The Gospel of Mark is a very good read, as it is most books of the Bible! It tells the tale of a man named Jesus, the Servant King.

Throughout the gospel we see that Jesus is compassionate to those he interacts with. He heals many different sort of people. He feeds thousands. He teaches the masses scriptures and proclaim the Kingdom of God to all. 

For us now, we can read about the deeds of Jesus and seek to follow in his footsteps in showing compassion to those who call for help. Think about the countless people who cried out for Jesus to heal them. How many people in the world now are crying out for help? Did Jesus ever deny anyone? According to the Gospel, he did not.

What about teaching? We don’t just see sick and hurting people in this world, we see a lot of confused and misguided people chasing after all sorts of idols. They are like lost sheep. In Israel, Jesus taught. He explained the scriptures to those who did not understand them and called people to be prepared for the Kingdom of God. Likewise, we should follow Jesus in bringing people to the Gospel and what it tells us about God’s eternal Kingdom.  

And finally, in the closing chapters of Mark, we read about the greatest act of Jesus. He died on the cross to redeem mankind. To pay the price of sin for all of us. He died a gruesome and painful and humiliating. He was rejected by the priests, he was ignored by Pilate, was despised by the people and even denied by the friends who swore that they would never forsake him. Yet for all of them, he died for them so that all who place their trust in him, would never taste death.

The completion of this task was shown by the empty tomb. I always thought that if the gospel ended at verse 8 of chapter 16 there would still be a lot of questions. But now I read it again, it shows how complete God’s plan was. That a raised Jesus was enough to show us that indeed Jesus had reconciled us to God when there was not a hope in the world that man could do it.

What will our reaction be? What is our reaction to Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. 

 ⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 

⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:42-45

Consider then how to live your lives since we know What Did Jesus has Done

 ¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

 ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:13-14

The whole book of Exodus tells the story God delivering his people and outlining the way they should honour him. Half the book tells the tale on how God delivered the people of Israel from the Egyptians. Through this, the people of Israel can only worship and honour the one who saved him; the great I AM.

God declares who he is by his words and his words go forth and saves. It is God said he heard and will deliver the Israelites. It is God who sees the Israelites reject God’s decree not to make idols and through His words highlights their sin. When God says he would not go with his people, it causes mourning and pain. When God promises a covenant compassion, there is great joy and a out pouring of joyful service to Him.

Our words to each other are deceitful and painful to each other. But God’s word speaks of great glories and wonders. It brings peace and joy. It destroys sins and puts to death those who oppose the goodness that is God THE LORD.

This is because God is the great I AM. There is no limit to Him. He is everything. He is our creator and through Him we find peace and deliverance from our sin. 

While the Egyptians and Israelites witnessed the wonders and power of God and His amazing word, many wonder where is God now? Why does not God speak to us so plainly as He did to Moses?

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

God revealed His great Word, His great power, His awesome presence, His amazing love through Jesus.

Tomorrow is Christmas. When you ask “If God was real, let him speak to me now!”

He has, he does, he will. Through Jesus, God has spoken to all of us. He speaks of our sin, our rebellion, our selfishness, our deceit… why we are not at peace with God.

But more importantly, he speaks of His love for us. He speaks of our deliverance from death. God does this through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

So remember; Christmas is the time of giving because God gave us the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I recently read both these letters in one sitting each.It was really helpful to read a shorter letter in that fashion. This is because the ideas that Paul throws around all around the letter are linked with the other ideas elsewhere. Hence the connections are easier to make when you read the letter in an entire setting.

Of course on concentration and exegesis quality, it’s not the same when you read a single passage but nethertheless I found this approach very helpful.

On Galatians: Paul stresses the importance on believing that we are saved alone by grace not by acts. This is a huge issue and unless we don’t realise and embrace the important fact that Jesus was sent out of pure mercy, love and grace, then we will be having very hard time being Christian. If we let ourselves get caught up with trying to improve our morality or using our acts to prove that we are Christian, then we can start to rely less on God and more ourselves; this leads back to sin.

Galatians 3:10-11 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law” . Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

So Paul urges the Galatians to destroy the false gospel which they were taught, be less concerned about being circumcised and trust and take joy in the freedom that Christ has given them. If they are so concerned about being good or bad, they must realise that people of the spirit do not desire the what is sinful. So they can be assured and be glad that they have indeed received salvation.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

So let’s no longer trust our own actions or fear that we need to do extra to attain salvation. Let us trust God fully and embrace joy that comes out of knowing we are saved through faith in Christ.

Woot!!! Tonight was awesome. My first live socceroos game and I was not disappointed. Thanks FFA for playing the game in Canberra!

And thank you Soccerros. Showed this city of dumbass rugby buts that sport is to be played with your brain and skill; not jsut picking the ball up from half way and running into the opposing team. I hope this sparks more interest the beautiful game.

Oh boy when the Raiders or Brumbies go bust I will be so happy. Like seriously, Canberra Stadium was like “WTF IS THIS WHY ARE THERE SMART PEOPLE ON MY PITCH?!??!?!” I cringe when I see kids wearing rugby gear. I jsut want to punch the parents in the head for letting their kids wear such garbage. they should be locked up for even taking their kids to the rugby. It’s like showing my kid porn. disgusting.

I hope the Mal Meningaidiotwhoplayswithovalshappedballandsomehowimcanberrasssaviour or whatever his name is gets renamed to Joshua Kennedy Stand. The Gregan-Larkhamarentiaformeroppositionleader thing  gets renamed to Holger House. Because to be honest, let’s face it yeah. Rugby isn’t a sport. It’s a disgusting vile act of indecency.

