You too, can lead.

What is a leader? Is he someone who has a lot of followers? Is he someone who says “Go” and everyone goes?

A leader is a person who leads and to lead is to have influence over his or her “followers”. The prime minister is a leader, George Bush is a leader, Osama bin Laben is also a leader, Saddam Hussein was also a leader, your father is a leader and a drug addict is also a leader. In short – everyone is a leader, you too! Surprised?

A leader is someone who influences others to follow a cause. The drug dealer is a leader who influences drug addicts to buy drugs. Mohamed Gandhi was a leader who influenced the people of India to gain independence in a peaceful way. Here we see both extremes of a leader, one to influence for a bad cause and the other for a good cause.

What type of leader are you then?

The pharaoh of Egypt was a leader who oppressed the Israelites during the time of Moses. The pharaoh led his people to enslave the Israelites. And when the Israelites wanted to run away, he sent his army to try to stop them from crossing the Red Sea. After that we all know the story of how God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.
On the other hand, Moses was a leader appointed by God to save the Israelites from slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. Moses, with the help of God, subdued all of Pharaoh’s attacks and managed to bring the Israelites out from slavery.

Both of them are leaders but both of them had a different cause and purpose.

What is mine then?

Jeremiah 1:4
...before you were born I set you apart...

Jeremiah’s generation was a stubborn generation. God sent prophets after prophets to tell the people of Judah to turn back to God but they refused. And for 40 years they had their backs on God. God was going to destroy the nation if they still refused to change but instead of changing, they tried to kill Jeremiah, who had been appointed since before birth to warn the people. Jeremiah’s God-given predictions came to pass, Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Babylonians and the people were taken captive nearing the end of Jeremiah’s life.

In the beginning of the book of Jeremiah, God had revealed His plans and purposes for Jeremiah’s life. Read the verse above once more. God told Jeremiah that even before he was born he has been set apart. To set apart means that God has made Jeremiah different and has given Jeremiah a God-made plan for his life.

A commission was given to Jeremiah even before he was born!

What if I told you that the same thing is happening to all of us Christians today? What if I told you that even before you were born you have been set apart to do something God wants you to do? Something that carries eternal values? Something that has a divine purpose?

Yes. Even before you were born, God has set you apart like Jeremiah. God has given each and everyone of you a commission. A commission is a mandate; a mandate is mandatory which simply means compulsory:

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

God has called you to be a leader!
God has set you apart to be a leader that is different from the world.
God has given you a commission.

God wants you to be a leader that leads people to God and God alone. The leaders of the secular world lead people towards his own selfish and self-centered purpose. Christian leaders in the commanding army of God lead people to God’s purpose! That is the difference between the two kinds of leaders – one of the world and one of God.

Which one are you?

People often ask me, “How do I become a leader?”
There are endless answers to that question. Is it not hard to be leader, everyone is a leader whether you realize or not. Everyone has influence over each other. What matters is what kind of influence you are giving. Are you influencing people to Jesus?

THIS SATURDAY, 3rd November, Youth Energy (YE) together with the Young Adult Fellowship (YAF) have organized a LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM for everyone. If you are interested in becoming a leader for God and wants to learn how to influence people to God, do come and join us.

Event: Leadership Training Program
Date: 3rd November (this Saturday)
Time: 9am to 5am
Fee: Free of Charge (it is for a good cause)

There will be break and interval in between so that you will not be too tired. Do make an attempt to come and I assure you that you will be blessed!

More than 20 youths from Petaling Jaya and Subang’s Grace Assembly Church have already confirmed to come. There are unlimited spaces for all of you. Those who are in Youth Energy are advisable to come! =)

Please confirm with me (Zlwin Chew) as soon as possible.
Call/SMS me at 016-6254350 or
Email me at zlwinchew@gmail.com

You too, can lead!
Zlwin Chew

Handicap Without Jesus

We often limit God in our lives. All we think is that we can’t do this and we can’t do that because we are not as good as the other person. Complains like this are often our easiest way out of doing what God has called us to do without feeling guilty. I tell you today that you should feel guilty.

