Busy December!!!

Slightly overwhelm at my next 5 weeks ahead!!! 4 Retreats, 1 Camp, 1 Mission Trip one after another! God please sustain me! :)

1) 27-28 Nov 2012- GEL Ysg Retreat (Over!)
2) 30Nov-3 Dec 2012- Combined Subministry Retreat
3) 7-8 Dec 2012- YM Camp Leaders Training
4) 12-16 Dec 2012- YM Camp 2012
5) 19 Dec 2012 God's Clay 10th Year Anniversary Celebration!
6) 21-23 Dec 2012 God's Clay SG Retreat
7) 26Dec - 1 Jan 2013 Mission Trip to Cambodia
8) 5 Jan 2013- Zone 4 Retreat!

What's Your Theological Framework of God? (8 Oct 2012)

Who is God to you?

Each of us have our own personal theology & views of who God is. They are normally shaped from the lenses of the christian teachings and upbringing that we are exposed too. Our theology also developed as we study, reflect upon His Scriptures and the experiences of Him in our life! 

I personally believe all of us need to seriously know and have a somewhat right theology of God. We will never fully comprehend God in this lifetime but what we know of Him will shaped how we live our life for Him today. One thing we also need to be aware of is our theology of God will never remained the same and it cannot be fix and set in stone in any particular framework.

As I try to attempt to mind-mapped my present theological understanding of God, I know God is still going to change and developed it, especially in the next few years as I embarked into seminary soon. 

In the past few months, have always wanted to pen down & mind-mapped my present theological understanding of God. Especially after a series of deep theological discussions with different friends in the past couple weeks, and one of them even showed me his personal diagram & thesis of his present theology. And thought today will be a good afternoon where I can finally sit down and developed the initial raw & sketchy mind-mapped that I did last week.

1 Nov 2012 (My first draft Theological Framework)

After discussions with some people and reflection from my initial theological framework the past week, decided to develop it a bit more and try to make some sense of it.

Developed this second draft of my present theological understanding of God in this framework on how we should live out life for Him in accordance to

“Missio dei” (God's Mission), influence from the few mission trainings that i've been exposed too the past 2 years & "order of our salvation" according to John Wesley. 

8 Nov 2012 (My Second & Present Theological Framework) 

1) I began with God's Sovereignty and His reign in the Kingdom of God. Psalms 103:9, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all”.  The straight continuous line over arching everything shows that God is constant throughout time, from the past, present & future. 

2) Next in accordance to “Missio dei”, God’s mission is to "Reconcile back His Creation Mandate” 

In practical terms this will affect how we view Outreach in social justice (micah 6:8) and reaching out to the leads,last & lost (Matt 25:25-45), in Community(The love for one another in Small groups, the church, etc (John 13:34-35), Fellowship of Believers (Acts 2:37-47), Ministry (In service, being loving channels, ministry of reconcilliaion (2 Cor 5:14-21), Worship in Spirit & in Truth (John 4:24), Prayer as intercessors, praying unceasingly (1 Thess 5:17, John14:13-14) and Word (Study of Scriptures, Scriptures are"God Breadth" (2 Tim 3:16). 

Point 1 & 2 can be summed up in this:

 “From Psalms 103:9, The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all”, in light of “Missio dei”, God’s mission is to "Reconcile back His Creation Mandate” & we have been commissioned by Him by being a part of His Kingdom plans by being true witness of God in our life by spreading the good news of the gospel by Word, Deed & Sign in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the world may know Jesus Christ.”

3) The continuous line in between shows the order of Salvation according to John Wesley's theology. Starting with Prevenient Grace (Grace for all people,Titus 2:11, John 1:9), Justifying Grace (Eph 2:8-10, Rom 3:21-26). With Sanctifying Grace (Perservering in faith (Heb 3:14, Col 1:22-23), grow in grace through obedience & spritual disciplines), (Anointing, Sanctification & Assurance) in between towards Grace of Glory where our Salvation is fully complete in heaven.

Growing in Spiritual Formation (this is the process of Sanctiying Grace too, where by one grow in christian perfection through discipleship, mentoring, "bands", small groups etc. (2 Tim 2:2)

4) Growing in Christian Perfection by living in the Empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, Eph 5:18) and exercising in the Gifts of the Spirit, (1 Cor 12-14) and having the Foundation of God's Truth in WORD (Sound Doctrine) & DEED (Applied Truth). 1 John 3:18 "...let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth"

Point 3 & 4 can be summed up in this:

 “In this journey of Faith towards Christian perfection, we are to hold fast to our Faith, to grow in grace through obedience & spiritual disciplines. And we are to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, exercising the gifts & applying His Truth in Word & Deed!”

