Dr Lester Sumrall once said that there are two foundations in the Church from which spiritual gifts will operate healthily and perfectly. They are (a) unity and (b) love. Without these two elements present in the Church, the Holy Spirit will not give spiritual gifts to the people and even when given, the gifts will slowly fade away. The purpose of spiritual gifts is not just for self edification but for the edification of every one else.

Dr Lester further explained that one of the most destructive forces against the unity in Church is schism. He defined schism as “a division or separation.”

“God does not want a schism in the Church. He does not want us fighting with one another. When a person comes to you grumbling or finding fault with another person, don’t even argue with him. The best way to put a stop to it is by saying ‘Why don’t we pray about that situation ? God will take care of it for you.

It is the beginning of the moving of God’s power among us when we start caring one for another, really caring. There should be a real spiritual relationship among God’s people.

It is so easy to become selfish and isolated, to separate ourselves when God wants us to flow in the Body. You cannot see yourself as a separate entity. You cannot go off into a corner and say, ‘Look at me. I’m really great !’ No, you are not great. God is great. Jesus is great ; the Holy Spirit is great ! You are what you are because of what God did for you through Jesus.”

( The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit – Dr Lester Sumrall)

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In our world today, most of us live in a multi-cultural and multi-religion society. Very few, except perhaps those who are living in remote places, still maintain a mono- culture and mono-religion environment. A multi-cultural society can bring out the best and the worst in our people. The best is when there is tolerance and harmonious living despite the differences in viewpoints, values and habits. The worst is when there are prejudices, fear, mistrust , oppression, bullying and use of force.

We who live in Malaysia know what it means to live in a multi-cultural and multi-religion society . For centuries we have tried to live together with our differences in race, religion and values. We come from different ethnic origins ; Malays , Chinese, Indian, Punjabi , Kadazans, Ibans, other minor tribes and the Europeans. We have succeeded so far except for the racial riot of 1969. Yet, we constantly have clashes politically, economically and religiously. But that , I feel is not the main issue. I feel, it is the role played by the people of God which is vital to the nation’s welfare because we hold the key to God’s kingdom. Only when we are able to bring God, the true Creator God, into the heartbeat and life of the nation and its people, that true peace and love can exist in a nation. But cross-cultural communication is not easy due to our many preconceived ideas and reluctance to break our comfort zones. We prefer to stick our the familiar, the orthodox and the permissible. We seldom like to take risk and venture into non-traditional ways

I like to relate an experience on sharing God’s Word to a group of Hindus and some reflections.

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This is the story of John Mark, the man used by the Holy Spirit to record down in writing probably the first Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel according to Mark has been held by many as the first written Gospel from which Matthew and Luke took reference. Who was John Mark and what was his story?

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