One famous account in the Old Testament of the Bible is the story of Moses. Moses was one of the Bible’s greatest heroes. He delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery to liberty, and then he established them as a powerful independent nation and prepared them to enter into Canaan, the Promised Land. Moses was not only well learnt in the Egyptian science and learning but he was endowed with amazing leadership qualities, humbleness, wisdom and faith. He defeated the powerful and mighty Amalekite army through intercessory prayer and led the Israelites through many other victories. Moses finally designated Joshua as Israel’s leader and set out for Mount Nebo, where he had the chance to have a view of the Promised Land before he died.

Amazingly, this warrior and redeemer of 600 000 plus Israelites once gave God an excuse saying he was handicap and cannot do anything.

Moses’ first attempt of trying to help his own people ended in failure and it led him to killing an Egyptian. He was angry at how the Egyptian was ruthlessly beating one of his fellow Hebrew slaves. So Moses glanced around and saw that no one was near and he killed the Egyptian and buried him under the sand. Moses then fled from Egypt to Midian.

Moses spent 40 years in Midian. He got married with a priest’s daughter and worked as shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks. One day Moses encountered God through a burning bush. God ordered Moses to go to Egypt and tell the Pharaoh to free his people, the enslaved Israelites. And our soon-to-be hero gave God an excuse saying,

Exodus 4:1
What if they do not believe me or listen to me?

Exodus 4:10
O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoke to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.

Exodus 4:13
O Lord, please send someone else to do it.

Excuse! Moses’ question was a question of disbelieve and doubt. He wasn’t really afraid whether the people would believe him or not. Instead he was indirectly telling God he was afraid to do what God asked him to do and tried to find a way out of doing it. He even asked God to send someone to take his place! What a coward. In other words, he was saying that he was handicap because he couldn’t speak well.

Was it an excuse or reason?

God certainly knew it was an excuse for He asked Moses who made man’s mouth? Is it not God? The rest of the story is history, read on and you will see the beginning of Israel’s greatest quest that ultimately leads to the birth of Jesus and the beginning of Christianity.

Moses, like many other great people in the Bible was at first afraid to take on God’s commission. They were handicap to do God’s work; it was until they took the step forward and believe in God that they were able to fulfill their call in life. To every one that God has assigned a task to, God promised them that He will always be with them.

To Moses, God said, “I will help you speak and teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:12)

To Abraham, God said, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.” (Genesis 12:2)

To Gideon, God said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites.” (Judges 6:16)

To Joshua, God said, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. For I have delivered the enemy into your hands.” (Joshua 8:1)

And the list goes on...

Each one of them mentioned above were handicap to do God’s work. Not one of them possessed the courage or power to act until God gave them His word saying He will be with them.

Nick Vujicic was born without limbs. He came into a world as a healthy baby with neither any arms nor legs but just a little foot he calls “Tiny Drumstick”. He grew up in school being bullied and looked down upon because of his “weirdness”. After many years, he finally found the meaning for his life.

He is traveling around the world now and giving talks and sermons in churches worldwide. He recently went to Singapore.

Nick:
I am now twenty-four years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am also a speaker in the corporate sector.

Visit www.lifewithoutlimbs.org for more informations.
_________________________________________

So you think you are handicap to do God’s work? Think twice now.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Behind the will of God is the power of God.

Handicap?

_______________________________________________________________________

The following are pictures we took at tuition.

Credits to Zhing

All credits due to Tan U-Zhing for helping me change my blogskin. I will be constantly updating it and changing it. Thanks Zhing. Visit the chick at www.uzhing.blogspot.com. Tata =) oh by the way, the Clique 5ive header was taken and edited by me =)

This post may be beneficial for those who are having their SPM this year. Please read on although this may sound familiar. I always have a twist in my posts =)

The Pearl is a short and simple yet meaningful novel written by John Steinbeck. It tells the story of a poor Mexican-Indian man named Kino with his wife Juana and baby Coyotito. Too poor was their living that they lived in a small hut and they wore clothes that has been washed and re-washed uncountable times. Kino earned a living by fishing.

