Consumer-Driven Church

In has been sometime that we observed the rise of so called "consumer-driven" church where the church is organized like entertainment center with a lot of multi-media presentation, catchy worship music, and rock style performances. One can see many of this type of churches in the US. Closer to home, there are several mega churches in Singapore following such formula. Nothing wrong about attracting the younger worshipers with modern music and performances. The problem comes when people believed that activities equate spirituality. In fact, Willow Creek in the US in their 2007 survey found that this was the strategy they employed, they planned to make changes. Believers in such churches seem to be attending church because they are attracted to the entertainment elements of worship, rather than really worshiping God with all their hearts. The trap is that these churches accede to the "demand" of those who attend in order to keep them in church. When the church is too entrance in such activities, they will lose sight of the main objective of church - making disciples of the nations. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," Matt 28:18-20. These verses in the Bible did not say the church is to entertain their members. The important thing is that such church may not be helping the believers to be real Christians as defined in the Bible. To worship God with all our heart,mind and soul.

The lesson here is that as Christian we have to be discerning, and be aware that we attend church to worship God, not to go after activities or the entertainment elements, lest we make idols of these elements.

Human Car

I read about a car powered by human in our local newspaper, so I checked out Youtube and found the exact same vehicle. No petrol needed, fantastic! Reminded me of Fred Flintstone the carton character who goes around a car powered by human muscle. God has given this engineer the power of the mind to create such as wonderful machine. Watch the video.

Sunday Service 26th Sept

Pre-service Prayer

Praise God! that more and more members are turning up to pray each Sunday before our English service start. Hallelujah! Glory to God! Pray is powerful and it is the life blood of our faith, we cannot do without. We pray more will "catch" this ethos in our Church.

Bro. Chung Chek shared about prayer. How he hesitated to go to prayer meeting because he felt he was not up to mark. Later he realized he was in the process of learning to pray. Even the disciples said in Luke 11:1 "Lord teach us to pray...". From then one he found he has no problem going to any prayer meeting. Praise God!

Brother Nee Wen shared that he and Brother Teck Hua were at the Latter Rain Church in Semantan on Saturday where they participated in fervent worship and praise. It was spontaneous and the Holy Spirit filled the air. It was an encouragement to us.

Brother Michael's sermon on Mark Chapter 5 entitled "Cost of Salvation". In this chapter there are 3 main points a)Jesus' authority over demonic power
b) His authority over diseases c) His authority over death

Jesus came to serve and not be served Mark 1:15. He came and died for our sins.

Bro Micheal shared a little about forgiveness. He said once he was hurt by a Bro. and he could not forgive him. Later on he realized that this Bro. has grown spiritually and has moved on, whereas he was still at the point where he was hurt by this Bro. He realized that he has to forgive, like Jesus forgave us and move on. Now he is reconciled as he has forgiven this Bro.

Watch what Stormie said about prayer

Alpha Course Week 7

On Friday evening our Church had our session 7 of Alpha course topic was "How can I resist evil?". The session was very useful to many of us even those who have been Christians for sometime. It refreshed our memories and understanding of how we can resist the devil. I think it was most useful for new believers. They can be equiped with the Words to resist the dark forces.

Beside this we had some good foods.

The Holy Spirit in Us

The Holy Spirit brings us Christian maturity. As our guests participate in the Alpha course session now, we pray that they will receive the Holy Spirit. Many refer to the Holy Spirit as "it" ,but in fact it is Him in the trinity.

There are 7 ways God's Spirit works in a Christian's life :

Spirit of Life. "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death...And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness", Rom 8:2, 10 NKJV.

Spirit of Truth. "When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth" John 16:13

Spirit of Adoption. "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out "Abba Father". Rom 8:15

Spirit of Holiness. "Concerning His son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was....declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" Rom 1:3-4

Spirit of Grace. "of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has..insulted the Spirit of grace?" Heb 10:29

Spirit of Supplication. "And I will pour in the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication" Zech 12:10

Spirit of Glory. "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you". 1 Pet 4:14

A Man Fell in a Hole

No other faith can give anyone salvation as well as eternal life except Christianity. This video illustrated it so vividly.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". John 14:6

Guests in Church

On Sunday before our service started, we had guests sharing with our congregation. We had Bro Tim Toh from Haggai Institute sharing with us what the institute is about. They are organizing a one week conference here in Kuching and was inviting our Church members to join. In fact, our Brother Teck Lim had attended last year and found it motivating and useful.

The other guests we had was a German couple, Wolfam and Heidi. They are with Nehemiah Team from Germany now based in Indonesia. They have been in Indonesia for about 8 years serving the people there. Prior to that they had also been to Africa on mission.

All these guests gave us a lot of encouragement, the sacrifice they gave to help people in need around the world. We hope to be able to give back a little to society.