Can't wait to see how this current framework change especially after my time in seminary in the next few years! And quoting Adriel Loh, who was one of the main person who inspired me to mind-map our personal theological framework once said this, "The powerful thing about having such a framework is that it gives our lives congruence and consistency. We have a set of beliefs, values and principles by which we can live by and make decisions" . 

And I would like to end of this note, by challenging you to mind-mapped your own personal theological understanding of God too, yet to be fully aware that God can and will change and develop it still. So do not let that framework be set in stone after writing it down. But in the process of it, I believe in your reflection you will see your present thoughts of God being internalised in you and it will help you articulate it to someone the next time they asked you to give a reason for the hope that you have. :) 

1 Peter 3:15 (New International Version (NIV)

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..."

WALK BY FAITH!

This message was just prepared 2 hours before my sharing at YM GAP last night, it all started when I was just throwing out some of my thoughts with Hans& David who randomly dropped by my office in the afternoon.  Decided to discuss with them over tea of this inspirational faith book by "SUN STAND STILL" by Steven Furtick,  which i've been reading the past week.  After that,  was walking back to my office and praying out loud to myself if I should share this topic on "Faith" to the gappers and  as soon as I step back into the office, The song “Walk by Faith”  by Jeremy Camp was played on random on this Christian radio! And it just hit me! Is this a sign from God? I took it by Faith & it has let me to what i’m about to share with you all today.

What is Faith to you?

Let’s first define what FAITH is from scripture...

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen  means the persuasion is not the outcome of imagination but is based on fact, such as the reality of the resurrection of Christ ... 1 Cor 15 (a summary of 1 Cor 15 talks about the many witnesses of Christ Resurrection during that period), and as such it becomes the basis of realistic hope. So there are evidence to it, people have seen it, and it is a fact. But we do not see it because it happened many years ago.  E.g. of World War 2, we weren’t there,  we didnt see it, but we knew it happened. There's an  evidence and facts of it.  

"Faith always has been the mark of God's servants, from the beginning of the world. Where the principle is planted by the regenerating Spirit of God, it will cause the truth to be received, concerning justification by the sufferings and merits of Christ. And the same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith.

It is a firm persuasion and expectation, that God will perform all he has promised to us in Christ. This persuasion gives the soul to enjoy those things now; it gives them a subsistence or reality in the soul, by the first-fruits and foretastes of them. Faith proves to the mind, the reality of things that cannot be seen by the bodily eye. It is a full approval of all God has revealed, as holy, just, and good.

Below are 3 points adapted from Steven Furtick (Sun Stand Still) book, added with personal testimonies!  :)

1)      Hearing the Word initiates  Faith

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. Do not let similarity of a passage affect new revelations that God can give to you. Once heard from someone when you do your QT. If God doesn’t speak to you then, do not just stop, but wait and seek God until God speaks!

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 

2)      Speaking the Word activates  Faith

We proclaimed what we believe in our Hearts based from the promised of God.

Here’s a quick account of what happened, was praying for this Crosstrainer event at Pulau Ubin after a divine revelation of God from His Scripture.

One of the biggest faith building moments came in my time serving with the cross-trainers.

STORY 1

Testimony of Ubin event @ Destination Again 2008

Was looking back at an old email which Adriel sent to the crosstrainer comm after that event, Breakthrough 1 & 2 was added by me, the rest was from Adriel's email.

The amazing BREAK THROUGHS!

  

Break Through 1- 19 Jan 2008- God Revealed to us Pulau Ubin from that rainbow after we prayed at YM GAP the day before our first recce on where to hold our march event.

  

Break Through 2- Second recce 17 Feb 2008- Called the manager of ubin resort, shocked us with a budget of $18 000, the Xts gathered to pray, call again on same day. Brought it down to $10 000. In the midst of these planning, was rushing a school assignment, and at the back of my mind was this event, I decided to take a break from my sch work, & get some encouragement from the Word, and God just showed me this verse…

 

Romans 4:20-21

New International Version (NIV)

 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 

(Below extracted from Adriel Email's to the Crosstrainer games comm In 2008)

Breakthrough 3 - The event was still too expensive as the guy initially wanted a minimum of 300 pax for $10k. YM Comm then took the decision that if could not get at least 150 signups by that sunday, we would not go to ubin. We polled the ministry last sunday and got 180 replies. We then spoke to the manager and he agreed to reduce the minimum sum to 200 pax. The final figure at ubin yesterday was 208 persons.

Breakthrough 4 - Next then the ferries broke down, and God provided the ferry through Emmeliene's parents.

  

Breakthrough 5 - By thurs, we still had no port for the ferry. And God again, God provided the port arrangements.

