Life's Purpose

From Rick Warren  
This is my sermon for the day! Let it minister to you in person, and when it has; endeavor to share with others!

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddle-back Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity... We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off your-self and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit... We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? hen I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD...

Praise God!

Praise God for just now's meeting!
I reeaaally wanna praise Him for His unfailing promise to us.
just wanna share a short testimony of the whole process...
Though troubles come one by one, we can really see God's blessings and grace in it

1) KTT people told me on Monday that they had this sudden compulsory event which a lot of them are involved and might not be able to make it for our cny meeting.
asked us to pray.
i shared with a few people and most of you guys just say "trust in God, He will make it come to pass." thanks for the encouragement and faith you've shown!
it was not until Wed afternoon that Maegyvear (KTT cf chairperson) approached their director and asked permission to come INTI.
and he msg to confirm their attendance on the afternoon itself.(few hours before meeting)

2) Our speaker (bishop ng) told me he'd this meeting with Anwar and all the other religious leaders at the same time on the same day on our meeting.
He'd decided to call that off because of the previous promise he'd made to share in our meeting. Praise God!

3) we started setting up(musical instruments and logistics) at 6pm. and once we're done with the set up, it started raining.
*esp thanks to fong yee and eden and all the rest, who prayed while they're walking in the rain, for the rain to stop for the night
we shifted everything out from the rooftop. got the key for SC-1-1A and decided to have worship practice in that room instead.
the rain stopped in 10 min time. and we really praised God for it! we shifted everything in again.

4) we have budget limitation. got to spend on posters, games, and esp refreshments. only managed to get 2 container of cookies and one basket of small oranges.
Thank you bishop and his wife (: for bringing the 2 boxes of mandarin oranges (though i did not request for it)

THANK YOU everyone! who'd make it a point to come and also to help out in the gathering.
we clearly know that we do everything is Not for recognition, it is for God.
but i wanna take this opportunity to appreciate all of you,
from the...
1) worship team (Mei Qi! u did a very good job! :) worship team, BRavo!
2) logistics (really thank all those guys& girls who don't mind sweating but had offer themselves to help out in any carrying of equipments),
3) organizer (EDEN!!!! and the wonderful team) *give them a loud applause!
really great job guys!
4) multimedia (thanks Joel for making the time. *pat* God sees it! :)
5) ushering! (thanks Samuel. Thanks guys for taking the initiative to usher and make friends with the not-familiar faces)
6) publicity team! (thanks Chun Leong for the poster design and Mark for helping in the hanging posters all around INTI ;)
7) EVERYONE! who make it a point to come and stayed back to help out wherever possible.
really am encouraged to see you guys taking the initiative to do those little but meaningful things around (;

Most importantly! thanks YOU guys for praying :)
without prayer, nothing works!

I believe all of us who've followed through the message, know very well that we're reminded and challenged TO TAKE GOD'S WORDS SERIOUSLY!
I pray with all my heart that all of us will live it out and put the words which we've heard into practice.
Start picking up your bible and reading it/ start challenging yrself to finish reading the bible (again)

Before all of us go off for CNY holidays, Thank you, God bless, and may you have a blast, taking hold of opportunity to bless the people around you.
Let your life be a life of BLESSINGS!
GBU :)


Signing off,
Jia Lerd <3

The Will of God

May this be our new year's aspiration

THE WILL OF GOD
The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mould you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Everything happens for a purpose.
We may not see the wisdom of it all now,
but trust and believe in the Lord that everything is for the best. - Author Unknown.

verses.

Wow, this blog is dead.
Okay so I had a sudden wave of inspiration.

"God will make a way, where there seems to be no way.
He works in ways, we cannot see.
He will make a way for us.
He will be our guide, hold us closely to his side.
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way."

Yes I'm aware it's a song. lol.

Jeremiah 29:11,12
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Psalms 91
¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

³ Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

¹⁰ then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

¹³ You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

Here's to knowing that God will be with us through thick and thin. He doesn't let us go through things we can't handle, and will never leave our side even when we think we can't handle it. =)

Merry Christmas to all ICF-ians near and far, old and new. And even to blog hoppers. =)

A Crisis Can Lead to Healing Choices

October 17, 2009 :A Crisis Can Lead to Healing Choices
by Rick Warren

"This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket" (Genesis 32:24-25 NLT).

Are you in a crisis today? Congratulations! You're about to be changed. You don't have to stay the same. God is getting ready to make a change in your life.

