Discussion: Love

OK, now I remember that I said that God speaks to me in modules and every week, whatever the sermon topic was on, so will what I have to deal with that week. So when this week's sermon was on Song of Songs, on love and relationship, I was really asking God "now what do you have in stalled for me." Anyway, I began to come to realization what God was trying to teach me this week, something on relationship. As I was thinking about how to cover the CG discussion today, I came across a little wooden tag that was given to me as a gift and on it, it said from Ephesians 5:1-2 that:

1. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2. and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This very much sums up about love... God Himself love us so much He became flesh and died for our sins; his unfailing and faithful love is so wonderful and we are always reminded to love God with all our heart, our soul and our might and to love His people as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40), that being the greatest commandment. The music worship was great yesterday as we sang of God's love for us and so was ice-breaker as we penned down words of encouragement, affirmation and poem for one other person:

New Every Morning

Lord Your love is higher than the mountains

Lord Your love is deeper than the sea

Lord Your love is wider than the ocean

It's a steadfast love You have given me

Your love is new every morning

New every morning

Like the sun that rises from the east

Your love is new every morning

New every morning

I am grateful for Your love to me

It's Your grace that I can now draw nearer

It's Your blood that cleanses me from sin

It's Your peace that my heart rejoices within

It's Your love, a love no one could give

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
Over the mountains and the sea
Your river runs with love for me
And I will open up my heart
And let the healer set me free

I'm happy to be in the truth
And I will daily lift my hands
For I will always sing
Of when Your love came down

I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever

Oh I feel like dancing
It's foolishness I know
But when the world has seen the light
They will dance with joy like we're dancing now

For any relationship, love should be at the centre of it all. But how do we express that love? Anyway, here are the questions we used for the 5 Love Languages test we did yesterday and, in my opinion, our love language change with our life experiences and determines how we feel loved by others as well as express our love to others. So, it would be good to come back once in a while to understand our love language and also our loved ones' love language:

Click on the image for a larger version
Source: Virtuous Woman magazine (2005 Spring issue)

Gary Chapman, who wrote the book "Five Love Languages" briefly describes the different languages on his website as follows:

Words of Affirmation
Mark Twain once said “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Verbal appreciation speaks powerfully to persons whose primary Love Language is “Words of Affirmation.” Simple statements, such as, “You look great in that suit,” or “You must be the best baker in the world! I love your oatmeal cookies,” are sometimes all a person needs to hear to feel loved.

Aside from verbal compliments, another way to communicate through “Words of Affirmation” is to offer encouragement. Here are some examples: reinforcing a difficult decision; calling attention to progress made on a current project; acknowledging a person’s unique perspective on an important topic. If a loved one listens for “Words of Affirmation,” offering encouragement will help him or her to overcome insecurities and develop greater confidence.

Quality Time
Quality time is more than mere proximity. It’s about focusing all your energy on your mate. A husband watching sports while talking to his wife is NOT quality time. Unless all of your attention is focused on your mate, even an intimate dinner for two can come and go without a minute of quality time being shared.

Quality conversation is very important in a healthy relationship. It involves sharing experiences, thoughts, feelings and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context. A good mate will not only listen, but offer advice and respond to assure their mate they are truly listening. Many mates don’t expect you to solve their problems. They need a sympathetic listener.

An important aspect of quality conversation is self-revelation. In order for you to communicate with your mate, you must also be in tune with your inner emotions. It is only when you understand your emotions and inner feelings will you then be able to share quality conversation, and quality time with your mate.

Quality activities are a very important part of quality time. Many mates feel most loved when they spend physical time together, doing activities that they love to do. Spending time together will bring a couple closer, and, in the years to come, will fill up a memory bank that you can reminisce about in the future. Whether it’s sitting on the couch and having a brief conversation or playing together in a tennis league, quality time is a love language that is shared by many. Setting aside focused time with your mate will ensure a happy marriage.

Receiving Gifts
Some mates respond well to visual symbols of love. If you speak this love language, you are more likely to treasure any gift as an expression of love and devotion. People who speak this love language often feel that a lack of gifts represents a lack of love from their mate. Luckily, this love language is one of the easiest to learn.

If you want to become an effective gift giver, many mates will have to learn to change their attitude about money. If you are naturally a spender, you will have no trouble buying gifts for your mate. However, a person who is used to investing and saving their money may have a tough time adjusting to the concept of spending money as an expression of love. These people must understand that you are investing the money not in gifts, but in deepening your relationship with your mate.

The gift of self is an important symbol of love. Sometimes all your mate desires is for someone to be there for them, going through the same trials and experiencing the same things. Your body can become a very powerful physical symbol of love.

These gifts need not to come every day, or even every week. They don’t even need to cost a lot of money. Free, frequent, expensive, or rare, if your mate relates to the language of receiving gifts, any visible sign of your love will leave them feeling happy and secure in your relationship.

Acts of Service
Sometimes simple chores around the house can be an undeniable expression of love. Even simple things like laundry and taking out the trash require some form of planning, time, effort, and energy. Just as Jesus demonstrated when he washed the feet of his disciples, doing humble chores can be a very powerful expression of love and devotion to your mate.

Very often, both pairs in a couple will speak to the Acts of Service Language. However, it is very important to understand what acts of service your mate most appreciates. Even though couples are helping each other around the house, couples will still fight because the are unknowingly communicating with each other in two different dialects. For example, a wife may spend her day washing the cars and walking to dog, but if her husband feels that laundry and dishes are a superior necessity, he may feel unloved, despite the fact that his wife did many other chores throughout the day. It is important to learn your mate’s dialect and work hard to understand what acts of service will show your love.

It is important to do these acts of service out of love and not obligation. A mate who does chores and helps out around the house out of guilt or fear will inevitably not be speaking a language of love, but a language of resentment. It’s important to perform these acts out of the kindness of your heart.

Demonstrating the acts of service can mean stepping out of the stereotypes. Acts of service require both mates to humble themselves into doing some chores and services that aren’t usually expected from their gender. However, these little sacrifices will mean the world to your mate, and will ensure a happy relationship.

Physical Touch
Many mates feel the most loved when they receive physical contact from their partner. For a mate who speaks this love language loudly, physical touch can make or break the relationship.

Sexual intercourse makes many mates feel secure and loved in a marriage. However, it is only one dialect of physical touch. Many parts of the body are extremely sensitive to stimulation. It is important to discover how your partner not only physically responds but also psychologically responds to these touches.

It is important to learn how your mate speaks the physical touch language. Some touches are irritating and uncomfortable for your mate. Take the time to learn the touches your mate likes. They can be big acts, such as back massages or lovemaking, or little acts such as touches on the cheek or a hand on the shoulder. It’s important to learn how your mate responds to touch. That is how you will make the most of this love language.

All marriages will experience crisis. In these cases, physical touch is very important. In a crisis situation, a hug can communicate an immense amount of love for that person. A person whose primary love language is physical touch would much rather have you hold them and be silent than offer any advice.

It is important to remember that this love language is different for everyone. What type of touch makes you feel secure is not necessarily what will make your partner happy. It is important to learn each other’s dialects. That way you can make the most of your hugging, kissing, and other physical contacts.

