Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Third Day (Part II)
haha blogging about the church camp again, because it really is an awesome camp and i can still feel the impact up to today. Shall share with you guys the message that i get from this camp.
Day 1: The meaninglessness of Life: Climbing the Ladder to nowhere.
(Read Ecclesiastes 4-6)
According to that bible verses, the life of christian is hard. We will face many Opression (v4:1-3) from non-christians.
And i saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbour. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
All humans, even Christians, will face enviness in all aspects of their life, like competing with other people, and fear of losing out.
If life is all that it is now, without anything beyond, then how meaningless our lives will be. We rise up to the highest place, earn big bucks, only to fall back to our state of nothingness at death. We are climbing the ladder to nowhere
Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labour that he can carry in his hand (Ecclesiastes 5:15)
However, Christians should not be worried about this things as we had secured a place after death. Yet, at the same time in our earthly lives, we should not feel worthless as we have a Friend in high places (v5:8-9)
v5:10-17 talks about materialism. Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. THe sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. Basically, it is telling that we are never satisfied with what we have and we keep going for more. enuff said
Therefore, we migh as well "eat, drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him" (v18-20)" this is God's gift.
Day2: The meaning of Life: Resurrection on the 3rd Day
Because we cannot discern any indications that we were put on the Earth to fulfill a purpose greater to us by an intelligent being, our existence does not appear to be some part of a greater plan (Keith AUgustine - Death & Meaning of Life)
We humans have a fear of meaninglessness. We are more than just atoms put together by random chance of nature, there has to be a bigger thing out there.
Then we discussed on Jesus' Resurrection on the cross on the 3rd day, which must happen because it was prophesized a couple of times in the Old Testament.
The bible talks about the Judgement Day (Daniel 7 & 12) and why Jesus has to be resurrected on the Third Day (Jonah 1:17, Jonah 2:9-10, Matthew 12:40, Hosea 6:1-2)
We should not be afraid of death because Jesus, by his death, has destroyed the devil who holds the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15) Every man will face death, but we will be resurrected in higher places. Christians should have no fear of meaninglessness, because we have a greater God to shape our lives for us.
Day3: Walk the Talk: Belonging to the King
(Read Ephesians 2:1-10)
Verse 1-3 corrects our view of sin. Sin is less about what we do and more about who we are and who it is we do things for. However, we will still face the affection for sin nevertheless, because all of us are still of this world (1 Corinthians 15:56)
Verse 4-7 corrects our view of Heaven. We have to make sure that we get to heaven by accepting Jesus into our hearts. Salvation is not about coming out of the future hell that we might be subjected into after our death, but about coming out of the present hell that is this world.
verse 8-10 corrects our view of works. In verse 9, we have to remembe that being saved has nothing to do with the work that we do. Being saved is a gift from God after we believe in Jesus.
Some people are so far into sin that we didnt realise that we need saving
And we didnt become Christians by coming to church or reading the bible, but it is by God's Grace.
We dont have to do anything to be saved except to believe in Jesus, because no matter how good a person can be, we are never be good enough in God's standard. There is no good person in God's Judgement. We just have to accept Jesus in our hearts and we will naturally be transformed.
Day 4: Living the Resurrection Hope
(Read the whole book of Revelations)
By knowing the future that is prophesized in this last book of the bible, we now have a certainty about what must soon take place. Basically the book prophesized about Jesus' second coming into the world
What must soon take place:
a. Indisputable power of Jesus (Rev 1)
In v12-16, "in His right hand he held the seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword" - this symbolises that His words are powerful
In v17, it says that Jesus is the first and the Last
In v18, Jesus is the living one. "I was dead and behold i am alive for ever and ever."
In v20, He will be walking in the middle of the 7 Golden Lampstands, which signifies the 7 churches.
b. Unfolding the Horror of HIstory (Rev 5-6)
There will be an opening of the scroll with 7 seals. Each seal representing a disaster that is yet to come. By the time the 6th seal is opened, it signifies the end of the world (v12). In v15-17, it pictures Jesus' second coming into the world. The increasing number of wars and disasters recently since the 1990s could signify that Jesus' coming is near.
c. Furious frustation of Satan (Rev 12)
Satan has the power of death over us. In v7-9 it said about the defeat of Satan through the resurrection of Jesus. Satan knows that his time is short (v12), so he will send many persecutions to many Christians (v17).
d. Dramatic Fall of Babylon (Rev 17-18)
Babylon - the Mother of Prostitues (17:5).
It is a national prostitute, which symbolises materialism (17:15)
18:1-4 talks about the lure of materialism in our lives.
e. Ultimate defeat of Satan (Rev 20)
First satan will go out to decieve the nations (v8) and attack the Christians (v9). Then he will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity (v10). That is the ultimate defeat of Satan.
f. Heaven; the Garden City (Rev 21-22)
After Satan is defeated, there will be no more pain, suffering and death (v4), and God will be dwelling among his people (v3).
These are the things that must soon take place (22:6, 1:1)
Though we will face many persecutions in time to come, the bible encourages us to endure patiently for the second coming of Jesus, and do not listen to the lures of the devil.
Now, we can find the meaning of our lives in Jesus. I have.
