Practice this week

There will be practice this week. Aldersgate Hall at 6.30pm. Isaac will be leading.

Please do take note that access to the church has been changed, due to renovations. So you will have to enter in from the back.

Forgotten

This is life, who can help it?
We're all destined to be carried by it.

Is this life? Could I have helped it?
Are we destined to be carried by it?

This is life?! Could I have helped him?
Is this destiny? For our light to simply grow dim?

This is life, nobody can help us.
It's our destiny to hurt if we trust.

This is death... cold and sweeping
There is no escape for all who are living

This is death... cold and chilling
In one instant all of our dreams erasing

This is death... cold, and numbling
Dreams and hopes heoplessly vanishing

This is death... cold and deafening
It cannot drown all our pain and screaming

Walking Broken

I've been walking broken
Been getting used to that
I'm learning to live with the pain
Of not quite reaching up

Hearing those words in a song
The Word behind the words
And I think I get the feeling
That perfection's not to be

It's like looking at a mirror
And seeing everything's smudged
Then having to decide
Whether to look in or up

Well what can I do
The desire's just so strong
To push and run away
Do something that will hurt today

I'm reaching out for something
Someone to heal the pain
Seems like He's right beside
Seems like He's so far away

But I think I'll keep walking
Thouhg the tears have come to stay
My heart's an open well
I'll keep walking the way

I'll keep walking His way...

Words by Gabriel Koh
Music by Mark Szto

Spinning

Life's a bazaar they seem to say
Shopping for things everyday
Life after graduation is another crazy bazaar
Looking for jobs near and far

Surely there must be something more
Than cheap slippers priced at four
Surely there must be something greater
Surely there must be a forever

We don't look up at the starts above anymore
Nor the coulds passing by
We simply hide when the sky begins to pour
We've forgotten the brilliant blue sky

Touch a star fade the night away
The heaven's above in their grand display
How could we have forgotten this grand array
Content to see our lives fade slowly into gray

Spinning around we sping from night to day
We put on our masks and preted that we're just ok
I know there's more but we're too easily content
With getting more things that simply leave us spent

Dear God above the wonder that is Your love
Is greater far than any treasures trove
Help me to see that precious eternity
Before my life fades into forgotten history

Breath a sigh, shed the years away
Shed the fear, bid the sorrow stay
If we could grieve and cease for all our play
Perhaps we'll realise things are really... not ok...

Your love is light, it always has been
Shine through the night, till all our loves are seen
Help us to gaze, up once again at Your light
Help us to stop pur spinning, grant us light

Words by Gabriel Koh
Music by Ian Chen

At the foot of the Cross

At the foot of the Cross
Where grace and suffering meet
You have shown me Your love
Through the judgement You received

And You've won my heart
Yes, You've won my heart
Now I can

Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the Cross

At the foot of the Cross
Where I am made complete
You have given me life
Through the death You bore for me

(C) Kathryn Scott

Iactura paucourm serva multos...

...sacrifice the few to save the many.

Came across that while reading "Deception Point" by Dan Brown.

God suddenly spoke to me, He said, "I sacrificed One to save All."

HALLELUJAH! JESUS IS ALIVE

For all the earth had trembled
The sun had hid its face and
All the men that walked with Him
Had turned and run away
They crucified the Saviour
And laid Him in a tomb
The life that once brought love and hope
Slipped away that afternoon
Satan gleamed with pleasure
That day at Calvary
For he thought he had won
A mighty victory
And like him all the demons
Of hell began to cheer
O but little did know
That their end was growing near!

' Cause early Sunday morning
Just like Jesus said
He broke the curse of sin and death
And He rose up from the dead
Now we have a new beginning
And a kingdom that has no ending
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!
Jesus is alive!
Death has lost its victory
And the grave has been denied
Jesus lives forever
He's alive! He's alive!

He's the Alpha and Omega
The first and last is He
The curse of sin is broken
And we have perfect liberty
The Lamb of God is risen
He's alive! He's alive!

He's the author and finisher of our faith
The stone they threw away
Is the cornerstone today
Death has no more victory
And the grave has no more sting
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Wonderful counselor
A mighty God is He
The Everlasting Father
He's precious Prince of Peace
He the Words that lives forever
He's alive! He's alive!

(C) Ron Kenoly
1987 Integrity's Hosanna! Music

Rejected and alone

Above All / More than life
Above all powers, above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasure of the earth
There's no way to measure what You're worth

Crucified, laid behind a stone
You lived to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose, trampled on the ground
You took the fall, and thought of me
Above all

How can it be?
That You were the one on the Cross
Lifted for all our shame
How can it be?
The scars in Your hands are for me
You are the King of all

(C) Words by Lenny LeBlanc, Paul Baloche and Rueben Morgan

After all the lifts to and from school...after trying to comfort you when you lost your voice...after helping you with the church guitar...the bass...after all that...the sacrifice...the time...the petrol...Am I but just a driver to you? Do you know it hurts each time you run away? Do you know it pains me, every unanswered SMS? Do you know I love you?

