Preaching

Have you ever heard of this statement "There is only one Lionel Messi" ?

Well for starters, Messi is the best footballer on the planet right now and has won the Best Player of the Year award the last few years I believe. Okay so whats my point? My point lies in the next quote.

"There is only one Messi but we can all play football".

It simply means that there is only one best or pure talent in football but we still all can kick the ball and play soccer however our standard is. Its just a matter of developing skill. Sure we may not ever be half as good as him but we still can enjoy the sport regardless.

Okay that was on the footballing side ;) I wanted to actually bring it to preaching which is my title of today's post. Yes I know the title is hidden using this format :P

So taking that quote and translating it into what is relevant, it would go like this.

"There is only one Mark Finley but we can all preach".

The example is just used as it is closer to home isn't it? Well anyway it shows we can all learn preaching by learning and acquiring the skills. Even if we may not be good, the Holy Spirit can work in us as we give ourselves in prayer.

Now, I know not all of you would like to preach. However, let it not be a stumbling block because you can never be as good as another or because it is too difficult.

The same applies for doing God's work. We tend to say how hard it is, but we sometimes don't realise that God doesn't always work with the cream of the crop. He works with whoever is willing and will submit his will to the divine will.

After all, in 2 Chronicles 4:11 "And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!"

God can work with many or by few. With those who are strong or weak. All he needs is our trust in Him, to submit our will to His.

Why the Bible is Divine?

I found this statement by John Wesley. Its pretty cool in explaining why the Bible must be of divine origin so just thought I'll share it with you all~

Here it is:

"The Bible must be the invention of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. It could not be the invention of good men or angels; for neither would nor could make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying "Thus saith the Lord" when it was their own invention. It could not be the invention of bad men or devils; for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell for all eternity. Therefore, I draw this conclusion, that the Bible must be given by divine inspiration."

Saints

Some people believe that no one (humans) in heaven right now.

Others believe that many who died are already there.

Some believe that there will be some of us going there in a secret rapture.

Others believe only 3 humans are there.

Well matter of fact is, the answer is in the Bible believe it or not.

You will find in Genesis 5:24 - We see that God took him to heaven.

Also in Matthew 17:1-3, you can see that both Moses and Elijah came from heaven.

You may find other texts supporting the above but this is just one to show you.

Okay that's what I thought for a long time until a few weeks ago..

When my Bible student pointed out to me Matthew 27:50-53

My initial reaction was one of surprise. I don't remember this verse, do you?

But anyway I went to study it for my first complete Exegesis :D

Exegesis - To bring out the true meaning/authorial intention of the text.

Anyway that can be done by studying the various contexts of the text in short.

It is true then after my study to see that there are some other righteous people in heaven now.

Probably some well known righteous people of old (in the Bible) or righteous people who died in Jesus' time.

Though that is not the main intention of the text.

In brief, Matthew wants to prove that Jesus is the Son of God who has power over all mankind and has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.

That is in essence, there is more but well you can find it through study.

That is why it is so important to Study the Word of God and not just read it.

Lets do Exegesis not Eisegesis~

2 most important things we need to do before anything can happen spiritually be in in our life, in church etc.

That is Prayer and Personal Bible Study.

All the best guys, cos I'll keep praying for you ;)

Faith

I just saw an inspiring quote from someone.

Since its original I hope the person wont mind me posting it here..

Anyway here it is:

“Doubt see the obstacles, faith sees the way.

Doubt see the darkest night, faith sees the day.

Double takes one step, faith soars on high.

Doubt says “who believes?”, faith answers: “I”.

Nightmare

It just all seemed so natural at that time. Me and my friend were running around a gigantic shopping mall with parangs! Yes imagine that?! We went into a shop and started smashing stuff up and turning the place into a disarray. I don't remember hurting anyone though. Soon after we just left and more driven by emotion rather than reason feeling all of this was so fun and exciting at first. But now we were making a beeline for the exit. Unfortunately, policemen were roped in within minutes and we were on a run of our lives. We were nearing the exit when we got captured, literally several policemen immobilising us. We were not handcuffed strangely but led to a place for punishment immediately. Our sentence was 39 strokes of the cane :O I was deeply in mental anguish and regretfully considering what I had done and why I let myself be ruled by my emotions like a typical gangster and not act base on reason. It was a long moment indeed grimacing and mentally preparing for the first stroke. His arm swung and the sound of the cane through the air came to my ears.. My brain seemed to shut down momentarily due to the fear of the physical pain compounded the mental torture I was putting myself through. The cane landed on my butt and I was jolted awake suddenly for no particular reason. It was a nightmare..

Relieve came upon me immediately and I was still feeling the after effects of the dream, the fear the mental weariness etc. It really left a strong impression for me for several minutes or so and maybe thats why I'm sharing it with you now. Btw it was just last night or rather this morning that it happened.

The notable part of this even though its just a dream yes I will still draw a conclusion. Its that how acting on emotions totally in this case became dangerous especially to myself although we don't have to go into how everyone else is affected. Thus the importance to trust in God and build up a strong relationship with him so that when you have strong emotions driving you, let it be positive ones that will drive you towards the kingdom of heaven rather than the gates of hell.

