The Voice That Melts my Heart

You're probably wondering, "what the heck... is this

some sappy, hopeless, gagging romance that Justin

is going to write about?" Nope. That's not what

this post is about.

Whose voice then melts my heart? God? Yes, that is

the number one voice that pierces my heart, melts

my heart, comforts my heart, and many more actions

that is dealt to my heart.

The second? Right now, it'll have to be those who sing

and not care how they sound. Those who sing to God

with their off-pitch voices really loudly. It brings chills

down my spine when I hear these people sing MORE

than the voices that sound really, really good.

Why? Isn't it painful to hear them sing? Nope. I love

their voice. It brings my heart to humbleness that I

sometimes sing in order to impress rather than to

praise God. The fact that those people who sing aloud

because they love God, and not care about how they

sound is something I must remind myself during praise.

Bob Kauflin, in his book Worship Matters, addresses the

issue of the heart and how we are so prone to serving

ourselves and trying to get the approval of people rather

than the God we serve. In my case, I try to impress

people and receive those comments of "Good job with

praise" or "Thank you for playing and leading us into

worship". That pride needs to be destroyed constantly

and quickly.

God is not impress with voices that make you sound like

Chris Tomlin or Jadon Lavik. He loves to hear you praise

his name with all your heart, fully devoted to give God

the glory and praise He deserves.

Thankful for:

People who cannot sing, yet sing because they love God; the senior guys of

CCM and Matt Wong; Pastor Aaron and DWYS morning readings; nap times

What the World Says (Part 2)

Last post, I addressed our call to resist the ideas of

our culture and media. This call was to be separate

from the world and continue to fight against the

sins of this world and from our flesh.

The other issue I want to address is the opposite of

conforming to what the world says: The non-

conformity of things of this world. The fact that we

try to resist the fleshy desires as a sign of piety to

God. What I mean by this is that we don't watch

movies, for example, because it is unrighteous for us

to. We attribute external things as signs of our piety

rather than our inward transformation.

Jesus noticed this with the Pharisees as he wails on

them for their external works. He says that they

are emphasizing things like tithing rather than justice

or faithfulness. They are caught with doing what's

right rather than their hearts.

This is the opposite end of conforming to the world.

How prideful we are to think that works can save

us rather than grace. The only way to realize that

external actions do not save us is the Gospel. It

was God's love for us that saved us from an

excruciating death. It humbles us to know that we

cannot save ourselves. We can only be saved by

God. Therefore, it serves as a reminder to me

of my pride to save myself through works.

Thankful for:

R.C. Sproul, Travis You, the kids of Berean,

Kevin Yoon, Sharon Lee, Bob Kauflin, Romans

What the World Says (Part 1)

As everyone knows, two celebrities has passed away:

-Michael Jackson

-Farrah Fawcett

To be honest, I do not know of Farrah Fawcett as well as

Michael Jackson, the person that had the most influence

on the music entertainment that we see today. This is

something that will be put on history.

However, there is something that needs to be posted more

than MJ. The things that we are fed in this world through

media and culture have clouded our minds. David Choi, in

his youtube site subscription thingy, has addressed a bit

about the media in honor of MJ. This is for those who are

fighting against the conformity of this world.

God works in so many ways to show certain truths of his

Word to us. I was reading a chapter named "Be Holy for

I am Holy" in The Holiness of God by RC Sproul. We are

called saints not because we are pure, but because we are

called to be different, separate from the world. This means

we cannot be so immersed in this world while at the same

time wanting to be with God. John Piper stated (going to

butcher this) that when sin is in our heart, the Word of God

slowly leaves and vice versa. We, as Christians, need to

continually fill our hearts and mind with the Word of God

in order to fight against sin.

What the world tells us is opposite of what God has called us

to do, both being in the world. Things that are around us

have some sort of influence to our mindset. It may not be

evident externally, but it is happening. All the rap songs we

listen to about sex, drugs, money and being jerks,

advertisement of certain products through sex appeals, what

the media tells us about the physique of both male and females

are all things that are constantly around us and even made

some sort of impact into our thoughts. In the case of Michael

Jackson, the media tells us that he was a child molestor, that he

was a freak. Frankly, many people believed that he was a freak

to society. All in all, things of this world are having small factors

each day to our thoughts and actions. You may deny it, but it is

happening.

BUT, we as Christians are fighting that! We are trying to not

let this world influence our thoughts and actions. We are trying

not to conform to this world. We are becoming living sacrifices

for God, stated in Romans 12. We are trying to obey God's

command on Leviticus 11:44. We try hard to ignore the things

of this world that causes us to lust, to gossip and slander, and

to covet. Only way to succeed is through God's Word and the

power of the Holy Spirit.

People's opinions may be skewed to think in ways that seems

fitting to the person rather than facts. Even facts may be skewed

to make it look like evidence to certain issues (i.e. statistics out

in the world). Where, then, can you find truth in this world? The

Bible. Simple as that. It is God's Word and it is the truth. Let us

continue to find refuge and answers in the Word.

