Last week was very nice because things were back to the normal schedule – for the most part. I was able to get a lot done and spend more time studying in the Word again. This week should be even more back to normal.

Last week I did have some highlights:

1. I printed off all the material to put together the Youth Devotional notebooks and launched the program on Sunday! It is really exciting to be able to provide this for the teens so that they have quality material to lead them in the study of the Bible and prayer.

2. I got to visit Sentosa in Singapore, which is a big tourist attraction – they are in the process of building a universal studios – one day it will be like Disney is in the U.S. We went to the Aquarium where I was able to touch different kinds of fish and see sharks… The seal show was pretty cool. Didn’t get to see the dolphin show b/c of the lightening I had lot’s of fun being with the family that took me. We ate some great Indian and French cuisine for lunch and dinner.

3. We had a 4 hr New Year’s Eve/New Years Service focusing on the faithfulness of the Lord, praying for the church, singing and testifying of God’s faithfulness and looking ahead to trust in His working for the New Year.Then we watched a video of highlights of all the things that happened this last year at GIBC.

4. I was able to skype with the Dewars and some of the teens at FBCLO (and tease them about the Bulls whooping up on the Pistons )

5. Over the weekend we went to Malaysia for the cheap food and shopping. Had tons of fun winding through the back offroads of Malaysia to find a gocart place. The one’s we went on raced up to 50 km/hr! They had some more expensive ones that went 90 km/hr and 100+ km/hr.

FINALLY a blog post! It has been quite busy so I have not had time to post pics or write. Straight back from the leadership retreat was VBS, which was followed by Bible Conference and lots of tourism with Steve Hafler, missionary from Zambia, Family Camp in Malaysia, and then Christmas Cantata.

We had a great VBS with 60+ kids. The VBS started at 9am and went until 3pm. We had singing, several Bible lessons, refreshments, games, and program practice since Sun evening they were to put on a Christmas program. It was amazing how fast they memorized lines and learned the many songs. I had a good group of kids and enjoyed teaching them.Here are just a few pics:

After VBS I I had lots of fun sight seeing with Steve Hafler all over Singapore. He has a great sense of humor and it was fun hanging out with him.

he wasn’t impressed with the dessert that I had him try hahaha (hidden under the ice are beans).

It was nice to get away from the city for a week in Malaysia to hear some solid messages from Steve Hafler for family camp.

We had lots of fun playing games, pranks and skits too

Did you realize that a new scientific experiment has discovered that heat rises off butter when you put pepper on it?

Well actually its just a prank to smash your hand into the butter

I don’t have much time to write since things are so busy, but we had a wonderful leadership retreat in Malaysia for two days that really helped me to see the whole layout for the year so hopefully I can tackle tasks ahead of time, planning them out knowing what to accomplish in stages.

This week is VBS so I am preparing for a lot of lessons this week and am too busy to write a whole lot now. Hopefully at the end of the week I will have pics and more to write!

Yup, this is the exciting life of missionaries. They do the same exact thing as pastor’s in the States – prepare lessons, visit people, office work… But wait a second – it may be that it is the same thing week after week; it may be that it is pretty similar to what takes place anywhere else. But what is happening is extraordinary when you evaluate it in light of Gal 6:9-10 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

It is not the sometimes monotonous tasks that makes the ministry what it is; it is not even the out of the ordinary and fun stuff that I often enjoy too that makes the ministry what it is. It is learning to love others by serving them and being gratified that you could come alongside to encourage or help them in some way because of the Lord at work in the life of the church body–the greatest organism that exists on the earth in God’s order to fulfill his decrees in this dispensation. Certainly, one source of satisfaction comes in being able to serve others’ needs–something that I need to learn more about practically so that I can find much more joy in the ministry.

But my satisfaction and evaluation of the ministry must go far beyond being gratified in the responses or results that I can immediately see. One of my “Life Verses” since High School has been 1 Co 15:58: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

I don’t expect my (feeble attempts at) weekly lessons to be a switch that automatically turns a life around in an instant. Usually it takes years and years for a person’s life to be “re-wired” (i.e. transformed by the Holy Spirit working through the Word). Therefore, the ministry can be wearisome if you are just looking for immediate results in the response of people (many times you can be discouraged if you evaluate ministry success based on that). True success and satisfaction is found in the Lord’s favor for faithfulness (I think it was Judson that called it plodding. His ministry was simply one of plodding along over the years – it didn’t seem like much was happening or that great success was taking place at the time. Yet, God did tremendous things through him and he is still bearing fruit in Burma/Myanmar to this day through the Baptist churches that are still established and thriving there).