Source: http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/learn.html

The 5 love languages help us to see how we can express love to others. But then, remembering that we are to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, how do we then develop a relationship with others? Through the discussion yesterday, we discussed a little and some speak of:

• Genuineness - I had shared yesterday how I had developed a very deep working relationship with this middle-age lady at my previous workplace. It was a wonderful working relationship though it started off rather rocky the first week, until we decided to sit down to talk about it. What happened in the end is that we agreed to be open with one another whenever we are upset with the other person. What followed was one and a half years of wonderful working relationship and she treated me like a son. In fact, the working relationship was so strong that when I was packing to go off on the last day of work, she laughed and joked that she felt I am not leaving but just going on long leave. As we pulled down the shutters for the last time together, she teared and seeing her tear made me tear too. To date, this is one of my most satisfying working relationship and it was only possible because both agreed to disagree and to sit down to talk about things whenever we are upset. We refused to let things snowball. There were of course times when still we had little conflicts but then we too took courage to apologise to one another when we felt something was wrong because we cherished the working relationship. Frankly, it was only her and me in that workplace so can you imagine the tension if there was any conflict :)
• Tough love - Sometimes, it is also essential to practice tough love when we see something not working right. We are reminded that tough love is still love and it should be done out of love and not out of resentment or to get back at someone. It is to help build each another up.
  
• Forgiveness - We need to sometimes also forgive people for their mistakes because if we do not, we carry with us baggages which not only will affect that relationship (because we will start to keep tabs of every wrong thing that person does against us) but also subsequently and possibly, relationship with others as well. I myself have faced this and has not learnt to let go. After a long chat with a friend yesterday at the airport, it has come to my realisation how my not letting go of a past hurt by a friend has impacted me in my relationship with others, so much so I became very introverted. I am continuing to pray for healing and will also take a step to address it at NLE.
• Acceptance - Someone shared that acceptance is also important because frankly, people can never be 100% similar. There are bound to be differences in the ways we live our lives mainly also because we all have different life experiences. It is a common analogy that people use to remind us that even on the first day of marriage, the way the husband squeezes toothpaste out might be different from that of the wife and this could even cause a conflict. Maybe, staying in focus about the love and not letting the little trivial stuff fret you maybe the key. Full acceptance and not resentful acceptance is important.

Of course, I gather there will be other ways as well so feel free to add on to the list :) The bible reminds us that we need to love others. We have talked about loving each other, but what about God? How do we develop a relationship with God? Maybe, if I can push it a little, God uses all the 5 languages...

• He speaks words of affirmation to you through people, circumstances, sermons, the bible, songs etc,
  
• He gave us the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ,
• Jesus also came to serve as a act of service,
  
• He also is willing to spend quality time with us if we would choose to spend quality time with Him and
  
• Finally, in my opinion, it is possible for Him to touch us too (though not in the conventional sense of the word) through the Holy Spirit.
  

But how are we developing our relationship with God? Feel free to contribute as well :)

KK's Farewell Gift

Hi everyone!

Thanks to all who have contributed to KK's farewell gift. Had managed to collect the tee-shirt in time to hand to her on Friday at the airport :) Special thanks to Sharon (some of you may know her, our former former cell leader :D) and her father for helping us to print the tee :)

Anyway, told KK that the XL tee is meant to encourage her so she can hang it in her room. Also made a CD containing the same design as a wallpaper and screensaver (to the tune of "Complete" which I think she likes). You can download it from here (83.7mb). Lastly, also included a "kungfu" manual notebook for her to write down her experiences :)

Devotional: Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

Discussion: God Loves Truthful Worship

What Do You Think about Psalm?
What comes to your mind when you think of the Psalms? For me, prior to OTC, when I think of the Psalms, I see boring poems which did not even rhyme and they can be saying the same thing over and over, just in different ways.

God Desires a Genuine Relationship
But this week, as I prepare for CG discussion, I began to see how powerful Psalm can be. I began to see how it is possible to express how we sometimes feel, with genuineness and honestly, to God. As I read Don Moen's article on his song, "I Will Sing", I am reminded that indeed God knows us intimately, so why do we sometimes hold back our feelings and just keep to the "safe stuff" like thanksgiving and praises? He knows everything, He knows your disappointment and anger etc. Putting things into perspective, Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with God, so wouldn't God want to be in a genuine relationship with us where we can cry out to the Lord and express our deepest emotions to Him, just because He cares and He knows.

Psalm 62:8 (New International Version)
8. Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah

John 4:23 (New International Version)
23.Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

My Realization
I have shared that throughout these few weeks as I took on cell leadership, I had been having struggles of my own and God has also been speaking to me in modules. It seems that whatever the sermon is on that week, I will be going through struggles in areas related to that topic. So these 2 weeks, while we were covering Psalm, I struggled with being angry with God. Deep inside me, I was crying out to God "God, you called me here but why are You letting all these happening to me?!" I was angry, I was annoyed, I was disappointed and just did not know how to go about it. I struggle because I mainly struggle with not having the confidence to lead word discussion and also with having to deal with being an introvert and interacting with people. I cried out to him several times but then things just sometimes remain the same.

I got angry and at FOP last Friday, I was ministered to by Don Moen's song, "I Will Sing". The opening words captured my heart and reflected how I felt. Then, sometime earlier this week, I was again "attacked" and again felt horrible. I began to feel very pressured. Then, God sent a series of events to minister to me and also people like colleagues and friends who affirmed me. Frankly, up till late afternoon today, I did not know how I was going to conduct cell. I was angry, I was lost, I felt horrible. My colleague passed me an article titled "Take Courage: You Build More Than You See" and nicely also highlighted a specific part for me to read. Frankly, as I read through the article, there were several times I just went "Ya right! If this is the case, why are You Lord allowing this to happen to me?!" But then the amazing thing was that, by the end of the article, I was refreshed by the God's word, which says in Haggai 2:1-9:

1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 2 "Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3 'Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty. 5 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'

6 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. 8 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 9 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."

God's Reminder
In short, the article was suggesting that two arguments were presented in Haggai to motivate the people rebuilding the temple to say remind them to fear not for God is with them and that despite it seems that what they are building now is nothing, God will bless and bring glory to the temple. It was as if a reminder from God that whatever we do, He can bless it no matter how paltry it seems now, but only we continue to work with Him. I continued to be ministered to by the Lord as I made my way to cell meeting and I thank God that He blessed the session. Today's session was one of the very rare times I did not have to worry about what to say because things just came out naturally. And I can really feel Him blessing it. This week has made me realised how important it is to be honest with God in our hurts, disappointments, anger etc because He already knows. He can only deal with us as honest as we are with Him, just as how the Psalmist were sometimes so frank in their writings and "dealings" with the Lord.

Then came the other question, what keeps us from being honest with God? Some suggest it is because we have not reached the point of frustration as yet (and maybe do not want to "bother" God), some suggest this has been so since the time of Adam and Eve when they hid from God after eating the forbidden fruit, while some say that some of us have a certain perception on how a good Christian should not challenge God, so we keep all the "bad feelings" away. But also, it seems that we need to, at the end of the day, recognise how we view our Heavenly Father. A distant and most high God or one who knows us intimately and would like a relationship with us? Well, in my opinion, God can be both.

