->you typedd*: blog

(Saturday, January 30, 2010-)
+11:29 PM]*

# Day 30 - 2010

Heys, today's format is going to be a little different, I will be writing down my thoughts as I read the Word and see what God is speaking to me or what I'm learning :)

Btw, on a random note, I will miss CHCKL, especially E12. Though it was short, it was sweet :) Many things I've learnt :)

Here's on to today's "lesson"

1 Corinthians 8

1 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that "we all have knowledge" about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.

I love how it says while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. My first thought is obviously a reflective one of myself. One who many times over prides himself of being a knowledge-full person, and perhaps this verse speaks straight at me, that I love it because it makes me feel important, rather than using it to help others. A line that I have to draw more clearly.

And the next thought is "it is love that strengthens the church". I love taking the Bible literally. Wanna build a strong church? It is built on love. Just as how Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for her, so we too in building a strong church must build it on love. Not principles, people or perspectives. But love. Love God, Love People, Love Ourselves. I guess this is another lesson in building a strong cell group that I've seen and experienced too. To build something strong, it is paid by love and dedication.

2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much.

How true this is. If you know all the answers, it is obvious there are a lot of things you haven't considered, areas you haven't explored and experiences you haven't had. I'm happy to not have all the answers :)

7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated

This speaks to me about how powerful our mindsets are. Sermons are often preached about changing mindsets, and I believe this is the reason. It is because how we think can actually cause us to either stumble or stay strong, while doing the same thing. While not giving concession for "losing ground" as Sherene put it, but at the same time, one with a wider mindset will be able to do more, or live a more comfortable or victorious life than one that is hampered by a small, parochial mindset.

12 And when you sin against other believerss by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.

This verse reminds me of the Law of Love which Paul is obviously basing this statement on. And I think some of us take this verse too lightly when we ask our Christian friends to do things they are not comfortable with. It ranges from simple things like playing a certain game or watching a certain movie, to deeper things like the Cultural Mandate. So I feel in all these sort of things, what can be the key to transiting safely from one "realm" to the other, is ... knowledge. And I guess this is where knowledge doesn't make us feel important, but instead makes the listener feel important because he is empowered to do what previously to him was "sin". Not an explanation to rationalize or incite antinomianism, but rather put knowledge in it's place, as a tool to empower others to break through their mindset to get a clearer, higher resolution view of the big picture of what God is doing in this generation.

Yay, knowledge FTW, love forever :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Wednesday, January 27, 2010-)
+12:50 PM]*

# Day 27 - 2010

1 Corinthians 7

17 And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.

20 Stay where you were when God called your name.

24 Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.

Hi. YouVersion is back :)

And yeah, in a way, I'm back. I was thinking a bit about this. Paul was telling the people to stay where they were, and I could see it from two perspectives. One from the side that they thought Jesus would return soon, like in 50 years or something, and it is seen from words like "the time is short" or "the world is on it's way out". The other is from a cultural point of view, people were being pressured into becoming what they weren't, seeing the greener other side. Gentiles to Jews and slaves to free are the two main ones, along with the entire theme of the chapter on marriage and singlehood.

But what ties both these things I believe is the prevailing culture at that time. One of the thinking that "the end is near" while the other a status society, where ranks in society were very normal.

And this brought me to think of the other major Christian influence in my life, the Kristos Kai Kosmos, which was repackaged into the Cultural Mandate. Paul's message was to not entangle ourselves with this world at all. Even if possible to avoid marriage, to not "waste" time on domestic affairs and serve the Lord/Master wholeheartedly. Now farrrrrrr be it from me to point out that such a saint inspired by the very Holy Spirit was wrong. However, the Cultural Mandate on the other hand, urges us to redeem culture, not to distance ourselves from it, but to be in it and show the world the higher standard that there is to life, the abundant life that Jesus promised.

How would I reconcile two clearly opposing views? Well, I guess for me with my level of understanding, I would say the current culture is what determines the best course of action, but either course of action must lead to the same point, leading people to the Saviour.

