Category: Experiencing God

親爱弟只姊妹，平安!

從3月4日星期日開始，CBCGL開始一個主题為“不再一樣”的講道系列。以Henry Blackaby (布克比),  Richard Blackaby 和Claude King   編寫的Experiencing God(中文“不再一樣”)一書爲材料。英語堂將首先啟動。三月中粤語堂開始。華語堂會留待四月份。這講道系列旨在帶出2018年度主題 “一件新事”個人層面的關係。當神將舊事物轉化為新事, 曠野開道路，沙漠開江河（以賽亞書43:19）的時候，我們應如何回應？布克比挑戰讀者不要因循固有，亦不要袖手旁觀地看著神工作，而是要積極地了解神正在做什麼，加入祂的工作行列。神要在我們教會為社區做一件新事。所以，每人必須自問：我在這個新事中扮演什麼角色？

自從90年代中期問世以來，“不再一樣” 這本書销售了數百萬份。在網上，很容易找到很多故事和資源，見証“不再一樣”在世界各地的教會，怎樣幫助信徒體驗神的作為和明白神的心意。這本書26章，我們會用超過半年，每星期硏讀一章。出版社另有附讀的小组手册，今年暫且不用，但以後在团契主日學可考慮常用。

英文版Experiencing God，可以通過Amazon或CBD在線訂購, 平裝書和電子書皆可。中文版“不再一樣”要從台灣和香港的幾家網上書店（例如 Logos, Baptist, Campus, CCLM）才可訂購。為方便弟兄姊妹，我們在網上設有預訂註冊, 讓教會小書房可較便宜地集體訂購。

LifeWay出版社製作了一部長達一小時的紀錄視频，見証“不再一樣”的影響力。你可以在這裡看到一個預告片。在小组一同看頻，然後進行討論，可引發閲讀這書的興趣。我們將購買該片的教堂放播版權。如果您有興趣在您的小組中展示，請與我聯繫。

還有其他視頻資源可以在線免費使用。例如，在Vimeo上有一套合七集的專輯。你可以考慮鼓勵你的小組成員在閱讀該書和聽道前先觀看。如果我們能夠獲得足夠的技術志願者，我們也可以錄製我們這一個講道系列的錄像。這套視頻可以成為本會未來門徒訓練的寶貴資源。

講員會各自決定講道經。作為參巧，我在這裹收集了各章所提到的重點經文。你可以考慮在你每週的經常聚會帶出這些經文，與週日訊息加深對應。經文也適用於背誦經文。在選擇詩歌時，也可以考慮這些主題。

	Topic	Key Verses	Illustrative Stories
1	Knowing God by Experience	John 17:3	Gen. 22 (Abraham)
2	God Works according to His Nature	1 John 4:7-8	Deut. 10 (The Israelites)
3	Doing God’s will	John 4:34	Gen. 12:1-5 (Abram)
4	Being God’s Servant	John 12:26	Jer. 18:1-6 (Jeremiah)
5	Seven Realities of Experiencing God	Amos 3:7	Exod. 3-4 (Moses)
6	God Is at Work Around You	John 5:19-20	2 Cor. 5:17-20 (The Father-Son co-working)
7	God Pursues a Love Relationship with You	Matt. 22:37-38	Phil. 3:4-14 (Paul)
8	God’s Invitation to Join Him in His Work	Phil. 2:13	Num. 14 (Caleb)
9	God Invites You to Join Him	2 Cor. 5:19-20	Isa. 14:24, 27, 46:11 (Isaiah)
10	God Speaks to His People	John 8:47	Heb. 1:1-2 (Jesus as Prophet)
11	God Reveals Himself, His Purposes, and His Ways	Isa. 55:8	Gen. 17 (Abram at 99)
12	God Speaks through the Bible	2 Tim. 3:16-17	Heb. 4:12; 1 Cor. 2:14-15 (The Holy Spirit)
13	God Speaks through Prayer	Rom. 8:26-27	John 11 (Mary of Bethany)
14	God Speaks through Circumstances	Prov. 3:5-6	Gen. 37 (Joseph)
15	God Speaks through the Church	Eph. 4:15-16	1 Cor. 12:18 (the Church as a Body)
16	God’s Invitation Leads to a Crisis of Belief	Heb. 11:6	2 Chron. 20 (King Jehoshaphat)
17	Joining God Requires Adjustments	Luke 9:23-24	1 Kings 19 (Elisha)
18	Joining God Requires Obedience	Luke 14:33	Jonah 4 (Jonah)
19-21	God Accomplishes His Work; Broken Relationship, Marriage	Isa. 46:10-11	Luke 10:21-14 (the Disciples)
22-24	Joining God’s Activity in Your Children’s Life; the Church, Marketplace	Acts 17:17	2 Chron. 7 (Solomon)
25-26	Continuing to Experience God; His Kingdom	Jude 24	Joshua 1:1-9 (Joshua)

