Tribe of Judah

Background: I had an opportunity to prepare a sermon for class in SOL3. Seeing as it's all written, perhaps it can be of encouragement and blessing to you all!

Title: Motive and Opportunity

Listened to this series, it teaches how to make the world subdue to you. For those who don't know, Judah Smith is one of the funniest youth pastors in America, dare I say the world. He is the pastor of the largest youth church in Seattle. Each sermon is about 10mbs.

1 War of the Worlds
2 War of the Worlds 2- Matters of the Mind
3 War of the Worlds 3
4 War of the Worlds 3 Revisited

Hello all,

A few things has happened since Miracle Encounter, and I would like to testify about them. During Miracle Encounter, Pastor Judith always reminded us to read the bible and make it our foundation of truth. I decided to put that into practice.

Pro 28:1

THE wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.

I remembered the weeks leading up the Miracle Encounter the church had a prayer walk. The prayer walk is a group of people going into the streets of Adelaide and praying for those who need salvation, claiming back territories for God, and inviting them to Miracle Encounter so they can be healed. This was my first experience of a prayer walk, so I was paired up with Henry who is an expert at this. During the walk down Rundle Mall, we would try to find any sick people we could see, and where ever the Holy Spirit told us to go. Henry suggested we take turns in approaching people, to build up my BOLDNESS. As we walked, I observed Henry's actions and how he talked to random people. He was very natural; asking them general questions, and would slowly move the conversation to Jesus. He was successful in getting a positive response from them, praise God.

Now it was my turn, Henry would give me pointers like "Marcus, it is important not to bible-bash them, don't throw bible bombs and hurt them." I was beyond nervous, as I have never talked randomly to strangers before, especially about Jesus. My mind was thinking "How on earth did Henry do this so smoothly, this is crazy they won't accept what I have to say". My thoughts turned into reality as time after time the people I approached rejected me straight away or felt immediately awkward. I was already running away from what I was called to do.

My weakness was timidity. I wanted to change it. I wanted to be bolder.

Psa 138:3

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.

It was a few days after Miracle Encounter which I decided I would change my weakness. I searched the scriptures anywhere the word "Bold" was mentioned. I printed out a list of over 10 scriptures and stuck it my bedroom wall. I began to study them diligently, learning how bold we are all suppose to be and how we are suppose to apply this boldness. Let me start with the scripture from

Phl 1:20

according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

Notice it says with all boldness, AS ALWAYS. We are called to be bold at all times as Christ is to be magnified in our bodies. Live boldly, and die boldly.

1Jo 4:17

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

Again this scripture only backs up Phil 1:20. We are to be as Bold as Jesus in this world. The love of Jesus is perfect in US, not just our church leaders, but you and me. Knowing this, we have another reason to be bold as Christ is.

2Cr 7:4

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.

This is my favourite scripture about Boldness because it gives us an instruction how to use our boldness. We are to Boldly speak, boast and be comforted. For those who don't know, tribulation means difficult times or problems we face. So why does it say we are to be EXCEEDINGLY joyful while we have difficult times? I didn't make sense to me until I read this verse:

Rom 5:1 -4

1 THEREFORE, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Tribulation ( Difficult times) turns into Perservence (Endurance) turns into Character (strength of character) which finally ends with Hope (hope in salvation). As you can see, we boldly speak toward our Lord Jesus under all circumstances as it leads to hope even during the worst times.

I was also confused why we are to have glory during our difficult times. However after reading more scripture we can see why.

2Cr 3:7 - 12

7 But if the ministry of death, written [and] engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which [glory] was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation [had] glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away [was] glorious, what remains [is] much more glorious. 12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—

If you remember when Moses met with God on Mount Sinai for 14 days and nights, his face shone like the sun to the point where the Israelites had to put a veil to cover the brightness. However the glory faded over time. We have Christ living inside us, a glory which remains and excels that of Moses. So we are to be shining as brightly as the sun, literally. Because we have such glory of the father inside of us, we can Boldly speak.

