Yesterday for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE i did something i never done before! And that was to share a message to the crusaders! Although i have shared my testimonies before, or led lesson in small grps... but I have never did anything like "preach" a message of about 40mins. It was actually an exciting experience as i took 1 mth ever since i was challenge by my staff to prepare for this day... and well... below are the outline of my message i hope to share with u all too! And glenn my DGL recorded the whole message on Video! Can't imagine how is like to view back my sharing...
Continuation from welcome tea 2008.... about wheres our treasures...
Scripture- Colossians 3:12-16
1) The Treasures that we should wear on
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
These are virtues which as Christians and God chosen people we should wear on. Each one of the qualities mentioned in this passage express themselves in relationships. A significant measure of our Christian life is found simply in how we treat people and the quality of our relationships with them.
13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Bearing with each other… Be it in Sch or church there are bound to be ppl where its hard to work with or we are just at different frequency, but I’ve learnt the importance of submitting to one another. Especially in Christian ministry.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21
When we consider the staggering debt Jesus forgave for us, and the comparative smallness of the debts others have toward us, it is base ingratitude for us to not forgive them (as in the parable Jesus spoke in Matthew
By forgiving others you are actually removing bagges and issues in your life, so it actually supposedly to help you.
2) Love is the greatest treasure to wear on
14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (From the Message bible. paraphrase)
“All the virtues listed in vv.12,13 are, on the highest level, manifestations of love; but love is larger than any one of them, indeed, larger than all of them combined.” (
Deuteronomy 6:5: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This, Jesus said, was the first and greatest commandment.
Jesus volunteered the second, which emanated from the first. He again quoted Scripture, going to Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
3) The Treasure of Peace
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
People have always say that “Peace” is a standard for discerning God’s will… I never really understand fully what’s that until I experience that very strange inner peace from Christ myself…
Testimony on peace: It all started in early January, where a team of us had to plan a big event for the youth ministry of about 250 youths. We were praying for a location to have this event, and we had a few options in mind, but we didn’t know where God wanted us to use. So we prayed and we just tried a recce for the first option Pulau Ubin. Took a bum boat there and we saw this rainbow! We were amazed by and wondering, is this a sign from God? Could this be the place God promise us. (Share a bit about rainbow as a promise from God)
It was about to rain, but God just held the rain when we touch down. And God revealed to us so much in our recce there, he directed us to this very exotic compound deep inside ubin where there was this very nice resort with the World’s largest freshwater fish. And soon we were like we should use this place; it’s in a control area.
But our main concern was how are we going to transport the 200 plus youths to here, its going to take forever to transport this big number in bum boats and it’s a deep walk into this compound, but God then revealed to us ferries that go directly here. And soon enough we literally bum into the boss of this place where we then settled our business.
We ask if we can use this place for an event for 200 plus youths and he told us we he can settle everything like transport of two 72 seater ferries, buffet lunch and all we need is to bring the people. He told us the cost after counting per pax and it add up to like $24 000. And our budget was like only $7000. He said he will try his best to reduce to our means, and wow it was just settled on that day.
Well, if you thought everything was perfect, trials after trials started coming in. The devil did all it could to bring us down.
The amazing BREAK THROUGHS!
Break Through 1- Second recce 17 Feb 2008- We called the manager of ubin resort, shocked us with a huge cost of $18 000, our team gathered to pray, call again on same day. Somehow God help us to bring it down to $10 000.
Breakthrough 2- We shared it with the Comm, but the event was still too expensive as the guy initially wanted a minimum $10k. After much discussion, the core went ahead.
Breakthrough 3 – We called for a prayer meeting a week before the event. But before praying we had to discuss some logistics stuff with the boss from ubin resort. We called the boss and he was away on leave for a week, and than the assistant told us the ferries broke down... (few days later realize they cheated us from the start..they never had any two 72 seater ferries)
We decided to cast all those worries aside and just pray…and wow, God gave us this very strong inner peace and assurance and many revelations while praying.