A very ill-fated day came upon them one day when their little baby boy Coyotito was bitten by a scorpion. The doctor wouldn’t come and see Coyotito as he was too proud of a man to go to a home (or rather a hut) of a poor Mexican-Indian. So Kino and Juana brought Coyotito to the doctor’s house but the doctor did not even want to come out to see them for he knew they had no money.

Of fate or by chance we do not know but Kino when out in his boat and came across a large pearl which could fetch a lot of wealth to its bearer. Upon the sight of the huge pearl he “saw” the future on the surface of the pearl. He saw a good life for them; he saw his wife and himself getting married in the church. He saw Coyotito going to school and having an education which he failed to have when he was growing up. He saw his family living a luxurious life. The pearl reflects many things: to Kino it was a better future for his family, to the doctor it was wealth and greed, and to the priest it was help for his church.

The pearl was Kino’s hope. If it is lost or stolen it could mean that Kino’s hope will be gone.

The object of value in this story is the pearl alone. From the beginning till the end it was the pearl that was the centre of attention and attraction. Everyone went to great lengths to have the pearl in their possession. The doctor suddenly became “kind” and took the initiative to come all the way from his luxurious house to Kino’s two-cent worth hut with the “intention” to help Coyotito. The priest’s greediness was he wanted the pearl just so he could help rebuild the church. Kino tried to sell the pearl to the pearl buyers but the pearl buyers tried to cheat Kino.

Kino did all he could to protect his pearl, his hope, his future. But in the end, the pearl caused the death of Kino and Juana’s baby. Coyotito was killed by accident when one of the hunters who were hunting for Kino fired from his rifle. Kino finally decides to throw away the pearl as he was convinced it brought him bad luck and misfortune.

The pearl was hope. And Kino placed all his hope on it but eventually he had to lose it and return to his home carrying the dead body of his one and only child.

One thing that keeps people moving on in life is hope.
A cancer patient who has only days to live lives on hope.
A lame man lives on hope that he will be able to walk again someday.
A beggar lives on hope everyday, hoping for passerby to throw him coins.
An AIDS-infected person has hope that doctors will be able to find a remedy one day.
A father who has worked all his life has hope that his children will be more successful than he is.

What is your hope placed on? Is it placed on something like the pearl which could be lost?
Once our hope is gone, we may not be able to move on. Someone who tells himself he has no hope in his studies will probably not be doing his revision as his SPM draws near. It is because he knows that he has no hope anymore. Whereas someone who knows he has hope to do better will do better. Do you see the difference here?

Hope gives us the will to move on in life.

So where is your hope placed on?

In times of hardship and troubles, where is your hope?

In times of joy and happiness, where is your hope?

In times of confusion and uncertainties, where is your hope?

Place your hope somewhere where you can be assured it will not be lost.

Psalm 130:7
Put your hope in the Lord,
For with the Lord is unfailing love
And with him is full redemption.

The biblical concept of hope is not just mere expectations and desires, but includes confidence.

Hope in God,
Zlwin Chew

The number 7 is a biblical number of completion, fullness and perfection.
The number 14 is the number of redemption and salvation.

Do you know that the Malaysian flag have 14 lines (jalur) which represents the 13 states and the Federal Territories in Malaysia? The Federal Territories are the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. And do you know that the star on the flag once had only 13 edges but it was changed to 14? Why not 16 including the 3 Federal Territories?
2 x 7 = 14.
Double completion? Divine plan or mere coincidence? You judge.

Tunku Abdul Rahman declared independence with 7 shouts of “Merdeka”.
What else can that mean?

By making a smart guess inspired by faith, the 7 shouts of “Merdeka” can mean one thing - that God is in control of the birth of this country and nation. It may also mean the completion of one part of God’s plan and the beginning of another. The guesses can go on and on and on. You may not believe but it is okay. But one thing is for sure – God wants Malaysia to be redeemed.