Act 4:29 - 31

29 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 "by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Another example of how boldness is used. This is not only an example, it is a task which I have aimed for in my walk with God. I want to be bold enough to speak the Word of God in the streets, and stretch my hand to heal so that signs and wonders may be done in Jesus name. It is a goal which we must all aim for. I would like to ask the readers how bold you are right now? Are you bold enough to lay your very life down for Christ? Are you bold enough to heal the sick, strangers who walk past you in the streets? Are you bold enough to answer God's calling and preach and heal?

If you want to be bold like Christ, I shall return to the scripture.

Psa 138:3

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.

I would like to start of by quoting John 14:13-14

"13 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 - If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]."

For those reading, stop and think about this verse. I knew this verse before when I first became a Christian, but it was the first time the weight of the verse hit me. I had to meditate on the passage over and over, and praise God for how generous he is with his love and mercy. We can ask for all the blessings of heaven to come flowing into our bodies. Sickness? - healed, demonised? - rebuked, poor? - be rich, lonely? - God's kingdom is your new family, sad? - rejoice in being saved, stressed? - do not worry about tomorrow because God has a plan for you and it will be glorious.

Somehow, there is a new security knowing how much God loves me, and his promises are always kept.

I want to explain about Kevin's healing. After the events of yesterday, Kevin checked his sugar level at 3.00am in the morning. His sugar level was 14, quite high. He then went back to sleep and checked it again in the morning - it was 6. After eating breakfast it jumped back to 14.

From all these facts, we can see a sceptic would say Kevin is not healed. Now lets look at this biblically. Last night when Leon and Kevin prayed for healing of the diabetes, he got a 10. Kevin then got prayed over by David, Henry and myself. We asked that Jesus restore his pancreas and rebuke any sickness in Jesus name. He checked his sugar level again and it was 5. God purposely showed us something impossible by dropping a sugar reading of 10 to a 5 in a matter of minutes. It did bring glory to God, and our prayers were answered. Let me confirm at this stage, Kevin is already healed.

So why did his sugar rise the next day? Kevin's body has a brand new pancreas and it is getting adjusted to its new body. It will slowly release new insulin into his body, balancing his sugar levels over time. Another way of looking at it is plucking a leaf of a tree. The leaf has lost connection from the branch, but it still looks green. Over time, the leaf will wither and die. Just like Kevin's diabetes, it will wither away and die, allowing the healing to be seen in full glory to God.

As for my family's reaction, look at John 9. The blind man was healed and the Pharisees called his parents to confirm he was blind from birth. Did the parents start praising God straight away for healing their son? No they did not.

Jhn 9:20

His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

Jhn 9:21

But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

Kevin can speak for himself to everybody that he is healed.

I will continue this post later, because receiving a holy oil annointing and blogging will take quite some time.

LIFE CHANGING! FIRE! GOD HEALED SO MANY PEOPLE TODAY. LET IT BE KNOWN TO ALL WHO ARE READING THAT ON THE 4TH OF OCTOBER, 2008 GOD HEALED THE SICK. GLORY AND HONOUR, WE GIVE YOU PRAISE LORD JESUS FOR WHO YOU ARE!

So many miracles happened right before my eyes. A very old woman, deaf in one ear got healed! Her reaction was so full of joy, she rejoiced and gave everybody a hug and praised JESUS. Another man, who could not move his arms started to move them! A little girl with a disease which prevented her from moving her fingers could move them! That woman from the first night who started walking on Thursday, can now jump up and down. Eye sight was fully restored! So many more miracles I can't list them all!

