We ain't got any idea either, but post something anyway
posted by johnson at 10:30 PM
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God has been helping me in everything this term. I hope he can also help your balance your time wisely. Studies,sports,going out with friends and also having time with him. I pray that he will be with all of your.
Your fellow saint
posted by Abner at 7:59 PM
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posted by Gerald at 7:26 PM
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posted by Abner at 7:17 PM
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posted by sherrie at 9:52 PM
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Something Fishy (March Regional Youth Activity)
Alright fellow fun-loving QiGeBaGe, its the time of the month for our regional youth activity again! As JL has mentioned in the video on the earlier post, more will be briefed at service.
Just be there at the activity for a time of great fun and fellowship:: ) It's a time to let down your hair and go crazy, we need some sporting, 'on' people in Da House! Begin to invite your friends before the activity this Saturday.
Net leaders, please confirm attendance with your net and sms it to JL by Thurday, 8pm.
The Dustbin is over There
It's been a great time of fellowship-ing after dinner every week at the playground and thank God for moments like this that has bond us together:: )
But, but I have to remind you people of just one very simple thing: please, please clear up after your meal at the playground yes? And fanatics of Bubble Tea, you can't escape either. Haha, do make individual efforts to throw your rubbish away.
You'd probably think I'm being naggy down here. But then i urge you again, as ambassadors of not just VFC but Christ, it isn't a good testimony to people living around the area yes? 'Hey, they are the bunch of litter bug Christians.' See, how un-nice that can be. Remember, all you little Christ, people are watching you.
Whacky Duck, Whacky Duck
Okay, so the litter issue has been addressed, now back to fun. It's time to revive the authentic playground moments!
It's been a long time that we have been just sitting around, 'chillax-ing' at the playground. But don't you think it's time the games come rollin' home? Haha, so remind me when we settle at the playground next week, that we should revive those retro games and new age one if any's hanging on your mind! It's a region's contribution, go online and Google search ice-breaker games or steal some idea from your recent orientation!
Just go ahead and gather the people, it's time to live the ol' games.
Any Other Matters (AOM)
No, there isn't. Haha! Just to bid you goodnight and see you later at service. I love you, you, you and you!
posted by th.mcarmen at 1:42 AM
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“If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15 HCSB)
When Jesus speaks of love, he allows no room for sentimental fantasy or momentary emotion. He sees love through the eyes of the Father, and from this point of view he deeply understands that true, eternal, godly love is bold and strong, but also painful, messy, and sacrificial.
A love of this strength and magnitude can only take root in the soil of abandonment. We abandon our rights, our thoughts, and our schemes. It was this total and uncompromising abandonment to God that led Jesus to say and do only what the Father told him to do. (John 14:10) It was this uncompromising abandonment that led him to the cross.
If we are to become just like Christ, then we also must be abandoned to the Father. We must line up with the thoughts and plans of God so closely that we appear to be "at one" with him, just as a married couple, deeply abandoned to each other, appear to live as one. Through abandonment, we walk so closely with God that, when people see us, they see the Father at work.
Jesus is teaching this abandonment when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In other words, he's not demanding that you be obedient; rather, he's telling you that love for him should compel you to embrace his purposes.
The Jesus way is that you obey God's commands because you love God, not because you must obey God. By actively pursuing the purposes of God, you worship your Creator.
This also gives you a Christ-like perspective on the daily details of your life, turning every decision into a moment of adoration for God. When you let someone else take the parking space, when you stand behind a promise that proves more costly than you imagined, when you extend hospitality to the cranky neighbor next door – these are moments of worship to God because you are choosing to be obedient to his purposes, rather than doing things your own way. Even choosing not to sin becomes an act of worship, as it brings you into closer alignment with God's commands.
What does this mean?
· As you face decisions today, ask God to show you which path will be an act of worship to him. Then (I know this is easier said than done), move where he tells you to move.
· As you take this step, keep your eyes sensitive to God’s grace and presence in the moment. Do this throughout the day, keeping a log so you can track your movement toward oneness with God and his purposes.
posted by A Papa Paul at 9:55 PM
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posted by th.mcarmen at 5:15 PM
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… And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ …. (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV)
Submitted now for your consideration: Pamela, a loving wife, a nurturing mother, a prayerful Christian. This morning, her husband, Richard, left a tender note on the bathroom mirror, inviting Pamela to join him for lunch at their favorite restaurant.
Pamela eyes the clock throughout the morning, anticipating meeting her life-long love at 1 p.m. She’s excited and feeling extraordinarily loved by her husband, so she leaves for the restaurant early in order to buy Richard a small gift. She splurges more, buying two balloons, which float up from the ribbon wrapped around the present.
As she pays for the gift, she looks in her purse and notices she’s left her cell phone at home – again. No matter, it’s 12:30 and in a few short minutes she’ll be with Richard, giving him her undivided attention. Who needs a cell phone in moments like that?
