I signed up for this course with a desire to get to know God through the bible study and to get to know Him deeper. The key content in Disciple 3 study is to bring us into remembrance about Who God Is, and who I am in a community of believers. As I journeyed through the course, it directed my heart to ponder about God’s nature, His character, and His infinite love towards His disobedient children from generation to generation. The call to repentance of His children also pushed me to think inwardly of my attitude towards God. What are my weaknesses and inadequacies? It was through this deep personal relationship with God that the Holy Spirit taught and impressed upon my heart not to struggle with Him but to learn to surrender to Him. As I embarked on learning to surrender to Him slowly, it also allowed the Holy Spirit to do His transformation work in my life gradually to be a disciple in Christ. Knowing God in the bible is wonderful and built my bible knowledge, but knowing God deeper, brings me closer to Him. This experience reminded me in Galatians 2: 20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”).

I would like to thank the Church for organising D3, and our teacher Kwang Meng for his time weekly and imparting his knowledge to the class. And not forgetting my course mates from all walks of life; I learnt so much from everyone of them. The daily readings and assignments from the class “whips” me to connect to God daily – it is so easy to turn a blind eye or deaf ear to Him when I am so busy with the day-to-day tasks. It helps me to not only remember who I am but also to remember and know who He is – my God whose love for us is everlasting, who is with me always and granting me courage so I shall have no fear. All I need to do is to trust Him and embrace the future He has planned for me. Looking forward to D4! 

It is not an understatement that D1 and D3 has sustained me during the pandemic, and I am thankful for the Disciple 3 class members, Kwang Meng, and his team in providing their insights and guidance. Travelling overseas and eating buffets are things that I look forward to. So, it takes a while to come to terms with the reality that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In May Wong’s cell group, I also see how blessed we are as we study the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes and the 40 DOB. As we usher in the New Year, our PIC is reminding us to seek God’s purpose for our lives. The purpose for the church is to fill everything in every way with the fullness of Christ. For us, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So, I look forward to the privilege of completing the good works that God has prepared in advance for us in 2022. The title of D3 is ‘Remember Who You Are.’ As a worshipper of the living God, I will always extol the LORD; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.

I joined the Disciple course in 2020 and continued in 2021 to have some discipline in reading the bible. So far, I have graduated from Disciple 1 and will be graduating from Disciple 3 this month. It has given me some gems for godly living, greater insight, clarity, depth, and understanding of God’s Words and teachings. I feel I have grown stronger in my faith, and I am learning to apply the lessons learnt to my life.

The essence of Disciple 3 course is to remind us of “who we are in Christ.” I do encourage everyone to do this course. If you want to fully explore the learning experience, this Disciple course is demanding and requires discipline, as it entails relatively extensive weekly reading of the Bible over a one-year period. The accompanying short video included in each week's lesson summarises the chapter readings excellently.

The strength of Disciple course lies in its unique teaching method and structure of grouping related chapters in various books in the Bible by subjects or target lesson, instruction, and interesting questions to ponder and learn. By doing so, it gives one the collective perspective God places on these subjects: its teaching and its application for our daily living, as a disciple of Christ; and by its repeated-ness in theme of related chapters / verses, shows its relative importance for our salvation that culminates in God’s glory.

Credit must go to Mr Low Kwang Meng for his capable facilitation of Disciple 3 course with distinction. He has managed to effectively encapsulate the key points and lessons in every class session with simple and clear explanation or examples that we can easily resonate with, which makes our understanding easy.

I would also like to thank my brothers and sisters in Christ in this Disciple 3 course for their unselfish sharing of personal views, understanding, experiences and advice on the many topics raised in the lessons and in the questions.

To begin, if I could, it would definitely be much easier for me to play my reflection on the piano than to write it, as I play music more than I write words…  but likely no one will comprehend, so here is my written reflection.

Right from lesson one of D3, I was drawn to its theme of ‘Remembrance’. As each lesson progressed, I realized how important it is to remember the past from the bible, to always remind myself of all that God has done for humanity since the creation of this world. The daily scripture readings, drawn from the books of the Prophets and the Letters of Paul, coupled with the weekly discussions with fellow sisters and brothers in the group helped me gain a much deeper insight into God’s Word. I enjoyed the interaction with and sharing from the group members, the important takeaway points from each lesson and how to apply them in my daily life.

Within each lesson, there was a repeated reminder of the fragility of our human condition: how we struggle with our own identity in Christ, how easy it is to be conformed to the world and be misled by false teachings, how we tend to look to our own ways instead of God’s way. The scripture readings from each lesson clearly reveals God’s unfailing love for all, the unending mercies He has for all, His amazing plan of redemption for all, through Jesus Christ our Lord, as well as His punishment for the wicked, the unfaithful and the unrepentant.

Each study on the Letters of Paul got me to reflect deeply on the meaning of true discipleship, godliness, and holiness in living my life pleasing and acceptable to God, and God’s calling for each of us to fulfil. It is a constant struggle, but living in a community of believers, it is good that we have each other to journey with and uphold in prayer as we persevere.

From this course, personally I have grown even closer to God than before, especially in my daily devotions and prayers, I learn to commit all my mistakes, my fears, what I do not know nor understand and what I cannot see, as well as all my joy and sadness to Him. This is especially so in the ministry I serve in church. I have learnt much in many aspects and hope to continue to learn more and put what I have learnt into daily practice. I need to instil in myself a love of learning, especially about spiritual truths, as it will help me to grow stronger in my faith.

Proverbs 1:5 advises, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning.”

