k.. sorry ppl..
realised cant manage 2 blogs together..
will just manage the other 1 den.

so sorry this blog has to be a dead blog. if i have the time i might just consider reviving it~ :P

Til then.. c ya~

Acts 4-6

The journey continues as the apostles speak boldly in the synagogues. They start to heal the sick and more people believed, five thousand was mentioned in chapter four! Rejoice!
Some verses caught my attention like the one that speaks about Peter and John's courage : "When they(the rulers, elders & teachers of the law) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realised that they had been with Jesus."Acts 4:13 (NKJ)

unschooled yet they spoke with boldness and authority. What about me..educated and trained...?

Right after this it struck me that the people who were trying to put the Apostles behind bars and stop them from speaking the word of God is the very people who called themselves the teachers of the law, elders, rulers, even the high priest that many Jews revered! How hypocritical can these men get! They are going outrightly against God! But they were blinded by sin, darkness has filled their hearts and minds. They were losing their authority, their statues, the Jews' 'worship'...

Still, among all these hypocrites, there was one, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who stood up and said ".....Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."Acts 5:38,39(NIV)
Its a comfort to know that it is not mere men fighting but God as well. We have a strong and infallible "kao shan".. if God is for us, who CAN be against us!?

Its wonderful to know that I've a heavenly Father powerful as He is, one whom never fails and continues to love me.

The student study bible has this short write up entitled "the secret to the Early Church". Basically speaking about the power and sustenance of God and his Holy Spirit behind the work in the book of Acts, hence the great revival and miraculous signs and wonders. The write up said, as the church grew, the disciples gradually began to understand what Jesus had meant when he said, "It is not for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you(John16:7). Although Jesus himself departed, God became present in each one of them, making his activity in the world more widespread than ever before. The Spirit personally directed each major advance of the church...As presented in Acts, the Spirit was no vague but a living person who spoke, guided in decisions and fueled the church with the energy of faith.

:)

I have decided to start reading the book of Acts and complete it soon. Since BJ is teaching on parts of Acts, I thought I ought to know more than just the parts she teaches to get a big picture.

Reading Acts, though it was just the first three chapters, is exciting! Seeing how those dramatic events unfold before you (in your mind.. image it!) and how my powerful God is behind all these wonderful miracles and changes, it just stirs my heart to want to live a courageous life for the sake of the Gospel. Pray for me as you read this entry that may God grant me more courage to make my stand in love and truth as I face daily situations. Pray along with me as well for my unsaved parents, extended family members and friends.

Back to reading Acts. It was after Jesus reinstated Peter (asking Peter three times if he had loved Jesus) after his triple denial of Jesus, did Peter spoke bravely to crowds and proclaim the word of God obediently to both Jews and Gentiles. Awesome!

Below is something from the student study bible that I have :

"You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this." Acts 3:15
Seeing a ghost doesnt make a person stronger and more confident. The witness is usually reluctant to talk about the experience. Self-doubt attacks in waves :Was it real? Maybe I was hallucinating.. It was so dark and eerie.
When Jesus showed up after his death, his disciples went through a Did-we-see-a-ghost? phase, complete with terror, disbelief and wild rumours. But it didnt last long. In 40 days, Jesus made enough undeniable appearances to convince each of his disciples-even skeptical Thomas- that he had indeed overthrown death.
As Acts shows, the disciples began acting the opposite of people who think they've seen a ghost. Rather, they acted like people who had just witnessed the most astounding event in all history. They couldnt wait to tell the whole world about it!!

Think about it.. if Jesus died and not resurrected, he was a ghost or some spirit, would his disciples or christians around the world today have done what they did? "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Gen 10:1 - 11:9

The account of Shem, Ham and Japheth & the tower of Babel

This part of Genesis tells us how humans are scattered over the earth (which fulfills the command from the Lord, multiply and fill the earth) after the flood. Noah had 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. His three sons then multiplied (its not cloning k!) and had their own clans. This is how civilisations started. The names of the Noah's grandsons were listed and these form the three basic people groups known as the Israelites. This is followed by the account of how God confused their language and further scattered the people.

