No Small Dreams by Jon Walker

“The servant . . . said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’ The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that!’” Matthew 25:24–26 (MSG)

Several years ago, as editor of an online newsletter for Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, I wrote a headline for an article on altar calls. But I typed out alter calls, and failed to catch the error before it was sent around the world! Rick responded by saying, “I want everyone on my staff to make at least one big mistake a week. If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not trying anything new.” His point was that he didn’t want us to be afraid to try something innovative and creative, even if it meant risking failure. There should be no small dreams for those belonging to God.

In Matthew 25, Jesus spoke about three servants: One given ten talents, which he doubled; one given five talents, which he doubled; a third given one talent, which he buried in a hole, in essence, saying, “I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to take any risks.” When the master found out, he was furious.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases the master’s response as: “That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?” (Matthew 25:26 MSG).

There’s another word for risk-taking, it’s faith. But if we’re not taking any risks—if we’re walking in a way that does not require faith — then we’re being faith-less.

Jesus said, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV).

God wants to set you up for a Blessing

Ruth 2:12 "The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

Have you ever wondered why, in some Bible stories, God asked the people to give what little they had to Him? It may appear cruel, but the truth is that God was setting them up for a blessing! God's way is to use whatever we have, and multiply it back to us once we put it in His hands.The widow of Zarephath had only a handful of flour and a little oil to make one last meal for her son and herself before they faced starvation. But she trusted God and used a portion of the little that she had to make a cake for the prophet Elijah. And God rewarded her by making sure that her bin of flour was not used up and her jar of oil did not run dry until the drought ended. (1 Kings 17:8–16)

Similarly, the boy who gave his little lunch of five loaves and two small fish to Jesus not only ate well, but he also saw it being used to feed more than 5,000 people with 12 baskets full of leftovers! (John 6:1–13)Whenever we give what little we have to God, whether it is money, time or energy, it opens up our hearts so that God can fill us up with more. And when we give our lives to God, we can trust Him to make things right for us and to be the rewarder of our faith.

When Ruth, a childless Moabite widow, left the comfort of her home to follow her mother-in-law Naomi and the God of Israel back to a foreign land (Ruth 1:16), she was given a full reward by the Lord. God gave Ruth protection and ensured that she was well-provided for through Boaz, a wealthy relative who took on the role of kinsman-redeemer for her and Naomi. (Ruth 2:9, 4:9–10)Beloved, as you trust God with what you have today, know that He loves you and is setting you up for more blessings. So expect to see even more of His provision and abundance in the days to come!

What is Christian Music??

Music is a powerful medium or tool that is either used for the Lord or Satan. In order for us to fully understand what music is, and more importantly, what Christian music is, we need to understand what Jesus says about true worshippers in John 4:24. These are the kind of worshipers whom the Father is seeking; those who worship Him in spirit and truth. When Abraham took his son Isaac to offer him before the Lord as a sacrifice (Genesis 22), he said to his servants, "Stay here! we will worship and then come back to you." Worship is a sacrifice, not a feeling. Whether we feel like worshiping or not, we worship by faith. The writer of Hebrews says, Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.


(Hebrews 13:15) The Lord is the author of music. In heaven, the angels and elders are worshiping before the throne of God day and night (Revelation 5:11-12). We were created to praise Him: This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise. (Isaiah 43:21)In Isaiah 14:11-21 and Ezekiel 28:12-19, we see that Lucifer was an angel created by God, and he was created with music in him. On account of his beauty he became proud, and led a rebellion in heaven against the Lord. Satan, or Lucifer as he was called before the fall, was an archangel together with Michael and Gabriel. Satan rebelled against the Lord and was thrown out of heaven down to earth, he and those angels who rebelled with him (Revelation 12:7-12). As a result of his fall, Satan no longer has a pure creative anointing in him. Satan is a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44).


There is no truth in him. Consequently, Satan, who is the god of this world system (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the prince of this world, is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2). Those still in darkness follow him, as he is their master. We need to have a clear understanding of this.Now Satan distorts and corrupts music and everything else that he can, as he is acutely aware of its power. The message of today's music, especially among the youth, is predominately rebellion, sex, drugs, violence, etc. All this is a fruit of who the devil is.True praise and worship brings us before the throne of God, and we are filled with adoration for who He is and what He has done on the cross. Hallelujah!

