So you say that you are a Christian.

So what?

I can call myself a Christian too. I believe in God. I believe that there is only one God and that He is God almighty!

19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19)

So you say you go to church?
I go but I hate it. I do not see much of a point in going to church if I live my life pretty decently anyway. One of the reasons why I hate going to church is because it is boring, nobody talks to me and they all seem so hypocritical. They are always preaching about loving one another and being this “family”. Well, how can they expect me to be part of their “family” if nobody talks to me?

Yeah… maybe there is the occasional “hi, how are you? Good.” conversation, but it does not go any further than that. Nobody takes the time to find out what is going on in my life. Nobody in church cares.

Say what? Go up and talk to someone first? Find out about their life?
No way! I am an introvert and it would be SUPER WEIRD. I would have nothing to say. We have nothing in common. I never felt like I belonged to this church. I only came because my parents dragged me here and now church is just one of those things, you know?
I mean, I love God and all and He is great. I pray to Him when I am in trouble and He answers me, I think? I really do not see a need for church.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing I want to give me thought on is:

Why should we go to church? 

Fellowship and growth.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

In the beginning of the book of Acts, we see that believers gathered often. They would meet, fellowship, pray, break bread together and listen to important teachings. They devoted themselves to these things. They knew the importance of being spiritually fed and growing with their fellow believers.

25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25) 

Church is a place where we encourage each other; but what can we encourage each other about if we know nothing of each other?

I implore you to sit next to someone you don’t know very well and find out about their lives. Perhaps it will take time and at first it may seem like they do not want to talk but you could always ask them what brought them to church in the first place?

Secondly:

“I am just not the kind of person to go up to someone I barely know and talk to them first.” “I am still young, let the older ones talk to everyone”. “I just feel like I do not belong. Nobody talks to me.” “Bunch of hypocrites talking about being a family and loving each other”

19 We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Does this verse mean anything to you?

The love of God captivates. It overcomes all barriers – cultural, racial and even awkward situations. It changes you. You will never be the same once God’s amazing love has planted itself in you.

Why? Because if you recognize the significance of the Cross and of the life of Christ, would you not want to share it with people? Will you not go out of your way to encourage a fellow believer who could be struggling? Or a person who has been going to church for years but is still in the blur when it comes to Christianity.

Will you really let fear and selfishness prevent you from sharing the greatest thing on earth with the “strangers” you see every Sunday at church?

In my opinion, the seriousness of God’s love and grace should change our mindset on how we approach people. To ensure that our church is healthy, we have to be able to share our lives with each other and pray about it together. If there are issues in the church, talk about it. Give practical solutions. Pray together for strength to overcome internal issues that could affect the spiritual health of the church. A church with issues is nothing new. Peter saw it coming long before.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

So let me ask you then, what does the love of God mean to you?

- Evelyn Tan

Image taken from:
http://www.radicallychristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A-Christian.jpg

Church Camp 2012 to me

I must admit that I wasn't much prepared for the Church camp this year. However, all the sessions “came home” to me. Thank God for the speaker, Rev Dr Lim Kar Yong and those who prayed fervently for the camp, who helped to make the messages came through so strongly and relevant to me (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who benefited from this!) =)

During the last session whereby Rev Dr Lim Kar Yong talked about “Walking in the challenge to renewed lives: Romans 15:1-13”, he used the imagery of KL Twin Towers to explain how we could build our faith. All in all, the KL Twin Towers’ foundation took 2 years to complete while after the completion of the foundation, each storey of the Twin Towers only took 3 days to complete. Likewise, in our spiritual walk, we need to spend time building a strong foundation upon the Word of God.

Then Rev Dr Lim Kar Yong went on to touch on how we could build our brothers and sisters-in-Christ. He mentioned that throughout recent Church history, there are many youths and young adults between 18-29 years old leaving church. Among the many reasons as found in the book entitled “You lost me” are due to overprotecting Church and parents, Church people who rarely deals with complexity (anything just ask people to pray with no practical solution), Church is shallow (too program-oriented), Church is exclusive,  repressive and the youngsters are not encouraged to discuss their doubts concerning Christian faith in Church.

When I hear his exposition on this matter, my heart sank as many of my acquaintances which includes my close friend who left Church and got married with a non-Christian some years back came to mind. I wonder could these be some of the reasons she left Church as well…

At one point of my life, I was also disheartened to note that my Church friends who were almost the same age as me left TTDIGC one after another and I was left all alone. However, praise God who channels my mentor to encourage me and got me embarked on a few months of Sabbatical leave for me to refocus upon Him. During that period of time, I was also rather burned out, as I ran the youth activities by my own strength, instead of God’s.

Yes, thanks be to God who did not give up on me and I am still worshipping and serving at Church today and I have indeed “live” as per what God has done in my life :D

Ezekiel 16:6, NKJV“And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

If you are one of those who felt that the majority of the Church does not understand you, would you step out from your comfort zone and seek help from someone whom you respect and is easily approachable?

If today you find the Church is boring and the world seems to be more exciting, would you ask God for help?

If today you find your quiet time is dry or your prayer life is shallow, would you continue to seek God in these aspects?

If today your closer circle of friends are no longer at Church, would you feel awkward to come to Church or would you even consider invite him / her to come back to the Good Shepherd’s fold?