Paul urged the people to be fully devoted to Christ, probably because in those days, that was the culture of religion. Anything less than fully devoted lives would be seen as a frivolous, trivial pursuit of fools. Wisdom was highly regarded in his day and things of this world were seen as second to the things of that is to come. A lifestyle of full devotion and focus would be something that would attract those people looking for the truth.

Ps Kong in his message urges people to be part of culture. And that's because people these days couldn't care more about religion and spirituality, they focus on practicality. It's the "so what" generation. So what if your religion is good, how does it benefit me? So what if you're a Christian family, how is your marriage any different? So what if you're a Christian worker, how does that help you in your career? So what if you're a Christian student who prays before your exams, does that change the questions that are going to come out?

And that's precisely why we must engage culture in our generation. Not because that's the better way of life, but to show those in culture there is a better way of life. There is a God who cares about your way of life, and wants to show you not only a better way, but The Way life was designed to be.

This is not to say life was designed to be lived like the 21st Century and those in Paul's day were living it wrongly. But God wants to give us the best life where we are. Be it the 14th century, or the 21st, or when we hit the 31st if God permits. That's why the verses today pointed out to don't be wishing you were someplace else, with someone else, and if I may extend without being guilty of eternal judgment, that we shouldn't be wishing we were someone else, part of another clique or many other "elses".

So it's now for me to accept where I am, where I am going, and like what Ps Kevin said, who I want to be on the way there :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Tuesday, January 26, 2010-)
+5:17 PM]*

# Day 26 - 2010

1 Corinthians 6

¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Hi again. YouVersion is still down. And I still owe the Melaka Trip photos. I promise they'll be done after this. And I'm really feeling like LoL tonight. I'll see la how.

Anyway, these 2 days have been bad. In that sense and so I continue from verse 11. It's nice to have that promise. But maybe it's a bit overused. But I guess that's all I have to hang on to right? If it's only by grace, then grace is all I rely on. Definitely unmerited, definitely undeserved. I like how The Message puts it, not so long ago you were on that list. Yup, not too long ago indeed.

And it's quite nice that Paul sort of repeats it three times. It could be 3 different things, but I'm not sure. Cleansed, made holy and made right with God.

And I guess right now, what's still lacking in me since that midnight talk is the capacity to love. Somehow my tank is either too full to accept anything else, or just hurting empty.

...hmm... I guess I'll reflect a bit more about that.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Monday, January 25, 2010-)
+3:22 PM]*

# Day 25 - 2010

1 Corinthians 5

But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.

Hi agaain. Yesterday was a full day out with E12 @ Jonker Street :) Here's part 1. YouVersion is down, hope it gets well soon :) So today's passage is from BibleGateway.com

This is the passage of the guy that was in obvious sin but wasn't dealt with, and Paul's response of how the church should deal with such. Key premise, this passage is for Christians, not people who don't profess to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

So rather than explaining this passage, I think to myself, what does this mean to me? What was the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of this. And the first thought was really quite interesting! It was Sherene!

I guess it's talking about church discipline among friends. And to me, that's relationship on the cell level, and usually the cell leader will be the one doing this. And I'm pretty sure CHC has this quite in check with their CGLs also acting as "moral guardians", not in a draconic way, but with the responsibility entrusted upon them to guide the flock of sheep.

As for me, I guess this will always boil down to a matter of relationship first, authority later. I guess this passage is a reminder for the authority side of things. I guess the correction has to come from someone who has a relationship with the person who is going to correct them. And I guess that means that for me, that's quite a lot of people in YA. Of course I don't do it alone, there's a whole Comm to work with :) But taking a closer look at the very things that Paul mentioned. Things like is flip with God (translated from idol worshipers) or rude to friends. When I know that I have friends who are idolizing something above God. Very often it's studies. Very often it's busyness, or the appearance of being such. Do I take my role seriously as a Christian brother and confront the matter, or do I, like Paul says, "hope that it will go away on it's own." This is definitely a learning point for me as a Cell Leader, especially when "dealing" with my sheep in the future. Do not "hope it will go away on it's own". But with a reminder that to do it in love, not to destroy the person, but so that person will be on their feet when Jesus comes.

