Pastor Andrew, and Brothers and Sisters: Peace be with you! My heartfelt thanks to all for your prayers and concern for me, a humble instrument of the LORD. Besides a deep sense of longing whenever I think of all of you, I am also grateful to you all because you do not see, yet you act with faith and care for the glory of God’s kingdom, loving the goodness of His work and emphathizing the weaknesses of God’s people. Looking back on the past year, the LORD had mercy on me even though I had several weaknesses. His grace is bountiful.
First, I am thankful to experience Christ through the union of death and life with Him. The Lord has more thoroughly polished and moulded me this year. He allowed me to know myself better and detest the old self in me. Thus, I am grateful towards the faithful and merciful God.
Second, for many years I am very thankful to the Lord who has placed me in a group who oppose self-centredness, who is united in the love for Christ and who deny themselves and carry the cross. This has allowed me to be teachable, and grow. In particular, the co-labourers in Fuzhou has helped me to be continually renewed and grow. They are a group of people who deny themselves and exalt only the Lord. A group of co-labourers who are faithful till death is indeed very important!
Third, I am thankful to the Lord who has watched over us in this crooked and depraved era so we do not compromise our values with the wickedness of the world and false doctrine. There are many persecutions and obstacles outside the church. But these are not the most difficult.
In this year, in the many places in which we were ministering, many were persecuted by godless opposition. Also, other churches were forced to close down and personal properties were confiscated. But these did not stop us from carrying the cross nor did they make us hate them. On the contrary, this has motivated new converts to seek baptism and spurred us to on to preach the gospel.
Our biggest difficulty comes from within the church. China has been depraved for a long time; profession of faith, theological doctrines, ministry, life testimony, gospel work, hope for the kingdom of heaven, etc. have long been lost in decadence, and cannot be described in words. This is definitely an inevitable state of the end times. Even though our hearts are heavy, we can only hardly experience the pain of Christ who weeps over Jerusalem. Hence, those who betray Christ to protect themselves, and accept theology steeped in unbelief, and those who love the world love being part of the Three-Self Group churches. House churches also indulge in vain glory . . .
To be continued next Lord’s Day