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Monday, March 23, 2009
This week's sharing was actually a discussion regarding exposure towards the world. We know that we are not of the world, but God did put us here for a reason. Many of my fellow Christians have either backslidden or walked away from God because they do not know enough about the world that we have been intended to live with. As such, since they do not understand and the church doesnt teach them, they turned to the world's views about the world, and then we would have lost them. In an effort to prevent this from happenng under my watch i have done up a few discussion questions that were pertaining to the issue of sex, films, politics, violence and youths, and the discussion was hotly debated but reached no real conclusion except to be aware but not to fall. So please, if you have any questions relating to the world or its effects, please come to me and i'll try to give you the best answer that i know of, before going to search the world for answers, alright? love you guys/girls, joel :)
Posted by exquisite me, @
12:23 PM
Praise God! Often times we say “Praise the Lord” or “Hallejuah” without remembering what it actually means. It is easy to say things that you don’t mean. According to the dictionary, the praise someone means to express admiration. And to sing someone’s praises is to praise someone publicly and enthusiastically. I’ll talk about 2 things. Firstly, why do we praise the Lord? There’s always a reason to. There was a little old lady who would come out every morning on the steps of her front porch, raise her arms to the sky, and shout, "Praise the Lord!" Well, one day an atheist moved into the house next door. Over time, he became irritated at the little old lady. So every morning he would step out onto his front porch and yell after her, "There is no Lord!" Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day. Then one morning in the middle jof winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord! Lord, I have no food and I am starving. Please provide for me, oh Lord!" The next morning, She stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. "Praise the Lord!" she cried out. "He has provded groceries for me!" The atheist jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "There is no Lord. I bought those groceries!" The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries, and He made the devil pay for them! There is a chief reason why we praise God. It is because He is worthy. He is the creator of the universe. He created you and me, and just like how the pot is a testament to the potter, we should praise Him. Every service is a celebration, to celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will be doing. Is there quiet celebration? No. we have to open our mouths and celebrate. James 3:9-12 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. God gave us a mouth, and with this mouth we can praise God or we can curse men. God obviously does not want us to curse men, therefore we can only say that God gave us mouths to give him praise. Now we move on to the second point, how do we praise God? The bible in Psalms 35:28 My tongue will sing of your righteousness and of your praises all day long says we should give him praise all day long. Praise should be rightfully given despite our circumstances. In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas were thrown into jail, yet they were praising God. There’re a few ways to praise God, first of all by singing. the whole of psalms and songs of Solomon are songs unto God. Secondly by dancing (Psalms 149:3) Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. Thirdly by sharing testimonies and being a testimony. (psalms 22:22) (matthew 5:16) I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven. If we do not praise god, Luke 19:40 says the rocks will. In a way the rocks are shaming us. Trees wave their branches and birds chirp, but if we who have mouths to speak don’t praise god, we will be shamed. norman.
Posted by exquisite me, @
12:22 PM
Sunday, March 15, 2009
JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS - 33MILES Woke up to the pouring rain Stumbled out of bed with half a brain Twenty minutes late for work again But it's alright, it's alright No time for coffee, gotta hit the door Grab a shirt from off the floor Never noticed it was stained before But it's alright, it's alright Oh, but nothing's gonna bring me down No, not now It's just one of those days When everything's right God is in his heaven and I'm walking in the light So hallelujah anyway It's just one of those days You look at the sky Throw your hands up and you laugh at life So hallelujah, Lord be praised It's just one of those days The boss calls... yeah, I know I'm late I had a flat on the interstate Tell the man that he can wait Don't get uptight, it's alright Hold on... there's another call for me No, I didn't buy a diamond ring Somebody stole my identity Hey it's alright, it's alright Oh, but nothing's gonna lay me low 'Cause I know... So come on rain, lightning strike Just you try to shake my life You got no power, you got no hold 'Cause it is well with my soul So hallelujah, Lord be praised It's just one of those days
Posted by exquisite me, @
11:17 PM
Friday, March 13, 2009
cherie: pray for strength and wisdom and help and understanding pearleen:pray that work is smoother jonyuan: pray for good results, strength changxiang: pray for blessings dilys: pray for Rangers Junior Leader Training Academy Junior Training Trail Camp norman: pray that i'll have a fun, enriching, smooth, nice time at attachment. :DDDDDDDD joel: pray for correct acceptance of march's news video
Posted by exquisite me, @
7:30 AM
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
We serve a great and mighty God, but we must first grasp hold of the fact that He is alive, before we can be sure of our faith. Christians worship a God who is alive, and that makes us different. Isaiah 40:18-20 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. Our faith is made certain because we serve a God who is alive.
1. God the Father in the Old Testament
- In the Old Testament, God had an intimate relationship with Man.
- God communicated with Adam. Even though Adam couldn’t see God in the form of a person, Adam heard God loud and clear. It is just like when we talk over the phone. We do not see the person we are talking to, but we can hear the person and know that person is real and alive.
- God also knew the needs of His creation. He saw a need for Adam to have a helper, and thus He created Eve out of Adam.
- God evidently shown Himself as a God who is alive. He could fellowship with man and He could meet man’s needs. Adam knew for sure this God he served is a God who is alive.
- After Man sinned, God was disappointed. But He never turned His back on His creations. He continued to love us and show us that He is alive!
- God made the impossible possible. Parting of the seas was clearly impossible in the naked eyes of man, but God made it possible.
- It is something no human beings can do, and very obvious it was done by God. A God who is dead would not have the power to perform miracles, so it is straight-in-the-face that our God who performed this miracle is alive!
2. God the Son who in the New Testament
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
- God knows the struggles we have as humans. we are all humans and being the scientific beings we are, we seek for proof before we choose to believe. .- By sending Jesus to earth, God showed himself in the very form of a human. Though he was 100% God, he was also 100%.
- He lived among His creations, fellowshipped just a friend would.
- No one can perform such miracles, except for God. All the miracles Christ performed showed that He was 100% God. The fact that He lived on earth showed that He was indeed alive. And when you put these two facts together, you get a God who is indeed alive!
- NT was also a very privileged and special period where God came in the form of a human. It is always easier to believe when we see it!
3. God the Holy Spirit in today’s context
- Jesus promised His spirit when he leaves. I used the word ‘leave’ because even though He died on the cross, He rose again 3 days later. He’s not dead, but he’s alive!
- And because God has promised never to leave nor forsake us, He sent His spirit to dwell within us.
- People began speaking in unknown tongues, and it must be God who made this possible. This again shows that He is alive and lives amongst us. - We have power when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do works for God, and these works point towards God and glorifies His name.
- The very works God performs thru us as willing vessels are proof and evidence that God is still alive today.
- Even though we do not see hear God audibly like in the OT, see God physically like in the NT, we feel God in our hearts, and SEE the wonders that He still performs today!
Conclusion:
We can see something common throughout the three different stages. In the old testament, we saw that Moses availed himself to be used by God, and God performed a miracle by parting the red sea. In the new testament, it was a small boy who sacrificed his lunch such that God could use his lunch to perform yet another miracle. In today’s context, it’s also about the availability of oneself. The Holy Spirit dwells in us only if we open up our hearts and allow Him to. He doesn’t force Himself into our hearts. We must be the ones who are willing to invite Him in. God is a gentleman. So today, if we want to see evidently for ourselves that the God we serve is a God who is alive, who is able to perform wonders and miracles, we must avail ourselves and allow Him to reside in our hearts.
Posted by exquisite me, @
7:53 AM
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