WILL BE AWAY FROM 1 Oct to 3 Oct....on a "KELONG" Spiritual Retreat!

WILL BE AWAY FROM 1 Oct to 3 Oct....on a "KELONG" Spiritual Retreat!
Monday...
just came back from an awesome ST crusade meeting with irene and joelle! And im really excited abt the plans we are abt to have in TP for the weeks to come! And its really a huge blessing that we have such an awesome Servant Team where we are so on the same page that our thoughts and ideas inspired from God is just so inline with one another! And wanna say a huge thanks to my staff irene again who once again have been a huge blessing in my life as she shared with me on some really deep insights on working towards that calling in life! =)

Anyways...Oct 1 to Oct 3 (weds to friday)
I'm sooooooo exicted for weds to friday! As for the FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I'm going on a KELONG trip! and not only that its my first SPIRITUAL RETREAT ever! And i'm sooo looking forward to it! And its really exciting to be going with other on fire and inspirin leaders like adriel,gladwin,isaac,glenn,kheng and jason balota! What a fun bunch to be with! I'm really praying and expecting this retreat to experience God at a whole new level and as well as seek my calling in life and other areas i will be praying abt! =)

(some pics of the BLUE MOUNTAIN Kelong! www.bluemountain-kelong.com)

KING OF GLORY!!! Camp Promo Sunday!

KING OF GLORY!!! Camp Promo Sunday!
I think this service is a perfect example of all the different sub-ministries in Wesley YM all working hand in hand in one body of Christ!

Right from the GAPPERs and other leaders coming early to pray for the entire service, to the Ushers in the front line welcoming visitors, next to the CROSSTRAINERS who started the service with the Atmosphere initiative(Don't forget the lyrics, YM VERSION!) working together with a member of philotheos, followed by a skit put up by the Creative Comm, then Camp video by 12 Stones and the camp comm! With the philotheos (worship team) up next...and ending off with our camp commandant for wesley ym camp 2008 Alvin Ding giving a heartfelt message on Ym camp theme KING OF GLORY!!!

"...so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it". 1 Corinthians 12:25-27

WESLEY YM CAMP 2008!
Theme: KING OF GLORY!
Date: 18-21 December 2008
Venue: Prince George Park (NUS)

SIGN UP NOW!!!!

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

Psalms 24:7-10

How do you keep your passion for Christ?

How do you keep your passion for Christ?
(this is an article i wrote few weeks back on 3 September 2008)

Keeping your passion for Christ is something which i feel all Christians needs to have in order to persevere through this whole Christian life! Its very easy to fall in this sinful world if our passion for our Lord isn't there. So we need to keep that passion whatever it takes! I hope to share in this article my spiritual journey with Christ and how i kept the passion ever since the my passion for Him ignited in me in my first YM camp in 2005.

Before we can talk about keeping that passion for Christ, one need that initial passion for the Lord to be ignited first! And i would say it goes back right to the basics of our Faith in Christ. Personally i believed we first need an initial experience with God before one actually can catch this fire of the Lord! Then how do you experience God then? What I’m about to share is one of my deepest convictions to this questions. This is what I heard from a preacher once which I felt was so relevant in my life with my first real encounter with the sovereign Lord. It all start with FAITH in the cross of Christ, next is SURRENDER to the Lordship of Christ, followed by INTIMACY with the Person of Christ and lastly by MINISTRY to the Body of Christ and when all this basic principles of spirituality LINE UP - the Holy Spirit will manifest His presence and power! And wow that’s so true when that happen to me way back in the first youth camp! The act of my initial step of Faith,followed by the act of my will to surrender to the LORD wholeheartedly was where i had my first real experience of Him and i could sense so strongly His Holy Spirit working in my life and changing me totally from the inside out. And ever since that day, that passion for Him just grew and grew each day. That just motivated me to find out more of this GOD out there who is just so awesome and magnificent.

Personally for me one key thing that has kept that passion was that inner Joy from the Lord. Just knowing Him, and having him in my heart, it gave me this deep sense of peace in my heart that assured me of my salvation and that I would never have to worry as he is bigger than all our problems and He even promise us all this "...Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5" . Even at times of trials, particular one time i recalled when i felt so down when i was sick as well as tight down by my school work. God just felt so distance then, and i was even so close to feeling burn out and almost felt like giving up on everything. But that was when He suddenly reminded me of the importance of depending on His Strength and the JOY from Him. And he just brought me out of that spiritual dryness and that Joy of the Lord has been burning stronger than before ever since that very day.

