Hi! What do you remember about last saturday's youth service?

If you were online at around 10p.m. on Monday night (facebook/messenger), chances are you would've participated in this survey:D so thank you to those who took time to reply!

Here's some answers that YOU (yes, YOU - just like radio stations y'know, like how they say YOU pick the music kinda thing) gave:

"lol. grace." - Wei-Lynn Tan

"Pastor spoke about grace?" - Indy Toh

"grace" - Joey Koay

"grace :)" - Abigail Lim

"umm. pastor was speaking about grace. lol. sarah wong was doing the prayer." - Benjamin Yeoh

"welll... all i can remember was we had prayer, led by sarah wong, and then worship, and and then pastor spoke on grace, and how grace is something we do not deserve and because there is grace, we can still live. :)" - Sharon Leow

So we can conclude that, people actually remember the sermon as the most salient point of youth service. (Salient sounds like salty but it actually means prominent. woo, educational input!)

Except in the case of:

"I wasn't there. no transport." - Joel Chan

Oh and the epic-est:

"nothing much. LOL don't ask me to write the post! hahaha" - Yan-Y Chew

OKAY... To the point!

Sebagaimana yang telah disebutkan oleh Ben Yeoh tadi, prayer was led by Sarah Wong=)

First time I think? And she did a great job!

So prayer is the time when we go from...

...this...

...to this.

(Cool right? xP)

Anyway among the prayer points were:

1. fireBRANDS' Mission Thailand.

2. service that night.

3. Wei-Lynn's dog, Orli who went missing on Friday, and at the time of writing of this post, is still missing=/

4. that we won't lose our fire for God.

Hmm so after prayer was time to fellowship!

And to say hi to the newcomers! (old newcomers xP haha) These two ladies were from Hui Jen's generation. whoaa.

Moving on to a time of worship through song:

So everyone let's gather upfront.

And worship God because He deserves it.

Worship was truly awesome as we united to break through to a higher level of worship and a deeper intimacy with God.

So we had announcements and the first: Pastor Victor, Aunty Rama, Carmen Ngo, Eulene Ooi, Nicole Linn John and Sharon Lee are currently (at time of writing) in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand on a two-week mission trip.

So before they left, we prayed for 'em:

Sending them off as a youth group.

Next order of the day, also pertaining to Mission Thailand:

Sheets of paper with dates on them, for us to write our names on whichever date(s) we'd pray for the mission team.

But of course even if you didn't get the chance to do so, feel more than free to keep them in prayer!

But hmm while all this was going on:

What's she writing?

Next up, Mr Gary Lee the Sports Coordinator:

"I don't have iPeriod, that's why I don't need iPad." - Gary

Soo anyway he was up there showing off an iPad that wasn't his so that we'd know which teams we're running in for RunPen.

(details will be up on the blog soon)

Alright so now we have the long-awaited, much-anticipated message by Pastor Victor!

He was also handling announcements that day, haha.

So yeah as you would've read up there (unless you skipped all the way till down here then suddenly decided to start looking at the text, for who-knows-what reason)..

GRACE.

Okay, pens uncapped, notebooks out, eyes attentive and ears open..

Besides being a ladies' (ever wonder why guys can't be called 'Grace'?) name, Grace is..

..a formal approval of kindness esp. (in the Christian religion) that is freely given by God to all humans.

..God's favour and kindness towards undeserving men and women.

Okay here's a shortened version of a story to illustrate what grace is:

One day there was this king with a kleptomaniac kid. He stole everything and anything he wanted. Two day he stole a horse. But the general saw him and reported it to the king. So the law in the kingdom was, if you steal, both your hands are chopped off.

Three day, the king said, just chop off one hand from my son.

Council not happy. They want two hands.

King said, ok no problem, one from him and one from me.

THAT'S GRACE!

Why do we need grace?

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So, we've no right to judge each other because we're all in need of the favour and grace of God.

Romans 4:16, Paul basically says, it's by faith in God's grace that we're saved.

Abraham lived in the period of grace. When he sinned, God didn't say anything about it. Abraham just believed in God.

Moses killed someone, but God didn't say anything. However, after the 10 Commandments were given and the law established, those who sinned would be punished (often severely) by God. 'Cause the Israelites promised God in Exodus 24:6-8, saying "We'll obey everything that you say." This is the period of law.

David was also living in the period of law, eg. after the incident with Bathsheba, God punished him.

BUT, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. He came to fulfill what we could and can not. So we're living in a period of grace.

The period of Christ's judgement will be coming soon.

Jesus paid 100%, therefore we're 100% righteous in the eyes of God - not because of us but because of the blood of Jesus.

Example. If Indy and Eulene migrate to China together, they'll need to give up their Malaysian citizenship, Malaysian passport and IC. Then they'll become Chinese citizens. They can still come back and visit us in Malaysia, but legally they're Chinese citizens.