Paul said in Romans 11:16 that if the root is holy, the plant is also holy. This is why we need to stay with the root and keep the root holy in our praise and worship.If the roots of the music we play in church are of the world, then the beat and the rhythm will be worldly, and this will cause our flesh and our emotions to come alive, not our spirit. We will find ourselves singing a song to a beat or a rhythm that doesnt bring us close to the Lord at all, but rather excites our flesh.The music of the world and the spirit of the world should be kept far from the church, never to be mixed in order to accommodate the youth. The spirit of the world and the Spirit of the Lord will never mix, just as darkness and light have no fellowship. I don’t believe we are called to compromise on this issue (2 Corinthians 6:14 and 1 John 1:5).

We have been called to freedom, but we are encouraged not to use our freedom to gratify our fleshly desires (Galatians 5:13). Far too many Christians are either ignorant or deceived in this area of music - consequently the enemy has a great stronghold in the lives of thousands of wonderful, sincere born again Christians, who in freedom listen to all kinds of secular and Christian music to their spiritual detriment. True worship will cause us to sing and praise the Lord from our hearts. We will be full of passion once again, and we will have a true zeal to serve the Lord and love Him.

Many Christian groups and bands are singing songs that have Christian lyrics, but when you listen to it carefully and use a bit of discernment, you can feel that it's devoid of the anointing of God. It doesnt take you before the throne and cause gratitude to fill your heart, but it simply stirs up your flesh and emotions. We are not looking for entertainment in church, are we? Surely this is not the race we have been called to run. We come to church to meet with the Lord and His people. When we are in His presence - the presence of a holy God - we can see our true spiritual state, and if needs be we can repent before Jesus and grow into a spiritual people.

Praise and worship is not an outward show of jumping up and down, or screaming, shouting and dancing. However, if the Spirit of the lord leads us that way its great, but we cannot do this by law or technique. Remember that its neither by might nor power, but by the Spirit that we enter in and praise Him (Zechariah 4:6). Praise and worship is an attitude of heart before the Lord - we come before Him by faith, not by our feelings. Our praise and worship is an expression of our hearts and lives. We are stating how grateful we are before Him, and how our lives are broken because of His grace. This is truly wonderful. We should always be so grateful for our salvation, and appreciative of His Spirit that lives within us. If this is not the case, we simply worship and praise the Lord with instruments and our emotions and flesh.


Conclusion

The Lord wants to raise up true worshipers and worship leaders. It’s not about how well you can sing or play an instrument, but it’s about how much you are allowing the Lord to work in your heart and in your life. This brings a fragrance of worship
This post was written by:
Basil - who has written 1 posts on christianyouthblog.com.

Emotional Worship... check yourself..

When you look at the music in the Christian Church today, a lot of it is geared to stirring up the emotions, bringing emotional revival that fires you up and gets you pumped to go out and be a Christian!

It’s all fake, I am sorry to say, but it’s the sad truth. I became so aware of it recently and I started to try and decipher between when I was praising with my heart, with my head or if it was emotional. I started to get a bit paranoid! If I felt any emotion welling up in me, I would stop myself and say "No… That’s just emotional…" But with guidance, I realized that I’m human and I have emotions and a brain and they are not wrong!

Luke 10 vs 27 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” So all I have to do is come to God with everything and just go for it! I will be careful which songs I worship with “and try find the one with a real anointing, that feed my spirit. If I get emotional or if it only feeds me info to my brain, I don’t have to worry about that. I just need to make sure my heart is open to the conviction of the spirit and humble enough to repent when God convicts me. Let’s loves God more than we love our emotions!

This post was written by:
Stephen - who has written 2 posts on christianyouthblog.com.

Arise Shine

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. " - Barack Obama 2008

Young people.. King Josiah was used by God at the age of 8.. how many of you are older?? Let your light shine.. what are you waiting for??

How does one write a worship Song?

This is the background to the song Savior King.

Our Friend Hunter...

Every generation of young people has his/her own specific flavor and passions. This group of young leaders are our current Youth leaders for 2008 . Their passion seems to be in the area of worship. This bunch is serious about their music and make up the majority of the worship instrumentalist in our church today.

This picture was taken at a Leaders' Retreat in Simuti. The little guy in red is Hunter our mascot for the trip. He simply attached himself to us and followed the Youth wherever they went.

We met him on the night of the Simuti Youth Service. He was the youngest Youth! Next morning as we were having breakfast.. he was there. As you can see.. he loves durians for breakfast. Dennis, however, is happier with bread and Milo. He may be with the Youth but next to Hunter he looks like a lau ah pek!! Perspective lah..

After breakfast, he followed us to pray before Sunday service... His brother is Keith's friend.

