Saturday, October 10, 2009

Spiritual Swine Flu

It starts with the passage from Luke 15:11-24 (The Prodigal Son) however today's message is about the teens and young adults of today which is so drawn to the world by using the illustration of "The Prodigal Son".

Spiritual Swine Flu
1) A 'fever' for the 'far country'. (Luke 15:12-13)

Q: What is this 'fever' of the 'far country'?

A: It represents the world out there; the pleasures, the fun, the excitement that seems to be out threre. It also represents the moving out from the covering and security of the family and the house of God and having a taste of what is our there. It too represents 'to strike out on our own'; 'to live one's own life and do one's own thing.' And last but not least, it represents moving in a direction that is no longer controlled, watched upon.

At the back of every young minds will have such rants in their mind, given an example below:
"I always look at the far country and all they're doing is partying, having fun. I want to have fun. I am in my Father's house, killing myself trying to do the right thing and all these other people are having so much fun out there."

2) A 'headache full of lies'.

Some young minds all long probably would have felt imprisoned, chained up to his father's house, his father's ways, the rules he thought he was being forced to follow.

Eventually:

"He believed the lie that the far country would finally give him the freedom he longed for."

Bible quotes a warning in 1John 2:15-17:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

So, what is wrong with going out there and be carefree, no control; no standards -going to the places that you want to go and mixing with the people that you want to mix, in the name of fun and freedom?

Bible quotes an answer to the above for what is really wrong in Romans 1:26-27:

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Heading back to the "The Prodigal Son" illustrations whereby there younger son longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Remember!!!!

Who your 'true friends are will be revealed on the day when you have nothing!

There are times in some people's lives where it is best to let them experience what they thought is the best until they come to the discovery that it is not so.

Back to Luke 15:17-18

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you

3) The "Cure" (Luke 15:19-24)

It is not about how bad you are but how good HE is!!!

Note of lesson:
You don't have to go to the far country. Believe me, God wants you to have all the fun and excitement that you can have within the confines of His standards.

Psalm 73:1-2
A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.

Psalm 73:12-14
This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.

Psalm 73:16-19
When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!

Psalm 73:25-28
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

Monday, May 04, 2009

David Hadden - Lord We Come Before You Now

We have been singing this worship song ever since... I can't hardly remember. I have to admit, most of the songs that are really nice, it's really hard to obtain. No doubt about that. And I thought that this song was back in the 90s. Boy I was wrong... it actually heads back to the 80s actually.

I will be uploading this song for everyone's benefit. However, the quality of the audio is bad. Trust me, it's really bad. Although, I'm able to get it somehow, somewhere... So, enjoy the song and sink into the words and you'll be blessed.


Title: Lord We Come Before You Now
Composer/Writer: David Hadden

Verse 1:
Lord, we comeBefore you now
With our sacrifice of praise
We adore you
Bow before you
Inhabit our praise

Verse 2:
Lifting upHoly hands
As we come before you Lord
We adore you
Bow before you
Inhabit our praise

Chorus:
Praise you
God of all creation
Praise you
Jesus
Praise you
Lord of every nation
Inhabit our praise

http://www.mediafire.com/?h8lzyuerqsusee8

Saturday, May 02, 2009

"Three Little Pigs" Comedy By Chonda Pierce




Matthew 7:24-29 (The Message)

24-25"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.

26-27"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

28-29When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Good Friday service - Four Men Who Bore Crosses

We had Sister Juwita Suwito as our guest of the night during our Good Friday service whom she has brought entertaining vocal abilities with her experiences with the Lord and written songs about him.

When come Pastor's message, it is his gentle reminder to all of us who are the men that bore the cross. There are 4 of them.

1) Simon of Cyrene
Matthew 27:32

The question we always ask - "WHY ME?"

"...until and unless you know God, you may have no idea what hit you and why are those crosses are on your shoulder?

2) The Rebellious Thief
Luke 23:39

"Always blame everyone except themselves."

"We must own up to our failures. We must acknowledge our need for a Saviour; and that we need help.

3) The Penitent Thief
Luke 23:40-43

"...we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

4) The Cross on Jesus

"The crucifixion was as a result of sin, but He turned it into redemption from sin. The crucifixion was the result of hate, but He turned it into a revelation of LOVE."

"The crucifixion was the most eveil act of man, but God used it to vanquish the Evil One."

