Arise

And now,

let the earth resound with praise.

For our Saviour God He reigns

He is high and lifted up

Arise,

For the King for Glory waits

He is coming back again

He is coming back again

- Hillsong Live 2008 “He is Lord”

Above is the bridge of the song He is Lord from the new Hillsong Live album As I mentioned in my previous post I have had the accidental privilege to own the yet-to-be released album. There are heaps of awesome praise and worship tracks but none have stuck me as much as this one.

As soon as I heard the word ARISE something resounded deep within my spirit. The song continued and I found myself crying out to God in desperation asking for forgiveness for my lack of respect to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Then the words He is coming back again began to be sung and I felt hope, urgency, humility, inadequacy to name some. Christ is coming back again – and i asked myself would I be ready to stand before Christ? Would I be able to answer Christ’s question of “what have you done for Me? Did you fulfill the purpose I have for you?” I thought about all the souls around me that are on the line. I thought about the reality of Christ and how Christ is the cure to mankind’s hunger to belong. I thought about how unworthy i am to be in the presence of God let alone have Him return to bring me home. I thought about how little we speak of the coming of Christ.

I can’t take Christianity casually because the eternity of God’s people is at stake!

Lord I ARISE to the very mention of Your name. And i bow down at the feet of your throne. Lord you are coming and I want to be ready to return home with no regrets.

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THIS IS OUR GOD!

I GOT IT ALREADY!  I DON’t KNOW WHY BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT MY MUM WAS AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME!!! MAYBE ITS A MISTAKE BUT ITS AWESOME!

Wondering what it is?  Hillsong Live’s NEW ALBUM THIS IS OUR GOD!!!  It is scheduled for release on the first day of the Hillsong 2008 conference on July 7th but for some reason this particular Christian bookstore has started selling it and my mum happened to be there!  Not even the website is selling it yet!  they are still advertised as preorders!

I’ve listened up to track 8 Healer and already love the album!  The songs are awesome and there is something different about this album, i think Hillsong has experimented a little bit with new time signatures and its awesome.

awesome awesome awesome.  =D  I can understand why the video on the hillsong website shares that something in the spiritual realm broke that night!  amazing!  God is really stirring up the universal church!

proof that i am not lying haha

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He commands all

*spoiler alert*

On wednesday night most of us from Ablaze and some from the morning and afternoon service saw the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian organised by Tina through Hands of Hope to help fundraise for the Watoto Tribe.

I have to admit that the movie was alot better than i expected, i think for once the sequel didn’t suck but actually equalled or possibly did better than the previous movie. But i still like to think of The Chronicles of Narnia as a kids version of LOTR although this one had a lot more battle scenes with a lot more actual killing of people although there was still minimal blood. Who knows maybe the next one will be MA

But two scenes in this movie really struck a chord in me.

the first was a quote from lucy to peter

Remember Peter who really defeated the White Witch – Lucy

If you don’t know the history in the first movie the White Witch was the main bad guy and in the end although Peter fought a good battle against her Aslan ultimately defeated her in the end.

This reminded me of my pride. Peter walked around as if it was he who saved Narnia but that wasn’t the case. Like me sometimes I walk around with my head high thinking it was I who defeated the devil that it was through my prayers and petition, through my spiritual warfare, through my victories over the enemies schemes. But the truth is that CHRIST DEFEATED THE DEVIL, CHRIST WON WHEN SATAN TRIED TO KILL HIM ON THE CROSS AND HE ROSE UP FROM THE GRAVE! IT IS CHRIST WHO WILL THROW THE DEVIL INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE! Lucy you scary looking girl with so much wisdom! haha

The other scene that shook me to the core was when Lucy finally found Aslan and came to rescue the Narnians from what seemed like defeat. But it reminded me of a song

When you stand the tall trees and mountains bow, when you speak the fiercest of oceans be still – Devotion. Hillsong United All of the Above

C.S. Lewis has many Christian themes and principles running through this series and Aslan is no exception! In The Lion, The WItch and the Wardrobe Aslan represented Christ so clearly. Sacrificing his life to save Edmond (I think). Raising up from the dead after 3 days on the Stone Table. Have authrority over the White Witch (when she fell back into her seat after Aslan pwned her with his mighty roar).

Here is Aslan commanding the River with Lucy by his side

When Lucy finally found Aslan it was so awesome when He was the one that commanded the trees to awaken and of course commanded the river to destroy the Telmarine leader (that backstabbed his own King… see what happens when you fight for the wrong side…)

Overall i would say it was a pretty good movie although i agree with Lauranne the stupid love story with Susan and Prince Caspian was unnecessary with stupid lines like

“Here take this horn it belongs to you”

“No you keep it, you might need to call me again”

VOMIT! and of course Lucy who is probably the wisest character out of the 4 says

“YOU MIGHT NEED TO CALL ME AGAIN!?”

