The message of God is transferrable. It is meant to be passed on from generations to generations. We are to pass them down to faithful people who would subsequently pass it on to others. This process highlights the importance of impartation. We must bear in mind that we need to communicate the truth in a clear and understandable way without compromising it. We should not teach only the simple things nor try to make things more complicated, instead we should learn to make the profound truth of God simple and easy to grasp. Many of us are fearful of becoming teachers for fear that we are not spiritual enough or that we might teach the wrong things. Yet there are others who are very keen to teach without building their inner lives first. Both are areas that we need to look out for, but whatever it is, the truth is that we learn the most when we are teaching if we adopt the right attitude. If we are humble to learn, we would also be humble to teach. We would do our best to handle the truth of God. In this manner, we would be able to disciple and sharpen one another, thus building the kingdom of God.

God’s truth can be applied. But to apply God’s truth is more than just doing it. It can be first applied to our heart and mind. It has to change our inner being first before it is being translated into action. These actions are also not restricted to an individual. The message of God can impact a community. In the process of implementation, we do not only apply the truth to ourselves but we can also plan how to impact the community with the truth at hand. This involves a vision, a passion and actions to fulfill God’s divine truth.

Closely linked to the concept of inculturalization is the idea of indigenization. Besides making the Truth of God relevant and culturally sensitive, it must be allowed to be expressed with local flavours and characteristics. Christ did not come to overturn every stone, He lived in the culture and worked with the culture. We too, must be careful not to reject everything in our cultures. Of course, there will be certain forms that have to be discarded, especially those with religious connotations. But yet we can think of creative ways of replacing them. Rather than just blindly sticking to our Christian traditions and imposing our ways on others, we need to be magnanimous enough to accept the heritage of others. Bearing all these in mind, we can build an indigenous church without forcefully imposing our own culture on others.

There can be only one Truth, but there are many ways of communicating and presenting it. The process of making it culturally sensitive and relevant is known as inculturalization. This is a process we cannot ignore. Or else our message can become irrelevant and may cause animosity too. There is therefore a need to understand the culture and the thoughts that are deeply entrenched in the human mind. It takes interest in anthropology and then make critical contextualization to our message at hand. By saying this, we must understand that we are not reducing the message, but rather making it more understandable and less misunderstood in that particular culture.

Change can be superficial. In order to save time, we can act upon something without being changed internally. This kind of change is temporal. It focuses more on our behaviour. We can impose ourselves to do some things and suppress ourselves not to do some things. We tend to emphasize more on the symptoms rather than the roots. Some of us may end up finding ourselves in this category after being a believer for some time. This may be because we have not internalized the Word of God in our lives. In order to internalize the Word of God, we need to spend time in meditation and reflection on the Word of God. When the Word of God resonates in our hearts, we would then develop a deep conviction. This conviction brings about transformation in our mind to reshape our values and principles and finally, result in a change in action. Internalization is a very important process that we must never forsake. Through it, we would become more and more Christ-like.
In our busyness and urgency to reach out for Christ, let us not forget to internalized the Truth of God. Let us take time to build ourselves so that we may not end up beating the air aimlessly.

Thank God that our God neither sleeps nor slumber, He is always ready to help us in times of need. We have a God that is on call 24/7. However, this only applies to God. God has not created us to be 24/7. But it seems that we are moving in that direction. With more 24/7 shops and banks, we are working round the clock. Even if we are not working in a shop that operates 24/7, most of us still work like 24/7 human beings. We have to work everyday so as to play very hard in the weekends. Some do not even get their weekends, they just bring their work home to do. In the name of productivity and efficiency, we are working harder and longer. Each person is taking the load of more than what one can handle. Even in the church, we can get busier than the world. We forget that we are not God. We do not have a super body. We are created to rest and feel rested in God. We should not be too busy for God.
When we overwork, not only we hurt our health, we also displace God. How would we have time for God if we try to work harder than God? We would even try to solve every problem on our own rather than relying on God to help. We can become greater and God becomes smaller, until He just disappear. Living in a 24/7 world, do we have room for Jesus?  While celebrating Christmas, do we feel rested in God?
Believe that we can make a difference. Do not follow the world blindly. We are not slaves to work but to God. God has never intended for us to work to this extent. This includes our service to Him. Do not serve to the extent that we lose our souls. I know many of us are not working for money, but we are driven by our responsibility. For some churches this is a sense of urgency. This is a season to rethink again and choose the life that God intends for us to have. Observing Sabbath, resting and sleeping are important. The sense of stillness, restedness and contemplative reflection is even more crucial. We need to show the tired and worn out world how to rest. Unless we make a deliberate choice, we will all be heading toward 24/7. Why not have a rested Christmas this year? CTD wishes all a blessed and rested Christmas.

