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 Matthew 19:13-15

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said,”Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

 

Looking inside Hall 9, I was thinking: Surely, the children is in the Kingdom of heaven. I sense the joy of the presence of God, and I somehow know that God is smiling from heaven at his children. Like what Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Amen.

As a volunteer helping out to lead a group of children from New Town Primary, there was great joy in me when I see them having fun. Surely there were times when they get mischevious, but the Lord says,”My grace is sufficient for you…” and teaches me to extend that grace to them.

I remember when I was a motivator mentor during the NE show this year. One of my friend said,”for so many weekends, the weather hasn’t been very good, but for today, it seems so windly, with clear clouds hanging above us shielding us from the sun. Surely God favors the children.”

I really hope that the children can sense that special favor that God has given them and like what is depicted in Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ has placed his hands upon them and prayed a blessing to those who have come to him, to his kingdom of heaven.

God Bless

Volunteer With A Heart

Written By Joe (Leong Keng’s Tribe)

As we get ourselves excited about the mission trips that we will be going, I was reminded once again in my devotion on the real purpose of “mission” and as a “missionary”. Oswald Chamber wrote, “In missionary work, the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus.” Isn’t it true that sometimes, we are excited about missions because “we think we can help the poor and needy” and yet forget about the actually intention of the great commission, “To make disciples of all nations….”

Indeed the Lord also mentioned in Matt 25 that we are to “give food for the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison” (paraphrase mine), however our service should go beyond compassion, but deep into the heart of the Lord. This calls us to be kingdom focused and not needs focused in our mission work. Let us once again come before the Lord and ask the Lord to help us “see with his eyes, love with His love and feel with His heart”. Like what Pastor Rol said in the last RL288 meeting, that there will be many needs in Cambodia or even in the countries around, we will not be able to meet all their needs. All we have to do is to wait upon the Lord and let Him send us in the right time and to do the work. And as He sends us, are we willing to obey and go because this is where and what the Lord wants and not what we want?

“Again Jesus said,”…..as the Father has sent me, I am sending you…” Jn 20:21.

Written By Danny Loke (Ps Roland’s Tribe)

 

On 13^th Oct 2006 (Fri), we had our RL288 meeting. When I was asked prior to the meeting to write an entry for our blog, I felt excited! So much has happened in my tribe in the past month and I know it is not by coincidence that I was arrowed. Haha.

There was no ice-breaker and Sam started us off at 7.45pm with a time of worshipping and adoring the King of kings. Here, I just want to affirm those who were on time.. Well done and continue to keep up the good effort!

Moving on, Pastor Roland shared about the recce trip that he just went with Pastor Laifun to Cambodia. It was a trip to prepare for the upcoming 3D2N camp for some Cambodian university students that we are going to hold somewhere from 19^th-22^nd Dec when Pastor brings a group of 20 people up. Praise be to our Lord! For we saw multiples of God’s favor, especially upon the hall that we are going to use for the camp. We got the university hall free and with IT facilities instead of having to pay US$130 per day for a hotel ballroom! Moreover, the person in-charge told Pastor Roland that we are free to use all the 3 rooms in the university without having to pay for the electrical bills! Let us continue to pray that God will use this camp to reach out to the Cambodian youths with a church that is relevant to them! Amen! And Amen! As pastor shared that it is not money that Cambodia needs now, but to rise up a generation of youths with the right skill-sets and most importantly, the integrity and upright character to uproot poverty and govern the land.

The meeting ended with Pastor Roland’s teaching of the 3 images of the church in the New Testament that Apostle Paul spoke about. That we are God’s family, we are God’s temple and we are Christ’s body. Here, I really want to thank God for Pastor Roland. Thank you pastor, for your humility and willingness to apologise. Most of all, I see your obedience towards the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for taking that crucial step to doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. What you did reminded me of Hannah in the bible!

