---------------- Short Stories for Shepherding Materials English Version
By faith, not by feeling
Lesson 11 Life through faith
Story shepherding material
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life. John 3:16
In order to teach students what gaining God through simple faith not by feeling , a Christian professor put his gold watch on the table, and said to the students, "Whoever wants to get this gold watch can take it now." All the students doubted by feeling. They all doubted whether it's true or not and some thought "what if the professor suddenly changes his mind?" No one took it.
Suddenly, a little girl said, "I want it!" The professor really gave her his gold watch as promised. When all the other students began to regret their hesitation. The professor said,"When I said that I'll give this away, I meant it. Why didn't you believe? What God has given us is something
far more precious than the gold watch; He has given us His Son to be our life. When God is so willing to give, why are we yet hesitant to receive?" Simply believe and receive, and you will obtain the eternal life.
1. By faith, not by feeling
Someone asked, "Some people say that when Christ is in us, we all feel burning. But whenever I kneel down to pray or after prayer, my heart is cold, how can I simply believe in God?". The answer, "The Bible does not say that a man will feel burning or will remain cold when he receives the Son of God. All that it says is to believe. It is by faith, not by feeling. If you depend on your feeling, you are not believing God's words;
you are making God a liar! When God said He has given, then it is given. It has nothing to do with your feeling."
2. Feeling is following faith
Someone asked, "I
believe in the Son of God as my life, but I don’t have feeling of glory being God's children. Haven’t I truly believed? "
We use parable to illustrate. It's as if 3 people are walking on a tight-rope between two cliffs: the A in the very front represents the Bible fact that the Son of God is our life. The B in the middle represents our faith. The C in the back represents our feeling of glory being the son of God .
B (faith) must concentrate only on A in the front (the fact that the Son of God is our life), by looking at A (the Bible fact) in the front, it produces C in the back (our feeling of glory being the son of God).
If the middle B (faith) doesn't look at A in the front(the fact that the Son of God is our life), but only looks at C in the back (whether we have the feeling of glory), the middle B (faith) can easily fall to the cliff (loss of faith and feeling of glory).
Thus B (faith) must move forward strictly by looking at A (the Bible fact). If God has not given His Son, even if you have a feeling of glory, that feeling is unreliable.
After Christ became man's life, he brought great changes to man that rules , morals, self-improvement cannot do. Every Christian can testify since he received Christ as his life that he has changed greatly, not because of hard work nor cultivation but due to this wonderful and powerful Christ as our life !
----------------牧養材料中文文字稿小故事牧養材料
憑信心,而不是憑感覺
第十一課 得生命是因信
小故事牧養材料
神愛世人，甚至將祂的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信入祂的，不至滅亡，反得永遠的生命。 約 3:16
為了教學生什麼是憑信心,而不憑感覺,某基督徒教授就拿出他的金錶放在桌上，並對學生們說"誰願意得到這金錶，現在就可上台拿走它"。大部分學生靠自己的感覺是 "是真的？假的？或 萬一教授改變心意不給了,我上台就很丟臉嗎?" 大家都安靜很久。
突然有一個小女孩，走到教授面前說"我要！"教授真的立刻把金錶給了她。當其他的學生正在懊悔不拿的時候，那教授說"我說要送給人,就要真的送給人，你們為甚麼不信呢？神給我們的，比錶貴重得多了，乃是把祂的兒子賜給我們，作我們的生命。神真的要賜祂兒子給我們，我們為甚麼不簡單地信及接受呢？只要簡單的相信、接受，就得著永遠的生命"。
壹_憑信心,不憑感覺
某人問"有人說基督在我們裏面，都會有熱辣辣的感覺。但每當我跪下來禱告或禱告之後，心裏都是冷冰冰的，我怎麼可簡單地信神?』,回答_『聖經從來沒有說，人接受神兒子作生命的時候，必須心裏是熱辣辣的，或者是冷冰冰的。聖經只說要信；是憑信心，不是憑感覺。若只憑感覺來斷定有沒有得著，而不是因信神的話，那就等於以神為說謊的！神說給了，就是給了，與你的感覺沒有多大關係。』
貳_感覺是跟著信心
某人又問『我是相信神的兒子作我的生命，可是我並不覺得榮耀，是不是我還沒有真信？』
我們用比喻來說明_
這好像三人在很窄懸崖邊緣上往前走: 走在最前面的A是代表神兒子作我們生命的事實。走在中間的B是代表我們的信心。走在最後面的C是代表我們自己的榮耀感覺。
B(信心)必須專心只看最前面的A(=神的兒子作我們的生命的事實)，才產生C(=有作神兒子的榮耀感覺)。
如果中間的B(=信心)不看前面的A(=神的兒子作我們的生命的事實),卻只看C(=我們是否有榮耀感覺),中間的B(=信心)就很容易跌到懸崖(失去信心及榮耀感覺)。
所以B(=信心)只跟定A(事實)往前就夠了。若神沒有賜下祂的兒子，就是你有榮耀的感覺，那個感覺也是靠不住的。
基督作了人的生命以後就叫人有了大改變，並非規範，道德,改良,修煉所能成功的。每基督徒，都能作見證自從接受基督作生命之後，生活就有了大的改變，不是由於刻苦、努力，乃是由於這個奇妙、有能力的基督作我們的生命!
