by Max Lucado
The kingdom of heaven. Its citizens are drunk on wonder.
Consider the case of Sarai. She is in her golden years, but God promises her a son. She gets excited. She visits the maternity shop and buys a few dresses. She plans her shower and remodels her tent … but no son. She eats a few birthday cakes and blows out a lot of candles … still no son. She goes through a decade of wall calendars … still no son.
So Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands. (“Maybe God needs me to take care of this one.”)
She convinces Abram that time is running out. (“Face it, Abe, you ain’t getting any younger, either.”) She commands her maid, Hagar, to go into Abram’s tent and see if he needs anything. (“And I mean ‘anything’!”) Hagar goes in a maid. She comes out a mom. And the problems begin.
Hagar is haughty. Sarai is jealous. Abram is dizzy from the dilemma. And God calls the baby boy a “wild donkey”—an appropriate name for one born out of stubbornness and destined to kick his way into history.
It isn’t the cozy family Sarai expected. And it isn’t a topic Abram and Sarai bring up very often at dinner.
Finally, fourteen years later, when Abram is pushing a century of years and Sarai ninety … when Abram has stopped listening to Sarai’s advice, and Sarai has stopped giving it … when the wallpaper in the nursery is faded and the baby furniture is several seasons out of date … when the topic of the promised child brings sighs and tears and long looks into a silent sky … God pays them a visit and tells them they had better select a name for their new son.
Abram and Sarai have the same response: laughter. They laugh partly because it is too good to happen and partly because it might. They laugh because they have given up hope, and hope born anew is always funny before it is real.
They laugh at the lunacy of it all.
They laugh because that is what you do when someone says he can do the impossible. They laugh a little at God, and a lot with God—for God is laughing, too. Then, with the smile still on his face, he gets busy doing what he does best—the unbelievable.
He changes a few things—beginning with their names. Abram, the father of one, will now be Abraham, the father of a multitude. Sarai, the barren one, will now be Sarah, the mother.
But their names aren’t the only things God changes. He changes their minds. He changes their faith. He changes the number of their tax deductions. He changes the way they define the word impossible.
From
The Applause of Heaven
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) Max Lucado
Monday, 13 October 2008
19 OCTOBER 2008
Barnabas P.
Kai Yew
-
Peggy Tan, Gigi Lim, Jaemy Choong
-
Grace Lee
Meng Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Moses Tan, Jun Fhui
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Kai Yew
-
Peggy Tan, Gigi Lim, Jaemy Choong
-
Grace Lee
Meng Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Moses Tan, Jun Fhui
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Sunday, 12 October 2008
It's All About Him
Our focus can get off in many ways. This can happen when a song leader or worship team talks to the congregation and tells them to try harder, sing louder, move around more, and so on. It happens when the worship leader thanks the congregation for their singing or when they tell them that their singing was particularly good that day. It happens when we applaud after the worship team sings or after a person sings a solo. It happens when the leader comments about the nature of choruses and hymns, giving validity to the one or the other, rather than pointing out how the lyrics call our focus toward God. It happens when we overemphasize the experience of worship and feeling worshipful rather than on concentrating on the words of truth in the songs which testify to the power, majesty and awe of God. Sadly, many contemporary songs do not draw our attention to God because they are about us. Rather than telling God we want to worship Him, that we will worship Him, or that we are hungry for Him, we ought to go ahead and actually praise Him. We sing an entire song talking about the fact that we need Him when we ought to be praising Him in light of that fact.
Another thing that detracts from the awe is breaking up services with announcements or a time of greeting that is really too short to accomplish much that is of real value anyway. This really draws our attention back to ourselves and to our schedules. We ought to try to get the announcement back to ourselves and to our schedules. We ought to try to get the announcement out of the way before the call to worship or just create an expectation that people must read the bulletin. During the Lord's Supper, if we do not regularly explain what it is for and truly take time to remember Christ's suffering and sacrificial death, our minds will wander from the awesome encounter with God. When the pastor preaches, if he makes it too casual, often by joke-telling and story-telling for the first fifteen minutes, we will lose our focus on God. We might become enraptured with God. We need God's Word to encounter God. Stories, jokes, gimmicks, props and vocal inflections will not get the job done. Worship is through truth.
How the pastor approaches the word of God also will affect our ability to see how awesome God is. If he casually references a verse here and there or reads a passage and than talks only on abstract things hardly related, we will likely fail to encounter God because we have journeyed outside of His Word. We begin putting more emphasis on what the pastor says and how he says it then on what the Word says and God says it. We must approach God in reverence, awe and fear. If we could lean to approach Him as such, believing He is such and worshipping as such, then we will likely experience His awe as a corporate body. We are those under authority of One deserving all praise, glory, and honour. When we do anything to put the focus on ourselves, we steal His glory. May it never be, for God will have none of it.
- Brent Barnett
Another thing that detracts from the awe is breaking up services with announcements or a time of greeting that is really too short to accomplish much that is of real value anyway. This really draws our attention back to ourselves and to our schedules. We ought to try to get the announcement back to ourselves and to our schedules. We ought to try to get the announcement out of the way before the call to worship or just create an expectation that people must read the bulletin. During the Lord's Supper, if we do not regularly explain what it is for and truly take time to remember Christ's suffering and sacrificial death, our minds will wander from the awesome encounter with God. When the pastor preaches, if he makes it too casual, often by joke-telling and story-telling for the first fifteen minutes, we will lose our focus on God. We might become enraptured with God. We need God's Word to encounter God. Stories, jokes, gimmicks, props and vocal inflections will not get the job done. Worship is through truth.
How the pastor approaches the word of God also will affect our ability to see how awesome God is. If he casually references a verse here and there or reads a passage and than talks only on abstract things hardly related, we will likely fail to encounter God because we have journeyed outside of His Word. We begin putting more emphasis on what the pastor says and how he says it then on what the Word says and God says it. We must approach God in reverence, awe and fear. If we could lean to approach Him as such, believing He is such and worshipping as such, then we will likely experience His awe as a corporate body. We are those under authority of One deserving all praise, glory, and honour. When we do anything to put the focus on ourselves, we steal His glory. May it never be, for God will have none of it.
- Brent Barnett
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
HE WANTS TO COMFORT YOU
by Max Lucado
My child’s feelings are hurt. I tell her she’s special. My child is injured. I do whatever it takes to make her feel better.
My child is afraid. I won’t go to sleep until she is secure.
I’m not a hero. I’m not a superstar. I’m not unusual. I’m a parent. When a child hurts, a parent does what comes naturally. He helps.
And after I help, I don’t charge a fee. I don’t ask for a favor in return. When my child cries, I don’t tell her to buck up, act tough, and keep a stiff upper lip. Nor do I consult a list and ask her why she is still scraping the same elbow or waking me up again.
I’m not a prophet, nor the son of one, but something tells me that in the whole scheme of things the tender moments described above are infinitely more valuable than anything I do in front of a computer screen or congregation. Something tells me that the moments of comfort I give my child are a small price to pay for the joy of someday seeing my daughter do for her daughter what her dad did for her.
Moments of comfort from a parent. As a father, I can tell you they are the sweetest moments in my day. They come naturally. They come willingly. They come joyfully.
If all of that is true, if I know that one of the privileges of fatherhood is to comfort a child, then why am I so reluctant to let my heavenly Father comfort me?
Why do I think he wouldn’t want to hear about my problems? (“They are puny compared to people starving in India.”)
Why do I think he is too busy for me? (“He’s got a whole universe to worry about.”)
Why do I think he’s tired of hearing the same old stuff?
Why do I think he groans when he sees me coming?
Why do I think he consults his list when I ask for forgiveness and asks, “Don’t you think you’re going to the well a few too many times on this one?”
Why do I think I have to speak a holy language around him that I don’t speak with anyone else?
Why do I not take him seriously when he questions, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
Why don’t I let my Father do for me what I am more than willing to do for my own children?
I’m learning, though. Being a parent is better than a course on theology. Being a father is teaching me that when I am criticized, injured, or afraid, there is a Father who is ready to comfort me. There is a Father who will hold me until I’m better, help me until I can live with the hurt, and who won’t go to sleep when I’m afraid of waking up and seeing the dark.
Ever. And that’s enough.
From
The Applause of Heaven
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) Max Lucado
My child’s feelings are hurt. I tell her she’s special. My child is injured. I do whatever it takes to make her feel better.
My child is afraid. I won’t go to sleep until she is secure.
I’m not a hero. I’m not a superstar. I’m not unusual. I’m a parent. When a child hurts, a parent does what comes naturally. He helps.
And after I help, I don’t charge a fee. I don’t ask for a favor in return. When my child cries, I don’t tell her to buck up, act tough, and keep a stiff upper lip. Nor do I consult a list and ask her why she is still scraping the same elbow or waking me up again.
I’m not a prophet, nor the son of one, but something tells me that in the whole scheme of things the tender moments described above are infinitely more valuable than anything I do in front of a computer screen or congregation. Something tells me that the moments of comfort I give my child are a small price to pay for the joy of someday seeing my daughter do for her daughter what her dad did for her.
Moments of comfort from a parent. As a father, I can tell you they are the sweetest moments in my day. They come naturally. They come willingly. They come joyfully.
If all of that is true, if I know that one of the privileges of fatherhood is to comfort a child, then why am I so reluctant to let my heavenly Father comfort me?
Why do I think he wouldn’t want to hear about my problems? (“They are puny compared to people starving in India.”)
Why do I think he is too busy for me? (“He’s got a whole universe to worry about.”)
Why do I think he’s tired of hearing the same old stuff?
Why do I think he groans when he sees me coming?
Why do I think he consults his list when I ask for forgiveness and asks, “Don’t you think you’re going to the well a few too many times on this one?”
Why do I think I have to speak a holy language around him that I don’t speak with anyone else?
Why do I not take him seriously when he questions, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
Why don’t I let my Father do for me what I am more than willing to do for my own children?
