tNCC FC 2012 RHYTHMS OF GRACE PROMO

A tNCC Family Camp 2012 "Rhythms of Grace" Promo Video Clip....

5 blokes warming up PD for the 500 coming in August.

Learn The Unforced Rhythms Of Grace

Restful Increase vs Stressful Increase

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28~30 (The Message)

Life Group Meeting ~ My Hipstamatic Prints

These are the dishes (local delicacies to go with porridge) for to-night's Life Group meeting...

Pickled Lettuce is somehow looks ordinary and also gives an impression of an under favor choice to go with porridge. But this skillful recipe has changed the opinion of many who have tasted it… It is cheap and appetizing and is set to prompt you for another bowl of porridge…

 Imported Seasoned VegetablefFried with Minced Pork

Local Seasoned Vegetable fried with Pork Belly, topped with Peanuts

 Traditional Egg Pan Cake With Dried Vegetable

Deep fried Minced Pork with Salted Fish... A dish that can bring you back to your childhood memories. Highly recommended by the Chef!

 

 Salted Egg

Spicy Smiling Fish cooked with Sour Eggplant

Porridge Boiled with Sweet Potatoes

Lens: Helga Viking, Film: Kodot Verichrome, Flash: Standard

After the supper, we had our wonderful DVD video session with Pastor Mark Ng from New Creation Church while he preached on "Jesus Alone Saves -  Not man, Idols Or Superstitious Practices". In his preaching, he expounded the beauty of our Lord and His love for us...

He Paints The Sky For Me

 

He paints the sky with beautiful light trail just for me!

Crown of Glory

mErRy cHrIsTmAs

mErRy cHrIsTmAs ~~~

Silent Night by Janice & Sonia

May this day be celebrated for its true meaning....

Lord, Can I Help You...? (Repost)

The people in Sarawak is celebrating Gawai Festivel on 1st and 2nd of June. On the first day of the Gawai celebration, we went to Kampong Chupak, 38 KM from Kuching, to visit my colleague. Kampong Chupak is a beautiful village with beautiful mountain range and Paddy field. On our journey to the kampong, I took a short video clip while I was driving and I want to share it with you... :)

Road to Kampong Chupak

During this holiday, I took my sweet time to read through my own blog again... and I was touched by this blog post and I decided repost it again...


Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking pass the hospital’s swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there… Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.

When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act, she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered Edna to be mentally stable.

When she went to tell Edna the news, she said,
“Edna, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is you're being discharged; since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and save the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displayed sound mindedness… and the bad news is … Jim hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry… he’s dead.”

Edna replied,
“He didn't hang himself; I put him there to dry....”
“Can I go home now…?'



This is not a real story; but a secular joke circulating through e mail. Well… have you heard of this joke before? If you had, never mind, my focus is not on the joke but on your reaction after you have heard of it.

Man… I laughed, I even shared with my friends and we laughed… but the Lord intervened by putting a thought in my mind in the midst of our laughter, i.e.…

“The accuser of the Brethren” has his influence over legalism and religious teaching. As such, a legalistic and religious mind is as good as a mind that is “mentally challenged”. Under that sort of religious influence, we ourselves tend to put people to dry without our understanding of the knowledge of God and still we thought we are helping God... and Lord, can I help you, is always our cry...!

It is sad to see that there are many Christian today still labouring to please God through their effort. These are sincere people but they just trying to reach God through their own approach… earn their righteousness through their good deeds and law keeping… without the knowledge of God.

And God by His grace and mercy does not look at us the way we look at Edna. Despite of our “insanity”, He is still faithful and patient to show His love for us, guide us and lead us out of our insanity. This is grace…

I was a victim like Jim in the story who was “put to dry” by legalism and religion. I was dried out totally… Praise God the dew of grace moisturized me and… I see Grace!


"Well, can I go home now...???"

View From 9th Floor

Background voices contributed by Sam, Richard, Jennifer and Paul...

The Former Rain & The Latter Rain

Grace Upon Grace Conference 09
Evening Session 09-05-2009

Joel 2:23-25 ~ Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you — The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.

(Who is your father?)
Restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.

The former rain speaks of the teacher of righteousness in the Bible while the latter speak of favor as the cloud of latter rain is called favor in the Book of Proverbs chapter 16 verse 15. This is what the Apostle Paul meant by those who receive God's abundant provision of grace (undeserved and unmerited favor) and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the one Man, Jesus Christ...

