Obeying God Come After Grace

http://www.christianpost.com/news/obeying-god-comes-after-grace-says-tim-keller-77216/

According to Pastor Tim Keller people often got it wrong and this impedes our understanding of the Bible.  This is true especially when one is a new Christian or a nominal Christian.  He illustrated this concept using the story of the Israelite who were led out of Egypt.  It was not that they followed God's commands before they were delivered.   God saved them and instructed them to get out of Egypt.

Many of us also know that it is by grace and not work that we are saved.  Of course God did not say we can relax and doing nothing after being saved.  He instructed us to work, like the Great Commission.

Pastor Tim Keller said, "In a nutshell: salvation by grace, obedience, and then blessing.
"Nothing must ever be allowed to upset this order,"

Senior Alpha 14.7.12

Thank the Lord for the Senior Alpha session this morning in our Church.  It was the second week of the 12 weeks program.  We had 5 participants because some who attended last week could not come this week.  Praise God that despite the smaller group, we had an enjoyable time interacting with the senior participants.  They were interested in the message from the video, this week subject was "Why did Jesus died?".  The non believers found it difficult to understand but our facilitators as well as follow Christian participants helped out.  One new participant who is 76 years old was very enthusiastic with her sharing and testimony, and that had impact on the non believers as well as nominal Christians in the group.

Praise God again for a fruitful session!

Senior Alpha 14.7.12 - picture slideshow

From Pastor-Singer to Geisha Girl

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/7/8/lifefocus/11606866&sec=lifefocus
As the City Harvest saga is been taken care by the authorities in Singapore, The Star newspaper in Malaysia has reported on the singing career of Pastor Kong Hee's wife Sun Ho.  From the story it appeared that initially her intention was wholesome and tolerable to many Christians although her songs were secular in nature.  As her career progressed her performances and dressing seem to lean more towards the secular world.  It was reported that as she wanted to attract the non believers to Christianity and to get their attention she dressed and perform just like any popular artist.  The video that set tongues waging was "China wine".  Her performance there was no different from any popular singer of the world. ( watch on Youtube) Personally it was really unbecoming of a pastor's wife to dress, and performed those moves in the video.  In the end it was doubtful that she achieved her objective of bring more people to Christianity.

A music director commented, “To use pop music to promote Christianity, I think, is fine. But there are many types of images you can adopt and that was so inappropriate to Christianity.”

You can read more on the link.

Senior Alpha

In Malaysia the Senior Alpha program is aimed at people who are 50 years and above.  This course is a variance of the Alpha Course.  There is Alpha Classic, Alpha Youth, Alpha Campus, and Alpha Workplace.

On Saturday 7th July 2012, we ran the first session of Senior Alpha at our church. FBC.  The nine participants grouped into two groups enable better interaction amongst the participants and Hosts.  It was very encouraging to see the participants actively participated in the discussion on the first session subject "Who is Jesus". 

A few old friends caught up with each other in the course and there were plenty of laughters and friendly conversations among them.  Even those who met for the first time were friendly with each other.  The friendly atmosphere encouraged the participants to relax and participate in the discussion after watching the subject video.

Our team of facilitators and helpers were encouraged by the enthusiastic responses of the participants.  One participant who is not a Christian told the group that he has been reading the Bible regularly.  He even share the Gospel with one of the participants who asked questions about the Bible.  One new believer shared his testimony of how he came to the Lord and that encouraged the participants who were not Christians.

All these are possible because of much prayers by our church and Alpha team well before the start of the course.

All Glory to our Lord!

Senior Alpha 7-7-12 - slideshow with music

False Prophets

http://charismanews.com/opinion/33682-false-prophets-foreign-charlatans-and-global-deceptionAs we are reading the troubles that City Harvest Church (CHC) is going through right now, else where in Eastern Europe like Romania and also in the US there are false prophets misleading Christians.

In particular preacher from Nigeria is Chris Oyakhilome who is based in South Africa.  Although he has never been to Romania he is famous there through TV programs and books.  Many people may not have heard of him, but he has planted 16 churches in the US.

Why is he controversial ?   You can read the details on the link above.

Advisory Pastors of City Harvest

 http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120702-356592.html

There are two Advisory pastors who have been appointed by CHC after Kong Hee and four others were arrested.  They are Rev Phil Pringle of Christian City Church. Sydney and Rev A.R Bernard of Christian Cultural Centre in New York.  Both are mega church pastors and they are supporting CHC in their times of difficulty.  It was reported that Phil Pringle himself was the target of a pastor watch dog group.  Most likely people are finding some thing do not seem right that is why there is a watch-dog organization looking at the affairs of Rev Phil.

On the issue of the Singapore 50 million dollar in question, the church said it is inaccurate to say that the church has been cheated.

You can read the full report on the link above.

City Harvest and Prosperity Gospel

http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/an-analysis-into-the-wealth-of-city-harvest-church/
From my own reading of many articles written about CHC it appears that many people alleged that it is preaching the prosperity gospel or what people called "health and wealth" gospel.  Indeed, the Bible does teach us about God's blessings in terms of wealth and health, but it also taught many other things.  Prosperity Gospel preachers tend to emphasize very much more on getting rich in this world if you are a Christian.

Quoting Tamesek Times says about CHC, "
"The Pastor preaches Prosperity Gospel which resolves around money. His business genius lies in choosing this theme for his church. Money has universal appeal. Everyone worships money regardless of race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation. In one fell swoop, he has enlarged his market to cover the entire world. It is much easier to convert people to your belief by dangling money and promising great prosperity. After all, who does not love money?
By enlarging his potential market catchment with a greater chance of increasing membership, more donations will flow in."

Tamasek Times gives a very detail study of CHC, you can read at the link above.