Fellowship before service :)

Think it has been quite some time since all of us gather to share our lives with one another, complaining and encouraging one another.

Yest the time we had before service was indeed a refreshing one for me. Encouraged by MJ's, nicoles's and nicholas's testimonies of their lives and how God has been working in their lives and encouraging them.

Think in times of stressful period we need to be encouraged more and also to encourage one another more.

Yest, nicole and Mj both shared about prayers. MJ shared about answered prayers, she made a simple prayer. Prayed in faith and trusted God to work things out and God really did. It was really amazing and really very encouraged!!! Reminded me that God is boundless and all things are possible through Christ. Amen!!

Nicole prayed and God strength her and assure her through the prayer. Giving her strength and the peace and assurance that she needed. Think this is one breakthrough that nicole is experiencing and I'm really glad to see you taking that faith to pray and believe in God. Always, from nicole's sharing, we can be sure that God is relevant even in our studies!!!! Havin a relationship isn't just an another thing of our life (that just involves church and cg), but God is real in every single part of us and our lives. He is the air we breathe and the food we need. He is our everything and He is the reason for our existence.

Let's continue to spur one another on and encourage one another, keeping one another in prayer too :) A short passage to encourage us :)

Jas 5:13-16
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

We can always put our prayer requests here during this period and keep one another in prayer :)

Mark 11:22-23
22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

The Hammer

Hello my bros and siss!

I want to share with you a testimony that i really really want to thank God for protecting my dad today.

Actually during service today, i received a message from home, telling me that my dad just got injured by a hammer that dropped onto his head in a factory, and was given 5 stitches above the side of the forehead. My heart really sank. I prayed heavily during worship time that he will be alright after the stitches. After service, i called home to ask about the condition of my dad, and thank GOD, my sis told me he is alright and still can watch vcd.... Waaahh... i started to pick my heart up again and put it in place. Thank GOD that after the worker on the upper level accidentally kicked the hammer off the ramp, the hammer hit a machine beside it before it landed on my dad's head. I really want to thank God for breaking the force of the hammer, or else things are going to turn out really bad.

Please also help me keep my dad in prayer, that my dad will recover soon and will not have any side effects after that. Praise the LORD! "God, I really want to thank You for the protection!!! I am so thankful"

Hi everyone~ This is my first official post in this blog, wanted to share some of my brief thoughts about today's sermon.

I was very struck by the part where Pastor Jeff asked us whether we had experienced any growth as a Christian recently. Yah, that's one thing I definitely did not experience this semester. Think was quite affected by events during and before the term, and as a result have been drawing very very distant from God.. in fact this 12 weeks have been the driest period in my walk with God so far. o_o

Come to realise that during times when you face situations that are beyond your control in life, one can either draw closer or run away from God. Think it's human nature to blame God easily rather than to draw nearer to him. The book that I'm reading now The purpose driven life really helped me make sense of things - I find several parts of it very meaningful. Highly recommend the book to those who haven't read it yet :D

And oh yah, the discussion during wednesday's QT was a very meaningful and thought provoking one. Glad that I didn't miss it esp the topic Huili brought up the topic about how we feel about the CG.

Haha one of the things that I realised about myself is that I tend to share different sides of myself to different people. For example in church I tend 闲聊 only to certain people and spiritual things only to (other) certain people. From now on I will try to mix it up a bit.

And yay we have a new sister in Christ!

Jiayou everybody for the exams =)

'Corn flakes with Jesus'

Haha... just now was playing on the guitar after i got home. This few weeks i have been picking up my guitar more often, spending time worshipping God and also brush up on my guitaring skills as well. For myself, i just found a good timing to play the guitar in my house - it's after midnight 12 o'clock! so exciting! i will take my guitar out of the room and sneak into the kitchen and close the kitchen doors, and then worship God in the kitchen. Wow! amazingly it seems like my guitaring skill has improved, with the help of the silence of the night.... nevertheless, the atmosphere then was really good.

Recently i picked up a habit of eating corn flakes and reading the bible in the middle of the night. i just enjoy the intimate and casual time with God over the corn flakes. Both the spiritual food and corn flakes = yummy!

Let us also get the habit of reading the Word daily, even as we are going into a period of preparation for the exams. Let us take time off from our revision once a while, to reflect and chat with God alone, with your favorite cup of hot coffee, and pour out to Him who is there to listen to our worries, no mater what time it is.

blessings

Just wanna share some things with u guys :) i just finish my thai oral exam. Really wanna thank god manz... He has really blessed me with a good partner who really helped me alot. Yest she gave me a session to help me with my pronounication and also to teach me on how to use words. den today during the oral exam she helped me with my part during the short preparation period before our testing. Really thank God for her and for guiding me in studying the right thing. Though i did not say many long and fanciful sentences and my pronounication is abit off. But think I did a pretty good job, with the limited amount of time i had.

