Praying in the Holy Spirit

Jude 20 - "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit."

During a recent youth service, we had a survey and found out that quite a number of youths pray less than 5 minutes a day.

Although we may have the Holy Spirit, but a lot of times we still find ourselves struggling to overcome our lusts and desires.

Rom 8:26 tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses by interceding for us in our prayer.

It is through prayers that we use the Holy Spirit, our Counselor, to guide us and help us to submit to God's will. What good is a counselor if we don't spend time to seek for His advice? It is just like having a car but you rather leave the car at home and walk to your destination.

The Holy Spirit can help us, only if we have the heart to spend more time in prayers.

Try to improve in your prayer times gradually and give the Holy Spirit a chance to help you.

Life Goes Green (25-26 Oct)

Registration fee including transport and meal for working youth is RM 30. Non working youth RM 15. All youths are invited.

Most painful moment

1. Have you wonder, when we are painful, what is our reaction?


2. What if we are at the most painful moment, what are we screaming at?


3. Most of us, including me, I will shout, Oh no, why me? or we would start cursing this and that or blaming who and whatever.


4. What would you think of Jesus reaction, when Jesus was at his most painful moment?
5. Watch this tube, Can you tell me the answer?

Bandung Fever Hits PJ

3rd Oct Friday was the start of a memorable occasion. In the morning 18 youths from the Nafiri Choir in Bandung church arrived at PJ church...oh and along with 3 adorable children. They were greeted eagerly by youths in PJ who were still on Hari Raya holiday.

After an icebreaking session, prayer and brief introduction of our GA office next door, we set out to Times Square in 2 vans and 2 cars.

All of us had lunch at the food court, and then we split up, with each group having a few youths from pj to serve as guides.

Besides walking around Times Square, we also took a walk to Sungei Wang. Somehow our chocolates are very popular with the Bandung members. I feel so proud of Malaysian chocolates!

It started to rain when we were walking back to our transport, so we took them for a feel of malaysian rain as well. Luckily no one was sick, or none that I know of :)

Unfortunately I didn't tag along during the evening journey, but heard everyone had a very sumptious dinner courtesy of Gombak members. They also had night service at Gombak and took a tour of KLCC. Maybe others who went along got something to add??

Sumptious Dinner Courtesy of Gombak

4th Oct Sat morning, the Bandung members visited Subang and Cheras church. Too bad I wasn't there as well.

We had afternoon Sabbath service together at PJ church. There was also an impromptu fellowship session where we get to hear singing from the Nafiri choir and our ownselves.

On Saturday night, we have a choir fellowship with the Central region churches, together with Hosanna and Nafiri Choir at Klang church. It was really packed and we get to meet with our friends from other churches and share hymns of praise to God.

PJ and Nafiri Choir Group Photo

In Front of Klang Church

On 5th Oct Sun, we had breakfast at a member's restaurant. There we get to taste all kinds of food like curry laksa, pan mee, wan tan mee and bak kut teh mee.

Breakfast

Later on, we went to Petaling Street and Central Market for them to buy souvenirs and have a local "feel". Our last stop was to Kajang church where we had a short fellowship with the youths there.

The trip to the airport was rather hectic but memorable in a weird way. We actually reached there 20 mins before the flight departure. It was really a mad scramble not only for the Indonesians but for us as well who helped them with the luggage and check in. Thank God that through His guidance, the Bandung members were still allowed to board the plane!!

As we stood at the glass to wave goodbye to each Bandung member, I felt sad that we may never see our newfound friends for a long time, but glad that God's love has called us together even though we are from different countries.

Till we meet again...

Farewell....

Instrumental Christian Music available!

I have about 1.1 GB of instrumental Christian music which I would like to share with everyone, feel free to ask them from me anytime. A majority of them are quite soothing and relaxing (like angels playing the harp and streams of music), the others are more majestic, grand. Just like the pop songs we choose to suit our moods, these music can also be played according to our tastes =)

Malacca Outing

On 30-31 August 22 youths (11 bros and 11 sisters) went down to malacca for outing. Special thanks to Sis Lye Lin for her willingness to be our tour guide.

On arrival, we went for sabbath service and youth service at Malacca church.

