“My heart is a bit sad, because I together with the other Apostles unable to visit you according to divine service program to Brunei and Malaysia, but my heart is filled with gratitude and thankfulness because our brothers and sisters in Palangka Raya accepted us to serve you and our brothers and sisters from Brunei and Malaysia.” It was with these words that the District Apostle opened a live streaming divine service for our brethren in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, and Thailand.
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.” These verses from 2 Corinthians 5: 1–2 was the bible text used as the base of this divine service.
“The context of the bible text is about Apostle Paul, we know him as a zealous servant of God, he made a lot of travelling, and he experiences many times close to death,” District Apostle said in the beginning of his sermon. “He longed to be clothed with the resurrection body, which would allow him to enter into fellowship with God.” The Apostle hoped that the Lord would return when he was still alive, which would save him from physical death.
Mankind knows that they are mortal. But many find it hard to think about their end. For us, we know that death is not the end of our existence. Our soul and spirit will continue to live until we can put on a new body, similar to the body of the Risen One, when Christ returns.
The Apostle says that we groan in this earthly body and desire to be clothed with the resurrection body. This does not mean that we must necessarily be miserable all our lives. Sometimes We suffer from being separated from those who had to leave this world or inability to live in harmony with each other.
This suffering will end when we are clothed with the resurrection body. It is with this body, and only this body, that we will be able to enter into close fellowship with God. God created mankind as an entity made up of body, soul and spirit so that they could live in fellowship with Him.
“At the resurrection, we will receive a new body. And it is as fully renewed human beings, in body, soul and spirit, that the chosen ones, both dead and living, will be able to enter the kingdom of God and see Jesus face to face.”
Apostle Paul urges us to seek fellowship with God today by fighting against sin and following Jesus Christ’s example to seeking contact with God and actively contributing to the unity of the faithful.
“There are many people they know that one time hey will be died, but what happened after physical death they don’t know. Let us take to heart what Apostle Paul urged to us. Let us not loose courage, even if our body being destroyed, but our inner being renew day by day. I pray to you all, as well as for myself,” District Apostle concludes his sermon.
