2. In 165 AD, a devastating epidemic swept
through the Roman empire, killing 1/3 of the
population, incl. Emperor Marcus Aurelius…
3. In 251
AD, another
plague hit the
empire, this
time both rural
and urban
areas were
affected…
4. ―Most of our brothers showed unbounded
love…never sparing themselves and
thinking only of one another…Heedless of
danger, they took charge of the
sick, attending to their every need and
ministering to them in Christ…drawing on
themselves the sickness of their neighbors
and cheerfully accepting their pains…‖
Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, AD260
5. ―The heathen behaved in the very opposite
way. At the first onset of the disease, they
pushed the sufferers away and fled from
their dearest, throwing them into the roads
before they were dead and treated unburied
corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the
spread and contagion of the disease; but do
what they might, they found it difficult to
escape.‖
Bishop Dionysius
6. Result?
‗Miraculous‘ healing
Huge Conversions
Growth of Christian population
Spread of Christian love/principles
throughout empire!
7. What do we need
to awake from?
What do we
need to awake to?
18. The kingdom of God
is like a team of
resistance
fighters, plotting
goodness
19. The kingdom of God is
like flying jet-planes of
love into towers of hate
20. The kingdom of God
is like a cigarette
smoker…feeling
fresh air in her
lungs
21. The kingdom of God is
living in
Wonderland…where
everything is upside
down
22. Jesus‘ strange kingdom…
• It‘s ―weak‖ and ―foolish‖ (1Cor 1:18-27)
• It‘s lowly and despised…it‘s something
that is NOT (1Cor 1:28-29)
• It‘s not of this world (John 8:23)
• It fights with crazy ‗weapons‘, e.g.
love, forgiveness, etc. (Luke 23:34)
• It‘s perfected in our weakness (2Cor 12)
26. ―In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was
given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to
take it away from me. But he said to me, ―My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.‖
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ‘s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ‘s sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then
I am strong.‖ (2 Cor 12: 7-10)
28. God‘s Discipline
• God knows our arrogant easily-hardened hearts
• God knows the importance of destroying pride; our
human nature ‗naturally‘ longs to rely only on
ourselves
• Gods wants to prove to us that our own efforts are
insufficient
• Good news: He is always there at the ‗end‘ of the
road
30. God‘s Frame
• Our pride tends to view our successes as
resulting from our own efforts
• We need to see events with the eyes of
Christ (and our weakness ‗forces‘ us to see!)
• We don‘t need miracles; we need believers
• Good news: He is already there even when
we don‘t know it
32. God‘s Self-Limitation
• We are intimately connected to God‘s power
via our weaknesses (strength from weakness
is like the irrevocability of freedom)
• Faith really moves the hands of God – why?
Because God decided that it will.
• Good News: Weakness is raw material for
greater faith - asking for more faith is itself an
act of faith!
37. God‘s Hiddenness
• God wants to teach/show us another kind of
power, one the world doesn‘t understand
• God‘s power ―looks like‖ weakness, so our power
also expresses itself through our weakness
• God‘s power cannot but appear weak to a sinful
world
• Good News: Whenever there is weakness, we
know (contra appearances) that God‘s strength is
being perfected
42. Can we see the truth
within illusion, the
authentic embedded in
the superficial, the wonder
inside the ordinary, the
miraculous of the banal?
