Connecting Back

Friday, 31st July 2009

One particular item that is in my calendar every year is the Freshmen Orientation Camp ("FOC") that is organised by the Nanyang Technological University Christian Fellowship ("NTUCF"), which is held just before the start of the new academic year.

While it was held at the Changi Aloha Chalet in the previous three years, this year it was held at a more centralised location -- the Boys' Brigade Headquarters in Ganges Avenue.

When I looked at the undergraduates who are so full of energy and exhuberance, it brings back fond memories of my own time in the NTUCF between July 1988 and May 1991. In fact, the CF was the platform in which I was first given the privilege to serve the Lord so fervently. In my first year on campus, I served as Programme Coordinator. In my second year, I served as Canopy (the nickname for Freshmen Orientation back then) Chairman and Editor. In my third year, I served as Vice-Chair of the Resource and Publication Sub-Committee.

I want to thank the Lord for the honour of being one of two persons that have been appointed by the NTUCF Alumni founder FT Liu to connect back to the undergraduates, the other person being Philip Ng, a fellow embracer of the grace gospel.

Just last week, the 3 of us alumni folks met up with the 6 of the 7 current Exco (together with the 2 FES workers assigned to NTUCF) for a time of food and fellowship at Curry Flavor in Stamford House.

For those of you who are on Facebook, do check out the photos taken at the FOC at the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94116&id=751059341&l=2c8c313032

Beautiful Affliction

Sunday, 26th July 2009

Sometime last year, my daughter attended the Hillsong United concert organised by the youth ministry of NewCre. I blogged about that here.

Well this year, thanks to my bro-in-law Marcus, who blessed my entire family with tickets, we all got to see them in concert at the Max Pavilion, Expo last night.

Check out the ticket number that I was given :-)

The atmostphere was electrifying and awesome and they must have sung at least 30 songs.

The speaker for this year was Ps Judah Smith of the Generation Church in Seattle. His spoke on the topic of sex, which I suppose is relevant given that the vast majority in the audience of more than 5,000 were youths. My kids found him funny and actually wanted to go to listen to him again at NewCre.

His sermon was entitled "Beautiful Affliction" and was based on Luke 7:11-15, a passage seldom preached on where Jesus resurrected a young boy who was laid in a coffin.

An altar call was held at the end of the message and I think there were at least 500 who went forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour!

We are looking forward to next year's concert already :-)

Oh ya, you can check out photos I took at the event here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93070&id=751059341&l=08ad84bfcc

Know Your Audience

Saturday, 25th July 2009

I was checking out fellow Best Christian Blog of the Year awardee Stanley's blog and came across a dialogue between him and TWIT (Thy Word is Truth) about how and to what extent we as Christians should be making a stand for Christ. You can read that post here.

TWIT had made reference to an interview that Larry King did with Rev Joel Osteen, which goes as follows:

CNN LARRY KING LIVE - Interview With Joel Osteen, Aired June 20, 2005 - 21:00 ET

KING: Is it hard to lead a Christian life?

OSTEEN: I don't think it's that hard. To me it's fun. We have joy and happiness. Our family -- I don't feel like that at all. I'm not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I'm just living my life.

KING: But you have rules, don't you?

OSTEEN: We do have rules. But the main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To life a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that's really the essence of the Christian faith.

KING: That we live in deeds?

OSTEEN: I don't know. What do you mean by that?

KING: Because we've had ministers on who said, your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I don't know. There's probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you're a believer in God, you're going to have some good works. I think it's a cop-out to say I'm a Christian but I don't ever do anything ...

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God with judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

-----------------------------------------------

Well, if you find the above dialogue interesting, you would find the one between Stan and TWIT even more so...


TWIT said (July 24, 2009 10:55 AM)

Which other minister did Larry posed "as trap questions" in his shows which the world always does and did not deny the Gospel ?

Which Christian minister did not deny Jesus Christ before men and the one Larry King referring to who said on Larry King Live "your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't."

