Marilyn speaks: "Treasures in Heaven."

Dear lambs in green,

I feel very inspired by the weekend with the Williams and the couple whose surname i've forgotten haha. It has been a fruitful workshop and i'm so encouraged that we have so many friends today to hear God's word with us. I was convicted by the humility of Dennis and Karla on Saturday when they gave God and the Williams the honour of their rags-to-riches testimony.



Here are some thoughts i'd like to share.

When i was studying in acjc, everyone around me lived in mansions or condos, my classmates /schmates /cca mates were sons and daughters of very affluent families - families who owned huge organisations or shopping malls like Paragon and Millenium Walk, ministers and foreign ambassadors and so on. They lived in Sixth Avenue and were chauffered to school, i was a heartlands girl and my dad gives me a lift in his taxi. Though i'm a simple girl living in a small flat, opulence and wealth do not faze me. A life of glitz is enviable to some, but it was nondescript to me. Show me small luxuries and i will gawk and appreciate. Show me simple pleasures, a good book, good music and exciting fellowship and i will be delighted.

Admittedly there was once or twice in my 2 years there that i wished i had a little more, or that i didn't have to work and study at the same time, but i was NEVER ashamed of my humble background. My parents loved me and worked their fingers to the bone to send me to university and sponsored my trips to China and Vancouver. We lived simply and thus my parents never or had very very little conflicts about finances - something that seems to be tearing marriages apart in Singapore lately. While my wealthy schoolmates had the latest cell phones and a credit card, i had home-cooked food everyday. For the many intangible things that my parents gave to me, i believe God really blessed me tremendously.

On a side note, i always think that the best parents are not the ones that fawn and splurge on you when you bring back straight As or a shiny trophy. The best parents are the ones that who keep the childish comics you've penciled, the unintelligble drawings you've scrawn, the lopsided paper cranes you've folded out of 80cents coloured paper. The best parents are the ones who appreciate every single thing you've done, big or small, nothing is too insignificant for them to be proud of.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:18-21

Sometimes you can tell what a person is like by the possessions they hold on to.

To store up treasures on earth is to set our heart on earthly things. It is difficult, even impossible, to desire the return of our Lord when we have made all of our investments in earthly things. Not only this but we also tend to put our trust, our confidence and hope in our investments. The great difficulty of the rich is that they are deceived into fixing their hope on the uncertainty of riches. Jesus is not telling us that it is wrong to have material possessions, but with material possessions comes responsibility as well; not that we are forbidden to enjoy many of life’s pleasures, but that we view them as temporary and, in the long term, unsatisfying compared to the riches God prepared for us.

Amen, have a great week ahead all :)

Alfred speaks: "A Sick Woman & Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute."

Alfred is our very cheerful, zealous and fired up brother. He loves children and is always inspiring others with his soft heart towards the word of God.

Matthew 9: 18 – 34

1) Believe in others

From the passage, the bible said that the dead girl’s father was a ruler. Though the father was someone with high status, he humbled himself and knelt before Jesus for help. He believed that Jesus can save his daughter. It was her father’s faith that saved the daughter. It was her father’s faith that made him approach Jesus. In verse 24, when Jesus said that the girl was not dead but asleep, the people were laughing at him. If the father had the same belief like the rest of the people, her daughter wouldn’t be saved. The daughter was saved because her father believed in others.

2) Believe in ourselves

When Jesus cured the sick woman who had bleed for twelve years, Jesus said to her…
Vs 22: "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you."

When the two blind men begged Jesus for cure, Jesus touched their eyes and said…
Vs 29: "According to your faith will it be done to you";

Jesus kept mentioning them that it was their faith that healed them. Jesus sees that great value in everyone’s life and wants us to believe that we can make a difference. When Jesus saw the life of the sick woman and the blind men, Jesus believed that they too can make a difference. They were cured because they believed in themselves.

3) Jesus Believe in us

I was touched when I read the account of Jesus healing the demon possessed. It reminds me that whatever bad state that I am in, Jesus still believes in me and still loves me. The demon possessed man was cured because Jesus believed in him.

Let’s us keep believing in others, believing in ourselves and keep reminding ourselves that Jesus always believe in us.

