Permai Snapshot - Issue 34 (June 2020)

Permai Snapshot

Issue 34 June 2020

Connected by

the Lord

Sharing & Thanksgiving 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

We are in uncertain time. Our movements are restricted and social distancing is the norm now. One question is, “How have you been getting yourself connected with the church and God’s people?” As we practised ‘stay@home’ during Movement Control Order (MCO), we need not be alone. The church and our fellow believers in the Care Groups (CG) are our connections and encouragements during times of uncertainty and fear. We have about 20 care groups in our church and it is growing.

I hope by the time this newsletter is out, we will be allowed to come together physically to worship the Lord in the church and to fellowship with one another in the care groups again. The word of God says, “Let us …… not giving up meeting together.” Indeed the church did not give up. God provided Zoom and other means for the church to have fellowships and worship online.

By: Raymond Cha Despite MCO, the care groups were experiencing an increase in attendance in all their fellowships. Nothing can stop God’s call to His people to come and meet together. Two questions that I would normally ask someone whom I met for the first time in church, “Are you with a care group now?” If the answer is no, “Do you want to join a care group?”

My wife and I were invited to join the care group in July 2018. There were only 9 care group members in the group and Ps Chee Keong was our care group leader. Our normal session starts with worship and then the discussion of God’s word. After an hour, we move into prayers for members’ needs and also for the church. At the end, we spend some time to connect with one another and enjoy the food provided.

Two important activities happen during care group time. We fellowship with God and we fellowship with the people.

Our church named the fellowship groups care groups because we care for each other with the love that is from God. It is basically coming together to express our love for God and to show our love for one another. Our fellowship with the Lord gave us the opportunity to be strengthened in His truth and our fellowship with the people gave us the opportunity to strengthen each other with care and encouragements. This is the reason why active participation in a care group is essential and important for a growing believer.

At the end of 2018, Puchong-3 gave birth to a new care group called Puchong-4. Teacher Zhao who was with Puchong-3 left the group to form Puchong-4. The care groups are growing in numbers. By Aug 2019 Puchong-3 and Puchong-4 have about 15 members each. Teacher Zhao and I were delighted with such high numbers but we knew that it was not from us. It was God who placed this desire in the hearts of the church members to join. One by one they were enabled by God to join the care group.

More church members are seeking to join the care group. In Oct 2019, there were about ten church members who were not with any care group seeking to join a group. The church decided that it was good to form new care groups with these interested members.

The church initiated two actions: 1. Set up a gathering on 16th Nov 2019 to register all who were interested.

2. Pray and seek God to provide new care group leaders.

God enabled the church to form two new care groups. Bro Peter and Sister Leanne heard the call from God and committed themselves to lead a new group. Puchong-1 started their fellowship on 23rd Nov 2019 with 12 members. By the end of Feb 2020, God increased its numbers to 23 members.

All praise to God for building up the group. The formation of the second new care group was delayed because there were only 4 members waiting to join and there was no leader to lead a new group. The church’s prayer for a new leader and for more members intensified.

On 29th Dec, Bro David Kuan heeded the call to lead and a new English Care Group called Joy CG was formed. Joy CG had its first meeting on 10th Jan 2020 with 11 members. Today Joy CG has 13 active members in its group. All praise to God for building up the group. Currently many in PCMC and PPPP have yet to join a care group.

The church leadership believe that most of these members do have the desire to join a care group but were hindered by time constraints and other matters that require their commitments. Despite all these, we believe that God is the one who will open the way to enable each one to join.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you sincerely have the desire to join a Care Group, please pray this prayer for the Lord to enable you.

“Lord, I have the desire to join a care group to have fellowship with you and with your people.

Please remove obstacles and help me set aside time so that I am able to join a Care Group in the church to grow with the people. Thank you Lord, and in Jesus name that I pray.

Amen.”

The Lord our God is our faithful God and He will open the way to enable each member to join a care group. The Lord who said, “Let us …..not giving up meeting together” will enable us. Amen.

Please register with Ps Chai Yen or Ps Chee Keong if you have decided to join.

Sharing & Thanksgiving ‘

By: Lu Kai Xin | Translated by: Chloe Woo

Children must not lose on the starting line!’ This slogan should be quite familiar to everyone. Speaking of enrolling into secondary school, many parents couldn’t help but worry that their children would choose the wrong friends or get into romantic relationships early due to curiosity. This is because their academic results would be affected, and the worst outcome would be to end up on a wrong path, thus destroying their own future.

As a youth, I would like to say to the parents, ‘If you’re tired from trying to control everything, why don’t you just submit your children to the Almighty God?’ Looking back on the time when I was enrolling into secondary school, my parents had brought me to visit several elite schools. However, they did not forget to leave it in God’s hands in our prayers. Gradually, I got to learn the importance of seeking God in everything. We believe that to study in an elite school is a good opportunity, but to let God’s will be manifested is even more important. In the end, I ended up enrolling in a government school that was about three kilometers away from my house.

Looking back on my past, everything was fulfilled in God’s perfect will. If you were to ask me what my greatest transformation was in the secondary school, I would surely say that God had built my confidence. When I was in primary school, my results were average, and I remained low-profile in those six years with my introverted personality. On my last few days in

Standard 6, a substitute teacher said to me in an astonished tone, ‘Why haven’t I seen you around before?’

Perhaps it was due to the fact that I didn’t attend an elite school, God had given me a lot of opportunities to push past my limits. I am grateful that God had given me many diligent and loving teachers, and the chance to participate in an impromptu speech competition that was held outside my school. Perhaps it might seem pretty ordinary to you, but it was a great challenge to me!

I didn’t know where the courage came from, but I agreed to participate in the competition. The moment I promised so, I regretted deeply. Why did I do this to myself?

