
What things have eternal value
and what things do not
I don't know
what difficulties
everyone is encountering
in their own lives
There could be difficulties
at work
or just different burdens
in your personal lives
For students
obviously your studies
your GPAs
In this world
actually when we focus
on ourselves
often we lose hope
You don't know
this whole thing
and we don't know
if everything
is just random
and when we measure it
by death
then we think
what is the value
of all that we do
says that
that those who are in Christ
that they are sleeping
People in this world
we see someone
and we think
oh he's dead
but for Christians
we think
he's sleeping
because Jesus says
he who believes in
everyone who believes
with me
even if he dies
he will live
he will rise
from the dead
But our current bodies
cannot receive
the imperishable
One day
when Christ comes again
we'll all be changed
In the twinkling of an eye
in a moment
Everyone
we shall all be changed
The dead will rise
And we'll receive
a new body
that Christ has prepared
for us
This is a glorious body
Not a perishable body
This perishable body
will put on
the imperishable
When we talked about
there's a door of death
and it's swallowing up
so many people
Swallowing up
so many souls
How do we feel
about this?
Do we feel
compassion
toward all
Do we feel pity
toward all these people
Or do we think
oh well
that's just how it goes
Do you perhaps
feel a sense of urgency
as though
you see there's a building
on fire
and you think
oh how can we save
the people in it?
Actually
every Christian
has a responsibility
We should awaken
those who are sleeping
and help them
to see
what is the true state
that they are in
and bring them
into an eternal kingdom
Before I came
to know the Lord Jesus
Actually I changed
a lot
and I didn't even
realize it
after I accepted Christ
A friend suddenly
said to me
Do you know
you're very different
from before?
He said
you smile now
You never smiled
before
But now you smile
And I think of a Christian
I once knew
When I was attracted
to this person's smile
Because that smile
It was a feeling
that was
a joy
This smile came out
of a joy
that was bubbling
out of this person's heart
That was from the world
This is not a happiness
that you just see
around you in the world
I didn't see this
on anybody else's face
And I wondered
how can this person
have this joy
And then I came to know
Oh, it's because
he's a Christian
He has a vibrant hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ
There's nothing
that he would be afraid of
Here Paul says
Oh, death
where is your sting?
Oh, death
where is your victory?
The sting of death
is sin
And the power of sin
is the law
Sometimes people say
Oh, death
that's caused by Satan
But actually we know
that death
is a result of sin
because we have all
sinned and offended God
We owe a huge debt
to God
And a great function
of the law
is it shows us
that we are sinners
But through the Lord Jesus Christ
We have hope
because he has fulfilled the law
And we don't need to face
eternal judgment
He's life
He's also brought
to us
and as the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead
His life
gives our lives hope
So we ask ourselves
a question
Am I living?
I'm in the Lord
And who am I living for?
I'm in the Lord
Are my hopes
in this temporal life
or do I have
an eternal hope?
Paul reminds us here
He says
You must be steadfast
immovable
What does it mean
to be steadfast
immovable?
And in what situation
would you be steadfast
and immovable?
In 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1
it tells us that
we need to be steadfast
in the gospel
The gospel is that
the Lord Jesus Christ
has risen from the dead
and gives us a hope
in our lives today
We can't for ourselves
We can't for the Lord
Some people feel
life is hard
In fact, it's too hard
And they cry out to God
Why do I have to go through
so much?
This makes me think
of a sculptor
an artist
He sees a piece of granite
And then he goes
and he chisels at it
And then slowly
you see a shape emerge
And then he continues
to chisel piece by piece
Now if this piece
of granite
had fillings
Every time he goes
at it with that chisel
and hammer
it hurts
But actually
every time he feels
like he's losing something
he is gaining something
He's gaining a new shape
a new form
It hurts
And this is also something
that God is doing
in our lives
Every time we're going
through a difficulty
a heartbreak
God is changing us
He wants to use us
He wants to change
our heart of stone
And give us a heart
like the heart
of the Lord Jesus Christ
Paul exhorts us
have the same heart
that is in Christ Jesus
that the same mind
And the apostle Paul
also says
Today
It is not I who live
but Christ lives in me
And here
Paul exhorts us
Be steadfast
Immovable
Now what does it mean
to be steadfast
or immovable
Actually
in the NIV translation
it says
stand firm
We see
and they stand up
And they stand back up again
And this is what it means
to stand firm
There is a story
Actually there is another story
It is about a Soviet spy
He was captured in the US
and he was interrogated by the CIA
And he was interrogated by the CIA
And you know that America is a very rule of law kind of a country.
And so they arranged a lawyer to defend him.
Now, actually, this lawyer wasn't even a criminal defense lawyer.
He was an insurance lawyer.
And so everyone knew what the outcome was going to be of this court case.
When this lawyer saw the Soviet spy, he said,
Do you know what is going to happen to you?
You are probably going to be electrocuted.
Yes.
But there didn't seem to be any response in the Soviet spy.
So he asked him, Aren't you afraid?
And the spy replied, How does that help to be afraid?
