Go out and participate; use our time wisely for we are debtors to the Gospel, Rom 1:14.

Ps Ronny Heyboer spoke to us from Rom 1 on serving God with passion.

What a testimony of God’s grace reaching out to the interior of Borneo!

God called him and family to serve in West Kalimantan. Their main work is church planting, raising up leaders, reaching and teaching children, and giving practical assistance wherever possible. The centre now has about 500 children, mainly from the Dayak tribe.

Six of us made an awareness trip to Living Waters Village in 2009. This year, by God’s grace we are hoping to have a team on a short mission trip to LWV. You can know more at http://www.heyboer.org

How does one interpret the Bible? Is there a simple model to guide us?

Where do we start? Is the historical background, culture and context important? Please comment.

How do we nurture ourselves, others and grow?

Hi Everyone!

Do share your comments and experiences in knowing Jesus – through nature, His Word, guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Some Christians are annoyed when they see Xmas. Others use Xmas frequently. What does Xmas or Christmas mean?

‘Xmas’ is a really a common abbreviation of the word ‘Christmas’. In Greek, the first letter for Christ (X Chi) looks like the letter ‘X’. the ‘_mas’ part is from the Latin derived Old English word for ‘Mass’.

Christians should not mistake that Xmas is a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’. Rather Xmas was an abbreviation adopted centuries ago.

About 200o years ago Christ took upon the likeness of human flesh and blood. The Creator became a little child born of the virgin Mary. In Bethlehem, shepherds and angles witnessed His first appearance into the human world.

Jesus Christ was the Word of god. He is the Creator who made the heavens and the earth. So Christ is the reason for Christians’ optimism in the face of the hardness of work and weariness of life. Christmas is the season for sharing the joy and ‘glad tidings’ that the birth of Jesus brings.

What did Christ come to do?

He came to die on the cross. The cross means sin is crossed out by Christ on the cross. Christ died on the cross so that all who believe might die to the old nature. By dying daily tot he old nature and by taking the cross daily, believers will learn to live and love in the newness of the life in Christ as His disciples.

(adapted from article in Newsline 25 Dec 2011 by Yuen Soo)

A great song describing the important message of Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1SaPx4JjiA&feature=share

We are joining our hearts in prayer for the missing Singaporean in Greece,  Kouk Leong Jin (cousin of my current student) to be found. 

As far as possible when I’m not teaching the early time slots, I like to be down at the pond, reading, reflecting, connecting. This morning, a Korean who had just started work in Singapore, asked if she could join me. I’d wanted to do my marking but a ‘small voice’ spoke to me to say ‘yes’. We chatted.

Alison,  a Korean married a researcher (Professor on cancer) and had been living in Washington DC for 17 years. She has recently come to work in Singapore while her husband is in the US.  She mentioned several times that she did not have a Singaporean friend and wanted one.

Alison speaks Korean, Japanese and English well and is in between jobs here. She has not been to church though she shared that her mum (in Korea) has been asking her to do so. We connected well…a start? Praying..

Today, we looked at Acts 17 – how Paul uses reasoning, explaining, proving, proclaiming in sharing Christ. We were reminded of how an ordinary visit to the Eye clinic at Changi Hospital became an extraordinary event. It was my second visit to the Eye clinic (for floaters); met PJ. We then had lunch where PJ bumped into Lynn, a stranger.

We sat at the same table and chatted. PJ -= Poor joker, so he said. Then, it became Please joke. As we chatted, Lynn said that she is interested in knowing more about God and Jesus. We talked for a while and I said, PJ is Praise Jesus. Lynn said she liked that.

Then, it happened. What is the most important thing in life? We said it is having a relationship with Jesus. There, at the atrium of the hospital, outside the Eye clinic, Lynn gave her life to Christ. It happened so fast! Many have sown the seed and that day, Lynn was ready to give her life to Jesus. Praise Jesus indeed!

A prayer on Work

Firstly, thank you, God, for giving us life and work, that you have called us to serve and to do ‘creative work’. What is work?  A helpful Christian definition of work is ‘the expenditure of energy (manual or mental or both) in the service of others, which brings fulfillment to the worker, benefit to the community and glory to God’ (Stott 1984:162).

By this definition, among others, homemakers, students, church workers, volunteers cleaning up the streets or cooking meals, are working. Workincludes supplying the needs of others (Eph 4:28). It is that which glorifies God and serves our neighbours. It is where Christians can be seen living out their faith. As stated by Paul Stevens, the believer’s work is to participate in God’s work through faith (2000: 116).

