A Word From Heaven

2009-04-12T01:02:00.005+08:00

Moving On

Thanks peeps for faithfully visiting my blog even though i haven

't had the time to update for quite sometime. It has been a crazy few weeks for me. Many should have known by now that i have moved on from the NS ministry and left to pioneer the SMU ministry. I do have many thoughts and i want to share some of them here.

First of all, let's start with the NS ministry. Pardon me for not

naming and thanking those who have blessed me over the past 4 years one by one. its just too many and not the purpose of this post. I am privileged that God had allowed me to be part of what He did in the NS ministry in the past 4 years. I am deeply humbled that he used someone like me to do His work.

Looking back, there are some important lessons i learnt over the years in the NS ministry that i hope to share here.

1) Never let the heady situation of ministry success get into your head. There was a period in which i fell hard, yes it was painful, ironically at the peak of my ministry. God had to bring me back to ground after i allowed my own pride and ego to come into the picture. I didn't handle the pat on the backs well and i really thank God for growing me in that area. Looking back, i really ask God, "hey father, you sure you used that arrogant young punk to do your work?" Yes yes yes and yes. God is a patient God, that's the beauty of God using imperfect people to do His perfect work. Thank you God for persevering in this servant of yours.

2) I learnt to slow down. By nature, i'm more rash by nature. "AAAHHHH... Chiong ahhh!!" haha.. its quite funny. but i guess i learnt to use my brain a little more. I don't think i lost the edge in taking risks or going for the adrenaline pumping faith acts, i don't think so. But i guess the more i learnt about God and His Character, the more i realise that composure was a key thing Jesus had. Even when he went around turing tables, he knew what and why he was doing it. With that, i learnt to pace myself as well as pace the ministry. Not everything that happens in the group needs to be within my control. I'm not the saviour

. God is, and being in control is His job, not mine.

3) I learnt that people are humans not robots. This is one of my biggest lessons. We're in a people work here. Its always a tricky thing to handle.

4) The NS ministry is so important. I said it before and i'll say it again that the NS ministry is like a form of bottle neck where guys from all walks of life,different ministries, different schools will converge at. If we want to build a strong church in the Singapore context, the NS ministry will play a vey important role. We need to build man for the kingdom of God.

5) Never lose hope. there are many times when the future seem bleak for the ministry. Things just seem to be in a freefall. But God constantly reminded myself that He is a faithful God.

I finally received my certificate of service!! hahaa

Moving on to the SMU ministry has not been a one week affair. The transition actually took months for myself. I got to know about it in Feburary. In 36 hours, i told wenjiang yes. But the yes was in the form of , yes, i am willing to see what God has installed for me. I am willing to explore the possibility of going to the SMU ministry. It took me 36 hours to lay aside my personal plans and agenda and be willing to lay down my life b4 God and say, God, what's next?

As i took a step of faith and obeyed God, God responded and He showed me more. He opened doors for me to speak to people, drop people in my life to help me, put me in situations where i would get to know more about what was installed for me for the next few years. All these only happened after i took the step of faith and tell God, i'm willing to give it a chance.

By march, we were praying, planning and strategizing for the ministry. And on the 3rd of April, we had our very first SMU CG. It has been a privilege to be in the position to be able to see how God, because of His love for the people in SMU bring everyone together to do His work here.

Our 1st Cg: Not in pic, Sher li, Jet and Huifen

The ministry is still in its infancy. We're not doing anything fancy or extravagant, yet. Most importantly, we want to build God's church strong such that not only this generation will be blessed by the planting of this ministry but many future generations will be blessed by it as well. Do pray together with myself and the people to intercede for this land that God so loved that He gave His one and only son.

Personally, i am excited for what God is going to do in SMU. My lifestyle have had to change due to the demands of the minsitry but i'm ok. We are called to build our lives aroud God and His work.

For the SMU ministry, as God leads the charge into the school we want to believe that He will bring about revival in the school soon and very soon.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2009-02-26T21:09:00.003+08:00

Knowing God More

We always hang on our lips that we want to know God more but how exactly do we do that? Is it by just going through life as "Christians"? Well that is what i call by generic growth where we experience more of the same side of god but different manifestations each day. It does not reflect much on our desire.

Well, there are 2 ways to know God more.

The first way is to know God in a wider sense. You see, God is not a one dimensional being. Many of us major on God, the faithful, or God, the saviour. If you want to experience God more, you can look at the different faces of God and no doubt, it'll get exciting. There is the face of God, the judge, God, the grace provider, God the leader, God, the comfort etc. It never ends!

The Second way to know God better is to know Him deeper. So out of the areas which we are already familiar with Him, we want to experience that area to a whole new level. It may be through experiences, through prayer, through worship, through making sense of God's plan for us.

Let us experience God afresh wider and deeper today.

Regards,

jie hui

2009-02-12T16:43:00.006+08:00

What else do you want from me?

The voice audio is a little soft, so do play it at a louder range.

Enlarge

Regards,

Jie Hui

2009-02-12T00:58:00.005+08:00

Appetite

When we dine at Chinese restaurants, they will normally serve some finger food before the main course is served. Most of them come as peanuts and maybe some crackers. Because they are normally presented to us when we're hungry and waiting for the 1st dish, many people just can't stop eating them. Sometimes, we eat so much of it that we become pretty full by the time the main course is served. We can't expand our appetite. Whether we feed ourselves with junk food or with proper food, we become full after eating something. It is a fact that no one can change.

This is the same for our spiritual lives as well. There are many things in my life that i once was hungry for. I was once hungry for dota. I was once hungry to get into a relationship. I was once hungry for success. I was once hungry for people to think well of me. I was once hungry for people's approval. On the outside, they may seem to be harmless. I can't really call dota a sin right? But question is, is that what we really want to feed our hungry souls with? Remember that for every junk food that you eat, you have less appetite for the things of God. And mind you, these junk food may seem perfectly "harmless"

For every emotional and mental energy i spend on being hungry for dota, i have will have less hunger for the things of God. If i am purely hungry for success for the sake of self actualization, than i am not leaving much space for the main course of God. We are all finite beings at all.

Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against dota. I'm also not asking everyone to be a priest but we can be in the world but not of the world yeah? but I am just stating the fact that we need to be very choosy what we want to cloud and concern our heart with there are 1001 things that may be crying out for your attention but maybe only 10 will be really relevant to the kingdom of God. Don't just eat and be concerned about whatever rubbish the world feeds you.

What are you feeding yourself with today?

Regards,

jie hui

2009-01-23T00:32:00.005+08:00

The Right Size

When we become bigger than who God really is in our lives,
We are prideful.

When we remain smaller than who God really is in our lives,
We are insecure.

When we are as big as who God is in our lives,
We are empowered.

Regards,

jie hui

2009-01-20T02:50:00.012+08:00

Doing big things for God

When i was abit younger, i always wanted to do big things for God. I always wanted to win the world. Anything less than that, it was distasteful. I think while that is not wrong, i had to check my motives for "wanting to do big things THROUGH ME for Jesus" or "wanting to do big things through me FOR JESUS." Same sentence, but very different spirit.

I would often not find a lack of people who wants to do big things for God. If i ask the Hope Congregation right now who want to do big things for God, many will raise their hands. I see no lack in this area. But wanting to do big things for God as an end to itself does not mean much actually.

It does not sound too bad to be a CL right? It does your ego no harm to be called "RIGHTEOUS" yeah? It is not too much a failure to bring 20 people to know Christ right? It is actually quite appealing to do big things for God. We can so easily mix self seeking motives of self actualization, of not being a failure, of being a "leader" up there with the more spiritual aspect of advancing God's kingdom.

The problem arises when many want to do big things for God but not many are willing to allow God to be big in their lives.

It is difficult to find and disciple someone who would allow God to be big in their lives and would therefore go on and do big things for God. Many people want to reach the end product of doing big things for God but not many people are willing to go through the process of God growing bigger in their lives because that would mean a painful process of pruning, of us giving up our pride, our sinful nature, of searching ourselves deep within, of constantly humbling ourselves with God's mercy and grace, of submitting under the authority that God has instituted or even submitting yourself to the scrutiny of your inner being by your overseers.

We miss the point altogether when we desire to do big things for God and end up using that to cover up for our weaknesses and sins.

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
~ 1 Peter 2:16 ~

Having said that, i have nothing against doing big things for God, in fact, as we're ready internally and if God chooses to use us, Praise God! Let's continue to grow in our inner being, character and core values and i believe how God will use us according to the level of our faith. Leaders, as we look to do big things for God, do not forget that this desire has to stem from God being that big in our lives in the first place.

Let's not take our eyes off making God bigger in our lives yeah?

Regards,

Jie Hui

2009-01-18T20:02:00.010+08:00

God's Judgment Vs God's Love
~ The Paradox Series (Part 1) ~

To many people, God's Judgment and God's Love just does not seem to come together. How can a loving father also be the judge who will sentence people to eternal life away from Him? How can a loving father be the same being who will set the standards of what constitutes a Christ follower? It just doesn't make sense to many people.

What many people has done is that they compartmentalize God. When they look at God's Judgment, God's love does not come into the picture. When they look at God's love, there is no Judgment. This two faces of God just does not seem to click together. This is especially true when you come from a pretty traditional Asian Family like me where my biological father is the disciplinarian and the word "love" is hardly normally associated with his expression. (But as i grew up, i really appreciate him much more)

The face of God's love and God's Judgment in no way contradict one another. In fact, they are interlinked and does actually flow together really well.

The ultimate act of God's love for us is to send Jesus to the cross to redeem us. God's love is expressed through this act of mercy and grace. Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Here comes the important part:

Love expressed through the Mercy and Grace of God would be irrelevant when we do not take the Judgment face of God into account.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and the Judgment face of God determines the magnitude of that.
Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Again the Judgment face of God determines that.

Take away the Judgment face of God and you take away any need for mercy and grace.
Take away the Judgment face of God and you take away the magnitude of God's love for us.

We can only truly understand the extend of God's love when you understand the extend of your sins through God's judgment and his commands.
You can only truly embrace God's grace and mercy when you truly understand God's judgment.

You're truly mistaken if you think having a relationship with God means that you do not have to think about the judgment face of God. That all sins will go unnoticed and you do not have to strive to be salt and light. You're mistaken because you've failed to understand that this relationship you are in is with a lawmaker who is perfectly Holy and hates sin. This lawmaker wrote the commands out of love for us to protect us to guide us.

If we had never loved the law maker, but try our best to reach the law maker by keeping to his commands, we miss the point because we’re all sinners and we’ll never be perfect.

If we love him, but at times when we fail, the mercy of the Saviour is there for us as a gracious act.

If we love him and at times when we manage to keep to his commands, we act as a faithful Child of God whom our Abba Father replies “Good and faithful servant”

Having explained how both are important, i'll seek to explain how the two come together nicely in order.

1) When we do something wrong or commit a sin, the first face that we will have to face is God's Judgment. God hates sin and no sin can go unaccounted for. Whether you like it or not, whether you are a Christian or not, you are being judged for your sins. That's the 1st stage.

2) For people who do not believe, their quest for repentance stops at point one. However, because of the face of God's love, we can seek mercy and grace beyond judgment. This mercy and grace is available to all and would only be given to those who earnest seek Jesus as the way the truth and the life. This is the redeeming power of the cross. Having said that, seeking God's mercy and grace without first understanding the magnitude of our sin through the judgment face of God will not make sense as i have pointed out earlier.

In Luke 18, The pharisee only saw the "blessings" and "grace" in his own life. He skipped the step of looking at his own sins with God's judgment face. However for the tax collector, he went through the both judgment and mercy and was right in God's eyes.

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The same argument can be used to look at Jonah 3. God threatened to bring upon destruction onto the people but there was a "U-turn" decision. The same happened when Moses pleaded to God to spare the Israelite of destruction after they do something wrong.

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

~ Jonah 3:10 ~

God is by no means indecisive. Neither is He torn between His character of love and His job of judgment. When He threatened to wipe the people off for their sins, it was what they deserve. But the people saw God's judgment face and duly went to stage 2 to ask for God's mercy. Throughout the entire episode, God never withdrew His offer for love for them. Neither has He withdrawn His face of judgment when he had compassion on them because doing that will be condoning their acts of sins. God is consistent throughout. With the same heart and being, God loves and He judges. God does not contradict himself nor is He schizophrenic.

In short, the judgment face of God tells us in sober truth how far we have fallen. God does not want us to stay there. That is why He sent His son to die on the cross. With judgment in mind, we receive God's mercy and grace with a thanks giving heart.

Regards,

jie hui

2009-01-15T02:32:00.003+08:00

The Habit of Tracing Back

Wow, this is a huge topic and people can write a book on this but i'll attempt to make it understandable here.

There are many times i asked myself, why am i like that. Why am i angry when people do certain things to me. Why am i frustrated when i don't get my way. Why am i so scared of being left out in a clique. Why do i want to succeed so much. I really want to change out of them so many a times i just physco-ed myself to say i am ok, relax, don't be angry etc. But that was dealing with the fall out of the sin within me, it was not solving anything or growing myself to be more christ like.

As i started to trace things back, it became apparent that a huge part of who i am is a direct or indirect result of my past experiences which have moulded me in good ways and bad ways. And if i want to change a particular area/value system/character in me permanently, i need to start tracing back. The process is actually quite fun.

I learnt that made many conclusions and built in many mechanism in my life as a result of my past experiences. Some of them are good, some of them grey and some outrightly foolish. The following are some main catagories from which people of my age (22) may be moulded by

1) Family upbringing
2) Family culture
3) Examples set by parents or siblings
4) Expectation on you by others
5) Social life from primary school onwards (being left out or bullied etc)
6) Hurtful experiences/ relationships
7) They can be recent events as well. God may bring us through certain experiences that will surface weaknesses in our lives.

After tracing and identifying the root cause and issue, you'll realise that many conclusions and perceptions as a result of all those things will be vastly different if you have applied biblical principles to them or when u have a more sound mind. From here, you'll have to make a decision or resolve to draw new lessons and conclusions from these experiences. This is real change yeah.

Many a times, we continue to carry the baggage of the past even after we come to know Christ. Being invovled in many church activities does nothing to help you release these baggages unless you are willing to revisit them and deal with them as God shows them to you. These baggages may not seem like a heavy load now but when you do not deal with them, you know that one day, they will either manifest within you or you'll continue to suffer the consequences of these sins.

Someone once asked me before, do we have to repent for each of the sins we committed before we came to know chirst. My question back to him was: Did those sins in one way or another changed your perception of things, your value system, your character, how you view things etc.

You see, the fact that you are not struggling with that experience now does not mean you have not been already damaged by that experience. Learn to draw lessons from there and repair the damage done to you. That's when we're a new creation yeah? Take off the old you before you put on the new you yeah?

Shepherds, it may be helpful to go through with your sheep this tracing process and to help them make sense of things.

Regards,

jie hui

2009-01-09T01:00:00.002+08:00

Sin

The wages of sin is death,
Sin just cannot go unpunished,
Whether you like it or not,
That's just how it works.

The nail must go somewhere,
It cannot vanish just like that,
if it is not to be on us,
Than it has to be on Jesus.

Thank you God for dying on the cross for us.
For taking on what you do not deserve,
and demonstrating about your love us
just so that we can have a meaningful and purposeful eternal life.

2008-12-31T03:15:00.016+08:00

"When there is no BOSS in your life,
you become GOD"

Does that statement strike a cord in you?

Have you been a Christian for many years and you're "senior" enough to know what's best for yourself and can handle all the "basics" well. "I've been there done that, and seen it all"

Have you been a leader in the church for a long time and is "senior" enough to be allowed to run the show on your own. Basically, you're on your own? Even when you account things, it has got to do more with ministry and doing things rather than your inner struggles. You have a boss in name and in the structure, but in spirit, you're your own boss.

Or have you simply been keeping things and handling things on your own accord that no one else is allowed to speak into that area except "God" himself. I placed the "" there because God works through the principle of accountability when it comes to tackling sins and growing in our lives.

Worse still, are you such a boss and senior enough that there is no real need to grow the inner man another more. In your own words, "I think I'm alright now" You're basically your own boss and you report to your own conscience. Do you know how dangerous that is? Our own conscience can be desensitized and rationalized. That is one sign of spiritual complacency.

The above can happen to another one whether you're a leader or not. But it is more dangerous for leaders because all these can be masked in the midst of serving God. The higher you go, the less people you have in your life who can, or is in the position to question you.

If you're a pastor or a church planter today or will be one in future, it becomes even more evident. If you are not brutally honest in reporting to someone and becoming more like "The Boss" each day, you're becoming more God each day.

You see, in the generation Y, we are used to being our own boss. Not used to be disciplined, more pampered, having our way in things and to lead your own life. Some may tend to be rebellious, just don't like people to tell you what to do. We may manifest it in different ways.

My shepherd once told me this before that "Parents have failed to discipline their child, so has the school and if the church is to fail as well, there is no hope for the society." We're seeing this happen to many people around us.

When we think we're the boss and there is no boss over us, we allow pride to come in. We're on top of the food chain and no one eats us. We become God.

We make decisions unilaterally.
We face problems and attempts to troubleshoot ourselves not even attempting to check with someone if the method of troubleshoot is biblical.
We cover up or sweep under the carpet some of the sins that we are too prideful to even face.
We become infallible.
We think better of ourselves than we really are.
We don't allow anyone to speak into us consistently.
We dare to share from a point of victory only, but not often, our weaknesses. Even when we share our weaknesses, it is to show that we're human cause it is the "model answer".

God has instituted people in our lives to be our boss. Only than will we really appreciate and understand what God as the boss means. When we don't see anyone above us, likelihood is that we won't see God above us.

24 He who spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
~ Proverbs 13:24 ~

Sometimes when we are abit more mature in Christ, there is more mutual respect between ourselves and our overseers. It happens more so especially when we're grown ups and in adulthood. I realised that sometimes this mutual respect can cause us to elevate ourselves to the level of our overseers and sub consciously, to the level of God. That's when we become boss. There is nothing wrong with mutual respect, but do not allow it to become a reason to lose our fear for authority and our reverent fear for God. (Having said that, a balance must be struck between being strict with the people in our charge and being patient and gracious. That's when wisdom comes in yeah?)

Always always always have someone in your life whom you give an account of your life to, no matter what role you may be playing or how "senior" you are. It is for your own good. In Hebrews, the author understands in no uncertain terms of how dangerous it is to become "The Boss".

12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
~ Hebrews 5:12 ~

I find myself growing so much more after i started to Account Dangerously. Something i am trying to do is to send my overseer regular emails about my unprocessed thoughts. I know that once i process them, i may start filtering what i should say and i should not say. After that, i hope to progressively process them and will share and give an account about what i am doing to those areas of my life in subsequent emails. The emails include the deepest and ugliest of thoughts and even thoughts that are not "myself", in another words, thoughts in the stage of denial.

The thoughts of, will my shepherd accept me? What if i am too sinful for my leader? They are of the devil. In fact, i found myself trusting my leader more and our relationship going beyond the superficial as a result of this. No sheep is ever too sinful yeah?

In the eyes of the world, the things i account would render me unfit for further service within the organisation but in the eyes of God, the very fact that i keep myself accountable renders me fit for further service as long as i keep to biblical advice after that.

No longer are things swept under the carpet and it forced myself to stare at sin straight in the face. It forced me to look at the unseen and to dig up the dirt within the inner man - Something that only you can help yourself to.

As a result of doing that, i find myself going to God with a clean heart, knowing that God has prescribed the medicine called "accountability" and "teachability" for the sins in my life beyond knowing that i am forgiven because of the blood of Christ.

That does not mean i have no backbone and depend very much on my overseer to give me directions. A wise overseer will not give you the solution directly all the time but understand the need for a person to struggle, the need for grace and patience. In fact, when i account, i don't look for solutions from my overseer, though if they come, they are very much valued. It helps me to be under spiritual covering and at the correct time, biblical advice will be dispensed, and other times, allowing myself time to make sense of things.

If you find yourself being The Boss today, make a covenant with your overseer today to want to let him be the boss in your life so that you'll let God be the boss in your life. Remember,

"When there is no Boss in your life, you become God"

Regards,

jie hui

2008-12-23T19:39:00.009+08:00

Lessons from the lives of Adam and Eve 3

The Power of Words

This was the point Pastor Jo spoke about in one of his sermons as well as myself during the NS camp. Will like to share it with everyone here. Abit lazy, so will copy and paste my sermon notes from the NS camp teaching. hahaa..

We have to understand the power of Words. Everything starts with Words.

In Creation, Words was used.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
~ Genesis 1:3 ~

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.
~ Genesis 1:9 ~

Jesus was referred to as the Word.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
~ John 1:1 ~

Satan twists and turn God’s Words

The very same words used to create the heavens and the earth was used to tempt Adam and Eve.
The Devil put doubts into God’s words. He doesn’t have power to create things so he twist and turn God’s words. He taints God’s word. He manipulates God’s word.

The twisting and turning of God’s words

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The Fall

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The Questioning from God and pushing of blame

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
~ Genesis 3:1-14 ~

Who told you that? The 1st thing which God questioned was not “why did you sin?”
The 1st thing God questioned was who have you been listening to?
I said before that there is only 2 type of voice. God's voice and the Devil's voice. Your voice will align with either one of them. If you're on your own, you're more likely because of your carnal nature to align yourself with the devil's voice.

Are you listening to God’s voice today or the devil’s voice?
Some of you here today you may just very well be listening to the wrong voice today.
Some of you may be saying that your shepherd does not love you but who told you that?
Some of you here may be saying that God is not in your camp. But who told you that. Did your bible tell you that? No! Not my bible at least. My bible told me that God will never leave me nor forsake me.

Why in the world would God tell you that your shepherd sucks?
Why in the world would God tell you to sleep at home and skip cg?
Why in the world would God tell you to gossip about the person you do not like?

Some of you here may be saying that church is taking too much time. But who told you that? Your feelings? Or your tired soul? Or the Devil?
You recognize the voice of the devil by the content of the words. It will never match the Word of God. It will twist the word of God.

13Don't blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn't use evil to tempt others. 14We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. 15Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.
16Don't be fooled, my dear friends.
~ James 1:13-16 ~

Just as he did to eve. He just leaves them there as dead. He didn’t come back and put his hand around eve and say, “Let’s go through the valleys of the shadow of death together.
Application point: If you want to lead a powerful life and overcome the lies of the devil, cling onto the promises of God. Recognize the voice of God. In a war, you need to listen out to the voice of your commanding officer. And Reject the voice of the Enemy.

14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
~ John 10:14-15 ~

Regards,

jie hui

2008-12-21T14:41:00.006+08:00

Lessons from the lives of Adam and Eve 2

Adam's Sin

Ever wondered why though Eve was the 1st to sin but it was mentioned in Romans 5:12 that Man fell through Adam. If you read Genesis only, there have been this general impression that during the fall of Man, Adam was an innocent being who was being influenced by his wife and as a result ate the forbidden fruit. Poor Adam right. And many woman after Eve became the butt of the joke for being such a bad influence on Adam! and Adam being the innocent man had to bear the responsibility.

Hahaa.. being a Man myself, haha.. i'm tempted to leave it as this but somehow it is not very right for Us to push all the blame to the ladies yeah because the bible didn't say so.

Going back to the story,

The Fall of Man

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

You see Adam was with Eve physically all along.

