First of all: Happy New Year to one and all :)
Well, I would like to apologise for not updating for the whole month of December 2008.. Well, it's a combination of many camps/conferences to attend, plus the unavailability of me using the computer with
interent connection (thanks to my brother who hogs the computer all day long), and well, perhaps I'm just plain lazy to update my blog too :s
But well, I'm here to update everyone what's been happening for the past one month of my life... Here it goes :)
Y.E.S. Camp - 30 November '08 to 2 December '08Haha.. was quite a fun and interesting camp that I've been to. The theme for this camp is "Friend of God". The message for this camp revolve around how characters from the bible, like Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and John (By the way, they happen to be the names of the 5 groups in this camp), had been a friend to God; and later on we went on to see what characteristics they possess to become His friend and how the characteristics that we want to see in our friends could be applied to our relationship with God.
Personally, I was actually touched by the analogy that Bro Tong
Chia had mentioned during the second meeting. It was actually about an African woman being sold to America to become a slave. And there were 2 persons who were bidding for her, and it was known to her that both of her probable masters were evil. So she was praying to God that she would not fall into the hands of these 2 evil persons. And by God's sovereignty there was another buyer who came in to bid for her and in the end this 3rd buyer won the bid. However, after he bought her, he set her free instead. Although the African woman was happy and knew that she was set free, she still returned to look for the person who bought her and promised to be his slave forever. And there bro tong
chia was asking everyone why did the woman went back to the person and wanted to be his slave forever? Well, it was because the woman knew that if she were to roam around after the man set her free, she would still be caught by the human traffickers and be sold as a slave again. So instead of ending up in the hands of an evil master, she would rather serve the one who set her free.
His answer was the one that made me realise something; the woman's situation is similar to us Christians: We were set free from the bondage of sin by Christ (His flesh and blood being the price for our redemption) and if we do not allow ourselves to become God's servant (slave), we will still end up in the bondage of sin once more and suffer under this "master" again... or maybe worse this time around. So may we all learn to always abide by the Lord and not go back to be under the bondage of sin again because we can still go back into the bondage of sin and suffer more even though our Lord may free us from it!
December Year End Family Conference - 7 December '08 to 10 December '08This conference took place at
Sofitel Palm Resort, a hotel resort in
JB, Malaysia. The theme for this time around was: "
The Mystery of the Ages: Christ in You, the Hope of Glory"; and well the book of
Colossians was used this time around to delve into the stated theme. Throughout the whole conference, the speaking brothers talked about who our Lord is, how that He is inside of us displaying His glory through us, how that everything that we are seeing were just a shadow of the things to come and of our Lord, to put off our old man and to put on our new man, and lastly to practice out what we've heard (enough of the doctrines already, put them into action!).
Throughout the whole 4 days 3 nights, I really experienced the Lord's mercy upon me. Well, that was because I was down for audio duty for the whole time during the conference and knowing myself, I would not be able to focus during the meetings while doing audio at the same time. Thus before the conference had started, I went before the Lord and really asked Him to help me focus and to remember the main points during the meetings although I am down for audio duty. Praise the Lord! The Lord had not only caused me to be able to focus during the meetings and not fall asleep, He had actually prepared for me a roommate who is also down for audio duty together with me (i.e. Ruth, but she didn't know she would be down until we reached
Sofitel) such that I would not have neglected my roommate just because of the huge amount of time needed for audio service. Praise the Lord for such a wonderful arrangement by Him :)
Well, this time around the conference was an enriching and a refreshing one... Although it was until the middle of the whole conference when a brother made me realise that the messages that we have been hearing are always the same repeating ones, I did not felt that it was
chim and boring; but rather I gained the most light (I think) out of the many family conferences that I have been to... probably due to the fact that I am more spiritually matured? Well, in any case, there were a lot of points that I really enjoyed in this conference, but maybe I would just share one point here since this post is getting a little too long.
What touches me most was that we have to practice out what we have heard in the conference in our daily living to show forth this Hope of Glory in us... be it knowing that the chair that I am resting on now actually shows forth that Christ is our rest and He is our true rest because all things were created through Him, for Him, and in Him; or that in whatever things that we do each time, whether big or small issues, we have to ask our Lord because He is the head and that He should the preeminence in our lives. Praise the Lord that He is the true and living Lord and that we also have a living God whom all of us can experience in our daily living. That is why we can always practice what we've heard and show forth Christ through our works. Amen.
Campus Retreat - 29 December '08 to 31 December '08My very first campus retreat at Home 2, a camp that is dedicated for tertiary students and NS brothers! This time around, we pursued on the first three chapters of Book of Revelations. In these 3 chapters, we saw who our Lord is in chapter 1 and how his rebuke/exhortation to the 7 churches in Minor Asia were actually linked to the various characteristics of our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, to the church in
Pergamos, the Lord uses the description "He who has the two-edged sword" to describe Himself as the One who has the Truth and is the Word of God (Refer to Hebrews 4:12). Then later on in the verses, the Lord rebuked the church in
Pergamos because other doctrines existed in their midst (not pure teachings from the Lord), eating things sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality. All these went against the Ten Commandments that God had set up initially, which were the Word of God. Thus the rebuke/exhortation given to the 7 churches all revolved around the different attributes of Christ. Then lastly, after reading through the letters written to the 7 churches, we all had to come out with a letter to write to the Church in Singapore as a checklist on what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong.
Throughout the whole of this camp, I enjoyed the fact that our Lord is the One who holds the seven stars (represent messengers of the Lord) and walks in the midst of the seven golden
lampstands (represent the churches in different localities). What this means is that our Lord is the One who has the ultimate control and that He actually knows the condition of all His saints in different localities. So don't play play with our Lord because He knows everything and nothing can escape from His eyes. Therefore we have to be serious before Him and be honest before Him in all things that we do each day. On top of that, I got to have a deeper understanding when we say our Lord is "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last". Oh, and lastly we had also learned that we need to preserve in doing the right things before God in order to overcome what is needed for us to overcome, no matter how tough the journey may be.
"Because you have kept My command to preserve, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth" - Revelations 3:10
Amen! Praise the Lord for such a wonderful month that I have been through... really made me realise more about God and how we can ever so trust in Him, seeing that our self and our old man is so useless and worthless, and only God can save us and make us useful in His sight.
With that, I am ready to enter into 2009 to face all the difficulties and problems that I will face together with My Lord, knowing that if I ask Him and trust Him in all things, He will make a way for me in all things that pleases Him. Hallelujah for our Lord and our God!!!!!