Last note, when we work hard to fight against sin, we are only able

to do this through Christ's death and ressurrection. Because we are

justified by faith, we are able to sanctify ourselves through the Holy

Spirit and not by our own efforts. (Sorry for this post being long)

Something in Common

There's a lot of posting about resolved sermons (which were

very good and nothing wrong with these postings at all), but

I wanted to reflect on just what I thought was a glimpse of

heaven.

Throughout the whole Resolved conference, I was in a room

filled with thousands of believers. And, one thing we all had in

common is Christ. You're probably saying, "Justin... isn't that

like the most obvious thing that you can ever think of?" Yeah,

but do you reflect it when you're with other Christian? I think

this is a big thing because despite all our differences, we all are

there to praise the one God that we believe in.

Going through Ephesians 2 with Pastor Aaron really helped me

to constantly be happy when meeting new people who are

Christians. Paul tells the church of Ephesus that through Christ's

death, we can have a relationship with Christ and men AND Jews

and Gentiles. Because of Christ death, Jews and Gentiles are related

with each other through the blood of Christ. Jews and Gentiles are

not best buddies in that time. They hated each other and didnt want

to be associated with one another. However, that wall between the

two was broken by Christ and they celebrate the one true God all

together.

That glimpse of heaven I was talking about was singing to our God all

together in one voice during the conference. I could not help but smile

at the wondrous sight of 4000 believers, praising this one God. As I

exchanged small talk with people I don't know, I was happy that we

can talk about something so common. Pastor Aaron gave me the

example of being in a foreign country. You do not know the language

nor have the ability to communicate to the natives. However, once

you find someone that can speak in English, you instantly have that

connection of being able to relate to that person.

Same thing with us and other Christians: One instant I had was when

I was visiting a friend who was watching the booth. She was telling

me that this was a freedom survey to find what people think about

freedom. It was being used as a way to evangelize to others and pray

for them. A guy who was with my friend introduced himself, and

instantly we talked about different ministries, about what we want to

do, what we were learning in different people, and I shared that I was

happy that I can talk to someone I met for the first time because of

Christ.

If I am happy now about that, then imagine the ecstasy when that Day comes.

Thankful for:

Pastor Aaron, Speakers in Resolved, Believers in Christ, the Word of God

Story in Relation to a Passage

I wrote this on a facebook note, so I'm just transferring from there to here:

One day, A man wanted a garden full of great flowers. So, he found the soil where he can start planting and create a lush garden. He started by planting the seed into the soil, and was anxious to take care of his garden. First, he started watering his plants. Then, he guarded his plants day and night, watching carefully for any signs of blooming. Once he say the blooming, he starts to protect it with fences. Then, some of the plants starts to wither, leaving with some plants. But, this didn't discourage the man and he continually put his effort to the remaining plants. Eventually, the plants start to grow and grow in due time, and the man is excited to see how beautiful it will be. Unfortunately, some are snatched up by birds and destroyed by bugs, leaving only one flower. The man, though sad, still spend all his time and effort to this one flower. Finally, the man's labor is finally brought forth a flower so beautiful, so radiant to all who see this flower.

Sounds familiar? Almost like the parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 that Jesus speaks to the large crowds. There are so many ways we can see this, but mainly, i saw it like this. We are the man and the soil is our hearts. That seed is planted in our hearts when we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord. We feel this great excitement and try to do all we can to cultivate a great relationship with the Lord. So, the way the man takes care of his plants is similar to the ways we take care of our hearts. We do this by reading the word, praying, worshipping, serving, and so many more. Yet, some of us eventually fall away, thinking it's too hard with all this work (Ephesians 2:8-10) or we get tempted and eventually, lose our faith. But, there are those who persevere and love the Lord with all their hearts and turn into a great servant. Yet, the glory of that is given to God, for it is his Word and His will that we are able to bloom.

Another way to look at this is someone who is disciplining his brother. That person is helping and being with him through his walk with God. Eventually, the person being discipled turns into a great servant of God, and that person who disciplined the servant is happy and gives glory to God. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

You may not understand this because I really am not the greatest speaker nor give the greatest encouragment giver. But, whoever reads this, I hope this encourages you because it definitely encouraged me and i constantly remind myself of this analogy. The reward in the end is great and it's all because of God and His word. We can't take the glory because the Word came from God, we pray to God knowing how much we need him, and we praise God because we are overjoyed by what he has done and taught us. God loves us so much, protecting us and being our comforter.

One last comment: I've been reading Isaiah, and I came upon this verse. Isaiah 35:3-4 "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance with divine retribution he will come to save you.'" Isaiah called to the reader to encourage the exhausted and feeble believers of his or her time to keep their eyes on God. God would come to take vengeance and to deliver them. I was reminded by my fellow brothers and sisters who are helping me now to continue traveling that path towards God. I encourage and pray that all of us take up each other's burden and help each to run towards God.