Breakthrough 6 - Then it rained. I remember as I was driving to punggol yesterday morning and it started to rain. A YM leader who was with me said, "Its raining!" I said, "Dont worry, it will stop." He replied, "You sure are confident". I said, "Yes, the number of breakthroughs God has given us over the past 2 weeks, I am absolutely confident the rain will stop." The moment we stepped foot on ubin, as we all saw, God stopped the rain.

Breakthrough 7- After the event, Sandy and I met up with the manager and we pressed him, and guess what, we got a 10% discount on the price! So you guys are well within budget!

Here’s another amazing story of Faith and prayer that happened just couple weeks ago.

STORY 2

Here’s the recollection of this divine miraculous story of an incident that happened just couple weeks ago before our Disciple1 retreat, where God created certain circumstances and use various people for us to see God’s amazing divine hand in answering a prayer. This is one of the most amazing & faith building testimony I’ve experience of God’s faithfulness in a while. :)

God's Divine Answered Prayer! :) 

 8.25pm: The rest of us went to Cheers to buy some snacks & than we headed later to the SeventyNine retreat centre opposite GMC. After settling down awhile, Song & Me decided to get our stuff from Xunliang’s car which we left earlier in the day. As we walk towards his car, Xunliang noticed… ayeeee! WHERE’s MY CAR KEYS!!!!!!!… did he left it at the 79 centre, cheers? or dropped it along the way from seah im?… ”We said a brief prayer, Dear Lord, Please help us find Xunliang’s car keys”… we walk back to 79 centre,and told Ps Raymond, “Mmhmm, we think Xunliang might have left his car keys in Cheers”…and Ps Ray EXCLAIMED IN EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!!! And rannnn out of 79 centre and brought us across the street to GMC where that “Metal Cabinet” was and said is it THISSSSSSSSS!!!!! And we were like!!! WOW!!!!!! God actually answered our brief prayer within just 5mins! And his car keys was actually left there in the open for more than 3hours!!! And he didnt know he actually left it there at around 5pm when we were standing around there. 

FLASH BACK (The detailed account of what happened prior to this divine revelation)

 4.50pm: Xunliang, Song & me came earlier via Xunliang car park near 79 Retreat centre, before meeting Ps Ray & Mattho at Grace Methodist Church (GMC) (Advance Party)

 8.00pm: Walk back to GMC from Seah Im Market…

 8.15pm: Ps Raymond & Matt ho went ahead to get things that was kept in their cars at Grace Methodist Church (GMC).

 8.20pm: While Danette & Ronda was waiting for them at this “metal like cabinet feature” outside GMC. Danette noticed, “aye someone car keys are left on that cabinet?” … Ps Raymond came to find them there later, and they all tried testing whose car it was around the area, they couldn’t find it, so decided maybe just leave it here until the owner comes back”…

  

 Looking back on hindsight, it was really by pure coincidence that God somehow led our very own people, Danette to randomly spot that small car keys on that metal cabinet that was right open in the public, and for Ps Raymond to actually bump into them there later if they didn’t had grab something from their cars, and if we didn’t have mentioned to Ps Ray… all these series of circumstances, can only be foreknewed and by our Omniscience God who just allowed us to see his DIVINE hand throughout the series of circumstances!

3)   Doing the Word demonstrates Faith

 

We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)

 “There is a difference between standing in hope and walking in faith. 

Faith is not an abstract theoretical proposition. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s substance. It’s action. Most of my life I imagined faith as some kind of force field. And the way we talk about faith dematerializes it. By most definitions, faith is synonymous with hope. But the more I study Scripture, the more I detect a sharp distinction between hope and faith. 

Hope is a desire. Faith is a demonstration. Hope wants it to happen. Faith causes it to happen and acts as if it’s already done. 

Faith is not content to want it really, really badly. Faith consults the drawings and gets busy building. Hope is the blueprint. Faith is the contractor. 

Some of the impossible things we’re believing God for will never happen in our lives if we stand in hope instead of walking in faith.” - Steven Furtick  

 

“ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” James 2:26

In Conclusion

Having shared all these! We do not always need to know the final plan! Oh how to get there! It’s going through the process of walking by Faith daily that matters...

Have you ever considered that, in the overall scheme of God’s design, the process is the point?  “Every big dream has small beginnings. Between the promise & the payoff, there’s always a process. And that process is the breeding ground of faith. That process has the potential to draw you closer to Jesus than you’ve ever been before. The process is the point.” - Steven Furtick (Sun Stand Still)

“Hearing the Word initiates Faith, Speaking the Word activates Faith, Doing the Word demonstrates Faith”

With this certainty and assurance of what God convict your hearts of from hearing his Word! Let’s learn how to pray in such audacious Faith today!