I’m learning, though. Being a parent is better than a course on theology. Being a father is teaching me that when I am criticized, injured, or afraid, there is a Father who is ready to comfort me. There is a Father who will hold me until I’m better, help me until I can live with the hurt, and who won’t go to sleep when I’m afraid of waking up and seeing the dark.
Ever. And that’s enough.
From
The Applause of Heaven
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) Max Lucado
Monday, 6 October 2008
12 OCTOBER 2008
Caleb R.
Shankar R.
Foong Yee, Siew Pin, Hong Lu
-
Jessica Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Kai Yew
-
Meng Fhui, Jocelyn Lee
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Shankar R.
Foong Yee, Siew Pin, Hong Lu
-
Jessica Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Kai Yew
-
Meng Fhui, Jocelyn Lee
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Sunday, 5 October 2008
It's All About Him
The first Christians were described as feeling a sense of awe (Acts 2:42-47). In Acts, it seems that there was an excitement to assemble together, even on the days besides Sunday. It has been only on rare occasions in my Christian life that I have felt a sense of awe among the community of faith. In each and every occasion when this happen, it was clearly a work of God and devoid of any man-made manufacturing. Every time it was when a group of Christians were gathered together who, more than anything else, wanted to know God, serve Him and love Him more. We all arrived with an attitude of seeking God with all our hearts. I have been in a few churches where there was a clear sense of awe. New conversations were happening, the pastor had an unusual passion and faith, the messages were totally Bible-based which fostered continual learning, and something was in the air. This is how it ought to be. There was an unusual faith and expectation which the people of the church possessed. The awe is something intangible. No program, background music, or other artificial means can generate such an awe. Picking a peppy song to begin worship with to get people 'into it' is not going to create awe. It is the work of the Spirit reviving His people to sanctified lives and then filling them to worship and serve Him that can do this. Having zeal and preaching the Word is a start, but it is insufficient unless the Spirit fills and moves.
I think the biggest thing we do as churches which keeps this awe-inspiring encounter away is that we don't make the service first and foremost about God. We don't approach God in fear and trembling. There is something about how we worship that is much too casual for being in the presence of a holy and all-powerful God. Awe is not merely something that we fell. It is a trembling in our spirits before the wonder and majesty of the King of Kings. It is a joy that overwhelms us because the God who is all powerful loved us and died for us. It is all about Him. When we get consumed with God, we must necessarily be purified and overcome with an awe that He would choose to love us. There are times in Scripture where the apostle Paul spontaneously breaks out into doxology, praising God for who He is and what He has done. Such instances of praising always follow an explanation of theology and doctrine. It is worship in spirit and in truth that draws our hears heavenward toward God. Hearts free from outstanding sin and minds filled with the Word of God are central to encountering the awesomeness of God. How worthy He is of our praise, honour, glory and thanksgiving. This is what we will sing when we are in heaven. We will be utterly taken by His wonder and glory. It will have nothing to do with us, what we can do for God, or any musical rendition that we can conjure up.
- Brent Barnett
Friday, 3 October 2008
PERFECT LOVE
by Max Lucado
Isn’t it good to know that even when we don’t love with a perfect love, he does? God always nourishes what is right. He always applauds what is right. He has never done wrong, led one person to do wrong, or rejoiced when anyone did wrong. For he is love, and love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6 NASB).
God passes the test of 1 Corinthians 13:6. Well, he should; he drafted it.
So where does this leave us? Perhaps with a trio of reminders. When it comes to love:
Be careful.
Until love is stirred, let God’s love be enough for you. There are seasons when God allows us to feel the frailty of human love so we’ll appreciate the strength of his love. Didn’t he do this with David? Saul turned on him. Michal, his wife, betrayed him. Jonathan and Samuel were David’s friends, but they couldn’t follow him into the wilderness. Betrayal and circumstances left David alone. Alone with God. And, as David discovered, God was enough. David wrote these words in a desert: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.… My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (Ps. 63:3, 5 NIV).
Be prayerful.
What if it’s too late? Specifically, what if you’re married to someone you don’t love—or who doesn’t love you? Many choose to leave. That may be the step you take. But if it is, take at least a thousand others first. And bathe every one of those steps in prayer. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Ask God to help you love as he loves. “God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love” (Rom. 5:5 CEV). Ask everyone you know to pray for you. Your friends. Your family. Your church leaders. Get your name on every prayer list available. And, most of all, pray for and, if possible, with your spouse. Ask the same God who raised the dead to resurrect the embers of your love.
Be grateful.
Be grateful for those who love you. Be grateful for those who have encouraged you to do what is right and applauded when you did. Do you have people like that in your world? If so, you are doubly blessed. Be grateful for them. And be grateful for your Father in heaven.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Isn’t it good to know that even when we don’t love with a perfect love, he does? God always nourishes what is right. He always applauds what is right. He has never done wrong, led one person to do wrong, or rejoiced when anyone did wrong. For he is love, and love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6 NASB).
God passes the test of 1 Corinthians 13:6. Well, he should; he drafted it.
So where does this leave us? Perhaps with a trio of reminders. When it comes to love:
Be careful.
Until love is stirred, let God’s love be enough for you. There are seasons when God allows us to feel the frailty of human love so we’ll appreciate the strength of his love. Didn’t he do this with David? Saul turned on him. Michal, his wife, betrayed him. Jonathan and Samuel were David’s friends, but they couldn’t follow him into the wilderness. Betrayal and circumstances left David alone. Alone with God. And, as David discovered, God was enough. David wrote these words in a desert: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.… My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (Ps. 63:3, 5 NIV).
Be prayerful.
What if it’s too late? Specifically, what if you’re married to someone you don’t love—or who doesn’t love you? Many choose to leave. That may be the step you take. But if it is, take at least a thousand others first. And bathe every one of those steps in prayer. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Ask God to help you love as he loves. “God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love” (Rom. 5:5 CEV). Ask everyone you know to pray for you. Your friends. Your family. Your church leaders. Get your name on every prayer list available. And, most of all, pray for and, if possible, with your spouse. Ask the same God who raised the dead to resurrect the embers of your love.
Be grateful.
Be grateful for those who love you. Be grateful for those who have encouraged you to do what is right and applauded when you did. Do you have people like that in your world? If so, you are doubly blessed. Be grateful for them. And be grateful for your Father in heaven.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Monday, 29 September 2008
5 OCTOBER 2008
Siow KW
Peter Long
Phoebe Ong, Peggy Tan, Joycelyn Choong
-
Lydia Sim
Jonathan Long
-
Anna Sim
Jaemy Choong
-
Tian Sia, Moses Tan
Hiew FF, Tommy Quek
Peter Long
Phoebe Ong, Peggy Tan, Joycelyn Choong
-
Lydia Sim
Jonathan Long
-
Anna Sim
Jaemy Choong
-
Tian Sia, Moses Tan
Hiew FF, Tommy Quek
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Will You Lay Down Your Life?
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends... I have called you friends..." (John 15:13,15)
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, "I will lay down my life for your sake," and he meant it (13:37). He had a magnificent sense of the heroic. For us to be incapable of making this same statement Peter made would be a bad thing - our sense of duty is only fully realised through our sense of heroism. Has the Lord ever asked you, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?" (John 13:38). It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in day out with the sense of high calling of God. We are not made for the bright-shining moments of life, but we have to walk in the light of them in our everyday ways. There was only one bright-shining moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was there that He emptied Himself of His glory for the second time, and then came down into the demon-possessed valley (see Mark 9:29). For thirty-three years Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His father. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). Yet it is contrary to our human nature to do so.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I must deliberately and carefully lay down my life for Him. It is a difficult thing to do, and thank God that it is. Salvation is easy for us, because it cost God so much. But the exhibiting of salvation in my life is difficult. God saves a person, fills him with the Holy Spirit, and then says, "Now you work it out in your life, and be faithful to Me, even though the nature of everything around you is to cause you to be unfaithful." And Jesus says to us, "... I have called you friends ..." Remain faithful to your Friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. - James 1:2
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, "I will lay down my life for your sake," and he meant it (13:37). He had a magnificent sense of the heroic. For us to be incapable of making this same statement Peter made would be a bad thing - our sense of duty is only fully realised through our sense of heroism. Has the Lord ever asked you, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?" (John 13:38). It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in day out with the sense of high calling of God. We are not made for the bright-shining moments of life, but we have to walk in the light of them in our everyday ways. There was only one bright-shining moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was there that He emptied Himself of His glory for the second time, and then came down into the demon-possessed valley (see Mark 9:29). For thirty-three years Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His father. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). Yet it is contrary to our human nature to do so.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I must deliberately and carefully lay down my life for Him. It is a difficult thing to do, and thank God that it is. Salvation is easy for us, because it cost God so much. But the exhibiting of salvation in my life is difficult. God saves a person, fills him with the Holy Spirit, and then says, "Now you work it out in your life, and be faithful to Me, even though the nature of everything around you is to cause you to be unfaithful." And Jesus says to us, "... I have called you friends ..." Remain faithful to your Friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. - James 1:2
LOVE ALWAYS PROTECTS
by Max Lucado
Genesis 3:21 has been called the first gospel sermon. Preached not by preachers, but by God himself. Not with words, but with symbol and action.
“The LORD God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them” (Gen. 3:21).
God covers them. He protects them.
Love always protects.
Hasn’t he done the same for us? We eat our share of forbidden fruit. We say what we shouldn’t say. Go where we shouldn’t go. Pluck fruit from trees we shouldn’t touch.
So what does God do? Exactly what he did for our parents in the garden. He sheds innocent blood. He offers the life of his Son. And from the scene of the sacrifice the Father takes a robe—not the skin of an animal—but the robe of righteousness. And does he throw it in our direction and tell us to shape up? No, he dresses us himself. He dresses us with himself. “You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ” (Gal. 3:26–27).
God has clothed us. He protects us with a cloak of love. Can you look back over your life and see instances of God’s protection? I can too. My junior year in college I was fascinated by a movement of Christians several thousand miles from my campus. Some of my friends decided to spend the summer at the movement’s largest church and be discipled. When I tried to do the same, every door closed. Problem after problem with finances, logistics, and travel.