At night, the malacca youths brought us to a food court for dinner. Then, our tour guide brought us around malacca town to view the old old buildings, it's just like entering into a different era. Then, we went walking around jonker street..where we get to find lots of people, taste delicious food, buy souvenirs and antique stuff or see and explore old old buildings. It's really amazing to see the existence of chinese associations teaching traditional dances or singing old hokkien tunes with its doors wide open to the streets, and you can just walk right in.

Right before the stroke of midnight, we managed to gather ourselves at Dataran Pahlawan for the supposedly countdown to national day. Unfortunately, there was lots of people but nothing happened and we could only see fireworks coming from a distant place. Nevertheless, it was fun just hanging around at the field, taking pics and celebrating one of the sister's bday, which happened to fall on national day as well.

Merdeka Countdown at Dataran Pahlawan

Thanks to the kind hospitality of malacca members, we managed to stay overnight in church.

On Sunday, we joined in the morning prayer with malacca members before proceeding to taste the famous chicken rice ball at jonker street. At the town square, we get to admire the buildings steep in history, explore the old Christ church, stadhuys town hall, and take a short hike up St Paul's hill to view the ruins of St Paul's church. Over there, we get to see old gravestones and enjoy a breathtaking view of malacca right up to the sea while enjoying the cool breeze.

At Merdeka Town Square

Near the A'Famosa entrance

There were many museums around malacca but we didnt have time to explore any. I can't help but feel a tiny interest in history after experiencing it by myself.

When the sun gets hotter, we went to the Mahkota Parade shopping centre - finally, a not so old looking place! There, we rested and enjoyed the baskin robbins ice cream at a discount price.

Before returning to PJ, we visited a centre which sold dodol kuihs and other products made from durian, honey etc. We also tasted the famous satay celup before returning home.

Thank God for a wonderful trip and i am sure all of us enjoyed it very much.

It was hot, but the trip was worth it

Bench Painting & Updates

Around 3 weeks have passed since our bench painting project. So here are some sweet/sweaty moments caught on camera:

Disassembling the benches

Painting the boards

Scraping the old paint

Painting the benches

Still painting the benches

Getting thirsty


Cleaning ourselves and resting

Thank God that all of us were able to work together to complete the task.

There was some worrying moments when we just started painting the benches at the open space carpark. The morning sky was very cloudy and it seems like heavy rain will fall any moment. Faithfully we still stuck to our task of painting. Through God's grace and guidance, the cloudy sky broke into a hot sunny afternoon just fit for the benches to dry.

Thank God the rain never came or all our paint and efforts would be wasted. The weather was perfect in the end, a cloudy morning that we wont feel too hot when doing the painting, and hot in the afternoon for the benches to dry easily.

I felt really comforted thinking about how our Almighty God looks after us even in these trivial matters. All glory and praise be to the name of Jesus.

17/8/08

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Pr Hosea touched on the Holy Communion during our Youth Service. There were many views in the Christian world on whether the bread and cup is physically or symbolically the body and blood of Jesus. Our church preaches that when we bless the bread and cup, the bread and cup is still physical in substance, but spiritually the body and blood of Jesus (Jn 6:51-54,63).

During choir session, our choirmaster invited everyone to sing a set of notes to determine which of the 4 parts we are in. Once we are in groups, we tried harmonizing with our own group, followed by the whole choir. Lastly, we practised singing hymn 136 and 1 together in 4 parts.

Dinner was specially prepared out of love by our Bro Sam and Sis Alyssa. Menu: Chicken, Taufoo and something delicious that looks like meatballs.

Build Up Your Walls!!

"Like a city whose walls are broken down, is a man who lacks self control" (NIV)

"Whoever has no rule over his own spirit, is like a city broken down, without walls" (NKJV) - Prov 25:28

When i read about this verse, i immediately thought about the "Lord of the Rings" movie. In this movie, the good people are defending their castle Helm's Deep from the enemies. They pride themselves that Helm's Deep has never fallen into enemy hands, yet during a scene of the movie, the enemies planted a bomb at a weak part of the castle walls and blown the walls apart, which allowed the enemies to pour into the castle.

This verse serves as a great reminder to us as youths to always be on alert. Our spiritual walls are our defense against the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion, looking to attack at the first sign of a hole in our wall (1 Pet 5:8).

