(Hap-) *Beep* (py) *Beep* (Birth-) *Beep* (day) *Beep* (to) *Beep* (you) *Beep*....

Hello people,

Wondering what is with all the beeps, censorship? *Nupez* It's Esther's birthday card!!!!We didn't want to embarrass our dear sister-in-Christ with our melodious singing at the airport so we decided to get her a melody card. Yes, Esther is leaving for Jakarta today, and tomorrow's her birthday! In fact, I think she should have reached the place by this time since it's a 2-hr flight. Cindy, Cynthia, Mary and I arranged to meet at the airport to see her off. What is a birthday celebration without a birthday cake! Of course, we didn't get one big cake for her to bring over to Jakarta, just a small slice from Bengawan Solo! While we were deciding on which cake to buy and what colours to use for decorating her card, we realised we didn't know much about her preferences. From pastor's sermon last week on accountability, it reminded us that we can't be just superficial friends, we've got to get to know one another better! So if you guys do not know what's her favourite colour/colours or cake/cakes, ask her when she returns to Singapore! No offence guys but..... *Only Smarties got the answer* (Cindy, Cynthia, Mary and I) HAHAHA. Not funny as usual but never mind! Here's some pictures of the card we gave to her! =) Our group picture is in her camera, so I'll try get it from her when she returns from Jakarta.


PS: Do remember to continue keeping Esther in prayers while she's in Jakarta!

=Irving=

Worship - Tools for spiritual growth

Hello youths, I’m late! Should have posted this way before but yes, I’m sorry! Think it is pretty related to my previous post. It talks about encouraging one another, about worshipping the Lord with our hearts and not only with our lips, renewing of our minds etc (Read on!). We all have Cynthia to thank as she was the one who provided me with the soft copy of the sermon so that I can upload it on the blog. We will be including the schedules for ushers as well as the Youth Fellowship schedule for the next quarter once it has been finalized. So do come back and keep yourself updated on the prayers and praises from our youths and feel free to make any postings!

Worship - Tools for spiritual growth

The roles of a prophet include predicting events as well as confronting people when they are not living right with God. As in the case of Isaiah, he was a prophet from a noble family. He preached for a long time before finally dying a terrible death. Sodom and Gomorrah was being judged because of their sins. Although they approached God as they were being told, because they were not living right with God, these offerings were meaningless to the Lord. In fact, their sacrifices for Him were a burden.

Isaiah 1: 14 (KJV)
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

However, there is still hope for us. As mentioned in Isaiah 1:18 (KJV),

18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Therefore, as long as we are willing to repent of our sins, through Christ we will be washed whiter than snow, presentable unto the Lord. In our lives, God give warnings and choices. We have to make the right choices and heed the warnings so that our lives will be acceptable and pleasing unto God. If we are not repentant, He will not loosen his iron grip and will punish us accordingly. As in the case of Israel, the lives of the people are evil, but they continued worshipping God on Sabbath day. As they are not living right, the prayers and sacrifices made were of no use. We need to stop doing wrong and learn to do right. Committing evil acts do not require much of an effort. In fact, sinning may even give us temporal pleasures. Doing right on the other hand requires effort and it is definitely not a natural course of action most of the time. We have to resist doing evil and persist making the right choices.

Food for thought: Was there a time when we’ve sinned, but did not apologize or repent of our mistakes? Instead, we try to make up for our wrong actions by serving more?

When we are worshipping, we give the object of worship its worth and do so by exalting the person. Praise is a natural human response to anything excellent, beautiful or awesome. When we see something fantastic, we marvel and are often caught breathless. God is the most excellent, beautiful and awesome of them all. If worshiping Him is not natural for us, it simply means we have not experienced Him like He wants us to. When we read and learn more about Him, as we grow closer to Him, we should want to praise Him even more.

Food for thought: How we know what is true worship really is?

Worshipping the Lord is not about us, but about knowing God. As we are worshipping, we ask of Him to convict me when we sin and encourage us when we are down. True worship starts in the heart. It is important that we are worshipping with our hearts and not with our mouths.

This is clearly stated in Matthew 15: 8-9 (KJV),

8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Food for thought: Do we obey God or the tradition of men?