The girls thought he was adorable and if they could they would have packed him into the car like Kung Fu Panda! But seriously.. look at him.. can you resist?

Hunter goes to Primary One next year. Pray for him. In Simuti not many children enter school and finish their education. Most of them quit school after SPM to look for jobs in the city never to return to the Simuti except for festive occassions.

His Amazing Grace.. By Eugenie Tan

For me to be in this picture today is the story of incredible love, determination and the amazing grace of God. I share this with you in the hopes that it will encourage you that nothing is impossible with God.

My father, George Tan passed away suddenly in a blasting accident when I was 11 and my sister was about 9. Dad had only very recently received Jesus into his life and our lives as a small family was comfortable.

Our lives were forever changed the day we lost dad. My mum, suddenly had to look for a job and my sister and I were left to fend for ourselves at home.There were times when mum's stall could barely earn RM20 for the week and it was hard going. But mum always made sure we had food on the table and money in our pockets for school.

I am really grateful to my mum and all her struggles to provide for us. During our school years in St. Teresa, we never had any new text books as most of them had to be on loan. But God sent me some great teachers, they motivated me and some even applied for scholarships and bursaries on my behalf.

It was tough on my mum. She was working two jobs and trying to give us the best. She would send us for tuition either in between work or after her work finished. She was often exhausted and tired reaching home after work at 12 midnight. Later in my upper form, Uncle Fredrick from church offered to send me for tuition and that saved mum quite a few trips for that year.

I guess from a mum's point of view she also wanted to give sis and me a comfortable life. And so she worked hard to provide for tuition fees, Astro program and the occasional outing. Later after her PMR, my sis also worked part time so that she could have some extra pocket money.

All this time however, my family was never without help, love or support from different church members. I really don't know what my family would have done without them. They were there to cheer us on, encourage us and stand by us .

As I grew older my ambition had always been to be a medical doctor. I envied many of my friends whose parents could so easily send them for medical studies abroad. My only hope to get into medicine then was to score high for my STPM. Unfortunately, I only managed an A and 2 B's. It was hard for me. Unlike many of my friends I had no other option but to take what the Government was offering me.. Environmental Science. I remember talking to Aunty Su back then and I recalled she said to give it a try because perhaps God had a better plan for me... If He did then, I couldn't see it back then but I decided if this was the only way to get a degree , I would accept the offer.

Mid way through my first year a government official called me and said that they had noted I had asked to study medicine and given my present grades in my first year they were offering to send me on a scholarship for a degree in Medicine. I was really overjoyed.. my dream come true!

But it meant leaving my friends and my mum. So after much discussion, prayer and thought I turned down their offer and decided to finish my environmental studies.


This year I graduated the top of my class and the top student of my faculty. As a top student with a top score in my studies my university has offered me a scholarship to complete a Doctorate program by-passing a Master's degree. This to me is an awesome opportunity and a tremendous testimony of God's grace and favor upon my life. Aunty Su came for my awards ceremony and I told everyone she was my "God -Ma"!

When my dad passed away my mum could easily have given up on Christ and grown bitter at the thought of being a widow at such a young age. But my mum sent us faithfully to church and encouraged me and sis to join the youth team. My life's testimony so far is that God has just shown me favor after favor with my teachers, friends, professors and educational opportunities. He has brought people into my life at just the right time and led me to relationships with many people like Uncle Fredrick, Uncle Brian, Uncle Jeff and Aunty Su and with Aunty Teck Hui, Aunty Madelyn and Aunty Lily and so many others at GNF who have stood by me and my family all these years. He has always put my sister and I at the right place at exactly the right time. I really give Him all the glory today .

Honestly my graduation is a testimony that our God is an awesome and mighty God. He has made a way for me at every crucial moment of my student life. Keep Praising Him!

Seer Fire Teens

These are some of the original Seer Fire Teens.

Bottom left to right: Audrey Chin, Priscilla, Moi.. nine years ago, Eugenie Tan, Andrew Tan
Top left to right: The first two girls are from Simuti, then comes Amy Lee, Sharlene Tai in yellow, Melissa Teo, 2 Simuti Chickies, Kelvin Yii in yellow and in the shadows Alan lee.

This was a great bunch of kids to work with. They were enthused, showed initiative and because of them I went up that Mountain for the first time and was tremendously blessed.

