devotions... prayers... etc...

hey guys,
so here is my devotions for today, and yesterday, i would have sent it yesterday, but alas all this email bogus stuff... fury. anyways, just pray that i get my emails back, there were some sensitive things on it. anyways, i have a new email at samuelchung28@gmail.com. don't worry, new password! so if you could actually do me a favour, and send me all your contacts for our church, that would be greatly appreciated as i don't have anything right now... anyways, so i did my devotions today, but i must say it is hard to concentrate when thinking about other things.. so i'm sorry it might not be of the best quality, but it is still there...

what i read: Romans 4
what i learned: Paul's main focus is on faithfulness, and it is not by works that one achieves salvation, actually, nobody can achieve salvation, for some of the Jews, they had thought that if one was circumsized they would achieve salvation. can you imagine that, i mean even the process of being circumsized, when you are a baby, that is one thing, but when you are an adult... i heard it is as painful as having birth! anyways, sometimes i find it so hard to know there is absolutely nothing i can do to earn myself into heaven because this whole world is based off of doing things... if i be good to my parents, they will treat me well, if i study hard, i can get a good mark. everything is dependent on this concept of doing and receiving, but this concept that Paul points out, that nobody can be saved... it doesn't matter how hard we work for salvation, we will never achieve it. i think for some, they will think, bummer. but the great news is that we don't have to. Jesus did it all. what comfort there is knowing that God shows grace, not to say that we should take advantage of that grace, but that we should be grateful for it.
what i am goiing to do: well first i'm going to have some prayer time for my sins, and second thank God for His grace!

this is what i was going to write for you guys yesterday
Hello Peoples...
How art thou doing? I hope your weeks are well! one more day till the week-end?! Anybody excited?! I am! We are going to start a new series on Ephesians this Sunday! Excited?! Alright fine.. well at least I am! Anyways, here are my devotions for today!
What I read: Romans 3
What I learned: I guess the question is not what I learned, but what can’t you learn from this chapter! It is probably one of the most famous chapters in the Bible, and every time I read it, I still get something new out of it. One of the verses that sticks out to me all the time is when Paul states “therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin”. I love it. Isn’t it true, how the Word in our lives makes us more aware of not only our sin, but the reason why it allows us to become more aware of our sin is it shows us how surely good God really is. Paul talks about how nobody is good, not even one, but throughout the Word, it speaks about how God is good, only He is truly good. Paul speaks about how everybody is under sin, but the Word speaks about God not being bound to sin, and Him bringing His Son to die because He was not bound to sin. How much more is faith necessary in times where we see what is written in the law? I guess that is why Paul stresses faith so much in this chapter.
What I am going to do: well, after pondering this chapter, I actually sit here wondering where my faith is at. One of the things that I have been going through in my head is this conception of God and Him being everywhere. If God is everywhere, then He would see everything that that I do.. both good and bad. If He is seeing everything that I do which is bad, what is it that causes me to do those bad things despite knowing that God is there? Could it be my lack of faith, and it could it be that I choose not to believe that He is there when I commit those sins? Yesterday, I blantantly lied to someone, and Esther caught it, and I knew I was throwing the lie (you guys are probably like... pastor sam!!! Liar!!!), but the question that I thought in my head was, if I know full well that God is watching, and listening in this case, why would I say that lie? Well I guess a part of it is the depravity factor, but the other part of it is because I sometimes want to choose that God is not there. Man, I got to work on my faith a little bit more and trust in God and trust that He is there watching and listening, but also work on obeying the law in which it is to help me see more of my sin, and hopefully see God’s goodness through everything as well.

I also read: Job 27
What I learned: Job is a man of perseverance. I like what he says in verse 2 “as surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul”. John Ortberg makes mention of this and talks about how much pain and suffering that Job must have been going through that he is at the point where he just is so frustrated that he is bitter in his soul. So deep! I’m trying to imagine where he must be at now, how many days have gone by with his illness, without his family and the struggles that he had gone through this whole time... not knowing what God was thinking, not knowing what was going to happen next. I must say his perseverance showed not only his trust in God’s justice, but also to show pretty much what I read in Romans 3, that nobody is totally good, and it doesn’t matter how good you are, or bad you are for that matter, the law of retribution does not work.
What I am going to do: I got to learn to have more perseverance, even more than that, have some guts. I remember one sermon that Bill Hybels spoke about in regards to our calling not to give up. Man when I look at Job, this guy didn’t give up. He had guts, he did not blame God or himself for this whole process. He had some serious guts. Man, I got to learn to persevere like this dude.

Sorry about the e-mail hacking, Sam..praying for you!

My passage for today came from Romans 11:33. Paul is addressing the Gentiles and telling them the key to salvation through Christ in this book.

In this particular chapter, he's explaining to the Gentiles not to have proud hearts because God has shown them mercy. The Israelites had been blasphemous and sinful so God came to the Gentiles, but Paul says that "God's gifts and His call can never be withdrawn" and explains that God still loved the Israelites because of His promises to them earlier. And then goes on to say this verse...

v.33 "Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!"

