Tithing

One of literature I loved best and does touch on tithing and money is the testimony of Brother Andrew in God's Smuggler. It was a time when he was at Glasgow studying to be a missionary. He was in a team of 5 students on a practical evangelism trip going around Scottland for four weeks. Each student was given a one pound banknote for this practical evangelism trip, they will not ask for any money, it was an exercise on trust. Furthermore, each boy will have to return the one pound note as they return to the school after four weeks.

Brother Andrew's team was faithful, and was strict on tithing. Each time they receive any money, they gave away their tithes immediately within 24 hours. Another team was lenient on tithing, they did not gave away their tithe money immediately, they kept the money for 'emergencies". After four weeks, this other team ends up owing money to hotels, lecture halls and markets all over Scottland. On the contary, Brother Andrew's team never lack and in fact they have ten pounds ahead after four weeks.

There is a sign in front of the missionary school that Brother Andrew went which said

"Have Faith In God"


Mal 3:8 - 11
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ben Hur

Ben Hur, Son of Hur. Finally read Ben Hur, I never realise that it is such a wonderful book. The author Lewis Wallace managed to bring back to life the environment during Jesus' time. I personally appreciate that part very much. The environment on politics, economy, social and also technology. Brilliant! A sure recommend for reading. We, Christians would appreciate the Gospels more if we can actually grasp the environment then better. Cannot benchmark it with the environment we have here today. A mistake that many Christians did and had led to confusion. :)

Pray

Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The group from our church's Indonesian Ministry has been praying for prayer requests that were brought forward. These are simple people, not much educated, just simple people praying in sheer obedience. And praise to God, we see many of these prayers came to past quickly.

Just pray. Jesus hears.

Scarcity

This is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

Scarcity (also called paucity) is the problem of infinite human needs and wants, in a world of finite resources. In other words, society does not have sufficient productive resources to fulfill those wants and needs. Alternatively, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be pursued at the same time; trade-offs are made of one good against others. In an influential 1932 essay, Lionel Robbins defined economics as "the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses."

Scarcity. Most modern man believe in it. Is it really true? We have 6.6 billion population on earth. Is it true that the dear earth cannot support us? Really? Or have we screwed up the way we should be living? Or have we gone greedy?

John 10:10

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Aaron & Hur

Exo 17:8 - 15

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi:

Ps Lydia taught on team ministry healing prayer. The prayer uses the model of Moses, Joshua, Aaron and Hur. Joshua is fighting the Amalekites; Moses is the great leader of Israel; Aaron and Hur is by Moses' side supporting Moses.

The analogy is this as we pray for the sick.

The person being prayed for is Joshua and his army, he is fighting the Amalekites, which is the sickness. The one praying is Moses. The rest are Aaron and Hur, supporting Moses. Wonderful teaching, we see miracles even as we simply obediently pray and believe.

Wanna zoom in to Aaron and Hur. Many times we are taking the role of Aaron and Hur in ministry. We are not Moses the key person doing the ministry, just side kicks, most of the time not doing much but looked important and busy. Plain busy-bodies. Or is it so? Not how Bible describe it. Moses' hand grew weary over time, but the battle is far from over, and the Israelite need to see Moses' hand and the rod to prevail in battle.

Aaron and Hur did the kindest deed here. They took and stone for Moses, so that he can sit down. Not bad :). They also keep holding up Moses' hands ensuring that the Israelite prevails and finally win the battle over the Amalekites.

It is a long time, the sun is going down, :( Aaron and Hur is tired too. Who holds their hand then? The Bible is silent on this.

Guess we "kay ley fei" do have some important duties and responsibilities on hand. Yes, support our leaders in church, support those who are in the ministry. Support them, be kind to them, lend them a stool that they may sit down and rest. Looks like their hands are weary too.

