Archive for May, 2008
We are probably the only alumni class from Trinity Theological College that still meets regularly, even if annually, twenty years after we graduated. What keeps us together? This is a real rojak class. In terms of race, nationality and denominations. Now there is only Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Anglican though on graduation we had MarThoma, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, and Baptist included. What glues us together when other classes hardly meet to fellowship?
Bolivian Beat, the archdeacon Raphael Samuel has returned to Singapore as Vicar of Christchurch, and his wife Michelle(far right) is actively involved in dance and arts ministry in COOS. However Dr Yak Hwee (second from right) is leaving for Taipei, Taiwan, in late August, to teach in one of the main seminaries there. I guess she is the New Testament lecturer that Dr Tony Siew, of Revelation is Real, is replacing. Rev. Benedict Muthusamy will finish his MTh next year, and it seemed like last month when he first begun.
We are all in our fifties, that stage of life when we are surprisingly game for all kinds of changes and new challenges. The fifties seems to be a season when our experience and propulsion towards convergence combines with family circumstances to give us a high degree of confidence, mobility and intolerance of aggravation. It is a journey of self-actualization and therefore change. We see it in others around us too: some divorce and change spouses. Some change jobs or line of work. Some change churches after being members for decades. Some change leisure pursuits. Some become health evangelists.
So here we were at IMM talking about changes, and of course the nostalgic good ole days!
And I heard Peter Tan of K.L.’s now defunct Tabernacle of Glory, will be moving from Canberra and pastoring in Singapore. Hmmm….
May 28th, 2008
I heard that a book on dating and courtship for Christians advocates that a guy interested in courting a girl should first meet up with the girl’s parents to seek their permission. When I heard that, I was dumbfounded. I try to imagine myself in the guy’s shoes. Gathering up courage to approach a young lady itself is a major feat. To ask their parents for permission? From where do I summon the courage to do that? And isn’t that premature? But assuming I do find the strength to do that, and mumble feebly my intentions to the parents, what will they think of me?
Now I put myself in the parents’ shoes and imagine what I will feel. I will think it odd but interesting that the guy would ask for my permission to court my daughter. I will feel respected or in some way acknowledged as having some kind of role or say in the process of courtship, or at least in its commencement. I will feel somewhat relieved or anxious as I get acquainted with the guy who plans to court my daughter. I will try to be objective, but half-suspect that subjective parental anxiety will interfere. Despite all this, I will probably not be able to say, “No, you are not allowed to do so because…..” or “Yes you may but send me a weekly report” but rather, “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be praying for you guys.”
And when they have left, I’ll ask my wife: “What do you think of that guy?”
I wonder what the daughter will be feeling about this “asking for parent’s permission” bit.
What about you?
May 25th, 2008
So Manchester United has won the double…….again. It just doesn’t go down well for the majority of football fans, including me. Fans with Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. I thought the two Jews at Chelsea would tip the odds in their favor with two equally matched teams. Manchester again. Even with that 1billion pounds debt, we have to admit they were deserving winners and had showcased good attacking play in most of their matches. Hmmm….I wonder when Ferguson will retire. Because it doesn’t look like monsieur Wenger is going to break his budget to put together a championship team next season. So the only hope of Arsenal winning in the next season is for Ferguson to be promoted up to the boardroom, and Chelsea to have three of their star players leave in summer or a new manager appointed.
My fun predictions were right on only one count: Man U to win the Premier League! Its easy to guess who’ll be in the top four. The order is much more difficult. Well, we will have to wait till next season. Meanwhile the only thing interesting enough to get my attention would be transfer news because the European Championship just doesn’t appeal to me without England in it.
May 22nd, 2008
I. SERMON OUTLINE:
Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, people of New Age Movement, the occult or the conservation movement all regard themselves as spiritual. What is the real thing?
I. REAL SPIRITUALITY IS DISCERNING TRUTH (I COR 2:9-16)
A spiritual person has close fellowship with the Spirit. His spirituality comes from being in the Spirit. And since the Spirit is the Spirit of truth and guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13)
Paul was judged by false teachers and apostles who undermined his authority, so he said, “It is not right for those folks who are men of flesh to judge me who is spiritual, in whom the Spirit dwells, who guides me into truth, and reveals things of God to me.” He says the spiritual man is able to judge what is true and untrue, edifying or destructive. He knows there is nothing that God will reveal that is not already in the Bible. It is just re-discovery of whats in it all along. eg justification by faith. He also warns that in the last days false doctrines will cause some to fall away(1 Timothy 4:1-3). A real spiritual person says like John Wesley,” I am a man of One Book.”
B. REAL SPIRITUALITY IS BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (GAL 5:22-23)
Paul commands Christians to be intoxicated and influenced by the Spirit (Eph 5:18) for then they will allow God to work in their lives and with patience bear the fruit or harvest of the Spirit’s hard work on the soil of our lives : love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Paul then says these believers with the fruit of the Spirit those who are “spiritual” (Galatians 6:1), and who have the kind of ripened Christian character to bring back the lapsed brother or sister.
The Galatian Christians started in the Spirit but ended in flesh.
The Corinthians Christians were carnal and not spiritual (1 Cor 3:1)
C. REAL SPIRITUALITY SPRINGS OUT OF HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US AND NOT HOW MUCH WE LOVE GOD (EPH 3:18-19)
Eph 3:18, 19 does not use the word spiritual but being “filled with the fullness of God” certainly qualifies for real spirituality. The more we experience the great vastness of his love for us, the more we will grow in real spirituality, for his love heals us of our defects, inferiorities, fears, insecurities, rejection, guilt, etc and make us more whole and holy.