In the last day under the dispensation of grace, God is going to cause He righteousness and His favor to rain down on His people that threshing floors shall be full of wheat, the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil; God 's abundant blessing of grain and new wine.

Generation Christ

1 Peter 2:9-10 (New King James Version)

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.


Generation Christ


1 Peter 2:9-10 (Contemporary English Version)

9 But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, 10 "Once you were nobody.Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you.Now God has treated you with kindness.



SIB Grace N.O.W. Generation Christ

It is through His Grace, not by our behavior that we are called Generation Christ!

The Secret

Last Friday night before our rehearsal for the N.O.W. Concert started, I received a SMS from Brother Bartholomew saying that he missed Jesus very much...

(Bartholomew is touched by the grace of our Lord and he is on fire for the Lord...!)

Here is the detail of the SMS...

Bartholomew: I miss Jesus so much... do u?

Me: Why miss? He never leave u nor forsake u... :)

Bartholomew: Don't know... Feel want to hug Jesus. How to hug Him since He is in Me?

Me: Rest Brother, do not be troubled...

Bartholomew: Thanks...



The rehearsal started...

Siew Ping is indeed a "New Creation"!

Happy Hour...

Is it cute to have a brother like him? He is not religious, but like a little boy that Jesus said in the Book of Gospel. I don't think I have given him a good answer... until I reached home that night, I found in one of my Blog link that a better answer has been given...

The answer was given in My Life, My Boy & My Baby on You Don't Know This Secret? posted at 9.47 PM that night!

Thank you Michelle for being sensitive to the prompting of the Spirit... You are indeed blessed to be a blessing!

Randomness In Medan

During our stay in Medan, we have witnessed the Lord worked in an amazing way that nobody could lay a hand to claim credit on His move. He used a Chinese to speak GRACE in English, and a Canadian and Indians to translate GRACE into the language of Indonesia.

Act 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The students in Celebration Bible School are from different denominations in Medan and they are Pastors, Church Overseers and Youth Leaders. We were humbled by the Lord to witness truth in the Bible in respect of milk and solid food. We witnessed this truth manifested in our midst as for those who are under Grace are partaking the solid food while those who are under law are partaking milk.

Hebrews 5:12~14 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

In respect of the doctrine taught in Celebration Bible School, Susan will only allow the teaching of grace to be taught in the school even though they are very much mission minded. Pastor Octavianus being a close friend of Susan, due to their missionary network connection, is her regular translator at the school. According to Gola, the facilitator of Celebration Bible School, Pastor Octavianus was transformed by the Lord in one of the teaching session on grace. Gola witnessed the transformation and was shocked to hear him preaching grace in one of their mission trip at Cambodia. We are indeed delighted to hear such an awesome testimony that even a translator could be transformed when he soaked himself under an anointed teaching of grace.

Gola is from Ethiopia and was sent by Celebration Ministry in Canada to facilitate their branch in Medan. Gola being an Ethiopian whose tribe has a strong claim on the early root of Christianity during Bible time, also had a wonderful testimony on his grace encounter from Pastor Peter Youngren's teaching.

Another Brother in Christ that we have met was Joshua, "Pak Sesat" as we called him. He could send out 800 SMS on grace daily to minister to his friends and people he knew including those reputed preachers in Indonesia. His SMS touched numerous lifes at the right time, at the right place. You are indeed "Sesat" when grace touches you...! These are all Good News and is it not only by grace through faith?

The Lord also uses a Tamil Christian family to open a way for Grace to be reached out to the Chinese in Medan. Pastor Octavianus, who owns the radio station at his church, was asking for our Mandarin message on grace to be played in their radio station and again, we are excited in looking forwards to this awesome move of God...

I had a mixed feeling when people asked me how is Medan. As for my own opinion, if we are going to live there, it is not a nice place. If we are going to have a holiday there, it is not a nice place for vacation too., but if you see Medan the way our Lord see her, you will have a different opinion on Medan...

Randomness In Medan

Paper?
It should be Pepper -_-|||

Just Do It

The Gospel of Peace

2 Corinthian 5:17a

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation

Rupiah ~ Indonesian Currency

We had our good time converting Rupiah to Ringgit whenever we were buying thing in Medan. You could see us looking up at the ceiling, eyes blinking, trying to "Metanoia" in our mind, converting Rupiah to Ringgit.

