IGNYTE I will ignite the kingdom life within you,a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out -Matthew 3:11-

Hi! we are at the end of the month of November today. And soon the year will be over. Tomorrow will be December and soon the year will be over.

I was in a Foursquare church, El Shaddai in Permatang Pauh yesterday. It was exciting to be worshipping with a whole group of Sabahans. Except for the pastor and wife, and Ps Henry and I, the rest were all from Sabah.

I have invited myself and our youths to go on a mission trip to this church on 31st January, 2010. Instead of flying to Sabah, we have Sabah just one and half hours journey away.

Will discuss with you all more about this. But just to get you all excited about what is in store next year.

Back to our Bible study on the book of Acts.

FAST FOOD - What is this got to do with the Holy Spirit?

READ

Acts 13: 1-5

Oops, sorry!

It is not Fast Food but it is NOT FOOD = FAST

We read in verse that the Christians in Antioch were "serving the Lord and fasting".

Fasting doesn't just mean skipping a meal or not bothering to eat. It means giving over the time that you would have spent preparing and eating a meal to spend more time with God - praying, listening to God and reading the Bible.

If you have not fast before, take it slowly. Fast one meal at a time. Then extend to one day. You can have a Daniel's Fast which is meatless, or just water fast, or juice fast.

There may be other things that you can give up in order to concentrate on spending more time with God. Jot down here what they might be.

________________________________________________

PRAY

Ask the Holy Spirit to direct and guide you as you spend more time with God.

Hey guys!

Fourteen more days to Camp! Are you excited?

Sorry that we were not able to finish watching the film due to some technical problem. We will finish watching the film next week.

But I am sure you have been blessed by the film so far.

For some reflections:

At the beginning of the show, Coach Grant Taylor is faced with a series of defeats and humiliations that affected his sense of self-worth and leave him wondering what God is doing. At one point, he refers to his seemingly insurmountable problems as "giants of fear and failure."

Let me ask you:

What are the "giants" in your world?

How does their presence affect your sense of self-worth?

How do they affect your vision of who God is and how He is working in your life?

THE HOLY SPIRIT

FACTFILE

Name: BARNABAS
Birthplace: CYPRUS
Job: MISSIONARY
Religion: JEWISH CHRISTIAN

To find out a little bit more about Barnabas . . .

READ

Acts 11: 19-30; 12: 25

• The name Barnabas means "son of encouragement."

• Barnabas encouraged the new Christians in ________________(vs. 22, 23) and later gave up a whole year to teach them with _____________(vs. 25, 26).

• He was full of the ____________ and _______________ (v. 24) and many people were _________________ through him (v. 24).

For more information on Barnabas, check out Acts 4: 36; 9:27; 15:12.

PRAY

In what ways could you be more like Barnabas? Talk to God about it.

As far as a Jew was concerned, Gentiles were the scum of the earth. Jews wouldn't even eat with them. Gentiles didn't observe the food laws that God had given the Jews, and so were considered "unclean" by the Jews.

So what were the Jewish Christians to do when they heard that Gentiles were also becoming Christians?!

READ

Acts 11:1-18

It was an amazing vision that Peter described to his fellow Christians. The animals described in the white sheet are all "unclean" - not to be eaten - according to Old Testament laws. But here is the voice of God telling Peter to eat them (v. 7)! What can God be getting at?

After three goes at telling him, the vision ends. And Peter wakes up to find three men down at the door waiting to take him to their master, Cornelius, who is - wait - for it - a Gentile . . .

Peter goes with them, meets Cornelius, tells him about Jesus, and Cornelius, tells him about Jesus, and Cornelius becomes a Christian on the spot (and all his family, too!). Wonderful!

But what's God telling Peter through all this? God's message of salvation, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, is for everyone - Jews or Gentiles. So there can be no barriers between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

THINK

The Holy Spirit's hard at work in these verses. Can you spot what he's been doing? Pray that you'll see him working in your life today.

Hi!

We continue our Bible discussion on the Book of Acts. A window. A rope. A laundry basket. Some friends. What do all these remind you of?

READ

Acts 9: 20-31

Can you imagine a grown man escaping over a wall, in the middle of the night, in a laundry basket? Funny, eh?!

I guess Saul wasn't in any mood for laughing. He'd discovered that being a Christian certainly wasn't the easy option - it brought him enemies who wanted to kill him (v. 23). But it also brought him power to speak the truth boldly (v. 20, 22, 28), and it brought him a new bunch of friends who kept him safe when things got difficult (v. 25, 30).

PRAY

. . . for the Christians who are always telling the truth about Jesus, even if it doesn't always make them popular. Pray, too, that the Holy Spirit will keep you safe when the going gets tough.

Hi guys! today we have Bro Yit Ti to lead the discussion. This is our last lesson on Discipleship II. Next year we start Discipleship III.

Bro Yit Ti emphasized that we need to grow in Christlikeness - this is Christian maturity.

One thing that strikes me is that he said we can only be obedient and submit to authority if we learn to be humble. And a humble person leads an active prayer life. For the more he prays, the more he is dependent on God and not on himself. An arrogant person does not know how to submit to authority and does not know how to be obedient. How true!

Very interesting in the home cell on Friday, we watched Reinhard Bonkke's Full Flame series. Reinhard also talked about the importance of humility. When we want to share the gospel, we need to have an attitude of humility. People may never open the Bible but Christians are an open book to them.

Our Lord Jesus is an excellent model of true humility. "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross." Philippians 2: 6-8

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2: 9-11

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Remember pride goes before a fall. Always keep our hearts tender before the Lord. Be careful that pride does not rear its ugly head.