Sparked!

Praise God for our wonderful first session of Spark on Friday! After many weeks without Ignite, it was awesome to be back at boundary once again to worship God as a body of youths. As mentioned earlier, the Ignite setup is evolving and we pray that God will guide us in improving our Youth Meetings for His glory.

Just before Joseph was given the 2nd most powerful position in all of Egypt, God gave him the wisdom to interpret Pharaoh's two dreams: 7 years of abundance, followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph told Pharaoh that he had to set aside a portion of the food during the 7 years of abundance so that during the 7 years of famine they would have food reserves to see them through it.

Here in Singapore, we are enjoying times of abundance and comfort. We have freedom of worship, money, food, clothes, education, myriads of Christian CDs, DVDs and books, bibles in various languages and versions, and the privilege to go to church several times a week. If we do not draw close to God right now and store up spiritual reserves, then when the times of suffering, tribulation and persecution come, we will surely suffer the effects of spiritual starvation and fall into traps of discouragement, guilt, despair and hopelessness. NOW is the time to arise! Now is the time for us to draw close to God, to read, memorise and live the Word of God, to pray continually and with faith, to serve God with total devotion, to surrender our lives to the God who is all-powerful and all-knowing. Then when the times of suffering, tribulation and persecution come, we would have stored up a great amount of faith, and we will be like a tree planted by the riverside, like the house built on the Solid Rock that is Jesus. And we will not falter, we will not be shaken, we will not be moved by any adversity or challenge that comes our way. Amen!

There is no doubt that God has given us a great passion and desire to work harder in every area of our lives for 2008 and as we commit ourselves to do so, we WILL see GOD move in every area of our lives! Are you ready?!

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you." Isaiah 60:1.

- Keith 05/01/2008

Pressing Forward

God is certainly stirring up ALFC and the Igniters are ready to spread the fire of the Holy Spirit! We will be making a number of changes to Ignite for 2008 and we pray that God will lead us to improve Ignite for His glory. Our aim is to make Ignite attractive to newcomers as well as spiritually enriching for all youths.

May God bless our every plan and grant us success so that Ignite may grow and His Name be highly exalted! Praise God for what He is going to do in 2008! We WILL see His Power! Amen!

- Keith 01/01/2008

Heart, Mind, Soul & Strength

Praise God for the willingness and enthusiasm of the Igniters to serve Him. It is indeed a wonderful blessing to have a youth group so passionate for God. But let us constantly be reminded about what it really means to serve God. We can be doing things in church but not serving God, and we can be doing things out of church but serving God. Truly serving God is a combination of sincere intentions and the proper activity.

We serve God out of love, and Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul and with all our strength. Let us always remember to be equally focused on these 4 aspects when we serve God.

A heart of love and compassion for the people we serve; A mind that chooses to serve God despite our own interests and circumstances; A soul and spirit that is well-prepared and right with God; and the commitment to put in our best effort to prepare for our service to God.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

- Keith 07/07/2007

Perspective

Dear Mommy,

I am in Heaven now, sitting on Jesus' lap.
He loves me and cries with me; for my heart has been broken.
I so wanted to be your little girl. I don't quite understand what has happened.
I was so excited when I began realising my existence.
I was in a dark, yet comfortable place. I saw I had fingers and toes.
I was pretty far along in my developing, yet not near ready to leave my surroundings.
I spent most of my time thinking or sleeping.
Even from my earliest days, I felt a special bonding between you and me.
Sometimes I heard you crying and I cried with you. Sometimes you would yell or scream, then cry.
I heard Daddy yelling back...
I was sad, and hoped you would be better soon.
I wondered why you cried so much. One day you cried almost all of the day.
I hurt for you. I couldn't imagine why you were so unhappy.
That same day, the most horrible thing happened.
A very mean monster came into that warm, comfortable place I was in.
I was so scared, I began screaming, but you never once tried to help me.
Maybe you never heard me.
The monster got closer and closer as I was screaming and screaming,
"Mommy, Mommy, help me please; Mommy, help me."
Complete terror is all I felt.
I screamed and screamed until I thought I couldn't anymore.
Then the monster started ripping my arms off.
It hurt so bad; the pain I can never explain.
It didn't stop. Oh, how I begged it to stop.
I screamed in horror as it ripped my leg off.
Though I was in such complete pain, I was dying.
I knew I would never see your face or hear you say how much you love me.
I wanted to make all your tears go away.
I had so many plans to make you happy.
Now I couldn't; all my dreams were shattered.
Though I was in utter pain and horror, I felt the pain of my heart breaking, above all.
I wanted more than anything to be your daughter.
No use now, for I was dying a painful death.
I could only imagine the terrible things that they had done to you.
I wanted to tell you that I love you before I was gone, but I didn't know the words you could understand.
And soon, I no longer had the breath to say them; I was dead.
I felt myself rising. I was being carried by a huge angel into a big beautiful place.
I was still crying, but the physical pain was gone.
The angel took me to Jesus and set me on His lap.
He said He loved me, and He was my Father. Then I was happy.
I asked Him what the thing was that killed me. He answered, "Abortion. I am sorry, my child; for I know how it feels."
I don't know what abortion is; I guess that's the name of the monster.

I'm writing to say that I love you and to tell you how much I wanted to be your little girl.
I tried very hard to live. I wanted to live.
I had the will, but I couldn't; the monster was too powerful.
It sucked my arms and legs off and finally got all of me.
It was impossible to live.
I just wanted you to know I tried to stay with you.
I didn't want to die.

Also, Mommy,
please watch out for that abortion monster.
Mommy, I love you and I would hate for you to go through the kind of pain I did.

Please be careful.

Love,
Your Baby Girl

This Is Dedicated To The Memory Of All The Aborted Babies Throughout The World.

- Keith 28/03/2007

Peace

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 4:6-7.

The world knows peace as the calm after the storm.
The peace of God is before, during and after the storm.
The world knows peace as the relief that comes from favourable results.
The peace of God is the assurance that the results are in God's hands.
The world knows peace as having lots of money.
The peace of God is knowing that God is our provider.
The world knows peace as having good health and a long life.
The peace of God is knowing that Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven when we leave this earth.

Shalom.

- Keith 02/03/2007

Be IGNITED!

Hey Igniters!

Thank God for an awesome Ignite meeting last Friday, so sorry to those who couldn't make it. God's presence was so strong and we were all really blessed! Once again just want to encourage everyone, especially those who are having holidays, to take this time to equip ourselves with God's Word, to soak ourselves in His presence, and to truly seek Him in worship and prayer. Don't wait for Powerhouse or Ignite or Sunday Service to seek Him, seek His presence right now and He will bless your heart!

Thank God, I can really see God's hand of blessing upon many igniters and I believe He's gonna raise up mighty servants of God! Seek great things for the Lord, and you shall receive them! Amen! So let us prepare ourselves for a great time of revival amongst Ignite and ALFC. Praise God, WE LOVE YOU JESUS!

"But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8.

Hallelujah!

- Keith 14/06/2006