Christians and Politics

Today, in our national paper The Star an interesting article on Christians and politics in Malaysia was published. What exactly should the Christians in this country do?

After the political "tsunami" of March 2008,where the ruling party lost their firm grip on the country's politics, things have not been the same in many areas affecting our lives. People are more forthcoming, and feel more freedom in saying their minds. Like the article in The Star today. This news would not have been published prior to March 2008.

Basically the Christians in authorities agreed that Christians should participate in the political sphere in this country because if we want a righteous society we have to participate in the political processes. Politic is not a bad word, although due to historical and cultural influences, it appeared that way. One commentators said, being involved politically does not mean creating a Christian political party, but be part or a member of a political party whether it is in Barisan National or opposition. It does not matter as long as we are righteous in the things we want to do.

This article also brought to my attention what some of our Brothers and Sisters in Church were sharing that where ever our stations, be it work place in government services, or private, we as Christians need to play our parts and make changes instead of running away. One Sister said, "God intended that we stay in this country because we are born here", therefore bring changes for the better, don't encouraged your children to migrate overseas. Our home is this nation, let us all actively make this country a great and peaceful one. Pray for our nation. How appropriate for The Star article to appear just as we completed the 40-day Fast and Pray for our Nation under the auspious of NECF(National Evangelical Christian Fellowship).

To read this article in The Star go to :
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/9/19/lifefocus/6880606&sec=lifefocus

Alpha Course 17.9.10

On Friday we had our Alpha Course. We missed session 5 previously therefore we went through it, that was Why and How I should Read the Bible. Again all the participants were enthusiastic and we could see active participation.

Here is a testimony by Sis Gena and Bro Thomas recorded during the weekend away last week.

From 2010-09-17 Marriage Course

Alpha Marriage Course

Our Church started the Alpha Mariage course sometime in July, it was an eight week course, one seesion each week. Thanks to Bro.Howe Tung, Sis Chuei Lian, Sis Ah Moi and Bro Arthur who worked very hard to co ordinate this course for 17 couples all from FBC except a couple from Agape Baptist Church. They had the help of Bro David and Sis Chee Ping from Faith Methodist Church. It was a very useful course and all of us enjoyed the course as well as the fellowship. On Wednesday 15th Sept we had our graduation dinner at Harvourview Hotel. Many couples also invited their friends along. Again we had a nice dinner, romantic setting as well as a lot of jokes. Praise God for this Alpha Course! Hope that many will join the next session. According to Chee Ping Churches like Anglican, Emmanuel Baptist and SIB are starting their own course.

Malaysia Day - 16th Sept 2010

Today is Malaysia Day. It is to marked the birth of Malaysia as a nation starting in 1963 when Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), and Sarawak came together to form the nation of Malaysia. Although 31st Aug is the official national day, many felt 16th Sept is an significant day for our nation. It is the first time in history that our nation is celebrating today as a notional holiday.

NECF Fast and Pray for our Nation started on 8th Aug and finishes today - 16th Sept coinciding with Malaysia Day.

Glory to God for this nation!

Let's pray for everyone in our nation and may each one take refuge in our Lord. Pslam 1:12 "Blessed are all who take refuge in Him".

Woman Walks After 22 Years on Wheel Chair

Delia Knox, a singing Minister, and wife of Bishop Levy Knox of Alabama was wheel chair bound after an accident in 1987. On 27th Aug 2010 she and her husband attended a revival meeting in Mobile, Alabama and God worked a miracle on her. She was healed and could walk! Hallelujah Praise God!

Watch the video. It may be slow in loading, be patient you will be blessed watching. The video recorded live at the venue.

Commission of Disciples

On Sunday, Bro. Malcolm preached on the above subject. It was based on Mark 3:8 - 35. His teaching was broken into 4 parts:

Introduction
Confession
Contention
Community

One vivid point he brought up was that Jesus instructed us to go make disciples of the nations. he did not say bring them to church specifically. When two or three are gathered God is with us, so the church is out there where we work, play, and do our things. Let us share the Good news where we are. Of course, he was not saying don't bring anyone to church, but to share with non believers and later on only you bring them to church.

He also spoke about why we should make God our focus even in our marriages. We should not make our wives as our "idols", but both wife and husband should focus on God, and the marriage will be wholesome, the other things will follow.

Alpha Weekend Away 9th - 10th Sept 2010

Our Church had our Alpha weekend away from 9th Sept afternoon to 10th Sept at Christian Worship Center (CWC) which is about half hour drive from Kuching. About 150 members or our Church as well as guests attended this event.

We had great fun. In one incident, Nicky Gumbel in the DVD was asking the audience whether there was any American there, and one identified himself. We laughed too because we had an American, Dr. Adam Miller of Normal Hospital with us. Praise God!

We had a worshipful meeting with many receiving the Holy Spirit. Some gave their testimonies at the end of the worship.