However the greatest miracle to happen for me was the miracle of Kevin's health. He had diabetes for 2 years and had to endure injects into the stomach before breakfast lunch and dinner every day. He also had to prick his finger for blood to check his sugar level. Today, Leon and Kevin prayed for their healing. They went to check their sugar reading and the result was Leon "6.2 - healed" Kevin "10.2 - not yet". Kevin came to me and I quickly asked him what his reading was. After knowing he was not yet fully healed, I asked David and Henry to help me pray for Kevin. We layed hands on him and prayed for absolute healing, rebuking sickness in Jesus name. I quickly rushed Kevin to a quiet area and had his sugar level re-checked: 5.2. For those who don't know, it is impossible to a person's sugar level to drop that fast.

PRAISE THE LORD HE HAS HEALED MY LITTLE BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had him rechecked again after 30 minutes had gone up: 6.2 (still at healthy level). We drove back home to prove to my dad he had been healed: 5.5 (PRAISE GOD). Kevin will be checking his sugar level throughout the night and in the morning.

There is a joy in my heart which I cannot contain. I cannot write all that happened today because I learnt so much, I experienced so much, I TASTED so much of God. I literally burst into tears when I saw he was healed. My other family members are still sceptical, but I don't care. Jesus has set Kevin free of sickness. I thank God for all he is, such a loving merciful God. Joy for all those who share the same excitement and wonderment. God is my healer!

Praise God, Praise God,

Tonight was life changing for me, not because of the miracles, but because of the things God said to me through Pastor Victor. Before the encounter, I wanted my family to be saved and healed so badly. I wanted my dad to see the miracles performed in front of his very own eyes so he would know how real our God is. Even after he witnessed these things, he does not want to come to any more miracle encounters. I was worried about my father's salvation. However, I know my dad's salvation is not my burden. And Pastor Victor said something very clear today, that God does not need to show off his power. It is only by his mercy and love he does the things he does. God can transform anybody heart's instantly, giving them new ones. I do not need to worry about my family, as God is already using them in his plan. I learnt that I need to focus on my own walk with God, rather than everybody else's.

God will take care of the ones I love, because he loves them more than I do.

It is God's will that I can walk, talk, see and hear. It is God's will I can do anything as I am his perfect creation. Pastor Victor used an example of stomping his feet to the ground. The Lord spoke to him and said that it is by His will, that Pastor Victor can move his feet at all. So what can't God do? If God made the heavens and the earth - then what God cannot do? It is easy to heal somebody, because it is God's nature to restore that person to full health. God does not hold back his power, nor does he enjoy their suffering.

Kevin's sugar level appeared like a diabetic today. He was high after each meal, and low after taking his insulin shots. However there is a seed of healing inside him. A seed which is watered by faith and grown by God. His sugar levels will decrease in time, and he will be a great testimony to those who knew him as a diabetic. For my vitiligo - I have been rubbing it and it claiming by faith I am already healed.

At the end of the service, Pastor Victor annoited the whole crowd with God's awesome power. I didn't feel a massive surge of power going through my body like some may have, I didn't feel the ground shake, or the wind howling. But my faith isn't based on feelings. I received the annoiting to change the city of festivals into the city of churches once again. NLCC is going to radically change whole of SA. Can I get an AMEN from those who got annoited?

Today was not about miracles signs and wonders. It was about the heart of God. The lessons I learnt about today will stay with me forever as I walk with God. I am not the shepard of my family, God is. Amen

Praise you Lord, for the things I have seen with my own eyes, for the things I have heard with my own ears, and for the miracles I have tasted.

I am posting this so I can always look back and remember what God has shown me today. 2 anointed pastors Victor and Judith came to NLCC, and performed signs and wonders in front of a packed church.

My role for today was camera man. As I was video taping, I noticed how pastor Victor would heal. He would first ask them what they want. They would respond and he explain to them that God made them. This was a very important point, as he said it to almost all the people he talked to. When they understood this concept, he said it was easy for God to restore them. He commanded them to walk if they were lame, talk if they were mute, and see if they were blind. Sometimes the people who needed healing didn't get healed instantly, instead Pastor Victor would move on to the next person, and they come back again when the spirit prompted him to.

