Thursday, 12 August 2010

Day 5 (Thursday 12 August) - Turn Your Heart!

by NECF Malaysia 40-Day Fast & Prayer

Mal 4:5-6. God promised to send us the prophet Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and children to their fathers and together to God. Fathers are to instruct and train their children and grandchildren in the ways of the Lord so that our Christian heritage is not lost in one generation but that the love for God may be passed from one generation to the next. Let us therefore pray for significant breakthroughs for parents and children as we turn their hearts back to our Heavenly Father in repentance on where we have failed, so that the Sun of Righteousness will bring healing in His wings.

Reflection: Mal 4:1-6. Are you holding grudges, anger, frustrations, unforgiveness or disappointment against your loved ones? Confess to the Lord, release and seek forgiveness.

Prayer Points
■ Implore the Lord to turn hearts back to our Abba Father wholeheartedly. Parents to children; Pastor/Elders to their flock. Openness, mutual trust and respect to be restored in all relationships.

■ Ask the Sun of Righteousness to bring restoration and reconciliation in families. Family altars to be restored and homes to be His lighthouse as a place of refuge to those who are in need.

■ Fullness of the restoration of fathers to take their rightful role as head of household, leading by godly example, guarding and governing their homes in the fear of God.

■ Ask the Lord for the latter rain outpouring that a great revival will commence over the entire nation and beyond.

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Day 4 (Wednesday 11 August) - Honour God!

by NECF Malaysia 40-Day Fast & Prayer

We may ask, "What is the spiritual state of our nation and why is there so much internal strife in our homes, churches and among people groups in our nation?" The reasons are simple: we have broken the two commandments - loving God and loving one another. All broken relationships are the result of violating these commandments. If we desire to see revival, harmony, unity and order in our nation, we need to address the root issue of "honouring God and honouring one another!" We need to deal with our disobedience, negative attitudes and pride so that all generations, families, churches and nation will be healed, restoring God's order to transform this nation.

Reflection: Mal 2:2-6, Matt 19:19, Pro 15:33. In what ways have I dishonoured God, my parents, neighbours, friends and the authorities. For example, have I honoured God in my giving? Confess and stand in identification repentance on behalf of the church and nation for dishonouring Him by our lives and attitude.

"Faithful and uniform obedience to this royal law throughout the churches of Christ would be of itself an evangelistic power, an aggressive spiritual energy far transcending all the revival meetings ever held." D. Jackson

Prayer Points

■ Honour and respect to be restored in all relationships beginning with our relationship with God, parents and children, husbands and wives, the elderly and the youths, employers and employees, church leaders and members, government officials and the public.

■ Humility to initiate forgiveness in all broken relationships. Believers to live God-honouring lives in all aspects - thoughts, actions and words - and to be His salt and light.

■ Body of Christ to honour God in their substance, that resources will not be lacking in community projects that reach out to the lost, poor and helpless in all states.

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Day 3 (Tuesday 10 August) - New Wine for Marriage!

by NECF Malaysia 40-Day Fast & Prayer

Marriage is a holy covenant before God and is constituted by Himself (Gen 2:24). The importance of marriage is demonstrated in John 2:1-11, when Jesus began His ministry by attending a wedding feast and performed His first miracle by turning water into wine. In the Jewish customs, the wedding feast probably lasts a week. When wine runs out during such a long feast, it could bring shame to the host.

Likewise in many marriages today, instead of turning our trials and pain in marriages into the sweetest joy through the years, many marriages have become insipid, sour and even bitter, while others are empty, dry and hopeless. Whatever the state, God is a covenant-keeping God who seeks to restore all marriages and relationships if we turn our hearts back to Him. Let us begin by renewing our covenant relationship with Him!

Reflection: John 2:1-11. For married couples, is there fresh 'wine' in your marriage or are you dried up in anger or bitterness? Confess and renounce. On behalf of the Church and nation, beseech the Lord for forgiveness for the broken faith in our relationship with Him, committing spiritual adultery by pursuing the things of the world.

Prayer Points

■ Couples to place God in the centre of their marriages, restoring their first love to Him and to each other so that joy and freshness will overflow. Couples to submit to each other and for open, transparent communication.

■ Plead for deliverance to set marriages free from destruction, divorce, deception, depression and disillusionment. Pray for release of forgiveness, healing and restoration in broken couples.

■ Pray against all assignments of the Enemy to break down marriages; for protection for all marriages. Pray for the marriages of your pastor, elder and leaders.

■ Protection for our youths against all perversion and distortion of marriages such as same-sex marriages, co-habitation and fornication. Pray for godly couples who
will be good role models to the younger generation.

Monday, 9 August 2010

15-Aug-10

Caleb R.

