Was Jesus really God?

Hi everyone, just a summary of what we did for CG this week. (I was really happy to see such a big group of you come for CG this week)

Sharing

Sharing was done by Amanda. And boy did she make us turn our Bibles... (: Amanda talked about what the Bible meant to her and how it is important for us all to go to the Bible in all the different stages of life - Whether we feel Happy, Sad, Worried, or Angry, the Bible will always have words of comfort for us. She also mentioned that sometimes in the train, she would just open the Bible and think about a verse from it. Maybe you guys should try that too, hm...

Worship

Patrizha led worship this week - She chose God will make away, inspired by something that really happened in school. Apparently she almost got into trouble her group into trouble by not submitting their work on time to the teacher. Thankfully, God really did make a way and she was given a chance by the teacher! Praise the Lord. (Let's also not forget the wonderful worship session led by Marcus last week. He did a very meaningful session about God reminding him through many repeated verses in the Bible to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart...")

Next week, Ryan will be leading us in worship and David will be doing the sharing. I'm sure we all looking forward ;)

Prophecies of the coming saviour

For the benefit of those who didn't come, we discussed the many prophecies in the Old Testament that came true through Jesus Christ. Some of them include:
The Messiah being born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
The Messiah being a descendant of King David (Luke 3:31)
The Messiah being born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1)
The Messiah entering Jerusalem while riding a donkey (Luke 19:35-37)
The Messiah being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15)
The Messiah being crucified for our sins (Luke 23:33)
The Messiah being resurrected (Acts 2:31).

Of course, there are a lot more prophecies that we haven't even mentioned! Scientists have calculated the probability of all the prophecies being fulfilled in 1 man to be 1 out of 10 to the power of 157. For those who study probability, these are CRAZY IMPOSSIBLE ODDS!!!

How did Jesus show that he was the son of God?
Jesus showed others that he was the son of God by referring to the Old Testament's prophecies about himself. (Luke 24:27)

Could the fulfillment of prophecies be a coincidence?
No. In his lifetime, Jesus not only fulfilled just 1 or 2 prophecies but more than 60 of them in the Old Testament! No coincidence could possibly come so close!

Could Jesus have intentionally tried to fulfill the prophecies?
No. If Jesus was really just an ordinary man trying to make himself fit into the prophecies, there were a lot of prophecies that were beyond his control - Being a descendant of David, the location of his birth, the way he died, the amount he was betrayed for, and the list goes on... In other words, it must have all been planned by God!

Could the prophecies have been written after they had happened?
No. The Old Testament (known as the Septuagint at the time) was translated around 150-200BC. That was around a 200 years before Jesus was born!!!

From Cowards to Heros

We discussed how Jesus' disciples used to be before they experienced Jesus resurrection. Peter denied Christ 3 times, Thomas wouldn't believe that Jesus resurrected until he could touch the nail prints in his hands, James wanted to call fire down unto a village because they rejected Jesus. These men were cowardly and sinful. Yet afterwards, they became heros, bravely preaching the gospel and willing to die for the word of Jesus to be spread. (Acts 5:40)

These man were beside Jesus and spent a lot of time with him. They used to be such weaklings but had such a drastic change in character. Had Jesus really died and not resurrected as Saviour of the world, would they have so bravely preached his gospel? No way! They would have been more depressed and defeated than ever, now that their master was dead!

Not only that, if they were spreading a lie about Jesus' resurrection, all the Romans had to do was bring Jesus' dead body out to prove them wrong! But more importantly, who would be willing to die for a lie? The only explanation for their sudden courage was that they had seen and believe - JESUS WAS ALIVE! From then on, their lives were changed forever.

Who do you believe Jesus is?

Jesus claimed to be the son of God, the saviour the Jews had been waiting for. (Mark 14:60) Some people believe that he was a wise man and a great moral teacher but not the son of God. However, these theory means that either Jesus was lying about himself or he really believed he was the son of God, making him a madman.

Jesus could not have been a liar because his life and his works spoke of his morality. He was a pure person with a great heart. Had he been lying about himself, he would have been turing the Jews away from the real God that was coming, making Jesus a demon. How could a person so kind and so pure be a demon?

Jesus could not be a madman because of his immense wisdom and sanity. When posed difficult questions meant to trick him, Jesus always had a way of answering so cleverly that he made the answer seem so obvious that the person who asked it could feel foolish for even asking. How could such a clever and witty person be crazy.

Because of these, there's only one sane conclusion we could have - Jesus is God!

Will you choose to let Jesus into your heart?