The greatest of all the miracles I thought was the lame woman walking. Apparently, she was a police woman and was shot. Since then, she had suffered a lot and had to move in a wheel chair. Pastor Victor healed her in the start of the service. It happened so quickly and suddenly, like she was a normal person. She walked around for a while and the smile on her face was so joyful. Truly God is amazing.

Another miracle was my university friend Andrew who came with his mum. Andrew has been a long time friend, and a Christian. I was so filled with joy when pastor Victor approached him and asked him what he wanted. He got his back pains healed, and he had a prophetic word spoken over him. The devil was saying to him that he would never achieve anything in life. However that is a lie, and God is going to do great things using Andrew. His mum was so proud of her son, and now she will be attending all the miracle encounter services, and suggested she would be a regular NLCC member. Andrew may also join this very life group. Can we get a AMEN for God?

Another highlight was my family healing. Anne spoke to me saying that Kevin is healed, and we need to believe it. I am going to check his sugar levels to make sure his diabetis is gone for good! I believe by faith he will be made well. She also said my vitiligo will be healed. I need to rub it, and thank Jesus for the healing. In doing this, my white skin will be healed. She also mentioned that the vitiligo is connected to family stress. I need to give my family to God so he can handle them. Amen, I shall give not only my family, but everything I have for God.

I have to stop typing now, because its 12.43am. I want to close by saying how real God is. How real Jesus is. How real the Holy Spirit is. NLCC is changing right before my eyes. Day 1 ends but Day 2 is going to be bigger and bolder in the name of Jesus. I can't wait, my heart is expecting breakthrough.

Greetings fellow brothers!

Here are some pictures of that special day where Bonnie committed himself to Christ. His testimony was awesome and he looked like a stud. May the Holy Spirit guide you Bonnie, and use you to shine his glory.

Hello World. It has been awhile since anybody from this group has posted. So I'll take the lead on this.

My past month has been awesome. Spiritually, its been a journey of great growth and understanding of Jesus. For the readers who do not know, A group of us went to Hillsong Conference 2008, it was awesome. What I learnt from that conference will stay with me for the rest of my life. There were so many moments were God just "WOW'ed" me. Despite the freezing cold weather of Sydney, the brief sickness, and the crazy train rides, there is nothing else negative about the trip. I met with my hero of faith Pastor Judah Smith. He cracked so many jokes, I found it hard to breathe at times. To sum up very briefly about what God taught me at Hillsong was:

1 - Never limit your vision of what God has in store for you. You'll be surprised by his generous/overwhelming love.
2 - Peace in the heart is so important. Without your peace, you lose your spiritual power.
3 - Have a discerning heart. King Solomon prayed for discernment, not understanding.
4 - Creative Ministry. God taught me this ministry has places to go and people to mould for his glory. I'm busy with the Lord's work and it feels "peaceful/joyful/awesome/cool/humbling/honouring/fulfilling"
5 - Justice, worship and evangelism are on top of God's to-do-list.
6 - Serving Jesus is one of the best things you could do with your life.

After the Hillsong experience, the fire I had for Jesus did not dwindle. Far from it. It was only two weeks ago that something changed within me. Something I have never experience before in my walk with God. I started preaching to myself. This was awkward at first. I felt at times "how could I possible teach myself spiritual things?" Then I got re-affirmed by the Holy Spirit, Henry, Anne and Judah Smith (Sermon - Do-ers of the Word) that preaching to yourself is definitely a Godly thing. The Holy Spirit has never talked to me this much before, through preaching to myself. I learnt things such as discernment when reading the scripture.