We need that daily experience and worship with the Lord every single day. Then people would ask how do we have this continuous worship with the Lord that encompass all our activities around him? Well, it goes back to what the scriptures has to say.“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3" . For example, when i'm doing my school project, i know relying on my own strength would drain me physical, so by praying and telling Him, that i'm not doing for myself but for Him, I commit the whole project for Him. So its taking the credit of myself but doing my best for the glory of the Lord. And because of the act of my will of committing my work to Him, He has helped me so many times and His abundant grace has been always there for me. The next thing, we need to learnt is to just soak in His presence all the time, everything we do, we need to have this consider reminder of our Lord. One practical step is we can edify our souls by just listening to just Christian songs when ever we plug ourselves with our mp3 headphones. And this constant worship in our hearts will constantly remind us that worship doesn't has to end just at service. It can be anytime even on the bus,train or just walking to a next destination giving continuous praise and worship in our hearts.

The intention of putting yourselves in the right environment will help your spiritual growth and journey in this whole Christian life. We definitely need to be in a group of other on fire passionate Christians who really want to be that "Change maker" for Christ! And thats another key reason why i'm still so on fire in fact that fire is growing much stronger than before! As take this analogy, when there are other Christians around you in your school or work place where you have constant interaction with and encouragement from the fire in them and in you can spread and grow even stronger. And this increase the fire and passion for Christ for everyone even more. I can't imagine living this Christian life alone, we definitely need each other!

And last of all, the most important thing i believed ALL Christians out there need to follow strictly is meditating and dwelling in the WORD of GOD everyday. Remember "We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7". Its true that we need to treasure real experiences from God too, but its not everyday that we can have such tangible experiences that we can see. There will definitely be times where God will just be quiet to test us. Thus we need to keep that Faith in him by reading His Word that he has giving us all. "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17". Remember reading the Word of GOD is our LORD speaking directly to us, so treasure His words and obey it.

And as one mature more in Christ each day, I have learn that we need that spiritual discipline to maintain that close walk with our Lord each day. And its wanting to know him by the act of our own will. He will then start working and changing your heart inside out with that continuous renewing of our mind and surrender to Him. His grace will help us start living into His will more easier than before! And not only that, His Holy Spirit has been teaching me how to pray into His will as well. As remember any thing prayed into His will, he will definitely answer without a doubt! And i can guarantee you will be amazed at how ALL POWERFUL our LORD is, as my Faith grew each day because of His Word, i saw His awesome power as well as experiencing Him answer my prayers countless of times. And you will start realizing how awesome it is just knowing God! It’s like the best thing that has ever happen to me and I hope that happens to you too! Persevere in the Faith with the Joy of the Lord and that will keep your passion for Christ!

".... and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2"

Inductive Bible Study!!!.... NAPFA TEST!!!!

Inductive Bible Study!!!.... NAPFA TEST GOLD!!!!
Tuesday
Quite an eventful day...started the morning be heading to the campus crusade headquaters, after my staff irene invited me to their nationwide staff meeting called touch point, where all the crusade staff in singapore gathered and we heard a message from the Regional Director, Rev Jung(not sure if spelt like this) as well as pray for the other ministries... anyway it was nice to meet the other staffs there too, getting to know some for the first time too!

After that...
Headed to TP sport's complex badminton court... where irene,wanteng, 2 new staff (both chinese name) and jem came down to play!

(wanteng in action!............................ Ireneeee!)

Inductive Bible study!

It was the first day of our INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY ORIENTATION!!! on the story of Joseph... it was really cool marking out the scriptures with all those coloured pens!... and its even more fun doing this course with my 2 disciples and some of my small grp members too! Now for the next 5 weeks will be intensely reading and learning more abt Genesis Ch 37-50...SO EXCITING!!!!