The Global Economy Crisis

Such gloom. Today, Titan at Pasir Gudang is offering VSS to around 200 employees, about 20% of their workforce. This is so near to home. Yesterday the Second Finance Minister reported that the economy downturn is here to stay, probably for 2 years, and urge the people to accept the fact.

It can be devastating for someone to lose their job especially those who are from the middle income group, supporting a family and without much savings in the bank.

In times like these, I ask the Lord. How? Then I realise the economy is correcting itself. This sequence will come, sooner or later. The banks and the government has been greedy and has not been responsible in maintaining the economy for far too long. It is correction time. It is going to be painful for so many people.

Pray.

Children :)

Mat 18:3

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Energy Conservation and Saving money on your next electricity bill

Reduce your electricity consumption with these energy conservation tips Po

If you pay the hydro bill directly, or if it is included in your rent or you are environmentally conscious, here are my tips to lower your hydro bills, most of which I have enacted, cutting my usage from about 13 or 14 kwh per day down to about 6 kwh (Or a reduction from over 400 kwh per month to under 250):

1. Turn off lights when not in use. Use "task lighting" rather than lighting the whole room unnecessarily for close work.

2. Replace incandescent lamps, (ie. regular light bulbs) with compact fluorescent lights. While more expensive to purchase, (prices continue to drop and they are now under $4 each in packages of 2 to 6 lamps.) they pay for themselves with time, taking 1/4 of the power and having a life of 7 to 10 times a long. They also generate much less heat which is a big bonus during the summer. You will get full life expectancy out of these lamps in open fixtures where the air can circulate and you will get a shorter life in a fully enclosed light fixture due to somewhat higher temperatures lowering the life of the internal electronic circuitry.

NOTE: do NOT use fluorescent lamps where it can get wet or in places of very high humidity like bathrooms because you do not want moisture getting into the electronics.

3. If you are going to use incandescent lamps, (ie. regular light bulbs,) use them with a light dimmer, so that when you don't need as much light you can dim the lights and use less power.

NOTE: Do NOT use a light dimmer on fluorescent or compact fluorescent lamps (CFL's). unless they are clearly marked that they are designed to be used with dimmers.

4. Dust your lamps and light fixtures with the power off. Even a thin layer of dust reduced light levels.

5. Unless absolutely necessary, use a fan rather than an air conditioner during the summer. Of course if you have asthma or other respiratory problems, a heart condition, or are a senior, your health is most important and you should continue to use your air conditioner. But you can always decide to lower the settings on the air conditioner from high to medium or low and set the temperature a bit higher.

6. Use window shades to reduce or block sunlight and heat during the summer, particularly if you have windows that receive direct sunlight.

7. Computers and particularly laser printers can really run up your power bills. Keep your printer turned off using the switch on the printer, when not in use. Some printers take as much power as 660 watts, the same as keeping a small microwave oven cooking continuously! We all have a tendency to keep the computer on if we are not using it because we don't want to wait a couple of minutes to boot up again, but if you are going to be away from the computer for a hour turn it off as you will save more power in that hour than that used to power one 14 watt compact fluorescent lamp for 24 hours.

8. While there are many small items you will not want to ever turn off such as clocks or perhaps your telephone answering machine, they are costing you too. A 7 watt clock or answering machine, adds up to 0.168 kWh per day. But there are many items which never turn off, they stay in standby mode eating up power. Examples are TV's, Video Cassette recorders, DVD players and Cable TV converters, though you might decide you want to keep your VCR or DVE player plugged in all the time if you don't want to reset their clocks. Each of these items eat up power, but by putting them on a power bar with a power switch (with prices starting at $5 each) you can often save in excess of 0.6 kWh per day (20 kwh/month). NOTE: If you have pay-TV services, particularly pay-per-view, you will want to keep your cable television converter powered up at all times, otherwise the cable company's system may have to reset you as a pay-user each time you turn the power back on to the converter,

9. Have a hairdrier? Use it sparingly and don't use the maximum heat setting, not only will you save energy, but your scalp will thank you!

