Sunday, May 20, 2007

Testimonies

Couldn't made it for Sunday Service this morning, Yvonne was down with asthma this morning.....brought her to see a GP. Anyway, here's 2 encouraging testimonies of how great is our God.....

Testimony 1 - My God shall supply all my needs.........
Kenny work contract was about to end in May. So the care group started to pray for God to open door. Since Kenny have just recently became the father of 2, he is needing a more stable job. Last Friday, he shared that a company he applied a year ago called offering him job. After interview, the company decided to offer him. What's amazing was later the company called him again and counter proposed to offer him a higher position. Hallelujah!!! He is our provider....my God shall supply all my needs.

Testimony 2 - We are a family
Yvonne and I were having dinner with Eugene and Yan last Thursday. During dinner Yvonne mentioned about dear Jackie needing to take taxi to & fro from work cos she is still in clutches...(a whole month salary gone liao....may delay her marriage....). Eugene and Yan almost immediately called Jackie to offer her rides to her office in the morning.
I was so moved by their willingness, generosity and sacrifices....cos they have to leave their home for work slightly earlier to fetch Jackie....... Indeed, we are all in the family of God.
And a prayer in my heart.......Eugene and Yan could join our care group........

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Some Thoughts About Pop Cultures and Cultural Mandate

Been obsessed by these topics lately, doing lots of reading and research......till I digest further, here some notes for our thoughts.......

" Though the gospel of Jesus Christ never changes, it must be contextualized to the culture it is brought to.....like language which which the hearer can understand.....and understand without misunderstanding. Like in Malay environment we point with our thumb and not with our middle finger......"

"Every church must and need to continually undergo reform to continue the missiological work of the gospel in their time and place. When churches fail to reform they inevitably begin to die and become increasing disconnected and irrelevant tot he people and cultures around them."

"This is why every time the gospel crosses from one culture in to another there ensues a rigorous debate to sort out what is gospel truth, what is sin and what is simply baggage added to the gospel as it was contextualized in a culture...In bible times, these were topics like meat sacrifice to idols, day of worship, circumcision, sexual immorality etc. And for our day these include time of worship, body modification, musical style in worship, styles of dress, sexual preference, etc."

Hence, Christians are to observe and analyze culture and make decision regarding our proper actions and reactions within it. But we must be a informed and thoughtful Christians, if we want to make a difference in the ever changing culture. We are to practice discernment while actively transforming culture......

Regular Excerises

On MC again today! Blood pressure is like roller coaster ride.....causing bad headache and sometimes giddiness.......must be the food and lack of excerises lately. Think better get back to my inline skating again......

Here's some pics

Harry's Birthday


Mothers' Day Celebration at VFC


Every mom got a big strawberry and a delicious muffins....too bad didn't take the pic it. Of course, how can we miss honoring our moms with standing applauses and prayer for them.......

Mother's Day



Our initial plan was to have it at Penang Place, for an assumptions penang food buffet. But hor, they are fully booked. Not only Penang Place, but most restaurants at the West are all fully booked for dinner.....so ended up at Aikra(Japanese food) .......guess Singaporean expression of love and honoring for mother is through food? Anyway, here are some photos of Yvonne and her family.....Ah Fu and gal were in Japan.

As for Lui's family, we had a simple steamboat meal at my place, simple and healthy....cos not sure what should mom diet be......

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Losing Heart!!!

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal 6:9

Not sure, if this is out of context......We all tried very hard to do outreached, may it be our pre-believer friends, relative, family, etc. But most of the time we don't see results.

Just for a lunch time thoughts - isn't reaching out to the pre-believers a good deed? Whether is inviting them to services, care group or just thru friendship...we are all reaching out right? And the important thing is, it does'nt matter if we are sucessful or not!!!!!! We are still reaching out...and this is doing good.....

And if we are doing good, we will as promised, reap if we do not lose heart..........yap, press on everyone!!!!!!!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Pray for Healing for My Mom

mom op is scheduled in July, the surgeon will try to used the new method to remove the gall bladder, 3 to 4 small insertions. But if complication entails, the conventional method will be used. The new method has a quicker recovery time, 2 days in hospital and you are out. But the conventional, will need to stay in hospital for about 5 days. Also the wound recovery is also double the times needed.