Weds!
NAPFA TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
It sure was one tiring day! 5 stations and 2.4km back to back...but feel this great satisfaction at the end of the day!!!! And the IAD ppl that came Dee Dee,Joseph,Kah Wai,Sam,Kenneth and me all did pretty well compared to the other courses from the different design sch.... and phewww manage to get a GOLD despite those blisters that i had! .....2 mths off NS now! Oh yeaaa!

Wesley YM Commitee Retreat 2008!... and Wesley Ym vs Faith methodist match!

Wesley YM Commitee Retreat 2008!... and Wesley Ym vs Faith methodist soccer match!

It was sure one relaxing and time of bonding between the leaders from the different sub-comms in wesley ym! From the awesomeee foood! To the Polar bear games! And the sessions where got to know each other personality better through this PEAKs profile test and see how we can work with one another from this strength base system! Heard it cost like hundred plus outside! But we got ours sponsored for FREE!

Saturday 20 Sep (day 1), 9am!

(Changi Village Hotel!)

First session!
After worship and introduction... we got the results of our PEAKs scores! We did a 270 question test to get our personality test profile! It was one in depth test result!

Pastor Alvin Chan led this session, and it was pretty fun seeing how each of us had really totally different personality traits... and how we use our different strengths to work together in this committee.

(my overall test result!)

BUFFET LUNCH! awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee =P


(lovely Ox tail!..... and the deserts were FABULOUS!)

Checking in time!

(the nice toilet with the see thru toilet! thats matthias my room-mate!)

Back to the function room... 2.30pm..



(Adriel led a session a good session on thoughts on Christian leadership... manage to take back some thoughts to share... )

A Different Leader
The aim of a Christian leader is to minister and inspire change

A Different Source
We minister out of the overflow and not out of our insecurity...

A Different Motivational Style
We motivated by grace and not by the law

(an extract of the commentary of 2 Corinthians 3:6)
Paul is making a distinction between the Old Covenant written on stone and the New Covenant that is presented inside us by the Spirit. The old (the law) brought death, because no one could keep its directives, whereas the new brings life through the life-giving Spirit. The letter (the law) killed because no one was able to keep it. It made us guilty, while the New Covenant sets us free from the condemnation of the law. The law was fulfilled in the only person who could have fulfilled it, the God/man Jesus Christ. Now we have the spirit of God inside us all because of this new covenant that is superior to the old covenant.

Motivated by Grace...
As Christian leaders we should
-Inspire others by showing them who they are in Christ and givign thema vision of God's destiny for their lives.

-We inspire them to love and excel by first loving them.

-This kind of motivation is empowering and liberating, allowing them to fulfill their highest potential.

However, theres always this danger when people have this misconception of grace... as its true that if sin increases, grace will increases even more! But lets not dwell to much on that now... bcoz we are all dead to sin when we are justified by his grace,through faith..." What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Romans 6:1-3" There is no answer to this "how" question. We can't live in sin if we died to it. That is Paul statement.

And then theres preachers out there who preach a lot on grace in such extremes, i'm not saying preaching grace is wrong but... personally to me, it can be controversial if the extend of it leads to materialism and prosperity gain.

Anyway after this session, it kinda make me wondered ... if my previous post abt putting the thought if we were saved in the first place a little too hard to take in? As i'm afraid that it was a little bit of preaching the law? .... hmmmm...i guess its still a long way for me to grasp what Grace really means? Its not as easy subject to grasp... but my personal theology on this has change after certain circumstances if u read my previous posts....well i guess this is a matter i will continue to pray abt for God to reveal to me...

Anyway the part i do agree is...the best way to inspire and minister to others is through the new covenant that God has given us and not to use the law to instill guilt in ppl just for them to be ministered...

A Different definition of success:
We promote others and not ourselves
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others Philippians 2:3-4

-We should inspire others by promoting their value- we show them how much they mean to God and how much they mean to us.

- See others as "masterpieces" that God wants to build of them.

Below was some of the things we did during Gladwin session on Ministry Top 3..

(broke into grps to build the tallest tower with just mash mellows and toothpicks..thats our grp!)

(matthew lai grp won with this superb structure! see how every mashmellow had a support...its like how everyone in the body of christ need that LOVE and accountabilty to hold on to one another strongly)

Break time...


(Samuel our new ptm showing matthias and me some of his guitar skills... he has a gift in worship leading! One cool guy!)