Devotional: Are We Honest With God?

Hi everyone.

Was at Festival of Praise last week and although I must admit that I am getting old and not really taking to the loud music and even for the message, (frankly) I was a little bored because it was on Saul and David, what we had covered for OTC in the past few weeks. But I must really admit that the Lord works in wonderful ways. I was (or rather still am) feeling at a loss with everything from my work, to my spiritual walk and also cell leadership. I am frankly feeling I am quite at the bottom of the pit and several times I "cry" out to the Lord why this is happening to me.

Then, the pastor began to say something which made me "spring" up from my seat. He reminded that David, a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), also constantly asked the Lord for a fresh anointing. It reminded me that I can do that too. Then much later, Don Moen came on stage and sang the song "I Will Sing" and it ministered deeply, reminding me how much God is in control. Incidentally, the past two weeks, I thank God for sending people to affirm me that God is in control. Ultimately, I am a man of few words and sometimes really don't know what to say and the song and a few other Psalm did help me to become more clear about how I am feeling and help express these emotions to God. It is OK even if some of these feelings are anger, hurt, disappointment (of the Lord) because God knows our feelings but are we honest with Him? Even as I write this article now, I have this deep headache throbbing in my head and I am not sure if it is spiritual attack, but I will speak forth what the Lord has helped me to realise and share.

I found the following which was written by Don Moen about this too. Taken off Integrity Music's website, he speaks about being honest with God in our worship, which I found meaningful and would like to share.

Let's Be Honest!
by Don Moen
©2000 by Don Moen

Imagine this scene with me. It's Sunday morning about 10:35. You have just entered the sanctuary of your church after the usual hassles of getting everyone out the door and in the car. You were running a little late, so all the good parking places were taken. (You were tempted to park in the visitors parking space, but you resisted, hoping God noticed.) Finally, you walk into the service already in progress. The worship leader is introducing a new song. You notice the words in your bulletin and as you try to learn the melody, you began to feel a little uncomfortable with the lyrics. This is not what you're used to singing. You begin to wonder if this song is scripturally accurate.

The first verse says, "Do not keep silent oh God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love." (NKJ) You are beginning to feel uncomfortable singing these words in a worship service of all places, but the worship leader begins with the second verse and says, "Let's just lift our voices this morning and sing verse two together."

Before you realize what is happening, you are singing along with him. "Set a wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office." "Good grief! What are we singing?" you ask yourself. "This has to get better." It doesn't, but you continue singing along. "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out." (NKJ) Whoa! "Enough already!" you say. "What's going on here? We can't sing songs like this in our church. God might be listening!"

As you probably know, this is a Psalm (song) of David. (Psalm 109:1-13) There is still a lot more to sing in this Psalm. David was not finished writing what was on his heart yet. Can you imagine singing this in your church on Sunday morning? Probably not. We usually prefer the "safer" Psalms! Ones that we think God is comfortable with, such as, "Oh Lord our Lord how majestic (excellent) is your name in all the earth." (Psalm 8:1) "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:1) "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24) "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise." (Psalm 100:4), etc. Don't misunderstand me, I love these Psalms and I sing them quite often when I am leading worship, but I believe there is more that God wants to show us in the area of worship and it has to do with honesty. In John 4: 23-24 Jesus told us "the Father is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth." Our Heavenly Father is not afraid of honesty in worship! Quite the contrary, He is longing for us to be truthful in our worship.

Do we put on another face when we come to church or go to a Christian conference? Sometimes I feel there are a lot of games being played among Christians and I believe our Heavenly Father longs for us to get past this and get to the next level in worship. Remember it is the Father's desire for us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

Truthfulness. He desires our worship to be full of truthfulness. Too many times when it comes to worship, we hold back from telling the truth! Instead, we compromise our true feelings and sing songs with "safe" lyrics that won't offend God. Do we really think that He is not aware of how we really feel? There is something that God wants to show us here in the area of true and honest worship. I believe there is another level that God wants to take us to in Praise and Worship. It's not going to replace what we have done, but augment it and open up a new dimension in worship for all of us.

In October, my new Hosanna! Music project will be released. It was recorded at CBN with a small audience of about 60 - 70 people. As you may realize, the dynamics of a worship service with this many people are certainly different than they are in a crowd of several thousand. But the worship experience during the recording and video taping was very powerful and very intimate. I wrote a song for this project that I decided I couldn't record because of the honesty of the lyrics. I was shocked when I started writing down the lyrics while driving my car one day:

Lord You seem so far away
A million miles or more, it feels today.
And though I haven't lost my faith
I must confess right now,
That it's hard for me to pray.

But I don't know what to say
And I don't know where to start
But as you give the grace
With all that's in my heart;

I will sing, I will praise,
Even in my darkest hour
Through the sorrow and the pain,
I will sing, I will praise,
Lift my hands to honor You,
Because Your Word is true,
I will sing!

After playing this for a few people, including my wife, Laura, I decided to put this song on the project. In fact, it is the title cut! Everyone who heard it seemed to identify with the lyrics. Everyone has had a day when it seemed like God was far away. During those times, He is always close by our side but it is hard for us to believe it. I think an honest lyric like this can be an important step in helping us through any difficult circumstance.

As I mentioned earlier, David wrote many of these "honest" songs, yet he was called "a man after God's own heart." (Acts 13:22) He was also called the "apple of God's eye." (Psalm 17:8) What does this mean? How can this be? How can a man who is called the "apple of God's eye" write something like Psalm 109? Could it be that God loves honesty? I think the answer to that is obvious. Open up your heart to Him today and be honest about the way you feel about a situation. Perhaps God will give you a Psalm like He gave David. As you begin to be totally honest and vulnerable with God in worship, (and I'm not talking about singing the blues) I believe He will help you become the kind of worshiper He is looking for - one who worships Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Do meditate on the lyrics and let God speak into your heart as you speak into His:

Upcoming Events

Hi all, found some upcoming events. Anyone keen on any of them?

Musical: Love Above All

In the 1950s, five American Christian missionaries made contact with the most fearsome and dangerous tribe in the Amazon. In the encounter, Jim Elliot and four of his missionary friends were savagely killed by the Auca Indians. The event shook the world.

Love Above All tells a gripping story of the profound impact the event had on the lives of the Auca Indians of Ecuador. It gives an account of how Elisabeth Elliot persisted to reach out in love to these killers in a remarkable act of love, forgiveness and reconciliation that eventually changed the lives of the entire tribe.

This original musical will be staged at the University Cultural Centre from 27 - 29 July, 2007 with an additional Sunday matinee on 29 July 2007.

Website: http://www.love-above-all.org/

Workshop: The Joy of Discovery

An invitation is open to sign up for The Joy of Discovery: a workshop on Inductive Bible Study . This course will help Christians, especially those who desire to get deeper into the Bible, and those who are leaders/members of small groups doing regular Bible Study.

This is a useful workshop to be taught by an experienced and an engaging teacher in the person of Dr. Peggy Yeo.