God revealed this verse to me few days before this prayer meeting…I was stress out with my sch proj and settling this event… so I stop everything and just open my bible hoping to find a verse for encouragement….and IMMEDIATELY…
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:20, 21"
Breakthrough 4-
Breakthrough 5 – Realized few days later that the ferry was too big and the port can’t fit in, they found 2 smaller 150 seater ferry for us but they still needed a port to fit a ferry of that size and to build a port will take at least a 1-2 week ,and the core team told us that we might need to change venue as it was only just few days before the event. But somehow when I heard the news, God’s PEACE still continued to fill my heart that I somehow knew this event that God promised us will still happen! And indeed… the next day… God provided the port arrangements.
Breakthrough 6 – On actual event date… it rain before as we were there early during preparation, but our FAITH were so strong as the PEACE of GOD continued to fill our hearts, that we KNEW NO DOUBT that God will hold back the rain when the event start. We prayed and INDEED GOD was faithful again...and he HELD the rain immediately once the youths arrive! …on the return journey in the ferry to mainland
Breakthrough 7- After the event, the chairman of our youth ministry and the fulltime staff met up with the manager about the trouble he cause us. And by God’s grace we got another 10% discount on the total price! So we went way within our budget of about $6000 after all the reduction from the last few days…. Its so amazing how GOD showed us his awesome power and a PEACE from him that it’s hard to describe.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6,7
And because of God’s revelation through the Word that dwelled in us, we had that peace that transcends all understanding…
4) Let the treasure of the Word dwell in you
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
The Word is so important, if we want to know God deeper, if we want our Faith to grow; we need to read the WORD. There’s so much new insights you can get reading it over and over again… similar to how I got insights from this passage the more I dwell and meditate on it for the last mth.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
You will than be given wisdom to teach others as well as to admonish others (which is to speak the truth in Love)
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs: This variety suggests that God delights in creative, spontaneous worship.
So this shows that there isn’t any right or wrong type of songs that pleases God in our worship to him, you see there are the conservative type who prefer to sing hymns, the charismatic type who sing fast songs like from planet shakers or hillsong and than there are others who just like Christian contemporary like Jars Of Clay.
Heard from a preacher once that, you know we can have that continual worship in our heart when ever and where ever, and one practical example is like for those who like listening to ipod and mp3, instead of always hearing secular music, why not just hear Christian music that will edify the Spirit in us. For example, my ipod alone has 90% Christian songs. And it’s very edifying to hear them at times like on the bus or times alone. It gives this continual worship singing in our hearts.
Questions to challenge…
As we all know we need to wear clothes at home or outside, this Clothes that we need to wear on are really treasures of God, so we should intentionally wear these treasures on where ever we are!
Are we wearing this type of Clothes now?
(the AMPHITHEATRE..where we have our crusade meetings...thats glenda and Jem doing a forfeit after the forfeit)
MANCHESTER UNITED are EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!!!!!
After LM..rush back.. wash up..and met some old stgabs friends to watch the Champion league final... it was one long 3 hrs DRAMATIC FINAL! Came back abt 6am!
I was getting sleepy during extra time..but the penalty shoot kept me WIDE AWAKE! It was one of the MOST DRAMATIC ones i have seen for 12 years ever since i watch my first soccer match! After ronaldo miss the penalty i almost lost hope! and when John terry took the final kick for chelsea... to win the match! HE MISSED! The whole coffee shop in hougang area was OVERWHELM with excitement! And man utd came from behind to WIN after Van der sar save Anelka penalty! 1-1 (man utd win 6-5 after penalty shoot out!)
(Anelka taking the kick that Van Der Sar saved!!)
(Manchester United has won the DOUBLE! English Premier League CHAMPIONS!!! and CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHAMPION!!!!!!!!! What a SEASON!!!!)
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