camomile

is my all-time favourite tea....because I read somewhere that it relaxes and calms. And when I first drank it, I really had a good sleep!

And when my host, CH, asks if I want anything to drink as he goes and makes himself his english decaf tea, at one stage, I kept asking for camomile tea. Such that he came up with a joke dedicated to me! haha! It goes something like this...

"What do you get when you put a tea bag on a camel and it walks a mile?"

"Camomile tea!" hahahahha!!! I love my brother CH! =)

I've also been switching to crysanthemum tea and he's been twitching his brains to come up with another joke but it hasn't been as punchy as the one above...til the next original CH joke...

God's gracious work in my Cornhill school-mate Noble

See here:
http://www.transformed.org.uk/lives/noble-roberts/

Went with Noble and another Cornhill school-mate, Akshai, to the "Transformed" meeting, which was at Brixton. Brixton area at night was an eye-opener for me.

Noble's using my bible, you know!! My bible's on youtube! haha! Last minute, he borrowed it. Wise man! And he said my bible is a Cornhill bible cos it's ESV. Haha!

It was truly encouraging to see him planning to read scripture (Ephesians 2:1-10) then share his testimony. And how his aim in sharing his testimony is to share Christ. It'll be SO evident and result in people praising God for his work in us, wanting God's work in their lives as well, since the different methods in which God has caused us to turn to him in repentance will be different for everyone, and the method won't apply to everyone. BUT, sharing Christ will impact the hearers (!!)...something I learnt during mission week when I shared my testimony about how Jesus became bigger and bigger in my life, which is all of God's grace and mercy towards me. A sharing of testimony where your hearers wonder and want to know who Jesus is, and not where your hearers just go away saying "Oh, that was an amazing testimony" and that's all there is.

God knows the problem with us - it's our hearts. No matter how anyone tells me what to do and gives me instructions, if I don't want to do it, nothing can be done. Even if I do it, it may be for a little while and I stop doing it. Or I totally rebel against God. A change of heart is needed. PRAISE the Lord for Jesus!!

Jeremiah 31:33
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Belief in God versus science...

(A pic in Bournemouth when I went rockpooling with the Hawthornes. Amazing coastline! I was in awe...)

the start of my final term...studying Genesis! And here's the Genesis Controversy!

3 reasons to be concern about the debate (ie, belief in God versus science)...

1. Don't reject evolution, but argue from science point of view (ie, if you think that you evolved from an ape, then is it your mom or dad's side?)
   
   
2. Huge amount of hostility and opposition from Christians that this is key to whether you're a Christian or not BUT this is NOT the gospel
   
   
3. The lost in wonder/power/majesty of our Creator God is replaced by argumentativeness
   

Here's a good song which teacher SA played for us to listen (note the lyrics):
Song..."It all begins and ends with you (God, center of the universe)"

Verse 1
In the beginning
Before You set the world in motion
Uncreated God eternal

Radiant beauty
Infinite, the God head three in one
Perfect Father, Spirit, Savior

Chorus:
And it all begins and ends with You
It all begins and ends with You
The first the last the center of it all
And in You all things are held together
The sun the moon the stars the heavens
Creator God, the center of it all

Verse 2
All of the Universe explodes in song before designer King
Valley shaper, mountain maker
The stars sing out, they can't contain the praises of their God
Earth creator, heaven shaker

Bridge:
Beginning of it all
The reason for it all
The centre of it all

a debater worth listening to

check these out...
Jay Smith
pfanderfilms

"a love for the lost, do I have?"
all I can say is that I'm inspired and pushed to find out more...going back to the text!

I'm hoping to not go to heaven

...heaven is like a stopover, the final destination is the new heaven & new earth. Offering hope, not offering heaven. Therefore, "I'll go straight into the new creation!"....this was what we had to think through during doctrine session on Resurrection by CA. Sort of shocked our systems when he said "I'm hoping to not go to heaven". =)

It's strange, but the session confirmed some stuff I was thinking about before...about how the new heaven & new earth coming down out of heaven.