Home Sweet Home... and What A Surprise!

We reached Kuching safely at 5.45 PM yesterday evening. William, the disciple whom Jesus loves, who is also known as yaso in his blog, was there at the Airport to fetch us. We dropped Bartholomew off his home at BDC and William used a strange and winding road to go to my house. Upon arriving my house, Penny was already outside the house waiting for us and William said he wanted to used my toilet. So I asked Penny to serve Elder Alex and William with drink.

Home at last, mm... home sweet home...! As I walked into my house, everybody (My wife, Elder Alex and the one who said he needed to use the toilet) seemed to walk very slow. Funny... As I opened the door of my house and WOOH... what a surprise, my home was packed with people and they were all shouting and singing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALAN!!!"

Surprise...!

Watch the video, they were so co-operative. Even my son Adrian, was being "laid astray" by hiding himself behind the curtain... It was indeed a well planned surprise birthday party and this was my first ever surprise birthday party. They went to the extend of parking their cars far away from my house and hid all their shoes in the storeroom. That's why William used that long and winding road to send me home so that I could not notice any familiar cars and suspicious sign!

William had a hard time explaining how he was struggling with dropping Bartholomew off so that there would not be any unusual move to trigger my suspicion. We missed Bartholomew as we could not get hold of him through the phone because he was still having his Indonesian Sim Card in his phone. Too bad Brother...

Thank you guys for having me in your hearts. As a gratitude and appreciation from my heart, I have to list all your names here...

Richard,
Eleanor,
William,
Felicia & Mom,
Florence,
Stephen & Linda,
Jacky,
Deacon Paul,
Siaw Ping,
Brian the Bob,
Dr. Santhosh,
Cynthia & Owen,
Sam & Jennifer,
Mark & Magdalene, Samuel,
Elder Alex (for your prayer)
and most of all my beloved fruitful vine Penny,
my beloved olive shoots Norman and Adrian...

Philemon 1:4~7 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

I love you all, guys... :)

Goodbye Medan...

Medan, Day One...

We woke up early at 7.00 am today (but one hour later than Malaysia time). We had our breakfast at the Hotel Cafe and got ourselves ready waiting for Susan at the Hotel lobby.

On our way to Bible School...

Busy street of Medan...

The street of Medan City reminds me of the street of Sibu, but Medan is 50 times bigger than Sibu. The driving habit of the people in Medan is different from Malaysian. They like to sound their horns as they drive... If you dismantle their horns, I don't think they will be able to drive!

Susan Hoover speaks the Language of Indonesia

Watch this video and you will be amazed by the way Susan speaks the Bahasa (language) Indonesia... It must be God! She reminded me of the incident in the Book of Acts where the disciples spoke of different tongues...

Gereja Bethel Indonesia (GBI Rock)

Celebration Bible School is located at the top floor of the Medan Mall. They are using Gereja Bethel Indonesia (Indonesia Barthel Church) to conduct their bible class.

The chair of GBI ROCK

Gereja Bethel Indonesia at the Medan Mall identify themselves as GBI ROCK!

Zach and Elder Alex at the Teaching Session

Elder Alex enjoy himself at the teaching session. By the way, towards the end of today teaching, Elder Alex laid the foundation among the students by expounding on the truth of 1 John 1:9 ~ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
Few of the students put up their hands and asked those questions that you all are familiar with... Well, let's see what is the effect tomorrow... :) Anyway, I enjoyed the class very much...

Waiting for Taxi at Medan Mall after the class.

Sun Plaza
One of the leading shopping complex in Medan.

The Entrance

Lobby of Sun Plaza
View from the lobby, the ceiling of Sun Plaza.

What is in the Menu?


Tehbotol...
Tea in the Bottle

Sate Lilid Bali

They spell Satay as Sate. This Satay Lilid Bali is very delicious, I must get Penny to make when I reach home...

Indonesian Fried Rice...

Sorry guys, I was too hungry that I forgot to take the photo. This is the best I can do to proof that the fried rice was delicious... :)

Susan is coming to pick us up to meet her missionary friends in Medan tonight. So, I'll be back with more good report... :)