The of course, the flip side of the argument comes back to me. Do I allow such things in my life to go unchecked by people. Am I open to correction from my own friends, who are doing the very things God has instructed the church (which is the people) to do?

I guess this is a reminder for me to be more open to what people have to say about my attitude and behaviour.

Yup. Can't really concentrate now. I'm starting to value privacy a lot more.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Saturday, January 23, 2010-)
+2:00 PM]*

# Day 23 - 2010

1 Corinthians 4

20 God’s Way is not a matter of mere talk; it’s an empowered life. (MSG)

20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power. (NLT)

20 For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on not talk but power (moral power and excellence of soul). (AMP)

Hi there. I think this sums up pretty much what I have been trying to describe what 2010 needs to be for me. Firstly and most accurately put is what the message says. I wanted to live and build 2010 by the pattern God showed me on the mountain. It wasn't so much the issue of getting things done right. It wasn't so much the issue of clocking in 300/365 days of QT or something like that. I was struggling between excellence, and doing what God wants me to do, and I believe I have found the answer to describe what I really wanted for 2010. I want to live and build life God's way, not a matter of mere talk, or getting things done which leads to a performance driven life which is one of my obvious downfalls. But it's an empowered life. And the NLT puts it a little further, it is living by God's power. Empowered by God to do the things which He wants me to do. Rather than trying to perform up to a standard, it is living by the capacity which God gives me. That doesn't mean that I live below standard, but with my visions, I ask God to empower me to reach that goal, and living each day as I grow in Him.

The power that is mentioned in the AMP bible comes from the well known greek word Dunamis. I've talked about that one in prayer in 02-04 before. The power for breakthrough. And here's a reminder to myself of what I've learnt about Dunamis from E-Sword

1) strength power, ability

1a) inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth

1b) power for performing miracles

1c) moral power and excellence of soul

1d) the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth

1e) power and resources arising from numbers

1f) power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts

The AMP Bible uses definition 1(c). Moral power and excellence of soul.

Sounds so deep. Moral power?

I think it is basically the power to act morally or according to our conscience? Because many people know it's right but just can't do it. Like someone I saw on FB joined a group "Just because I use vulgarities, doesn't mean I'm paikia". I think this exemplifies people with no moral power. They obviously know it's wrong to use vulgarities, but don't wanna admit their moral failure. And I'm not saying they are bad whilst I am good. We're both bad. And it's only by His Holy Spirit will we have the dunamis moral power.

Excellence of soul.

Mind, will, emotions according to the wise Ps Michael.

Haha, how I log for this mannnn! Excellence of the mind. And no I don't mean academically. I believe God has already blessed me with that aspect of the mind. For me, it's more like the book by Joyce Meyer (I think), Battlefield of the Mind. Will. Don't I know I need more willpower. To not just know what's good, but to actually not be afraid (or lazy) and do it. Emotions. Haha. Haha, God really knows how to nail the very things I need to deal with. Yup, Excellence of Emotions. I totally need to claim that for myself. Especially with Adelaide coming up, I've gotta get a hold of this, and this will obviously be my prayer.

So yup, that's it for my reflections today. I think I should have a little bit more of applications.

Pray for dunamis power for moral power and excellence of soul.

Do up my 2010 goals very concretely but not be confined, controlled or condemned by it :)

Amen :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Friday, January 22, 2010-)
+5:43 PM]*

# Day 22 - 2010

1 Corinthians 3

13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing.

This is the familiar passage on how our works will be tested at the end of the age. But I guess there's really 2 applications for me.

Let's start with the classic one. The classic one is how everything we have done in this life as a Christian will be tried by God. Yes, I believe that if you're not a Christian (i.e. have a personal relationship with Jesus who is God), your good works won't even account for anything (i.e. you won't reach this "stage").