Dinner time!



(the food was all gone in seconds before we cld finish)

(Most of the leaders in YM comm 2008!!!.. a pretty young team this year)

10pm.... POLAR BEAR NIGHT!

(Adriel as usual using his eyes to discern the liars! haha!... pastor alvin just acting spontaneously like his personality... i think he was the polar bear in this round..)

(wad am i doing! hhahah!)

after 1-2 plus am...watching some horror/triller show on tv...

(matthias is afraid! hahha!......a scene of the MONSTER WORM!)

Sunday 21 Sep, Day 2....BREAKFAST!

(me just love breakfast at hotels! yumm yumm!)


(The lovely card that wanli and gladwin made for all the ym comm members.... and nicee scripture sweets too!)

(thanks gladwin,ronda,meng choo,yewjin,gareth,kheng,nicole,jolyn,stacy,matt lai,sam&wanlin for writing to me those niceeee touching message =) )

Soccer match! Wesley Ym vs Faith methodist church

(the new signings! hahah!.. me,kheng,shannon)

(Captain kheng in action!)

(the match begins!)

Btw we scored in just 3 touches in kick off!... first touch...Kheng long shot from kick off...gk..touch out for corner... Ben Lau then take the corner... Jason balota HEAD in for the GOALLLL! 1- 0 up for wesley.... Faith equalised......... And then Ben Lau scored after passing a couple of defenders to slot it pass the keeper..2-1 up! (I think its my first goal for wesley)... after that 2-2..den Balota scored again to make it 3-2... after a fluke goal in the final mins ny faith..3-3... penalty shoot out...and we wonnnnnn!!! Isaac got the final kick to win! 3-1 on penalties!=)

(the blisters i got during the match! grrrrr.... had to control the pain thru out the second half... now my whole body aching too from the tough match!... and i need to recover by weds for my napfa test! haizzz)

Monday...
Just came back from YMLC group 8 reunion aka sarah farewell dinner at Fish and Co!!!!! Im wow! everyone except ivee cld make it! It sure was a next time meetin up with this wonderful people again and sharing abt the happenings from each other ministries as well as random conversations... =)

A GOD DIVINE APPOINTMENT!

A GOD DIVINE APPOINTMENT!
God sure never fails to surprise you time and time again!
It all started when i got a call from my crusade staff Irene yesterday, asking me if i cld support her by sharing abt TP crusade ministry at her church prayer meeting the next day as she's sharing abt campus crusade at her church mission week. At first i was a little reluctant, as its like at BEDOK methodist church which is soooooooo far and its at night,next its to total strangers not even from my own church and i actually had some plans to go for this Christian event with some of my classmates...But after much pondering and praying I felt God leading me to support my staff. I really owe so much to my crusade staff Irene who has done so much for me and another thing is God has place this deep burden in me for this ministry and I feel sharing to others is a great honour!

Anyways arriving at this nice cosy church wayyy in the east was such a nice feeling to be on a Thursday night, as we waited there manage to talk to a former Wesley pastor Rev Lim Jen Huat who knew my dad when he was in Wesley then. Anyways after a short message by Rev Lim, Irene and me shared abt the happenings in TP & RP campus crusade to this group of really faithful people who came for this prayer watch abt 15-20 odd of them on a thursday night...

Anyways after the sharing by us...we broke into grps to pray... Irene prayed with this family and i prayed with this 2 older men...like wayyy older than me! I could really see their passion for God even at such an old age...AND YOU KNOW WHAT!!! I LATER CAME TO FIND OUT that one of the men ask me if i knew who adriel loh was..I said yes, his my youth ministry chairman... and he replied I'm HIS DAD! HAHHA! I was quite amazed... its really such a small world and not only that later found out the other guy i was praying with was his uncle! So really thank God for such divine appointment like this, anyway i was so glad to have come here today, personally i'm really ministered by the whole night even though we were sharing here.. and i treasured the nice time to talk with my crusade staff at a more personal level too abt prayer and ministry!
What an amazing night!!!! =)

Its 3 prayer meetings in a row for me! Wednesday with my sch mates, today with this awesome people! And tmr with my youth ministry! PRAYER certainly is exciting huh!
And will be away at YM COMM retreat this weekend! 3rd retreat in a row! =)