The workshop will be held on Saturday, 4th August, 2007, from 2.30pm - 5.15pm, at Faith Methodist Church, 400 Commonwealth Drive, S. 149604. The church is just in front of the Commonwealth MRT Station.

Website: http://www.ttc.edu.sg/thejoyofdiscovery.pdf and http://www.christianhub.com.sg/downloads/jun07/CDCM-JoDBrochure.pdf

Festival of Praise

Website: http://festivalofpraise.org.sg/

Discussion: Jesus our Messiah?

Hi everyone!

Really really glad that we had the discussion yesterday. Frankly, even as I prepared for the week's discussion, I wasn't really sure how yesterday's discussion will turn out. I committed it to the Lord and am glad that it was a time of reflecting and sharing. I myself has been blessed in the process and I hope you too :)

Old Testament Prophecies Point to Christ
I was pondering through the week, what distinguishes our faith from other faith and the answer lies with Christ. We believe that God so loved us that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, down as a suffering messiah to die on the cross for our sins:

Romans 6:23 (NIV):
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 3:16 (NIV):
16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Honestly, before I came back to Christ, I thought of Christianity as a "western religion" but little did I expect that it has it roots with Judaism and Islam and that it is all about the same God but how different faith developed from the same "story". As I continue my Christian walk, OTC and also preparing for cell, I began to learn more and more about God and His people.

When I attended Peter Tsukahira's seminar about two months ago, there was a sharing by a Christian Jew and as he shared, he kept mentioning that he began to see how the Old Testament was pointing to Christ and how the Jews missed their Messiah. I couldn't understand it until I continue to study the bible and did a bit of research on it. According to one, the Old Testament has many "pictures" about the Messiah. But I learnt how the Jews have missed their Messiah, and in fact even put Him to death on the cross, but all that, to fulfill the prophecy about the suffering Messiah who has come to die on the cross for our transgressions. It was explained that the Jews had expected a political and/or a military Messiah but who would have known that God would send a suffering Messiah.
If you are interested to hear from a Jew who eventually followed Christ, you hear watch his testimony on RBC's website:

• My Search for Messiah (Part 1)
• My Search for Messiah (Part 2)
• My Search for Messiah (Part 3)

In fact, in Luke 24:13-35, Jesus appeared to two persons making their way to another village right after Jesus was crucified. At this point, they had not known that it is the resurrected Jesus walking alongside them. Apparently, the two were disappointed; they had hopes about Jesus being to Messiah to come deliver them but then now He is dead. In Luke 24: 25-27 (NIV), Jesus responded:

25. He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

He might have brought them through all in the Old Testament which had pointed to a suffering Messiah. If you were to do a google search or read the Life Application bible, you can find people mentioning about prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament, that there is a link between the Old and New Testament, that God has a salvation plan right from the start. Here are a few:

• Isaiah 53 - Perhaps one of the more commonly cited verse about Christ as the suffering messiah, it was mentioned about how He will be despised and rejected (v3), how He took up our infirmities, was pierced for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities (v4-6), how it was the Lord's will and how He chose to go through the suffering as a lamb led to be slaughtered (v7-12). It ended with the verse "... he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
• Zechariah 12:10 tells us how God will provide from the house of David (the lineage of Jesus) and from Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication and how they will mourn for the one their pierced
• Isaiah 7:14 says that the sign would be a virgin who will give birth to Immanuel (God with us) and we all know how Christ was born from Virgin Mary.
• Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us of a son is given who will be "Mighty God" i.e. Immanuel (God with us)
• Psalm 22 where the words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (v1, cf Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46) spoken by Jesus also came from and also spoke of hands and feet being pierced (v16), about how the people will divide His garments and cast lots for them (v18, cf Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, Matthew 27:35)
• Isaiah 11 speaks of a redeemer and of hope coming from the household of Jesse (lineage of Christ)
• Genesis 3:15 speaks about how God declared war on Satan from the moment man sinned, used to speak of how God started unfolding His redemption plan from day one.

How do we Treat Christ?
There are many other prophecies but then I will leave it to you to find. In the same way, although we know of Christ and all that He has done, do we sometimes also miss Him? Do we try to shape Him into what we expect of the Messiah and miss Him? As time goes by, do we grow cold towards what He done for us?

I recently read an article called "Forgiveness at the cross" and it mentioned that the first recorded words from Jesus on the cross is "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34), that while in excruciating pain, Jesus asked God for forgiveness for his tormentors and his pain as only just began! Under such circumstances, we would say that the people on the receiving end certainly did not deserve it and they didn't even ask for it. What amazing love and grace! To further appreciate what Christ has done for us, you may wish to read the article, I am the Cross, again.

How do we know if Jesus is the Messiah and really died on the Cross?
I am really glad that this question was brought up and it really challenge us to think about the bible and its claims. I am so tempted to reach back to the bible for verses in an attempt to "defend" the bible e.g. 2 Timothy 16:17 (NIV):

16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

But then, to do that is to use something which is being evaluated to substantiate itself. So began an interesting discussion in cell yesterday. We soon found ourselves in a deadlock simply because we do not know. The bible is a chronicle, if I may use the word, of the story of God and His people and it happened so long ago. Who lives that long enough to prove its authenticity? Some of us this start to rely on science and relics and some even organised expeditions to find these relics to prove the consistency between events in the bible and what happened in history. There had been progress made but then every time an "evidence" shows up, they will also be arguments and also "counter-evidences".

Don't believe me? Just do a search on YouTube (not that I recommend it) and you will know what I mean. It is a place which could get you very confused because you can be hearing how some defend Christianity and it make sense, then some will defend Islam and it make sense too and even some will speak from the perspective of an Atheist and sad to say, some may find that it make sense too. The fact is there is no way to verify and sometimes we have to rely on human reasoning. I myself have been confused before (even though it can be embarrassing to note) but then I was once confused by the Da Vinci code, even though I went with the attitude that it is only a fictional story. Then began my research on the internet and the more I researched, the more confused I became. But thank God, my eyes were open again.

OK, so the question is, how do we know? Here's what came up in our cell discussion yesterday:

• Self as testimony -The bible is a chronicle of how God has worked in the past but then God is a God that works yesterday, today and tomorrow. So you yourself are also, in a way, a testimony and chronicle of how God has worked in your life. We are reminded that Christianity is not a RELIGION but a RELATIONSHIP with God. I am sure most of us did not come to Christ because we read the bible but because, we have in a way or another, experienced Him. The question is, are you making the effort to experience Him at work in your lives?
  
• Let the Bible Speak - We have heard how sermon messages and bible verses spoke in different ways to people and some even transformed lives. The fact is that the bible has the power to speak to people and also change lives. The bible, as some put it, stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, and you can think of it as a book that tells you how to live your life and get things right with God and people. It preaches about how we should live our lives and "love our neighbours" and "love God".
• Faith & Worship - Someone mentioned that "maybe God did not want to leave so many traces" because won't we be worshipping relics instead of God. Faith becomes something cheap because you are believing because of the relics which tells you God is real. God wants to restore our relationship back to Him. Hebrews 11:1 speaks of faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".
• Value of it all - OK, if all that didn't convince you, then I am going to use a very pragmatic mode of talking... think about the people whose lives' have been changed, the testimonies, the things that they do (yes there are undoubtedly Christian who disappoints) e.g. charity and missionary work. I once heard this on a video clip, even if there is a 1 in 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 chance that there is a God and He love you so much to give you salvation freely, wouldn't you want to take it up? God wants to restore His relationship with you.

