Christmastime

Merry Christmas!!
~Ricky, Chris 3, Victoria & Yvonne

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:9-12

Because He deserves all the glory and honour

This past friday was CCF's last meeting of the year and we had a blessed time of praise and prayer. I was very blessed by the conversations that I was able to have with a few sisters, and was also very encouraged by the sharings that some of our fellow brothers and sisters had for the night. In particular, Matt's sharing about prayer and studying was a great reminder for me about the attitude of prayer and devotions. I find that during exam times, we often like to just focus our prayers on asking God for good rest and wisdom to do well. How easy it is to just rush through prayer and spend the next 10 hours studying and forgetting everything else! However, I was really reminded that we really should be striving to get through our studying because we desire to spend more time with our Lord. We shouldn't come before Him with the mind set that perhaps if we spend more time with Him, He will help us do better in school. But we should be spending time with Him simply because He deserves all the glory and honour no matter how we do in school. May it be our prayer that as exams approach that we will continue to thirst for His word, continue to praise and worship Him simply for who He is!

Worthy is the Lamb

Praise and prayer went a little differently tonight. We still had our time of praise, and we were able to share and pray for each other - but the sharing wasn't our typical 1-on-1 sharing time. Rather, we opened up the floor to the brothers and sisters in our fellowship to share about how God has been working in their lives, and also how God has been working through CCF to touch them.

Some notes from the sharings:
1.  Don't try to get your devos over quickly, so you can study; rather, get your studying over quickly so you can do your devos ~MCY
2.  Doing your devos should not be something you do grudgingly - find joy in doing devos! ~EL
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3-7) ~CP
4. Take a moment to enjoy the sunset; Give praise to our creator ~YY
(n.b. or the sunrise, for the morning folks in our midst)
5. Challenge: learn something new about God every day ~CL
6.  The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Do you have a passion to seek God, to truly want to know him?~DW
7. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3) ~RZ

What a blessing and encouragement it is to hear from our brothers and sisters! All the honour, glory and praise be to God for his work in our fellowship. Truly, he is worthy of all our praise.

Worthy is the lamb

Seated on the throne

Crown you now with many crowns

You reign victorious

High and lifted up

Jesus son of God

The darling of heaven crucified

Worthy is the lamb

Image source

Thinking about war - A reflection by Christine

When I think about war, I remember how privileged I am to be able to live in so much peace and freedom. I remember the great price that was paid for this privilege. However, these thoughts only cross my mind for a slight moment during a minute of silence. I say a short prayer in that minute thanking God for those who fought for my freedom, and then go back to my usual routine. We’re truly blessed to be a generation living in a country that is so peaceful. Sometimes I wonder what our attitude would be like if we truly realized what a BIG deal that is. I wonder how it would be like to live in places like Somalia, where civil war prevents millions of starving children from getting food. I wonder how I’d feel if my own dad was called to serve in the battle fields.

Remember

When I think about war, the image of a soldier comes to mind. He is strong and steadfast, just like Jacky Chan in “The Myth” as he fights till the very end, or Mulan’s weak dad who bravely steps forward to accept his duty when called by the king. What about King David who through faith said to Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty” (1 Samuel 17:45). Such courage, such faith!

When I think about war, I think about living in violence, fear and limited resources. It’s losing loved ones in bombings, gas attacks, gunshots, hangings, or even by poison. It’s scary to think about, so maybe that’s why we don’t often think about it. But all these things have happened. And it is still happening in many places around the world. How are you using your resources and your freedom while you still have it?

When I think about war, I think about the war within each of us. “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17).  Do you realize you’re in a battle too? You’ve been assigned an important role of picking up your cross every morning.  Use this Remembrance Day to sign a peace contract. Realize you’ve already won the war. Victory is ours in Christ. Let go of whatever sin you’ve been fighting. Don’t live chained as slaves when Christ has already set us free!

And finally, this Remembrance Day, don’t neglect our brothers and sisters who are living in a spiritual battle daily all over the world. Missionaries (the coolest soldiers I’ve ever known) are fighting against a greater power who hates them – the greatest enemy ever imaginable. Pray for those who face persecution for the kingdom of God - Spiritual Warriors who fight for the ETERNAL FREEDOM of those who do not know Christ. In many ways, prayer is not asking God to prepare us for the battle, it is the battle. So be a prayer warrior for God! God hears all of our prayers!  

Love in Christ,

Christine

P.S. Remembrance Day falls on 11/11/11 this year! How cool is that!!??

