C
CALLING
Self – Calling
Apr 24 2011 DCFC English Worship – [The Master & The Disciple] Luke 24:28-36
Sept 3-5 2011 RCCC Retreat [Renewing our first love for Christ] Renewing our vision of the Cross Luke 9:18-27
23-25 Sept 2011 ACBC Missions Conference (Mandarin) – Matt 28:18-20 The Great Commission
I remember the day I accepted Christ. I was at this IV-retreat as a freshman in college. There were only two non-Christians there and I was one of them. But after a culmination of struggling with the purpose and meaning of life and reading up and I guess God just working in my heart, I was challenged by the room-mate they gave me, if I wanted to accept Christ and I did. Incidentally, this room-mate later became my small group leader and he currently works for Coke as a Financial Controller at their Thailand office. He recently also had a set of boy-girl twins through IVF. Anyway, that morning, during the morning worship, I remembered telling God, “Why is it that these Christians around me are so emotional and they seem to feel you and experience you as if you are next to them. But I don’t feel anything. When I accepted you, I didn’t feel anything or hear anything! Nothing! Is this real? Or are they just emotionally weak?” I prayed, “Lord, let me experience you!” In the midst of the worship, I just felt this stirring in my heart and I grasp what a wretched sinner I was. Then the first tear trickled down my cheeks and then the dam broke. I told you I don’t cry well! Snoot & saliva and the guy beside me, someone I barely knew, put his arms around me and I just cried. God became real! Then the pastor spoke on John 21 and my heart was strangely warm. Perhaps that was what these disciples of Emmaus felt when Jesus spoke to them. I realized that I was like Peter in John 21 and I responded and told God that I wanted to feed his sheep. It was in that moment then I felt called to full time ministry. This is another story that perhaps I will have an opportunity to share in future. But in that moment, not only was my mind informed, but my heart was touched. Allow the message of the Cross to burn in our hearts.
CARES, OF THE WORLD
Subway in Tokyo
Date: 1/2006.101
DCFC YOC - Bible Study Training - Jan 2006
10 February 2008 DCFC English - Mark 5 21-43 ~ White Water Faith
In Tokyo and wanted to take the subway and see what the rush hour was like. Mistake!
People in uniform and white gloves. Oh! I have seen this on TV. It always looks so funny when the TV shows these people pushing the commuters into the train carriage. They push with one hand, two hands, with their backs and all sorts of ways. No matter what, by the time the train alarm for door closing goes off, they always somehow manage to fit all the people in. Then the camera would show those people in the train all crushed up, against the door, against the window - like a tin of sardines - it was really funny.
Now, here I was with my pretty wife and a busy Monday morning at 9.00 am. Somehow, it didn’t strike me that I would be one of those people whose face gets pressed up against the window. I thought I could out maneuver them. We got ourselves in a good position and when the train came, we managed to get in early. There were no sits, but we managed to settle ourselves into a comfortable corner near the other door. Mistake No. 2. Suddenly, more and more people came in and the carriage was so crowded that there was not enough standing space, yet more people came. And yet more were standing outside. I was thinking "Hey, no more space! Don't come in anymore!" Then the officers in white gloves began to do their jobs and they pushed and they pushed. Amazingly, all those people standing outside managed to get in. It was as if they were prepared for this. They just stood they like spineless leaf stalks. When those officers pushed, they just went along! I was no longer comfortable and found my back crushed against a man who was pressed against the door! And in front of me, there were 3 ladies, one right in my face, the other two on my left and right, pressing against me. I never felt so violated before.
It was terrible and I wished somehow I could get out of this, but I could not move.
Once my wife and I were in Tokyo and we wanted to try the famous rush hour squeeze. You see, we have seen the rush hour scene on the trains in many Japanese movies and wanted to experience for ourselves what it is like. During rush hour, there are so many people that the trains would be packed till the passengers are unable to board the trains. Then officers wearing white gloves would come along and push those outside the train in. Amazingly they manage to squeeze at least another 50% in. I thought it looked quite funny so we decided to try it out. We went at about 8.30 that day and there were truly a lot of people. But being a typical Singaporean, I thought, I cannot lose out to these Japanese. So skillfully, we maneuvered to the front just as the train was pulling in. When the doors opened, we rushed in but to my dismay, we were just a little too slow to find a seat. So I found a comfortable spot by one of the train metallic support and stood there. I was going to stand my ground and survive Tokyo rush hour. People started to pile in and eventually I was backed into the metal support. The train was already full, at least by my definition, but there were still many people outside. Then like in the movies, those white gloves officers came along. Everyone was ready for them except me. They just stood like flaccid leaves and with one pushed more people than I could imagine fit into the train. Almost everybody got in. I was squashed by three petite Japanese ladies up in my face, to the left and to the right. There was absolutely no concept of private space and I could identify what each lady ate for breakfast by their smell of their breath. The only part of my body I could move without being accused of molestation was my toes.
Pressures of life.
CHILDREN
Anger
Date: 4/2009.101
What so amazing about grace? Philip Yancey P120
I have a friend whose marriage has gone through tumultuous times. One night George passed a breaking point. He pounded the table and the floor. "I hate you!" he screamed at his wife. "I won't take it anymore! I've had enough! I won't go on! I won't let it happen! no! no! no!" Several months later my friend woke up in the middle of the night and heard strange sounds coming from the room where his two year old son slept. He padded down the hall, stood for a moment outside his son's door and shivers ran through his flesh. he could not draw a breath. In a soft voice, the two year old was repeating word for word with precise inflection the argument between his mother and father. "I hate you... I won't take it anymore... No! no! no!"
