a dash of nutmag!

Paul’s Chains Advance the Gospel
²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. (Philippians, NIV)

Have you ever had these thoughts, or perhaps struggles, like Paul? I have, recently.. Being ‘torn’ between the above two: die, leave this earthly place, be with Christ, communing with,worshipping, and enjoying Him for eternity, or live, ‘remain in the body’ doing the ‘work of an evangelist, [discharging] all the duties of your ministry’ (2 Tim 4:5, NIV) that you’ve supposedly been called to do.

The former is by far better; we were created for that ultimate purpose, when we are most satisfied, and God is most glorified. (Forgive me! I’ve been reading John Piper about Christian Hedonism! haha) The latter is no less important; we were created for that penultimate purpose!

Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve had brief conversations about this with at least 2 people about this… Isn’t it so much better if I could just leave this forsaken place, go to a place of eternity? Seriously, Mag must be crazy… Maybe, it’s just one of those random, sian, ‘what if’ kind of mood… But I’m comforted that since even Paul had those thoughts, I’m not that crazy ahah..

I was listening to this song that day and I just suddenly thoguht of these things ahah!

Finally Home, Mercyme

I’m gonna wrap my arms around my daddy’s neck
And tell him that i’ve missed him
And tell him all about the man that i became
And hope that it pleased him
There’s so much i want to say
There’s so much I want you to know

When I finally make it home
When I finally make it home

Then i’ll gaze upon the throne of the king
Frozen in my steps
And all the questions that i swore i would ask
Words just won’t come yet
So amazed at what i’ve seen
So much more than this old mind can hold

And the sweetest sound my ears have yet to hear
Voices of the angels

But you know, and I know, essentially that God has his greater purposes right? We shall remain here, as we are called according to His purpose.. we know not what that is, but we shall keep our eyes fixed on eternity - the the goal and the prize - as we walk on this guilty sod…:S

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (Heb 10:36, NIV)

Haha.. okay… let’s get on with the life, I guess! 

I just dug out an article that a friend sent to me really really long ago! It’s about singleness.

The Godly Woman - Becoming Esther
by Charo and Paul Washer

Click on it! 

   All men are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
    the grass withers and the flows fall,
    but the Word of the LORD stands forever.
   
    1 Pet 1:24 Isa 40:6-8                 

Have a good day people! ",

 John 1 (The Message)

¹⁴The Word became flesh and blood,
      and moved into the neighborhood.

Eugene Peterson puts it interestingly in The Message… We are the church in the world, the flesh and blood in the ‘huurd, equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the light of Jesus!

Yet, it’s easier said than done.. It’s easy to be buried under the pressures of the corporate world, under the pressures of this human rat race (sorry, oxymoron), under the distractions of worldly desires and ultimately losing sight of our eternal goal. It’s so easy to do that, I must say… I’ve absolutely not tasted and not seen the real world! 

this was a note i wrote on facebook on 30 april 2009.. something i wrote not hoping to change anything, but that it’d get people thinking abt such an issue! ",  

You are walking along the street, and you start singing humming the song you heard at church last sunday. Later in the day, your casual conversations seem to have fragments of lyrics in them. (e.g. Hey friend! Why u so sad! Turn Your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face! OR, Come on Dude! You’re so gonna be a History Maker in this land. You can do it! ) Haha.. well, that’s uber cheesy and extreme, but know what i mean?? :S

Is that you? Well, that’s me. being cheesy sometimes!! hah!

As Adriel would say, we are a ’sensate’ generation, constantly bombarded by loads of adverts, kinds of music, noises blah blah.. and we just FEED on these things regardless how meaningful (or lackingly) they are. cos there’s just too much, coming too soon, we can’t evaluate the ‘goodness’ of these things! Then, they just sit deep within us subconsciously. Have you heard of any preacher who said something totally off, but shouts AMEN, and have all the congregation shouting AMEN back? Hah.. See?

Now, what about the songs we sing in church? Why sing some songs, and not others? Sad to say, some people remember songs more than they remember sermon points (sorry, Rev Alvin, sorry Adriel :S haha). What if these songs have distorted biblical ideas we don’t even realise??! oops…! Not good, not at all!

Like it or not, it was commented that the songs we sing in church shape people’s theology! (If we’re all consumers in the church, we won’t bother verifying the truth of the songs.) They shape people’s idea of what the Christian life is about. Maybe it’s a Y-generation thing that people are more ‘alert/plugged in’ to songs/music than pastors preaching! Haha.. but that means this danger:

Songs with distorted theology = people with distorted theology (!)