18 August Movie event - UP!

Hi all,

I'm sure all of you know the movie UP; Zenas has been raving about it for ages... We will be arranging a group movie event in Orchard on 18 August, Tue. The movie will probably be sometime in the evening, maybe around 7pm. For those who are free in the afternoon, we could have lunch and go shopping before the movie. Remember to ask your parents for permission and respect their decision. (Perhaps you can make them a deal by promising to do your work beforehand etc.)

Please sms me (at 98212425) to let me know if you will be going or not.

August Open Sunday

hey guys.
there will be open sunday on the 2nd of august.
this open sunday is hosted by vera&shun bin's CG.
let's go and have fun and have a time of fellowship together(:

**NOTE: there will be water games so bring a change of clothes and GIRLS!dark clothings(:

and finally,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERMAINE!

An Adventure of a Lifetime

We went to Bukit Timah Hill today.

I would like to say "we climbed Bukit Timah Hill today" but...

You better read on...

It started with a harmless little map. 

Yong Ling suggested that we take a photo so that we could have a copy of it for the road.

We chose the not-so-common green path... 

   

The trek seemed easy enough.

We saw monkeys, squirrels, rambutan trees.

We stepped on rocks, we stepped on mud.

It was all in the name of FUN.

  

Marcus was the speedy one.

He was practically 200m ahead of us all the time.

Zenas was um... let's just say, if he could cab up the hill, he would have...

Marcus found a nice and windy spot so we stopped for a break.

Had a picnic and feasted on Chips and drinks.

Discovered that we CANNOT in fact pop popcorn by the radiation of 4 handphones.

Played Twister.

Climbed some huge water pipes.

Apparently the leaders still have a little bit of ADVENTURE in them...

We went on our way, and that was when we realised... 

Our one huge mistake...

All this while, we thought we were climbing Bukit Timah Hill...

But...

The fact was...

We were NOT on Bukit Timah Hill...

Now how on Earth could that even happen?

Well... we made a wrong turn right from the start.

We were walking AWAY from the hill.

After that was a lot of walking... and walking... and walking...

And... we hit a dead end.

This adventure was followed by a whole load of grumpy kids going... "GERMAINE!!! This is all your fault!!!"

(Yes, Germaine now owes a tub of ICE CREAM for CG next week)

We saw a lorry and Army Truck and considered fainting so that they would drive us back.

In the end, we turned back, repulsed at the idea of walking all the way back.

Marcus, the natural scout found a steep opening in the forest and walked out.

We followed behind and soon found ourselves at BUIKIT PANJANG.

We ended the day by stuffing our faces in Ice Cream at Island Creamy.

It made for a good ending.

On the whole, we accomplished nothing we set out to do...

But the generally feeling in the air was that it was a pretty cool adventure.

So guys... ready to get lost at sea during the next outing?

Love,

Germs

CG Outing!

Hi everyone!

Details for tommorrow's outing is up.

Location: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Time: 10am

Place to meet: Woodlands Bus Interchange

Attire: Sporty and cooling

What to bring: Yourself, food, drinks, games

What to expect: Food, Fun and Fellowship

Tommorrow's outing is simple, explore around BTNR as adventurous people and climb to the summit together as a team to have and enjoy our picnic! Hope to see you at there! :)

-WeiSheng

CG Outing

Hi CG,

Sorry for not updating sooner.
We recently had to postpone a CG outing because of H1N1.
The next outing will be this coming Sat - 18 July.

Here are our choices for the outing:
1. East Coast Park
2. Tree Top Walk
3. Kayaking at MacRitchie Reservoir

(Just so you know, my vote's on kayaking. But it's your outing!!!)
Please vote for the one you want to do the most!
Either post it in the comments section or sms me at 98212425.
I'll consolidate the votes and give you guys the confirmed location and time by Friday.
Please choose and vote NOW!!!

Germs

Hey all, due to the H1N1, tomorrow's CG outing to East Coast Park would be cancelled. Hence, tomorrow we won't be having any sessions. Thank you.

Hey people! [: Remember the youth Alpha?

Venue: One of the chuch rooms[:
Time: 7.15pm to 9.30pm
Date: Saturday, 27th June '09
What is there? : Dinner & a short talk

Hi! [:

Dear all, actually i also don't know much details regarding the alpha dinner. So when confirmed the details then i'll post up the details ok? Will most probably be before Friday, 26th June' 09. I'll try. Thank you.
Celestine! [:

Cg outing! [:

Cg outing

Date : 27th June'09

Time: 10am to {about 4pm}

Venue to play: East Coast Park

Venue to meet at 10am and also leaving at 10am then go together: Woodlands MRT. *Please don't be late.________.

*Please do inform Germaine if you're going before thursday, 25th June'09.

