Are You Sold Out for God?

This post is an extraction from Fiona’s (ME Singer) blog. I felt that it was relevant for us to ponder upon. Hence I’ve posted it here as well.

Are You Sold Out for God?

Sold Out
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, November 14 2008

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” Philippians 3:7George Mueller was a man known for building orphanages by faith in the mid-1800s. He raised literally millions of dollars for his orphanages, yet died with little in his own bank account. When asked about his conversion experience he commented,

“I was converted in November of 1825, but I only came into the full surrender of the heart four years later, in July 1829. The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, and the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you have taken up irrespective of God? I read a little of the scriptures before, but preferred other books; but since that time the revelation He has made of Himself has become unspeakably blessed to me, and I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh, be not satisfied until in your own inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!” [Basil Miller, Man of Faith and Miracles (Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bethany House Publishers, n.d.)]

Many will never get to the place where George Mueller was in his spiritual life, because we are unwilling to release control of these areas of which he speaks. If we do release control, it usually is due to a process that God brings us through. Paul got knocked off a horse and was spoken to personally before he was willing to listen and follow completely. Peter had to live with Jesus three years and he still denied Him. It was only later, after he denied Jesus and realized how weak he was in his own faith, that he became fully committed to the Savior.

What will it take for you to fully surrender? You will know that you have given full surrender when power, money, and position no longer have meaning in your life. Paul said he came to a place where his life was the life of Christ only. It is a sacrificial life, but it is also a life of freedom, purpose, and meaning. Let God take full control and see His life lived fully through you.

Exam Dates!! Pray!!! 2008

Pray for these who are potential future leaders!!

Refer to the email linkages for further details. The above is a temporal list.

Candidate	Papers and Assignments	Date/Deadline	Time Slots
Esther	French	12th Nov	5:00pm-7:00pm
	Modern Drama	17th Nov	1:00pm-3:30pm
	Film Theory	20th Nov	9:00am-11.30am
	Contemporary Literature	21st Nov	2:30pm-5:00pm
	South East Asian Literature	26th Nov	9:00am-11.30am
Rachael	Developmental Biology	24th Nov	evening
	Molecular Biotechnology	25th Nov
	Evolution	27th Nov
	Life for and Function	29th Nov
	Intro to Media Writing	5th Dec
MinMin	UROPS Presentation	KIV
	GEK 2500 (Living with Chemistry)	24th Nov	evening
	MA2213 (Numerical Analysis)	27th Nov	morning
	PC3235 (Solid State Physics 1)	27th Nov	afternoon
	PC3233 (Atomic & Molecular Physics 1)	3th Dec	afternoon
Nicky	Research paper on Eucharist	10th Nov
	Presentation of Martin Luther King Jr.	10th Nov
	Driving Test	11th Nov
	Worship Leading Presentation	13th Nov
	Report on Martin Luther King Jr.	17th Nov
	Church History Exam	17th Nov
	Systematic Theology 3 Exam	19th Nov
	Research paper on Martin Luther King Jr.	20th Nov
	Research paper on sociological factors on growth of mega churches in Singapore	21st Nov
	Book review on Runaway world	21st Nov
Waikay	Computational Complexity	25th Nov
	Term Paper (50%)

 

Financial Crisis

Cellites: Do you remember John’s sms to meditate on Psalms 119: 94-147. I believe that God is reminding us that He is Sovereign over any situation. Amen? Also don’t forget to pray for our nation, and the people. On the 11th Oct (Sat) afternoon, do you remember my sms to you guys? At the moment I felt a different spirit within the atmosphere, and I believe it’s from the enemy. This voice, which I don’t recognize (because it doesn’t belong to God), sounded this way “JUMP..”. It sounded pretty eerie, but immediately I knew that there was the heaviness from the contemplation of suicides in the atmosphere. Definitely not me being suicidal, because I was at the Basement level when I heard that voice. I know it sounds lame…haha. But it’s true. The next evening, I received a sms from Rachael, that someone jumped to his/her death near her area. KEEP PRAYING!!! Don’t allow the enemy to win and rob away more victims. These lives need Jesus. Nothing, no one, at all….except Jesus. Especially at this season of financial crisis. It’s very crucial. Many people don’t know who or where to turn to for help. But our help comes from the Lord, and this truth many others still do not know. So keep warring!!

Read this article to know more about the current situation:

The worst market crisis in 60 years

By George Soros

Published: January 22 2008 19:57 | Last updated: January 22 2008 19:57

The current financial crisis was precipitated by a bubble in the US housing market. In some ways it resembles other crises that have occurred since the end of the second world war at intervals ranging from four to 10 years.