After dying for you...after comforting you when you were alone in the hospital...after giving you your talents to play the guitar and the bass...after all that...the sacrifice...the time...the peace...Am I but just a figure to you? Do you know it hurts each time you sin? Do you know it pains me, every act of defiance? Do you know I love you?

I'm sorry Lord.

40-day Challenge (last post)

Last post - Ancient Words

Sorry for not updating. I'm still sick; been that way for 2 weeks, with every kind of illness imaginable. Anyway, the 40 days have passed. Just want to leave some words for all.

"Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." and "Love your neighbour as yourself". - summarised from Matthew 22

"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

Also want to remind all of something which Rev Norman Wong said at the close of One Camp. He said, "If you only have 5 minutes a day to read the Bible, read the Gospels." That is how important the Good News is to us.

So, read it and come back to the heart of our faith; that Jesus died for you, for me, and for everyone. Love God, then love others, for Jesus loved that too that He died for them.

Just want to leave the words of this song with all of you. It speaks of the importance of the Word.

Ancient Words
Holy Words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God's own heart
O let the Ancient Words impart

Words of life, Words of hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world where'er we roam
Ancient Words will guide us home

Ancient Words ever true
Changing me, changing you
We have come with open hearts
O let the Ancient Words impart

Holy Words of our faith
Handed down to this age
Come to us through sacrifice
O heed the faithful Words of Christ

(C) Lynn DeShazo

40-day challenge (day 33)

Day 33 - Not even a hint

Not updated for a week. Been sick for that amount of time. Really sick. Down with everything, stomach flu, flu, fever, food poisioning and the list goes on! Yeah, so sorry for not updating.

Would like to touch on a touchy topic which was brought up during the leadeship retreat. It was brought up during the AGM (all guy's meeting, all girl's meeting etc) and was raise in the guy's camp.

I won't go into the details of what was discussed, all I will say is that it has to do with lust. If you want a small indication of what I am talking about, go to Sheldon's blog. I would actually like to correct some statements made by some of the presenters that day. I would have done it there and then, but that wasn't the place.

This is God's standard:

"But among you, there MUST NOT BE EVEN A HINT of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." - Ephesians 5:3

As a guy, let me say that that is impossible to follow. The laws were given so not that we can follow it. But so that we can measure the depth of our sin; because they simply cannot be followed.

Only one person has been able to do so. And that person is Jesus Christ. The only way to save ourselves from the kind of sin that we commit is by seeking the person of Jesus. We are all sinners. I am a sinner. We cannot escape death, for that is the just punishment for sin.

So to the those who were in attendence during that very "eye-opening" discussion. The Bible clearly states that compromise is not an option as some suggested.

Those that come to you for advice, well, the best advice to give is the Gospel. Jesus saved us by His death. We cannot be sinless; but we can sin less.

If any of you would like some more information on this matter, I would refer you to a book called "Not even a hint" by Joshua Harris; the guy who wrote Boy meets Girl and I kissed dating goodbye.

Practice this week!!!!

There will be practice this week. The first of the new year. It will be at 6.30pm in Aldersgate Hall. I would like to encourage everyone to come down as I have something to say.

Also, I have some important announcements to make regarding Powerpoint, Fusion and WIN.

40-day Challenge (day 28)

Day 28 - The Joshua Generation

Joshua (our staff worker) gave a version of this message a twice. I want to rehash. How many of us are 2nd Generation Christians? Well, I'm a 4th Generation Christian.

In the book of Exodus, God is a very visible being. The 10 plaugues, the pillar of flame or cloud. He parted the Red Sea, He made mountains tremble at His mere presence.

Surely because of these visible signs of His presence; the Israelites under Moses had no difficulty in believing that the God they worshiped was real. But even then, the Israelites turned away and had to wander the wilderness for 40 years until they died.

A new generation grew up under the leadership of Joshua. They did not see the parting of the Red Sea, the 10 plagues etc. But nevertheless, they believed. And when the time finally came, the Lord parted the River Jordan, send the walls of Jericho crashing down.

What the Lord did for the previous generation, He can do again in a fresh way for you. He did miracles for the Israelites; He can do them for you to. If you believe.

The main difference between then and now is Jesus, the Cross and the Ressurection. Your first generation Christian relative experienced the joy of receiving salvation first hand. Perhaps it was at a rally like FoP or some camp like GAP Camp.