A second opportunity surfaced: spending a summer in Brazil. In this case, every door I knocked on swung open. Two and one half decades later I see how God protected me. The movement has become a cult—dangerous and oppressive. Time in Brazil introduced me to grace—freeing and joyful. Did God protect me? Does God protect us?
And you? Did he keep you from a bad relationship? Protect you from the wrong job? Insulate you from _______________ (you fill in the blank)? “Like hovering birds, so will [the LORD Almighty] protect Jerusalem” (Isa. 31:5 JB). “He will strengthen and protect you” (2 Thess. 3:3 NIV). “He will command his angels … to guard you” (Ps. 91:11 NIV). God protects you with a cloak of love.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Genesis 3:21 has been called the first gospel sermon. Preached not by preachers, but by God himself. Not with words, but with symbol and action.
“The LORD God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them” (Gen. 3:21).
God covers them. He protects them.
Love always protects.
Hasn’t he done the same for us? We eat our share of forbidden fruit. We say what we shouldn’t say. Go where we shouldn’t go. Pluck fruit from trees we shouldn’t touch.
So what does God do? Exactly what he did for our parents in the garden. He sheds innocent blood. He offers the life of his Son. And from the scene of the sacrifice the Father takes a robe—not the skin of an animal—but the robe of righteousness. And does he throw it in our direction and tell us to shape up? No, he dresses us himself. He dresses us with himself. “You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ” (Gal. 3:26–27).
God has clothed us. He protects us with a cloak of love. Can you look back over your life and see instances of God’s protection? I can too. My junior year in college I was fascinated by a movement of Christians several thousand miles from my campus. Some of my friends decided to spend the summer at the movement’s largest church and be discipled. When I tried to do the same, every door closed. Problem after problem with finances, logistics, and travel.
A second opportunity surfaced: spending a summer in Brazil. In this case, every door I knocked on swung open. Two and one half decades later I see how God protected me. The movement has become a cult—dangerous and oppressive. Time in Brazil introduced me to grace—freeing and joyful. Did God protect me? Does God protect us?
And you? Did he keep you from a bad relationship? Protect you from the wrong job? Insulate you from _______________ (you fill in the blank)? “Like hovering birds, so will [the LORD Almighty] protect Jerusalem” (Isa. 31:5 JB). “He will strengthen and protect you” (2 Thess. 3:3 NIV). “He will command his angels … to guard you” (Ps. 91:11 NIV). God protects you with a cloak of love.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
HAND DELIVERED BOUQUETS
by Max Lucado
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Through Christ, God has accepted you. Think about what this means. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you.
Rejections are like speed bumps on the road. They come with the journey. You’re going to get cut, dished, dropped, and kicked around. You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you. How? By letting his acceptance compensate for their rejection.
Think of it this way. Suppose you dwell in a high-rise apartment. On the window sill of your room is a solitary daisy. This morning you picked the daisy and pinned it on your lapel. Since you have only one plant, this is a big event and a special daisy.
But as soon as you’re out the door, people start picking petals off your daisy. Someone snags your subway seat. Petal picked. You’re blamed for the bad report of a coworker. Three petals. The promotion is given to someone with less experience but USC water polo looks. More petals. By the end of the day, you’re down to one. Woe be to the soul who dares to draw near it. You’re only one petal-snatching away from a blowup.
What if the scenario was altered slightly? Let’s add one character. The kind man in the apartment next door runs a flower shop on the corner. Every night on the way home he stops at your place with a fresh, undeserved, yet irresistible bouquet. These are not leftover flowers. They are top-of-the-line arrangements. You don’t know why he thinks so highly of you, but you aren’t complaining. Because of him, your apartment has a sweet fragrance, and your step has a happy bounce. Let someone mess with your flower, and you’ve got a basketful to replace it!
The difference is huge. And the interpretation is obvious.
God will load your world with flowers. He hand-delivers a bouquet to your door every day. Open it! Take them! Then, when rejections come, you won’t be left short-petaled.
God can help you get rid of your anger. He made galaxies no one has ever seen and dug canyons we have yet to find. “The LORD … heals all your diseases” (Ps. 103:2–3 NIV). Do you think among those diseases might be the affliction of anger?
Do you think God could heal your angry heart?
Do you want him to? This is not a trick question. He asks the same question of you that he asked of the invalid: “Do you want to be well?” (John 5:6). Not everyone does. You may be addicted to anger. You may be a rage junkie. Anger may be part of your identity. But if you want him to, he can change your identity. Do you want him to do so?
Do you have a better option? Like moving to a rejection-free zone? If so, enjoy your life on your desert island.
Take the flowers. Receive from him so you can love or at least put up with others.
FromA Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Monday, 22 September 2008
28 SEPTEMBER 2008
Liong KC
Peggy Tan
Gigi Lim, Foong Yee, Richard
-
Jun Fhui
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Anna Sim
-
Richard, Jocelyn Lee
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Peggy Tan
Gigi Lim, Foong Yee, Richard
-
Jun Fhui
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Anna Sim
-
Richard, Jocelyn Lee
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
"Your whole spirit . . . ." The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— "O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me."
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7 ). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight.
We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
- Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost For His Highest
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting. - Psalm 139:23-24
Thursday, 18 September 2008
TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE
by Max Lucado
Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions.
Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s temper tantrum.
Today’s bigotry is tomorrow’s hate crime.
Today’s anger is tomorrow’s abuse.
Today’s lust is tomorrow’s adultery.
Today’s greed is tomorrow’s embezzlement.
Today’s guilt is tomorrow’s fear.
Could that be why Paul writes, “Love … keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV)?
Some folks don’t know we have an option.
Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage—“capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”? You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.
It was for Jesus. Remember the thoughts that came his way courtesy of the mouth of Peter? Jesus had just prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection, but Peter couldn’t bear the thought of it. “Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that.… Jesus said to Peter, ‘Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important’” (Matt. 16:22–23).
See the decisiveness of Jesus?
What if you did that? What if you took every thought captive? What if you took the counsel of Solomon: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Prov. 4:23).
You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have a vote. You have a voice. You can exercise thought prevention. You can also exercise thought permission.
Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?
Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings. The same verb Paul uses for keeps in the phrase “keeps no list of wrongs” is used for think in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (RSV). Thinking conveys the idea of pondering—studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.
Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions.
Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s temper tantrum.
Today’s bigotry is tomorrow’s hate crime.
Today’s anger is tomorrow’s abuse.
Today’s lust is tomorrow’s adultery.
Today’s greed is tomorrow’s embezzlement.
Today’s guilt is tomorrow’s fear.
Could that be why Paul writes, “Love … keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV)?
Some folks don’t know we have an option.
Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage—“capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”? You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.
It was for Jesus. Remember the thoughts that came his way courtesy of the mouth of Peter? Jesus had just prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection, but Peter couldn’t bear the thought of it. “Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that.… Jesus said to Peter, ‘Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important’” (Matt. 16:22–23).
See the decisiveness of Jesus?
What if you did that? What if you took every thought captive? What if you took the counsel of Solomon: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Prov. 4:23).
You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have a vote. You have a voice. You can exercise thought prevention. You can also exercise thought permission.
Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?
Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings. The same verb Paul uses for keeps in the phrase “keeps no list of wrongs” is used for think in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (RSV). Thinking conveys the idea of pondering—studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.
Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Sunday, 14 September 2008
21 SEPTEMBER 2008
Barnabas P.
Terry Choong
Hong Lu, Foong Yee, Jocelyn Choong
-
Grace Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Kah Yew
-
Moses Tan, Tian Sia
Tommy Quek, Manjit Singh
Terry Choong
Hong Lu, Foong Yee, Jocelyn Choong
-
Grace Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Kah Yew
-
Moses Tan, Tian Sia
Tommy Quek, Manjit Singh
Vicarious Intercession
"...having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus..." - Hebrews 10:19
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have "boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus."
Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic "understanding" of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have "boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus."
Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic "understanding" of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?
- Oswald Chambers, from "My Utmost For His Highest"
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hea from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14
Thursday, 11 September 2008
GOD BELIEVES IN YOU
by Max Lucado
The tale involves a wealthy father and a willful son. The boy prematurely takes his inheritance and moves to Las Vegas and there wastes the money on slot machines and call girls. As fast as you can say “blackjack,” he is broke. Too proud to go home, he gets a job sweeping horse stables at the racetrack. When he finds himself tasting some of their oats and thinking, H’m, a dash of salt and this wouldn’t be too bad, he realizes enough is enough. It’s time to go home. The gardener at his father’s house does better than this. So off he goes, rehearsing his repentance speech every step of the way.
But the father has other ideas. He “had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
We don’t expect such a response. We expect crossed arms and a furrowed brow. At best a guarded handshake. At least a stern lecture. But the father gives none of these. Instead he gives gifts. “Bring out the best robe … a ring … sandals.… And bring the fatted calf … and let us eat and be merry” (Luke 15:11–23 NKJV). Robe, sandals, calf, and … Did you see it? A ring.
Before the boy has a chance to wash his hands, he has a ring to put on his finger. In Christ’s day rings were more than gifts; they were symbols of delegated sovereignty. The bearer of the ring could speak on behalf of the giver. It was used to press a seal into soft wax to validate a transaction. The one who wore the ring conducted business in the name of the one who gave it.
Would you have done this? Would you have given this prodigal son power-of-attorney privileges over your affairs? Would you have entrusted him with a credit card? Would you have given him this ring?
Before you start questioning the wisdom of the father, remember, in this story you are the boy. When you came home to God, you were given authority to conduct business in your heavenly Father’s name.
When you speak truth, you are God’s ambassador.
As you steward the money he gives, you are his business manager.
When you declare forgiveness, you are his priest.
As you stir the healing of the body or the soul, you are his physician.
And when you pray, he listens to you as a father listens to a son. You have a voice in the household of God. He has given you his ring.
God believes in you. And, I wonder, could you take some of the belief that he has in you and share it with someone else?
You and I have the privilege to do for others what God does for us. How do we show people that we believe in them?
Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
The tale involves a wealthy father and a willful son. The boy prematurely takes his inheritance and moves to Las Vegas and there wastes the money on slot machines and call girls. As fast as you can say “blackjack,” he is broke. Too proud to go home, he gets a job sweeping horse stables at the racetrack. When he finds himself tasting some of their oats and thinking, H’m, a dash of salt and this wouldn’t be too bad, he realizes enough is enough. It’s time to go home. The gardener at his father’s house does better than this. So off he goes, rehearsing his repentance speech every step of the way.
But the father has other ideas. He “had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
We don’t expect such a response. We expect crossed arms and a furrowed brow. At best a guarded handshake. At least a stern lecture. But the father gives none of these. Instead he gives gifts. “Bring out the best robe … a ring … sandals.… And bring the fatted calf … and let us eat and be merry” (Luke 15:11–23 NKJV). Robe, sandals, calf, and … Did you see it? A ring.
Before the boy has a chance to wash his hands, he has a ring to put on his finger. In Christ’s day rings were more than gifts; they were symbols of delegated sovereignty. The bearer of the ring could speak on behalf of the giver. It was used to press a seal into soft wax to validate a transaction. The one who wore the ring conducted business in the name of the one who gave it.
Would you have done this? Would you have given this prodigal son power-of-attorney privileges over your affairs? Would you have entrusted him with a credit card? Would you have given him this ring?
Before you start questioning the wisdom of the father, remember, in this story you are the boy. When you came home to God, you were given authority to conduct business in your heavenly Father’s name.
When you speak truth, you are God’s ambassador.
As you steward the money he gives, you are his business manager.
When you declare forgiveness, you are his priest.
As you stir the healing of the body or the soul, you are his physician.
And when you pray, he listens to you as a father listens to a son. You have a voice in the household of God. He has given you his ring.
God believes in you. And, I wonder, could you take some of the belief that he has in you and share it with someone else?
You and I have the privilege to do for others what God does for us. How do we show people that we believe in them?
Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.
From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
THANK YOU
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ..
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
''Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth untothose things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus''Phil 3 : 13-14
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
THANK YOU
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ..
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
''Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth untothose things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus''
Phil 3 : 13-14
Phil 3 : 13-14
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
Monday, 8 September 2008
THANK YOU
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ..
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
I would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and gratitude on behalf of my family for your kind concern during my hospitalization.
It is said that you will know your true friends in your hour of need, and I count it my rich blessing to have your encouragement and prayers during my moment of infirmity.
I thank the Lord for seeing my family and I through this week and though the sequence of events that happened, I believe that it has worked together for good in the end.
-
Bretheren..
There is always a silver lining in every cloud and I have learned to take this time to rest and reflect. Sometimes life gets so hectic and out of control that *God forbid* a spanner is thrown into the works just to halt everything for a moment. It's as though God is saying ''have a break, have a Kit Kat''.
He does have a sense of humour, after all.
-
On a more serious note, the near-fatality of this incident has hit home a very important truth. Life is fragile. We are like the morning mist. Our lifespan is but a breath compared to the eternity of God's timing. All the more we should make our lives count by living for our Lord Jesus Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly.
But be encouraged that He has us in the palm of His hand and nothing will befall us except with His permission and His grace is sufficient to see all of us through.
-
Brothers & sisters in the Lord.
I also take this opportunity to encourage you to stay faithful in running the race together. The leaders, the congregation, the shepherd, the sheep, the young and the young at heart. None should be left out or left behind as we take a page from Paul:
''Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth untothose things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus''Phil 3 : 13-14
A fellow servant,
SK Sim
14 SEPTEMBER 2008
Siow KW
Peter Long
Phoebe Sim, Peggy Tan, Shankar R.
-
Lydia Sim
Jonathan Long
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Richard, Meng Fhui
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Peter Long
Phoebe Sim, Peggy Tan, Shankar R.
-
Lydia Sim
Jonathan Long
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Richard, Meng Fhui
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Vital Intercession
"... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ..." - Ephesian 6:18
As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to interceded in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God's interest and concern for others and step onto having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, "I will not allow that thing to happen." And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.
Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own "sad and pitiful self." You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with fault them.
- Oswald Chamber, from "My Utmost For His Highest"
Let each of you out only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. - Philippians 2:4
As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to interceded in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God's interest and concern for others and step onto having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, "I will not allow that thing to happen." And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.
Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own "sad and pitiful self." You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with fault them.
- Oswald Chamber, from "My Utmost For His Highest"
Let each of you out only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. - Philippians 2:4
Friday, 5 September 2008
HIS WING SHELTERS YOU
by Max Lucado
“He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers.”
(Psalm 91:4)
My college friends and I barely escaped a West Texas storm before it pummeled the park where we were spending a Saturday afternoon. As we were leaving, my buddy brought the car to a sudden stop and gestured to a tender sight on the ground. A mother bird sat exposed to the rain, her wing extended over her baby who had fallen out of the nest. The fierce storm prohibited her from returning to the tree, so she covered her child until the wind passed.
From how many winds is God protecting you? His wing, at this moment, shields you. A slanderous critic heading toward your desk is interrupted by a phone call. A burglar en route to your house has a flat tire. A drunk driver runs out of gas before your car passes his. God, your guardian, protects you from
“every trap” (Ps. 91:3);
“the fatal plague” (Ps. 91:3);
“the plague that stalks in darkness” (Ps. 91:6);
“the terrors of the night…the dangers of the day” (Ps. 91:5).
One translation boldly promises: “Nothing bad will happen to you” (Ps. 91:10 NCV).
“Then why does it?” someone erupts. “Explain my job transfer. Or the bum who called himself my dad. Or the death of our child.” If God is our guardian, why do bad things happen to us?
Have they? Have bad things really happened to you? You and God may have different definitions for the word bad.
God views your life the way you view a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, you feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story…he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear.
God uses struggles to toughen our spiritual skin.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2–4)
Trust him. “But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Ps. 56:3). Join with Isaiah, who resolved, “I will trust in him and not be afraid” (Isa. 12:2).
God is directing your steps and delighting in every detail of your life (Ps. 37:23–24). In fact, that’s his car pulling over to the side of the road. That’s God opening the door. And that’s you climbing into the passenger seat.
There now, don’t you feel safer knowing he is in control?
From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
“He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers.”
(Psalm 91:4)
My college friends and I barely escaped a West Texas storm before it pummeled the park where we were spending a Saturday afternoon. As we were leaving, my buddy brought the car to a sudden stop and gestured to a tender sight on the ground. A mother bird sat exposed to the rain, her wing extended over her baby who had fallen out of the nest. The fierce storm prohibited her from returning to the tree, so she covered her child until the wind passed.
From how many winds is God protecting you? His wing, at this moment, shields you. A slanderous critic heading toward your desk is interrupted by a phone call. A burglar en route to your house has a flat tire. A drunk driver runs out of gas before your car passes his. God, your guardian, protects you from
“every trap” (Ps. 91:3);
“the fatal plague” (Ps. 91:3);
“the plague that stalks in darkness” (Ps. 91:6);
“the terrors of the night…the dangers of the day” (Ps. 91:5).
One translation boldly promises: “Nothing bad will happen to you” (Ps. 91:10 NCV).
“Then why does it?” someone erupts. “Explain my job transfer. Or the bum who called himself my dad. Or the death of our child.” If God is our guardian, why do bad things happen to us?
Have they? Have bad things really happened to you? You and God may have different definitions for the word bad.
God views your life the way you view a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, you feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story…he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear.
God uses struggles to toughen our spiritual skin.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2–4)
Trust him. “But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Ps. 56:3). Join with Isaiah, who resolved, “I will trust in him and not be afraid” (Isa. 12:2).
God is directing your steps and delighting in every detail of your life (Ps. 37:23–24). In fact, that’s his car pulling over to the side of the road. That’s God opening the door. And that’s you climbing into the passenger seat.
There now, don’t you feel safer knowing he is in control?
From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
Monday, 1 September 2008
7 SEPTEMBER 2008
Caleb R.
Kai Yew
Siew Pin, Gigi Lim, Lydia Sim
-
Jun Fhui
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Anna Sim
-
Moses Tan, Tian Sia
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Kai Yew
Siew Pin, Gigi Lim, Lydia Sim
-
Jun Fhui
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Anna Sim
-
Moses Tan, Tian Sia
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
The 23rd Channel
Dedicated to all Television Fanatics
The television is my shepherd, my spiritual life does want.
It makes me to sit down and do nothing.
It leads me beside people of no faith.
It restores my desire for worldly pleasures.
It requires all my spare time and keeps me from doing the will of God because it presents so much foolishness which I must see.
It increases my knowledge of nonsense and keeps me from the study of the Word of God.
Even though I live to be a hundred, yet the viewing of my television shall have first place in my life as long as it does operate, for it is my closest companion.
It's sound and its picture comfort me.
It presents foolishness and folly before me continually and keeps me from surrendering my whole life to God.
It anoints my mind with seeds of corruption and fills my head with vanity, which profits me nothing, my cup remains empty.
Surely no good thing will come to my life because I am devoted to my television, which leaves me no spare time to serve God.
Therefore I will dwell in the House of Confusion forever
Adapted originally by Joseph Bakke - a great man of faith in God
Psalm 101:3 - I will set no wicked things before my eyes.
The television is my shepherd, my spiritual life does want.
It makes me to sit down and do nothing.
It leads me beside people of no faith.
It restores my desire for worldly pleasures.
It requires all my spare time and keeps me from doing the will of God because it presents so much foolishness which I must see.
It increases my knowledge of nonsense and keeps me from the study of the Word of God.
Even though I live to be a hundred, yet the viewing of my television shall have first place in my life as long as it does operate, for it is my closest companion.
It's sound and its picture comfort me.
It presents foolishness and folly before me continually and keeps me from surrendering my whole life to God.
It anoints my mind with seeds of corruption and fills my head with vanity, which profits me nothing, my cup remains empty.
Surely no good thing will come to my life because I am devoted to my television, which leaves me no spare time to serve God.
