Practice This WeeK

There will be practice this week. 2 October at 6.30pm in Aldersgate Hall

Beautiful

Just want to share the following song, written by a friend of mine. Another Taylor guitar user!

Beautiful
I will trust in You
And believe through the darkness
Still Your light shines through
Through fears and tears
I still trust Your soveriegn hand
Will see me through the years
When all hope is swiftly stripped away
Only Jesus Christ restores in a new way

By making all things beautiful
I look to heaven and await my redemption
Make me beautiful
Lord, make me tender as my will I surrender
In my brokeness I give myself to You
And believe Your grace restores my life anew

I must not despair
As I feel the burden of the cross
I have to bear
Though all hope seems lost
I must yield myself before the
Power of the cross
When all joy is swiftly stripped away
Only Jesus Christ restores in a new way

Hold my hand, hold my heart
Lord, keep me near to You
Though I stumble and fall
You will hear me when I call

By making all things beautiful
Told for His glory a wonderful story
He'll make me beautiful
A simple parable of the God who is able
Lord, my shattered dreams I lift them all to you
And believe Your grace restores my life anew
I believe Your grace restores my life anew

(C) Words and Music by Sherman Kwek

We often desire for God to make us better people, beautiful in every way. But we forget that the creation of beauty takes a miracle, and that miracle is called "pain". It is only he who possesses the ability to internalise and transcend above the power of pain that truly is a beholder of an authentic beauty of the miraculous kind. In God's scheme of life-formation, pain is a necessity in the creation of beauty.

New Link

There is a new link, to Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Those of you who wish to have a "little bit" of a mental excercise, go check it out. Ravi Zacharias is well known evangelist and is a specialist on apologetics.

17up and Don Moen Concert

There is 17up fellowship this Saturday night. Poh Kiang is speaking on Salvation. So if you have any questions on the topic, or have friends who have questions on that topic, just come down!

Also, this weekend, Saturday and Sunday is the Don Moen "Thank You Lord" concert. If you can recall, I've sung that song a few times before. Anyway, the concert starts at 7.30pm at the Indoor Stadium. Entry is by tickets, available from CD-Rama when you buy his CD.

However, if you wish to try your luck, go to the stadium and queue, they will admit non-ticket holders at 7.30pm.

Song Book... more stuff

OK, I have had many requests for the complicated version of the songbook, but it seems that printing is a problem. So, this is what I will do.

I will print out a master uncut-A4 copy of the songs, and place it in church. Those of you who want it, look for me to borrow it to photocopy. You will have to do the cutting and binding yourself. But of course, its still available via MSN, ICQ.

It would be good if you could do it yourself, and not waste Church resources. So, maybe a small love gift to Church would be appropriate if you do. Bear in mind that the master copy is 47 pages long.

Spectre of the Past, Visions of the Future

Its intersting how your disjointed past is sometimes not so disjointed after all once you have the knowledge of looking at it from hindsight.

Looking at me, it probably hard (if not impossible) to believe that I used to be involved in 2 very different kinds of sports and how both have actually helped me and strengthened my faith!

I was forced to learn how to swim by my parents. Long story, they met in the pool, so I guess they thought it was only fitting that I learnt how to swim. Well, I didn't enjoy it then, and really hated swimming lessons; but I was a competitive swimmer nontheless and have a cupboard full of trophies and medals to show for it.

I started learning swimming in 1989, but I guess due to my parent's genes or something, I had a natural affinity for the water, and swam leisurely almost from the time I was born. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy swimming, and I enjoy the water, I just don't like competitive swimming.

On the other hand, I picked up karate pretty much on my own accord. Was bullied a lot when I was in primary one, come to think of it, I still get bullied nowadays; free car rides, kena arrow all the time, fights with a dog named bully over control of the kitchen etc. I picked up karate so that I will never be bullied again, guess not...