However, there is a profound difference: the current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more than 60 years.

Boom-bust processes usually revolve around credit and always involve a bias or misconception. This is usually a failure to recognise a reflexive, circular connection between the willingness to lend and the value of the collateral. Ease of credit generates demand that pushes up the value of property, which in turn increases the amount of credit available. A bubble starts when people buy houses in the expectation that they can refinance their mortgages at a profit. The recent US housing boom is a case in point. The 60-year super-boom is a more complicated case.

Every time the credit expansion ran into trouble the financial authorities intervened, injecting liquidity and finding other ways to stimulate the economy. That created a system of asymmetric incentives also known as moral hazard, which encouraged ever greater credit expansion. The system was so successful that people came to believe in what former US president Ronald Reagan called the magic of the marketplace and I call market fundamentalism. Fundamentalists believe that markets tend towards equilibrium and the common interest is best served by allowing participants to pursue their self-interest. It is an obvious misconception, because it was the intervention of the authorities that prevented financial markets from breaking down, not the markets themselves. Nevertheless, market fundamentalism emerged as the dominant ideology in the 1980s, when financial markets started to become globalised and the US started to run a current account deficit.

Globalisation allowed the US to suck up the savings of the rest of the world and consume more than it produced. The US current account deficit reached 6.2 per cent of gross national product in 2006. The financial markets encouraged consumers to borrow by introducing ever more sophisticated instruments and more generous terms. The authorities aided and abetted the process by intervening whenever the global financial system was at risk. Since 1980, regulations have been progressively relaxed until they have practically disappeared.

The super-boom got out of hand when the new products became so complicated that the authorities could no longer calculate the risks and started relying on the risk management methods of the banks themselves. Similarly, the rating agencies relied on the information provided by the originators of synthetic products. It was a shocking abdication of responsibility.

Everything that could go wrong did. What started with subprime mortgages spread to all collateralised debt obligations, endangered municipal and mortgage insurance and reinsurance companies and threatened to unravel the multi-trillion-dollar credit default swap market. Investment banks’ commitments to leveraged buyouts became liabilities. Market-neutral hedge funds turned out not to be market-neutral and had to be unwound. The asset-backed commercial paper market came to a standstill and the special investment vehicles set up by banks to get mortgages off their balance sheets could no longer get outside financing. The final blow came when interbank lending, which is at the heart of the financial system, was disrupted because banks had to husband their resources and could not trust their counterparties. The central banks had to inject an unprecedented amount of money and extend credit on an unprecedented range of securities to a broader range of institutions than ever before. That made the crisis more severe than any since the second world war.

Credit expansion must now be followed by a period of contraction, because some of the new credit instruments and practices are unsound and unsustainable. The ability of the financial authorities to stimulate the economy is constrained by the unwillingness of the rest of the world to accumulate additional dollar reserves. Until recently, investors were hoping that the US Federal Reserve would do whatever it takes to avoid a recession, because that is what it did on previous occasions. Now they will have to realise that the Fed may no longer be in a position to do so. With oil, food and other commodities firm, and the renminbi appreciating somewhat faster, the Fed also has to worry about inflation. If federal funds were lowered beyond a certain point, the dollar would come under renewed pressure and long-term bonds would actually go up in yield. Where that point is, is impossible to determine. When it is reached, the ability of the Fed to stimulate the economy comes to an end.

Although a recession in the developed world is now more or less inevitable, China, India and some of the oil-producing countries are in a very strong countertrend. So, the current financial crisis is less likely to cause a global recession than a radical realignment of the global economy, with a relative decline of the US and the rise of China and other countries in the developing world.

The danger is that the resulting political tensions, including US protectionism, may disrupt the global economy and plunge the world into recession or worse.

The writer is chairman of Soros Fund Management

Cell: the next thing that could happen after a recession is that it moves into a Depression, and then to total collapse.

Only You – Grace’s song

Hi Cell,

This is my song, I showed you guys last Friday. Guess it’s better on YouTube, then onto WAV format, which I can’t reformat it. haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS7oUVCpM9U

Enjoy. Feel free to comment. haha..

Hopefully, Warner Music doesn’t get to hear this song..if not they will ask me to sign contract. haha!!!Which I can only agree part-time. haha!! JOking…..

ZiYu’s birthday videos

The videos: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Click on the links to view the videos via youtube on a new window.

We Are With The King!

In a Korean drama, Tai Wang Qi Shen Ji, Pae Yoong Joon once said this:

“The enemy is many, but we are few. But we’re victorious. Why? Because we don’t know how to lose.”