Thanks a million, Celestine! [:

A reminder to all:

Hello.
Okays this weeks cg will be as normal, it will be:
Time: 2.30pm
Venue: The normal room [of course in church]-.-

Okay then yea. Its just some obvious info[:

hey guys(: today was OPEN SATURDAY. the people who organised this event were RENFRED, CEDRIC,  AMANDA LU, AMANDA TAN and PAULINE. thank this people for making it a success! [APPLAUSE]

this are some pictures of the our members who went. let me tell u hu went. WEI SHENG, IAN, MARCUS and JC. shall i count again? WEI SHENG, IAN, MARCUS and JC. im sure i dun haf to do dat again.

there were 4 newcomers at the event so yeah APPLAUSE again!(: 

MARCUS in his grp building a newspaper tower. he looks so enthu!(:

JC in his grp. they did a ship-like structure. it looked lik the star cruise kind of thing.

IAN and WEI SHENG were in the same grp(: they did a duck kind of thing which looked lik a dog. no offence!hehes

MARCUS in his grp photo. sry abt e others. PAULINE took ur grp photo! i dun haf it. sry!

heyys guys

How have you guys been?Have you guys been doing your QT?i hope you guys have been doing it regularly or at least once a week!hahas.

Now is the holidays season so those who have done well GOOD JOB! but for those who have not done that well then JIAYOUS!hahas

People!People!People!

Give some suggestions for the CG outing in june!the leaders are cracking their brains already.hahas.lets lighten their weight load!(:

so yeah,tag your suggestions(:


,aMANduh!lu-SER(:

Two Kinds Of Wisdom

This is from James 3:13-17

1. What is one thing you would ask for if God answers only one of your prayer requests?
2. What did King Solomon asked for? [ans: Wisdom.]
3. Why did he ask God for that? [ ans: He wants to have a discerning heart to govern his people.]

Introduction: [ 2 Timothy3:14-17.]

• In verse 15, what are the Holy Scriptures able to do?

Ans: Makes you wise for Salvation through Faith.

• All of Scripture is useful for...?

Ans: Teaching, Rebuking , Correcting and Training in righteousness.

• Will knowing the Word Of God help you do good works? Why?

Ans: Yes. As you walk in the ways of the Lord, he will guide you[:

Question and Answer Time[:

How has James described wisdom previously? [Hint: James 1:5-8]
Ans: James described wisdom as the ability to make wise decisions under difficult circumstances.

" Wisdom is the ability to discern God's hand in human circumstances and apply heavenly judgment in earthly situations." --John Blanchard

Searching for Evidence:
What is the evidence of wisdom in James, verse 3:13 ?
Ans: The democracy of his good life and deeds done in humility.

Earthly wisdom VS Heavenly Wisdom:
Earthly wisdom:

1. Envy
2. Self-seeking
3. Confusion
4. hypocrisy
5. strife
6. lust/ covet

Heavenly Wisdom:

1. humility
2. peace
3. gentle
4. willing years to yield
5. mercy

What does Earthly wisdom produce?
Disorder & Evil Practice
What does Heavenly wisdom produce?
Harvests righteousness.

Keyword Search:
Earthly wisdom

• A heart at peace gives life into the body, but envy rots the bones. [Proverbs 14:30]
• Do nth out of selfish ambition or vain conceit , but in humility consider others better than yourselves. [ Philippians 2:3]

• For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints.[ 1 Corinthians 14:33]

Heavenly wisdom

• To slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. [ Titus 3:2]
• Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [ 1 Peter5:5]
• Love may be sincere. Hate what is evil,cling to what is good. [ Romans 12:9]
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. [ Matthew 5:9]
• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. [ Hebrews 12:11]
  

Home blessing + last week's pics

Home Blessing

Hey all, there will be home blessing this Friday (22nd May) for those of you who can make it. We will go to one of the blocks near the church to distribute rice, along with Youth Alpha flyers. Let's meet at 7pm at church for a quick dinner before heading to distribute the stuff.

Don't worry about what to say when we go distribute the stuff, the leaders will be guiding you guys along. It's a great opportunity for you guys to learn and experience what our church has been doing for the community. We hope you'll be able to go!

Last week...

We celebrated the Birthdays of all the May babies last week during CG. Check out the Chocolate Truffle Cake below! Happy 14th Birthday guys... do you feel any older yet?



After that, we had our DIY pizza-making CG session. All you guys had to do was dump the ingredients on the prata/crust and have us toast them to perfection. The ingredients did not appear out of nowhere or cut themselves. Your poor leaders actually had to meet up on Friday night to go buy the ingredients, cut them up and lug the huge toaster there! You guys better appreciate the effort!!!

Well, the good thing was that many of you did turn up. Yay! At least our effort did not go to waste.

May Open Sunday Pictures!