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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor ofSaddleback Church in California.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor , care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
wei
Leaving a foot step - 2:13 PM
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
Greetings earthlings! \/ (errr if you understand what I'm trying to portray).
Okay, I tried to combine the 2 easter sermons...
Luke 23:32-34
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”
When Jesus was saying this, He was referring to your sins and my sins that nailed Him to the cross. Jesus died of a broken heart because of the sins of the whole world, but yet He still asked of the Father forgive us!
We will never understand what Jesus has really done, until we really put ourselves in His position. His closest friends, His family, His followers, His disciples, people whom He gave His heart to ran away in his greatest moment of need. One can only imagine how painful that really was.
How did He manage to take all that as man?
Amazing love. For who? For us!
Because of what He has undergone to forgive us, is there really anything too hard for us to forgive! :)
Hebrews 12:1-2
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Shame is fear-based and it makes us believe, wrongly, that we are unworthy and unloved.
Shame robs us of the motivation to seek care (the joy of living), causes us to be shut down emotionally and become a relational cripple, it causes us to have anger, hostility and unforgiveness in our hearts, it causes psychological problems and problematic moral behaviours.
But because Jesus has accepted all our emotional rejections, our physical and emotional abuses, we can can be free from all that! In Him, we can find back our joy of living, we can enjoy healthy relationship, we can forgive and forget!
Isaiah 53:3-5
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Labels: Easter, Sermons
Leaving a foot step - 11:50 AM
Meng Kwang, this is for you (:
This entry is 2 days late! =/
First and foremost, Happy (Belated) Birthday to Meng Kwang! Not too sure if he reads this..
Bro, hope that you like the gift that we had gotten for it, though it may not be much. :)
I guess its been about 3-4 years that you had been attending church.
During which, you had gone though various phases in your life.
So happy to see you grow older. Ahem..
You're 19 years old now.
We pray that you'll grow even closer to God and always have faith like a mustard seed.
Like what Pastor Kong always says,
We walk by faith, we live by faith...
Shine for the Lord wherever you are,
Praise Him for whichever situation you're in,
and Love the Lord with all your heard.
Happy 19th Birthday Meng Kwang. (:
Leaving a foot step - 11:48 AM
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Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Anointing Pastor Phil 16 Mar 08
Luke 4:18 Jesus wasn’t anointed to be a father, a husband or a businessman. He was anointed to be a preacher. The anointing is for every single one of us today.
1 John 2:27 The Matrix: Neo says to Trinity – Can you fly one of those things? Not yet. Do you know how to be a businessperson, a husband or anything that God calls you to be? Not yet. But the anointing will teach me all things! God will call you to do things that you don’t feel adequate to do. Moses got a vision out of a burning bush. Eph: But it is in God. It is in your weakness that the power of God manifests. God is who gets the glory for everything that we do. The anointing will give us tiny instructions. Joseph had a pure heart, but everything that could go bad went bad in his life, but he kept his pure heart and so he was able to understand the anointing of God. It is not us living on our skills, our intelligence, but us living on the anointing of the God. If we do the former, we will lose the anointing. God will test us and put us through trials. Adam lost out on the trial and he lost the Lord’s anointing. Jesus went through 2 trials and when you emerge from a trial, you have an anointing. If we need to grow a church, we need people who have gone through battles, criticism, things that the devil has thrown as us, who stand and fight, who emerge from the wilderness victorious. God is not building a weak church. He is building a world changing church. The overcomer is the one who gets the anointing, not those who know the Bible more or what. God never brings fear into your life. He brings peace, not anxiety. What we do repetitively in our life makes our character. Jesus had a habit of going to church and He was handed to the scroll of Ish. It was because He had a habit that He was present when God spoke to Him. 1. The anointing is a tangible force It is a spiritual life flow that can get into our clothes, our homes. Life is resident as a tangible force in our life. When the force and the confession that comes with it aligns, it releases the power of God. 2. The anointing frees us It is like oil on a rusted nut; it lubricates. There are some tight nuts in the church and need some oil to be poured on them, tap them on the head with some theology, to get them loose. 3. There is a great variety of anointing You can be anointed for entertainment, acting, music, business etc. The anointing is an enabling power that enables us to do the impossible, the incredible, the life-changing, world-changing that God has called us to do. 4. Anointing gives us joy Ish 61:3 The spirit of heaviness steals joy from us, but God’s answer from the heaviness is the anointing of joy, especially when we move out of trial. 5. Anointing is able to be imparted Luke 6:19 The anointing is imparted to you from the laying of hands. Hebrews 6 When you submit to a person and allows the person to lay hands on you, you allow the anointing in your life to increase. 6. It is imparted in a measure Moses was carrying around a large portion of anointing on his life, and when God took part of it and divided it among the elders, they fell under the power. 7. The anointing will revive you Acts 3:19 We need to make sure that we turn up a church every week and turn up for conferences because we need the anointing that revives us. The work we do wears us down. We won’t be worn down if we are revived every week. 2 Kings 4 Some of us have been out in the heat of the day, but you feel the heat, the discouragement. The Lord says that if you let His anointing come into you today, He will revive you right here and right now. How do I get this anointing in my life? 1. Emerging from a trial in victory 2. Recognising where I am weak, and that is where God can move 3. By waiting on the Lord. Those who do so will find their strength in the Lord ______________________________________________________________
I know that Pastor Phil preached a different msg on Sat, so if anyone wants to post that up, you are very welcome to do so :)
Labels: Sermons
Leaving a foot step - 12:21 PM
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Monday, March 10, 2008
as i've promised, pictures of last week's game (click to enlarge)
each team consists of 2 members. 1 member will be blindfolded and is supposed to draw a cow, which his/her partner will direct. communication and team-work is of utmost importance. enjoy the pictures!