Love your brothers and sisters with your knowledge

Our reading of the Bible, our study of doctrine must fuel these two things: Our love for God, and our love for our fellow men. This is how we are conformed to the image of Christ. Our way of thinking must be transformed into serve these two purposes as well.

Here's a talk by Francis Chan on thinking hard and staying humble. If you have an hour to spare, please please listen to it. This is also my prayer, that we love each other truly as God's family. May God bless you through this message.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/think-hard-stay-humble-the-life-of-the-mind-and-the-peril-of-pride

Beggars and bread

A Christian witness is not like a rich man who has a lot of bread which he hands out to the poor beggars who have nothing. He is rather like one beggar who tells another beggar where he has found bread. - D.T. Niles

Emily's recount - Random evangelism

I went out to the evangelism event with Mr. Luda and Mr. Clarty. As we were busing to downtown Hamilton I was trying to figure out what these two brothers thought about evangelism – and whether they were scared, excited, nervous, bored, calm, etc. I knew that Luda has evangelized in the past and that it was Clarty’s first time to do “random evangelism.” I knew they were both nervous (so was I!) and excited and I was so proud that, despite our human frailties, through Christ, we are still able to live out Matthew 28:19.

Before we started walking I said a quick prayer – that God would take any fear or nervousness away from us and lead us to the right people to speak to. After walking towards the Jackson Square area, Luda spotted an elderly man waiting at the bus-stop – so we made our way over to talk to him. We approached the man and began to start up a conversation with him – Clarty stayed nearby to pray for us.

We introduced ourselves to the man (let’s call him - Phoebo) and told him that we were students from a Christian club at McMaster. We told him that, since we’re students, we’re always stuck in the McMaster bubble and we really wanted to learn more about the city of Hamilton and care for the Hamilton community in that way. As the conversation progressed, we found out that Phoebo was actually a Christian. He shared his testimony with us – he used to be an alcoholic and had other addictions and, in 1995, God set him free from all these temptations. He was able to experience the freedom of living a life for God – and God alone!  

By the end of the conversation we really wanted to pray for him. Luda and I were so thankful to have been able to meet Phoebo.  We were so encouraged by the faith that he has on our Lord Jesus Christ and, after our prayer, he encouraged us to read a passage from Philippians. He told us to read Philippians 3: 20-21 …. but here’s 17-21.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, withminds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, andfrom it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Philippians 3:17-21

Seriously, praise God! We had such a great conversation with him and concluded that both Luda and I are honoring God through our studies and he was honoring God through his business – and we encouraged him with the verse: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)

When we met up with Clarty, we filled him in on what happened in the discussion and carry on with our walk. We made our way into Jackson Square in hopes to speak to one more person before debriefing with everyone.

We made our way to the foodcourt and were able to meet a first year Nursing student from McMaster – named …“Phoebe”.  Her family is from Halifax, she was born in Newmarket and now they live in Hamilton. Praise God that she was really attentive when I was sharing the gospel with her. We discussed God’s love for us, our condition of being separated from experiencing this love and God’s solution to bridge our relationship with him. She had one question during the time that we were discussing the crucifixion of Jesus – she didn’t understand why people hated Jesus so much and why they wanted to kill him. Luda was able to answer her question. After talking for a bit, Clarty was able to share his testimony with the group. By the end of it we got to answer more of her questions and it was a really good chat.

We invited her to the fellowship and that, if she did come, she would be able to meet a lot of different students and first years in her program. Clarty reiterated that - although our club is called "Chinese Christian Fellowship" – you don’t have to be Chinese or Christian to join. 

When we asked her if there was anything that she needed prayer for, initially, she rejected our offer because she said “she didn’t deserve it”. After we reassured her of this misconception, we told her that praying is pretty much just talking to God and that God would definitely want to hear from all of us. I decided to share about what I needed prayer for – having a bigger passion to read the word – because that’s, pretty much how we can learn about our big big God . Luda (praise God!) got to share about the struggles of a Christian – loving others even when they hurt us – which I thought was super cool cause non-believers never normally get the chance to hear about some of our hardships. In the end, all three of us prayed for one another and for Phoebe and “it was good” (Genesis 1).

We were all so happy to have been able to have such good conversations that night. We praise God that we were all nervous as we were busing downtown and when we were searching for people to talk to because that only made us cling onto God all the more more.

For he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

We are simply called to be messengers of God’s great news – God’s love for each and every one of us should compel us to go out and share about him. Since, everyday we prepare ourselves to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet 3:15) let’s not only share during these big evangelism events – but make this our lifestyle! Our hobby! Our everything!

God bless!

Emily

A worshipper's heart

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need to further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' name, Amen."

