Monday, June 27, 2011

Burning Hearts Conference 23-25 June 2011

Its been 4 years since I went to my last Ignite Conference in 2007, (apologies for the bad grammar if you read that 2007 post)
http://benlau89.blogspot.com/2007/03/final-nite-of-ignite-conference-2007-is.html

Then I was just this young 17 year old boy with a lot of heart zest & passion for the Lord! Basing a lot of my Christian faith on very experiential encounters with God. Not that the passion has gone, but as I grew older, God revealed much more to me through my mind instead of my heart. Such "spiritual" experiences seem to lessen & God taught me a lot on "walking by Faith & not by sight"...


(Burning Hearts- Ignite Conference 2011@ Kum Yan Methodist Church)

And just reflecting back on the last 3 days of 7 back to back solid sessions of worship, prayer,preaching of the Word & ministry time...there were a lot of moments seeing how the Holy Spirit moves & ministered to many.

And as I look back for at least the first 5 sessions, I hardly got to comprehend the structure of his sermon as he preach with such free flow right to our heart that it went lost in my mind at moments. As I was thinking back abt a post I once wrote couple months ago on "Mind, Heart & Will"... where the order sld be ideally in this way according to a book I was reading by Martin llyod Jones. And going thru this conference, made me reflect on the approach this preacher went, where it was on the "heart,mind & will" instead...not that it really matters alot, but it set me thinking quite a bit...

And then by session 3, he ask if we think we are "smart". As we humans try to think to much on our mind to comprehend the Kingdom of God & yet we don't fully understand it, as a fact, no human mind can comprehend Him in that way except by the Holy Spirit in us who will reveal to us who He really is. And this made me really ponder, that sometimes we try to intellectually reason so much of God that it blocks us from really knowing Him. That was where I suddenly understood why he was focusing alot in preaching towards our heart. As what he said does make sense, if God truly touches our hearts, we will naturally want to seek Him & hunger to read His Word more to get a clearer understanding of His Scriptures. Thus the order wld go from heart to mind to will.

In the end after 5 sessions, by the 6th session, there was a sudden change in his approach where he was preaching more towards our mind this time. Where he took a lot of scripture references of his views on the End times & how we are really nearing to that last hour! Only till this 6 session where I finally began to see his other messages tying in together.

There's gonna be a movement of Prayer, Worship & Missions which involves the Youths of today! - David Silker (Burning Hearts 2011)

When he said that, my heart jump, as that was what God was really been revealing to me this year in the direction for camp! And this was like a personal affirmation hearing this statement from him.

Besides that, this conference really allowed me to see how over 500 over committed youths & leaders coming together in such deep surrendered worship earnestly praying & worshiping their Hearts out to God! Looking at that, really grew my burden for the ministry that God set before me, if only we have everyone in wesley ym in such commitment to God too.

This is a bit more personal, but as Pastor daniel suddenly prophesy over me during one of the sessions, a deep sense of affirmation & assurance set into my heart over my future in 10 years time. Where I wld just accept by Faith first, and will see where God take me later. =)

In the end, coming our from this conference, it really reminded me what God was telling me earlier on this year on what God can do when His Holy Spirit just empower us to do beyond our own human abilities. And that's how we truly become that TRUE WITNESS for our Lord when we are leading this Spirit Filled life which overflows with His Love to others everywhere we go!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

God's Grace for all!


Was inspired to draw out this cartoon after hearing from a friend about this quote from D. L. Moody: Written on the outside of the gate of heaven are the words, “Whosoever will may come.” And on the other side of that gate, which you can read from the inside, is written: “Chosen before the foundation of the world.”

This is a paraphrase interpretation of it! Where God's grace is for all mankind in this world, and or we need is on our free will to accept that prevenient grace that is set before us. "Knock on that door & receive Jesus Christ in your life! And once you get through that door, you will understand that you are Chosen by God! =)


Saturday, June 18, 2011

GO4th 2011 Reflections 26-28 May/ What missions really means?

A note which I recently posted on my facebook...
“There’s no such thing as foreign Mission with God, God’s Missions Belongs to the World” - Rev Dr Eddie Fox (World Director of Evangelism, the World Methodist Council )

GO4th 2011 has certainly broadened my perspective of what Missions really is. Especially in recent months where our YMOVE committee has been going for intensive mission training session of deconstruction of preconceives ideas & assumptions of what Missions is to us. Right now as I write this I’m still in the midst of reconciling my thoughts of what missions really is.

Going Beyond Boundaries
Rev Rick Seaward mentioned that reasons why we don’t go for missions is we put boundaries & limitations for ourselves. But God has NO BOUNDARIES. Jesus cross all boundaries & push every boundary. Jesus was one who was move with Compassion! I believe that is what would move us too, perhaps we should pray for God to give us that compassion for His people, and that would move us out of our boundaries.

