iSWOT

i=international
SWOT = Study the Word Of Truth

So iSWOT is the international student bible study at All Soul's church which happens between 3 - 4.30pm on Sun afternoons, and which is my placement for the year whilst doing Cornhill Training Course.

There are 3 leaders, 2 guys (SE from Serbia, K from London) and myself. The other members are: JT from HongKong, J from Malaysia, M from Indonesia, S from Australia, Y from Korea, S from Romania (4 girls, 2 guys). Didn't realise that we all represent 1 country each until M noticed it when I mentioned it to her. Mostly students, with 2 who just started getting into working world. Their english standard is very good. Other iSWOT groups have students with english as second language. There are alot of students coming to London to study english, which is a surprise to me, as I thought most countries teach english locally already.

It's been good as we study the book of Philippians which is packaged as "Discipleship Explored", the second series from "Christianity Explored". All 3 leaders giving feedback to each other as we understand more about leading the group to have lives/hearts changed by God's word, relying on the Holy Spirit who works in them through the Word. To love all of them, just as God loved us by sending Jesus to die for us.

I lead 2 out of 8 studies and it's been humbling as I see my weaknesses and seek to teach faithfully and clearly with His help. Not possible by myself since nothing good can come from me. The moment I pride myself and my works, I lose my reliance on God.

Only one life...

how true!

Went to "Only One Life" annual event last night. So encouraging to see all the students in London gather together and commit their year ahead to the Lord.

Learnt lots from Rico Tice's talk on Romans 1:18-25...

Why evangelism?
Romans 1: These are the reasons...Grace, Gehenna, Glory & Godliness

Grace
1) My heart is filled with God's grace
2) I long for God's grace for my friend

- Most important, our value in Lord Jesus, not in whether people reject or accept me (Romans 5:8)
- Sinner and righteous at the same time?
- How does God feel about you? Think about it. He's delighted because it's not through my own performance, but Christ's performance.
- Is that in the center of my being?
- If you knew the way God knows all about my weaknesses, you won't ever let me do his work
- Is God's grace in the center of your being?

Gehenna
Die with sin unpaid for >> go to Gehenna
Or with sin paid for >> go to the cross

- How we relate to God matters, how we relate to each other matters, how we relate to our loved ones matters, etc
- Think about non-Christian friend

(can't remember what was the last thing I'd learnt, or maybe need to relearn...)

Courting Disaster...

You can download these notes and have a read and check up the references:
Just finished reading this book during trip to Cambridge this week. Don't think there is a book out there which puts it all together quite clearly the reasons about whether Christians and non-Christians should not date each other.

Great thing is there are 2 pages of notes to ponder and distribute to friends to have discussions with!

Met the author via my landlord and he's also an ex-Cornhill student. His sister is my school-mate currently.

Listening...

Listening to Christ (Luke 10:38-42// Jane Tooher)

Was really built up by J's talk!

She has chosen what is better: listening to Jesus
- we always say we should have listen & we weren't actually listening
- wish we didn't hear it sometimes
- consider the number of hrs divided on what we spend it on

1. Everyday we do the ordinary (v38)
- ordinary = sleep, eat, play, work >> all necessary to live out our God-given lives
- ESV: Martha welcomed Jesus into her house, but how welcoming is she? It was extraordinary...Jesus was her guest!

2. The ordinary can distract us from listening to Jesus (v40)
- Martha got distracted
- got us frustrated reading it "shouldn't Mary help Martha?"
- Martha focused on herself "do you not care....", "Tell her to help me"
- why didn't she (Martha) see it? why include this passage in Luke?
- Luke wrote it to bring certainty (1:1-4)....How does each account bring certainty to us?
Go back to Genesis: mortal, profound insecurity, many things threaten to kill the body, trying to survive (society) to find security (eat, drink, clothes, respect, relationship, etc), but all FALSE SECURITY. Security found only in Christ (Luke 10:21-24, 35-37)

3. Listening to Jesus is the priority for the Christian woman (v39, 41-42)
- Jesus came to preach Kingdom of God. How you know that's the content? see v42 something that lasts for eternity
- Martha needs to choose
- Mary chose on what's base on Kingdom of God
- Struggling with Quiet Time? Make a choice/choosing...makes us more willing! not whether we feel like having it
- Listening to Jesus is a LIFETIME. Not like choosing to listen to Jesus on day of acceptance, like listening to husband on wedding day only
- True listening = obedience

May my mind be shaped by God's word!