An example was on July 13th. I was reading 2 Timothy 2:12-13 - Deny God, and he denies us. Be unfaithful to God, and he remains faithful to you. I asked "what is the difference between denying and unfaithfulness?" Then the Lord replied and guided me to Isaiah 26:5 ( I had no idea what Isaiah had in store for me. I just went to the scripture in faith) - Pride - He humbles the proud, brings down arrogant cities, turns them into dust. In this way, denying God is about pride, being unfaithful is lack of trust.

And on August 4th - Hebrews 9:28 - Jesus will bring salvation to those who eagerly await him. I was shocked by this message. The holy spirit asked me "Marcus, are you eager for his return? Are you thinking he won't return to take the earth back in your life time?" I was speechless for awhile. Then the Holy Spirit said to me "You should expect his return SOON like you expect the morning sun to rise each morning." Full Stop. That changed my life. If I posed you, the reader this question -"What would you do if Jesus was returning tomorrow?" Most would answer "Get right with God" All worldly things fall and your focus is purely on Jesus. What changed my life was I should have this attitude everyday, each time the morning sun rises, I should be looking at the sky waiting for it to split open!

I have found each day, each hour is an adventure with God. I'm so excited about my growth, and the growth of others that when I think about it, it gets me even more excited. So this is my past month. This is my continuing adventure with Jesus.

- Hope you fed of it.

A random photo posing as inspector gadget with a cool crew

I listened to these very funny/powerful/hilarious/awesome sermons and it changed my whole walk with Christ.

Its a six, count them six part sermon about EMBRACING GRACE. 6 hours of grace. Youth Pastor Judah Smith preaches about why youth today are not embracing grace, and how you should react to the Lords grace.

Here are the links:

When grace runs at you
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-01-172.mp3

When grace hugs you
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-01-312.mp3

When grace kisses you
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-02-062.mp3

A robe, a ring and Reebok's
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-02-142.mp3

What Do You Do When Favor Finds Your Friend Next To You?
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-02-203.mp3

Carried To The Table
http://generationchurch.org/download.php?file=gca08-02-282.mp3

Pastor Judah Smith will also be preaching at Hillsong Conference 2008. Getting pumped?

so moving on to the next best thing... ta-dah

hey//
ppls/
i
need
some
\face
portraits
for project
/time
thx!!

The Glory of the Living God...

Last night, a group of brothers and sisters came together to pray. We had no other agenda but to pray and to welcome the Holy Spirit to move in the place as He pleases.

We began by praying in tongues. A few of us led in prayers and welcomed the Holy Spirit to speak through us and intercede as He pleases. Very soon, we began to quieten down as we rested and stayed still in our Lord's presence. After a while, we all began to pray in tongues again and began to pray loudly and with tears flowing down our faces.

What followed was a stream of the Lord's Almighty presence which swept over the room. I will let the other brothers and sisters share their experiences with you. I will share with you my experiences.

During the gathering, Anne spoke particualr words over different people. She also spoke particular words over my life, and I found them to be truly amazing. In response to what God had said through Anne, I knelt down before God and spoke in my heart and audibly to myself (I spoke wholeheartedly with every part of my being focused on what I was about to say with willingness, obedience and full submission to the Lord), I said that I am here to be Your hands and Your feet O Lord. I am here to serve all people. Whether they be big things or small things, I would be here to serve the Living God and His people. I thanked the Lord and opened my heart and life to God to be used by God.

As I knelt down to pray this prayer, I felt that my whole body was extending and protruding so that my arms and legs were stretched. As I did this, I felt a strong heaviness press down upon my whole body. My face was pressed onto the floor with my nose squished onto the carpet. My arms, legs, chest, stomach, just my whole body was pressed down heavily. I could not move. I layed pressed onto the ground experiencing the weight, heaviness and the glory of the living God. I stayed in this position for a long time. I don't exactly know when I began to lay there (I think it was about 11:00pm, but need to check with the others who were in the room to confirm). I was only able to get up at about 12:34am.