A rephrased verse:

“The enemy is many, and we are few. However, we will be Victorious. Why? Because we’ve an Almighty God. Hence we no longer knew how to lose the battle!!! Hallejulah!!”

Seal this truth into your lives, for if you believe in it, you’ll see that you can win battles in life with the Almighty God! Amen??

CPM 020708-Wed 8pm-PL

Host by P.Dom

Pointers from CPM:

P.Dom began by sharing his experience at his seminar, and how he didn’t agree with the lecturer initially.

1. keep an open posture. Even if you can only receive 30% from a seminar, a talk, etc, 30% is good enough.

2. success should not be the pre-requisite to effectiveness. Success should not always be a correlation of effectiveness. You need not be successful in order to be effective. Many of us may come from different childhood backgrounds, that conforms our mindset to think that “i must be successful then I can be effective, then I can be recognized, then I’m accepted, etc”. Are you hearing what I’m saying?

Although we may come from a chaotic or a not-so-good foundation, God has redeemed us. He springs us up from a “poor” foundation, UP to a new level, in His effectiveness to do GREAT EXPLOITS. Amen?

3. Keep those who are going on MITs, missions, overseas evangelistic event in prayer.

4. Pray for the IGNYTE evangelistic event held this Sun afternoon.

5. Pray for the pastor’s summit, as they carry out meetings to lead the church to a higher level.

6. Everyone, spend time to thank the Lord for loving you!!!! [Bon Jovi: thank You, for loving me. for being my eyes, when I couldn't see. for parting my lips, when I couldn't breathe. thank You for loving me. thank you for loving me.] We are His PRINCES & PRINCESSES!!!!!!! Even the Queen needs an appointment to meet with the King, but Princes and PRincesses can just come to the King impromptu!! haha. Revelation yeah.

NEXT CPMs:

Prayer Rally-6th,7th,8th August 8pm. (venue not stated yet).

Cell outingz…

the wonderful place where we had our “SINful” desserts after dinner

the menu board

est is happy to be at haatos!

min and rach is happy to be at haatos, TOO.

WK and John’s order ( they finished it within 5 minutes:X)

WK is clearly well-pleased with his iCE CREAM with WAFFLE.

GRACE is knocked-out from her XO-fish bee hoon( And the OTHER merciless cameraman was the one who said that the XO content was harmless..hmm?)

GRACE is really reaaallly tired…

the toilet that required a lock and key to enter(ps. Min Min really liked the toilet. She visited it THRICE.)

TABOO: it’s est’s turn!

CM-Empowerment- 13th Jun 2008

P.Dom has brought up two sides of this empowerment: the worship team versus the host pastor.

Worship Team:

How do we inspire others to worship alongside with us?

1. Modelling

We should bring in the fun and the inspiration of worshipping Him. We can initiate the lifting of hands, as people are watching us, our actions.

2. Leadership

We lead the congregation into worship. We can lead them through our vocals, our instruments by setting the atmosphere. We must have a goal on how we want the congregation to response. In order to have these achieved, we should be prayed up, we anticipate a goal, and have in mind what would the celebration service look like to lead the people into the presence of God.

3. Set the atmosphere

a) technical: more practise for musicians on their skills, Ps78. Singers can work on the vocals in the area of harmonising & hearing to reach a higher level of worship.

b) soft skills: Our posture. We should refrain from frowning, and looking dejected, grumpy, looking as if our pet dog passed away 10mins ago, etc. Our dressing. Don’t zao-geng. Female singers could perhaps dress in skirts and dresses, and vibrant colors.

c) stage discipline: We could perhaps minimise communications on stage, to pass message to musicians on the song we’re intending to do next, etc. We should try to refrain from chit-chatting on stage, even if pre-service prayer hasn’t begun. We should honor the stage He has provided.

4. Expect, Engage, Empower and Enlist

God moves when we expect Him, His visitation, etc. We could do experimentations on the instruments we play, and learn how to worship on the instrument, and not playing a song from the scores, etc. The annointing flows through us when we allow God to empower us. We can enlist others by inviting them to join us as joyful singers, even if they don’t know the songs, etc. We also enlist by ourselves presenting to them as an example.

We want to inculcate a sense of joy and sense of life in the service. We want to release people to experience the life of worship, and them leaving the place carrying that with them.