So many things need to be done. Looking at a wider view, we not only see the need for the Gospel to be shared in Malaysia but to the whole world – every corners of the earth! And what have we done so far?! Nothing! Every Sunday we go to church dressed in our best of clothes (maybe not), grab our usual place right at the back of the church, sing hymns, clap hands, give offerings, listen to the sermon, and finally go back. It is the same thing every Sunday in and out. For years the Gospel has given us the green light to “Go! Go! Go!” we HEAR HEAR HEAR that all the time but yet we are still sitting HERE HERE HERE in church every week. Pif! Talk about wasting saliva! >.<" Haha. Talk about sharing the Gospel to everyone in this country. We are so scared to even share with our friends whom we are close to, how then will the Gospel reach the ears of those “don’t-share-to-me-or-I-will-sue-you” people? Like what Pastor John said in my chat box, if we Christians keep on doing what we have been doing 50 years ago, things will not change. I repeat, things will not change! If we Christians keep on sitting in church having a good time “serving” in the numerous “ministries” and doing what we want to do, Malaysia will never see the truth!

Yea, go on. Go on gossiping, go on tearing down one another, go on throwing shit at one another, go on chatting about what is the latest fashion and trend, go on doing what we have been doing all these while. Keep doing it long enough and you will realize that your life have passed by quicker than it seemed.

How will the church go out into the world and share the Good News when we are so busy tearing down one another inside the church?

It is your choice whether you want to change or not.

A radical approach needs to be taken. Quoting from Pastor John, the monks at Myanmar are marching, what are we Christians doing? No I am not saying that we rally a thousand Christians and march in the streets of KL. Get what I mean figuratively?

A lot needs to be done...

Where do we start?

How do we start?

Start with your life. Place God in the centre of your life and everything else will slowly fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle. Place God in the centre of your life and your calling will be clear enough. Place God in the centre of your life and build everything else around God.

Jesus started with only 12 men of whom one betrayed Him. Jesus started to build his life little by little and when he was ready, he set out on his ministry at age 30. With these twelve men, the Gospel has gone so far, but yet – not far enough. We are talking about discipleship here. I will cover this topic in another post.

Where is God in our life? From reading blogs, I can see how little God’s role in our life is. All we blog about is me, myself and I. Where then is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit? Ha! Where?

Grace Assembly’s senior pastor, Pastor Henry told us two weeks back, “Don’t imitate the world. Instead, the world should imitate you!” We Christians are of a higher standard. We do not do what the world does, but the world should do what we do. The world uses the blog for selfish reasons, what then do we Christians do with blog? Do we imitate the world or does the world imitate us? Be radical.

Malaysia will not change if we keep doing what we have been doing for the past 50 years. And what have we been doing for the past 50 years? The answer is, we have been doing everything that is not of necessity. In short, we have been doing NOTHING!

Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

50 years has gone by. The Gospel has gone far but not far enough.
Ask God, therefore, to send YOU into the harvest field.

What are your feelings towards this country – Malaysia?

Honestly speaking, I seldom hear people telling me how much they love this country. All I hear is complains and nothing but complains.

“I hate this.” “I hate that.” “I hate this.” “I hate that.”

Some even complain, “I hate this stupid country, the weather is so hot!”

GOSH! Haha. I can’t help but to laugh when I hear that. What has this country got to do with the weather? It is not going to snow for goodness sake! Unless the end of the world comes we will never see snow in Malaysia. Go study Geography.

I can’t tell you how much people hate the government. I do not know much but I know enough to know that the government may not be doing a lot of things the right way and people (especially non-Malays) really hate it. My friends are all complaining how unfair the government is, how they cover up things and all the corruption. They prefer to live in other countries than in Malaysia.

Ok I am going to cut telling the negative sides of Malaysia, I don’t have to tell anyway because all of you already know. Interesting how we only look at the bad side but turn our eyes away from the good!!! Pif!