"For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:19-20

I think this song epitomises the feeling of this verse here. You may find it a high calling/challenge but say sometimes we are to contend with soft religion and that may be our downfall. But of course you should decide based on the Holy Spirit conviction in your heart.

Here it is an extract of the song "Living for Jesus":

1. Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
   Striving to please Him in all that I do;
   Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
   This is the pathway of blessing for me.
   • Refrain:
     O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
     For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
     I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
     My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
2. Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
   Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
   Such love constrains me to answer His call,
   Follow His leading and give Him my all.

Tragedy

Talk about tragedy..

When I first heard about the news some time back I thought "This is a tragedy indeed".

But that of course is from my personal viewpoint. And well I will do what I can to help. Of course that includes prayer.

But I pray we dont interfere with God's will for one learns from experience and having a relationship with Him of God's sweet and pleasing will.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Sorry if you don't understand cos I'm being ambiguous. When the time is right, all things will be made known~

Now for something on the lighter side, Liverpool are now 5th! Yea, I saw the table and felt kinda happy (: Finally they reached the spot for Europe even though its the lower tier they have come a long way from the bottom half of the table~ Next year they will challenge for the Premier League title! And this time let it not be just words mm..

A short extract of a convo I had..

Friend: I wish its always holiday

Me: haha then make sure you get to heaven

Friend: im really looking forward for that

Me: excellent (: let's bring all our friends there

Friend: yeah.. i hope every one will going there..

Me: yes though we can make our hope into action and tell them about it

Friend: hehe correct, spread the gospel

Well thinking about heaven, doesn't that make you excited?

If you want to get somewhere truly with all your heart wont you do anything you can to make sure you get there?

Now what is holding you back from tossing aside useless baggage and recommitting yourself to Christ now.

If there is, address the problems you face and pray about them before the Lord. In life, we bring our innermost fears and thoughts and lay them at Jesus feet.

Things are not always easy but facing it rather than hiding or running away will only make you a better person and removes a stumbling block in the time of trouble to come.

Dear Lord, just now I want to recommit my life to you. Show me your will for my life. Give me the strength to do your will for my life. Search me O God and renew me with your tender mercies. Great is your faithfulness O Lord. Amen.

Bowling

So its my first Friday of my Final year now in poly.. And well I sure had things to do.

After lesson ended at 11, I met my mentor Avemos ;) Studied an hour odd before going for lunch with Rome~

He had to leave so I went ahead for bowling with Rome. Been awhile since we spent time out together. Cos of work attachment previously and tight schedules. We had a good time indeed, glad that he helped me spot my mistakes and learnt from there. I really like the pricing in the school, just 6 bucks for 3 games. Never find that anywhere else here!

Well the score was average and good in 1 for mine. (According to own standard) And his was nice consistency. Well you can see how it helped me in the 2nd game but back to basics in 3rd game :P

For those of you that followed my blog long enough, you will realise I have not posted a picture before XD

So hopefully this would be the first of many to come right? ;)

After that we went to library cos he didnt bring his keys :O

I wanted to study the health material for the next day but was too tired and slept while he used lappy. Woke up, did care group and headed towards Care group.

Bought the groceries for youth potluck amid usual calls to mother and brother to confirm the quantity of ingredients. Taught or rather coordinated Care group later in the evening and was pleasantly surprised to see that our discussion is improving though the numbers might not be. Since afterall I didn't do too much of the talking and its a good trend we're heading towards. Still everything to God in prayer while we do our part as well ^.^

Oh and we have a new seeker too, excellent! Though he didnt come this week due to work, he has joined us last week and for activities too whenever he was free such as our badminton social. Gotta get his gf to join us more too (:

Next day, in the morning received a pleasant surprise that I was going to play the piano. Haha I wonder if my playing gave me away that it was last min but still I just did what I could and that was to give my best.

I rushed to practice the songs before I left for church and practiced there before the service started. It went along albeit moderately i guess.

Then was last min preparation for the Bible/Health quiz. It was okay and spirits were high. Went there and did more last min revision as well. When it all got started we did well and had a good lead in the Bible section. We were actually feared by some or maybe well thought of as when they didnt know and could pass the question they all chose to pass to us! And a passing comment too that I shouldn't participate next year, talk about impact.

Next part would not sound so pleasing if you have high expectations. So you could skip the paragraph at ur jurisdiction. Basically there was a break before the health part and I believed many thought we would win. I was cautious though and knew the threat that the 2nd placed team at that time posed in that area which we were rather not so ready. I guess I dont really want to elaborate on the rest here, u can always give me a call and I'll be happy to tell you cos it just too lengthy for words and hard to explain.

So kudos to Maranatha for becoming champions! (: We made them have a run for their money as we wanted to and personally I believe I did my best there as well as all my team members but okay maybe not for preparation. I could have prepared more on Thurs and Fri afternoon instead of wasting it away and all the What ifs.. But that is history and what we do is to learn from it and to do better next time isnt it?

I'll like to end with a verse that I've learnt from the study of the book of Luke, its in Luke 11:27-28 "As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Indeed that is what I ought to do, to hear God's word and obey it. A simple but important lesson that at times one fails to follow. So when you're discouraged or weary just cling to this promise and you know that you are truly blessed though it may not be apparent at this time.

So until next time, Shalom.