However, since I’d already promised to do so, I had to do it no matter what it takes.

Nothing would be able to save me that time aside from prayer.

To be honest, my fear had vanished the moment I stood on the podium, and there was actually peace in my heart. My teacher was also rather surprised at how calm I was. I knew clearly that this was God’s work. For someone who was totally inexperienced, I actually managed to win the 7th place in the competition that had involved dozens of schools. This was definitely a mark of grace.

God is undeniably the very source of my confidence and bravery.

Many would say that the price of success is hard work, but I think that if I hadn’t relied on Jesus, I would be in the hospital now. I admit that I’d always had high expectations on my results, and hence brought myself a lot of stress.

Whenever I get frustrated, I would always go to God in prayer and thanksgiving to submit all that I desire to Him. In the end, I was able to achieve Straight A’s in SPM, and may all the glory be given unto the Lord! I don’t consider myself more intelligent than others. When I remember how difficult it was to learn Mathematics when I was young, I feel guilty toward my parents. At that time, I could not even differentiate between ascending and descending order of numbers! God’s power is always made perfect in weakness. Due to my imperfections, I give thanks to Him. God wanted to manifest His power in my weakness, so that I wouldn’t be blinded by pride.

Blessed are those who seek refuge in God! My greatest blessing is that my life can be changed by God’s love, and my spiritual life can be renewed by His salvation. Regardless of the changes that are happening around us, our God is the God who never changes, and His love endures forever. The most touching thing is that God will never

never despise or forsake us for any of our shortcomings. We are all treasured by God, and He will use different ways to teach us to be more confident, outstanding and perfect, just like Him. It is not the healthy who needs a doctor, but the sick.

Jesus had said in the Bible that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. No one is good, except God alone. As humans, we have sins, shortcomings, and helpless moments.

However, my friends, do you know that Jesus had settled sins once and for all, so how can the problems in our lives trouble Him? The God who solves our problems would never see us as troublesome. As long as we are willing to let God into every detail of our lives, and continue to seek our loving Heavenly Father, He would let you see that life is not as difficult as it may seem. We can do all this through Him who gives us strength!

The knowledge of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of the Holy One is understanding. Leading me to be close to the Lord is the best gift my parents have ever given me, and experiencing God is the most beautiful blessing in my life. There may be many nonChristians who had also achieved excellent results, but I think the biggest difference between us is that I have the privilege to pray to the one and only Almighty God amidst storms. Heavenly father can completely understand my feelings, carry my burden, and fill the emptiness in my heart. Knowing God does not mean that we will have a smooth sailing life, but that we can receive real peace and rest in the arms of God. Trusting in God gave my life a clear direction. Would you like to experience God’s love too? Prayer is powerful.

Jesus loves you.

About the Author

Aspiration: Dentist Life value: To live is to glorify God in all things

The key questions determining

Lamp to My Feet

By: Li Dongguang | Translated by: Choo Ting Hou

“Jesus says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

A

sudden and tragic pandemic has turned the world upside down. The damages caused by a microscopic virus to the world are beyond imagination. People's livelihoods are greatly disrupted, economies collapse while social order falls into a state of chaos across regions affected by the catastrophe. What is worse, people are overwhelmed with fear and panic.

Why do people fear? The true reason lies in their fear towards death. For those who put all their hopes in this life, death would mean the end of everything. As a result, people desperately try to run away, isolate themselves and constantly looking forward to an “antidote” or vaccine. They entrust their lives to doctors and medicines.

Amidst their fear, people tend to cry out to heaven and inclined to pray. On the Internet, we see people say, "let us pray", either sincerely or insincerely. When a disaster strikes, why do even unbelievers pray? I believe this is because people know that there is an infinite ruler above finite human being. In an unfortunate event, when their relatives or friends die of the pandemic, people swerw

utter words of condolences such as, “farewell”, “there is no pain in heaven”, “rest in peace” etc.

How come everyone recalls about heaven in moments like these? I believe this is due to the people’s longing to an eternal destination for their souls – their anticipation for heaven.

For those who do not believe in God and disapprove the existence of eternal life, how would they eliminate the fear towards death? Even when a vaccine is finally developed, who can guarantee that there will be no other viruses and diseases in the future? Even if we could develop an all-powerful drug that treats all kinds of plague, wouldn’t everyone eventually have to die of other diseases or reasons?

Nevertheless, if the people who say "let's pray" do not know or believe in the Creator God, who then would they be praying to? Wouldn’t such prayers without a prayer target be merely self-deceptive psychological comforts? How could they bid “farewell” if they did not know the way to heaven?

Where would they find the assurance to enter heaven had they not known the master of heaven?

“Jesus says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

(John 14:6)

Jesus is the way He is the only way to heaven, which God has provided. This way was paved by His blood shed on the cross. He gave up his life to establish a channel for us to reconcile with God, and bridged the way leading to a new heaven and new earth.

Every person who is willing to confess his or her sins, repent and turn away from betrayal, hostility and sinning against God can set foot on this way leading to heaven.

Jesus is the truth He is the eternal God who came into the world as Saviour. This is the core of biblical truth.

Jesus is the life Regardless of how we take care of our physical bodies and protect ourselves against the pandemic, our lives will eventually come to an end. There is no other way to overcome the power of death, other than accepting the eternal life given by Jesus Christ. The Bible says: " For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23).

Instead of panicking, praying aimlessly or developing a wishful imagination about heaven, why not we come to know Jesus Christ the Saviour who offers true salvation, listens to our prayers and leads us to heaven for an eternal life.

I hope you will make the right choice!

Article taken from: https://wx.wedevote.com/v2/articles/zhcn/12/6694

MCO

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