My turn to give a testimony

Just wanna give thanks to God for something quite extraordinary that happened last week (7 Nov 10). Jan and I were preaching at the Maranatha youth group, and were sharing about being open to the Spirit and letting church not be "church as usual".

During the altar call, we were ministering to different people, and God was touching different individuals as usual. I was praying for the pastor's daughter, and during the prayer, I spoke in tongues as was prompted to by the Lord. What was unexpected was that the pastor's daughter understood the tongues I spoke!--what happened is that she had been in Europe for 3-6 months, travelling to different places, and she herself knew how to speak Dutch. So she came to ask me after the service whether I actually knew Dutch. I told her that I knew German, but not a word of Dutch. So she then told me that during the time I was speaking in tongues, I was actually speaking in a known language, i.e. Dutch! Something about "you are loved by the Lord" (and another phrase which I cannot remember, need to go and ask her again). I was indeed very shocked. I know about the interpretation of tongues, but this is the first time for me to experience the Spirit speaking in a known language. Hehehehe. Very shocked and in amazement. Truly, the Lord's works include "signs and wonders"--"wonders" meaning things that just leave you in amazement!

From Jan: Vision during Service- 26 Sep 2010

26 September 2010. Today, during church service, as Yan Ying was praying, I saw a vision of a little girl running/playing. This girl seemed to represent me…I felt that the girl is like me. And in the background it was daytime…it was a place like a playground or a piece of empty space for playing. There were trees around and I could hear the sound of children laughing and screaming as they were playing in the background. It is hard to describe the exact sound, but it definitely was the sound of children having fun. I didn’t see them, but I could hear them. When Yan Ying was praying about the rain, she said how as the rain comes, we need to prepare umbrellas in anticipation of the coming rain. Uncannily, Chris already intended from the onset of our time of prayer/worship to sing the song, "Send Your Rain". A thought came to my mind: the reason why the children were laughing the way they did was because they were playing in the rain.

It was a very vivid vision. I really felt as if I was at the playground, and when it ended I opened my eyes and I was quite shocked to be back in reality in church.

What I took away from the vision is: We are childlike before the Father, but not childish.

Some thoughts from Richard Hays...

I love this snippet from Richard Hays. The context of the quote is an interview that Hays' student did with him, and the question is about Richard Hays' fantastic book about ethics in the New Testament. Apparently, Richard Hays argues that the New Testament does not see the concept of love as a centre that can unify what the entire New Testament has to say about ethical behaviour.

Well, I won't state my stand outright now, but below is the interview question, as well as Hays' interesting and potentially provocative response.

Richard B. Hays is the George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke University. He read for a B.A. in English and an M.Div. in New Testament from Yale University, and received his Ph.D. from Emory University.
__________________________________________________________________

A question submitted by one of my readers: Richard Burridge in his Imitating Jesus criticizes your Moral Vision of the NT for a “too easy dismissal of love as a key element for NT ethics” (p359). How would you respond to Burridge specifically, and what role do you see “love” having in NT ethics?

Richard, like some other readers, has not quite grasped my point about “love.” I was not saying that love is unimportant, or that I’m somehow opposed to it! I was saying that “love” cannot function as a focal image or common denominator to bring the diverse NT witnesses into a relation of unity. There are two reasons for this: (1) several of the major NT writings have very little to say about love (Mark, Acts, Hebrews, Revelation); (2) “love” by itself is a concept, not an image; it must be given narrative specification by the story of the cross. (That is why I propose the cross as one of three focal images for NT ethics, along with community and new creation.) Otherwise, “love” cannot be distinguished from whatever the Beatles vaguely meant when they sang, “All you need is love.” [I hasten to add that I am a great Beatles fan and was delighted to receive as a Christmas present the new remastered complete anthology of their recordings.] It seems to me that Richard Burridge’s book exemplifies precisely the problem I am worried about, because for him “love” turns out to be equivalent to the uncritical inclusion of everyone. (I am of course painting with a broad brush.) My fuller comments on his book are forthcoming soon in a review essay that will appear in the Scottish Journal of Theology.

Love is of course of central importance in several NT writings, especially the Pauline Letters, the Gospel of John, and 1 John. I certainly believe that Christians are called to love because God first loved us in Jesus Christ. And this calling has enormous significance for NT ethics. But if we are looking for a synthetic image that can account for how the diverse NT writings hang together, love won’t do the job. Another way of putting the point is that Burridge conflates the synthetic task of NT ethics with the hermeneutical task, with the result that “love” becomes a trump card that overrides the prophetic and critical witness of NT texts less congenial to Burridge’s (generally laudable) concerns.

A Song We Must All Remember

This is a Vineyard song, which lyrics are always coaxing me, prodding me out of my shell. I think it's a song The Outreach must never forget. It's called "Resting Place".

Heaven is My throne, the earth is My footstool;
where is the house you will build for Me?
Whom of you will hear the cry of My heart?
Where will my resting place be?

Here, O LORD, have I prepared for You a home;
long have I desired for You to dwell.
Here, O LORD, have I prepared a resting place;
and here, O LORD, I wait for You alone.

Selah...

Message from Theologian In Residence

Hallo Hallo,

You'll be happy to know that I am thinking of your BI notes, and will sit down to write them soon...and I am rather confident of this seeing how I seem to be writing a lot of theology-related stuff recently for people, haha. I just sent a long email about the Trinity to my friend, and have started an email series for my Covenant Evangelical Free Church cell group about the similarities and differences between Catholics and Protestants. And I am loving it; although I really, really like what I'm studying now, I do find myself wishing I was studying theology instead, heh.

Anyway, before I put up your BI notes, I am going to embark on another project first. I am thinking of writing a post on revival - basically, it will about what revival really is from a New Testament perspective (and yes, by saying that, I Am saying that a lot of preachers give really inadequate definitions of it).

But as part of that project, I also do want to hear what questions you guys have about this thing that so many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches call "revival". I plan to dedicate a significant part of my post to a Q&A about the topic of revival; so please go ahead and use the comments link to post your questions. Fire away! Don't hold back. No question too big...or controversial :D Questions will be gathered one week from now and be answered promptly.

So, what's on your mind? :)

Things to Pray Abt (I)

Hi guys,

Please keep the following people in prayer:

1. Meihu: a guy you all haven't met, but will be joining us in the Outreach soon. He has a special ministry: caring for those who are unloved, depressive, suicidal -- very hardcore cases. Pray for him. As soon as he decided to set up a CARE ministry to help these people, he's under serious spiritual attack.

2. Daniel: pray for me that I will have God's grace. Working till 10 p.m. every night. Meetings till 6.30 p.m. everyday, not to mention the emotional strain of dealing with the kids. Hehe.

3. Chris: under some attacks, and had some recent breakthrus, but obv the devil is stepping up his efforts to attack him. Pray for protection.

Anyone else has prayer requests to add?

Thanks guys. Pls pray! Arigatoz!!!!

Dan