By grace are you saved? (Part 2)

Had one nice long quiet time with the LORD this morning and He revealed so much to me from his Word .... and He just open my eyes so much on some questions thats been on mind about salvation...and i felt is something i must share with everyone out there.... What i'm about to write cannot be read briefly,but i pray that God will help you discern if you want to understand what God actually revealed to me(some may beg to differ on certain theologies which i will be sharing)...anyways this are pretty deep TRUTH from the Word to be grasped....so i'm open to hear from other people views on it too...(so please comment after reading this post thoroughly)
In reference to my previous post on are you really saved?... on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 (Click here for reference)

Just to recap on some questions that has been on my mind, ever since abt a mth ago when i encountered an article abt a Christian minister converting into a devout Muslim sheik ... it made me questioned if some "Christians" out there really are saved in the first place? Bcoz it is certain that once Christ is TRULY in us..WE CAN NEVER LOSE OUR SALVATION....unless we disown God(by our own will)..and that is PROMISED to us in the WORD of GOD.

Imagine this scenario... one day in heaven... the people we have been going to church with since young are not all there...and maybe we see only 10 out of 500 people in our church? Scaryyy thought right....

So the reason why i'm sharing this is mainly for "Christians" out there... some may have been going church all their life, some even serve in the church.... BUT... at the end of the day.. were they saved in the first place? Remember the Lord said the road to Heaven is NARROW... not many will enter the kingdom of God at the end of their life EVEN though they may "think" they receive Christ in their hearts....

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 8-9 (NIV)

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

"Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." Ephesians 2:7-10(The Message)

From this scriptures... Jesus Christ starts changing us from the inside out... We are than made and destined to do certain things for Christ. What things? Actions(its an active word) that reveal our love,our faith,our forgiveness,and so on. And we got the CHOICE...to live against that destiny or live with it... If we live with it...we EXPERIENCE SPIRITUAL HEALTH!

This can be summarized as...Our Salvation is by GRACE ALONE(v.8)..BUT... those good works that we would do are a RESULT of what God will make in our hearts to do after our salvation...(V.10)... thus, this is one way of seeing if your really saved?

And then going to the next point...
Read James 2:14-26 (for whole context)

"...(v.4)What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ...

(V.17)In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

This verse make me wonder if some people just say they have "FAITH" in God... but.... if they don't act out their Faith... it is the same as NO FAITH AT ALL! So are this people save in the end? Well i question?So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.James 2:17 (NLT)

(v.19)You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. ...

Below Extract Bible commentary of James 2:17
(Click here for full commentary)

One must also consider Ephesians 2:8, 10, which tell us that salvation is by grace through faith, and that the Father created us for good works, which He prearranged for us to perform. Therefore, how can a person with a dead faith, one that produces no works, be in God's Kingdom, since he would be failing to do the very thing for which God is creating him in Christ?

The root of this issue is that people have a dismally vague knowledge of what sin is, as well as an equally weak appreciation for the dangerous filthiness of sin, which can prevent us from entering God's Kingdom. We live in an exceedingly sinful nation in which we are confronted by sin from every quarter, including from within. Sin is so blatantly exhibited that most people seem to treat it with casual indifference

So many are unaware of what sin is that they ignorantly participate in it. Television and movie "entertainment" overflows with it. In fact, sin is woven so tightly into the fabric of movies and TV shows that one could wonder if any other subject material exists. Personally i would say even a common WORLDLY lifestyle out there like "clubbing" is one form of place where the devil can so smartly deceive us that is perfectly normal even if we go in for the right reason (yeaa right for the latter)... you will never know..how such influence from this society today that can cause sinful natures to creep in and then bring us away from our LORD...

Looking into this next 2 scriptures below.... are you scared to lose your salvation now...

Hebrews 6:4-12 and 10:26-39. (for full context)

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."Hebrews 6:10-12

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:36

The author of Hebrews predicts grave punishment for one who has
"....has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Hebrews 10:29

If you have stumbled by what i shared so far... read below what the Scripture that give an example of what we Christians should be doing....

