Reflections from Clara Yuen

I'll like to share a passage from my reading on matthew... currently reading til matthew 18... hee

I find this rather interesting.
in matthew 3:13, Jesus was baptized and heavens were opened and rejoicing for Jesus. v17 also shows how pleased God was with Jesus... "This is my beloved son, and I am fully pleased with him. (NLT)" wow God is so PROUD of jesus... :), praising his son, showing off to the world his rightful son, pure and perfect.

But guess what, IMMEDIATELY after that... Jesus faced extreme temptations from the Devil. Matthew 4. It's immediate because Satan is threatened greatly by Jesus who just made his commitment to God. Satan is afraid of Jesus and wanted to bring him down in his faith by these temptations... I believe these 3 temptations are the greatest among human. Satan's plan is to remind Jesus that he is still a HUMAN nontheless... by revealing the weakness of human- hunger and wealth... will Jesus fall by that???

So often I remembered the moment when I came out of the baptism water or when i renew my covenant with God once again, or simply decided to be spiritual again, the truth is Satan is threatened... and is very afraid. So Satan will try all means to use my weakest link to make me fall, and to remind me that I am just a human being, I am weak...

What choice do i make when i face temptations like Jesus'?
I am not subjected to discouragement but instead I am grounded with the word of God to fight off Satan... just like how Jesus uses God's words to fend off the 3 temptations...

I have to be constantly fight off Satan in my mind...
it's my mind power and will power that makes a difference. " Lets those who have ears, hear..."

I like to encourage everybody to take courage. Fight the spiritual war and stay strong. :)

love, clar

Reflections from Andrew Oh

Dear bro and sisters,

I'm convicted by the fact that God wants us to share our learnings in order that we may grow as a body in Christ. God wants us to be the light of the world. He doesn't put the light in us so that we may hide under a bowl or our bed. Hence let us lead a radiant life as a disciple, glorifying Him in every single way possible.

Recently i've attended a seminar on asking good questions. A good question sounds like this:
1)Is most of our convictions from God? If they are from God, did we get them just from the bible?
2)Is our God-based convictions always applicable in every situation?

As i read Mark 2:23-28 i saw how strongly the Pharisees held on to their 'convictions'. They were a devout sect of Jews that abides the Mosaic Law whole-heartedly and in its entirety. What started out to be God-fearing 'convictions' drifted over time, diluted as it passes down from generation to generation.

Sometimes i find myself so used to doing things in a certain way that i no longer question what are my motivations are. I just do them in a mechanical fashion without much thinking. Do we review and reflect our convictions when other disciples gave us input or do we simply brush them aside because our convictions became the 'untouchables' in our lives. Be mindful that not all convictions are not necessary from God. There are good convictions and not so good convictions and there are cut-and-paste convictions used in a unsuitable situation because the circumstances are different.

Jesus asked the Pharisees in Mark 3:4 whether it is lawful to save a life or to do evil on sabbath. The Pharisees could not answer because clear cut black and white area became a 'grey' area for them. Jesus got angry with them because of their stubborn hearts that refuses to unlearn and re-learn the correct convictions. He was hurt because he saw how much man's heart has drifted from fervor and zeal to indifference.

Some points to ponder:
1)Do i have any not-so-good convictions that i'm not humble to unlearn and re-learn?
2)Have i tried to look at the circumstances before doing a cut-and-paste of other's convictions in my situation?
3)Do i share with people my convictions or the values/reasons behind those convictions?

Three things i've learnt: Question my motivations, Validate the situation, Re-learn the convictions

If we do these, we'll be able to have that teachable heart to allow us to respond humbly whenever we stand corrected by God's Word or by his people.

Love ya all
andrew

Reflections from Andrew Oh

Dear bros and sisters,

It's been a great start to the year 2008. Hope I'm not too late to share something from my time with God. The common quiet time has helped me to really focus on my quiet time, knowing that about 900++ disciples are doing it together, i can't help but feel it's so unifying and encouraging. (There's no way I'm gonna be left out :P ) Hasn't been writing down my thoughts on email for a long while but the campus really inspired me to get my engine going again.