The problem is that we think that since we are "born into a Christian family" we cannot experience it ourselves. Wrong.

We can experience the power of the Gospel again in our lives; we can experience it firsthand. But we must have faith and believe that Jesus saved us. And that the only way to the Father is through Him.

40-day Challenge (day 27)

Day 27 - Rain

It's been raining almost non-stop last few days. Only today was there some respite from this downpour. Just want to share with you all an experience many years ago. I shared this at MAD for God? LTC in 2003. Here it is for all.

In 1999, there was a YM (then ISS) activity called "Love Bomb". It was basically a get wet session. We had to put encouragement notes into water bombs and go around bombing people. I still keep the encouragement cards which I got bombed with.

Most cannot be read due to the water, but there are some in are still legible. But its not the encouragement cards that I want to talk about; its about what Steph Phua said to me after the event that stuck with me to today.

That day, the whole sky was overcast and Steph prayed and told God to only send the rain after the event was over as a sign of His love. It did not rain during the event itself, but when it was over, it rained like never before!!!!

Read Gen 9:8-17

There has been a flood recently, rain fell almost non-stop for 3 days. But the flood waters receeded. God's covenant with Noah still stands today. And it's been fulfilled through Jesus. Love has come to rescue us from destruction.

PS: Steph, I know you read this, you may not remember that you said those things to me. But I remember. Thanks.

40-day Challenge (day 26)

Day 26 - Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge.

In the past week, earthquakes have struck, the oceans roared and foam and the ground shook as the tsunamis hit the countries that ring the Indian Ocean. But the Lord our God is our strength and our refuge. And in this time of trouble, He will be our help. But don’t stop there.

A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God Himself lives in that city; it cannot be destroyed. God will protect it at the break of day.

Streams have overflowed, rivers have broken their banks; but there will come a time when all the rivers will flow in one direction and become one. This is the river of life, that leads to the City of God. A place which is immune to destruction, no flood, no crashing wave can destroy it.

The nations are in uproar, and kingdoms crumble! God Thunders and the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.

In the past few years, the nations have been in uproar, we have seen governments and kingdoms collapse. Like those in Afghanistan and Iraq. But that is just the beginning. God is going to thunder once more and the earth will shake in fear.

Come, see the glorious works of the Lord: See how He brings destruction upon the world and causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear in two; He burns the shields with fire.

It’s a strange passage. How can destruction bring an end to war? But that has indeed happened. One single act of God, an earthquake, and hundreds of thousands die. But, we see an unprecedented outpouring of help and generosity.

Many nations have put aside their differences and have started to render aid to the affected nations. Nations coming together, a coalition of many nations have come together to render aid.

Even the rebel groups in Aceh and Sri Lanka have started to lay their weapons aside at the call of their governments to help those who are hurting.

Be silent, and know that I am God! I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world. The Lord Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is out fortress.

Be still. For even in this time of trouble God is in control. And He does so, so that the world will come together as one to honour the Lord Almighty.

2004

Saw quite a few of you do this. So please bear with my self-indulgence a bit.

2005 is upon us. So fast; too fast. I can still remember this fateful day 3 years ago when I got a little drunk and said things I shouldn't have said. But that's another story. And it's even scarier to think that 10 years ago; I was in sec 2! And I can remember that year so cleary, cos that was the year I picked up M:TG.

2004 was a very depressing year for me honestly. I knew God was (and is) testing me, putting me through some very tough scenarios. But well, 2004 is over, so here it goes for prosterity sake.

January
Semester 4 starts. I do my most difficult module to date; MA3110 - Analysis. Crazy module, but by the grace of God, I seem to be able to understand it! I also do my most easiest module; MA3111 - Complex Analysis. Get's me interested in complex numbers; including some difficult unsolved problems like the Riemann Hypothesis. For VCF, a strange burden starts to sink in; one that I felt only once before. Jan 31 is powerpoint. Post powerpoint is when depression really kicks in.

February
Was asked (politely) to reconsider my commitment to the 11am worship team; and I agree that I should step down from the roster due to my commitements to the youth. I play one last time for PAWN, exactly a week after Powerpoint. Looking back, I realised that the reason for me to step down was so that I could take up the leadership of the VCF min. A tough one considering I once said that I would never get involved in the leadership of VCF in any way.