When Eve walked all the way to the tree, Adam was with her.
When Eve used her hand to reach out to the forbidden fruit. Adam was with her.
When Eve put the fruit to her mouth and took a bite, Adam was with her

You see, Adam was not some innocent by-passer and Eve gave him the fruit without him knowing what was happening. Eve was not even created as yet when God briefed Adam about the Tree of knowledge. So it was a case of God briefed Adam and Adam briefed Eve. It was clear that the latter briefing took place as in verse 2, Eve showed clear knowledge of the command.

Adam was the one who briefed and instructed Eve about the Tree and he was the one who was with Eve throughout the process of her eating the forbidden fruit. He had every opportunity in the world to stop her but he didn't. He had every opportunity to remind her of the command from God, but he didn't. Adam stood at one side giving his approval to the process of Eve's eating of the fruit.

After Eve had fallen, some wondered what if Adam chose not to eat the fruit. We would have a very divided world eh. If you ask me, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Adam had already in his heart decided to sin against God. It could be a "ladies' first" thing or simply physical constrains that stopped him from eating it any sooner.

If i was to pin point the 1st sin in the world, it would be the decision in Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. The actual sequence and timing of the eating would be ceremonial.

And Adam being highest authority in the garden when we don't consider God in the picture had to take responsibility for this decision.

Some lessons for the Guys:

1) You're called to lead and take responsibilities. If you think by not taking responsibilities, you'll have less problems or you'll not be held accountable for things that go wrong, look at what happened to Adam.

2) Never compromise on standards. If you smell something fishy, always be accountable. If Adam and Eve when tempted had ran to God and told him what happened, it would have been good game for the Devil.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-12-18T01:32:00.006+08:00

Lessons from the lives of Adam and Eve 1

God's Voice Vs the Devil's Voice

The reality is that there is only going to be 2 voices that we hear and can speak of. God's voice or the Devil's voice. As for our own voice, it will align with either one. There is no such thing as i am my own voice. When that happens, it is likely that you have aligned yourself with the Devil's voice.

Let's look at the story of Adam and Eve:

In verse 1: The devils' voice engages Eve. It should not be in the physical realm since the bible specifically mentioned that the devil spoke to eve and Adam was with Eve physically. The conversation should have happened within Eve. whatever the case, Eve engaged the Devils' voice in verse 1.

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

In verse 2-3: Eve's inner defense mechanism attempts to align her voice with God's voice. This is what she says:

In verse 4-5: The devil knows that to win over the woman, he cannot be so straight forward anymore. He needs to break past the defense mechanism of the woman generally wanting to do what is right and best for herself. So what he does is, he twists God's words. The devil is smart enough to know that we generally would not disown God's words outrightly. That is why we see so many people compromise God's words rather than disobey God's words outrightly. However, in the eyes of God, a compromise is as good as disobedience.

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

In verse 6-7: This was the point Eve lost it totally. She lost the spiritual battle not when she decided to eat the fruit. She lost the spiritual battle when she decided to give the Devil's voice a fair hearing. When she decided to give the Devil's voice a chance to be heard. The Devil twisted God's words to sound logical and correct when in fact it will bring sin into Eve.

A few learning points for myself:

1) Note that the two of them did not disown God. They merely compromised on God's commands and it was attributed to them as disobedience.

2) Never give the Devil's voice a fair hearing. The devil does not deserve to be heard because all he wants is to harm you and to leave you dead after he is done with you so why should you allow your voice to go inline with the devil's voice.

3) You have 2 ways to hear God's voice. One, diminish the devil's voice. Two amplify God's voice.

4) How? you may ask. these are some guidelines.

Ask yourself if that inner voice is what God will say? Can you imagine those words coming out of Jesus' mouth? for example, My caregroup sucks. My leader does not love me. Life is meaningless. Will God really tell you life is meaningless?

Check the inner voice according to the bible. It will never contradict the bible.

Check with your leaders. Don't fight the devil alone inside yourself. More likely than not, you'll lose. You see, Adam was with Eve all along but there was no mention of Eve bringing Adam into the conversation. Don't fight the Devil one on one on the inside. Bring the inside battle to the outside and be accountable to someone today. You may win one or two battles when you fight alone but i will not want to risk my eternity on this. Let the sound voices around you speak into you and expose the devil's lies which you may already have been hypnotized by.

Interceding through the Holy Spirit. You know the Holy Spirit is called the counsellor? and what does a counsellor do? He counsels!

Last of all, choose to align your inner voice with God's voice.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-12-15T19:58:00.001+08:00

Spiritual Warfare

So many things have happened ever since i started to pray and fast for the NS Camp teaching titled State of War. I remember talking about Christians being victorious over the devil and be abit more "Zuai" or suave when we face the devil. Guess with that, the spiritual war within myself really intensified. Haa.. the devil was not going to allow me to get away with that statement easily i guess.

That are many things i thought i was ok with but apparently they came under intense sructiny. There are areas i thought i have overcomed but apparently they were still the weaklink in the armour. The devil was determined to make me eat my own words i guess. The devil knows our achilles heel and will not cease to attack those areas and tempt us in every possible way.

Today, i stand with God today and tell the devil, "Nice Try, I'm growing out of my achilles heel with God's help and His grace."

Regards,

jie hui

2008-12-10T00:13:00.002+08:00

NS Camp

Just shook off the hang over from the NS camp. Though it was only 3 days 2 nights of camp, it has been an amazing camp. I don't think it was amazing in terms of the fire works or the fancy stuff but just by seeing how God moves and how He works just put me in awe of His faithfulness and His deliverance. I'll upload some camp highlights once i get my hands on the camp photos and videos.

Really glad that the 2 NS Ministry within the church to go know one another better through the camp. I didn't set very lofty ambitions for this camp but God still moved. Guess through the games, workshops and teachings, the camp would have spoken to everyone who attended the camp.

The ministries went through 2 weeks of praying and fasting for this camp and myself on an absolute fast for the last 2 days before my preaching. Really thought i would not make it and was really tempted to break my fast. Gave myself all sort of excuse like i won't have energy to teach or that it would "not be wise" for me to do something so untested for such an important event. But thank God i stuck through. When it came to preaching night, the fasting really helped me to be spiritually alert and humble and keep my focus on God. I told God before the event that when all things go well, I want to give all glory to Him. Thank God it went well.

Many lives responded during the camp and prayerfully, when we all go back to our life station, we'll remain changed.

Will upload the camp highlight video once i get my hands on it.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-11-30T11:20:00.002+08:00

An End to Our Acts Series Word for Life

Taught the last lesson to the NS group yesterday. It is the 22nd lesson and it took 5 months+ to complete. It has been an amazing journey for myself to prepare and script the lesson. The Acts church just amazes me. The faith, the zeal, the circumstances under which they functioned and their "nothing will stop me" mentality charges me up so much.

Part of the reason why we started the Acts Series is because the NS ministry at that time was rather weak and we felt it was a good time to recast the foundations of the ministry. I guess its not something that i would expect instant result or immediately tangible fruits, but i hold on to God's promise that once the word of God is preached, it will not return empty. Thanks guys for sticking with us through this exciting but sometimes arduous series.

Yesterday's lesson was aptly titled "Riot" and "Revival" and was taught from Acts 8:1-8. It was an important part of Church History where "Riots" descended on the church which was still mainly in Jerusalem and the Christians were forced to move to others parts of the world and it marked the start of the "Revival" where global missions started.

I will post up the rest of the lessons onto the resource hub by Tuesday.

Next week will be our NS combined camp together with the poly side. I'm so excited at what God is going to do through this camp. The camp theme is "Operation Push Button" and will be about activating and rising up Man to answer God's Battle Cry. Do keep us in prayer and will update you people on the camp soon.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-11-11T13:36:00.006+08:00

A Kingdom Of Priests

Many kingdoms have risen,
Many kingdom have fallen,
But one have been there since the beginning,
Its called the Kingdom of Priests.

Called to be royal,
Called to be set apart,
Called to be Holy,
We're called to be a Kingdom of Priests.

Some call themselves Protestants,
Some call themselves Methodist,
Some call themselves Presbyterian,
But God calls us Priests.

Some are jobless,
Some are CEOs,
Some are Pastors,
But on that faithful day, all will don their Priestly robes.

We are priests.
And we need to live like one.
We need to act like one.
We need to love like one.
We need to pray like one.
We need to think like one.
We need to feel like one.
We need to hope like one.
We need to serve like one
We need to make choices like one.

"Never will i leave you, never will i forsake you."
That's God's promise to this kingdom.
"All glory and Exaltation goes to you"
with one Kingdom voice We answer.

And We know that Victory belongs to this Kingdom always and always.

Isn't this what a Kingdom of Priests is suppose to be like?

For the NUS and NYC peeps, all the best for the exams k? But please don't lose sight of the kingdom as we give our all. Pray and pray and pray like never before. Instead of praying for good results, why not pray to experience God more during this period whatever the outcome.

Anyway, there is no need to aim for "A+" yeah?
Let's make do with "A"s.

For the NS guys, let's continue to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our camps and that will only come through this kingdom of Priests. Let's give our all for the upcoming camp!

For the rest, whatever life stage you may be in, whatever you may be doing, i really pray that you'll hold on to this gift, birthright and privilege to be identified as being part of the Kingdom of Priests. Let's really advance the kingdom together.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-11-06T11:17:00.003+08:00

Why I chose Electrical Engineering

A lot of people have been asking me recently why i chose this major. So here are some reasons i would love to give them.

1) In Civil Engine, you deal with many forces and equations. In Chem engine you have to balance many equations. In Mech Engine, you have to make sure the motor runs. In Electrical Engine, all you deal with is "1" and "0". Its either voltage or no voltage.

2) In EE, a right is a right. A wrong is a wrong. Take another other Arts module and you'll more often than not, be stuck in a grey area when it comes to essay writing. And i don't like to be in a grey area.

3) You get some solance when the lecturers tell you that they can't do the questions in the mid terms paper.

4) When you deal with humanities, there are many considerations to take into when dealing with a topic. Sometimes its multiple dimensions. In EE, you spend the entire semester trying to learn how to deal with 2nd order (2 dimensions) equations.

5) You grow in sportsmanship. Sometimes you would just stare at the exam question, raise both your hands and tell the lecturer "like that also can eh.. you win laa.. 20 marks give you without regrets..."

6) You can afford the time to write such a senseless entry.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-11-02T00:25:00.004+08:00

Please Pray for Me

I've had some crazy back to back teaching slots for the past few weeks and guess its taking a toll on my throat. Wenjiang was telling me that i need to use more of my diaphragm to project my voice. Maybe i need to go for vocal classes.

But please pray for me, think my throat is totally gone now, hurting like crazy. Hopefully after some rest, it'll be alright.

Just came back from west vision night and it was a really powerful time of vision casting. We launched the vision of West Vision 6.10. meaning that we want to see 6 faith-filled and righteous west camp communities by Jan 2010. Let's really do our best in this.

As i was walking home just now, was really physically drained but felt so fulfilled serving God in my current capacity. I touch my heart and tell God, I've given whatever i can up till this stage, what's next now?

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-31T01:53:00.005+08:00

Finally, a solution to our baby woes. The Dutch Way...

What the Singapore government is always looking for.

CNN Reports:

Winter blackout results in Dutch baby boom

Story Highlights

10 villages in eastern Netherlands lost power for two days
Nine moths later birth rate is up by 44% on same period last year
Community has been battling declining birth rates

(CNN) -- A small cluster of villages in eastern Netherlands has found itself in the midst of a mini-baby boom -- nine months after a power outage plunged its residents in darkness for two chilly days.

"It was cold in the houses," said Anneleas van Eijkeren, spokeswoman for the municipality of Maasdriel. "They went to bed early to keep warm. And nine months later, we have this -- a little bit more babies."

Forty-four percent more, to be exact. Residents gave birth to 26 babies in September, compared with 18 in September 2007.

Maasdriel is a collection of 11 villages with a population of 24,000. Ten of the 11 villages lost power for 50 hours in December after the blades of a helicopter accidentally sheared the cables providing electricity to the area.

"Some people went to other cities, but a lot of people stayed in their house with low temperature," Van Eijkeren said.

The community is battling a declining birth rate, like the rest of the Netherlands -- which ranks among the lowest in the world.

And while the power cut method worked well, Maasdriel doesn't plan on a deliberate repeat.

"Don't even joke," Van Eijkeren said, laughing. "In Holland, we would like to have more inhabitants -- but not in this way."

Comment:

Is Singapore becoming too efficient for its own good? Having a blackout once a while may not be a bad thing after all yeah.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-24T21:13:00.004+08:00

How tangible can an invisible God really be? - Part 5

Let's go on with our discussion about the tangibility of an invisible God today.

Our discussion will surround around the bible today.

I'm not going to go into the canonization of the bible. Its a huge topic and there are theological scholars who devote their entire lives into the research of this area. If you are interested in this area, please go look up the theological books which are aplenty. They cover roughly the same things. What i am going to do is to speak to those already reading the bible and how can we experience more of God in our readings.

Here are some of my pointers to you who find reading the bible a chore instead of a real living experience with God as you read go through the pages of the bible.

1) Read the bible together with God! I said before that prayer is a two way communication with God right? Who is to say that bible reading is only us reading what God wants to tell us? You know you can ask God and talk to God about what he did in the past? Its like going through the life history of someone! I was reading about Noah and the flooding yesterday. Who is to say that you can't ask God how did he feel at that moment? Did it break his heart to see his people die? What was it like to put the rainbow up there? How has he been so faithful that we see rainbows till today. Talk to God and see what he went through! You'll understand God's character so much more from there. You can even laugh with God.

2) Go beyond the superficial reading. Look into the emotions of the people. The situation at which it happened. The pain, despair, joy, faith are all things that we can read beyond the superficial. How you can imagine yourself stepping into the shoes of Paul, starting with a high flyer in the World and persecuting Christians, met God and gave his all to the kingdom. If Paul was to write a biography today, what would it be like?

3) Apply it to your life! If you want experience God in a tangible manner. allow him to hold your hands as you try to get a hang of molding the clay into a pot on the spinning plate. Allow him to guide you, to enjoy teaching you, to love you and to teach you patiently each step to pot making. You want to know how tangible God is, allow him to come close to you. Apply what you have learnt to your life. It'll be such a wonderful and tangible journey with God.

4) The bible is as much a historical book as it is a inspired book. The people who contributed to the writing of the bible all had very real and tangible experience of God.

Just like when my friend peter went to the F1 and had such a tangible experience of the booming sound and zooming cars, he couldn't wait to share with me every detail in as best the language he could so that i can share some if not all of his wonderful experiences and if possible experience some part of the F1 experience. I believe it is the same for the bible. The writers experienced such a real,powerful and tangible experience of God that they do whatever is humanly possible to write down the spirit, the emotions, the situation, the circumstances of what happened in their walk with God. The bible was written and designed to change lives and help people experience God in a deep deep measure. Be part of that experience today!

that's all i have, its not exhaustive but i guess its enough for the day and leave enough food for thought for the readers!

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-20T18:03:00.004+08:00

Thanks giving

I really want to thank God that i am still in one piece to blog about this right now.

I really should not be blogging about this but yeah, i dozed off repeatedly while driving to school today. I really really wanted to keep awake but guess the Spirit is willing but the body is weak.

There was a few times i had to jam my break cause i was rushing into the car infront of me. On other times, i had to make sharp swerve cause i was heading for the road divider. haha. its really not exaccerating,. I at the end of the ride, after i parked my car, i just zonked off in the car immediately for i think 15 minutes.

It dawned upon me that i could have gone into an accident a few times, anything could have happened. I could have banged into the car infront of me and gotten into a lot of trouble, crash into a tree or even flip my car. I thank God that none of it happened. T

There was a genuine heart of thanks giving, knowing that my father in heaven is looking after me and its probably not time yet for me to go up to meet Him. all glory goes to Him.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-10T16:51:00.003+08:00

How tangible can an invisible God really be? - Part 4

Today we continue our series of experiencing the tangibility of a real and living God.

We're going talk about the issue of answered prayer as a sign of the tangibility of God.

Before i continue, let's qualify what constitutes a prayer. Prayer is not asking God for things like a BMW like we ask Santa for one. Prayer is also not magically moving God's hand to suit your own agenda. If that is so, you might as well be God. Prayer is communication with God and from the communication, you understand and seek God's will which you know that will bring the best for you. And you know that THIS prayer, God will surely answer. If you ask for anything other then the best, why would our loving father give it to you? Prayer made in accordance to God's word and His purpose, inline with the advancement of the kingdom of God will surely be answered. When the kingdom gets the best, we get the best as well. God will never shortchange us.

The topic of answered prayers almost always end up no where because it will always converge towards the question of coincidence vs the super natural hand. This topic can be used as a debate competition topic and you'll see both sides present logical, substantial and supported arguments. At the end of the day, if you're the judge, the decision will probably swing towards your personal conviction.

Some say answered prayers are a result of coincidence.
Some say answered prayers are a result of human psychology.
Some say answered prayers are inevitable given the huge number of prayers said per day even if the probability is low.
People end up saying that unless i see God doing it physically i will not believe it.

Let me ask these people, did you physically see the baker bake the bread you eat in the morning? If not, how do you know that the bread is not raw dough? What a stupid question you may ask. Of course, its baked, the bread is brown and fragrant.

In the same way, the fact that you didn't see God do it physically does not mean that he did not do it. If you so choose to believe the he was behind it all and look for evidences from that angle, more often than not, all the signs would point towards a real and living God.

Christians, the next time you feel that God is far, bring out your journal or diary to remember what God has done in your life. Just like a husband will bring out all the romantic moments they had in the past to coax an angry wife, answered prayers are our "romantic moments" with God.

And yes, the greatest miracle is how Jesus died on the cross and gave you a new lease of life. From a life of meaningless living to one filled with purpose and power.

Isn't that romantic enough already?

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-08T21:47:00.011+08:00

Some random photos

It has been sometime since i posted photos. Here are some photos i found in my phone.

Came home early today to play with my niece. She is nine months old now and really active! Leanring how to stand and taking her baby steps. It has been such a joy to see her grow up.

This thing is called a bread board. Its where you connect your electirical circuit on. It'll be my best friend for the next few weeks. Will post up the final product when its done.

My NUS Cg members. They are really camara shy. Nicholas and MJ.

Our Gen-Acts NS wing event! It was a soccer touranment. We had 7 teams of 7 participating and many more fans turning up. It was a really good turn out. thanks Guo Feng and Ben Tay, our alumnus for coming back to help out for the event!

Tthe picture above is Guo Feng asking for his reward? And junliang giving him the "reward"

This is our NS camp camp site! It'll be our very first NS camp and the university and Poly NS group will be coming together to synergize for this camp. We thank God for that as we work together, its so far so good.

It'll be at SAF chalet changi haven. I'm so excited about what we're going to experience on the 6th to 8th of December. It has been a long and ardous journey to search for a suitable yet affordable place and God has really blessed us with this wonderful place. It is fully equipted with projector, sound system, aircon, fridge and best of all, once you step out of the place, it opens up to a great sea view.

Everyone is greared up for it and the people are really working very hard to make this camp possible. Thanks alot guys for doing this together. Really hope that it'll be a life changing camp for many of us and many of us will leave the place envisioned and the kingdom will really move forward.

Let's really do our best in this yeah!

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-06T23:35:00.003+08:00

Something is just not right...

School have been pretty draining. Mid terms is taking really long to finish.

Reversed straight into a pole yesterday. Left a huge and ugly dent in my bumper. Have to send it for repairs soon.

Down with flu and sunburn. i hate to be sick.

Have had some strained relationships recently. Hopefully will reconcile soon.

A huge load of ministry stuff left to be done. It seems unending eh.

Things seems to be jostling for my time and attention.

There seems to be time to do things but not to sense what is happening around me.

I need to pray.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-10-02T23:40:00.006+08:00

How tangible can an invisible God really be? -Part 3

In the previous 2 parts, we established the fact that physical separation does not equate to non existence of God as well as the fact that God has made it possible for us to experience a very tangible Him through many other alternatives other than to see Him face to face.

One of the most tangible forms of experiencing Him is through Holy Spirit baptism and through that receive the means to pray in the Spirit.

What is praying in tongues all about?

Christians, let me give you a multiple choice reality check:

1) Praying in tongues is some sound or signal from the worship/prayer leader to start praying

2) Praying in tongues is babbling something when you don't know what to say to God.

3) Praying in tongues helps us to settle our hearts down and focus on God.

4) Praying in tongues is to fill in the silence during free worship, so that atmosphere will not dip.

5) Praying in tongues is uncontrolled babbling because we are possessed by the Holy Spirit.

6) Praying in tongues is following with our emotions and we don't have to look too much into it.

The 6 points above are some of the misunderstanding about praying in tongues. You see, the reason why i pointed them out is because tongues is one of the most misused language in the world today, (Maybe after Hokkien for its vulgarities). Many Christians who have received the gift of praying in tongues lose the essence of it, no wonder they feel that God is not tangible. One moment they can be praying in tongues, the next moment they can say God is not real, how can that be???

You have to ensure that everytime, yes EVERYTIME, you pray in the heavenly language, you have the correct perspective of it or else you will just be babbling away like a mad person. It may even be detrimental to your prayer life. It may be better for you to pray in English 1st as you try to make sense of what is praying in tongues all about again.

So what exactly is praying in tongues?

Praying in tongues is a resultant or a buy-product of your spirit interacting with the Holy Spirit in the Spiritual realm. In another words, as your spirit (only for Christians since they are alive in the spirit through the blood of Christ) and the Holy Spirit come together as one, to seek God's will, to intercede, to enjoy one another, the tongues are given as a physical sign and physical empowerment of this interaction.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
~ Acts 2:4 ~

It is the heavenly language that is bestowed upon you. When a congregation of tongues come together to pray in unison in the heavenly language as a result of the corporate interaction of the Holy Spirit, powerful things happen.

As you pray in the Spirit, allow your mind, your entire being to be enveloped by the cause of God, the love of God, the promises of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead your mind, to place convictions in your heart, to speak to you directly. That is why the Holy Spirit is also known as the counsellor.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
~ John 14:26 ~

Sometimes your mind will wonder off to think about other things when you are praying in the Spirit. I would advise you to stop speaking in the language for a while as you try to bring your focus back to God. It will help you to be careful that every word that comes out from you is from the Holy Spirit and not your own non nonsensical babbling. The moment you fall into this habitually, you lose the very essence of praying in the Spirit and you just won't go away from the session with anything! Obviously right? cause you were just babbling away.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
~ 1 Corinthians 1:13 ~

Your mind should be concentrating entirely on God and sensing his leading which he is giving. It may be a specific word from Him (This is where prophecy comes from). It may be an area of your life he wants to help your grow. It may be a certain strategy or direction he wants you to embark on. The list goes on. As long as it is relevant to you, there is no one area that is out of bounds. So is that not tangible enough?

Many times, it is this tangibility of God through the interaction with the Holy Spirit that allow me to experience God's tangibility. It is a word from Him. An encouragement from Him.

This topic is huge and we can have a church camp just about the Holy Spirit. If you are interested and you're from Hope, i do recommend that you read up "A spirit filled church" or a "Powerful praying church" from the LC series.

Praying in the Spirit is so powerful. Not just for ministry sake but for your own experience of God.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-28T19:24:00.006+08:00

How tangible can an invisible God really be? -Part 2

So, today, we continue our discussion on the tangibility of an invisible God.

We established the fact that being invisible does not equate to God's non-existence.

