Abiding in the Love of God

Two weeks ago, we had a night of vision casting where our chair, Matt Ho, preached on what it means to abide in the love of God. Below is a summary of the night. 

Frosh Connexion

Hello!

If you are an upcoming Mac first year who has stumbled upon this blog or if you’re already in HCCF, we may have news for you =) 

Every year HCCF is part of an event called Frosh Connexion that is held in Toronto for all frosh who are coming to Hamilton in the new year. It’s essentially a venue where incoming first years can meet upper years from the CCF or ACF within that fellowship. There is a BBQ [free to frosh =)] as well as worship and a short sermon for all universities as a large group. That is then followed by some time for each university to meet separately. 

Honestly, it’s a really great opportunity to meet upper years as well as fellow frosh and get your questions answered if you have any. I know when I went I don’t really remember much other than the frosh leader’s awkward video but I do remember feeling assured that there was indeed a community at McMaster that I could join and grow in. So come on out =) We’d love to see you. 

Details: 

August 13th
5pm-9:30pm @ Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church

As is consistent with all modern day events, here is a Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/327007640767349/ 

- Chris Chung

Another year of endings and new beginnings

In an attempt to stay up to date, here are this year's grad videos: 

From the melodramatic frosh: 

From the eccentric sophas: 

From the musical third years (actual footage is below): 

And from the graduating group themselves: 

We hope you enjoy =)

A house cleaning

Hello!
I realize that this blog hasn't been updated in a while which is kind of a waste. 
There hasn't been a post since the committee of 2 years ago and I figured it might be a good time to restart this. 
I'm not sure who reads this blog since it's been out of commission for so long but I remember when I first started looking for a fellowship that I looked at the blog at the time and found it to be decently informative. Not to say that the updated-ness of a blog speaks any volume of the fellowship, but it's probably important to have it around. 

So stay tuned as we go through an update. We'll probably be throwing up testimonies and cool things in the upcoming weeks. 

Until then, have a good summer and continue seeking the Lord. 

- Chris Chung 

So much love!

Video from the frosh:

Dance by the sophas:

A response from the grads:

For the preachers

For those who want to preach, here are some good advice from brother Bob.

This is taken from his blog at http://bobjenningsjournal.com/2011/03/10/simple-thoughts-on-preaching/

"Bob Jennings, a novice

1. BIBLE KNOWLEDGE: Be mighty in the scriptures (Acts 18.24). Strive to know what is in each chapter, especially the New Testament.
   

2. A MAIN POINT: It is all too easy to preach without making a main point. I was admonished, “What tree are you after? Don’t just chop off branches. Get the tree chopped down.”
   

3. CLARITY: It is a tremendous virtue to be able to speak clearly, that is, with clarity of thought, as it is written, That I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak (Col. 4.4). How can the hearer be edified by an uncertain sound? (1 Cor. 14.8). Wisdom in what to say and how to say it is so desirable. The Spirit of God accompanies wisdom, as it is written, They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking (Acts 6.10).
   

4. ILLUSTRATIONS: This indeed helps to clarify the meaning. They are flowers on the table. They are windows to the building. They are pictures for the memory to take back home. Look at the Lord’s example in using parables. Hear His challenge, How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? (Mark 4.30).
   

5. SIMPLICITY: Use the text as your outline as much as possible. Go right down the flow. It a great help to the hearer to be able to feel comfortable, to feel he is getting it. The hearer wants to enjoy each word of the text.
   

6. BREVITY: It is devilish to wear down the saints (Daniel 7.25). It takes a good deal of skill to be brief and concise. It takes holiness to be brief. To the degree you know self-denial, you will be able to be brief. A proud man enjoys hearing himself (Jude 16). The insecure must talk. Yet, God can be in long sermons, Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message (Acts 15.32).
   

7. TO THE HEART: Real communication is supreme. Look everyone in the eye (Proverbs 20.8, Mark 3.5, Acts 3.4). The saints don’t want a show, they want sincerity and substance, For a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears (Act 20.31). Be more concerned about getting something in (to their hearts), than getting something out (of your mouth). Notes? Too much paper can put out the fire.
   

8. BOLDNESS: If you stand and apologize and hesitate, stay seated. Anything less than confidence, boldness, and authority is unworthy of the ministry of the word of God (Acts 4.31, 2 Corinthians 3.12, Ephesians 6.19, 1 Thessalonians 2.2). But don’t fake it. Performance is for the actors. Rash statements are marks of the insecure.
   

9. DON’T SCOLD: That is what sadly got Moses in trouble (Numbers 20.10). Trust God to get the job done. Look at souls as precious, as friends. Stephen’s face before enemies was like that of an angel (Acts 6.15). Just seek to be a servant, a helper. Sure, there is a time for anger, but alas, anger is rarely pure (Mark 3.5, James 1.20). The joy of the Lord is New Covenant ministry. As the saying goes, “A dull tour guide betrays the majesty of the mountains.”
   