Answer: John Macarthur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DPacglVGmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BZ-N4pruFo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xaGWE6gFdY

Thank God that we still have Christians who are "worth their salt" as in the past, who fear God not men and did not deny His Gospel and willing to risk their lives to declare the Gospel faithfully and truthfully on CNN 's Larry King Live which is also broadcast globally to all countries !

Shalom


Stan replied (July 24, 2009 11:10 AM )

I thank God that we have Christians who are wise enough not to stir up hatred and conflict globally, even at the expense of their own reputation.


TWIT then said (July 24, 2009 12:14 PM)

Stanley,

By your comment, you would then define Apostle Paul as not wise enough "not to stir up hatred and conflict globally, even at the expense of their own reputation".

Act 17:2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. Act 17:2-8

Likewise, by your comments you also viewed Lord Jesus Christ's own words as redundant on this matter of speaking and standing before men for the sake of speaking the truth of His Gospel:

"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. Mat 10:16-24

Shalom


Well, TWIT probably did not realise that Paul knew his audience and adopted the appropriate method of sharing accordingly.

This was my response to him...

Malcolm Loh said (July 24, 2009 11:14 PM)

Dear TWIT

Thank you for quoting Paul because he is a fantastic example of someone who exercised wisdom in that he was aware of who his audience was.

Paul "told it like it was" in the synagogues mentioning Jesus when his audience were the Jews because they were conversant with the Old Testament, which had promised them the Messiah they were looking forward to.

They had scattered abroad as the result of the exile and settled in various cities such as Cyprus (Acts 13:4-5), Antioch (Acts 13:15), Iconium (Acts 14:1), Thessalonica (Acts 17:1), and Berea (Acts 17:10), just to name a few.

It's good also that you have quoted Acts 17:2, because the preceding verse mentions that Paul was speaking to THE JEWS in THE SYNAGOGUE in Thessalonica.

Now drop down to verse 16 in same chapter of Acts 17, where Paul was in Athens and had noted that the city was full of idols. While in the synagogue (Acts 17:17), his method was again via reasoning using the Scriptures. But later on when he was invited to speak in the Areopagus (which was the Greek city council and his audience were primarily atheists), he changed tact! Do read verses 22 through 31 and count how many times he mentions the word “Jesus” or "Christ". The answer: none!

Had Paul copped out? Read on...

In chapter 18, Paul goes to Corinth and resumes the reasoning method again because the venue is a synagogue (Acts 18:4) and the audience are the Jews. Ditto in Ephesus (Acts 18:19).
Fast forward to today. Isn't Rev Joel Osteen exercising that very same wisdom because he knew that the audience for the Larry King show was predominantly a secular one? He was being shrewd as a serpent :-)

Which brings me to that passage in Matt 10 you have quoted. Jesus was addressing His disciples in the context of them witnessing to their fellow brethren. He knew that there would be sticklers for the Laws of Moses and would thus reject the gospel of grace and persecute them. Deja vu? Bingo! That's exactly what Ps Steven Lawson was doing to Rev Joel Osteen at the Shepherds' Conference.

B.Y.F.T.

Friday, 24th July 2009

BYFT.

Those are the initials of the four most popular applications on the Internet now.

Blogspot - for blogging
YouTube - for watching videos
Facebook - for getting connected with relatives and friends
Twitter - for getting instant updates of what people are doing

I just got a Facebook message in my inbox today from NewCre entitled "New Creation Church on Twitter and YouTube".

Yes, dear friends. NewCre has officially created a Twitter account and also launched a YouTube channel.

You can follow her on Twitter by clicking on the following link:
http://twitter.com/nccsg

and subscribe to her YouTube channel by clicking on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/NewCreationChurch

I just did :-D

The Significance of the Fleece Test

Sunday, 19th July 2009

One of the Bible stories I remember fondly as a boy growing up in Sunday School was about Gideon, an Israelite that God chose to deliver His people from the Midianites, as recorded in Judges 6-8.

