These notes are from the second night of the talk.
Leadership
When you become a disciple, you become a leader. Every disciple has/should have a spirit of leadership. The spirit of leadership involves taking responsibility of other people.
Moses:
His greatest challenge was listening to the complaints of the people for 40years. Exodus 15,16,17. Listening to their complaints was the most important thing Moses did as a leader. The one time he lost his temper (Numbers 20:12) he was punished by the Lord. The best thing you can do as a leader is to listen. Listen to the people.
Elijah:
Elijah's greatest test was with discouragement, fear and depression. 1Kings 19.
What can we learn from Elijah? When you are lonely, alone, discouraged, just wait and the still and gentle voice of the Holy Spirit will speak and tell you what to do. As a follower of Jesus you will have moments when you are tired and don't want to go on. Remember Elijah, wait on the Lord and he will speak.
Don't get upset with yourself, and your ability. Its what God puts in you that makes the difference. Don't wait for other people to make you a leader, they cannot make you a leader. Only God can make a leader. "A man can receive nothing than what is given him from heaven".
Paul:
2 Timothy 1:15. Paul's friends and supporters deserted him, even opposed him. It wasn't the support the of people that made Paul the leader he was and you don't need that support too.
Jesus:
There came a moment when Jesus whose whole life was about the Father called out "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me." (Can you imagine what its like? )
We all will have moments of great weakness and despair but remember to look to him still. "Lord help me be a disciple and the kind of leader others can follow and find you".
Rebuilding the altar
"God takes final responsibility for everything we do, both good and bad" (This by the way blew my mind. Scary isn't it?) Religion is what we christians do when God doesn't show up. It becomes a show. When we do that, there will be no fire.
Altars:
An altar to the Lord is a place you went when you had a need only God could fill. You went because there had been a sickness or a failure in your business, or something only God can reconcile.
You always go with a gift, an offering and it had to be alive (those days they brought lambs, goats, bulls...)
Something that represents your livelihood.
What satisfies God with our offering is the fact that whatever we lay down, that precious thing that represents our livelihood, that offering burns, is given to God and never returns.
You want revival? Start by building an altar. A place where men and women make business with God and you've got to start offering a sacrifice that is acceptable to God, and God will come. Revival is not a mystery. Build an alter in your own life. You need a place you go when you need to do business with God. You never go empty handed. Bring God a gift; your time, your energy, your money...
...
For the past few weeks in church, setting out time to spend with God has been the main message, and reading this again is confirmation. Setting out time to be alone with God is one of those things I want to do but for whatever reason never really get around doing it. I'm not talking about the normal everyday devotions but an extra time to really be still and listen.
-ONWARD!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
notes from discipling a nation part 1
As promised my notes on 'Discipling a nation' talk by Peter Tsukahira.
Who is a disciple?
Someone who is disciplined. A discipled follower of Jesus. You can't be a disciple until you have a revelation of who God is 'personally'.
When you choose to go God's direction, you discover that God planned that path a long time ago. In the kingdom of God, every single person has a unique calling from God, specific to your design. In your calling its not about result, its about obedience. For some of us, its more than one gift but the holy spirit gives and God does not take back, even if you don't use it. Sometimes the gift is a big surprise. When you start using your gift, then there's a supernatural empowerment that comes upon you. That is why gifts are different from talents.
There's a difference between people who follow Jesus and disciples of Jesus.
Matthew 13
His disciples was the focus of his entire ministry. Because his disciples will make other disciples and that is how the kingdom of God grows. Trees don't struggle to bear fruit in their season, they just do when they reach maturity. They just bear fruit.
John 17
Two types of 'word' in the bible; Logos, Rhema.
Logos.
God's idea, God's thought, God's purpose. John 1:1, Revelations 19:11
Rhema.
"The voice of God", When the holy spirit speaks to you. Romans 10:17. The holy spirit brings rhema.
How do I get guidance from the Lord?
(At this point he went to talk about light houses and bouys and how ships use to to get their orientation at night when figuring out where the harbour is way before gps was a thing. The main idea is that there are three lights they look out for and when they are aligned the captain of the ship knows he's heading the right way)
You need to get points of guidance that line up so you know what God is saying.
-ONWARD!
Who is a disciple?
Someone who is disciplined. A discipled follower of Jesus. You can't be a disciple until you have a revelation of who God is 'personally'.
When you choose to go God's direction, you discover that God planned that path a long time ago. In the kingdom of God, every single person has a unique calling from God, specific to your design. In your calling its not about result, its about obedience. For some of us, its more than one gift but the holy spirit gives and God does not take back, even if you don't use it. Sometimes the gift is a big surprise. When you start using your gift, then there's a supernatural empowerment that comes upon you. That is why gifts are different from talents.