Diaspora Missions
The overview of missions around the world was certainly an eye opener to me. One of which was Diaspora missions in the world as well as in Singapore. There are 3 main groups of such Diaspora missions, the migrants, the Students and the professionals. It was really encouraging to hear first-hand from people out there who do such missions. One of which is the ministry in Fairfield Methodist church (FMC) where they reached out to the Chinese migrants workers. This all started from just 110 people who attended this one CNY dinner celebration, where 49 received Christ on that day and now it has grown to up to 13 000 of such Chinese migrant workers who has come to FMC, where 5000 has received salvation, 500 baptised and now there’s records of people receiving Christ at almost every service weekly.

Adding to that, there was this Vietnamese girl who shared a heartfelt testimony on how she came to know Christ from this girl she met in school and others who came along the way. Just hearing her story moves one to know that we will never know how our actions & deeds can actually lead one to Christ eventually. This is how I see relational evangelism as well. It all starts with building relationship with one another. It is as simple as just showing that love to one another. “This is my command: Love each other. John 15:17”

Going Deep
We had the privilege to go deep with in-depth Bible Study with Bishop Robert Solomon in the morning sessions. We discussed on the story of Jonah on the first day and on Song of Deborah from Judges on the second day. Below are some of his profound quotes that I noted down.

 ‎"Responding to Missions is like Falling in Love with God... "Yes God use me"- Bishop Dr Robert Solomon

"One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it."- Oswald Chambers

“We have too many Christians doing too many calculations, with whatever knowledge we have we just need to make that commitment." - Bishop Dr Robert Solomon

“Why we obey God?

1) Fear of Him
2) Knowing God can be Trusted
3) Knowing that He Bring Joy to your Heart
4) Because we Love God”

Personal highlight
My personal highlight of the whole conference was during the session by Pastor Peter Tsukahira a Japanese American Israeli citizen who shared two insightful sharing’s during the conference. I still remember the powerful testimony of his wife’s ministry in Israel where they reach out to the poorest of the poor by setting up shelter for refugees. One day, the prime minister’s wife heard about this, which later led to the media coming to hear about it as well. When the media asked of them to share of their ministry, they took that chance to tell about their relationship with Jesus and how they were Messianic Jews. This public declaration of their faith and ministry was later on the front page news of which millions of people read after.

Ministry in the market place
He also shared about his marketplace ministry when he was working in the business world and was a pastor at the same time. He shared that we shouldn’t focus on just looking to climb that corporate ladder. Sometimes we get too caught up with the world just looking at climbing that corporate ladder that we may never even be close to God when we reach to the top. In fact we should stop focusing climbing up that corporate ladder but look down to those below you instead. We should look at their needs and ask God how we can meet their needs.

Looking Far
On the final night, Peter Tsukahira shared a heartfelt sharing from his book "God's Tsunami”, the move of the gospel expanding in a westward direction. From the time of the Apostle Paul, Peter shows that God directed Paul to preach the gospel to the west. Peter chronicles how the gospel has moved west into Europe and has been moving steadily westward to this day. Though Paul's ministry only took him as far as Rome, the gospel has continued to spread to Europe, then to America. From there it moved to Asia (the 10/40 window) and will circle back to Israel - where it all started, and there will be the "end of the line" in the western sweep of world evangelization. Jerusalem is God's chosen place for the return of the Messiah. This message is described in Scripture. The passage Peter references is Romans 11:25, where Israel's revival will follow the fullness of God's harvest among all nations and is the chief requirement for Christ's return.  

Are you ready to "Catch the Wave of God's Purposes?"- Pastor Peter Tsukahira

What is Missions to me? - Benjamin Lau
A lot of us have our own presuppositions of what missions is, partly from the influences of our own church background or prior exposure to missions. Andrew Kirk who wrote the book titled, “What is Mission”, asserts that we need to start with a proper theological understanding of God, which shaped our theology of Mission. This reminded me of a personal theological framework of God which I once drafted that is based from my understanding of the Kingdom of God in light of ‘Missio Dei’, which is the Latin word for ‘the mission of God’. I formulated this framework in this way, as I believe we first need to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and His reign as King in the Kingdom of God as said in Psalms 103:9, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all”. With that premise, I believe we need to understand God’s heart for the world. In accordance with Missio Dei, God desires to restore back His creation mandate.

This restoration of the creation mandate is similar to what Chris Wright postulates, “the great plan and purpose of God is to redeem the whole of creation, broken by sin and evil, into the new creation, populated by the redeemed from every culture through the cross and resurrection of Christ.” Andrew Kirk’s expands this with a really good overview of his tentative understanding of the theology of missions, he said, it is “a disciplined study which deals with questions that arises when people of faith seek to understand and fulfil God’s purposes in the world. It is a reflection on attitudes and actions adopted by Christians in pursuit of the missionary mandate. Its task is to validate, correct and establish on better foundations the entire practice of mission.”


So what is missions means to me today?
Firstly, I believe we need to think through the impact we create when we are going for short-mission trips. For example, when we go on short-term mission trips, are we there to just teach English? Would it be beneficial for them in the long term? Or perhaps, when we plan an Easter programme, would it actually help them? Even with good intention, sometimes we may actually be imposing the culture of how we “do” church to a village in another country who “do” church totally differently from us? These are considerations we need to take note of and to be aware about. Sometimes it can be just as simple as going there to encourage the missionaries there or just playing with the kids. Having said that, I still believe there is a purpose for such short term mission trips, as God can always use anyone in His ministry, just that we need to think through the real intentions of why we go for such mission trips in the first place.

