Ever since last Tuesday, been fighting the flu bug that's been massively spreading to the people around me. I'm someone who rarely gets sick and tend to recover pretty fast after a couple of panadols and a good night rest. But somehow, this been one of the longest time for a long time, been fighting this. Weds, tried to recover in time for staff lunch, but it got worst come afternoon. Thurs spent my entire off day resting at home, thinking it will recover. Friday, felt horrible in the morning, got better when I reached the office. Saturday felt the same horrible feeling waking up in the morning again,but it got better come afternoon, during dinner felt the headache kicking back in, and gone home smash.
Sunday! Woke up feeling the most super HORRIBLE of the week with a horrible headache, extremely sore throat, and knowing a long day ahead, I just prayed and hoped the Lord will sustained me. The panadols I took helped till about lunch time, and when I started feeling the lightheaded feeling again, I knew God is telling me to rest when the panadols stopped working. Had to reluctantly miss a big tchoukball match that afternoon & a farewell dinner that sunday. Slept through the afternoon, but the headache didn't really get any better, and I suffered the night trying to sleep it off.
Today, took leave so I cld have one more day of rest. However still woke up with that horrible feeling, of a bad sore throat and lightheaded feeling. Thought I had to go through another bad day. But THANK GOD, right now i'm feeling slightly better and hope and pray that I can spend a good day with the Lord going out of the house somewhere quiet. :)
Disciple 1 class - Session 11- Consequences, "God Punishes the People" Below are 4 videos of Warnings responded by Hope. From Jeremiah, Isaiah and Lamentations.
For those who miss today's Saturday Service, or didn't take down the sermon notes, here's what I manage to scribe down on my iphone.
Image is what you see, identity is who you are
"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NIV)
Whats my core identity?
1) Primary identity
2) Life centring around a core truth that shapes my identity
3) My deepest sense of who i am and who I long to be
1) A Distorted Identity (v.16)
A "fading" glory from Moses face
"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord." (Exodus 34:29-35 NIV)
God created us in His image. Before the fall, Adam & Eve could see God so clearly in their reflections.
But now we have a fallen nature.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12 NIV)
Forgetting easily
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (James 1:22-24 NIV)
2) A Restored Identity (v.18)
We have to remove our mask. Repend and turn away from our Sins & turn to the Lord.
Christ removed that veil!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
Beholding Him "contemplate"
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. " (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)
We reflect/illuminate what we behold.
This brings a process of sanctification. Becomes more & more like Jesus.
Moses reflected God in a temporary way, but when Jesus came we reflect Him eternally
Why is Christ the centre of our core identity?
a) He is the source of it all
b) His love for us is one sure thing that can never be taken away (Rom 8:38-39)
c) He is all that I long for
"He had made me for himself, I am restless until I find my rest in him." - Saint Augustine
How do we form core identity?
a) Centre: Make Christ the organising principle of life
b) Deep: inhabit biblical truth and value structures (Col 3:16)
c) Surface: Develop patterns of decision-making around these deeper ones
"Picture God as the Sun & us as the moon. We reflect God's Light like a moon reflects the Sun radiance.When the "World" comes in between the Sun & the moon there's partial or no reflection of the Sun. "
Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. (John 8:14 NIV)
Was inspired to share a short extract of one of the message from last week Holy week service together with the next chapter of brokenness by Nancy Leigh Demoss during our room devotion last wednesday...
3 expressions of humility: Sinner- Dr Matt Rawlins
Jeremiah 17:9, 10 NIV“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve."
All people become “defensive” when they become threaten, vulnerable or embarrass.
Let’s change the word “defensive” into control. Our heart condition is to be in control. Learning how to be vulnerable in our relationships, loving ourselves and neighbour. As God knows our heart, He is not ashamed of us. Are we able to talk about vulnerability? That human weakness of ours?
The problem in a church is not sin, but walking vulnerability with one other.
It’s about hearing each other heart, not just about trying to fix it.
Having said that, below is an extract of the next chapter from the book brokenness which follow up so nicely with His message.
JOURNEY into BROKENNESS (Chapter 6)- Nancy Leigh Demoss (Part 3)
“Being broken is both God’s work and ours. He brings His presence to bear, but we have to make the choice... All day long the choice will be before us in a thousand ways.”- Roy Hession
Brokenness requires both God’s initiative and our response.
i) The Word of God has the power to soften the hardened soil of our hearts and shatter our stubborn self-life. Psalm 29:4-5,”The voice of the LORD is powerful... The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars...”
ii) God uses circumstances to expose our need and bring us to the end of ourselves.
iii) God has given us the body of Christ. Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend...”
1. GET A FRESH VISION OF GOD
The closer we get to God, the most clearly we see ourselves as we really are. When we step into the light of God’s holiness, our lives are brought into sharp relief.
To know God, to live in His presence, and to be occupied with a vision of His holiness is to know how foolish and frail we are apart from Him and to be broken from a preoccupation with ourselves.
Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
2. DON’T WAIT FOR GOD TO BREAK YOU- CHOOSE TO BE BROKEN
Don’t wait for God to break you. “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God” (See 1 Peter 5:6)
“God be merciful to me a sinner”, “Have mercy on me, O God”
“We must learn to live with the roof off and walls down.”
3. ACKNOWLEDGE SPIRITUAL NEED- TO GOD AND TO OTHERS
If we want to live a lifestyle of humility and brokenness, we must learn to live with the roof off and the walls down.
Living with the walls down toward others can become a wonderful means of God’s grace in our lives.
4. DO WHATEVER YOU KNOW GOD WANTS YOU TO DO
Has God spirit been tugging at your heart?
If you want to have a revived heart, you must choose to run head-on into whatever it is that your pride is telling you not to do.
The battle inside will stop the moment you wave the white flag of surrender and say “Yes, Lord”. The longer you delay, the harder you resist, the more difficult it will be to obey God. Don’t hesitate a moment longer. You can’t begin to imagine the joy that awaits you on the other side of the cross, the power of His resurrection life that will be released through your death to self, and the wholeness that will emerge out of your brokenness.
"Oh Father, we confess our great need of Your grace- grace to let You search our hearts; grace to offer to You the sacrifice of a broken, contrite heartm grace to put to death our prude and self-will; grace to walk in the pathway of humilty, as our belived Savior humbled Himself for us; and grace to keep looking to Him as our only hope of eternal salvation. Through our brokenness, may Christ be seen, magnified, loved, and worshiped by others, till He returns to make all things new. Amen. "
Jesus Christ paid a very costly price by dying on the cross for the sins of the entire world! 3 days later He was resurrected! And more than 500 over witnesses were accounted to have seen that very event where WORLD HISTORY was CHANGED FOREVER!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
In recent weeks, God has been reminding me on what it means to be going back to that first Love of Christ. If you have grown up in church one would probably know the principles of what it means to lead that christian lives in our minds, but do we truly allow God to convict our hearts?
The last few months after YM CAMP 2011, there was times I felt I was going on a "Spiritual High". Everything on the outward was good. I was doing my daily quiet time, doing diligently my Disciple 1 readings, doing my small group roots & weeks homework. Leading bible studies. Keeping to my sabbath. And doing a lot of good things on the surface of what I know a good christian should live by.
But deep down if i truly touch my heart, I fear I will get complacent one day, I fear spiritual pride might seep in and I fear that it was just the outward appearance of "looking righteous" on the surface and all these expectations to be met as a good christian leader in church.
And as I share this short devotion from personal thoughts and extracts of passages from Nancy Leigh Demoss on Chapter 5 of her book. Hope it speaks to you as it speaks to me. :)
Extracts of Chapter 5- The Blessing of Brokenness)
Every time I read the passage below I wonder if we are really like the church describe in Ephesus...
Revelation 2
To the Church in Ephesus
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Are we like this Church of Ephesus doing a lot of good deeds on the surface, but deep down in our hearts we have lost that first love?
Recall a moment right now, imagine that scene in your life when you last felt this deep intimacy of that love from Christ.
"Most Churches are like a bag of marbles- all hard and clanging up against one another. Instead, we ought to be like a bag of grapes- squished together so that the juice of His Spirit may flow out through us.” – Pastor Ray Ortlund
John 12:23-25
23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
What does this kind of death mean? It means that we must be willing to die to our own interest, die to our own reputation, die to our own rights, die to our own ways of doing things; die to our own comfort, convenience, hopes, dreams, and aspirations. To “die” means to lay it all down. To give it all up. To let it all go.
The only way to gain your life is to give it up. The only way to win it is to lose it. We think we are giving up so much by dying. But in reality, it is those who refuse to die who are giving up everything.
When we choose the pathway of brokenness and humility, we are choosing to receive new life- His supernatural, abundant life- flowing in us and through us.
Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Having said that, let's look at the condition of our own church today...
Why is it so hard for us to express love and worship?
Perhaps it is because we still have the roof on and the walls up. Pride causes us to erect barriers between ourselves and God, and walls between ourselves and others.
“When our personality is surrendered to the Holy Spirit, He will express the heart of God through us. We will no longer be self-conscious but entirely God-conscious”
True worship begins with brokenness and humility over whatever God reveals to us in His Word.
Lets look at Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. He set the perfect example of brokenness.
“This is My body which is broken for you”1 Corinthians 11:24
When His body was broken on Calvary, eternal life was released for the salvation of the world. Revival is really nothing more than the release of God’s Spirit flowing through broken lives.
Do you need a fresh encounter with God?
Are you ready for Him to pour out His grace on the dry, thirsty ground of your heart?
Listened to the lyrics of this song "Surrender- Lincoln Brewster" right now. Acknowledge the first love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Open up your hearts and let our Sovereign Lord just minister to your hearts as you response to our Lord in Surrender.