The Bible teaches that our biggest struggle in life is with God because we want to be in control. We want to be God.

That was the problem that Jacob had, insisted he be able to control his life to such an extent that he even wanted to change the order of his birth. Jacob was a twin and the Bible says when he came out of his mother's womb, he was clinging to his older brother's ankle, grappling to be the first one out. He spent a lifetime in conflict with his brother, Esau, but his biggest battle was with God.

One night he even tried to go one-on-one with God. Some people want to debate who Jacob actually wrestled but the Bible tells us in Hosea: "Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God" (Hosea 12:3 NLT).

I want you to think of the biggest problem you've got right now. It probably will come to mind quickly; yet, regardless of what that problem is, I suspect it all boils down to these two issues.

1. 'Will I obey God in this situation and do what He says is the right thing to do, whether I like it or not?' Or,

2. 'Will I trust God in this situation, letting him handle it?'

No matter what your problem is--financial, physical, relational, social, and vocational--your biggest problem is not your problem. The real problem is not obeying and trusting God. And that makes the problem bigger.

Have you ever been in a no win situation? Perhaps you're in a 'no win situation' right now. Who do you think is behind that? God is! God backs you into a corner. Why? Because God often allows crisis in our lives in order to get our attention. All of a sudden we’re laid flat on our backs and we're forced to look up.

God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you far too much to let you just stay stuck in your habits, hang-ups and hurts. He wants to change you. He wants to help you grow, to be better, to be different, and to be all that you were meant to be. And so He allows a crisis.

Why? Because we rarely change until the pain we feel exceeds our fear of change. We don't change when we see the light; we change when we feel the heat.

God uses four phases in a situation to move you to where you need to be. Phase one is a crisis that gets your attention and forces you to look toward God. Pray about this: In what areas are you struggling with God?

A CF-er is...

A CF-er is someone who...

1. gets together with other CF-ers for spiritual purposes: for sharing needs, for prayer, for discussing and sharing the Word to encourage, comfort, and edify one another.

2. works together with other CF-ers and cares for one another as a company of people, like a company of soldiers or members of a family.

3. manifests the the qualities or spirit of Jesus in their lives: Christlike.

Core components of a Christian Fellowship:
-Relationship
-Partnership
-Companionship
-Stewardship

Relationship: The Foundation For Fellowship
-As believers in Christ, we are related to Christ and to each other in that we have been joined into union with Him; we are members of His body through the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship means we share this relationship and it is an objective fact regardless of our spiritual condition (cf. 1 Cor 1:2 with 3:1-3).

Partnership: The Means of Fellowship
- The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

• All aspects of fellowship are dependent upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Before salvation, fellowship with God in the sense of relationship (union) depends on His pre-salvation work, the conviction of truth, followed by His work of regeneration and baptizing accompanied by the Spirit’s indwelling as a gift of the Father and the Son (John 16:8, 2 Thess. 2:13, Tit. 3:5, 1 Cor. 12:12,13). After salvation the experience of fellowship in communion with God depends on the filling of the Spirit.

- Fellowship in the Gospel

• Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• Central to these believers’ fellowship was the teaching of the apostles. Being devoted to our relationship, partnership, companionship, and stewardship depends on our devotion to Scripture.
• All believers share in common the life of Christ positionally and experientially. Consequently, they also share with one another in Christ’s enterprise on earth.

Companionship: The Method of Fellowship
- Fellowship with God: The vertical dimension

• Companionship, as suggested previously, involves communion or communication, interchange, intimacy, sharing and receiving. If there is going to be fellowship with God, we must first draw on the Lord’s resources as we listen to Him in His Word, as we allow the Spirit of God to talk to us through Scripture and through the various providential events of life (trials, blessings, etc.) and through the lives of others around us. We need to be open to Him, receptive, teachable. In our communion with the Lord, we need to listen to His voice and respond in obedience.

- Fellowship with Christians: The Horizontal dimension

• God has created us to be dependent people—dependent on Him and on one another. His judgment in Genesis 2:18, “it is not good for the man to be alone,” is a principle that speaks not only to marriage, but to all of life and especially to the spiritual fellowship of all believers.
• No man is an island. None of us has the ability to go it alone. We need the communion or companionship of one another.
• We should not … think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognize rather that such fellowship is a spiritual necessity; for God has made us in such a way that our fellowship with himself is fed by our fellowship with fellow-Christians, and requires to be so fed constantly for its own deepening and enrichment.