Next week we will be heading to Malaysia for a leadership retreat/planning for next year. Pray that we would wisely consider all of the details of the church ministry for the coming year. Then VBS will be upon us, next, Steve Hafler (missionary to Zambia where my brother was a few yrs ago) will be here for Bible Conference, Youth Rally, and Church Camp in Dec. and the Christmas Cantata will take place. So the next few months will be plenty busy. Also pray as I write the devotional journals for the teens for this next year (studying the book of Ephesians-it is a spectacular book in doctrinal depth and applicational practicality).

Pray for one of my friends here that is having to endure recovering from extensive jaw surgery – it will still be a month or more before he can eat real food again! Which has to be 10 times harder for a Singaporean to endure since food is the main past time

“Missions Exists Because Worship Doesn’t.” –J.P.

Only the grace of God opens the way for the human heart to respond and humbly bow before God in worship.

Pray for the heart of a teen I am discipling. I can only share the meaning of the Word; the Holy Spirit must make it meaningful and significant, transforming the driving motivation and desires of his heart.

Pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit for a middle-aged lady (the sister of one of the men in our church) just diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She has said the “sinners prayer” before but does not seem established in the faith. We had the opportunity to have an open door to share with her the eternal confident expectattion (i.e. Biblical hope) that God has provided by depending upon Him–not just to be able to go to heaven, but to have a restored relationship. Pray that she would recognize the grace of God during these difficult times that have caused her to ask the aged-old question “Why Me?”

1 Peter 1:3-9 sums up the hope that believers rejoice in through the difficult tragedies that we face due to the enemy (death/suffering) intruding into God’s perfect world because of mankind’s sin.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

More great food the last couple weeks by the way = fish head/fish eyes, frog legs, snails and cockles which are similar to muscles (sorry no pics of the last two ) It is also the grace of God not only that I can eat this but I actually love eating this really awesome stuff that you just have to try before denying its tastiness!!! When I was in the U.S. I only ate fish maybe 5 times in my life and I only ate Chinese food maybe 1 time a year so I was a little afraid whether I would survive over here. But as you can see I am living it up

This last week was “Appreciate Your Church Secretary Week”…..

At least it was for me . Most of the week was spent copying the next quarter’s S.S. material for all the different classes. I am glad that everything got accomplished and organized. I also got back into the flow of things since getting back from Malaysia. In the end of November I will be going back to Malaysia again for the church leadership retreat where we will plan and organize everything for next year.

I delayed posting b/c I am supposed to have some more great pics but there has been some problems getting them e-mailed to me so I will have to post them later this week hopefully.

Pray for a Jr. Higher who just started coming in these last three weeks. She only speaks Chinese but seems to have quite a few questions about Christianity. One of the older teens was able to help translate this last week and said that he was able to explain quite a few questions that she had about the lesson. We are talking about the cause of sin right now in the youth class.

Pray for a young man who went in for jaw re-alignment surgery yesterday. It will take quite a few weeks to recover before he can eat solid food.

Pray for a Dr. in our church that came down with Dengue Fever. She is out of the hospital but is still in the process of recovering which can take 2 months.

Pray for a Jr. higher that I am counseling – that he would make the connections between belief and behavior.

I had a great time in Malaysia last week. When you cross the Johor Straits the landscape is much different from the busy city life of Singapore.

We headed up to Malaysia so that I could renew my visa and so that we could finalize accommodations for the church camp in December at Fraser’s hill. Here are some pics of the accommodations and the view that looks across to some other hotels.

The best part of the trip was the food though – yummy fish head curry (eyeballs and all). I actually really liked it a lot.

It is great in Omega 3 content – very very healthy for you!

The Homemade Pizza at Ping and Melanie’s was pretty good when we got back too though.

Also while in Malaysia I was able to visit Mr. Ott’s learning center. It is very nice and spacious – unlike what you could afford in Singapore.

As soon as we got back to Singapore, we were busy with a 3 day conference and trying to find time to prepare for our messages. Also, the family doctor that I go to here in Singapore that attends our church came down with a severe case of Dengue Fever (caught from mosquitoes). It could have easily killed her if her blood platelets count continued to drop (causing Hemorrhaging). Usually it is at least 150,000 and hers dropped to 19,000. Also her blood pressure was escalating, which could cause bleeding to death. Before the conference we prayed that we would hear some positive news that the count would start going back up before the end of the night. Praise the Lord that the Lord answered our prayers that night (it went back up to over 40,000) and over the next few days. She was released from the hospital today but will still be weak for the next 2 months. Pray that she can get the help she needs at her doctor’s practice since she won’t be able to work the whole day for the next few months.

The weeks ahead will be the busiest part of the year – preparing for VBS, the Christmas Cantata, church camp, printing out the next quarter’s material for S.S. and working on producing the Youth Devotionals (and Parent’s meeting to set everything up).

The highlight of my week this last week was to see 5 new people added to the church (one by baptism/four by transfer). It was unique to see the one young man baptized in the ocean (if I can get a pic sent to me I will post it here later).

