➽ Lessons learned from our students:
↪In our week-night bible classes , one of the students always come to class on time, pay attention, answers questions and participates in discussions (let's call her Jane). In our eyes, she is a good diligent student with good Bible knowledge. However, girls who live with her at our dormitory don't like her because she always "show-off" (in the little things she does) consciously or subconsciously hence everyone thinks she is not humble and no one is willing to ask her for help, be-friend her, etc....
☝We all know our God is the all-knowing God that He knows our heart, He knows all that we do and our motives. But somehow God is always not on our radar during our wonderful lives.
It reminded me of many lunches we had with fellow church-goers after Sunday services around the world. One thing in common around the world, is what we talk about? We usually talk about ourselves! We are always proud of ourselves with the wrong things, e.g. our accomplishment (e.g. certificate in xx, joining the famous Bible-study, etc.) or our children accomplishment (e.g. 1st place in piano competition, ballet, or what university to attend etc.). We always put our effort in the WRONG and WORDLY things; and tried to impress our fellow sinners.
We need to focus on God; and how God sees us --- our actions, our thoughts, our motives. We need to be worthy to be called God's children, we need to give our Father the Honor He deserved.
In James 4:6 said,...“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
↪When we continue to hear the story, other girls at our dormitory compliant about Jane when she translates from English to Khmer for us in front other students. The students said that Jane did the translation well but they didn't want to listen to her, and hence they didn't want to listen to what we teach from the Bible or listen to the sermon.
☝Our first reaction is our students should focus on God no matter who is translating, love and forgive others..... But the incident also remind us of our-old-selves. Back twenty years ago, we used to complaint about why our church are so old-fashioned, why not have better church activities, why not sing a nice modern christian praise song at church. Yes we had the same problem as our students. We value ourselves higher than God. We put our own pleasure before the Glory of God. We only want a more enjoyable time at church instead of a true and acceptable worship.
*BTY, we are teaching our students to appreciate traditional hymns with biblical truth and compared them to many modern praise songs with 20 words.
↪In recent weeks, one of the boy students has stepped up to be the translator during Sunday sermon. His English is not the best among the students, but he has a strong serving heart. He would prepare the translation ahead of time, so that he knows how to translate from English to Khmer for certain Biblical terms.
☝His attitude reminds us our attitude when we serve at church. For example, singing in choir, collecting offering, preparing PowerPoint slides, teaching Sunday school or even playing piano. We should examine ourselves:
- Do I serve at church because I am ”good” at it?
- Do I serve because I have some ”free time”?
- Do I serve because I have been doing it for my last 30 years?
- Do I serve because I think ”if I don't do it , nobody will do it?”
- Do I serve because it looks good in front of my friends?
- Do I serve because my children is in the Sunday School, so I should contribute some of my time to the Sunday school too?
Let's remind ourselves from the book of Romans how should we glorify God everyday.
Roman 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Our prayer requests:
➺Keep our students in your prayers for them to open their hearts to know about God, confess their sins, and believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior.
➺Pray for our dorm leaders' spiritual strength to lead other students in the dormitory
➺Continue to pray financially for our dormitory's operation expenses as living expenses are increasing significantly in Cambodia in recent months.
➺Pray for our family health as we are still recovering from a cold from recent weeks.
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| Worship 2 weeks ago during Chinese New Year. (many students left to visit hometown because their schools were closed) Amy led the music worship. |
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| Gryphon and Joelle are listening during worship. |
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| Sunday worship a few week ago. Students led the singing. |
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| One student leading the corporate prayer. |
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| Prayer time. Many students went to their hometown to visit family, because most schools have holidays during Chinese New Year. |
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| Students are prayer for our hometown church, our dormitory, and Cambodia. |
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| Thomas shares at the sermon and leading the prayer. |
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| Over half of our students has good understanding in English, so the sermon is needed to be translated to Khmer (Cambodia language). |
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| This student is a bit shy when translating, but he served faithfully to translate during worship. |
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| Another Sunday during singing. |
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| Another student translating for Thomas. This student's English is not the best among others, but he serve faithfully. |
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