And i didn't cough throughout the oral exam at all!!! hee... now going to mug for my 2 tests tmr already. This week is a crazy week for me but hey God thanks for seeing me through manz!!!

the aftermath of a 5min thunderstorm

heyy heyy! first time blogging here.... and its 5.23 am. weird eh?
just wanted to share about several things the Lord told me..
i believe he woke me up on purpose, and with a purpose.
you know whyy?

cos the "thunderstorm" only had thunder and heavy rain and it lasted for about 5mins.
!!!
a thunderstorm is suppoesd to last for about half an hour!
or at least it usually does at my house..
what with it being so close to the malaysia sea.

so anyway, i was praying to God about several things in my life.
indeed, he opened up the eyes to my heart,
as i was asking about whyy things between certain friends and i are so different from things between you guys and i.
the thing is.. im more reserved with them.

He told me, that i hold back sometimes, as im too conscious, too afraid of the things i might say, when instead, as long as they dont hold negative connotations, it should be fine.

i also prayed and ask him to help my family come to know about the gd news of Christ, through me or some other channels. i prayed and asked for my dad to be relieved of his burdens, to be able to enjoy the fruits of his life, instead of worrying about stuff all the time. he was sleeping, and his face was so wrought with wrinkles i was so afraid his face would get smaller with all that frowning. it was a miracle, cos immediately, his facial expression slowly started to relax.. =]]

He showed me things about my relationship with jiawei too. we were having problems, but its minor yet not minor... dont know how to say. He opened the eyes to my heart and showed me how to improve, both on our relationship and in myself.

im really glad for that 5min thunderstorm.
im glad i listened to the call for me to wake up.
(i was thinking if i should bring the clothes in.)

there's so many things to thank Him for, im just listing the few things that ran through my mind this early early morning..

Praise the Lord.
-trust, believe and follow

love you guys =D
study hard, and eat well!
see you later!

M&M #3

Heb 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,

the author and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy set before him endured the cross,

scorning its shame,

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Gal 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest

if we do not give up.

Filling the open chair

Today's sermon was really a good reminder for me to be urgent in sharing the love of God to ppl. PPl are impt to God and God desires to use us. Think just now during dinner many of us mentioned a few names here and there and some of us have shared how we were impacted by the sermon (especially the part on urgency and the part on not to be discouraged by rejection).

Let's really respond to God's word and take time to pray for the many names or faces that God has reminded us. Be it our 'just friends' or family or tutorial mates. Let's really commit these souls to God and take their lives seriously!!! It is about their salvation, eternity. As what Jasmine has said: the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2pet3:9)

haha... I think many of us ve many names flashing across our mind, not sure where to go from here (do i invite all? do i work on all of my friends?) Let's focus on 1-2 of our friends or family members during this period and we can work towards bringing them to the Christmas service. In the meantime its exams time, its a good time to provide support not only within the cg and bro/sis, but also to our friends who could be very stress over studying. We can bless them in small ways such as cards or prayers.

After thinking and praying through for our friends, we can add onto this blog and share to one another our thoughts, and even fears or burdens for our friends.

Let's go in faith, love and power from God. Pray that God will empower us to share and the courage to go beyond our comfort zone. But we have to take the step out first. Let's really trust God in this area. While we can plant and water the seed of salvation in their hearts, it is God who grows the seed. Lets go plant the seed ba :) Cheers!!!!

Love the sinner, Hate the sin!

I have been reading alot recently on the issue of repealing of the Penal Code Section 377A. Thought of sharing with u my thoughts after thinking thru these few days.

"377A. Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years."

I must admit that my initial intention was to beef up my knowledge on this hot issue, so that I can DEFEAT anyone who dares to challenge my stand on the retaining of 377A.

Pride and Judgemental are the 2 big bricks I have on my wall.

As Christians, should we discriminate the homosexuals? or simply disagree with their act?

Who are we to say what is morally right and wrong?

We believe that God wants us to live our live accordingly to His Word, to keep away from sins in this world.

In the beginning, God has created Adam to be in charge of taking care of the Garden of Eden.
In the bible, Genesis 2:18, The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
God made Eve, as a helper and companion for Adam.

This is the brief account of the creation of Man, and this relationship and union of men and women is something which God has constituted.

(take note that God created 'Adam and Eve', not Adam and StEve!!!)

In the bible, GOD has outlined the godlessness and wickedness of men in Romans 1:18-32

Yes, now knowing that homosexuality is detestable in God's eyes, what's next?

Does God also condemns the homosexuals, like what some of us are doing?