"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness. Titus 2:7"

"It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passion, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, Titus 2:12"

After further reading of Titus.....The below verse is something God warn me and others out there who try to be too intellectual with the Word of God.... and i'm wary that I might fall into it if I dwell to much of certain biblical controversies...
"But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:9"

When the grace of God towards mankind has been declared, the necessity of good works is pressed. Those who believe in God, must make it their care to maintain good works, to seek opportunities for doing them, being influenced by love and gratitude. Trifling, foolish questions must be avoided, and subtle distinctions and vain inquiries; nor should people be eager after novelties, but love sound doctrine which tends most to edifying.

Anyways for everyone out there... if you are stumbled by all that i have written here about your Faith... ..
what i can assure you of is as long you truly believe Jesus Christ that he is your LORD and SAVIOR from your heart, and that he died for our sins, and that your TRULY repentant of your sins and that our LORD has forgiven them all on the Cross which he has gave eternal life...

And another thing we should take note that when we serve in church, it is OUT OF THE LOVE FOR GOD! and not for the praises of men...this is a common reason i believe many people serving in church fall into...

Then well... i guess i can assure you on that, but thats just my opinion of the first step....at the end of the day..you need a personal assurance from the LORD himself.=)
Well we all need to continue SEEK GOD earnestly everyday! and we need to have this FEAR OF THE LORD before He can show himself to you... remember GOD PROMISE US this... so hold on to those promised and you will see our LORD rewarding you one day!
"... "Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you."..Hebrews 3:5" 11Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself." 2 Timothy 2:10-14
(The verse above shows that if we disowned God... we will lose that salvation)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes(believing) in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Scriptures that use the present participle of the word "believe", which some interpreters take to mean a continual, progressive nature. Thus, these verbs could be translated "is believing" or "is continuing to believe".The present participle interpretation is noted in brackets..Click here for further references of "Conditions to be saved(methodist theories)"

"Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I'm assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you're in this for good and holding fast.)" 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (The Message)

Its true that God's grace will always bring us back on the right track....BUT... like i shared i hope everyone out there reading this won't take our salvation for granted.... only God knows at the end of the day if we really were JUSTIFIED and SAVED into his kingdom... so lets persevere in our Faith by disciplining our self to be rooted to His WORD and let the FIRE of GOD burn in our hearts everyday to keep that Passion for him! Let's pursue that Holiness that we are all called to be!"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:2
Would love to hear your opinions on what i just shared in the comment box below...

Wesley YM GAP retreat 2008!!! Overnight Prayer under the stars!

Wesley YM GAP retreat 2008!!! Overnight Prayer under the stars!
Friday to Saturday (TENTs at East Coast Park)
Its like back to back retreats and conferences! Last week YMLC, this week, GAP retreat next weekend YM Comm retreat!!!! And then got crusade retreat and "kelong" spiritual retreat coming in the weeks to come too!

Anyways this overnight prayer retreat certainly was a whole new experience praying and worshiping by the stars! And we just had limitless time! So we cld pray and pray till past midnite! How often we get such a chance! And God certainly revealed to each of us many things abt the ministry as well as our attitudes in facing our LORD! One thing that God impressed to me strongly while praying is... before God can actually show himself...we all need to have this "FEAR OF THE LORD"... and this is something which i have been learning recently too..especially when i fast dinner for the first time in my life! And it wasnt easy..but that FEAR of Him help me to keep to my fast.=)

Preparation time...

(wanping came down earlier just to help set up the tents! Thanks for bringing the tents!)

The rest of the gappers coming from church...

(in the bus.... see the nice scenery when we past marina bay...ronda and celine on right pic)

Arrival of east coast park!

(sat in a circle...played some ice breaker games and POLAR BEAR! before we started the praying)


(we formed this CROSS with our light sticks...COOL RIGHT... i'm the SPECIAL blue one =P..)


(the polar bear gameee....)

(me, elliot and josh!)

After 1am!....

(the rest when to get macs for supper while we waited...)

Macdonald's SUPPER TIME! abt 1.45am!

(supper by the pathway..... is that PETER PAN's shadow grabbing a leaf! haha!)

THE STORMY WINDYYYY NIGHT!
It was an interesting experience when the WIND BLEW like madddd in the middle of the night...and our tents almost FLEW while we were inside.. hhaha!