Today, our discussion will center around the power of experience in making God tangible. Back to the mom example. Though i was physically seperated from my mom, my love for her is still very much going strong because of my fond memories of her. Of her caring for me when i was sick. Of her cooking dinner and waiting for the family to come home. Of her guilding me when i was down. Of her staying up to wait for me to come home when i return late. This form of love and intimacy by experience is definitely not a result of proximity. (I.e it does not dilute with physical seperation)

Drawing parallels back to God, our physical seperation from God does not stop us from loving him. That is one big reason why believers can so easily make sense out of an invisible God being tangible - this is because they could tap on the times they had a personal experience with God. It is something that when non believers look at it from the outside, it just does not make sense because they have no such experience to tap upon to be fully convinced of God's tangibility.

So what "experience" am i actually talking about? Where and how can we experience such love that we can fall back on and say we have experienced God's tangible love despite our physical seperation. Let me list them out now.

1) Praying in the Spirit - Tongues is a very real form of experiening God.
2) Answered Prayers/ Signs and wonders.
3) The bible.
4) His community.

I'll touch on them in detail in part 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this series.

You realise that these are things that only believers will fully understand? These things cannot be more real than they already are. They not only touch on meeting your physical love, but your emotional, mental and spiritual love as well. So how than can we say that the love don't exist and we can't "feel" God's love? I'll elaborate more about this in their respective posts.

So the next time you feel that God is very far, fall back on these experiences and ask the Devil to stop putting these thoughts into your mind.

We have to go beyond the idea of "Have faith! i think God is infront of me" to reach a stage of "I have no choice but to be compelled to believe that all the facts, happenings and my experiences point towards the working and the presence of a real, living and tangible God.

God is not interested in playing hide and seek with us. He is not interested in hiding from us either. In fact he is love. He yearns to fellowship with us. This is His promise to us.

7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

~ Matthew 7:7-8 ~

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-26T11:50:00.010+08:00

How tangible can an invisible God really be? -Part 1

Introduction:

As this is a huge topic, i'll run this part in a few parts over the next week or so. Hope that it will help trigger some thoughts in you.

Have you ever prayed half way and wondered who you are actually praying to?
Have you ever tried to force yourself to imagine God's presence?
Have people ever told you that they feel God's presence but all you feel is the air-conditioning?
Have you ever wondered how can God meet our emotional needs when we can't even see Him?
So how tangible can an invisible God really be?
How can we love someone we've not even seen before?

Some philosophers concluded that this God thing is a man-made thing that poor people created to give them hope. I said this before and i'll say it again here that the fact that they sound logical does not make their arguments right. It just means they have presented their ideas in a coherent and "make sense" manner.

So can God really be tangible or is it really something we imagine out of our need for something bigger than life to embrace us.

I'll try to tackle this issue as best as i can today.

To start off, let's examine the validity of this statement made by a friend beside you - "I feel God today."
With regard to the 4 realms, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, how valid is this statement?

It cannot be literally physically right? If its physical, me being with this friend would have seen God as well. ok, let's strike physical off. So God cannot actually be physically tangible in front of you if we go by the definition of God being a body there for you to see if you talk about our context now. At least not until Jesus comes back. The last recorded incident of people seeing God happened around 2000 years ago anyway.

However, if we are to stop here and conclude that because we can't touch God physically, because we can't see Him, and when we pray to Him, he doesn't exactly speak to us back literally (not most of the time at least), and because we are separated from Him physically, that God is intangible, we are missing out a large part of the argument.

You see, the fact that i can't see my mom now because I'm in school does not make me love her less. Although seeing the person makes something a bit more tangible, we have to realise that by nature, love is not meant to be only in the physical realm. Tangibility of love is not meant to be only shown in the physical realm. In the same way, being tangible physically does not make someone more tangible emotionally. You can sit beside someone on the bus for 1 hour and not know who he or she is. That is being intangible emotionally i would argue. I love my mom and that love does not change with physical separation but is based on the 3 other realms that we will talk about in a little while.

Let's say i have a blind man in front of me and there is a transparent glass panel separating us. He can't see me, he can't touch me, he can't hear me directly. Does it mean that i don't exist? (i'll come back to this example again) The fact that we can't see God does not mean that God doesn't exist. The fact that physically we can't be together with God does not make God's love for us any less. The fact that we choose to turn away from God in the first place is of no fault to God. so how can something wrong we did become God's fault that he is intangible?

So today we've established the fact that God is not any less real because of our spiritual blindness or because we can see him in a tangible manner. If we are going to think in such a manner, we are proving the philosophers right, that God is something we created. But since the God we are talking about here is one who does not change, who have been in existence ever since the beginning of time, he has to be no less tangible then if we were to see him physically.

So how do we overcome this "physical handicap" and relate with a God whom we cannot relate to in exactly in the same manner we relate to someone sitting opposite us. In fact the question should be how did God, because of His love, provide a way for us to overcome this physical handicap.

We'll explore that in the next few sessions.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-23T22:02:00.024+08:00

Inter-ministries principles

It is the same church but it is so different. Youth and Adults. Youth and Uni group. Uni group and Poly Group. As we stay under one roof, God's roof, inevitably, inter ministries issues arises and sometimes they even lead to disunity and bad mouthing. So today, let's examine some principles when it comes to inter-ministries issues.

The principles stated here not only applies to the expression part but also to our own inner attitude towards inter-ministries issues.

1) It is a different ball game so don't compare.

You have to understand that different ministries presents different set of challenges, different problems and demographics. There is no point in pitting one ministry against the other except if it is for the reason of learning from one another.

Comparing does nothing to push forward the kingdom of God. If you are looking for growth, you should not be comparing. That will impair growth. If you are looking for the final product. You will only find it in heaven. If you are looking to make their ministry like your ministry, i'm sorry, you're trying to play soccer on a tennis court.

2) I have to trust that the local leaders know their ministry much better than i do.

I have to trust that they know the skills needs, the advice needed, the strategy needed, the dynamics needed for the people and the group to grow. It is after all, their bread and butter.

If i were to observe a ministry from the outside, of course i will have many comments about it. But do you know the sweat and tears behind what you see? Do you know how many trial and errors they have gone through? Do you know how many set backs the leaders have faced? You'll never know the full picture, not even when you are in the ministry itself, never mind when you are not in the ministry.

People always think that their ideas are the best. It is human nature. It is THEIR idea afterall or they would not even subscribe to that idea. But remember, they may not have the full picture.

The local leaders should really be doing their best to serve God as they know how and i believe that God has placed them there for a reason. So who do you think you are to know better.

3) Set out to help each other grow in love not put their work down.

Having pointed out point 2, it is not to say that we cannot help each other grow. Local leaders, don't smack point 2 into other people's face when they give you feedback. It is possible to help each other grow. Seek to understand each other first before you can give helpful and constructive comments.

The last thing we want to see is people stuffing their strenghts down each other's throat. Remember, the goal is always about moving forward the kingdom of God and not the end product.

4) Know who your real enemy is.

Do not set yourself against one another. At the end of the day, who wins? The devil. Who loses? The kingdom of God. If you really love God, stop the friendly fire and aim at the real enemy. Does it do you any good to shoot another person's ministry down?

The last thing you want will be to allow the devil to build walls of disunity between believers within the church.

5) Give the highest respect for each other's work.

You have to respect them for their heart to want to serve God if not for their work. You may think their work is not good enough. But i tell you what, it is not for you to judge. Leave it to God.

I was from the youth ministry and i am forever grateful for the kind of foundation they built in me. I know that their work is not easy and it has been a long journey for many of them. I really respect them for the hard work they pour into the youths. I know that they are built on solid stuff. Its not all emotions and zeal on their part. They may be young, but many of them have a heart and mind for the kingdom that will make our Father so proud of them.

I am now in the tertiary ministry and i have a first hand experience of how it functions. I give my highest respect for the leaders here for their wisdom, their sweat and tears and also their commitment to serve God despite their busy schedule. There are many issues which a university student will face and without them, there will be many more on the streets leading meaningless life. I myself have gained much benefits from their wisdom and commitment as well.

My point is, it is possible to respect what each other is doing though you may not understand why somethings are done this way. I believe no leader in the world will do things to sabotage their own ministry. In the final analysis, the product may not look good to human eyes, but as long as God is pleased, who are you to say no?

6) Don't stare at their weakness, learn from their strenghts

You may have a point there and you may be perfectly right about the other party's weakness. So what? Does making noise about it change the situation? Remember, saying the right things at the wrong time is the wrong thing.

If you are looking for weaknesses, you'll always find them because no ministry is perfect. So if you find yourself giving nonconstructive comments about each other, the issue now lies not with the other party but yourself. The reason why we may one to look at another ministry is so that we can learn from one another.

7) Don't gossip

There is no point in engaging in small talks about how good this ministry is and how bad it is, for the sake of it. If you want to push for change, don't do it at a level you know will only lead to bad impressions being formed and distrust between the groups.

Go to your pastor and your leaders to seek clarification.

8) Communicate - Silence breeds distrust.

If you want inter ministries relationship to work well, you have to communicate. From the highest level to at least the mid tier leadership. I'm not sure how feasible this is in each instance but the point is, communication always helps.

9) Look for ways and opportunities to work together/ know each other better.

Hey people, the kingdom of God deserves better then "you don't touch me, I don't touch you" Actively look for ways you can encourage one another and spur each other on, not put them down. Look out for ways like com care, events etc where you can work together better. We are afterall brothers and sisters.

10) If you are moving between the ministries, learn to add strength not create havoc

It'll be great if you are new to the group and you can add a new dimension to the group without creating havoc. Do it under the guidance of your leaders.

Leaders, if you are wise, let them add strenght and ask of feedback from them. You may be able to get some breakthrough sort of feedback from them. Take their feedback really seriously. If it is feasible, implement it because it helps. If it is not, explain to them properly why it is not.

All in all,

Jesus says:

20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

~ John 17:20-21 ~

That all of them may be one. when Jesus says all, he means all.

Today, if you are indifferent towards another people group in the church, think again. Make their success your success, make their failures yours as well.

So today, if you find yourself fragmenting the church think again. In the name of "trying to make his bride better", you are actually tearing it apart.

That all of them may be one.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-21T23:56:00.005+08:00

Some stock taking

I'm heartened to receive encouragements from those around me as well as the tag board about this blog. It motivates me to share more often as i know that i am not blogging to a non existent audience like the one at the speaker's corner.

We're seeing an average of 30 unique hits to this blog daily with the number higher on weekends. HA! Still some way off my 30 000 target! But what matters is not the number i guess. It is that these 30 people take something away from this blog every time they visit.

As for the resource hub, I'm not exactly benchmarking it based on hits but more of on the download size. We hit a total download size of 19.08MB out of a storage size of 11.31 MB which means on average, each teaching is downloaded twice over. But of course there are more popular teachings which people download. Because of the constrain with the server, monthly download size can only hit 1 GB per month. should be able to sustain i guess.

As for the tag board, its a little sad eh. the stats shows me a few days per tag. hahah.. but a great thanks for all those who tagged and make it a little more interactive even if some of you choose to leave me guessing about who you are with initials like CoG and anonymous. Others like Michelletham left no room for debate. But thanks anyway.

I've also started experimenting on video blogging to keep things interesting and present ideas and concepts in a refreshing manner. Stay tuned!

I don't think the new in thing about facebook would result in blogs becoming obsolete. I think blogs in themselves will remain relevant and effective in reaching and influencing people around you and beyond.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-19T08:15:00.004+08:00

God's outrageous love

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-18T21:00:00.005+08:00

If i could wish for something, I'll wish for a tomorrow...

Marguerite Higgins won a Pulitzer prize for reporting what she heard from an old army sergeant in during the Korean conflict. 15,000 of our soldiers had been dug in for several weeks, facing more than 100,000 communist soldiers on the other side of the valley.

They had been shooting at each other for weeks. The temperature had gotten down at times to 43 degrees below 0. For weeks they had been living on K rations, unable to bathe, unable to shave. They just sat there day after day, cold & freezing, thinking that today might be their day to die.

Marguerite Higgins climbed to the top of the hill with her notebook & pencil to interview the soldiers. She went from one to another until she came to this tough old army sergeant. She posed this question to him, "If I were God & if I could give you anything you wanted, what would you ask for?"

The old sergeant thought about it for a moment, rephrased the question & said, "Well, if you were God & if you could give me anything I wanted, here is what I would ask for."

And his answer won her the Pulitzer Prize. He said, "I would ask for tomorrow. I would ask for tomorrow."

You see, the Bible teaches us not to worry about tomorrow because the world can’t give it to us. But Jesus purchased our every tomorrow for all eternity, & He is the only one who can give that to us.

It is enough to cause us to throw caution to the wind & say, "In these few years that I have I want to burn myself out telling everybody else about the beautiful tomorrows I have in Jesus."

Regards,

jie hui

2008-09-14T20:00:00.016+08:00

This is the church I love

When I first walked into the church,
I was raw,
I was lost,
I was a rash young man.
But you held on to me,
And you became the church I love.

You nurtured me,
You gave to me,
You blessed me,
You taught me,
You challenged me.
This is the church I love.

Praise and worship,
Teachings,
Camps,
And meetings,
One by one, we shared the memories.
This is the church I love.

Faithfulness,
Love,
Community,
Giving,
And many more things you taught me.
This is the church I love.

Great,
Gift,
God,
Grace.
Great is this Gift God has gracefully given to me. I don't deserve it.
But this is the church I love.

You’re not perfect,
You're made up of imperfect people, systems and structures.
Sometimes it is irritating,
Sometimes it is just not what a bride should be,
But I will hang on to you.
Because this is the church I love.

I'm not looking for a perfect church,
I'm not looking for the best church,
I'm looking for a place I call home.
A place we look to God and try our best.
A biblical church i can say this to:
This is the church i love.

You’re not a vegetable in the wet market.
Good we take, bad we reject.
Fun we come, dull we go.
Fulfilled, we pledge allegiance.
Uninspired, we say ‘boo!’
But you’re still the church I love.

Some have grown cold,
Others have given up on making you better.
And the rest have simply left.
It hurts me to see this happen.
But I will soldier on, mark my words:
This is the church I love.

You touch the church, you touch me.
Over my dead body will I allow harm to the church.
I will pray, fast and intercede for the church.
that the Holy Spirit will fill the church,
I will do everything i can to protect the name and the prestige of the church.
This is the church i love.

You invested so much in me,
And I am forever indebted to you,
Any part of you that is not good,
I give my life to make it right,
Never mind the obstacles that I may face.
This is the church I love.

Never will I leave you,
Never will I forsake you.
I say these words to God.
And I want to say them to His bride today.
From the depth of my heart.
I say,

This is the church I love.

Today, if you're already committed to a church, renew your fervour of wanting to make the church better.

Today, if you're thinking on giving up on your church. think twice. think thrice.

Today, if you're un-churched, I pray that you can find a place where you can call home.

Today if you do not yet have a relationship with Christ, I pray that you'll find His love in one of the many biblical churches around the world today.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-14T01:06:00.014+08:00

Vision

Leaders! i said it before and i'll say it again. You owe it to your people to give them a God compelling and Christ honouring vision.

Bill hybels said this before that without a vision people perish. Not literally but spiritually. People will start dragging their feet to church events. Their shoulders sag, their sparkle in the eyes are gone, the excitement is no longer there. Without a God compelling vision, people simply stop taking church seriously.

I've been involved in quite a few vision talks recently and want to share with you people the 6 essentials about a vision.

1) The vision should be easy to remember.

This point is abit more practical. If i ask any one from the group, the vision should be at the tip of their fingers. Those 10 points visions and a vision statement that is one paragraph long should go. Have something that the group can identify with easily and they won't have such a hard time remembering the vision.

It is not so much of coming up with a vision but instead asking God for His vision for the group. We must make every effort to follow and stick to the vision.

2) The vision must be reflected in the "policies"

The vision should not just be something which is there for the sake of having a vision. They should be carried out. The systems and structures should be in place or at least working towards it so that the vision can materialise. this point also prevent leaders from going into empty talk.

If you have a vision for 70, your group must be able to contain 70. The people must be trained to rise up to contain 70. If your vision include disciplining strong people. Your "policies" must include things like a proper mentoring system or Sunday school etc. My point here is, we do not want to cast an empty vision.

As leaders, we must do everything within our means to give the vision the best possible chance of coming to past.

3) A good vision is cast over a long time

It is not about having one vision night. It is about consistently talking about the vision in your gatherings. It is about living out the vision, working on the vision. and crossing the finishing line together. There is no point in whipping up the anticipation and the zeal during one vision talk but do nothing and talk nothing about it for the rest of the year.

It should be talked about at all levels of the ministry. Don't just leave it to the top guy to talk about vision. The rest need to talk about it, be it at caregroup, unit or district level.

4) The vision is deeply associated with the vision bearer.

The vision bearer may be just an individual- the leader. From the individual, the leadership team must embrace the vision to become co vision bearers. Beyond that, the corporate body takes up the mantle to be vision owners.

The vision without the vision bearer is like fish without water, a bullet without the gun or a LCD screen without the computer. It just cannot survive. Once the vision bearer decides to give anything less than the vision demands of him or her, the vision is as good as dead.

Everyone is a vision bearer. The issue here is, are you carrying the vision on your back or are you putting it down and leaving the vision to die on its own?

5) Protect the vision from harm

The vision for God is one most important thing that will make Christians powerful. And the devil knows it. He will do everything and anything to distract you or tempt you from the vision. After you go high and respond to God in the church, many a times when we go back to our daily life or the reality, things are just not so rosy anymore. If it is so easy to achieve, then it would not called the vision of God.

Nurture the vision, fan the flames, feed the burden, improve the skills even as we go back to our daily lives.

6) The process of the vision is as important as the realisation of the vision.

Don't be too quick to look to the realisation of the vision until we miss the point totally. That is to grow through the process, to love God more, to serve God more and to know more about Him. Don't look so far that you don't see the present and just appreciate and thank God for what is happening at the current moment.

that's all i have for you today! I'll talk more about vision in the next few days.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-10T12:59:00.006+08:00

Packet of Truths

They are what people remember.
They are the building blocks of teachings.
They are what give people a fresh breathe of life.
They are one of the most powerful tools to share the gospel in a nonthreatening and non intrusive manner.
They are powerful when used to correct or rebuke people in a way that is more likely to garner a response.

What am i talking about exactly? What are Packet of Truths? I think its easier to give a few examples before i dive into the characteristics.

Packet of Truth 1:

To me eternity is like shooting a cable through both horizons. All the way to the left and all the way to the right until you can't see the end of the cables. Our life now is a like a scratch on the cable. It is that short and soon it will be over. To some people, this scratch is all they have. So they hug on the the scratch, they kiss the scratch, they try to grab whatever they can to be successful in this scratch. Some even try to elongate the scratch. But is that all life is for?

Packet of Truth 2:

The bible says that sin is lawlessness. We are not commanded not to sin cause it is impossible. We are all sinners but what exactly are we called to be with regard to sin? When the bible refer to sin as lawlessness, it refers to willfully going in a sin with no regard to what is right and wrong, the consequences, the love of God, the will being of others. That is what it means by lawlessness. The whole concept of grace is that when we do something wrong, we admit it, we repent, we bear the consequences of the sin, and we move on and grow out of it. We allow ourselves to be dealt with in regard to the systems and parameters set by the church and society to protect the well being of everyone and to allow us to grow and learn from our mistakes.

Packet of Truth 3:

I always ask myself how can God love everyone to the max. When both of us pray at the same time, who does God love more, and who does he listen to. The jealous self in me would want to have God give me undivided attention and not be listening to many other Christians at the same time. However, the revelation that i got out of this is that there is a part of God's heart reserved just for you. Just like there is a part reserved just for me. What a privilege! Whenever we pray, that part of God's heart is excited. That part of God's heart yearns to relate with me. It excites God when i pray. If i don't, that part of God's heart is waiting for me to go back to God! Things happen when we pray! God is not like some far away God who is emotionally disengaged from us.

Here are some characteristics of Packet of Truths:

1) They make sense as stand alones.
2) They are self containing. (you do not have to give a background to have the packet of truths to make sense)
3) They normally address single issues only.
4) They may have their source from analogies, bible verses, stories, concepts and illustrations.
5) They do not address the issue of any particular party. (It is non intrusive) (E.g. in truth 3, we may help our sheep know look to God in prayer more but in a non offensive way. It does not seem like a correction.
6) They are a good bridge into a certain topic. It is normal for us to share a packet of truth that we learned recently.
7) They break the monotony of a dull teaching. If you're read the teaching of the word series, under lesson formulation, they are normally after the body portion and placed in the contextualization part.
8) They bring a fresh perspective to common topics like prayer and sin.

Good teachers of the word will always be able to make their lesson come to life with these packets of truths.

If you have not realised, what i have been blogging on this site have been essentially single packets of truths. I hope that by following the posts on this blog, you'll be able to build up your arsenal of packet of truths.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-07T22:34:00.007+08:00

Maintaining Purity

If one day you open the papers and you see the headlines - Pastor falls from grace. There will only be 2 reasons why it happened. 1 - Money, 2 - Woman.

These are the two things which the devil uses ever so often and in a clique manner but we never seem to get the hint.

Today, i'm going to talk about maintaining sexual purity. One after another, they fall into temptation. There are enough books written about these topics to fill a library. There are enough experts in this topic who give 101 tips on how to maintain purity and clean. So how is it that people knowing all these consequences, "they are pastors after all" would do foolish things that lead to entire congregations getting hurt by these acts, family members having to go through unbearable pain and hurt and the name of the kingdom take a extreme beating.

It just shows how real the battle is. One foolish act is all it takes for you to have to bear the consequences of your act for much much longer after the act itself. It just shows how no one is above temptation. It just shows how important it is for us to be on high alert all the time. Not even a tinge of sexual immorality in us. Don't even entertain a thought of it.

For those not married yet, Do you love your future spouse?

You may not know who he/she is, but if you want to be able to truly love him/her, protect your sexual purity for this very special person.

Physical purity:

Sex or even physical intimacy beyond the confines of a marriage is not and never and will never be God's original idea of love. It destroys us.

This is so important. The fact that you are not yet engaged yet does not mean that whatever sexual impurity you engage in now would not matter in a future marriage. Your body is special. Your body is sacred. Don't let a tinge of physical impurity come into you from now onwards.

If you have already committed yourself in one form or another, don't let it destroy your inner man anymore. God heals and allow him to heal you in this area as you engage in a relationship with God all over again. If there is someone who can heal you, it is him.

Mental purity:

The thing that online pornography does to people is that it destroys the very special union God has reserved for you. It destroys the expectation of a marriage from one of commitment/service/love to one of animalistic lust. It destroys your emotional capacity to give your all to your spouse. After all, there are images of so many other woman floating in your mind. And these comes back to haunt you.

Emotional purity:

Keep your heart to yourself. Having a crush for someone does not mean that you have to give the person your heart. Keep yourself emotionally pure. When we give someone our emotional love freely, without careful thought or commitment or worse still, give more than one, we are no different from prostituting ourselves, our emotional selves. You are precious, don't cheapen your being.

I find the following concept really helpful:

I will treat all the sisters around me like how i want other brothers to treat my wife in future.
So if i do not want other brothers to flirt with my wife, i don't do it to other sisters now.
If i do not want other brothers to look lustfully at my wife, i don't do it now.
If i do not want other brothers to think of my wife day and night, i don't do it to them now.
Until the day I've confirmed who God has for me, I'll stay neutral towards all the sisters for now.

Maintaining Purity is a lifetime pursuit. Before marriage, your pursue how to maintain pure for your future wife/husband. After marriage, you pursue how to keep yourself devoted to one.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-04T17:51:00.005+08:00

What is God's vocation in your life?