Yes, there are self-help books and courses out there which also promise transformation but is this permanent and does this guarantee a restored relationship with God?

Christianity as a RELATIONSHIP with God and His People
At cell, we agree that Christianity is not so much a religion or a ritual (which we could sometimes make it to be so) but a RELATIONSHIP with God. We can sometimes get into the rut of doing things and as OTC has revealed in the past few months, God did not demand sacrifices and offering that is worth nothing, as stated in 2 Samuel 24:24 (NIV) that "...I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing". Just as the previous blog entries e.g. Discussion: Developing a Heart for God, we learnt that is it not the practices and rituals or the offering that matters, but the heart for God.

We need to be real with God and His people. We need to also be real with His people because the last thing is that we look hypocritical. We do not need to defend God when we have trials because this points to the very fact that we need God. Many a times, we tend to feel "ashamed" that even as Christians, we face trials and that others will say "doesn't your God help you, why are you in this state?" We do not need to look perfect because we all need God. As someone has mentioned, which I am trying to also remember, God does not guarantee a smooth journey but a safe landing. As Christians, we can be assured that God knows what we are going through and that He is there.

CG Worship: Amazing Love, Amazing Grace

How Great is Our God

The splendor of the King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

CHORUS:
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

BRIDGE:
Name above all names
You are Worthy of our praise
and My heart will sing how great
Is our God
(x2)

Amazing Love

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken
I’m accepted, You were condemned
I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me
Because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor You
In all I do, To honor You

You are my King
You are my King
Jesus, You are my King
You are my King

In all I do, To honor You,
In all I do, To honor You,
In all I do, Let me honor You.

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Discussion: Developing a Heart for God

Hi everyone, so sorry for the delay in getting this up. This is last week's cell discussion. Feel free to comment and share :)

Chariots of Fire


Where Walk = Run As Well
Many have described the Christian walk as a race:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)
24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

To me, I read this as suggesting to us the attitude we should approach the race with. KK put it in a very nice way, that what is important is making the decision to run the race and running it (KK, I hope I got you correct:D). It also tells us how we should train for it; not to be disqualified in the whole process. And even as we train ourselves and even train others, we should not do so in such a way which would get ourselves disqualified.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (New International Version)
1. 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.

Here, I learnt about how we should run the race; with perseverance.

Yes, I have read somewhere that when we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, we are already in the race. It is not whether we will run the race but how we run the race.

Main Ingredient for Victory in the Christian Race?
So does it mean that once you are called to the race, you will be victorious? My views? Nope! Your run and your heart matters.

In 1 Samuel 16:7, it says that:
7. But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

If we were to look to a example of person who had a heart for God, it might be Eric Liddell. You will find him in the movie, Chariots of Fire, which I only found out recently, is a true story about this person, Eric Liddell, who refused to run the heats for the Men's 100m, his best event, in the 1924 Olympics because of his conviction not to run on the Sabbath. It was said that the Prince of Wales himself pressured Eric to honour King and country above God but to no avail. He later took an unexpected bronze in the 200m sprint and clinched the gold medal and a world record for the 400m dash. Just as Eric was at the starting blocks of the 400m race, someone slipped a piece of paper into his hands with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honor me I will honor". You can read more about Eric Liddell by doing a google or searching the wikipedia on him. But he later returned to North China where he served as a missionary from 1925-1943. he was ordained as a minister in 1932 and later died while being interned in Weihsien Internment Camp by the Japanese in 1945, due to brain tumour.

Lessons from People who seemed to be Disqualified
I think we can all cite examples of people in the bible who were disqualified from the race. People like Moses, who because of a moment's folly and disobedience to God, ended up not being to enter the Promised Land despite how faithful he was in carrying out God's will.

Then there is Eli, whose family God chose to be His priest but because of him honouring his sons more than Himself, Eli and his house was punished (see 1 Samuel 2:27-36).

King Herod in Acts 12:20-24, was exalted by his people who said that shouted "this is the voice of a god, not of a man" when he gave his public address. He was struck down, eaten by worms and died because he did not give glory to God and praise Him.

God looks at the heart for Him not outward observance of His laws and commandments.

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist used harsh words on the Pharisees and the Sadducees. As I read the devotional for the 40-day fast by Love Singapore, the devotional for July 4 described the Pharisees like "President's scholars of Jesus' day... knowledgeable men who studied the Law of Moses... deeply religious, known for following the Law carefully" and the Saudducees as "known to be stricter and drew support from the wealthier classes". They were all respectable, influential and often admired. But they were self-conceited and they missed the messiah altogether.

Jesus also rebuked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, saying specifically in Matthew 23:25-26:

25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

So God looks at your heart. The very fact that these people can fall from God's favour really really made me worry and reflect upon my heart for God. We all have the revelation of God's salvation plan for us though the first coming of the messiah but do we sometimes take it for granted so much so we miss him sometimes daily?

What Happens When You Have a Heart for God?
Looking at the OTC readings, what happens when we develop a heart for God. Let's look at Saul and David:

God has plans

In 1 Sam 9:5-10 we were being told how Saul was to be the first king for Israel, how God brought Saul to Samuel when Saul travelled with his servant to look for his father's lost donkeys. The servant had suggested going to see Samuel to get advice on "which way to take" and when Saul asked him what they are going to give to the man, isn't it amazing that the servant replied the young master that he had a quarter of a shekel of silver for Samuel. When God sets His plans for you, it is set and there is no running away from it.

What about David? After Saul has stopped honouring God, God, through Samuel, anointed David as the next king. David was later brought into Saul's service to help provide relief with the harp whenever he was tormented by evil spirits. Speak about God's anointing.

God changes people

Look at Saul, he started as a person who was felt not confident and inferior. In 1 Samuel 9:21, he asked Samuel why he said that he has been chosen as king for Israel and in 1 Samuel 10:22, he hid when Samuel came to chose the king in front of the people of Israel. But in 1 Samuel 10:9-10 we saw how God changed his heart, his spirit came upon him and he started to prophesy:

9. As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.

God blesses and protects

In 1 Samuel 10:26, we were told that after Saul was made king, he went home Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. Even for David, we see how God continues to protect him in 1 Samuel 18 when Saul again and again plots to kill him.

What Happens When You Don't Have a Heart for God?
We saw how Saul started drifting away from God and started to let his pride get the better of him:

• 1 Samuel 13:3-4 - Tried to take credit from his son Jonathan
  
• 1 Samuel 13:6-15 - Burnt an offering sacrifice himself rather than waiting for a priest, Samuel to do so Nothing wrong with burning sacrifice to God but he took matter into his own hands and disobeyed Samuel and most importantly God i.e. he did it the wrong way. God has anointed people for different purposes.
  