Saturday, April 04, 2009

The Three Wishes - An Easter Story

Today my brother has told me about this story and it was beautiful. I would like treasure this story and whoever reads it, they will be blessed. Enjoy!!

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: "I want to hold treasure.I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones.I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!"

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean."I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings.I'll be the strongest ship in the world!"

The third little tree looked down into the valley below wherebusy men and women worked in a busy town."I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world."

Years passed- The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said,"This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me."With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell. "Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!" The first tree said.

The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way.She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the woodcutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me." He muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter's shop.But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, nor with treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even river; instead she was taken to a little lake.

The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" The once tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God... "

Many, many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box."I wish I could make a cradle for him.", her husband whispered.The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and the sturdy wood."This manger is beautiful." She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat.The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain. The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beam was yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

So next time you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you...........

Passion Week (Palm Sunday) - From Acceptance to Rejection

Pastor remind us that it is the week before the cruxification of the Lord Jesus and also said that claimed that it is called "Palm Sunday" or "Passion Week" which leads him to entitled his message titled "Acceptance to Rejection" - Luke 19:28-44

1) The People did not understand who Jesus was.

Luke 23:13-14 ; 18-23

The people during that time misunderstood who Jesus was. (Luke 19:39-40)

What are the reasons christian backslide?
a) Offended by fellow Christians?
b) Offended by God?

Question thrown to us is when we are taken back to Luke 9:19-20.

Eventually:-

i) We need to know Jesus is indeed God. (Philippians 2:5-7)
ii) We need to know that He and the Heavenly Father is One. (John 12:21)
iii) We need to know that whoever He loves, He also disciplines them. (Hebrews 12:5)

In conclusion: "KNOWING HIM AS HE IS AND NOT WHAT YOU WANT HIM TO BE!!!"


2) The People did not recognise HIS PURPOSE

Luke 19:44 (NIV) & Luke 19:44 (KJV)

Remember that Jesus came to deliver us from Sin which is the bigger problem rather than just the issue of taking over ther earthly Kingdom.


3) The People did not accept HIS TERMS

Luke 19:42 & Luke 13:34

Jerusalem means Founded Peaceful

Pastor end with the book he had read which titled "The Man in the Mirror" by Patrick M. Morley.

"Cultural Christianity means to pursue the God we want instead of the God who is. It is the tendency to be shallow in our understanding of God, wanting Him to be more of a gentle grandfather type who spoils us and lets us have our own way. It is sensing a need for God, but on our own terms. It is wanting the God we have underlined in our Bibles without wanting the rest of Him, too. It is God relative instead of God absolute." - Patrick M. Morley, The Man in the Mirror, ch. 3, p. 49

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Today's Message: Tearing Down "our" Walls & Building Bridges

Well, today's message is entitled "Spread Out by Tearing Down Walls and Building Bridges". Scripture is taken from Isaiah 54:3 which goes "For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities."

Pastor has been focusing with this title "Tearing Down Walls and Building Bridges" in order to spread out to the community.

A quote/perception towards Christians are as follow:-
"Christians are a lot like fertilizer. Piled up in one place they will burn a hole in the ground beneath them. But spread out over a large field, they can do a lot of good." Evangelist Luis Palau

4 Principles in order for us to Tear Down our walls and to build bridges are:-

1) Redefine the Perception of Christianity by Serving the Community.

Question: "What kind of perception are from the general public towards Christianity?"
* Just another religion?
* Another good teaching?

Matthew 25:40 clearly states that "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

Therefore, "People don't care how much you KNOW but they will know how much you CARE."


2) The concept of "Pastoring the Community".

The word pastoring indeed "freaks" a lot of christian, but in this context it meant = looking over, taking care off...etc. Instead of the literal profession by pastoring a church.

This famous scripture(Matthew 5:13-14) has been quoted many times, here now the verse goes like "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

So, the church doesn't not exist for the sake of the church, it exist for the sake of the World.


3) Doing the message Precedes telling the message.

What is our traditional way of evangelism = telling the message + caling for response. (No doubt this is being used occasionally and it still works for certain individuals)

"More people ever are hungry for God. But if we come to unbelievers with a message of "Get right with God or else", we may be forcing them out."

"When strangers start acting like neighbours, communities are reinvigorated."


4) Be DIFFERENT so that we can ma e a DIFFERENCE.

Remember! "You are in the world, but you are not of the world."

