New Beginnings

Today's scripture passage is found in Philippians chapter 3 verses 1 to 16.

Philippians 3:1–16

Please follow along in your bulletin.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.

And put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of Hebrews,

as to the law, a Pharisee.

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

As to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish.

In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,

not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,

but that which comes through faith in Christ,

the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection,

and may share his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death,

that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect,

but I press on to make it my own,

because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own,

but one thing I do,

forgetting what lies behind,

and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on towards the goal,

for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let those of you who are mature think this way,

and if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you.

Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

This is the reading of God's word.

Good morning.

I'm Eric.

If you don't know me, I'm the youth guy here at Watermark Church.

It's great to see you all this morning.

Everyone still awake and alive after Christmas,

and after the end of the world.

Yes.

So, I usually on Thursdays after work,

go over and do some after-school tutoring

for some inner-city kids.

And a few weeks ago, I was there,

I was tutoring this kid that I tutor every week,

and he was doing math homework,

and he had this word problem.

And it said,

a watermelon costs $6 per kilogram.

The cost of a honeydew melon

is one in three-fifths the times

that of a watermelon.

Daddy buys a honeydew melon

that weighs two and a half kg.

How much does he pay?

So, the kid...

Too much.

Probably, yes.

So, the kid sits there.

He thinks really, really hard about it.

Doesn't write anything down on the paper.

Keeps thinking.

Turns to me, and he says,

very seriously,

maybe it will be free.

And I looked at the kid,

and I was like,

why on earth would this honeydew melon be free?

You just have all the problem right here.

Why would it be free after you've read all this?

And he says,

well, maybe daddy knows the shopkeeper.

And I said,

no, you're not allowed to write that down.

But it made me think.

You know, in Hong Kong,

we are a city that loves our steps.

We love our processes.

We have a destination,

a goal that we want to get to,

and we have step A, B, C, D, E,

however many we need,

to get to that goal.

We build a process

so we can achieve the ends that we desire.

You know, this time of year,

that's especially obvious,

because we have New Year's resolutions coming up.

Everyone wants to lose weight,

quit smoking,

go to church more,

save more money.

And everyone has this process

and this plan

that they have come up with

to figure out,

here's how we're going to solve this.

Here's how we're going to fix this problem

in our lives.

And while I was doing research this week,

I actually found out,

interestingly,

that 88% of all New Year's resolutions fail,

according to a study done in 2007

of over 3,000 people.

Over 88% of New Year's resolutions fail.

As I thought about this kid

and how he approached his math problem

and us and how we approach life,

I had a realization

that this kid,

rather than turning to the systems

that he was supposed to use

to solve the problem,

solved the problem through a relationship.

Instead of writing down,

oh, $6 per kg times 1 and 3 fifths

times that,

times 2 kg,

he just said,

oh, daddy knows the shopkeeper,

it's going to be free.

He simplified the entire process

and got a better result.

And as I thought about us in the church,

I realized that a lot of times

we approach our spiritual life

by trying to improve

and trying to fix ourselves

through systems.

We say,

I'm going to read my Bible more,

I'm going to go to church more,

I'm going to do this,

I'm going to do that.

And we have this list of systems

that we think will fix us,

will make us better.

But if you look at the Bible,

the call is not for us

to pursue systems,

it's to pursue a relationship.

And it says that by pursuing

this relationship,

we'll not only simplify the process,

but we'll also achieve better results.

So as we look at today's passage

in Philippians chapter 3,

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

we have this guy named

the Apostle Paul.

Now Paul was the king

of fixing himself

through resolutions,

through systems.

He had it all.

And he lists off

what he has accomplished

in this passage.

He starts off saying,

you know,

if anyone thinks

that they've done enough good stuff

that they can be saved,

I am the guy.

His first item on the list,

he was circumcised

on the eighth day.

This is a Jewish,

part of the Jewish law

that baby boys

were supposed to be circumcised

on the eighth day.

