Race of Faith

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE JOURNEY BEYOND
On the 23rd of October 2008, CA was held for the last time in year 2008. This special meeting was highlighted by the presence of many ex-CA committee members, including Joash, Erin, Mandy and Si Han.

The emcees of the night, Jonathan Wong and Elsha Liew introduced themselves and warmly welcomed many newcomers who were present. After the opening prayer, Miriam led the people into a fun-filled time of games. The people were grouped into different numbers and tagged with different colours which indicate their respective monetary values. The mechanism of the game is that the members had to form certain values indicated by the games master in the shortest time.

After a bustling atmosphere of fun, an inspiring and heart-warming worship session ensued. The worship team comprised of an all-senior team of 11 people. They were Bryan and Pei Ling ( worship leaders),Amanda and Shalisha( keyboardists), Dian Han (bassist), Anderson (drummer), Ming Joun( guitarist), Chewie( electric guitarist), Steffie, Betty, and Eliza( backup singers).The worship team led the people into the awesome presence of God .





Special programmes were arranged for the night, including a time of testimony from two very special people, Yen Mii and Helen. They basically shared about their experiences in CA and how the hand of God has helped them through the many stormy days when serving in CA. All in all, they inspired us to believe and trust that God will honour His servants who faithfully serve Him. Yen Mii and Helen, we salute you for your step of faith which encouraged the many people who are serving in CA. Above all, we salute Jesus Christ who is behind your beautiful testimonies!






Then, the moment of shock has arrived. Three very comical clowns stepped into the hall with outrageous costumes and make-ups. What a start for a humorous drama! This drama was directed by Eliza and involved a total of 19 people, who were Sam, Steffie, Ken, Dian Han, Larry, Zoe, Nicole, Pei Ling, Bryan, Mary, Rachel, Ji Yi,Andersen, Chieng Loo, Chewie, Derrick, Shalisha and Betty. After a jaw-dropping moment of seeing Bryan wearing a short skirt and singlet, a song entitled “Sing of Your Love” was presented. This drama spoke of the many challenges that Christians face while running the race. Nevertheless, the unshakable Rock of our faith has never ceased to see us those seasons. For the seniors who are leaving soon, let us be reminded that wherever we may be, The Potter’s plan for our lives will never change. He is going to bring us into new territories, where He can use us to touch lives and change hearts. Let’s expect great things, for HE IS GREAT.










Soon after, another unexpected treat came up. Without introduction, the ever-enthusiastic speaker strode purposefully to the front and started to share on the verse Hebrews 12:2.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God."

He was none other than the very familiar Joash Tan. The core of his message centred on the fact that each of us had a race and journey to run. The race we run will be the story of our lives. What story or legacy do we want to leave behind? He highlighted the example of Jesus Christ, who has the greatest faith of all; faith to bring heaven down on earth and to accomplish God’s will, even though this cost Him everything, including His life. That brings up the question of the choices we make in our lives. Are we choosing to run a race of faith, or are we choosing other things like FAME instead? Secondly, in this race, we have to put our faith into action. The Bible says “Faith without action is dead”. Lastly, he talked about the rewards that we will reap in heaven, just as Jesus sat down on the right hand of God’s throne after accomplishing His mission on earth.





Then, he opened up the altar and invited those who had regrets over the race they had run for the past years. Many people stepped forward and was ministered to by the presence of God. Sam also invited the speaker to pray for the Ausmat and IMU express class seniors who are going to leave soon.

The meeting ended with people fellowshipping over sandwiches and drinks, which were prepared by J-cyn and Siaw Hui.

Many left with smiles that day, including me. Above all, I smiled because I know God did.

“ Bless the Lord, o my soul, all that is within me, Bless His holy name!”



In His service.

Samantha

Race of Faith 23rd Oct 2008

hi!! we will be having the last CA 4 this sem on this coming thursday =( unfortunately this will also be the last for the ausmatians. therefore the title Race of Faith was chosen as the topic to encourage us to finish the race with HIM no matter where we are... this flyer is done by the junoir as well, Chee huat. thanks man for the wonderful job!! continue running and finish the race in Christ!! hope 2 see u all this thursday =)

CAN YOU HEAR ME?

A CA was held last Thursday right after everyone had a wonderful Raya break. We were first ushered in with radiant smiles from the adorable Ee Heng and Cassandra. CA then kicked off with emcees Joanne and MJ which humored us with their small banter on stage. A newcomer was introduced, before we led into an opening prayer by MJ.
Games soon followed, and Li Sia made us get into a big circle to be easily divided into two groups. The two groups then settled in a long line facing one another, and we held one another’s hand. The game resembled an electric current and one was supposed to squeeze the person on their left’s hand once they felt the squeeze from the person on their right. The first person from each line can only start squeezing after a coin was flipped. The last person of the line must then dash to grab the bottle placed between the two groups before the other group. After seven rounds, it was announced that Group 2 had won.