I really like this verse because sometimes in life, God just throws us a curve ball out of nowhere and we're left to wonder why..But this reminded me that our God is completely omniscient, once again, and not only is it 'hard', but it can be impossible for us to understand the method to His ways until the day that He feels is the right time to reveal it to us. We need to simply trust, because the wisdom of His ways is unfathomable by man.

"For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory."

We need to put our faith in Him and trust He knows best, because He is the source and creator of all things.
Trust trust trust.

Hope practice is rocking tonight! I'll miss you guys.

- H

Hannah brings out a good point when we should have faith in God, trust trust trust. IT is good to have faith because having faith will bring what you need. And also having faith in God is one of the best ways of having a relationship with God. If we cannot trust God how can we trust others. We should have faith in God because God is the creater of all things, just like hannah pointed out. God is the answer for everything...anyways it was a good thing you pointed that out hannah..

Anyways, for todays devotion i read Matthew 6. I did this with my leadership team, but i thought it would be good to share it with you guys too.

Matthew 6

v6. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen. The your father, who see's what is done in secret will reward you.

When you pray, this is one of times when you are alone, and to have a moment with God. I remember sam telling me, when you are praying, go somewhere you wont get distracted. In your closet, mabe washroom. Do that and pray to God. This way you will have a better chance, getting to hear Gods voice sometimes you can get a image in your mind. Prayer is so powerful. Prayer is all around the world. There are times when were struggle, and praying to God, will bring you happiness. There is soo many things to pray for. Thanking God for the things he has done for us. When you pray, dont rush it, because that shows you dont feel like praying. Take it slowly and pray to God. And if God see's what is done, he will reward you, just like it says in verse 6.

I would like to just share one of my prayer request. I think most of you know what it is. One of the thing i pray for alot is my brother, Paul. Our relationship is not going so well. We would always have an argument and would always have a fight, and most of the times, the fight starts because of the most random thing. Im also worried about him, because now he goes to high school now, which most teenagers behavior changes alot. He hasnt gone to church lately and he hasnt come to any of the retreats yet. Thats one of the things i pray for alot. After ive been praying alot, I think i have seen some changes with the relationship with my brother alot. And i know God is granting my prayers. And i am so thankful for that. But if something goes well, what do you do? You continue on praying because you never know if something will go wrong. So if you guys have any pray request, keep on praying for that. And i will too.

Another thing i learned from reading this passage is about forgiveness. You know when we do bad things, God has always forgivness us. He has never stoped forgiven us. In verse 14-15 says, " For if you forgive others when they sin against you, you heavenly father will aslo forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. When i rade through this passage, an image came up my mind. And that was Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. Jesus sacrificed himself to save our souls.
So, Always forgive one another, if you do, the father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive a fellow sister or brother, the Lord will not forgive your sins. So if you have to ask forgiveness, pray to God. He will always forgive you.

Amen......

Have a Good day guys...

May God be with....

Awww samm that sucks!
But thats okay, ill pray ou can somehow get everything back!

hahah so I totally told myself last night that i was gonna get up early and go to the pool and do some laps. but that TOTALLY did not happen.

Galatians 6: 1-3
"Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, ou are only fooling yourself. You are not that important".
This verse really remined me of how important it is to be accountable to each other and really help each other out when we are falling. No one is above helping another, and it is up to us as believers to help someone back on the right path. This made me reflect on how happy I am that our praise team and leadership have gotten so close so that we can really hold each other accountable, tell the truth and keep us all in the right path with God. I know that this is already happening! (Evidence lies in my text history when i get texts reminding me to do my devos! ) But I still think that there's so much more we can do - that we can really be a team that knows each and every one of our struggles and sins.. And that we may have the courage to tell someone that what they're doing is wrong - even if it hurts.

Hey guys! good practice today! Good job Jacob for leading for the first time!

I did my devo on Romans 7 14-25. Its titled "Struggling with Sin". Paul writes how he struggles with sin and how sin is "organic".
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
While reading this, i felt like i was saying it myself. Take some time to read it. It made me feel wrong about all the sins i do but it talks about how its sin thats making us do it.

Anywho, i like this passage a lot.

See some of you guys tomorrow! (were studying at North York Central Library, anyone is welcome to study with us!)

E-Sek OUT!

Isaac, you did just as much work
yah joe, i'll pray for Paul.
P - Prayer
R - Risk Takers
A - Authentic
I - Iniative
S - Servants/Smiling
E - Examples/Encounter

Northyork. Maybe Maybe

JacobPk wrote:
yah joe, i'll pray for Paul.
P - Prayer
R - Risk Takers
A - Authentic
I - Iniative
S - Servants/Smiling
E - Examples/Encounter

well done...

Joseph i shall pray for your brother too. Little jin will turn around. I see him around school, and hes not doing anything bad so he ll be ok!