I picked up karate in 1988 and I stopped in 1992 when my dojo closed down. But picked it up again in 1995. Anyway, it took me a while, but I finally rose to rank of Black Belt (hard to believe huh?!) in 1996. No trophies, no medals, but I have the scars to show for it, one under my right eye, the others on my right fingers.

You must be asking, how on earth did all these strengthen my faith? And how on earth could they possibly be linked?!

In 1999, I was practicing a seriously difficult manouvre, which required my to jump, turn around 360 degress and kick above my head, almost at the same time. Hard to imagine someone of my size doing it, but I almost mastered it. Unfortunately I had to stop practicing karate altogher that year due to serious back spasms. While they were of unknown origin, it was highly likely that these back pains was due to my karate, and this move I was practicing in particular.

Eventually, I would be diagnosed with a prolapse disc and would require srugery to relieve the pain. To cut a really long story short, I went for surgery more than 18 months after the pains began.

I really hate needles, much less a major surgery. It was a serious test of faith for me, and it served to greatly strengthen it. I will never recover from the prolapse disc but at least the pain is not as bad as before. I wear a 4 inch scar down my back as a sign of victory over this test of faith.

How does swimming play a part in this? The best form of therapy to treat a bad back, is swimming, it is the only sport that I can do without having to worry about back strain. and in the weeks after my surgery in 2000, I swam a lot, and my back receovered in record time. If I had not been a competitive swimmer, I guess, my back would not have been healed so fast.

On hindsight, God used my involvement with swimming and karate, 12 years after I picked them up to test my faith and strengthen it. I never saw this link, till last week. Amazing huh!

But now, as I look back on my past, I see a trend. And perhaps, this is God's way of preparing me to face the kind of life that I will live in the future. If it is His will, then so be it.

I cannot come before my righteous Holy Lord
And offer to Him worldly things I do not need
And hope He's pleased
For He wants me to give, a heart that's truly His
An offering of the highest price
A servant whom, the Lord can use

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing
I'll place before Him nothing less than my very best
And if I'm called to sacrifice
It will be worthy of my Christ
I will not offer anything that costs me nothing

To serve Him is my goal, how could I withhold
Whatever's mine He's given me, it's not my own
It's His alone
Whatever He requires, it is my desire
Whatever He may need from me,
I'll pay the cost, gain or loss

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing
I'll place before Him nothing less than my very best
And if I'm called to sacrifice
It will be worthy of my Christ
I will not offer anything that costs me nothing

(not too sure who is the author of the song)

No Practice

Sorry for the late notice...

But there will be no practice this weekend, 18 Sep. The Youth Leaders are on retreat, please pray for us. AND, Study Hard...

Song Book

The new YM Song List is now available, however, it has yet to be uploaded to the website. You can get it from me on MSN or ICQ. All the songs have now been condensed into 1 big file. (about 1.4MB)

If you want a floppy disk of it, do order from me, just tag on the board and I will pass it to you as soon as I can.

There are 2 versions, one is a simple alphabetical arrangement of the songs. Or you can choose the A5-booklet version. The latter will require you to print the entire file in a certain manner. If done correctly, it will use up 47 A4-sheets, and can be arranged nicely into a bindable A5 booklet.

Those of you who want to see a prototype of this booklet, look for me on Sunday, I will show you how it looks like.

Goodbye

by Air Supply

I can see the pain living your eyes
And I know how hard you've tried
You deserve to have so much more

I can feel your heart and I sypathise
And I'll never critisize
All you'ver ever meant to my life

I don't wanna let you down
I don't want to lead you on
I don't want to hold you back
From where you might belong

You would never ask me why
My heart is so disguised
I just can't live a lie anymore
I would rather hurt myself
Than to ever make you cry
There's nothing left to say but
Goodbye

You deserve the chance at the kind of love
I'm not sure I'm worthy of
Losing you is painful to me

I don't wanna let you down
I don't want to lead you on
I don't want to hold you back
From where you might belong

You would never ask me why
My heart is so disguised
I just can't live a lie anymore
I would rather hurt myself
Than to ever make you cry
There's nothing left to try
Though it's gonna hurt us both
There's no other way than to say
Goodbye

argh... couldn't get this song out of my head the whole day. This was the ultimate break-up song of 1994 (sec 1), and it was one of my favourites that whole year! That was a good year for music!