There's a difference between people who follow Jesus and disciples of Jesus.
Matthew 13
His disciples was the focus of his entire ministry. Because his disciples will make other disciples and that is how the kingdom of God grows. Trees don't struggle to bear fruit in their season, they just do when they reach maturity. They just bear fruit.
John 17
Two types of 'word' in the bible; Logos, Rhema.
Logos.
God's idea, God's thought, God's purpose. John 1:1, Revelations 19:11
Rhema.
"The voice of God", When the holy spirit speaks to you. Romans 10:17. The holy spirit brings rhema.
How do I get guidance from the Lord?
(At this point he went to talk about light houses and bouys and how ships use to to get their orientation at night when figuring out where the harbour is way before gps was a thing. The main idea is that there are three lights they look out for and when they are aligned the captain of the ship knows he's heading the right way)
You need to get points of guidance that line up so you know what God is saying.
- Logos - God's word, the bible. You're got to know what the bible says.
- Rhema - The voice of God speaking to you by the Holy spirit (in prayer)
- Your circumstances - The council of trusted servants of God; Pastors, mentors, spouse...
Prayers
Developing a prayer life involves seeking God, waiting to heat his voice and learning to recognise his voice. There are three kinds of prayers:
- Petitions - Asking for things.
- Intercessions - Praying for people.
- Meditation - Listening to God's voice.
This is you: "Father here I am, listening, speak to me". Shut out everything else, go into your closet. (Not necessarily where you keep your clothes but some where private where you won't be disturbed), go on a walk. God can speak through dreams, visions...
When all these lights line up, you're in good shape. If one is not in line, wait. You can't force it.
How to understand the bible
Read it word by word, line by line, book by book. Do I understand what it says? No? Go back and read it again. If it makes sense don't look for other sense (his opinion).
- As you are reading the bible, context is king. Don't pull out verses and use it ignoring the surrounding context.
- Not all translations are created equal. NASB, NKJV are word for word translations (he prefers these), NIV is a thought for thought translation (there was a joke that NIV stands for Nearly Inspired Version. Clearly not a favourite. Personally I don't have a problem with NIV, though I mostly use NLT. Just got an ESV bible recently, still not used to it, though it comes highly recommended from people I respect.)
- Israel and the Jewish people makes the bible come alive. (He advocates visiting the holy land, I mean Israel)
God's morality will tell you about what he will do and it should guide your prayers. But it will not tell you when or how. To know that you need to know God's purposefulness. God is immensely purposeful about everything he does.
The bible reveals by faith, the identity of God and Your identity in God.
Clearly not a coherent piece but those where the points that I managed to scribble down. Hope it blesses you somehow.
-ONWARD!
Friday, June 22, 2012
travel does you good
Travel does your heart some good. I just came back from Kuching from a friend's wedding. It was great and its always nice to meet long time friends. Maybank and Malaysian Airlines conspired to keep me there longer than I planned but it was not a waste. I got the opportunity to listen to two nights of Peter Tsukahira speaking about discipleship. I'll share my notes some other time but it was really nice. Some of the things he shared were not new to me but he has a way of explaining it very clearly and give practical applications.
Meet Destiney
Look who I met. Isn't she pretty? She has a bad habit of sleeping in the day and staying up all night. And her mummy and daddy have to take turns to look after her at night. I'm so happy for pst Chung and Aunty Pei Sing.
-ONWARD!
Meet Destiney
Look who I met. Isn't she pretty? She has a bad habit of sleeping in the day and staying up all night. And her mummy and daddy have to take turns to look after her at night. I'm so happy for pst Chung and Aunty Pei Sing.
-ONWARD!
Saturday, June 09, 2012
random monologues
Maybe you can't take it, just like I couldn't. But its okay. I'm fine with that. Its for the best. Live long and prosper. Really.
Why can't things just go according to plan? Why is it that every time you try to organise things it always, almost out of rebellion wants to get disorganised and random. Its like trying to force two north poles of a magnet together. As soon as you let go it does its own thing.
They say you learn to make good decisions by making lots of bad ones. Well that's a bit scary. Actually its very scary considering that your bad decision might course someone their life, if you're like a doctor or a pilot or someone responsible for other people which is pretty much everyone alive. It can also course you your own life, or happiness or something good. But that's the way it is. Makes me think of Ecclesiastes when the wise man was saying everything is vanity, a chasing after the wind. And it is. Really.
What if you could suspend all your fears? What if they didn't matter anymore? What would you do? What won't you do? That's a dangerous way to think and to live because you could be caught in two extremes. You could be very nonchalant and quite frankly destructive. On the flip side you could be more daring yet tempered with a gentle dose of caution and common sense. Either way its dangerous but only one way is beneficial.