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Prayer Before I Start my Work


This particular prayer was sent to me back in 2006. When I first read this prayer, it strucks me straight. Why? Coz while I'm reading it, I've realised that I'm praying it instead of reading it. Partly, I felt that his prayer was really written directly from the heart. Only now that I know it is written by someone named Kenneth Fernandes. And if I really have the chance to meet him, I really wanna thank him for writting such a beautiful prayer in a work place for everyone to meditate upon it.

One most important aspect of this prayer is that I do not feel a sense of self-centeredness in it at all. (which is awesome!!)

Alright, the truth is, I use to pray this prayer before I start my work daily. Usually, I start-off with "The Lord's Prayer"(very important horr...) then only this prayer comes along. Believe me, this prayer has brought me lots and lots of miracles in my life which words can't even described.

So, let's pray:

My Heavenly Father, as I enter this work place, I bring Your presence with me. I seek Your peace, Your grace, Your mercy and Your perfect order into this office. I acknowledge Your power over all that will be spoken, thought, decided and done within these walls.

Lord, I thank You for the gifts You have blessed me with. I commit to using them responsibly in Your honour, give me a fresh supply of strength to do my job. Annoint my projects, ideas and energy so that even my smallest accomplishments may bring You glory.

Lord, when I am confused, guide me.When I am weary, energize me. When I am burned out, infuse me with the light of the Holy Spirit. May the work that I do and the way I do it bring faith, joy and a smile to all that I come in contact with today.

And Oh Lord, when I leave this place, give me travelling mercy. Bless my family and home to be in order as I left it. Lord I thank You for everything You've done, everything You're doing, and everything You're going to do.

In the Name of Jesus I pray, with much love and Thanksgiving... Amen.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Today's Message: Inculcating Mindsets about challenges

I was attending this morning service, and the today's message entitled "Think Big - Even when the Chips are Down." (Philippians 4:10-13)

With such economic & financial turmoil, a question is being asked, which is "Is anything UP?" By that, the answer is a definite "YES". Here's why:-

*The opportunities for exploration, resourcefulness and creativity is up.
*The opportunity to serve people in need is going up.
*The opportunity to learn to trust God is going up.
*The opportunity to build a strong faith when the storms of life hit is going up.

2 things that we should do are as proposed below:-

1. Pray More. Complain Less.

See, in Ephesians 6:18 says: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions wil all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints".

Therefore, complain less when all circumstances are coming our way.


2. Inculcate 4 mindsets about challenges (<-- In my opinion, this is really cool) a) No Pain. No Pearl. (James 1:2-4)
Why Pearl? What does pain has to do with the result of being a pearl?

Here's how jewel is being defined.
"the tiny jewel was conceived through irritation, born of adversity and nursed by adjustments."

A depiction of Charles W. Colson's life who was once the chief counsel for the American President Richard Nixon which brought him to prison (on a watergate scandal) which moulded him to be one of the most sought after Christian author to day. "Born Again" was being written in 1976, which by then also founded a non-profit organisation called Prison Fellowship.

b) No Wind. No Strength (Psalm 1:1-5)

"Character and substance are shaped in the crucible of adversity. Show me someone who lives a carefree life with no problems or trials or dark nights of the soul and I'll show you a shallow person." Pastor David Jeremiah's, A Bend in the Road

c) No Wilderness. No Promised Land (Isaiah 51:3)

"The only way OUT is THROUGH; and when you are through, you bring with you the goodies of the land".

d) No Brokenness. No Wholeness. (Psalm 51:17)

* One person faces circumstances and has PEACE; another foes to PIECES.
* One man builds CASTLES; another digs CAVES.
* One man's WEED is another man's FLOWER.
* One man's TRASH is another man's TREASURE.
* The secret of success lies in what people do when they are BROKEN - not in how many BREAKS they get!
* It is wonderful to know Jesus Christ as our Saviour. But we could never know Him as our SAVIOUR if we had not been SINNERS.
* We could not be SAVED if we were never LOST.
* We could not be HEALED if we were never SICK.
* We appreciate the DAWN because there has been a NIGH.
* We do not know VICTORY unless we have known DEFEAT.
* Experiencing POVERTY makes us appreciate PROSPERITY.

Monday, March 09, 2009

My dream phone for the year 2010 - Nokia N97

We've been hearing over and over again on the very new Nokia's innovation towards 3rd & 4th Quarter of 2008. Yet again, no one seems to know the exact phone specifications, design and capabilities.