CHILDREN
Compassion – Joke
Date: 9/2007.101
Humor for Preaching & Teaching From Leadership Journal & Christian Reader P43
The instructor from a dog training workshop in Salt Lake City noted that a dog's disposition can be tested by the owner. If the owner will fall down and pretend to be hurt, a dog with a bad temper will tend to bite him. But a good dog will show concern and may lick the fallen owner's face. Susan Matice attended the class and then decided to test her two dogs. While eating pizza in her living room, she stood up, clutched her heart, screamed and fell to the floor. Her dogs looked at her, looked at each other and then raced to the coffee table for her pizza.
Do we evaluate our children/parents like that?
CHILDREN
Joke - Babies & Prayers
Date: 3/2007.101
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A minister friend of mine asked one of the youngsters in his primary department if they ever prayed in their home.
"Oh, yes," the child replied. "Every night. When Mommy puts me down to sleep she goes out of my room and when she has closed the door I hear her say,
"Thank God she's in bed!"
Application:
How often do we pray? Is this the only time?
Or noisy children?
CHILDREN
Prayers of fathers
Date: 3/2009.101
14 Feb 2010 DCFC English Worship - [Building a Community in Christ] Eph 1:15-23 What should I pray about?
Christian fathers need to pray for their children. When we pray for our children, we are asking God to help, guide and protect beyond our abilities to do so. All human fathers have limits. But, our Heavenly Father is not limited by any means! And when we pray to our Heavenly Father for wisdom and guidance, we are praying for the interaction the hands of our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer who is all knowing (omniscient), everywhere (omnipresent), and all-powerful (omnipotent). Only our Heavenly Father has these unlimited capacities! Therefore, when we pray to God our Heavenly Father, we are praying that He will help us. We are praying that He will help us in our helplessness and give us hope in our uncertainties in all that we do as we seek to do our part in training our children up in the ways that they are to go and grow (Proverbs 22:6). While I was working on this sermon, I looked up a prayer of General Douglas MacArthur. Listen to the wisdom and the insight of his prayer that I am going to read to you. The General's Prayer: by General Douglas MacArththur "Build me a son, oh Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. "Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee, and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. "Here let him learn to stand up to the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. "And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. "Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, `I have not lived in vain.
CHILDREN, ANSWERED PRAYER
The Candle In Rome
Date: 6/2006.101
Preaching Magazine: 6 June 2006
A husband and wife were unable to have children. After consulting everyone who would listen to their problem, they consulted their family priest. "My children," the priest began, "The Lord will listen to your prayers, and I am sure that you will be blessed with children shortly. In fact, I am planning a stay in Rome, and while I am visiting the Vatican, I will light a candle for you." "Thank you, Father, thank you!" said the couple. Before leaving, the priest turned and said, "My stay in Rome will be for quite some time-15 years. But when I return, I will be sure to pay you a visit."
And so, 15 years came and went, and the priest returned to the U.S. While resting on his porch one mid-summer morning, he remembered the promise of paying a visit that he had made 15 years ago. So he made his way to their home, and upon arriving at the residence of the couple who'd sought his council years earlier, he rang the doorbell. Sounds of crying and screaming children filled the air! Overjoyed by the thought that their prayers had been answered, he entered the house. More than a dozen children filled the house from top to bottom! In the midst of all the chaos, stood the wife.
"My dear," the priest said, "your prayers have been answered! And where is your husband? I wish to congratulate him on your miracle!"
"He just left for Rome," she said.
"Rome? Why did he go to Rome?" asked the priest.
"To blow that candle out" came the harried reply.
CHILDREN, ANSWERED PRAYER
Joke - Too Full A Quiver
Date: 6/2006.101
14 Nov 2010 DCFC English Worship – [Satisfying Life’s Desires] Ps 127 Secret of Success
1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking #656 – Joke
Back in the days when fathers waited outside for the baby to be born, there were three men waiting for the joyous news. The first was informed by the nurse that his wife had twins. He told the nurse, "Isn’t that ironic. I pitch for the Minnesota Twins."
A few minutes later the second man learned his wife had triplets. The coincidence was that he worked for 3-M.
The third man panicked and raced for the door. he was stopped and asked what happened. "I work for a 7-11 store and I'm getting out of here!"
CHILDREN, RESPONSIBILITY TO
Cultivating faith
Date: 6/2008.101
British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once had a discussion with a man who firmly believed that children should not be given formal religious instruction, but should be free to choose their own religious faith when they reached maturity. Coleridge did not disagree, but later invited the man into his somewhat neglected garden. "Do you call this a garden?" the visitor exclaimed. "There are nothing but weeds here!" "Well, you see," Coleridge replied, "I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way. I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself." Daily Walk, March 28, 1992
CHILDREN, RULES OF RAISING
Honoring the mother
Date: 5/2006.101
Susannah Wesley was married at age 19 to Samuel Wesley, a minister, and had nineteen children. Samuel was often gone for church meetings and revivals, so she assumed the primary load in raising the children. Two of her sons are well-known to us today: John and Charles Wesley. John launched the Methodist movement and Charles was a celebrated composer and hymn-writer; you would recognize some of his music like Christ the Lord is Risen Today and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.