So back to my point, that everything we do as a Christian will be tested by God. I guess for me, this would mean things like ministry, and also life in general, whether the things I've "built" up were done using superior or inferior materials. Were they genuine or fake.

And that's something I'll take a while to consider.

Cell group. Am I building it up the way I should be, on the foundation that has already been laid, Jesus. Or am I building it around friendship, fellowship, fancy teaching, fun activities, food or just fragile and fake/false ideas. Am I doing what I think is good, or what God has told me to do. Both may or may not have anything in common.

............done reflecting.

Lighthouse. Yup, was about to reply the email when I stopped to think is this a God or just a good idea. It may be both, one or the other, or neither. Once again, this ministry has to be built, and I know for sure that I want it to be built with the best materials, that at the end of this age, when the trial by fire comes, it will stand strong :) And so will be people who have been trained by it.

As for whether Jesus is the foundation, I'm quite sure He is. Jesus as the Living Word is what is taught. And I will ensure that anything that Lighthouse does is Bible based. Yes that is a broad definition, but one that comes with conviction rather than interpretation.

.....done talking. will pray more about this.

YA Comm. This one is a bit tricky. Well, when u're "up there", the things you say carry a lot more weight and influence. So much so that it's very important to separate the good ideas from the God ideas. The imitation from true inspiration. Is Jesus the foundation. Yes. And in this building, there have been many layers laid already so the foundation may not be that visible. But I believe the reason it still stands is because we have the right foundation. And we know it's Jesus, because that's what we're building on this year. More prayer, which basically in normal non-Christianese talk, would be having more HTHT with Jesus. Deepening the friendship from Hi-Bye to Hi-You're-everything-in-between-Bye :) I like that line. Haha :)

So yeah, I think some time off from YA comm in Australia will do me some good to reflect, and vision a bit more, to grasp the true destiny of this great calling to sit on the comm, rather than settle for a slightly better than mediocre YA ministry.

......reflection in progress.

So now, on to my second point (of view) of the passage. Taken in more direct context, this passage was talking about baby believers and how they are the temple and there should be no vandalism. I mean, who would dare to vandalize a temple? Well, I do. I vandalize my life with things that shouldn't be there. Writings on the wall, of my heart. Nice song with a new revelation of it's meaning :)

Am I building my life with the best materials. Am I settling for rock solid QT or would a quick to manufacture, pre-fab piece of plastic do a quick job and I'm done with it. Is my goal for 2010 aiming to build a monument to glorify God, or to put up a beautiful 2D billboard with special lightings. Attractive, informative, speaks of something great, but it really just isn't.

Time to get serious about goals for 2010 or it will pass me by. 22/365 already has.

And of course, back to the writings on the wall, yup, gotta think hard about that. Reminds me of the sermon that City Church preached about how the houses were cleansed. Gotta let God do that.

Yup, that's about it for now. Dinner soon. End of 21 days of fasting mostly lunch and some dinners.

Let's go for 2010!

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Wednesday, January 20, 2010-)
+3:00 PM]*

# Day 20 - 2010

1 Corinthians 1

30 Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.

This is the verse that spoke to me today. After lots of thoughts in my mind, this what it came down to.

For my mind, right thinking.

The millions of thoughts that cross my mind in a day, and the few that come in every second. The times that I hate arguing with myself cuz I apparently know all the answers, for both side of the arguments. In the end, I can't think my way to a solution, but to accept the fact that right thinking comes from God, through Jesus.

For my life, right living.

Trying to be righteous on my own isn't gonna make it. Neither is trying really hard, or feeling bad about it, and getting all depressed. I guess the only way is true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. My part to right living isn't doing right, it's repentance, and having faith, total trust, confidence, leaning upon and hoping for Jesus. For Him to be allowed to rule and reign in my life. Because when I live by the spirit, I will gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

For 2010, a clean slate and a fresh start.