Can i join this cca and still lead in the church?
Can i be the president of this club and yet be a good Christian?
Can i go for exchange?
Should we pioneer a new ministry in the church?
Should I serve God full time or Part time?
Should i take up a less demanding course or job to open up more time for God?

What does all these questions have in common? That is our discussion topic today.

When someone come to us with those questions, it is never wise for us to answer them yes or no. Let me explain.

I guess the question is never about whether it is better to go full time or part time in your ministry. Or it is better for you not to join a cca than to go for one. It is also never about whether you can go exchange or you can't. It has always been about God's vocation for you in this season of your life. What is it that God wants you to achieve in this period and look through those lens of His and observe your life once again.

If God's vocation for you is to influence at the CCA level, go all the away, without regrets.
If God's vocation now for you is to influence big time in the church, and you'll need to forgo certain things, so be it.
If God's vocation for you is to tone down on ministry abit during this period to focus on your studies so that you can get your PHD and become the future prime minister, Why not?
If God's plan for you is to juggle both ministry and studies to your best at this time, please do it to your best as well.

My point here is that God's vocation for everyone is different. Don't compare with your predecessors or peers. The fact that it is God's plan for them to influence in the CCAs does not mean that it is yours as well. Stick to God's vocation for you and don't waver here and there.

So now come the big question, how do we know what is God's plan for us. Let me give a few guidelines.

1) Biblical - Your options have to be according to the Word of God. If not, there is no question about it.

2) Prayer - Ask and seek God. Listen for the Rayma word from the Holy spirit and confirm with your leaders.

3) Evaluate - lay down all the possible options available in front of you. What are the costs? How will each option advance the kingdom of God and what is the costs required for each option?

4) Niche Area - What is the niche area in your life right now. Is there something that you can do that nobody around you can do easily with as much joy and talent? (E.g. Are you gifted in music? Do you enjoy talking about shares and market forces?) Has God placed you in this unique position that you are currently in for a reason? (you are the only Christian in your class)

5) Accountable - Be accountable to your leaders throughout the entire process of finding God's calling in this season of your life. Be brutally honest with yourself that you are not spiritualising your personal pursuit and motives just so that you can embark on your "plan" with their blessings. Share with them your thought process, how you came up with the idea, what are the options on the table and how you intend to reach the conclusion. Allow your leader to have the final say in things.

Yeap, if all Christ followers would just slip into the vocation God has prepared way before hand for them, the kingdom of God would advance so much more.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-03T19:27:00.003+08:00

Running out of Teachings

I remember that when i was a young leader and have just began teaching the word of God, i had this fear in me. Because i haven't received that much teachings at that point of time, i found it difficult to teach whatever topic i thought should be taught to my flock. I was limited by the type and the number of teachings i had with me.

I also had this mentality that if i receive a good teaching from my leader, i should not anyhow use it as it was the only weapon i had. It was the trump card and i can't use it until absolutely necessary. I also should not freely share the teachings i had as they are my secret weapon. What if i run out of teachings and i end up having nothing to teach? Ha. That was the days i horde onto my old teachings. No one gets near!

I'm glad i've grown beyond that. A few observations about how things have evolved.

1) I hardly reuse teachings nowadays. I find it difficult to teach an unedited version of the teaching i taught a few months ago. In that few months, i should have and would have learned new things about the subject matter. In the few months, God would have given me more revelations about the subject and if it is still the same, i need to go back to my relationship with God.

2) If there is someone with me who would learn everything i teach them in my teachings, I'll be more then happy to share my teachings. It also means that i need to continually learn and receive new revelations myself.

3) Last time, when i was a young teacher, i received lots of help from other Christians as well. It was day and night of watching online sermons, sourcing for teachings from other teachers or spending money to buy books on the subject matter.

4) As i was being helped in the past, i want to help the younger teachers of the word as well. I've started to share my teachings online on my resource hub hoping that the teachings will find its way into blessing many more people beyond my group or sphere of influence. If i horde on to my teachings, it will only be stuck as a memory space in my hard disk.

5) My only request is that the teachers treat these lessons with respect and treasure them as many of them have brought about life change as a result of the word of God contained in them. The fact that i make them easily available does not mean that they are any less valuable and precious.

6) Can i encourage the more seasoned teachers to also share their teachings (free of charge!) God didn't charge you when he gave you the revelations to the word of God so why should you charge His people who are seeking and looking to learn more about God through you? I find it hard to swallow when i see people selling online transcripts of sermons and teachings. Its not like the church will topple without income from these transcripts or that the transcripts will earn millions anyway. Let's share freely about God's goodness!

Let's advance the Kingdom of God together.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-09-02T20:50:00.005+08:00

Sick

Have been fighting this virus inside me for the past two days. Its the 2nd time it hit me. The first time was in Chile. At that point of time, it was tough because of the cold weather and being away from home. But God healed me.

This time round, its back to the same thing. On/off fever, uncontrolled shivering, cough and a bad back ach.

Had to drive to school today and sit through a 4 hr lecture/tutorial. Don't know how i pulled it through. Was literally staring at the clock on my phone as the time ebbed passed.

I really thank God that i'm much better now. Guess for the pass few weeks, i've been thinking about the neck breaking speed in which i'm running my life. Took up a few new portfolios and been involved in quite a few projects. Found it quite chocking at times.

Guess its God's answer to my prayer of asking Him to help me make sense of what i am juggling at the current moment. Maybe i should pray more specifically next time.

This may be God's way of slowing me down and getting me to look back to Him. He is the King, not me. For now, its back to the bed. Hopefully things will get better soon.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-30T23:18:00.013+08:00

Whatever could go wrong went wrong

Had a slow start to the day but whatever could go wrong went wrong today.

Was planning to play a video for NS west disicples' meet today and asked Yinglin to lend me a set of speakers. Booked Europe room so that i can play the video on the projector. I'll play the video for 50 mins and challenge the group. After that the east will come in for WFL and we can have an amazing time of learning from the word of God. yeah, good plan but whatever could go wrong, went wrong.

1345: Ying Lin forgot to bring the speakers. Ha. Junliang called me and asked me if i had a plan B. Oh well, i could go to nexus and try and dig up some speakers i suppose.

1350: But nexus dun have! Asked around and can't find a speaker. It was really important as my entire meeting was a video sermon by Bill Hybels.

1359: When i reached reception, i was pleasantly surprised when i saw Yinglin carrying a set of brand new speakers. Haa.. according to him, he was so guild striken that he went to buy a pair. Wow. Thanks Yinglin for the spirit of excellence.

1400: I walked into Europe room planning to carry on with my perfectly planned meeting. Guess what, Pastor Lawrance said he booked the room! Well, i doubled check with the online booking thingy and i was certain the room was mine. so its a case of double booking again. Oh well. I couldn't possibly chase the Hope Bangkok worship team who is here to give guest music lessons out right? so here we go on the frantic search and negotiation for room.

1420: After 20 mins of calling people and negotiation, i decided to move the west disciples' meet to B1 and WFL to istana Park. Thanks Carmen and Eevoon for your willingness to help find a solution out of this. But guess its God's plan for us not to be so comfortable since today's WFL teaching is on persecution.

1430: We finally settled down on B1 and started disciples meet. It was weird to have 10 guys sitting in the middle of the way and blasting an online sermon loud on the speakers. There were many onlookers but it went well. Really God blessed that there was no security guard who came to chase us away. Normally they will chase us away after 5 minutes but this time round, we stayed there for an entire hour! Praise God! We even had to steal electricity for the speakers and the laptop from some obscure powerpoint!

1445: We had to rush down for WFL. Guess what, it started to pour. The place was terrible for teaching. It was the worse place possible to teach.

It was pouring really heavily and loudly.
There was a dance practice going on.
There were people learning guitar with a super loud tambourine .
There were people smoking.
The worse was one a group of people started to celebrate a birthday by smashing cake and throwing someone into the water.

I was like wow, what an environment to teach about persecution.

But i really want to salute our two teachers for the day, Hanyang and YingLin. They really really did very well in this kind of environment. I am so proud of them.

Hanyang teaching the 1st point

YingLin taking the 2nd

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-28T21:29:00.005+08:00

Defeating Temptation

Building upon what i said about temptation a few entries ago, I recently read this purpose driven devotion by Rick Warren, which i subscribe to, about temptation. I found it really apt and so true. I'll recommend that everyone subscribe to it. Its free. Here goes... (hopefully it doesn't break any copy right laws.)

Rick Warren:

There is always a way out.

You may sometimes feel that a temptation is too overpowering for you to bear, but that’s a lie from Satan. God has promised never to allow more on you than he puts within you to handle it. He will not permit any temptation that you could not overcome. However, you must do your part too by practicing biblical methods for defeating temptation.

First and foremost, you want to refocus your attention on something besides the temptation. It may surprise you that nowhere in the Bible are we told to “resist temptation.” We’re told to “resist the devil,” and that is very different (James 4:7).

The Bible says we’re to refocus our attention because trying to resist a thought simply doesn’t work. It only intensifies our focus on the wrong thing and strengthens its allure. Let me explain:

Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it.

Whatever you resist, persists.

This is especially true with temptation. You don’t defeat temptation by fighting the feeling of it. The more you fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls you. You strengthen it every time you think it.

Since temptation always begins with a thought, the quickest way to neutralize its allure is to turn your attention to something else. Don’t fight the thought, just change the channel of your mind and get interested in another idea. This is the first step in defeating temptation.

The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you. That’s why Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.” (Job 31:1 NLT).

And David prayed, “Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless” (Psalm 119:3a TEV).

(Source: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/Home/home.htm)

Comments:

It is never wrong to be tempted. It what we do with the temptation that matters. Jesus was tempted by the devil 3 times but he chose not to feed the temptation. Temptations are like parasites. They stick to you, cling on to you, feed on you as long as you allow it to do so.

But if you starve the temptation of thoughts, of emotional strength, of time by keeping yourself occupied with other stuff, of imagination (temptations are good most of the time because we sugar coat them and ignore the consequences) and of importance (we always think we will die without them)

If you find yourself always struggling in a certain area, channel your energy to prayer, to God's community as you try to pull yourself out of it. It is never a good idea to run away from temptation as a end to itself. You'll just run into another temptation. The only safe place of refuge is God's kingdom and his community. Not to say that Christians won't be tempted but to say that we can overcome them.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-26T22:21:00.003+08:00

Who is God to you?

As Christians, we always say that we want to know God more and more each day. But how do we actually get to know God each day? By reading the bible? How does that help? Let me try to put things into perspective here.

There are many faces of God. And i pray that today, we are knowing more and more of the character of God each day. The character of God is definitely not one dimensional. Let's look at the bible.

The God to Abraham magnified God's faithfulness.
The God to Moses magnified a deliverer.
The God to David magnified God's close relationship with David.

The God to Jesus was an Abba Father.
The God to Paul was the ultimately authority.
The God to John was about hope for the future in revelation as well as the judge in God the father.

And the list carries on.

You see, if you're from an Asian family, you'll form a more natural perspective of an authoritative dad.
If your dad is a workaholic, or someone who does not care for the family, your inclination will be a cold and uncaring father who is only interested in big things.

But our dads are imperfect. Don't let who you see limit who God is.

Enrich your spiritual life. Just like a housewife would not only want to know the husband as the provider of the family, but is interested in the husband as a dad to the kids, as a protector, as a source of love, as a leader etc. we should really get to know more about God each day.

Get to know not only the depth of each trait of God but also increase the number of traits you can really understand and have experienced God through. It may help if you can just list down the traits you know of God and attach the memorable experiences you had with God as you experience that face of God.

I think many of us know the different faces of God through our experiences but we may not be able to organise these thoughts of God's character properly.

I hope that this post will give you a new perspective about what knowing God more each day really mean to you.

2008-08-24T03:37:00.006+08:00

Professional Leaders

Let's talk about the idea of professional leaders today.

In the ever so efficient and increasing demanding Singapore society today, being professional is often hailed as a necessity to survive in the market place. Professional give people the impression that they are aloof, they are suppose to be emotionally disengaged with you. they are suppose to achieve a very specific aim in your life and after that you'll not see them again. That's professional.

Sometimes we bring this attitude into the church. When our sheep have a certain issue, just like a doctor, we whip out a certain tried and tested teaching or an advice that we have used on our ten previous sheep without much thought.

When our group grips in anticipation about a upcoming ess, we take a step back and refuse to be part of the emotional roller coaster. When we have gone through a certain season for the 10th time (E.g. Matric Season or Christmas) We become so "experienced" that we reuse whatever attitude, skills, principles we use in the past. It is almost as if we have become indifferent to our ministry. We become so skilled in doing things that we lose the human factor.

This is especially so for leaders so stay back in the ministry. I have already sent off 2 generations of NS guys and i am currently taking my 3rd and 4th generation in the ministry. It is like a cycle. People come and go and basically i can write a syllabus for them and i don't have to worry for the next 10 generations. i just have to reuse whatever i did in the past, whatever i taught in the past, say whatever i said. Good life eh? But i'm afraid that will take all the kick out of the ministry. We'll not be able to bring the ministry forward in any way.

My point is that at the end of the day, we cannot be so seasoned that we become emotionally disengaged from our group because we do not want to go through the sucky feeling of having to get your hands dirty again.

You want to protect yourself from the emotional roller coaster of leading a group to a new frontier. You want to prevent yourself from having to go back to God once again feeling helpless and inadequate. You are just contented with being where you are.

Whether or not you are a leader or not, my call to Christians as well, are we becoming so old bird (Lao Jiao) that we no longer want to feel the kick in the ministry. Do we say to ourselves that the chionging days are for the students and the newer Christians. Wait a few more years and their fire will die down. Hey, can i challenge you to not think like that? you're never too old to chiong for God all over again. Don't become a professional.

Pastors and full time church staffs, it is important to know that what you are doing is not a regular 8 to 5 paying job. After 5, any counseling session will go to my answering machine. I function on a 5.5 day work week. I disengage myself totally when this person have ended off the series of counseling sessions. His well being is no longer of my concern. I only do what is required of me in the portfolio.

Your heart is at the center of your ministry, not your skills set. Once you lose that, it may be time to rethink why are we here in the 1st place.

We want to be good at doing something. But never professional. amen!

Regards,

Jie Hui, Stephen

2008-08-21T22:05:00.015+08:00

Teaching the Word of God

What i am about to share is not for you to judge others. It is meant for self improvement. So don't take what i am about to share and judge your pastor. Look at yourself 1st. ok! here we go...

I get really really irritated and burdened when i attend a Christian event where there is a sharing and the sharing is not up to scratch. I get really disturbed when i know that the teaching could have been better prepared, presented to the person's ability or to the teaching/topic's impact.

We've all had our fair share of attending bad teachings. It is those teachings which you walk away from it feeling that you have wasted you time. You really try your best to learn something from it but you just learned nothing.

Or if you are a teacher, you know that you could have done much better in terms of presentation and preparation.

Do you know how much damage a bad teaching can do? Let me give a few instances:

1) People (especially non believers) are not going to be so graceful to say, oh, this guy is having a bad day. Maybe he didn't teach well because he is struggling with some issues in his life. They are not going to say that.

Instead, what you present to them, they are just going to give you that one chance to impact them. They will judge you by that session.

2) Not only will they judge you only, they will judge the entire 2000 years of Christian teachers based on what you teach.

Teach well and they will be convinced that Christianity is relevant and not boring.

Teach badly and they are likely write off each and every teacher for the past 2000 years because you represent them!! They will not give you a second chance. Especially if they are non believers.

3) The message of God deserves better then how some of us are presenting it. The way some of us teach the word of God takes every bit of interesting thing out of the message. It make the gospel sound like some chant. It makes sitting through the teaching a chore. They are like the age old priests at the pulpit.

Come on, let's be faithful with the concepts and teaching God has given us. Make it interesting. Make it relevant. Don't turn people off the love of God with your monotonous, get-it-over and done with, dull teachings.

4) Don't just say i do my best! Say i want to learn to do better as a teacher. Pick up skills. Watch online sermons, watch how other people do public speaking!

I remember that when i was preparing for the Ns vision night, shirley asked me to watch Obama's speeches. Not to watch it for the content but to learn from his public speaking skills. I did and i improved from there.

I learned story telling skills from pastor Wayne Cordeiro, i learned analogies and sermon structuring from Pastor Rick Warren, I learned how to inspire from Bill Hybels. My point is, if you're not that a good teacher, its ok! Learn to be one.

The gift of teaching is one which needs to be constantly exercised and trained for you to be powerful with it.

5) The bar has been set higher and higher as Christianity develops. You may be able to pass off as a teacher of the word of God in the past with just good biblical concepts. However, it does not work with this generation anymore.

The media has exposed this generation to so many great speakers and inspirational stuff that it is much more difficult to capture their imagination and attention now as compared to the pre-youtube, pre-internet, pre-television era.

The bar has been raised by people like Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and Billy Graham. There is no point in having all the biblical knowledge in the world but not being able to present it in a manner that people will embrace the message of Christ. Its a challenge that we need to live up to.

6) Every teaching has to be a homerun. Never take teaching the word of God lightly. If at the end of the day, you are not faithful with what God has give you, blood is on your hands.

To Start off things, I've posted a series of 4 lessons in the Resource hub-Restricted area for you to download. They are all password protected. This is to prevent the teaching from falling into the wrong hands. Drop me an email at shockerbolt@hotmail.com or leave a email in the comment page if you want to access the teaching.

They include:

a) Principles of Teaching the word of God: What kind of attitudes should we have as Teachers so that we can teach it well?

b) Lesson formulation: How to we structure, write or prepare a teaching? What should we include in a message?

c) Practical skills of teaching: How should we present the word of God? It cover things from public speaking skills to killers of a teaching.

d) Vision casting: What are the essentials in a vision casting? How should we structure a challenge?

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-19T20:09:00.012+08:00

Birthday Season

August is a month of birthdays. I have no idea why it just that it seems as if the whole world is born during this period. With the huge lists of birthdays facing you, what is suppose to be a joyous occasion often leads to stress, hurt, unmet expectations from lousy celebrations, grudges and even broken relationships. It is ironic isn't it? If you stay long enough in the church, you can know that things can become pretty political sometimes when it comes to birthdays. Let's talk about this topic today.

I've had my fair share of bad birthday celebrations be it for myself or attending one. I think i hosted a few bad ones as well. What i am going to share is really not for you to judge others about how they celebrate your birthday. They are more for how should we celebrate other's birthdays better. "It is more blessed to give then to receive right?"

We should at the end of the day be kingdom minded. Don't fall into a state of self pity when yours is not done well. It does nothing to advance the kingdom of God. But that does not mean we do not try to improve how we celebrate other's birthdays. Move on from there. I really respect people like sengkim, every one of his birthday celebration i attended has been about the kingdom. About getting to sow on people. Salute you bro.

I'll start with some interesting observations.

1) Ideally we always say that even if no one celebrate your birthday, you should be perfectly fine. i think its ideal. but the world is not ideal right? I won't want to take this ideal chance on my cg members.

There seems to be natural expectation for people to value you, appreciate you. After all, it comes only once a year. Even if you grow yourself a lot in this area, it is at best minimized but never eliminated. I think there can be a healthy expectation when it comes to this. We are humans after all. Don't try to be so holy until you deny the fact that a bit of appreciation will make your day. However, it should be not be the drive of your ministry. It fills your emotional tank at times.

2) NEVER EVER HAVE THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AS A PART OF A NORMAL MEETING.

These are absolutly the worse birthdays ever to go through. Leaders! It doesn't kill the cg or your group growth to set aside one caregroup meeting solely to celebrate a person's birthday. The problem with this type of celebration is it is never conducive and normally rushed when the birthday is celebrated. Don't see birthday as a chore and something to get out of the way even when the person has been in the cg for a very long time already. It cannot be part of a meeting agenda. So are we suppose to suddenly drop our pens and put on the party hats?

If you're a wise leader, you'll use it as a occasion to build your group and to bond people. There are many ways to bond a cg rather than a standard cg.

AND this applies for farewell or welcome cg as well. yeah...

3) Try not to celebrate birthdays together even if it is on the same day.

It never seems like a good idea to share a cake or the occasion with someone else. It is good once a year for the attention to lie squarely on you. Divided attention may not be too good an idea especially if the person tend to see birthdays highly. It may sound political, but i really think its a matter of showing appreciation in a way that the person will feel appreciated.

And never leave birthdays uncelebrated. Every birthday celebration have to be a home run. It cannot be "just another birthday"

4) As we celebrate a few more birthdays and get a little older, you can observe a few standard packages.

a) The cake - affirmation - card - prayer package.

This is the most common and readily available package used. The size of the cake depends on how much money the leader has or the caregroup is willing to fork out. If they are really broke, normally a slice of cake will do. If they are abit more generous, they will go for the full (normally bengawan solo or prima deli) cake.

It doesn't take alot of planning when it comes to this. sometimes they will add the surprise element to this. It works at times but i tell u truthfully, sometimes we try to hard to surprise. It is not like a surprise will add fireworks to the birthday.

I guess the key thing that makes this birthday package work is the affirmation. Don't rush this time. it is normally not the cake or surprise that makes it work. It is the words and affirmation. I seriously think sometimes we force affirmation out too much. it may be good to get a few people to prepare 1st before the birthday.

Personally, i don't really like cakes. i think we are an overcaked celebration. Ever tried passing the cake around and no one wants to eat it? We either end up smashing it on the face, throwing it away or packing it home. I guess cakes are for larger settings where it is less personal and more showy. :)

b) The sit down together, eat and enjoy package. (It can be overnight fellowship as well)

Personally i really enjoy these birthday celebrations. I don't need you to buy me expensive gifts (i mean if i need them i can buy them myself). But there are people with the love language of gifts. time spent catching up with one another is always so enjoyable.

This is the type of birthday celebrations i really enjoy. No need to be stressed over atmosphere or whether the birthday surprise will work.

Its good to do a round of affirmation and prayer as well.

c) House, 12 midnight visit package

We do this often in the ns ministry. Maybe because we have vehicles. But its is always good. It shows effort and normally we can share till 3-4am. It is normally for people who are not so available or not so committed.

Its a bit weird to go there empty handed. A cake, gift or a even card is normally good enough.

d) Throw a party!

Its normally for the 21st. Not really inclined towards a birthday bash cause you hardly get time with the birthday girl or boy. And normally people end up talking among themsevles.

e) The creative-tailor made package.

I love these sort of birthdays. It does not have to be expensive but it shows the amount of effort put in. Sometimes it reflects how much you treasure this friend. It shows that it is not a get over and done with thing.

There are birthday blogs that i've come across. going to the ice skating ring and get them to play the birthday song. It can be doing an extreme make over for the person. If you have abit more time, do a youtube video for him/her. Go to places where he/she always wanted to visit but never got to go there.

My point is do something different!

There is no such thing as i'm not the creative sort of person.
There is only a lazy and does-not-bother-to-put-in-effort attitude in you

The mark of a good birthday celebrations is memorable moments.

10 yrs down the road, People are not going to remember a cg teaching you gave in a standard cg but they are sure going to remember a good birthday celebration.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-18T17:30:00.012+08:00

My Dad is always right... or is he?

Today, let's talk about the issue of our family. and nope, i'm not going to talk about the importance of family time or how we should honour our parents though they are important as well. I'm going to talk about family upbringing today. How does it affect us in many ways and helped shaped us to be who we are today.