5. Songs

a) Introduction of songs: Don’t choose too wordy songs. The timing of song release should be taken note of. New songs could perhaps try to come upfront before going into more exaltation songs. Otherwise the congregation enters into exaltation, entering into the Inner Courts, and then a new song comes, which makes them having to step out into the Outer Courts again to learn the new song. This affects climax.

b) We become who/what we sing: Be careful when we’re buying CDs for our own worship, practising of songs, etc. The other churches might have written songs for their own season, hence if we follow their songs totally, we might end up not stepping into our season. Whatever songs we sing, it determines the type of growth. A song of warring leads the church to become a church of warrior.

c) Song Declaration: Step into the new year, new season, prophetic season by song declaration. We can start by writing songs that God has embraced upon us; it can just be a melody, or the lyrics.

d) By & Through our songs, we see God’s greatness: help the congregation see His greatness!

Experiment done: Paul leads a song. Co-leaders suddenly singing a new song on their own. Hence Paul & the team were pretty confused who should they follow. Paul held back, giving our his right and let God lead. The co-leaders lead everyone into another song in the flow. The “congregation” acted by the MIs suddenly also sing a new song, hence everyone in the worship team listens and follows the song. haha. It brings the worship team to a place where they have to listen out to one another, and not just on the WL; moving away from institutionals.

Discussive topics:

1. What do we wanna see taking place in a celebration service?

2. How do we bring about that change?

Suggestions from the discussive groups (as presented):

a. liberation in playing the instruments, and free worship

b. just having the musical instruments playing without singing or preaching; for healing to flow and ushered in

c. be prayed up before service

d. want to see people engaging in the service: we can do so by having the Host Pastor to do invitations to the congregation, inviting them to the altars to join us in worship.

e. bring up special events, a duet, play, etc and not just during productions.

f. being notified of the songs before hand: lyrics and MP3s sent out early

g. rock concert style: makes ppl come in anticipation, wanting to fill up the front seats.

h. corporate unity

i. refrain from frowning

j. encourage the cell leaders, SP themselves to be an example to contribute to the vibrant atmospher

k. more CHs to reach out to VIPs

l. be reminded of our purpose when we’re on stage

m. different styles of worship: choregraph movements for singers (haha), and be a worshipper first

-I’ll put up the host pastor’s roles in another entry.

Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspain- 12th Jun 2008

Here are certain issues that fell upon my heart during the movie, which I think they are relevant messages to our lives, and they are for you guys to ponder. I didn’t provide answers, as I don’t have any absolute answers.

King Peter says, “We’ve waited too long for Aslan”. I was wondering if many have actually said that in real life and we hear questions like such, “When is God coming back?”, “We’ve waited for so long for Him to come back”, etc.

Lucy was the only one who saw Aslan. All her other siblings didn’t, and doubt her. Then they asked, “Why didn’t I saw Aslan?”. Lucy replied, “Maybe you didn’t long as much as I do to see him”. Have we ever asked ourselves, why others experience the touch of God at the altar calls, why is he more blessed than me, etc? Has it gotta do with our faith and confidence in Him? Or does it lie in the issue of God’s timing?

Lucy was the only one from the four who keeps herself alert to Aslan’s breathe, Aslan’s voice, etc. Lucy gets up from her sleep immediately as she hears Aslan, where all her other siblings chose to sleep in. This reminds me of the coming back of the Lord. He will come back unexpected, like a thief. Hence we should always be alert to listen and wait upon His arrival.

If you’ve noticed, the four, Peter, Edmund, Susan, Lucy were all dressed in plain clothes, nothing glamourous like how movie stars would normally be dressed. God chooses the ordinary! He chose the shepherds, fishermen, etc. Anyone whose heart is for the Lord can be chosen. You and I can be chosen!!

Prince Caspain seek help from the other Narnians before they enter battleship, to win the battle. We need to accept others’ help to run the race at times, and also to enter into abundance. Although the Narnians may look inferior when compared to Prince Caspain, the four siblings, but they can’t win the battle without the help of the Narnians.

King Peter went into battleship against the Tamadians with his self-centered mentality, wanting to cling onto his throne as king and as a leader. Hence the first round of the battle ended up with many many casualties. Learn not to lean on our own understanding.

When Lucy finally met Aslan, she told him all her brothers and sisters didn’t believe that she saw him. Aslan then asked, “Why did that stop you from coming to me?”. Sometimes when we felt prompted to move to a certain direction but the rest don’t agree with you, and laugh at you, etc. You feel discouraged, and you might then not dare to move to that direction.

When Aslan asked Prince Caspain to join the kingdom, he said that he might not be ready. Aslan replied, “That’s when you’re ready!”. Why did Prince Caspain say that? It maybe because of uncertainty. So what happens? He will depend TOTALLY on God!! That’s when he is really ready!

Lucy played a very important role during the battleship. She brought Aslan to save the battleship. Similarly, we can bring Jesus, His presence. We usher in His presence to the congregation to worship, to be stripped from their burdens, frustrations, etc.