Pamela arrives at the restaurant first and patiently waits for Richard to arrive. What she doesn’t yet know is that Richard has been in a horrible traffic accident and was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:24 – about the time Pamela was tying the balloons to the bow, buoyantly anticipating the approaching romantic rendezvous.
The point to this sorrowful snapshot is that our feelings don’t always reflect the truth. Pamela is soaring high on her feelings of love, even though her husband is already dead. The truth is bearing down on her, and it will immediately alter her feelings when it hits – but her feelings are not yet in line with the truth.
Imagine Pamela as she waits for her husband, and he does not arrive. She’s forgotten her cell phone, so she waits. After a while, she becomes annoyed; after 20 minutes, she’s irritated and hurt. Her feelings still do not line up with the truth.
After 40 minutes, she begins to worry. This just isn’t like Richard. Maybe something has happened. She asks to borrow the restaurant's phone, and she calls Richard’s office, but is transferred to his boss. He says, “Pamela, we’ve been trying to reach you. There’s been a terrible accident ….” The truth and Pamela’s feelings collide.
The fact is, God gave us feelings. There’s nothing wrong with them. As one of my friends often says, “Feelings are just feelings.” Sometimes they reflect the truth; oftentimes they don’t. They can provide positive insight, such as when our fear warns us of nearby danger, or they can give us social discernment, like when we realize we’re falling in love.
But your feelings do not define the truth. Only God defines the truth. You may feel worthless, but the truth is you are uniquely created by God, who loves you deeply. You may feel like you can walk on water, but the truth is you can only do that if Jesus calls you from the boat. You can’t; God can.
Just as the Apostle John tells us to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-3), Paul teaches us to discern the truth through knowledge and deep insight, not through our feelings. He writes, “… and this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ ….” (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV)
Eugene Peterson, in The Message paraphrase of the Bible, translates it like this: “… You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush ….” (Philippians 1:9b-10a MSG) Otherwise, you end up in a life “shaped by things and feelings, instead of God.” (Colossians 3:5 MSG)
Your feelings are from God. They are a gift, and there is no need to avoid them or be ashamed of them. Yet God never meant for our feelings to be the gauge that measures your life and how you live it. Your feelings are not designed to define you or interpret the situations you now face. Only God’s truth can define you, and only God’s truth can pass judgment on the circumstances of your life.
The great and best Good News is this: God’s truth is a person – Jesus Christ, our Lord.
What does this mean?
· You are not your emotions – You are not defined by your emotions. You are defined by God. You may feel worthless, but God says you are wonderfully and fearfully created in his image. You may feel like you’ve failed God, but God says you are accepted in the beloved and that he loves you no matter what you’ve done.
· God uses your feelings – God may use your feelings to reveal a piece of your heart that you need to turn over to God; he may use your feelings to draw you closer to him. Paul speaks of feeling like a wretched man, and that draws him deeper into the grace of God. Your feelings of hopelessness in a situation may be what God uses to show you that you’re hanging your hopes on the wrong thing – because he is a God of hope, and it is a hope that will not disappoint.
· Your obedience is based on the truth, not feelings – The facts may appear daunting, but it is up to God to interpret the facts, not you and your feelings. God calls us to be obedient to the truth, not the way we feel. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says that if you don’t love someone, act as if you do, and your feelings will catch up.
posted by A Papa Paul at 2:30 AM
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posted by tuck at 1:49 AM
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posted by jacinth at 11:46 PM
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I beg you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so that there won't be splits in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10 LB)
In any argument, our objective should be to love – not win.
It’s much harder to love than it is to simply win, and the truth is, we do “win” when we let God’s love flow through us into any disagreement. Love always wins; God proves the point by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What does this mean?
· Apply mercy more than fairness (Proverbs 3:3-6) – We must abandon the idea of “fair.” God's approach is never based on what we perceive as fair. (Romans 5:8) When other believers treat us unfairly or fail to carry their load, God calls us to meet them where they are, applying mercy in the relationship.
· Let God tell you what is true (2 Corinthians 13:8) – Your feelings or thoughts do not determine truth (1 John 4:1), and the opinions of others – even a majority – do not have the final word. Truth is what God says it is; he is the lone authority for interpreting any situation. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
· God is with you in the conflict (Matthew 26:52) – The enemy wants us to think the battle is ours alone, and when we believe that, we fight like we’re separated from God. Simon Peter provides an example: His use of blustery words, swords, curses, and lies were all desperate attempts to care for himself. He battled as if he were separated from God. Like the shepherd boy and future king, David, believe the battle is the Lord's and trust the outcome to him. (1 Samuel 17:47)
· Think like Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:15-16) – We’re to not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), because what appears to be right could very well be wrong. (Proverbs 14:12) Instead, we’re to rely on the holy logic of Christ, where the interests of others are placed above our own.