10. Thaw, or partially thaw, frozen foods in the refrigerator before cooking.

11. Small appliances use less power than larger ones. Save money by using a microwave oven rather than a regular electric oven/stove. Use an electric kettle rather than a stovetop one. If you are buying a toaster, don't buy an extra long slot one, if you aren't going to use the extra long slots, because the extra energy / heat is just going to be wasted going up the open space. Cooking with a microwave oven typically uses less than half the energy of an electric stove/oven because it wastes less heat something to think about on a sweltering hot summer day. All that heat being given off of the stove is wasted energy. Of course there is a possible big downside to this, read: Microwave Ovens destroy food nutrients, Globe and Mail newspaper October 17, 2003. On the other hand, over cooking foods using regular ovens can also destroy nutrients.

12. When cooking do not open the door if it is possible to examine the food by looking through the window. You can turn off the heat a couple of minutes before the food is ready for stove-top cooking and several minutes in the oven to save money. Also remember to match the size of any pots or skillets you use on electric stove elements.

13. While I as a tenant have no control over what type of refrigerator the landlord supplies me with, only that it be a working one, when my 1985 "Energy Saver" was replaced (after breaking down in 2003) with a modern Energy Saver, it immediately saved me almost 1 kWh per day. Of course it will cost me in other ways since the landlord will include the cost of the new fridge in his costs when applying for any rent increase. But if there needs to be a replacement anyways, it might as well be a modern "Energy Saver" appliance.

14. Refrigerators: Keep the refrigerator section at between 2C and 5C (36 to 42° F,) and the freezer at -18C (0° F). These temperatures help ensure food safety, but lowering the temperatures further only wastes power. Don't overcrowd the fridge or freezer, freezers should not be more than 2/3's full. It is important that the refrigerator door closes tightly and forms a tight seal, otherwise, warm air will get in and the unit will have to work harder to keep things cool, costing more energy. If you can put a piece of paper between the door and the gasket and can easily pull the paper out when the door is closed, the gasket is probably worn out and should be replaced. Keep your fridge and the seal around the fridge door clean. Also, don't spend time and waste electricity by "grazing" in front of the refrigerator with the door open to browse through its contents.

15. Do at least two electricity audits of your home, one for the coldest month and one for the hottest. How much power are you using and where can you save? Remember: some of these items though turned on may not be on or fully on during their use but may cycle on an off such as Air Conditioners, etc. and their power usage is less in reality, than if you assume they are fully powered at all times

Genesis the Foundation

Rev Bill Eng preached on Genesis today. Sounded a little apologetic but surely an interesting approach. I will highlight a few interesting points that we all should ponder upon.

Gen 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

A statement of faith, there is no reason given.

Our attitude towards the Book of Genesis is utmost important. How we accept Genesis will determine how we accept the rest of the Bible. Adam was the first man, Jesus is the second Adam. If we cannot believe in the first Adam, how can we believe in the second Adam? If Adam is a legend, well, that would conclude that Jesus is a legend as well. It is utmost important that we believe in the Book of Genesis.

The Book of Genesis gave the account of creation, life, death, marraige, family, kingdom, nation, government, culture, sex, shame, moral, sin, knowledge of good and bad. God set the rules here in Genesis. It is here the answer to the beginning of things. You asked about why there is marraige; the answer is in Genesis. You asked why we wear clothing, the answer is here in Genesis; you asked why killing another is considered bad, the answer is here in Genesis.

Genesis is the foundation of our faith. The enemy had been very busy trying to destroy this foundation. He speak lies and deceive man into a ridiculous state of unbelieve.

The atheist do not believe in God. But it really takes equal level of faith to NOT BELIEVE in God as it takes to BELIEVE in God.

We need to pray, pay more attention and give due respect to this Book of Genesis.

Amazing Grace on Bass

Victor Wooten - Amazing Grace - video powered by Metacafe