Tuesday, October 26, 2004
God's family
Hi..I'm back..:) one more paper down, yeah! :) two major papers due on fri though. So much has happened recently..as i sang the song 'One Voice' in church yesterday, i was affected quite a bit. guess it reminds me once again that as a body of christ, we are to be united. but do we know what we are united in? the saddest thing is when we even fight against ourselves. don't you think so?
visited arpc mandarin ministry yesterday, and mum came along for the first time. once again, we sang a song about being part of God's family. the lyrics came even stronger this time round, encouraging us to shoulder one another's burdens in times of trials and tribulations. how apt it is in these difficult times of standing firm for the gospel. thank God for the encouragement through the songs...the message was good too! the topic was “今日还有神迹吗？”. boon yong did a good job of covering the old testament (exodus) and bringing us through the gospels, pointing to the fact that miracles were shown as a sign to salvation. that challenged my dad quite a bit, and i'm really glad he was there. having been to a few healing rallies, he was confused about miracles and what faith is all about. after the sermon, we had a good 20 mins of discussion, and quite a no. of doubts were cleared. i left the service very much encouraged, being reminded that the salvation i have in christ, and each day, being transformed into christ-likenss is already a miracle by itself. most of the time, when we talk about the topic of miracles, the first thing we think of is those healing rallies and start criticizing them. thank God for this fresh perspective on miracles. :)
visited arpc mandarin ministry yesterday, and mum came along for the first time. once again, we sang a song about being part of God's family. the lyrics came even stronger this time round, encouraging us to shoulder one another's burdens in times of trials and tribulations. how apt it is in these difficult times of standing firm for the gospel. thank God for the encouragement through the songs...the message was good too! the topic was “今日还有神迹吗？”. boon yong did a good job of covering the old testament (exodus) and bringing us through the gospels, pointing to the fact that miracles were shown as a sign to salvation. that challenged my dad quite a bit, and i'm really glad he was there. having been to a few healing rallies, he was confused about miracles and what faith is all about. after the sermon, we had a good 20 mins of discussion, and quite a no. of doubts were cleared. i left the service very much encouraged, being reminded that the salvation i have in christ, and each day, being transformed into christ-likenss is already a miracle by itself. most of the time, when we talk about the topic of miracles, the first thing we think of is those healing rallies and start criticizing them. thank God for this fresh perspective on miracles. :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Decisions..decisions...
Counting down the number of assignments i've to hand in. In the midst of churning out paper after paper, I'm bogged down with many issues to handle. Major decisions to be made, problems to be settled. By God's grace, I'm still surviving. Things are not that bad..just that it's not convenient to mention here..but some of you may know what is happening (with regards to either one or both issues).
Visited ARPC Mandarin ministry on Sunday. Was a last minute decision cos Dad suddenly mentioned that he wanted to go in the morning. The topic was “我们都是罪人吗？”.
Boon Yong preached from Romans 5:12-21 and referred to Genesis 3 as well. Though I've just done this passage in English, understanding it in Chinese is slightly different. Slower, I guess. Haha.. After the sermon, we had a group discussion to reinforce and clarify what we have learnt. Thought it was really helpful and also provides a warm environment for seekers, no pressure at all. The small congregation gave us an opportunity to get to know more people, a few whom I've met at Project Timothy and the Friday service as well. Glad to find out that my dad found the preaching clear and it challenged him to study the passage even more. To my surprise, met Dr. Ng (the guy who shared at the recent Teachers' Retreat). That makes it 2 NIE lecturers. The other one is my current lecturer Ms Foo. Small world...Boon Yong invited my dad to join them for Bible Study class every Tues, hope he will attend and grow in knowledge of God. :)
Visited ARPC Mandarin ministry on Sunday. Was a last minute decision cos Dad suddenly mentioned that he wanted to go in the morning. The topic was “我们都是罪人吗？”.
Boon Yong preached from Romans 5:12-21 and referred to Genesis 3 as well. Though I've just done this passage in English, understanding it in Chinese is slightly different. Slower, I guess. Haha.. After the sermon, we had a group discussion to reinforce and clarify what we have learnt. Thought it was really helpful and also provides a warm environment for seekers, no pressure at all. The small congregation gave us an opportunity to get to know more people, a few whom I've met at Project Timothy and the Friday service as well. Glad to find out that my dad found the preaching clear and it challenged him to study the passage even more. To my surprise, met Dr. Ng (the guy who shared at the recent Teachers' Retreat). That makes it 2 NIE lecturers. The other one is my current lecturer Ms Foo. Small world...Boon Yong invited my dad to join them for Bible Study class every Tues, hope he will attend and grow in knowledge of God. :)
Friday, October 08, 2004
I'm back...
Yes, it's almost 2 weeks since my last entry. I'm still alive, and my blog is surviving still. ;p Hehe..Decided that it's time to post something after lazing for a while. Would like to share about a book I finished reading sometime ago, and it has challenged me to be different in an indifferent world. 'Distinctives' by Vaughan Roberts is a great book that reminds Christians to stand firm for the gospel and living it out in their lives. I've always found Roberts' books clear and easy to read, not too cheem for me at least. Ok ok, perhaps I'm just lazy to think. haha..He has aptly touched on the different topics, contentment, purity, holiness etc. The one on relativism in this world is something which is helpful for us to think through. Sadly, we are living in a world where everything is acceptable and nothing is absolute. In fact, this has crept into our churches, our lives so much that we may not be aware of it! We agree with teachings so long as they are quoted from the Bible, which sadly, may be taught out of context. We agree with everyone's views when it comes to studying the Word, but do we look to the absolute truth? For those who observe what is happening around the churches, it is clear that this situation is not getting any better, in fact, worse. Let's put on our guard against false teachers, and may we encourage one another to stand firm for the gospel, so that we can guard ourselves against all the seemingly truths around us!
Something light to end off this entry... :)
10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits:
1. No Breakfast
2. Overeating
3. Smoking
4. High Sugar Consumption
5. Air Pollution
6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.
7. Head covered while sleeping
8. Working your brain during illness
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts (Serious Bible Study definitely helps)
10. Talking rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.
Are your habits here? ;p
Something light to end off this entry... :)
10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits:
1. No Breakfast
2. Overeating
3. Smoking
4. High Sugar Consumption
5. Air Pollution
6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.
7. Head covered while sleeping
8. Working your brain during illness
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts (Serious Bible Study definitely helps)
10. Talking rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.
Are your habits here? ;p