Letting go hurts. And it took a lot out of me to let go of my demons of the past, but everytime I let go, it has always been for the better. I wonder why it is so hard this time round...

J21 Concert

This Saturday is the Joshua21 Prayer Concert at Church of our Saviour at Queensway. It starts 7pm. I would strongly like to encourage all of you to go for this concert. Especially for those of you who attended One Day conference, its about the same subject.

Joshua21 is a Youth Missions Movement. Those of you who are interested in Missions, mark the following date as well, 3 December. It is Fever04, a one day conference on missions. Great stuff, went for it last year, basically changed my life.

See www.joshua21.org.sg for more details

There will be no practice this week in lieu of this.

Da Vinci Code

I was hoping not to post something on this subject until a few years from now, when hopefully the controversy surrounding this book has settled down. However, I understand that some of you may have read it and are probably confused about some of the issues that were raised in the book.

So let me give you my personal thoughts on what the book is all about. These are my personal views, as such, please do not take it as fact, the best thing to do is to do some research on this subject itself.

“The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction” – Dan Brown, Author, Da Vinci Code

I won’t spoil the story for those of you who want to read it, just let me say that the large part of the novel reads like an adventure story similar to that of Indiana Jones. It is not a documentary like many initially thought it was. There is a note at the start of the novel which says that all references to artwork, architecture, documents and secret ritual are real. This is true, but highly misleading in my honest opinion.

However, the book does raise many controversial and valid questions. So let me highlight the most controversial ones as well as the counter-arguments behind it. Let me first explain 2 terms which would make things a little easier to understand.

The 1st is Canon
The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture (www.dictionary.com)

The 2nd is Apocrypha.
- The biblical books included in the Vulgate and accepted in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox canon but considered non-canonical by Protestants because they are not part of the Hebrew Scriptures
- Various early Christian writings proposed as additions to the New Testament but rejected by the major canons
- Writings or statements of questionable authorship or authenticity (www.dictionary.com)

The Holy Grail
Supposedly it is the cup (according to legend, see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) which Jesus drank from at the Last Supper and it was supposed to have carried the blood of Jesus when he was pierced in the side. (John 19:34, the piercing is mentioned, but not the cup).

In the book, the Holy Grail is instead Mary Magdalene, whom the author claims is the wife of Jesus. And that they had a daughter together, hence Mary Magdalene "carried the blood of Jesus". In this case, it is the bloodline.

The author doesn't claim this without evidence or support. He cites certain very well known NON-FICTION works in his book that support the idea of Mary being the wife of Jesus. Among them are things like the Gospel of Philip (I think) and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Both of which are well-known apocrypha.

The Gospel of Philip includes a line which seems to imply that Jesus was closer to Mary Magdalene compared to the rest of the disciples. And the Gospel of Mary Magdalene actually hints that there was something more to the relationship between her and Jesus.

What the author omits from the book however is that these 2 books are not canon for 2 important reasons, first, dubious authorship, second, incompleteness. The most complete manuscript of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is missing a few chapters.

So, whether you choose to believe these non-canonical literature (and therefore say Jesus was married) is not for me to decide. But I believe that they are not canon for a good reason.

The Canon
The author also mentions in the book that a certain Roman Emperor (this was after the persecution, about a hundred years after Jesus was resurrected) gathered many Bible Scholars at a place called Nicea to consolidate the Christian Faith and to answer the challenge of an early Christian scholar who was teaching certain false teachings. This became known as the Council of Nicea. This is fact. This council is similar to the one recorded in Acts 15.

What the author claims is that during the council, this was where the books of the Bible were finally decided upon. In reality this is unknown; maybe one of you can correct me.