As youths of today, we have many temptations that can let our guard down. We spend too much time on games, internet, watching tv that sometimes we forget to guard our own spirit through prayers and meditating on God's word.

Having lose our self control, we open up our weakness to our enemy, just like a castle whose walls are torn apart, at the mercy of our relentless enemy.

It is still not too late to realise our own weakness and spend effort to rebuild, strengthen and fortify our spiritual walls. Then, the life of God will glow within our hearts, safely secured within our walls, where no enemy can snatch it away (Prov 4:23).

Can your walls withstand the enemy's attacks?

IYSSM

Recently i attended Intermediate Youths Spiritual Meeting at Port Dickson..there are around 60 students n assisted by Pr.Habakkuk n Tr.Pr.Chee Kin n oso around 10 counsellers...thank God tat everything runs smoothly n this year the students are quite obedient n gud behaviour bsides "fishing in class" n tats normal...n bcoz of tis v,as counsellors are a bit more relax..but still lack of sleeping time...but overall they are quite gud..

Thank God that they know the importance of marriage in the Lord juz like wat v r doin as survey now in our blogspot...bcoz there is quite a few sessions bout this topic..n for my counselling group(contain 7 chi speaking bros),whn v talk bout this they are quite interesting n from their conversation i think they really und n knew the importance of marriage in the Lord but they are quite frank oso,they tell me these topics consider puppy love juz go in from left ear n ll come out from right ear de wo...coz is juz like a circle,speaker gone thru this stage n grown up thn teach them,they listen but oso go for puppy love thn when they grow up they teach little kids in future...i really dun know how to response lo..lolzz...but juz tell them to keep themselves in the Lord n bcarefull...but they tell me they know they shuld marry in the Lord..hopefully they really remember this owaz...

Im really touch tat i see growth in students,i've been with them for few years especially the 3rd year students,from a naughty bro slowly mature n bcome a very talented bro..i saw a lot of them are getting more n more mature..but of coz the spiritual side cant know much,only they know are they doin their spiritual nurture or not,hopefully yes..church needs them to continue progress...but frankly,i oso worried for thm as they r stepping into colledge life n lots of decisions need to make,may God bless them n hold their hands n guide their path..n here,hope that everyone of u remember these youths in ur prayer..they r the future pillars of church n as v know so many of our youths are falling once they step out to colledge life n to the society so plz pray for them...

Bout our outing...wow !! is so fun n so exciting,v went to a outdoor training camp at Pasir Padang i think...students are to choose between flying fox,abselling,or obstacles thn all compulsory participate in rafting..v had a very gud time there,even the counsellors..time flies,few hours juz pass thru like tis...very tiring but enjoyable..especially rafting,the students are required to build a 'boat' thn push to sea n raft to a distance to get the flag n come back,untie the 'boat' n put those bamboo back n clean all the things oly consider win...students are devided to 2 groups,v can clearly see the leadership of few bro n sis n they work tog to win..thank God that everyone safely finish the game..sea is quite deep actually...thank God..

Lastly,thank God for giving me this chance to participate in this divine work,being a counsellor quite tiring but oso lots of things to learn..i learn a lot in the pass few camps i attended,thank God..(reminder:is God grace that v can served Him,not that v r gud that v serve Him..n is v need blessings from the divine work v participate,not the divine work need us..)

For mutual encouragement,our aim or goal shuld be surely be 2 Timothy 4:7-8,hopefully v all ll be able to reach this goal,spiritual nurture more,youths !!

Flying Fox ...

Abselling ...

Rafting...

A Beautiful Place in Heaven

Last Saturday night, the youths had an outing to a hill somewhere in Ampang.

After getting lost for awhile and making some U-turns, we reached the place. It's a nice and cosy place where you have to park at the foothill and take a cooling walk up where there are many nice restaurants on top.

On reaching the hilltop, we take another tiring climb up the viewing platform. There we get to enjoy the nightview of of our beloved KL city. We spent around an hour just taking pics and enjoying the view and cooling breeze.

The view also reminds me of Jesus's temptation where he is taken to very high mountain to be shown the splendor of the kingdoms of the world. Even though the world is beautiful, but nothing can be compared with the beauty and splendor of our future kingdom in heaven.

After thinking about this, i felt really comforted because anything in this world, the problems, pains, and sorrows we face, are just minor obstacles in our pathway to heaven.