And he was,

which means that he came

from a good family

where his parents

kept the law for him

before he was even old enough

to know what was going on.

Next up,

he's of the people of Israel.

He's part of God's chosen people.

And he's not just

any Israelite.

He's from the tribe

of Benjamin,

which back in the day,

Israel had this big split.

And 10 of the 12 tribes

of Israel left

following the king

after David's line,

the line that God

had established.

And Benjamin was one

of the two tribes

that actually stayed

and followed that king.

And so being part

of this tribe

was something

that he could look at

as an accomplishment

and achievement.

Even though he had

no control over

what family he was born into,

it was still an achievement

that he could point to

and say,

look,

I'm better off

because of this

if we're grading

bi-worldly standards.

He says he's a Hebrew

of Hebrews.

As to the law,

a Pharisee.

He was a religious leader.

He wasn't just

some random guy

on the street.

He had studied

the Old Testament

inside and out.

He knew what it said.

He was a leader

in the religious group.

As to Zeal,

a persecutor

of the church,

he believed

so strongly

in what he believed.

He was so passionate

about defending

God's truth

that he had revealed

to his people

that he was willing

to go out

and violently

persecute

the people

that he thought

were corrupting

that truth.

As to righteousness

under the law,

blameless.

There was nothing

that he had done,

nothing in his life

that anyone could point to

and say,

hey,

you messed up.

He kept all the rules.

He had everything

going on for him.

He had it all.

And then you look

at the next verse,

verse 7.

He says,

whatever gain I had,

I've counted as loss

for the sake of Christ.

He has this list

of accomplishments,

all of the systems,

all of the processes,

and he says,

ultimately,

it's loss

because I found

something else,

Christ,

that's more valuable.

The picture he's

painting for us here

is a business transaction.

He has two columns,

the assets column

and the liabilities column.

And he says,

formerly,

in the assets column,

there were all these things.

There was circumcised

the eighth day

of the people of Israel,

of the tribe of Benjamin,

a Hebrew of Hebrews,

as to the law,

a Pharisee,

as to zeal,

a persecutor of the church,

as to righteousness

under the law,

blameless.

And he took a big sharpie

and crossed out

the words assets

from the top of that list

and wrote liabilities.

He drew a new assets column

and in that column

he wrote one thing,

Christ.

Everything that he had

counted on before,

everything that he had

leaned on for his salvation,

for his hope,

he counts it as loss,

as liabilities,

because ultimately,

Christ is the greater thing

that he has found.

The systems lose their value

when he finds this hope

in a relationship instead.

He then goes on.

He says,

indeed,

for his sake,

I have counted

everything as loss

because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus,

my Lord.

There's another picture

we have here.

Imagine a man on a boat

filled with gold.

This man is sailing

and he knows

that when he reaches the shore,

he will be very rich.

And a storm hits.

He has two options.

Either he can take

all this gold on the boat,

throw it overboard,

and survive with his life,

or he can hold on

to this gold,

hold on to this hope

of wealth,

and drown with his treasure.

And he sees

that having life

is of way more value

than having

even this great treasure,

and so he throws

this treasure overboard

from his boat

because he knows

that life

is more precious than this.

Paul here,

he looks at all

of his accomplishments,

he looks at everything

he's accomplished.

He says,

yeah,

these aren't bad things.

It's not bad

to have been a religious leader.

It's not bad

to be an Israelite.

These are good things.

But ultimately,

if I hold on to them

instead of holding on to Christ,

it's going to lead to death.

And so I'm going to take them

and throw them overboard.

Get rid of them

because the treasure

that I'm reaching towards

is of so much more worth

and so much more value

than even these good things

that I have now.

And when he talks about

how he's,

he's,

you know,

counted these things as loss,

it's not just that he's

sort of passively

letting them go,

but he's actively

pursuing this

because of the worth

that he has found instead.

He says he counts

these things as rubbish.

It's not like he

gets rid of these things

and then keeps looking back

and thinks,

oh,

look at all that I had

to give up

in order to follow Jesus.

