Today's Passage - John 13:21-30

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english John 13: 21-30    After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me."                  The Lord testified that one of the twelve disciples is going to betray him. It's hard for us to imagine - why would anyone betray the Lord? We would think betraying the Lord is a serious matter, but in fact in life we often deny and betray the Lord with some trivial things. Especially when we are with our friends at dinner gatherings, your hearts would begin to struggle when getting ready to eat: "Do I need to say grace?" The friends here are non-believers; everyone is getting ready to eat, will you bow your head to pray? We are weak in this struggle, with thought, "Well Lord, it doesn't matter as it's this one time only! I'll let it go this time and pray next time, since my friends are non-believers."                  Too often we failed in our testimonies and yet we are not that concerned. But in reality, once we almost deny the lord before the world, don't you know it is the same as betraying him? Once we realize how serious this matter is, we have to ask God to give us a sensitive heart, to see how many times we deny and betray our Lord. Not just giving grace, sometimes we feel embarrassed when we talk about the gospel, when we mention ourselves as Christians, even when we are preaching the gospel. Why this feeling of embarrassment? Because you do not want to stand before the people and let them know that you are a Christian.                  We have betrayed the Lord in many little things, virtually denying him. May the Lord have mercy on us as he said very clearly, "If we deny the Lord before men, He also will deny us before the Father." May God help us that we do not fall in such circumstances. May God let us see that we are all capable in Christ; the one in us is really greater than the one in the world, such that we are strong and courageous, that you testify for the glory of God in the midst of this crooked and twisted generation!             Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, if in the past we have denied, betrayed you, please give us the strong and courageous spirit, such that we know that the Christ in us is not meek, but strong, and we stand up to become your witness. Thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!