Stewardship: The Overflow of Fellowship

• Giving, the steward of our material blessings, is also a part of our fellowship, our sharing in the work of the Savior as we experience His life, His values and priorities in our own lives through our fellowship with Him.
• As believers in partnership with the Savior, we are not owners, but stewards of the things God has given us which includes not only our talents (spiritual gifts), our temple (our body), our time, and God’s truth, but also the treasures, the material blessings God gives us.
• Therefore use all the things God has given us wisely. And most importantly use it for God's glory and according to His will.

Credits and further reading: Christian Fellowship - Bible.org

Just want to encourage all CF-ers to love, care and pray for one another as well as share words of encouragement and thoughts. Attend prayer meeting, care group and wednesday CF meeting regularly! Because this is essential for the fellowship of Christians.

Some stories

Hey all, just yesterday I told you bout a site of making a difference... Here's a few stories (out of 200+ pages of stories) about how someone's life was touched thanks to another...

Today I was walking to my $60 voice lesson, with the money in my pocket. It fell, I didn't notice. (I'm 14, that's alot to me) A man picked it up and gave it to me so quickly that he couldn't even have considered keeping it for himself.It restored my faith in humanity. :] MLIG

Today, I was helping my papa get ready for a small cook-out in the back of his condominium complex. He saw a familiar elderly man, who lives by himself with his wife in a nursing home suffering with Alzheimers, sitting by himself at a nearby table. My papa invited him to join us and completely made the man's day. HisLifeIsG

Tonight, crying for the first time in 6 months,reading so many stories on MLIG has made me realize that I can have faith in people. I believe in love again. MLIG

Today I took slips of paper and wrote things like "Whoever picks this up, if you're ever feeling lonely or need somebody to talk to, there's someone you can call." I then included my number and have been placing them somewhere at each place I go. This site is the reason I finally got up the courage to be the kind person I once was again. Thanks everyone. Our lives are amazing, hopefully I'll help out someone else's.

Last night, I was lying in bed feeding my dog crackers and watching a movie. She looked up at me with the only smile I've ever seen on an animal, and the one I've been seeing for years. I know every time she looks at me she thanks me for saving her life that one night when I took her in from the woods. HLIG because of me.

The first week in July at the camp I attended I made many friends, one whom opened up to me and felt I was someone he could talk to. At the end of the camp, he came up to me and told me how much I helped him try to get through some of his issues and all the lessons I taught him. I love helping people this way, MLIG.

Today, a suicidal friend was being all gloom and doom. I couldn't take it and told them to be thankful for having a life to live! I was born with a heart/brain problem and could die any given day. After I told them that, something clicked in their mind. They couldn't understand how I could live like that. I told them "cause I don't have any other choice" They told me "you're strong". I told "you are too". I'm now helping them to learn to enjoy life again. Our Lives Are Good [and will be getting better!]

Yesterday, my college offered me $10,000 to take a gap year. Last week, I was going to be heading off to another year of studying my butt off next month but instead I'm going to be traveling the world to help kids in impoverished countries. MLIG

Today I delivered food to a local food bank. Homeless men helped us unload the food into the pantry. After unloading, I sat and talked with a homeless man. He told me that his whole life he's watched his dreams be crushed by the reality he wouldn't be able to accomplish them. With tears running down his face, he told me that by me sitting and listening with him and providing him with food meant so much to him. It really made me realize how much I have, and how GREAT my life truly is! mlig.

If you're wondering, MLIG stands for My Life Is Good/Great
=)

Let's make a difference.

Hey guys, I know, weird time to be posting something....

I was just reading about 17 pages of short encouraging everyday stories from how someone made their day just by a smile or how it felt awesome to give a poor man food or how it was awesome spending time with their friends after a long time of not seeing each other... (If you're wondering where I read all these, I'm only posting the site link here after exams... cos it's really addictive =.= to me anyway =/)

And while reading these stories, my winamp decided to play 'In christ Alone'...

In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory
In the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone...

trust me after reading all those stories, you feel thankful for many things... You realize how great God is and how blessed you can be sometimes. =) I know I did...

Some people don't have lives as easy or as good as ours. So hey, let's make a difference, brighten someone's day, put a smile on someone's face, you never know how much of a difference you have made.
This is sort of a challenge... let's make a difference in someone's life... let's brighten someone's day, stranger or friend =)

Look in the mirror,
You're perfect the way God made you.