No, he says it's rubbish.

It's,

that word can be translated

as crap.

This garbage

that I've given up.

All these good things

in comparison

to what I've found,

they're garbage.

I don't care about them.

I don't think about them.

I don't dwell

over what I've lost

or given up

because I have found

something of so much

greater value.

I am pursuing this instead.

And he repeatedly,

repeatedly mentions

the treasure

that he has found

in this passage.

He says,

I've given up

all these things.

In verse 7,

he says,

whatever gain I had,

I've counted loss.

Why?

For the sake of Christ.

In verse 8,

indeed,

I count everything as loss.

Why?

Because of the surpassing

worth

of knowing

Christ Jesus,

my Lord.

And then he says,

for his sake,

I've suffered the loss

of all things

and count them

as rubbish.

Why?

In order that I may

gain Christ.

This is what it's

constantly coming back

to for Paul.

All of these systems,

everything that he had

achieved on his own,

he says,

it's worthless

because there's a greater

treasure that I have found.

He goes on,

he says he wants

to be found in him,

found in Christ,

not having a righteousness

of his own

that comes through

the law,

but that which comes

through faith

in Jesus Christ.

He goes on

in the next verse

and says that he wants

to know

Christ.

That's what he's

reaching for.

That's what he's

working towards,

to know Christ.

To know the power

of his resurrection,

to share in his

sufferings,

to become like him

in his death,

so that by any means

possible,

he may attain

the resurrection

of the dead.

And then he goes on

even further

and he says

that in verse 14

that he's forgetting

everything

that lies behind,

everything he has

given up.

He's not worrying

about that.

He's not daydreaming

about what he

could have had.

He's forgetting it

and he is straining

forward,

he is fighting,

he is pressing on

for this prize,

for a treasure,

for the upward call

of God

in Christ Jesus.

Paul sees this value

of knowing Christ

and says that

in comparison to this,

all of his systems,

all of his resolutions,

all of his achievements

are worthless.

And so we can talk

about knowing Christ,

but it's sort of

an abstract idea,

right?

Like, what does it

mean to know Christ?

And there's a pastor,

he has a very good quote

about knowing Christ.

His name is J.I. Packer

and he says,

one does not know

a living thing

till one knows

not merely

its past history,

but how it's likely

to react and behave

under specific circumstances.

One does not know

a living thing

till one knows

not merely

its past history,

but how it is likely

to react and behave

under specific circumstances.

So knowing about God

is not necessarily

the same as knowing God.

Knowing God

is not just about

knowing a list

of statistics and facts,

but about knowing

a living being,

about having a relationship

with him

that we can see

and know

through experience

how he will respond

in different situations

in our lives.

My brother last year,

he's a business student,

he had to do a project

on Hong Kong

for school.

He read articles,

he did research,

he called me up

and asked me lots of questions

about Hong Kong,

and he did his project

and this past Friday night

I was talking to him

and during our conversation

he made a comment,

oh yeah,

I'm an expert on Hong Kong.

He's never been to Hong Kong,

never even been to Asia,

and I just laughed at him.

I said,

you don't know

the first thing

about Hong Kong.

Yeah, you can name off

all these statistics,

that's great,

but if we dropped you

in Wan Chai

and said,

hey,

be in Central

for a lunch meeting

in an hour,

he would have no idea

what to do,

how to get there,

where to go.

You know,

there's a certain vocabulary

in Hong Kong

that's very different

than back in the States.

If someone starts talking

to him about their flat,

he'd be like,

huh,

what are you talking about?

If someone tells him

to travel somewhere

and take the subway,

he'd be looking for the MTR,

not a tunnel under the ground.

If someone mentions a duvet,

he'd be like,

what on earth is that?

Because he doesn't know Hong Kong,

he hasn't been here,

he hasn't experienced it,

he knows a lot about Hong Kong,

he's read the statistics,

read the facts,

knows the articles,

but he's never been here.

He doesn't know

what this city is about.

He doesn't know

how people will respond here

when he says certain things.

Like,

if he had to go use the bathroom

and he walks up

to a local waiter

and he says,

where's the restroom?

He'll probably get a funny face

and he wouldn't know that

because you have to ask,

where's the toilet instead?

And then they'll respond.

And these are things

that you learn about the city

through time and experience

in the city.

And in a similar way,

you don't get to know God

just by knowing facts about him,

but by spending time

and gaining experience with him.

In university,

I had a roommate

who got to know me pretty well.

We were roommates first semester

and then suite mates second semester,

so we had a lot of time

around each other.

For those of you

who don't know me,

I'm a pretty laid back guy

and that really bothered my roommate.

He wanted to see me angry.

And so he began testing

various ways of making me angry.

He would make fun of me,

he would tease me,

that didn't bother me.

He would do various things,

whatever, no big deal.

But finally, one day,

he found the one thing

that he could do

that would make me

consistently respond

with anger to him.

Biting me.

We'd be standing next to each other

and he'd just turn and be like...

And I mean,

he would bite hard,

he would leave teeth marks.

And I would get angry

every single time.

Understandably, right?

Yes?

But he knew

through the time

that we had spent together

and through the experiences

that we had shared together

that if he wanted to see me angry,

which apparently he did

from time to time,

biting me

was the way to do that.

And so he got to know me,

he tested

what will work,

what will not work

to make Eric angry.

And biting me

was what he found out worked.

So one day,

he had bit me

and I was just like,

why are you biting me?

He was like,

because you never get angry

unless I bite you.

I didn't get it.

But apparently for him,

that was how he had learned

to anticipate my response.

By testing out various means,

see how I responded,

and then finding the way

that I would respond

in anger,

righteous anger.

And just as with these relationships

with God,

it's not just about

learning statistics,

it's not just about

learning facts,

but it's about

pursuing a relationship,

spending time together,

time to get to know him,

about building experiences,

about consistently seeing,

hey, when I need God,

how is he responding to me?

How is he working in my life?

How is he there for me?

How is he shaping me

to be more like him?

And so how do we get to know God?

I'm a little bit hesitant right here

because I'm up here talking about

how it's about a relationship

and not steps,

and I'm about to give you steps.

So I'm going to give you a disclaimer

before I give you the steps.

That each of these steps

is not an end in and of itself.

Each of these steps

is intended to be a means

to the end of having

a deeper, fuller relationship

with Christ

where we know him more.

What I mean by that is that

if you start reading your Bible

for 15 minutes every day,

that does not automatically

in and of itself

make you a better Christian

if it doesn't help you

to know Jesus.

If you start coming to church

more often,

but it's more about having an item

to check off your list

instead of pursuing a relationship

with God

and with other Christians

within the church

is the wrong motives.

And yes,

sometimes spiritual disciplines

and resolutions

are good and even necessary,

but they can also be pursued

for the wrong reasons.

So as I give you this list,

it is not a list

so that we can check things off

and say,

all right,

I read my Bible today,

I prayed today,

I'm at church,

yes,

but it's a list of ways

to help pursue

a relationship with God

to help get to know him better.

So the first item

is reading our Bibles.

It's how God has spoken to us.

In Hebrews chapter 1,

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

it says that long ago

in many times,

many,

you know,

God spoke to our fathers

through the prophets.

That God has spoken,

that the words that he has spoken

are recorded for us here

so that we can see them

and we can read them.

2 Timothy 3.16

talks about how

all scripture,

the Bible,

is God-breathed

and is given to us

to help us grow.

That in the Bible,

we have the words of God

given to us

so that we can know him.

So that we can pursue

this treasure

that Paul was pursuing,

that Paul said

was so valuable

that he wanted it

even if it cost him his life.

3 Timothy 3.16

The second thing

that we can do

is pray.

You know,

prayer,

in prayer,

we can express

desires to God,

we can give thanks to God,

we can confess our sins to God,

we can talk to God

about how great he is.