It sucks being 20 days into 2010 and still not having the goals set out. I guess that's what I will do today (which was supposed to be Monday), but hey, even this comes from Jesus. So the goal for today is to really be conscious of Jesus, and I think i'll put it down for my 2010 goals as well. Reminding myself that Jesus has to be in all parts of my life, and not compartmentalized to QT or ministry, but that He is interested in every part of my life, and also to unthink my own rational thinking and remind myself that not my ways, but His is what's going make me truly happy, joyful, satisfied and secure.

Yup, that's it for today :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Tuesday, January 19, 2010-)
+3:28 PM]*

# Day 19 - 2010

Today marks the end of the Romans series. And towards the end, there was this long list of salutations and greetings. I've somehow always liked that part. But today my mind's a little unsettled to say the least from the to-do list brought forward from yesterday. Anyway, back to Romans :)

Yup, the long list lists many people, and I guess what struck me was what these people have done. Heroes of the faith so to speak. Veteran believers. Which got me thinking about this whole Unshakeable year. I guess many of us wouldn't qualify to be on Paul's greeting list. The early church suffered, and hence there were heroes of the faith. People who shared jail cells, churches that had to meet in houses cuz they were no longer welcomed publicly. I guess this is going back to what Christianity really is. The full message of love and grace of God coupled with the discipline and hard work that is expected of a soldier n God's army.

I would want my life to count for something like that in the end of Romans 16. To be remembered not for my great contributions, but who I was in Jesus. I know it's pretty hard to separate the two because being close to God also involves action because God has unfinished work, but I guess it's the kind of person that I want to be remembered for. And all this nice talk about wanting to be remembered will just be nice talk unless I make steps to level up in 2010.

Yup, that's it for now. A day of emails, repainting gate and recooking green curry awaits me! LoL too hopefully with Amanda!

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

+4:38 AM]*

# Day 18 - 2010

Romans 14
22 Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent

Well, this is a pretty simple statement. Cultivate your own relationship with God, and I believe that this is what 2010 has been about for me. Since Unshakeable, things have been different. Not necessarily better, but different, and I think in this way, I'm learning to be more independent. In the sense that I'm not "some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them" Yup, not being jealous of somebody else's standard or feeling that I miss the mark of the elite Christian. Bottom line is in my own conscience, to cultivate my own relationship with God. Yes accept challenges that are thrown at me by my leaders/ministry, but it's not about achieving more, it's about my relationship with Jesus. Yes 2010 has to move forward, but not at the dangerous (especially for me) expense of performance rather than relationship.

Before I fly, if I'm "fortunate" so to speak, I'll need to evaluate if the difference has been good. If my behaviour and what what I believe are flowing together. If there is a conflict, I'll need to write it down and reconsider. Yup, that's it for now. Prayer time!

In closing, I played LoL today. I blame Amanda! Haha! Okie, won 2 tournament tokens in MH too. But a little sad for misclickling and spending 60SB+. Hehe! Noob!

Nitez!

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Monday, January 18, 2010-)
+4:05 AM]*

# Day 17 - 2010

Romans 13
11 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God.

Yup, it's been quite a while since I posted here, so I thought I'd do it right. Well i guess this scripture speaks of one extreme, probably when I'm running ministry, having school and catching up with friends. All these add up to the neglect of God. But not so surprisingly, the other extreme which isn't mentioned here is that when I have no obligations, when life becomes my own responsibility, when I'm answerable to no one, when I'm really just allowed to be who I am, do what I want to do, then perhaps it's even easier to lose track of time and doze off, oblivious to God. Cuz there is no time to keep track of. Yup, that's for today. No more losing track of time.

Too tired to blog about today, but over this weekend, I was at CHCKL, Life Assembly and KingdomCity. 3 churches, and 3 very different experiences. I guess whatever it is, I'm just thankful for all these different church experiences, different things to learn at each church.

Goodnight for now. Hope u like the new skin (=

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Friday, January 15, 2010-)
+1:35 AM]*

# Day 14 - 2010

Today was cell group with E12 and E25. Got the timings mixed up so arrived early, and hence had time to read my book titled "What Did Jesus Really Mean?" by Rob Rhodes.

