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Tagboard
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
derek today asked me what we mean when we say: seek the kingdom of God, store up treasure in heaven, be part of God's temple.
3 quite different things. i'll touch briefly on the first and third and elaborate more on the second one. i believe derek was reading from matthew 6 when he got these questions, so that is the bible reference.
here we go.
seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
the whole chapter is talking about how we should not be overly concerned with worldly wealth, acceptance from man and physical well being. so "all these things" refers to things that we need to live eg, food, money, clothes, etc. jesus is telling us, there is MORE to life than mere survival of the physical body, and ANYWAY, God will provide for you if you seek his kingdom and righteousness.
so what does it mean to seek his kingdom and righteousness?
seeking his kingdom means to have a mindset that loooks into the heavenly realms. see. firstly we must understand that our world is more than the physical. it is more than about surviving life, its more than getting past school, its even much more than getting someone to come to church! THERE IS MORE!
we must realise that there is something of greater importance to material gain. "what goood is it that a man should gain the world but lose his soul?"
as a result of this understanding, we live life in a different way. kingdom mindset. our lives are for a purpose(remember purpose driven life). worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism.
seeking his righteousness means to work towards being holy as god is holy.
be part of God's temple. i'll talk about this another time. not enough time now! i gotta get ready to set sail. haha. i and i just got distracted by this beautiful girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4quJa3XzN_g
ive never seen a girl play like that in my life.
okay. treasure in heaven.
that does it mean to store up treasure in heaven?
1. what is treasure in heaven?
truth is I DONT KNOW. but some plausible answers are as such.
a) it is a physical wealth.
when the world comes to an end, we will not be living in heaven as spirits. the bible says that we will be living on a new earth in a NEW physical body which is perfect and imperishable(wont die). there will be work and people would be God's servants in ruling the universe. hence, it could be that God will reward us with "money" or "gold and silver" so that we can live even better, though things would already be perfect.
b) it could be that this treasure is simply the joy and privelegde of serving God. eg. when you see someone whom you've been praying for for very long recieve christ, there is great joy and thanksgiving to God.
okay but there is another question. are we having wrong motivations if we are just seeking for this treasure?
this one i dont know. i asked my dad, he said this. this is NOT a wrong motivation. it is not selfish motivation either. its kind of like a wife desiring her husbands love and attention. not to the point of possesiveness, but just to the point that is desirable. that desire is not wrong, its a good thing to desire. likewise, when we desire treasure in heaven, we desire a goodthing.
(from here onwards is mine, so dont quote my dad anymore haha) OF COURSE, we must not cause harm to others will pursuing this treasure.
2. how do we get treasure?
by serving the Lord sincerely and faithfully. without looking for man's approval though man's approval may come together with God's approval.
3. why do we need this treasure?
this one i dont know. but i think its a good thing from God and we should desire it. it is not necessary for salvation, but salvation should lead to us serving God which would lead to this treasure.
okay, i gotta go im runnning out of time.. and im falling ill. pray for me you guys. you are in my prayers too
see you 3 saturdays from now (:
God bless
ming.
3 quite different things. i'll touch briefly on the first and third and elaborate more on the second one. i believe derek was reading from matthew 6 when he got these questions, so that is the bible reference.
here we go.
seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
the whole chapter is talking about how we should not be overly concerned with worldly wealth, acceptance from man and physical well being. so "all these things" refers to things that we need to live eg, food, money, clothes, etc. jesus is telling us, there is MORE to life than mere survival of the physical body, and ANYWAY, God will provide for you if you seek his kingdom and righteousness.
so what does it mean to seek his kingdom and righteousness?
seeking his kingdom means to have a mindset that loooks into the heavenly realms. see. firstly we must understand that our world is more than the physical. it is more than about surviving life, its more than getting past school, its even much more than getting someone to come to church! THERE IS MORE!
we must realise that there is something of greater importance to material gain. "what goood is it that a man should gain the world but lose his soul?"
as a result of this understanding, we live life in a different way. kingdom mindset. our lives are for a purpose(remember purpose driven life). worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism.
seeking his righteousness means to work towards being holy as god is holy.
be part of God's temple. i'll talk about this another time. not enough time now! i gotta get ready to set sail. haha. i and i just got distracted by this beautiful girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4quJa3XzN_g
ive never seen a girl play like that in my life.
okay. treasure in heaven.
that does it mean to store up treasure in heaven?