Jewish men were wicked in the way they handled their finances. They declare that their money is dedicated to God with the intention so that they did not need to support their parents. This is an example of not living right and worshipping God in vain as they are clearly not following the commandment of honoring their parents.

In Romans 12: 1-2 (KJV),

1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We are reminded that God wants our bodies to be living sacrifices and this is expected of us as a reasonable service. We are a step closer to imitating God when our minds are changed. Through the renewing of our minds, we will then be able to discern God’s will for us. By separating ourselves from this sinful world will we then be able to discover His will for us. There is no need for us to be afraid to seek His will as it is good and perfect for us. Our actions are outward portrayal of our inward states. Therefore, it is important to be concerned about our internal change such as the renewing of our minds.

True worship is both private and public. As in Exodus 34: 22-24 (KJV),

22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

23Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.

24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

In this instance, God promises that if the men followed His command to worship him thrice in the year, no enemies will attack the nation whilst the men are away. He fulfilled His promise to them and the nation was preserved during these periods of time.

In Luke 4: 16 (KJV),

16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

It is the custom of Jesus to pray and go to the synagogue habitually. As a child of God, we should be walking in the footsteps of Jesus and follow this “custom” as well.

In Hebrews 10: 24-25 (KJV),

24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We should be considering one another not to anger but to provoke unto love and to good deeds. As ye see the day approaching, we should learn how to love God more each day and should be encouraging one another as well. Worshipping is also more than just words and lip service, it is deeds

Leviticus 27: 30-33 (KJV)

30And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD.

31And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 32And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.

33He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Malachi 3: 7-12 (KJV)

7Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

One of the things we can do is giving tithes faithfully as commanded in the verses above. God told the people that they had been disobedient since the days of their fathers. The people were not able to realize what they have done wrong. They were trying to rob God by not giving tithes faithfully. Under law, they were supposed to be giving 10%; under grace, they should be giving even more. Since God wants us to give and if we do not give faithfully, we are robbing Him as mentioned in the verses above.

Matthew 6: 1-4 (KJV)

1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

When we are helping the needy as mentioned above, our intent should not be getting notice by men. We should be doing it in secret, not announcing and making it known to all. If we do so, we will not receive our rewards in heaven.

Colossians 3: 17 (KJV)

17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

We must also understand that we are doing all these deeds in the name of the Lord Jesus and not for ourselves. When we are through doing it, and in the process of doing it, we must remember that ultimately, God gets the glory.

2 Corinthians 8: 5 (KJV)

5And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

Christians should always think of giving themselves first to the Lord, and by living a life consecrated to God, we are able to give everything we have. Before we give our resources to Him, we must be sure to give ourselves to Him first and keep in mind that true worship focuses on who God is.

I will be still, know you are God...

Still

by Hillsong United

album: Hope (2003)

Still
Words and Music by Reuben Morgan

Hide me now, under your wings
Cover me, within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul, in Christ alone
Know his power, in quietness and trust


Yes, before I start making any comments! Let me clarify something, this is not a hymn. Therefore, in any case, if anyone feels uncomfortable with contemporary Christian music, do inform me and I'll take this post off the blog IMMEDIATELY. It is very important that what we are doing do not stifle the spiritual well-being of a fellow brother or sister-in-Christ in any ways! Instead, we should be encouraging and challenging one another as we are "Running the Race" while we are constantly in battle with this sinful world made up of sinful people like you and I. Also, we will also be sticking to hymns during praise and worship in church as set out by our church leaders. I would also like to share on a personal note that there are many times where I lose focus on meditating on the lyrics of some of these music, absorbed in self-gratification instead of exalting the Lord. Therefore, be it a hymn or a contemporary Christian song, it is important to note that there are times we do not set our hearts on the Lord during worship and it is important that we should refrain from doing so, albeit we are prone to do so because of our sinful nature.

Full credits go to Spencer for summing up this whole song. I was practically nodding my head as he types out how he feels about the song during my conversation with him on MSN. Storms are inevitable in our lives. One moment we might be experiencing peace, but the next moment, we might be caught in a thunderstorm. We must be reminded that, in any case, we have a God who's Lord above all, and we can rest assure to stay still and be calm in any storms because we know that He is Lord.

