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| Series Introduction | Week 9 Introduction |
This week, we will be reading this instruction from 1 Peter 3:14-15
Even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…
The day I began preparing for this text, I received the following report from our brothers and sisters in China (used with permission):
China, an ancient civilization, has a cultural inheritance of great unification deeply planted in the Chinese mind. However, for many reasons, Chinese believers in Jesus were separated from international churches for decades. Then, miraculously, after China’s Reform and Opening Up, a door leading to material treasure was opened to China as Chinese society went through great transformation. However, in such an era of rapid economic development, the sudden increase in wealth wasn’t able to cure the emptiness in the heart…
To fill that emptiness, the Chinese church has gone through a great revival since the reform. The ultimate meaning of life has been found in every place, from countryside to city, from working class to academics and from business to arts. People of every age, every region, every industry, and every state have found the resting place for their souls in Jesus.
This revival has come through faithfulness in the midst of suffering. During the Boxer Movement in 1900, Christian martyrs sowed the seeds of the Chinese local church by shedding their blood. After that, many other Chinese people denied themselves, carried their crosses, and followed Christ. They stood up and influenced tens of thousands of people in that era. God made them go though many sufferings, and their experience of victory over such situations testified to the truthfulness of God’s love. With a true and loving relationship with God, they profoundly propelled the development and maturity of the Chinese church…
Hundreds of thousands of Christians are now stepping on this same narrow road of the Cross… They are motivated by the love of Christ…
“With the vision of Christ I step forward to wake up the sleeping China and let the Gospel spread to every corner of the world.” You can hear this song in hundreds of thousands of churches in China. It is a song God put into the Chinese church and the hearts of Chinese believers. It never ceases.
May we learn from our church family in China and from God’s Word today.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor