Jordan Lin

最重要的是，门徒训练教会了我如何实践耶稣基督的大使命

This year, God has used the MasterLife class to grow me in the application of my faith. Being raised by my loving parents, who are disciples of Christ, I have always taken my belief and relationship with God seriously. However, a major hindrance to my spiritual growth has been the lack of living out God’s will in my daily life. One of the main goals of MasterLife is to “develop a deeper relationship with Christ as you practice the disciplines of a disciple” (Willis, MasterLife).

In fact, the very decision to take on this journey resulted from a test of faith. I am a member of a youth orchestra that I have played with for 3 years. We always had rehearsals on Sunday afternoons, right after worship and Sunday school. When my mom asked if I wanted to join MasterLife, I realized that I had to give up an entire season of orchestra. I felt conflicted and very disappointed that I could only pick one, so I prayed to God to give me discernment and trust in Him. After praying, the answer was clear: I needed to prioritize my spiritual life over my worldly life. The journey of becoming a disciple of Christ is priceless. Jesus often described a life of discipleship as costly and precious. From this experience, I understood that to follow Jesus, I needed to be ready to lay down my own desires.

One aspect of the Christian faith that is often overlooked or misunderstood is the Holy Spirit. MasterLife clarifies the identity of the Holy Spirit and teaches the correct responses to His working. It is often mistakenly believed that the Holy Spirit is a force, feeling, or something that only appears when you are being “spiritual.” In reality, the Scriptures show us that He is a real and living person of the Trinity that helps us, guides us, and walks alongside believers at all times (John 14:16-17). To live a fruitful life with God, it is imperative to recognize the voice of the Spirit, and to respond accordingly. Although the Spirit can inspire us and stir our emotions, it is dangerous to blindly follow your feelings. One way MasterLife has taught me to perceive the Spirit’s message is through His Word. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you, it is always in concordance with God’s will that can be discerned through Scripture. Many times, He can convict you during your daily Bible reading. This is why a habit of devotional time in the Word is a crucial part of spiritual health that cannot be neglected. How would you expect to know God’s will if you refuse to seek the clearest and most direct source of it? Early on, MasterLife aimed to establish a daily habit of reading the Bible, or “Living in the Word.” To facilitate this, God has blessed me with Pastor Wang’s Bible Reading Class, a three year journey through the entirety of God’s Word. Many times, the Scripture has directly convicted me of specific sins during my devotion time. Like water to a plant, the absence of the Word has severe implications to spiritual vigor. On occasional days or weeks I failed to keep up with my devotionals, yielding noticeable consequences . Each time, I grew further from Christ, and struggled in other areas of my life. I had decreased work ethic, increased temptation, and became more bitter to others. Not only do I see this in myself, my parents often noticed and asked me about my relationship with God. Through this journey, I have been through many trials, but each time, I am reminded of my need for spiritual sustenance provided by the Bible and guidance provided by the Spirit.

Most importantly, MasterLife taught me how to follow the Great Commission, something I had always wanted to do, but I was not confident in my ability. Toward the end of the training, all of the students were required to share the Gospel with someone and to document our experience. As the deadline grew closer, I still didn’t have anyone I could think of, as many of my friends have either rejected the message in the past, or were already believers. One Friday, I asked my fellowship group to pray for me, that I would know how and to whom I would share the Gospel. As soon as the prayer ended, I somehow knew exactly who I would talk to: my friend from school, Isaac. I planned to talk to him the following week at school, but I was met with opposition. Every day, I was busy with tests, or had club meetings at lunch. It felt like the enemy was trying to prevent me from doing God’s work. Eventually, I scheduled a discussion with him on the weekend, which worked out. Like many of my friends, Isaac is Jewish, which means I needed to be strategic when sharing the Gospel. As a believer in the Old Testament, he too was well-versed in Scripture, had strong beliefs about God, and had his own religious life. Drawing inspiration from biblical evangelists like Paul, Matthew, I used passages from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Leviticus, and Ezekiel to point to Jesus as the Messiah and Perfect Sacrifice. We both agreed on the destruction that sin had wreaked on this world, and he admitted that logically, there was no way for sinful people (everyone) to stand in the presence of God. By pointing to the sacrificial system, I explained how Jesus was the ultimate sin offering before God for the sins of humanity, reconciling us and God. I also talked about the various messianic prophecies throughout Scripture, including Isaiah 52-53, the Suffering Servant. We read the passage together, and amazingly, Isaac said himself that Jesus was the closest match for the description, despite many rabbinic interpretations of the Suffering Servant being Israel as a nation. After the two-hour long conversation, I asked Isaac if he was willing to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He said that even though he said he couldn’t “just snap [his] fingers and believe”, he told me that he really enjoyed the talk, which prompted him to contemplate realities he hadn’t thought about before. Isaac also expressed his desire to learn more about Jesus and Christianity, at which I was overjoyed. Through MasterLife, I not only learned to grow myself as a disciple of Christ, I also learned to bear fruit and make disciples of others for God’s kingdom.

I cannot express the gratitude I have for my coach, Eric, and my peers in the class for keeping me accountable and helping me to improve. Embarking on the journey of discipleship changed me and refreshed my Spirit. Above all, I recognize that this is only the beginning of the mission as a servant of Jesus, and the lessons and experiences I have learned and gained will be critical to my development as a disciple-maker. It is my desire that God may use this testimony to inspire you to keep growing in the Lord.