We tend to think that we are who we are. We are who we are because of our genes, our hard work, our desire. The kind of influence our family has on us has been pretty much undermined and i hope to put the spotlight on it today.

When you are a child, 80% of who you are is dependent on your family. Whatever your family do is correct. You basically base your moral benchmark, views about the world and lifestyle on what you see from the family. The other 20% is based on your inherent traits. You'll hardly see a child argue to a gambling dad about the correctness of gambling. Whatever the family does, we embrace as a child. Our parents are who we look up to and whatever they do, we take after them. Our moral bearings and spiritual DNA is built from our family. What we see in a family, it is always right.

Sounds alright? Yes it is alright until we consider the fact that no family is perfect. We're like a sponge, we absorb everything when we're young. Everything from the good to the bad. We should never underestimate the profound impact this family upbringing has on us.

Let me give you a few observations (These are just examples. your situation maybe the same. As you read them, you can ask yourself the same question.)

How our family upbringing can affect our Christian life

If we're from a typical Asian family and our dads are more disciplinary in nature. They don't share as much and show love in a more inexpressive manner. They are normally less personal as well.

Relating this back to our walk with God. When we relate to God our father, we may naturally base this relationship back to what we experience at home. God is more disciplinary and less personal as well. It just does not make sense to us that a fatherly figure can be personal as well.

However, this is not all that bad. With a family upbringing like this, you have a fatherly figure to take after and these dads tend to take more ownership of the family, lead and make major decisions in the family. When we take that and lead in the church, we will not shy away from responsibilities as well.

The trick here is to balance things up.

How does our family upbringing can affect how we view others

There are some families i have come across that is not very sociable by nature. Their extended family is rather small if they are even existent. There is a generally distrust of the people outside of the family. Some common comments are like "Be careful when you go out with friends, don't anyhow lend people money", "Don't talk to people you don't know.", "Be careful of friends who make friends with you for your money." "People out there are not trustworthy" "you can go church but don't give them money" They grow up in an environment and it makes it difficult for them to open to others especially in the church.

My point to you today is that if you want to know why your sheep is acting in a certain way, why they are struggling in a certain area or why they seem "weird", look beyond treating the superficial wound. There may be many reasons like past bad experiences, friends they mix with etc. But i'm saying that one main contributing factor to who people are, especially when they are below 12, is family upbringing, family culture and the model set for them by their parents or elder siblings.

When we hit 12 and beyond to 20+, we slowly start to see and understand that not everything our family does is helpful to us. We start to find our identity to who we really want to be. There is a world beyond our family. When we enter into the church, another set of stuggle comes in as we now have the ideal model and template of how a family (CG) should be like. The impact of our family upbringing will slowly diminish, but it will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Know how your family upbringing have positively or negatively impacted you and grow from there. My challenge to you today is to pick out the strengths in which your family have grew you to be, and discard the wrong things that your parents may have inadvertently taught you. (E.g. Gambling, smoking, judgmental, complaining, whining, hording everything to ourselves etc.) This applies when you are shepherding others as well.

We are called to be the light of the world. We should know that our families are imperfect. So instead of continuing allowing your family to lead you by the noose in everything, take ownership of your family and lead the spiritual charge there.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-08-15T19:11:00.007+08:00

What is your grade today?

Christians can do this. Christians can't do that. We often hear this. I was never difficult to obey a series of dos and don't. But Christians are called to go beyond that to have a relationship with a real and living God.

I made a video today to present the idea of God's grace. Enjoy!

What is your grade today?

2008-08-13T22:56:00.005+08:00

Keeping things in proportion

I thank the person who posted the comment on the previous blog post. Think he/she shared something very real with all of us. As Paul shared in the bible as well the the good he wants to do, he does not do and what he does not want to do, he does them. Very often we are trapped in between what the devil is telling us and what God is telling us. And when faced with the dilemma of who to listen to, we succeed sometimes and in other times, we fall.

In order be able to accept what God is telling us, we must first turn away from the lies of the devil. Then God's words will not only be easy to swallow but be appetizing to us. We will no longer ask God to stand aside for the devil to have victory in us.

One way i find very helpful in combating the devil is to put things in proportion. Your aim is to weigh the entire situation in the correct proportions in truth. Let me explain this through two examples.

Let's take the anger example again. You are really pissed off with someone for having stepped on your toes, for insulting you, this entire issue takes over your being. The word revenge seems to dominate every cell within you. Nothing else in your life at that moment seems to matter with regard to the need to get revenge. You have to get it at all costs. Whatever the consequences, it is negligible compared to the revenge you need to take. HOWEVER, IS THAT REALLY TRUE? Is the entire revenge taken into proportion when compared to your life, your salvation, the eternity, God's love, God's vision for you, those around you who are looking up to you? Look at any one of those i mentioned and they are obviously of much higher value than proportion. Don't blow up the entire matter within you like your eternal life and death depends on it.

If you are not convinced, let me show you another example. For example, you have an issue with lust. You see a guy or girl who is really attractive and you "can't help" but let your eyes, heart and mind run wild. You feed the lust and dwell in it as if your entire existence depends on it. You put aside your salvation, your relationship with God and everything else just to savory the moment. But is that really to truthful proportion? That taste of joy is nothing compared to the taste of joy waiting for you in heaven? The temporal satisfaction will be quickly replaced by the unsurmountable guilt that floods in. So why blow it up as if it is the thing that will keep you satisfied for eternity?

My point here is that if you want to draw away from certain sin your life, you need to put temptations, sins into the correct proportions as it really is and as God sees it as well. Don't give it unduly high proportions or importance just because you are emotionally charged, in a moment of folly or simply "you've lost control of your self". You have lost control of yourself precisely because that thing that is causing it is blown out of proportion and you have to get it or do it. Put it in the correct proportion and you'll find it much easier to turn to God once again.

Keep it low, keep it simple, turn to God and pray.... :)

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-12T21:11:00.005+08:00

Please stand aside God...

There are times in my life i ask God to get out of my way, i'll deal with him later. It hit me how heartless it was and how much it would have heart God to willfully go my way.

It amazing how sometimes i perceive things to be of more importance then to obey God and be Christ like. For example:

When i am really really angry with someone, i want to deal with it. I want to make my displeasure known. I want to make the person suffer for as much if not more than what i went through. I curse and swear in my heart and rant to someone about the in justice i went through.
The struggle comes in when God speaks. "Hey boy, this is not right" "Do forgive as i forgive you yeah" "You are not perfect either" Words of wisdom which could cut through the heart of anyone.

When i am tempted to sin my life, please stand aside God. What i am facing now is something which precedes your commands and laws in terms of importance. It won't be right for me to stand behind and do nothing. Whatever consequences of my actions, i'll deal with them after i settle this person in front of me first. Please stand aside God

I can almost imagine the Kodak moment of God looking on with tears in his eyes as you throw your fist at the brother in front of you, when you lust despite warning sirens going off in your head, when you horde all that you have to yourself, when you decide to leave God's community, when you want to do something that is not above reproach...

The next time you think of pushing God aside to do whatever you want to do, to sin, to ignore the glaring consequences which you are thinking of dealing with later... think twice...

If you have not already watched the lifehouse video on God's love for us, it depicts what i have just said above.

2008-08-11T00:08:00.003+08:00

School Starts... and I'm excited!

School starts tomorrow and i'm so excited about it. hahaa.. some people call me crazy, the others think i'm insane. but i really enjoying studying. Am i going to devote less time to my ministry? Definitely, cause for the past 3 months its has been 24/7 about ministry and as i study, there is no doubt that a considerable amount of time on my studies.

What I am doing with the NS ministry now is definitely much less compared to God is preparing me to do in future. It is too myopic for me to say that i need to devote all my time into ministry and studies will have to wait. I don't think this is what God has called me to do.

I want to study well and score good results so that there are so many doors which are open for God to use me, in future. If i don't do well, there are many doors that will be closed.

There needs to be much more Christians to influence at the highest level in society. And i hope to be one of them. Don't think I'll be contented with a 8 to 5 job, get married, have kids and be a good tithing Christian.

I'm excited about joining a NUS cg during weekdays as well. Hope to be able to devote more time developing that part of me, of relating with peers and also serving and contributing in whatever manner i can. yeap....

For now, its back to the crazy days with people like zijuan, wenxian, greg, peifen, huifang, nitisha, pradeep... etc... hahaha.. sorry if your name is part of the etc. haahah..

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-10T00:12:00.002+08:00

De-leader-ising yourself

This topic has been coming back to me quite often recently and have been sharing it to quite a few people about this concept. I hope it will bless you.

Before i dive into the topic, let me talk about a marriage 1st.

Before the birth of a child, the couple often had all the attention to each other. The topic they talk about often revolve around where to go for the next date or vacation. Their love was poured out to each other.

However, things start to change with the arrival of their 1st child, then their 2nd and their 3rd. The topic they talk about start to revolve around their child's education, needs and their love was poured out to the child. Sometimes it brought them closer together but not always. The marriage was no longer the kind of fervent love that they once for one another.

Sometimes this reflects the story of our spiritual life. When we 1st received Christ, it was between us. When we pray, it was for us to grow in God, to love him more, to get to know him more. Our attention was fixed on one another.

However, things start to change when we start to take lead in our groups. When together with Christ, there are fruits in your life. Whenever you and God talk, it will always gear up praying for your people. when you pray for gifting, it'll be for leadership. When you hear certain sermon points, you'll be thinking of your people, praying that they catch that part and they respond. When you worship God, it'll be about leadership as well.

It is not wrong to have burden for your group or the fruits as a result of your relationship with Christ as much as it is not wrong for the parents to love their children. However, sometimes it will be good to de-leader-ise ourselves. Go back to the starting point of your faith, go back to your 1st love once again. Stop thinking about your people for one moment and just learn to love God once again. Never gauge how much you love God with how well you lead or how well your group is doing.

Your ministry should always be a result of your journey with God. The starting point should never have been ministry. It is not wrong to have burden for your people but do remember to walk with God yourself as well. As Paul puts it, don't run in a way such that you yourself will be disqualified from the race.

That's all! see ya!

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-06T09:11:00.005+08:00

Expectant Heart

Was talking to Ding Cheun yesterday about this and it really it me such that i want to share it here.

We need to expect God to move. Heard this before? Let me dissect it for it further.

You see, many Christians all over the world have been going to so many sub standard caregroups that we no longer expect our next caregroup to be a life changing one. We've had so many less than inspiring prayer meet that we no longer expect the one tomorrow to be one. We've attended so many sunday classes that had us walk away with nothing more then a sleepy head that we don't expect to learn much from the next. We've had so many mentoring session that was just... another mentoring session that we don't expect God to speak powerfully... the service we are about to go to, yeah, its just another service.... The list goes on...

This cannot go on! We need to expect God to move mightily in every setting. Everytime we gather, we need to expect life to change. Every caregroup needs to be a homerun. Relationships need to be built up and walls torn down. Everytime i teach, i expect my students to go home with a fresh perspective or a paradigm shift in his life. Everytime i mentor someone, i expect there to a life change and refreshment as well.

You know everytime i blog, i expect lives to be touched. I don't blog for fun. I don't blog with the attitude of, if it touches someone good, if it does not, then i'm just voicing out about my life. No.. I expect each and every one of my blog post to be able to speak into someone. Something in someone will be twitched as a result of this post. It is not that i am good or anything, its about expecting God to move, and expecting the best i can hope for always.

What if God does not move as expected? The fact that God does not move mightily does not mean that we lessen our expectant heart. It just means that we need to work harder. It just means that we need to expect even more. It just means that God can use the next gathering to move powerfully. This is the Acts community isn't it?'

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-05T03:18:00.003+08:00

The leaders state of mind

Whoever you may be, i will address you as child of God today instead of addressing you as leaders as i normally do for leadership posts.

Leadership in the kingdom of God is exciting, but being a child of God is even more exciting then there. Leadership demands so much from us that sometimes it whatever we have:

When you pray, you pray over your group, your people, your goals.
When you pray for yourself, you ask God to give you more wisdom to lead, to give you the skills to guide your people, to give you anointing to charge ahead.
When you think of your journey with God, the 1st thing that comes to mind is the resume of leadership positions you have ever held in the church.
When you describe who are you in church to your friends, the 1st thing that comes to mind is i'm a leader.
How we want and think others will see us: Leaders.
How do we think God will see us as: Leaders.

Sometimes, leadership overtakes our identity as a child of God. We become so engulfed in leadership that our role determines our identity in the kingdom of God.

Remember that you are a child of God before you are a leader. God doesn't see us as leaders. He see us as His Child whom he uses to serve in a leadership role. Its good to just remove your leadership tag once in a while and come into God's presence again simply as someone he loves. Its your journey with God at the end of the day.

This leadership phase in my life is just a season in my life. I want my journey with God on earth to be colourful, to be exciting and to be filled with different challenges. Isn't it boring to just stay in one leadership position forever? Or be involved in some leadership rat race? I want to experience life as a church planter, as a university student, as a husband, as an engineer. I don't want any of this to define my life. because no matter what i do or where i am, My life will always be about a journey with God.

God will walk above and I will walk below and here we go.

I'm just a child walking beside a father down a path that will lead to eternity at th end. And together, we will enjoy the different landscapes and weather that will come along the way. As we talk, we share about what we think of the different things we see and we feel. We comfort each other, we are there for one another. Isn't just amazing...

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-08-03T20:51:00.017+08:00

You're Perfect in God's eyes (Part 2)

There goes a saying that says, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It may be true to a certain extent. But somehow, People can't seems to make sense of God's taste when it comes to beauty. Let's watch 2 short clips today to observe the contrast which shows the disparity between the 2.

Beauty as defined by man:

Society has distorted beauty. The video reminds of girls from a certain faculty from nus who will wear a one inch thick make up to class. I always wonder whether they are here to study or to compare who is prettier. Are they so ashamed with how God has originally made them to be that they have to colour their faces before they can step out of their hostel? It always amazes me.

I mean its possible to have to put on light make up when you start work as a form of respect for your clients and colleagues, but hello?!? this is nus!! The fact that you look prettier then the one beside you does not mean you are more beautiful. It just means you are better at colouring your face better.

The ladies always tell me they are looking for guys who look beyond appearance, about how they look. They always say guys who only look at appearance are shallow. Then ironically, these are the same ladies who dress up for class like they are going for miss universe. What type of guys are you trying to attract? The shallow guys or the blind guys?

Let's look at God's perception of beauty. Thanks Ah foo for recommending the video.

God takes away somethings and he gives back some. You can almost imagine God looking down at this child of his with so much pride and excitement and exclaiming to all the angels around him that the child playing the piano is His own. It was so fitting that she sang the song "you were born to be loved" I was like wow, yeah, this is what Gods love is about. Ye Eun is no one else but his Let's not take anything away from God's amazing grace from this testimony.

In a world that is increasingly treacherous, it is of great comfort to know that God's love is still around for us. God's refuge is ready to protect us anytime.

God is so good to us that he values and treasures every child of his today. He is as proud of you as he is of Ye Eun. You may not believe in him today, but God still loves you. He wants to continue whatever journey you are left with on earth with you and thereafter for eternity...

Let's celebrate God's goodness today.

2008-07-31T18:24:00.008+08:00

I'm backsliding... yeah. leaving church...

I'm sad to say that some of you will have to know this through my blog. I'm too ashamed to face you people to tell you personally that I've not been doing well for quite a period of time. I need a break from church. Don't ask me what happened, don't message me, treat it as i never existed in your life before. As for my ministry, i believe there are enough people around who'll cover for what i have been doing. I'm sorry if you're affected.

You may ask how can i just leave like that. What about my commitments to God and to the church. What about my dreams to want to go church planting.
You see, in this world, commitment is no longer valued. Its old fashion. We don't see couples being together for long anymore! The divorce rate is also going higher by the year. So much for the wedding vows. Yeah, i made a mistake to commit in the past, now i'm repenting.

You may ask, what about all my praise and worship session of God? I even taught the Word before! With my own lips i praised God and with this own lips I am saying that he is not real.
You see, i have always been going to church because it of my friends. When i worshiped God, i don't even know if he is there. It was a feeling thing. Now, i need to pursue other things in my life, like a new girl friend whom i met last week. She is just an angel.

"So its about a girl?"
Partly. I guess i'm at an age i just want to enjoy life and not think so far ahead.

What about all the time you invested in the church. All the effort you put in?
I wasn't forced. I did it willingly. Take it as a phase and season in my life.

What about the Holy Spirit Bap where you experienced the holy spirit and spoke in tongues and the Water Bap where you proclaim your faith to everyone?!? You were surely visibly touched by God?
That's a thing of the past. It is not relevant to what i want to do in this stage of my life now.

"What about those friends you'll disappoint?"
We can still be friends beyond church right? Don't tell me that just because i don't join them for service means we can't catch up regularly?

"What about the covenants you made with your spiritual buddies to want to last the race? Do they mean nothing to you"
Say say only right? Nothing is written in black and white. We'll soon forget about it after some time and move on with our own lives. I'm sure the covenant does not mean so much to them as well.

"What about your group and responsibility? People's faith will be shaken because of this! "
They won't die without me. If they leave because i leave, then too bad.

"Jie Hui, you were the person who taught me about commitments to church, now you are going back on what you taught me."
I have no answer for this.

"Jie Hui, are you emo-ing, let us talk things through in a rational manner"
There is nothing to talk about.

"Jie Hui, Are you going through a tough and confusing time now? Maybe we can pray and seek God"
Yeah, things are tough, that's why i can't commit to God anymore.

"But that doesn't make sense...."
Good bye. See you in hell.

Regards,

shockerbolt

Hey peeps! before you send me messages and ask me what happened, don't worry, i'm still as committed to God as ever. You can breathe easy now. What i said above was not suppose to be a prank on you. But its suppose to show you certain truths about backsliding and how ugly the whole thing about backsliding actually is.

The thing is though the world no longer value commitment, it does not make it any less beautiful. In fact it makes it even more valuable. When i make a covenant to my spiritual buddies, to my group, to my leaders and most important, to God, i really mean it and i will die to live out my commitment. So, think carefully before you make a commitment to last the race with someone! Don't just say and leave when there are tough times.

I remember the 4 other people who pioneered the NS ministry with me all left the church. Yeah, to an extent, i am still disappointed in them for not keeping the word when we said we want to build up the ministry. It hurt me so much when one by one they left at different times. What did the covenant mean to them? I still keep my part of the covenant till today. I will last the race. Having said that, no one is indispensable. It is true that many others will continue to race even when some fall. The church will survive as it has for the past 2000 years. In fact it is the other way round, the church is indispensable to us.

I always question people who leaves the church this question. "You mean when you sang praise of God during P & W, God was real, and now when you hit tough times, God is not?" So what happened to all your prayers and spiritual talk? Some of you have even taught the word of God at different settings before. You mean all those were fake? Come on! Who are you trying to kid?

Next, let's talk about the divorce analogy i hope will help build up your faith.

You see, in a marriage, you know that if you want to keep the relationship strong, there are a few taboo words that cannot come in even in the worse of arguments. The marriage may hit the rocks, you may be cold warring for months but if you are determined to see the marriage last till old age, you know that the few words can never surface are "divorce" "separation" "go to the lawyer's office". You know that when a couple always hang such words around in their quarrels, even if they reconcile in the end, the marriage will never be strong.

In the same way, there are a few taboo words i hope you will build in your own personal walk with God around. Just as in a guy-girl relationship, divorce needs to be thrown out of the window, in your own walk with God, there should be a few taboo words as well. Words like "backslide", "leave church", "take a break form church (this is the most recent one i heard)".

The last one always amazes me. It is like saying "Hey God, i'm taking a break from heaven, and I'm going to hell for a while. I won't be back for dinner! See ya!"

You will go through dry spiritual patches. There will be different seasons. But our commitment to God means that we want to stick to him through think and thin.

So dudes, stop using words like backslide so loosely. It does nothing to help you out of the mess you are in.

If you want a strong relationship with God, commit to God! Just as God promised that he will never leave us, never forsake us, lets make the same promise to God: God, I'll never leave you, never forsake you.

Let's last the race together.

I've added a survey at the side bar for you to have your say!

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-30T00:01:00.004+08:00

A letter to the "Emo" Kid

Dear Emo kid,

I hope you are not cutting your wrist as you read this right now. Maybe you want to also switch off the heavy metal music that is blasting off your headphones at the moment. Also turn on the light and stop habituating in the dark room. Stop your emo msn-ing or sms-ing to someone as you read this article. Go wash your face, come back and continue reading this article.

Let me try to read your mind right now. Some of these thoughts will probably bring back some memories to you.

1) No one cares about me.

2) No one understands me.

3) Why do i have to grow up?

4) Life sucks, life is meaningless.

5) I have no real friends.

6) Why doesn't the guy/girl i love reciprocate my love?

7) I just want to be alone and let emotions within me run wild. It should feel good.

8) I feel like dying. There is nothing for me to live for already.

9) I'm a failure in life.

10) I'm not doing well (I think this is more of a Hope Church lingo)

If any of those thoughts have fallen into you before, don't fall into the Devil's trap. Let me give you some of my word of advice.

You see, when God first created Adam and Eve, he gave them the ability to feel. Just as he gave them the choice to stay faithful or to sin, he gave us the liberty to manage our own emotions.

When God created Adam and Eve, he never intended for them to sin. It was not his will for them. In the same way, when he created emotions in us, he never intended for us to use that ability to hate him. God placed emotions in us intending for us to use it to love him, not to "Emo" and draw away from him.

The Devil is very smart. He has successfully manipulated emotions to become a "I", "Me", "Myself" thing. I just want to feel this way. I can't help it. This is me, take it or leave it. It my emotions, i can do whatever i want with it. Some times when we go into our "pity-party" mode, we just want to go to the corner of the room and feel sorry for the state we're in! God never intended for us to use emotions as we like it to be used, although he had given us the freewill to do so.

God gave us the ability to love so that we can love him and love those around us. Not only to love ourselves. God gave us the ability to feel so that we can understand his compassion for those around us. God gave us the ability to be disappointed so that we'll know how hurt he was when we disappoint him. God gave us the ability feel joyful so that we can share in his joy! The list goes on...

So, Christians, stop saying you can't control your emotions. Stop giving excuses of your own sins by hiding behind the shield called emotions. You have a choice on whether to entertain emo thoughts or to chuck it one side and settle it when you are less hyped up about the issue. You have a choice about whether you should feed the emo thoughts or to starve them from additional thoughts. You have a choice.

At the end of the day, if you find your emotions are stopping you from giving your best to God, you may have to re-look into that area of your life. If you find yourself "Emo-ing" regularly and over the smallest things, you may have to grow in that area. Remember, emotions is not only about yourself, others around you will be affected as well. If you don't believe me, get someone from your cg to attend your caregroup session with a black face and see how you feel.

And guys, emo-ing about a girl you like is not going to make the girl like you more. In fact, it may be the exact reason why you are not attractive to the girl. How does one find security and comfort in a guy who is always emo-ing? I'm curious... This goes the same for girls emo-ing about guys yeah?

There are times that i am tempted to feel sorry for myself. This is especially after i serve so hard in ministry. Loneliness sometimes sets in as well. But i know that sitting at the corner of my bed, emo-ing about my sorry state is not going to help me out of it in any way, neither is it pleasing or glorifying to the kingdom of God. I've learnt to pray and channel my emotional energy in such a manner that i will always try my best to glorify God in how i handle my emotions.

Being able to handle your emotions is one sure sign of maturity. Grow up yeah?