Act I (God creates it)
- there was harmony of Heaven & Earth
- God created, everything was good
- governed by human beings, delegated to Adam & Eve
- but it doesn't last long in the bible

Act II (Devil messes it up)
- schism between Heaven & Earth
- instead of harmony, separation of Heaven & Earth, everything divided
- Heaven = God's space, not location, it's above our space / distinct from our space
- Earth = our space

How do we know there's an Act III?
Not that we'll be air-lifted to heaven, but this place will be transformed, radical change.
If it's "beam me up to heaven", it'll suggests immorality & irresponsibility, because there's no need to do anything while we're here.
But, if it's a new creation, suggests more engagement, responsibility & morality, because everything done is in view / looking to new creation.

Act III (God remakes it)
- reunion of Heaven & Earth: continuity and discontinuity

1. It is the same Creation
2. Heaven and Earth are reunited at the Cross
3. It is ruled by Christ's people
4. It is purged of all rebellion
5. It is deeply transformed

"Going to heaven" avoid it >> "Going to new creation"

It's not me & my destiny, but it's all about God & his purposes & his glory

Romans 8
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Blown away...

by what was taught in the past 2 days. I'll try to give a snippet and hopefully through my limited expression and notes in point form in the english language, my dear friends at home will be able to know what I've been learning...

Titus by Stuart Allen

1Paul,

a servant of God

and an apostle of Jesus Christ,

for the sake of the faith of God’s elect

and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,

2 in hope of eternal life,

which God,

who never lies,

promised before the ages began

3and at the proper time manifested in his word

through the preaching

with which I have been entrusted

by the command of God our Savior;

- Why do you think Paul wrote such a detailed introduction to his letter to Titus? What is the main point he is making here?
- The colors match and you can see what's sandwiched stands out...
- Eternal life is at stake!
- The reason behind Paul's calling >> the future hope
- Pursuit of greater good in future, hence present denial

Tuesday Gobbets on Mark (Intro to Mark) by Robin Sydseff
- Learn Mark off by heart, know the rhythm of it, so when you're on tube/mrt, you'll be thinking/pondering over it
- The Gospel books, not just evangelistic tools for non-Christians, also written for Christians (training/discipleship)
- Challenges
(i) Familiarity, most often congregation switches off, people won't be able to tell difference between Mark & John, only that it is about Jesus, the Gospels are the least understood
(ii) Getting a line on the different Gospels - John (evangelism...signs, discourses), Luke (assurance to Theophilus, tonic to the Christian soul), Mark (Messianic secret, centurion's statement is high point "You are the Christ" 15:29, and training)
(iii) Constructing a coherent series - summary titles in bibles have no coherence to the book/rhythm
(iv) Teaching the Gospels to Christians - as well as to non-Christians
(v) Tough literary genre - parables, narratives, discourses, prophesy, miracles....need to switch gears and get the rhythm right
- 4:38 Mark's unique...disciple's fear mentioned. How many times we say "God doesn't care". Reality is sometimes that it's not calmed...got to address it
- 4:39 Jesus saying "Be still!", in Greek is term associated with exorcising, thus we see the waves in a different light, one associated with evil, since you only exorcise evil. Application: Jesus' inactivity doesn't mean he doesn't care!
- Power of nature meets power of God. Storm which could have killed them, the fishermen knew that since all experienced fishermen would have known what kind of storm they could steer away from.
- Don't forget Mark's key contribution! Get back into text!

Doctrine by Tim McMahon
Developing and Teaching Doctrine
- What's doctrine? categories, articulate, how the bits come together
- A human activity with a Divine purpose
(a) Constant reformation...never going to be able to sum up, constantly reviewing
(b) Bible vs Gospel...knowledge of Bible and knowledge of God...heart relationship base on content, can have knowledge but no heart, knowledge which affects life compared to just facts >> anyone can immediately pick out the difference
- our framework needs to be changed by the Word
- The Purpose of studying doctrine.
(a) To inform how we worship God....people's doctrine of God determines how they engage/relate to him (it), consider Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaeo-Christian
(b) To inform our understanding of Blibical texts (a recursive relationship with doctrine - one changes the other)...strangely for a person who has an abusive father, still have an innate understanding of what an unabusive father is like...all due to us being made in the image of God
(c) To inform our gospel preaching (largely doctrinal in evangelical circles recently)
(d) To inform how we live