==Thoughts .. Understanding==
I do not really understand the reason why the long list of names were recorded in the Bible neither do I understand the significance of the three clans. I guess I would learn more about this when Israel is declared as nation, God's chosen and how each clans are given specific responsibilities.

Moving on to the tower of Babel, I saw the arrogance of humans. How they thought they were great because they can bake bricks and build, they spoke the same language, I suppose there were unity. Yet no matter how great man think they were, God is still sovereign and powerful over all things. His command and plan will still prevail.

The people came together to build a tower with its top in the heavens, thinking they are all that high and mighty, they wanted to make a name for themselves. There's similarities in the world that we live in today, isn't it? Everyone wants to make a name for themselves, because we think we are great, that would most likely be the motivation that drives people to build their 'empire', status, whatever you name it. Well, I do not think that being successful is a sin, in fact, I think it's a blessing that God has generously and graciously given. But when we pursue success for the sake of it, wanting people's recognition or wealth, status, basically not for the glory of God would be wrong. Should God give us good gifts, we should be thankful and put them to good use in order to honour God and witness to others. I'll always remember what I learn from Camp Orion, saying how christians should live their lives, its summarised into 8 simple words :

To know God & to make God known

It was a wonderful account how God did not strike these people dead but confused the one language they were speaking and fulfilled His own plan simultaneously!
This is in my opinion how God would show the future generations that there's an existence of God. People all around the world are so similar, yet different at the same time. Its interesting how all humans have 2 eyes, 2 eyes, 1 nose and 1 mouth. We speak to communicate, show body language, eat to stay alive, self-centered..etc. However, we speak different languages, coming from different cultures and backgrounds...

Why do I say the confusion of our language is a proof to God's existence? I believe if we look at the origin of language, many would have mentioned that all languages have originated from one. If christians, jews and the muslims who have read the Bible, Jewish laws and the Koran respectively and the tribal people who have very slight contacts with the world can agree in one way or another that human language has originated from a source plus give similar account to the tower of Babel, this should tell us something!
God created the world, whether is it the Aucas who stays in the forest of Eucador all their lives or the city dwellers, our ancestors witnessed to this confusion and hence passed down this 'legend'/'myth' about tower of Babel. What's more, evolutionists can never explain the origin of language or the diversity of it! They can argue till the cows come home but they will not derive at a common answer, so who's right.. I wonder. hee That's why the tower of Babel is so amazing..

Some interesting links :
Tower of Babel-->
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a021.html

Wiki's view on it-->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

Wiki's view on origin of language-->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_language

Lingistics 201:The origin of language-->
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test1materials/origin_of_language.htm
This website, I thought, no references cited, no sources, but should be quite interesting to read.. :)

Comments on tower of Babel by Dr. Harold L. Willmington-->
http://www.tribulation.com/towerbab.htm
Should be quite reliable, since he cited so many sources.. still read it and be discerning! ( I haven finish reading it.. :P)

Doing a right thing in a wrong way - Sermon today

(2 Samuel 6)(1 Chron 13-16)

The crux of today's sermon was
1. David was mindful of God's presence. He wanted to be near Him. (that's why he wanted to bring the ark of covenant back to the city of David, Jerusalem)
2. David did not obey God's instructions on how to bring the ark back and caused the death of Uzzah.
3. David right the wrong and brought the ark back in a proper manner. (Ark was left in the house of Obededom who was a levite and God blessed the family.later the Levites brought it back.. )
4. God is a holy God. He cannot tolerate anything done in an unbiblical manner. We must be people of the Bible, doing things from a biblical perspective.
5. Make sure the Lord reign in your house. Let Him be honoured in all we do or speak.
"Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest of every meal, the silent listener to every conversation."
6. People are gifted to serve the Lord.(Rom12:1), many people were involved in bringing the Ark back, each one fulfilling their own God-assigned task rightfully and joyfully.
7. The joy of having God's presence. David's dancing is an expression of joy because God was with him there and then, dancing was also in David's culture back at that time(just like how the Indians and Africans worship God). It is not an act of worship as what the charismatic churches explain it to be. Worship as reverence before the Lord God Almighty, dancing is neither in our culture or an act of worship.
8. Let Christian spouses support their partners in service for the Lord. (Not like how Michal despised David's action)