Just wanna share some things that convicted me yesterday. I was reading from Matt 20 about the parable of the vineyard workers. All this while when i read this chapter i would focus on the attitudes and reaction from the workers. Yesterday i decided to dig deeper and see what i can find from the other character - owner of the estate instead.

As we all can guess the owner would most likely be God himself, he owns the vineyard, a moral/spiritual vineyard. As i read I've noticed that the owner went out early in the morning and hired idle men to come into his moral vineyard to do some productive work. He went out for a total of four times and three hours apart each time just to see if anyone would be interested to work. Why would God do something like that? It was not logical and in business sense totally crazy.

Another interesting fact I've picked up in the passage, the owner's concern was not his vineyard but the people at the marketplace. He would hire anyone who would be willing to work and he made sure that he go to the marketplace often enough to not miss anybody. I'm sure nobody does that nowadays.

A question floated into my mind - did the owner really needed the additional help? It seems to me that he was actually doing the men at the marketplace a favor by hiring them. I saw God's unconditional love in how he tirelessly reaches out to each and every one of us. He planned friends and relatives during the course of our lives to talk to us about him, he puts strangers along out paths to evangelise to us. He wants us to do productive work and get trained up instead of lazing around at the marketplace(world). He promises us a day's pay when we are done and it doesn't matter at which part of the day(our lives) we chose to respond. For disciples, this passage can be applied to certain areas of our lives that have slackened. We are lazing around, allowing the world to dominate in that area of our lives. Is God calling you to work? Is he prompting you to come into his moral vineyard/spiritual vineyard to get trained up?

At the end of the day God paid the last workers who came in first. It was because they were the most humble and grateful of all those who worked. Remember the gratitude and humility we had when we just got baptised! We have not done much, Jesus did the most and we are not worthy. God looks at our heart. Those who were there since the morning felt taken advantage of. They cannot believe that God is so unfair to pay the same salary to people who did so little work and those who did so much. We would only see it when we are those who felt we have done more and others have done less. Instead of focusing on our rewards, we should be thankful that God keeps his word. all the promises in the bible is 100% trustworthy. He does not change his standards, not for you, not for me. Have a great day!

Love Andrew

Reflections from Andrew Oh

Dear bros and sis,

It's great to start off this week sharing quiet time with you all. I believe the study of the book of corinthians will help us to understand the pauline epistle better when we do it as a group and share to one another.

As i read up on the history of corinth, it was a proud city. It was the city between two major trading ports and indeed one of the most affluent prosperous city in the region. It was destroyed by the romans in 146 B.C . and a hundred year later, Julius Caesar rebuild the city because of its strategic seaport. http://www.grisel.net/corinth.htm Soon the city flourished and many immigrants fro all over streamed in to populate the city. The wealth opened the gates for all sorts of corruptions and idolatry soared in the city of corinth. Money is power and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If i were a disciple in corinth i would really struggle very badly. Imagine the whole city is like our modern day Geylang. People are not shy about lewdness nor immorality. They have no sense of shame as they believed that it is the sacrifice they are offering to the fertility goddess, Aphrodite. The temptations were so great and i could imagine how tough for the disciples to keep away from sin. I believe that's why Paul stayed in corinth for one and half year to help the church to grow and build the firm foundation. Corinth is also the headquarters for the west (because of the city's location) and hence Paul wrote two of his longest epistles for the church in corinth.

One thing i've picked up today, Christ is all that matters. There are so many divisions in the church of corinth is because the disciples are not following Christ. They are following apostles or in today's context, pastors and preachers. They let a matter of preference and opinion replace the fundamental truth. Is Christ divided? Aren't we all disciples? Be careful when we are tempted to have a bad attitude or conflict, is Christ in the picture? How would Christ react if he were you?

Love andrew