During the time I was on the floor, I tried a few times to get up. With all my strength, I would try and lift myself up from the floor. But it was no use, none of my body could be lifted. It was like I was glued to the floor, with a really really really heavy weight placed above me. I could only move my head slightly to turn my head from left to right and face down to change the position of my head. Eventually, at about 12:20am, my feet and ankle were able to move. And then slowly and gradually, different parts of my body were able to move. First my feet, then my lower leg, then my hands, then my arms, then my whole leg, and eventually my chest, stomach (centre part of my body) was able to move again. I then tried to stand up, but the weight was still there. I tried to stand up to my feet with all my strength, but it was no use. So I sat there a little longer until I could stand up.

Wow, our God is truly amazing. Truly, truly amazing!!! I really do not know what to say. He is a real and living God. Quite often, we can use words to describe our experiences and feelings, but when it comes to expressing our experiences in God, we are limited in our vocabulary. Praise the Lord for His glory and His power and His grace. He is truly amazing.

God Bless everyone!

Where to begin...

I can begin by saying what is at the heart of this message...
My Greatest Love is You...

There are songs and words that can express love; there are actions and thoughts that can express love. But all these don't really mean much when you cannot express this love to someone or something. To whom or to what is the 'object' of love that you are bringing to?

A thought came to my mind one day when I was going about my daily work. I was thinking, the worship songs that we sing and play music to unto the Lord may seem quite strange to someone who does not know who we are actually singing the songs to. I mean lyrics like...

'I worship you'; 'There is none like you'; 'I'm hungry for you'; 'Lover of my soul'; 'Deeper in love with You'; 'to feel Your heart and know Your mind, looking in Your eyes stirs up within me'..

I remember when I first went to Church in 2004, (I went because a lot of my high school friends went as well) it came to the time of worship. I would sing along with the songs, but whenever it came to words such as 'God', 'Jesus', 'Spirit', 'Son of God', I would be silent and not sing until those words were skipped over. I did not know who Jesus and God was, and I did not see why I need or should sing songs to them and say that I love them and cannot live without them. I thought stubbornly to myself, I am not going to sing those words.

You see, the same worship song that we sing can lose its significance and purpose when we do not know why and to who we are singing it to. If we do not know the 'object' to whom we are singing to and for, then the song will be quite empty, with just words and melody.

Who is your greatest love? Do you know why you sing the song that you sing when you worship? Do you know to who you are singing the song to? Are you just singing with words from your mouth, or are you pouring out your heart as you sing each word and play each note. That each note or each word that you sing is your heart's expression to the love that you have for the person that you are singing to.

We really have received such a wonderful gift and it is really by God's grace and His love for us that we can worship to someone who we know personally and have experienced in our life. As God has kindly and graciously revealed Himself to us, we can now worship and sing with the revelation of to who and why we worship.

Let us reveal this Person who loves us so dearly to those who are around us. This person who loves us so much that He died in our place. That though He was pure, blameless, just, and holy in every way, yet He took all our uncleanliness and infirmities and transgressions upon Himself for us that we may become clean, righteous, and pure. This Person who saves and heals is waiting for you to reveal Him to others around you. Let us share this wonderful gift to the people who are around us.

My Greatest Love is You... Jesus

I would like to share the following song with all of you. The song is called, 'My Greatest Love is You.' It really touched my heart immensely when I was worshipping with this song. I could not stop crying. I only have the lyrics here with me. If you would like to listen to the song, feel free to tap me on the shoulder and I will sing this song to you personally :-) God Bless everyone!

Before entry into NLCC, I was addicted to ice, speed, acid and cocaine. The more I had the more I missed it. The more I missed it the more I had of it. However last year I went to the front for an alter call and Pastor Catherine and Anne prayed over me and suddenly, I felt the blood of Jesus wash over me. Making me a fresh, clean new person loosing the desires for drugs, and replacing it with the desire for Jesus.

What would normally take someone years of rehab, happened to me in one day.