--Thanksgiving--
Thank God for keeping me attentive throughout sermon today. Knowing the usual Tingyu would doze off or stray away, (well I still do once twice thinking of the lesson and relating it to my life), I actually thought the lesson was very relevant and intriguing.

--My 2 -cents worth--
Quite often I do wrong things at the wrong time, right thing at the wrong time and vice versa, so the topic today caught my attention. At first I thought it was Uzzah who did the right thing at the wrong time but realised he did right thing at the right time what... only to find out later that it was David who did it and caused the death of Uzzah. I still cannot grasp the reason why Uzzah had to done because all he did was simply, to me, a natural human reaction.
The lesson to me was that I ought to be constantly desiring for this powerful God's presence. Not only do I need to know he's there, I need to know how to fear Him! He's this HOLY God that cannot stand anything that's done unbiblical manner, to put it in simple terms, disobedience to God; He can struck anyone dead at anytime. Pastor said "If God has not been gracious, we would all have been struck dead." How true! We are often the antagonists in God's story, testing His patience. At that time I really appreciate what Jesus has done for us, dying on the cross to take God's wrath away from us. I cannot imagine if I were to live in the time of David, I'll probably be dead a hundred times. God is the Lord of Hosts, King of all kings!

As Pastor moved on to the part about how we as people of the Bible ought to do things/see things in a biblical perspective, it reminded me of the conversation between my colleague and boss. Angela reminded me that I ought to have done something about it, which I wonder why I find it hard to. We often felt obligated to speak well in front of our bosses or seniors, not to offend them, in case we get demoted or something. But as people of the Bible, should we continue to live this way as the non believers do or make a strong stand politely to point out the immoral thoughts or acts, even to our bosses. So I'm going to leave them a note on the day I leave the company. Pray that I'll have the wisdom to write politely, humbly and point out what was wrong.

God blessed Obededom when he took care of the Ark. Let my motivation to serve the Lord be not our wish to be blessed physically (wealth, health and the like) but simply because God deserves to be honoured and worshiped. Someone told me before, its not as if God doesnt know the motive deep down in our hearts, we can deceive all the people around us but not this all knowing God who looks at our hearts. I ought to do my little part to serve God and contribute my little to the building of His big Kingdom.. :)

I saw unity of God's people when the Ark was brought back to Jerusalem in the proper way. Did God designed it to be so, so that the people of God can witness to the world as one. I was imagining how each worker did their part happily because they knew deep down they were serving the Almighty. They were gladly involved no matter how small their role was and I guess I ought to adopt the same kind of attitude. Many times I thought its always a better idea to be found serving in church camp or those so-called 'big' ministries, having a 'higher' position in the ministries would then equate to 'serving well'. Not quite here. Its still the heart of service that God looks at, no matter how big or small the job is. Finding joy in the small things that I do, all for God.

Seeing how David dances in front of God is such a wonderful sight because it was an expression of extreme joy. God's presence in the house of David! I need to dispel the old thought of dancing being an act of worship that my friends sometimes tell me. N me too want to dance before the Lord.Dance name : REJOICE!

Gen 2:4 - 4:26

God created man and woman::The Fall::Cain killed Abel

"Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So that man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field." Gen 2:19-20
Can you picture this scene? How privileged was man! God told man that he ought to multiply and fill the land, and have dominion over all living things and now God gave man the honor of naming the creatures that He has thoughtfully created. Its as if how a earthly daddy brings toys/pets to his kids and ask them to name it. It was a time of relational communication, a time that draws this intimate relationship closer. Who can fully understand what went through the hearts and minds of these two parties? What is the extent of warmth and understanding? It must have exceed the limits of the skies and seas...