1 John 4:10,16,19 tells us we need to believe and experience the love of God for us before we are capable of loving God in return and to love people around us. Therefore we need to focus more on how much he loves us instead of dwelling and wallowing in our failure to measure up in our love for Him. Real spiritual people will display love for people, for God is love.
So the real spiritual person has both the word and the spirit and the love of God.
II. DISCUSSION STARTERS:
1. Why does God want us to be a spiritual people?
2. How can we develop this spirituality
a) as an individual,
b) as a cell group and church
3. How do we spiritually approach a brother or sister in Christ whom we know has stumbled or is entangled in sin? What are some wrong things people do when they catch others doing wrong or at fault? (Galatians 6:1-3)
4. Share one pratical step you will take this week to help you grow spiritually. Then pray for one another.
May 22nd, 2008
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy on all who are in the depths of darkness;
On all who have sustained irreplaceable loss;
On all who are in the midst of terrible misery.
Offer fresh hope to all who feel as if on the edge of death.
And may help reach them in their despair.
May 20th, 2008
In an earlier post someone asked about the different views of holy communion in the Church. Here is a brief explanation of four major views in the spectrum:
Transubstantiation is one of these major views. In this view, when the properly ordained priest consecrates the elements of bread and wine, it an actual transformation takes place, though unseen by human eye, and the bread and wine, in essence, becomes changed into the Lord’s flesh and blood respectively. It still looks and tastes like bread and wine, but essentially, it has changed, and the participant then literally take the physical body and blood of Christ into themselves. In addition the eucharist is a real sacrifice offered by Christ (in the same sense the crucifixion was) on behalf of the worshipers. It atones for venial sins but not for mortal sins. This is the view held by the Roman Catholics.
The Lutheran view has been termed as consubstantiation. Luther believed that the body and blood of Christ are somehow concurrently present “in, with, and under” the consecrated bread and wine. The bread and wine are not transformed into the body and blood of Christ, but the body and blood of Christ is somehow present in the bread and wine. Luther believed there were real benefits of forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith that the participant experiences.
The third major view of holy communion is the Reformed view. They too reject the Catholic notion of a physical or bodily presence in the bread and wine. Their view is not far from the Lutheran view. They regard the presence of Christ in the bread and wine as spiritual and dynamic. Calvin uses the analogy of the sun to explain this. The sun remains in the heavens, but yet it’s light and warmth is present on earth. Similarly, the Lord Jesus is physically present at the right hand of God, but it is by the Holy Spirit on earth that Christ dwells in us by faith (Romans 8:9-11), and by the same Spirit participants are brought into communion with the living Christ, and into appropriation of the benefits of Christ’s death. They are spiritually nourished and vitalized because the Spirit mediates the benefits to them as they take the bread and wine.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from the Catholic view, there are those who hold that the holy communion is just a commemoration or remembrance of Christ’s death and its efficacy on our behalf. There is no special presence of Christ; as he is present everywhere and his presence in the elements is no greater than his presence among the worshipers. It’s benefits is similar to the benefits one gains from listening to a sermon: it blesses you if you receive the message by faith. So the participant who receives the bread and wine by faith receives its benefits. The holy communion is seen as another form of proclamation, though one that can be seen, touched and smelt and tasted. Those with an Anabaptist background hold to this view.
Where does your church stand with respect to these views?
(source: Christian Theology by Millard J. Erikson pgs 1109 -1127)
May 19th, 2008
Try out this “spiritual time-out” of 7 minutes to slow you down with slow deep breathing, a prayer, soothing music, lovely pics by Rachel Roque, and a scripture. Less is more. Go HERE.
May 17th, 2008
My eldest son Joshua has completed his history degree and is now merrily backpacking with a Campus Crusade friend, Peichong. He is now in Hanoi and will travel down to Hoi An, Kotum, Ho Chih Minh city, Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat. That’s a month of travel by bus, train and boat and lots of walking. Anxious me told him to pray at the beginning of every day and give thanks at the end of every night. Actually we just need to trust in God’s love and favor surrounding him. I believe young people grow up by experiencing more independence. Its a calculated risk but we parents can learn to entrust them to God and let them take wing.
If you want to follow his travelogue, just go HERE.
May 14th, 2008
Our beloved Myanmar is again in the news, this time because of the disaster wreaked by cyclone Nargis. Again the seclusive and ruthless rulers show how inept and cruel they are for not allowing international aid agencies into the country to help the one million citizens of the Irrawaddy delta stranded, hungry and in dire straits of disease and death. Its unthinkable; it makes my blood boil. Please pause now to pray with me for this God-beloved country:
O God, our Deliverer, Defender of the poor and powerless, we ask that you open a way for outside aid to pour rapidly into the devastated areas of Myanmar, so that food, shelter and medical aid can reach the people who have already lost so much. We pray that your church around the world and in Myanmar will be empowered to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, who went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
May 13th, 2008
The day was very special. Firstly, it was the Day of Pentecost. Being a Pentecostal, this day pointed to a significant event for me. Secondly, it was Mother’s Day, and there were two mothers with me: the one who gave me birth and brought me up; and my dear wife who gave birth to and nurtured our children. Thirdly, it was our first visit to mum after she was accepted into Peacehaven, the Salvation Army home where they have special care for dementia patients. Mum seemed happy and active and healthy, and the caregivers there were nice and the environment was nice. Motherhood is never easy. The longing; the waiting; the pain; the hard work; the worries; the tight budget; and the prayers. My mum went through the whole range and more. So did my wife.
What more can I say: “Love you, mum(s). And thanks!”
May the Spirit of Pentecost be poured out on all mums to empower them afresh!
May 11th, 2008
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