Trinity
- The nature of God....a philosophical matter?
- Propositional statements about God...look at "God is light", you won't think much about it, but read up 1 John 1:5-7; 2:9-11; 2:18-19...."God is light" is in the relational context, fellowship, loving others
- Don't need exhaustive to have complete knowledge of God. Eg, marriage relationship, will we ever know spouse completely? No. Does it stop us from wanting to know more? No. What God has revealed enables us to have a deep, profound relationship with him.
- Teaching Trinity...recognise the limitations of models to explain Trinity, failure of physical/mathematical models but the relational model of marriage works. Pictures of liquid/ice/steam or egg/yolk/white, all fail because it's not relational. Need relational terms like marriage to describe the unity in Trinity or family terms. Eg, insult wife, husband insulted, or children praised, father is happy but is not in the limelight though he is the one who has brought them up.
Problem comes when equality comes into picture, but equality is not blibical. There's submission and authority, but people have problems with those words in the 21st century, the inadequacy of language. Read Bible, read with picture of Trinity, us being brought into the Trinity relationship which is one of joy and agreement with one another. Amazing!
- Next week is Christology, SO exciting!!!

Deuteronomy by Christopher Ash
Deuteronomy 4:21-31 why religion is wrong (why grace works)
v21 angry theme...Lord angry with Moses
v24 God is a consuming fire [good healthy jealousy, all or nothing God]
(1) consumes & burns up those not loyal to him (DANGER)
(2) if we're loyal, enemies will be consumed (SAFETY)

A. Idolatry scatters the Church (v21-28)
v25 I create the god I'm worshipping....projection of me
Theological: If 2 individuals create god, bound to be scattering, conflict, etc
B. Grace gathers the Church (or God gathers the Church by his word of grace) (v29-31)
v29 from there = place of scattering/from exile/from place where taste bitter fruit of suffering
v30 will return = repent
Theological ques: How does Moses know that some of them will repent/turn back?
Ans: because God swore the promise to Abraham so they will return. Gospel of grace Moses preached.

- land = rest
- what does it mean to "take the land"? Believe in the promise/faith. Unbelief hence didn't enter the land. We're not in the rest now.
- Deut = about faith, not legalism. Believe and hence live out your loyalty to God.

Conclusion: Post-modern doesn't care about church scattering, but mention family breakdowns, disharmony, they'll understand. And when they see changed lives, they'll be amazed.

Changed lives, changed hearts are all God's work! We couldn't do it even if we tried really hard. God's grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. Let's consider what they means in each of our lives...
Titus 2: 11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Still not snowing...

but it did frost in the early part of Dec as shown above.

There was also mist on Christmas eve, to my surprise.

Review of 1st term at Cornhill

With the 1^st years, we went through…..

2 Timothy (Christopher Ash)

Bible Basics (Stuart Allen)

session 1: The Law

session 2: The Former Prophets

session 3: The Latter Prophets

session 4: The Writings

session 5: The Gospels

session 6: The Acts and Letters

Principles of Expository Preaching (David Jackman)

What kind of book is the Bible? (Nigel Styles)

Ministry Topics: (Christopher Ash)

- Who decides what the Bible means?

- Why do Christians meet?

- What kind of leadership do churches need?

- The blessings of Expository Ministry, “The Whole Counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) Planning Bible Teaching Programmes, Study Resources for Bible Teaching, Putting the talk together, Getting the talk across

- Christmas Speaking Opportunities

Pastoral Topics: women and men in Christian service (Christopher Ash & Carrie Saddom)

Gobbet Groups: 1 Tim, Luke, Acts, Deut, Malachi (Stuart Allen)

Exodus (David Jackman)

Pastoral Topics: Thinking Blibically about Christian meetings & buildings (Mark Ashton)

Carol Services (Christopher Ash)

Pastoral Topics: Contemporary Culture ‘Where in the World Are We?’ (Mark Maynell)

With the 2^nd years, we went through….

Romans 1-5 (Christopher Ash)

Principles of Exposition – Epistles (David Jackman)

Principles of Exposition – Gospels (David Jackman)

Principles of Exposition – Prophesy (David Jackman)

Malachi (Lee Gatiss)

Revelation (John Richardson)

Women’s Stream….

