Today's Passage - Galatians 1:11-17

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Galatians 1: 11-17   For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.  For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.  And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.  But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,  was pleased to reveal his Son tome, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.   The ministry of serving God should be in accordance with God's purpose not of men's ideas - not by the requests from other people or any organization.  We received our teachings not from others nor from the seminaries. Church ministry encounters great a difficulty because we look heavily upon the degrees obtained from seminaries or instructions from others, trusting more to human opinions than God's. This is not to say that human and seminary teachings are not appropriate, but more importantly we should have God's burden, His guidance and revelations instead of working   zealously  according to the traditions of the church just like Paul who was zealous in abiding strictly to the laws and the traditions of the church before his conversion.   Many today are zealous to the tradition of the church.  They feel that the church has been like that in the past twenty years, how can this be changed?   We can only see what is in the past, but not God's guidance in this particular age.  This is also a problem brought by today's denominations. In reality, the rise of every denomination, accompanied by God's work at the time, became the vessel of God's work at that very time.  But as time went, the fervent followers of these denominations did little to renew the ministry and it became just an idea overlooking God's work at present - overly zealous of what God did in the past, but overlooking God's desire for them to move forward at present. .  In serving God, we need to focus on God's calling, and understand our mission given by God.  This strong sense of mission becomes our driving force so that we would not be in despair when difficulties arise, but moving forward, instead,  with the help of our Lord.  May the Lord grant us this sense of mission and motivation.                                                              Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank You for You have loved us and knew us since we were in our mothers' wombs.  May we receive this vision from You so that we may glorify Your holy name in our families, our work, our church and our lives.  With thanks we pray, in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!