日期與講員即將快肯定。

	Mandarin	Cantonese	English
3/4			1
3/11			2
3/18		1	3
3/25 Palm Sunday	Joint Service
4/1		2	4
4/8
4/15			5
4/22	1	3	6
4/29	2	4	7
5/6		5	8
5/13 Mother’s Day
5/20	3	19-21	9
5/27	4	22-24	10
6/3	MBB
6/10	5	15	11
6/17	6	6	12
6/24	Maryland BFC
7/1	7		13
7/8	8		14
7/15	9		15
7/22	10		16
7/29	11		17
8/5	12		18
8/12	13		19-21
8/19			22-24
8/26	14		25-26
9/2	15	16
9/9	16	17
9/16	17	18
9/23	18	25-26
10/7	19-21
10/14	19-21
10/21	22-24
10/28	25-26

如果您有任何問題和建議，請不要客氣，直接跟我聯络!

主內

業基 (Pastor Gideon)

CBCGL 英語事工牧師

 

 

Dear coworkers,

Beginning Sunday March 4, CBCGL will begin a sermon series on Experiencing God (不再一樣), a classic study of discipleship written by Henry and Richard Blackaby together with Claude King.  The English ministry will start the sermon series first; it will begin later in March for the Cantonese ministry and in April for the Mandarin ministry.  The sermon series intends to bring out the personal relevance for our 2018 theme focusing on God’s work in transforming an old reality into a new thing: a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert (Isa. 43:19).  Instead of running the same old thing my way, or standing idly by to watch God working, Blackaby challenges his readers to discover what new things God is doing and join Him.  God is doing a new thing in our church for the community.  Look no further than the building project to see His guiding hand.  Nevertheless, every member must still pause to ask: what is my role in this new thing?

Since it came out in the mid-90s, millions of copies of Experiencing God have been sold.  You can easily find hundreds of inspiring stories and online resources shared by different Christian leaders and churches worldwide that have integrated Experiencing God as a foundational discipleship program.  The 26-chapter book, which will be the basis of our sermon series, is accompanied by a 12-week intensive group study guide which we will not use this time.  To get the most out of the sermon series, we encourage each family to get a copy of the book.  For the English edition, the paperback and e-Book can be ordered online through Amazon or CBD.  For the Chinese edition, which is available from several online bookstores in Taiwan and Hong Kong (e.g. Logos, Baptist, Campus, CCLM), we will circulate a pre-order sign-up so that the church bookstore can stock enough copies for purchase.

LifeWay Publishing has produced an hour-long documentary film illustrating the impact of Experiencing God through some real-life stories.  You can see a trailer here.  It can be a powerful experience viewing the film together as a group and followed by an interactive discussion, especially during the early lessons to get people interested.  We will purchase the digital church license.  Please contact me if you are interested in showing the film in your group.

There are other video resources available freely online.  For example, an album of seven introductory sessions is available on Vimeo.  You may consider encouraging your group members to watch the introductory videos before reading the book chapters and coming church to hear the sermon preached.  If we can get enough technical volunteers, we could also video record the sermon series.  This video collection can be a valuable resource for discipleship training in the future.