Today, my wife and I attended the youth service in my own home church, and Ps Reuben preached yet another wonderful and anointed sermon on how God saw Gideon as His masterpiece. He had chosen the least (youngest) of the least (Manasseh was the smallest tribe) in the nation of Israel and called him a "valiant warrior" even though at that point in time, Gideon was more like a coward, threshing grain in a winepress in the middle of the night so as not to be seen by the Midianites.

You can download that sermon, entitled "Hey Masterpiece!" at the following link:

http://www.box.net/shared/xh5tk7v7hg

But truth be told, I was very puzzled as to why Gideon asked the Lord for signs to confirm that he was indeed the one who was selected. I mean, was not Gideon "testing" God by doing so? Let's look at that particular passage:

Judges 6
36 Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised-
37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."
38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew."
40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Having now understood and embraced the gospel of grace, I no longer see it as Gideon testing God. Rather, Gideon did not have sufficient faith and God, in His grace and mercy, met Gideon at his level of faith.

How about the significance of the fleece test?

On the first occasion, the fleece was wet but the ground was dry.
On the second occasion, the fleece was dry but the ground was wet.

Praise be to God that this was revealed via a sermon that I heard Ps Prince preach several months ago.

The Old Testament contains types and shadows, the substance of which is revealed in Jesus Christ and His finished work. For example, the various furniture of the Tabernacle as well as the feasts and offerings all speak of the perfection and excellencies of the person of Jesus and the finality and completeness of His work on the cross.

Fleece is a piece of wool that comes from a sheep. Jesus was the Lamb of God that was sacrificed for our sin (Jn 1:29). Being wet speaks of the zoe kind of life. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well in Jn 4:14 that "whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

How does this apply to fleece test then? In the first instance, the fleece was wet while the surrounding area was dry. That speaks of the zoe life that is in Jesus, and the lack of it in us. In the second instance, the fleece became dry while the surrounding area was wet. That speaks of the divine exchange that took place on the cross when Jesus, as the Lamb of God, took our place of condemnation so that we can take His place of right standing with Daddy God. His life was taken away, so that we can have life and have it more abundantly. Amen? Hallelujah!

Why Should The Father Bother?

Saturday, 18th July 2009

When I was in my teens and growing up in the Methodist Youth Fellowship, there was a Christian band called Petra that was very popular among my peers.

They are better known for their louder songs, but also released some wonderful ballads, one of which talks about our relationship with Daddy God.

It is entitled "Why Should the Father Bother?" I especially like the last sentence that says we are in His family eternally. It sure resonates with Ps Reuben's jubilee sermon about being part of God's family.

Do have a listen to it and be ministered to :-)




Why Should the Father Bother?
Petra

Why should the Father bother to call us His children?
Why should the Spirit hear it when we pray?
Why should the Father bother to be concerned with all our needs?
It's all because of what the Son has done

Once we were lost out on the ocean with no direction or devotion
Tossed about by every wind and wave
Now we are in the world, not of it, and we can surely rise above it
Because the Lord has risen from the grave

And we cry, 'Abba, Father' 'Abba, Father', 'Abba, Father'
'Abba, Father', 'Abba, Father' 'Abba, Father'

Once were strangers from the promise, we were doubters worse than Thomas
'Til the Spirit opened up our eyes
Now He has offered us adoption, and we have taken up the option
To be His family eternally

The Result of Strict Religious Upbringing

Friday, 17th July 2009

I was perusing through the Life section of yesterday's Straits Times when something at the top of page C5 caught my eye.

It was a quote from Katy Perry, which is reproduced on the right.

In it she says, "If you dropped a hammer on your toe in our house, you had to say something like "Jimmy Christmas". The only music we were allowed to listen to was gospel. No wonder I rebelled".

Rebellion -- that 's the result of strict religious upbringing.