Looking forward to meet with all of you in heaven when this journey ends... where i will no longer need to spend time to take photos or worry about the camera battery life because i can enjoy the view with my own eyes for as long as i want....

A more beautiful city awaits us in heaven...

BTW....what is the place that we went called? :)

Hope in the Lord

Recently, me and my colleagues had a conversation on injuries suffered from carrying heavy things.

I learned about a colleague's friend who was working as a steward. He dislocated his shoulder while carrying the tray where they normally push around the aisle to serve the food during flight. There was a surgery to correct the dislocated shoulder but something went wrong and he passed away during the surgery.

There was also another guy who was carrying heavy things and injured his spine in the process. Now, he can't stand too long or sit too long because it will hurt if he does either action for too long.

After the conversation, I am really glad amd thankful that God has given me a healthy body so far.

As youths we tend to boast about our strength or the time we have. However, like the two examples above, all these can be taken away from us in a second. We never know what will happen to us the next day when we wake up or go to work.

Our only true source of hope and strength comes from the Lord.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:30-31

Patriotic act

Even wondered why teachers really bothered teaching us History during our younger time? Seriously... it's bothering me so much that I can't sleep.. So I'll just tell it to everyone here.

History. His + story = History. So everyone has their own story. Their own unique story on their voyage on this vast land. So in Malaysia, I so remember being forced to memorize things that I can't even recall at all now. All about Malaysia... I guess that sums up everything.. Rather. that's the only thing I can say. Irony.

Actually... What do they really want to teach us? Is it really all about memorizing useless facts of OTHERS life? Or what? Are we that pathetic and hypocritic till expecting generations to memorize their " DUMMIES SURVIVAL GUIDE ON EARTH"?

This subject is more than a mere survival guide. It teaches us to make our last struggle. A struggle for ourselves. Towards victory . Self struggling can be expressed in many ways. ... Patriotic... Self defence... Selfish. In the end, it's all about survival of the fittest - Charles Darwin.

I'm doing my last struggle too.. Like a bird shot by the wing trying to fly. Or like a javelin thrower trying to blow the javelin so that it reaches further. Although it's useless.. well that's me for today.

Complaint AND Complement

I have heard lots of complaints. In house, office, church, yap cha, wherever, whoever.

I like to complain too. About my house, office work, church activities, this or that, wherever, whoever, whatever, however, etc

Thank God, I am now learning now to complement. What is complement? According to Oxford dictionary – thing that goes well or suitably with something else, or makes it complete)

Remember, no one is perfect, I always tell myself. We are here to complement and being complemented. (If we are perfect, we are probably now at heaven). If things are done half way, let me finish it. In stead of *&*)(*&^%%$#@!.

Then,

REMEMBER, MINIMISE COMPLAINT AND MAXIMISE COMPLEMENT. OR STOP COMPLAINING.

Prayer Request4ME !!

Dear Bro N Sis,

Please remember me in your prayer if u can coz my future is quite blurred...i still didnt know wat is ahead...as u all know im planning to study education but the course is not available for every year..but if this year i couldnt get this course i might need to go for private colledge n scared of being posted here n there..im quite worried about this for quite quite sume time...i think i really need ur interceding..hope that God will open a way for me...thanks n may God bless u...haha..btw,please pray for youth group coz youth group muz be strengthen oly v can help the church to grow..GAMBATEH for all youths !!! do as much as we can to serve God n start doin asap....

Easy Way to Remember 10 Basic Doctrines

Do you know our 10 basic doctrines? Don’t be surprise some of us do not know or we miss out one or two.

Holy Bible: Word of God
Jesus Christ: Lord and Savior
Salvation: Gift of Grace
Baptism: Cleansing of Sins
Foot-washing: Having A Part with the Lord
Holy Spirit: Helper and Counselor
Holy Communion: Remembrance of the Lord
Sabbath Day: Holy Day of Rest
Church: Body of Christ
Coming of Christ: Judgment Day

How to memorize?

