Tuesday, December 18, 2012

OUR PLEDGE



Reminder: We are ambassadors for Christ/ representative of our Lord. This means people are watching us. We hold life and death in our hands. If by our acts/omission we represent Him badly we may drive people away from Him and this means death. Think about your privilege. Think about your duty.

To memorize 1 Corinthians 10:31
“Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God”

Our Pledge

1.     Let this (see below) be our pledge of allegiance to be repeated and internalized daily when rising and before bed.

2.   Jesus recognized this declaration to be central to true disciples of the one true God (Mark 12:28-31). Then one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together perceiving that He had answered them well ask Him “which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him “The first of all the commandment is “Hear O Israel , the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first commandment”.

3.       The Declaration
What does it do?


(a)   Declares collective responsibility to obey as a community
(b)   Enjoying us to love and obey Him
(c)  Acknowledges God’s sovereignty is not limited to mere exercise mental but it is real today and forever.      


      A.      1st Declare Deuteronomy 6:4-9: -

“Hear Israel Adonai (the Lord) our God Adonai (the Lord) is one and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart all your being and all your resources. These words which I am ordering you today are to be on your heart and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are travelling on the road when you are down and when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a sign put them at the front to your headband around your forehead and write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates” 

B.What does it do?

(a)   Declares collective responsibility to obey as a community
(b)   Enjoying us to love and obey Him
(c)  Acknowledges God’s sovereignty is not limited to mere exercise mental but it is real today and forever.

2nd Declare Deuteronomy 11:13-21

“So if you listen carefully to my mitzvoth (mitzvah – commandment/ principle for living) which I am giving you today to love Adonai your God and serve Him with all your heart and all your being then (says Adonai). I will give your land its rain at the right seasons including the early fall rains and the late spring rains so that you can gather in your wheat new wine and olive oil and I will give you fields grass for you live stock with the result that you will eat and be satisfied. But be careful not to let yourself be seduced so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them. If you do the anger of Adonai will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce and you will quickly pass away from the good land Adonai is giving you. Therefore you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all you being tie them on your hand as a sign put them at the front of a headband around your forehead teach them carefully to your children, taking about them when you sit at home when you are traveling on the road when you lie down and when you get up and write them on door frames of your house and on your gates. So that you and your children will live long on the land Adonai swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth”

    C.   What does it do?

(a)   We are to be responsible to remember His Words

3rd Declare Numbers 15:47-41

“Adonai said to Moshe (Moses) (We are to be responsible to remember His Words). “Speak to the people of Israel instructing them to make, through all their generations tziziyot (tassels/ specially made fringes /worn on 4 corners of a man’s tallit (cloak/robe) on the corners of their garments and to put with the tzitzit (singular)on each corner of a blue thread. It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of Adonai’s mitzvoth (commandment) and obey them so that you won’t go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvoth and be holy for your God. I am Adonai your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your God. I am Adonai your God”


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

What Would Jesus Do?



I hope we all remember this gem of a classic (book)“In His Steps” by Charles M. Sheldon. It is truly inspiring to go back on this old classic and apply its message to our lives. In it are stories of how each individual pledges to ask themselves WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? before making a decision. In case we have forgotten, we should do the same. Get down on our knees and pray “Lord what would You do? What would You have us do? I especially like the list the character, Milton Wright, a businessman sets out. This is what he thinks Jesus would do as a businessman: 


  1. He would engage in the business first of all for the purpose of glorifying God, and not for the primary purpose of making money.
  2. All profit achieved He would not regard as His own, but as trust funds to be used for the good of humanity.
  3. His relationships with all employees would be loving and helpful. He would think of them in the light of souls to be saved. This thought would always be of greater importance than making money.
  4. He would never do a single dishonest or questionable act or try in any way to take advantage of anyone else.
  5. The principle of unselfishness and helpfulness in the business would direct all its details.
  6. Upon these principles He would shape the entire plan of His relationships to His employees, to His customers, and to the general business world with which He was connected.
 
Too idealistic? For those of us who already live in His Kingdom, we are simply following the practice of His Kingdom that we live in. Let us apply it in our businesses and our work.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thinking clearly


1. Thinking clearly means filing our minds with the TRUTH.

2. The TRUTH is all that is NOT apart from God. (Anything that is claimed to be truth but is apart from God leads to death). The TRUTH is connected to our memory. We are to always bring in memory God's redemptive act conducted on our behalf through our personal history and God's history (as contained in the Bible - detailed study of the 1st five books of the Old Testament is encouraged). The TRUTH is the word of our Lord Jesus - the Gospel's studying, retaining, putting to practise and bringing his words to our minds. 

3. Doing all of the above will enable us to think clearly, move thoughts away from the state of weakness, fearful thoughts and will lead to calm rationale reasoning. Turn or transform your mind to His mind. May you pray for Godly wisdom (James 1:5) and may we have the mind of the Messiah (1 Cor 2:160.)

How do we avoid double mindedness? or How do we be single minded?

1. Draw near to God (James 4:8)

By prayer earnestly call out to Him. Be honest. He knows everything.