Just in case you are not aware, Katy topped the secular charts in USA, UK and Australia sometime last year with a song entitled "I Kissed A Girl". The song was initially banned from radio here in Singapore, but was allowed airplay after the word "girl" was censored out.

Both of Katy's parents were pastors. You can read her Wikipedia entry here.

When preachers are sticklers for the Law, this is the unfortunate outcome.

Christianity is not a religion with a list of do's and don'ts, of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots". It is an intimate relationship with Daddy God that we can enjoy as the beneficiaries of a New Covenant established upon the finished work of Jesus His Son.

That is the wonderful gospel of grace that needs to be preached, yes even to those who are in the Body of Christ. Amen?

Me? An Evangelist!

Sunday, 12th July 2009

Today, Paya Lebar Methodist Church celebrated its 77th anniversary, so even though Ps Reuben was not preaching, my wife and I decided to attend our own home church.

The passage that was covered was Eph 4:11-13. In particular, verse 11 talks about the five-fold ministry, where each of us are being called to be either apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers.

Well, it so happens that there is a Facebook quiz called "What's God's gift in you?" and the result I got was "Evangelist"!

What I found interesting is that fellow Tao Suan Fellowship members Stan and Jeff also got the same result. I suppose it should not come as a surprise because those who have discovered the grace message would excitedly want to tell others about it too.

Truth be told, when I was much younger, the words "missions" and "evangelism" were scary. I had the misconception that the former would involve having to go into the remotest parts of Africa to preach the gospel, while the latter would involve handing out tracts to complete strangers.

Thanks be to God, I now know that wherever He has placed us is where our mission field is, and marketplace evangelism means sharing the good news with those that He divinely appoints to cross our path each day.

Me? An evangelist? Amen to that! After all, that is what this blog is about.

Substance Over Form

Saturday, 11th July 2009

About two months ago, there was a lot of hype being generated about Zoe Tay and Fann Wong coming together to act in a Chinese serial called "The Ultimatum" (双子星). It would also feature other big names like Tay Ping Hui, Li Nanxing and Felicia Chin.

I am sure MediaCorp Studios and others in the industry had great expectations, but sad to say, it was the blockbuster that wasn't. Despite the stellar cast and great efforts in publicity, viewers who tuned in for the first and second episodes decided to switch off thereafter. In fact, it was reported that ratings fell far short of the previous three serials that were shown at the same 9pm time slot on Channel 8.

When interviewed, these viewers said that they could not connect with the storyline and plot. In other words, what was more relevant to them was not so much the packaging but the content. The substance was more important than the form.

As I pondered over this, a deeper spiritual truth about substance over form dawned upon me. Some people accuse NewCre of being able to attract tens and thousands each week because it has professional-looking ushers, a great band and choir and good-looking pastors (and I must concede that they are rather). But all this packaging will come to naught if there is no content in the sermons. Sure, due to the recent publicity about Ps Prince earning half a million dollars, there could be the curious few who decided to go and hear for themselves what the hoo-ha was all about. But just like those viewers who only tuned in for one or two episodes of The Ultimatum, these people would also not continue to attend church if they found that the messages did not resonate with them.

The reason why NewCre has an attendance of 23,000 and counting is because the pastors are unveiling the person of Jesus and His finished work, week in week out. That is what the good news is all about and by doing so, people keep coming back for more. Amen?

Rhythm Heaven

Friday, 10th July 2009

My kids have a Nintendo DS each, and I usually borrow it to play Fifa 2009 or Tiger Woods 2009, which is a soccer game and a golf game respectively.

Recently however, I have become hooked onto another DS game -- which I read about in the previous week's edition of Digital Life (which is the weekly Information Technology ("IT") supplement that comes with the Straits Times every Wednesday).

The game is called Rhythm Heaven and here was that write-up...