Now the more worship I do, the more I miss it so the more I do of it, making me stronger each day. Praise the Lord our savior!

" Acts1:8 stands out to me today. For I have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of me and I'm being a witness of Jesus which is the Light of Love! Now I truly see that where ever light shines darkness will become bright with light! God Bless! "

Ever since I was taught how important morning devotion was, I decided to practice and put it to the test. Now every morning I must wake up at 7.00am and get breakfast ready for my little brother Kevin. I now wake up at 6.30 to start my devotion and this is what happened.

Joy. Simply joy. During mornings spent with the Lord, I just pray about my needs and confess my heart to Him. I make sure I be silent at times in case the Lord wants to say something life changing. Ive noticed that since I started morning devotions, there is something different about me. I'm having dreams, dreams with meaning about my relationships. And last night when I closed my eyes to pray, I saw hundreds of graphic design images flood into my head. Images I have never seen before in my life, come flooding in crystal clear. I quickly got a drawing pad and sketched the one's I remembered. One of them included a design for Anne's blog. Praise the Lord for that one. I have decided to only design based on images that come from the Lord.

There is a calm, peacefulness in my heart. Usually this goes away when I start the rest of my day, getting lost from the daily activities. But the change... It's brought newer security. The calmness remains throughout the entire day, morning to night.

Anne said that change is happening for those who put the Lord first. I feel this change and my time table is getting better. I no longer play games that often. Instead I use that time to study and focus on what is important. Amen.

Hi everybody. Anyone who has creativity inside them and want to unleash it to the world, please join the creative ministry team. So far its only Aaron and myself but I would like others to join and multiply. It doesn't matter if you feel you don't have any talent, what matters is your heart. It doesn't just have to be graphic design. It could be paintings, drawings, sketches, whatever!

Anyway I made these to give you an idea. Size should be 1024 x 768 canvas. All designs should be submitted to marcustan1@gmail.com or pass them to me on USB. If its a hard copy, then bring it to church and I'll take a photo. I'll submit the designs on the official website.

It has been around 5-6 years that I've been in New Life Christian Community, and getting accustomed from one church to another was very difficult. My church is very similar to the church here: raising me up by a huge body of people with Christ as the Head. I remembered vividly the time my parents 'strongly' encouraged me to join the youth group. I was 12 years old. Not surprisingly, I hesitated to attend the youth meetings. The people back in the 'youth dock' were of age 17-18 and were physically bigger than myself. If you saw pictures of me back then and compared it to them you'd understand! Furthermore, I knew of no one there besides my brother and didn't think I'd be able to settle in well.

The youth group was indeed very unique. My first experience there was nonetheless my most valuable experience. Youth was held on Saturday nights at the church's youth leader's house. We had a worship leader that played the guitar and one other musician that played the piano. The night started off with strong up-tempo songs. Everyone was jumping and praising the Lord in that small living room! After a while the music slowed down to worship songs and the atmosphere greatly changed in the room. Cries of adoration and exhortation were heard and everyone lifted their hands up exhorting the Lord God almighty. It came to my adolescent brain that it wasn't the very music played that was responsible for this change, but it was the deep cry of every individual that caused the presence of the Lord to fall down!

Worship lasted approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, which was really short at that time! After receiving strong words of faith and teachings from the scripture the Holy Spirit silently entered the room, and I observed first-hand the manifestation of the Holy Spirit right in front of my eyes. Something taught briefly in Sunday school happened right before my naked eyes. The heart cry of the youths turned into something extremely powerful! Suddenly, the worship leader was filled with the Holy Spirit, and started laughing vigorously. He couldn't help but fall backwards, with one hand holding his body up by clinging onto the wall, while at the same time the other hand on his stomach. I guess there was a degree of pain in his stomach caused by this laughter. The spiritual realm is really powerful! As strong as the worship leader appeared to me physically, he stumbled upon the floor and laughed, "HAHAHAHA" very loudly, trying to gain control over his every action. The others were so in-tuned with the Holy Spirit it didn't affect their communion with God.