Do you think heaven is up in the sky somewhere?

Since young, I've always thought heaven is a place in the sky. Probably influenced by all the chinese drama serials I watched on TV, depicting how good it is for immortals living amongst the clouds. Even in Sunday school, heaven was always a place somewhere up there.

After understanding the gospel/good news later on in my life, discovered it's about my relationship with Jesus, a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus' death and resurrection.

Further reading in Revelation 21:1-4 showed what heaven is...
' Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." '

I saw a graphical illustration (see attached photo) of Revelation 21 when I was at the London Women's Convention, held at Central Hall Westminister, helping with stewarding the event. In summary, it's restoration of garden of Eden, reversing effects of sin and what it did to us. So great are God's plans!

CA who loves the sea, and who apparently body surfs, can't believe there won't be any sea. He gave insight today on how to do expository on the gospels, in-between showing us that "sea" in the bible is used to depict chaos, evil, etc. It's unlike how those who love the sea, view it. Understanding how the bible uses terms like sea, is so important. Being aware of our own backgrounds/horizons which in our tainted sinfulness, we use it to read His words. Pray that we'll always want to listen to his word, working hard at understanding it, keeping in mind our horizon and not let it determine his words for us, making it sound what we want it to be, even in our own piousness. Thankful for God's grace on us all.

burst pipe

wow! On Fri, 12 Oct, as I came back from school, the buses and vehicles were diverted and streets were extremely quiet. At first, thought maybe there was some bomb scare. Got abit cautious of my environment as I quickly tried to get home.

Nearer home, noticed some road construction with a big hole in the road. Was saying to myself, I'll be amazed if they diverted such huge load of traffic just to do road construction. Recognising that in my past experience, 3-day tube strikes do happen with inconvenience to masses of people.

I turned to the street where the shops were and noticed how muddy the roads were. Finally, upon getting home, found out from Helen & Chris that there was a burst pipe. And all that happened while I was oblivious to it...more news...

God is so amazing!

I was telling my dear school-mate from 1st year Cornhill, Northern Ireland girl, R, that I really like a song which I've been hearing at All Soul's Sunday services and at Tuesday's 5th annual evangelists conference organised by All Soul's. She managed to find it online this evening! It's by Chris Tomlin. Song title is Indescribable.

Told R that I'm going to include it in my list of songs I've chosen for my funeral. She was surprise, I think.

The content in the song makes me amazed at God!! I'll need to get the music, learn to play it on piano and teach it. There's a piano at my place, though some keys are out of tune, but can still hear the tune. Lyrics in this song makes a difference!

(15 Oct: R made my day, she passed me a copy of the music!)

do we really listen?

Do we REALLY listen/hear God's word and be doers of it? We do want to lead godly lives and please Him, don't we? But why do we hear and not repent? Are our lives changed once we're convicted by his Word? Maybe, just maybe we're not convinced and hear it only as knowledge in our minds, it doesn't affect our hearts and hence it did not energise our wills....

Principles of Expository Preaching by DJ:

Amazing stuff what I've learnt from DJ!! He's so passionate and he teaches himself God's word and prays what he learnt and taught himself into his listeners at the same! Each time he preaches, he reminds himself that it's the Holy Spirit who does the work. Such dependence on God and we very well should have such dependence since we're such failures left to ourselves.

Some points I've learnt which is mind-blowing...
- We need to be aware of the lenses we read the bible with, ie, culture/personal/tradition/people who have nurtured us/prior understanding of bible, etc
- Every translation = an interpretation
- scripture = human (individual styles/historic particularity) & divine (God's truth) = Lord Jesus (incarnation of scripture)
- It's God preaching God
- Be aware of boredom, always ending/concluding with Jesus. Not have it in a straight jacket, let it loose (this might raise some eyebrows, but I sort of know what DJ means by letting God's word be the authority amidst it all since he gave some examples from 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, 1 Peter, etc. Not sure how to explain in writing though)

EXEGESIS
* question to ask "What is he saying?", "What verses mean?", NOT "What verses mean to me/you?"
* drawing out the meaning
* development of arguments
* any parallels in other scripture? Scripture interprets scripture, ie, NT text controls OT interpretation
* discover specific/original meaning of the text
* keep reading, reading, reading! keep reading 3 months before teaching it...
(Ask God to enable us to draw out meaning of text. Holy Spirit to help us know what author is writing)
* more than just exegesis, getting connections to everyday life