(we were almost crush when the tent canvas press down against us! haha)

(this is what we sang in the STORM! haha)

The next morning! 7am!

(can see elliot sleepy look! ... it was abt to rain again... but we rush to take down the tents...)

After packing.... we all carried the HEAVY things , devotion time... and walk abt 4km to the macs for breakfast!...

My bag was achinggg from carrying the 2 tents for more than 4km straight! I think they weigh abt 20 Kg altogether!!! MAYBE MORE!...


(elliot massagin my back! haha)

On the way back to church in bus...

(oh dearrrr whats ANDREW DOING!!! arghhhhhhh!)

God. Answers. Prayers!

God. Answers. Prayers!
Just finished a 1 hr 30 mins plus conference call with Gladwin,andrew,stacy and elliot as we spent the time praying our hearts out for the ministry as well as the over night prayer tmr! =)
Will be away this Friday night 12-13sep! As The wesley ym gappers are going to be praying over night at east coast park in the dark sky!

I'm ready to see GOD WORKING and REVEALING His purpose to us tmr! =)

Young Methodist Leaders Conference (YMLC) 2008 in Pulai Springs, Malaysia!

Young Methodist Leaders Conference (YMLC) 2008 in Pulai Springs, Malaysia!
There's really so much to blog about this conference!
Well I hope to summarized the 3 days at this Spiritual-refreshing conference where God impressed on my heart 2 things to take back which i will share at the end of this post! SO READ ON! =)

Day 1 (Friday) 8am!
The bus journey from Newton to Pulai Springs Resort in JB...

(the bus journey seem pretty fast! Like only abt an 1 hr plus from singapore!)

Reached at 1030 am SHARP...

(The tent place was where our meetings were all held! It really seem like the old testament times where Moses and the people gathered at the TENT OF THE MEETING and where the FIRE from GOD CAME!!! What a sacred place this area was! haha)

The nice 5 star resort...


(The wonderful resort with the niceee view from our SUITE! )

(THE SUITE! WE EVEN HAD KITCHEN, LIVING ROOM and 3 BEDROOMs! Really had a cool bunch of people rooming with... gladwin,adriel,isaac,glenn and kheng!)

First plenary session-
TRAC President- Rev Wee Boon Hup on Relentless Leadership-Disciple 1
Powerful message from the WORD of GOD...
Taking back points...
We should CONTINUE(Abide) in the WORD of GOD!..continue- as in not only studying it, but continue doing it!
Many people wld say they have heard the same message many times, but its not abt just hearing and knowing...its abt DOING and OBEYING IT!
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22(NKJV)

TEAM BUILDING GAMES!

(my lovely Group 8!... from back...me,Scott,Natalie,Esther(Assistant Mentor),Halim(mentor),Ben Lim, Yipeng..front row... Daena,Ivee,Sarah and Annabel..
i'm so going to miss this people! Somehow despite very little times meeting up as a grp besides lunch and grp times... there really was some chemistry going on with us! We manage to make that portable table u see infront!)

(Pastor Kay huat testing our table! AND IS SOLID!!!!... we won 4th place out of the 22 grps there!)

Evening Session- Senior Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong (Cornerstone Church)
Renewing the WESLEYAN flame...
Heard about this this pastor even before he spoke today, he really has a anointed gift in preaching! Immediately when he went on to speak... one can really SEE THE FIRE in him!
He went out preaching with GREAT PASSION and FIRE for our LORD... telling us about Renewing the WESLEYAN FLAME... He went on to share about how blessed we are as methodist to have this strong heritage of John Wesley story of how he had the flame ignited in him too!

Sermon base on this verses...
"15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John 3:15-16

And certainly we should KEEP that fire in us! It needs to be FED! =)
During the altar call, that fire came to all the leaders in different ways! I certainly was fired up when the Holy Spirit just came upon me! An experience had to explain! And i was so encourage hearing all those testimonies of how God spoke to each of us...

At night back in our room... the 6 of us guys had a very nice time sharing our experience with GOD that day! What a nice time to end the night =)...

