gong xi, gong xi.

Of firecrackers, delicious steamboats, yummy cookies, red lanterns and of course, red packetssss...

Here's another fireBRANDS youth service update just for YOU :)

As usual, we had prayer to kick start the service, led by Gary Lee.

Everyone was divided into groups of 3-5.

3 minutes break for those who need to drink water, go to the toilet, etc.

& then, it was worship time,

led by Le Roy and Eulene

Did you notice that there was

no ice breaker? :)

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.

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What is she holding in her hands??

What is that boy doing???

Whats going on??

Anyways, here's how the game rolls

Make sure your mouth is covered by that... er.. that tape,

arrange yourself and your friends in order according to their birthdays

without taking that tape off/using phone/etc

So you're in March?

there were two groups.

the oldies group and youngsters group

the youngsters group were first to finish but sadly...... they lost.

Gah.

Waiting for everyone to decide what forfeit to give to them.

Thats right!

Tulisan punggung!

After ice breaker, there were a few more announcements.

*inserts a picture of Le Roy doing announcements.

Then of course, it was time for sharing :)

the King Kong video.

Speaker of the night : Sharon Leow!

All the way from kay elle.

( Leow, elle, it rhymes yo)

Building the infrastructure of life. ( The three core foundations)

1.Superstructure

2.Structure

3.Substructure

Whats a Substructure?

Foundation that supports the Superstructure. A structure forming the foundation of a building or other construction

Many times, we are drawned to the APPEARANCE and not the FOUNDATION of the building

1. A devotional life

2. A clean life

3. A life of true worship.

1. David leading a devotional life

Psalms 119 : 15-16.

⁵ I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. ¹⁶ I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

" ... I meditate on Your precepts" - Ponder over correct knowledge

Ask ourselves constantly " What is being applied?" and "what goes into our heart?"

Remember, that one can read the word of God but miss the God of the word.

Therefore, put aside any distractions and take God's word on daily basis :)

"..delight in Your decree" - to enjoy His word (something which doesnt come naturally)

-Savor every verse, chapter, and book of the Bible.

Remember that the word is merely for our INFORMATION, but for TRANSFORMATION.

"... I will not neglect Your word" - Keep His words in our hearts.

2. Daniel leading a clean life

Daniel 1 : 8

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way

Defile - to soil/pollute. Making something unclean.

Why should we live a clean life? Simply because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6 : 19-20.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Be careful where your body goes, what it does, what it ponders, and how it reacts.

Live a life that is clean so that it may glorify Him :)

3. The woman with the alabaster jar leading a life of true worship

True worship -

is humble,

glad,

doesnt put on a show itself,

isnt half hearted or forced,

waiting for God,

adoring God,

Remember, if you want the building to stay strong, you gotta make sure the foundation is strong as well.

Fruits ! :D

Sorry for the late update people, this blog writer wasn't as free as he was but anyways.......

Hello again dear fireBRANDS blog readers :)

Here is and update of what happened at last week's youth service.

So before service starts, as usual there's pre-service prayer.

Led by Sarah Wong

Then time for, ice-breaker.

Led by Sharon Leow

This week's ice-breker is called, 2 Truths and 1 Lie. How does it go? Well its like Pass the Parcel but when the parcel reaches you ( in this case a pillow :D ) you have to stand and say 2 Truths and a Lie about yourself. Then everyone has to guess which is the lie.

After that, it was time for worship.

Then on wards towards the service and the speaker for that night was none other than...............

Joyce!! :)

Fruits of The Spirit

God sent the Holy Spirit to live with us.

Fruits of the Spirit:-
-Love -Patience -Kindness -Faithfulness -Self-control

-Joy -Peace -Goodness -Gentleness

Love

You don't have to like someone's actions to love them.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Joy

Why do we eat, work, study and so on?? Cause we are looking for happiness. Joy in the Lord brings happiness.

Peace

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. When we have the Holy Spirit, peace overflows in us. When we are at peace, we actually know and believe that God loves us. Peace is freedom from worries and anxiety.

John 14:27(NIV)

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Patience

Long suffering/endurance. God is serious about patience. The things we want, we cannot wait for it to happen. If we wait, we will get something better.

James 1:2-3 (NIV)

Trials and Temptations

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Kindness

A lot of time revenge is the one that motivates us to do something to people.

Hebrews 7:7 (NIV)

⁷ And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.

Goodness

You only get to keep what you can give away. Its something that comes from the hear but the heart is the most deceitful of all.

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Faithfulness

God give us faith. We obey his law with the faith that we have but through the grace that He gives. Its IMPOSSIBLE to be faithful all the time to God. Because God's grace gives us the ability to obey the law.

Gentleness

Jesus was gentle and He was a man. To have a spirit of compassion cause sometimes the simple things are the most important ones.

