Salt of the Earth

Thursday, May 25, 2006

hey beautiful people.. :)

i will be away for this weekend. from friday to tuesday. going to attend a conference in KL.. please pray for me kay.. for journey mercies and Jessie too.. she is going to Japan this week. for the rest of you, we won be seeing each other this weekend but do come for TNG and press on.. doing your Quiet Time and just being with the Lord. i pray that He will continue to keep you guys safe and focused.. :)

its the hols this week so all the A level people out there. play hard but remember to study hard too ! get the gear and engine moving and by the time the A levels come , your car should be well oiled.. ha ha. like my analogy.. hee hee ! desiree and van, keep urself going too ! exams are coming up pretty soon right ?

alright, nonsense analogies aside, i want to share with you guys what i shared with Li Li, Van and Cheryl that day.. its on PERSERVING FAITH. Perseverance means more than endurance-more than simply holding until the end. this is a good analogy : Our lives are in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something that we cannot see but our Lord stretches and strain and and once in a while, we will say" oh man, i can't take it anymore ! its too much to bear !" yet God pays no attention. He goes on stretching until His purpose for our lives is in sight and then , He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God's hands. Question : is there something in your life for which you need perseverance ? how do we go on perseverancing ( is that how u spell it ? ) the answer is to lie, stick, lean close to God as Job said in Job 13:15-"Though He slay me, yet will i trust Him"

what is FAITH ? its not some weak and pitiful emotion but it is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. Disaster happens in our lives when we lack the mental composure that comes from establishing ourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love.
its a supreme effort, a big step to throw ourselves with abandon and total confidence upon God.. that my dear brothers and sisters is the kind of faith that perseveres. its not easy but its possible.

let me end with a verse from Revealations 3:10-"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."

take care of yourselves.. will see u on the 3rd of June, Saturday..:)

♥ love of God

7:49 PM

Friday, May 19, 2006

Greetings people !!! :)

how was your week ? hope it was okay and that you manage to think about the questions and do QT.. heheh.. :) this week's sermon is on Romans again, by Pastor Koh. i am not sure if its on homosexuality or not though.. Uncle David mentioned something like that right ? and i checked out the erm.. disturbing gay blog too..can feel the goosepimples rising up big time !

time seems to fly past by for me., anyway, cell this week will be on Sunday. at 10 in the morning ? i know u guys wanna sleep in.. sorry i can't do Saturday... :( so cell will be on Sunday morning ok ? most probably at my place. i will see you guys on Saturday at TNG. hope to see all of you there.. take care..

Love, Rach..

♥ love of God

2:39 PM

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Hey people. the blog has been really quiet so i will just come in and make some noise okay ? ha ha.. hope you all like the cards.. cheryl, will pass u urs this saturday okay ? :)

anyway, last week's sermon was on MAKING CHOICES. were you guys able to understand the sermon ? maybe it was kinda roundabout with some distracting.. erm.. newspaper articles.. haha.. but i think the gist of it was that whatever we do, we have to make a choice and more often than not, the enemy will try to coerce us into making the wrong choices.. it can be seemingly simple stuff like being lazy or choosing to be angry or major ones like having sex which Uncle David mentioned.. so i guess choices are really important..

what i wanted to share also is that God never forces us to make choices.. He is not the kind of God that says u better do or die but He allows us to make our own choices. think about a father daughter or father son relationship. think i mentioned to u guys before that our heavenly Father is like our earthly Father but while some of our fathers wants us to follow the choice they make because they are afraid we will get hurt and they love us too much, our heavenly Father in His great love for us let us make our own but His heart is grieved when we take the opportunity to do all kinds of funny things and disobey Him..

i was doing devotion and i came across Philippians 2:12.. In his letter to the Philippian church, Paul wrote to them telling them that in His absence, they had to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling. God has placed His righteousness in us as His son and daughters but its up to us to work out our own salvation, to make it our habit to work in His light , to study His word and to live in His grace and love. we have to make a CHOICE to do the right thing and to follow Him.. :)

yup.. see.. mini sermon from me but the most important thing is for u all to share about what u think about the sermon and if u have any questions kay.. yup yup..

Love, Rach

♥ love of God

5:20 PM

Friday, May 12, 2006

hey people,

i am sorry that i can't have cell this week. i have to do something at 11.30 on sunday morning so if we have cell, it would be quite rushed. but i am going to post some stuff on blogspot for us to "discuss" okay ? i am also sending you guys the discussion stuff for this week's sermon. like what Pastor B said, we are going to focus on the book of Romans. this week is on Romans 1:18-32. do look at the questions and i will kick start the discussions kay ? also, could u meet you guys after sermon for a while ? i want to pass you all something.. okay ? so wait for me after service kay !!!

Love, Rachel..

♥ love of God

12:26 PM

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Hey! Are we having an outing or something to catch the Da Vinci Code together? (:

Haha something random: I can't hear the songs?! My speaker is on..hahaz.

Something even more random:
Open the eyes of my heart Lord,
Here I am to worship.
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Oh Lord, be magnified.

Holy Spirit rain down,
As I'm reaching for You.
How could I live without You,
The shepherd of my soul.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord,
Your Grace is sufficient for me.
Be still and know You are God,
And I will rise on eagle's wings.

His love + mine,
Jessie

♥ .:jEsS!E:.