I will be adding the sermon which was discussed last Saturday during youth fellowship too. Credits goes to Cynthia as she will be sending me the sermon! I lost my worksheet, a clear indication of a bad student once again. I will be working on it! By the grace of God, may we be changed as we try to imitate Him in every aspects of our lives. Do spend time praying for one another and feel free to add in any praises and prayer items. I will end of with this verse from

Psalms 19:14 (KJV)
14Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

=Irving=

Your Monday Blues... or Rules?

It doesn't matter at all! Because.....?

In contrast with man who lives under the constraints of time and circumstances, God transcends over these limitations. His omnipotence and omnipresence prevails!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)
11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

As we are facing trials and tribulations in our lives, physical and spiritual ones, remember that...

Romans 8:28 (KJV)
28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Therefore, since we know that God fulfills His purpose in His own time and own way, we must trust that He is in control!

Jesus sees our sorrows and our tears.

John 11:33 (KJV)
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

We are not alone.

Psalms 55:22 (KJV)
22Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Let us learn from Thomas when he said he was willing to follow Jesus although he thought he might die due to the persecution by the Jews. Let us make statements of courage and commitment which are in accordance to His word...but more importantly, act on them! We are uncertain about how we will respond in a given situation but always be prepared and guarded with the Word of God as we will be tested in trying times.

In crisis we run..... not to Him.... but around in circles. We have not trusted in Him fully in many aspects of our lives. Let our faith be stretched and developed by these crisis... that...

John 11:15 (KJV)
15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Like the disciples needed experience with God to mature their faith, let us grow closer to God by reading His word.

May God change our lives!

Erh, this was in yesterday's sermon. But as usual, I'm not a good student. =( May have left out important parts of the sermon or might have gotten some parts wrong. Do correct and add on accordingly! May we try to apply these lessons this coming week and be faithful in everything we do. Amen!

=Irving=

Birthday Greetings!

Happy Birthday to you (x2)
Happy Birthday to Shaun...
Happy Birthday to you!

Dear Brother-in-Christ,

May you continue to grow in Christ-likeness!

=FIBC Youths=

Welcome to Singapore (Chow Yun Fatt)

(Sings) Welcome... welcome all of you... Glad you... are... *voice fades away softly* Thank God you guys came back home safely! Sure you all have been blessed by the sermons as well as enjoyed a great time of fellowship. Those we couldn't make it for the June camp can't wait to hear the great experience you all had and see ALL the pictures you guys have taken! Ok, shan't ramble on and on! Have a good rest and see you all soon! =)

=Irving=

FI Youth choir

Hey guys! I set up a youtube account for us already, username is FIYouths, and the password is shineforJesus. Feel free to add videos.

And now without further ado, I present to you our very own FI youth chorale! XD

the power of prayers

the church had this sermon delivered by Dr Curt Lamansky on sunday and i've decided to share it online, though it won't be as good as the original message cos i've selective memory loss. but i'll still try to remember and share with you as much as i can.

the basis of this sermon is taken from one line in the bible which is from the book of James.

James 5:16-17
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on earth. 18Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

The first line says "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
and as you can see, i've singled out three main words.


firstly, what do we understand by the word "prayer"?

the most basic explanation of prayer is a conversation to God, where we ask for things we might need help with, or confess to our sins, or perhaps to ask for wisdom in handling a particular problem. and in the bible, it often encourages us to pray.