Proverbs 15:4(NIV)

⁴ The soothing tongue is a tree of life,

but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

Self-control

A lot of people don't have self-control. Controlling your words, actions and thoughts. Temptation is not a sin, but to GIVE IN is a sin.

So, when you have all these fruits and you exercise it, you will get a reward.

Well that's all for today's update. See ya'll next time :)

The Price To Pay

Hello, world! Smile 'cause here's a new post to occupy you for the next 2 minutes (or 20 seconds if you only browse through the photos; I hope you don't).

And so we begin a recap of fireBRANDS' youth service on the 7th of January, 2012. Our very first this year.

In preparation for our monumental (exceptionally great!) service we haveeeeeeee:

1. Chair-arranging

(that's Joyce doing work while Jesher looks on)

2. LCD-prepping

(LCD's like that behind-the-scenes service we sometimes take for granted, init?)

(init as in 'isn't it', not that program for Unix-based computer operating systems that spawns all other processes that we're all so familiar with)

3. Guitar-strumming cum singing

(that's why his shoes are in such a... jazzy (?) pose)

4. Hanging around

(If your powers of observation are anywhere near Sherlock Holmes's or Hercule Poirot's, you would've noticed that here's the same person as the LCD prepper just now)

6. Birds of a feather flocking together

(Converse)

(Heyyy, did you notice that number should've been 5?)

6. Sitting around

(in anticipation for...*)

*pre-service prayer!

Led by the wearer of this pair of tropical flip-flops.

So we hear what Eulene has to say, and...

...speak out what God wants us to say.

In groups, of course.

'Cause "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," - Prov 27:17.

And to wrap it all up, a closing prayer by the facilitator herself.

Okay! So unless your observation powers are as bad as, uh, Patrick Star's, you probably would've noticed that all the photographs are centred on (anchored by?) shoes!

Why?

Just because I can.

But well if you don't like this kind of eccentricity then don't worry 'cause we're going back to relatively normal pictures next week.

Now that that's cleared up, moving on!

More people arrive...

...just in time for icebreaker!

And everyone sits in groups for the BOMB game!

Listening to explanations by the two icebreakeresses.

Ready or not?

All together now!

And to turn up the heat (slightly melted ice is easier to break, no?), the rule of standing up was introduced.

(explains why she's squatting)

With the carnage of broken ice still clearly felt, we welcome new faces to the fireBRANDS!

Hope to see you all again next week!

(and the week after, and after, and after, and after...)

Alright everyone, get up on your feet, butts off the floor; let's praise and worship God together!

It was kinda different that day (night?), with just an acoustic guitar; no full band. Songs weren't really planned out either.

Sometimes different is good, and this was definitely a sometime.

"No matter what price I pay,

I choose to give this life away."

Do you really mean 'no matter what'?

Do you know what it means to actually give your life away?

So that's how the next part of service connects.

From Pr Cowan, we've God's message for the night:

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

it's not easy.

How do you become a disciple?

The decision to follow Jesus Christ is the beginning of a Christian fellowship.

(and if you went for AYC '11, you'd know the 5 marks of a disciple that Pr Palan spoke on: supreme love for Christ, a cross: live like a dead person, a tower: consider the value of a good finish, a war: surrender to the stronger king, salt: stay pure to preserve goodness)

In every testimony, the process is never easy.

Like how delivery (of a baby, not of your mail) is a painful experience.

But there is joy!

Like how a baby having toes like peanuts is a source of joy.

CoD = quite tough.

(that meant Cost of Discipleship btw. not some videogame you're thinking of xP)

Discipleship is NOT...

...easy. It's not a bed of roses.

...a way of constant success and prosperity.

...a use of spare free time.

...just going to church.

...a compromise.

...an excuse of doing whatever you like.

So what IS discipleship?!

1. Cross-bearing

i.e. suffering, humiliation.

*all passages quoted in NIV

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. - Matt 16:24

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. - Matt 10:38

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Gal 2:20

2. Self-denial

3. Leaving everything

You cannot have anything that's more important to you than God.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:26

Take note: In Jewish culture it's very important to honour your father and mother.

Also, 'does not hate' means to put Christ first before your family. Pls don't misinterpret:)

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. - Luke 14:33

4. Abiding in His words and teaching

You cannot have anything that's more important to you than God.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. - John 8:31

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. - John 15:7

NOT just the 2nd part of the verse!

5. Fruitfulness

i.e. not barren

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. - John 15:8

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Gal 5:22-23

Some guy sitting on a chair even though he's not wearing a skirt.

When God gives us a test and we fail, we have to re-sit, regardless of age.

(like driving test, or BM in SPM)

Like how in bodybuilding, you tear muscle sometimes to rebuild it stronger, so God has to tear us to rebuild us stronger.

So, think. What's something God wants you to change?

Maybe it's your communication with your parents.

Or it could be submission to authority (not just someone you like but even submitting to people you dislike).

Choose to be a disciple, but make sure you know the price to pay.