Why is baptism so significant?

Systematic III Class Notes:

Baptism is a memorial of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and a symbol of the believer’s spiritual participation in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Water baptism has symbolic value only. No grace is transferred to the candidate by the ordinance.

Baptism is a MEMORIAL of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in His Work of Atoning for Sin.

Romans 6:3-4 Believers have been “baptized into His death,” co-buried with Him through baptism into death.

(note: While Rom 6 primarily speaks of Spirit baptism, water baptism symbolizes Spirit baptism cf. 1 Co 12:13).

Baptism is a SYMBOL of the Christian’s Union With Christ in His Death, Burial, and Resurrection.

Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Galatians 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Colossians 2:12 “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Baptism is a PROPHECY of the Believer’s Bodily Resurrection.

Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Colossians 3:1,4 “If then you have been raised up with Christ.. .When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Next week I am looking forward to going up to Kluang, Maylasia for a 3 day visit (so I can renew my visa). I will be going up with Ping to scope out accomodations for the church camp in December and to visit the former pastor of GIBC who is trying to establish a “Learning Center” there so that he can start Bible clubs with the children.

Here is a more accurate description of my “normal” week (if there is such a thing). When I have time maybe I can revise my Daily Schedule Tab.

I really just have some main set tasks that I try to get done each day instead of an hourly schedule that I try to keep. Everything else listed on the daily schedule tab just fits in around the main tasks that I try to get done each day.

Sun is about the same as is listed in the Daily Schedule:

Teach S.S.; participate in the AM worship service (am thankful to be sitting under the Word exposited by Ping); time of fellowship afterwords with some snacks (porridge, noodles…), meetings, choir practice, go for lunch at a hawker center (i.e. food court), go tracting in the HDB (housing development board = high-rise apartments), preach in the PM worship service, fellowship at a hawker center

Mon:

My “day of rest”

Bible study/relationship building with one of my teens in the morning

Laundry, grocery shopping, banking and other random tasks

Church fellowship usually at someone’s home in the evening

Tue:

Accountability with Ping

Get my Proteens lesson done

Get other random things done

Wed:

Get my S.S. lesson done

Wed evening service

Thur and Fri:

finish up my message for Sun Eve

visitation in the evenings

Sat:

Administrative work

kids clubs

hawker center fellowship

Actually pretty much throughout each day insert eat food and fellowship and you pretty much got the culture of Singapore down (Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Tea Time, Dinner, Supper, Midnight snack… – maybe not quite that extreme – but pretty close).

Last night I actually went Tandem bike riding. I was a little afraid at first since I have not been on a bike in 10 yrs. But I was able to stay balanced and even peddle a little bit. It was a nice breezy day along the ocean. We stopped by a really nice restaurant overlooking the ocean and I had a very enjoyable meal and talk with one of the men in the church.

I had many opportunities to go on different excursions with different families in the church this last week so it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday was dedicated to an all day conference for the teachers at GIBC. The general sessions and workshops were very helpful to reflect upon the big picture and purpose for ministering each week in the classes:

General Sessions:

Passion in Teaching The Word

Why Teach?

When Teaching Becomes Ministry

Workshops:

Leading a Child to Christ

Helping Children Discover Scripture

Ready To Answer Difficult Questions (What are the Youth Struggling with)

Using The Bible To Explain The Bible

I had several opportunites for some fun last week. I went out with one of my Jr. Highers and his family for his B-day party. We had some great Western food (i.e. fried and fatty with lots of bread on the side ). We also went to Swenson’s for some ice cream. Then a couple days later I was able to attend a concert (Bach to Bach) which was excellent. The flute soloist had taken Master classes with Sir James Galway!!! The violin soloist is the teacher of some of my Jr. Highers. I didn’t get any pics but the auditorium was beautiful too.

Praise the Lord for a good Saturday Youth Meeting. I am seeking to communicate the Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin. Last week we discussed what is Iniquity = crookedness/perversion/twistedness. I believe that the lesson helped most of them to be very sober concerning the wickedness that they must battle BECAUSE they fear God and love God due to the driving motivation to Glorify God.

The key verse for the series is Psalm 97:10: Hate evil, you who love the LORD

Here is an excerpt of what I have been teaching:

#1 flaw: Many Christians make a serious mistake of confusing Justification with that which is Sanctification. Therefore, they believe that their performance as a Christian will gain acceptance with God. We call those people legalists.

#2 flaw: But other Christians make just as serious a mistake when they confuse Sanctification with that which is Justification. They believe that since we are “in Christ,” Christians don’t need to repent, never displease God who always sees them through the blood of Christ, and we are under grace to decide how to live our own lives before God (there are no definable standards of application that one believer can insist upon in another believers’ life! Not even a pastor? 2 Tim 4:2! The decisions you make as a believer positioned in Christ are right for you if you believe the H.S. has led you and are only wrong for you if you are convicted yourself by the H.S.).

