The Gospel in You

A Christian with a sense of destiny hears the inaudible, sees the invisible, believes the impossible and does the incredible. He or she lives by the Himpossible Thinker’s Creed:

When our journey is disrupted

Along a path unexpected

We will not be downhearted

But continue on undefeated

When all our plans are rejected

With our hopes completely shattered

We will not be weak minded

For soon our dreams will be transcended

Whatever troubles may arise

And all our strength seems paralysed

We will not be demoralized

Because tomorrow the sun will rise

As we begin to visualize

Our problems will soon vaporize

Our plans will materialize

When we let God take charge of our life.[1]

by Pastor Anthony

What do you do when you are no longer sure how God is going to work out His purposes in your life? What do you do when you are not even sure that God is at work in your life? You are unhappy where you are and yet unsure about where God is leading you. What do you do when you find yourself in a difficult season of waiting where heaven seems to be silent or disappeared out of the blue? What do you do?

Our natural instinct is do something about it out of fear of loss of something in our life; we become impatient and feel the world is tumbling over our head; we try to end the season of waiting. But there are seasons in all of our lives when we shall have no choice but to wait.

Though we have no choice but to wait, we do have a choice as to how we shall wait. Some people wait out a difficult season in a spirit of rebellion. They go through life angry and disheartened, and they make their displeasure known to any and all who will listen. Some wait out a difficult season in a spirit of resignation. Life for them loses all purpose and perspective, so they become cynical about life, and they trudge forward with a dull and listless spirit. Talk to them about God’s guiding hand and tender mercies they sarcastically proclaim, “What will be, will be.”

There is however, a third way to wait on God through our own dry and difficult seasons, and it is the wait of anticipation. Habakkuk (2:1-4) suggests that this is the way the righteous wait. Their wait is alert and charged with expectation. Their stand is one of tip-toe anticipation. They wait in fervent hope of a brighter tomorrow morning when night with all its shadows will be passed away.

Dry and difficult seasons when we are forced to wait do not last forever. In their own way, they too are a part of the purposes of God. But when your season of waiting is over, what has been dry and desolate in your life shall blossom as a rose, and what has been so bitter to your soul shall be made sweet as honey.

What do you do? Wait! Wait in anticipation; it’s not that long; whence cometh the bright morning light, cometh the joy immeasurable.

Acknowledgement: Lines extracted from one of Dr. Cleo Larue’s Sermon Notes with some modifications

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”

This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column. Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this! They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!” Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!

Author: Unknown

THANKSGIVING:

1. Praise and thank God for allowing the church council members to have a wonderful and meaningful time together at the retreat last week.
2. For preserving our lives, and seeing us through last week in our work, studies, families, and others.
3. For new visitors/friends coming to worship/fellowship with us.
4. For His continual grace and mercy upon all of our lives.

INTERCESSION:

1. Pray for JAPAN

• pray for all the people in Japan, esp those who are affected by the earthquake/tsunami.
  
• pray for continual supports from all over the world
• pray for Christians in Japan and also neighboring countries to rise up and help those people in need of helps
• pray for the Radiation (nuclear plant) that it will subside (and not spread to other countries) so that no further disaster will take place
• pray for God’s mercy and grace for the people in Japan

2. For our Church to experience Breakthroughs

• pray for all members to continue deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ through repentance and renewal of our lives
• pray that Shalom will continue to be a Praying Church
• pray for all members to actively reach out their friends and relatives, that we will learn to live for others
• pray that the church will continue to grow in her passion for the glory of His name

3. For the Corporate Worship this Sunday

• pray for sis Yi Xin and music team to facilitate the congregation with the Spirit’s leading
• pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the speaker: Pastor Tan
• pray for new friends to come, and members to invite their relatives, friends and colleagues.
• pray for all members/friends to encounter and experience God throughout the worship time

As a new believer of Christ, I hope that through my testimony I can allow more people to see the greatness of bringing more people to God’s kingdom. Well, firstly I would like to share the first time I had stepped into Shalom Baptist Chapel. I was simply curious about what people do when they come to church every Sunday morning at that time. Although I had heard the worship songs and made a few new friends, this experience in church had yet to make me feel the need to come to church on a regular basis. It was only when I struggled with some family problems during the middle of 2009 that I started to question my existence in life.

Before I accepted Christ, my everyday life was plainly the endless cycle of waking up, going to school to study, coming back home, doing homework and sleeping until the next day comes again. It seemed pointless to do this routine for every single day like any other typical schooling student. For me, there was this need to find a purpose in life, something that could urge me on to embrace everyday with happiness and hope, instead of going on with life because I had to. At the same time I was struggling with family problems, and I was constantly emotional.

It was when my mother also began to go to church, that she made a big and significant change which was so good that it made me wonder what it was about church that caused such a change. My good friend Lydia had suggested for me to come to church like my mother too, after seeing my difficulties at home. Finally after some prompting to give up my precious Sunday morning sleep, I returned to church to give it a second chance. And once I came, I found out that everything that I was looking for was right there. I had found love and compassion from people in Shalom. I had found my purpose in life to fill up my every day. Lastly, I had also found a loving Father to depend on during my times of need. It was church that allowed me to find the answer and solution to my problems.

Seeking to be God’s child with renewed hope and faith, I accepted Christ on the 30^th of January 2010. I have never regretted this major decision till this very day. It was indeed God’s plan for me to come and accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was through His small ways that He allowed me to come to know of Him through church. I count it as a blessing in disguise God had given me during secondary one, when I sprained my left arm during a run. Had I not been in a cast for one month, I wouldn’t have come to be good friends with Lydia who, as the class care representative, was expected to take care of me.

Three years have passed since then and now in my life, it is not just studies that matter. I continue to seek God every time I have to decide something in my daily life and also when I have received His grace and mercy to give thanks. I urge everyone to reach out to those around you. It could be a friend, a relative, anyone! You might not know if this person will accept Christ in time to come, but at least you can be assured that a small statement you make can go a long way to impact someone’s life just like how it did to mine. A simple “Do you want to go with me to church?” could possibly make a great difference to someone’s future.