Praise and worship was then co-led by Zoe and Larry (guitar). The rest of the team members were Dian Han on the drums, Samantha on the piano, and Nicole and Elsha as the backup singers. Chewie played bass for one song, “One Way”. The songs included in the worship were “I’ve Got The Joy”, “One Way”, “Through It All” and “Above All”. Siew Wee was in charge of the projector.

It was a really inspirational time as the worship team was all set on fire for Jesus, and Zoe really led us to Him with her spirit and passion. It was her first time leading and she gave it her all. The rest of the team had given it their best to the Lord as well, and everyone could feel their fire.

After the worship session, it was time for a testimony from Samantha and Elsha. It was about the recent annual debate competition held by INTEC. (Battle of Minds). Sam and Elsha were the champions for this year's competition and they felt the need to share with us their experience with God through debate. Sam said that God brought them through it as both Elsha and Sam have had bad experiences with debate during high school. God gave them a chance to heal and to have strong faith in Him that He will bring them through it, through this debate competition.

It is amazing how God works, and as He is an amazing God, just as Elsha had said, He brought them both to victory, for they had done their very best for Him and held His name up high through debate.

Afterwards, we had a sermon by Pastor Joshua entitled Listening To God. The first step to listening to God, as Pastor Joshua said, is that we must prepare our heart. Before we can hear Him, we must be ready to listen. We wouldn’t be able to hear Him if we are not prepared to listen to Him just yet.

Pastor Joshua shared with us a story of his personal experience of listening to God in a particular garden that he had been with his son before. He told us that when he was bogged down with troubles about his job, he had went to that exact same spot where he had heard God speak in order to listen to Him again, and true enough, God did speak to him. Pastor Joshua was given another job just two days after God spoke to Him. Though, Pastor Joshua mentioned that the same problems occurred and after a year, he went to the same spot again in order to speak to God and to hear Him speak.

He said to God, “Lord, You promised, and You never break Your promises”. And God did speak to him yet again for God does not break His promises, and true enough, Pastor Joshua finally had a job in which he was happy in. Pastor Joshua said that we can only listen to Him, if we are prepared to listen to Him speak. For he waited for the Lord to speak, and true enough, the Lord did speak to him.

To be able to listen to Him as well, we must read the bible. This is the second step to listening to Him as the bible is His written Word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
– John 1:1

Pastor Joshua also shared with us a touching story about how his girlfriend who eventually got back together with him after a period of being apart. (His girlfriend eventually became his wife, and they lived happily ever after!) They both heard God speak, in different ways. He told us that God speaks, most of the time in a still voice that we have to strain to listen, and rarely does He speak in an audible voice. This is why we must always open our hearts to listen to Him and to learn His Word.

The third step to listening to Him is to check our motives. We have to know why we want to hear Him. Pastor Joshua shared with us a little story, that there were two people in Petaling Street but one of them actually heard a cricket sing. His friend did not believe him but he then parted the leaves of a nearby plant and actually found the cricket.

His friend then said, “How can you hear the cricket over all this noise?” The point is, when we strain to listen, we will hear something beyond the noise. The world around us is always filled with noise, and so, we must take that time off to actually still our mind and listen to God.

The story doesn’t just end there, the boy then rolled coins down the street, and everyone actually stopped and searched for those coins. Pastor Joshua then also mentioned that when we focus on something, we will then be able to listen to it. These people have set their motives on money, and as such, they were able to listen to the clinks of the coins over the noise.

If we focus on Him, and set our motives right, to listen to Him, we will be able to listen to Him.

Speaking first is the fourth step to listening. We must first begin, by saying, “Hello.” Pastor Joshua told us to pray to Him and to ask for confirmation for Him to speak. We must begin the conversation, and we must then be patient and listen.

And lastly, we must rely on the Holy Spirit. In John (16:7, 12-13), Jesus Christ said,

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
– John 16:7

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
- John 16: 12-13

Pastor Joshua then begin praying for those who lifted up their hands, wanting to be able to listen to God, those who had not been able to listen to him, or even those who had fallen out momentarily but wished to listen to Him once more.

Afterwards, Pastor Joshua also urged those with examinations coming up to step forward for him to pray for them to be given the wisdom and strength by the Lord to get through it. However, due to the large number of people who stepped up, Pastor Joshua then told them to form small groups to pray for each other.
A small worship session was then held, and everyone had a really great time singing along to the songs and worshipping God. After the small closing worship session, it was then time for fellowship and we adjourned to the next room for refreshments prepared by Jonathan Chua, Pei Ling and Chewie who helped. They served us soup, with hard bread, and even banana cake.
One thing about this CA that was really touching was the fact that everyone had the passion to serve, and to worship Him. God really multiplied our time, and everyone felt that things concluded early and just in time for everything. Another great thing was that so many people turned up for this CA, and we were all encouraged by all the small little events that occurred during CA this time.

