Marc’s baptism testimony – My Three Encounters with the Lord

Dear pastors, brothers and sisters, good afternoon. My name is Marc Chen. I come from Chongqing, China. It is a great joy for me to share my journey of faith here at OTBC and to give a testimony of God’s goodness.亲爱的牧者、弟兄姐妹们，大家下午好。我叫 Marc Chen，来自中国重庆。今天能够在 OTBC 与大家分享我的信仰旅程，并见证神的良善，我感到非常喜乐。

Part 1第一部分

About fifteen years ago, because of my mother’s faith, I started going to church. At the time, I didn’t understand why my mum broke the idol statues in our home. Later, I came to realise that breaking physical idols is not easy — but breaking the idols in our hearts is even harder.大约十五年前，因为我母亲的信仰，我开始去教会。那时我不明白，为什么我妈妈要把家里的偶像神像打碎。后来我才慢慢明白，打碎外在的偶像已经不容易，而打碎我们心里的偶像更加困难。

I became a regular churchgoer, but whenever I listened to sermons and the sharing of God’s truth, I often felt sleepy.我开始固定去教会，但每当听讲道、听分享神的话语时，我常常会觉得很困。

Yet God still had mercy on me. He blessed my career and our family with two lovely children. Later, my wife Yibei also began attending Sunday services with me — and at that time, the two of us would sometimes fall asleep together during sermons.然而神仍然怜悯我。祂祝福了我的事业，也赐给我们的家庭两个可爱的孩子。后来我的妻子 Yibei 也开始和我一起参加主日聚会——那时我们两个人有时会一起在讲道中睡着。

Part 2第二部分

About three years ago, I went through a major career crisis and also suffered from depression and anxiety. Many nights, I had to listen to the Bible before I could finally fall asleep. During that time, God spoke to me through a pastor, saying:大约三年前，我经历了一次重大的事业危机，同时也陷入了抑郁和焦虑。许多个夜晚，我必须听着圣经，才能慢慢入睡。在那段时间里，神借着一位牧者对我说：

“You must take up your own cross and serve together with the body of Christ.”
“你必须背起自己的十字架，与基督的身体一同服事。”

At the time, I didn’t understand what this meant. One morning, Yibei suddenly said to me, “We need to go to the Lord’s house, study the Bible, and keep serving.”当时我并不明白这句话的意思。有一天早晨，Yibei 突然对我说：“我们需要回到主的家，学习圣经，并且继续服事。”

From that moment on, every week we went to church to learn and to serve — making coffee in the morning, Bible study in the afternoon, and worship through singing in the evening. I no longer felt sleepy during sermons. Sundays became my busiest, and most anticipated day of the week.从那一刻开始，我们每周都去教会学习和服事——早上做咖啡服事，下午查经，晚上用歌声敬拜。我在讲道中不再昏昏欲睡，主日也成了我一周中最忙碌、也是最期待的一天。

However, deep inside, I sensed that the idols and pride in my heart had not yet been fully dealt with. I knew God would continue to refine me.然而在我内心深处，我仍然感觉到自己心里的偶像和骄傲还没有被完全对付。我知道神还要继续炼净我。

Part 3第三部分

In 2025, Yibei received a calling from the Lord to come to New Zealand to study. As soon as she arrived in Christchurch, she told me she had found a wonderful church, OTBC, and a pastor, Jane, who has unique gifts. She happily told me that when I arrived in Christchurch, she would introduce Pastor Jane to pray for us.2025 年，Yibei 领受了从主而来的呼召，要来到新西兰学习。她一到基督城，就告诉我她找到了一间很好的教会 OTBC，也遇到了一位很有恩赐的牧者 Jane。她很开心地告诉我，当我来到基督城的时候，她会介绍 Jane 牧师为我们祷告。

But things did not go as smoothly as we expected. It felt as though a strange force was trying to stop me from meeting Pastor Jane. I arrived in Christchurch on 16 December, but Pastor Jane had already returned overseas.但事情并没有像我们想象的那样顺利。好像有一股奇怪的力量在阻止我与 Jane 牧师见面。我在 12 月 16 日抵达基督城，但 Jane 牧师已经回到海外。

We finally managed to book a time to meet Pastor Jane on 25 January. But just as we were about to leave, my car would not start. At that moment, my heart was hardened, and I didn’t want to ask the brothers and sisters at OTBC for help. Instead, I called a mechanic, hoping to solve the problem with money. But the mechanic refused to come out on a Sunday.后来我们终于约到在 1 月 25 日见面。但就在我们准备出门的时候，我的车却发动不了了。那一刻，我的心其实很刚硬，不愿意向 OTBC 的弟兄姐妹求助，而是打电话给修车师傅，希望用钱解决问题。但修车师傅在主日拒绝出来。

