Another exciting time of serving with team A (but team B is still the best!!)

Praise led the briefing.

Sisca shared “Fear of the Lord” by Pastor John Bevere.

Boon Kiat will serve every Saturday too!

  

Sorry, Attributes, it is not that I did not want to buy the Valentine products. I just do not know to whom I should give after I purchase them But at least, I managed to sell one Devotional Bible to my CG friend!

Pastor Niko preached about being obedient to the Lord and how this obedience will bring abundant blessing. However, this obedience has to be based on first love. After preaching, Pastor Niko prayed for the members who happened to have lost the first love. Such a wonderful service! Pastor Niko is just almost like older brother of Pastor Kong.

After the service, my CG had dinner at Marina Square.

As I mentioned before, taking photo of pretty girls is compulsory activity to do in any occasion.

Thank God for such a weekend!

Sermon on the Mount power!

 

Matt 5:8, James 4:8. It is my choice to purify my heart. God won’t do the purifying for me. Pure heart really means transparent water, crystal clear, no mixed motives or divided loyalties. Pure heart does not mean sinless perfection; it is about a heart of single devotion to God in the midst of my imperfection. Psalm 86:11. There is tendency for my heart to get distracted. However, I need to strive to have single devotion to God. God does not only see what I do, but also the motive behind my doing. Leviticus 19:19. God hates mixture. Rev 22:11. There is always a tendency to have mixed heart in the end times. Mixed heart leads to partial obedience. Partial obedience is really a form of disobedience. For God, partial obedience is the same as witchcraft and idolatry.

Gal 4:9. “Son” refers to a mature believer, not just a baby Christian. Only the mature Christian will inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19. There are Christians who live according to the flesh. For sure, they will not inherit the kingdom of God.  A mark for mature believer is full obedience. Becoming a Christian is just the beginning. We need to keep obeying God all the way.

The obedient will see God, that is they will see God remarkably clearly. It is not only casual distant relationship;  we can even hear and see God clearly. Christianity is not just a set of philosophy, it is about walking with God. This promise of seeing God clearly is for this present life, not after we pass away.

Purity is not about what we wear. Holiness is about the presence of the Holy Spirit in life. Ps 24:3-4. Clean hands means honesty and integrity, it is not at all about touching clean or unclean things. Integrity means we integrate God’s moral values in our daily activities. 2 Chr 16:9. God wants to show Himself strong to those who are loyal to Him.

 

Self Reflection

A heart of obedience is the one God is looking for. Hmm, I need to cultivate one everyday although I may fall once in a while.

Get a copy of Sermon on the Mount in Attributes today!

Fantastic time in God’s presence together with God’s people!

My leader shared about 4 things we all should grow in this year:

1.) Love. Love grows as we pray for God to increase our capacity, decide to do good, and then act on it.

2.) Spiritual knowledge. It grows as we read the Bible and meditate on God’s Word

3.) Faith. It grows when we pray in the Spirit

4.) Good health. Exercise, sufficient sleep and eat healthily are definitely important.

 

After the meeting we celebrated Yesheng’s birthday!

We had fruits as refreshment too!

 

This weekend is gonna be fantastic!

Stay tuned for the next posts!

A wonderful word of meditation today!

“Make your heart golden pot of manna to preserve the memorial of the heavenly Bread on which you have fed in the days gone by… Let your intellect be exercised concerning the Lord Jesus. Meditate on what you read. Do not stop at the surface; dive into the depths.” (January 27 devotion, page 35)

I guess I am guilty in this instance as I often just read through the devotional book and do not meditate on it. Actually there is one thing bothering my mind concerning a part of God’s Word. However, I suppose it is too personal so I won’t explain it in detail.

If I am not wrong, Pastor Tan used to say this before, “I would rather you read one verse and meditate on it. That’s how you “chew” God’s Word.”

Time for me to repent, obviously.

(Get a copy of Evening by Evening in Attributes today! )

I initially did not intend to attend the service last night as I wanted to spend more time in my work, only for Attributes project meeting. Nevertheless, since I finished work earlier, I went there and I managed to join in the service. I did not get to enjoy the praise and worship session. But at least, I could still listen to the sermon by Pastor Kong.

Pastor Kong shared 5 things leaders should do in order to appreciate the members.

a.) Be kind.

b.) Be generous.

c.) Be affectionate.

d.) Be attentive

e.) Be accepting.

At the end of the message, Pastor Kong shared his personal life which moved many us into tears…

Good news! We will see Pastor Kong and Sun more often in church!!

After that Attributes project meeting began. The meeting lasted not for a long as it was quite late. Luckily I stay in NTU.

 

In the middle of the meeting, we celebrated Serene’s and Phyllis’ birthday! Only Attributes people can see the video of the birthday, though.

Do look forward to more exciting time with Attributes pretty soon, ok?