Love you deeply,
Alfred

Sera responds to "Faith of a Centurion" by Alfred

I really love the point on The Humility of the Centurion. About knowing his place before God.
I feel like in some ways we have forgotten our places before God. Who we are compared to Him.

We are UNWORTHY!

Unworthy to have him love us, unworthy to have him let His son die for us.

Who are we??

The more we need to be grateful because we are nothing but God thinks of us as perfect and he wants to love us. =)

Amen!
Thanks Alfred!

Sera speaks: "Biblical Judgements."

Sera is a theatre production student from LaSalle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

Hey Lovelies!

Been feeling a little dry with the reading. I think my mind's not in the right place.

But! Do not fret! hee hee

I took a look at Doug J's website and read his insight on Matthew 7.

Woah!! CHEEMALOGY!! (singapore slang for really difficult to understand)

But after reading through again and again and also reading verse references he gave, I got a better idea of what he was saying. =)

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In verses 1 & 2 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

A lot of times I tend to see it has judging a person. Do not judge people or I will be judged by them. I never really took deep consideration of the overall meaning of judgement.

Judgement of the Scriptures

I find myself picking and choosing what I feel is right for me. And those scriptures that aren't right, I never consider them to be right for me in another situation.

Question posted by DJ for us to think about:
Does the fact that some sections of the Bible are especially "important" make me less motivated to study the sections I perceive to be less valuable? Or do I truly believe that all scripture is "inspired... and useful" (2 Timothy 3:16)?

Do I make judgement on what is valuable or not?

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16-17

This really applies to me because, not only do I make judgement, I don't make use of the opportunity to be humble an read the bible when it is right there infront of me. =)

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Hope this has inspired you as much as it has for me.

Let's take reading the New Testament together seriously.

Love you all dearly =)

Sera

Fierce Insights from DJ

hey guys,

for really FIERCE and IN-DEPTH studies for matthew, please check out douglas jacoby's website to get even deeper insight beyond what we normally see at http://www.douglasjacoby.com/

he is also at matthew and we can read it if we dontreally have insights on some days....:)

love you lots,

ling pin

Alfred speaks: "Faith of a Centurion."

Alfred is our very cheerful, zealous and fired up brother. He loves children and is always inspiring others with his soft heart towards the word of God.

The Faith of the Centurion (Matthew 8: 5 – 13)

A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Most centurions commanded a century (centuria) of 80 men, but senior centurions commanded cohorts, or took senior staff roles in their legion.
(Definition from Wikipedia)

1) The Love of the Centurion

The centurion cared about his servant so much that he went to find Jesus personally. The centurion could have given the servant a sum of money and find a cure for himself. But he didn’t. The centurion cared about his servant that he wanted to find a cure for him. In spite of his busy schedule, the centurion had time to care his people under him.

2) The Humility of the Centurion

Vs 8: "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof."

The centurion approached Jesus with Great Humility. He probably understood that it was unclean for Jews to enter a Pagan house. He was making no demands and he knew his place before God.

There is an interesting contrast between the testimonials of the Teachers of the Law and the centurion. The teacher of the Law say, “I am worthy….” But for the centurion, he said, “I am not worthy.” In the centurion’s heart, he felt that he don’t deserve God’s blessing. Let us imitate the centurion’s attitude of receiving God’s blessing with humility and gratefulness.

3) The Faith of the Centurion

The centurion’s faith impressed Jesus. It was the only time in the bible where Jesus cured someone without being physically there. I am amazed of what God can do when we have great faith in him. From my QT today, I learn about the centurion faith. In my daily life, I will strive to have that great faith which impresses the Lord.

Love you deeply,
Alfred

Poernomo speaks: "We serve a purpose."

Poernomo, a PHD student in chemical engineering from NTU, is a delightful person who inspires all of us with his awe and amazement for God's creations.

Hi all,

Thanks to Jeremy, Sera, Andrew, LP for all your encouraging sharings. Have been a quiet reader these days as I've been fighting fire here at school, yet no my own fire =(
Anyway, only got a chance to do my quiet time at night, but I'm glad I don't fall asleep before finishing it =)

Want to share something from Matthew 1, about the genealogy of Jesus. It always attracts me what insights I can get deeper. After several times reading it, it becomes more obvious to me about God's very own heart towards mankinds.

First, God shows how humble is Himself. This what makes him stand out among other "gods". He purposefully involves us, the sinful humans to fulfill His salvation plan. He is willing to let His Son born from the lineage of sinners, throwing aside His glory and might, to be a little infant, after passing through so many generation.

When I see how many people from very different background and characters that God has chosen to be media for His salvation plan, I am just blown away. He involves a prostitute, wicked kings, timid people, doubter, and even just ordinary people just like me. God trully can makes things possible. What the world sees as foolish, evil, weak, God can make something good, special and glorious out of it.

By reading this passage, there is trully no reason for us not being able to be used by God. Then from this evidence, God undoubtedly has the supremacy over everything; He turns things up side down.

So when I think about my life here, I'm sure God is working something great through me, though I may not see it in my life time, I believe, I will contribute something to His plan. And this is supposed not only to make me grateful and proud to be His child but also reminded of how I should always live according to His command, for we serve a purpose.

Love,
Poernomo

Lingpin speaks: "Beatittudes."

Lingpin is a full-time servant for God!! He serves in many areas in church, including playing the drums for the church band and editing videos and taking photographs. He inspires many with his sacrificial heart.

Something interesting from wikipedia

The Beatitudes:

The blessed nature that these characteristics endow is not meant to be considered from a worldly perspective, but from a psychological perspective.

The word traditionally translated into English as"blessed" or "happy" is in the Greek original. A more literal translation into contemporary English may be "possessing an inward contentedness and joy that is not affected by the physical circumstances".

The Beatitudes imply that people not normally considered blessed on Earth are in fact blessed by God/Reality and will experience the Kingdom of Heaven.

In other words, its the secret to true, eternal, happiness. Its the gateway to heaven.

But thats almost shocking because the world teaches us the exact opposite. And it seems that was Jesus' intent when he taught this, because he wanted to he wanted to shock people out of their worldliness and love of this world. How are we going to stomach this gut-turning way of changing our perspective of this world? I think it just underscores the difficulties of being a disciple in our world... yet there is light atthe end of the tunnel. Endure!

Attached is a picture of the Church of the Beatitudes on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.The traditional spot where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.

But you know what, tradition tends to be fuzzy...

But still.... cool hor?

love you lots

ling pin

Jeremy speaks: "Heart of a volunteer."

Jeremy is our brother, full of joy and inspiration. He brings smiles to everyone's faces and glory to God with his excitement for His word.

Hi all,

How's ur day? Well, I just finish a lesson. lolx. 1st week of school was not too bad. hope u all have fun in school/work. :)

anywayz was reading mattew5-6 and today i wanna share some thoughts of what have inspired me.

i focused more on chapter 5 v13-16

i just got very interested abt the word salt and light. well, have u ever pick out a single grain of salt and taste it? is it salty enough to have arouse ur attention that salt is salty? do u ever single out a ray of light to measure its brightness?

well, i believe most of us wont.

as in i feel that light are bright, because collectively all the rays are bright. in the same way, i feel that salt is salty because collectively all the grains in a teaspoonful of salt is salty.

i just focused christian as the salt/light. well, it's easy enough for a person to shine. like people will say that christian A is holy,

just, righteous etc. they may have good impression abt christians. but then if that's the case, why do some pple shun away from us when we ask/invite them to church? since they are supposed to be together with a bunch of righteous pple, holy and innocent?

becos if only a few pple shine, it's not enough. just like in a teaspoonful of salt, only a handful are salty, it's not enough.

thus i feel that in order to shine and be 'salty' as a christian, as a whole we have to be salty and bright together. then can we be awesome!

so now the qns is how to be awesome?

then i was reading psalm 110:3 and the book that i'm reading says something abt volunteer. and thus i focus on the heart of volunteers. Thinking back from experience, for me i've been to the orphanage in batam and the hope for senior event. well, i feel we can be considered a volunteer. i feel that volunteers are a bunch of pple who serve, give, love out of their free will.

Serve - Serve the pple willingly, imitating the humility of Jesus, remembering the time He lowered himself from a God to being a human just like us.

Give - Give the pple from the bottom of the heart, imitating the grace of God.

Love - Love the pple with a true heart, imitating the unconditional love of God.

Then wat do volunteers gain in return? well, i feel that volunteers gain satisfaction after serving, giving and loving. But then more importantly we gain the satisfaction of God. He will be pleased. Because we showed His love through our acts to others, thus shining as a light and salt to people around us.

in conclusion

Let's have the heart of a volunteer

Serve from the bottom of our heart

Give with a graceful heart (not beautiful but with a heart full of grace)

Love with a true heart.

Let's be motivating each other to be a salt and light of this Earth

Happy reading

Hope u all have fun this week.

Love

Jeremy

Andrew speaks: Thoughts on God's divine nature - perfectly just, loving unconditional.

Dear bros and sisters,

It's been a great start to the year 2008. Hope I'm not too late to share something from my time with God. The common quiet time has helped me to really focus on my quiet time, knowing that about 900++ disciples are doing it together, i can't help but feel it's so unifying and encouraging. (There's no way I'm gonna be left out :P ) Hasn't been writing down my thoughts on email for a long while but the campus really inspired me to get my engine going again.

Just wanna share some things that convicted me yesterday. I was reading from Matt 20 about the parable of the vineyard workers. All this while when i read this chapter i would focus on the attitudes and reaction from the workers. Yesterday i decided to dig deeper and see what i can find from the other character - owner of the estate instead.

As we all can guess the owner would most likely be God himself, he owns the vineyard, a moral/spiritual vineyard. As i read I've noticed that the owner went out early in the morning and hired idle men to come into his moral vineyard to do some productive work. He went out for a total of four times and three hours apart each time just to see if anyone would be interested to work. Why would God do something like that? It was not logical and in business sense totally crazy.

Another interesting fact I've picked up in the passage, the owner's concern was not his vineyard but the people at the marketplace. He would hire anyone who would be willing to work and he made sure that he go to the marketplace often enough to not miss anybody. I'm sure nobody does that nowadays.

A question floated into my mind - did the owner really needed the additional help? It seems to me that he was actually doing the men at the marketplace a favor by hiring them. I saw God's unconditional love in how he tirelessly reaches out to each and every one of us. He planned friends and relatives during the course of our lives to talk to us about him, he puts strangers along out paths to evangelise to us. He wants us to do productive work and get trained up instead of lazing around at the marketplace(world). He promises us a day's pay when we are done and it doesn't matter at which part of the day(our lives) we chose to respond. For disciples, this passage can be applied to certain areas of our lives that have slackened. We are lazing around, allowing the world to dominate in that area of our lives. Is God calling you to work? Is he prompting you to come into his moral vineyard/spiritual vineyard to get trained up?

At the end of the day God paid the last workers who came in first. It was because they were the most humble and grateful of all those who worked. Remember the gratitude and humility we had when we just got baptised! We have not done much, Jesus did the most and we are not worthy. God looks at our heart. Those who were there since the morning felt taken advantage of. They cannot believe that God is so unfair to pay the same salary to people who did so little work and those who did so much. We would only see it when we are those who felt we have done more and others have done less. Instead of focusing on our rewards, we should be thankful that God keeps his word. all the promises in the bible is 100% trustworthy. He does not change his standards, not for you, not for me.

Have a great day!

Love Andrew

Sera speaks: "What do we do with an open door."

Sera is a theatre production student from LaSalle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

How have we all been? It's already the 2nd week of 2008. Let not our fires burn out.

I've something to share from reading revelations for some particular reason.. I guess God made it so I can inspire you guys with my insight.

"What He opens no one can shut and what He shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."
Revelations 3:7-8

We're given open doors in our lives, opportunities to shine. And in that room and that room only, which God open's, we're to fill it with with glorification to Him! In whatever job, school, situation we're put in, we're to use it to glorify God. No matter how hard or how easy it is, we're to remember who opened that door for us to shine. Be it a blazing fire or twinkling sparkle, God is glorified. Amen. =)

That's just something short I wanted to share. Hope it inspires you as much as it has for me. =)

Love you all lots,
Sera

Wee Keong responds to "Our Marathon to God."

Weekeong is our awesome pastor and currently leading the East Sector and Campus Ministry of our church with his beautiful wife, Joyce. He has two adorable sons and enjoys running, sports and reading.

Hi Jeremy,

Yes I like your sharing and no, I don’t think its too long of an email J

Then again, I like anything on the topic of running :-p May I add my thots?

1) Training
Physical training helps us to overcome the lactic acid buildup. Spiritual training helps us overcome Satan’s tricks to slow us down.
Not only must we train, we should try to train in the right “zone” of our heart rate. If we train too high of a zone, we can’t last. If we train in too low of a zone,
we don’t benefit. Spiritual training consist of pushing ourselves, but not at the cost of no / low “self-care”. We don’t want to be a matyr then end up falling away.

2) Getting accustomed to the stress
Getting used to the lactic acid buildup in our muscles will help us in one thing at LEAST: not succumbing to the “survival” mode when our bodies undergo stress. Think about it; we all go through times of physical exertion when we are panting, breathless & almost feel like dying. That’s the “ah, ah, ah, ah staying alive, staying alive” mode. Then once we are out of that mode, we take our fitness for granted again, only to wait for the next time we have to exert beyond what we can take.
Spiritual training needs to be consistent so we won’t vacillate betw survival mode & complacent mode.

Have a great day, y’all!

Love,
WK

Jeremy speaks: "Our Marathon to God."

Jeremy is our brother, full of joy and inspiration. He brings smiles to everyone's faces and glory to God with his excitement for His word.

Hi Campus, Hope u all have a great day! :) Certainly this is the 2nd week of yr 2008, hope everything is well and good for u all.

Well, i feel like sharing something with all of u, so here i am. :)

It's been 7mths since im baptised!! haha. i can still remember the day i was baptised, 27th may 2007. whenever i look at my watch, i will count the duration of me being a christian. haha. i feel this is indeed something im proud of. Im sure all of us can still remember the day we got baptised right? lolx.

Well, i wanna share something abt this 7 mths of walking with God & i wanna start by sharing a personal experience during run-a-movie.

We started the run later than most participants. Though we started late, but i felt it's ok, cos i wasnt going there to win but to have a good run. Indeed the starting was good! I felt like the wind, weightless and felt like i could run for long distance. it was great to overtake some of the runners too, felt a sense of achievement. Viewing the scenery and feel the wind at my face definitely refreshes me.

but as the time ticks away, i slowly felt the lactic acid building up in my muscles. then breathing rate starts to increase per minute the burden on my leg is increasing and i dont feel that weightless anymore. at the same moment, my body starts to burn, as metabolism increases and i started to perspire and every now and then i have to wipe the sweat away to avoid feeling the irritation when the sweat touches the eye. the bottom line is i felt the weight of running the 8km.

As i turned at the 4km mark, my brain starts to give way. my body starts to tell me to give up and to walk. But luckily i still have my logic. logic tells me to continue running because it is the only way to keep running. once stop, it will be difficult to start again. so i kept on.....

nearing the 6km mark, my logic gave way. my logic together with my body starts to scream at me to stop! to take a breaklogic reasoning with me to stop and walk. telling me reasons like 'i've no committment to keep running' and 'this is not a fitness test, why so hard on myself' and so on. frankly speaking i was very near to submitting to the idea of walking and my stride shorten by half.

at this time, a thought occurred to me. I told myself this. 'if God tells me now that if i am able to finish the run without stopping he will guarantee a place in heaven for me. If i stop, my place will be taken away, will i still wanna stop?' i then kept running, though difficult, but i cont to run/jog but not to walk, not to succumb to the idea of taking the easy way out. At some point after that i heard people cheering me on and offering me drinks, and i went on...

i don even know how long it was when i realised i was nearing the bend to the ending point. i suddenly felt strength and power that had already eluded me flow all over my body. i was able to sprint all the way till the end and finish the race.

Brothers and Sisters, i feel that this account is very similar to our walk with God. initially, after our baptism, we are very fired up and wanna do a lot of things. loving people, reaching out to our dear ones, hoping they will be able to join us in the kingdom. And we may at one point felt that we are at the top of the world, felt like with God we can do everything --> we were in love with God.

i believe everyone of us in some point of our life will have felt that pursuing God is burdensome. so many committments and there'sso many things to do. This walk with God seems endless and that we started to find ways to tell ourselves to relax and take the easy way out. 'Why do QT, aiya i prefer using the time for myself.' etc. at some point of time we may even feel like throwing in the white towel and just don't care abt our spiritual growth (just like the temptation and idea of walking)

Satan is just like the lactic acid, working his way to make us feel tired, make us feel like giving up our love for God. But... everything may fail, but God's love will never fail. He is mighty and He is more powerful than Satan. In my weakest, He's there. All we need to go is to call out to Him. (just like my reasoning to keep myself running)

We arent in this alone, there are pple around us to give us motivation and support us as we run, giving us 'drink' and cheering giving us their support. Our walk with God is like a marathon. Keep it up when we are feeling charged up and fired up. Call out to God when we are weak.

Exodus 15:13 - 'In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.' Indeed God will guide us to heaven. Let us remember why we fell in love with God. Let us rejoy together after the race and support each other before we get to Him.

Quote from Wee Keong :- "Can i have an Amen to that?" :)

That's all!Phew!

it is a long email, hopefully u enjoy it. happy reading.

With love

Jeremy

Sera speaks: "His yoke is easy and His burden is light."

Sera is a theatre production student from LaSalle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

When a person is born anew and experiences repentance, his attitude about Jesus changes. Jesus himself becomes the central focus and the ultimate value of life. Before the new birth happens and repentance occurs, a hundred other things seem more important and more attractive: health, family, job, friends, sports, music, food, hobbies, retirement. But when God gives the radical change of new birth and repentance, Jesus himself becomes our ultimate treature. =)

Therefore, His demand that we come to him is not burdensome. It means coming to the one who has become everything to us. Jesus did not come into the world mainly to bring a new religion or a new law. He came to offer himself for our eternal enjoyment and to do whatever he had to do, including death, to remove every obstacle to this everlasting joy in him.

"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."
John 15:11

When Jesus demands that we do things, like "Come to me", the essence of these demands is that we experience the life that most fully savors and spreads his supreme worth.

As Jesus looks out over the religions of the world, including the Judaism of his day, he sees people who are labouring under heavy loads to earn the favour of whatever deity they belive in. He did not come to replace that God-appeasing load with another one. He came to carry that load and call us to himself for rest.

"Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30

Make no mistake, there is a yoke and a burden when we come to Jesus, but the yoke is easy and the burden is light. =)

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I really want to pray and also dedicate this message to those who aren't doing so well spiritually. I pray that you will understand the plans of God, to prosper us and not to harm us. Jesus called us into the kingdom because He knows how tough the world is out there. And he's given us a yoke that is light because he carries it with us, walking right beside us.

Some of us may think its so tough to follow Jesus and be a disciple and find that we have no strength to go on. Let me encourage you with this.

It says in Matthew 7:14 that the gate is narrow and the way to life is hard. The reason it is hard is not because Jesus is a hard task master. It's hard because the world is a hard place to enjoy Jesus above all. We have a suicidal tendency to enjoy other things more.

Jesus is not the burden. He is the burden lifter, the soul satisfier, and the life giver.

"Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."
John 7:37

I pray that we can overcome what we naturally decide for our lives which is to follow our own desires. Let's know that God's desires for us outweighs any other... Amen.. =)

Love you all dearly...

Sera speaks: "A treasure chest of holy joy."

Sera is a theatre production student from LaSalle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

In Jesus' final commission, there was authority and intimacy.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
Matthew 28:18

"Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:20

One says, 'I make demands because I have the right.' The other says, 'I make demands because I will help you forever.'

With all that Jesus demands of us, there is still compassion. He's there to guide us as we are imperfect.

What did Jesus demand from the world? From us? He demanded our hearts and mind be changed, because the kind of obedience He demanded moves from the inside, where the value of Jesus is savoured, to the outside, where the value of Jesus is shown.

For our hearts to be changed, Jesus demanded that we be born again, to repent, to go to Him, to believe in Him, to love Him, to listen to Him, and to abide in Him.

When all these demands are seen for what they really are, they turn the absolute authority of Jesus into a treasure of holy joy. =)

When the most glorious person in the universe pays all my debts...

"just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many." matt 20:28

... and then demands that I come live with Him and enter into His joy...

"His master replied, well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" matt 25:21

... there can be no more desirable demand imaginable. =)

When we choose to obey the authority of Jesus, we find ourselves in that treasure chest of holy joy. =)

Amen

Love you guys lots. =)

Teach me Lord, to wait......on my knees

Teach me, Lord to wait
Down on my knees
Till in your own good time
You will answer my pleas
Teach me not to rely on what others do
But to wait in prayer
For an answer from You

"He has made everything beautiful in His time"-Ecc 3:11

Teach me, Lord to wait
While my heart is all aflame
Let me humble my pride
And call on our name
Keep my faith renewed;
Keep my eyes fixed on You
Let me be on this earth
What You want me to be

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal."-2 Cor 4:18

Those who wait upon the Lord
Shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings like eagles
They shall run and not be weary
They shall walk and not faint
Teach me, Lord to wait

"But He said to me,'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"-2 Cor 12:9

"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." -James 1:4

-Poernomo-

Sera speaks, "A truly godly person."

Sera is a theatre production student from La'Salle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

The truly godly person never forgets that he was at one time an object of God's holy and just wrath. He never forgets that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and he feels along with Paul that he is himself the worst of sinners. But then as he looks to the cross, he sees that Jesus bore his sins in His own body and that the wrath of God -- the wrath that he, a sinner, should have borne -- was expended completely and totally upon the Holy Son of God. And in this view of Calvary, he sees the love of God.

The love of God has no meaning apart from Calvary, and Calvary has no meaning apart from the holy and just wrath of God. Jesus did not die just to give us peace and a purpose in life; He died to save us from the wrath of God. He died to reconcile us to a holy God who was alienated from us because of our sin. He died to ransom us from the penalty of sin -- the punishment of everlasting destruction, shut out from the presence of the Lord. He died that we, the just objects of God's wrath, should become, by His grace, heirs of God and co-heirs with Him.

=)

Lingpin shares some thoughts

Lingpin works for the Army and is a full-time servant for God. He serves in many areas in church, including playing the drums for the church band and editing videos and taking photographs. He inspires many with his sacrificial heart.

Hi guys,

It's been a while since I posted anything.. I guess work has a way of catching up on you when you least expect it or want it.

I think in recent months it's been quite the rollercoaster ride for all of us. Of course the event that hit us most was the loss of our dear friend David. Now that the dust has settled, I felt that it's time to wipe of the dust and sweat and blood and let the emotions come out. It's time to sort out the emotion thing, so bear with me.

I certainly have felt the loss and the exasperation and frustration of not being able to physically do anything for David. Among the brothers we secretly felt the helplessness of getting front seats to the greatest tragedy playing out before our eyes. Oh yes I have felt helpless and felt the pain. But we bravely decided we had to carry on. The campus guys are a great bunch.

At some point in time i decided that i just had to numb the pain and go on doing the right thing, even ifit meant distancing myself from this whole thing. I felt that I had to take care of everyone else before sorting myself out, just to keep everything stable. Once the dust had settled it would be safe for me to come out of my protective shell again.

The best I could do was to make sure the special service went great, made sure the video was encouraging, make sure the songs would do justice to his favourite kingdom songs, make sure the flow of the service went well and that he could see what went on. Then when it happened I just had to grit my teeth and make sure the whole service was done with the greatest care and respect to the family. I made sure we organised the pall bearers and made sure that if I couldnt say anything to him then I should at least carry him and send him off. And to top it off I had the task of reliving every single moment when I edited the wake video for David's family. Oh I made sure that everything went just fine.

Now I just have to make sure that everything is fine with... me. Maybe shed a tear or two just to make sure.

I thought about my motivation to do all this. Is it glory that i want? Praise from Man? "Oh ling pin you have done so much and you should let people know!" Is it affirmation? I thought long and hard before I plunged into this difficult task of serving the family with all my heart. I promised myself that I shall love as Jesus loved, serve as Jesus served, and live as Jesus lived.

And really that was what I needed to weather the storm. How would i deal with personal tragedy and live to tell the tale? How would I find the stomach to grit my teeth and bear with the pain and still decide to do the right thing? How would I find the will to push my emotions aside and serve with all my heart?

I had no choice.

I just had to rely on Jesus for strength and courage... and love. In a time when everyone is in need of love, who will give it? In a time when I also need love, who will give me love? Who will be my friend? I had no choice but to rely on God more and more each day. That is the valuable gift that this whole thing has given to me and God has strange and mysterious ways to tell people things.

I will lament the passing of David, but I will cherish his memory, and the final gift that he gave to me. Am I ok? I guess I will be fine after a while. Now if only I would unclench my fist from the shovel and stopworking for a while and let God take more control of my life...

But you know what, melancholic-cholerics are all like that....:)

love you lots,

Ling Pin.

Wilfred speaks: "He ain't heavy, He's our brother."

During one of the hangouts of our small group, the
Awesome 5 (Lubin, Kelvin, Shawn, David and I), we
found ourselves discussing about our funerals. It may
seem odd for a bunch of young men to be discussing
this but for some reason we did and along the way we
made a pact - that since there's five of us, the first
one to depart would be carried by the remaining 4.

That pact was realized last Monday when a few brothers and I were pallbearers at David's funeral.

The thought of organizing the pall bearing was something that weighed heavily on my mind but I had no time to address it until after the second service on Sunday. I hesitated stepping forward to ask but as Kelvin put it best, there won't be another time.

I was glad that David's Dad was open to my suggestion and quickly gathered a group of brothers for the task- Ling Pin, Anthony, Andrew, Shawn and Kelvin. I really appreciate them for serving especially at such late notice. I knew for certain had Lubin been back in Singapore, he would've been there with us.

As did the Church say to David during the appreciation service, from 1 Thessalonians 5:13, 'We hold you inthe highest regard', so did the pallbearers expressthat by bearing the coffin on our shoulders. It was an honor to be carrying a hero on ourshoulders; one who has had tremendous impact on thepeople around him. As I look back on that last act of service we performed for our dear brother, the lyrics of that 60 shit by The Hollies, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother comes to mind.

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where

But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he, to bear
We'll get there

For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on our way to there
Why not share
And the load

Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

The path leading to the hearse did seem long, but it was over too quickly. I knew my prayers for the six of us to be strong and stedfast were answered as we complete that final act of service. And no the load didn't weigh us down at all for He Ain't Heavy, He's Our Brother.

Love Wilfred

Sera speaks: "Total Responsibility and Total Dependence."

Sera is a theatre production student from La'Salle, she never fails to inspire others around her with her deep convictions and carefree expression of God's love. She's blessed with a beautiful singing voice too!

Though the power for Christlike character comes from Christ, the responsibility for developing and displaying that character is ours.

Philipians 2:12-13

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.

It is us who are called to self-activity, to have active pursuit of the will of God, to promote our spiritual life in himself, to realize the virtues of the Christian life, and to personally apply to salvation. =)

If this was all that was asked of us, we'd be left to our own devices, to our own strength of character and our own willpower.

But Paul does not stop with just our responsibility, he says, "For it is God who works in you."

The spiritual power that enables us to apply ourselves to the cultivation of Christian graces is of God. He works in us so that we can will and act upon it.

Dutch reformed pastor George W. Bethune quotes:

"While, therefore, we grow in the Christian life by divine grace, it is our duty to grow in grace. Besides, the quality of grace is such that, though it is strength from God, we must use it. Grace gives no new faculty, but strengthens the faculties which we have... hence the fruits of the spirit are the qualities and actions of the renewed man, not produced without him, but wrought through him... Let us then be ever mindful of our entire dependence upon the spirit of God... [but] let us be ever mindfu of our duty to maintain good works."

The fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5 are commands addressed to our responsibility. We are to have those traits because God has already given us the power to attain them. =)

With Philippians 3:12-14, we learn that there's a need to press on and strain forward. Paul even tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7 to train himself to be godly. =)

With God's power, we're to use it to develop our characters so that we can display them to please God. No wait for His power to work its way into our hearts. =)

Love you guys....