I think one of the most

helpful definitions

of prayer

that I've ever heard

is a pastor who said,

prayer

is living

with a constant awareness

of God's presence

in our everyday lives.

that sometimes

prayer isn't just

getting down on our knees

and being like,

dear God,

please help me with this.

But it's

as we go to work,

as we're riding in the MTR,

being aware of the fact

that God is with us,

that what we do

is a reflection

of who he is,

that when we need him,

he is there for us,

and that will help us

to develop an awareness

of his presence with us

and activity in our lives

on a day-to-day,

moment-by-moment basis.

Next up,

time in gospel community.

Other Christians

are one of the greatest tools

that God has given us

to help us become

more like him.

In gospel community,

we are able to see

aspects of God's love for us

reflected to us

in other Christians.

When we fail and mess up,

we get forgiveness

that we don't deserve.

We get unconditional love.

We have friends

who are willing

to call us out

and tell us

when there's something

wrong with us

instead of ignoring

the problem

and pretending

like it doesn't exist.

And there are times

where community

can go very,

very, very wrong.

But when it is done properly,

it is one of the greatest tools

that God uses

to make us more like him

and to help us know him.

Here at Watermark,

we like to encourage people

to get involved

in community groups.

If you're not in one,

we would encourage you

to sign up for one

after service.

There will be a sign-up table

right out back.

But this time

in gospel community,

time around other Christians,

where we can speak

the gospel to each other,

where we can model

the transformation

that the gospel

brings to our lives,

is huge

and hugely important

in helping us

get to know Christ.

And the fourth item

on the list

is another one

that's sort of vague

and ambiguous

because its specific

application for each person

could be very different.

But it's living

in obedience

to God's word.

This isn't something,

again,

this isn't something

that in and of itself

makes us better Christians.

But it's something,

it's not something

that helps God

love us more.

That's a gift

given to us

through what Jesus

has done.

But,

when we obey God,

when we obey His word,

we are constantly

put into situations

where we need Him.

Maybe,

being obedient

to God's word

will cost us

a relationship

because the people

that we're hanging out with

don't want to hang out

with someone

who's going to

actually obey God.

And in those moments,

we see that God

is with us

and will not forsake us

even when everyone else does.

Maybe,

being obedient

to God's word

means that we become

more generous,

that we give away

more of what we have.

And we have to learn

to trust God

to provide for us

in our times of need.

Maybe it means

that rather than

finding our hope

in a relationship

or in a job

or in grades,

we find our hope

in Him

and we have to learn

that He actually

will sustain us,

that He is big enough

to place our hope in.

You know,

each of these things,

as we go towards them,

I guess you could say

it's like sharing

in His sufferings

like Paul talks about

in this passage.

It's a way of

coming alongside

and seeing

what Jesus' life

was like

for us

when He lived.

It helps us

to understand

what He went through

and to develop

this trust

in God,

this relationship

with God

within our lives.

and there are

other ways,

many other ways

that we can grow

in our relationship

with God,

but ultimately,

like I said,

with any relationship,

it comes down

to time together

and experience

of one another.

Time together

with God

either individually

or in gospel community

where we can get

to know Him,

get to know

what His heart is,

how He thinks,

and be shaped by that

and experience

of seeing Him

be faithful

again and again,

of seeing Him

work powerfully

in situations

where we never understood

how He could have worked.

And this shift

from pursuing God

through systems

and resolutions

to pursuing God

through a relationship,

it doesn't slow down

our progress

in becoming more like Him.

It speeds it up,

actually,

just like the kid

at the start

who had Daddy

got the honeydew melon

for free

because of a relationship.

When we pursue Christ

through this relationship,

it speeds up our process.

It improves the results.

Because as long as we

are focused

on what we can do,

on what we have to change

about ourselves,

about what's wrong with me,

it's like we're slaves.

We have this oppressive master

standing over us saying,

do, do, do,

more, more, more,

work harder,

do better.