NO! God didn't leave us although we kept sinning, in big and small ways. He yeans to bring us back into a loving relationship with Him, our author and Creator.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

This love and grace from God is not just restricted to us who are believers in Christ Jesus, but is also extended to those who are still far away from God. Its quite hard for me to comprehend such a love and grace that God has for his Creation.

Many times I would "stand-on-the-mountain" and pass judgement, deciding who should be saved by God and enter the Heavens.

Many times I ask God: "Huh? This guy also can meh?". But God recently answered me very clearly. He told me to think about how He accepted me to be a child of God, when I received Christ in 2005, even when there are so many flaws and brick walls I had built over the years of growing up.

I was humbled.

Indeed, when we acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God ( our Savior who died on the cross, bled and died and rose again, to wash away our sins with His blood ), God has assured us that He loves us and accepts us as who we are, as children of His who wants to live our lives right, according to His will and purpose for us. God wants us to reconcile back to Him. He wants us to lead a life that is confident and fruitful, turning away from sins.

He had sent His Son, Jesus Christ, for this purpose.

Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." - Matthew 9:12

For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." - Matthew 9:13b

God sees hope in everyone of us, believers and non-believers, even the homosexuals. We recognise that they are in the midst of our society. Let us not be self-righteous. Let us, as brothers and sisters in Christ, not discriminate them or despise them, but learn to see the hope and love that God has for them to overcome this hundle in their lives eventually. If we choose to stay away from them, how can God use us to share to them about His love for them? Amen?

Debate on retaining of Section 377A in parliament?

Video Link (right click and OPEN IN NEW): http://video2.channelnewsasia.com/cnavideos/multiplevideos_206x220.asp?skin=player5.swf&bgskin=playerbackground_206x220.swf&filename=_Parl%20English_20071022_thioLiAnn_penal_lo.flv

You can click on the video link above and refer to a highlighted and edited version of short key remarks (below) of NMP Professor Thio Li-Ann’s speech in Parliament, on her stand on retaining 377A and outlining the dangers of appealing 377A. For a full version of the speech, u can refer to my blog @ www.artsfantasy.blogspot.com

NMP Professor Thio Li-Ann is currently a Nominated Member of Parliament (11th Session). She teaches in NUS Faculty of Law and has published widely in the fields of public international law, human rights law, constitutional and administrative law. She is a Christian.

‘Conservative’ here is not a dirty word connoting backwardness; environmental conservation protects our habitat; the moral ecology must be conserved to protect what is precious and sustains a dynamic, free and good society.

The real question today is not “if” we should repeal 377A now, or wait until people are ready to move. This assumes too much, as though we need an adjustment period before the inevitable. The real question is not “if” but “should” we ever repeal 377A. It is not inevitable; it is not desirable to repeal it in any event.

when we consider the moral issues related to 377A which require moral judgment of what is right and wrong - not to take a stand, is to take a stand!

Neither the majority or minority is always right – but there are fundamental values beyond fashion and politics which serve the common good. Religious views are part of our common morality.

The issues surrounding s377A are about morality, not modernity or being cosmopolitan.

Singapore is an independent state and we can decide the 377A issue ourselves; we have no need of foreign or neo-colonial moral imperialism in matters of fundamental morality.

while homosexuals are a numerical minority, there is no such thing as ‘sexual minorities’ at law. Activists have coined this term to draw a beguiling but fallacious association between homosexuals and legally recognized minorities like racial groups. Race is a fixed trait. It remains controversial whether homosexual orientation is genetic or environmental, perhaps both.

Homosexuality is a gender identity disorder.

While all human persons are of equal worth, not all human behaviour is equally worthy. We separate the actor from the act. In criminalizing acts, we consider the wrongfulness of the act, the harm caused and how it affects the good of society.

Public sexual morality must buttress strong families based on faithful union between man and wife, the best model for raising children.

While we cherish racial and religious diversity, sexual diversity is a different kettle of fish. Diversity is not license for perversity.

Law is a Moral teacher and makes a moral statement.

Repealing 377A will further batter the institution of ‘marriage’ which we must bolster!

Homosexuals as fellow citizens have the right to expect decent treatment from the rest of us; but they have no right to insist we surrender our fundamental moral beliefs so they can feel comfortable about their sexual behaviour. We should not be subject to the tyranny of the undemocratic minority who want to violate our consciences, trample on our cherished moral virtues and threaten our collective welfare by imposing homosexual dogma on right-thinking people. Keep 377A.

But if we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything.

It is important in life not only to have a Brain, but a Spine.

The Wall by Gloria Jay Evans

The Wall by Gloria Jay Evans

I don't know when I first began to build the wall. I suppose it was when it occurred to me that I could keep people out if my life by building a simple wall. The wall would be a kind of boundary - a kind of protection. At first the little wall was only knee high. It was really quite attractive, made of native stone I had found in my life. The wall was so small that some people didn't notice it and would stumble right over it and fall flat on their faces. Others saw it but would step over it and come very close to me. I found this very uncomfortable. So I built the wall higher.

This was really much better, but I found that some people would come and rest their arms on the wall while they talked to me. Some stayed too long. And some were not my kind of people. And even when I edged the top of the wall with sharp stones, they didn't seem to notice. One day one of them vaulted over the wall and stood right inside.

This made me angry. I decided to build the wall higher. As I continued to build, I became more and more self-sufficient... (and soon) no one could see in or out...

But then I realized that no one had stopped by to talk for sometime. Some walked by not seeming to notice me or my wall. Others stood sadly by and watched me build. I thought they were jealous of my wall, and I resented them - all of them...

Some of my stones were so dear to me that I polished them carefully several times a day. Then one day I realized the wall was so high that I no longer saw anyone go by...or heard anyone. "Is anyone there?" I yelled. There was no answer. It was dark and the air was foul. I stayed there fora long time. It was quiet and dark and lonely. Only the whispers of my memories could be heard...

One day someone yelled from the other side, "Your wall is ugly. It is twisted and gray and misshapen!" Now, I did not accept this willingly. I liked my wall. In fact, some of the stones from which I had built it were so dear to me...

It was the day the flower fell at my feet that I began to cry. I ran to the wall and climbed to see who had thrown it over.

By the time I reached the top, no one was there. I returned to the flower and sat for a long time looking at its perfection. I began to see the folly of my wall and its imperfection. Floods of tears brought me to my knees. "Oh, I am so alone. My wall is too high and too thick and ugly. ... I have nothing left. Won't someone help me... please? Then a strange thing happened. Something inside me stirred like a remembrance of peaceful times passed. And in the stillness of my broken world I knew... God was there, a blessed presence, that God would come to me, that my darkness had been penetrated by this blessed light... I stood in the joy of this presence. I knew that God had watched me build my wall and that God had waited patiently forme to see it was in vain.

Finally it occurred to me that the Divine Creator would know why my wall was so ugly. When I asked, God began to teach me... my error. God gave the stones names: "This stone is jealousy. You must remove it."

Sometimes I would... protest. This was my favorite stone. It was one I had saved and cherished for years.

When I was finally ready, God helped me remove the stone... (And so it went, through stones named envy, disillusionment, resentment, childishness, stubbornness, some with God's help, sometimes with the help of strangers...) As we removed more stones, the light came in. I felt a hand reaching through a small hole one day.

There was a stranger who walked in one day and told me he had let God tear down his wall. I told him how I had suffered so and that I would never forget how forsaken and lonely I had felt inside my wall. "Yes," he said, "self-pity is a terrible thing." When he left, I found my stone of self-pity in my wall. It was wet with my tears. I dried it off and laid it with the other stones I had taken from the wall.

Overwhelmed by all God had done for me and all God had taught me, I stood on a large remaining stone and began to tell anyone who passed by what God had done for me. I was appalled that no one seemed to hear what I was saying... I noticed others working on walls and ran over to plead with them to stop, but no one would listen. In my frustration, I lay face down on the stone I had stood upon. It was extremely large, highly polished... It was more than life size.

"Do you want the answer to your question?" God asked. "Raise your head, and look at the stone you are lying upon." I raised my head and gasped, for I saw my own reflection in the massive stone.

I knew the stone was pride. Quietly, we removed it.

Then God said a strange thing. "Now you must go. I will go with you and yet I will stay here." I protested, "There are still other stones to remove. I want you here."

"I said I would go with you. Do you remember the flower that fell at your feet, the hand that you clasped, the stranger who showed your self-pity?" "Oh, yes", I sighed, "Oh yes." "Then you must go and do likewise. For to whom much (grace) is given, much (grace) is expected. Wherever you go, I go with you. And whenever you come back here to be tempted, or to remove more stones I will be here for you." And so I went out. I saw the walls of others, and when I could, I threw a flower over, or reached my hand through. The walls were unbelievably ugly.

I heard great sobs behind the walls and my heart ached. "Won't you please help this person?" I cried out to God one day. I returned to my wall and God the Blessed Presence was there. Together we removed the stones of fear, mistrust, and indifference. Then God said, "Now you begin to understand love. Without love, the things I have told you would be meaningless. You will begin to live in peace and understanding of all those people around you whom you thought were not your kind'."

So it was that I went forth, reaching out - sometimes just waiting beside a wall, sometimes tossing a flower, sometimes grasping a hand.