Some members were not able to attend the Appreciation event on 16, Jan, 2011. Since they happened to have won some awards, Morgan presented the awards to them during duty time. You can watch the three videos on my FB. One of the links is here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150131766956757

Congratulations to Alvin, Gad, Wailun and Audrey  jie for winning the awards!

My HP battery died out during the service so I was not able to write down the sermons. Nevertheless, I still remember what Pastor Phil preached. Basically, I had to leave behind my past. Past means past and I need to keep running the race God has set before me. Surrounding me are the saints from the past who cheer me up and before me is Lord Jesus Himself. Hmm, since they all made it, I can make it too with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Such a great sermon!

After the duty, we had dinner at Bedok.

So sorry there is no photo as my HP really died

Attributes  Expo Saturday Team B’s first duty of the year! The atmosphere was so charged up with people so enthusiastic to serve!

After going through some discussion in email, we decided to start the duty at 2 pm instead of 1.30 pm. The reason is that there is an idle time from 4 to 4.30 pm after the members finish setting up things. What is important is not the number of hours in serving, but effectiveness in the serving. Hence, we changed the reporting time to 2 pm. After all, some members may need to have proper lunch time which 1.30 pm may not allow. Gladly, although there were new stocks to price tag, we managed to finish everything, including area cleaning before church service. Wow! So proud of team B people!

 

Morgan did something different from team A. He put the Valentine product on the sofa. I guess Susanna also had the same arrangement in mind.

Hmm, honestly, I don’t mind buying that big bear if only ….  (can guess?)

  

Pastor Phil is in town!! It was a great session with him! We placed some other Valentine products at the tanker.

Morgan shared with us some tips to improve ourselves before moving to Suntec. We are Expo SAT B team!

S  = Strong. Be strong physically, mentally, and spiritually.

A = Available. Let’s avail ourselves to serve whenever there is an opportunity.

T = Trustworthy. Let’s carry out whatever words which we have  said.

B = Best. Be the best we can be in every area of life.

 

(to be continued)

“Pain. Agony. My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps. The world heaves with my torment. Its wretched kingdoms quake beneath my rage. But at last, the whole of Azeroth will break! And all will burn beneath the shadow of my wings!” (Deathwing)

“If you think I’m just a foolish kid ruled by his emotions, that’s fine… If anyone else tries to ridicule the way I live, I’ll slaughter everyone they ever cared about. And then maybe they’ll understand what it’s like to taste… a little of my hatred.” (Sasuke Uchiha)

“Save your breath human! you’ll need it to scream when I start tearing off your limbs!” (Grom Hellscream)

“I have long since closed my eyes… My only goal is in the darkness.” (Sasuke Uchiha)

“… it’s too late, nothing you can say will change me! I’m going to kill you and every last person in your beloved village! It’s time to make your choice! Kill me and become a hero, or die at my hand and become another one of my victims!” (Sasuke Uchiha).

“Betrayer… In truth, it was I who was betrayed. Still, I am hunted. Still, I am hated. Now, my blind eyes can see what others cannot. And sometimes the hand of fate must be forced! Now go forth… unleash the tides of Doom… Upon all those… Who would oppose us.” (Illidan Stormrage)

 

Don’t worry. I am perfectly ok. I just need to hear something cool to stir myself up to fight laziness and tiredness.

There are always interesting things around us as long as we are willing to pay attention.

Such a contrast, diametrically opposed to each other.

Here are some jokes about marriage: (http://www.ahajokes.com/marriage_jokes.html)

1.) Marriage is not a word. It is a sentence–a life sentence.

2.) Marriage requires a man to prepare 4 types of “rings”:
     * The Engagement Ring
     * The Wedding Ring
     * The Suffe-Ring
     * The Endu-Ring

3.) Marriage is very much like a violin; after the sweet music is over, the strings are attached.

4.) Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor’s Degree and the woman gets her Masters.

5.) Son:       Is it true? Dad, I heard that in ancient China, a man doesn’t know his wife until he marries.
      Father:  That happens everywhere, son, everywhere!

 

While indeed those jokes are fun, they got me thinking: why would these jokes come up in the first place? Maybe, not everyone ends up in a happy marriage. Selfishness and poor communication skill could be lacking in many couples, resulting in a high rate of divorce or people who choose to stay single.

In contrast, one can compare the jokes to marriage vow:

Vow – 1
I, [Name of Groom], take you, [Name of Bride] to be my wedded wife
to have and to hold from this day forward,
For better or worst,
For richer or poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish and to obey,
as long as we both live,
according to God’s holy ordinance;
and therefore I give you my love.

Vow – 2
With this ring I wed you
It is a token of the vows I have made to you
With it I will myself and my wordly goods endow to you
In the sight of God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

God ordained marriage in the Garden of Eden. He meant it to be a happy union. It is not meant to cause any suffering for the couple. Divorce is never His plan to start with.

Seeing all these jokes, I had better prepare myself: to be a better communicator and negotiator.

With God, a happy marriage in the midst of human’s imperfection is possible.