Peggy Tan
Colleen, Foong Yee, Hong Lu

Prisca, Meng Fhui
Terry C., Weng Ern
Ken Fhui

Moses Tan
Hiew FF, Tommy .Q

Day 2 (Monday 9 August) - Building Blocks

by NECF Malaysia 40-Day Fast & Prayer

God Himself ordained family and marriages as the basic building block of human society. When the family unit crumbles, society will crumble as well. This family unit is most powerful and families need to WAKE UP to the realisation that the family institution is under attack! The war started in Genesis in Adam's family and today, the same destructive force is against families, marriages and children. But God is the Restorer and Master Builder of every broken relationship. If God is for us, who can be against us! Let us look to Him to re-build and strengthen and defend our families.

Reflection: Eph 5:22-33, 6:1-4. Seek God to deal with our hearts if there is anger, rejection, resentment, disappointment or failure to forgive our parents, spouses, brothers and sisters. Confess and reconcile with one another.

Prayer Points
■ Healing and reconciliation in all families. Mutual love and submission to be restored in all levels of relationship within families.
■ Rise up in faith and ask the Lord to free families from every assignment of the Enemy who has come to steal, kill and destroy family unit. Claim Joel 2:25 for families, 'I will give you back what you lost in the years when swarms of locusts ate your crops!'
■ Pray for strong Christian homes. Parents to guide and impart godly values to their children for a future generation of responsible citizens who will love and serve God, family, society and nation regardless of race and religion.

Sunday, 8 August 2010

Sunday Sermon 8-Aug-2010

Speaker: Elder John Lee
Full Gospel Assembly, Batu Pahat

http://www.mediafire.com/?5wkf7s89tfkdbzd
(7MB MP3)

40-Day Fast & Prayer 2010

8 August - 16 September 2010

Theme: Uniting The Generations.

Booklet can be downloaded from the NECF link here.

Day 1 (Sunday 8 August) - Divine Order

by NECF Malaysia 40-Day Fast & Prayer

God is a God of order! In whatever position we may be in, the secret of real peace and joy lies in the maintenance of His divine order in our inner being. Whether in family or church, if we fail to uphold God's order and substitute that with any other for the sake of our convenience and expediency, disharmony and confusion will be the inevitable result. This is what we are facing today individually and nationally! Breakthrough will never come unless we align our lives according to His order and set the right priorities in our lives, with the Lordship of Christ at the helm and all others in submission to Christ as Lord.

Reflection: Isaiah 38:1-4. The Lord sent a prophet to Hezekiah and ordered him to put his house in order. While the context is about the necessary preparation in view of his impending death, we will do well to take heed. In the next 40 days, seek God to reorder your life, family, church and nation, putting our priorities and relationships right. Confess where you have failed and ask Him to correctly order the priorities in your life and ministry.

Prayer Points

* Church and Nation: Identification and repentance - of our disobedience, violation of His Commandments, substituting and abdicating His Lordship.

■ Idolatry - materialism, self, status, success
■ Independence - pride, strife, manipulation
■ Immorality - lust, adultery, fornication, pornography
■ Impurity - lying, backbiting, gossip, half truths, boasting, malice, slander, etc.
■ Injustice - indifference towards the lost, marginalised, poor, oppressed

* Implore the Lord to align the corporate body of Christ back to Him that there will be connection with Him in spirit and in truth. Healing and reconciliation in all broken relationships. Restoring order and unity in churches.

* God's righteousness and justice to prevail in all government and private sectors. Wisdom for PM, DPM and Cabinet to govern the nation in the fear of God. Continual peace, stability, harmony and prosperity.

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

When Is It Adultery?

by Mark Gungor on August 3rd, 2010
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Is what Jesus said true? Seems like a pretty straight forward question. Born again Christians who believe the bible is the inspired Word of God would quickly give an emphatic “yes” as an answer. But I would like to challenge believers in an area where they say Jesus’ words are true, but aren’t necessarily living like it. It’s a rather sad indictment on Christianity today that we even have to ask: When is what Jesus said about divorce and remarriage being adultery ever true? What’s more shocking is that almost no one I ask seems to be able to give an answer to the question!

Divorce is common among people in churches today. Statistically, divorce is occurring among believers at the same rate as non-church couples—actually at an even higher rate than atheists! Christians are most often divorcing not because of an affair or sexual unfaithfulness, but for any reason under the sun—everything from “my spouse isn’t meeting my needs” and “he/she isn’t my soul mate” to “we just can’t get along”. Sometimes very strict churches will take a real hard line and say that you can never remarry after divorce or else it’s adultery. They maintain that you must live alone for the rest of your life, no matter the circumstances, even if a person divorced prior to becoming a believer. Undoubtedly, people have been hurt by that rigid stand.

If you read the bible, you’ll see that Jesus was actually very strong on this. He said if a man divorces his wife for any other reason but sexual unfaithfulness and she marries someone else, she commits adultery. That’s pretty strong. The fact that people apply that with no exception, even to those who made the decision to divorce when they were not believers, is pretty harsh. But that’s not the common practice in most churches today.