2. Take every thought that takes us away from TRUTH. This means constantly focusing on the TRUTH to be convinced of what IS the TRUTH (Study of scriptures). The Scriptures are the TRUTH, the reality.

3. Keep practising our faith. Live it out in order to give it strength and reality. We do not just embed seed into soil and watch the tree grow. We nurture it and overtime comes from fruit - the single mindedness.



Friday, November 23, 2012

KETEKUNAN/DILIGENCE

Amsal 10:4
Tangan yang lamban membuat miskin

Proverbs 10:4
Idle hands make on e poor, 
but diligent hands bring riches.

Amsal 12:24
Tangan orang rajin memegang kekuasaan

Proverbs 12:24
The diligent hand will rule,
but laziness will lead to forced labor

Amsal 12:27
Orang malas tidak akan menangkap buruannya

Proverbs 12:27
A lazy man doesn't roast his game,
but to a diligent man, his wealth is precious

Amsal 21:5
Rancangan orang rajin semata-mata mendatangkan kelimpahan, tetapi setiap orang yang tergesa-gesa hanya akan mengalami kekurangan

Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit,
but anyone who is reckless certainly become poor

Amsal 22:29
Pernahkah engkau melihat orang yang cakap dalam pekerjaannya? Di hadapan raja-raja ia akan berdiri, bukan di hadapan orang-orang yang hina

Proverbs 22:29
Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will stand in the presence of kings.
He will not stand in the presence of unknown man

Amsal 27:23
Kenallah baik-baik keadaan kambing dombamu  

Proverbs 27:23
Know well the condition of your flock, 
and pay attention to your herds

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

LOVELY REMINDER

A friend sent this lovely reminder: -

The power for work is love. It was love that moved God to all His work in creation and redemption. It was love that enabled Christ as man to work and to suffer as He did. It is love that can inspire us with the power of a self-sacrifice that seeks not its own, but is ready to live and die for others. It is love that gives us patience that refuse to give up the unthankful or the hardened. it is love that reaches and overcome the most hopeless. Both in ourselves and those for whom we labour, love is the power for work. Let us love as Christ loved us.

Andrew Murray, in Working For God.

Friday, November 2, 2012

REMINDERS!/ PERINGATAN!

Exodus 22:22-24
You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. if you do mistreat them, they will no doubt cry to Me, and i will certainly hear their cry. My anger will burn, and i will kill you with the sword; then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless. 

Exodus 22:22-24 (Keluaran) 

22:22 "Seseorang janda atau anak yatim janganlah kamu tindas" 
22:23 "Jika engkau memang menindas mereka ini, tentulah Aku akan mendengarkan seruan mereka, jika mereka berseru-seru kepada-Ku dengan nyaring" 
22:24 "Maka murka-Ku akan bangkit dan Aku akan membunuh kamu dengan pedang, sehingga isteri-isterimu menjadi janda dan anak-anakmu menjadi yatim". 

Deuteronomy24:17
Do not deny justice to a foreigner or fatherless child, and do not take a widow's garment as security.

Deuteronomy  24:17 (Ulangan)

"Janganlah engkau memperkosa hak orang asing dan anak yatim; juga janganlah engkau mengambil pakaian seorang janda menjadi gadai"

James 1: 27
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:27 (Yakobus)

"Ibadah yang murni dan yang tak bercacat di hadapan Allah, Bapa kita, ialah mengunjungi yatim piatu dan janda-janda dalam kesusahan mereka, dan menjaga supaya dirinya sendiri tidak dicemarkan oleh dunia"

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Good sermons

For a good and fun sermons on work go to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RickWarrenSermons

  1. 6 Keys to a Peaceful Relationship
  2. Keeping Crazymakers from making you crazy
  3. Who's Pushing your Buttons?
  4. Resolving Conflicts
  5. You Cant Please Everyone

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

What to do when you feel like giving up?



What to do when you feel like giving up? – Summary from Rick Warner’s Sermon, The Courage to Keep Going” 
1.                    
Tell God exactly how you feel and put your trust in Him.
We will go thru 4 emotions cycle in any incident happening to us –
[angry  (Why has this happened to us?)
grief – (feeling depressed)
shock – (cannot believe this has happened to us)
fear – (fear of consequences of what has happened)]

2.                   Accept help from others
We shouldn’t withdraw from crisis and refuse to accept assistance from our family members, relatives or friends. Even though we give up on God, our close members can believe for us and /or provide whether is physical or emotional support.


3.                   Stop asking “Why”
Because it only prolong our pains. We don’t need an explanation but God’s strength and comfort to see us through pain. We cannot always understand “Why”, only God’s knows everything.

4.                   Trust God in things I do not understand
We need to remind ourselves that God is a good and loving God, and is all powerful. He notices every detail of your life, He is in control, He has a plan for your life and that He will protect us.

5.                   Refused to become bitter
Grief is good and healthy but bitterness will kill us.  At a certain stage, we will need to move on and let go to avoid resentment.

6.           Face the future with courage – Be brave to Face the society and the world again with a positive mindset. Keep going no matter what happens.