Oh yes, Kevin you should be doing your assignments :P

And here's something which I wanted to share with two people.

>Is it true, as feminist writers claim, that Jesus set forth a sexist concept of God by calling God "Father" (Matthew 6:9)

Jesus did teach that we should refer to God as our "Father." For example, we are instructed by Him to pray, "Our Father in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9). However, this does not mean Jesus set forth a sexist concept of God.

To begin, it is highly revealing that while God is referred to int he Bible as "Father" (and never "Mother"), some of His actions are occasionally described in feminine terms. For example, Jesus likened God to a loving and saddened mother hen crying over the waywardness of her children (Matthew 23:37-39). God is also said to have "given birth" to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:18).

Of course, God is not a gender being as humans are. He is not of the male sex per se. The primary emphasis in God being called "Father" is that He is personal.Unlike the dead and impersonal idols of paganism, the true God is a personal being with whom we can relate. In fact, we can even call Him "Abba" (an Aramaic term that loosely means "daddy"). That is how intimate a relationship we can have with Him.

Regarding the issue of gender equality, it is undeniable that Jesus had a very high view of women. In a Jewish culture, where women were discouraged from studying the Law, Jesus taught women right alongside men as equals (Matthew 14:21; 15:38). And when He taught, He often used women's activities to illustrate the character of the kingdom of God, such as baking bread (Luke 13:20-21), grinding corn (Luke 17:35), and sweeping the house to find a lost coin (Luke 15:8-10).

Some Jewish rabbis taught that a man should not speak to a woman in a public place, but Jesus not only spoke to a woman (who, incidentally, was a Samaritan) but also drank from her cup in a public place (John 4:1-30). The first person He appeared to after resurrecting from the dead was Mary and not the male disciples (Luke 24:1-8). Clearly Jesus had a very high view of women.

Galatians 3:28 tells us that there is neither male nor female in Jesus Christ. First Peter 3:7 says men and women are fellow heirs of grace. Ephesians 5:21 speaks of mutual submission between man and wife. In John 7:53-8:11 Jesus would not permit the double standard of the woman being taken in adultery and letting the man go free. In Luke 10:38-39, Jesus let a woman sit at His feet, which was a place reserved for the male disciples. Verses such as these show that in God's eyes men and women are spiritually equal. Any claims of sexism in Jesus or Christianity are absolutely groundless.

Yup, I admit I was wrong in some parts of my explanation then. Hope I get the chance to make it right. Being a teacher should be more stressful for me.

Anyway, some thoughts on today. On the way back from cell, I realised that my mindset has indeed expanded, and I am a person who is more graceful and flexible than I used to be. Roland has a big part to play in this apart from Jesus through whom anything of eternal benefit can only come from :) Still a lot of work to be done, but at least I have grown a little bit.

As for myself, I know from One Thing, the One Thing I Lack is the most important point for me this year, and if it's not done this year, it's going to have be done next year, so why not this year right? Simple? Yay!

Okie, off for now :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Thursday, January 14, 2010-)
+3:12 AM]*

# Day 13 - 2010

Don't come to Jesus for a better life, come to Him because He is better than life -- Ps Craig Groeschel

Spend five minutes as a human being and not human doing, and don't twitter about it.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Wednesday, January 13, 2010-)
+2:46 AM]*

# Day 12 - 2010

Romans 12
1 I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, andbeg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service andspiritual worship.

This is what it means to be part of God's worship team. A team of people that are doing daily what they ought to do. So I'll go and do that now. Goodnight.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Sunday, January 10, 2010-)
+12:29 AM]*

# Day 9 - Continued

Went to CHCKL today. I took every mode of transport to get there. Private car, train, bus, taxi and walked. In that order. And mega huge thanks to Sherene who sent me back. Yup, shout out to you if you ever find this blog post.

It was really quite the CHC experience. Just that instead of spending the 1 hour plus queue-ing, i spent it travelling there. The train ride took an hour. The mini bus was rather interesting. It has exhaust smoke coming out from the front dashboard. Thank God it didn't smell like the diesel exhaust of taxi's in Singapore. But seriously..... that was one weird bus ride.