Secondly, thank you for showing us a clear example on the way you work. In contrast to the gods who slept while their human slaves laboured, you have shown that the God of the Bible is a worker. While we sleep, you are at work: ‘He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep’ (Psalms 121:4). Jesus says, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working’ (John 5:17).

There is a link between God’s work (of creator, redeemer, sustainer, and consummator) and how work in the world can be placed in the various categories.

GOD THE WORKER

CREATOR                                                     SUSTAINER

Art, Business, Music,                                   Homemaking, Service roles,

Entrepreneur, IT                                          Organisational work, Politics

REDEEMER                                                 CONSUMMATOR

Medicine, Law, Pastoring,                        Journalism, Media, Parenting,

Counselling, Technicians                          Pastoring, Education

We see in the Bible that God’s work includes being a builder (Proverbs 8:27-31), a homemaker (Luke 15:8), a healer (Mark 2:12, 17) and a teacher (Matt 7:28-29). Someone doing her work as a clerk is perhaps doing the work of a sustainer while another as trainer or lecturer is in education and could be put in the work of consummator. The question we need to ask ourselves is: In what specific ways are we doing ‘The Lord’s work’?

Help us then, O God, to work for you (you are our boss), work with you (in co-creating with you) and work in you (in communion with Jesus), and to do work more in the spirit of service.

Dr Ler Soon Lay

(Stott, J. Issues facing Christians today 1984; Stevens, P. The other six days, 2000)

Thursday 19 May: Inter-class debate (Intensive English class). The students prepared hard and we enjoyed the debate. Early morning, I put a nicely wrapped Bible in my bag – not sure why. Perhaps, it was an overflow of Walk4Bibles on 17 May.

I was tired after 6 hours of English and just wanted to go home. However, 5 minutes before the end of the class, I felt led to give a prize to the best speaker of the debate (no official prize for best speaker, only best team). I gave her the Bible and asked if it is all right. She said, ‘I was looking for a Bible! My room-mates and I were thinking of reading the Bible but we didn’t have one.’ Her joy was palpable! Tears of joy welled up in me too. She held the Bible as if it was something very precious and flipped it open.

‘Oh  God, you used a small ordinary event for your purposes. I just need to obey your prompting and not be afraid. Thank you. May your Word not return to you, void, dear Lord..’

It’s been really tough with loads of work, illness, responsibilities etc. Then, in response to emails on things to be done and my sharing on what we were going through, someone responded with words of encouragement (quote):

I was ‘moved’ by your sharing, brief but so much impact. It is like what you shared in the council meetings, the blogging ministry, sharing a little as we move along, so that we can be mindful of one another, and to always be in prayers.

Thanks, brother Eddy, for the ‘soft’ touch, despite the amount of work. Praise God!

“Mercy is not giving us what we deserve; grace is giving us what we do not deserve.”

Sometimes… More often than not, we credit ourselves for good results, good outcomes, promotions, etc. We’re convinced that it’s by our hard work, by our intelligence, by our skills, that we’ve made these achievements. We fail to realise that all good things come from God. And that hard work is not always the key to excellent results, if that isn’t what God wants to give us.

I think I can readily credit my A level results to God, because I know I truly don’t deserve such grades. If you knew just how everything went – from the procrastination to study, to the hours spent on the laptop, to the tough papers and the flu I got during one of the toughest papers – you’d know I meant it when I said I won’t do well for A’s. I don’t understand how I did it either, because I believe the truth is that I didn’t do it, but God did. And I don’t know why He did it, since I don’t deserve it. I think the only explanation is that God is full of grace 🙂

Your comments are welcome!

For posting questions and answers relating to our faith and practice in the marketplace.

Q1: Is going to a club wrong?

We discussed this in one of our ABC sessions with Watson. What are your views?

 

“Our work attitude is a reflection of our faith”

Whether we are homemakers, students, NS men, Christian workers, employees, employers, etc, let us cultivate a Christ-centred work attitude.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Here, let us encourage one another by sharing how God has enabled us to follow Christ’s example, particularly in our work attitude.

 

Here is where we can add the names of our family and friends for prayer.

Wanying, Xintong, Stacey, Qingyao, Wancheng – scholars from China in Sec. 4 now at Dunman Sec School. They came to Bethesda Chapel in Dec. 2009.

 

BC rooftop

 

Joy in being together!

Yesterday, 3 students from class in NUS asked: What is the difference between Muslims and Christians? I sense their sincerity in wanting to know the answer. Please help!

Q1: Is going to a club wrong?