10. THE POWER OF GOD: It is so different to have the Spirit’s help and liberty – utterance (Luke 4.18, Acts 4.31, 1 Corinthians 2.4). Diligence is generally involved to be ready to speak – prayed up, read up, and filled up. And do what you can do to get out of yourself when speaking. Get self to zero. Get free. Stop, pray, quit, or something. It is all an adventure."

The Vision - Kingsley's sharing

A story about the King and His glory

Close your eyes and hear this story about my King and his glory.

And when you look outside in the morning and you see the sun, it radiates beautifully and that there is none that compares to it you would think – but you are wrong, there is one. He is the s-o-n son, and his name is Jesus. In the palm of his hand he holds all the land, in the palm of his hand he holds all the water, in the palm of his hand he holds the universe such that all the universe cries with one verse, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty! There is none like you who can compare in glory.”

Let me tell you about the king and his glory - that in his hand, the palm of his hand he holds life. And at the same time, his father who also holds that same life and holds all life, held a knife and he looked to his son, just as Abraham did to his son Isaac with a knife in his hand, he was ready to take his life. And he did, this father he took his son’s life so that there would be no more strife between us and our king, us and our father, us and our brother Jesus Christ, us and the councilor of the Holy Spirit who was your seal of approval.

That Jesus Christ upon in the grace of the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit made his holy appeal before God for us that Jesus when he died for us he spread his arms as far as the east and the west, as far as the eye can see. And all that he showed us was that really all we need to do is believe. That from his nail pierced hands he bled blood that was precious, blood that belonged to the righteous lamb. And so I ask and I stood before the Lord and I was like, “God, what does this mean?”

Jesus replied, “Child have you not seen do you not hear, do you not understand that because of me -because of Jesus- because of the Father because of the Spirit”, Jesus said to me, “do you not understand that by my righteous hand  you stand? In that I will promise to let you enter this holy land.” It’s a beautiful mystery, this Gospel that we sing. And all the angels try they look at this one divine thing and they’re perplexed, they’re baffled. This is the mystery entrusted to you this is the mystery of the king and his glory, that he gave his life for us so that we can tell his story.

So now to him who sits on his throne, his saints resound with the heavenly tone, that Jesus Christ has ascended to his heavenly throne. So Christians stand, stand Christians if you are a Christian today stand. Rise to your feet and stand before the king of glory, rise to your feet.

The most terrifying truth of Scripture...

At the Faith in Focus event today, someone quoted Paul Washer from this video. Please have a listen, it is always a good reminder.

Proper soteriology and the Gospel

Proper understanding of salvation and our need for Christ is essential in this dark day and age. Satan works in ways that keeps us focused on our self, our own efforts for salvation, and on suppressing truths from God's word that are meant to wake us up and see the glory of Christ.

Being a Christian in North America is especially hard. It's like a frog being boiled to death. If you increase the temperature slowly it'll never jump out of the pot. This is what Satan does, through sneaky trends over long periods of time, he's pulling people away from Biblical truth. Just look at the postmodernism around you, everybody does whatever is right in their own eyes, there is no authority or obedience, and people wonder why life is so dark and painful, why people are so messed up. I hope that everyone in CCF will understand and know these basic truths, especially the new committee, so you can be firm in your faith, stand against the schemes and tricks of the princess and rulers of this day and age, and minster to the people effectively to the glory of God.

The new birth
In Ezekiel 11:14-21 and 36:24-27, God describes for us what happens when someone is saved. When Israel wandered in the desert, and finally settled in the promised land, most of the people utterly failed to keep God's commandments. Even after hundreds of years of patience and warning from God, the people went after other gods and lived in immorality no different than other nations. The Ezekiel passages describe the work of salvation as replacement of hearts, the old heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh, and God gives his Spirit to the people. Then they desire to obey God's law.

This can also be seen in the New Testament. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 5 that those must be born again in the spirit to inherit the kingdom, and again he says in John 14 that those who love him obeys his commandments. John also writes in 1 John 5 that those who love God obeys his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

Here we can conclude several things:

• The unsaved person will not be able to keep God's commandments, neither does he/she desire to do so
• Salvation is the work of God by changing a person's heart and giving him/her his Spirit
• This is experienced by the person through new desires and delight in obeying God's commandments

Don't let people deceive you, believing in Jesus is not just knowing doctrine and theology, if you know all the doctrine yet don't want to obey God, you need to examine your faith.