In the end, I contacted Brother Li, who lived closest to us. To my surprise, he arrived and fixed the problem within minutes. I am deeply thankful to Li — he was like an angel, appearing exactly when I needed help the most.最后，我联系了住得离我们最近的李弟兄。让我惊讶的是，他来了之后几分钟就把问题解决了。我非常感谢李弟兄——他就像天使一样，在我最需要帮助的时候出现。

We arrived on time to meet Pastor Jane and completed our first prayer session. That night, I had a strange dream: a huge spider staring directly at me. Pastor Jane told me the dream was not a good one and shared this verse with me:我们准时到了教会，与 Jane 牧师完成了第一次祷告。那天晚上，我做了一个奇怪的梦：一只巨大的蜘蛛正直直地盯着我。Jane 牧师告诉我，这不是一个好的梦，并与我分享了一节经文：

“What he trusts in will be broken, and what he relies on is a spider’s web.” (Job 8:14)
“他所仰赖的必折断，他所倚靠的是蜘蛛网。”（约伯记 8:14）

On 28 January, Pastor Jane prayed with me a second time, leading me in repentance and forgiveness. Over the next two nights, I had even worse dreams, one where I physically hit Yibei, and another where I was being chased by a dead body.1 月 28 日，Jane 牧师第二次为我祷告，带领我悔改和饶恕。接下来的两个晚上，我做了更可怕的梦——一个梦见我动手打了 Yibei，另一个梦见我被一具尸体追赶。

On 1 February, I was about to meet Pastor Jane for the third time for prayer, to break off dark powers. However, that very day, I had to work overtime until 6 p.m. I felt the enemy was trying to block and distract me once again, interfering with my meeting with Pastor Jane. But I firmly believed that the Lord’s will and love are greater than everything. So we still arrived at OTBC at 7 p.m.2 月 1 日，我预备第三次见 Jane 牧师祷告，要断开黑暗的权势。但就在那一天，我不得不加班到晚上六点。我感觉仇敌又一次试图拦阻和分散我的注意，干扰我与 Jane 牧师见面。但我坚定地相信，主的旨意和爱大过一切，所以我们还是在晚上七点来到 OTBC。

Before the prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke through Pastor Jane and shared this Scripture: “Since we have died to sin, we now live for righteousness.”在祷告之前，圣灵借着 Jane 牧师分享了一节经文：“我们既然在罪上死，就得以在义上活。”

At that moment, it was like a beam of light entered my heart. I realised something profound: although I had known the Lord for many years, I had mostly focused on what earthly blessings I could gain from believing in Jesus. I had never truly allowed my sinful old self to die and allowed Christ’s character and righteousness to live through me.那一刻，好像有一道光进入了我的心。我突然明白了一件非常深刻的事情：虽然我认识主已经很多年，但我一直关注的是信耶稣之后我能得到什么地上的祝福。我从来没有真正让自己罪性的旧人死去，也没有让基督的生命和义活在我里面。

This was the root issue that kept me from drawing closer to the Lord. I made a serious mistake: I avoided the death of my old self and only wanted to enjoy the benefits and comfort of life in Christ.这正是我无法更深亲近主的根本原因。我犯了一个很严重的错误：我逃避旧人的死，只想享受在基督里的好处和安慰。

That is why, whenever pressure came, I fell into anger, anxiety, impatience, and restlessness. I did not experience true rest, and I even suffered from insomnia. Without dying to the desires of the old self, how could I truly experience the power of Christ’s resurrection and receive real peace?所以当压力一来，我就落入愤怒、焦虑、不耐烦和不安之中。我没有真正经历安息，甚至长期失眠。如果旧人的私欲没有死去，我又怎么能真正经历基督复活的能力，并得到真正的平安呢？

After that prayer, Pastor Jane said that night I would no longer have strange dreams, and that was true. I slept peacefully, with no strange dreams.那次祷告之后，Jane 牧师告诉我，当晚我不会再做奇怪的梦。事实真的如此，我那晚睡得很安稳，没有再做那些梦。

Today, I am receiving water baptism, a sign that I am dying with Jesus and rising to new life with Him. I thank God for arranging my baptism here at OTBC.今天，我接受水的洗礼，这是一个记号，表明我与耶稣同死，也与祂一同复活进入新的生命。我感谢神安排我在 OTBC 受洗。

I would like to sincerely thank Jane, Raymond, Alan, Kelay, Li, Grace, David, Isaiah, the English Class teachers, and every brother and sister at OTBC. Because of you, I have found friends and a family here in New Zealand.我要衷心感谢 Jane、Raymond、Alan、Kelay、Li、Grace、David、Isaiah、English Class 的老师们，以及 OTBC 每一位弟兄姐妹。因为你们，我在新西兰找到了朋友，也找到了一个属灵的家。

Finally, I would like to share this Scripture with you: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. (Psalm 42:5)”最后，我想与大家分享一节经文：“我的心哪，你为何忧闷？为何在我里面烦躁？应当仰望神，因我还要称赞他；他是我的拯救，是我的神。”（诗篇 42:5）