- A.W. Tozer

Love you all!
- Kings

Beautiful feet - A reflection by Johnny

At CCF this past Friday, we had our first "evangelism night" of the year. Half the group stayed on campus while the other half went downtown, and for many of us, it was probably the first time evangelizing to strangers. I myself was part of the campus group, and I must say, it was quite nerve-wracking! As a froshie, the only experience I've ever had with sharing the gospel was with my high school friends, classmates, and the kids at VBS. In fact, I felt that it was easier to talk to my friends about God because I knew that THEY knew that I was a Christian. However, I think that it's definitely important to share and live out the gospel WHEREVER God puts us, whether that be in our circle of friends or in an environment of strangers. After all, look at what Paul says in Romans:  

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” -Romans 10:14-15

So, after walking to the Mac hospital, we went up to 2nd floor, where our group leader started to talk a lady sitting on a bench. Meanwhile, the rest of us sat back...waited...prayed...peeked around the corner awkwardly...waited some more...Finally, God gave some of us the courage and the "nudge" to go and talk to a young lady who had been sitting near us the entire time. I have to admit, I was pretty scared at first (for no good reason...). However, after introducing ourselves and chatting for a bit, the Spirit seemed to just take over and do away with my pointless fears of embarrassment and rejection. After speaking to her about the sin of man, justice of God, and love of God in sending His Son to take our punishment, I think I finally realized something: "Awwww yeeeaaaaah ROMANS 1:16!" (look it up! :D). There could always be a sense of fear in sharing the gospel, but if it has actually changed our lives, WHY NOT share the good news? Praise God for using us imperfect people to preach His perfect Word and wonderful news! 

I was never good at writing conclusions...so I guess I just want to leave you with a quote by one of my favourite Christian musicians:

You hold the truth that saves so run and shout it to the world

They can't believe in something they ain't never heard

Go, go, go and run with those beautiful feet

-Lecrae

~ Johnny

An eternal investment

What do we know about investing? Admittedly, I know very little on this topic, and I'm afraid that I'm not alone on this. One thing that is apparent, is that investing (of any sort) requires effort, sacrifice, and a long-term perspective, for investments to succeed. These ideas definitely translate to our spiritual investments.   

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-45

From Friday's Sermon:

Notice how the man and the merchant did not give up all they had for nothing? But they gain treasures that are worth more than everything they had. Their motivation for giving up something was so they can gain something more precious. The same thing applies to us. The gospel demands that we give up everything to follow Christ, this is not just our money we tithe on Sundays, or the time we spend serving on a worship team, but every aspect of our lives from having fun with friends to doing homework. Nothing is done for the sake of doing it, but everything becomes spiritual, and our mentality should be changed from hording and getting more and more stuff for ourselves from thinking of giving away, being a blessing to the people and community around us. Not that we are such good people that we can give away everything, but because of the belief in a perfect world that is to come, and eternal treasures that will be given to us which do not fade away.

And so, may this be our prayer:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:7-11

Prayer Walk

On Friday, October 14, God blessed us with a wonderful time on a prayer walk either on campus or downtown. Despite the rainy weather, it was a great application of 1 Timothy 2:1-4:

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

It was also a great preparation for Evangelism Night on the 28th. Please continue to pray for that night. Hopefully you will all become comfortable walking around, praying in public, approaching strangers and just being generally sketchy (but for God's glory of course!) Remember what Romans 1:16-17 says:

"16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' "

So be encouraged brothers and sisters! Be sketch for the Gospel! And remember to pray, pray, pray!!

Giving thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1

No meeting today, but have a happy thanksgiving weekend everybody!

Praise and prayer

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 
James 5:13

We definitely had both types of people at our Praise and Prayer (P&P) night on Friday. The power in praying and praising together is undeniable! As a physical manifestation of that, hearing our voices come together as a collective voice. As a spiritual manifestation... well, I can't say enough about how our God works through prayer!

Let us live this out together:
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
Psalm 104:33

Amen!

Living by Faith

In our second large group meeting, God really blessed us with a wonderful night of worship and of studying His word. A huge shout-out to Vivian Lam for opening us off with an amazing worship session! After that, we were blessed to hear Richard give another sharing about a really important theme: what it means to live by faith and how should we reflect it in our daily lives. The passage is taken from John 5:1-15.

The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath

¹After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" ⁷The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." ⁸Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
 
Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." ¹¹But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" ¹²They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" ¹³Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well!Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Once we learn to see ourselves in the place of the crippled man, we get an appreciation of how great and merciful our God is that He would send his son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, even in our pitiful, broken states. We can also learn from Jesus, who performed a miracle on the Sabbath because it gives glory to God.