· We hold bible
· Bible tells about Jesus
· He gives Salvation
· How he gives salvation?
· Receive Baptism, Footwashing, Holy Spirit, Holy communion, Sabbath day and go to church
· And we wait for the second coming of Christ


Contributed by Chun Wee

Fellowship during Youth Spiritual Nurture =)

hm... since no1 write about Youth Spiritual Nurture, maybe i shall =)
it was frm the night of 11th till evening of 13th...

junie, florence n i are the organizers of both the fellowships, so i will talk about the fellowships..

1st nite was hymnal fellowship - fellowship through hymnal... it is an activity adapted during Sabah Youth Fellowship... basically just divide every1 into groups, pick a hymn for them, and ask them to act out.. duno why, no1 except the organizers were excited about this activity... bt anyway, i liked the way the 1st group use their instruments in acting the hymn, i think they just used bowls and pamphlets, even florence also praised their rhythm =) the second group's hymn was very cute especially the "pair" part =) n the third group arh, maybe bcuz their rehearsal was most exposed to us, i felt that they were very funny.. at 1st they reli had no idea about what to act out, bt the process and result after dat was very nice =p

skip second days class... we come to dinner time... before this leh, we very "fan nao" about our venue for the second evening's fellowship... eventually the problem was solved la.. thank God for it =) the games during the second evening were also adapted frm Sabah Youth Fellowship^^

hm... started by junie n i stretching the raffia across the main hall dining area.. thx to bro. raymond n shun tao, n whoever else for helping out =) it was fun to see every1's different response when they came across that area.. a lot started guessing our games edi.. some even proposed nt bad ideas such as blindfolding, too bad we couldn't find clothes... =p in the end we juz told every1 dat sisters were to walk over, while brothers were to crawl under... XD

there was a total of four games during the fellowship, actually got 5, but we scared nt enuf time, so combined the "leg race" n "going to church" game.. all these games have respective teachings bt we failed to tell every1 after the game dat nite.. T.T so maybe i will sambil talk about the games, sambil talk about the small small teachings behind each game here =)

the 1st game was "icebreaking", held at the dark dark carpark =p we kinda modified it so that it will be easier for brothers and sisters to untangle.. walauweh, din think u guys will solve it in less than 2 minutes.. also duno why the 2nd group will come out 2 circles de... bt nvm cz the main purpose of this game was to try to get every1 to understand that cooperation is highly required when playing every game, n dat every1 has a role to play, as simple as dat =)

the next game was "going to church" game.. brothers n sisters were to pair up n "go to church" with 3 legs n hands only.. in the process, they had to take bible, hymn book and umbrella.. after dat they had to "come back", putting back the umbrella, bible and hymn book... this 1 very funny, especially when see brothers holding pink umbrella XD mm... dis game was also very exciting, i guess, bcuz of the obstacles... the obstacles, as well as being 3-legged and handed, tells us that going to church isn't always a very smooth process, so we have to help each other and rely on 1 another =)

the nxt game is "treasure hunt" lo.. altogether gt 24 items i think.. every1 started to borrow here borrow there.. funny scene too XD anyway, was kinda strict when marking the list, especially the roman watch, hair and SWEET(no 's').. keke, sorry ppl~ =p last time they also treat us like dat... dis game leh, teaches us that when doing things such as divine work, it is important to cooperate to solve and finish it =)

the last game is "building a church" with straw.. hm.. same comments, that all groups were very funny in the process of building their churches... all 3 designs and explanations were very unique, they are now under display in the library =) well, same as above, the teaching of this game was that in order to build a church, every member must cooperate and play a role =) besides, bro. raymond had a point when he said that a church should have strong foundations. in my opinion, nt just physically, but also spiritually, that is among brothers and sisters =)

Mei Mei, Shrek, Jonathan, Ah Foh, Meng Hui, Dominic, Sherrin

and their church model

Ah Kam, Christopher, Shun Tao, Sze Chuan, Serrine, Ee Leng

and their church model

Raymond, Ejan, Mabel, Hanie, Kar Mee, Lydia, Thaddeus

and their church model

this is the end of my sharing of the games and its teachings... thank God that every1 had fun during this fellowship, at least that was what i perceived... sorry if anything didn't went well, and a very big thank you to all of you =)

Youth Spiritual Meeting Group Photo ^^

Signing out~
Hallelujah, all glory to our Lord =)

Live by the Spirit

I was reading through Galatians chapter 6...(yes i know i am way behind the bible reading schedule...should be reading Colossians 4 by now...) and thought i would like to share my 2 cents.
In Gal 5:16-26, Paul tells us of 2 different nature, one is of the sinful nature and the other of the Spirit.