So let's pray for a smooth op, without others complications and the new method is used. And of course, pray for financial provision lor..........

mom previous stayed at the hospital cost sis cash $1.3k .......and the hospital told us that for her op in July, may cost as much as $5k in cash, tat's after deducting from CPF!!!

The funny part and also the sad part was that the nurse informed us that if we choose to downgrade to the subsidised ward (class b2).....it will not be conduct by the same surgeon. A new medical officer will take over...........and if the current surgeon is free, he will pop by to take a look during the op.........

the morale of the story.....subsidies rates.....subsidies standard of medical professional care........hahaha...

Another Cultural Mandate Write Up

These another write-up by a pastor........

How the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission Complement Each Other

Unfortunately many Christians take an "either/or" approach to the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission. While some focus their efforts almost exclusively on electoral politics, or impacting the fine arts, others stress evangelism and missions to the exclusion of the needs of the contiguous culture. Some believers even go as far as to suggest that Christian engagement in the public square is detrimental to the church's witness. But far from opposing each other God intends for His Cultural Mandate and Great Commission to work together. Both are critically important commands God has given his Church to change the world. We must not emphasize one over the other.
Our obedience to both mandates is the best way to support God's plan for His creation. Here are a few ways this is so.



Obedience to the Cultural Mandate serves the Great Commission by
... providing an opportunity for the gospel. When Paul stood before the Felix, and Jesus stood before Pilate, they declared key aspects of the kingdom of God. Christians that take an active part in the political system, public education, the arts and sciences, and more, will find an opportunity to represent God.

... fostering a flourishing context for the spread of the gospel. In countries where the government is totalitarian, communist, or fascist, the flow of the gospel is not stopped but is certainly slowed. Where government respects the free exercise of religion, greater inroads for the gospel are created. To the extent that Christians seek to protect their right to openly proclaim the gospel in the courts and legislatures throughout the land they help ensure a public platform for the proclamation of the salvation message.

... promoting moral laws that help guide people to Christ. Paul teaches that the moral law of God acts as a tutor leading people to Christ ( Galatians 3:24). Laws that prohibit murder, stealing, and other sins help make people aware of the difference between right and wrong. The Holy Spirit uses this awareness in people to draw them to Jesus.
Today our nation is more and more losing its ethical moorings as greater numbers of people disrespect laws meant to promote good behavior while at the same time many of our nation's public servants are now seeking to promote laws designed to permit behavior God considers evil. The result is a growing indifference in the culture to right vs. wrong, a problem that can only result in further indifference to the gospel. The Church can help reverse this trend by following the dominion mandate and working to defend moral laws.


Obedience to the Great Commission serves the Cultural Mandate by
...adding lost people to the family of God. As increasingly more people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus through the church's zealous efforts in evangelism, the more these people can be trained in the important work of building a Godly culture. And on and on the process goes...

Update on Cultural Mandate

okie..finally got something abt 'cultural mandate' but still trying to digest the information I got.....quite alot leh.........only got like 1 hr of reading yesterday(from like 6pm to 7pm...than teaching my son chinses.....alomost dieded)......so will update more when my thoughts are more orgainsed. But here's some writing I found on it.

The term cultural mandate is used by modern evangelical Christians to represent the doctrine that the biblical principles of Christianity are not only to be applied to one's personal life and the life of the church, but that God commands Christians to also transform society and its structures with biblical principle, thereby "redeeming culture" for the good of all. It is well summarized by Nancy Pearcey in her book Total Truth:
In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." The first phrase, "be fruitful and multiply" means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase, "subdue the earth," means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music. This passage is sometimes called the Cultural Mandate because it tells us that our original purpose was to create cultures, build civilizations-nothing less. .........


It does not try to bring biblical principle into public life in order to establish the kingdom of God on this earth, but merely to present a holistic, biblical world view that proponents believe lead to liberty and happiness.......but rather, are interested in taking timeless practical principles, many of which are not the sole property of Christendom, and applying them within a biblical framework.......
Another key distinction of those supporting a cultural mandate is that, in the public arena, proponents feel that they must convince and argue for their worldview, not from the bible as an authority, but from natural law and common ethics. As an example, they would argue to criminalize murder not because it is condemned by the bible, but because it violates the self-evident right to life that all men deserve, and because it violates the ethic that we should not harm one another or society. Even if cultural mandate proponents are biblically motivated, they respect the idea that appeals to religious authority should not carry weight in public policy discussions.......committed to furthering the application of biblical principle to public life.

