Recap.

So this writer made it in time again for worship practice (it's after floorball, oh btw COME FOR FLOORBALL), and so there's more for you.

Happy not?

Like in everything the worship team starts with prayer.

This time the worship leader was Beverly.

With James on the drums and backup-singing.

Eu-Jeen and Nehemiah, acoustic and electric. (lucky worship team this week, get individual (almost) photos of themselves..)

Sharon on keyboard and backup.

Justin on bass.

And altogether now.. (sorry Joyce, I know I missed you out xP)

So they practised, practised and practised till almost 6p.m. then hopped down to Sanc. 2 for:

Bible class! Conducted by that drummer just now...

This week's Bible class was about Psalms 2 and 110, both depicting what Old Testamenties thought Jesus would be. Like a King, mighty General with superhero-like powers and awesomatic authority over all the earth..

..but when Jesus came, He came as a baby in a manger. *potong stim*

But it's true, he was a King, a mighty General and all that, just not in the way people expected Him to be.

And of course like most Bible classes we have groups..

..working together to complete questions like..

..What does conspire mean? Why does this psalm take a military tone? Who are the enemies and why do they oppose Him?

And we had fun with aluminium foil and Gary's face and Sharon's face :)

COME FOR BIBLE CLASS don't miss it


Okay then dinner.

After dinner prayer.

After prayer 5-minute toilet break.

After 5-minute toilet break, WORSHIP!

Here's the leader-ess again :)

Notice how Pastor Victor's always so camera-alert xP

Put your hands together now..

..yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord..

And Beverly, great job again :)

So then, announcing...

...ANNOUNCEMENTS! (i'm telling you, if you're the announcements person you're darn lucky: you get your photo up here every week!)

And also a video on the Change Your World concert by 1 a.m. (a band made up of Christians):


And, not forgetting, two new guys in fireBRANDS:

Aaron and Frederick! (sorry, reusing the floorball pic cuz didn't get nice shot xP yup they came for floorball that day too!)

Next in the spotlight:

The monthly appearance of Sarah to meraikan the birthdays of the November kids!

So when it's your birthday on that month, you get a complimentary mini Mars Bar and a prayer, AND a Happy Birthday song - it's like a 3-in-1 promotion, only that it's FREE!

Finally, the much-anticipated climax (which is also the finale of the night)..

That's him!

At the right corner, he's the speaker for the night (all eyes peeled)..

Pastor Lim Heok Cheow!

He kicked off with an intro:

'Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power' - we have to be DIFFERENT
Have you been real?
Do things more extraordinary than before, everyday. It's going to cost..
..but if we have the anointing of God, we can break the yokes of bondage.
SO, JUST IMAGINE! if everyone of us did.

Our Perspective of Life

Biblical Worldview:
1. an honest life
2. a holistic life
3. a healthy life
4. a heavenly life


Our Passion for Life (Philippians 3:7-8)

Paul's:
1. a yielded life
2. a missional life
3. a worship life


Our Position in Life
PROPHET - stands for
PRIEST - stands in
KING - stands up
if you say you're a Christian, why is it that you don't live like a Christian?

Lesson #01: Take notes.
Lesson #02: You're never totally safe from the camera :)

Our Philosophy of Life

Gain Wisdom
1. learning
2. reading
3. studying
4. praying
and for some good books to read and study, don't hesitate to ask Ps Heok Cheow!

Know Your Purpose in Life
- like what Tinkerbell discovered
- God isn't random!

So don't you believe that Justin can change the world?
And if Justin can, so can you!

Within 2 hours.

This is what happened.

So we began at 7:30p.m. on the 7th of the 11th with:

A time of praise and worship led by pretty-much-veteran Joyce Lim.

And it doesn't matter where you stand during worship..

..cuz it's where your heart is that matters.

Now then, announcements by the one-and-only:

CHAN MING YEN! *crowd cheers*

And a reminder: Change Your World concert - Penang is coming up on the 22nd, so if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, they're still available from any of the committee members =) RM 20 per ticket.

Oh and YOUTH CAMP IS COMING!! sign up, the earlier the better, so tidak begitu membebankan on the organising committee.

Let's move on..

Get your notebooks out for..

Mr Alex Low Peng Huat!

But before that, rewind a bit...

..as Alex gets his own notebook out..

..patience..

and there ya go!

So that night, Alex titled his message as 'FROM EARTH IN2 ETERNITY'.

It was a four-point sermon:

1. Knowing Our Identity

- who we are in Christ

- that salvation is free

- we're righteous through Him

- and we need our sin to be forgiven
- "For it is by grace you have been saved. Through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." - Eph. 2:8
- ask for His grace everyday

2. The Truth

- I am coming soon!