 wanxiu and brendan
 paul jones and peien
 mich and samantha  artists of the day: mingli and tab -grace-
Leaving a foot step - 10:38 PM
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Sunday, March 9, 2008
Servanthood II Pastor Kong, 08 Mar 08
Matt 20 v25: Comparing the Kingdom of God (Serving others) to the Kingdom of our world (Lording over others)
v26: Those who aspire to be great, let him be servants. To become a servant does not mean that we become servile (meaning: slavishly submissive or obsequious; fawning).
Psalms 71:21 "increase my greatness"
Psalms 18:35 Our God wants us to be great! But spiritual greatness is being a servant!
v27: "let him be your slave" Servant - diakonos (Gr) --> Has the freedom to work or not to work Slave - doulos (Gr) --> Belongs fully to his master and cannot choose to do what he thinks he is talented or gifted in. .: To be a slave is to be one who is willing to do demeaning, demanding things undo the Lord.
Luke 16 v10: Handling the little things Do a job well to the max Details determine our destiny God is so detailed that He keeps a record of everything regarding us, down to the number of hair we have on our head and our DNA! Moses was a man given to details, as seen by the construction of the taberacle according to God's instructions 1 King 10: Quality of Solomon's temple Excellence is attention given to details that leads to superior performance. Excellence will guarantee your promotion! If you can work hard without supervision, you will get promoted.
v11: Handling money v12: Handling what belongs to another person Be it material goods, their loved ones or his visions and dreams It is when you handle what belongs to your leader well, the authority that is over your leader's life will come upon you. This is the kind of people that God will promote in their life, ministry etc. John 1:16 Decide today if you can be someone God can use to influence and change cities! Eph 6:18 Love: width, depth, length, height Serving someone has to do with love! - You can love without serving but you cannot serve without loving!
1. DEPTH - We are to serve God We are created for God, to serve God's will. How are we serving God's will right now? Psalms 84:10 - Serving God was David's priority
2. HEIGHT - We are to serve leaders 2 Kings 3:11 "poured water on the hands of Elijah" Elisha was a faithful servant to his master Are we willing to take up roles that are lowly? Doing so will get us twice the portion of the Holy Spirit! Do you pray for your leaders? Prayer build intimacy. Do you pray with your leaders? When 2 or 3 are gathered, God will be there. Do you love your leader enough to fight for your leaders? Exodus 33:11 "his servant Joshua" You serve your leader by being as passionate for God as he/she is. Flow with your leader. Authority flows from top-down, not vice versa! We serve a God who is just and balanced in His kingdom. We live on borrowed authority - we get it from who we submit to Kingdom of God = Kingdom of relationships
3. WIDTH: We are to serve one another Matt 20:28 "To help other people" (NLT) Servant - To serve God, to serve the Church Jesus could serve us inspite of our imperfections, how about us?
4. LENGTH: We are to serve the world (non-church going people) Daniel 1:4 Joseph served Potiphar, the prison warden and the pharaoh, none of who are Christians. We win people by serving them! THe more we serve, the more present God becomes in their life!
- wei
Leaving a foot step - 10:52 AM
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Monday, March 3, 2008
Servanthood
Pastor Kong 02 Mar 08
John 13:3
Jesus knew
Jesus was so secure in who He was that He washed the disciples' feet; became the servant of all! John 13:4 The cleansing of the feet is done by the lowliest servant. The fact that the disciples' feet were to be washed after supper showed that none of them were willing to serve one another. Jesus said that He has come to serve, not to be served. Servanthood was in His nature because serving is loving. You can love without serving, but you cannot serve without loving! John 13:14 What kind of people will Jesus welcome and praise? "Well done, my good and faithful SERVANT" So, why serve? 1. Servanthood is key to promotion Phil 2:5-7 Promotion doesn't come by action. It is because of our attitude. Our attitude determines out altitude! V6: "taking the form of the bondservant". A bondservant in greek means slave. This means He is willing to serve anybody, everybody for all eternity! V9-11 Because Jesus was the servant of all, God used Him mightily. Similarly, if we serve, God will make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world! My problem is my attitude, not the environment I am born into! Dan1:4 Daniel had the ability to serve the king, who was a pagan, a non-Christian. 2. Servanthood is the key to authority Luke 19:19 - "cities" When you serve, you are guaranteed of authority! 3. Servanthood is the key to destiny Genesis 24 Abraham: Picture of God, the Father Issac: Picture of Jesus, His son Looking for a bride - the Christian -for His son. The criteria for Issac's bride was a girl who served! V22: Serve and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be given to you! Her servanthood led to her destiny, and from her lineage came Jesus. - wei
Leaving a foot step - 10:19 AM
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