43. ―He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his
appearance that we should desire
him. He was despised and rejected by
mankind, a man of suffering, and
familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their
faces, he was despised, and we held
him in low esteem.‖ (Isaiah 53:2-3)
49. What good is it, my brothers and
sisters, if someone claims to have faith
but has no deeds? Can such faith save
them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is
without clothes and daily food. 16 If one
of you says to them, ―Go in peace; keep
warm and well fed,‖ but does nothing
about their physical needs, what good is
it?‖
James 2:14-16
52. We feel bad…
thus we need to
make ourselves
feel worse in order to
feel better
53. ‗Bad‘ Faith…
• Glorifies the act of believing i.e. it‘s believing
in believing
• Is purely mental assent (like selecting boxes,
―Do you believe in Jesus Christ?‖)
• Ends up with false beliefs (because divorced
from learning)
• Is a deferred form of faith; we believe
because others believe and thus is often
contradicted by practice
54. ‗Bad‘ works
• Are purely ‗instrumental‘ and thus a form
of bribery (like vote-buying)
• Are irrational and neurotic (―feeling worse
to feel better‖)
• Are ultimately about the self, not others
62. ―By this all men will
know you are my
disciples: if you have
love for one another.‖
John 13:35
63. Loving Faith-Work
• Believes because of love i.e. we trust and
relate to God as a form of love
• Insists on truth as a vehicle of love; we
even judge out of love
• Pray, work, serve and learn out of love
and for love
80. Miracle Type Mark Matt Luke John
In all four gospels
1. Feeding of 5,000 nature 6.35f 14.15f 9.12f 6.5f
In three gospels
2. Walking on water nature 6.48f 14.25f 6.19f
3. Peter's mother-in-law healing 1.30f 8.14f 4.38f
4. Man with leprosy healing 1.40f 8.24f 5.12f
5. Paralyzed man healing 2.3f 9.2f 5.18f
6. Man with shriveled hand healing 3.1f 12.10f 6.6f
7. Calming the storm nature 4.37f 8.23f 8.22f
8. Gadarene Demoniac(s) exorcism 5.1f 8.28f 8.27f
9. Raising Jairus' daughter revivification 5.22f 9.18f 8.41f
10. Hemorrhaging woman healing 5.25f 9.20f 8.43f
11. Demon-possessed boy exorcism 9.17f 17.14f 9.38f
12. Two blind men healing 10.46f 20.29f 18.35f
In two gospels (Mark, Matt)
13. Canaanite woman's daughter exorcism@distance 7.24f 15.21f
14. Feeding of 4,000 nature 8.1f 15.32f
15. Fig tree withered nature 11.12f 21.18f
In two gospels (Mark, Luke)
16. Possessed man in synagogue exorcism 1.23f 4.33f
In two gospels (Matt, Luke=Q?)
17. Roman Centurion's servant healing@distance 8.5f 7.1f
18. Blind, Mute, and Possessed man exorcism 12.22 11.14
Only in one gospel (Mark)
19. Deaf mute healing 7.31f
20. Blind man at Bethsaida healing 8.22f
Only in one gospel (Matt)
21. Two blind men healing 9.27f
22. Mute and possessed man exorcism 9.32f
23. Coin in fish's mouth precognition/nature? 17.24f
Only in one gospel (Luke)
24. First catch of fish precognition/nature? 5.1f
25. Raising Widow's son at Nain revivification 7.11f
26. Exorcism of Mary Magdalene exorcism 8.2
27. Crippled woman healing 13.11f
28. Man with dropsy healing 14.1f
29. Ten men with leprosy healing@distance 17.11f
30. High Priest's servant healing 22.50f
Only in one gospel (John)
31. Wine miracle at Cana nature 2.1f
32. Official's son at Capernaum healing@distance 4.46f
33. Sick man at Pool of Bethesda healing 5.1f
34. Healing of the Blind Man healing 9.1f
35. Raising Lazarus revivification 11.1f
36. Second catch of fish precognition/nature? 21.1f
84. The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount
Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of
Gibeon— to do his work, his strange work, and
perform his task, his alien task. (Isaiah 28:21)
88. The Pattern of God‘s Judgment
• Clearly and specifically fore-warned
• Characterised by patience and reluctance
• Happens only after repeated warnings and
chances to repent! (e.g. Noah‘s
time, Pharoah, etc.)
• Involves rescuing / preserving a righteous
remnant
94. We see crazy love in…
• God‘s creation (e.g. language and
science)
• God‘s sacrifice and mercy (the life and
love of Jesus)
• God‘s judgment
• God‘s plans for His people
• God Himself
110. "You know that those who are regarded
as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and their high officials exercise
authority over them. Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant‖
Mark 10:42-43
111. "For he who is least among you all—he
is the greatest ‖
Luke 9:48
115. “If you will protest courageously,
and yet with dignity and Christian
love…historians will say, „There
lived a great people – a black
people – who injected new dignity
into the veins of civilisation.”