1. what is treasure in heaven?
truth is I DONT KNOW. but some plausible answers are as such.
a) it is a physical wealth.
when the world comes to an end, we will not be living in heaven as spirits. the bible says that we will be living on a new earth in a NEW physical body which is perfect and imperishable(wont die). there will be work and people would be God's servants in ruling the universe. hence, it could be that God will reward us with "money" or "gold and silver" so that we can live even better, though things would already be perfect.
b) it could be that this treasure is simply the joy and privelegde of serving God. eg. when you see someone whom you've been praying for for very long recieve christ, there is great joy and thanksgiving to God.
okay but there is another question. are we having wrong motivations if we are just seeking for this treasure?
this one i dont know. i asked my dad, he said this. this is NOT a wrong motivation. it is not selfish motivation either. its kind of like a wife desiring her husbands love and attention. not to the point of possesiveness, but just to the point that is desirable. that desire is not wrong, its a good thing to desire. likewise, when we desire treasure in heaven, we desire a goodthing.
(from here onwards is mine, so dont quote my dad anymore haha) OF COURSE, we must not cause harm to others will pursuing this treasure.
2. how do we get treasure?
by serving the Lord sincerely and faithfully. without looking for man's approval though man's approval may come together with God's approval.
3. why do we need this treasure?
this one i dont know. but i think its a good thing from God and we should desire it. it is not necessary for salvation, but salvation should lead to us serving God which would lead to this treasure.
okay, i gotta go im runnning out of time.. and im falling ill. pray for me you guys. you are in my prayers too
see you 3 saturdays from now (:
God bless
ming.
weareradical at 7:16 AM
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, 13 August 08
hello central three!
haha. i've been off school almost this whole week (monday, wednesday, thursday) and tomorrow's my last off day! sadly.
anyway, hope you all have been doing well! haha. feels like i haven't been posting on the cell blog for ages, really.
but anyway, realized something quite cool today..
if you were to focus on someone, you could lose your own identity because well, you disappear and the "someone" is all you see
thinking about God
maybe if we wanna feel God, we can try a lot things and really really focusing on Him is something we can try, hmm.
anyway, jyjy! haha. its only two days till the week's end, and saturday's here! and its just two weeks left to the term before a nice one week break :D haha.
anyway! i had a really really random thought of a cell outing at the beach, haha. like picnic :D which is quite cool but i don't know. maybe i'm the one watching too much of tv, haha cause you become what you watch right. haha.
okay okay, enough of my randomness. good rest of the week to all :D
<3alisa
hello central three!
haha. i've been off school almost this whole week (monday, wednesday, thursday) and tomorrow's my last off day! sadly.
anyway, hope you all have been doing well! haha. feels like i haven't been posting on the cell blog for ages, really.
but anyway, realized something quite cool today..
if you were to focus on someone, you could lose your own identity because well, you disappear and the "someone" is all you see
thinking about God
maybe if we wanna feel God, we can try a lot things and really really focusing on Him is something we can try, hmm.
anyway, jyjy! haha. its only two days till the week's end, and saturday's here! and its just two weeks left to the term before a nice one week break :D haha.
anyway! i had a really really random thought of a cell outing at the beach, haha. like picnic :D which is quite cool but i don't know. maybe i'm the one watching too much of tv, haha cause you become what you watch right. haha.
okay okay, enough of my randomness. good rest of the week to all :D
<3alisa
weareradical at 8:46 AM
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
hey guys. several things! important please read (:
1. On saturday, i brought up one point during my sharing that is potentially confusing and easily misinterpreted.
" we are not sinners" i said. instead, we are perfect. Because God has paid the price through His Son Jesus Christ, and since we are in his forgiveness, we should not consider ourself sinners, but holy ones, saints.
the term sinners can be used in 2 ways. 1. sin-full people. 2. people who do sin.