EXPOSITION/HEMENEUTICS
* question to ask "Why is he saying this?"
"what objections is he dealing with?" because he writes to address it
"what arguments/evidences?"
"what is he persuading?"
* applies exegesis to current lifestyle context
* significance of text, ie, if it wasn't there, would it make a difference? What is significance of meaning? (application/implication of text)
* 1 meaning >> infinite applications
* meaning never changes
* don't think applications = commands, no grace
think implications = impact lives
* find the melodic line = theme tune
* book by book = exposition + theme tune >> teaches whole counsel of God
* (1) historical/theological context = Bible = What/Why
(2) literary context = Book = How does this fit in
* Book as a whole, look at (i) issues (ii) facts/encouragements (iii) obligations which translates to action
* truth of gospel needs to be beaten into our heards
* shock through with the gospel! will give us BIG visions & BIG hearts. if not correct, could drift back to religion (works approach), rather than on Jesus' work & ministry
* 2 ways to deny: religious, irreligious (relative, pragmatic)
* know how Bible works, ie, Romans for modernist, Galatians for post-modernist

STRUCTURE
* engaging at deep level with people. Logical on fire, not on ice. Speaking the truth in love
* failure of sermons/talks: lack of clear program, muddle in the middle, hence can't sift out what's going on
* structured talk >> [strategy] >> conveys message
* how it's made contemporary (see Paul's preaching example in Acts 17)
* preaching pastorally to Christians (see 1 Corinthians 5 which gives the issue/problem > why > what to do, showing the gospel principle > pointing to the cross > showing up the inconsistent behaviour)
* (1) Questioning & Undermining Assumptions
(2) Deconstructing arguments, stating the truth
(3) Answering objections, whether it'll hold up
* assume human heart won't want to listen, will object
* decide on central theme, ie, message of the talk, in 1 sentence / what holds it together. If can't articular, probably don't understand, so need to exegete more
* relate it to aim sentence, ie, purpose of the talk...why am I preaching this?
makes aim to be my prayer! into myself, into my talk
* construct the outline. What are the marker posts/big points/main things in the passage you want people to know
* main points > creates structure of talks
* theme sentence expresses the main points
* got the skeleton, how to put flesh?
State...have I?
Explain...have I?
Apply...have I?
* is there enough explanation?
* "so what" factor between Explain & Apply
* weakness for most evangelicals = exposition
need to get nose into passage, take me into text, finger on the text, built it into talk
* thinking yourself into the passage, present the content, anticipate objections/issues
* illustrations are mental photographs that illumines ideas of sermons/talks
* not good to rely on illustrations to keep people awake, but it should be the content to engage people
* choose your way in > INTRO (draw people in)
choose your way out > CONCLUDE
* how will it be gripping? Hey (factor), You, Look, Do
* every sermon/talk counts! get people hook into the event
* be confident, be dependent on the Lord! invite congregation in
* aim to end with application, go back to central theme, with few crisp sentences & END
* give people time to think/pray about what they've heard, to respond

NOTES
* best is with A5 paper with big fonts
* every point separated for easier referencing each time you look up and look down to your notes

God (through his Word, by his Spirit) should be the driver lest we crash if we were the driver of the text, ie, Bible in driving seat (determines how we do it). An issue/problem with evangelicals is that preacher in driving seat and bible is in passenger seat. Something to watch out in ourselves.

SUBMIT under WORD (mind to mind) >> EFFECT takes place (heart to heart)

It's more than get it right, it's to get it INTO the text!

For a 20min talk, we'll need to give 2hrs30mins for each of the above 4 sections to really have done work on it, total of 10hrs. Not too much less we spew commentary onto our listeners, but enough to work with. Want a sermon that grabs people otherwise won't nurture the congregation. Wow! Nurture! I wouldn't have thought of that all these years.

Nurturing by preacher > Bible nurtured > build church/one another up
(Takes nurture of text/God's word into our world to nurture us)

Produce gospel people (long term/strong disciples), not religious people

DJ: "Through MIND, to HEART, to activate the WILL". Such a clear understanding of his role as teacher of God's word! How could this be lost?

God's word in sermon can (1) harden or (2) soften hearts. (1) can be hardened naturally by doing nothing after hearing, no change, no penetration. Great responsibility to teach AND to hear it!
Pray: Fight against assumption of text and thinking that I know it. Need to apply my mind to God's word.