LOL.

and whats with all the girls arguing who is better looking. Prince Caspian or Peter. Even my mum is talking about it lol!. Obviously Edmond is the best hahahaha

Queen Lucy, High King Peter (the magnificent lol), Prince Caspian, Queen Susan & King Edmond

update:  It seems the third movie is already in Pre-production and due out in 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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Happy 24th

Well it was my shepherd’s birthday last Thursday.  Although i wasn’t able to celebrate on the night the igvo champs and leaders had a not so surprising bbq lunch at kangaroo point on sunday morning.  It wasn’t so surprising since the night before I unconciously blurted out what we were doing and that morning unconsciously blurting out where we were going… STUPID ME.

It was awesome… and the highlight has to be the 3 full plates of meat we had!  yeap we had 3 full plates.  Our menu consisted of

• 10 pieces of rib fillets
• 10 sausages
• 5 lamb chops
• 6 chicken steaks
• 5 eggs
• loaf of bread
• large salad (lettuce, tomato, carrot, capsicum and mushrooms)
• 5 muchrooms
• orange juice
• apple cider
• cherries
• chocolate

all of that for 5 people.  And we actually managed to finish most of it off =D hah.

But besides the food Nick is a great guy and i am so blessed to not only work with him in the highschool ministry but to call him my shepherd and close friend.  Nick not helped pull me back on the right track with God but has also been a great example and inspiration to me in his humility before God and others.  all i can say is i love this guy haha…Happy 24th Birthday Nick.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

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EPIC!

This my current favourite tv show. Avatar: The Last Airbender!

It is so good especially for a kids cartoon! Although it is getting more and more into the teenage genre with the battle between love and doing what is right hahahaha! But it is so kool!!! I am so hooked.

Basically the story is about a world divided by the element: earth, fire, air and water. The world is kept in harmony by the Avatar who is the only person that can bend (or control) all 4 elements at the same time. But then the Avatar disappears for 100 years and the fire nation is on the brink of winning the war. He is found frozen and still a young kid. Bascially this kid must save the world haha… but its so good
SOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! haha so hard to resist watching it! nickelodeon just had a avatar marathon where they played all the episodes up unto the last like 4 episodes which are yet to be aired… gah! so good!!

At the moment he has mastered Air, Water and earth and has tried fire but failed.  There are so many twists… gah its just too good u have to watch to understand haha… the last ep i just watched was kinda scary.  Katara met this old lady that is a master water bender and has refined her skill so well that she is able to bend water out of the vapour in the air.  But she also mastered how to bend the water in blood and is able to control ppl by blood bending.  Kinda scary if you tell me… but she gets axed haha

newayz haha i sound like such a nerd but MAN ITS SO GOOD…lol

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a slice of VS

want to experience a slice of the life of the VS (that stands for Voltage Senior not versus) life group? Well allow me to quote something said in the car on the way home after LG today

“It’s weird, I was fine before I came to lifegroup but now I’m all tired. I think it’s because we laugh too much.” – Winnie Lu

Haha, I only felt the full impact of this statement after i got home and when i thought about it, yea we do laugh a lot. Sometimes for an hour non-stop playing ice-breaker games. Yes VS has become infamous for our EXTREMELY long ice-breaker games.

i love this community. love it like Lisa Hong loves prawn crackers =D (check facebook for the video hehe)

Our Attempt to study. mm haha you can decide the successfulness of it =D

And i would like to welcome our newest member to the crazy VS community – ELAINE CHIU.

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how many words!

they say a picture says a thousand words.

What happens if you’ve got 1000 pictures… that means they say collectively 1000000 words!

well that is how many pictures i have of myself on facebook.  I offically reached the 1000 tagged photos mark today.

and the winning photographer… LAURANNE THAM!!!

haha check it out!!

and keep taggin… next goal… 2000!

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for all who are to come

recently i have returned to listening to a powerful selah track after Hosanna on the Hillsong United album All of the Above.

What is this track?  It is entitled For All Who Are to Come.  the word selah which is used mostly in the book of Psalms is like an instruction to take a pause, to reflect on the preceding passage, to allow the words to soak into the very core of your inner being.

This particular selah shakes me to the core everytime i hear it, everytime i think about.  It is roughly based on the scripture in Hebrews 12 and it reminds us that we do not run this race just for ourselves but we run this race for those who are to come.

This selah reminds me that i am not just in a generation to exist, that i am not just serving and equiping this generation for what God has planned for us now… but that i am called to be an equipper of the next generation.  That those who come after me will not follow in my footsteps but would continue them.  The call of God is different for individuals but in his all knowing mind God has intricately intertwined our destiny’s together, to reach the common goal, that one mans life work does not just end at his death but begins a new chapter as another life continues their work.

