Come, be refreshed

Nourishment - The Lord has given me strength to serve.

My school is a place where they equipped people to work for the Kingdom of G. Over and over again, I realized if I'm not well nourished, how can I serve others so that They will too, be well-nourished?

Truly, I'm glad that I went to chapel this morning. I almost missed it because...well...waking up late (not working according to what I would like to do) I'm glad that I went in the last minute despite my stress about reading, assignments and other things that occupied my mind.

1. yes, I want to learn English better - I haven't been trying at all....but Dr. Van Johnson and Kaarina just motivated me to try and do what I have passion for and be excellent in Everything that I do. They gave me courage to dream and live the dream again!

Colin and the worship team again did an amazing job leading us, helping us to sing. I was moved.

~*

October 5, 2010 (Tuesday Community Chapel – Dr. Van Johnson)

Worship songs
Everyone (Praises)
From The Inside Out
Breathe on Me, Breath of God

1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.

2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure.

3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.

4. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with thee the perfect life
of thine eternity.

Preaching by Dr. Van Johnson (who’s witty, humorous, very knowledgeable, authentic, also, very very kind who loves God and people – with a cool face =)

Romans 12
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer you bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of you has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

This is the Word of God for the people of God.

Dr. Van Johnson so humorously preached this passage with clarity. By coincidence (or no conincidence), I heard this passage being preached the 4th time within 5 days, since last Friday – the same passage – to present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Dr. Van Johnson preached –

The way our brain was built with the grey matters where neuro-synapses happen – the sparkles that fires between two neurons when we have new experience tells us that we are built and made to perceive new experience, each day, all the time.

What is the new thing that God wants us to experience everyday?

How do we present our body as living sacrifice?

(A silly story he presented about someone willing to pay $10,000 to look for a dead cat of his beloved wife – although this cat will never be found again =) and this is the exact same reason why the husband would be willing to pay $10,000 in the wanted Ad – Dr. Van Johnson tried to present us this idea of … Can we love other people without limit?)

We cannot eat or drink without limit (or we will not be seeing you very soon)
We cannot work without limit.
But to present our body as a living sacrifice, we do, can live our lives with gratitude to God without limit. And this is the only thing that we can do without limit living on this earth.

Jesus didn’t give us a detail explanation of each of the spiritual gift. He just says – if you have this – use it. If you have that, use it. Put your gift to use.

Lately, this continues to strike me … “you are the salt and light on earth” not that I can intentionally focus on making a difference where I live, basically I cannot because if I just keep focusing on making an impact or a difference, I’d have lost focus and my sincerity of loving God and People. Hence, no difference can ever be made.

But if I do, continue to strive to know God and live according to His teaching, as I learn to change in that way – faith working through love in the midst of hard realities – it will provide a thumbnail sketch of something that changes the world. (always falling short, of course; always partial, but noticeable and noticeably attractive).

I do not feel right when I lost connection with God, or when I eagerly try to get more of God, but what I can do is to wait for Him and His Agenda rather than always following mine.

You are the salt and light on earth – present your body as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.