Richard preaching

Afterwards, we had a chance to get into small groups to discuss the applications that we can draw from this text. A big thank you to all the DG leaders for leading your groups, but also thanks to everyone else for contributing to the discussion and for encouraging one another to dig deeper into the Word. But most importantly, all praise and honour goes to our Heavenly Father:

"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

The Servant in Battle - A prayer of by a dead puritan

"O Lord, I bless thee that the issue of

the battle between thyself and Satan has never been uncertain,

and will end in victory.

Calvary broke the dragon's head,

and I contend with a vanquished foe,

who with all his subtlety and strength has already been overcome.

When I feel the serpent at my heel may I remember him whose heel was bruised,

but who, when bruised, broke the devil's head.

My soul with inward joy extols the mighty conqueror.

Heal me of any wounds received in the great conflict;

if I have gathered defilement,

if my faith has suffered damage,
if my hope is less than bright,
if love is not fervent,
if some creature-comfort occupies my heart,
if my soul sinks under pressure of the fight.

O thou whose every promise is balm, every touch life,
draw near to thy weary warrior, refresh me, that I may rise again
to wage the strife,
and never tire until my enemy is trodden down.

Give me such fellowship with thee that I may defy Satan,
unbelief, the flesh, the world,

with delight that comes not from a creature,
and which a creature cannot mar.

Give me a draught of the eternal fountain that lieth in thy immutable,

everlasting love and decree.

Then shall my hand never weaken,
my feet never stumble,
my sword never rust, helmet never shatter,
my breastplate never fall,
as my strength rests in the power of thy might."

Motivation for holiness

Many times people have comforted each other with phrases like "God loves you!" or "Jesus died for your sins", and if you just keep looking at Christ everything will be alright. This may sound heretical, but that's not sufficient, nor is it edifying in spurring each other on to pursue holiness. It is true that God loves us, it is true that Christ died for our sins, but we need to understand how these truths of the gospel impact our lives.

For example, if someone is struggling with sexual sin, would God love you turn him/her away? Would it really motivate them to strive for holiness? No! But a warning that this path leads to corruption and destruction would.

Or what about a person who is lazy? Jesus died for his sins. So what? Will he be motivated to work with all his might? Or will he just have an excuse for his laziness? But presenting the truth in verses like Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 13:4, Matthew 25:14-30, and 1 Corinthians 15 would be motivations for him to labour.

The cross of Christ is not just about God's love, but also a fulfillment of His promises to us, His righteousness, His holiness, His glory. Brothers and sisters, do not be lazy in your thinking. Read the Bible in order to transform your minds, so that you may encourage each other to strive for holiness, Biblically.

Searching the scriptures

It's our first time this year back in MUSC 311, and after the huge turnout we had last week, we had no idea how many people to expect for CCF this week. The committee had a fun time setting up the room, please note the nicely flipped tables and the neatly tucked-in chairs (see picture below, obviously Chris was very happy with the setup).

Setting up the room (Yvonne on Left, Chris on Right)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of god within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" John 5:39-46.

Prayer

A sermon by Richard reminded us about the purposes of reading the scriptures. We shouldn't read the scriptures for just "head knowledge" of the Bible. Rather, we should read the scriptures for the witness that they bear about Jesus (v39). In doing so, our actions, our faith, and our lives will be transformed to be more Christ-centered.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Amen!
~vk

1st CCF meeting

What a turn-out for the 1st CCF meeting of the 2011-2012 year, PTL!
(We had close to 70 people show up at GH111 yesterday)

We started off by playing "Broken Television". It turns out that even though a lot of "televisions" in CCF were broken, the shows that played on these broken TVs were still quite amusing! In my opinion... the clue of "cow giving birth" takes the cake. Of course, props to everyone for their creative interpretations of each other's actions. The food was good - everyone was well fed. Afterward, there was a joyous time of musical worship, and a vision sharing/message from Richard. Fellowship time continued at Bowman, where many people learned how to play Dutch Blitz. I foresee lots of blitzing in the future...

All in all, God was gracious in blessing us with a wonderful evening together. 2011-2012 will be an exciting year, I can't wait to see what God will do through HCCF!
~vk

It's dinnertime at CCF

H C C F (courtesy of the Sterling House)

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4-8

Frosh connexion

It's almost here!!
We're really excited to see some old and new faces tomorrow :)
Click here for more details.

Update:

HCCF @ Frosh Connexn 2011

Oh, what a handsome looking bunch!

Photos by: P.Chen

Hamilton Chinese Christian Fellowship (HCCF)

YAY, HCCF has a blog now!