Thursday, April 26, 2007

SMALL THINGS DONE WITH GREAT LOVE

(youthnet Buzz 29Apr07)

I heard a great testimony of how a small thing done with great love can result in a changed life forever!

Over the Easter weekend, one tribe decided on a simple outdoor activity. The idea was to approach someone and share what Good Friday is all about. Rachel had prayed earnestly for God to lead her to just the right person and even boldly claimed the salvation of this person she would talk to. Well she managed to talk to a young boy who not only listened to her but indicated he would be interested to come to church. Guess what, this boy came to church last week, responded to the altar call and gave his life to Jesus.

Wow! Doesn't that get you all excited to go out there and share Christ immediately or to "just walk across the room" (title of a book by Ps Bill Hybels) to get to talk to someone who may just be waiting for you?

I share this story this week to inspire us as we prepare for the 100K campaign. 5000 Warriors of Light will be mobilized to share a blessing with one person each day for 4 weeks. Sounds daunting? Well, I'm personally challenged and excited about the prospect of touching at least 20 people. Imagine how your one little step can change a person's life forever!

Will you be part of this army?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

GRACE BE WITH YOU

Can i asked the you pause a moment to pray for Sri Lanka. Call unto the Lord to bring peace and stability to this Land and its poeple, a people that God loves, a people that Jesus has given His life for and a people with a Destiny in God to be a blessing to many.

Last week, i recieved this desperate note from a fellow pastor from Sri Lanka who simply asked that we pray for them. It really shook me up that it is not just another piece of news fron CNA or CNN. It is a real note from a real friend of ours in a real situation that is going on right now, in a land that is just about 5hrs flight time from Suingapore. He wrote..

Hi friend,

We need you to pray specifically for Sri Lanka during these gloomy times. The war is raging and people are dying daily due to claymore mines, bus bombs and abduction killings etc. An unofficial report says that there is one abduction every 8 hours in our nation.

One of my deacons had two of his brothers in law picked up for questioning and we haven't heard from them in two months. The military denies of taking them in. Another Deacon has until April 15th Sunday to pay up 1 million rupees or he will be shot by the underworld who operates without any fear, as they have very powerful connections. We have advised him not to pay and pray - but it is hard when you are dealing with another man's life, please pray for this situation.

Last Saturday after Good Friday one of our pastors in the North Central area was travelling in a bus to interpret at a Easter service the next day. The bus was targeted by a claymore mine and he was killed with 8 others and 20 injured. He leaves behind a child of 5 years and his wife who is 8 months pregnant with their 2nd child.

We need your prayers as we travel through a gloomy time in our history with no immediate solution in sight. But we do know that the Lord Jesus Christ is with us and He is alive and not in the grave, so we move with that assurance doing whatever He wants us to do. We had great Good Friday and Easter services with record crowds this year. This is significant given the terrible state our country is in.

Thanks for your friendship, prayers and love.

Your brother,

(Email Dated 13 April 2007)

Would you join me to pray for SRI LANKA now ? Our God is a prayer answering God....He will hear our prayers.

Howerever, as i began to pray for Sri Lanka.....i could not help but reflect again on the Mercies and Grace of God that He gives to each one of us each day. I often wonder, how much i have taken His Grace and Mercies to us each day for granted, here in Singapore and here in FCBC. How each day, we let the little things in our lives, bother us and hurt us so much whereas in a church not too far from us, there are brothers and sisters, children and family members who may not live to see the next day because of a claymore mine that explodes in their face. Wow, how much we forget the grace of God, in 2Cor 6:1 "we urge you not to recieve God's grace in vain".

I then begin to noticed too how the Apostle Paul, in nearly every letter he writes, ends with that little but powerful reminder, "GRACE BE WITH YOU" (in some form or another - check it out). Do you know that i have come to realised more and more that, it is actually more difficult to live by "Grace" than to live by "Love".... because if given a choice, we prefer to live in LOVE (it is a nice feeling to have) but it is more challenging to know, understand the "undeserve love" we recieved each day from the Lord, that truely brings us into AMAZING GRACE.

i sense that this is so because often "Grace" demands from us a response that is "not so comfortable" and it goes agains the normal grain of things. Grace often rubs us the wrong way and yet requires of us "to give underserved love". Yes, uncodintional love does not make earthly sense but it is God's "Language of Love".

Let's continue to learn to "Walk by Faith" and "Live in Grace".

GRACE BE WITH YOU.