The Sunday Service commenced with the Worship team, leading the praise and worship session, during which offerings were collected and then, wrapped up with a consecration of the offertory by Elder (Dr) B. Langkham. The end of the devotion was followed by the assimilation of the new church members, who were then prayed for by the local pastor. Elder KhamkhanpauGuite proceeded to make a short list of announcements after which Pastor N. Tuanglang took to the pulpit and introduced the theme of the Bible Study Class (Lesson 11), which was: ‘The Witnesses of Jesus’ Gospel (John 5:19-47). In John 5:19, Jesus brings to light how He is working in accordance to His Father’s will and not on His own whim. Through the incident at the garden of Gethsemane, we witness the Lord in His weakest for the first time, but notwithstanding the discomfort He felt at burden of sins that would be endowed upon Him, He accepted His fate and did accordingly as His Father - our God— had planned for Him. “Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (v.19b, NIV) The Jewish leaders, righteous and law-abiding in their own eyes, believe in the Scriptures written by Moses and follow them diligently. But how, the Lord asks them, do they hope of attaining eternal life if they wouldn’t believe in Him, but instead condemned and intended to kill. It is Christ whom Moses wrote about in his Scriptures and the one whom John testified in favor of. If we do not spend our efforts for Christ, all that we do will eventually fade into nothing and it will be all in vain. Whether or not we read the Holy Bible and have the verses memorized, what matters at the end of the day is not the knowledge we’ve accumulated, but whether we believe in the crux of the scriptures, that is Jesus Christ, “…because we have [to] put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10b)
We need to reflect and keep all the worldly pleasures and banal distractions away from our life that cloud our judgment and our sight of God. Like, Jesus, we need to follow the Father’s plans and daily live accordingly as his witnesses, for we do not know when we may die and leave this Earth.
As the sermon ended, Pastor H Biakson took to the pulpit and closed the service with a benediction.
Nenem Guite, Content Writer