• 1 Samuel 15:12 - He built a monument in his own honour
• 1 Samuel 15:3-9 - He failed to obey and destroy everything as instructed and kept the "good stuff" and kept alive the king of Amalekites. He even tried to lie that he was keeping it to offer to God when the instructions was to wipe everything out (for the protection of the Israellites from harm and corruption)
• 1 Samuel 15:30 - He "repented" and asked Samuel to go back with him to honour him before the elders of the people and before Israel. It was not true repentance but a "repentance of convenience", for his own interests.

I do not know about it but then I noticed that as Samuel and Saul exchanged words, Saul kept using "Lord your God", "Lord your God" and this kept coming up in 1 Samuel 15:15, 32 and 30). Not sure if this is indication of how Saul's heart for God has hardened.

So what happened?

• 1 Samuel 28:5-7, 15 - God left Saul and he became desperate so much so he engaged a medium to bring up Samuel, who rebuked him to say that the Lord had turned away from him.
• 1 Samuel 16:14, 18:12,15,28-29 - Bitter and had evil spirit
• 1 Samuel 28:17 , 15:28 - Achievements taken away
• 1 Samuel 31 - Lost his sons and kills himself, dismembered

How to Run the Race?
So how to run the race? I am not an expert in this topic because I am also learning through the hard way but then there are scriptures to show us the way.

Psalm 101:

• Verse 3: Look away from wickedness
• Verse 4: Reflect on your associations and friends
• Verse 5: Avoid slander and pride
• Verse 6: Learn from those who model Christ

Some more from 1 Corinthians and Hebrews:

• 1 Corinthians 9:24 (Approach the race with the right attitude)
  24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
  
  
• 1 Corinthians 9:25 (Stay motivated, in shape and in strict training)
  25. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

• 1 Corinthians 9:27 (Obey the rules, be honourable so as not to become disqualified)
  27. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
  
  
• Hebrews 12:1 (Run light)
  1. 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 12: 1 (Persevere)
  1. 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 12:2-3 (Focused on the finish line and be motivated)
  2. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
  
  

I was also sitting through my corporate devotion at work and a devotion on Nehemiah spoke to me as well on how to run the race. Frankly, I never have thought that this devotion will come in handy and I have never thought of using it for cell but somehow God brought the devotion to speak about running the race to me on the very day. I thank God for continuint to speak to me week after week for cell discussion. OK, back to it. We read about how Nehemiah started the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and how he completed the difficult task in 52 days, a feat!

Lesson: God can do great things with you, even though all He has to start with is rubble

Then we learn how Nehemiah appointed gatekeepers, singers and Levites, each with a specific task. Now that the wall is complete, much also needs to be done to "fortify" the city from both external and internal strife:

• Gatekeepers (Watch) - The gates are the most vulnerable part of the city walls. So how are you keeping your gates and what are you allowing into your lives?
• Singers (Worship) - Once the walls are up and the gate kept, there is also a need to prevent internal strife and what better way to for the people to be aware of what they have been blessed with and be thankful? How have you been thankful in your spiritual walk? What characterise your talk with God, is it dominated by troubles, lamentations and anger?
  
• Levites (Workers) - People need to work in the city as well so as to earn their keeps and prevent the city from decaying from laziness. How have you worked and are you working for God as the Levites serve God?

Now that the "head" message has been deposited? How do you translate that to the "heart"? We usually know in the head that we need to do this and do that but how often do we really do it?

I Am the Cross

Hi everyone!

I came across this article while preparing for cell group this week and I must say that it is a real change in perspective for me... seeing that I AM THE CROSS. There are just certain parts which make my heart wrench in pain knowing what Christ has done. We all know "by hard" what Christ done for us on the cross because everytime we talk about it, there is this image of Christ on the cross; we all know He died on the cross for our sins and we can sometimes (at least for me) become quite cold about it. Yet, it sometimes take an article like this to help me put things into perspective - the process, the pain, the agony, the sacrifice of it all, that I will once again know "by heart" what Christ did. The grace that we so freely receive and are redeemed by, but which we can sometimes take for granted and forget the price that was paid for it. A conscious choice by Christ made to save us all.

In preparation for cell group discussion this week, you may wish to read through this article and maybe prepare your hearts as we talk about God's grace, about His redemption plan, His salvation plan all worked out for us from the very beginning. About how spiritually blessed we are to be able to see all these; that we are able to have revelation of God's salvation plan through the first coming of Christ, as compared to the many who live before Christ came.

The story of Christ's Crucifixion as told by the cross on which he hung and died.
Script by Vickie A. Puffer

Isn’t it amazing the variety of ways God speaks to us? Of course there are the obvious—like listening to the minister, reading the Bible, or singing hymns. But on those occasions that we allow ourselves to fully open up to Him, He’s there in the form of children laughing, a beautiful sunrise, a quiet moment with your dog, or even in a dream.

God touched me in a very special way a few months ago and He made it very clear that He expected more from me than to just tuck it away somewhere in the back of my mind. I was to write about it—to share what he brought to me. “But I’m no writer,” I rationalized, “I can’t do justice to such an awesome experience.” But that’s exactly what He expected. I procrastinated, but he persisted. Then I got distracted, but then He showed me how I was putting worldly things ahead of Him. That’s all it took. I started writing.

A young lady in our church performed an interpretive dance during the worship service one Sunday morning. I’ve always loved dancing and it was fascinating to watch her move with the music. Although I was mesmerized at the time, right now I’m at a loss to recall the details.

I do recall the look on her face. She was radiant, blissful as she offered her gift to the Father. I’ve had that feeling myself and rejoiced with her in it. But the one thing I remember with absolute clarity is the moment that she paused with her arms stretched out to either side. And in that simple pose I saw a cross, not in the traditional form of wooden beams, but in human form—a human cross, like me. I am the cross. In a flash of clarity I realized that it wasn’t the nails in his hands and feet that caused Jesus’ pain and suffering, it was me. He didn’t die as a result of being tortured upon a plank of wood, he gave his life to save me from the torment of my own sinfulness. He put himself between me and eternal damnation.

You still don’t quite understand, do you? It’s okay, I knew this would be tough to explain. Instead of trying to tell this story by starting at the end, maybe it will help if we go back to the beginning. Crosses, as we have come to know them, are made from trees, so let’s start with that in mind. Let’s start out as a tree.

As a tiny seed I was fortunate to fall onto the fertile ground of a garden where the rich soil made it easy to take root. I learned much through conversing with the other trees and plants that lived there. They explained what would happen when I got older—how we trees would eventually be taken down and hacked into firewood to be burned up or, at best, made into a piece of wretched furniture. What a miserable fate!

From time to time a procession would pass by offering glimpses of the most magnificent treasures and beautifully dressed people. Now that was more like it—definitely the life for me—and so it became my fervent desire to be part of one of those splendid households. I would be a lavishly carved banquet table, or a gilded chariot, or even the bearer of royalty…a throne for a King!

I was fiercely dedicated to this quest—constantly preening my leaves, working on my branches so they would be straight and unbreakable, and honing my trunk to be healthy and strong. This work was all consuming so, unlike the other trees, I had no time for frivolities like swaying in the breeze or playing drop-a-leaf-on-someone’s-head. Such behavior could have broken a branch!

