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 ¹³Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.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