Beautifully and fearfully created man and woman. Woman was made as a helper suitable for man."This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. God created marriage.

Sin and it effects penetrate into every parts of our life, so much so to the extent that soon after the fall, in Gen 4, Cain killed his blood-tied younger brother. It was a heart quenching moment. God said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (Gen 4:6-7) I presumed this question was asked because Cain offered some of his fruits from his garden while Abel offered the fats portions(supposedly the best) from the firstborn of his herds. I reckoned Cain wanted to keep the best for himself while Abel has recognised whatever he has is due to the grace of God hence he gave God the best in return, with a heart of worship. It was Sin that Cain thinks he has all the rights to keep the best for himself alone, killed his brother because of jealousy and he did not even try to justify his cause. O dear.. God punished Cain and in a way protect him when God put a mark on Cain to signify this person cannot be killed.
Cain will be hidden from God's presence and he will be a restless wanderer on the earth.. he and his descendants. What kind of life would that be? This person being separated from God, the provider of all things, love, kindness, goodness, joy, patience, peace, gentleness, faithfulness,self-control, wouldn't that be a life of hatred and strife, lost and despair? I'm glad that God has given me the joy of knowing Him and keeping me in His presence. I would not want to live in such a hell-like environment! What has sin done to us? what have we done to ourselves when we choose to bow to sin?

"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom6:21-23


Dear Father,
thank you for being the loving Father that u've always been. You could have killed Cain immediately, but You spared his life. You could have destroyed Adam and Eve when they made the mistake yet You spared them for the sake of Your glory. You allowed man to continue to seek you and call upon Your name even when we have been banished out of the garden of Eden. We wanted to be gods, not recognising the fact that we are dependent beings and will always be. You punished man, at the same time, You made them animal skins clothing for protection. It was a terrible mistake man had made, but through that Your unconditional love was displayed.Hallelujah!Praise the Lord!
Amen.

Let there be light...and there was light....

I thought this was a very apt picture (from Deviantart.com) to start off my journey through Genesis. May God light up my path as I seek His wisdom in His words. I ought to live in the light, not in darkness. :D

Overview of Genesis

For modern readers Genesis might appear to be a strange book, beginning as it does with God and creation, and ending with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt! But that strangeness is evidence that even though it has integrity as a book in its own right (careful structure and organisation), it is at the same time intended to set the whole biblical story in motion. Indeed, its opening word (Bereshith = "in [the] beginning") both serves as its title and is suggestive as to what the book is about. Thus it tells of the beginning of God's story-- creation, human disobedience, and divine redemption-- while it also begins the Pentateuch, the story of God's choosing and making a covenant iwth a people through whom he would bless all peoples (Gen 12:2-3).

The narrative of Genesis itself comes in two basic parts : a "prehistory", the stories of creation, human origins, the fall of humanity, and the relentless progress of evil -- all against the backdrop og God's enduring patience and love -- the love of the beginning of redemption through Abraham and his seed, with focus on the stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. these stories are structured in part around a phrase that occurs ten times : "This is the account [genealogy/family history] of", a term which can refer both to "genealogies" proper (as with Shem, Ishmael, and Esau) ant to "family stories". You will see that the major stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph in each case come under the family story of the father (Terah, Issac, and Jacob).

The overall narrative of Genesis thus begins immediately after the prologue(1:1-2:3) with the first human family in the Garden of Eden and works successively from Adamn's family through Noah and Shem to Terah and Abraham and finally through Issac and Jacob(Israel) and thus to Joseph. At the same time, the family lines of the rejected sons(Cain, Ishmael, Esau) are also given so that the "chosen seed" and the "rejected brother" are set off in contrast (the one has a story, the other only a genealogy). Finally, watch for one further framing device that holds the major part of the book together : God's use of Noah to preserve human life during the great deluge and of Joseph to preserve human life during the great drought.