In the preceeding verses, James 5:13-15, it says,
"is anyone among you suffering? let him pray"
"is anyone of you sick? let the elders of the church pray over him"
the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
therefore, pray for one another and you may be healed.

so you see, in three examples, the bible already illustrates to us when we could pray.
and remember when i said prayer is a conversation to God?

imagine if we had a relationship with our loved ones the way we have with God.
we came home from work or school, then maybe talk a little around dinner, afterwhich we go to our rooms, play our computers, surf the internet, or spend time reading a book or watching tv. and maybe just before bed, we talk again for about 5 mins to them before doozing off.

if we kept up with this, a couple of days later, the wife would probably be asking "did i do anything wrong? why isn't he talking to me? is there someone else?"

so we must remember to pray often. i admit, i'm really bad at this part so i shall also learn to pray more often to God.


now the second word -- righteous
to be righteous is to be pure and godly. ie we must not have any evil intent of whatever we pray for. we must also pray for the right reasons as mentioned in James 4:2-3

James 4:2-3
2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (desires).


the final word is power. why do prayers have great power?

because God is powerful and he is able to give us whatever we want, beyond the physical things in this world where we can imagine. cures for every possible disease, even the flesh eating bacteria in Auntie Jane's case which i'm sure we are all familiar with. bringing back people from a certain death, He is able to do it. But the most important factor of prayer, is that we ask for it.


Further down the verse, in 17, there is another key word. "Ferverntly." this means to keep praying and to be persistent in our prayers. we cannot just pray once and take it that God knows about it since we have mentioned it. No, we must keep praying, for anything and everything.

The bible illustrates this in Luke 11 where there is a short mention by Jesus, about the story of a man who had a visitor come at midnight. In those days, it was custom to provide some form of food to the visitor, like bread for instance, but this man had no bread in this house. and because it was midnight and in 1st Century, they didn't have any 7-Elevens back then. So this man went over to his neighbour and knocked on the door, asking to spare him three loaves of bread. But the neighbour did not want to wake up, and so told him "Do not bother me. The door is now shut, the children are with me in my bed and I cannot get up to get you anything."

Jesus then said, though the neighbour did not want to get up to give him anything, but because of the man's persistence, he will rise and give him what he needs in the end.

So what God is trying to show us, is that we must not only pray, but to pray persistently too.


Now back to the verse. In verse 17, the bible quotes us an example, of how powerful and effective prayers can be.

What do you think of when i mention Elijah? Most people would say he's a great prophet. But verse 17 starts of by saying, "Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours".

Elijah is just like you and me! he was a normal person!

To know more about this, refer to 1 Kings 17.

1Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." 2And the word of the LORD came to him, 3"Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." 5So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

To summarise, God instructed Elijah, who is from a poor town of Tishbe on the outskirts of the desert, to go into the king's palace and in front of the greatest man of the region at that time, to say unto him "it will not rain for 3.5 years"

Can you imagine what their reaction might be? They would probably laugh their heads off at the sight of this weird man telling the king such a thing. And remember, the king had the power to kill anyone at that time. If he says off with your head, that shall be it. But we know from the bible they let Elijah go out of the palace. They probably thought nothing of his outburst and just had a great time laughing.

Further info: The Israel rain pattern at that time rained from Oct till March, after which there would be no more rain for as long as 5 months. Assuming that Elijah said this to the king at the end of the dry spell somewhere near oct, where it hasn't been raining for more than 5 months anyway, no one would have given any serious thought about his words.

So Oct came. The rains didn't. and the farmers' crops that depended on it all withered and an entire crop cycle was ruined. So after 6 months of dry weather when it was supposed to rain, came the dry period of a further 6 months and one full year was wasted. There wasn't enough food nor water for the people and you would imagine people dying in the streets from salvation.

And when the next Oct came, again the rains didn't and this ruined their second crop production cycle. another full year was wasted.

This again continued for the 3rd year running and in total 3 crop cycles were wasted. But Elijah prayed for it to not rain for 3.5 years. So add another half year and what month will that be in?

March! And then it started raining.. when it wasn't supposed to!

Many people have commented, there are better examples to show the power of prayer, why did God pick this one.

I believe, the point they are missing is this -- when all this is happening, wouldn't King Ahab be sending his military out to hunt down Elijah, the man whom they had the chance to kill in the palace but allowed him to escape instead?

His people were starving and surely he would want to kill Elijah as he probably had believed he had put a curse on the land and that the only way to get rid of it was to kill him.

But the miracle of it all was -- God protected him. 3.5 years is a long time and he managed to stay hidden all this while, unharmed and was even provided for!

And this shows how God constantly takes care of us in everything that we do.

-derrick-
original sermon by Dr Curtis Lamansky.