Watch a slide presentation.

Watch testimony by Navin a Si Lankan tudent.

From 2010-09-11Alpha at CWC9-10th Sept 2010

911 - Where Were You ?

Just over nine years ago, this day the World Trade Centre, NY as well as part of the Pentagon were destroyed by terrorists. Where were you on that day ? I still remember vividly that my sister in law called us from Kuching.(we were living in KL then ), to tune in the TV news because some one had attacked the Twin Towers. We tuned it and thought it was a movie. We realized to our horror that it was real!

Let spare a thought for those who perished in that attack and how numerous people were traumatized by this hideous and devilish act. Our prayers are for them.

Miraculous Answers to Prayers

Since our Church's reorganization from end of last year, pre service prayer meeting gas been introduced, as well as monthly prayer on the first week of each month. Like prayer meetings in many Churches ( what we read ) usually the number of attendance are small. Like one Sister puts it "only the die-hards turn up". Nevertheless we laboured on, and we believe the Holy Spirit will move members to turn into the Spirit and be present at these meetings. Last week monthly prayer, we had a record of 33 members turning up to pray especially for our Alpha Weekend Away this Friday.(note:we are a small church) Praise God!

Watch this video of how God answered prayers in India

Stephen Hawkings - There is no need for God

The Physicist Stephen Hawkings, in his soon to be released book, "The Grand Design" claimed that there is no need for God. That the universe can be created from nothing. He writes “the universe can and will create itself from nothing” because there is a law such as gravity. Sir Isaac Newton who discovered gravity already warned about using gravity to view the universe as a machine, like a clock. Hawkings said further "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” he writes in his soon-to-be-released book, The Grand Design. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper (fuse) and set the universe going."
Because Hawkings is a famous physicist, what he says carries weight. I suppose some peoples' faith may be shaken by what he said. For me, I believe in our Almighty God.
Many Christian apologists and theologians disagree with him. For example:

In the United Kingdom, where Hawking resides, Denis Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, said Hawking was “missing the point.”

"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," he said, according to CNN.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, similarly, accused Hawking of making a "misinterpretation" - one that he said "is damaging to religion and science in equal measure."

"Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation," he wrote in the U.K.-based Times, which first printed excerpts from The Grand Design on Thursday.

"Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. They are different intellectual enterprises," Sacks added.

Source of quotations : Christianpost.com

Conflicts with Old Traditions

This morning, Pastor Richard Sim preached on the above subject. Basically, he showed that when Jesus taught about new things, the Jewish people could not understand, or in fact Pharisees were angry with His teachings. His teachings conflict with the old traditions.

A verse he used "And no one pours new wine into old wineskin. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskin will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins". Mark 2:22

What it means is that the people needed a new mind set to absorb the new teaching. The old mind "old wineskin" just could not contain the new ideas. They also have to break from old traditions and not be too legalistic in what they are doing. They are to love their neighbors as themselves Luke 10:27.

Alpha Course Week 6 Session 6

Last evening our Church had our week 6 session 6 Alpha course - How Does God Guide us? Very interesting talk by Nick Gumbel on the DVD. Basically there are five ways which Nick called the five "CS". After the DVD the groups had very good discussion judging by the volume and activities during discussion. Great, Praise God!

By the way, the foods were great too! That was what some of our guests told me.

Superb Ballet Performance

Fantastic performance! It really testify to the provision of our Almighty God who made our bodies so fantastic that they can be trained for magical acrobatic ballet dance. Glory to Him!

Thank you Sister Sarah who has suggested that this video be posted here. I enjoyed it very much!

Watch it!

On-Line Book Store

Recently I read a blog post on Dr.Alex Tang's blog that people are starting to sell their collection of books because they have so many that there are not enough places to store them. Beside, now you can order e-books, that just need computer space. I believe many of us may not face problem of storing books, partly because usually we do not have so many. For me I like physical books, from the looks and touch of these books sometimes made me recall past events. Kind of sentiment if you will. In July Pastor Andrew and Pastor John from the UK was at our Church to preach on Book of Romans, and Pastor Andrew shared with us several books that will help us understand better, and he realized that we cannot get all the books in Malaysia. So he recommended an on-line bookstore from UK that sends the books you ordered free of postage around the world! It sounded too good to be true.( By the way, the website is www.bookdepository.co.uk )As the Alpha course is underway in our Church, one of the recommended reading is G.K Chesterton's "Orthodoxy" which I could not find in Kuching. I browsed through the on line book site and found this book, it cost USD7, so not too expensive, I ordered it and paid by credit card. Within minutes, the credit card company called me to confirm my purchase, that was really fast! It took just about two weeks for the book to arrive at my house! Sure enough no postage! If you want any book, if the price is right, order it! Yea, no I am not a sales person of the bookstore, just sharing with you.

Note: Above picture of the book, and a part of the envelop.