Signing off,

Shockerbolt

What a perfect way to put it (No offense to the sisters though):

I came across this interesting article "Anti-Emo riot breaks out across Mexico" Amazing things are happening all over the world.

I've uploaded the "Emotions Series" Word for Life in the resource hub. If you are interested you can download them from the Restricted Area and ask me for the password.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-29T00:01:00.002+08:00

Wow.. You have to watch this...

This is not just another revival video. Somethings said in the video really really hit me.

1) What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace

2) One of the growing trend or fad in our youths today is the act of self mutilation. How sick is that?!? The power of sin is so boastful... it vitally hunts our young people down.

3) This young generation is crying out for us to live right... They are crying out for someone to show them the power of God.

4) The power of the cross is being neglected because men and women are not paying the price to be captured by God and to be what God has called them to be.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-28T00:40:00.006+08:00

1st and 2nd Conversion

A little related to what i said yesterday about conversion. Today's post is a little bit more interesting. Hope it gives u a fresh perspective of ministry.

You see, whether you know it or not, everyone goes through 2 conversion.The 1st conversion is something we all know and recognize. It is when we know decided to say the sinners prayer and commit ourselves to God. When all those around you will congratulate you. When you become something called a new believer. Its not something foreign to all of us i guess.

My question to you is, how many of you really really knew what you were signing up for when you 1st said the sinners prayer? The truth was, when i said the sinners prayer, no one ever told me i had to serve the Lord! hahaaa.. They were telling me more towards things like God loves me and he really want to come to a relationship with me. Nothing wrong with that. But no one ever told me i had to attend caregroup every week when i first said the sinners prayer! But its ok, its what i call the 1st conversion.

The 1st conversion in my eyes is more of a deal with God to find out more about him. A decision to commit to a church so that we know more about Christianity. A decision to receive spiritual covering.

It is only after the 1st conversion, that you are ready to be taught more things about God, that you have the spiritual hunger to eventually find out more about the deal you are signing up for. It is only after finding out more, about eventually knowing the real deal, and seeing enough to say, i want to commit to this cause and count me on board. This is the 2nd conversion. It is where discipleship really starts.

It all falls together nicely. There was once i was in a Hope Kids service and they are really exciting people. I understand that they do have altar cal and ask primary school kids to say the sinners prayer. My point is they are sometimes really too young to know what they are signing up for. It is not any one's fault but it is just how things are. When these kids raise their hand and say they want to say the sinners prayer, they are in fact going through the 1st conversion which is all about a desire to want to know God more. It happens in all ministries. Even adults. The job of the church after the 1st conversion is move them towards the 2nd conversion. They need to provide the spiritual covering needed.

The 2nd conversion is about understanding. It is a little tricky in a sense that it is age dependent. It is probably towards the end of high school ministry, towards the JC, NS and Uni times that people are of age to make a solid decision to not only know God, but to know what they are signing up for and to take up Jesus' cause. It is not exactly a conversion that can be marked out clearly with distinguished traits. But i would say, when you reach an understanding of what the whole deal is about with regard to your future, to the world, to your family and you decide to take up the cross and follow God, you're somewhere near.

As you grow older, the time taken to move from the 1st conversion to the 2nd conversion will decrease accordingly as people make more informed choices but it is a route that everyone will go through. Some take 1 day, some take months, some take years before the 2nd conversion comes. The church needs to persevere in them. This may be also why you see the retention rate for the hope kids and the youth ministry may be abit low compared to the other ministries. There are many who signed up for the 1st conversion but never really survived to reach the 2nd.

However, this is NOT to say that because they are young in Hope Kids or high school ministry to understand, the ministry is not important. In fact, i think they are very very important. These are the ministries that have people commit in the 1st conversion and we give them proper guidance and spiritual covering until they are of age to decide for themselves. Some make it, some don't.

Having said that, can i challenge leaders to not just look at people filling up the seats as a result of the 1st conversion? To me, my end goal for my people is the 2nd conversion. The great commission asked us to "build disciples" Isn't this talking about the 2nd conversion? Jesus is not interested in merely building seat warmers or sunday Christians. He wants to build disciples. Use the 2nd conversion as the bench mark of growth in numbers. Not just the 1st conversion. How many of your people are still in the 1st conversion stage. How many are in beyond the 2nd? What's the percentage of them in the group? These are good questions you should be asking yourself.

When you set goals, don't just set 1 number - The 1st conversion. Set the 2nd number as well. How many people you want to see make a sound decision to commit their being to the cause and come on board the vision? And what are we doing to hit that goal?

If you are today hovering between the 1st and 2nd conversion, can i encourage you not to give up? It may be frustrating at times, it may feel guilty and condemning at times but those things are things of the devil. It is normal to struggle! Don't give up on the bible and seeking the truth from the bible. Don't rush yourself into a decision either. But in your own understanding and faith, make a decision that you know is the best for you. Jia you k?

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-26T09:24:00.010+08:00

Stop the Street Evangelism (until....)

Before you think if i have backslided, don't worry, i have not. And before you write me off and say jie hui doesn't know what he is talk about, give me a chance to have my say 1st. You may not agree with what i want to say today but i hope you won't press the exit button on the top right hand corner straight away. Let me have me say first.

Let me define what i am against 1st. This is what they do:

1) Ask for 5 minutes of a passerby's life.
2) Explain the cross diagram.
3) Ask for conversion.
4) Say the sinners prayer

There are 2 phenomenons that you can observe through this.

Firsthy, You see, we live in a world of instant success. When leaders physc their members up to go for street evangelism, we are desperate for growth, i'm not against this. Street Evangelism is a instant, "no harm", "out of our comfort zone for God", "way of trying to ease our burden for the lost". I applaud your courage and zeal but not your method. You reap what you sow. You see a person cross the line of faith because of your constant hard work in them. This is what i know is biblical. The kind of "instant fruits mentality" that we inculcate in our people need to be re-looked at.

Secondly, street evangelism is often seen as our ultimate form of going all out for God. When we are desperate for our group to grow, we go all out. We hope to see revival happen all over the school. We paint the picture of conversion in one corner of the school and holy spirit baptism in another corner. We are all praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto the streets and in our schools/camps/workplace. When the Holy Spirit outpours onto the streets, the signs are very evident. You can plot it over months of preparation, of prayer and of fasting. What you'll see is large scale conversion and people coming to you as a result of the signs and wonders, not only you chasing them down the street. Maybe when that happens, we can add something behind the (until...)

That is not my point of this article. My point is i want to bring forward the harm that Street Evangelism brings to the kingdom of God.

I will take issue with those who think there is nothing to lose in street evangelism. Let me show you why.

1) It has been proven that the retention rate for street evangelism is around 10% to 20%. Good, you may say, 1 out of 10 gets retained. If i can get 100, i get 10 in my group. Wonderful? What about the 90 who does not??? Do you know that for every "convert" not retained in the kingdom of God, it is much more difficult to preach to them in future?

"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."
~ Hebrews 6:4-6 ~

In fact the bible says in this verse that the more you taste of the goodness of the word of God, the more difficult it is for you to come back to God because your heart would have been a little more harden. If you give your "street convert" a little of the goodness of the word of God, and he doesn't get retained, you are doing harm to his life! Let someone else do a proper sowing on him/her and at the end of the day, if he still does not come to know Christ, we've done our best. But street evangelizing to him is not being fair to him/her. We're like playing Russian Roulette with their eternal lives. Nothing to lose, you sure?

2) The kind of name you give Christians during street evangelism out there is not going to help the non believers see Christians in good light on a large scale. Their image of you would already have been formed before you even approach them. In future, if you want to preach properly to them, go through a proper sow process, they'll have rejected you to some extent already.

Some of you may be saying, hey jie hui, street evangelism is growing my group. It works. yeah Just like in the movie hancock, you saved one or 2 lives but in the process, you do a disservice in many many others.

Nothing to lose, you sure?

3) Why are we putting our people through these??? Is it to make us feel abit better that we serve God to the "ultimate"? To feel less guilty that we didn't hit our goal? You see, i always have advocated life evangelism. Nothing against goals, you can find an article below that i talked about goals. Do you know that Life Evangelism is so so so enjoyable? At the end of the day, it is my journey with God. Let's not preach the generic "good news" only. Preach YOUR good news. and show that in your daily life! What kind of good news are we preaching when we spend all our time on the streets before and after school doing evangelism when we are not doing our homework and flunking all our subjects? Nothing to lose, you sure?

4) Finally, as i said just now, build correct values system into our people. Don't make them become evax machines. Don't advocate instant success. You reap what you sow. Work hard and persevere. Live a life that is salt and light.

Having said that, i am not against people going onto the street to do contact collection. To build friendship with them. Invite them for MCG, for ECG, for Service. That's very good, please go ahead.

All the i have written is only pertaining to the Singapore context. I feel that the Christian saturation level in Singapore is adequate for everyone to be reached if every Christian is to be faithful with his own sphere of influence. i believe that the people you reach out to on the street would know at least one Christian in Singapore. The last thing we need is for Christians to do street evangelism and create a bad name for the kingdom on a large scale level and make friendship evangelism more difficult. There may be other context and culture where street evangelism is suitable as a form of outreach, i'm not sure and will not comment on that.

The above is one possible point of view about street evangelism. What i have written is controversial. And i am sure there are supporters of street evangelism.

Yeah, that's my purpose, to stimulate discussion and deeper thoughts in this area. At the end of the day, if we conclude that street evangelism is still ok in this context, i hope that this post will let allow supporters of street evangelism to watch out for certain pitfalls and dangers that come together with street evangelism. Please comment below, not in the tag board.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-24T14:00:00.001+08:00

Launch of a Resource Hub!

With this post, we celebrate the 100th post of this blog.

In line with this celebration, I will launch a brand new resource hub today. The purpose of this resource hub is primarily to share some of the teachings that have been passed down to me over the years as well as some of the teachings i taught my people. I really hope that this resource hub will be a blessing to you all. I've added a new tab at the side for your convenience to access this web page.

It has been a long journey starting from my trip to Chile where i did a day to day blogging of my experiences there. It was a simply amazing trip where God showed me so much of his wonders and i learnt about church planting 1st hand from people like daivd, pui see, cindy and eelee. Click here!

Next, i sent up a series of 8 posts called the Devil's worship where the frictional story depicts our worship to God from the Devils' point of view. It was a work inspired by the writings of C.S Lewis - The Screwtape letters. Click here!

The next big series was a series of 5 questions being answered on apologetics where i shared how i would answer 5 of the most commonly asked questions if others were to question me on that. It is so important for us to equip ourselves with such knowledge to be a good ambassador of Christ. Click here!

The last series was a series of about 10 lessons on leadership. How do we develop ourselves to become better leaders? Click here!

Here are there is the odd post about my family, ministry and thoughts on some of the current affairs.

I really pray that the posts have been a blessing to you and i have been blessed by contextualizing my thoughts here as well. I hope that the initiative of the resource hub will encourage others share what they have.

God did not charge us a single cent when he gave us the inspiration to write what we did, be it an article or a teaching. So we should share it freely to the correct people as well. Till then!

See ya!

2008-07-23T17:26:00.008+08:00

You're perfect in God's eyes (Part 1)

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.

I've always wondered how i would handle if God was to give me a child who was disabled, be it mentally or physically. Would i complain to God? Would i blame myself or would i blame God? I mean everything in my life until now has been pretty smooth sailing. I've not met with any major disaster, my family is fine, and by things are just in order for in my life for me.

But what if God was to bring a little "disorder" into my life and give me such a child. Would i be able to love him like how Eliot's parents loved him? Would i be able to embrace this gift that God has given me no matter how "imperfect" it may seem to me?

This comes to the question of, if we were to be given the decision on whether to abort the child given the huge risks involved and zero chance of survival beyond a few months, what would we struggle with? Will we abort him and take away the whatever little this child already has? On hind sight, We would have taken his 99 days on earth away.

From this story, i really thank God for his grace and mercy in my life. I am so imperfect, in fact the most imperfect than all imperfection (according to paul's lingo), yet God still loved me. Eliot was so imperfect, in fact every cell in his body was imperfect, yet his parents loved him through and through.

Eliot fought on side by side with his parents for 99 days, It also reminds me of the fact that life is really precious. God has given me the chance to live beyond that. A chance to serve him on earth. An at the wink of the eye, he'll take me away.

Many people will remember Eliot's story as a touching story. But after a while, people will just carry on with their lives. But may we always remember this story that is about God's wonderful love and how God was faithful to us even through such tough times.

I've added a survey at the side for you to have your say in this.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-22T00:29:00.005+08:00

Gauge of ministry success

Have you ever asked yourself what is a good guage of success in ministry. Some say its having successfully having discipled someone, some says its hitting goals, some say its growing the group, some says its bringing people closer to God.

I believe that all these things are great but today i really want to focus on one gauge of success in ministry:

People have to be truely better off because of your ministry and your work with them.

I really believe that this is a powerful guage at the end of the day.

Sometimes we are very caught up with goals and we push our people to evangelise and work hard. Nothing wrong with that. But that cannot be happening all year round.

Sometimes we are very caught up in your people rising up and learning the skills needed to be a shepherd or a careleader. Nothing wrong with that. But we can't stop here.

My question to you today, are people around us, truely better off becasue of our work in them? Are we just trying to keep them in church? Are we just trying to win a camp so that they need to work hard? Are we making them effective evangelistic machines but lousy Christ followers? Are we just trying to "Christianize" them?

We need to add value to other's life. We need to learn that church is not everything when it comes to a Christian life. In fact, an average Christian spends less then 4 hours a week in church.

Leaders, learn to look beyond just our people's church life.

Look at their family life. How are they spending enough time with their parents? Are they taking up enough responsibilities at home as they grow? Are they helping out with household chores?

Look at their skills. Are they constant looking to improve themselves to make themselve more attractive in the market place? Are they learning things like piano, driving, language lessons, IT etc.

Look at their market place skills.. How can they do better to go for the promotion? How should they sturdy harder to get better grades? How are they managing their finances? Are they saving enough?

Look at their people skills. This is so important. How are they coping with people outside of church? Some of us are so "churched" that we find it hard to relate to people outside of church.

All these things come to help us be holistic leaders. To truely make our people's life better, not just their church life.

Whether people around me are believers or not, i make sure that when they are around me, i will add value to their lives. Its not difficult to me because it is simply a result of my journey with God.

I find it so amazing and exciting to share about what i learn about God in church to my friends outside. I care for the people, not the church building. I care for the people I shepherd, not the shepherding system. I love those around me not becasue they are my sheep or in my care but because God loves them.

My question to you again, are people's life around you truely better off because of you?

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-20T00:18:00.016+08:00

Playing the NUMBERS game

~ The 1st school of thought ~

Oh no! is jie hui going to talk about importance of setting goals and hitting goals in the church? is jie hui going to talk about how we need to hit a certain number in the ns group? is he going to force people to evangelize. is it some quota of growth that he has to set so that God will be happy? or the pastor will be happy?

~ The 2nd school of thought ~

Oh no! is jie hui one of those who is going to complain about how the church should not be too number orientated? is jie hui going to one of those who says that we should not set goals as a group but we need to evangelise because of the overflow of the spirit. Because we love people. Because we have a heart of people. We can't evangelise because we want to hit a goal. Its something much like those salesman or multi level marketing thingy.

We want to hit 50 by the end of June;
We want to reach out to 200 contacts this week;
We want to see 100 disciples of Christ by the end of the year.

If you stay around long enough in church, i'm sure this will not be foreign to you. This kind of numbers challenge normally draw 3 types of response:

1) People who embrace it
2) People who bo chap it (there-they-going-again mentality)
3) People who reject it (mainly 2nd school of thought)

I taught this during the NS word for life today and i'm glad we've set the record straight on this once and for all. And i hope to share with everyone here. The big question here today:

Is setting a numbers goal wrong when we evangelise?

Myth 1: It is unbiblical to talk about numbers in the church.

Response:

Do you know that the bible have a book called "numbers"! so how can we say its unbiblical?? On a more serious note, let's go back to the bible and see how important is numbers? Jesus fed 5000 and 4000 in matthew 14:13 and in matthew 15:29. How do they know its 5000? It was an open space, it could not have been couted cause it was a 5000 seater stadium right? They counted! After Peter spoke in Acts 2, 3000 converted. Again, how did they know? The disciples counted! God did not just drop a magic number in their heart and it was certainly not conveniently presented to them in ehope stats.

So the bible talked about numbers. We always say numbers matter to God right? Let's put the record straight. Talking about numbers is not unbiblical in the church. Let's hold this here 1st. I'll revisit this idea again.

Myth 2: Those people who talk about numbers only want to hit the quota and does not love the people the evangelise to. Response:

Let me show you 2 flow charts.

Flow chart 1:

Outreach -> Goal setting and hitting
(People outreach so that they can hit goals as an end to itself)

Flow Chart 2:

Outreach -> Goal setting and hitting -> God's love
(People outreach so that they hit goals, so that they can spread God's love)

If you believe that the myth is true, then you must be looking at flow chart 1. People out reach so as to hit their quota and their goal. But can i encourage to think further? Do people who set goals set for the fun of it or it gives them satisfaction to go for it?

When we set goals, don't we do it because of God's love for the people as well? That leads us to flow chart 2. If we have been outeaching based on the flow chart 1, i admit its not right and we need to relook at why we evangelise. But what is wrong if setting goals and hitting it helps us to spread God's love to others?

It is true that some of you may question. Why can't we just skip the goal setting and hitting part and just go straight to

Flow chart 3:

Outreach -> God's love
(People outreach to spread God's love)

We outreach simply because of God's love. Why do we want to set goals. My question to you is if it is not unbiblical and it helps us to stay focused on a short term task, why not??? You see, outreach is what we do, God's love is always the final cause of it. Goal setting and goal hitting is a platform on which we spread God's love. Can we fire the church just because we choose to use this effective and biblical platform?

Ok, we've answered 2 myths. let me share with you an analogy. i hope it'll give you a pyridine shift on numbers and goal setting such that you don't have to cringe and feel uncomfortable every time your leader talks about numbers.

The bible says that God already have a race marked out for us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us
~ Hebrews 13:1 ~

Goal setting is like setting road signs along the way to point everyone to the same direction along the race already marked out for us.

Let's say we're meeting at Bedok reservoir park for picnic and we are all driving there in individual cars. Some of us can reach there without referring to any road signs because we know the route well. But some of us needs to refer religiously to every road sign that comes along the way so that we do not get lost. Does that mean that because the road signs are redundant to some, the government do not need to put them there for the sake of those who need them?

Some of us will need the goal setting to push us to outreach with urgency. Some of us can outreach naturally and actively without having to set a goal. Fair enough. But don't accuse those who needs a goal to function well for being not loving and having hidden agenda. We're all going to Bedok reservior! and in this case, we're all working towards advancing the kingdom of God!

Before the people who think they are more comfortable without setting a goal become too happy, let me warn you about 3 dangers with a absolutely no-goal-setting approach.

1) You may not be able to reach out to people you are not comfortable with. Very much you'll evangelise to people you are more comfortable with or to your close friends. you love them and you want them to come to know Christ.

2) You will not have the urgency to reach out to people. When you reach out, it may be very feeling base. you reach out to them because you feel a compassion for them. But can i encourage you that God not only wants you to reach out to people you have compassion for but people He has compassion for. Our human imperfect love will be the thing that will differentiate the two.

3) You will stay in your comfort zone many a times. Obviously it is much easier to outreach to people you feel for. But it is much more difficult to reach out to people you do not feel for at all humanly. But God still wants to reach them!

4) Many a times, we fear goal setting so much not because we think it is wrong.We fear it so much because we are afraid that it will push us out of our comfort zone. That we will have to work hard and share the gospel once we talk about the goal.

Let's go back to the road sign example.

As leaders, we need to put road signs there so that as a corporate body, it is clear where our immediate destination is. If you can get to this destination without using the road signs, fair enough, but there are people who needs it. And don't be so confident of yourself that you can hit every destination without referring to the road signs the leader plant. With or without the road sign, the final destination is the same. We want to spread God's love to other people.

So there is no contradiction of the 1st and 2nd school of thoughts. We set goals so that we can gauge and be effective in spreading God's love with the urgency it deserves. If it helps you, good. If you think you can do without it, fair enough. But just make sure you flow with the corporate destination and do your part in what needs to be done.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-17T00:16:00.008+08:00

Getting out of the miry clay

Do you remember the song "Jesus, Lover or my soul"? If you don't, i've added it above for you.

Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Jesus, I will never let you go
You’ve taken me from the miry clay
You've set my feet upon the Rock, and now i know

I love you, I need you,
Though my world may fall, I’ll never let you go
My Saviour, my closest friend,
I will worship you until the very end

This song was actually derived from the verse below:

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
~ Psalm 40:2 (American Standard Version) ~

Just in case you are wondering what is a miry clay, this is:

In today's context, we use the term "quicksand" more commonly to describe miry clay.

As some Psalm 40 described, its is a horrible pit. People who get stuck inside often die not because they drown (its not possible to drown cause the quicksand is normally twice as dense as your body) but they often die because they can't escape and die a long painful death from the sun or lack of water/food.

Does this describe us sometimes? Not literally stuck in a quicksand but in your life situations. Ever said such sentences before?

"That's it, i'll never be able to get out of this.!"
"I give up changing"
"No amount of effort will be able to change me"
"I'm born like that, I can't get out of it"

There are some strongholds in our lives that we are desperately trying to get out of, but the harder the struggle, the deeper we sink and the more disappointed we get each time we fail to overcome it. Each time we summon every single will power within us to try to break a certain back habit, we improve for a while but after the initial burst of fire, we fall back to our old ways.

We try time and again to get our prayer life consistent once again and time and after a while, when things gets busy, we fail again in this area. There are so many times we told ourselves today is the day, the day where i'll turn my life around, but we fail again and again.

Some of us have failed so many times to get out of the rut that we become so mentally and emotionally exhausted that we give up trying altogether. Let me share with you a story about my prayer life. There was one time i was really convicted about my bad habit of skipping quiet time. I really wanted to spend time with God and i knew i needed it. But somehow, i just can't get myself to have the discipline to do it daily.

I was stuck in the "horrible pit". The more i struggled, the more guilty i felt and the more stuck i got in this miry clay. I gave up praying altogether. I was so disgusted with my own prayer life that i gave up looking at that area altogether.

But i thank God there is a 2nd part to Psalm 40. It says that "he set my feet upon a rock and established my goings (gave me a firm place to stand in NIV)" So what is the rock we are talking about here? I believe we're talking about God's words and biblical advice. As i said yesterday, change requires more then a choice. Let's take a look at some of the rocks to change...

1) Remember God's promise towards your past.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
~ Romans 8:1-2 ~

2) Remember God's character

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
~ Lamentations 3:22-23 ~

3) No longer part of the kingdom of darkness

Remember that you have switch allegiance from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. You are no longer to be controlled by sin but by the Holy Spirit.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
~ Romans 8:9-10 ~

4) Set certain physical boundaries to help you change

If i want to pray more, i can make sure that before i can on my computer, i at least spend sometime with God.

If i want to start journaling, i make sure that my journal is on my table beside my bible always.

If i want to quit smoking, i throw away my cigarette pack and make sure that i stay away from my friends who always offer me a stick.

The physical boundaries have to be as extensive as possible. Sit down and design the physical boundaries not only around the current temptations but future foreseeable temptations (e.g. Exam period) as well. Continually refine this list as God allows you more to experience more temptations.

