heys ppl,

i got this MMS this morning.

What did the chicken say after she laid many eggs?
I'm eggs-hausted!

haha. can't help but post this up since we're such a lame cell =P

Honor God in Your Work

by Max Lucado


Heaven’s calendar has seven Sundays a week. God sanctifies each day. He conducts holy business at all hours and in all places. He uncommons the common by turning kitchen sinks into shrines, cafés into convents, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures.

Workdays? Yes, workdays. He ordained your work as something good. Before he gave Adam a wife or a child, even before he gave Adam britches, God gave Adam a job. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 NASB). Innocence, not indolence, characterized the first family.

God views work worthy of its own engraved commandment: “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest” (Exod. 34:21 NASB). We like the second half of that verse. But emphasis on the day of rest might cause us to miss the command to work: “You shall work six days.” Whether you work at home or in the marketplace, your work matters to God.

And your work matters to society. We need you! Cities need plumbers. Nations need soldiers. Stoplights break. Bones break. We need people to repair the first and set the second. Someone has to raise kids, raise cane, and manage the kids who raise Cain.

Whether you log on or lace up for the day, you imitate God. Jehovah himself worked for the first six days of creation. Jesus said, “My Father never stops working, and so I keep working, too” (John 5:17 NCV). Your career consumes half of your lifetime. Shouldn’t it broadcast God? Don’t those forty to sixty hours a week belong to him as well?

The Bible never promotes workaholism or an addiction to employment as pain medication. But God unilaterally calls all the physically able to till the gardens he gives. God honors work. So honor God in your work. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good” (Eccles. 2:24 NASB).

Here is the big idea:

Use your uniqueness (what you do)
to make a big deal out of God (why you do it)
every day of your life (where you do it).

At the convergence of all three, you’ll find the cure for the common life: your sweet spot.

Will you survive?

If you need directions, call me at 012 308 7357.

God bless!

Why Go To Church?

A Church-goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone
wrote this:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

Think about it.

Which are you?

"If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it joy! If we live only for the present and forget the future, the trials will make us bitter and not better."

~Warren W. Wiersbe~


"The same boiling water that hardens the egg softens the carrot."

~Tom Neven~

Just Once

Hey cellies!

For those who didnt managed to attend the Saturday service tonite, you missed out on Ps Alan Davies' sermon. Hails all the way from Melbourne, Australia...i think he was straight to the point and on the dot. I took down some notes, and seemed like a good time to share my thoughts on it too :)

Some of the points he mentioned are as below:
- the devil is the God of this world.
- we're born into the world as sinners, but becos of Jesus' blood, we are cleansed and saved by grace.
- not all opportunity is God-given.
- we make decisions in life based on principle and not on the opportunity given to us.

But there were two more points which i would like to elaborate further and i hope you would keep in mind. He said this:
Satan only needs to tempt you and ask you to bow dow to him ONCE. Satan only needs to tempt you to click on that forbidden website ONCE. Satan only needs to tempt you to lit a cigarette ONCE. Satan only needs to tempt you to lose your virginity ONCE. He doesn't need to persuade you to get addicted. He only needs to see you fail ONCE...and you're duped! Read Luke 4:3-7. Meditate on verse 7: "If you worship me, it will all be yours." Its that simple. All you need to do to inherit all the 'wonderful' things he has in store for you, is to just worship him and bow down
to him ONCE. So simple. But it is also this ONCE that can leave you with a lifetime regret, remorse, guilt...and a total change in your life. I truly pray that you don't fall into Satan's trap...that you don't fall into his temptations...that you don't compromise your faith.

And i believe the same applies for me too. Most of you should know by now that I'll be leaving for Sydney in July. Its very easy to fall away especially when its a new place, a new surrounding, new friends...and new temptations. Tonight was really a night where I made a very clear distinction and rededication of my walk with God and my faith to Him. So whether you're in this same position as me or not, I pray that you know where you stand with Him. And if I ever do fall away and fall into the devil's trap, I urge that you remind me of this post.

Lastly, as a self-check...ask yourself: What are you doing with your life?
This was the same question God asked Ps Alan. From then on, he has never stopped serving Him.

The line of the night: "Don't keep asking God what is His will or purpose for your life. Instead, just submit to Him and serve Him for the rest of your life."
(And you ask yourself, why that never crossed your mind :P)

I hope this piece has shed some light for you, as it did for me. And if it has, i hope you'll reflect on it and that the Holy Spirit will stir your heart as it did with mine :)

Signing out,
~mich

An Uncommon Call to an Uncommon Life

by Max Lucado

Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.
1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG

Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment. Mine like a gold digger the unique-to-you nuggets from your life.

When I was six years old, my father built us a house. Architectural Digest didn’t notice, but my mom sure did. Dad constructed it, board by board, every day after work. My youth didn’t deter him from giving me a job. He tied an empty nail apron around my waist, placed a magnet in my hands, and sent me on daily patrols around the building site, carrying my magnet only inches off the ground.

One look at my tools and you could guess my job. Stray-nail collector.

One look at yours and the same can be said. Brick by brick, life by life, God is creating a kingdom, a “spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5 CEV). He entrusted you with a key task in the project. Examine your tools and discover it. Your ability unveils your destiny. “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.

Look at you. Your uncanny ease with numbers. Your quenchless curiosity about chemistry. Others stare at blueprints and yawn; you read them and drool. “I was made to do this,” you say.

Heed that inner music. No one else hears it the way you do.

What about you? Our Maker gives assignments to people, “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matt. 25:15). As he calls, he equips. Look back over your life. What have you consistently done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness.

You have one. A divine spark. An uncommon call to an uncommon life. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Cor. 12:7 CEV). So much for the excuse “I don’t have anything to offer.” Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us …”? Or, “The Spirit has given a few of us …”? No. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” Enough of this self-deprecating “I can’t do anything.”

And enough of its arrogant opposite: “I have to do everything.” No, you don’t! You’re not God’s solution to society, but a solution in society. Imitate Paul, who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Cor. 10:13 NLT). Clarify your contribution.

Don’t worry about skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6 NASB).