So likewise, we were once citizens of the Devil (of sin and of the world). But by God's grace, we give up this citizenship and become citizens of heaven. We can still go back and 'visit' the world, but that does not make us a citizen of the world.

Romans 6:15-18 has the gist that we've become slaves to righteous living.

Mary Magdalene was caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) by the Pharisees to trap Jesus. Ex 20:40 and Lev 20:10 clearly stated that adulterers will be stoned to death. This law was given by God Himself. So how could Jesus contradict a law that He Himself gave, being God?

He took Mary's sins upon himself on the cross, and therefore could say to her, "I forgive you. Go and sin no more."

Wooh, awesome, wasn't that?!

But wait, there's more!

An appreciation for this lady who's leaving us for KL. For a different job and to eventually work with YWAM.

Teary farewell. Giving her 'last words' to us, haha.

This is how to take video with iPad.

Appreciation speech from her boss, and with a gift from us (handwritten notes from the committee - yup that's what was being written on that yellow sheet of paper, if you still remember somewhere way up there in this post).

Gotta admire the iPad's spirit of excellence in video-taking.

So we all prayed for her, and you can add a prayer in now too, since you're done reading this post=)

Level Up.

BOOM.

Here to update all you readers once again with our fireBRANDS weekly youth service!

Service kicked off with prayer , led by our korean-look-alike girl, Sarah Khoo.

Dividing ourselves into groups of three/four.

Right after that, 5 minutes toilet break for those who had the toilet urge xP

What comes to your mind when you think of ICE BREAKER?

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Bingo!

its Ms TALL Chew Yan-Y :)

Testing your knowledge of tv characters and brain memory, everyone was required to come up with a tv character, as it goes to the next person, that person must follow the previous tv character, doing another his/her own tv character, and passing it to the next person.

Confused?

Just come for our youth service and play the game, you'll understand better xP

Once the ice was broken, it was time for praise and worship.

led by a tall and korean lookalike girl, KIDDING.

That's Lester :)

with our weekly dose of announcements and of course, welcoming all fireBRANDS new comers.

Welcome welcome! :)

Without wasting anytime, our old fireBRANDS member who is currently studying in KL, Chen Shiau Xian came up as our speaker for the night!

To The Next Level.

Q :What does it actually mean?

A : Growing. Something we've never been at before.

Many times we think that going to the next level will take another 5-10 years, well we're wrong :)

To the next level... Is only ONE step away.

Just like Moses, who took that one step of faith which brought change.

Exodus 14 : 13.

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

Nevertheless, going to the next level requires FAITH :)

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - Hebrews 11 : 6.

Always remember that the God we serve comes with love, not condemnation.

SO... how do we go to the next level?

• - Have the right heart.

With a right heart, you'll have the right mind, leading to the right moves. (:

• - You must first WANT it, before you make a move.

How much do you desire to go to the next level?

• - Have the desire to break the wall, and walk into another level.
• - Examine your heart.

are you HOT for Christ? :) because you can only be hot or cold for Him, there's no lukewarm.

• -Feed yourself.

You gotta build the right foundation cause we cant impact others if we're spiritually empty.

So.... be fllled!

• -Grow spiritually, consistently.

If we dont grow now, how are we gonna grow deep later?

• Do not limit God.

He wants you to go to the next level, which shows that we shouldnt limit the next level that God can bring us to.

After Shiau Xian ended her message, pastor Victor also added some points to her message.

Remember to give Him your best, and know that He'll take care of the rest.

Above all, we need the Holy Spirit in taking us to the next level.

So be filled with the Holy Spirit! :)

On the Fourteenth of May..

Alright, if you're a loyal visitor to this site, then you're already familiar with the drill of our Saturday nights. If you're not then...go read the older posts before this then come back once you get the gist of it :D I'm kidding, I'll break it down just for you.

We had our pre-service prayer led by Ps. Victor this week.

Prayer: An act of communion with God, a god, or another object of worship, such as in devotion, confession, praise, or thanksgiving.

We then lightened the mood with an ice breaker, also led by Ps. Victor.

Ice breaker: Something done or said to relax an unduly formal atmosphere or situation.

Lots of pushing and shoving this week. But of course, all in the name of fun :)

This week's game however, was meant for us (okay, most of us) to sit back, relax and laugh at cheer for the unlucky ones who had to "tail" themselves with a piece of cloth at their behind.

Point of the game was to try and grab the other person's "tail" while keeping yours safe from attack. It really is more entertaining in real life than it sounds here.

Attaching their tales to their um...pants.

Here's a small tip for those of you who play this game in the future: don't pin your opponent to the wall. You're never going to get that tail.

Another tip: When playing with the opposite gender, be very careful with where you put your hands x) Learn from Ben - grab the girl's head and just start shouting.

Spot the tail! Spot the tail! Spot the tail!