Switching gears.
Will I ever love again
An interesting question. Almost everyone who had 'loved and lost' as they say, ask this question. On twitter it seems like there are a lot of people in this category. You think that he was the best thing that ever happened to me, or no one can make me feel the say she did or you can't find a person like that anymore. Its very difficult to see people hurting, especially if you can relate. Like if you had this terrible migrane and its not a usual thing for you but there was this one time when it hit you and you felt like its the worst thing in the world but you got over it and if someone came to you and said: oh man! I have this terrible migrane, you can relate and 'feel their pain', as they say. Most of the times there's nothing you can do except just reassuring them that it will pass, take medication, rest more and stuff like that.
Being with someone changes you, losing them changes you again. There's a tendency to become cynical and scared but its not necessary to feel that way. At least I don't think so. Sometimes its no one's fault and things just happen. Like those magnets. Like I said in the previous post, there are things that make you unique and different and attractive to at least one person. And I know its a small number but it counts. (One of these days I'll post about the influence of one person). And it will be a shame, and a general disservice to yourself and to everyone else to become cynical, angry jealous, and other ugly expressions because something 'bad' happened to you. And you lose that something special. You're not unique in your experiences. People go through worse stuff and still find a reason to smile and be nice. Some of the kindest people have had their heart broken, so giving excuses and sulking is just notsexy attractive.
Will I love again? Absolutely. If you want to. But you must want to. It may take time to get back on your feet and clear your mind and decide what you want. But sure, why not? Everyone is flawed in at least one way that drives your crazy. They will get on your nerves, they will hurt you, they will say not so nice things about you. Can you deal with that? If its too much then consider staying by yourself. You'll probably find something to fill your life with joy. Or not. Who knows? We all harvest what we plant. We all reap what we sow. That sounds better. Giving your heart away is the most unselfish thing humans can do.
-ONWARD!
Why can't things just go according to plan? Why is it that every time you try to organise things it always, almost out of rebellion wants to get disorganised and random. Its like trying to force two north poles of a magnet together. As soon as you let go it does its own thing.
They say you learn to make good decisions by making lots of bad ones. Well that's a bit scary. Actually its very scary considering that your bad decision might course someone their life, if you're like a doctor or a pilot or someone responsible for other people which is pretty much everyone alive. It can also course you your own life, or happiness or something good. But that's the way it is. Makes me think of Ecclesiastes when the wise man was saying everything is vanity, a chasing after the wind. And it is. Really.
What if you could suspend all your fears? What if they didn't matter anymore? What would you do? What won't you do? That's a dangerous way to think and to live because you could be caught in two extremes. You could be very nonchalant and quite frankly destructive. On the flip side you could be more daring yet tempered with a gentle dose of caution and common sense. Either way its dangerous but only one way is beneficial.
Switching gears.
Will I ever love again
An interesting question. Almost everyone who had 'loved and lost' as they say, ask this question. On twitter it seems like there are a lot of people in this category. You think that he was the best thing that ever happened to me, or no one can make me feel the say she did or you can't find a person like that anymore. Its very difficult to see people hurting, especially if you can relate. Like if you had this terrible migrane and its not a usual thing for you but there was this one time when it hit you and you felt like its the worst thing in the world but you got over it and if someone came to you and said: oh man! I have this terrible migrane, you can relate and 'feel their pain', as they say. Most of the times there's nothing you can do except just reassuring them that it will pass, take medication, rest more and stuff like that.
Being with someone changes you, losing them changes you again. There's a tendency to become cynical and scared but its not necessary to feel that way. At least I don't think so. Sometimes its no one's fault and things just happen. Like those magnets. Like I said in the previous post, there are things that make you unique and different and attractive to at least one person. And I know its a small number but it counts. (One of these days I'll post about the influence of one person). And it will be a shame, and a general disservice to yourself and to everyone else to become cynical, angry jealous, and other ugly expressions because something 'bad' happened to you. And you lose that something special. You're not unique in your experiences. People go through worse stuff and still find a reason to smile and be nice. Some of the kindest people have had their heart broken, so giving excuses and sulking is just not
Will I love again? Absolutely. If you want to. But you must want to. It may take time to get back on your feet and clear your mind and decide what you want. But sure, why not? Everyone is flawed in at least one way that drives your crazy. They will get on your nerves, they will hurt you, they will say not so nice things about you. Can you deal with that? If its too much then consider staying by yourself. You'll probably find something to fill your life with joy. Or not. Who knows? We all harvest what we plant. We all reap what we sow. That sounds better. Giving your heart away is the most unselfish thing humans can do.
-ONWARD!
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