We do not live for ourselves, and we will never live for ourselves.  We live for Christ, we live to see the church grow from strength to strength, from glory to glory.  And that means making sacrifices.  Just as Christ sacrificed himself to save our sins, so must we die to ourselves to see God’s commission fulfilled.

i have recently come to grips with the call of God on my life.  I am no longer called to be apart of the next generation… i am now called to be an equipper.

God mould me, challenge me, grow me, transform me.  Grant me wisdom, love and grace.  Give me hope, give me faith.  Give me courage, give me strength.  Consume my life and teach me your ways so that i may teach those who are to come, that i may equip them with the helmet salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth , the shield of faith and the shoes of the gospel of peace and their weapon, the sword of the spirit.  For your word is shaper than a double-edged sword.  Lord there is none like You and i devote my life to You. Your servant.  Justin

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was it a glimpse?

the other week zach from hope singapore asked me if i wanted to see something cool.  Of course i said yes and he gave me a link to a video redramatizing the events of Khalil, a muslim in Egypt that persecuted Christians. He was given the task to find contradictions in the bible and write a book to beat Christians logically.  He found no faults and soon realised that maybe what he was following wasn’t the truth.  He prayed to God to reveal to him the truth and saw a vision that night of Jesus.

This amazing story reminded me maybe 6 or 7 years back or even more.  I remember i had just read a book about somebody that asked God to show him heaven or something and God took him on a journey through heaven.  I was so stirred by that book… i wanted soo bad to have a glimpse into the eternal life that waited for me so that night i prayed to God desperately asking God to show me heaven… even just a glimpse.

That night i had a dream… i sat up in a field of grass with hills and sky all around me.  I felt at peace and it was so beautiful.  That was it … i woke up the next morning wondering what had happened… did i see a glimpse of heaven or did my mind just play a trick on me?

To this day i still remember that dream so clearly… but i am still unsure of what i really saw…

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Passion & Vision

Man what a day!  What a absolutely awesome day!  I couldn’t go to sleep without bloggin about it!

I am completely blown away by the work of God over the past couple of hours!  God moved so powerfully in today’s Member’s Muster & appreciation and ABS team leaders meeting & celebration.  Can I be honest with you all?  On the way i thought to myself “God I’m to tired to hear another message this week!”  but man did God give me a big kick up the butt!

During our Members Muster I was moved by two things.  Firstly i was moved by the visualisers appreciation.  When i saw the love and the community built up within this small under-appreciated ministry as visualisers cheered each other on and gave each other a pat on the back, smiles gleaming… i, for a moment, wanted to be apart of that ministry!  (which leads into something else later hehe).

Secondly I was completely convicted by Torchie’s message today.  He spoke about passion and how to discover our passions.  I wasn’t so much effected by the part about how to discover our passion, because I already know most of my passions (although it was a refreshing reminder to seek God)  But i was really moved as Torch challenged us and reminded us that it is our passion that will bridge the gap between who we are now, to who we could become in the future. Our passion is what will make every tear, every heartache, every victory, every defeat, every challenge worth it when we reach our highest calling in life.  Torch also spoke about momentary passion and everyday passion.  I will be honest again that i know what i am feeling now is momentary passion, that my spirit has been stirred by our awesome youth leader… but i am determined to make this momentary passion an everyday passion!

After our members meeting we had an ABS Team Leaders Meeting followed by a Celebration dinner.  This was an awesome opportunity for all the team leaders to gather together to do 3 things

1. Re-align
2. Celebrate
3. Teach

Chris spoke to us about Vision and got us to workshop what kills vision in ministry, what stirs vision in ministry, and what the results of vision are in ministry.  Vision is the life blood of the church.  As it says in the word, when there is no vision people perish, people walk around aimlessly and without direction.  I was hit hard when Chris talked about that we can’t blame others for doing things with a ‘doing’ mentality when we don’t have vision.  Why?  Because when we lack vision as leaders, it is our fault that our teams don’t have vision… because they are following our example, that is why we are called leaders right?

This was followed by a dinner out with the team leaders where we got to share one celebration point in regards to our ministry.  I was so blown away.  I sat in that room, i sat at the table in awe of God’s work in our service.  I never dreamed that i would be sitting with 20 other leaders sharing about our ministries… but there i was doing what i thought would never happened.  God showed me the bigger picture, and God showed me that every part is crucial and I really believe that God showed us all that despite our different our ministries may be, we all are aligned with the same vision and striving for the same thing.

man i could just talk on and on about what God has done but haha grab me if you would like to talk more =D  I’d be more than happy to share.

ABS Crew you are doing an awesome job.  Let’s continue to keep the vision of our church alive in our hearts!

“Our vision is to help fulfill the great commission by building strong and biblical youth, to plant strong and biblical churches in Brisbane, Australia and all over the world”

The local church (us) is the answer, we, you and i, are the hope of the world!

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