Audrey has moved to LA and studies general science with the aim of taking medicine at the University of San Diego. She is in her second year and is doing well. Audrey's greatest hang up at this age was.. fear. Fear of people, fear of insects.. not quite unlike my Rachel today!! But she has grown into a tremendous young woman of God and a prayer leader in her Youth Group.

Eugenie Tan recently graduated with top honors at the local UPM in the area of Environmental Sciences. She was the top student in her field and class. Eugenie's struggles began when her dad passed away when she was 11 years old. She is now completing her Doctorate studies and is faithfully serving in her church.

Sharlene is in Melbourne. She studied to be a lawyer but apparently is trying her hand at something more malleable!! She dances and has her own dance blog.

Melissa is graduating as a lawyer cum business graduate in Perth. I wonder if she still likes Cream of Broccoli soup...


Hahah.. Amy.. Amy was the darling of the group as she was one of the youngest and least mature at the time.. She once asked me a strange question.. Aunty Su how do you tell the difference between a male and female cat.. okkkkkk.. She was about 12 then. She has since learned to tell the difference! She's at Curtin Uni studying to be a Physio Therapist.. so small but so strong!! A real cili padi. She favors short skirts and loves clothes... and is a passionate follower of Christ!

Her brother Alan works in Perth.. Last time he came down he and Eugenie tried to shock me by drinking.. sigh.. tak rasa on me.. I remember once the kids had a water balloon fight at Madelyn's and somehow throughout the whole event.. he stayed absolutely dry!! Just when all the dripping kids came in.. he pushed through them and declared how dry he was and they immediately carried him outside and hosed him down! Alan was a Youth Leader when I last heard. He comes back and mentors some of the kids in today's Youth group.

Kelvin Yii.. is a super hot young man on fire for God. Kelvin is studying in Russia to be a doctor. He preaches part time and is very active in his Uni outreach and church activities.. Kelvin is our itinerant speaker at large as he dedicates his summers to the Youth of Gnf every year. He was one small cili padi and naughty bad boy when he was younger... it's amazing to watch him grow into his destiny and calling in Christ. We are truly blessed by Kelvin and his yearly ministry.


The point is.. no matter who you are today or what your circumstances may be.. you will eventually move on.. Life isn't about being 16 all the time.. Tomorrow eventually gets here and then you'll be amazed at how far God has brought you along ...

What modern art colour is this ???

Hmmm when I wished for some young people to spruce up the blog and make it more Youth Friendly, I had no idea it would turn out black.. looks like an obit.. not a blog... Hoi!!!! Black pantang oii!!!!

Welcome..

I created this blog for my kids at GNF. They are a bunch of passionate kids who love to worship and dance in church. They often amaze me with their talents and gifts. We have some who love to dance, some who love to sing, play musical instruments, a talented Yoyo-ist, a Ballroom dancer and an enthusiastic computer manipulator.. who thinks I cant do anything with my canggih computer... but most of all they are young people who love God.

At times they leave me speechless with their tongue twisting jargon.. lame, cool, hot, ah beng, ah lian, snogs... eh! Being with the Youth has taught me to constantly expect greater things in God for just when I thought something was difficult I'd see a young person arise and achieve the impossible by His Spirit. I also credit the young people with my evolving and passionate love for worship and the ability to learn new songs. I also credit them for keeping me young!


1998...
Each Youth group I have had the honor to guide has had it's own flavors and pool of talents. When I first started with Madelyn in 1998 we basically had the passion to just provide an outlet for the young people in our church to express themselves in God. Back then they called themselves the Seer Fire Teens, believing God for the gift of listening and being able to ask of God what He wanted of them and their lives.

This Seer Fire batch have grown up to be young men and women of God.. Most of them not in Sarawak anymore but still very close to my heart. Every once in a while they come home and now they drive and take me out for dinner.. insisting they pay for me as I had done for them... and with great pride and pleasure I go along with them. Many in this team are now graduates and are working overseas.

Now...
I have been with the Youth over 10 years now and I am no longer young (in a physical sense! But I can still jump around to their music!) The current batch of youth have risen up to the positions of Youth leaders from a humble start in our Sunday school. They do not call themselves the Seer Fire Teens but amazingly they move in the area of worship and in Joel 2:28-32 more than any group I have seen. Watching them grow in Christ has been one of the most rewarding and exciting times of my life. My blog may not be as exciting as theirs but if you want to see a bunch of Kids reach for their destiny in Christ then follow our journey and pray with us as journey with Christ. Enjoy our blog!


p.s.: If this blog evolves, pictorially, it will be because some young person thought I needed sprucing up! This is both a disclaimer and a hope!