In His service,
Nicole.

Can you hear Me? 9 October 2008

really... sorry for the late update. we will have CA this Thursday as usual. as you can see, this flyer is done by a junior, Jonathan. there will be a number of juniors serving in various ministry as well. do come and join to serve the Lord together. see u there..

ASK and you shall be Answered

Campus Alive was finally back after a few weeks of absence due to the AUSMAT trial exams. This time around, CA was held in forum style. The gathering kicked off with a warm welcome from our emcees, Larry and Samantha from ALM 9. They had the crowd cheering and geared up for the session ahead. There was a competition on who could cheer louder between the guys and the girls. Two newcomers were introduced and it was followed by opening prayer by Samantha.

We proceeded with games led by Krystal from ADFP. We were divided into two groups and both groups had to guess the word without using all the other words shown on the screen. This game is called taboo. If a taboo word was mentioned, the other group had to shout the word “taboo” and marks will be deducted. Some words had to be acted out without uttering a single word. Among the words that they had to guess were Pak Lah, cheek, shoulder, Jonas brothers, pirates, Transformers, robots, Ratatouille and many more. It ended with both groups evenly matched.
Praise and worship was then led by Chewie and the team, Theng Theng (piano), Daniel (guitar), Dian Han (drum), Winnie and Miryam as backup singers. The songs included in the worship were Hatiku Percaya, Here In Your Presence and Sing Of Your Great Love.

We had an inspirational time with God and we could sense His presence throughout the session.

After that, Larry and Samantha introduced the three speakers who had kindly agreed to answer our questions in this forum-styled CA. The three speakers were Kong Lee Ang, Michael William and Lee Chun Chung from Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES). The questions and answers during the forum were as followed:

If God is good, why do bad things happen? Why does God let Christians suffer?

Michael answered that according to Genesis 3:16-17. God gave human freewill, so He allowed Man to sin. However, sin has consequences, which is suffering. Bad things happen to everyone because of sin.

“To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

“And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;”

Nevertheless, in our suffering, we can hope on God and He will still help us.

How do we know that God listen and answer our prayer?

Lee Ang said that there are times when we can be sure that God will answer our prayers but through the Scriptures in 1 John 5:14-15, we can be sure that God does answer our prayers. However, sometimes we do not know whether it is God’s will for us when we ask of Him for something. Therefore, we need to read the Bible in order to know whether it is God’s will or not. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as well. She gave the example of Joseph who did not know what God’s will was for him until after so many years being stranded in a place far away from home and enduring so many hardships.

What is the explanation of the trinity? Are they three in one?

The word “Trinity” is not directly mentioned in the Bible. However, in Genesis 1:26

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”

and Genesis 3:22

“Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.”,

it is shown that God was addressing more than one person. What is the trinity? God is three distinct persons (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) and each person is fully God but there is only one God. Also, if Jesus is not fully God, how can He redeem us from our sin? The one who suffers for the sins of mankind must be perfect, completely sinless. The only person that fulfills this requirement is Jesus, the person of the Son in the Trinity. The trinity is a mystery and man’s understanding cannot comprehend it. Trinity cannot be explained in a tangible way.

When do we receive the Holy Spirit? What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

The disciples first received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 2:1-4 (CEV)

The Holy Spirit comes upon us after our conversion. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit and we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then brings forth the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and empowers us with spiritual gifts. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is basically receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit when one becomes a Christian. A manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the speaking of tongues, but it’s not the only sign nor is it a must.

Can you lose your salvation?

We cannot lose our salvation. Jesus had died on the cross for us to redeem us from our sins. Salvation cannot be lost just like that. Jesus Christ guaranteed that we are secure in His and the Father's hand, and so He will keep safe each one who has received the gift of eternal life.

"And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

John 10:28(NKJV)

If we are truly saved, will there be any reason to denounce our faith and lose our salvation?

What about the people in the interior or those who have never heard of Christ, will they be saved?

We do not know but we have the conviction that God will be fair. Everyone will have a chance to hear the gospel, as illustrated in the verse Revelation 7:9 (NIV).

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

If there are people who did not hear of the gospel, how can there be people from every nation, tribe and tongue that are saved?

The people before Jesus did not hear of Christ e.g. Abraham, yet they were saved (counted righteous) because of their faith.

“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Genesis 15:6 (KJV)


As time did not permit for the session to continue, Samuel suggested that those who were still interested in the forum could stay back and others were asked to adjourn to the next room for refreshment prepared by Eliza and Siaw Hui. We had French toast, sausages and jelly. It concludes another great CA.


His children.