it was an awesome time seeing everyone new and old joining us last night :)
hope it made good memory marks somehow!

apart from knowing that i, natalia, cannot count..
we also learnt about anger
GRRRRRRRR.

it's normal to get angry. even Jesus did. but what matters more is not the feeling of anger, but more of what you do about your anger.

anger is a source that fuels us to typically respond in terms of "ME".

we brainstormed about things that get us angry. eg. female drivers (being female, i'd say those crazy reckless male drivers :p), people not paying attention to us, having our dates stand up on us etc. In general, we get angry when things do not go the way we want them to.

we react by cursing, swearing, crying, throwing a pissy fit just like a baby
(so the next time we see someone doing that in anger, we know he/she's a baby)

but all those are all negative emotions.
looking on the bright side of life:
THINK: how can we react to such strong feelings like anger positively like Jesus?
how do you think you'll react to your feeling angry the next time when you get angry?


[EDIT]
as promised :)
here's a compilation of the ideas we've had! :)

keith: turning it into a motivation to get things done or set things right
brendan: exercise
nat: retail therapy - buying things to give to others
christina: strumming and banging on her guitar singing out LOUD!!
felicia: zzz. SLEEP!
singgih: calm self down then analyse the situation
nat: EAT. hahahaha

that's all we have so far.
tag if you've got more ideas :)
(even if it's one year after this post iz posted :p)

Labels: lifegroup

after a 45mins of headache and colouring..
CONGRATULATIONS TO LIZZY GUAN!
for coming in tops in the design of our CCM invitation flyer (:as informed, the prize would be a double pass ticket to the Fray (:
well done, Lizzy!

and for everyone else, give yourselves a pat in the back (:
GOOD FUN and GREAT JOB DONE! (:

Labels: lifegroup

DO YOU....
know them?
sing-along line for line with their songs?
are a huge fan of theirs?
wish to see them LIVE?

HERE'S YOUR CHANCE! (:
join us this Friday at our weekly meetings and stand a chance to win tickets to catch The Fray with special guests Thisty Merc, and Adelaide's Sundance Kids on Thursday, 1st April at Festival Hall.

CLUE: bring along colour pens/pencils/markers/whatever draws your creative juices! :D

With courtesy of
FRONTIER TOURING COMPANY (:

Labels: announcement, lifegroup

4 October 2009
Sunday Service with Pastor John Cairns

Joy. Joy doesnt simply refer to our physical and emotional well-being. In fact, JOY is a spiritual force. Joy is the expression of our faith. If faith is a dynamite, joy is the fuse.

What can joy do for us?
Joy can help us stay away from legalism when we're serving God.
Joy helps us stay strong in the midst of trials and times of testing (like exams!).
Joy gets us out of times of dryness.

Joy can be from the exterior. But that true and eternal joy that gives us strength for each day is a result of the deeper inner relationship with Christ. It is built on who He is, not what He does. It is a fruit of the Spirit - an emotional, physical and spiritual tool.

10 Things that steals our joy
1. Resentment
2. Bitterness
3. Anger
4. Unforgiveness
5. Fear
6. Disobedience in the Word of God
7. Wrong focus (on self and circumstances)
8. Sickness
9. Weariness
10. Discouragement

Keys to maintaining your joy (:
1. Bring them(the above) all to the Lord and let Him deal with it.
2. Focus on the Lord, not on your circumstances
3. Meditate on the Word of God
4. Be a true worshipper
A true worshipper is one that worships on Sunday and every other day in all things at all times despite the problems and against all common sense - wow.

Last but not least..

Guard your life with joy, and guard your joy with your life.

all the best to one and all for the upcoming exams! :D
may the joy of the Lord be with you even in the examination hall! (:

Labels: lifegroup

25th September 2009
Sharing with Keith

God knows if we are giving Him our 100%

If God can sacrifice His most Precious for us, can we sacrifice our most precious for Him? Being students, in general or facing upcoming exams, our most precious would be our time.