Rhythm Heaven
By Chan Chi-Loong, a freelance writer
Digital Life, Wed 1 Jul 2009

Rhythm Heaven
» Price: $49.00
» Genre: Music rhythm
» Platform: Nintendo DS
» Available: From authorised dealers
» Rating: 8/10

TEACHING monkeys to clap, training a band of frog dancers and concocting love potions. The game is an eclectic collection of rhythm mini-games, all of which are played using the DS stylus. There is no storyline whatsoever. Each mini-game has its own unique musical score and presentation.

At the beginning of each mini-game, you get an explanation of what sequence of moves is required, some time to experiment with this, and then you are cut loose to groove to the music's beat.

Perform well enough and you unlock the next mini-game, fail and you have to retry. There are 30 mini-games in all, divided into 6 stages. Each stage comprises four different mini-games and a "master remix" song, which uses elements from all the four mini-games in that stage.

Gameplay is a standout. Every mini-game uses the same basic tap and flick moves, so the game is easy to learn. However, mastering the game is a different matter - the two basic moves are combined in varied ways to different tempos and executing the right sequence of moves can be hard.

Luckily, there is an option to skip a mini-game if you fail at it three times, so the game is not punishing. No rhythm game is complete without a catchy soundtrack and Rhythm Heaven is gorgeous in this respect. To me, some of the best tracks are the master remixes, which inventively use motifs from previous songs.

The presentation, by and large, is also brilliant. From space soccer to karate practice with pots, the sheer display of imagination alone is worth the price. Coupled with great tracks, excellent gameplay, replayability via unlockable content at various difficulties and you have a winner. Casual players might be a little put off by the difficulty at higher stages - fast reflexes are mandatory - but fans of this genre will find themselves in seventh heaven.

Since a picture speaks a thousand words, here is a video I found on YouTube that would be able to speak a million...



By the way, lefties (like me) will not have to feel left out because there is an option to flip the screen the other way around (so that the tapping and flicking is done on the left screen and the visuals appear on the right).

I am currently at mini-game #27, so if I do not have the time to blog over the next few weeks, please do forgive me :-)

Happy Jubilee!

Sunday, 5th July 2009

Today marks a day of significance in the life of my church, Paya Lebar Methodist Church.

Ps Reuben Ng, our youth pastor, preached his 50th sermon since being posted to my church in August 2007.

Entitled "God's Family", Ps Reuben expounds on the passage Mk 3:31-35

Mark 3

Jesus' Mother and Brothers
31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.
32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

When I was much younger, I used to be very puzzled by this passage because Jesus appears to be "snubbing" His own physical family members by considering those seated around Him as His family members instead of them.

Well, hear how Ps Reuben debunks the above by clicking on the link below...
http://www.box.net/shared/uzk6xg3r1q

You can also download to hear all his previous 49 sermons at the following link:
http://www.box.net/shared/uzrv6pnyo8

As I look back, I realise that God's timing is indeed perfect.

There was a time when the entire pastoral team was vehemently against the grace message.

Rev Peter Koh, the senior pastor has officially disallowed Ps Joseph Prince's materials (although he allows Rev Kong Hee's and Ps Edmund Chan's), so church members have to resort to distributing such materials amongst themselves on the sly. He even "wrote" an article on antinomianism, which was critical of the grace message.

Rev Tay Kay Leong, the assistant pastor, has on several occasions criticised New Creation Church, saying that it preaches "cheap grace" and that he is unimpressed by its phenomenal growth since it has "stolen sheep" from other churches.

Rev Barnabas Chong, the youth pastor until July 2007, even had the audacity to round up the youth leadership to tell them that they were forbidden from attending that church's midweek services, failing which he would strip them of their leadership positions. He also frequently preached law-based sermons that caused them much hurt and confusion.

But God in His tendy mercies, sent Ps Reuben to us. He is truly a breath of fresh air, and the one main reason why I have not given up my 42-year church membership to follow the tens of thousands who now regularly worship at the Rock. I know that one fine day, my church is going to discover and embrace the grace gospel for herself, and our church membership will also explode the same way NewCre has, because ALL my pastors are unveiling the person of Jesus and His finished work, week in week out.

