hey guys, just going to share something that happened to me today cause I thought it was kinda cool.

So I was listening to this sermon recording. The speaker was talking about how the church is a family. Each person is given "Chores" to do according to his abilities and each person is expected to do his part if the church is to grow. But then he goes on to say that a lot of people treat the church as a business, something like a restaraunt. They go in expecting to be served, get what they want out of it then leave. When he said this, it made me think of all the times I'd been to crossroads and listened to their sermons without serving there myself. So I pause the recording and quickly pray "God, does this mean you want me to start getting more involved into crossroads as well? Please give me a sign, but you know, in Your own time"

I unpause the recording and the VERY NEXT thing the speaker says is "But if you are already serving in another church, feel free to let us serve you here at ours. Because this is your chance to recharge."

So yeah, maybe that happens to you a lot. But for me, I don't think I've ever had such a quick reply to a prayer. I thought it was pretty neat and it sure made my day.

Proxy Post

This isn't me writing by our dear brother James ^^ ... bit annoyed at Church politics at this not being displayed so I'll jsut post it here xD

If there is one thing that NTE has impressed onto me, it is the sort of attitude we should have towards evangelism and the gospel. (For those who don’t know, NTE is a national conference for Christian university students) NTE’s theme this year was ‘Entrusted’- A word that describes the privilege and responsibilities associated our possession of the gospel. It was put to us that one attitude often taken towards gospel was similar to the servant who buries the money his master gives to him to invest (Mt 25:14-30). The question necessitated a look at my own attitude- was I burying the gospel underneath my own unwillingness to openly talk about Jesus with those I met?

My shortcoming in bringing the gospel to ‘all nations’ (Mt 28) were most likely linked to my fear of the consequences associated with publically talking about my personal Christianity. It is not like this anxiety was without merit- even without talking about serious persecution, the social hazards alone can be brutally obvious to anyone who has shared Jesus with their friends. However, throughout NTE the emphasis of the immeasurable value of the gospel forced me to look for answers on how to deal with my insecurity in sharing the gospel. Don Carson (main speaker of NTE) was left to answer my questions. Don talked about a lot of things, but what will stick with me for a long time (I suspect), is his answer to my questions.

In Don’s talks on 2 Timothy, he drew attention to Paul’s advice to Timothy to ‘fan into flame the gift of God’ (2 Tim 1:6). According to Paul, Timothy was to mark his ministry with passion and enthusiasm. To quote Paul himself, ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power…’ (2 Tim 1:7)- To me, Paul’s message to Timothy carried a surety that God would cover our flaws and shortcomings, if only we would just be bold in proclaiming His name. God would give to us a measure of His power, but we have to take the initiative.

It wasn’t that Paul promised Timothy that his ministry would be met with success at every instance. During our following mission to Maitland, I told more than one person that I was glad that the salvation of those I managed to talk to during our doorknocking was not dependent on my fractured efforts. Nor did it mean that the uneasiness I got every time before we knocked on a stranger’s door ever completely went away. But in the knowledge of the importance of my message, of what I wanted people to know about Jesus, the uncertainties which I had previously thought to be so impossible to overcome over time became background considerations.

Towards the end of one of his talks, Don said that the best method to preserve the gospel was to give it away. I am not so arrogant to think that my problems are by everyone (even you, appreciated reader). But if what you have just read has made question your own attitude towards the gospel, I ask- Are you burying the gospel?

James Kwan

Psalm 13

Hello Tehillahians . This is your captain speaking. Our engines have all exploding and we are expected to land in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But please remain calm and listen to all instructions cabin crew give you. I assure you we will be fine ^^

If you heard this, how reassured would you be :P... unless your pilot is an awesome flier as I was in Rouge Fighter or whatever it was called. They would have be the most awesome kickass pilot to ever flown these skies ever for u to go "Oh its going to be alrght." Not only that they would have had to have proven themselves in these sort of situations for me aleast to not go crazy and kill everyone ....

NOw replace the word "captain" with God and indian ocean with "trouble and strife" and "cabin crew" with bible/scriptures and the word assure with "am 100% confident"

Would you feel at peace? Sounds good but in that situation I'm still not entirely sure I would be D: ... And doesnt seem like David was with Psalm 13

Ps 13:1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Ps 13:2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Would the psalm sound better if it just skipped those verses? No I don't think so :(

Cos Psalms is meant to be King David's prayers and worship towards God and they should be as natural as they get. David is crying out from his heart and that's what God wants us to do when we pray to him. We're not to just kiss up to him, we are to lay it all down on him in humilty and in awe of our God.

David contuines with his cry/whinge with

Ps 13:3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
Ps 13:4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him, ” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

BUt yet finishes with

Ps 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Ps 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

There's no for he WILL be good to me. It's for he HAS BEEN good to me. So David would have cried out to our God in his time of need. But what we know about God and what is he has done, is enough and sufficent to bring us to peace.