Don't give God something that will cost you nothing. Give your 100% to Him. Not because He needs it; not because you want to show to others that you're doing your part or as part of going through the motion. Give simply because He wants that heart that's behind that giving.

What's in it for you?
Everything.

-------------------------------------------
Something that i've learnt in the past years of being a Christian is that you can never outgive God. When you begin to sow your finances, you reap finances; if you sow time for His Kingdom for Him, you will begin to reap time. God will never shortchange you.

May you find joy and purpose in serving God your 100%.

Labels: lifegroup

6th September 2009
Sunday Service with Corinna

How God wants our earthly families to be is proportional to how God wants to be in relationship with us.

What a simple yet profound truth.

The foundation of every family lies in 2 key principles
1. Love
Eph 5:1-2, as children, we naturally imitate our parents and their habits, likewise, God wants our relationship with Him to be so natural that we begin to take on His habits and behaviours too!
2. Submission
Eph 5:21. Submission isnt about the giving of gifts etc, it's about making first the priority of others before self. The outflow of love in the family is the submission of each other's needs and values.

A) Role of the wife
Eph 5:22-24
Submission of the wife under her husband isnt about losing your own identity and becoming held in the box and forced to take a back seat in life. Coming under submission is allowing your husband to look after you and take care of you, just like how Christ came to take care, protect and comfort us.

B) Role of the husband
Eph 5:25-27
Embrace the nature of God, a husband should lay down his life for her just as Christ laid His life down for us.
i) To love is to sacrifice
v25: loving selflessly and with tremendous humility
ii) To love is to complete
v28: loving her is completing you; in other words, not loving them is equivalent to neglecting a part of yourself
iii) To love is to put first
v31: the leaving of parent isnt disregarding them, but a shift of priorities. Putting the priorities of your wife and family first before parents due to the need to take on a higher role.

C) Role of the church
The church is the family of God. Every individual family comes together to make up the church family. It is a community that lives and thrives on the same principles as that of an earthly family. God desires every earthly family to be a place of security, affirmation, encouragement, openness and of sharings, and likewise, the same is placed on the church.

All in all, how much you love is how much you're willing to pay the price for. It isnt only in monetary terms, but how much are you willing to give up for?
Friends..
how much do you love God?
Christ was willing to put aside His Life for us..
how much are you willing to put aside for Him?

Labels: lifegroup

A really memorable night of fun and games (:
TRIVIA NIGHT was a success! Putting my general knowledge to the test was indeed very challenging x) which i officially conclude that my general knowledge skills = naught :D

so yeah!!
presenting to you..
THE WINNING TEAMMMMM!!! (:
*drumrollllll*
never belittle the smallest team!
the strongest team too! (:

coming in second place...
we have the DOUBLE LECTURER TEAM! :Dand in third place..
we have the sneaky team at the back. quietly and softly overthrowing the other two x)and well, the other two erm, consolation prizes go to erm..
group C!!
and erm because this iz my team and i'm so proud of them (despite the handicap of having me in it :D) we walked away as winners of the tallest and sturdiest newspaper tower built for the night!!! (:
presenting to you our tower and us :pohoh, and we cannot forget our beloved host! (:
brendan. and erm, haha the erm videographer andrew :p keith's in the photo too!! but argh, sorry for the lousy quality of the photo!! we need to have a photographer with steadier hands than mine! x)last but not least,
we promised food. and we held to our promise.
sumptuous (: 3types of pasta sauces specially and lovingly prepared by keith! and pizzas! oh and fried rice prepared by lucy too!! x) alrighty,
i guess that's all for trivia night folks! (:
thanks for joining us for those who did! and i certainly hope you guys had fun! (: oh and i apologize for the bias-ness of this post. i mean, afterall, i still tink my team rocked socks (:

see you in church! :D

Labels: lifegroup, peektures

The bible talks alot about rain. In Matt7:24-27, the house on the sand was liken to those who reject Jesus' teachings, while the rock referred to those who build their lives based on Jesus' teachings. When the rain came, guess which house stood unharmed?