5) Keep yourself accountable to someone

Be ruthless in this. Be ruthlessly accountable to someone even to the most minute details of the temptation and struggle. Changing is tough enough, changing alone makes it even more difficult.

6) Progress towards the change, not jump towards it.

We live in a generation of instant success and instant change. When we say we are convicted to change, or when we see our sheep say he is convicted to change, it does not mean that it will happen overnight. Its the start of a process. So may a times we see the end and we want to hit the end but we do not come up with a proper plan on how to progress towards the end. And finally when we don't see the ideal change anywhere near, we give up on ourselves.

Never give up on yourself! Don't be like me and give up on a certain area of weakness or an area we want to change in our life. We have to learn to "out stubborn" the devil when it comes to breaking off the bondage or strong hold he has in our lives. Or else we'll never be truly free yeah? Sometimes, things may take time.

Give yourself time and space to breath and take a step at a time yet have the urgency to change. Slow change is better then no change yeah? Back to the example of prayer. I may not start off with praying 7 days a week. Maybe as i struggle, i prayed 3 days this week. I account this to my mentor and we see how we can bring it to 4 days. Then 5 days. Then slowly 6 days and eventually 7 days.

However, this is not to say that the Holy Spirit cannot show you the light like how he showed Paul the light. what i am saying is that if it does not come at the click of a finger, don't give up, continue to work towards it, you'll reach it one day...

7) Holy Spirit Convicts

Finally, I had to continually allow the Holy Spirit and my mentors to speak to me about this area of my life. After all, it is the Holy Spirit who will be able to show you the rock and the solid ground to which you can step on to lift you out of the "horrible pit"

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
~ 2 Timothy 1:14 ~

That's all i have for you today. God Bless you.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-14T23:09:00.007+08:00

Change takes more then a Choice, it takes Courage

Let me share with you a story today. Its about this man called Ah Long.

Ah Long was born in the 1940s and when he was in his 20s, the underworld in Singapore was still very much dominant. Ah long become one of the bosses of the underworld and ran loan shark ring, secret society, drug trafficking.

Ah Long's times...

The law soon caught up with him and he because of the limited evidence, he was sentence to a 7 years term.

Changi Prison

When he was in prison, he got to know Pastor Tong. Initially he was very much resistant and suspicious of the Pastor Tong. But through years of perseverance, he started to attend the prison worship service and finally received Christ during his 3rd year. He became determined to change and away from his old ways. He started to read the bible and the conviction to turn away from sin and lead a Christ like life became stronger by the day. It was one of the most awesome change the pastor has ever experienced. Ah Long even quite smoking, started to devote his time in the cell to pray and seek God. Eventually Ah Long received news that because of his good behaviour, he was allowed to go after serving 5.5 years of his 7 years jail term.

Finally, on the 5th of September 1969, Ah Long changed into his polo shirt and brown pants. Finally he was a free man. As he stepped out of prison, the sun rays glared into his eyes and once he got used to the intense sunlight, he was greeted with a scene that he never thought he would have to face.

Where Ah Long had to make a decision...

On the left of the street was Pastor Tong and his wife. Pastor Tong had came to receive him. On the right of the street, was Ah Nan, the person who was his right hand man when Ah Long ruled the underworld. Together with Ah Nan was 11 other brothers who still addressed Ah Long as "Lau Da Long"

Ah Long had to choose now. He had to choose either leave with the Pastor and lead a new life or leave with Ah Nan and go back to the underworld.

In the end, Ah long left with Ah Nan and went back to the underworld.

Ah Long was killed 3 years later when the police raided his drug warehouse and was shot dead at the scene in the fire fight.

Does the story of Ah Long reminds you of yourself?

To us, the prison is like a church, a sanctuary or when we meet up with our mentors. Time and again we make the decision to change and to repent of our old ways only. We walk away from the altar (prison in Ah Long's case) convicted to change. But when we are faced with the real choice of changing (Pastor Tong vs Ah Nan) we don't have the courage to stand up on our decision.

Have you ever made a decision to change at the altar and when you go back to your friends or family, you have no courage to show your change? Let's say, you were a smoker and you decided to quit smoking. When faced with colleagues or friends giving you a cigarette expecting you to join them at the smoking point, do you have enough courage to say no?

Courage to say no even when others laugh at you or mock you? when others are skeptical of the new you? Courage to build a new image of yourself? The initial stages will be hard but let me encourage you, people around you will see your determination to change and allow you to change and adjust to the new you.

Don't let others' image of you determine who you are. Let who you are determine others' image of you.

Change takes more then just a choice at the altar, it requires you to have the courage to pull it off.

I have a few question for you today and meditate on the verses after them and seek God in that area.

1) Have you made a decision to want to change but is afraid of how others will receive the new you? (you fear other's skepticism, mocking or even rejection)

Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.

For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
~ Psalm 40:11-12 ~

2) Do you need more courage to pull off your decisions at the altar?

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
~ Galatians 5:16-18 ~

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
~ Galatians 5:24-25 ~

Tomorrow I'll talk about how we are our own stumbling block to change.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-14T00:35:00.004+08:00

Go Away Oprah!!!!

I never knew Oprah was like that. I mean if you don't believe in God, don't go around making use of your influence and your fan base and your fans' trust in you and destroy other people's salvation... Watch the video... you'll be quite pissed off....

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-13T22:08:00.005+08:00

Happenings

Happening 1:

Gou Feng went for zhi cha with us today. The food we ate at bugis was really good. We ate Asam fish head, Mongolian Pork Rib, Kai Lan and hot plate tofu. It was really really good. After we ate finish, our good friend Guo Feng whipped out $4 to pay for all the food he ate. Hahaha.. to be fair he said he had to draw money ehh.. but it was a really funny sight.

Really enjoy this nothing to do gang man. Just go out, eat, share life and enjoy ourselves... thanks dudes...

Happening 2:

Went for water baptism some of my friends today. Its really amazing. During the water baptism, there was this brother who shared testimony and sang a solo after that about God's love. It totally melted hearts man... anyway, congrats to song jun, Ah foo, Zac, Ben tay, who were all baptized today.

Happening 3:

During ministry cg today, Hanyang decided to pull stun on me and asked for affirmation from the guys from me. Thanks guys for your affirmation during ministry caregroup today. I'm really very touched by the words and support. We will continue to work hard for our vision yeah?

Games: This game descended into chaos. I shall not post those photos up.

Teaching discussion

I'm really very heartened as i watch the cg unfold today. The entire ministry really feels like a NS ministry now. At the beginning of the year, it was quite chaotic but seeing the guys enjoy themselves, laughing at their own silliness, talk about God's vision and even sit down to discuss about the move of the holy spirit in their lives, its really heartening. Guys, i really proud of how you guys adapted to the change in life stage, took the tough times in your strides, settled dwon in the ministry and took up the challenge issued to you to make a difference in the camps. Jia you!!

Happening 4:

Haven't been sleeping much recently. Was really tired. Guess what? I fell asleep in the toilet just now. Can't remember for how long, just that i felt much worse when i woke up. really need to catch some sleep now.

Tomorrow, i'll talk about the topic of how factors around us doesn't help us to change.
Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-12T03:28:00.008+08:00

Forgiveness

I have to admit on this. By nature, i find it hard to forgive people when i feel wronged. When people do not meet the minimum standard i ask for, and when people say things that hurt me, or when people disappoint me in a certain area again and again. I find it hard to forgive them.

In fact, there are many times i could have chosen to simply say ok, its over le, i forgive you. but somehow i refuse to give in. It is as though i'm losing out or getting a worse deal then i should or a piece of flesh is cut away from me. I'm not sure about you but there are times i certain fail and i blow at people and at other times i'll bear a grudge against someone.

Sometimes the devil in me wants to get back at them. It wants to get even with them if not give them back a double portion of the disappointment i endured as a result of their action. Come on, they hurt me, so by right i have every reason to do things to hurt them back. Sometimes even though i know that it is not their fault, i still want to get back at them to let them know the "suffering" i underwent so that someone can join my pity party. Sometimes, i just want to show them who is the king. I find it so hard to forgive.

If i find it hard to forgive people who hurt me, what about God? The creator of all heaven and earth who had to endure the humiliation of being mocked at, being spat at and belittled. Christ has taught us much with regard to this topic.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:21-22

The 77 times does not literally to a number but it refers to a completed number. It means countless times. Who in the world have the right to say this but the person who forgave us that same number of times?

Jesus warns us about this as well

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15

Paul described his anguish with struggling with sin.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Romans 7:15-19

As i struggled with forgiving, time and again falling into what Paul described in Romans 7, i hold on to the promise in Romans 8 that

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Romans 8:1

It states explicitly, "for those who are in Christ Jesus". So i have to ensure that i stay in Christ Jesus for there not to be condemnation right? As i struggle with sin, with forgiveness, i thank God for his grace and his mercy in my life that as i continue to walk with him and to be "in Christ Jesus" i will grow more and more like him each day. Somehow i thank God for my forgetful nature. Normally i'll forget about the anger after a while. Time is sometimes your best friend eh.

And yeah, i've learnt much about forgiveness. Every time my sinful nature wants to take revenge, i'll remind myself this:

At the end of the day, the kingdom of God will lose out and the only person who'll benefit out of this is the devil.

this is the 1st step to letting go and forgiving.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-11T03:18:00.008+08:00

Amazing Cults

Haa.. we've been talking about really heavy topics and very wordy stuff recently. Maybe we can let our eyes take a break and watch 4 videos today. They are 4 amazing videos with regard to cults.

The first video we're talking about is this cult which preaches that the pastor is the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. Its amazing how people actually believe him and put their total trust in him. They preach that all sorts of indulgence is fine and you can steal, murder, rape and do whatever you want but as long as you belong to this church, you are saved.

The second video we're talking about is no less amazing. Its something called the Scientology (made famous by its member tom cruise)

This is how the Scientology are actually in control of the cult awareness network.

The 4th one is something that you can find really entertaining because of its weird logic. Its a cartoon on the beliefs of the mormons.

Please enjoy yourself

In future, our main fight will not be with the free thinkers or people who are outrightly from the other religions. but it will be with this kind of cults who claims partly from the same bible but interpret things in an amazingly different manner.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-10T03:33:00.008+08:00

Jia You Eelee!!

Really thanks for being such an inspiration, Eelee. She came back in June and in its merely July and she is off again. This time round she is committing to stay there for 1.5 years.

Really want to keep her in our prayers that she'll be able to lead the spiritual charge in country as the replacement team arrives in Chile in sept, oct.

Also do keep Puisee and David in our prayers yeah? Pray that God will really protect them as they run the last leg of the race on this missions adventure.

The Chile church is so important. If Singapore is the gateway to Asia, Chile is the gateway to South America. Please continue to pray that there will be a spiritual breakthrough and outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the church soon.

Do read up more about missions from our hope webbie!! In it, there is also a video of Eelee sharing about the church in Chile during our Sunday service.

http://www.hopesingapore.org.sg/missions

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-08T23:28:00.005+08:00

Leaders Killer

I'll write this from a leadership point. But it can be easily substituted to become a sharing based on Christian living.

One of the greatest killers of leadership is when leaders lose the support around them. When they not only have to run alone but worse still, they have to run against overwhelming opinions coming against them.

These opinions can come from our own members, our peers or even our leaders.

Christians always say God is all we need right? But how true is it really? Let me share a story from the book of 1 Samuel 30 today.

When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David's two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"
"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."

David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.

~ 1 Samuel 30:3-10 ~

You see, David was the leader who led all these people to victory and he was about to face his biggest leadership challenge to date. All along, he had the support of his people, and his mighty man. But suddenly when they got back stabbed and things doesn't go their way, he lost the widespread support of his people when their base got plundered and their wives and children were captured.

Many people remember David for the David and Goliath incident but i really love this part. I thought it really showed his mantle and what he was made of. Let's look deeper into the situation.

1) When David was facing Goliath, he had the support of all the people. Saul even put his armour on him to commission him. But this time round, he didn't have any "human" support.

2) All along, along the way, whatever crisis, David had someone with him. Even when Saul tried to kill him, jonathon was with him. But David faced a total rebellion this time round.

3) It was like excuse me, it was as though it was totally David's fault that they lost their wives and children. But David would not go into the blame game as the rest did as it will not lead to anything. He quickly picked himself up to find a solution to the problem.

4) David lost his wives and children as well eh. Those people who wanted to stone him were not the only ones who lost something. David had to put aside his anguish and lead the people. The last thing the situation needed was for David to break down.

5) The chase was another amazing part. Just when they needed the most leadership, David provided it. He did not allow insecurities about how others looked at him, about how others have wanted to stone him nvm respect him to stop him from getting the best for his people. He was smart, sharp and decisive. What a leader!!!

I was just so amazed at David. Can you imagine yourself going through it? Sometimes the devil will drop the thoughts like "If you don't trust me, there is no point in me leading you", "Why do i have to serve so hard when my leader does not believe in me". "Am i the only idiot who believe that this vision can come to pass? Why have all my friends deserted me?", "Why is my caregroup so against my leadership, is there something wrong with me?", "Why is my leader not entrusting anything to me?", "My people does not seem to respect me." And the list goes on. In times when the group is down and they rebel against your leadership, the last thing they need is for the leader to break down. You'll really prove what they say is true.

So what did David do? He seeked God, he rose to the occasion and he led the people by the authority of God, and he did whatever was necessary to get things right. Very often, when our people rebel, or bite us, there is often a bigger underlying evil behind. Like when they rebelled the bigger evil was the Amalekites. David knew his enemy was not those rebels, it was the Amalekites and he knew his commander is not those rebelling people but it was God.

Amazing right? Leaders remember this. If criticism of us is accurate, we take it in our stride and we change. If the criticism is not accurate, we don't let it affect us, move on., and resolve it with the person it came from.

Don't let the whole idea of pleasing man and having support from others take over your leadership. That is when the leaders killer will come in and take your spiritual life away.

If that is your call from God, nobody can take it away from you.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-07T23:11:00.004+08:00

Engineering change

I was talking to wenjiang the other day and he was sharing with me about this. I thought it really make sense and wants to share it here.

There are mainly 2 ways you can go about changing things.

The first, you replace the people. This is the surest and fastest way to change things around. We can it a change of dynasty. Sure, you'll definately get changes, but will it be for the better? Will the kingdom of God benefit at the end of the day?

The second, you change the people from the inside. It means you impact them, you make them buy into what you believe in and you change them. That is one way to change thing.

I guess i'm not siding to any cause it is really a case by case thing. The 1st one may be a bit more extreme. Its what nations always do right? If the people are unhappy and want changes what will they do? They will go onto the street and protest and demand the cabinet or president step down. Just look at South Korea and Malaysia now. Sure, you may get your new president, but will the new president do a better job? Change for the sake of changing may not bring you anywhere.

As Christians, we should be patient and loving and not call for our leaders head or extreme changes everytime something goes wrong. It will just not bring you anywhere. Peter made possibly the greatest mistake a disciple could make but Jesus still entrusted the church to him eh?

However, let's say the leader is unrepentent and leading the ministry in the wrong direction, then maybe a change will be good for both the leader and the group.

Let's look at the 2nd point now. This is a more "Christian" way of doing things? We grow the people. We allow them to buy into what is their missing link and we help them to see the need to grow in a particular area. This is a more genuine change in life i guess.

Tthat's why when things goes wrong, we always question the following in that particular order.

1) Spirit - Is there something wrong in the people when things goes wrong. Are there anything we can do better? If there is, we teach the people and we evaluate again.

2) System - Are things not working out because cg timing is bad. Is cg attendance bad because there is no fun cg, just standard cg. Are there not enough word for life sessions. Does cg cater to everyone in the group?

3) Structure - If all things goes wrong, then we look at the structure. It is the last thing we want to change. We cannot be switching the structure everytime something goes wrong. But if we need to change it, we change it. yeap.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-06T23:13:00.023+08:00

NS Vision Night

Please enjoy the video of the Highlights of the NS vision night below. A Video speaks more then a thousands words yeah?

The opening part of the video is by Jie Xun from the front until 4:49

If you only have time for the highlights, do watch from the time 4:49 onwards.

Wanna thank the following people for making all of this possible.

Vision Night Manager: Bruce
Worship Team Leader: Ding Cheun
Worship Team: Jie Xun (guitarist), Jonathon Lwee (keyboard)
Worship Team Technical director and Logistics: Lau Hanyang

Sound: Darryl
Lights: Ezekiel
Video Cam: Jonathon Lim
Multimedia: David Ong
Opening Video: Jie Xun
Friends who helped: Jiayi and Justin

Hosts: Joel and Hanyang Lim
Preachers: Bruce and Myself
Testimony: Samuel and Hanyang
Special Performance: Lau Hanyang

Special thanks to our friends from riverlife who joined us for the event as well.

And Anyone who have helped out in any way!

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-05T02:17:00.003+08:00

NS Vision Night

I am finally done with preparing for the vision night. 6 weeks of preparation cumulates until the big day. It has been an amazing journey.

Have been praying and fasting for the week and really excited about what is to come. Have been sensing very strongly that the Holy Spirit is preparing us to pour himself out in to the camps. We will see revivals in the camps. It is something that we have been communicating and talking about. The anticipation level for this vision night is something i have never seen before in my 3.5 yrs in this ministry. It amazing. We're expecting God to do great things.

Do keep us in prayer as well. Pray that people's life will really be changed and that the experience will be so inspiring that biblical and powerful man will shake heaven and earth (and hell too) during the Vision Night

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-04T13:19:00.006+08:00

Motive in leading

I am so excited to share this because i believe it is something close to everybody's heart. The word motive can be a good term to us or a nasty term depending on our past experiences with it. We tend to use the word wrong motive much more then we use the word right motive right? but do u know motives can be right as well? And that in wrong motives, God can work as well?

Let me share with you an amazing verse. I am quoting this verse but please do not take it out of context here. It is not a stand alone set of verses.

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
~ Philippians 1:15-18 ~

I was quite stunned when i read this verse. I mean those people were serving with wrong motives and Paul didn't name them one by one and have them step down from leadership. They were after all trying to take advantage of Paul's imprisonment and make a name for themselves. Talk about wrong motives ehh. ok, here comes the next part, Paul's stand is, they are serving with wrong motives, let them serve, but is the wrong motive advancing the kingdom of God, if God is allowing it to happen, we have to rejoice as well. Paul was unselfish in this aspect.

As Paul allowed those people to fight it out and to advance the kingdom of God with their wrong motives, he also tries his best to teach these people how to serve with the correct motives because he knew that these people would not go very far with this wrong motives. Climbing up the church ladder would not be able to satisfy their hunger for power. In the later part of Philippians the story continues:

(A) Paul tries to teach these people about being selfless and humble:

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
~ Philippians 2:2-3 ~

(B) Paul endorses the authority of Timothy whom he knew served with the correct motive:

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
~ Philippians 2:19-22 ~

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
~ Philippians 3:3-15 ~

Leaders are always placed in this predicament of serving with the wrong motives. Or whether we rise someone up who is serving with the wrong motives. But my question to you today, who ever serves with the right motives 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Paul knew these people were serving with the wrong motives but did he stop them from serving or belittle them? No, he allowed them to serve but continually teaching them the right stuff.

My call to you today. If you are waiting for someone to have the perfect motive in order to allow him to serve, you'll never get someone to serve. As you serve, the wrong motives become even more apparent and if the person is after God's heart, he will want to change. Wrong motives are a perpetual struggle in our Christian walk. It does not just determine whether we can be a leader or not. I talked about this before in a previous article called shadow mission but that should not stop us from serving just as repented sin should not stop us from serving God to a greater measure.

For people, one of the most threatening and obvious wrong motive is when we suspect a person to be power hungry. They come to you and tell you they want to be a CL, they want to be a shepherd, they want to be a whatever L by the end of when. You see, some of us Asians, we think humility is, "i can't do it" "i don't think i can be a cl" "I am inadequate". I tell you, that is not humility.

Being humble means:
I can't, but with God, i can.
I can do it alone, but with God, i can do it better.

Can i give you another option today? Some of them are really not power hungry. They are Impact Hungry. Don't write off every desire to serve in a great capacity as power hungry and wrong motive. I'm not saying this cannot be the case but there are other options as well. Power hungry people looks at themselves more then they look at the welfare of others. Impact hungry people looks at the well being of others more then they look at themselves.

Not that they will not struggle with motive. they will. but they have the desire to bless more then to receive from the start. And the amazing thing is, when you twitch the motive button, people can change from power hungry to impact hungry. Other then the motive part, the two are distinctively the same in terms of manifestation esp at the early stages.

Impact hungry people knows that they have a greater capacity to impact people beyond what they are doing right now. They know that God has prepared them for something greater. They know that they have something to give to a greater group of people. If you are leading such people, can i encourage you not to cap these people?

Sometimes it may be our own skepticism. Or it may be our own insecurity. But can i encourage you that these people when tapped upon, they will give their life to the cause, they will take ownership of what they are given. Encourage them to influence and give them the platform they need to do so. Spoke about this 1 week ago in transplanting people.

For those who find themselves on the wrong side of motive. Can i encourage to read the word of God and to keep your quiet time strong? Beyond that, account your motives to your leader. You are not alone in this and you are not the only devil around with the wrong motive. Trust me, your leader will be glad when he hears you talk about your struggle with motive because everyone will go through it. But don't end there. Don't go into a state of, "i'm lousy", "i can't serve". Move on from there and serve God in a greater capacity!

Wow, what a long article. Hope you received something from it.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-07-04T00:44:00.009+08:00

Some random photos

Finally connected my phone to my com.

My niece! Amber is her name. She loves the camera. She is just so adorable. I love babies. Next time i want to have 3 kids. :)

This is our weekly NS word for life. We are going through the Acts series now. We just finished lesson 4. I'm so excited about this series cause you can really see things start picking up since we started to teach it one month ago.

Any last words? Haa.. this is one of the top cg games i played b4.. Really fun. hahaa.. thanks daryl and darren for leading games in the east cg. It was a great cg. thanks guys! You guys really put in effort to meet up on a early sunday morning when many of your friends are still sleeping away.

We sent harry off 2 days ago. He'll be going to Canada to study. Haa. stole this card from his room. Wonder how you are doing harry. hahaa..

Stole a break. For now, its back to preparing for the NS vision night on Sat. Really expecting great things for this vision night.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-03T22:23:00.004+08:00

Vision casting

The most well documented vision casting in history includes, Martin Luther's I have a dream and Billy Graham's revival speeches. A lot of times, a good vision cast is seen as a once off event where someone say something so inspiring or create such a emotional stir that people buy into to the vision, they treat the success of the vision as their own and at that moment, they are willing to do whatever it takes to see it come to pass. Some call it an emotional high. However, there must be more then this to a good vision cast. Something else seems to be missing.

Yes, a good vision cast is not a once off hair raising, electrifying affair. A good vision cast will spark off a chain of events after the vision cast that will mark the success or failure of the event itself. There much be tangible substance within the vision cast that will result in changes after the vision cast. in another words, a vision cast should not just give people hope, it should also give them, something to work upon. what's next after being inspired to do something for God?

Other then that, i make it a point to stress that a good vision is not cast over one night. It is in fact cast over weeks, months, if not years. i don't believe that Abraham Lincoln only came up with the vision of freeing the blacks in America only on that faithful day. I believe that this vision has been cast repeatedly to those close to him, to his friends, to family members, to supports.

People are forgetful people. After the emotional high, after the response time, we need to repeatedly remind people through smaller sessions about their commitment to the vision. Once in a while, come together as a congregation to recommit to the vision once again.