Recovering Blibical womanhood (Carrie Saddom)

Godly Women, Godly Beauty, Godly Speech, Godly in Good Deeds (Caroline West)

Blibical Womanhood at Work, ‘Careering out of control’ The pressures on working women today (Carrie Saddom)

Training women to serve, Encouraging Women into ‘Full-time’ Ministry (Jane Leggett)

Women in cross cultural mission (Genevieve Jennings)

Teaching children & all ages (Caroline West)

Model Expository Talk (Jane Leggett)

Evangelism with women, Evangelism strategy and programme, Teaching Women (Lizzy Smallwood & Daphne)

Model all age talk (Caroline West)

Ministry to married women (Tricia Marnham)

Leading Bible Studies (Annabel Heywood)

God’s sovereignty when things go wrong, God’s sovereignty and human responsibility (Carrie Saddom)

Issues women face, addressing pastoral issues (Caroline West)

Ministering to Singles, Single in ministry (Jane Leggett)

How did God us these women in their situations? (Carolyn Ash)

WOW! After I’ve reviewed what I’ve learnt, it’s a lot! Some may have doubt it since it’s a non-certificated course. But a lot of my school-mates will testify that it’s a really intensive course and stress at times, as our 5min gobbet, 7min exposition & 20min talks are like our exam dates. And the preparation for each will be 2.5hrs, 3.5hrs and 10hrs respectively. And besides that, you’ll need to spread out those hours, because it’s unlikely you’ll be able to think of the big idea (ie, forming 1 sentence of 10 or less words) in a day from the passage you’re studying. You’ll need to ponder and I struggle a lot with my sin and my background spectacles I read it with, keeping in mind that there’s the impact of the letter at those ancient times, and aim to handle God’s word aright and teach it correctly, especially teaching it to myself and often my mind gets blown by the treasures found and how it all clicks together. 5min gobbet’s audience is a mix group of 12, 7min exposition’s audience is the whole class of 50, 20min talk’s audience is 3 women school-mates. Every session there’s at least 1 teacher around supervising.

I get feedback from teachers and also fellow school-mates who assess what I’ve said based on context, content and whether teaching points came from the passage. I get encouragements too to trust in the Holy Spirit to do the work in men’s hearts and just keep praying.

Aside from that, there's the weekly homework to do. For example, this morning we can be given homework to read the 10 plagues in Exodus tonight, and the next morning we have to discuss about it. Phew! Keeps you on your toes and doing the work is really beneficial, because it helps the discussions we have with each other. Of course, there'll be some of us who can't get homework done because we're busy with ministry/church matters. How good it is to be able to spur each other on and sharpen each other.

Did I mention how humble my teachers are? They are all grasping God’s grace and teach with such quiet confidence, holding out God’s word for us to understand and heed, to follow our Lord Jesus for the rest of our lives till He returns! And they allow others to challenge them, to sharpen each other and they are always learning, knowing that though they may teach currently what it means at 45 years old, God may correct them when they’re 70 years old and they’ll accept that it’ll happen, not thinking they know it all and close their ears. You can see God’s work in them, for they couldn’t be the person they are if not for God working in each of their lives, turning them from darkness into the light of the kingdom of His son.

Sure am looking forward to my 2^nd term!! There’s mission trip to get more exposure as we go away separate ways to help various churches around London. Hoping to get to know my school-mates better too. In total, we have 21 countries represented. I’m the only Singaporean. Other Asians include Koreans, China,….Pakistan and Uzbekistan aren’t Asian, right? There are 2 english girls, one can speak better mandarin than me, and another can speak fluent Japanese, and both plan to return to China & Japan to continue with their mission work which they left for awhile to be equipped for further work there. So encouraging! Praying that there’ll be more Asians equipped in wanting to handle God’s word aright.

Know that I promised some of you that I’ll update my blog with what I’ve learnt weekly (at least I thought I’ll try), but the time went by so fast, that alas, like some of you told me already, it’s good enough if I’m able to do it monthly =) Shall try updating monthly…

So precious is God's family...

just like our own family whether married or single. Singles do still have family which seems to be lost in conversations sometimes =) So nice to hear "how's your mom?".

Being in God's family, being able to pray for each other though physically distant from each other and our Almighty God hears us no matter where we are. That strangers can think of each other and ask God to protect them, to build them up in a Christ-like manner, and when we meet, we're like brothers and sisters cos we believe in Christ who saved us. This must sound strange to a non-believer. And the individual who's prayed for is supported by prayer and knows it, and strives onwards, trusting in God who gives us life and sustains us, and knows our every need and provides us with all we need, not want, according to His good purposes, working it all in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amazing how God designed our relationships!

Thank you to all who heard about my mom and prayed for her & me during this time. As her shingles attacked her brain nerves, it might be that she'll have to learn to cope with constant pain for the long term, though thankfully her sharp pains aren't happening every second. She's also thankful that God had mercy on her and she's learning to trust Him.

