Encouraging my leaders is love

Being a leader is a high calling. God holds leaders to a higher level of accountability, and will hold them responsible for how they lead and shepherd His people. So, I thought I would send my leaders @ Alpha an encouraging email to root them on in their leadership:

"Hi leaders!

Thanks for your time and dedication in directing people to Jesus! I was doing my devos last night, and came upon this passage that I hope will be an encouragement to you (and us), as we continue to point people to Christ:

"The ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ involves a spiritual battle in which the evangelist is nothing more than an ambassador. Whether a person responds negatively to the "glorious gospel of Christ," or whether he believes and is given new life, the battle is fought on a spiritual plane outside the control of the messenger.

Why do some people reject the gospel? Satan has blinded their minds so they cannot see. Why do other people accept the gospel? "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor 4:6) For this reason, "we faint not." (2 Cor 4:1,16) Paul faced persistent opposition and rejection throughout his ministry. He stayed in the battle, refusing to quit, because he knew that in the final analysis the struggle did not involve him personally.

You can easily misunderstand your task as a witness for Christ and take it personally when people reject His message. Conversely, you think too highly of yourself if you take pride in your ability to win others to Christ. In either case, you fail to grasp that you are limited to merely sharing the good news. Beyond that point, it becomes a spiritual struggle over which you have no control. Once you assimilate the significance of this, you will not be timid in sharing the gospel nor lose heart when people reject the message.

You do not preach for temporal gain. In sales, you only get credit for what you sell. With the gospel, you only get credit for proclaiming the gospel, irrespective of the response. For these reasons, "we faint not.""

- quoted from "Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man" by Walter A. Henrichsen

Let us not lose heart, but continue to gently show love to those who have yet to experience God's grace and love! And may God fill you with wisdom, as you pray and lead Team 10 in discovering the glories of Calvary!"

Praying for Alpha

It was the first meeting for Alpha 2010 @ 633 King's Road yesterday, and woo hoo was it awesome! The room was packed, and my friend stuck to his word and came along! In the beginning, he was a little nervous, because he was worried that he wouldn't know anyone and feel out of place, but I reassured him, "Are you serious? You're O! I'm sure you'll know a ton of people!"

And sure enough, as if "by coincidence", he not only recognized a few people that he had met before, but a really welcoming brother, Geoff, that O had not only met, but worked with previously, is the leader of our Alpha group! God is so awesome in how He orchestrates things to happen!

Even though O is going to miss Alpha next Monday, but he is keen to come back the week after. I can't wait to see how God will work in his heart through this Alpha course, and prayed for him that night that God will touch him in a special way in the next 10 weeks. I pray that God will reach out to him and let O know that He is God, the Alpha and the Omega, in a way that O comprehends and needs. I also prayed for the other members of my Alpha group by name. I'm thankful that God has placed us together as a group, to grow together, and to support and encourage each other. Whether we have walked with God for years, or are still holding God off at a distance, I pray that He will speak to each of us personally, and that we would encounter Him in a mighty way!

"The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

"Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge.

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

"Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue: He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Loving my neighbors

I decided that it wasn't enough to just send love and invite one person to Alpha, so I picked up a stash of Alpha cards, and stuffed them in my neighbors' mailboxes. Sure, I'm spamming people, but this spam could change souls for eternity! I thought I could take the risk of being called a solicitor, in hopes that more will come to know the glories of our wonderful Lord!

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him."

Loving the lost by inviting them to Alpha!

I'm a chicken when it comes to inviting the lost to Christian events, because I'm scared that it would be awkward for them, and honestly, I don't really like getting shot down. However, Jesus reminds us that "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven."

I don't know about you, but I want some reward in heaven!

There's a good friend that I've been praying for ever since returning to HK. We've known each other for years, and go way back, but I didn't get to know him better until coming back to HK this time around. Our friendship is something that I really treasure and am thankful for. And perhaps precisely because of this, I was so afraid of inviting him to church. Thankfully, God gave me the courage that I needed, and I invited him to Alpha over lunch today, to which he said, "sure!" Wow! It was so easy! I feel so silly for being such a chicken...