A good vision cast is a vision that is repeated to the congregation regularly throughout the entire duration of the process to reach the vision.

Leaders, don't be too quick or impatient to change track. What do i mean by this? Let me give you an example of how i run the NS vision night. The NS vision night is a quarterly event in which we gather as a ministry to talk about vision and direction of the ministry in the quarter. As a leader, does that mean that i have to cast a new vision every other quarter? What if we are not on track for this two years vision that i cast in the previous vision night? Does that mean that i have to re-engineer the vision from scratch?

By all means! no! We live in a culture of instant success. We sow and expect converts immediately, long term vision like a 2 year plan no longer appeal to us because it is not "instant" enough, we cast a vision but don't want to commit to it when there is no short term success. My challenge to leaders today:

Cast a vision, stick to it, twitch it when you have to, repackage the vision to keeps things fresh, but the content remains relatively the same and see it come to pass. Don't be too quick to dispose of the vision which God has graciously granted you.

In one of the previous vision night,

i remember i talked about the same topic. Still remember the 3 pts:

1) Vision is normally birthed from life's reality.
2) Receive the vision from God.
3) Protect the vision from harm.

Yes! that's it, if the vision can make someone die for the kingdom, what makes you think that the devil won't come in and try to take it away. Protect the vision God has given you from harm always.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-07-02T21:43:00.005+08:00

Kingdom-mindedness

Ok, today let's break from the issue of leadership and talk about a more general topic which applies to all Christians. The topic is about what actually is really kingdom-mindedness.

You see, when we receive the salvation of Christ, we accept God's grace into our life. We acknowledge what God has done on the cross. We repent of our sin and we accept Jesus as our saviour. This is when we start our journey with God under the spiritual covering of the church. We call this signing up for the "saviour's plan" aka a phone plan.

If let's say this was the full deal, we would just have to come to church every week and warm the seats, listen to the pastor, worship God, praise him, repent of our sins and partake the Holy Communion. However, that is only half of the deal. There is a major 2nd half to this deal that we cannot neglect.

When we say the sinners prayer, we do not only sign up for the "saviour's plan", we also sign up for the "lord's plan". Jesus did not come down to earth and just preached about salvation. In fact he preached more about the coming of the kingdom and advancement of the kingdom more then he preached about salvation. He built his disciples not just to receive the salvation of the lord but he prepared them for the hardship, the skills needed, the spiritual growth needed, to advance the kingdom of God.

The great commission not only talked about the saviours plan - "baptizing them in the name of the father, of the son and of the Holy Spirit." But it also talked about the Lord's plan - "Go and make disciples of all nations" "and surely i am with you always to the very ends of the age."

ok, so what am i driving at? If as Christians, we only focus on the saviour's plan, it will lead us to have a very - "i'm a sinner", "God, i'm sorry," "i receive your grace". It leads us to a mentality of always receiving from the Lord and wanting to climb out of the fact that we are a sinner.We will become self focused instead of obeying the great commission.

However, We cannot do without the saviour's plan as that is the salvation of Christians. I am saying that that is only half the deal. But can i encourage everyone to focus on the Lord's plan as well - the lord's plan of serving others, serving within the church, availing ourselves for God to use us, setting your mind on advancing God's kingdom. This will lead to a others centered mentality where we want to serve and where we roll up our sleeves and say,

"Bring in on God, what can you and me do together today to advance the kingdom of God?

Regards,

jie hui

2008-07-02T02:40:00.006+08:00

Leading with distinction

Anyone can lead. but not everyone can lead well and with distinction. Today, i'm going to talk about planning, strategizing and communication aspect of leadership.

Outline
You see, we always say we need to plan. Ok, so what is the first thing that goes onto the paper when say, you are planning for the momentum up to an ESS? It has to be the ESS right?

Whatever you plan, the final result and destination must be crystal clear.

The success or failure of the entire momentum will hinge mainly on the result of this final destination. Don't just plan for planning sake, write down clearly what you hope to see, what will constitute a success and what will constitute a failure. Don't just do the former without the latter. With this in mind, planning becomes much more focused and agenda-ed and you will not find yourself slotting in events for the sake of it.

Planning

Some of you may be wondering if we got a wrong heading here. Didn't we just talk about planning? Nope, nothing is wrong. What you just read in the previous paragraph is not planning. that is drawing target board. the real planning starts here. After knowing where you want to lead a group of people to, break up the journey to the end point into manageable seasons or parts. Micro plan the seasons from here onwards. Be crystal clear about the following:

1) How does this micro planned season contribute to the overall big picture.
2) What does my group needs to do or to learn to get there or to be successful.
3) What is the bench mark for success and failure for each season?
4) Will my people respond positively at each stage or at which stage will i need to rally the people abit more?
5) How is this event bring the group closer to the final goal when benchmarked against where we left off in the previous event?

A vision cast is not like, just throw your people a huge vision and leave them there and hopefully things will work out right as things unfold. It won't. This is not what is meant by being spirit-led.

When you cast a vision, break it up into small digestible steps for the group to see. Mentioning to them how, at each stage, you will tackle the 5 qns i raised up. When people see that you know what you are doing, you are not just big talking about a big vision, but you know exactly what it takes to get there, the costs, the strategy, the people, i tell you, PEOPLE WILL BUY YOUR VISION.

Communication
Leaders, can i plead to you not to play the "cannot tell you" game? Let us not fall into the trap that information needs to be contained thing. Be as open to your people about your dreams. Communicate to your people the plan! the steps of the plan! and the strategy of the plan! Don't just restrict it to your direct team all the time. Remember this, if there is something that needs to come directly from you and not through your core team, it is the spirit behind the vision and the plans to get there. Communicate the above two points to as large percentage a group as you can. Maybe shepherds and above or even everyone in the ministry.

And leaders, can i challenge you to learn how to vision cast properly? How to communicate a vision clearly. Watch how bill hybels does it. Watch how Obama does it. Watch how Rick warren does it. Can i encourage you to learn this skill and not always depend on pure conviction or emotions only. These things are important but we need to look around, and learn from others how they do it. Don't just stare at them and wow. Learn from them and be willing to try out new styles. To try out new methods.

Whenever i receive a Vision from God, i want to do justice to the magnitude, the awesomeness, the power of that vision so much so that i will stop at nothing to make sure that it is as well represented as i can possibly make it to be.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-07-01T01:53:00.002+08:00

Shadow Mission

The topic of Shadow mission was famously bought up by John Ortberg. I was personally very touched by it cause the it just hits the nail on head. Something that many leaders, young or old, experienced or not, needs to put themselves back on the correct track. Here goes.

We all have fears. Some of us have a fear of failure. Some fear disappointment. Some fear criticism. Especially when these things happen to leaders, it sometimes gets amplified and things can get messy. Some of us fear being looked down by peers, other fear losing out to peers as they serve God and even others fear not looking good in front of the person you like. These fears come to people here and there and each one have their own set of fears.

We may be able to even realize these fears or conceptualize these fears in our lives. They may come from the deepest part of our heart. And it is these that leads eventually to what we call a shadow mission. Something that is selfish, dark and personal. This shadow missions can happen to people, companies, countries, to anyone.

The shadow mission is a mission that stems from wrong motives, but is artfully hidden behind the veil of the real mission. People won't realized it until its full blown effect comes into play. For example, i may be leading NS group, but my shadow mission can be to self actulize. For example, i may be signing up to be a church staff, but my shadow mission can be to earn the big bucks from the "church industry".

Even as people choose to follow God's given mission, these shadow missions stay on the side lines ready to take over from the real mission at the click of a finger. You see, shadow missions are seldom 180 degrees away from the real mission. It may just be 10 degrees off the actual mission. For example, if there is this girl i am interested in and she needs a ride home and i want to impress her. I may offer to send her entire cg home as a legitimate reason for me to send her home. That is a shadow mission that is just 10 degrees off the actual mission .And it is just an example, so no need to try to remember if u sat in my car b4. i dun struggle in this shadow mission. at least not yet. hahaa.

Are there hidden agendas in our lives. Missions that is there in the heart but you know that it should not be there?

As leaders, especially for those who have been leading the same portfolio for some time already. always look into the ministry and ask if it is on the right track or if it has been overtaken by another shadow mission? For example, is the group still focused on holistic growth, or have our shadow mission of winning the best of the best for this year taken over. its just an example.

Never allow the shadow mission to take over your real mission. it will lead to destruction. Be brutally honest with yourself when it comes to getting rid of the shadow mission. The real mission is already massive enough for you not to need the shadow mission. Ensure that the real mission dominates and advances the kingdom of God.

Always allow someone to speak into your life about shadow mission. Here are some questions for you.

Is there anybody you are trying to impress besides God? It can be your own people, it can be your peers, it can be a girl/guy you like, it can be your boss etc.

Is there any tinge of contamination in our real mission? It can come in the form of more tangible things like results, actions, speech etc. Or it can be non tangible like motive and emotions.

The things that you struggle with consistently will probably show you the way to your shadow mission. what can it be?

That is all from me. See ya!

Regards,

jie hui

2008-06-30T00:03:00.004+08:00

Strengths and weakness

I'm basing what i write today mainly on the idea based on the leadership summit 2007 teaching by Marcus Buckingham - Go put your strengths to work.

There is this age old question that pops up time and again about leadership or even simply as Christians. If you had to choose between building on your strength or fixing your weakness, which one would you choose?

Buckingham made these statement,

"In our pursuit of excellence, we tend to focus on our weakness. However, we ought to study our success and strengths as well."

"People aren’t our greatest assets, people’s strengths are our greatest aspects"

Before he went into the topic straight, he listed down 3 myths that i thought makes a lot of sense.

Myth 1: As you grow, your personality changes.
Truth: As you grow, you become more of who you already are. The challenge is not to change your personality but to channel it.

Myth 2: You will grow the most in the areas where you are the weakest.
Truth: You will eventually grow most in areas where you are the strongest.

Myth 3: A great member will put aside his strengths and does whatever it takes to help the team.
Truth: A great member will help the team most when he contributes his strengths.

I thought it makes a lot of sense. As leaders, in the day to day hectic ministry, we cannot always be fighting our weaknesses if we want to be effective. It leads to a point of whining and fast develops into a form of insecurity. A leader is the most effective when he believes that he is working to his strengths.

Biblical inadequacy leads to us being empowered by God but human inadequacy leads us to feeling worse and even more inadequate then ever.

Let me give an example. If pride is a issue in my life when i do public ministry but my strength is in public speaking, while i try to overcome the issue of pride in my life, i cannot allow it to keep bugging me to a point when i focus on containing the pride when i do public speaking instead of focusing on my speech. I have to settle it before or after at a more appropriate time.

Let me use the example of Moses. Moses was not confident of public speaking and God got Arron to speak on his behalf. Moses could have curse and swear about his weakness and his incapabilities of public speaking. But what did he do? He played to his strength of leadership. Of leading the people through the desert and he was secure enough to know that Arron will cover for his weakness in the mean time.

Leaders, can i encourage you to be more confident in allowing God to use you in your strengths or weakness. If God can use you in your weakness, what more can God do through your strengths? So leaders, stop letting your inadequacies from becoming the sticking point of your ministry. Let your strengths be.

There are certain things i am not good at. There are certain things i am better at. A rule of thumb is that as long as the things i am not good at does not have a crippling effect on my ministry, i will keep it in mind to take long term steps to grow out of it and devote more attention to other areas. However, if it does, then we will need to grow out of it fast.

Beyond that, leaders, let your ministry in mind, heart and soul surround around your strengths. Be confident of not yourself but of God working through your strengths.

i know i am not a musical person. Can't play guitar for nuts but i know it is an area i need to buck up. But right now, its does not have a crippling effect on my ministry so i focus my strength and energy on the NS ministry on what i am better at, things like discipleship, teaching the word of God, missions etc.

Buckingham sums it up so beautifully:

We need to be able to talk about our strengths without bragging and weakness without whining.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-06-28T02:19:00.011+08:00

Transplanting People

Ok, this is going to be so so so important for the churches who group people by homogeneous groupings according to geographical location, life stage, interests, job type etc. When you have such groups at the macro level, it inevitably leads to this hated word called transfer. When you move from one life stage to another. When you change from one job to another. For effectiveness, the group in which you serve in changes as well. For the readers who aren't faced with such situations, you can apply what will be discussed to your own life about the transplanting of people from one group to another or for assimilating a new member.

We always say this, if you are spiritual, wherever i put you, you will influence and you will impact those around you. If you are able to lead 10 people in this group, when i move you to another group, you should be able to lead 10 as well. If you star burst in a certain group, i put you in a new environment, you will thrive as well. Basically, if you are made of substance, you will do well. That may be true in some instances but in many it is not. We have seen so many instances where people failed to live up to the expectations and the hype of that came with the transfer. We send off many people from youth to other ministries but many of them failed to impact and you ask yourself why. If they are made of substance, which many of them really are, why is it that they find it so hard to again weave their magic in a new group?

Bill Hybels discussed this in leadership summit 2006. He discussed this thing called the platform. It was just a mind blowing concept that hit me. It has been what many of us have overlooked all along. The main idea you see is that when a leader thrive in a certain ministry, say youth, it is not just the leader's work and conviction alone that built up the group. There must be a confluence of factors which we call the "Platform" on which allows the group to thrive or achieve success. This Platform includes things like their core team, their leaders, the positive culture, friends serving together, familiarity, experience in that ministry for many years, conviction and ownership of a certain vision and many more. All these things come together to form success.

When we pluck just an individual out of this success and put them in our group expecting the same result and for them to weave their magic, both parties are often left frustrated, disappointed and often want to turn back the wheels to our good old days. This has been happening in so many lives that we as church leaders have the responsibility to ensure that we don't ever allow this to happen in our group.

We thank God that this is not the end of the road. There are solutions to this after all. This is a few way out of it.

The platform we are talking about may vary from case to case, individuals to individuals but the principle is don't expect to throw a successful person into a group, do nothing from there and expect returns. People are not robots. There are a few "universals" that will apply to most people who are in transition.

Firstly, give people the visionary platform. Without vision, people perish. simple as there. One of the main role of the new leader is to give people the ownership of the new vision. Don't just throw them your vision. Explain to them the vision, why we have the vision, the history of the vision, where are we currently at in reaching the vision and what role they can play in the vision. When people own a vision, things happen.

Secondly, it is the community platform. The new people needs to feel welcomed. They need to be comfortable with the community and enjoy their fellowship.

Thirdly, it is the service platform. People need to not just serve but serve with a purpose and know why they are doing what they are doing. Don't just treat new members are foot soldiers. They are leaders in their own capacity capable of thinking and initiating and adding so much value to the group they are in, if only they are being tapped upon.

Fourthly, it is the empowerment platform. This may come in different forms. It is not just about being a careleader or a shepherd. That is one form of empowerment but not everything. there are many other ways to empower someone. I make it a point to ask my new members that from their experience in their past ministry, how would they run my ministry differently. What did they see in their previous ministry that worked and how we can learn from them? This is not just a token question to make them feel involved but i will really take their ideas seriously and if possible, we will implement them. Empowerment comes when people realise that they can make a difference and what they initiate can very possibly result in something tangible at the end of the day, they will thrive.

There are other platforms but the above four are the main ones. Understand what made these people successful and if possible, replicate them in their new environment. (E.g If weekly shepherding adds alot to this person's life in the past, i don't see a reason why the new leader cannot accommodate this)

That was for the receiving leader. Now, it takes two hands to clap. The person undergoing transition can make himself much more mobile and adaptable by being able to rise above occasion and carry on despite the new ministry not being able to provide a particular platform for him. Let's take the example of the platform - a leader's core team. Many a times, it is not possible to transfer an entire leadership team. When the leader is being transferred and he needs to work without this team, he needs to rise above the occasion and carry on despite the missing platform. It may be his calling now to just serve as a member thus making that particular platform less urgent at this point. There are instances which you are called to build a platform. Lets say we are talking about a worship leader. He transferred without his music team but God has called him to build on from scratch in the new ministry. This is where we are sent out to strengthen these platforms for people to succeed.

In conclusion, take this home with you. As receiving leaders, if it is possible to give a platform to this person to succeed, please pay careful attention to it or you'll be losing gems on your hands. As people who are moving, if it is not possible for us to have the kind of platform that helped us thrive in the previous ministry, we need to adapt and do whatever helps. It may be to build a new platform or it may be to learn to step up using another platform or it may be to do away with that platform altogether.

Transplanting people is like organ transplant. When an external organ is introduced to the body, we have to ensure that it fits in, that it is not rejected, that it will eventually work at the optimum if not better compared to its previous body.

Regards,

jie hui

2008-06-27T02:43:00.005+08:00

Please, be a vision owner

Change the topic cause i felt that before a leader can cast a vision, he needs to own the vision.

They always say that leadership is a lonely job. That there are times where no one would understand what you go through. Everyone expects you to be up there all the time. Sometimes even when you struggle with your faith, you can't show it to your people.

From a very human perspective, when our leaders challenge us with a vision, we'll gladly follow. Have you ever asked where did these leaders get their vision from?

Some say they get it from their leaders. But where did our leader's leader's get it from? You get what i mean? It has to start from somewhere. We cannot always be depending on our leaders to challenge us for a vision.

Some say its from God. Then how do your receive the vision from God? Does every leader see a the light like Paul? Or dream like John? Does every leadership decision have to come from God? Does God whisper into your ears about every restructuring? So how does God actual ensure that leaders get going in his plans?

In leadership, when you hit a certain level, you know that you are pretty much on your own. For example, in the corporate level, a manager cannot expect a CEO to be breathing down his or her neck about the management of his/her staff every other day. The CEO can provide the covering but the manager is pretty much on his/her own. That is why they are employed in the 1st place! not to be the CEO's puppet but to take the burden off the CEO.

In the same way, when you hit a certain level like being a key leader in a certain school, camp, region, area, district, min ops, area of interest, you were never placed in that position to wait for your leaders to challenge you. It is always your job, not your leader's job to dream for your respective area of ownership. I make it a point in my leadership never to micro manage my leaders when it comes to dreaming for their camps. I may challenge them to dream, or to give a macro vision for my own level and that is my job, but never to dream on their behalf. My point to them is simple, if you are not going to dream for your own area which you are responsible for, i am not going to dream for you and at the end of the day, whether or not there is growth will be because you chose to or chose not to do something about it. Leaders! never pamper your people by dreaming and casting visions on their behalf.

In the bible, John 10, Jesus spoke about the hired hand and the owner. The hired hand was never ever going to dream for what is in his hands because its not his job. But the owner looks out for every opportunity and chance, to do something about the things in his hands.

Some of us, we are like the hired hand of our leaders. The group belongs to be leader. I will just support his dreams. My leader will challenge me when its time for me to grow.

Or can we become an owner? Over my dead body will i allow what is in my hands to lose value. When people own a vision, they will pray for it, work for it, sacrifice for it, and history have shown, some will even die for it.

Ownership is the prerequisite of a vision.

A few question for you to take back:

1) Are we allowing our people time and room to dream on their own? Or are we just pursuing ministry at such neck breaking speed that people are just trying to keep up with us and our dreams?

2) Are we constantly dreaming and initiating things or just waiting for someone else to come along and challenge us?

Regards,

jie hui

2008-06-26T00:07:00.004+08:00

Leadership - What leaders owe their people

If you are still visiting this blog aft i haven't typed anything for the past few months, you must be a really loyal supported of this blog eh.. haha.. ok... here goes.

I have been bugged by many people about the issue of leadership recently and that in turn have bugged me. It has set me thinking of what makes a good leader. I'm not saying i'm really that good but i believe that i do have somethings i really feel God has placed in my heart about leadership that i wish to share here.

The church is calling out today for strong leaders who provide decisive direction, passion and inspiration for the people. Far too often, leaders are afraid to provide a direction for the fear that we will lose them if they do not agree with us or we have over challenged them. Worse still, leaders are afraid to provide a direction simply because they are not sure of the direction themselves.

Can i plead onto all leaders today, any leader, that you need to get this right once and for all. "Get your motives right, keep yourself accountable, consult your team and make the decision." The bible says "Go and make disciples" It did not emphasize go when, go where, go with who. It simply says, Go! and make disciples of all nations. At the end of the day, church leaders does not lead because we want to see results as an end to itself. We lead because it is a calling from God to lead his flock through the temporal victory or the occasional temporal defeat. People are not as afraid of chionging for a incorrect direction compared to having no direction at all.

Lead his flock!! Take up the leadership mantle and provide your people with the kind of leadership that will inspire them to do likewise to many other people.

I'll leave you with this. During any war, soldiers look to their immediate commander for leadership. When the sides are evenly matched, decisive leadership becomes the one more important factor that determines the life and death of hundreds of soldiers. If the leader is strong, the soldiers get to see another day. If the leader is weak, it is the end of the road for many of them. The leader does not only owe these people, who entrusted their lives to him, strong leadership, he owes it to the many wifes and children back home who are waiting for these brave young man to return home.

Many a times, as leaders, we cannot wait to go into battle. We cannot wait to come back victorious. But sadly, we only know how to start and how to end, how to charge the people and how to celebrate a victory. Our people entrust their time, their energy, their emotional, and mental being to follow our lead and we owe them our decisive leadership, our confidence, our passion and our inspirational drive in the midst of the battle, because there is a loving father waiting back home for all these beloved son and daughters of his to return home to the heavenly throne.

I'll continue tomorrow on How do leaders find their bearing.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-01-15T00:02:00.000+08:00

The God Delusion

Just started reading the book "The God Delusion" Its suppose to be a best selling atheist book. In the author, Richard Dawkins' words: "If this book works as i intend to, religious readers who open it it will be atheist when they put it down." These are big words eh.. I'll try to read this book with a open mind and see what the best of the atheists has to offer. Do pray for me that i will not be stumbled by this book. haha.. will give an account of my thoughts soon.... till then! see ya!

Regards,

Jie hui

2008-01-11T00:34:00.000+08:00

I'm a uncle!!

Amber, my neice

This was taken when she was a few hours old. really cute right? haa..

My sister went through like God knows how many hours of labour for this princess. She is like the queen in the family now. One cry and you see a few pair of hands attending to her. Oh Well, i shall not be jealous.

Regards,

Jie Hui

2008-01-04T00:28:00.000+08:00

NS Homecoming

The Ns ministry ended off 2007 with a homecoming event where we invited our alumni back for a time of catch up as well as concluding the year as a ministry. It was a good time i guess, to talk about what happened in the past year, thank each other for the past year and our hope for the new year.

What's new?

Our of our recepients for the NS best of the best.

Victor won the sweetest shepherd.

Hunks?

Pizza was the order of the day

Our birthday boy

Really enjoy to see the Ns family spirit. You hardly hear things like who dun like who or which cg got disunity. Well, lets keep this strong tradition going guys!!

Regards,

Jie Hui

2007-12-28T11:29:00.000+08:00

Missions team catch-up

Went out with some crazy people last night. We went on a missions trip together in april 2006. We do meet up here and there.... Somethings never change ehh...

Sharlene will entertain jasmine

Jasmine will out entertain Sharlene

Xinyi will be bullied by Sharlene
Ruth will come out of no where to poke fun at someone

Debbie will laugh at everyone killing each other

Bruce will clap his hands and watch the show

As for me, i'll clap my hands and laugh together... hahaa...

better not let my missions team read this... hahaa.. well, had a good time, here are some of the photos....

Haa... we were taking photos inside toa payoh hdb hub!! hahaa..

I can't believe i did that...

Back to normal..

Regards,

Jie Hui