God will never stop teaching us if we are willing to open our hearts and minds to His guidance and instruction. I shall definitely make the extra effort to learn and grow in His Word.I must also thank Kwang Meng for patiently facilitating, guiding, and teaching us to understand the Word of God, and his insistent advice for us to read the bible in the correct and relevant context. Kwang Meng always emphasised on the need for us to be transformed by God’s Word in the process of learning and not merely to acquire knowledge.

Indeed, I have many things to remember and to thank God for!

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 

Thanks be to God for this Disciple 3 Bible study course. Appreciation also to Kwang Meng and all the course members for guidance and sharing.

The course materials provide comprehensive historical, geographical, and cultural background of the people back then in the ancient days. This greatly enhanced our understanding their behaviour and values of that time, one of which was their practice of syncretism which is the worshipping of Yahweh and pagan god (s).

The questions that were put forward for group discussions were often thought-provoking and placed great emphasis on application to our lives. The discussions helped me to know others’ perspectives and I gained many insights from their sharing.

Seeking to get a glimpse of the invisible, incomprehensible, and immortal God from His Word is a life-long process. This course was one of the ways to help me to stay disciplined in reading His Word, reflecting, meditating, and remembering, and at the end of the day, living a life worthy of His calling! 

“Why do prophecies about a list of ancient people matter to me?”

That was my initial thought as I started DISCIPLE 3. To disregard God’s prophecies is to fail to grasp His sovereign hand that governs history. God, in His infinite wisdom and power, has revealed His plan through His prophets. He revealed His mercy and patience toward His unfaithful people, as well as why He had to judge them so harshly. Between the verses of harsh prophecies, God reveals His tender love in bringing His people back to Himself. Although the prophets were tasked with delivering warnings of judgment, God would always provide messages of hope, comfort, and deliverance. He reminded them that He was in control and still had good plans for them. God’s love is unchanging, and He faithfully draws us with His compassion and grace. Even if the circumstances in our lives may be bleak, like the Jews trapped in captivity, we take comfort that He is always in control and is working for our good (Rom 8:28).

Like the prophets, we are not accountable for how pre-believers receive the gospel message, but our obedience in bringing His Word into the world (DISCIPLE 2). Apostle Paul stressed that we are not to be selective because everyone, regardless of gender, age, race, or ethnicity, needs to know Jesus. It is God’s sovereignty in election and His gift of faith that invites each pre-believer to believe and respond. Many may reject the Good news, but none is to be ignored or considered unworthy of His grace and mercy. Apostle Paul was very determined to lay down every right that stood in his way of making Jesus known - to gentiles in faraway lands, to Jews in Jerusalem and to slaves, priests, government officials and even kings. 

Serving God is a privilege and a tremendous joy, but it can be exhausting. Apostle Paul said the joy of knowing Christ far exceeded everything that he formerly glorified in which he considered now as “rubbish” (Phi 3:8). Our journey of faith is not easy. To keep following Jesus in times of rejection and criticism is a huge commitment. It is a really a struggle to serve His people selflessly while overcoming my own weaknesses. Instead of relying on his own strength and abilities, Apostle Paul turned to our all-sufficient, all-powerful Jesus. His new life was filled with suffering, persecutions, and extreme discomfort. Yet also so satisfying that he later called it his crown of rejoicing (1 Thess 2:19). People can drain us, but Jesus fully satisfies. When we are in the centre of doing God’s work, we can never exhaust God. Jesus alone is sufficient for all our needs. Let us persevere and press on as we serve Him.

Apostle Paul exemplifies how God is glorified through faith in action (Eph 2:8-9). His life hung in a balance but his faith never wavered. His concerns for God’s people were intensely personal. He was driven by love to strengthen every believer’s faith through his writings, prayers, teachings, and mentoring. Eternity occupied all his thoughts and daily ministries (2 Cor 4:16-18). Let us, as Disciples of Christ, learn to live out the transformation of the Spirit and His Word, by faith in Him.

As we struggle to live in a world that seems to be spiralling out of control due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we take comfort in knowing our Sovereign God governs history. Over many generations, our faithful God kept His Word and delivered us the promised Messiah. God’s promises rest on remembering who He is. Our hope is secured by knowing that our God and His Word remain trustworthy. Only when we remember who God is and who we are will our lives not be affected by random ‘calamities’ but to build our lives on Him to eternity.

As we wait for God’s eternal plan to unfold, as we bring His Word into the world, let us continue to trust in His perfect timing. Amen. 

I have gained much from the learning of prophets & Apostle Paul's epistles from D3. It has been my pleasure journeying in both D2 & D3 with so many of you from PLMC in 2019 (D2) & 2021 (D3). I sent you greeting from fellow Christians in Living Waters Methodist Church (LWMC).

Our 16-week of study in the first half of D3 focussed on 3 of the 4 major prophets, namely Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (7 lessons) and all the minor prophets (9 lessons). We have seen how God brings about at different times, during the divided kingdom of both Northern kingdom of Israel and Southern kingdom of Judah, these prophets who spoke God’s word to the kings of the times. We learnt the various representative scriptures in each of these prophecy books where Christ is prophesied especially in the four major prophets and some minor prophets as well. We could see how some of these prophecies were fulfilled by Christ, too.

The second half of D3 focussed on Apostle Paul’s letters (13 of them) to the churches & personal letters to Timothy (1 & 2 Timothy) and Titus. Having gone through D2 where we learnt about Paul's 3 missionary journeys in Acts as the backdrop for learning D3 now, we can certainly appreciate the doctrines better and how Apostle Paul addressed the difficult problems of these churches once founded by him in his missionary journeys previously and Paul’s authority against false teachers.  Through learning about the life of the Apostle Paul, we had seen how he was persecuted for Jesus Christ as the Apostle sent to the Gentiles primarily.