Praise God that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. I want to share about this grace of God through the 2008 Melbourne Summer Bible Conference from Nov. 7 -9.
We started the 2008 ministry with an emphasis on fishing so that God might send us new Bible students. Though the indifference of the campus students discouraged us, we didn't give up, but visited the campus and invited students continually. By His grace, God sent us his flock of sheep one after another. Brother James and Kelvin, and Sister Bea and Kate were the fruits of this year's fishing and 1:1 Bible studies. Richard Hammett, James Stacey, Stephen Holmes-Brown, Pauline Lee, Kelvin and Bea are also regular Bible study students. Through the Summer Bible Conference, we prayed that God may raise them as disciples and establish a regular disciple meeting.
On the day we left for the conference, there was heavy rain. We had been suffering from drought for some time and the rain was a sign of God's blessing. We prayed that God may send us the rain of the Holy Spirit. During the first day, we heard a message based on Genesis 12, "You will be a blessing!" served by Missionary Jacob Kim. We learned the meaning of a blessing in God and thanked God who called us to be blessings for world salvation. Missionary Erin Koo shared her life testimony. She testified about God who called her to be a source of blessing for Australian campus students.
For lectures two, three and four, Missionary Joseph Sim and Joseph Yang served together. Joseph Sim served Bible study style lectures and Joseph Yang served key verse based messages. All the attendants listened to the word of God attentively. On the second day, we studied Mark 8:27-37, "You are the Christ." A deep Bible study and message helped us to realize who Jesus is, that he gives us the forgiveness of sins and salvation. Missionary Gospel Kim shared her life testimony and testified that Jesus was everything to her. She had suffered greatly for the name of Jesus in PNG, but she was thankful that she served her Christ Jesus wholeheartedly without reservation. In the afternoon, all the attendants, missionaries and Bible students engaged in writing Bible testimonies based on Mark 8:27-37. The whole afternoon was quiet, but full of grace as they wrote their testimonies.
The second night's Bible study was based on John 6:22-71. We learned two clear points: What Jesus wants to give us is eternal life in him, and Peter made a life commitment to Jesus because of the words of eternal life in him. Missionary Esther Sim shared her life testimony based on the passage. She found out that Jesus is the bread of life and overcame her ambition and achievement-oriented motivation. That night, testimony writing continued. No one told us what to do, but the word of God gave us inspiration and everybody volunatarily accepted one word of God deeply.
The last day, we studied John 15:1-16. "I am the vine, you are the branches." Through this passage, we learned the true meaning of a Christians' life: bearing fruit. When we remain in Jesus, he will make us bear much fruit. Missionary Deborah Yang shared her life testimony. She testified that God pruned her in many ways and blessed her to be a healthy and strong branch that bears much life-giving fruit for Australian campus students. Lastly, we had testimony sharing time. Because of the time limit, only young disciples, Bible students and young missionaries were allowed to share testimonies. James confessed that he was too proud to confess the helplessness in his spirit. He made a confession that he was a sinner who needed Jesus' grace of forgiveness and salvation. Richard didn't want to write a testimony. He said that testimony writing was too depressing. But when we helped him to write it, he listened to us and wrote his testimony late into the night. Stephen is a typical nominal and easy-going Christian, but we believe that the power of the word of God is stronger than his stubborn heart. The word of God will change him into a most committed disciple of Jesus.
Two things I am especially grateful to God for:
First, he gave us a vision for the Australian disciple-making ministry. Through this conference, God raised three disciples: Stephen Holmes-Brown, Richard Hammett and James Stacey. May God raise them as influential key disciples like Peter, John and James. May our Bible students, Sister Pauline, Bea, Kate, and Brother Kelvin grow and be raised as disciples of Jesus.
Second, God taught us how to overcome this world and raise students into disciples of Jesus. Through Bible study, we deeply accepted that only the word of God is our hope because the word of God can give people eternal life. Those who love the word of God remain in Jesus and his ministry. I personally accept that I must grow into a man of the word of God. May God raise Missionary Joseph Sim and Joseph Yang as servants of God's word and truth revealers. Praise and thank God for giving us the words that give us eternal life.
