Monday, September 22, 2008
a tribute?
should I thank God that the news is released at this point of time when I just started my recess? yes the news shook me hard, turned my world upside down, made me ponder and think through alot of things. in times like this I know that I am not the only one affected, but sorry I just can't help it. I did not stumbled away from God, it just bought me to ponder about many things.
At least now that I know the reason for the departure, it made me feel so much at ease now. At least I know that He is leaving for God's work. I should have seen it coming when he had to help out with Gateway entertainment, dealing with all the business and politics. Indeed it brought back lots of memories, since I settled into FCBC; baptism, random jokes/chats, tribe camps, tribe meetings, SOL2 and 3, bible study, prayer meetings, SLTC, and things that you said/done to show that you cared. Thinking back a little, I felt that I had taken things for granted. I did not take seriously the things you taught us, I did not take the afford to memorise the scripture that you told us to, and I still cannot remember the sequence of the books in the bible. All the things that you have taught us are so valuable, to help us to grow strong in the word, but yet I did not take them seriously.
Do not worry I am not stumbling away from the Lord just because of this. I do believe in myself too that my faith in God is much more than that. Moreover if I am going to fall away from the Lord just because of this, I think I would have failed to learn the things that he had taught us through the years. It just got me pondering for a moment why does man have to make God such a worldly thing. Having so many dominations, so many rules and regulations, it really seems to the point that we are restricting God. Why can't we just worship the Lord in the way God made us to? Why is it that worshipping the Lord have to be confined to the many things that we need to do, the vision of the church, etc etc etc? All I want is to know the one who taught me to love... all I want to do is to worship Him... All I want to do is to love God. Yes I do agree that there will be times that you are so caught up with the World that you might just forget the Lord, and he had taught me that it is why we need to be grounded in the word of God.
It made me really wonder whether I am able to fit into the vision of the church, especially for the coming year. Marketplace transformation... am I ready for it? More importantly, is FCBC the place where God want me to serve in? It is time for me to seek the God earnestly.
Posted by aeronautisis at 12:24 am
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Kingdom of God is near
This week ain't a good week for me. I had 3 meetings in the evening, a report to do, lectures and tutorials to catch up with, and psych society stuff just keeps coming in. Glad that the week is over, and time for the next.
The week didn't started very well with Angela asking the cell these few questions:
1) How is your walk with God? Are you seeking Him? Are you listening to the Shepherd's voice? Do you know Him? Or you are just too busy with other things.
2) Do you know God loves you? Are you remaining in Him, in His love? Or you are no longer excited about this unconditional love.
3) Are you attending cell group or church service? Do you know why you are doing so or not doing so? I am not too sure if some of you are attending service every Sun.
4) Do you love God? Are you willing to serve the Lord and the people He loves and even die to your own desires and wants, status and reputation, pleasure and wish?
It kept me pondering, why must we always be so 'religious'? I know God, I pray and talk to Him, I know that He is there, I serve Him in the areas He asked me to. Is this not enough? As I pondered for the whole week, God slowly reveals the answers to me...
What exactly is religion? He showed me the answer, and that is to fear God. If you do not fear God, you have no religion.
So now what? I do fear God... but yet I still feel lost!
Thank God for today's service. Throughout the whole service God continues to speak. During the worship, God just brought me back to worship Him, and as I sing those words, I prayed and ask God to fulfill those words that I sing onto Him. As we knelt and sing the song "lead me to calvary", I got the answers. Why do we go to church? Why do we go for cell meetings, prayer meetings and have to constantly pray and do our quiet time? It is all so... that we may not forget thee. and I know that in my mind I may not have forgotten God, but deep in my heart, God had been pushed away by the many other things and/worries that I have.
The sermon was a good. Indeed, the kingdom of God is near! It is all about bringing the kingdom of God to Earth. "Let Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." Seek first the kingdom of God! Then it reminds me of the little talk I had with bang last night, and the purpose of me in RGS NCC Air. I still remember very clearly that as I made the decision of going down to RGS to train them, I knew God was the one who opened the door for me. I am to go in and be a shepherd over them. Through the years I have seen God working powerfully there. I had the chance to say my testimony to few of them, did the 10K blessings, and with Amanda and Eewen coming to know the Lord. CLTs who came in after me to helped all know God (Xinying and Bang). I had the chance to teach the current Part Cs about Servant leadership when they were in Sec2, and see them really taking it into heart. God's hand was truly upon the unit, allowing the unit to even shine brightly for the glory of God (having won 2nd in orienteering comp 07, 6 awards in specialist course 08, and 2 awards in senior specialist course 08). Indeed I would boldly say that the unit is different not because the girls are smarter or anything, but simply because they lead and serve with the Christian values (be it whether they are Christians are not). God's kingdom has been brought into the unit, and God had allowed me to have a glance of what it meant to bring in the kingdom of God.
After today's service, God also showed me that there are more that can be done. In RGS for example, I had not been doing much to help Amanda and Eewen know more about God and to guide them spiritually. Even though there might be obstacles such as parental objection, our God is far greater than that! I had been worrying about how standing up for God and be unashamed of His gospel might cause the doors to close. I was wrong. Always seek first the Kingdom of God! For I am just a servant of God, I just do ALL that I can. I will just offer to pray for people, and to share the good news. Whether or not God answers those prayers, it is not my problem since it's God's reputation at stake. Well of course if it is God's will, then all these things will be done. Moreover, our God is one who had died for us, what more will He not do?
There will be times of struggling, times where I don't feel like going service or cell meetings, times where I don't feel like praying, times where I just want to lose my temper instead of praying and asking God to take away those anger. Yet the most important after all this, is to not forget the Lord.
Thank you Lord for once again bringing me back so close to You, to understand You a little more. Help me to surrender all things to you, and to seek first Your Kingdom!
Posted by aeronautisis at 6:08 pm