However, the truth about Justification does not wipe away our responsibility (it increases it because we now have a transformed inward life with the power to obey God’s Law – the Law of Christ: 1 John 3:3ff. Eph 5; Gal 5 = Specifics are defined! Whether your life matches or not can be discerned by yourself and other believers!). We must pursue God’s expectations of holiness commanded of Christians regarding our walk in SANCTIFICATION (the evidence of Justification—Rom 6:22). Neither does being Justified wipe away God’s displeasure when we disregard Him (Heb 12:5-11; James 4:8).

#1 flaw: We must avoid Legalism when we pursue sanctification. We obey because we love God, not to get God to love us.

#2 flaw: We must avoid License when we pursue sanctification. There is a law to obey—The Law of Christ. Even though you are not under God’s condemnation (Rom 8:1) disobedience does hinder our fellowship with God and does demand consequences of correction/chastening.

False Arguments

1. But we have to be In this world

The reality – their definition of being “in the world” is what the Bible describes as being “of the world.”

Jesus’ statement is that God DID NOT take Christians out of this world and take them to heaven. We ARE living in this world, walking around earth in the midst of unsaved people everywhere.

As we live IN this world we must separate from sin and sinfulness, rooting it out of being a part of our lives = confront it or turn away from it (James 1:27, Jude 1:23; Eph 5:11).

2. The Holy Spirit leads different Christians to draw the line in different spots

The reality – a seared conscience that misunderstands the H.S. work of conviction. You do not derive revelation from the H.S. giving you an inerrant standard that cannot be challenged by others.

The H.S. conviction  does not grant you special revelation – the objective Word tells you what right/wrong is and the H.S. simply convicts you when you do not line up to that. He impresses the significance of SCRIPTURE on your heart.

A wise person always turns away from sin (Prov 14:16). The issue is not where one draws the line (arguing over how much sin can be tolerated before you must draw the line). Do you hate evil like God does? If you do, then you will also respond in like manner: the ONLY option is to turn away from it.

In the midst of our hedonistic culture today, many Christians claim that they are being cautious regarding evil (i.e. They can recognize what is evil—which is debatable at times—and do not enjoy it. Therefore, they can abide with it—which is a necessary part of being “in the world.”). Their life matches the life of Lot (2 Pet 2:7 correlated with the point of Gen 18-19 about Lot’s life esp 19:16).

However, their response of tolerating evil, rather than turning from evil, betrays the fact that their definition of cautiousness is in reality carelessness. They have twisted God’s wisdom and deceive themselves. In reality, the cautious response to evil is not only recognizing what is evil and not enjoying it, but also turning away from it (which may involve admonishing/confronting others and even leaving/not abiding in a venue that presents evil while living “in this world”)!

3. Only Pharisee’s get up tight about hanging around sinners and sinful things – Jesus hung with the sinners. We need to evangelize

The reality – Jesus confronted sinners, instructed them, and was not involved in their sinful ways.

A foolish person (thinking that he himself is the humble one for embracing sinners in their own atmosphere) derides a wise person, saying that he is arrogant for defining sinfulness and insisting upon a definitive action of turning away from sinfulness.

The reality – The wise person wins a sinner to Christ by the purity of the Word reflected in the purity of their lives. The very fact that we turn away from evil and confront it when we are out and about “in the world” will give us the testimony and the opportunities that we need to evangelize. Evangelism is actually so hard in this day and age because we don’t tend to have opportunities when we are out and about because we don’t want anyone to notice the difference in our lives—certainly not by our vocal confrontation of evil.

4. There are a bunch of gray areas that we just don’t know what is right or things are just neutral

The reality – God has given us all that we need to know to live out our Christian lives (2 Peter 1:3). We can always know what is right/wrong. There is no such thing as a moral issue that is neutral. It either lines up to the character of God or it does not line up to the character of God.

When there are disagreements between Christians (“Gray” area), then we do not just say that the issue is relative. We examine why there is a disagreement (authority source? Interpretation difference? Conviction in one of the ditches? Disconnect between belief and behavior?)

When there is a disagreement you need to do what is expedient, edifying and not causing a stumbling block for others

5. We are not supposed to judge one another

The reality – The Lord has designed the body of Christ, one of its purposes being to admonish one another (1 Thess 5:14; Eph 5:11). The under-shepherd particularly has the responsibility to guide the lives of his flock and to warn them from wandering away into sinful practices (2 Tim 4:2).

Matthew 7:1 in context speaks of a wrong kind of judging, but does not negate judging rotten fruit in others (Matt 7:15-16).

In reality, by trying to avoid the problems of “Pharisaical judgmentalism,” some reactionary Christians have embraced the problems of “antinomianism” and “moral relativism.”