We all face challenges and failures in life. It's okay to go through the struggles that you are currently facing. More often than not, the storms of life visits one time too many.
Food for thought: Have you ever thought of your challenges in life as your stepping stones to a better and greater future?

But when it starts to rain heavily in your life, what would you do?
Would you grovel in self pity? Or would you cry? Cry out to God for help?
King David in Psalms laments alot. God is not looking for a brave front: last week, we talked about being brutally honest! We dun have to have it all together to have a relationship with God. We dun need to have our lifes in perfect order, being prim and proper before we can present ourselves to God. God doesnt ignore our cries - that's His promise to us. He is close to those who cry and admit that they're soaking and needing Him.

The storm may be our reality.
But do you realise that as Daddy, He would do anything to get you home? your Heavenly Father knows the way home.
To you, the storm may be your repressed memory.
But do you realise that to God, it's His deepest and most precious memory of life with you because that's when He got to hold on to you so tightly and carry you on?

When everything seems hopeless, and our worlds seem to start crumbling down on us..
But God. saves the day.

May you cry out to your Creator today.
So that He can hold you and tell you how much He loves you.

See you in church! :D

Labels: lifegroup

last friday during our weekly meeting, we watched NOOMA! (: i'm not sure about you guys but i personally love nooma (: and i'm happy that we will be starting on the whole series of nooma! and juz in case you have no idea what nooma is, it was the short 15mins video film of very practical understanding of biblical principles and personal applications (:

Is God too busy to answer our prayers?
If God only chooses to answer some, den why pray?

Open
God creates things that has the ability to create more. That was an empowerment given by God the Creator Himself. This means everything of creation is still unfinished.!

Prayer is likened to tapping into the same divine creative energy that made the universe. It is not passive talking nor is it active rebellion. Prayer is simply being open to God that is here and now. It is being brutally honest with your Maker. It's truth. God CAN handle what you're talking and what you're saying.

Even Jesus when praying in the garden of Gethsemane referred His death as a cup that He doesnt wish to drink. But yet, Jesus assumed that there is some role for Him to play in the on-going creation of God on Earth.

Prayer is your whole posture to life. It's the way you see life through, it's when you never stop asking God what's in it(your circumstances) for you? It is tapping into that same energy that formed the world. It connects us to others and enlarges our perspectives.

Prayer changes us.

So friends,
How honest are you with God in your prayers?
Are you up for whatever God has in your life?

Prayer is life. Be open about your life to your Maker. Sometimes prayers are not answered solely because we are not ready for it's answer. Make a decision today to be ready to give and act according to God's will for your life. Do something to make a difference.

See you on Friday for our next nooma session! (:

Labels: lifegroup

30th July 2009
Sharing with Keith

What is faith to you?

[Matt 14:22-33]

Having faith is liken to what we place in our hairdressers; to what we place in our parents to provide for us, to love and to care for us.
And the truth is that many times we miss to see that God's love for us is parallel to that too. We can have faith in God to provide, love and care for us. But when we doubt God, God cannot provide. Simply because it is written that without faith, we cannot please God[Heb11:6].

Building faith is like a learned conditioned response.
Putting faith in smth derives a belief in that smth which eventually comes to pass and thus we continue to have faith in that smth. It's a cycle. So how do we actually start the cycle of building our faith?

4 Guiding steps to help build our fiath
1. Trust
By taking that first step.
[v28] Peter trusted Jesus that's why he dared to ask for the impossible

Trust only comes with knowing someone closely. When we develop the relationship, we develop trust at the same time. And to develop the relationship, we need to spend time coupled with common interests etc. Our relationship with God iz the same. It has to be close for us to be able trust Him wholeheartedly and not doubt.

2. Obedience
[v29] Peter had to step out of the boat first.

Seeking God first and placing God's preference list first. That is the correct response to the call of God. Jesus cannot do a work in our life if we dun do anything. God can only work through our actions. More often than not, when we're walking in obedience with God, God will show Himself true to us. Being active is being in God's flow.

