Uplifting Readings

I like to look for devotionals online. There are those from Heartlight, RBC, Crosswalk - where at each site, you can find various types of writeups and devotionals from various people.

Sometimes, I prefer a short concise one-pointer or on some days a nice long article discussing about the definition and history of the cross.

Reading a variety of devotionals also help us to widen our perspective on certain issues. Each individual writer has different approaches to their style of writing. I find it gets dangerous to follow one particular person's writings for too long. It could narrow our mind and views on certain topics, as per the writer's.

Although the whole world's Christians all base their teachings on the Bible but its interpretations may differ. In many occasions, the Bible has been misquoted and people only see what they want to see, instead of what God wants them to see.

To me, the whole bible is meant to edify, to teach, to encourage, to warn and to help us understand who God is, who Jesus is.

When I first heard of people describing the Word of God as the LIVING Word - I could not understand what he meant. Until it was explained how a single verse such as John 3:16 could impact different people differently.


"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever may believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Person A: This verse caught his eye when he saw the word 'believe' - causing him to realise that all it takes is to believe in Jesus.

Person B: 'God so loved the world' hit this person straight in his heart knowing that God loved him enough to sacrifice so much for him, as a single individual.


Never take the Word of God lightly. There is probably more 'magic' and 'power' in the Bible's ink and paper that even Harry Potter or Gandalf or Aslan cannot match.

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
(Joshua 1:8 NKJV)

Running towards the end of the tunnel
Sometimes I don't know when it'll end
Courage, strength, perseverance and faith
Run alongside - we'll reach the light

Sun Fun @ Kuantan

COGS Church Camp 2008 Album

Worshiping God

Acknowledging He is God of everything.

Gratitude that He provides for His children.

Obeying His commandment to love one another.

Declaring aloud He is good.

--------

Those are some of the many things we do when worshiping god.

Songs, music, poems, lyrics, etc - to me, they are the various creative and innovative ways God has given us to make worshiping Him more interesting.

He's so nice to us, huh? Instead of us making God's day more interesting, He helps us to make OUR day interesting.

Who's entertaining whom?

Church Camp Pictures - June 08

Click on the link below for some pictures I took during the church camp at Kuantan.

Church Camp 2008 Album

Find - Feel - Found

"His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him – though he is not far from any one of us."

[Acts 17:27 NLT]

-------------------------------------------

Have you ever had the occasion when you felt like God was not by your side and you were all alone trying to tackle the problem?

The above puts it such that you 'feel' your way towards Him and 'find' Him.

The NKJV puts it as:
"so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us"
(italics and bold mine)

Grope? Find? Are you lost? Were you lost?

Grope comes to mind of being in the dark. Being in a place you can't see. So you need to grope your way around until you find the switch and turn on the lights.

So the lights and switch is ALWAYS there. It didn't suddenly move while you were finding your way or while you were out of the room.

God is a permanent fixture! He's not going anywhere.

--------------------------

while in the dark
    i couldn't quite see
        where i was heading to
  where the road led

but i knew in my heart
      there is no fear
          for you are near
    and you are there beside me

  my heart. my soul, my mind
          they are comforted
    to know that you are near
to know that i am safe

REGISTER TODAY!!

Seminar on the Psalms

Click on image for larger view

Register today as we are anticipating many people from other churches who will be joining us for this seminar. It's only for one day and there is so much to know and learn about God's nature from the book of Psalms. One day is really not enough.

Only RM15.00 per person,
which includes your food and drinks and seminar materials.

Call the numbers shown in the flyer and find out how you can register.

Father's Love - A Recap

The 3-day rally was truly a reminder for me. A reminder that we are all God's children and no matter what we have done, He will run towards us with open arms and embrace us home.

Luke 15:11-32 - THE PRODIGAL SON

The prodigal son runs off and gets himself all poor and dirty. His very rich and powerful father sees him come home and runs to his son who previously 'demanded' for his inheritance.