All the hard work was worth it, though, because I was stunning. Even the other trees had to admit it was so. People would gather around me, resting in my luscious shade, gazing up at me with such adoration. I was the envy of the garden. Why, even the thorn bushes that grew on a nearby hill agreed that I was destined for greatness!
The peacefulness of the garden was disturbed one day by a large crowd lining the street nearby. They were waving palm branches and shouting joyously. Convinced that it was a royal procession, I fluffed up my leaves and put on my best showing. It was somewhat bewildering—not to mention disappointing—when all that appeared was a rather dusty man riding a small donkey.

A person standing near suddenly grabbed my lowest branch and began climbing. Several of my smaller limbs were broken and many leaves fell—apparently all because this person wanted a better look at the man on the donkey. I was outraged! What was he thinking?! Didn’t he know that it would take a long time for me to repair such damage?
When the rider approached, the man sitting on my branch shouted to him, calling him “Jesus.” He then climbed down and, after a brief exchange, they went away with the wildly cheering crowd. Whoever that Jesus was, he certainly wasn’t worth the damage done to my branches!

Over the next several days I heard a lot about this Jesus person. The people were in awe of Him—proclaiming him a great teacher and even calling him The Messiah, whatever that meant. Wherever he went there was a crowd—especially children. I liked it when they sat in the shade under my branches and I listened intently to his lessons.

He told the people all about God, his Father in Heaven, and how God had created all things. He shared with them how much God loved them. He also talked a lot about forgiveness of a terrible thing called sin.

Apparently, it was considered a sin whenever you did something that went against God’s will. And unforgiven sin would cause you great misery, and you’d spend your eternity in a frightening, evil place called Hell. This talk about sin made the people pretty uncomfortable and I assumed it was probably because they had done lots of it.
I also heard that Jesus performed miracles. Now I’d never, ever heard of any person doing the things that Jesus was said to do, so I found this hard to believe, until I witnessed it for myself.

A man who had been blind since birth had no family to look after him, so every day he would sit in my shade, begging food or coins from passersby. But they were poor, too, and the pathetic man was barely able to take care of himself. It was terribly embarrassing to have him hanging around because he was dirty, his clothes were ragged, and he didn’t smell very good. Despite my best efforts, whenever he was there the people tended to avoid coming near me.

Jesus and these men he called “disciples” noticed the blind man and one of the disciples asked Jesus what sin he or his family had done for him to deserve such a fate. Jesus replied that the man’s blindness was not the result of anyone’s sin. Then he made a dab of clay from dirt and spit, touched the blind man’s eyes with it, and told him to wash it off in a nearby pool. Jesus left, but when the blind man came back, he could see! This definitely was a miracle!

Although it seemed that everyone loved Jesus and wanted to be close to him, there were a few who criticized him, calling him a blasphemer and saying that the miracles he performed were just tricks he used to confuse people. Their talk had a dark, ominous tone and it frightened me. Once, I even saw one of Jesus’ disciples talking with these people. His name was Judas and he seemed quite torn about what was being discussed, but in the end, he took a small pouch from one of the men and ran away into the night.

Late one night, several figures entered the garden and although I couldn’t see their faces, I recognized one voice: Jesus. He seemed deeply troubled and asked the others to stay awake with him while he prayed—talked with his Father—but they fell asleep, leaving Him all alone in the darkness. And he did pray. All the pain and torment of his heart came pouring out like nothing ever witnessed in my quiet little sanctuary. He cried out until his voice was hoarse. His body tensed to the point that I thought his muscles would surely burst. And it was blood, rather than sweat, that gushed from his pores. Surely no one in the history of all the world would ever, ever know such anguish.

The light from a row of torches broke through the darkness as soldiers and a small crowd burst through the garden gate. There was some shouting and a brief scuffle. Then the oddest thing happened: Judas, the disciple, stepped up to Jesus and kissed him on the cheek. The soldiers grabbed Jesus and then took him away. It seemed that Judas had used the kiss to identify Jesus to the soldiers. But why? I tried to make sense of it all, but everything had happened so fast and I just couldn’t comprehend what it all meant.

I’d all but forgotten the incident when, some time later, several official-looking people gathered around me. I assumed they were there to enjoy my shade and admire my beauty, but this time there was something odd about the way they looked at me, whispering and nodding to one another. It made me very uncomfortable even though I felt certain their comments were positive.

The next thing I knew I had been cut down and was being transported to a carpenter’s shop. This was it! My moment of truth had come! For my entire life I had dedicated every effort to being the best. Surely these people would see that I should be reborn into something worthy of such perfection! Oh, please, let it be a throne for a King!
My new shape was unfamiliar—not part of a throne or a chariot, not even a simple table, but something I’d never seen before. Just a long, straight pole with a shorter pole joined across it. And my texture had been left rough and full of splinters. Surely this had to be a mistake. I reasoned that this couldn’t possibly be the final product and that someone would be along any minute to finish up.

As I bemoaned my fate, the doors opened and three soldiers dragged me outside. Nearby, in the dust, knelt a small figure that looked to be a man. It was obvious that he’d been severely beaten. One soldier yanked him to his feet as the other two hoisted me up onto his shoulder. When they let go, he staggered and fell. They could not possibly expect this one pitiful creature to carry what had taken three of them! But they did.

The beaten man was ordered to his feet, and once again I was placed on his shoulder. He staggered forward, dragging me through crowd-lined streets. He was so bent and lame that he could manage only a few steps before we would fall again. After what seemed like hours with little progress, one of the soldiers grabbed a bystander from the crowd and ordered him to carry me. He did so, but only in fear for his life. The beaten man followed close behind.

Progress was slow and the crowd was yelling angrily at the beaten man, although I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Soon we came to a hill and I saw at the top two wooden shapes that looked much like me. There was something attached to each of these shapes and, as we got closer, I could see that each shape had a man attached to it. I wracked my brain to remember if I’d ever heard the people talk about such a thing. Some vague recollection nagged at me and, as we climbed, I was hit with the cold, hard realization of what I had become: a cross. An instrument of torture. A method of execution.

How could this have happened to me? I had worked so hard—invested every ounce of my energy into achieving my goals. I had been so certain of my future, but those hopes and dreams had been smashed beyond all comprehension.

Tossed to the ground, I listened in stunned disbelief while the soldiers dealt with the beaten man, yelling and cursing at him, spitting on him. They gambled for his only possession, a robe, and when they took it away I could see just how savagely he had been treated. His hair was matted with sweat and blood. His legs, face, and arms were black with bruises. And his back was covered with thick red stripes of raw, torn flesh. He must be the vilest sort of criminal to deserve such punishment. I was just about to look away from the sickening sight when—to my horror—I realized who the man was. It was Jesus!

My mind was reeling. What is wrong with these stupid people? Even I know that Jesus is no criminal! What could he possibly have done that would merit such heinous torture? He had always been so gentle, so kind, so filled with love and forgiveness. Why would they turn on him like this?