Therefore I will dwell in the House of Confusion forever
Adapted originally by Joseph Bakke - a great man of faith in God
Psalm 101:3 - I will set no wicked things before my eyes.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
HARD HEARTED
by Max Lucado
From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Hardhearted people are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. (Eph. 4:17-19)
A hard heart ruins, no only your life, but the lives of your family members. As an example, Jesus identified the hard heart as the wrecking ball of a marriage. When asked about divorce, Jesus said, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because our hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.” (Matt. 19:8) When one or both people in a marriage stop trusting God to save it, they sign its death certificate. They reject the very one who can help them.
My executive assistant, Karen Hill, saw the result of such stubbornness in a pasture. A cow stuck her nose into a paint can and couldn’t shake it off. Can-nosed cows can’t breathe very well, and they can’t drink or eat at all. Both the cow and her calf were in danger. A serious bovine bind.
Karen’s family set out to help. But when the cow saw the rescuers coming, she set out for pasture. They pursued, but the cow escaped. They chased that cow for three days! Each time the posse drew near, the cow ran. Finally, using pickup trucks and ropes, they cornered and de-canned the cow.
Seen any can-nosed people lately? Malnourished souls? Dehydrated hearts? People who can’t take a deep breath? All because they stuck their noses where they shouldn’t, and when God came to help, they ran away.
When billions of us imitate the cow, chaos erupts. Nations of bull-headed people ducking God and bumping into each other. We scamper, starve, and struggle.
Can-nosed craziness. Isn’t this the world we see? This is the world God sees.
Yet, this is the world God loves. “For God so loved the world…” This hard-hearted, stiff-necked world. We stick our noses where we shouldn’t; still, he pursues us. We run from the very one who can help, but he doesn’t give up. He loves. He pursues. He persists. And, every so often, a heart starts to soften.
Let yours be one of them.
When my daughters were small, they liked to play with Play-Doh. They formed figures out of the soft clay. If they forgot to place the lid on the can, the substance hardened. When it did, they brought it to me. My hand were bigger. My fingers stronger. I could mold the stony stuff into putty.
Is your heart hard? Take it to your Father. You’re only a prayer away from tenderness. You live in a hard world, but you don’t have to live with a hard heart.From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Standing In The Gap
Is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bonds of the wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? - Isaiah 58:6
The Lord is looking for you to stand in the gap to intercede fro the man of God and woman of God. The Lord is looking for you to stand in the gap and bring before Him the ministry of God with burdened heart to keep it from failing. Will you be willing to be the one? Will you pray that the man or woman of God will not be deceived, will not fall into temptations and viles of the wicked one but will be sensitive to the voice of God to hear rightly from Him for His people and lead them?
Choose a man of God and unceasingly stand in the gap for him that he may be bold and strong for the Lord. Choose a woman of God and fall on your knees battling against the works of the enemy for her. Choose a ministry of God and bring it continually before the presence of God.
1 Peter 3:12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer." Your prayer is heard in heaven. Do not while away precious hours and minutes in vain and unfruitful thoughts but spend those times to bring the people of God before His throne. Beloved. Ephesian 6:18 commands us, "Pray at all times in Spirit, with all prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints."
What is the result of such prayer? James 5:16 tell us, "The earnest prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available," Your prayer is very effective and strong. It works. It brings result in the life of the man or woman of God and the ministry. It also revives you and fills you with the power of God. So will you start to seriously uphold a man or woman or ministry of God in unceasing power? Will you be alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in special moments of need to stand in the gap for this person or ministry?
Belove, make a serious commitment and start today. Apply the scripture and pray for the man or woman of God. For a start if you do not know how, apply Colossians 1:9-11. Pray that " may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things, that may walk worthy in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to Him and growing increasing in and by the knowledge of God. That may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory ... " Pray that they may have a bold utterance to preach the word of God in truth (Ephesians 6:19-20), holiness in their lives and word. Take other bible passages and pray like Ephesians 6:10-18, Philippians 1:9-11, etc. Pray in tongues. Pray in the spirit and be sensitive to special needs as God burdens you.
Beloved will you stand in the gap for the people of God? God bless you as you do!
- Daniel O.C
The Lord is looking for you to stand in the gap to intercede fro the man of God and woman of God. The Lord is looking for you to stand in the gap and bring before Him the ministry of God with burdened heart to keep it from failing. Will you be willing to be the one? Will you pray that the man or woman of God will not be deceived, will not fall into temptations and viles of the wicked one but will be sensitive to the voice of God to hear rightly from Him for His people and lead them?
Choose a man of God and unceasingly stand in the gap for him that he may be bold and strong for the Lord. Choose a woman of God and fall on your knees battling against the works of the enemy for her. Choose a ministry of God and bring it continually before the presence of God.
1 Peter 3:12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer." Your prayer is heard in heaven. Do not while away precious hours and minutes in vain and unfruitful thoughts but spend those times to bring the people of God before His throne. Beloved. Ephesian 6:18 commands us, "Pray at all times in Spirit, with all prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints."
What is the result of such prayer? James 5:16 tell us, "The earnest prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available," Your prayer is very effective and strong. It works. It brings result in the life of the man or woman of God and the ministry. It also revives you and fills you with the power of God. So will you start to seriously uphold a man or woman or ministry of God in unceasing power? Will you be alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in special moments of need to stand in the gap for this person or ministry?
Belove, make a serious commitment and start today. Apply the scripture and pray for the man or woman of God. For a start if you do not know how, apply Colossians 1:9-11. Pray that "
Beloved will you stand in the gap for the people of God? God bless you as you do!
- Daniel O.C
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
WHAT MAKES HEAVEN HEAVENLY?
by Max Lucado
You will be you at your best forever. Even now you have your good moments. Occasional glimpses of your heavenly self. When you change your baby’s diaper, forgive your boss’s temper, tolerate your spouse’s moodiness, you display traces of saintliness. It’s the other moments that sour life. Tongue, sharp as a razor. Moods as unpredictable as Mount Saint Helens. This part wearies you.
From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
You will be you at your best forever. Even now you have your good moments. Occasional glimpses of your heavenly self. When you change your baby’s diaper, forgive your boss’s temper, tolerate your spouse’s moodiness, you display traces of saintliness. It’s the other moments that sour life. Tongue, sharp as a razor. Moods as unpredictable as Mount Saint Helens. This part wearies you.
Just think what Satan has taken from you, even in the last few hours. You worried about a decision and envied someone’s success, dreaded a conversation and resented an interruption. He’s been prowling your environs all day, pickpocketing peace, joy, belly laughs, and honest love. Rotten freebooter.
But his days are numbered. Unlike he did in the Garden of Eden, Satan will not lurk in heaven’s gardens. “There shall be no more curse” (22:3 NKJV). He will not tempt; hence, you will not stumble. You will be you at your best forever!
Christ will have completed his redemptive work. All gossip excised and jealousy extracted. He will suction the last drop of orneriness from the most remote corners of our souls. You’ll love the result. No one will doubt your word, question your motives, or speak evil behind your back. God’s sin purging discontinues all strife.
No sin means no thieves, divorce, heartbreak, and no boredom. You won’t be bored in heaven, because you won’t be the same you in heaven. Boredom emerges from soils that heaven disallows. The soil of weariness: our eyes tire. Mental limitations: information overload dulls us. Self-centeredness: we grow disinterested when the spotlight shifts to others. Tedium: meaningless activity siphons vigor.
But Satan will take these weedy soils to hell with him, leaving you with a keen mind, endless focus, and God-honoring assignments.
We might serve in the capacity we serve now. Couldn’t earthly assignments hint at heavenly ones? Architects of Moscow might draw blueprints in the new Liverpool. We will feast in heaven; you may be a cook on Saturn. God filled his first garden with plants and animals. He’ll surely do the same in heaven. If so, he may entrust you with the care and feeding of an Africa or two.
One thing is for sure: you’ll love it. Never weary, selfish, or defeated. Clear mind, tireless muscles, unhindered joy. Heaven is a perfect place of perfected people with our perfect Lord.From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Monday, 25 August 2008
31 AUGUST 2008
Siow KW
Shankar R.
Hong Lu, Foong Yee, Siew Pin
-
Jessica Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Kai Yew
-
Richard, Meng Fhui
Hiew FF, Tommy Quek
Shankar R.
Hong Lu, Foong Yee, Siew Pin
-
Jessica Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Kai Yew
-
Richard, Meng Fhui
Hiew FF, Tommy Quek
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Pray Regularly
As for me, I will call upon God; And the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud. And He shall hear my voice. - Psalm 55:16-17.
Are you waiting for something awful and terrible to happen before you seriously get down to pray? That's what happens in the lives of most people. Spiritual awakening and the reality of prayer strikes in the hearts of some people only when there is a shaking in the concerns of those near and dear or themselves or something precious and important.
My dearly beloved, do not wait for such moments for you never know what the next moment brings - life or death, loss or gain. Pray now. Start praying for others, praying for the church, praying for yourself. Know that prayer works in your midst where nothing else is of avail.
Jesus Himself knew the importance of prayer. That is why in the Garden of Gethsemane he told Peter, James and John, "All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and actinve) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41)
Satan taps on the weakness of flesh and its confidence in itself. When everything goes well and there is no trouble, you begin to rest confidently on the peace of that situation. You will begin to get a little lax in prayer. Soon you will find that you can easily pass off some days without praying and still be 'protected'. Arise, beloved give yourself no room for such negligence of prayer. This false security soon pass when tragedy occurs and then you will begin to realize that there is meaning and power in prayer. Pray! Pray now! Begin to pray like you have never done before. Though you do not see what is happening with your physical eyes, there is much happening in the spirit when you pray constantly, unceasingly and for one another.
The New Testament church saw miracles happening, the Word growing mightily and the church increasing because they were willing to give themselves steadfast to prayer. "But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer .. " (Acts 6:4). The Apostles separated themselves to prayer and the Word while others took care of the daily administration.
How much of yourself have you given to prayer? How serious is praying in your heart that you would spare yourself to stand in the gap for concerns of others? The Word of God wars us, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers" ( 1 Peter 4:7 )
There are many people whose faith fails them because they are looking only at what they can see and touch.
