Missed Church Again

I missed church again last week as I was having a nagging back ache for almost a week. I suspect there might be muscle tear when I was trying to lift heavy weights while stepping up a steep stair in the garden. I am now self medicating after dad bought some medication from the pharmacy. Even as I rest, I have to be careful not to break my titanium spectacles like I did a few years ago. At that time, my titanium specs was rubberband thin and extremely light, which was bought from Paris Miki. It was expensive and my heart ache when I broke the fragile frame while sleeping.

This time, I hope my back will heal quickly so that I can be more mobile and work more efficiently. Moving around is now a problem as I cannot stand up immediately without pain at the back. And to compound the problem, my gmail account was hacked into a few days ago when I inadvertently gave out my email password to world wide web. Little did I suspect that the con artist use the internet to fish for email details and use it to solicit money from all my contacts using my name. Well, I have recovered my gmail account and changed the password already. The con artist was very well prepared - he knew Google is going to block my email and even directed all incoming mails to another email of his!

Did not attend service last week

I did not attend last week's service as I had backache. Pastor Yeoh preached on the persecuted church. My friend who is a very motivated Christian, attended the service alone. And the local church has stopped giving out weekly bulletin to save money. Common, how much is 1 piece of bulletin that they cannot afford to print out every week as they used to. I think they are getting to have the cheap skate mindset even though it is a rich church with at least 3 million in the coffer. And to think that I have contributed thousands in the past few years of my tithes and offerings every week. So, I have decided to just give offering and not tithe anymore - I could save up a lot of money in the long run and perhaps pay a downpayment for another apartment unit for rental.

Tags : Penang church, tithes, church offerings, cheap skate, persecuted church, bulletin

Book of Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is a book of God's ordained wisdom to humankind. It teaches us to work until the day we die and not to be slothful, otherwise you have nothing to eat. There are many verses that talks about being diligent and to leave an inheritance to your children's children so that they will not starve. Your future generations will be blessed. In the book of Malachi, it tells you to tithe 10% of your income to your local church to be blessed as it is God's money after all. Giving an offering is easy because there is not fixed % of the amount but tithing is not for everyone - only for the enlightened and those who want to give back to Jesus.

Been Bless with a Job

Early this year, I read of the many stories of retrenchments, lay offs and unemployment by the millions worldwide. I must say that I have been blessed with a work at home job since February 2004 until now. Needless to say, I met my boss from the internet - initially he was my web site client and now I am assisting him in his sports building business. The web site that I designed has generated many enquiries which became clients for us. I guess this is God's providence for me because for an unlikely person to email me from the internet turned out to be my boss for the last 5+ years. Time flies and we have completed more than 100 different sports courts all over Malaysia.

God's Favor and Grace

We no longer live by the old 10 commandments that follows the law that causes bondage, sickness and weakness. We now live under God's favor and grace in the New Testament after Jesus' resurrection. It is no longer doing to please God but done by Jesus so that we can have our covenant with our Heavenly Father. Jesus was born poor so that we can be rich, he was lashed with 40 strokes so that we can be healed, he was forsaken, so that we can call God our Abba Father. Jesus received curses so that we can get his blessings as a child of God. So it is not by merit or work that we earn our place in heaven but to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour can we get to heaven for eternity - and that is a very very long time.

Don’t Grow Up Depressed - Listen to Pastor Joseph Prince’s Message CDs

Children who have been caned a lot unnecessarily will grow up being depressed adults. So parents, the more caning you do, the more harm you bring to your child. The old fashioned mentality is that the more caning they get, the better adults they will become. This is no longer true. Research has shown that depressed and unhappy people tend to fall sick and even get cancer. Hence, cancer is linked to depression. One way I unwind and relax is to listen to Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church message CDs. This guy is really funny and humorous. Plus the fact that he is very annointed by God and very humble despite his popularity around the world. And indeed New Creation Church is the best church in Suntec City, if not the world for Protestants. I simply love to hear Pastor Prince preach a good sermon. It is cathartic and better than any other feel good medication. Just Google around for Pastor Joseph Prince and you will find a lot of resources.

Psalms 1 and 2

Today's preaching was on the book of Psalms 1 and 2 from the Old Testament. I love reading Psalms as they guide you to live a prosperous and fulfilled life. I have also decided to continue tithing to church as a responsible church member. If no one contributes, how is the church going to feed its people, send money for missions and continue saving for the church building fund? I guess it takes revelation and a passionate love for Jesus to be tithers. Most other people are just tipping God with their offerings and I also noticed some don't give at all. My friend who became a Christian in 2004, the year the tsunami strike, has been tithing faithfully to church every week because he believes it is our Heavenly Father who prospers him to find favour with potential clients. That is why the company has projects month after month and the workers are happy working for us with continual work every day.