Eventful Sunday! =)

Hello people! Some of you might be wondering why you are being tagged and linked to this blog. Not so much on promoting my site, but to share the good news and testimonies available all over my blog (particularly the last few posts prior to this, so if you had time, why not just read through those posts?). If you have been following my blog faithfully since the beginning of the moment I decided to share the notes I've written down on the sermons preached on Sunday services, you will know I have had tagged quite a number of people to read the Word but that didn't last long. Sooner or later I found out that not everyone that I tagged viewed the post, some of them did not even bother to read. I felt discouraged to tag people anymore on the post, sooner or later I did not even bother to tag anymore. I felt that, if God really wants to touch a specific person's heart, Holy Spirit will nudge the person, while he/she was scrolling through the FB newsfeed, to check out the post I've shared. So I thought I had done my part well and surrender the rest to God.

Just a few days ago, I was having a conversation with Tricia, one of a few friends sharing the same birthday with me haha! xD In her case, same day same year! Anyway, we bumped on the topic regarding the sermons I've been sharing. I told her about the discouragement I was facing and she recommended me to continue tagging people. Credits to Tricia, Romans 10:13-15 depicts very well on this matter, just the right verse to solve my problem. I believe changes should come from within, from the inside out. I shouldn't gauge based on the result and focus solely on that. Instead, I should have focused more on the primary objective and the goal of the action. So yeah, I will continue to tag people! Also, thanks to her, I'm able to start serving in Revo Store in less than a week time after my registration. I wasn't expecting that coming so fast but really want to thank God for this great opportunity! 

For the first time I served in the Revo Store. My first task: MTG order. I wasn't sure what is MTG at first, but after my friends explained it to me, finally I understood. MTG is a voice recording of sermons in DVD form, used for self purpose or to bless someone else. Not only the sermons from Acts Central, but you can also obtain sermons from other plants like Acts Ampang, Acts Nilai, Acts Mandarin and so on. The task was easy, to facilitate church members on MTG ordering, in filling up the form and asking them to pay at the counter. Later after the serving, one of the team leaders Jamie had an informal interview with me, along with 2 other friends who are serving in Revo Store. It might seem formal but it wasn't. She told me everything about the Revo Store. 

Here's what I understood: Revo Store is a ministry in church, just like any other ministries. It was created to sell accessories that can bring people closer to God. Revo Store is not profit orientated, but rather God-centered. The reason why people in Revo Store continue to serve there is due to the satisfaction gained when you realised things from Revo Store are distributed out to spread the good news, to bless someone, to draw people to Christ and bring people closer to God. Badges, books, MTG, worship songs discs etc. All these are meant for one and only one purpose - to draw people to God. Not only for non-Christians, even Christians can be blessed by Revo Store, by consolidating their faith or even transform backsliders back to the right track. In short, Revo Store is a platform to complement people's faith in God. Pastor Kenneth also mentioned about church's plan to plant a new church (Acts London) in the UK, so I'm going to undergo intensive 7-week training about operating Revo Store and be a team leader. The responsibility seems really heavy, but I believe I can do it by drawing strength and ability to learn fast from God! =) 

Here is the sermon that Pastor Kenneth has preached on the past Sunday. It was the continuation of the series that he has started last week, on the theme of breaking internal bondage. As usual he made jokes while he was preaching sermons, one of which that I found it interesting was a watch that he was wearing, that can measure calories burnt! Guess what, by the end of the sermon, he has burnt more than 555 kcal! OMG! Preaching a sermon is even more effective in burning calories than running on a treadmill for 15 minutes. :O Wow! 

Theme: Beautiful People Series    Bible Verses: Proverbs 22:2; Matthew 5:20; Galatians 4:9; 

                                                                     Matthew 15:8-12, 23:23-27, 6:1-2, 6:5-6, 7:3-4, 

                                                                     7:24-25, 7:28-29; Psalm 34:6 

- Promise land needs beautiful people to live in it, to be beautiful. 

- Let's embrace this wilderness. 

- Offences are bound to come, and inevitable. 

- Don't live according to other people's standards. 

- Don't let others to bring you down to their standards, making you less beautiful. 

- It's about mindset, change from the inside out. 

- Most of the victories are found in the internal exams/internal bondage. 