There were more soldiers now—and the angry crowd that had followed us through the town pressed in so tightly that there was no air to breathe. Jesus was stretched out over me and one of the soldiers yanked his arm over my crossbeam. Then he took a long metal spike and, with three sharp hammer blows, drove it through Jesus’ hand. Of course, I couldn’t feel a thing, but Jesus cried out as his entire body reacted to what must have been unbearable pain. The process was repeated with the other hand and his feet—and with each strike of the hammer I could feel the jolting of his body.

Once this deed was done, the crowd was ordered to step back while lengths of rope were tied to each end of my crossbeam. With three strong men lifting and four on the ropes, we were set upright and secured. As we rose up, gravity took hold of Jesus’ body, pulling on him as if trying to tear him down, and once again he was wracked with searing pain.

He could scarcely breathe as my splinters dug deep into the raw flesh of his back. For a moment I forgot my own lamenting as I desperately tried to hold him up, but my timbers would not move. I had worked hard to make them rigid and inflexible—perfect for my needs, or so I had thought. But now, for the first time in my life, I truly understood the meaning of sin. It wasn’t something that only applied to others. It described how I had lived my entire life—primping and preening, focusing only on my wants and my needs. I had been prideful, vain, selfish, and now my sinfulness prevented me from offering even the slightest bit of relief for this innocent, suffering person.

The crowd surged around my base, much like they had done in the garden—but in their eyes I no longer saw adoration and appreciation—just hatred. They continued to jeer and curse Jesus but he didn’t seem to hear. He was speaking softly—praying to his Father in Heaven that I had heard him talk about so often.

A man on one of the other crosses confessed to Jesus that he was a thief and asked for forgiveness. He wanted Jesus to remember him once he was in Heaven. Then Jesus said the most remarkable thing: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Paradise!? How could he possibly be thinking of paradise? This place was as far from paradise as one could get. Even the sound of its name—Golgotha—sounded cold and evil. Oh, how I longed for the safety of my garden.

Someone from the crowd seized a spear and thrust it into Jesus’ side. He made no sound but his head rocked back and it was only then that I noticed the thorns. Taken from the hill near the garden, lengths of them had been woven into a sort of headpiece—a crown of thorns—and placed firmly—painfully—on Jesus’ head.

With the crowd urging him on, a man tacked a piece of paper above Jesus’ head and read it aloud: “This is Jesus. King of the Jews.” And as they laughed and mocked him, my destiny was fulfilled: I was a bearer of royalty. I bore the King of the Jews. Blood mixed with sweat trickled down the length of me, mingling with sap that I shed as though it were tears. I wept not for me, but for the one who did not deserve this.

Why was this happening? This man had the ability to perform miracles—I had seen him—so why didn’t he save himself now? He could take the nails away and there would be nothing to hold him there. Why did he stay? What held him? Oh, how I wanted to help him, but my sinfulness had created a vast chasm that I could not reach across.

There was a moan from Jesus—all had been quiet for such a long while—but suddenly it was as if every vile and evil thing of the earth had seized him. The sins of all the people had come upon him and were trying to tear him apart. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was his cry as his body convulsed violently.

Finally the convulsions stopped and he managed to whisper: “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” And there, at last, was the answer. Jesus was The Messiah—the Son of God—the only one capable of perfect, unconditional, all-forgiving love. The nails had no power to hold him there. Love is what bound him to me. With that belief anchored firmly in my heart, I prayed to the Heavenly Father, confessing my sins of selfishness, vanity, and pride, and humbly asking for his forgiveness. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Now gasping for each breath, Jesus spoke again, “It is finished.” And with those words my sin was banished and I was reborn. No longer would I be a cross—rigid and inflexible, an instrument of pain and torment. My timbers yielded with new-found freedom and at last I could reach out to offer him comfort. He had given his all for me, and I now gave to him all that was mine to give. I gave him my heart.

The crowd had fallen silent and all that could be heard was his quiet breathing. It was as if we were all alone in that dark, unholy place. His body was so frail, broken under the burden of sin he alone had carried. Dark, red blood flowed out of the wounds from which I had been spared. One last time, Jesus spoke: “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.” And as I held him in my arms, Jesus died.

I looked out at the people. A few wept openly, as I did. Most looked away. But no one would leave that place unchanged by what they had witnessed there. One by one they went away, disappearing into the night. Finally, only a handful remained—Jesus’ friends and his mother. They came forward and took him from me—gently, carefully—and carried his body away.

A few days passed before I heard the rest of the story: Jesus had overcome death! He had risen from the grave and now walked triumphantly among the people! But his time here was short because he would soon ascend to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. I had to see him one last time! I found him with the disciples on a road just outside the city. He smiled when he saw me and I wanted to ask him to remember me, but I couldn’t get the words out. He whispered to me, “I will be with you always, even to the end of time.” And I believe he will.

I am the cross—imperfect, undeserving—living by my own selfish choices. But because of the sacrifice Jesus made in my place on that blood-soaked hill, and because I believe in the grace of an all-powerful God, the cross—my sin—no longer has power over me. I am forgiven. I am reborn. I am a new creation in Christ.

The End (or the beginning)

Source: http://www.creativeyouthideas.com/blog/drama_ideas/i_am_the_cross.html

Have you ever thought about these 2 Questions???

Dearest guys & girls,

What have you been busy with this week?

For me, i have been enjoying my last period of work in the clinic & time seems to by past rather fast for me.....Really looking forward to work in the ward on 23jul! Yippy!

Recently, i have signed up for the Evanglism Explosion Course conducted by pastor Joseph Tang.

Two days ago was my 2nd lesson. During the lesson, he asked 2 very intersesting and worth a billion n much much more questions!

1) Have you come to a point in your Life where you know for certain that if you were to die tonight, you would go to Heaven????

2) Suppose you were to die tonight & stand before God, and He said to you, "Why should I let you into My Heaven?" What would you say????

Have you ever thought about these 2 Questions or has someone ever ask you about these 2 questions?

If you have not, then I think you may want to start asking yourself these 2 Questions!

You may like to share your answers during our upcoming cell meeting, or with someone close to you or even your cell leaders or church pastors or even in your prayer with God!

When i was posted with these 2 questions, honestly, i was rather stumbled. These are some of the thoughts which came to my mind:

a) I have sinned every single day, why would God allow me to enter His kingdom?
e.g if i commit 3 evil thoughts per day(hahaha, sometimes can be more!!!), how many sins of evil thoughts will i have committed in 60 years?

In 1 day: 3 sins
In 1 month: 30sins
In 1 year: 1,095 sins
In 1 my life span: at least 65,700 sins!!!!!! (can be even more) Could u imagine that?

b) I have neglected God before, why do i worth entering His kingdom?

c) I think I have not complete God's plan for me, if i die, my 'ezlink' card might not be able to pass through the entrance of heaven and showing that ' Access Denied as Your Mission on Earth was not accomplished!!!!!'

Well, as for me, i have discovered the answer now and am assured of entering into my Eternal Home!I would gladly like to share with you all. Through email, sms,or conversation.....=) Or best, share it in the blog so that we can grow spritually as a cell & who knows your sharing would minister into others' lives! =)