And this lawyer, he poured himself out and really tried to defend the spy.
But everyone, the entire American public, wanted to electrocute him.
So he said, And one day, when the lawyer was asking questions of the Soviet spy, he was standing there.
And it reminded the Soviet spy of someone.
He said, You're a standing man.
And so the lawyer said, What are you talking about?
What do you mean?
And this is the case.
And the Soviet spy said, You remind me of someone I saw when I was young.
He was a friend of my father's.
He often came to our house.
And every time he came, my father would say, Hey, you watch this man.
And so he would try to observe and watch this man.
And he always tried to carefully observe and watch this man.
And he didn't see anything special about this man, this uncle.
But one day, the border police came to their house.
And they beat up his mom and dad.
His dad's friend was over their house that day.
And so they beat him up too.
And they beat him to the ground.
But then he stood back up.
And then so they beat him again, brutally.
After struggling, he stood back up.
And they beat him again.
And then he stood back up.
So they were still there.
Finally, the guards, the police, they were very tired.
And they saw something in this person's life.
That struck them.
He wasn't someone who could be beat down.
He's a standing man.
They said, He's a standing man.
In our lives, we can think, you know, what are the things that beat us down?
Is it your work?
Is it your marriage?
Is it something else?
Is it your marriage?
Of course.
That's what we were thinking.
We were thinking, how are the last life?
Now, some of you might be thinking, so what happened to the Soviet spy?
Because this lawyer would not be beat down either, because he too was a standing man, there was one glimmer of hope.
So everyone was saying, to the electric chair with the Soviet spy, the American lawyer was trying to figure out every way to save his life.
This lawyer went to the judge's home.
One night, the lawyer went to the judge's home.
The judge had already decided that this man would be receiving the death penalty.
But the lawyer said to the judge,
He's just trying to do his job.
From a human perspective, why are we trying to kill him?
We can imagine, if there's a day that our friend's friend's hand is in his hand.
Now, consider this.
What if one day, our U.S. spy falls in the hands of the Soviets?
Actually, this man has greater value to us alive.
Who knows if one day our spy falls into their hands, then we can do an exchange.
Nice speech.
So the judge, he listened to everything the lawyer said and said, nice speech.
And actually, he sentenced the man to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
Actually, we're all like that.
We're all like that.
Now, an analogy is that in heaven, we too have a lawyer and advocate who is pleading for us.
Because of a standing man.
But we know that our Lord Jesus Christ is not only a standing man.
But not only is our Lord Jesus Christ a standing man,
He has actually risen from the dead.
He is a resurrected man.
And he is now standing at the right hand of God our Father, pleading for our lives.
So we don't know what we do in our lives.
If we do in our lives, this is not going to be in vain.
And in our lives, all that we do for the Lord is not going to be in vain.
We can also advocate for people around us in our lives.
So they may also be able to receive the life.
That we can pray for them that they too will receive life.
In our lives, we obviously all go through many struggles.
There may be internal struggles.
There may be external hardships.
Actually, sometimes we're struggling all together.
Even brothers and sisters struggling in the church.
Sometimes persecution from outside of a church.
But we can gain the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ has already conquered death.
And one day, He will gain a complete victory.
The darkness of death will be completely overcome.
We will see many big wars of war.
Often in movies, we see grand landscapes of battles.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of soldiers lined up with their spears and swords and shields.
And at that moment when the trumpet sounds,
Everybody says, attack!
And then we see a great victory.
One day, we will experience that as well.
That victory in the war, you can see that many people died.
Obviously, on a battlefield, you see that many people are losing their lives, are dying.
But in that last day, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, we see people rising from the dead.
And he comes to give us an imperishable life.
And this body will be our resurrected body.
So, what are we living for today?
Are we just wasting our lives away?
No, let's live for Christ.
We are still in the same place.
And can we be steadfast, immovable?
And do the meaningful things in each of our lives.
Things that have eternal value.
You know, many brothers and sisters, we said, they go to the gym.
They work that six-pack or eight-pack.
But if you're, you know, looking at death, there's no hope in that.
But Paul says, many things, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.
But maybe you can go to the gym with brothers and sisters and fellowship and have eternal value in that.
And sisters too.
You can do things together with your other sisters.
Even to strangers, we can be friendly to them.
We can share the gospel with them.
That people will become your friends.
We can even experience strangers becoming friends.
And from friends to family.
And this is the great family of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you're serving in your community groups.
Stand firm.
Be steadfast.
Immmovable.
Love those around you.
Bring that joy.
Live it out.
And others will be able to see something different and see our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
No matter how hard life sometimes gets.
You are that standing man.
Nothing will beat you down.
Thank you.
That's the next message.
Let's pray.
Let's thank you.
Let's bow in prayer.
Our dear Heavenly Father.
Your kingdom is forever.
We are all unworthy.
But you have promised to raise us from the dead.
You've given us.
You've preached to us this gospel.
So we can gain such a wonderful life.
God, help us to live a life that reflects the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be faithful.
And to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
We must be faithful.
Knowing that in the Lord, our labor is not in vain.
We must be faithful.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.