Anyway more pictures that i got for the church camp. hahaha...
eating together with my bible study group...
touched by an angel
i really love this pic. damn cool sia. me and jordan flying in spiral motion.
but of course... we tried afew times before we succeeded. Some of the failed shots which looked damn ridiculous but freaking hilarious hahahaha...
jordan like wan to pang sai but constipated.
dunno wad we doing sia
me and chris admiring the beauty
me and justin
hang gliding, looks damn fun hahaha, but risk death also
This is DAMN FUNNY hahaha... featuring: the Calendar Boys
i shall upload the months that i think are really funny only.
MAY
JUN
SEP
OCT
NOV
Then the girls also did their own. Featuring: the Calendar Girls
(only post first three months)
yup hahah those were good times and good fun. Hope to join the next church camp again hahaha... Love these wonderful people alot LoL!
Left his memories on 11:19 PM|
~ It's just a goodnight and not goodbye ~
Friday, March 28, 2008
Went to watch step up 2 on tuesday cuz movie tix is cheapest on tuesdays over here, and i was shot awed by the prequel that if i didnt catch the movie i will definitely go zhuang qiang bi (bang head against wall).
And YES! the movie is AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. Lots of good dancing + a couple of bad acting (esp the part andie fought with her auntie, so comical la), but wadtheheck i didnt watch the movie for the acts. I wanna see DANCE!
and the movie indeed exceeded my expectations LoL. More dancing than talking, which is GOOD!
Loved the part where they danced in the rain. Water effects sho kool!
And anyway, the people more important hahaha... Thats me and doanna rushing to the theatre cuz we are late. Along the way it started raining and i gotta gorge down my dinner, so she has to hold up the umbrella for me and carry my stuffs at the same time. Feels like a king for awhile hahaha, wonderful fewling indeed. But too bad it didnt last becoz my manly conscience tells me that i MUST do the R1GhT tH1NG!
The moviegoers...
And then after that we went Cold Rocks for icecream cuz apparently it is famous. Oh well, the price's also GG!
Rum&Raisin + Cookies&Cream icecream + choc bar & cookies toppings : $9.40
4 flavors lehz even though we only have 2 scoopz. Smart choice =D
us
and me feeding each one of them
haha then yesterday went for potluck at Clarence&Khoon's hahaha...
Hahaha it was uber FUN! hahaa... played lots of games and watched lots of spastic clips and laughed until everybody pengz. Den neighbours complain and the guards came and scold us hahahaha...
oh wells... anyway gonna post pics of my Blue Mountains trip soon. More coming! hahaha... and we did get LOTS of good shots of sceneries more beautiful that even what ur mind can imagine or comprehend.
...
waaa! cheem sentence with deep meaning haha... well-said indeed
Left his memories on 5:54 AM|
~ It's just a goodnight and not goodbye ~
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Third Day
Went to church camp on the 21-24 March during the easter break. Though its kinda costly i think its really beneficial and worthwhile. Thank God that my faith has been strengthened through the 4 days of intensive bible studies and talks. Definitely a blessing of a lifetime =D
Shall start with a pic of the campsite hahaha...
it has a really big lawn for us to play games
and a nice scenery as the backdrop hahaha...
and tats our dining hall.
the worship session
First day was damn awesome. We had a trivia night where each group is supposed to plan an act according to some keyword, and the most cheesy and corny one wins.
My face getting (horribly) painted with a tictactoe design
us performing
but oh wells... we WON!!! haha... cuz we are cheesiest to the core!
our grp ppl...
camp night pix
and we went to the beach. Took alot of cool poses there cuz the beach was really nice! Perfect backdrop for emo poses
me and michael
mingfei me and chris
mingfei me and michael
michael having a high tide
and mingfei summoning the clouds
trying to make our jump...
jumping for the skyyy...
Battle of the Heavens...
i'm d only extra guy swimming there
YATAAAA!!!
Next-gen David Hasselhoff in the making, flicking hair victoriously in front of cheering admirers, after saving a drowning victim or two...
hahaha... nvm think too much
our shadows: jordan, mine, mingfei and michael's
some random pics of a cute baby:
Brotherly shot of the few most Manly guys in our bible study grp
and add in the zhar bo-es...
Little Jordan, being a small kid that he is...
is actually pretty strong. dun play play...
Pix of the beach from the valley we were at
Evidence of the Tragic Murder of Drew
us fewling poetic...
this shot would be awesome if only taken from the back. hahaha... then wun see that ugly construction gg on below.
And then some of us decided to wake up early in the morning (5am) to catch the sunrise... Then, the heavens decided to take a piss, but that still didnt stop us from watching the majestic view from the clifftop. But too bad the fog was really thick and we couldnt really see anything T__T
if u look closely, there is a silhouette of 2 headless 'things' coming down the hill. boo...
but soon the fog cleared up and the view was really nice!
and so Drew decided to fly...
and up he goes into the sky ala Rapture
some other random pixes...
Last camp pix together
carrying Little Jordan up to make him happy
and on the return journey (by car), some of us got lost and went the wrong side of the highway, but thank God that we did find a good spot, called the Sublime Point, where the view is reallly cool. hahha... at least we didnt get lost for nothing
a cool pillar tt I found there
Left his memories on 10:57 PM|
~ It's just a goodnight and not goodbye ~
hahaha... nvm think too much
this shot would be awesome if only taken from the back. hahaha... then wun see that ugly construction gg on below.