THANK YOU to all who helped me to look out and look after her, amidst your own family responsibilities (like coping with a 6 month old baby) or illness!! It really means alot to me! Showed me visually and practically what being in God's family means, sharing and bearing each other's burdens, going out of the way when we're able to, only because you all know how God demonstrated his love to you through Christ dying on your behalf, on the cross.

May we all consider how we live our lives daily, to number our days aright because we know what is at the end (Jesus' return!).

Pray...

for my mum. She had a fall on Sat which triggered shingles/herpes happening on her head, affecting her eyes. It's difficult for a 68 year old to go through the pain and if she contracts pneumonia during this time, it'll be really difficult. She needs all the calamine lotion (for itch) and bicarbonate soda (for bath) and food to get her through these 2 weeks. Her pain could be prolonged due to her age and her eyesight will be affected. Apparently, her falls could have been due to the virus in her as it causes imbalance, but not sure.

Know that God will take care of her better than I will. I've to learn to trust Him as she goes through her illness without me for the first time. We should really be dependent on the Lord who sustains us. Friend was saying to me recently that when we're sick, it's actually the norm base on the fallenness of this world, and when we're well, we should thank God for giving us our health. But yet, we forget our Creator God when everything is going well.

Have to keep doing His good work and prepare for my 20min practice talk on Colossians this Fri. Praying I won't be distracted and able to put down words to teach the passage correctly. Depending wholely on the Holy Spirit, doing it's work in my heart to make me Christ-like.

God's creation power...

...amazing stuff!

Evangelism topic was mentioned at student event "Only One Life" at All Soul's and also the CTC's women's stream "Evangelism with Women" session, and both brought to mind 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.

6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

What struck me is verse 6...God's creation power in Genesis 1:3 converted us, made our blind eyes see! Not our own claims of exercising our belief, but God's work totally. Left to ourselves, we will never want to believe, which some will debate that there is good in us such that we'll want to believe, but there isn't. All our being rejects God. If it wasn't his work to open our eyes & minds to see Jesus, we'll never be saved. Amazing stuff! Mind blowing!

Sunrise - a rough illustration of what the word "glory" means. Something I'd asked DJ about what picture would give a similiar idea of the blibical word "glory". He said sunrise would be good. My original amateur picture was crown jewels covered then unveiled. Sunrise is much better! Light shining out of darkness.

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.

rebuked...

Wow! Ke-nah rebuked today by placement supervisor in a loving manner today, considering I wasn't put on a guilt trip for forgetting our first appointment and had to re-schedule to today's time.

Scripture below was brought up as a reminder (which I need to read again to double-check what it meant and whether it really meant what she had said). In addition, she mentioned if I'd paid for the course and during the course since I do practice talks, I should try it out in real life, otherwise what is the use of doing the course?

I was apprehensive and wanted to think about it for awhile, since it came as a surprise and I wasn't expecting any opportunity here until I had finished the course, and I wanted some feedback at least before I did it for real. It's really daunting when I did it last year in GB and once at children's church with some friends giving me feedback on what I need to improve on.

Supervisor was gracious enough to let me give talks in Term 2, after i've received feedback at my course. Will have a chance at 8am communion service (which has few people and usually, a non-christian/traditional crowd), and also once at int'l students' social night on a Friday. Both should be 5 minute talks, but basically evangelistic.

Amazed at how God provided this chance and a supervisor who's pushing me abit more which she said plainly. Quite intrigued how christian brothers & sisters here trust in Him, willing to trust PT in their acceptance of me and hence helping me progress in my decision making in ministry. Though I would not have a bigger crowd to speak to, if it was me as church staff, I would choose to control it abit more and assess the person before offering the opportunities at church. Thinking of why I would choose to do so compared to how my brothers & sisters here make choices. Have we been too controlling and not trust God? Even if wrong decisions are made, Christ is preached, that's what matters, right? Did we not put others first above ourselves when we manage an apprentice? Not being able to draft out the progression for them and their needs, then see how church work and opportunities can be made available for them to work at and then review thereafter? Instead we're concern about the daily operations and lay on the apprentices the work as an after thought or it just needs to be done? I wonder....good to think through and especially for me to check myself and my motives!

Matthew 25: 14 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' 21His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' 22And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' 23His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' 24He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'