Besides this short term mission trips, we also need to see that missions involves the entire church. Imagine if we our entire church members can be Kingdom Minded and see beyond the four-walls of our church who actually actively participate or support any of these ministries in some way! There is so much impact a local church can actively play in God's Kingdom purposes in this nation and in the World!
This is supported by what Chris Wright who have said, “Missions is the mode of existence for every member of the whole church to take the gospel to the whole world.”  David Bosch elucidates it beautifully, “Mission takes place where the Church, in her total involvement in the world and the comprehensiveness of her message, bears testimony in the form of a servant, with reference to unbelief, exploitation, discrimination, and violence, but also with reference to salvation, healing, liberation, reconciliation, and righteousness.”

If someone asks me what my theology of mission is now, I would respond, it is playing a part in God’s Mission to reconcile back His Kingdom to all creation and to restore His Creation Mandate. It’s a holistic approach, not just in a spiritual sense by evangelizing to others, but being that true witness of God in our life and meeting the physical, physiological and emotional needs of the marginalized and the people we meet along in our journey in this life. And all this is only possible with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.


“We are called to spread the Good News of the Gospel by Word, Deed and Sign in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the world may know Jesus Christ,”...“We, the people called Methodists, are followers of Jesus in the company of the Wesleys. John Wesley made it clear the Wesleyan Way for the Methodist Movement is to be alive, vibrant and growing.” - Rev Dr Eddie Fox (World Director of Evangelism, the World Methodist Council )


GO4th Conference 2011
The Wesley YMers who came on the final night of GO4th!
Our YMOVE discussion on one of our many meetings on missions, on "What's the KINGDOM OF GOD?" 

Monday, June 13, 2011

Fulfilling OFF day!

At 7.15am
Started the morning early with a good morning run to start the day around my estate with janine whom I just found out who stays just across my street! Had a good run thru wolksel road, past my old sch st.gabriel's pri, past Australian International sch, past bradell PUB before reaching the woodleigh park which was a former cemetery...

The Woodleigh park (Former cemetery)
Now a nice quiet park!

Did a short run here before ending of with some static exercise to end the morning workout!

Got home! And decided to spend the afternoon writing up my delayed entry for my GO4th reflections at the same time was hearing a recording of Pastor
Peter Tsukahira at the conference. And manage to dig out some of his sermon materials...

One of it was this Hong Kong magazine which he shared with us!


(Thats the gates of beijing, where the photo of Mao is photoshoped with Jesus! And stated in small print. "Jesus of Nazareth now has more followers on the mainland [China] than the Communist Party!" Recent surveys estimate the number of mainland Christians worshipping independently of the authorised state churches to be as high as 100 million. That comes to about 1 in 10 of the total population of China.
)

Catch the Wave of God’s Purpose- Pastor Peter Tsukahira

(Found this video of Pastor Peter Tsukahira sermon at the recent GO4th conference! This part includes the recording of that awesome wave video he showed there!"Catch the Wave of God's Purposes?")

And one of my highlist is decided to sign up for Army Half Marathon 2011!!!! So excited finally got a marathon to motivate me to start running leading towards 4 Sep 2011! And best still, now running as a civilian! =)

Some of the videos I came across Godtube today too!




Saturday, June 11, 2011

HIERARCHY OF CHOICES - Christian Context

HIERARCHY OF CHOICES - Christian Context

This is the Hierachy of Choices model which Marcus discussed at the recent YM Committee meeting.And when looking at it again today was inspired to translate it into a christian context.

HIERARCHY OF CHOICES

IDENTITY


Child of God

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12


I am the light of the world.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14


Chosen people of God

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priest hood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9


PURPOSE


To glorify God

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31


To shine for others

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16


VISION


God’s Heart for the World

If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7: 14


The Glory of Christ and the Blessing of the Nations

“For the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14


STRATEGY


The Great Commission

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20


Witnesses throughout the world

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8


TACTICS


Love one another

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”John 13:34-35 (NLT)


Prayer Constantly

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


ACTIVITIES


Sharing the Good news

“ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 (NLT)


Spend yourself for those in need

“ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” Isaiah 58:10

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Wesley Church Camp 2011@Pyramid Hotel, Sunway Lagoon, KL

This recent wesley family church camp has certainly set me pondering on questions we don't normally talk about.

If you have 30 days left to live...what will you do?

Live like you were dying!.... "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Phil 1:21


The sessions which Rev Stanley Chua shared his heart out.

Session 1: Live like you were dying!
Session 2: Love Deeper
Session 3: Give Forgiveness
Session 4: Embrace Eternity


Wesley Youth Ministry Dance Item!


(Dance Practices)

SUNWAY LAGOON!










(Finally tried the lovely A & W Coney Dog for the first time in 4 years!)



(YM Leaders at Church Camp)

(The Peranakan Dance)

(18 of us youths spend the night playing bowling)