Most churches are not taking the extremely strict stand on divorce and remarriage. In fact, too many don’t take any stand. What I see as a bigger problem, and occurring more often, is that now you can get divorced and remarried for any and every reason—biblical or not. I think the casualness churches treat marriage with is wrong. People divorce their spouse, then they just move on to the next person and the church remarries them as if it’s no problem. To me it’s like a version of wife swapping and the church just smiles and thinks it’s no big deal. We’ve gone to the other extreme on this and it needs to be dealt with.

So when is remarriage adultery?

Remember, Jesus said remarriage in situations other than when sexual unfaithfulness has occurred, is indeed adultery. My question to churches is: When is that true for Christians today? When is what Jesus said ever true when it comes to the revolving door of marriage among believers? I’m concerned that there are so many excuses and exceptions that divorce and remarriage is not considered adultery in any situation. Today there are so many exceptions that we end up invalidating the very words of Christ. I do think adultery is a real deal breaker and the bible clearly makes accommodation for it. Other than this, I tend to be very conservative on this and in my church, but for a marriage that ended because of adultery committed against them, I will not remarry a person. (Unless it’s back to their original spouse, which I have actually done!) They can go somewhere else and find someone else to marry them.

What about…

People will come up with all kinds of scenarios and ask me the question, “What about domestic violence or abuse? Or alcoholism?” Look, I’m not God and everyone has to deal with their own conscience on this. But again, here we get into this area of excuses and exceptions. Do you really think there was no such thing as men hitting their wives in Jesus’ day? Then why didn’t he mention that excuse? Women say, “I’m divorcing my husband’s because he’s an alcoholic”. Do you really think people we’re alcoholics in Jesus’ day? Come on, we’re talking about over two thousand years ago when people were pretty barbaric. You think our culture is bad now? It was worse then! According to Jesus, there was only one excuse…that was sexual unfaithfulness.

Now, all kinds of people have been remarried in these types of “non-adultery” situations—do I think they’re all doomed? No. Are they supposed to divorce the new spouse because it’s not according to the bible? Certainly not. There is no way to go back and unscramble all the eggs, but I think as Christians the ideal is to follow God’s word, stop all the divorcing, and do it right in the first place. Then it wouldn’t even be an issue!

People make mistakes

I totally understand that people make mistakes, often times before they were saved and came to Christ. Then later they become born again, have repented, they are part of the church, and are serving Jesus. That’s a completely different scenario and of course God’s love and grace are greater than virtually any situation. My concern is that Christians use grace as a license to do what’s wrong and then they think, “God will just forgive me.” Yes, God forgives, but Paul writes in the bible and says we should not use grace as an excuse to do the wrong thing. I’m afraid that’s where we’re at in the church today.

A standard needs to be set

Truly, at some point, a standard needs to be set. I think churches have virtually no standard anymore and we need to start taking this very seriously. When you say “I do”, it means you did—till death do you part. We must realize that there is a biblical standard that has been ignored and it’s time for the Church to quit treating it so casually and answer the looming question: When is what Jesus said ever true? If we can’t even answer the question, we are in a really bad place.

Monday, 2 August 2010

8-Aug-10

Barnabas P.

Prisca
Siew Pin, Jocelyn C, Lareina

Lydia Sim, Jocelyn Lee
Darren, Ken Fhui
Kai Yew

Meng Fhui
Manjit Singh, Tommy Q.

Monday, 26 July 2010

1-Aug-10

Dr. Siow KW

Shankar
Hong Lu, Foong Yee, Colleen

Meng Fhui, Jacinta Lee
Anna Sim, Weng Ern
Ken Fhui

Moses Tan
Manjit Singh, Hiew FF.

Monday, 19 July 2010

Sunday Sermon 19-July-2010

Speaker: Pastor Dave Van De Berg

http://www.mediafire.com/?fwyauy65j3pq1ch
(8MB MP3)

25-Jul-10

Liong KC

Foong Yee
Colleen, Hong Lu, Prisca

Lydia Sim, Jonathan L
Anna Sim, Weng Ern
Darren

Tian Sia
Manjit Singh, Hiew FF

Monday, 12 July 2010

18-Jul-10

Chairperson: Caleb R.

Worship Leader: Terry C Peter Long 
Backup Singers: Shankar R., Lydia Sim, Lareina

Pianist: Meng Fhui Jonathan Long
Keyboardist: Jocelyn Lee
Guitarist: Ken Fhui
Bass Guitarist: Darren
Drummer: Jaemy C .

Projectinist: Moses Tan Terry
PA Personnel: Hiew, Tommy Q.

Monday, 5 July 2010

11-Jul-10

Chairperson: Barnabas P.

Worship Leader: Peter Long Terry Choong
Backup Singers: Jacquelina, Colleen, Peggy Tan

Pianist: Jonathan Long Jun Fhui
Keyboardist: Meng Fhui
Guitarists: Weng Ern
Bass Guitarist: Johnathan C
Drummer: Anna Sim

Projectionist: Terry Choong Moses Tan
PA Personnel: Hiew FF, Manjit Singh