Next up, a short break before we entered a time of worship, led by Yan-Y.

Worship: The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.

After giving the Lord our praise, Lester took over the mic for weekly announcements.

Announcement: public or formal notice announcing something.

1. Global Day of Prayer

It's coming soon!

Keep your calendars marked for 12 June 2011!
Be at the Komtar Dome at 7.30pm sharp for an amazing time of worship and prayer with God and a whole bunch of other believers.
If you want to see a change in our world and believe that we can make that change happen, then show up for GDOP! :)

2. RUNPEN 2011

Also coming soon!

What is RUNPEN? Run for Penang. It consists of people running, and praying WHILE they run.

Main point: To have fun running with each other while praying for our state and our country.

If you consider yourself a multitasker and if you love our dear Penang enough, then hopefully you already signed up for it cause the closing date was Saturday!

You could try begging our resident Sports Head, Gary Lee to let you run. BUT, don't be saddened if you can't join us in the run. You can still join us in PRAYER!

For those of you who signed up, here's a reminder: You are set to run on the 11th of June 2011!
Fees to join is RM25 which includes a free vest, and just so you know, your money will go to the funding of some community work :)

For more information, please contact Gary.

This is Gary.

3. EXCITING NEWS, Firebrands!

Our floorball team, Patriots have just been crowned Champions of Division 2, 2011!

As a special appreciation for our Floorball coaches, Gary Lee and Daniel Tan, the Patriots captain, Shaun and the new All-Star keeper, Nick presented them with medals of their own.

Congratulations, Patriots. All glory to God in the highest!

Now that we're done with that, we come to the highlight of the night.

Introducing the speaker, small in size but big in his faith in God, JAMES TAN!

Centered about 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, James shared about What God's Will Is For Us.

And what it is is SANCTIFICATION.

Sanctification: a religious ceremony in which something is made holy.

What is it to be made holy?
You can try to live a blameless life but your life is not holy unless the Holy Spirit is in it.

³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; (1Thessalonians 4:3, NIV)

What is sexual immorality?
Fornication - lusting after something sexually that we do not own or are not given.

This applies to everyone.

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, NIV)

² But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2, NIV)

Why do we need to live a life that is pure/that is free from sexual immorality?
-Sexual purity pleases God.

¹ As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. (1 Thessalonians 4:1, NIV)

We are here to do God's will. Part of His will is sanctification.

⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:7, NIV)

He is coming back. He is expecting a bride that is pure and spotless. But he will not come until we are ready. We need to prepare ourselves for when He comes. When He comes, He will come with power and judgement. And whoever is not ready will be left behind.

We must always honour others in this area: sexual purity.

When we live in sexual purity, it is for the good of someone else.

Christians LOVE people, they do not USE them.
This is what Christians do:

²⁸ He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:28, NIV)

We must honour: ourselves, our friends, our family and our community.
How: by living uprightly and not using them.

⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. (1 Thessalonians 4:6, NIV)

Christians should love to hate sexual immorality just as God does.
We know that God forgives, but out of our love for God, why would we do anything to hurt Him in the first place?

Think. And remember 1 Thessalonians 4:6!

p.s. sorry about the weird font changes in this post! I always hated html codes.

FINALLY,
THE FORUM PART DUA

as usual it started off with prayer by our one and only mr, justin loh. (j lo?)
and
as usual we had FIVE minutes toilet break after that.
and
as usual we had worship time.
and
as usual we had our forum
and
as usual it was time for supper.
and
THE END.
(do ya agree with this?)

WELL,
if you dont agree with that post above, then CONGRATS
cause you know that youth meetings every saturday aren't always 'as usual' right?

ANYWAYS,
after prayer,
sharon leow led us into a time of worship
and we couldnt deny that God really did moved among us.
but before that sharon taught us all how to catch our friends finger.

THEN,
that was when it all started.
our one and only pastor victor was the host of the day.
those who starred in our FORUM PART DUA were
.
.
a VERY tall girl = yan-y,
a FLEXIBLE girl = sarah wong,
our 'korean' girl = sarah khoo (aka kutu?),
and lady with full of knowledge = eunice lee.
.
.
so, as you know the other firebranders on the floor can ask almost ANY questions about christianity.
among the questions asked that night were
.
why was there a 400 year gap between the OT AND NT?
will dogs go to heaven of hell?
what about people with thinking disabilities?
how come christian men this days can't have more than one wife?
can we listen to wordly songs?
did the dinosours exists?
is it right to abort a not normal child?
.
there were so many questions thrown form the firebranders who were so eager to know more about their religion that night.
and finally, it was time for pastor to say. "one last question."
and remember what was it?
.
.
the most cliche, commonly asked question
"WHO CREATED GOD?"
ps: well, think about that..
.
.
SO, anyways..
which one did God created first? - the chicken or the egg?:)