Indeed, we are a body of Christ! May our Lord help us to guard against sins of discord and to preserve unity. This is the thing that God impressed strongly upon my heart. The second thing is not to focus on myself whenever I come to cell group or tribe meeting, but to ask: What can I contribute to the whole body? And to possess a right attitude and input constructively in whatever ways I can. Rick Warren said,” Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purposes”. Ultimately, our focus is on the Lord of lords.

That reminded me of a very familiar verse, that I feel God wants me to share:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20

Everlyn Yong Shin Shin (Gladys Hoy’s tribe)

 

 

We received the following email from one of the Thais who came earlier this month, sharing some of her thoughts regarding the trip. We want to post her exact words, so please pardon the grammatical errors. 

The first of all, I wanna give thanks to Lord that brought u guys to serve and take care us well. And we wanna thanks very much all of you.  We could touch God s love through u all and found how is God’s family well.  The second, for me I learned and received more informations about youth ministry and G12 system . Because of fasting, I felt that God revealed me to understand deeper almost whole system, not only youth ministry. u know when my mind’s free, I’ll think about who and how to success not only G12  but  G144 . In the past, I thought about this but not serious like this time. The last thing, every time I’ve been to spore ,  my spirit’s brought to the higher level , got refresh even this time I’d to serve my team. Because I just was in the place where filled by God’s presence. 

Thanks for everything again and continue to pray for my pastor to know what is God’s plan for this church.. 

 Nuy 

 

Would you take a minute to now to pray for this church?

Written by: Huimin (Xiangru’s tribe)

On 5 October 2006, 9 Thai ladies from the Bangkok Liberty Church came to Singapore to learn about the G12 vision. Amidst the sight-seeing and shopping, their hearts were more concerned about learning what the G12 vision is all about. They visited Liang Ming’s and Xiangru’s open cells, sat in for one of the SOL lessons, and even understudied the Hospitality Team.

 

taken after Xiangru’s open cell

I remember that after Liang Ming’s open cell, we had a little “Q & A” session to help them understand the G12 concept better. One of the Thai youths, who is only 16 years old, asked about how do we attract young people to come. It may be a simple question to some of you. But to me, hearing it from a 16-year-old youth goes to show that she is serious about God and wants to be effective for Him. She may be young, but her love for God is so big.

Before they came over, I told the Lord that there is nothing much that I can give to them, but only to serve them with a servant’s heart, help them as much as I can during their stay here, and to be a blessing to them. In seeking to be a blessing, I have been so blessed by their friendliness, and more importantly, their love for God and desire to see Thailand saved. Though we are of different nationalities and speak different languages, we are all bounded together by God’s love. And if God can bless FCBC through the G12 vision, I’m sure that He can do the same for Bangkok Liberty Church, and that many Thais will come to know the Lord through the G12 movement in Thailand. Would you take a minute now to pray for Thailand?

 

Written by: Huimin (Xiangru’s tribe)

It’s a joy, once again, to be able to host the sisters from Bangkok Liberty Church , Thailand . This visit was arranged in August during GCYC as the church wanted to start a youth service next year. Hence, this trip, led by 2 staff from the church, is with the intention of seeing how FCBC YouthNet moves in the G12 vision. 

Their short stay taught me about the power of G12 vision. As many of their queries were answered throughout this stay, it allowed me to understand the G12 vision better and to witness for myself how the G12 vision can serve a nation effectively. 

As much as that they came to learn from Singapore, I also learned from them their passion for the G12 vision and for God. Though it was only a 5-day trip, I believe that the Holy Spirit has imparted many valuable lessons and experiences that these friends can bring back to be a blessing to the youths in Thailand . 

Thank God that despite the language barrier, good friendship was fostered. I look forward to see many of them and more new faces at the coming G12 conference in March 2007.

Written by: Joshua (Jerome’s tribe) 

I really like the post “Heart of the Matter” written by Sebastian and passage he has taken from C.S Lewis’s The Four Loves cos it hits me where it used to hurt most. 