- Daniel O.C
Are you waiting for something awful and terrible to happen before you seriously get down to pray? That's what happens in the lives of most people. Spiritual awakening and the reality of prayer strikes in the hearts of some people only when there is a shaking in the concerns of those near and dear or themselves or something precious and important.
My dearly beloved, do not wait for such moments for you never know what the next moment brings - life or death, loss or gain. Pray now. Start praying for others, praying for the church, praying for yourself. Know that prayer works in your midst where nothing else is of avail.
Jesus Himself knew the importance of prayer. That is why in the Garden of Gethsemane he told Peter, James and John, "All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and actinve) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41)
Satan taps on the weakness of flesh and its confidence in itself. When everything goes well and there is no trouble, you begin to rest confidently on the peace of that situation. You will begin to get a little lax in prayer. Soon you will find that you can easily pass off some days without praying and still be 'protected'. Arise, beloved give yourself no room for such negligence of prayer. This false security soon pass when tragedy occurs and then you will begin to realize that there is meaning and power in prayer. Pray! Pray now! Begin to pray like you have never done before. Though you do not see what is happening with your physical eyes, there is much happening in the spirit when you pray constantly, unceasingly and for one another.
The New Testament church saw miracles happening, the Word growing mightily and the church increasing because they were willing to give themselves steadfast to prayer. "But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer .. " (Acts 6:4). The Apostles separated themselves to prayer and the Word while others took care of the daily administration.
How much of yourself have you given to prayer? How serious is praying in your heart that you would spare yourself to stand in the gap for concerns of others? The Word of God wars us, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers" ( 1 Peter 4:7 )
There are many people whose faith fails them because they are looking only at what they can see and touch.
- Daniel O.C
Thursday, 21 August 2008
HEAVEN'S "WHOEVER" POLICY
by Max Lucado
“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”
Some years ago I took a copy of God’s “whoever” policy to California. I wanted to show it to my Uncle Billy. He’d been scheduled to visit my home, but bone cancer had thwarted his plans.
My uncle reminded me much of my father: squared like a blast furnace, ruddy as a leather basketball. They shared the same West Texas roots, penchant for cigars, and blue-collar work ethic. But I wasn’t sure if they shared the same faith. So after several planes, two shuttles, and a rental-car road trip, I reached Uncle Billy’s house only to learn he was back in the hospital. No visitors. Maybe tomorrow.
He felt better the next day. Good enough to come home. I went to see him. Cancer had taken its toll and his strength. The recliner entombed his body. He recognized me yet dozed as I chatted with his wife and friends. He scarcely opened his eyes. People came and went, and I began to wonder if I would have the chance to ask the question.
Finally the guests stepped out onto the lawn and left me alone with my uncle. I slid my chair next to his, took his skin-taut hand, and wasted no words. “Bill, are you ready to go to heaven?”
His eyes, for the first time, popped open. Saucer wide. His head lifted. Doubt laced his response: “I think I am.”
“Do you want to be sure?”
“Oh yes.”
Our brief talk ended with a prayer for grace. We both said “amen,” and I soon left. Uncle Billy died within days. Did he wake up in heaven? According to the parable of the eleventh hour workers, he did.
Some struggle with such a thought. A last-minute confessor receives the same grace as a lifetime servant? Doesn’t seem fair. The workers in the parable complained too. So the landowner, and God, explained the prerogative of ownership: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” (v. Matt. 20:15 RSV).
Request grace with your dying breath, and God hears your prayer. Whoever means “whenever.”
And one more: whoever means “wherever.” Wherever you are, you’re not too far to come home.
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”
Some years ago I took a copy of God’s “whoever” policy to California. I wanted to show it to my Uncle Billy. He’d been scheduled to visit my home, but bone cancer had thwarted his plans.
My uncle reminded me much of my father: squared like a blast furnace, ruddy as a leather basketball. They shared the same West Texas roots, penchant for cigars, and blue-collar work ethic. But I wasn’t sure if they shared the same faith. So after several planes, two shuttles, and a rental-car road trip, I reached Uncle Billy’s house only to learn he was back in the hospital. No visitors. Maybe tomorrow.
He felt better the next day. Good enough to come home. I went to see him. Cancer had taken its toll and his strength. The recliner entombed his body. He recognized me yet dozed as I chatted with his wife and friends. He scarcely opened his eyes. People came and went, and I began to wonder if I would have the chance to ask the question.
Finally the guests stepped out onto the lawn and left me alone with my uncle. I slid my chair next to his, took his skin-taut hand, and wasted no words. “Bill, are you ready to go to heaven?”
His eyes, for the first time, popped open. Saucer wide. His head lifted. Doubt laced his response: “I think I am.”
“Do you want to be sure?”
“Oh yes.”
Our brief talk ended with a prayer for grace. We both said “amen,” and I soon left. Uncle Billy died within days. Did he wake up in heaven? According to the parable of the eleventh hour workers, he did.
Some struggle with such a thought. A last-minute confessor receives the same grace as a lifetime servant? Doesn’t seem fair. The workers in the parable complained too. So the landowner, and God, explained the prerogative of ownership: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” (v. Matt. 20:15 RSV).
Request grace with your dying breath, and God hears your prayer. Whoever means “whenever.”
And one more: whoever means “wherever.” Wherever you are, you’re not too far to come home.
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
From RBC Ministries' Discover The Word Series:
Improving Our Work Ethics
Download the MP3
What Motives You ?
Download the MP3
Working In A Way That's Commendable
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help Christian workers understand that there is significance in their labor.
Do you enjoy your work?
We sometimes think that other people have dream jobs and that work for them is a constant delight, but that is seldom the case.
Paderewski was one of the most diligent concert pianists about practicing. He once played before Queen Victoria. She said, "Mr. Paderewski, you are a genius." He replied, "That may well be, but before I was a genius, I was a drudge."
It’s not what we do, but the attitude with which we do it that can make a difference in our jobs.
In Ephesians 6:5-8, Paul gives Christians a new way to look at their jobs.
I. Your job is a calling.
Studs Terkel, in his book Working, reminds folks that most people find their jobs confining and stifling. He illustrates that with Nora Watson, an editor, who put her concern this way: "I think most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit, jobs that are not big enough for people."
What is a calling?
A calling is a place in which we sense we are doing the will of God.
In the film Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell remarks, "When I run, I feel His pleasure."
II. Think of your job as service rendered to Jesus Christ.
Look again at Ephesians 6:5-8 and look at the attitude that comes when you are serving Jesus Christ on the job.
We do our work as sacred service with fear and trembling (with reverence and awe, with respect and trembling) (v.5). We fear and tremble before whom?
We do our work in sincerity of heart (v.5).
We do our work with integrity, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ (v.6).
What picture comes to mind when you think of "eye-service"? Paul coins this word.
We do it with goodwill, a good spirit (v.7).
We do it with goodness (v.8).
You do good for your employer, you do good for those who get your product, you do good for those around you by the way you work.
Improving Our Work Ethics
Download the MP3
What Motives You ?
Download the MP3
Working In A Way That's Commendable
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help Christian workers understand that there is significance in their labor.
Do you enjoy your work?
We sometimes think that other people have dream jobs and that work for them is a constant delight, but that is seldom the case.
Paderewski was one of the most diligent concert pianists about practicing. He once played before Queen Victoria. She said, "Mr. Paderewski, you are a genius." He replied, "That may well be, but before I was a genius, I was a drudge."
It’s not what we do, but the attitude with which we do it that can make a difference in our jobs.
In Ephesians 6:5-8, Paul gives Christians a new way to look at their jobs.
I. Your job is a calling.
Studs Terkel, in his book Working, reminds folks that most people find their jobs confining and stifling. He illustrates that with Nora Watson, an editor, who put her concern this way: "I think most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit, jobs that are not big enough for people."
What is a calling?
A calling is a place in which we sense we are doing the will of God.
In the film Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell remarks, "When I run, I feel His pleasure."
II. Think of your job as service rendered to Jesus Christ.
Look again at Ephesians 6:5-8 and look at the attitude that comes when you are serving Jesus Christ on the job.
We do our work as sacred service with fear and trembling (with reverence and awe, with respect and trembling) (v.5). We fear and tremble before whom?
We do our work in sincerity of heart (v.5).
We do our work with integrity, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ (v.6).
What picture comes to mind when you think of "eye-service"? Paul coins this word.
We do it with goodwill, a good spirit (v.7).
We do it with goodness (v.8).
You do good for your employer, you do good for those who get your product, you do good for those around you by the way you work.
Working For A Boss Who's Always Around
From RBC Ministries' Discover The Word Series:
Working For A Boss Who's Always Around
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help listeners see the dignity in their work.
There was a factory in England where the workers pushed their wheelbarrows, except for one slow worker: he pulled his wheelbarrow. A visitor asked the foreman why this man was so different from the others. "Oh, him!? He hates the sight of the bloomin' thing!"
Do you think many people feel what that worker felt about his job?
What are the consequences of being in a job you hate?
It’s a tragedy when you spend the greater part of your life doing something you despise.
It affects your family, your attitude toward recreation, free time, etc.
What are some of the changes Christians can make as they look at their job?
I. If you can’t change your job, you can change your attitude.
Paul demonstrates this in Ephesians 6:5-8.
You can understand that your job is the will of God for you: ". . . doing the will of God from the heart."
What difference does that make?
II. Realize that on the job you serve Jesus Christ.
Look at what Paul writes to Christian slaves and masters.
Look at the way the workers and the owners are to think about what they do.
Whom are they serving?
What is the vision of God in this passage? Jesus Christ is your employer.
In the passage, what difference should it make if you know that when you’re doing your work, you’re really doing it for your Lord or Master, Jesus Christ?
III. Do you think the church has really underlined this truth for workers?
For example, if you think of a carpenter or plumber or housewife going to church, what do they hear about their Christian duty?
What should we have told these people?
If in the work we do, we fail to do it up to its own standard, the work becomes a living lie.
Working For A Boss Who's Always Around
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help listeners see the dignity in their work.