Interestingly enough, the worship leader started rolling over in laughter and his hand touched another who was kneeling down worshiping God, and she too started laughing and rolling over. Eventually, a chain reaction was birthed and everyone experienced 'holy laughter'. It was quite funny as well. The worship leader would walk to a corner of the room towards someone who's laughter was about to die off and touch him once again. This sparked a tremendous laughter that continued the chain reaction over and over again! What a priceless sight! From that day onwards, I looked forward in meeting God. Youth started getting bigger and the church grew.


Why was the house full? Because Jesus was in the house :) I believe that when Jesus is with you or in anyplace, crowds will be attracted! AMEN.

All over the world, different people just like us are living lives differently, with different meanings and purpose behind each individual action. Many modern Christians are more interested in manifestations of the Lord rather than knowing Him who manifests. It is possible to have high-intensified praise music with skilled musicians and great musical arrangements AND also have the complete absence of the Lord's presence. Today, there are people standing inside churches, eyes wide open, hands in pockets, some talking to their neighbours or looking out the windows, appearing bored waiting patiently for God or the church to perform some kind of dead-raising miracle to strike their attention. What can be more heart-breaking is that some of these people are 'Christians' as well.

Imagine this: You are a salesperson selling highly ergonomic technological devises and you do door-to-door services, ringing the doorbell of each house, with a big smile on your face and a great desire to bring something of great value into another person's life. The door opens and you were greeted with a careless attitude and a monotone sigh, "Oh, its you again". How would you respond to such a greeting? Maybe brush it off and just get to 'selling of products' phase? Well, imagine that was the response you get from your wife, or family members? Would you just brush it off?

Well, would the Lord God almighty enter the house where respect, honour and reverance is not due to Him? Would the Creator of the Universe speak forth when His Word is not respected enough to be listened with open hearts? I have learnt that we cannot truely love God until we fear Him.

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" - [Isaiah 11:1-2]

'Holy fear is the key to God's sure foundation, unlocking the treasuries of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. Along with the love of God, it composes the very foundation of life!' You can never stop getting closer to God while living on this temporary world that He created. Let's go one level higher, and love Him so much that we fear Him!

Happy Birthday from all your brothers. We love ya!

I was listening to some worship music this week and these few songs, out of the many that really hit the heart, just wanted to share this with you guys! Keep praying and earnestly seek the God.
Blessings!

A few weeks ago, during YAF worship, I felt a prompting to write an open email to my workmates about my faith. To put the enormity of this into perspective, I haven't typically talked about my faith at work. It had felt almost awkward to bring it up. Several of my workmates do know that I'm Christian. But what I felt I wanted to say, was so outside the 'normal' way of thinking, that I didn't know how to best express it. 

I would just like to share the excitement in my heart. To those who read this, you may not be aware of the projects going on in this church.

Here's a list of the current events (updated 3 May 2008)

1 - Worship team music album*
2 - Henry's audio testimony CD (featuring all the testimonies from everybody at church)
3 - A community based website created by Sam for the people of this magnificent church. (Including many fresh ideas featuring an interactive notice board)
4 - A general church website (www.nlcc.com.au) which is going to be viewed by the millions when they download P. Chris' sermons each week.
5 - The blogs going around including this one. Aaron is making a central blog for the whole of NLCC to post their testimonies. However each cell group should have their own blogs for more in depth and personal sharing.
6 - Evangelizing fever! Stig and Dan's crusade to save the people day by day.
7 - A new curtain backdrop for the organ pipes.

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8 - Buying a bigger church for the thousands (millions?) when NLCC explodes in population.
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Any other projects out there which I haven't mentioned? Tell me and I'll update this post. Let this be a reminder of the opportunities which God has given us to reach out.

Want to be involved? or have your own project in mind? Let us know!