3. Focus
[v30] Peter took his focus off Jesus and started to sinkkk!!!

Focus iz that which sustains us in the long run. When we lose focus, we lose rhythm and therefore choose to give up. So choose to remain focused on God even in troubled times, lift up our eyes and you'll realise that He has enabled you to handle and overcome difficulties.

Last but not least,
4. Hold on

Hold on to the biblical principles, trusting and knowing that God will pull us through.
Hold on to God and never give up, never surrender. God will never let you go. He will neither leave nor forsake you, so friends, dun let go of Him. If we choose to give up, it simply means satan wins.


So dear friends (:
We from CCM encourage you to deepen that relationship you have with Christ. How on a personal level can you do that you may ask..
a) Praying
it's simply having a conversation with God

b) Reading the bible
that's where all of God's promises are. and each and every one of us are equal partakers of every promise. but in order for you to claim that promise, you need to know what was promised.
so..
go find your promises to claim! (:

see you in church! :D

Labels: lifegroup

sorry dear friends, this post iz a little late! x)
so yupp, for the benefit of those who missed our weekly meeting last thursday (: here's a recap!

nooma, a rob bell series of short video clips on biblical principles and values, was featured during the short meeting we had (:

rhythm.
*having a relationship with God is simply about being in tune with the song.

let's elaborate on this.
there were two issues that were covered.
1. Song
song refers to our daily lives in general (:
the song is always playing all the time.

2. Tune
tune refers to the way we choose to live our lives (: the style in which we lead our lives. Jesus iz the way, truth and life. not to start a new religion but to show us an example of how to lead our lives. a relationship with God was illustrated to as a song, He is the main tune like the piano that played throughout the whole song piece. we on the other hand are the instruments that compliment that tune. when we strum accordingly, joining in with the tune, it brings about a melody. a song of unity, harmony, strength and power, one that iz even more beautiful than an individual component on it's own (:

but when we choose to play our own music, choose to disregard that tune and follow our own tune.. it's a racket, not music.

so friends,
think about it..
what tune are you playing right now?
how does God's tune sound like to you?

what more can we want if we can know the tune of God and follow it.
see you in church! :D

Labels: lifegroup

A GREAT THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO MANAGED TO JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST MEETING OF THE TRIMESTER YESTERDAY! (:

THANK YOU! :D

It was definitely heartening to see many of you taking time off to join us on the cool Thursday evening! We certainly hope you enjoyed the fellowship and the pizza and ganes (: It was definitely a pleasure to see many new faces. Which always proves our brains useful when it comes to remembering everyone's names! :D and without a doubt, we hope to see you guys again week after week! (:

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16th July 2009
Sharing with Keith

[Acts 2:42-47]
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

3 Things about God's community

1. They are united in spiritual activities
Eg. eating(breaking of bread!), fellowship

Therefore, seek forth to be united in seeking after a common goal - in the seeking and knowing who God iz. Not forgetting that fellowship is important. Moving in a same direction in unity -unity around God's vision, the Word of God, through close fellowship and the encouraging of one another (:

2. There is power in God's community
Your expectation determines the level you hit.
Eg. If you aim to just pass your exams, you usually fail :p

In Christ, the aura of expectation is predetermined by your understanding and experience of God, indicating the level you hit.

Therefore, challenge yourself to have a higher and deeper understanding of God, giving rise to you being a person of impact and change. When we are open to Him, God will challenge our understanding. And thus, when we decide to take in that spiritual food, it is only natural that we grow - spiritually in understanding and thereafter, raising the ceiling of expectations we have of and in Christ.

3. Sharing brings growth

At the end of the day, seek to bring the blessings and love of Christ to the people. It's not about being loyal to the club, CCM, it's about being God-loyal (:


Have a great weekend!
See you in church! :D

Labels: lifegroup