But when we look to Christ

and find our hope

in a relationship with Him,

we hear His message

that it is finished,

that it is done,

that everything

that we need to achieve

for God to love us

has been achieved

by Him.

and that rather

than pursuing

this betterment

through being slaves,

we can pursue it

in freedom

because the victory

has already been won.

There's a pastor

named Tulian Chavidyan.

He's Billy Graham's grandson.

He has this excellent quote

and he says,

I've come to the realization

that when I stop

obsessing

over my need

to improve,

that is improvement.

When I stop

obsessing narcissistically

over my need

to get better,

that is what the Bible

means

by getting better.

Progress in the Christian life

is not

I'm getting better

and better

and better.

Progress in the Christian life

is growing

in my realization

of just how bad

I am

and growing

in my appreciation

of just how much

Jesus has done

for me.

Progress is not

okay,

I've set my list,

I've kept everything

on the list,

I'm better now

than I was at this time

last year.

Progress is realizing

that we are broken,

that we are sinners,

that we are desperately

in need of a Savior

and that Jesus

is the exact Savior

Savior that we need

for our problem,

that we are way worse

than we ever

could have imagined,

that He loves us

way more

than we ever

could have hoped for.

That is what is meant

by progress

in our Christian faith,

getting to know Him

more.

And so as we

get ready to leave today,

I want to leave you

with a couple questions

to consider,

think about.

the first one is,

what is

the one

passion

in your life

that makes

everything else

look like rubbish

in comparison?

What is the one

thing that you say,

if I can have this,

everything else

doesn't matter?

Is it

knowing Christ?

is it

having lots

and lots

of money?

Is it

finding that

special someone

and getting

that relationship

of your dreams?

Is it

good grades?

And if it's

not Christ,

what would it

take for Christ

to become

that great

passion

in your life?

What changes

would need

to be made

in the way

that you think,

in the way

that you spend

your time,

in the way

that you use

your money?

And are we

willing to make

those changes?

I know for me,

a lot of times

when I truly

honestly look

at my life

and I look

at what I'm

pursuing,

it's not

Christ

as the

primary,

the main

thing.

That I look

back and I

see,

you know,

I'm dreaming

about,

oh,

imagine if I

had this

other job

and the

things that I

could buy

if I had

all this

money

from working

at a bank.

And it's

not,

oh,

Christ is my

treasure,

Christ is my

joy,

I'm content

in him.

But it's

looking back,

it's not

counting everything

else as rubbish,

it's just sort

of trying to

find a balance.

But that's

not what

Christ calls

us to do.

there's a

booklet on

your seat

today.

We encourage

each of you

to take

those home,

to read

through them,

to fill

them out.

Basically,

these

booklets are

to help

you think

through what

is my

mission,

what is

my vision,

what is

my purpose

as I

enter this

new year.

We hope

that,

again,

this isn't

something that

if you fill

it out,

it'll make

you a better

Christian.

But we're

hoping that

it's a

tool that

will help

you get

to know

Christ

more in

this upcoming

year.

and we'll

know that

we've reached

this point

where we can

say Christ

is truly

our treasure,

when we

can say

simply,

honestly,

not because

we feel

that as

Christians

we ought

to,

but because

it is a

plain matter

of fact

that we

have known

God.

And that

because we

have known

Him,

the

unpleasantness

we have

had or

the

pleasantness

we have

not

had,

because we

are

Christians,

does not

matter to

us because

of how

great God

is in

comparison.

When we

can say

that we

have known

God,

not because

we feel

like we

should as

Christians,

not because

we think

that's the

right church

answer,

but because

it's true,

it's a

fact,

that we

have known

God,

and that

because we

have known

Him,

any

unpleasantness we

have suffered

through being

Christians,

or any

pleasantness we

have not

gotten to

enjoy because

of following

Him,

is rubbish,

it's worthless,

meaningless,

in comparison

to the

treasure that

we have found

in Him.

Let's pray.