Christians,

Yes, all Christians, listen up...

I can not help but to tell all of you how disappointed and upset I am with Christians who doesn’t have a heart for this country. I get upset when I hear my friends telling me how “stupid” Malaysia is for doing this and that. My heart breaks to know that most of us love countries like America and Australia more than Malaysia. I am displeased to know that there are people among us who don’t even like Malaysia a bit.

I went for my church, Grace Assembly’s Merdeka Jubilee Celebration on the 30th August night. Our senior pastor, Pastor Henry and all the church elders and pastors gathered to celebrate and pray for this country. And there was this doctor Steve Ogan (I think), he shared about his passion for this country, amazingly he is an African. Everything that happened that night and on the 31st morning really touched my heart and changed me.

SISTER KIM was at home on the 30th night and was watching the TV during the Countdown. And do you know what happened? When the clock hit 12 midnight and the people were shouting MERDEKA 7 times on TV, Sister Kim followed in raising her hands and saying Merdeka......... with tears in her eyes crying and weeping...

When she told me this I could almost cry because I can feel her passion for this country. She also told me that she prayed after that. In fact I am typing this with little tears in my eyes right now. That is what we Christians should be like.

Do you think God placed you in this country to hate it? Don’t we respect God’s decision when He planned for us to be born in this land?

How dare we sing the song, “Save Malaysia” and do not mean it in our hearts.

How dare we call ourselves Christians but do not have love for this country and the people in it, whether good or bad.

IF we want to complain, FINE! But complaining without doing anything is NOTHING! Why don’t we Christians STOP complaining and start getting down on our knees and cry before God and PRAY for this COUNTRY?!

What is the use of complaining? Don’t you think praying is much better?

Why don’t we THANK GOD instead? Malaysia is one country where EVERY RELIGION can dwell together without war. Look at Afghanistan, Christians over there have to go underground. Some countries kill Christians. But Malaysia accepts all religions. Why can’t we see this as something praise worthy?!

I know that there are a lot of things going on that are not very good. And I know that it will not get better. But I also know that God knows what He is doing.

God placed the government above us; in what position are we to hate what God has done? We humans are short-sighted but God is not, He sees far ahead and knows what He is doing. So let us keep our mouths shut and pray.

We can’t have the best of both worlds. Every country has its own problem; Malaysia is not the only country. We are living in the end times, no place is peaceful because the devil knows his time is nearly up and he is desperate.

If we can’t love the country we are born in, we will most probably never be able to love other countries we plan to migrate to.

God did not put us here to hate this country. He put us here to help Him save this country and take this country!

WAKE UP.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I love Malaysia.


These people were the flag bearers each carrying a state flag representing all the states of Malaysia and the dancers during the Merdeka Jubilee Celebration at church.


The lyrics at the back were one of the songs we sang that night. Read the lyrics.


The flag bearers.


Pastor Ronald Ooi praying for the state of Selangor.


The church congregation waving their flags.


Our senior pastor, Pastor Henry Ramaya sharing his heart about his passion and dream for this land and nation. Do we share our senior pastor’s dream? This church exist for the purpose of taking back this land for God. If we do not have a passion for our land I can only pray for you. How sad.

Two nights ago was the Royal Rangers' 25th Anniversary Celebration and a dinner was held at a restaurant at Klang Parade. The food was ok, the noise was intolerable. The entertainment was good; the camwhoring session was awesome haha. Everyone came in dressed formal and silver and there was this man who really looked like Tunku Abdul Rahman and he was dressed in SILVER from head to toe. By the way it was Rangers’ Silver Jubilee celebration so silver was the color theme.

Elvis Presley impersonator HT Long belted out a few of Elvis’ hits that night and opened the dance floor. Caleb and I grabbed Pastor John and danced and suddenly my mother came and danced with Pastor John haha! That was hilarious! She stole the spot light that night and everyone was either having a good time looking at her or laughing at her. I was both haha. My mum rocks! =)

Ok the pictures: