This weekend!

Hi Everyone!

Couple of things happening this weekend!

1. Prayer Meeting@Amtech, tonight, 8pm - do come!
2. Cell Steamboat@Kampung Hougang
3. SeTT Lo Hei on Sunday for zone

Few things to thank God for as well. JAE results are out, so do go find out, where everyone's getting posted to after their O-levels!

A new phase of life - start fresh and start on the right path & know that God (& us) are with you on this journey!

He will come and save you

Say to those who are fearful hearted
Do not be afraid
The Lord your God is Strong
And with His mighty arms
When you call out His Name
He will come and save

He will come and save you
He will come and save you
Say to the weary one
Your God will surely come
He will come and save you

He will come and save you
He will come and save you
Lift up your eyes to Him
You will arise again
He will come and save you

Say to those who are broken hearted
Do not lose your faith
The Lord your God is strong
With His loving arms
When you call on His Name
He will come and save

He is our refuge in the day of trouble
He is our shelter in the time of storm
He is our tower in the day of sorrow
Our fortress in the time of war

Lift up your eyes to Him
You will arise again
He will come and save you

Song

Still remember the time when David said that listening to Christian songs really help your faith to grow? I was a skeptic then, as I don't deal much with songs. In fact, there was once at roughly the same period of time where Daniel asked who is a music person (that is, music plays some part in their lives, like in listening to songs etc), and I didn't put up my hand. I think I was the only other person not to, the other being Daniel himself..

But it is really true. God really uses these musicians to touch the lives of people. For one, they contain so much scripture, that you will really be fed with the Word of God by listening to them. Of course, its no substitute for serious reading itself, but it is still quite impactful. Furthermore, you will be more inclined to remember the lyrics of songs rather than passages right? In that way, it helps in memorization of scripture. Personally, much of what I can remember does come from songs. Also, when you are reading scripture, and you come across some lyrics of a song you know, you will be more likely to take note of it..

Other than that, the songs themselves often contain devotions that are far advanced beyond what we had already reached.. And sometimes, you find things that are the prayer from the depth of your heart, except that you never knew it till then, because no one brought it up...

And singing does lift your spirits..

There is once when Cyrus shared that he does not sing the song unless he meant it. I don't know whether it is still so now, but I think its good to be mindful of what we sing too.. Either treat it as your own desire / expression or your prayer.. But not just a song..

Sing with me anyone? =p

Hosanna

I see the King of Glory
Coming on the Clouds with Fire
The Whole Earth Shakes
The Whole Earth Shakes

I see His Love and Mercy
Washing over all our Sins
The people sing
The people Sing

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the Highest

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the Highest

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With Selfless Faith
With Selfless Faith

I see a near Revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the the Highest

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the Highest

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you had loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I have for your Kingdom's Cause
As I walk from Earth into Eternity

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the Highest

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the Highest

-----------

Don't you think this song really speaks to our church? I want to be part of the generation that takes their place, I want to see a revival.

And the Bridge.. Its just so awesome...

CNY

Zhu Da Jia Xin Nian Meng En

May everyone receive grace this new year

=p=p

Bargain with the Devil

Come, said the Magician, give me your soul, and in exchange, I will give you power. I will grant you power to make Kings and remove Kingdoms, I will grant you power to look into the minds of people, I will grant you power to make people look on favor upon you, I will grant you the power to turn stone into gold and water into wine.

Nay, said I, for what use is such power to me, when my soul is not mine? Who shall control such power, if I am not in control of myself any longer?

Hmmm

Hmmmm... A random event came to mind just now when I was leaving my maternal Grandma's place after reunion dinner (we were playing Monopoly). I was recalling my late paternal Grandma, who used to smooth out the paper notes for my own monopoly set when I was much younger. She would sit at the chair and take the notes and patiently remove the dog ears one by one..

I suppose we could draw some conclusions on the elderly's contributions to society and the likes, but... what I was thinking of had more to do with reminiscence...

I miss her.

Prayer 2

It is a question without an answer from me.. I don't have one...

And actually, when I tried to think about the issues involved, I found them to be far far far more complicated than I had thought they were.. Perhaps I would post an entry on it another time when I am of clearer mind..

For now.. Happy Chinese New Year ;)

looking back, moving forward

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Exodus 3:15

Hi everyone =)

i'm feeling a tad nostalgic...dreaming about the past....and just thinking...but i would like to share an encouragement with everyone.

i'm sure all of us had spiritual highpoints in our lives, times when we could really say we were More Than Conquerors, when the devil was truly underneath our feet and we were walking strong in faith and ministry.

Just want to encourage you to mark down all those moments somewhere, in your blog, in your diary or just print them out and paste it at your study table.

God wants to remind us that the same God that did those things in your life is the same God who wants to walk with you (& and carry you ) through 2009.

The God that changed Abram's name and gave him a son when it was biologically impossible for Sarah.

The God that brought Isaac & Rebekah together and prospered them through famine.

The God that changed a grabber, cheat and liar into the father of the nation of Israel.

The God that redeem Israel out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea.

He's the same God that with you in your army camp....

The same God with you in NTU & NUS, VJC, RP, NP, SP, HealthServe, America....

The same God that wants to move you forward for His glory =)

God, thank You for everything You've done for us in 2008 and even before that. You are the same God who is with us now and we trust You for greater things that are yet to come in
2009! In Jesus Name, Amen

Prayer

I wonder.. What do you do when you pray but you don't really get assurance or peace about the issue you are praying about? I mean.. You can't exactly spend one whole day on your knees saying the same thing......

Can you?

Welcome

Welcome Isaiah :)

Cheers

Here is a smile for you (yup, thats you reader) ;)

:)

Fault

It was an error to lose some measure of control.. >.< I got annoyed..

Oh wells.

AWTY

I said I would give a philosophical backing for the name of AWTY (Are We There Yet?).. =p

Firstly, the question in itself does not imply the location, nor the subject, but we can quite safely assume "we" to mean the cell, and "there" to refer to Heaven or Perfection.

Now, as to why it is a question. In reality, all of us know the answer. The answer is, well, no. Yet, we must constantly remember this answer. When there are bad times, this question and answer is an answer - we are in some form of "suffering" because we are not there yet, the work is already complete, but not yet. In good times, this question and answer is even more important, so that we will constantly remember that this world is not our Home, that we are just passerby. Its best to hold on even to the best times more lightly then we would hold unto our heavenly home. And as for all the in-between times.. well, we are not there yet =p

To heavenwards we are traveling - keeping our eyes fixed on the goal, and the author and perfecter of our Faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will one day reach it, fighting life's final battle - just not yet.

Ha. I bet you people understood this perfectly =p Its not that hard =p

AWTY WANTY anyone? =p

Welcome

Oh, and to Nat and Hui, welcome to AWTY ;)

Anakin

Anakin turned to the dark side because he wanted to save Padme. But by doing so, he became one whom Padme don't recognize and one whom she could not love anymore. And when she said so, Anakin blamed Obi Wan..

How true that the outcome does not justify the means, that doing evil that good will result does not work.

Better to do the right that we know we should do - and trust our Father to provide the rest of the solution.

Reliable

Long time ago, I asked one of the secell leaders this question. Basically, what they were teaching was some ways of thought that people usually have, and answered that these were incorrect because the Bible says otherwise. (Its a pity, I can't remember the person I asked, nor can I remember the question...) An example would be like, "People say that men descend from monkeys, but that is not true. The Bible says that God created men wonderfully and fearfully". I remember rejecting not the conclusion, but the means which the conclusion was reached. Perhaps not even the means, but thinking for those who do not accept the Bible's authority.. I mean, how much weight is "The Bible teaches" going to hold without additional support for agnostics? I remember the answer given being that, we can give additional support, outside sources, but sooner or later we have to refer back to the Bible, because that is the source of truth... I couldn't appreciate this though.. Though I said, hmmm.. okay, I wasn't satisfied..

Years later, in quite a roundabout way, I come to realize the depth of this simple statement.. The issue is quite aside from the reliability of the Bible. As far as I know, then and now, the Bible is reliable and has divine origins. It is that, the Bible itself does not try to prove some things. For instance, it goes, In the Beginning, God. It assumes the existence of God right from the start. Sometimes, it is really better for the person to accept things "By Faith" first, rather than have the evidences. Otherwise, the Faith part will be less significant and the belief will stand merely on evidences..

..................




On a side note, I had a short discussion with an old friend today about some ideas.. Ack! I miss the Philo discussions! No one seems to indulge me in a nice session of Philo now.. =p And it isn't that fun if the person you are discussing with agrees with you at every or most points.. Nor is it as fun doing a monologue =p (I am saying nothing about its usefulness here, just the enjoyability of things =p)

Random Universe

There is a naturalist school of thought which believes the Universe to be, well, natural. In the sense of it not having a Creator. Now, ultimately, such a Universe would come to nothing, and everything done in it will become meaningless, because in a closed system, the entropy (chaos) will always increase with time.. But some would hold that even in such a case, our individual lives need not be meaningless, because we can have meaning in things such as helping other people, etc.

That won't be my point of contention though, since it is quite hard to discuss what is essentially an individual point of view. Some find the ultimate end depressing (death takes them all), others take pride in the journey, in leaving behind prints in the sands of time.

But in such a Universe, what are "thoughts"? Ultimately, they are "but" chemicals swirling in a certain way, interacting with electrical impulses. Why a certain pattern of swirling would be more important than another, have more meaning than another is anyone's guess, since there is nothing outside that system to give it.. meaning.

I suppose you can still take refuge in taking the position that all men's ideals are but dreams of a fleeting universe, but.. to live that out is another thing altogether..

...

Just some munchies =p

Gifts

Sermon in 5 mins.. Lol. Since we all didn't have our Bibles then, here is the message summery with verses ;)

1Pe 4:10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

This verse tells us that each one actually does has a gift. (Deliberate emphasis on "has") And the right way of using it is to serve one another. (elaboration on types of gifts, like music, intelligence, emotions, servant hood..)

But there are 2 ways that these gifts can be wrongly managed. The first is to neglect it.

1Ti 4:14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

The second however, is to misuse it.

Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

From this verse itself, we can see that God's gifts are permanent, even if for some reason, you use it for things he did not meant for it to be used in (eg: music in pub band, intelligence for proving Darwin's theory).. But this is the wrong way to use the gifts..

(Insert David's)
If all of us realize the purpose and the gifts of God for Us as individuals, the power is tremendous..