After reading this write up you may wish to read the follwoing post...............



Wednesday, May 9, 2007

My Prayer

Comparing my recent prayer with my past prayer:

Recent : “God, use us to touch the hearts of the people, touched them with your love, grace, hope and faith….may they find You as their strength and their source for their needed miracles, signs and wonders…God may they find You…”

Past: “God, used us as vessels for your miracles and signs.., as we laid hands and prayed… the blind sees, the deaf hears, cancer being healed, rain stopped…..and than people will be touched by You and know you are God and come to You …”

What’s the difference in the 2 prayers? The past prayer was centered on ‘performances’, something external, more about me than God, more about miracles than God, more about what people can see…What about recent prayer? I guess the focus is more on the people finding God themselves. Its still can be a miracles happening in their lives, or a need being met, or simply a word spoken to them….In a nutshell, we show them the way to their answer in God. It’s more of a heart matter than an incidental performance….

What I am trying to say is, to allow God to touch the hearts of the people, may it be thru laying of hands for the supernatural, or gentle ministry to their lives. The focus should not be the outward manifestation but the inward “experienced” with Christ. And may it end up with “communion” with Christ Jesus.

This is not to say the earlier prayer was not true and is wrong. But is the “heart” of the prayer, its attitude, its purposes……..

Enter Into the President's Office

Read an article about a solider seeking an audience with President of US, Abraham Lincoln. He was of course, stopped at the gate and that was as far as he reached. He was deeply saddened and went to a nearby park to lament. A small boy came by and asked him why he was crying. After hearing his story, the small boy held his hand and led him right passed the White House gate, and into the President’s oval office. No one at the gate or the office stopped them. He was the son of President Lincoln, Todd Lincoln.

In the same way, Jesus had opened a way for all of us to enter into the King’s chamber to make our petitions. We can now boldly, walk right before our King because Jesus is leading us by our hands. Praised the Lord!!!!! Am I glad about it? Yes, I’m exhilarated! Now, I can ask directly to the Father, and there are no limits of what I can ask of Him, who is a big God. Hallelujah!!!!

Friday, May 4, 2007

Cultural Mandate? Associate with Pop Culture?

Read this statement somewhere written by a church member......

" ....today's sermon was so good! Cultural mandate for us to associate ourselves with pop culture. Like advertising.....and also fashion and so on and so forth ..........."

Wonder what it meant by "cultural mandate", "associate with pop culture", etc. Was trying to go to the church website to see if I can get hold of the whole sermon.....but can't find it.....

Oops...found something...........update later........

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The Burning Hut

Juz something I have read while clearing my body system.....ahem............

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. he prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived back to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man .......
"We saw the smoke signal." they replied.

(quoted : More Hot Illustrations For Youth Talks, by Wayne Rice)

As for the applications, leave it to you to ponder........Remember next time when your little hut is burning to the ground - it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

MAY DAY

我过了一个很愉快的五一劳动节下午!

前 ‘55’ 区的领导 聚集在HDB的职员café`。 在那里,我感受到一种温馨,熟络, 彷弗是跟家人在一起, 那么的舒服,那么的自在。

引述Sis Doreen“我必须来! .... 因为我想念大家“。.....


Wednesday, May 2, 2007

A VFC Style of Family Day

About 10 yrs ago, the church had a Family Day at the now defunct Fantasy Island at Sentosa. On 28 April 2007 we had a similar Family Day at Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East.

What was the most similar between both Family Day? Nope, not the people because some have changed, new faces were added in. Nope, not the slides....because Fantasy Island had more slides.................. The most similar was my SunBurnt body!!!!!

But hor.......we all enjoyed so much!!!!!!! We really enjoy the companion of our frenz....Andrew & Karen, Eng Soon & Denise, Alpha & Jasmine, Kirk, Tim, Joel, Philip, June, Mabel & Chancey...........