(Gal 5:19-21) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

(debauchery means excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures)

A lot of times unknowingly in our life, we also live the same like this. Whenever we watch a movie, or go lepak with friends, our roving eyes will look for pretty girls. Sometimes, we will tell our friends about this thinking it is ok.

All these may seem trivial but Eph 5:3 tells us that there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality or impurity which are improper for us who are God's holy people. Verse 4 later on includes what we speak to other people about. The seriousness of this is highlighted in verse 5 again where people who practice this has no inheritance in the kingdom of God.

I remember once in college, me and my friends were discussing which actress was prettier in a movie, and without mentioning the details, it started to grow way overboard. After that i felt very empty and feel ashamed of myself because not only did these actions pollute my eyes. mind and heart.. i didn't glorify the name of God which has been entrusted on me.

Sometimes in our divine works, there may happen misunderstandings. But this passage reminds us that whatever happens, we should never cause dissensions or factions in church because it is part of the sinful nature. If we are provoked, so be it, be careful not to sow hatred in our hearts or take revenge because we are working for God not for men. Even Paul faced disagreements from inside and outside the church during his ministry. All of us are part of the household of God, everyone in church is MY family in Christ.

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3)

All of us receive the same Holy Spirit from Jesus because He has accepted us (Acts 15:8). If each one of us are accepted by Jesus, who are we to reject others?

The acts of the sinful nature are many but Paul gave us a very clear warning:

that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

(Gal 6:21)

All of us have one time or another fall into the traps of the sinful nature. If we keep on living like this...we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The only way we can overcome this is to live by the Spirit and we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Gal 6:16)

In our prayers tell the Holy Spirit to be the king in our lives. Meditate on living the life of the Spirit instead of the sinful nature. Then only can we bear the fruit of Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness....where there is no room for lust, hatred or dissensions.

Meng Hui & Leonard Cooking Recipe

Thank God me and bro Leonard have the chance to cook for youth service. Eventhough i know the cooking is lousy...but still....here is the cooking recipe for dummies like us.

1) Mushroom soup

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a) Boil water

b) Pour in canned mushroom soup ingredients. (obviously)

2) Baked Bean with Potato and Luncheon Meat

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a) Cut the canned luncheon meat into cubes, cook the luncheon meat and take out after 5 mins

b) Put in the freshly cut potatoes and add some water....take out once the potato is softened.

c) Pour in the canned bake beans and cook. (Canned food saves our day)

d) Add in the cooked Potatoes and Luncheon meat.

e) Pour ketchup and add some sugar, water.

3) Yao Mak Vege

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a) Cook some garlic

b) Put in the vege and cook for awhile and it is done!

4) Fried Egg with Luncheon Meat

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a) Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them using a fork.

b) Add some salt.

c) Fry the eggs and put in some luncheon meat.

d) Add some soy sauce.

5) Fried Chicken

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a) Beforehand, marinade with: salt, pepper, sesame oil, soy sauce, cinamon powder, wine for cooking

b) Spread some cornflour on the chicken before cooking.

c) Fry chicken (we only discovered that it is so much faster to fry the chicken with more oil and bigger fire after taking ages to fry the first batch of chicken)

That's all.

Disclaimer: We are in no way experts in this field and shall not be held liable for any eating disorders or cooking disasters for adhering to steps in the said recipe.

Singapore Youth Spiritual Meeting

10 of us (4 bros and 6 sisters) went down to Singapore to attend the Youth Spiritual Meeting on Thurs.

Thurs (20/3/08)

7am- We departed from PJ church in 2 cars. It was my first time driving down to Singapore and what a great experience it was. There was a little jam at the causeway and after applying for the autopass, immigration checking etc, i made my first milestone of driving into a foreign country! Driving there was much smoother and most of the road signs are in English (Ferrer road, Adam road) with a few exceptions like jalan Eunos (i wonder why).