There was a factory in England where the workers pushed their wheelbarrows, except for one slow worker: he pulled his wheelbarrow. A visitor asked the foreman why this man was so different from the others. "Oh, him!? He hates the sight of the bloomin' thing!"
Do you think many people feel what that worker felt about his job?
What are the consequences of being in a job you hate?
It’s a tragedy when you spend the greater part of your life doing something you despise.
It affects your family, your attitude toward recreation, free time, etc.
What are some of the changes Christians can make as they look at their job?
I. If you can’t change your job, you can change your attitude.
Paul demonstrates this in Ephesians 6:5-8.
You can understand that your job is the will of God for you: ". . . doing the will of God from the heart."
What difference does that make?
II. Realize that on the job you serve Jesus Christ.
Look at what Paul writes to Christian slaves and masters.
Look at the way the workers and the owners are to think about what they do.
Whom are they serving?
What is the vision of God in this passage? Jesus Christ is your employer.
In the passage, what difference should it make if you know that when you’re doing your work, you’re really doing it for your Lord or Master, Jesus Christ?
III. Do you think the church has really underlined this truth for workers?
For example, if you think of a carpenter or plumber or housewife going to church, what do they hear about their Christian duty?
What should we have told these people?
If in the work we do, we fail to do it up to its own standard, the work becomes a living lie.
Your Attitude and Your Job
From RBC Ministries' Discover The Word Series:
Your Attitude and Your Job
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Investing Your Life
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Looking at Your Job From God's Perspective
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Viewing Your Job As A Service To God
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PURPOSE: To help people evaluate the kind of work they do.
Did you ever have a call to ministry?
Do you believe that what you’re doing today is really doing God’s will? Why?
What do you mean by saying "a call"?
I. Every Christian needs to consider God’s call in their lives.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to consider becoming a pastor or a missionary. It does mean that you need to think seriously about how you invest your life.
Paul wrote to slaves in the Roman Empire and said, "Your job is the will of God for you." It’s always important to ask two things about a biblical passage:
In what ways are we like the people Paul is addressing?
In what ways do we differ from the people Paul is addressing?
How does a worker today differ from a slave in the first century?
II. The choices of a slave were limited. Ours may be much more varied.
We have a responsibility to think about the work we do. Where we have a choice, we have a responsibility.
What is the responsibility we have?
How do you go about making the choice for a career or for new employment opportunities?
Is the amount of money you make a legitimate criterion?
Is it the only one?
What makes your job the will of God for you?
Your Attitude and Your Job
Download the MP3
Investing Your Life
Download the MP3
Looking at Your Job From God's Perspective
Download the MP3
Viewing Your Job As A Service To God
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help people evaluate the kind of work they do.
Did you ever have a call to ministry?
Do you believe that what you’re doing today is really doing God’s will? Why?
What do you mean by saying "a call"?
I. Every Christian needs to consider God’s call in their lives.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to consider becoming a pastor or a missionary. It does mean that you need to think seriously about how you invest your life.
Paul wrote to slaves in the Roman Empire and said, "Your job is the will of God for you." It’s always important to ask two things about a biblical passage:
In what ways are we like the people Paul is addressing?
In what ways do we differ from the people Paul is addressing?
How does a worker today differ from a slave in the first century?
II. The choices of a slave were limited. Ours may be much more varied.
We have a responsibility to think about the work we do. Where we have a choice, we have a responsibility.
What is the responsibility we have?
How do you go about making the choice for a career or for new employment opportunities?
Is the amount of money you make a legitimate criterion?
Is it the only one?
What makes your job the will of God for you?
Your Work Is A Sacred Service To God
From RBC Ministries' Discover The Word
You Work Is A Sacred Service To God
Download the MP3
'Sacred Work' and 'Secular Work'
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PURPOSE: To help people realize that secular work is as significant to God as religious work.
Have you ever heard of the "bull’s-eye" theory of the will of God? Who would most religious people put in the center?
Basic to that whole concept is that we think of some occupations as being more central to God’s purposes than others.
I. People who have a bull’s-eye theory of the will of God might be upset by what Paul writes to slaves who lived in Ephesus (Ephesians 6:5-9).
Paul tells slaves that they are to do the will of God from the heart. When he talks about doing the will of God from the heart, what is it that he is referring to? Is it their work at the church?
He’s referring to their daily work. Does he imply that they were several points off-center?
II. The idea that only religious workers are in the center of God’s will was a heresy in the early church. It was called Docetism.
The heresy maintained that there was a distinct difference between the body and the spirit. They maintained that Christ was not a real human being who actually suffered and died on a cross, but who only seemed to do so. They could not believe that God would have anything to do with what is human. They denied the incarnation.
In wider terms, that led people to believe that God was concerned about the sacred, but not at all concerned about the secular. It was part of a Gnostic heresy.
III. The Church condemned the heresy.
The early church affirmed the incarnation of Jesus, that He really became a human being.
When you say that Jesus is human, what do you actually mean by that?
In affirming the incarnation of Jesus, they were saying that He is both human and divine.
In the wider realm, they were saying that there is not a difference between the sacred and the secular. There is not one realm in which we are more pleasing to God than in another realm. That is why Paul could say to slaves, "your job is the will of God for you."
You Work Is A Sacred Service To God
Download the MP3
'Sacred Work' and 'Secular Work'
Download the MP3
PURPOSE: To help people realize that secular work is as significant to God as religious work.
Have you ever heard of the "bull’s-eye" theory of the will of God? Who would most religious people put in the center?
Basic to that whole concept is that we think of some occupations as being more central to God’s purposes than others.
I. People who have a bull’s-eye theory of the will of God might be upset by what Paul writes to slaves who lived in Ephesus (Ephesians 6:5-9).
Paul tells slaves that they are to do the will of God from the heart. When he talks about doing the will of God from the heart, what is it that he is referring to? Is it their work at the church?
He’s referring to their daily work. Does he imply that they were several points off-center?
II. The idea that only religious workers are in the center of God’s will was a heresy in the early church. It was called Docetism.
The heresy maintained that there was a distinct difference between the body and the spirit. They maintained that Christ was not a real human being who actually suffered and died on a cross, but who only seemed to do so. They could not believe that God would have anything to do with what is human. They denied the incarnation.
In wider terms, that led people to believe that God was concerned about the sacred, but not at all concerned about the secular. It was part of a Gnostic heresy.
III. The Church condemned the heresy.
The early church affirmed the incarnation of Jesus, that He really became a human being.
When you say that Jesus is human, what do you actually mean by that?
In affirming the incarnation of Jesus, they were saying that He is both human and divine.
In the wider realm, they were saying that there is not a difference between the sacred and the secular. There is not one realm in which we are more pleasing to God than in another realm. That is why Paul could say to slaves, "your job is the will of God for you."
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
What The Bible Has To Say About Work
From RBC Ministries's Discover The Word:
What The Bible Has To Say About Work
Download the MP3
IDEA: We can find significance in work if we realize that our jobs are the will of God for us.
TEXT: "Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him" (Ephesians 6:5-9).
PURPOSE: To help listeners feel the significance of their daily work.
We sometimes talk about "making a living." What is implied in that?
Is it possible to be glad you have a job but not see much significance in the job you have? For example, in a recession, people who get laid off are usually glad for any work they can get.
I. It is sometimes helpful to start with hard cases to establish principles.
Do you think it would be difficult to convince a physician or a nurse that their jobs are significant?
Do you think it would be more difficult to convince people flipping burgers in a fast food restaurant that their work is significant? Why?
II. When Paul talked about the significance of work for Christians, he made his strongest case when he wrote to slaves.
What do you know about slaves in the first century?
There were abut 60 million of them in the Roman Empire.
Roman citizens felt that work was beneath their dignity, so they turned most work over to slaves.
Slaves did all kinds of work: they served as teachers, scribes, physicians, manual laborers, farmers; they were also the garbage disposal system.
Slaves had no rights before the law. Aristotle referred to them as "living tools." He argued that a free man would not have a slave as a friend any more than he would make a friend out of a hammer or a saw.
The lot of the slave was not an easy one in the Roman society. Even though they did important work, they were still slaves.
III. Several times in the New Testament, Paul writes directly to slaves and gives them significance in their daily work.
Paul writes that "your job is the will of God for you."
When you think of the will of God, what does that mean?
If God had a missionary map in heaven, where do you think He would put the pins or markers? Why?
How does thinking about your job as "the will of God" give it significance?
What The Bible Has To Say About Work
Download the MP3
IDEA: We can find significance in work if we realize that our jobs are the will of God for us.
TEXT: "Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him" (Ephesians 6:5-9).
PURPOSE: To help listeners feel the significance of their daily work.
We sometimes talk about "making a living." What is implied in that?
Is it possible to be glad you have a job but not see much significance in the job you have? For example, in a recession, people who get laid off are usually glad for any work they can get.
I. It is sometimes helpful to start with hard cases to establish principles.
Do you think it would be difficult to convince a physician or a nurse that their jobs are significant?
Do you think it would be more difficult to convince people flipping burgers in a fast food restaurant that their work is significant? Why?
II. When Paul talked about the significance of work for Christians, he made his strongest case when he wrote to slaves.
What do you know about slaves in the first century?
There were abut 60 million of them in the Roman Empire.
Roman citizens felt that work was beneath their dignity, so they turned most work over to slaves.
Slaves did all kinds of work: they served as teachers, scribes, physicians, manual laborers, farmers; they were also the garbage disposal system.
Slaves had no rights before the law. Aristotle referred to them as "living tools." He argued that a free man would not have a slave as a friend any more than he would make a friend out of a hammer or a saw.
The lot of the slave was not an easy one in the Roman society. Even though they did important work, they were still slaves.
III. Several times in the New Testament, Paul writes directly to slaves and gives them significance in their daily work.
Paul writes that "your job is the will of God for you."
When you think of the will of God, what does that mean?
If God had a missionary map in heaven, where do you think He would put the pins or markers? Why?
How does thinking about your job as "the will of God" give it significance?
