Christmas 2024

Dec 26

25 December 2024

And we celebrated the birth of Jesus today!

We feasted in celebration of this occasion, and watched the Sunday School children, serving ministry and a father-daughter duo perform to glorify God’s name.

Pastor Paul’s sermon today touched on the topic of “Who wants this Son?”. He started the sermon with a story (P.S. The names are fictional in this story).

During a brutal war, a soldier named Thomas sacrificed his life to save a young man, Edward. Grateful, Edward, an artist, painted a beautiful portrait of Thomas in honour of him. Edward went to meet Thomas’ father, who was happy to receive the portrait in honour of his late son. Over the years, Edward's art career flourished, and the portrait became invaluable.

When Thomas’ father passed away, the portrait was sold at an auction. No one knew the high value of the portrait, and it was not disclosed regarding the auction’s terms where the one who bought the portrait would inherit everything Thomas owned, including his estate and wealth.

The story was an enactment of how our Father, God, has intended to present us a gift, the gift of eternal life. We only need to believe in His one and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to receive this invaluable gift. For the penalty of sin is death. But our Lord Jesus comes, so that we can have eternal life.

Mark 10:45 NIV

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We pray that this Christmas, all of us will better appreciate the precious gift that Jesus Christ has freely given to us.

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今天我们庆祝了耶稣的诞生！

我们在庆祝这个时刻时盛宴欢庆，并观看了主日学的孩子们、事工团队以及一对父女的表演，他们为了荣耀上帝的名。

今天，Paul牧师的讲道主题是“谁要这个儿子？”。他开始讲道时讲了一个故事（注：故事中的人物名字为虚构）。

在一次激烈的战争中，一名士兵托马斯为拯救年轻人爱德华牺牲了自己的生命。爱德华感激不已，作为纪念，他画了一幅美丽的托马斯肖像。爱德华带着这幅肖像去见托马斯的父亲，托马斯的父亲高兴地收下了这幅画，作为对他已故儿子的纪念。随着岁月流逝，爱德华的艺术事业蒸蒸日上，而这幅肖像也变得越来越珍贵。

当托马斯的父亲去世后，这幅肖像被拿到拍卖会上出售。没有人知道这幅肖像的真实价值，且拍卖的条款也没有公开，其中包括：购买这幅肖像的人将继承托马斯的所有遗产和财富。

这个故事是对上帝父亲如何呈现给我们一份礼物的具象化：那就是永生的礼物。我们只需要相信祂的独生子耶稣基督，就能得到这份无价的礼物。因为罪的代价是死亡，但我们的主耶稣降临，为的是让我们得永生。

马可福音 10:45 NIV

“因为连人子也不是来受人服事，而是来服事人，並且要为众人舍命，做多人的赎价。”