What strikes me was the how the city is much greener, everywhere you see, there are trees and not just trees but NEATLY arranged trees, which makes all the buildings around it look organized and impressive. However some traffic lights there are quite confusing. Even when it is green, you still have to watch out for oncoming cars because the other side is green as well...Sometimes when it is red, you still can turn if there are no oncoming cars. Oh, and when a pedestrian crosses the road in a zebra crossing, cars actually stop to give way to the people..so unlike KL.

11.30am- We reached Adam Road church. TJC Adam Road is strategically located in a road full of churches and beside the abandoned Adam Road hospital. Next to the church, there is also a Bible College under construction.

TJC Adam Road

After a short prayer, we unpacked our stuff at the very well equipped dorm with double decker beds, own set of lockers, an iron and a public addressing system.

12.30pm- A few of the Singapore brethrens brought us to Thomson Plaza for lunch in a church van that worryingly keeps "mati engine".

2.30pm- Since the spiritual meeting only begins on Friday, we went to Suntec City for a shopping marathon. Suntec city is actually linked to few other malls like Raffles city, marina mall, city mall... i can't remember their names because we just kept on walking and walking.

7.30pm- Bro Pek Wah treated us to a sumptious chinese dinner full of meaty and yummy dishes. Learned that he will be coming to PJ as soon as next week as he is training to be preacher. Looks like all 10 of us will have the chance to belanja him back.

8.30pm- After watching a laser show at Suntec city, we headed out to the merlion where we get a spectacular night view of Singapore.

The view was spectacular if not for my camera

10.30pm- We returned to church and slept after an exhaustive day.

Friday (21/3/08)

8.20am- Youth Spiritual Meeting begins. The theme is "A Life of Servitude". Pr Simon Chin is speaking on service from the prophets, while Pr Chin Aun Quek speaks on service from the apostles.

We were the early birds in church!

We were very excited as we get to meet a lot of new faces, there were around 100+ participants from all over Singapore including a group of china brethrens who are working there.

11am- We had an ice breaking session were we have to take down details from 9 other participants from different groups and nationalities. In the end, a few groups of participants were specially chosen to form a multinational choir to sing!

2.30pm- Participants were divided into groups to discuss on a life of servitude based on 2 Cor 4. In my group, we had an interesting discussion on what it means to be hard-pressed on every side as what Paul describes.

2 Cor 4 also tells us on how we should not lose heart..1) 4:16-17: We do not lose heart because the troubles we face in service to God and momentary. Should fix our eyes not on what is seen (discouraged by results), but by what is unseen. 2) 4:1 - We are working in God's ministry, we are plant and watered, but God is the one who makes it grow.

We also discussed on problems faced like having to care for children, responsibility as parent and no time to serve God. A bro promptly explained that it all depends on how we prioritize things, raising a God-fearing child is also part of God's work.

Ultimately we shouldn't lose heart in our service to God because it should be a joy to work for God as God will remember our labours and it will not be in vain.

A few examples of biblical characters were raised like Moses, Job and Paul.

6pm- Bro Chris brought us to the Botanical Gardens which is within walking distance from Adam Road church. There are actually many parks in Singapore, and the botanical gardens is huge. On the way back, he treated us to some refreshing ice-cream.

7.45pm- The church was filled to the max for the night service. What made it more interesting is that we had a variety of members from different nationalities. There were 10 of us from PJ church, 5 from cheras church who attended the event, there was also 10 couples of indonesian members from Bandung church, a group of china youths, visitors from Portsmouth church, Bercham church, Taiwan church as well as the Singapore youths.

9pm- There was a badge designing competition based on the theme "A Life of Servitude". It will also be the souvenirs for this event. All completed works will be hanged outside the walkway to be voted by participants. I stayed back in the library to draw and colour a badge depicting us carrying the burdens of the cross through stormy weather. The meaning was good but the colouring was horrible.

Completed badges were hung outside to be voted for the winner

Saturday (22/3/08)

Summary of all sermon content: Pr Simon Chin spoke on how we should emulate the prophets like Samuel (who was favoured and received word from God), Elijah (who had faith and prayed to God for rain and fire against the prophets of Baal and Asherah).

What struck me most was his sermon on Jeremiah, even though he is alone and instructed by God to preach to his people, he still continued on despite the persecution and misunderstandings he faced from his own people. Besides, his message was a message of destruction of Jerusalem and he asked the people to repent to save them. Today, do we have the courage to take up God's commission to preach to those whom we loved...are we ready to face the persecution that comes with it?