So when ur in that plane plumenting down in between Indonesia and the east coast of Africa, just remember God has saved us from our sin and he will constantly be always be there in our time of our need.

haggai

Was reading haggai today. Really highlights how easy it can be to go from a miracle/convention/outreach high to fall back to a worldly low. Just a reminder to all, BE A TRAM!

In dark times

Yesterday during my devotion time I was reading about the ressurection (John 19) and it got me thinking about what the disciples must have been thinking for the 3 days before this point. I would say that this would easily be their lowest point. They had devoted such a large chunk of time and energy into this ministry, they had pinned all their hopes on it. Now that dream seemed shattered beyond recovery. Surely this was their darkest hour. So imagine their joy at the ressurection and the realization that everything had gone according the plan, even if that plan wasn't the same as their plan.

I felt like I could relate to this feeling, even if not to the same extent. I too have had things I've invested a lot of time and energy into and sometimes those things seem to start to crumble. But I know that I can continue with hope because I know it is all still part of God's plan. Now I don't know how long I'll have to wait for this "ressurection", maybe it might never come. But because I believe in THE ressurection, I know that as long as a continue to seek God's will not a single moment of my effort will be considered wasted.

perhaps unoriginal, but hopefully still noteworthy.

First ever blog post! =) yay!

Well this is about something which I'm sure we've all noticed/thought of/tried to do something about, but I think it's rather important, and I have definitely been a little lax of late myself regarding this.

The point in question here is an aspect of fellowship.

DC said this a few nights ago, at Sherman's house after the NTE talk, and it wouldn't be a new thought to most of us - that we throw the term 'fellowship' around very loosely.

We use it to describe, and sometimes maybe even justify, basically anything we do together, whether it be a meal, a movie, sport, or just hanging out in general.

Of course all of these are great - we're having fun, building up friendships, etc.

I don't think anyone would suggest that we stop doing any of these things.

But there is one thing that I certainly tend to forget,

that at the heart of all Christian fellowship is God.

Perhaps the word forget is a little strong here, and overlook might be more accurate.

When we meet outside of church, (e.g. crashing Seb's house... heh)

How often do we stop and thank God that we are able to be there?

How often do we pray to Him together before/during/after?

Personally, I think that I'm falling down rather badly here.

When we're at church, there is the constant reminder of the presence of God.

But elsewhere, I struggle a lot to keep Him in my thoughts all the time. It's just so easy to get carried away in the things of this world, to accidentally lose our focus.

But God is our God at all times and in all places.

Whether our activity is Bible study or soccer, whether it's Mawson outreach or watching a movie,

surely acknowledging Him, keeping Him in mind, giving thanks and praying are equally important for each.

For Christians, fellowship gives us the opportunity to build each other up in our faith, to reaffirm and strengthen each other in Christ.

Well that's about all I can think of at the moment... zzzzzzzz...

The main reason I wanted to write this was just to get us thinking a bit, and so that there is one more mention of it than there was before =)

At the (free) talk the other night, there was something about people not being able to recall everything they hear, but remembering best the things which are brought up most often.

Also, it's holidays!! Which means we will probably have a lot more time to spend in various forms of fellowship! =]

So perhaps this could be a little challenge for this long holiday - to always keep God right at the heart of our fellowship.

As Sherman said last week: Emmanuel - God is with us.

p.s. I just found this, and started reading through it, it seems pretty good, although a lot of it we would have already heard in sermons - http://bible.org/article/christian-fellowship

the old saying might apply here - patience is a virtue. ><>

In one of Don Carsons talks he talks about a friend who could tell the entire message in two minutes. Unfortunatly, he went on to say that his friend had drifted slightly and that in his telling he misses out the part about God's wrath. This got me thinking, could I tell people about the gospel in under 2 minutes? It's harder than it looks.

So here's my challange to anyone that reads this. Can you explain the gospel in under 500 words (that's about 2 minutes of talking time) to a nonchristian? It'd be pretty cool if you posted up your attempts as well so the rest of us can learn and be better equiped when we try to tell our non-believing friends.

The Difference

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish, I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me and grew heavier with each task;
Why doesn't God help me, I wondered; He answered, "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn't show me - He said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock;
God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray. 

By Grace L. Naessens

♫♪ Music ! ♫♪

Music is so wonderful. I wish you could understand with me for a second..
just stop and appreciate all the notes that come together to make a piece

I understand how Pastor Nelson feels when he say he's so blessed by having
Music in ministry =) It has been his blessing

Today it has been my blessing to witness music as a witness for Christ.
Today was our Church did outreach, we were to talk to strangers with the objective
of talking about Christ, & secondly to let them know about Church.

The conversations I had were amazing, I believe the music had to do a lot with it.
Those who wanted to come & listen, were the people who I had amazing conversations with =) It broke down the barriers, soften the walls =) I'm truly blessed by the music ^^

Thanks for the prayers, & give thanks to God.. for all the wonderful conversations.