Father, we

thank You for

this treasure,

we thank You

for the fact

that You have

given us

Christ,

that You have

given us

life,

that You have

given us

hope,

that You have

allowed us

to know You.

We pray

that as we

enter this

new year,

that we

would make

it our

goal to

know You,

that You

would be our

treasure,

and that

everything else

would be

rubbish in

comparison to

us.

God, give

us a greater

love for You.

Help us to

pursue knowing

You with

every ounce of

effort that we

can, with

every piece

of our being.

Let us know

You more.

Let us love

You more.

In Jesus'

name,

Amen.

Amen.

Let's stand

and enjoy

our relationship

with God

in the practice

that we heard

this morning.

That I may

know Christ

more.

Can you

repeat that

with me?

That I may

know Christ

more.

That I may

know Christ

more.

I don't know

where you are

on your journey

today where

God has you.

But I think

that's a question

that each of

us needs to

ask this

new year.

What does it

look like for

that to happen?

What are some

things maybe that

I need to think

about in my

world for that

to happen?

We believe God

has placed this

church here to

help people take

that next step

wherever they're

at in their

spiritual journey.

That you would

know Christ

more.

And fall in love

with him

more.

It's about a

relationship.

It's not about

religion.

It's about a

relationship.

You know one

of the things

we've been

praying about a

lot is someone

asked me hey

are we going to

have a New

Year's Eve

service and

we're like oh

wow that would be

like four services

in eight days

right?

This craziness.

But you know

we our hope

is maybe I

should put it

this way.

If you walk

into our

community center

there's a sign

in Chinese on

the wall and

it says the

first person

plants the

seed and the

next person

benefits from

the shade.

And we believe

that no matter

how long God

has you here

whether it's

ten days I met

somebody here for

ten days on

school break or

it's two years

it will turn

into twenty

years like some

people that God

wants you to

plant a seed

which is Jesus

Christ in

people's lives

around you.

We're not going

to have a

New Year's

Eve celebration

here because

we want you

to be out

in New Year's

Eve celebrations

with your

friends planting

the seed of

Christ in

their life and

trusting the

Lord to grow

it up.

They would come

to know him.

Does that make

sense?

So we want you

to be out there

Christine and I

are going to be

out with some

of our closest

neighbors we've

been trying to

spend time with

for two years

now.

Some of the

rugby crew.

And our prayer is

that every one of

you would be out

there with some

of your friends

sharing with

them getting to

know them placing

that seed of

Jesus that

relationship in

their world.

So we are so

excited that you

are here with us

on this journey

for this next

year.

Again as Eric

shared take this

home think about

it think about it

in the context of

that I may know

Christ more.

How can I do

that this year?

Let me pray for

us.

Father we just

thank you for

this day.

We thank you

that we come

before you as

your people and

we know that

you're always

with us.

And still yet we

struggle sometimes

as we think about

that and wondering

if there are

things in our

world that we

cling to instead

of you.

So I pray for

my heart.

I pray for all

of our hearts

here.

That you would

make it clear

what that is

in our world

today.

That you would

give us the

strength to

confess that

to you.

Because identifying

it and confessing

it is the big

step.

Lord we pray

that we would

fall more in

love with your

son as we

live these things

behind that

Paul said was

scubala.

Rubbish.

Lord may we

be a people

that knows

you more.

That falls in

love with you

more.

And as those

95% of Hong

Kong around us

who walk in

darkness they

have no

relationship with

you.

Lord we pray

that the 95%

would see you

in us.

They would

ask questions.

The seed

would be planted

and you

would grow it

up and

eternity would

be different.

So Lord we

come to you

this beginning

of this next

year and we

lay it all

at your feet.

Help us to

know you

more in a

relationship

through your

son Jesus.

We love you.

We pray all

these things

in your son

Jesus'

holy name.

Amen.

We'll see you

back here next

week.

Please don't

run away.

There's food

and drinks

out there.

We'd love

to meet

you.

We'd love

to meet

you.

We'd love

to meet

you.