Cutting to the main part cuz it's quite late already, Ps Derek was the preacher today and pretty much the main reason why I went. It was a rather simple sermon, but the altar time was really powerful for the CHC people. He had a word of knowledge and like 7 or so people responded, prophesied over two of the music team people and countless other leaders. He's a really powerful minister.

Then after that followed Kevin's cell group. Shout out to Alethea if you're reading this :)

It was a belated birthday celebration for Jasmine (if I spell it correctly). And here's my memory test. Jasmine is in her first out of 4 years of being a teacher, planning to teach Maths as a major and BM/BI as a minor. Other cell group members were Alicia and Tung who left early, and Esther, who's a final year Industrial Chemistry student, also at UM with Sherene, the cell leader. She's studying for her PhD (forgot in what, but something bio-related, more evidence that bio isn't my thing). She's also the zone secretary for East Zone. Yup, shoutout to E12! (Yes they name the cell groups the same way as CHCSG).

Yup, for now, it's really the distance that isn't nice. Oh well, I'll need to pray more. I always do. But I need to pray more. Here's something I took home personally for me. I'm believing it to be the theme verse for my 2010!

From Job 23

¹⁰ “But he knows where I am going.
And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.
¹¹ For I have stayed on God’s paths;
I have followed his ways and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from his commands,
but have treasured his words more than daily food.
¹³ But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind?
Whatever he wants to do, he does.
¹⁴ So he will do to me whatever he has planned.
He controls my destiny.

Yup, to come out pure as gold through testing, to stay on His paths and not turn aside, to treasure His word more than daily food, and to live in the security that He controls my destiny. I'm definitely gonna go deeper into this :)

Thanks Ps Derek, CHCKL and E12 :)

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Saturday, January 9, 2010-)
+1:45 PM]*

# Day 9 - 2010

Romans 10
17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.18 But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have:
"The message has gone throughout the earth,
and the words to all the world."s

I have heard this line so many times before, so I thought I'd just read it again. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Good News. Firstly, it is rather specific, so I think that this scripture has been misquoted a lot of times. Paul here is talking about salvation by faith in Jesus as opposed to obeying the law. And this faith is salvation faith, and that's why it comes by hearing the Gospel. The Message Bible puts it a little more clearly, that there is nothing to trust in, or rather no one to trust in, unless we have listened to someone talk about it. So therefore, unless it is preached, there is nothing for people to listen to and hence nothing to trust (have faith in).

And obviously just listening doesn't bring faith straight away, because the next verse says that the Israelites have actually listened to the Good News, but they haven't trusted or had faith. So the beginning of our faith comes by hearing, like the Israelites "had plenty of opportunity to" as The Message puts it, but they just refused to listen. So I think for today, my thoughts would be why wouldn't they listen.

1. They were too proud to let go of what they (misguidedly) believed in

They didn't believe in something wrong (idol worship etc), but their trust was placed in what they did, rather in Who they were doing it for. And with ALL people, nobody likes to be told we're wrong. It takes a lot of humbling to admit I'm wrong, what I thought was right wasn't, and actually accept correction from someone I deem "not as good" as me.

Actually, for the Jews I think that's about it. Shows how much I know about Jews. I know many other reasons why people don't put their trust in Jesus, but that's for another day.

As for me, I guess the hardest part to believe the full gospel is to step out in faith. That there are things that I will not know until I do it. The victory is there, but the battle still has to be fought. So for me, faith has come, but the faith needs to be resurrected by action in it. To not just say I believe, but to live it out practically.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Friday, January 8, 2010-)
+3:28 AM]*

# Day 7 - 2010

Romans 9
18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

Actually I don't really understand this. This seems to show predestination, which violates the doctrine of "free will". Yes "free will" never appears in the Bible, but neither does "predestination" though the word predestined does appear. Thoughts anyone? Your thoughts, Almighty God?