HAPPY JUBILEE, Ps Reuben!

May God continue to bless and prosper your ministry!!!

Don't Settle For Anything Less!

Saturday, 4th July 2009

A couple of weeks back, I blogged about getting a Sony Vaio VGN-P25G in pyrite gold.

Well, I was looking for a handy carrier for the Vaio which offers it protection not only when being carried around but also during use. I checked out the official Sony Style online store and discovered to my dismay that all the ones that they had were merely "carrying pouches".

In other words, one still would have to take the pocket netbook out of the carrier in order to make use of it.

Undeterred, I did a Google search on "Vaio carrying case" and stumbled across an online store operating out of Hongkong known as IDS Company. It is a manufacturer of accessories for electronic products such as notebooks, PDAs, mobile phones and MP3 players.

I found one that had both capabilities -- a carrier as well as an all-time protector, made of leather to boot -- at a price of only US$30 (or about S$45). Even after adding postage, it would cost less than half the price of the official pouches that Sony themselves were selling. Just imagine that, twice the functionality at half the price :-)

I placed an order and the package arrived in the mail yesterday.

As I dressed up the Vaio, the Lord brought a spiritual parallel to mind...

All of us Christians are aware that Jesus died for our sins. As a result of accepting Him, we have a place in heaven reserved for us when we pass on from this world.

In other words, we know that Jesus took on our sin.

But way, way too few of us know also that in turn, we have taken on His righteousness. As a result of that, we are unaware that we are supposed to reign in life (Rom 4:17) and be victorious in everything that we undertake.

The reason for this is that traditional mainstream churches everywhere have been preaching to us only the former and neglecting the latter. Consequently, we have this wrong concept that it is perfectly all right for Christians to be sick or to be in lack. That it is okay to suffer here while on earth, since we will be enjoying our time later in heaven. Some even quote the Chinese saying 先苦后甜 (xian ku hou tian) which means "to encounter bitterness first in order to obtain sweetness in future".

Well, my dear friend, if you believe the above doctrine, YOU HAVE BEEN SEVERELY SHORTCHANGED!

Jesus said in Jn 10:10 that the thief came to kill, steal and destroy; but He has come to give us life, and life more abundantly. He was not referring to life in heaven because the devil cannot be killing, stealing and destroying there.

Rather, He was referring to the life here and now because that is when the battle is taking place. The devil is killing and destroying health, marriages and families and stealing resources and wealth right here and now!

It is truly sad that the "official" mainstream church is preaching only half the gospel, just like how the official Sony Style is carrying pouches that offer only half the protection. The appearance of legitimacy has made us settle for less.

I therefore thank our LORD God for helping me to discover the grace message that is being preached by the pastor of an unconventional and radical church, just like how the IDS website is carrying pouches that offer the netbook the full protection throughout its use.

Dearest brothers and sisters, let us not settle for anything less than the fullness of what God has given to us as beneficiaries of the New Covenant that was cut between the Father and the Son. Not only has our sin been imputed to Jesus, Jesus' right standing before Abba Father has also been imputed to us. Amen?

500 Liao! PTL!!!

Friday, 3rd July 2009

On 29th June, I typed the above as my Facebook status.

One of my son's schoolmates, Nethaniel (who attends NewCre, by the way) commented:

Good thing you were not talking about H1N1 :)
Anyway the more friends the merrier PTL!!! :D

Yep, praise the Lord indeed for enabling me to reach another milestone on Facebook. This may not be that big a deal to some of you out there, but those of you who have been following my blog would have read about how some churchmates (who grew up with me in Sunday School and in the choir) had removed me as their friend when they discovered that I had embraced the grace gospel (which Rev Peter Koh, the senior pastor of my church, is vehemently against).

Rev Barnabas Chong, previously a pastor of my church, has even gone to the extent of preventing me from seeing him on Facebook. You can read about that here.

But hey, God is indeed so good. Amen?

Oh ya, since then, the number has climbed to 502 :-D