The forgiveness and love a Father has for His children cannot be measured.

He never fails to tell you that it is because of His love that you were created. We often 'degrade' ourselves and with all our sins and wrongs and all-that-is-bad, we reject ourselves, hence, think that God rejects us as well.

Our view of God the Father is directly affected by our view of our earthly father.

Was your father the fierce, authoratative type? Or was he never around the house? Or was he someone who never provided for the home?

How you see your earthly dad will be - unconciously - how you see God your heavenly Father.

Hence, you need to know more about God your Father is a closer sense.

1. Father God is love. (John 3:16)

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."


2. He waits for you. (Luke 15:20)

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

3. He provides for you. (Luke 15:22)

"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.


God has a home for us, waiting for us. Our stay here on earth is just a 'passing through'. It's temporary. We will always be dissatisfied with what we have - because we were made for more than what is here and now.

God's fatherly love is what drives and motivates us to worship Him.

Only with the Father's love, will we be able to fully love others as ourselves. It's a chain reaction.

性情

Just a little something I wrote myself when the mood fancied me. It tells of how we often forget about God in our daily life. How we only depend on our feelings and emotions to bring us through. But we need to remind ourselves of God's goodness and how He once led us through mountains and deep valleys.

(NOTE: I do not know how to read and write chinese. But with Google pinyin, I can get most of what I want out on paper. In fact, some words may not be the right ones! But if you do read chinese, you'll know what i'm trying to write. Fill in your own blanks.)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

靠着性情度过一天
kao zhe xing qing du guo yi tian

离你身边很遥远
li ni shen bian hen yao yuan

忘了当初你劝告
wang le dang chu ni quan gao

靠着自己用不到
kao zhe zi ji yong bu dao

Church of the Good Shepherd - An Introduction

COGS Christmas Presentation 2006 @ City Square Johor Bahru

Church of the Good Shepherd started in 1993, as a small service with a congregation of about 20 people. Services were held at St Christopher's Church in JB until we shifted out to hold services in a bungalow.

Services were mainly in Mandarin, although there were a few members who were english-speaking. However, we started off as a chinese church. After being in the bungalow for a few months, the church shifted to the first floor of a shoplot.

The church started growing to about 80 people within the first 5 years.

The church was at Jalan Kuning for many years, until we bought a two storey shoplot at Taman Kebun Teh at about 5 years ago, which was fully renovated to suit our growing needs.

This is where we are now and we currently have about 200+ members and we also have an Iban church at Seri Alam that has about 300+ members.

--------

We're an Anglican church with a flair.

We have three service on Sunday:

9:00am - Chinese Service (where it's purely in Mandarin)

11:00am - Bilingual Service (in Mandarin and English)

6:00pm - English Service

Our services all start with a time of praise & worship and we usually have a full band playing for all three services.

God has been good to us and we truly have seen His hand at work throughout these 15 years.

---------------

I have personally been in this church since they started and it has been a blessing to me to be able to see the growth of the church not only in numbers but also in the number of lives that God has touched through this church.

We may not be perfect, but we strive to do as God would want us to and we are not ashamed to say that we will continue to need and depend on God's love, grace and mercy.

-------------

Drop by one Sunday and look for Charlotte. I'll shake your hand!

I go for the 11am service...


God is I AM.

July/August Programmes

Hies,

I'll try to keep this going and see if I can have the energy to update this, since I am the one who will be doing all the flyers and posters and communication materials.

We will be having two major rallies / meetings / seminars in July.
Details as below (click on the posters for larger image):

FATHER'S LOVE

by Pastor Daren Tay, Church of our Saviour, Singapore


HEALING & REVIVAL RALLY
by Rev John Ng


SEMINAR on the PSALMS
by Rev Anthony Loke

So, God will be pouring His word onto you this month. Lots of things He wants to tell you!

Join us.