A Birthday Weekend

Last weekend was a “Birthday” weekend.

On Saturday, we attended Kairos’s 2^nd Birthday Party at Connect Room 802.

It was a slightly different party to those I have attended before in that there were praise and worship and some meaningful sharing at different juncture by Michael throughout.

For example, in one segment, Kairos gave away 4 of his favourite toy buses to the some pre selected people including Ps Jeff, his grandparents and a couple of their close LG members. I believe that Michael wants to inculcate an attitude of sacrificial giving in his son’s young impressionable heart at every opportunity and this is one of such. At the end of the day, Mike also took a picture of Kairos surrounded by presents illustrating the fact that we can never out-give God. Kairos gave away 4 of his favourite buses but he got back so much more in return.

It is indeed possible to make use of every opportunity to share some biblical principles and spread the gospel. You just require some inspiration and a dose of creativity. Something which I believe Michael has, in abundance.

After Kairos’s Birthday party, we attended Saturday service and it was another huge birthday celebration because it was a water baptism service. Many people experienced their spiritual birthday on that day as they emerged from the tank (symbolising a new birth) and will be living this new life closely with Jesus from there on.

CN shared about the 3 Keys for our faith prior to the water baptism

a) The reason for our faith is Grace

b) The evidence of our faith is Growth (2 Cor 5:17)

Some areas we grow in is our obedience to God (step by step), our thought life, our love for people (love more people and love people deeper)

c) The nurturing ground for our faith is our life group (Heb 10:24-25)

The points look simple enough to understand but we tend to forget and many drift away in our journey through life. Hence this is a reminder of what life should be like when we are truly being born again.

*I was water baptised on 3^rd March 2001 and I believe God was actually preparing my wife at the same time. Theresa was just standing a short distance away from me back then, having her water baptism too. Back then, we didn't really know each other. (the whole process can be seen from her water baptism CD where accidental glimpses of me can be seen. I was just a calafare back then but now have become the main lead in her life. Ha-ha)

After service, we went to OG at Orchard to get a bubble machine for Emmanuel and had our dinner at Le Meridian. Oh how we missed that place and the fish soup there…

On Sunday, we celebrated grandpa’s 86^th Birthday at Hung Kang Teochew Restaurant. Food was nice but the same cannot be said of their service and cramp sitting area. Anyway, that is not that important. Most important is that my dearest grandpa enjoys blessings, good health and joy in the years ahead.  I hope he will, too one day experience the love of Jesus and accept him as his personal Lord and saviour. That would be a most wonderful day indeed. 

Hope Leadership Training 2013

Yesterday was a Public Holiday and it was also the day my church arranged a whole day training for the leaders (and their spouses)

As mentioned in my earlier post, Leadership is a topic that interest me a lot, hence,  I was rather looking forward to a fruitful time of learning.

A leader has to keep learning. When a leader thinks he/she has known enough, he knows nothing.

Indeed, the whole day training did fill my tank and I was energised by the different teachings. Thank God. And thank my church for always putting great emphasis in developing its people.

I would like to post the notes in this platform so that I can be reminded of the important points when I look back. Although due to some formatting issues, they may appear rather messy here but these are treasures to me.

Leaders Needs to Be Predictable 

As an introduction to start off the Leaders Training in the heavy rain Pastor Jeff very aptly shared that

-       Leader need to be PREDICTABLE ( for example if it rains, we do not turn up) . God cannot entrust us if its otherwise. If we allow the weather to dictate whether if we will turn up for something.

-       Being predictable does NOT mean boring.

-       We need to be predictable in terms of our emotions. ( think of some parents who are unpredictable in their mood. One day the child gets to enjoy chicken drumstick when the parent is in a good mood, on another day the child gets a beating. The child will live in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety)  

-       We need to be predictable even in small tasks

-       God is predictable, the sun rises every morning

-       It is not a sexy concept but it is very important.

-       Being predictable in every area. Not just in work, it applies to all our roles. If we are only predictable in our job and for ministry, it reflects our values.