Marin Luther King, Jr.
116. "The time for you and me to allow ourselves to
be brutalized nonviolently has passed. Be
nonviolent only with those who are nonviolent to
you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent
racist, bring me a nonviolent segregationist, then
I'll get nonviolent. But don't teach me to be
nonviolent until you teach some of those
crackers to be nonviolent."
Malcolm X
118. True power is the power of serving and
suffering love…
120. ―Christ loved us and gave himself up for us
as a fragrant offering an sacrifice to God‖
(Rom 5:6, 8:3; Eph 5:2)
121. ―The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world.‖
(John 1:9, John 17:1)
122. ―He was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed.―
(Isaiah 53:5, 1Peter 2:24)
123. ―For the Son of Man came not to
be served but to serve and to
give his life as a ransom for
many‖
(Matt 20:28, Mark 10:45)
124. ―This is why the Son of God
appeared, to destroy the works of the
Devil‖
126. What other metaphors?
• ―Christ is the ultimate anti-virus that cleans
our OS‖
• ―Christ is true 1-Malaysia that unites all the
races of Malaysia‖
• ―Christ clears the flood waters…‖
• ??
128. ―I will allure her and bring her into the
wilderness and speak to her heart‖
(Hosea 2:14)
129. "If you are the Son of
God, tell this stone to
become bread."
(Matthew 4:3)
130. 3 Reasons Why Jesus Should‘ve
Made Miracle Bread
• He was hungry, what‘s so bad about using
His power to feed Himself?
• He had already fasted for quite some time
• He can eat now, then focus on other
things later
132. Sin is the ‗Cutting
Short‘ of a
kingdom process!
133. "If you are the Son of God…throw
yourself down. For it is written:
'He will command his angels concerning
you, and they will lift you up in their
hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone‖
(Matthew 4:6)
136. 4 Reasons Why Jesus
Should‘ve Jumped
• He will obtain supernatural proof of God‘s
protection
• He can show Satan how much power He
has
• He can ‗flex His muscles‘ and have
sensational news to tell of
• He can build confidence
140. "All this I will give you," he
said, "if you will bow down
and worship me."
(Matthew 4:9)
141. 3 Reasons Why Jesus
Should‘ve Bowed Down To Satan
• He was going to rule the world anyway!
• It would save SO MUCH trouble and pain
• He can always ‗pretend‘ to worship Satan,
then later repent
143. The 3 Temptations
• It‘s foolish to go to the desert for wisdom
• It‘s foolish to not use your power to get
what you want/need
• It‘s foolish to not demand for ‗proof‘
• It‘s foolish to seek easier ways to get what
you‘ve already been promised
144. ―For the message of the
cross is foolishness to
those who are
perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power
of God.‖
1st Cor 1:18
145. Foolish Message
• It‘s ‗foolish‘ to put our trust in a man hanged
on a cross
• It‘s ‗foolish‘ to see our weakness as the
perfecting of God‘s power
• It‘s ‗foolish‘ to give ourselves for people and
the world
• It‘s ‗foolish‘ to rely on the power of service
and forgiveness (and to believe that this is
true power)
• It‘s ‗foolish‘ to place ourselves in God‘s hands
when there are ‗easier‘ ways to get things
done
146. Power of God
• It‘s powerful to live on the basis of Christ‘s
work for us
• It‘s powerful to draw on God‘s strength even
when it requires our weakness
• It‘s powerful to serve, to forgive, to love – for
only then are hearts truly changed
• It‘s powerful to let God‘s work be complete in
us, to not short-circuit God‘s soul-building
process
• It‘s powerful to follow God‘s (‗slow‘ and
‗painful‘) approach
• It‘s powerful to worship God