从信心到果效：我的门徒训练之旅

林约 Jordan Lin

今年，神借着门徒训练的课程帮助我在信仰的实践中成长。我的父母都是基督的门徒，他们慈爱地养育了我，因此我一直认真对待我的信仰和与神的关系。然而，阻碍我灵性成长的一个主要障碍是：我常常无法在日常生活中实践神的旨意。门徒训练课程的主要目标之一是「在操练门徒的纪律中，与基督建立更深的关系」。

事实上，我决定参加这个课程是源自于一场信仰的考验。我加入了一个青年管弦乐队，已经演奏了三年。我们总是在主日下午，也就是主日崇拜和主日学之后进行排练。当妈妈问我是否想参加门徒训练课程时，我意识到我必须放弃整个乐季的管弦乐团演出。我内心感到挣扎，也很失望，因为我只能二选一，所以我向神祷告，求祂赐给我分辨力和对祂的信靠。祷告之后，答案很明确：我需要将我的属灵生活置于世俗生活之上。成为基督门徒的旅程是无价的。耶稣常常描述门徒的生活为代价高昂却又无比珍贵。从这段经历中，我明白，要跟随耶稣，我必须准备好放下个人的私欲。

在基督信仰中，圣灵常被忽略或误解。门徒训练阐明了圣灵的身份，并教导我们如何正确回应祂的作为。人们常常误以为圣灵是一种力量、一种感觉，或只有在你「属灵」的时候才会出现。事实上，圣经告诉我们，祂是三位一体中一位真实存在的神，祂帮助我们、引导我们，并且时刻与信徒同在（约翰福音14:16-17）。若要与神同行，拥有丰盛的生命，就必须辨认圣灵的声音，并做出正确的回应。虽然圣灵可以激励我们，触动我们的情感，但盲目地跟随自己的感觉是危险的。门徒训练教导我，领受圣灵信息的一个方法是透过祂的话语。当圣灵对你说话时，祂的话语总是与神的旨意相符，而神的旨意可以透过圣经来辨认。很多时候，祂会在你每日读经的过程中提醒你。这就是为什么每日灵修读经习惯的养成是健康灵命不可或缺的一部分。如果你拒绝了最清楚、最直接的途径来寻求神的旨意，又怎能期待会明白呢？门徒训练就是帮助人们养成每日读经的习惯，也就是「活在神的话语中」。为了帮助我做到这一点，神赐福我参加了王牧师的读经班，这是一段为期三年的通读神话语的旅程。很多时候，在灵修期间，经文直接让我意识到自己犯了哪些具体的罪。就像水对植物一样，缺乏神的话语会对属灵的生命力造成严重的损害。偶尔，我会有一天或几周没有坚持灵修，这会带来明显的后果。每一次，我都离基督越来越远，在生活的其他方面也挣扎不已。我做事情的意愿下降，更容易受到诱惑，也变得更怨恨他人。不只我自己能感受到这些变化，我的父母也常注意到，并且询问我与神的关系。在这段旅程中，我经历了许多考验，但每次，我都意识到我需要圣经提供的精神食粮和圣灵的指引。

最重要的是，门徒训练教会了我如何实践耶稣基督的大使命，这正是我一直想做的，但我对自己的能力缺乏信心。当训练接近尾声时，所有学员都被要求与人分享福音，并记录下自己的经验。随着截止日期的临近，我仍然想不出合适的人选，因为我的许多朋友要么就是过去拒绝福音，要么已经信主了。一个星期五，我请团契小组为我祷告，求神让我知道该如何以及向谁分享福音。祷告结束后，我突然灵光一闪，知道该和谁谈：我的同学Isaac。我计划下周在学校和他谈谈，但我遇到了阻力。每天，我都忙于考试，或午餐时间参加社团活动。感觉就像仇敌在阻止我做神的工作。最终，我安排在周末和他谈话，一切都很顺利。像我的许多朋友一样，Isaac是犹太人，这意味着我在向他传福音时需要采取一些策略。身为旧约信徒，他也精通圣经，对神有着坚定的信仰，并且有自己的宗教生活。我从保罗、马太等人汲取灵感，引用以赛亚书、耶利米书、但以理书、利未记和以西结书中的经文，指出耶稣是弥赛亚和完美的赎罪祭。我们都认同罪恶为这个世界带来的毁坏，他也承认，从逻辑上讲，有罪的人（也就是所有人）根本无法站在神面前。我透过讲解献祭制度，解释了耶稣如何成为在神面前为全人类的罪献上的最终赎罪祭，使我们与神和好。我还谈到了圣经中关于弥赛亚的各种预言，包括以赛亚书52-53章中关于受苦仆人的预言。我们一起读了那段经文，令人惊讶的是，尽管许多拉比将受苦的仆人解释为以色列这个国家，但Isaac自己却说耶稣最符合经文的描述。两个小时的谈话结束后，我问Isaac是否愿意接受耶稣为他的主和救主。他说虽然他不能「打个响指就相信」，但他吿诉我，他真的很享受这次谈话，这促使他思考一些过去从未想过的问题。Isaac也表达了他想更多地了解耶稣和基督信仰的愿望，这让我非常高兴。透过门徒训练，我不仅学习如何成为基督的门徒，也学会如何结出果实，并为神的国度带领他人成为门徒。

我无法用言语表达我对教练Eric以及班上同学的感谢之情，他们督促我、帮助我成长进步。踏上门徒训练之路改变了我，也使我的灵性焕然一新。最重要的是，我深知身为耶稣的仆人，这只是使命的开始，我所学到的经验教训，对我日后带领他人作耶稣的门徒至关重要。我祈求神使用我的见证来激励大家在主里不断成长。