Saturday, May 31, 2014

He'll be back

Arnie as Terminator immortal tag line...  "I'll be back"



Ascension Sunday
Ps Jeremy Ong
1 June 2014
Wesley Methodist Church Singapore

Acts 1:6-11

Cruxifixion , death and resurrection
40 days later
Jesus is taken up to heaven in a cloud 

Two men in white
Why are you looking
He will return 


Rather than just staring into the sky we are called to be witnesses;
Witness to God's love 
Witness to Christ's ascension and promise of Second Coming 
Witness of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Take Home Message
We are coming to our invite and invest phase
Pray for those you will invite

Jesus will be coming soon 

You have heard the great commission
go make disciples of all nations...

The call is into action

Don't just be hearers
Be doers as well

Sunday, May 25, 2014

20140524 Jonah4

 Rev Joel Yong
Wesley Methodist Church
24 May 2014
Unlimited Grace

Sermon illustration
Amish town of Nickel Mines
Gunman ties up and shoots at 10 school girls killing five
and kills himself

Nineveh Capital of Assyria
Known for brutality



 Jonah is angry
He knows in his head about God's forgiveness
but in his heart he does not feel Nineveh deserves it

Men compartmentalise
think in boxes

Women are wired together with emotions

Book of Jonah
is about the prophet, not his prophecy
Jonah's character
God's job of saving Jonah.





When God watches over us he wants to teach us
(not looking out to catch us and punish us)

Jonah's relationship with the plant was
relational
functional
based on what the plant could do for him
Jonah did not care at first when the plant dies
only when it could no longer provide shade.


Vending machine that provides Milo
Appreciated
Loved

But God loves us beyond what we can do for him
more about what he can do for us.

Our offerings are made real by the way we live.



Not plugged into God?

Luke15 Prodigal son story
ends abruptly
we are not told how elder brother responds

Likewise
story of Jonah
ends abruptly
we are not told how the prophet Jonah responds


The point is
the abrupt ending is a teaching point for the listener
How will YOU respond

Will you choose to be angry
or forgive?
will you nurture pain in your heart?
Will you realise it to God



The Amish community responded with grace and forgiveness

Your choice
Will you receive grace
to forgive
to chage the world?

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Serve with humility

Driving awl though ear to doorpost

Serving in humility
OT "serve" more than 200 x
eg Moses told to tell Pharaoh
Let my people go
that they may serve the Lord.
Exodus 8:1, 9:1, KJV.
serve: Hebrew root word
to expend energy
to worship
to minister to
eergise
devotion

we were created to serve God
we have failed
Adam chose to serve his own interest.


We are more interested in self-service
not God-service

sin entered the world

"Dont you tell me what to do"

Jesus came 
to die
to save us
to defeat the devil
to show us how to live
in relationship to God.




So how does Jesus example relate to us?
We ought to walk in the same manner.
Volunteer to be a bond slave for ever
because we love Him and His household.

Is serving God characteristic of your life?

20140510 MIC Breakfast Fellowship


Lim Siong Guan
MIC Breakfast Fellowship
: In conversations Lim Siong Guan
10 May 2014


Leadership:
Making good things happen which without you will not happen.
There is a moral dimension

Need to pass leadership down through at least three generations


Steve Job's book
5 cm thick
take home message quotation found on page 3
"The people who are crazy enough
 to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do"

We are called to be salt and light

but what do we do?
we bring needy people to church
 but our behaviour is no different from those int he market place.


How can Christians be different?
Everyone can be a leader to bring change.


Positional leadership
Be the best you can
Harness craetivity in people (synergise)
Be in time for the future.



Traditional apprentiship teached what to do but not why we do what we do.
In passing from 1st generation to 2nd generation
40% loss 60% retained.

In passing from 2nd generation to 3rd generation
60% of 60% retained =30%of original How to do.
but no Why we do what we do.

Needs codification of principles .

The minute you do not know why you do what you are doing you loose direction.


Personal leadership

"Followership" defines leadership.
People follow you if there is something good you have done for them.

PROGRESSION
A) Lead from IN FRONT
B) Lead from the SIDE: encourage them, let them build their own muscles.
C) Lead from BEHIND: This is your game now.
D) Lead from WITHIN: Even if you are not no longer around, but you reside within them.