While the preachers will individually determine the passages to speak on, I have come up with a collection of illustrative biblical passages used in the various chapters.  You could consider referencing these passages during your group bible study sessions to correspond more thematically in tandem with the Sunday messages.  The key verses are also suitable for memory verses.  The worship leaders could also take the topic into account when selecting music.

	Topic	Key Verses	Illustrative Stories
1	Knowing God by Experience	John 17:3	Gen. 22 (Abraham)
2	God Works according to His Nature	1 John 4:7-8	Deut. 10 (The Israelites)
3	Doing God’s will	John 4:34	Gen. 12:1-5 (Abram)
4	Being God’s Servant	John 12:26	Jer. 18:1-6 (Jeremiah)
5	Seven Realities of Experiencing God	Amos 3:7	Exod. 3-4 (Moses)
6	God Is at Work Around You	John 5:19-20	2 Cor. 5:17-20 (The Father-Son co-working)
7	God Pursues a Love Relationship with You	Matt. 22:37-38	Phil. 3:4-14 (Paul)
8	God’s Invitation to Join Him in His Work	Phil. 2:13	Num. 14 (Caleb)
9	God Invites You to Join Him	2 Cor. 5:19-20	Isa. 14:24, 27, 46:11 (Isaiah)
10	God Speaks to His People	John 8:47	Heb. 1:1-2 (Jesus as Prophet)
11	God Reveals Himself, His Purposes, and His Ways	Isa. 55:8	Gen. 17 (Abram at 99)
12	God Speaks through the Bible	2 Tim. 3:16-17	Heb. 4:12; 1 Cor. 2:14-15 (The Holy Spirit)
13	God Speaks through Prayer	Rom. 8:26-27	John 11 (Mary of Bethany)
14	God Speaks through Circumstances	Prov. 3:5-6	Gen. 37 (Joseph)
15	God Speaks through the Church	Eph. 4:15-16	1 Cor. 12:18 (the Church as a Body)
16	God’s Invitation Leads to a Crisis of Belief	Heb. 11:6	2 Chron. 20 (King Jehoshaphat)
17	Joining God Requires Adjustments	Luke 9:23-24	1 Kings 19 (Elisha)
18	Joining God Requires Obedience	Luke 14:33	Jonah 4 (Jonah)
19-21	God Accomplishes His Work; Broken Relationship, Marriage	Isa. 46:10-11	Luke 10:21-14 (the Disciples)
22-24	Joining God’s Activity in Your Children’s Life; the Church, Marketplace	Acts 17:17	2 Chron. 7 (Solomon)
25-26	Continuing to Experience God; His Kingdom	Jude 24	Joshua 1:1-9 (Joshua)

The sermon dates of each lesson have been tentatively set and the speakers will be finalized soon:

	Mandarin	Cantonese	English
3/4			1
3/11			2
3/18		1	3
3/25 Palm Sunday	Joint Service
4/1		2	4
4/8
4/15			5
4/22	1	3	6
4/29	2	4	7
5/6		5	8
5/13 Mother’s Day
5/20	3	19-21	9
5/27	4	22-24	10
6/3	MBB
6/10	5	15	11
6/17	6	6	12
6/24	Maryland BFC
7/1	7		13
7/8	8		14
7/15	9		15
7/22	10		16
7/29	11		17
8/5	12		18
8/12	13		19-21
8/19			22-24
8/26	14		25-26
9/2	15	16
9/9	16	17
9/16	17	18
9/23	18	25-26
10/7	19-21
10/14	22-24
10/21	25-26

More announcements will be filed under the category “Experiencing God” in the site news.lowell.church.  I am encouraging preachers to make available sermon notes and discussion questions to be posted there.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and suggestions.

Thank you and I pray that this sermon series can help bring spiritual transformation in this church!

Blessings,

Gideon Lee

English Ministry Pastor, CBCGL