Sometimes we do need to be alert to the songs we sing today. Do they make sense, or do we just feel good singing them even though they make little sense and go ‘man, I’m IN THE ZONE!’ yikes.. emotional high.. Maybe we need to go back to singing theologically rich hymns from now on!! haha! maybe not, i can sense some objections already.. then maybe we need to write new songs altogether haha! That said, there won’t be a song that can adequately portray God for who He is… cos… He’s an indescribable, uncontainable God!!!! ", But there ARE good songs around that we keep singing over and over! E.g. How Great is Our God, Shout to the Lord.

The next problem is that songs we sing today are too ‘me-centred’, how ‘I’ feel, how God touched ‘me’. Very individualistic, rather than God-centred. e.g. Oh oh oh, i am Yours and You are mine.. I love You x 3. Nothing wrong, we just need a balance! Are we consumers in worship? Or do we gather, to worship Him TOGETHER, praising Him for WHO He is, exalting His HOLY name, and not merely what He can do for us? There is a place and time for our individual experiences.. again, not saying sunday morning’s not a place but there needs to be a balance!

Worshipping TOGETHER as a body of Christ is not a corporate gathering of individual experiences of worship, but building up of the CHURCH itself (Gordon Fee).

Life-transforming Worship

The question I always ask myself as a worship team member is:
When people leave a ‘worship’ service, will they be more in awe of WHO God is, how good & Holy He is? Have we encountered God? Have we been transformed? Or, will they just feel better about themselves, or feel that the worship team did a great job in moving them? When we truly encounter God, will we feel good about ourselves?? I don’t think so. Like in Isaiah we’ll be so ashamed of ourselves saying ‘WOE TO ME! I am a man of unclean lips!’

Not saying that those who come with heavy burdens and problems will have their needs left out this way, but when we truly understand and worship God for who HE is, His nature.. all our problems/worries will be secondary IN LIGHT OF HIS glory, His Holiness!! And don’t forget, in His presence, there is fullness of Grace & Mercy, fullness of Joy, No condemnation… This is the God we worship. This is our God.

oops.. see what i mean? I can be cheesy with the lyrics.. :S

So anyway, the next time we gather in YM, we could all start thinking more carefully about the words in the songs we sing! Mhm! (: Maybe one day we’ll have the worship leaders pick all the incoherent songs and see whether people still sing them! ", Objections?

(Inspired by Dr Simon Chan’s CDCM series on Worship)

Hey, yes E, it’s been a while.. I think for me, there are many things that I really wanna share, and I want people to read. Just that I often find myself wondering where’d be a good place to share these thoughts… FB? haha… here? maybe…?! Not because of narcissism, nor egotism, but because I believe God from time to time impresses some things on my heart and it’d just be so nice to share them! And if it’ll stir your thoughts, tt’d be great too! Haha! (: Been thinking a lot (evidenced by the look on my face as some would tell me), and been writing a lot. It’s doing me good! ", I get to ponder over the things that God placed in my life… or that God wills to happen in my life.. So for you, maybe, time out is good in this ever-so-busy life we live..haha..

Really when crises happens, we grow. We grow from strength to strength, glory to glory. No doubts. For me, crises happened again. BUT I can’t wait to see what God wants me to learn from this. I can’t wait to see in what area of my life He’s gonna cause me to grow and mature in! I am, saying in all honestly, excited to see what God has in store for me, in all His mercy and love for me. Don’t you just feel like that sometimes?",

I just had a conversation with a friend about how sometimes people call on God more in times of trouble, yet others remember God only in the good times. And as I was reflecting on that conversation, I think it’s all the same for me… I think God just permeates through EVERY single aspect of your life! I mean, this life is ALL about God.. all about living for His glory ain’t it? Just a thought.. ", There is nothing in this life worth doing for our own benefit, for our own glory.

^{Php 3:7}But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.   

And hey, I’ve been reading/listening to John Piper. I’m so convicted..Check this out: The Gospel in 6 Minutes Yep.. you can NEVER outgrow your need for the gospel, no mater how old a christian you are… We are strengthened by God through the gospel everyday, till the day we drop.. Go watch it.. it’ll change YOU.

I’m gonna be posting some quotes from the book I read (while i shld be studying for my EXAMS!) after my exam in a week’s time! Woohoo! What’s the Difference? - Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible 

It’s a good book, I’ll be reading it over, and I don’t do this often. ",

This life I live, not mine, but Thine. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil, for Your rod and Your staff comforts me.

Photo taken at Combined Subministry Retreat Dec 2008, Camp Sarimbun

NB: I’m gonna try to revive this place so keep a lookout if you wanna! haha..