Pr Chin Aun Quek spoke on preaching and prayer in the apostles time. Preaching can be simple...we don't necessary have to win in every bible debate with the truthseeker. It could be just as simple as Phillip to Nathanael - "Come and See" and allow God to open their hearts. But do we have the courage to speak in the first place? During judgement, God will not ask how many people you successfully bring to believe but he will ask how many people have you spoke about Christ to?

4.20pm - The 2 trainee preachers gave testimony. The 1st bro, Bro Kwong (if not mistaken) spoke on how he came to believe in 2002. There was a sister who kept preaching to him about Jesus but she couldn't answer many of his doubts. But what strikes him was her sincerity in preaching which intrigues him. Later on, bro Kwong tried praying at home and he experienced the Holy Spirit. Now he is currently enrolled as trainee preacher. 2nd bro, Bro Pek Wah spoke on why he decided to be a preacher.

6.30pm- We practiced for our sketch later on which is supposed to be based on the theme "A Life of Servitude".

7.45pm- It was activity night and we had a sketch presentation for each group at the church basement.

Group 1- It's about a guy who spent time on doing other things and left out coming to church until one day he is hit by a lorry driver....

Group 1- The reckless lorry driver

Group 2- Makes comparison on 2 different servants. The wise servant takes a good care of his master's house while he is away and gets rewarded. The lazy servant gets punished for drinking and bossing over the servants while the master is away.

Group 3- A conversation between 2 sisters in heaven. The more humble one who served faithfully was promoted to manager in heaven while the more proud and bossy sister becomes a normal servant in heaven.

Group 4- Inspired by the Parable of Talents. The first guy was given a star and he somehow became global and earned few stars and reward from master. 2nd guy was given a scrawny pig and he traded it with a fat pig. The pig gave birth to another pig and was rewarded by master. The 3rd servant was given a gold but he kept it without doing anything and was punished by the master.

Group 5- Our group...We acted based on Shrek 4. Shrek was not happy in far far away kingdom and his family was ruined. He met Prince Charming who was converted to Christian by a group of choir members. Shrek later on discovered that life is not just about wealth but that the true peace comes from Jesus Christ and they lived happily ever after.

9.30pm- We were given time to go and examine the corridor of badges to vote for the best design. It was heartening that the youths also voted for those that still have no votes so that no one is left votelessly embarassed. That explains why I have 2 votes!

10.30pm- Some Singapore youths brought us to visit Teluk Kurau church. After that we headed out to East Coast Park to enjoy a nice supper of chicken wings, satay and "Oh Jian" while savouring the carnival like atmosphere and scenic lagoon view.

Teluk Kurau Church

After makan, we were taken up to mount faber where we get to get a good glimpse of night view of the whole singapore and islands beyond. Very impressive and cooling weather.

On top of Mount Faber

Sun (23/3/08)

9.45am- Pr Chin Aun Quek delivered the last sermon on Upholding the truth as passed down by the apostles. We should guard the truth given to us by the Holy Spirit. All revelations should be based on the truth in the Bible and not the other way round.

2pm- After the photography session and church cleaning, the spiritual meeting came to an end. Went to Vivo city for a look around. Amazing architecture and you get a nice view of the ferries and cable cars heading to sentosa island (i think).

4pm- Departed for home. I remember when we get into Singapore, the immigration guy told me i have to be prepared to wait for 4 hrs just to pass the immigration checkpoint on my return journey due to the ongoing search for the escaped terrorist Mas Selamat. Thank God, we passed the checkpoint in just 5 mins. It is indeed through God's guidance throughout our journey that everything went on really smoothly. Reached PJ in around 8pm.

Afterthoughts: This spiritual meeting was a really a rewarding experience. I have made some new friends including another singaporean brother who has the same name as me! It is really encouraging to experience the love and warmth of bros and sisters there that makes our journey of faith worthwhile. Farewell to my singaporean members...till we meet again on earth....an on heaven for eternity.

Will miss these two adorable kids

PJ Youths
Top left: Dominic, Sze Yuen, Thaddeus, Meng Hui, Mabel
Bottom left: Chui Ting, Harn Ni, Susan, Kar Mee
Somewhere inside church: Junie

Group Photo