"side note...his FIRE!!! message became a favorite catch phrase for all the leaders at this conference after that very night! HAHHA... remind me of the Rev james singh "FIRE" message too!!! FIRE! =)"

DAY 2 (saturday)
Morning prayer at 6.30am!!!!
It was amazing to see all the leaders coming down so early in the morning as we start the day "AT THE TENT OF MEETING"... GOD's presence was certainly with us! What a way to start the second day!

Second plenary session-
TRAC President- Rev Wee Boon Hup on Relentless Leadership-Disciple 2
Another powerful message from the WORD...
LOVE our neighbour! That sums up the whole thing!
A point that strike me a lot.. " The Best place to serve is Where God wants you to be"
That was where i was praying and still seeing where God wants me to be.... in the market place or in full time....... still waiting on the Lord for this answer....

Break time!

(andrew,caleb and david...all so tired and sleepy!)

After break...
Message on going Full time by Pastor Bernard Chao... A really good message!
"we are all Full time ministers"... God's purpose for us is to GLORIFY HIM(its not for God to make us important)

Workshops timeee...

Workshop 1...
LIVING A LIFE OF CEASELESS PRAYER by Mrs Lai-Kheng Pousson(special assistant from LOVE Singapore)
I really enjoyed her session, she shared many technical terms of prayer.. but what really strike me the most was her powerful testimonies.....She shared how she had cultivate this habit of like "online time with GOD everyday"..e.g. GOD can speak to her at any time of the day and how He God can use her mightily in many ways from her daily prayers (conversations) with Him. I guess this is the kind of sensitiveness to the Spirit that she had with God. Its like your on MSN online everyday with God!

Workshop 2...(gym workshop)
heee.... the guys in my room... had other plans =P.... gladwin (dream and visions time aka sleeping)... adriel,isaac,kheng and me decided to sneak out(literally sneak) to the gym! hahha! Well we are keeping fit for GOD too! Anyway had a good time of fellowship and refreshment!)

After dinnner....

(The nice golf course... Kheng and Isaac DANCING! hahha!)

(some of the ym leaders! waiting before the final night)

(the trackers video.... kheng is in this pic before the final session!)

Pastor Rupert Lim also from cornerstone church...shared the last message for the night...interesting style of preaching...

And end of with a long time of ministering at the end of today... many were touch by the Holy spirit!

Wesley YM camhoring!

(Some of the Crosstrainer leaders at YMLC!)

(The Wesley YM leaders!)

(The Wesley YM leaders!)

(All The Wesley Methodist Church leaders!)

Wesley Ym party in our room! hahah!
Some of the other leaders from ym came to our room where we had a nice time playing POLAR BEAR! hahah! it was veryyyyyyyy fun! Its hard playing with adriel who is an ex-judge and lawyer...he can tell whether a person is lying lor! hahha...and something amusing the next day, he taught his "Old ymlc grp" on the polar bear game! So funny seeing the oldest leaders there playing it during lunch time!

(the amazing polar bear game)

(I manage to get kheng to reveal to me the other polarbear!...ironically he was the other polar bear too...so i tried to save him.. but failed too..bcoz he was sooo nervous! )

(abt 9 of us ate this SUPER DUPER nice NASI GORENG KAMPUNG..after waiting more than 2 hrs from room service to come!)

We all slept very late... only had like 3 hrs plus of sleep...

Day 3(sunday)
Second plenary session-
TRAC President- Rev Wee Boon Hup on Relentless Leadership-Disciple 3
Sumary of 3 days sermon on
Marks of a disciple..
1. Follows Jesus
2. Continues in the Word
3.Has forsaken all and put Christ above all
4. Loves one another
5. Bears much fruit
6. Makes disciples
7. Operates in the power of the Holy Spirit

After that had Lay-leaders message by Mrs patricia khoo from pentecost methodist...

FINAL Lunch and grp discussion with my lovely grp!
Only during the sharing time was where GOD impress on my heart on what to share to the others abt the entire conference and what next..... He clearly told me that... with the nicely laid out sermons..of STRONG FOCUS on the WORD in the morning sessions...and than Powerful SPIRIT led and FIRE sermons at night, what a great combination!

So that laid to my final taking home points... God revealed this to me..... "is to CONTINUE in the WORD of GOD (be rooted in it well) and be on FIRE for the LORD!"

Final communion service...
AND home sweet home!
What a refresh conference! =)