Surrender- Lincoln Brewster
VERSE 1:
I'm giving You my heart, and all this is within
I lay it all down, for the sake of You my King
I'm giving You my dreams, Laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride, for the promise of new life
CHORUS:
And I surrender, all to you
All to you
And I surrender, all to you
All to you
VERSE 2:
I'm singing You this song, waiting at the cross
All the world holds dear, I count it all as loss
For the sake of knowing You, for the glory of Your name
To know the lasting joy, even sharing in Your pain
Wesley Team B vs Bethesda Depot Walk Team B... Sharing before the game. We were definitely outplayed by a much stronger team today losing to them 40-50.
Just came back from an amazing Tchoukball game today! Was reflecting after the game that the amazing beauty about the Spirit of this game is we can be opponents on the same court yet we still can be friends encouraging one another during the game! Still recalled how we encouraged is other if we made a good shot or good catch even though we are opposing teams, and even once the ref called for a frame shot but we knew we made a lost point, we admitted it. This is probably the most sportsmanship game I've ever played! :)
Prepared this sharing for the recent Crossroad Sports Tchoukball League before our game last sunday and thought these are valuable values and sporting lessons we can learnt from this recent raising star of the NBA scene!
Who here have heard about the recent NBA basketball superstar Jeremy Lin?
In early February, a friend of mine posted a game that he just played on my Facebook wall. He was apparently an undrafted player who got miraculously chosen to be part of an NBA game. I’m not really a basketball fan, but when I saw the highlights of that game and how he scored that massive 38 points against the LA Lakers, I was wondering, who in the world is this Chinese boy playing at a high level NBA game with the Americans. He was a total odd ball of what a usual NBA player would be, his was a Harvard Graduate, He was Chinese and his a devout Christian.
Soon his videos and story flooded face book. If you haven’t heard about this boy you should catch his video and his powerful testimony.
So it intrigues me to search more on what was his “secret formula” for his success. Read a few of his articles and decided to share some lessons learnt from him.
An Interview with Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and led his basketball team at Palo Alto High School to the state championships in his senior year. At Harvard University, Lin has built a national following, has been hailed as one of the finest point guards in the nation, and stands poised to enter the NBA as a high draft pick and the first Asian-American to achieve prominence in the NBA.
Lin is among those receiving the highest number of votes for the Bob Cousy award, given annually to the nation's most effective point guard. He has been profiled in Time, Sports Illustrated and ESPN: The Magazine, as well as countless basketball magazines and newspapers from the United States to China.
He once said that if he could get more than just a 10 day contract in the NBA, he would write an autobiography. Why?So that he could use it to share his faith.
1) He was Humble
One of the greatest lessons Learnt from Him, is he is someone who is truly humble.
Kobe Bryant said before his game against Jeremy Lin's New York Knicks.
"I know who he is, but I don't really know what's going on too much with him," said Bryant of the Chinese-American sensation. "I don't even know what he's done. Like, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I'll take a look at it tonight though."
Soon, one of NBA's greatest would be silenced in the following game where Jeremy Lin outgunned Kobe with a startling 38 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds in his first game nationally syndicated by ESPN.
Lin said he did not have to prove himself.He did not have to boast about himself. He just played to His best and allowed God to use him.
2) He had Discipline
Lin has been described by commentators as a smart player and a "student of the game". His high school coach said that in high school, Lin studied game videos of Magic Johnson playing for the LA Lakers. Even during the half time of the Lakers game, he was watching the tape of the first half to figure out how to play better against the LA defence which the commentators were startled to hear!
3)He was Team Player
Unselfish people are loved more
Philippians 2:4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Lin has captured the imagination of the watching world, not just because he is successful, but because he is unselfish. In each game that he played, he had a serious number of assists. He was not looking for his own glory but seeking to help the rest of his team to lift. He has become a phenomenon but unlike many other phenomenon’s, not too many people are getting jealous over him, but are celebrating with him. Everyone loves unselfish people and that is something that Lin has demonstrated.
4) He was Single- minded
In the sports you play, are you single-minded? What drives you?
Colossians 3:23
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters...”Similar for Jeremy, he wasn’t focus alone on winning. His perspective was totally different.
When asked whether he felt pressured having to play for the Christians, the Asians in America and also on behalf of Ivy League graduates.
He said this to the reporters. “I’m not working hard and practicing day in and day out so that I can please other people. My audience is God".
That was what drives him to where he is today. So what drives you?
A couple of his live testimonies recorded before he became a superstar...
Sports I grew up playing with over the years! Started playing quite abit of ping pong leisurely in my childhood days with my dad, then gave my whole heart to soccer from primary to secondary days, and now dedicated my season playing Tchoukball with my church. :) And from today till this Sunday will be playing all this 3 sports at once one after another! :)
Discussion on Session 8: Biblical Priorities of Roots & Wings in Small grp today. How can you cultivate true godliness.
"Dear Lord, Teach me to walk humbly to your ways daily. Break my self-centered will, my self pride, my self ambitions. I truly desire to walk in full total submission to your sovereign will daily. Teach me and grow me to produce the kind of godly character that you desire us to have. Allow your Holy Spirit to empower and lead me as you know best. In Jesus Name. Amen."