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Thursday, January 7, 2010-)
+12:07 AM]*

# Day 6 - 2010

Romans 8
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Wonderful things referring to being our life through the Spirit, which has so many connotations, being adopted into God's family and even the privileges that come with it :)

Life through the Spirit has some really basic power that I can claim.

2 And because you belong to him, the powers of the life-giving Spirit has freed yous from the power of sin that leads to death

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you ... 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,s you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words

32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Once again it speaks of God's love. The cost of saving us didn't deter God, not because He had no choice, but because He is just a God who is like that. Who created us to be in fellowship with Him. He doesn't want to keep the whole universe to Himself, and as such, won't He also want us to share in everything?

33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.

Because God wants us to be with Him, to have fellowship with Him, we should never accuse another brother or sister (but we do correct in love). In Christ, we all have right standing before God. Nothing that can be accused of, at all. That is amazing, that is grace.

34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

I just love Jesus for this, really. So kind. To plead for me. So that I won't be condemned. I love Him even more because I know that I should justfully, rightfully, fairly condemned. But a God, that would plead, that's already amazing. But that He would plead for me who did wrong against Him? I am grateful. How can I not love a God like this.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

Wow, this speaks for itself.

36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep."s)

Well, some days I feel like this. Thank God this isn't 100% true in my life :)

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Haha, I like how it says overwhelming victory. Sort of reminds of those times when I play an RTS, and my army totally annihilates another's base. The kind where it was so overwhelming I felt sorry for the other guy. But of course, this is only possible through Christ. And they just throw in "who loved us", just to we know :) Just so we know that we win, well, simply because He loves us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,sneither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

So why is it that it's so important not be separated from God's love? Because perfect love casts out all fear. That knowing that the overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loves us. So if God is for us, who can be against us.

39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So the conclusion is this. Unfailing love will catch me at the end of the day. And unfailing love will see me through each day, even though there is trouble, calamity, persecution, hunger, destitution, danger or death.

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Saturday, January 2, 2010-)
+3:24 AM]*

# Day 2 - 2010

Day 2 is about to begin.

Today, woke up. Oh man! Just remembered need to be at Paya Lebar at 7.30. Hmmm... okie.. bad..

Anyway, MH-ed a lot today with SB+, and then went for BBQ, and sending off of Samuel.

Now back to laundry! And sleep!

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________

(Friday, January 1, 2010-)
+8:37 AM]*

# Day 1 - 2010

The New Year is here! And I'm blogging once again cuz some friends asked me to. But i'll save the essays for some other days, I'll keep it straight to the point. Well, mostly at least!

How did I spend NYE? Well, I spend the first few hours talking to Vanessa. Which was very needful.

Then I slept, and then woke up, did more Adelaide stuff, and interestingly went to lunch with Chris. Thai stall takes custom orders. Then played Modern Warfare 2 for the first time on XBOX360. My conclusion, long live the mouse! (Great Game though!)

Then went for appreciation dinner, and then watchnight! Well, it turned out to be make timer work night. Txs to Shujing for getting me involved the previous year :) Took some brain cracking to get a working version out. PTL it worked!

Then came the new year. Many wishes and cards given. Ok, less cards, more wishes. Then it was Macs with Justin and David, Inkheart with Vanessa and co, with a hint of MouseHunt on the side. Yes I am back :) Not an addict anymore though... The fast worked?

Then came the best part of the night at about 4plus... Wii!!!!

Raving Rabbids 2!! It was more nonsensical than anything else. Burping, farting, throwing paper, smsing, plumbing, and whacking rabbids to sleep. Then when the sun had risen (not that we knew), it was boxing time. Leon, owns.

Then it was tennis. Xiuyu has a secretly powerful serve.

Then came goodbye, and in the words of Wenze, we parted after seeing each other "for two years".

Took 13 back with the little one, and now I'm here, ready to sleep for about 3 hours, and ready to head out yet again. Life continues! See ya!

the story ends like this;
________________________________________________________________________________