The author also claims that during this council, the emperor used his influence to remove any hint of Jesus’ human nature from the Canon. In other word, to make Jesus more Godlike; and hence things about Jesus’ relationship were removed from the Canon. Once again, this is more fiction than fact.

What IS fact is that the Council of Nicea wrote what is known today as the Nicene Creed. The Modern version is at the back of our Methodist Hymnal. The purpose of the Nicene Creed is to pin down the MOST IMPORTANT things about Christianity, namely the Gospel.

The Roman Catholic and Orthodox Old Testament vs The Protestant Old Testament
The author also uses a line in the book that goes something like “The Protestant consider the Roman Catholic Bible to have 7 extra books, whereas the Roman Catholics consider the Protestant Bible to have 7 fewer books” It is basically a rhetoric to ask “So who is correct?” The author also puts it in a very demeaning way (at least to me) to incite controversy between Roman Catholics and Protestants, kind of like each one blaming the other.

The reality is this, how do we account for these 7 books? This is how and this was not mentioned in the book, instead the author gave some other funny reason.

The Catholic Old Testament originated from the Greek translations of the Old Testament, which consisted of 46 books.

The Protestant Old Testament originated from the Hebrew translations (hence is it also called the Hebrew Bible), which consist of 39 books.

Also, the 7 extra books, contain certain teachings which go against the doctrine of the Protestant Church. I am not too clear what these doctrines are, but among them are things like physical interventions by angels etc.

If you were to go to TTC to study divinity, it is a requirement to study these books. I confirmed this with a friend who is a Doctoral candidate at TTC.

Conclusion
In my opinion, Da Vinci Code is a really good book to read. I enjoyed reading it very much, but at the end of the day, the book is a work of FICTION. What the author did was to take pieces of historical fact and write a fictional story in between these pieces of fact. (see www.danbrown.com for more info)

So if you ever read this book, remember this, it is merely a work of fiction, nothing else. And remember, the Bible has withstood the test of time and has proven itself true and hard if not impossible to discredit. The Bible should be the most important book you read, not PDL, or Da Vinci Code or Left Behind etc etc etc.

1 Pet 3:15 – But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Comments are welcome. Once again, this is my personal opinion.

Think about it...

The same God who created the universe, also created the trees from which the wood was used to make the cross on which He was hung.

The same God who created all the elements of the periodic table, also made the metal which made the nails which nailed Him to the cross.

That same God, is our God.

Reflections on Psalm 8

I will be posting all the devotions we have on the blog, so that if you miss any you can still read it here.

The latest set of devotions, the 3 parts on Psalm 8; I have condensed it into 1 long article, so do take time to read it. I have added in some new stuff, some extra added insight.

Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.

2 You have taught children and nursing infants
to give you praise. They silence your enemies who were seeking revenge.

3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers--
the moon and the stars you have set in place--

4 what are mortals that you should think of us,
mere humans that you should care for us?

5 For you made us only a little lower than God,
and you crowned us with glory and honor.

6 You put us in charge of everything you made,
giving us authority over all things--

7 the sheep and the cattle
and all the wild animals,

8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.

9 O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!

The Majesty of our Creator
When was the last time you looked up into the sky and just marvel at the heavens? When was the last time you asked yourself, what is a star? What holds the planets in order? Who created the stars and the heavens? How were the stars created in the first place?

Have you ever looked at the sun or the moon and take them for granted? A few months ago there was an island wide blackout and the neighbourhood was plunged into total darkness. But there was still light! It was the moonlight shining down on Singapore. We often miss the splendour of God’s creation and take it for granted.

Looking up towards the heavens is what worship should be about! Especially for those of us who spend our time looking around. Have you ever noticed that when we look around at our circumstances, they tend to deflate worship, instead of inspire it? Looking around we see frustration, we see unfinished tasks, we see imperfection and injustice, disease and a multitude of lesser gods.

