Jesus' Birthday Present 2009: PMR results!

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Hi everyone, it's agent Josh Leow again. I just got my PMR results today, along with all other Form 3-ers in the country. Some are rejoicing and indulging themselves after all the hard work. Others are bawling their eyeballs out in regret for not studying harder.

There is, however, a third group of just-received-PMR-results people: Those who are giving all praise and thanks to the Lord. I'm making it a point to be in this group. Are you?

Let's face it. Tomorrow's Christmas, and for many of us, the news on a simple slip of paper will affect our feelings for the rest of the holidays. But we don't have to let that happen. We can choose to respond to life's circumstances, instead of merely reacting to it. And the difference is this: reaction is based on instinct, but response is based on choice. Reactions change with the circumstances, but responses need never change.

And how shall we respond to our PMR results? Well, first we must remember that God promises us that all things will work together for our good, if we love God and are the called according to His purpose. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. He will not give us something to destroy or harm us. Even failure in exams can be used by God! (Remember Pastor Sam Phun?)

So rejoice in the LORD always, and again I say, rejoice! If your heart and soul are so crushed that you think that you cannot possibly rejoice now, then by all means disobey them! I have learnt that whenever your emotions and the Word of God clash head-on, the Word wins hands down. Although God sometimes uses our feelings to speak to us, trusting them all the time can mislead us. There have been times when I obeyed the "voice of God" in my head and it turned out to be nothing more than my own worry!

Anyway, it's Jesus' birthday tomorrow, and whether or not we got the results we expected, remember that God loved us enough to become a man. And that, my friends, is reason enough to thank God for.

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks to the Holy One

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now, let the weak say I am strong

Let the poor say I am rich

Because of what the Lord has done for us

Give thanks.

This Christmas, let us all present our PMR results to Jesus as His birthday presents. He more than deserves all our praise and thanks. Amen.

By: Agent Josh Leow

Jesus is our IMPETUS

Hi everyone!

Today we just got back from Narrowstreet Camp 2009 - Impetus. After a relaxing camp last year with plenty of free time, Narrowstreet camp reverted to a military style. Think plenty of physical exercise and push-ups. The theme, appropriately, was soldiers. And to fight battles and wars, all soldiers need a strong, continuous impetus.

For those who don't know, impetus=stimulus=driving force.

Lots of things happened over the past few days. Every night, there was an altar call, and every time 30-40% of all the campers went up. Some were genuinely touched by the Holy Spirit. But did some go up out of fear? May God correct it if it is so.

Worship was energetic - at least outwardly. Almost everyone was jumping and screaming the name of Jesus in praise, and that is all very well. But the danger lies in the possibility that some of us were relying on our hyped-up emotions to worship God rather than a prayerful and reverent spirit. If all the leaping and joyful shouting we did during worship was truly out of the spirit, then let us worship likewise 365 days of the year. But if not, let us watch our hearts, minds and souls lest we rely on ever-changing emotions to worship our Lord. Emotions change, but the Spirit of God within us never changes. So let us rely on Him to worship.

During this camp, God gave us the opportunity to make new friends and to fellowship with the community of believers. We all need each other in order to function as believers. He taught us teamwork, and how to forgive our teammates when they make mistakes. In short, how to be like Jesus. I also believe that all those of us who were appointed tactical leaders were all chosen by God so that we could learn leadership.

God also worked miracles there! On day 3, games were almost transferred from the field to the hall because of rain. I prayed, "Lord Jesus, please stop the rain. As the Lord lives, the rain shall stop as soon as we reach the field!" Then we were asked to halt our journey to the field, turn around and head back to the hall because the rain was getting heavier. Inside, Keith asked us if we were willing to brave the rain, or stay in the hall. We voted to brave the rain. So he said, "Okay, let's move out again." As soon as we stepped out of the hall, guess what? It had stopped raining! Isn't God good? And as soon as the games ended and we were ready to return to the hall, it started raining again! It must be God!

Pastor Sam Phun packed a punch, as usual. Through him, the Holy Spirit managed to get a lot of people uncomfortable, prompting the large altar calls. His ukulele (OO-koo-LAY-lay) performance was thoroughly enjoyable, and his imitation of a 1980's era pastor (complete with neat hair and spectacles) was hilarious! "Ladies and gentlemen..." ahahahahaha....

Pastor Andy spoke out against addiction to stuff like video games, pornography, masturbation, and so on. It's true - we must break these bondages in our lives, otherwise we cannot fully enjoy the freedom in Christ that God always intended us to have. Remember, we are no longer slaves to sin...

Then Pastor Daniel followed up with a discussion concerning 4 much-disputed practices: smoking, drinking, tattooing and piercing. The results:

Smoking - destroys God's temple (your body) and makes God a smoker. It is a SIN.

Drinking - SIN.

Tattooing - blood is shed, covenants with malevolent spirits made, often a sign of rebellion and disobedience to parents. It is a SIN.

Piercing - If done in defiance against parents, SIN.

It was very good. Strong, firm answers were given, now all that is left for us to do is to obey. Obey. We must obey. For when we do so, God is exceedingly pleased with us that we love Him enough to do so.

And what if we should fall? In that case, the blood of Jesus and the amazing grace of God allow us to stand up again. God will never be angry with us. If we repent, confess our sins to God and get
up again in His grace, God will still be happy with us. Never give up.

So what about the Impetus? It's not a list of rules, it's not how many steps, it's not a program. It's a Person, and His Name is Jesus Christ. Let us even now fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, casting aside every distraction and the sin which so easily entangles us.

Let us remember Jesus and His grace, always.

Amen.

By: Agent Josh Leow