• Session 1 - From Leading to Being Led - Craig Groeschel‏
  session 3 - Wayne Cordeiro‏
  
  Wake up one day and do not feel like leading anything, tired of preaching, staff , sharing his life

  Winning the ministry game but losing my first love. The way I was doing the work of God is slowly destroying God’s work in me – Bill Hybels.

   3 Obstacles

  1.    More concerned with what people thinks than what God thinks.

  It will keep us from being led by the spirit

  People are too big and God is too small

  Honour God even if it displeases people

  I cannot please everyone but I can please God

  
  

  2.    More concerned with my public image than my private devotion

  Sometimes leaders study the bible just to prepare for preaching/teaching

  We are like a full time pastor/leader and just a part-time follower of Christ

  We do not mean it when we tell people “ I will pray for you” just paying lip service

  IT’S THE THINGS THAT NO ONE SEES THAT RESULTS IN WHAT EVERYONE WANTS.

  Be faithful to Jesus when no one is looking than when everyone is looking

  
  

  3.    More concerned about bringing people in than bringing glory to Christ

  When you give free beer, you can also draw a crowd

  If you tie your identity to figures and numbers you will feel like the biggest loser.

  (think about it) If you take the blame for the decline than one day, you will take the credit for the increase

  Do not be obsessed by numbers, when we are truly doing God’s work, God’s way, HE will build the church

  
  

  From the book Tribal Leadership (3 levels of leadership motives )

  Lowest Level: “I want to make a NAME for myself”

  Underlying concept: “I AM GOOD”

  Thus the enemy is anyone or anything that competes.

  
  

  Middle Level: “We want to make a difference as a team”

  Underlying Concept: “I cannot do it alone, WE ARE GOOD”

  Enemies are our field, we do not wish to lose to “them” other churches

  We overestimate what we can do in a short time but underestimate what God can do through us over a lifetime a faithfulness

  
  

   Highest Motive : Make History

  Underlying Concept: “God is good”  

  Only enemy is satan

   ITS not about us, its about HIM

   

  
  

  
  

  • [Evangelism]

    Celebrate people coming to Jesus, not bigness

    Evangelism is a heart set, not a programme

    
    

    [Disciplship]

    Eph 4 Pastor, teacher, evangelist etc.. 5 fold ministry

    Pastor equipping his people to do the work

    Use proper measurement to measure spiritual work. How many am I discipling actively, name them….

    Who is shadowing? Do not just hire people who can do it well but hire those who can facilitate others to do it well.

    Culture of servant hood instead of leadership  

    
    

    [Family]

    Make relationship with spouse right first before ministering

    The darkest palce of the lighthouse is the base (our home) . Make sure God’s floodlight is on them !!!

    My family is my ministry. If I do not have a good family, I do not have a good ministry

    
    

    [In a nutshell]

    -       Evangelism is  a culture , not a programme

    -       Practice Intentional discipleship

    -       Family is of paramount importance (do not do ministry at the expense of family in the short run we may think we win, but in the long run we lose and when we lose, the Kingdom lose.

    [Discuss]

    ·         How can I cultivate a culture of evangelism ?

    ·         How can I be more intentional in discipleship?

    Session 4 - Tim Keller
    Not 1-1 relationship but immersing community
    discipleship is public and private , individual and community
    importance of discipleship in the context of community thats why we keep LG strong. One anothering is vital 
    
    
    
    

    The Last session of the day was an interview with Pastor David Lim.

    I just took down some points that I think is important.

    Faithfulness until God says something else. If God wants me to do it. Do it with ALL our heart

    Giftedness vs. Servanthood

    Do not specialise yet when you are young, broaden your base

    Disappointment, conflicts and failures are integral to success

    We are in spiritual warfare, well intention people who are trying to do their best

    Keep loving and pressing on

    Love for work of jesus (love), other people are also hurting (need) , family relationship must be strong (family)

    Callings can lead to calvaries in our life

    Quickest way out of the wilderness is to learn the way of the wilderness

    Ask ourselves “what is God saying to me in this situation?”