Monday, 18 August 2008
24 AUGUST 2008
Liong KC
Foong Yee
Gigi Lim, Peggy Tan, Richard
-
Lydia Sim
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Jaemy Choong
-
Tian Sia, Moses Tan
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Foong Yee
Gigi Lim, Peggy Tan, Richard
-
Lydia Sim
Meng Fhui
-
Terry Choong
Jaemy Choong
-
Tian Sia, Moses Tan
Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Fast And Pray
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones, you shall be like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. - Isaiah 58:11
This is a special time for you as you have decide to fast and pray. This is not a time of fasting where you forego your food and wait for the time to reach 6.00pm to break your fast, eat all you can, then 'top up' for the next day. This ia a time of fasting and praying. These days should be dedicated to intense prayer where you come to the presence of Lord.
Set apart some time in the day when you seek God. Seek Him with all your heart that you may grow in fellowship with Him. Do not bring all your requests to Him but to seek to know Him better at this time. If praying and spending time with the Lord is not accomplished with your fast, it is as good as dieting.
If you do not have self-control to keep your wandering mind focused on the Lord and discipline your thoughts so that you are always found to be in his presence, this fast is in vain. Desire to have growth in your spiritual life. Desire to be a changed person walking in the way of holiness that your life may be changed from the filth of this world to be the light of the world.
The Bible is full of examples of the lives of those who fasted and prayed. When Nehemiah heard about the wall of Jerusalem being broken down and destroyed, he sat down, wept, mourned for days and fasted and prayed constantly before the God of heaven confessing the sings of his kinsmen and interceding before God on behalf of God's people and God granted him favour with the king (Nehemiah 1:2-4).
Esther and her maids and all the Jews of Shushan neither ate nor drank for three days and night that she would find favour to go before the king when it was not lawful to do so. God intervened and the decree for the destruction of the Jews was reversed.
Daniel fasted for 21 days for the return and restoration of God's people and Jerusalem.
Anna the prophetess a widow at the age of eighty-four lived worshipping God night and day with fasting and prayer.
Moses fasted twice for forthy days and nights without food or water when he went up to the mountain to meet the Lord. (Deuteronomy 9:9, 10:10). "Fasting empowers prayer to push back and repel Satan's darkness, to remove Satan's roadblocks, and to defeat Satan's attacking forces,' Duewel said.
Persevere in your fasting and believe the Lord for great and mighty works and let His zeal and fire fill your heart.
He who cannot reach the mission field on his feet can reach it on his knees.
- Daniel O.C
This is a special time for you as you have decide to fast and pray. This is not a time of fasting where you forego your food and wait for the time to reach 6.00pm to break your fast, eat all you can, then 'top up' for the next day. This ia a time of fasting and praying. These days should be dedicated to intense prayer where you come to the presence of Lord.
Set apart some time in the day when you seek God. Seek Him with all your heart that you may grow in fellowship with Him. Do not bring all your requests to Him but to seek to know Him better at this time. If praying and spending time with the Lord is not accomplished with your fast, it is as good as dieting.
If you do not have self-control to keep your wandering mind focused on the Lord and discipline your thoughts so that you are always found to be in his presence, this fast is in vain. Desire to have growth in your spiritual life. Desire to be a changed person walking in the way of holiness that your life may be changed from the filth of this world to be the light of the world.
The Bible is full of examples of the lives of those who fasted and prayed. When Nehemiah heard about the wall of Jerusalem being broken down and destroyed, he sat down, wept, mourned for days and fasted and prayed constantly before the God of heaven confessing the sings of his kinsmen and interceding before God on behalf of God's people and God granted him favour with the king (Nehemiah 1:2-4).
Esther and her maids and all the Jews of Shushan neither ate nor drank for three days and night that she would find favour to go before the king when it was not lawful to do so. God intervened and the decree for the destruction of the Jews was reversed.
Daniel fasted for 21 days for the return and restoration of God's people and Jerusalem.
Anna the prophetess a widow at the age of eighty-four lived worshipping God night and day with fasting and prayer.
Moses fasted twice for forthy days and nights without food or water when he went up to the mountain to meet the Lord. (Deuteronomy 9:9, 10:10). "Fasting empowers prayer to push back and repel Satan's darkness, to remove Satan's roadblocks, and to defeat Satan's attacking forces,' Duewel said.
Persevere in your fasting and believe the Lord for great and mighty works and let His zeal and fire fill your heart.
He who cannot reach the mission field on his feet can reach it on his knees.
- Daniel O.C
How Can I Find Satisfaction in My Work ?
From RBC Ministries' Discovery Series How Can I Find Satisfaction In My Work? :
Is there any way that I can find significance in a job that seems to be going nowhere? What if I feel overworked and underappreciated? Do I care too much or not enough about my job? What does God think about my work? Does my job really matter to Him?
These are the kinds of issues that staff writer Kurt De Haan addresses in this booklet. As you read these pages, you will be encouraged by what the Bible has to say about work and your attitude toward it.Friday, 15 August 2008
EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW
by Max Lucado
“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”
How could a loving God send sinners to hell? He doesn’t. They volunteer.
Once there, they don’t want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. “Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Rev. 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn’t. It intensifies blasphemy.
Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn’t request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus?
The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice.
He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul.
Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God’s goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Rom. 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Phil. 2:10–11), but there will be no God-seekers either.
But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love—overkill. A sinner’s rebellion doesn’t warrant an eternity of suffering, does it? Isn’t God overreacting?
Who are we to challenge God? Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they’ve spewed.
Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell’s porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you’d have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God’s hell on humanity’s cross, crying out to the blackened sky, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won’t have to.
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”
How could a loving God send sinners to hell? He doesn’t. They volunteer.
Once there, they don’t want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. “Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Rev. 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn’t. It intensifies blasphemy.
Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn’t request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus?
The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice.
He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul.
Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God’s goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Rom. 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Phil. 2:10–11), but there will be no God-seekers either.
But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love—overkill. A sinner’s rebellion doesn’t warrant an eternity of suffering, does it? Isn’t God overreacting?
Who are we to challenge God? Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they’ve spewed.
Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell’s porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you’d have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God’s hell on humanity’s cross, crying out to the blackened sky, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won’t have to.
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Monday, 11 August 2008
17 AUGUST 2008
Barnabas P
Terry Choong
Phoebe Sim, Jocelyn Choong, Jaemy Choong
-
Grace Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Meng Fhui, Richard
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Terry Choong
Phoebe Sim, Jocelyn Choong, Jaemy Choong
-
Grace Lee
Jun Fhui
-
Anna Sim
Nicholas Teh
-
Meng Fhui, Richard
Tommy Quek, Hiew FF
Sunday, 10 August 2008
HE'S BEEN THERE
by Max Lucado
“. . . shall not perish but have eternal life . . .”
On a trip to China, I rode past Tiananmen Square in a bus full of Westerners. We tried to recollect the causes and consequences of the revolt. Our knowledge of history was embarrassing. One gave one date; another gave a different one. One person remembered a certain death toll; someone else disagreed. All this time our translator remained silent.
Finally one of us asked her, “Do you remember anything about the Tiananmen Square revolt?”
Her answer was solemn. “Yes, I was a part of it.”
We quickly grew quiet as she gave firsthand recollections of the bloodshed and oppression. We listened, because she’d been there.
-
We who follow Christ do so for the same reason. He’s been there . . .
He’s been to Bethlehem, wearing barn rags and hearing sheep crunch. Suckling milk and shivering against the cold. All of divinity content to cocoon itself in an eight-pound body and to sleep on a cow’s supper. Millions who face the chill of empty pockets or the fears of sudden change turn to Christ. Why?
Because he’s been there.
He’s been to Nazareth, where he made deadlines and paid bills; to Galilee, where he recruited direct reports and separated fighters; to Jerusalem, where he stared down critics and stood up against cynics.
We have our Nazareths as well—demands and due dates. Jesus wasn’t the last to build a team; accusers didn’t disappear with Jerusalem’s temple. Why seek Jesus’s help with your challenges? Because he’s been there. To Nazareth, to Galilee, to Jerusalem.
But most of all, he’s been to the grave. Not as a visitor, but as a corpse. Buried amidst the cadavers. Numbered among the dead. Heart silent and lungs vacant. Body wrapped and grave sealed. The cemetery. He’s been buried there.
You haven’t yet. But you will be. And since you will, don’t you need someone who knows the way out?
-
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2007) Max Lucado
“. . . shall not perish but have eternal life . . .”
On a trip to China, I rode past Tiananmen Square in a bus full of Westerners. We tried to recollect the causes and consequences of the revolt. Our knowledge of history was embarrassing. One gave one date; another gave a different one. One person remembered a certain death toll; someone else disagreed. All this time our translator remained silent.
Finally one of us asked her, “Do you remember anything about the Tiananmen Square revolt?”
Her answer was solemn. “Yes, I was a part of it.”
We quickly grew quiet as she gave firsthand recollections of the bloodshed and oppression. We listened, because she’d been there.
-
We who follow Christ do so for the same reason. He’s been there . . .
He’s been to Bethlehem, wearing barn rags and hearing sheep crunch. Suckling milk and shivering against the cold. All of divinity content to cocoon itself in an eight-pound body and to sleep on a cow’s supper. Millions who face the chill of empty pockets or the fears of sudden change turn to Christ. Why?
Because he’s been there.
He’s been to Nazareth, where he made deadlines and paid bills; to Galilee, where he recruited direct reports and separated fighters; to Jerusalem, where he stared down critics and stood up against cynics.
We have our Nazareths as well—demands and due dates. Jesus wasn’t the last to build a team; accusers didn’t disappear with Jerusalem’s temple. Why seek Jesus’s help with your challenges? Because he’s been there. To Nazareth, to Galilee, to Jerusalem.
But most of all, he’s been to the grave. Not as a visitor, but as a corpse. Buried amidst the cadavers. Numbered among the dead. Heart silent and lungs vacant. Body wrapped and grave sealed. The cemetery. He’s been buried there.
You haven’t yet. But you will be. And since you will, don’t you need someone who knows the way out?
-
bookFrom 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2007) Max Lucado
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