Here is mind-map of the message in English for those who may have missed this good message.
You may also want to read Our Calling of Life - Destination or Journey?
2010-06-27
Know Your Season of Life
Have a very good and inspiring message by Ps Emily Tan in the morning Mandarin Service.
Here is mind-map of the message in English for those who may have missed this good message.
Here is mind-map of the message in English for those who may have missed this good message.
2010-06-12
Partake the Good and Convert the Poison - How to Handle What People Say
Someone email me the following by a famous priest cum author:
Why is it important that you are with God and God alone on the mountain top?
It’s important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved.
Partake the Good and throw away the poison.
Statement like the above could be misleading.
Learn the main teaching and throw away with non-essentials.
The Good: must be alone with God to listen to God.
The Non-Essential: Mountain Top. The Real Meaning: An undisturbed place.
You do not need to go the mountain top to be alone with God. May be a toilet will do. In the Car alone while driving will do. In the midst of busy activities, taking a cup of coffee alone. The key criterion is a No-Disturbance environment for some time.
Good to have longer time. But don't wait for a long long time for a longer time opportunity. Keep your quiet short-appointments with God all through the day. Practice the sense of the presence of God. (God is with you all the while even when we are not aware. The key is be aware of His presence).
Don't wait for the day to take leave to go to the mountain-top and then listen to God. If you go to Bk Timah hill top, you will disturbed by the visitors there.
A Pastor told his congregation that they should take a bottle of water and go to a lonely place to pray for 2 hours a day. After a some time, some one finally ask "Why bring the bottle of water?". Pastor answered "To drink when thirsty". The bottle of water does not have any spiritual attributes that add to the effectiveness of prayer.
Hope you can laugh at this and be aware of the times we confuse the non-essentials as essentials.
Understanding Laws & Salvation with Statistical Analysis
We don't need to follow the Laws (the set of moral laws including 10 commandments) for our salvation because our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet if we are truly born again with the new spiritual life in us, we will naturally follows and exceed requirement of the spirit of the Laws (not just the letters).
So, if we are truly saved, our conduct and lifestyles will reflect, at the minimum, we are following the Laws. Not only will we not steal our neighbors' things, we bless them with good things so that they can also live well like us. Looking from external, we can say that saved believers follow the Laws. It then become a simple yardstick to test whether one is saved from his external actions. Taking it further, typical of statistical analysis, which could only present correlations but NOT cause and effect, we make the statistical conclusions that true believers and performance of the Laws are positively and strongly correlated, r=0.9 (leaving the 0.1 for the times we sin). Being human, we will make the conclusion that you need to be saved, like the believers, by following the Laws.
Performance on the Laws for salvation is actually a statistical correlation but not a cause-effect relationship. The true cause for salvation is actually by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is outside of the domain of the work of the Laws!
Looking at this from the simple logic.
This is the fallacy we tend to commit:
Monkey eats Banana.
Man eats Banana.
Therefore Man is a Monkey. (Some people believes this is so!)
It is observed that :
Christians follow the Laws.
X follows the Laws.
X must be Christians (saved)
In reality, all types of religions want to follow the laws or good works for salvation, except true Christianity. True Christianity is relationship to God through Christ by faith and not by good works. Eph 2:8-9.
Looking at it from the Parent-Child point of view.
Parent loves their Child no matter what. Parents love their baby even when the baby was very difficulty. Parent's love is not dependent on the Child behavior. But Parent want their Child to do well and live well and not live in sins. The Child needs not follow the Laws to get love. But the Child living in a healthy and sin free life is good for the Child and makes the Parent happy because the Child is doing well.
Hope I make the relationship between Laws and Salvation clearer. If not, please post your comment to simplify it. Thanks.
So, if we are truly saved, our conduct and lifestyles will reflect, at the minimum, we are following the Laws. Not only will we not steal our neighbors' things, we bless them with good things so that they can also live well like us. Looking from external, we can say that saved believers follow the Laws. It then become a simple yardstick to test whether one is saved from his external actions. Taking it further, typical of statistical analysis, which could only present correlations but NOT cause and effect, we make the statistical conclusions that true believers and performance of the Laws are positively and strongly correlated, r=0.9 (leaving the 0.1 for the times we sin). Being human, we will make the conclusion that you need to be saved, like the believers, by following the Laws.
Performance on the Laws for salvation is actually a statistical correlation but not a cause-effect relationship. The true cause for salvation is actually by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is outside of the domain of the work of the Laws!
Looking at this from the simple logic.
This is the fallacy we tend to commit:
Monkey eats Banana.
Man eats Banana.
Therefore Man is a Monkey. (Some people believes this is so!)
It is observed that :
Christians follow the Laws.
X follows the Laws.
X must be Christians (saved)
In reality, all types of religions want to follow the laws or good works for salvation, except true Christianity. True Christianity is relationship to God through Christ by faith and not by good works. Eph 2:8-9.
Looking at it from the Parent-Child point of view.
Parent loves their Child no matter what. Parents love their baby even when the baby was very difficulty. Parent's love is not dependent on the Child behavior. But Parent want their Child to do well and live well and not live in sins. The Child needs not follow the Laws to get love. But the Child living in a healthy and sin free life is good for the Child and makes the Parent happy because the Child is doing well.
Hope I make the relationship between Laws and Salvation clearer. If not, please post your comment to simplify it. Thanks.
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