March
I turn 23. Was challenge a few weeks before that to write my testimony. I kind of write a 20-page long life story. I finish it exactly on my brithday. School works kicks up a notch with the exams approaching, and I kind of stop attending MA3110 lectures and tutorials as the material covered was just too dry and all the proofs start looking the same. Thank God the exam format was to be partial "open book". (ie the exams questions would be released beforehand)

April
EXAMS!!! I spend my first semester with the science exam fellowship rather than with my maths friends. You see many interesting things happen; the most happening of course is Grace Liao and Kelvin Tan getting attached under our noses. But those 2 have really encouraged me a lot this year. Thanks guys! TGIGF was held in early april; 2 days before my first paper. Was tasked to do this crazy 12 minute long powerpoint presentation. As soon as exams end, I am told I need to hand in a proposal for the min. I decide to take a "personal retreat" one day and I end up walking home from Parkway Parade. (Yes, even I am amazed!) The long 18-week NUS summer vacation begins.

May
I officially take over the min on 5 May. I spend the month running back and forth helping the mission trip and planning for GAP Camp. After a while, the logistics for the mission trip turn really really bad and I end up on a rescue mission rather than a logistics team. The month ends with 2 camps back to back. First the VCF Leadership Planning Camp at SU Campsite; followed immediately by the YM Leaders Retreat. Both were really refreshing to me; especially the VCF LPC. My results come out; semester 4 is my best semester ever. Scored A- for both MA3110 and MA3111; that was really the grace of God.

June
GAP Camp. God spoke to me a lot during this time. Will just leave it as that. During this time, NUS announces that it will reduce its honours requirement. All I can say is that, that was really an act of God.

July
Resting month. Needed time to recuperate before school started. I go for 3 camps, retreats during this month anyway. The first was the VCF Freshman Orientation Camp. That was a fantastic camp, I had not laughed so much in a long time!!! Then a week later was the min retreat and my FOC OG's bbq. They were more like stayovers. CORS began, and I end up with a crazy 4 8am 6 day 6 MA module semester. My friends think I am mad, I think so to. July ends with Jubilee.

August
Semester 5 begins. And I go kind of crazy at the stuff that I need to study; really really crazy. Once again I start skipping lecture and don't do tutorials for MA3252 - Network optimization; as the lecturer really sucked. Ironically I score a full A for this module. Marvin leaves for US, and the house becomes strangely quiet again.

September
The rides to and from school don't seem so lonely anymore. But I also begin to wonder if my car is really a blessing or a curse. Midterms begin, I do OK for a few and I die at a few. Algebra and Geometry are starting to emerge as the super jia lat modules. Graph Theory seems to be OK. I score well for my level4000 module's midterm, Complex Analysis II. Who can forget, Amy and Ber get attached, much to the delight of everyone. It was like a "finally..." kind of thing.

October
This is when I really start questioning my motives on certain issues. Indeed the car can be a blessing to others, but maybe a curse to myself. Exam fever kicks in again; and this time I mean the O and A level exams!

November
Exams. Study with the Science CFers again. This time I cannot afford to slack on my modules and so I study like a madman. It was very demoralising that the first paper of the exam season, MA4247 was a killer of killer papers. I start keeping score of my papers vs NUS and I end on 3-3. Somehow everyone on MSN does the same!

December
A quiet December this time round. Needed some time out to recover from my 6 maths module semester. It was certainly a welcome respite. But, there was still ONE Camp. Madness, that's all I can say, thank God I wasn't in-charge of anything or I would have blown my top at the campers a few times. Patience; count to ten, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10... Anyway, I commit myself to more VCF activities this time round. The most significant being the PRC Orientation camp. I never spoke so much chinese in 2 days before man! haha!!! But December ends on a much brighter note than the rest of the year. The leadership retreat and the crazy running around the last few days of the year are something I will remember.

Unfortuantely, 100,000 people die in the most disastrous natural calamity I have ever seen in my life. That is really a display of God's power; indeed, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

40-day Challenge (day 25)

Day 25 - Worship

A few days ago, I visited another chruch's youth band practice. I have to say that technically they are much superior than us. But one thing one of the youth there said really made me very sad and downcast for a few hours.

He said something to the effect of "Got good music, easier to worship God"; then later they went on to rehearse the song "Heart of Worship". Ironic isn't it?

Hearing what he said really pained me, and I had that "sian" look on my face the whole evening after that. Even after the practice was over and they invited me to join them for dinner, I declined and went home.

The first time the word worship appears in the Bible is when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac. No music, no big band, no singing, no big group of believers to jump around with; just Abraham, Isaac, a knife and a lot of wood.

That is what worship should be, a sacrifice. Worship has nothing to do with music; and my primary role as leader of One Voice is spread that message to all the youth. Firstly to the members of One Voice then to rest.

If a member of One Voice had instead made that statement, I would have no reservation shutting One Voice down; for it has simply failed in its mission.