Did anyone really care about the rugbey world cup. That’s right. I won’t even correct my spelling of rugball. The Wallabies should all just retire. They are pretty embarrassing.Whenever I see a Wallabies jumper, I want to become New Zealandese or Indonesian.

I so ashamed to be born from Sydney knowing that like 12/18ish of the rugby league clubs are in Sydney. Pst. And like half of them are like going broke or get like grandmas for fans. I hope it all dies and we can all be happy. I would love to see the South Sydney jsut go broke and West Tigers CEO just say

“Look we realised what we doing is evil. We say sorry to the Australian public. We know we disgraced our country. We say sorry to sports. We know we distorted what should have been a beautiful gathering and turned it into an ugly mud wall. We say sorry to tennis, cricket, basketball, badminton, martial arts, netball, swimming, gymnastics and football. We are now sending our players to do community service for doing so much damage to the community. We hope that this scar can heal.”

But yeah this is hoping for more football games. I know if Canberra get an A league team, the quality of football won’t match what I seen but hey.

Anything is better than rugball. It’s so bad.

For some reason I like typing out some of my prayers. Though I don’t like how this keyboard’s home button is where the extra bit for backspace should be…

God you created the heavens, the earth and everything on it. We can just look around and see your glory ascribed on every rock, tree, dog,cat and especially in man and woman. It’s amazing that not only did you make us, but you love us to th extend that you are willing to die to restore us to the original glory reflecting you. 

Because of your love and grace and mercy and power and sovereignty over everything, we may truly wear your forgiveness as crowns. Not because of our own limited qualities, but because of the boasting we can have knowing that we belong to the true and living God.

Despite your love and mercy, I still fail. We still neglect your word and truth. I still fail you in serving you and living as your children. I pray that you forgive me and continue to rain down your grace on us. I am nothing without you. If I was to say “I am so good. My good works find favour in God!”, that would be a lie and insult to your name. Instead, I ask you to forgive me and discipline as my true father so that I may be better son in your name.

Lord I thank you for the long weekend and a fun trip to spend with my friends which you have given me. I pray for them all that they may continue to grow and encourage each other. I pray for my friends who don’t know you. Open their eyes and hearts and give me the courage to tell them about your love and mercy!

Lord I thank you for the chance you have given me at uni. May it not be a waste of time and help me to make the most of my time learning and gaining new skills.

Lord I thank you for my job. Thank you that you grant me the energy and patience that I need to work, not just in this industry but whereever I am called to be with other people.

Lord I pray for the Tehillah cmp. Pray that the leaders are well prepared. Pray that I am well prepared! Pray that everyone who goes are willing to learn from your word rather than to get away from Canberra. Give them the heart to understand why the gospel is so important and why we need it soooo much. Why we need Jesus and need your love sooo much.

Lord I pray for my assignment. Give mthe focus to finish it. I thank you that this time I have a better focus and better drive to do it. Give me the endurance to put up with this for a ltitle while knowing that completing my degree gives glory to your name!

Lord finally I’d like tpo pray for your mission. Your passion for this world that all my know about the greatest act of love in history. That your son, being God, died and rose. I pray  for all your workers and in fact everyone who belongs to you that they carry out this mission with their lives. I pray that you fill me with your passion for your people that I may too love them like you loved them. I pray that I not wnat this for my glory but for the glorification of your name!!!!

In all this I pray, in the name of the one who died for my sins and rose to defeat death, my Lord and Saviour JESUS CRHIST AMEN

Oh God I’ve been so slack and distant from you.

I’m like one of those husbands that stays all night away from the wife.

While she’s working hard to raise my kids.

Not only that, I’m sleeping with other women and playing around.

You are right and just to destroy me. Destroy me for my unfaithfulness.

But

God only you can forgive me.

God only you can make me new.

God I need you to LOVE ME

Hello everyone!

I haven’t posted for AGES. And yes there has been a few things that I needed to hurdle over and there are still many hurdles to  hurdle over.

One of them was my decision to not plan for mission anymore :( . I have to admit that it is more of a relief than it is heart wrenching. However I do still want to be mission-centered. That is I want to live a life focused on spreading the gospel. It’ll be still be awesome to be able to do it full-time so I’m definitely not closing  the door on it.

The reason for it being more relieving to cross it out for now is because I felt that it distracted me from the current ministries God has placed me with. I have not been up to scratch with all the uni and Tehillah stuff. And most of all, I failed to guide my family towards Christ.

This was one of the primary reasons why I choose not to pursue mission anymore and if you would like to know more, please come along to Saturday Night Service and have a chat with me!

But I still have a passion for the gospel. I still want to tell people about the hope I have. It’s jsut now I feel God has called me to stay put. Canberra is a great city; what can I say!

Another thing I feel I haven’t done enough of is really got into God’s word this year.  I love getting into the Bible systematically like it’s a research project. At the moment I’m going deep into the letters. I’ll post some here and post some here http://yours-devotion.tumblr.com/ At the moment it’s roMAN time :D

But anyway, the last few months has taught me and shown me that really, God is sufficient. I don’t need to turn to jobs, girls or money for satisfaction! God is all I need to. Who else can I turn to?

I’m never going to post a video blog am I :P… I will !! I will find time to put a video up……..

But I wanted to put this post up just to thank not the people around me who are so awesome who put up with me and who support me hehe…

But I want to thank Jesus. Our Lord and Saviour. Without Jesus there is no life.

What shall we say then Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucifed with him in order that the body of sin might be brought  to nothing, so that we would no loner be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no loner has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead o sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1-11

Truly we are have so much hope in Jesus. Truly that this hope is REAL and not something fake or wish washy. Our God is ALIVE. He SAVES because He LOVES US.

So surely we cannot go on living in sin. Living a life void of our God who saved us?

Thank you Jesus <3