The Gospel
The Gospel is not as simple as what most tracts say. The Gospel is about Christ, and one can study and learn of the riches and glory contained within for their whole life. For the sake of keeping things short, here's a short summary of the Gospel's main components:

• Christ died for our sin
• He was buried
• He rose again the third day and was seen by many witnesses
• His kingdom has come in part and will come in full

(The first three points are from 1 Cor 15 1-11, the last point is from the Gospel of Matthew.)
The whole point of preaching the Gospel is not for people to learn some knowledge about a person named Jesus, but to offer sinners an opportunity for repentance and faith(Acts 17:30, Romans 1:16-17, 1 Cor 15:1-2). Therefore, we must understand and be convicted of sin and it's consequences, and the preciousness of the free gift of life in Christ.

Sin

Many people would define sin as missing the mark. It's true that's what the word means, but it has become a cliche. Sin is our moral, spiritual inability to obey God's commandments, therefore breaking our relationship with God. We must not simply know this, but see this in our lives.
If we examined ourselves, we would have noticed this is true, and we have all sinned. Just read Exodus 20 and Matthew 5, and ask yourself if you have truly lived up to these standards all your life. People will often think they are basically good, maybe it's true by everyone's own standards, but when measured up to God's perfect standard, nobody is good, and the consequences are very dire. Everyone is destined for eternal punishment under God's wrath.(Isaiah 66:24)
Going back to the new birth, we can say that nobody can cleanse their own sin, for salvation belongs to the Lord. So how then can people be saved? Through a response to the Gospel.

Repentance and faith

Repentance is turning away from sin and our efforts in trying to save ourselves, and faith in this sense is being assured of Christ being the only possibility for salvation. This is not just some decision a person makes, but are the outward manifestation of God's work in convicting a person of sin, renewing their heart, and giving them the Holy Spirit.

Salvation

Salvation is not just a one time repentance, but one must grow and continue in repentance and faith to be saved, one must go to Jesus daily to be washed of sin(John 13:8, 1 John 2:1-2). There are people who make shipwreck and abandon their faith. As strange as it seems, even though it is God's work of salvation, we have to persevere. This can be seen all over Jesus' parables in Matthew warning against false assurance of faith, as well as many of the New Testament's urge to persevere and work out our salvation.(1 Cor 15:2, Philippians 2:12, Heb 4, 6:1-8, 10:11-18, 12:25-29), yet the Bible also tells us that we can have confidence knowing God has saved us, and will finish his work until the end(Romans 8:37-39, Philippians 1:6). How then do we reconcile these 2 truths?

• Those who are truly saved bear good fruit
• Are we becoming more loving, peaceful, joyful, faithful, kind, virtuous, gentle, and self controlled?
• Are we using our gifts to edify the church, building people up in Christ likeness?

As we examine ourselves and see these things are true in our lives, our assurance of God working in us grows, and we grow in these things more and more, this is a cycle leading to salvation, yet when we are asked, "who has done this work?" we say, "not to us, but to him, be all the glory, honour, and power, forever and ever, amen."

"Will take verbal abuse for change"

In packing away things and preparing things for graduation and moving on to the next chapter of life; I found this article in my journal that I wrote and this I want to share with you all.

July 25, 2010

The stanger sat there with a cardboard sign labelled, "Will take verbal abuse for change". Seated on Queen street downtown Toronto, I walked past him in my own quest for a Hot Dog after a wonderful service at Grace Toronto on 41 Britain... I saw him, but paid no attention until 5 steps past him the Holy Spirit spoke to.

"Read the sign he held" said my conscience... "Will take verbal abuse for change..." after grabbing a hot dog for him (I only had enough money for one) and giving whatever change was left from the bun and dog, we went back to the stand to get some condiments, meanwhile I got to ask him why he had the sign... He says, "it gives good money and it makes people laugh." I couldn't laugh. Right after he said that the ketchup sprayed all over his freshly washed white shirt. He cursed and swore; he had done laundry that day and it would be weeks he said until the next time he could wash.

That conversation got me thinking... So this is a glimpse of the brokenness in our world. Loss of hope, taking verbal abuse for spare change. All the while we know that God offers people words of sweet comfort and love.

I wish I sat longer with the guy to get to know him more to share the beauty and majesty and abundant wealth that is to gain Christ; for nothing else matters if we have Christ. I did get to tell him that Chirst loves him and that God wants him, but in the end, he might think that it was just another foreign form of "listening to something to get change". I pray not, I hope these were not empty words.

I'm done with empty Christianity talk; all talk but no walk... It's time for people to stop receiving verbal abuse for loonies and toonies. Rather, we should give them an ear full of the glorious Gospel message - in hopes that they might receive Jesus who exceeds any number following any $ sign.

I'm done. Are you done yet?