10:39 PM

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Hmm, its seems quiet here. So I just placed a song for you people to hear while browsing this site.
I didnt put some normal christion song in here though.
For those that dont know there's a song here, turn up your speaker.
I think the lyrics may apply to some of us?
Enjoy the song.

meeko xD

♥ vanessa

5:17 PM

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Hey guy and girls,

i hope this will be helpful to those who are always on the net and just want to a quick reference to some questions.. let me know if

Already an international publishing sensation, The Da Vinci Code now is a feature film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The compelling story written by Dan Brown blurs the line between fact and fiction, so moviegoers have joined readers wondering about the origins and legitimacy of orthodox Christianity. This guide offers brief answers to five important questions.

1. Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?

No. Mary Magdalene was certainly close to Jesus. She wept at Jesus' tomb (John 20). Jesus even entrusted her to return and tell the disciples about his resurrection. But we have no reason to believe they were married. Brown says that Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper reveals the secret. He writes that the figure to Jesus' right, traditionally known as the apostle John, is actually Mary. Not true. Artists often gave characters feminine features to portray youth. John was the youngest of the disciples.
Brown correctly observes that few Jewish men of Jesus' day did not marry. But why, then, did the apostle Paul, himself celibate, not mention Jesus and Mary when he argued that apostles could marry (1 Cor. 9:5)?

2. What about these alternative gospels that aren't in the New Testament?

It's true that the Bible did not arrive as a "fax from heaven," as Brown writes. The New Testament canon in its current form was first formally attested in 367. Nevertheless, church leaders applied important standards when compiling the Bible. Authors of accepted writings needed to have walked and talked with Jesus, or at least with his leading disciples. Their teaching could not contradict what other apostles had written, and their documents must have been accepted by the entire church, from Jerusalem to Rome. Church leaders considered earlier letters and reports more credible than later documents. Finally, they prayed and trusted the Holy Spirit to guide their decisions.
The so-called Gnostic gospels, many discovered just last century, did not meet these criteria. Many appeared much later than the Bible and were dubiously attributed to major Christian leaders. Their teachings contrasted with what apostles like Paul had written. For example, many Gnostic writings argued that Jesus did not appear in the flesh, because flesh is evil, or they rejected the Old Testament.

3. Were there really competing Christianities during the early church?

Yes—in the sense there were many disputes about the nature of Jesus. And the church has done its best to vanquish challengers to orthodoxy. Once the church decided against the Gnostic writings, they gathered and burned all the Gnostic manuscripts they could find.
Later church councils convened to discuss other threats to Christian orthodoxy. Constantine, the first Roman emperor to make Christianity legal, called the most important of these meetings in 325. Leaders from around the Christian world gathered in Nicea, where they debated Arianism, which taught that God created Jesus. Brown writes that Constantine called this council so he could introduce a new divine Jesus on par with the Father. On the contrary, documents from before Nicea show that most followers of Jesus already called him LORD, the Yahweh of the Old Testament. The church leaders at Nicea rejected Arianism and affirmed that God and Jesus existed together from the beginning in the Trinity. This council produced the first drafts of what became the Nicene Creed, a landmark explanation of Christian belief.

4. What is Opus Dei?

A conservative religious group within the Roman Catholic Church. Opus Dei urges priests and laypeople to strenuously pursue sanctification through everyday discipline. The group has taken criticism for its conservative views, zeal, and secretive practices. There is no evidence that Opus Dei has resorted to murder; nor has the Vatican entrusted Opus Dei to violently guard the church's deepest secrets, as Dan Brown claims in The Da Vinci Code.

5. Does the Priory of Sion really exist?

Yes, but not as described by Brown. Researchers suspect that members of the real-life Priory of Sion, founded in 1956, forged documents that placed major historical figures—such as Isaac Newton and Leonard da Vinci—in an ancient secret society. There is no evidence for this group beyond dubious documents. Any story relating this group to a dynasty begun by Jesus and Mary Magdalene is a fanciful work of fiction.

♥ love of God

9:03 PM

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

hmm i know i'm doing this a little late, well didn't get to see the sms abt this blog till now so yups, my sincere apologies for being late =D today i'm starting school late heh =) all de best to all of you at school and work k tc =D oh if you wanna link my blog is mypurplefantasy.blogspot.com yea. let me know your link if you gt blog k =D

God Bless,
from dree =D

♥ Anonymous

7:26 AM

Monday, May 01, 2006

Hi pple!!haha i'm one of the slowest to make an entry...but not the last. :) it's 11.50pm and i still got lotsa hw to do. anyway GP common exam this wed...pray for me and jeremy! my gp is so.... ok God bless all of u...nite

♥ Li

11:39 PM

hey you all..
just want to wish u a good week.. remember what we shared about a faithful servant.. God is always searching for His people whose hearts are set towards Him. keep each other in prayer. keep on seeking Him each new day too.. love u all.. :)

♥ love of God

10:56 PM

okay so yiling beat me to the first post.
anyway, whatever links your put up i'll just put them in the links section.
those with blogs... hand over your addresses!
i'll put them in the links

cheers xD
meeko xD

♥ vanessa

5:10 PM

wheee this is freaking cool. lol
anyway i want to share a link!
http://www.andiesisle.com/icanonlyimagine.html

enjoy this in d presence of God!

LOVE
ling

♥ charis :)

4:59 PM