- ...blessed are those who wash their robes... outside are the dogs (from Rev 22:12-15)
*dogs: those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, falsehood-ers
- check your heart 24/7

He shares.

They listen.

And Pastor Victor comes up to clarify a few points..

3. Then, why do we still struggle?

- "Each one is tempted by his own evil desire... after desire has conceived, it gives irth to sin... full-grown sin gives birth to death." - James 1:14-15

- "Where your treasure is there your heart will be." - Matt 6:21

4. So what can I do?

- BE CAREFUL. God is faithful: He will provde a way out so that you can stand up under it. (from 1 Cor 10:12-13)

- cut off the things that cause you to fall

- it takes 21 times to make or break a habit

And so Alex ended his sermon with all the fireBRANDS reading a few excerpts from Psalm 145.

And Pastor Victor had the last say.

Sugar Rush

Alright, before every night - realise it or not - there's always the preparations!

Like for example worship practice, or maybe the speaker prepping his/her notes while the LCD boy types away..

So even if the whole night was meant to be fun and games..

Joyce finishing up the ceiling deco while Joseph looks on.

The dark(-skinned) guy bringing light into the sanctuary.

And final touch-ups before going for Bible class.

All while the Supervisor looks on.

Come 6 p.m., Bible class is still on!

The perky Bible class teacher.

This time in the conference room, cuz Sanc 2 was filled with colourful stuff.

This time Bible class involved pillowcases filled with unidentified objects from Marilyn's home.

And by only looking at the pillowcases without touching 'em, each group was supposed to sell that item to the other groups. Obviously hard right, cuz you don't know what's inside.

So, this analogy shows that we need to really, really know our God before we can start sharing the Gospel to others.

How? By reading the Bible :)

After dinner.

The all-important time of prayer. Again led by Sarah Khoo, this innovative short lady had every single person there to pray a short prayer for anything they felt the need to pray for.

After prayer, before the theme night officially started, the fireBRANDS had some fellowship during what's known as 'toilet break time'.

Some talked/fellowshipped/sat down on the floor.

While the organisers got ready for the night.

A few filled up the fireBRANDS database forms.

Certain people flagrantly vained.

And others... did.. whatever they did.

Okay, let's start!

Little Miss Giggles with the announcements again!

First off, the crowd was divided into four groups consisting of pretty much equal numbers of old and young fireBRANDS and visitors alike.

And for the first game, planned by Pastor Victor:

We witnessed Leroy blindfolding an innocent child..

..a state floorballer being led by M'sia's national goalkeeper, both on all fours..

..sight-impaired youths picking up wrapped sweets with their mouths..

..while their group leaders egged them on.

And keep on going!!

Basically each group was supposed to collect as many sweets corresponding to their group as possible, in the manner shown above.

The lesson learnt was that in life, we have to listen to our Leader's voice (God) in order to achieve anything that matters.

Next game, this one by Alex:

Each group leader was taken out from the room and briefed in secret, while the rest of the members were instructed to beg for sweets in the most creative possible ways once the leaders were back.

Like this:

Yan-Y being chased and begged relentlessly by Gary and Linken for some sweets.

In the end, only certain group members received sweets, and the groups had to figure out the criteria by which sweets were given out. Like 1. is wearing a watch, 2. is a guy, 3. is wearing socks, etc.

And the group members get more sweets once they guessed a criteria correctly.

And after some time, the group leaders were invited up to reveal the criteria (each group had different sets of criteria).

Next, time was alloted for everyone to exchange sweets with each other.

Alex then slowly and steadily revealed what each sweet represented (faith, love, good looks, long life, health, salvation, etc.).

Lesson learnt: What's most important is the gift of salvation, something which shouldn't be placed second to things like health.

And, the third game, by Eunice the cupcake-baker:

Bible quiz! Each team sends out one rep. Get the question right, and you get to choose a cupcake!

Some cupcakes had those heart-sprinkles on top, others didn't.

Get your cupcake, and eat it without expression at the corner.

Asher, the first person with an answer right.

And finally more people to join him! (what happened to eat without expression, i wonder)

Andrew trying to look less menacing.

And so after many rounds of answering Bible-related questions (fished out by Joyce), it was revealed that the cupcakes with the heart sprinkles on top had wasabi in them, while the plain jane cupcakes were untampered with.

Lesson? Don't judge anything by its looks.

And with that, Trick or Treat was over.

Oh, one more thing:

fireBRANDS' group photo on Facebook which has 29 tagged people, 4 likes and 33 comments by 17 people. As of now.

How awesome we are. And how much, much more our God is!

(this post is a really good test for colour blindness xP)