    Too often we fight Mickey Mouse battles

    Seek advice of older leaders.

    More info is not equal to more wisdom

    
    

    Pitfalls of leadership?

    Charismatic leaders who depend on themselves

    Too much dependence on myself. Servanthood and humility (if we do God’s work, we will be lead through situations where we will be humbled)

    Growth, preach every sermon as if it’s your last

    Look to other leaders and draw from them

    accountability (we are not superheroes, we are human beings after all) we belong to each other

    
    

    Lessons

    If God gives you a vision , you got to take one step at a time

    God is very active in church, learn to release it to God. Doesn’t matters what people think of me. It matters only if the KOG grows

    What you will do in the future days will be greater than what you have done in the past

    
    

    It’s not about you but God

    
    

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A Sweet Victory

Recently, I took part in a (parent-child lookalike) contest organised by my company .

this pic with dad in Genting was the one i chose

The final result will depend on how the rest of the office staff voted and also partly on how the panel of judges voted.

However, there was a loophole in the staff voting system in that it is not one vote per staff.

Hence, it is possible to have a person casting multiple votes for  themselves

Though I was a wee bit disappointed that it is not the fairest of system to decide the competition I just cast a vote for myself and left it as that without thinking too much into it. 

I want to believe that ultimately it is important to adhere to the spirit of fair competition even if others around me may not be doing that. And I hope deep within my heart that somehow, righteousness will prevail.

Today, I got a call from the organiser asking me to go to the meeting room and lo and behold I saw this…

That’s right, I have won the 2^nd prize and I was told I just missed out on the 1^st by the slimmest of margin about 1%..  I know I got a low public vote count but I believed the panel of judges gave me their endorsement ;o) hence I was able to get 2^nd position.

 At the end of the day, It was a sweet victory for me because I know I have won it fairly and that is the most important.

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Proverbs 16:8

BUSTED!

This morning, I came across this article in the newspaper.


It was reported that a thief in London tried to steal a car which has been set up by the police with dye trap.

He was later on being arrested and although he tried denying his crime, the evidence was strongly against him because photos showed his face covered with green liquid which was visible only under ultraviolet light.

This incident made me think of our sins. Like the thief in this report, many times, we may have committed sins which are unseen to others around us and sins which we tried to deny.

However, God is like the ultraviolet light that is able to detect our hidden sins easily.

God knows that Adam ate the forbidden fruit and God see David’s covetousness for Bathsheba

There is no hiding, we can only repent.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

IOS 7

Recently, I did an exercise to upgrade my iphone platform to IOS 7.

Finally, I am no longer being shown the frustrating message “ this application need IOS 5 or higher ”

I am never someone who is very tech savvy or someone who is always on the lookout for newer and better versions of technology but I do acknowledge and accept that many a times, what happens outside forces us to at least keep up.

In this case, If I keep using the IOS 4 platform, my iphone is not working at its potential and is limited in many areas though no fault of the device or user.

It’s just the progress of technology that makes my device more and more obsolete.

Lesson Learnt

In our walk with God, there are some similarities too. Many of us are living and operating in IOS 4 platform faith when in fact we can be that much higher.

That is because the Holy Spirit is so powerful, if we were to allow it to work in our life, he can give us greater capacity to love, more wisdom, more power, more spiritual gifts, better leadership, greater understanding, more humilty etc...

But first, we must first allow for the “upgrade” to happen by having a holy discontentment of our current state and recognise that there must be more that God can do in our lives.

Then, we ask the Holy Spirit to work in the various areas in our lives that need a major transformation. By doing this, we are effective upgrading our platform to a much higher one.

However, many of us are contended to just live in our old platform because we are comfortable there, we are familiar there and we do not see the need to move out of that zone.

By doing that, we short-change our own potential and limit what God can work in and through us.

Sadly, many are keeping up so closely with technological advancement but are contended to allow their faith to stagnate at a much older platform.

Be the best platform that God can use, Give God our very best so that  God may give us HIS very Best.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"  Ephesians 3:20