若百夫长不去找耶稣
他儿子又怎会得医治
若那四人不帮那瘸腿
他又怎能在路上行走

若妇人不伸手触摸主
她的血又怎会止得住
若盲人不向耶稣呼求
他又怎会得以看得见

若被鬼伏身的不呼主
他又怎会得着主释放
若彼得不跨出那艘船
他又怎会在海上行走

若小孩不给五饼二鱼
众人又怎会得以饱足
若撒该不爬上那大树
耶稣又怎会与他同宿

若不敞开胸怀接受主
我们又怎会得到救恩
若没有信心向主祷告
我们又怎会得到应允

若不真诚向耶稣忏悔
我们又怎会得主饶恕
若不决意等候亲进神
我们又怎会认识耶稣

若不尽心尽意敬拜主
你我又怎会得到释放
若不用心读神的话语
我们又怎知神的道路

若不全心顺服跟从主
我们又怎会得神应许
若不敢于踏出第一步
神又怎会为我们引路

副：
第一步啊第一步啊
神要我们先跨一步
只要愿意跨这一步
神必会为我们开路

Many of us are scared of cockroaches. We are especially scared when they run toward us when we switch on the light in the room. Why do cockroaches run toward us when we switch on the light? Are they not afraid of us? Sure they do. But they are looking for dark patches to hide and when we switch on the light, our shadow become the nearest dark patch. No wonder they run toward us rather than go into hiding. They are just hiding in our shadow.
Though we do not like cockroaches, we do behave like them at times. When exposed to the light of God, we like to hide in our darkness. We are unwilling to come out of the shadow and stay in the marvellous light of God. We are afraid of our sins being exposed.
Let us not live like cockroaches anymore. God wants us to live like fireflies. We need not live in the shadow of darkness. Jesus can shine into every dark corner of our lives and grant us a new beginning. He calls us to be the light of the world. We are like little fireflies that can emit light. We can even bring this little light of ours to light up the lives of others. This season, let us stop behaving like cockroaches and be little fireflies that shine in the world of darkness. Amen.

我们大多数人都怕蟑螂. 特别是当我们开房间的灯时, 它们跑向我们的时候. 为什么当我们开灯时 蟑螂会跑向我们呢? 它们不怕我们吗? 它们当然怕, 但是当我们开灯时, 它们就会寻找黑暗的地方躲藏, 而我们的影子就是那最黑暗的地方了. 难怪它们会跑向我们. 它们正躲藏在我们的影子里呢!

虽然我们不喜欢蟑螂, 但我们有时侯也会象它们. 当神的光照着我们的时候, 我们喜欢藏在黑暗中. 我们不愿意从影子中出来, 不愿在神那奇妙的光里呆着. 我们害怕我们的罪会被揭穿.

让我们不要象蟑螂一样地活着. 神要我们象萤火虫一般地活着. 我们不必活在黑暗的影子里. 耶稣可以照亮我们生命中每一个黑暗的角落, 更能够给予我们一个新的开始. 神叫我们成为世上的光. 我们就象小小的萤火虫一般, 能够发出亮光. 我们还能把这微小的亮光带给别人,照亮他们的生命. 在这个季节里, 让我们不要象蟑螂但让我们做小小萤火虫照亮这黑暗的世界. 阿们.

I once saw a shirt that says “Our journey is not painful because of the pebbles on the road but because of the sand in our shoes.” How true it is. Our current journey may have challenges, but it is the baggage that we carry that makes our path even more unbearing. The only way is to let go of our baggage. We can cast all our cares to Jesus because He cares for us. Jesus, the Healer, can heal all our inner wounds. But are we willing to take off our shoes? If we are willing to make a confession to God about our hurts and pain? If so God would surely clear the sand in our shoes. We would then be more prepared for the long journey ahead.

我曾经看到有人的衣服上这样写着，”我们疼痛不是因为路途上有太多的石子，而是我们的鞋子里有太多的沙粒。” 的确的，我们的路途虽然有许多挑战, 但是往往让我们现在的路走得更疼痛的是我们所背着的包袱。唯一的方法就是卸下包袱. 我们能够把我们一切的顾虑交托给主耶稣, 因为他卷顾我们. 耶稣是医治者, 他能医治我们内心里的忧伤. 但我们愿意拖掉我们的鞋子向神承认我们所有的忧伤和痛处吗? 如果愿意, 神必定会除去我们鞋里的沙子. 这样一来, 我们就能够走前头更长的路。

There will always be trials and temptations in our lives. God uses them and allows them to build, train and discipline our lives. But what is crucial when trials and temptations happen in our lives is our response to them. Do we draw nearer to God or do we run farther away from God? Like someone once said that in our life journey, there will be stones. But we can choose to trip over it, go round it, step on it or build on it. Paul said that we should consider it pure joy when we face trials. Obviously, he saw it as an opportunity to draw nearer to God rather than to hide from God. Our attitude is the key. The key is not how big the problem is as some have mistaken it to be. They feel that it is too hard to come near to God when they are feeling painful or sinful. But running farther away from God will only make the matter worse. It is only when we face the problem together with God can our load be lightened and experience joy. Let us not run away from God when we are faced with tribulations for there is no way we can hide from Him. In fact, He is our only best source of comfort and strength.