- Everyone has problem, but we don't have to remain there. 

- Every creator will create something that goes back to him/her. 

- What sets you apart from the rest is the internal strength. 

- We don't wait for the world to be beautiful, we can be the starting agent. 

- Poor in spirit is defenceless, for his only defence line is Christ. 

- Choose to be defenceless, dependent. 

- Most of us start up being rich in spirit (independent). 

- It's the internal victory that leads to external victory. 

- B coming and relying to God, you inherit everything, from nothing. 

- Pharisees are of righteousness to the highest level, but in external form. 

- Your righteousness can surpass that of Pharisees, by focusing on the inside. 

- It's easier to cast out demons than bad habits. 

- Be wise, by listening to spirit of the Word, and obey! 

- Become beautiful, by changing the spirit inside.

After the Sunday service, it was time for me to play badminton with my churchmates! It had been 2 weeks since the last time of me playing badminton! Badminton has been one of my favourite sports and I really enjoy playing it! It was fun! =) After playing badminton, we went to Silva Restaurant at SS15 (near my college) and had dinner! We planned to watch the Final match between Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan too! The game finally started and both were really good! After playing really hard, Lee Chong Wei managed to win the first set. Most of the people screamed in joy, and that was really the first time I've witnessed on my own the unity of our people! I was exposed to the unity between races since primary school, but never had the chance to witness and feel it. Yesterday was my first time. 

For the first time with me in it, people from different races sat down together, and supported our national athlete Dato' Lee Chong Wei. We literally overjoyed for every score LCW managed to score! People from all walks of life, regardless of races, religons, political parties etc, sat down and supported our national player! It was an ineffable feeling, only people who were there could feel that. It was such a exciting moment when Lin Dan won the second set, and they were set to play the third game - the determining game of London Olympic gold medal for badminton man's single. It was a nail biting moment when Chong Wei and Lin Dan tightly fought against each other until 19-19, due to certain element in randomness, in the end Lin Dan won. It was indeed a heartwrenching moment to see Chong Wei being defeated, but he was incredibly amazing! 

Dato' Lee Chong Wei was all over Facebook posts and trending worldwide in Twitter. Despite his defeat, he is viewed as the national hero! He has fought his very best and managed to exert such a pressure to Lin Dan, the world no.1 badminton man's single player. Nobody has the ability to do that to Lin Dan, only Chong Wei does. Most Malaysians went into saddening moment when he even apologised to Malaysians on Twitter, and cried on the podium during victory ceremony. What he wanted was not the gold medal, but Negaraku being played in London's Wembley Arena for the first time in the Olympic Games history! He is a really great man, well respected national hero that has brought our people to unity! For the first time that I'm so so proud to be a Malaysian. As what this trending quote stated, "Lee Chong Wei is such a great guy while Lin Dan is a bit arrogant. Skills win medals, attitude wins hearts", by ESPN commentator. 

I even respect Lee Chong Wei for his persistence and determination! He was injured early this year in Thomas Cup during his match with Lin Dan, on his ankles. Directly after his recovery (he has not fully recovered yet at the moment), he went to play Olympic Games after training of mere 2 weeks. He had to eat a painkiller before each match that he was playing. His determination and skills has also once again proven by his ability to enter the Final and the tight match with Lin Dan. At such a moment of 19-19 on the third set, nobody can actually know who will win. It was all based on psychology and luck, in other word, randomness. Just so the element of randomness kicked in, Lee Chong Wei got defeated. But he did not lose! He won a silver medal! Indeed, he deserved every single bit of it!

Nobody in the entire universe has the ability to recover from a severe ankle injury, only trained for 2 weeks, managed to enter the Olympic final and almost defeat the world no.1 player, except Dato' Lee Chong Wei. For Lin Dan it was to retain his title, but for Chong Wei it was the whole country counting on him; with such a heavy burden, it wasn't easy to perform yet he carried it exceptionally well despite his injuries, for that he has already won a gold. He has fought greatly and made the nation proud! Very proud. I'm really happy for being a Malaysian, and for Malaysia having such a great sportsman. Really thank God for Dato' Lee Chong Wei! I hope he will be able to cheer up and continue to make contributions to the country, and I believe he will! The greater plan has yet to come! =)