David saw the exact opposite when he looked up, he saw the incomprehensible, the Eternal, the Mysterious, the Expansive, the Beautiful. Worship begins when we look up and wonder at the creation of God. That’s verse 3. And verse 4 tells us to come back down to earth with the realisation that our Creator in ALL His majesty thinks of us so much to give us all different fingerprints different DNA etc.

The Creator is mindful of us
Look at your fingerprints and turn to another person and say, my prints are different from yours! Think about that for a while and wonder “Why should we even matter to God?” We are insignificantly small compared to a star!

But we do matter to Him! The same Creator who created the heavens calls us each by name and makes us a “little lower than the heavenly beings”. And in verses 6-8 He charges us with certain duties. He has given us a large responsibility. Let us not take it lightly.

David writes verses 5-8 that exult mankind to be almost equal to God, BUT in verse 9 he immediately give the Glory back to God. There is a big big God that knows your name, and created you! Think about that, think about how we should respond to that. Think about the lyrics of the following song.

Creator King
You who made the mountain and the sea
Measured out the universe and You made me
Echoes of the voice that called the worlds to be
Reach through the ages and now speak to me
You’re my Creator King

You who made the valleys and the skies
Displayed Your love on far horizons and before my eyes
You who lit stars and set the dawn in time
Called them all by name and now You whisper mine
You’re my Creator King

Who am I that You are mindful of me?
Who am I that You sent Your love on me?
You’re my Creator King

You who made the darkness and the light
Sun and moon to watch the day and guard the night
The hand that stretched the heavens like a canopy
Reaches down to cover and watch over me
You’re my Creator king

(C) Word by Mary Maclean

Our rightful response
John 3:30 – “He must become greater, and I must become less”

When worship is the subject, little leaders is what we need. Not small in terms of stature, but small in terms of self, for there is no greater enemy of true worship besides self.

As a result of the fall, we have a deadly preoccupation with ourselves. Conversion to Christ is nothing less than getting over ourselves. Self does not go quietly. Instead it stubbornly rears its head and demands its way, looking for any opportunity to stand in the limelight and receive its glory. If left unchecked, self will stand in the light of God and somehow try to take credit for it.

As a worship team, we stand in the front, and w should be exceptionally mindful of that fact. A stage is a dangerous place. By definition, a stage is a raised platform, stages are built so that little people can be seen more easily.

Not that we should reduce ourselves till we are nothing. The last devotion showed that God gave us certain responsibilities. Let look at the whole of Psalm 8 again. David gives full glory to God, YOUR heavens, YOUR fingers, YOU set in place etc. At the end of the Psalm David returns the glory back to God. That is our rightful response. As a worship team, we are always in the limelight. But rather than absorb the light, reflect it back to God.

Adapted from Reflections on Psalm 8 by Louie Giglio
From Heart of Worship Files

Happy Teachers Day

Thank You for giving to the Lord

I dreamed I went to heaven
and You were there with me
We walked upon the streets of gold
Beside the crystal sea
We heard the angels singing
Then someone called your name
You turned and saw this young man
And he was smiling as he came

And he said, "Friend you may not know me now"
And then he said, "But wait"
You used to teach my Sunday School
When I was only eight.
And every week you would say a prayer
Before the class would start
And one day when you said that prayer
I asked Jesus in my heart."

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

Then another man stood before you
And said, "Remember the time
A missionary came to your church
And his pictures made you cry
You didn't have much money
But you gave it anyway
Jesus took the gift you gave
And that's why I am here today."

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

One by one they came
Far as the eye could see
Each life somehow touched
By your generosity
Little things that you had done
Sacrifices made
Unnoticed on the earth
In heaven now proclaimed

And I know up in heaven
You're not supposed to cry
But I am almost sure
There were tears in your eyes.
As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord
He said, "My child look around you
Great is your reward."

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

(C) Words and Music by Ray Boltz

Dedicated to Miss Choong Chwee Kim, my primary 6 form teacher. Thank You for all the lessons you gave us, and even though you did not know the Lord then, I am so glad you do now. May God forever bless you and your son Bryan.