The Leader, the teacher and you:
Whati s your role
cf Psalm 23

focus on other-centredness
What people would like their supervisor to be
GEESE
Guide
Empathise
Energise
Synergise
Emboden.


When Jesus sent the 72,
 he sent them to bring shalom
completeness
integrity
the blessings of the Lord
even to non-believers.

BLESS
FELLOWSHIP
HEAL
PROCLAIM

ie Just go and love them.


God wants us to experience Joy
dont be like a child who when offered a balloon would not choose.

why do you get these leadership oppotunities?
Because you are trustworthy.

make plain your principles

in a new management position ask the staff
tell me 3 things we should stop doing and 3 thinds we should continue doing.



To induce change
NOT "This is wrong"

BUT "Tell me, in ten years what is it we want to be"


Social media
Poblem: People tend to end up talking to themselves

Public trust in govenmen now much lost
"Goverment don't care
government not competent"

public likes to complain but can not offer constructive suggestions...

Need to engage the people in a secure environment
eg in schools

The potential of the country is geography.

Singapore can fit into the "o" of its name.

No one ows us a living
no one else is responsible for defending us.

Our value comes from a sense of predictability and trust.



Fundamnetally
last 50 years
Reason for success
Singapore: People of trust

Righteousness exalts a nation
people of honour

What views will enhance our future?
when there are differences of view
 we must not tread on the right of those with other views to express their views.


Honour Singapore
Movement to
Honour self
Honour others: parents/ other people
Honour envirnoment.

Need to transmit to our children
framework
principles
morals
need to teach them to think.

Danger of those whodo not think
follow the herd

Pray for Singapore:
How can righteousness prevail






Friday, May 9, 2014

Transitions

Photo credit: Jorge


TRANSITIONS
MIC Silas Wong shared about transitions
major changes in life.

There are the planned, such as National Service, Schooling
And there are the unplanned.

We may see transition in the following situations
WORK
FINANCE
FAMILY
PERSONALITY CHANGES
CONFLICT
HEALTH
RELOCATION
TRAGEDY
CHALLENGES

COMMON WAYS OF RESPONDING
firstly with questions
Question God: why me?
Question self: am I competent
Question purpose/ identify

POSITIVE RESPONSE
With gratitude
Enter the winter of the soul
Anchor on God

Silas and the graphic recording
"Finishing well" is a coming session planed for Q3.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

BEYOND DOUBT


Sketchnotes
Sermon: Christ challenges lives
Beyond doubt and doors

Rev Philip Lim

4th May 2014
Wesley Methodist Church Singapore

Sermon Illustration
Man gets electrocuted
Sent to mortuary
Revives
Calls for help
Mortuary attendant, thinking he was dead an is now a ghost, screams and runs away
Phones wife: she screams and faints
Phones friend: he screams and faints

He has to call overseas to someone who has not heard he has "died" and convince him he is alive, and tell his family and friends

A modern day parable of Doubting Thomas

The story of Easter gives us new life
But after Easter glory, what next?
do doubts set in?

Resurrection glory: Can it impact me today?

 Thomas missed the first Easter experience

Told that Jesus is alive
Thomas doubted

He knew Jesus had died

"Unless I see
and put my hands...

BUT
doubt is no the opposite of faith

Doubt is the begining of faith
"Faith" is what we tell those we love

Thomas doubt: Inability to trust

There is a difference between genuine doubt and cynic scepticism

Doubt can open doors and let faith grow

Two famous doubters
Josh McDowel, Christian apologist, evangelist, writer. Started as an aetheist out to disprove God: His research led him to write "Evidence that demands a verdict"

CS Lewis:" Surprised by Joy"
"He was the hunter and I was the deer"

I never had the experience of looking for God. It was the other way round: He was the hunter (or so it seemed to me) and I was the deer. He stalked me like a redskin, took unerring aim, and fired. And I am very thankful that this is how the first (conscious) meeting occurred. It forearms one against subsequent fears that the whole thing was only wish fulfillment. Something one didn’t wish for can hardly be that. [C. S. Lewis, Christian Reflections (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1956), p. 169.]612

there is the implicit promise
God will provide what you need in order to believe.

LORD I believe
Help Thou my unbelief!
Mark 9:24