This was a prediction of how Nokia N97 looks like back 2008. What a disappointment when I see it, heck.... Eeeeww:-

To all Nokia lovers, this very beauty was unleashed at the Nokia World Conference 2008 back in Spain. It is a true beauty(well to me it is).
There's only one thing that bothers me, which is the camera's density which remains still at 5 Megapixel (however that 5MP comes with the Carl-Zeiss optics and autofocus [ok la.... very sui liao]) if it is going to be compared with the coming Sony Ericsson Idou's camera.. whoa...pah ling dao... Yet I still like Nokia. Ranting is not part of my nature, so I'll stop here.

(Drum roll)
Ladies & Gentleman, let me unveil this true beauty for your crave towards Nokia...Peace out!

Windows 7 Desktop

I heard many good reviews and reports about the new Windows Operating system that is supposed to be an upgrade from Windows XP instead of Vista.

Here's a glimpse on how the desktop might look.


and there's more



Sunday, March 08, 2009

Current office situation...

Well, I have to confess that the current financial turmoil is not doing any organisations any good. People are afraid that they might lose their jobs without pre-warnings and preparation or even a small discussion with the management so-to-speak.

I got a message from my boss one day saying that our department has come to a point with excess of staffs. Volume is plunging to a verge of at least 60%, which causes many redundancy in the department. Extra cost has been incurred and the term "cutting-cost" is in place for the department's sake.

When these thing happens, load-sharing of from other departments are being involved. Why in the first place, our Boss did not do anything to prevent these things from happening. He should have done something to prevent from the upper management to bring out the excess staff (which is never easy to be trained) to load share to a department which needed help.

Is the future in the office that fragile? Let's pray and commit this to the Lord.

Today's Message: Our thoughts becomes our DESTINY

This morning Pastor has preached on a message on "To Think Big - Change Your Mind".

He quoted something from other sources which really did brings forth some revelations to it. Here goes:-

* WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS; THEY BECOME WORDS,
* WATCH YOUR WORDS; THEY BECOME ACTIONS,
* WATCH YOUR ACTIONS; THEY BECOME HABITS,
* WATCH YOUR HABITS; THEY BECOME CHARACTER,
* WATCH YOUR CHARACTER; IT BECOME YOUR DESTINY!!!

1) Heal our thoughts (Psalm 51:6)
2) Guard our thoughts (Isaiah 26:3-)
3) Align your thoughts (Isaiah 55:7-9; Romans 8:5-7; Matthew 16:23)

The message ended with Paul's Journey:

--> The preaching of Christ was the business of Paul's life.
--> The presence of Christ was the good news of Paul's life.
--> The image of Christ was the crown of his life.
--> The will of Christ was the law of his life.
--> The glory of Christ was the end of his life.
--> The ressurection of Christ was the proof of his life.
--> When he travelled it was on Christ's errands.
--> When he suffered it was in Christ's service.


... everything we do is to align ourselves with the focus on Jesus Christ. Amen!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory

I was browsing through some books back in 2006 and honestly speaking, I hesitated whether to buy Tash Aw's very first debut titled "The Harmony Silk Factory". I remembered that I've read it somewhere in "The Star" newspaper sometime ago and something really funny just came over me by making that footstep to purchase this beautiful book.

It's all about Johnny Lim

A book that illustrated the colours of Malaya back in the 1940s which no one else could ever painted it so well. I am considered the Generation X of Malaysia whereby Malaya is just a portriat to me or maybe I've witnessed it somewhere in the pictures or stories in our very own history books during my secondary years. Mind you, it is never enough... whether or not our history books has been censored, I do not know and will not venture into sensitive issues.

This book is shaping one very special character by the name Johnny Lim. There are actually 3 voices that gives you the parts and pieces of this person. Mainly his son, his wife, and his British best friend.

1) The son imparted his father's life as a true hero back in the haydays until his very last breath.

2) His wife diarised the belated honeymoon adventures to the island called the Seven Maidens.
[which is now called "Pulau Besar" in Malacca]

3) His best friend has filled up all the loops wholes in the story which I guess no one else could ever imagine the real importance of his existence.

My overall rating is 4/5. This book has really brought me through adventures in Malaya back in the 1940s and I can truly say that at some point, I really do feel for Johnny at a certain aspect of his life. The feeling of pain, sorrow, & regrets.

What a page turner!!! And now I will now go listen to Mozart's Opera titled Don Giovanni... You'll get what I mean once you've finished it.