· See past others to the real source of conflict (Ephesians 6:12) – The Bible teaches that other people are not the real enemy, rather it is Satan’s “unseen spiritual forces of wickedness.” Until we fully believe this, we’ll never get to the root of the conflict, and we’re prone to keep repeating the cycle.
· Stop using ‘human’ weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) – Any method we use to get our own needs met apart from God is a weapon of the flesh. These include manipulation, gossip, slander, ridicule, threats, blame, nagging, deception, and silence. They push us into an “evil for evil” cycle, and that’s like trying to fight a skunk with “stink” – everybody loses!
· Start using ‘Spirit’ weapons (Eph. 6:13-18) – Prayer: Many Christians never think to pray together when an argument breaks out, yet prayer re-centers us, reminding us who God is and who we are as his children. Prayer draws us into the eternal perspective so we're no longer locked in a temporal point of view. It's prayer that gives us God's interpretation, revealing to us his story on the conflict. (Ephesians 6:13-18 NIV)
posted by A Papa Paul at 12:50 PM
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A King needed to deliver a letter to the queen of another country, so he called for his trusty messenger, Travis. Travis was a fast runner and an honest man, he could run for miles and not lose his breathe. Rumor has it that the King provides a secret source of energy where by whoever taps into it would receive unlimited strength!
In the King's court, Travis received instructions, directions and the letter for a Queen in a distant land. Before sending him off, the king blessed Travis with strength and a safe journey.
The King gave Travis three hours to prepare for the journey. He packed 2 stacks of books for entertainment, one huge pile of food for self-satisfactory, eight sets of clothes, three pairs of shoes, two swords for self-defense, a guitar for music in the night, firewood for setting up camp fire, a tent and a sleep mat to rest. The weight of all those could crush a normal man but Travis is strong and tough.
Travis picked up his huge sack and sets out on the journey. After two days of running, the land of the queen is still nowhere in sight! He looked back, only to realize he had covered only a short distance as the King's kingdom is still visible! Puzzled, he did some thinking, trying to pin-point why he was making such slow progress even though he had not stopped running for even a second! He looked down at the foot prints he made and noticed they sank deep into the ground. He was too heavy!
Travis threw away the books he brought for entertainment, instantly, his pace quickened! He felt lighter than before. After a short distance, he thought of how important the letter was; maybe the Queen needs it urgently. So he threw down the sets of clothes, sandals and guitar. His pace again increased tremendously!
A day has passed and the Queen's kingdom was still no where in sight! He thought of the King, how good the King has treated and loved him. With that thought as his motivation, he threw down his remaining burdens and gave all his strength to running.
Within moments, Travis was in the Queen’s court. The Queen was overjoyed upon receiving the letter so quickly and wants to award Travis, but he rejected the offer by saying, "My reward is in the kingdom. Besides, they may weigh me down." And so, the Queen sent Travis off.
In less than a day, Travis arrived back at the King's court. The King was amazed at the speed Travis ran! On that day, Travis was made a noble and was able to eat with the King at the King's table.
"You may have unlimited strength and energy to work but burdens and shackles slows you down. The outcome may not be as productive as when you gave it your all. How long you could run is important, but how fast you run is as important."
posted by eggimo at 1:00 AM
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A projector can only project something on its projecting tray. Before anything was placed on the projecting tray, it projects a white light. It was so bright and pure, everyone could see it.
However, the projector wants to project something else. It wants people to see something different on it. So an image of a ‘rockstar’ was placed on the projecting tray. Now the white light is taken over by an image of a ‘rockstar’. Everyone could see the projected image and figured that the image projected was the real self of the projector.
However, the projector wants to project something else. It wants people to see something different on it. So an image of a ‘playboy’ was placed on the projecting tray, over the image of the ‘rockstar’. Now the white light is taken over by an image of a ‘rockstar’ and ‘playboy’. Everyone could see the projected image and figured that the image projected was the real self of the projector but could not make out if it was a ‘rockstar’ or a ‘playboy’.
However, the projector wants to project yet something else. It wants people to see something different on it. So an image of a ‘gangster’ was placed on the projecting tray, over the image of a ‘rockstar’ and ‘playboy’. Now the white light taken over by an image of a ‘rockstar’, ‘playboy’ and ‘gangster’. Everyone could see the projected image and figured that the image projected was the real self of the projector but could not make out if it was a ‘rockstar’ or a ‘playboy’ or a ‘gangster’.
As the projector continued piling images upon images on its projecting tray, the images was so much that the white light could not shine through anymore. No one could see the projections nor do they know what the projector was any longer.
"Do not be like that projector. Instead of trying to be someone else you are not and allow that light of yours to be partially or fully blocked out, be yourself and shine like the light house! Let everyone around you see that bright and pure light."
posted by eggimo at 1:51 AM
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