If you have been grown up most of your life in Church, hanging out with Christians most of the time, would you care to offer a prayer for friends that were once fellow shipped with you?

To the more spirituality matured ones, would you be willing to spare your time, energy and other things that cost you, to heed the sermon by Rev. Dr Lim Kar Yong to be the mentor / discipler to those who come to you? Why not consider reaching out to them?

Let us not let opportunity slipped by, instead let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10, NKJV)

In doing so, your actions are very much in sync with the purpose that Christ came to save mankind.

Matthew 18:11, NKJVFor the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

Thank you.

In Him,
From Yit Mun, aka IP Man

Images taken from:
http://www.firstchurchokc.com/church-camps
http://aboutaburningfire.com/5-reasons-to-leave-your-church/

Jesus Christ Our Sacrifice

Hallo everyone, today I want to share about Jesus Christ Our Sacrifice - why does God have to send Jesus Christ to die for Our sins. First of all, before we begin, we ought to ask ourselves why does God want to go through all the hassle of sending His Son to die for us? Why cant He take any other way? Ever pondered upon it?

Well, we have to know when we ask something like this, to wonder why God couldn’t find “another way”, it implies as if we know better than what needs to be done. Tell me then, what can we actually do to save ourselves? Every religion teaches us good things but Christianity teaches us what is truly good, Jesus Himself have said when the Rich Young Man asked him, “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. Now, Jesus is telling us, to change our perception of good, good does not necessarily depict something nice or even pleasant. TRUE goodness talks about perfection, and no one is perfect, no one but God alone that is truly good.

Deuteronomy 32:4reminds us that

“He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

His (God’s) thoughts are not our thoughts—they are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8).

Now that we have a glimpse of what is truly good, let us then look a little at God’s Character. As a Good God, He cannot tolerate the sins that we have in our lives, the Bible clearly dictates, Romans 3 : 23, that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. In the Old Testament, God has prepared the hearts of the Israel nation in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, this is when God instituted that sacrifices of lambs and rams for the atonement of the sinner.

Howsoever, there would be endless bloodshed and even sacrifices, for people will sin over and over again, and sacrifice merely serves as a reminder. But this symbolic act would one day reveal itself in the Form of Our LORD Jesus Christ, when John The Baptist proclaimed in John 1 v 29, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), history is written.

Why did Jesus have to die?
1) Remember, the holy God cannot let sin go unpunished. Our own sins would drag us to a life of suffering in a dreadful place call hell. But thanks be to GOD, He kept His promise and send the perfect Lamb (His Only Son) to bear the sins of those who trust in Him. Jesus had to die because He is the only one who can pay the penalty for our sins. Sin requires a punishment, that is why when Jesus came.

He said in Matthew 5 v 17, “

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. "

2) Only Jesus Christ, can give us this fellowship again with God. This is what the blood of animals cannot do. In Hebrews 10 v 1- 4, it says, The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Only with Jesus Christ, can we enjoy fellowship again with God. because, it is God, not man, who offers the appeasing sacrifice - cf. 1Jn 4:10 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Through His death on the cross, Jesus is the way by which God can show mercy, grace, and love to the sinner. This wonderful "propitiation" was given to the whole world but is accessed only by those who believe in Jesus. 1Jn 2:2 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. Only when God cleanse us, we can be clean and now freely communicate with Him, because we have now a High Priest that is intercessing for us, God’s Only Son, Jesus Christ. And also, “God made Him (Christ), who knew no sin, to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

3) The 3rd reason as to why Jesus Christ have to die, God wants to show us how much He loves us, and also to let us know, we, humans are incapable of writing our own salvation, like I have asked earlier, we think we know how to go to Heavens, we think we got what it takes but what do we have actually? Can we buy our way into Heaven? If we can, please answer me, where is the booth for the ticket sales? The road to Heaven, can only be given by God. About Heaven, it does not necessarily have to begin when we die, it begins right here, as written in John 17 v 3,

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Eternal life truly begins, when we have Jesus Christ, because we are now living in the full knowledge of God’s Goodness. Through Jesus Christ, God wants to teach us, how to live.

Because God is a God of LOVE, He provided God Himself provided the only sacrifice (Jesus) who could atone for the sins of His people, Our LORD Jesus Christ.

- Johnson Khor

Images taken from: http://willohroots.wordpress.com/2009/11/ http://callmejacob.blogspot.com/2010_08_29_archive.html http://pemilikhidupku.blogspot.com/

Newspaper Charity Drive!

Finally, TTDIGC Youth made the first move to make some impact to the community of TTDI!

There were around 11 or 12 of us in total (I expected a little more honestly :o) and we just head out to go door-by-door to ask for old newspapers. Was very encouraged to see how it all turned out, especially when the rain came and everyone was still determined to finish up our quota of 100 houses!

Here are some of the photos of it:-










Feel free to check out the other photos at the top over at Facebook! :)

We were informed that the van just collected their papers, otherwise we would had more! Well, will just have to get a better timing - next time.

May we continue to serve - in His name.

God bless,
daryl 's u n d a e' heng

OA Trip - Told in Photos

Serving Moments









Hilarious Moments

Phoebe sat on this magic pen and this is the result of it.





The Food




Artistic Shots
















Great Fellowship!









So many more moments that we can't fit all of it in here so.. do join us on the next trip instead! :D Thank you all for the prayers as well. :)


God bless,
daryl 's u n d a e' heng