What's better than one speaker? TWO speakers!!!

HEY HEY HEY!! 

Once again, welcome to the Firebrands' blog! 

As usual, we had a short prayer session at 1915 hours in which we all . . . Pray! 

Moving on, we had Leroy to do the icebreakers to explain about the rules that will make instead of break Firebrands.
Here are the rules as far as I can remember :-
- Digital gadgets are NOT to be used during sessions (calling, SMSing, playing games, etc). Digital bibles leh? Well, they're not encouraged either.
- Young people are often thought to be a bit lazy nowadays, so its time to prove those who said it wrong! Be sporting and do participate in the activities planned by the person taking the stage :)
- Knock knock. Who's there? Aihh. Aihh who? Aihh love you... *Ba-dum-tss* Yes, if a boy-girl relationship (BGR) is in your mind/ if you're in one now, do inform your parents, and the leaders to prevent any bridges from getting broken along the way.


And Zepheniah comes along with a mic in his hand to sing a song to get us grouped for icebreaker.

So, everyone is grouped to 4 groups, but only two will play against each other at one time due to possible lack of space. Each group stands on one piece of cloth, and their objective is to simply fold the cloth downside up/upside down without getting off of the cloth. Sounds easy? ;)

One does not simply wear socks of a different colour at the same time, Vanessa

Well, it is easier if people like Gerald are in your team.. Just saying

"Must. Not. Fall. Off. The. Imaginary. Cliff"

And that's how we win it

Quote from Joshua Tan - "One. Two. Three. EVERYONE JUMP!"

And of course, worship time - you're doing it wrong if you think its just a time to train your 
vocal chords for yourself. God gave you a voice, why not show Him what you can do with it?

As everyone settled in their seats, waiting for the speaker's (or rather, speakers') session, two people most probably shivered and bit their nails off hoping that the other goes up first. Yep, its young preachers' night!

Well, as it goes by the saying, "Ladies first", Beverly had no choice but to be the first one up while Jonathan most probably jumped up for joy. :P

Its one of our basic 5 senses God gave to us to complete us. Its a skill physically enhanced by a tissue flap protruding from our head that looks like a cave. And that skill is listening :) 

From what I heard/listened, it is :-

To pay attention to sound, or in proper English, to give ear.

It isn't just something you get from birth, but it is a skill gained. 

-Sometimes, we hear things, but we don't listen. In other words, we don't bother about the sound

that causes these vibrations in our eardrums. 

-To listen is to understand, analyse, and to give thought about what is being heard. 

Here's a "theory" to better explain the importance of listening. God gave us only one mouth but two ears so that we listen more than talk. Get the point?

-Animals need to listen for their survival, be it for hunting, or for running away from the jaws of fearsome predators. Athletes need to listen for the sound of the gunshot as a false start could jeopardize their career. So, listening is important. What are you listening to? "Beverly's voice".

It is important to guard your ears.

Do you know that there are many songs nowadays that contain subliminal messages?

Listen to what's right and not to what's wrong. 

Listening opens up a way for a good conversation to take place.

- As it is mentioned in 1 Kings 19:11-12, God only spoke in a gentle whisper to Elijah after all the natural disasters had passed. In other words, spend time to listen and not just complain and ask from God all day. give Him a chance to talk to you.

Next up, we have Jonathan taking hold of the mic. Preach it, brother!


Faith. Love. Acknowledgement. These three he highlighted on.

Faith
First, you have to realise that

In the same way, faith by itself, if its not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17)

and

For we live by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7)

Faith is something to be felt. It isn't something to be seen. Its believing in something we can't see. Like air, we can't see it, yet we know its there. Get it?

Life doesn't come without its share of sorrows, so when it happens, one basic rule to prevent mishaps is to pay attention to the stop sign and abide by it. Stop. Have faith.

Love
-Of the three significant feelings (Faith.Hope.Love) mentioned in 1 Cor 13:13, love is the greatest of the three.
-Ever heard this line from a song that goes "Love changes, changes everything"? Well, turns out Climie Fisher was right. It can change the outcomes in our lives if all else fails.
Love changes. Love conquers.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

So it is known that Jesus gave His life for us. To complete the so-called process we need to acknowledge and recieve it, which also falls under the third part of his message -

Acknowledgement
-To acknowledge God means to know that He's there. He may not be realised with seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling or hearing, but He's there.
-Acknowledging God can and will help us more than we don't in our daily activities. Of course, this doesn't mean God is One who can be used for purposes that will bring all benefit to you. He does what He feels is needed, so worry not and acknowledge Him.

"Failing doesn't matter. What matters is you give your best to not fail and give God the right attention He deserves" - Jonathan Choong

With that, service ended and so does this blog post. Do come next week and if you can, bring along your friends! God bless you :)