It all started from something minor, like lending my personal belongings and money to my friends. My heart kinda hurt when I had to lend them my stuff cos I valued them. Gradually I learnt that I shouldn’t value or love these material goods so I wouldn’t feel that my heart hurt when I had to part with them. Good, you would say. But when I grew older, my heart got hurt in other ways; it started to get broken by the people close to me. People whom I loved most hurt me the most. People whom I placed my highest expectation in disappointed me the most. Then I started to apply my theory of “Value Less, Hurt Less” to the people around me. My heart never got broken again. It cracked sometimes but it never got totally broken into pieces. Though my heart was whole most of the time, it was loveless. 

That was me before I knew God. I wouldn’t say that after I know God, my heart is never broken again and I live happily after. The fact is my heart got broken a thousand times more than ever before but after understanding how wide and long and high and deep the love that Christ has for us, I am blessed with the courage to love and my fear of having my heart broken disappeared. But you may ask what if one day your heart gets shattered beyond what you can bear? Fix your eyes on Jesus and you will know all is worth it.

 Look into the word “heart” in the picture to see the name “Jesus”.
Fear not cos Jesus is in your heart =)

 Written by: Michelle (Korine’s tribe)

Over the pulpit we hear this phrase all too often, “At the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart”. True? Recently i came across a blog that nicely put things into perspective for me:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is Hell.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

This resonates so well within me as God leads me into a season of loving the people around me. Family, friends, colleagues, cell members, the special ones, the unloved ones… all the same. As much as it would hurt sometimes, I’ld rather that my heart be wrung and be broken than it become unbreakable, impenetrable and irredeemable.

We can love b’cos He first loved us. He knew the cost of love, that’s why He chose unconditional love.

God, teach me to love just the way you do.

How is your heart today?

Written by: Sebastian (Pastor Roland’s tribe)

As I sat through one of the sessions on past hurts, I find myself couldn’t relate much. So I was quite relaxed during ministry time until my brother Shijun turned to pray for me. Thanks bro!

He was praying for my relationship with my mum. When I heard that, it was like the Holy Spirit telling me “hey son, you forgot about this!” Then I remembered about a month ago, when my grandma was supposed to go for her baptism, my mum and other relatives were persuading against her going. My mum even went to the church that day just to make sure my grandma wasn’t there. Eventually my grandma didn’t get baptized.

When I heard all this that has happened I was very hurt and disappointed with my mum. Why out of so many people, it has to be my mum? It hurts to see your loved ones stopping or hindering others from obeying the Lord. For the next 2 weeks after the incident, I even found it hard to talk to my mum.

Thank God for His grace. I found that it was easier to forgive my mum for the hurts and disappointment, maybe because it is still a “fresh hurt”. I was very thankful that the Holy Spirit reminded me of this incident at this point of time. If not, I would have to keep this feeling to myself. I have also learnt that keeping past hurts and disappointment is like not brushing your teeth for a very long period of time. Then you will find tartar forming on your teeth. (tartar. Dentistry. A hard, yellowish to brownish-black deposit on teeth formed largely through the mineralization of dead bacteria in dental plaques by the calcium salts in salivary secretions and sub gingival transudates.)  And when you want the dentist to clean up all those long accumulated tartar, it’s going to hurt us even more! So brush your teeth daily. Go to the Lord daily and give Him all your pains and hurts.

As I prayed for my mum, I began to believe that she will be saved and her life will be turned around like how Jesus turned the life of Apostle Paul around for His glory. 

As always, whenever I go for encounter or SWW, I would be thinking to myself what will “come out of me”. Don’t know whether is there any “unclean stuff” in me that will come out. But God gave me a new understanding regarding going of encounter and SWW. I began to understand it’s not about what will “come out” of me but is what will “come into” me. At the end of the day, do we allow the Holy Spirit to come into our life and transform us? Do we allow the love of God to come into our heart so that we can love the people who had once hurt us? And do we allow the Lordship of Jesus to come into our life and truly declare that JESUS is LORD?

 Written by: Yiliang (Leong Keng’s Tribe)