in my suggestion, i was more thinking of option 1. we are not Full of sin (sinful) but instead, we are cleansed (: AMEN!
but yes, we still do sin, and we MUST never take the grace of God for granted. His grace is sufficient for us, but we do not take it lightly. a high price was paid, and we are called to holiness. so, we do not make our efforts to fight sin less just because God's sin makes us perfect.
my main point in sharing this is that you guys would be encouraged to not always think about yourself being sinful and hence not able to serve God, or start wanting to serve God. i often hear people tell me they want to sort their lives out first. this is a wrong mentality. we will never be good enough for God's service. thats why jesus died. if you one day think you are good enough, that is the day spiritual pride has come into your life.
HOWEVER, it is true that the church has certain requirements and standards for people who want to join ministry. this is another discussion. but yes, just because you "cant" join a ministry because they dont accept you, doesnt mean you cant serve God in other areas. instead of ushering, be hospitable to new comers in our cell, to people in your class, to new friends. this to me is perhaps more important (:
cool.
2. this coming saturday, we will be having a WORSHIP EXPERIENCE. a time where we really gear ourselves and give ourselves lots of time to experience God in a new way through worship and prayer (:
do pray for this saturday that events will flow smoothly and that God's hand will be over this event. pray for randolf who will be leading. as i type this, the leaders and some others are fasting (: so do pray for us too, that we will be sensitive to the holy spirit at this time.
lastly, DO try your very best to come this saturday.. its Gonna be great and i hope that more of you can come! seriously. homework, try to finish up on friday and sunday. i KNOW there is enough time. even if there isnt, perhaps its time you decide which is REALLY more important. and i dare unapologetically say, an encounter with God is more important.
dont say that you can experience God yourself. you yourself know your own spiritual condition.
come this saturday!
God is going to move, and he wants to move in you. respond to him.
that is all!
lots and lots of love.. MING
1. On saturday, i brought up one point during my sharing that is potentially confusing and easily misinterpreted.
" we are not sinners" i said. instead, we are perfect. Because God has paid the price through His Son Jesus Christ, and since we are in his forgiveness, we should not consider ourself sinners, but holy ones, saints.
the term sinners can be used in 2 ways. 1. sin-full people. 2. people who do sin.
in my suggestion, i was more thinking of option 1. we are not Full of sin (sinful) but instead, we are cleansed (: AMEN!
but yes, we still do sin, and we MUST never take the grace of God for granted. His grace is sufficient for us, but we do not take it lightly. a high price was paid, and we are called to holiness. so, we do not make our efforts to fight sin less just because God's sin makes us perfect.
my main point in sharing this is that you guys would be encouraged to not always think about yourself being sinful and hence not able to serve God, or start wanting to serve God. i often hear people tell me they want to sort their lives out first. this is a wrong mentality. we will never be good enough for God's service. thats why jesus died. if you one day think you are good enough, that is the day spiritual pride has come into your life.
HOWEVER, it is true that the church has certain requirements and standards for people who want to join ministry. this is another discussion. but yes, just because you "cant" join a ministry because they dont accept you, doesnt mean you cant serve God in other areas. instead of ushering, be hospitable to new comers in our cell, to people in your class, to new friends. this to me is perhaps more important (:
cool.
2. this coming saturday, we will be having a WORSHIP EXPERIENCE. a time where we really gear ourselves and give ourselves lots of time to experience God in a new way through worship and prayer (:
do pray for this saturday that events will flow smoothly and that God's hand will be over this event. pray for randolf who will be leading. as i type this, the leaders and some others are fasting (: so do pray for us too, that we will be sensitive to the holy spirit at this time.
lastly, DO try your very best to come this saturday.. its Gonna be great and i hope that more of you can come! seriously. homework, try to finish up on friday and sunday. i KNOW there is enough time. even if there isnt, perhaps its time you decide which is REALLY more important. and i dare unapologetically say, an encounter with God is more important.
dont say that you can experience God yourself. you yourself know your own spiritual condition.
come this saturday!
God is going to move, and he wants to move in you. respond to him.
that is all!
lots and lots of love.. MING
weareradical at 5:07 AM