Festival of God

Came across these youtube videos about Van Ness attending a healing service in TW.

Alot of attention from the media have been on his previous public declaration of abstinence. He even designed a tee with the slogan “GOD is better than Sex”. Oh, he also wear a chastity ring that he designed & sell. How cool is that? That is how serious he is about his faith & commitment. It is reported that because of his passion, he is liken to a beacon in the industry & has led some to salvation.

It is also interesting to note that his born-again situtation is brought about by a HK-born American Chinese pastor, Jaeson Ma. He grew up in the black community & is a rapper. So he makes a “new-age” pastor – trendy & fresh . Became a pastor at 25 (he is 29 this year) & his conferences in the US are known to bring in the crowds.

It is just wonderful to hear the great joy that God brings in one’s life & how they, or in this case, Van Ness, testifies to His greatness everyday. To God be the glory!

SERVANT OF GOD FIRST, ENTERTAINER SECOND~

Selling a house to help the poor

I read with interest the article on 7th Feb’s Life about the Salwen’s family who indeed did just that..

It started with a stop at a red light in 2006 when the father drove his daughter home. At the stop, she noted a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging gor food on the other. An innocent protest by the 14 year old daughter that if the owner had a less nice car, that man could have a meal.

The conversation did not stopped there as the young girl kept pestering her parents about inequity & insisted that she wanted to do something. A reply by the mother in jest just turned out to be exactly what they did subsequently – “What do you want to do? Sell our house?” – gave the teenager the idea of selling their luxurious family home & donating half the proceeds to charity, & using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.

This crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring project is now being chronicled in a book by the father & daughter scheduled to be published this month in the US called “The Power of Half”

Teaching the Word

by Ps Alvin
31st January Sermon Reflection

The Word of God will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from God’s Word

Is the Word of God a First Aid Box (heeling), a Refridgerator (feeding), a Crystal Ball 9seeing the future)?

1. Holding Strong Convictions about God
- we are created for relationship with Him (Gen 1:26,27, 2:7, 3:8,9)
- He takes initiatives by revelaing Himself to us thru Creation & Christ’s incarnation
- He reveals Himsef thru action & explains Himself thru words

Fan of F4?

Erm, know them? I am not a fan of them, but I chanced about Van Ness Wu’s artiste blog while browsing wong Li Lin’s link, which was to her hubs, Allan Wu, who is also on this alivenotdead website.

I have read somewhere before that Van Ness has become a born-again Christian, & he has actually publicly declared to abstain from sex (he spoke to a large crowd of kids at a God is better than Sex event, even opening admitting his previous act of sin) & alchohol (i mean man, I still have my fill of beer & wine!).

There are not many celebrities who are very open about their faith. As I browsed thru his blog, I am amazed to find many entries about God, how good He is. Every entry has a “thank God” for something for that day, whether his work, his friends. And it did not come across as cliche or fake..

He even hold prayer dinner meeting at his home!

In fact, the few recent trips he made to SG was to attend some Christian events/conferences, & he hanged out with the people from Church of Our Saviuor (COOS), & performed with other TW celebrities at some City Harvest events.

His blog description is actually “SERVANT OF GOD FIRST, ENTERTAINER SECOND”.

It was interesting & somewhat I developed a new found respect for him. I reckon it is tough in the entertainment industry. But he made it out clear & loud God first, entertaining second..

Pray that God wll indeed use him as a beacon in this industry as a light & example for all to see.

I just googled abit a youtube & found some clips on him in SG, including his performance & testimony at the CHC event. Then there was another one that was in feb 2009 where he came to SG to promote his move Kungfu Chef (which he blog as KFC; cant rem this movie tho). He was honest in his interview about while praying helps him become calmer, his temper still flies with the media when they irritate him.

Then there was the mention of him spending 40min to an hour every morning before he starts the day. My! I feel so guilty! He said no matter how busy we are, we need to prioritize and reschedule our activities around prayer time with God because having intimacy time with Him is so important. The day will start & end well with committing everything to Him. I am taking home a lesson here…

Check out Van Ness here!

Reaching Out

by Ps Dave
24th January Sermon Reflection

The device of the Devil
- persecution & false gospels
- apathy & distraction
- giving believers other priorities

3 Attitudes to grow toward (Acts 4:7-22)
1. The IRRESPECTIVE attitude – have we really understood the purpose Christ calls us to?
2. The UNYIELDING attitude – are we really committed to the cause of Christ?
3. The AUDACIOUS attitude – do we believe in the power and love of God with us?

Reaching out can be easy. The key is to do SOMETHING as opposed to nothing! (LK9:26)

Accountable Relationships

by Ps Tony
17th Jan BCC Sermon Reflections

“So, we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” Rom 12:5

Accountable Relationships – True Body Life Results in Connectedness
Core values are key to building missional character.
7 core values – B-A-R-T-L-E-Y

* our spiritual service
* not to be conformed to this age
* diversity within unity

The Shortness of Time VS the Length & Magnitude of Eternity

A simple yet profound sentence that we are reminded at last night’s Revelation class…

If only we can comprehend the total truthness of this sentence, we will live like it is said. But many times, we think we understand, but our life and the choices we make do not seem to be so. ALl the chpices and actions we make, are not made in light of that eternity even though as believers, we proclaim that truth.

Oh, how do we make light of it!

Believing Prayer

by Ps William
10th Jan BCC Sermon Reflections

Believing Prayer – Prayer helps draw you closer to God

Core values are key to building missional character.
7 core values – B-A-R-T-L-E-Y

1. Our core value in believing prayer
- God is our Abba Father & prayer helps us know Him better (Rom 8:15-16)
- God desires to give good gifts to His children (Luke 11:13)
- God wants us to approach Him in faith (Heb 11:6)
- We pray, believing nothing is too difficult for God (Luke 1:37)

Reflections:
- Knowing all these (all along), why am I not doing it reguarly, consistently?

2. Our Position in Prayer
- we are chosen of God (Eph 1:11, 1 Pet 2:9)
- we have the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13b, rom 8:26)

3. Our Posture in Prayer
- heart of thanksgiving (Eph 1:16, Col 4:2)
- persistence in asking (Eph 1:17, Luke 18:1)

4. Our Purpose in Prayer
- to know God better (Eph 1:17b, Col 1:10)
- to experience His power (Eph 1:19, Psa 107:28-29)

Reflections:
Do i want to know God better?
Am I spending enough time in prayer?
Am I believing in the power of prayer?

Just..

I am not doing too well, in that I am not sleeping well AGAIN! Arh.. Sleep – that elusive thing!! It is one gift I have yet to learn how to receive!

Maybe that aggravate the tonsilitis which has not visited me for a while, leading to fever, which further led to a blocked but somehow still dripping nose & watery eyes!

Almost a week & feeling lousy…

feeling blue..

It’s been sometime since my regular/monthly tonsilitis activate, and it happened since Wed. Been feeling feverish & weak, not not bad enough to see a doc cos it has been suppressed with all the liang-teh…

have to skipped the planned sundown practice run this morning..