30 Jul 09 The Wow of mission in Philippines 19 July 2009
19/07/2009
I slept at 1.45am to prepare for the Sunday School message and woke up again at 5.45am to finish it. I had barely 4 hours of sleep that day.
I took my breakfast at 7am and packed up my luggage to check out of the hotel. We had to leave for Bohol in the afternoon.
9.30am
We arrived at SMCI centre at 9.30am. I was told that there was no power supply and I could not use the projector to show my PowerPoint slides.
Wow, that was a big problem for me. I had barely 5 minutes to memorize my message since I could not use the PowerPoint. I realized I could not do much within the 5 minutes and decided to pray instead.
The team members had already gathered at the front of the hall upstairs to pray before the church service. I had no choice but to do what I could to deliver my message without the PowerPoint projection.
I wore a long sleeve shirt because it was the Lord’s day and it was really hot without the fan. Thank God I managed to deliver the message without the PowerPoint projection.
10.45am
Pastor Mike preached from John 14 about how we should not get stressed if we trust God. I could see that he struggled through the message because it was really very hot and he even said the audience was half dead. We were really struggling because of the intense heat. It was also very noisy because of the noise produced by the neighbour’s generator. The SMCI centre does not have a power generator.
Pastor Mechelle addressing the congregation
11.45am
Pastor Mechelle Peregrino of GLCC (Dumaguete) gave his greetings and addressed the congregation before our lunch. We left the centre to head for Bohol island at 12.45pm.
Farewell to folks from SMCI Dumaguette
1.15pm
We arrived at the ferry terminal and waited for almost 2 hours to board the fast ferry to Bohol. We boarded the ferry at 3.15pm and arrived in Bohol at 5.10pm. The 2 hours ferry ride was very smooth. Most of us were able to take a short nap during the ferry ride.
Boarding the ferry to Bohol
Welcome to Bohol
5.35pm
We stopped by the road side to take a photo of the corrupted version of the Ten Commandments put up by the local folks. The portion of the commandment about idolatry had been removed. Are the local folks guilty of idolatry?
Ten Commandments
5.45pm
We finally arrived at the Bohol SMCI centre. We were introduced to the Irish full time staff call Kim and the local Filipino SMCI team. The Filipino team members were playing their electronic keyboard and guitars. Most of them are sisters in their teens and early twenties.
We checked into the East Coast hotel nearby. Derrick had to share room with Ivan because the room allocated to me was too small for two persons. I suddenly felt like an old man because the younger GLCC team members like Jeremy and Benz were so energetic and helpful. They helped to carry my heavy luggage to my room located on the third floor. These young men are all bible students in the GLCC bible class. Jeremy is 21 years old and he has just completed his National Service. He told me he found it more meaningful to pursue spiritual aspirations after his National Service.
The facility at this hotel was really quite bad. The toilet bowl did not even come with a toilet seat and there were no toilet papers. The blanket provided was just a piece of thin cloth. Well, at least the air conditioner was working fine and I was thankful for that.
6.30pm
We walked to the Jolly beans restaurant for dinner. It started to rain after dinner and we had to take a Pedicab to a nearby shopping centre to change some money. The first money changer outlet was closed and the second outlet only accepts US dollars. As such only Justin was successful in changing his money to peso.
Dr Chong and I decided to buy a few bottles of mineral water before taking the transport back to SMCI centre.
Photo of Pedicab
8pm
The GLCC and Bohol SMCI team members had gathered there for corporate prayers. Everyone prayed earnestly for the Gospel outreach mission to students in Bohol. I noticed that one particular Filipino sister call Princess was especially passionate in her prayer. She was in tears throughout her prayer.
Corporate PrayerPrincess praying earnestly next to Kim
Tags: Bohol, Christian Mission, GLCC, Philippines mission, SMCI, Student Mission for Christ International
30 Jul 09 The Wow of mission in Philippines 18 July 2009
I woke up at 2.30am because of loud gun fire sounds. I remembered turning around to ask Derrick if he heard the loud series of gun fires.
He said yes despite the fact he was wearing ear plugs to sleep. I told him not to forget the Mumbai incident and went back to sleep. While trying to fall asleep I could not help but to ask myself what I would do if some terrorists really storm into the room like what happened in Mumbai hotel several months ago.
6.30am
I woke up again at 6am and went to the hotel café for breakfast. Ivan who used to work for Mediacorp as a dancer was early. He was coughing away and had lost his voice. In fact most of the GLCC team members had lost their voices. They had been going from classroom to classroom sharing the Gospel even before I arrived. I heard that Ivan is a very talented dancer. He shared that he used to dance for famous local and Hong Kong celebrities like Jackie Chan and Anita Mui before he became a Christian.
7.50am
Pastor Mike came to pick us up and we went to the Negro Oriental High School. Over 200 students were seated on a long stretch of stadium steps facing a basket ball court. The teacher was giving them a briefing. All of a sudden the students were asked to turned backward and face the steps behind them. I was very puzzled and wondered what they were doing. Then they started to sit down to answer their examination papers using the steps behind them as a writing table. That was simply amazing!
Students having outdoor exam
Students having outdoor exam
We thought we could share the gospel within 30 minutes and move on to another campus. But we could not do so because the students were having their examination. Pastor Mike appeared troubled and disappointed. He told some of us to stay behind to wait for the opportunity to preach the gospel while another team was asked to go on to the next location. The remaining team members followed him to go back to SMCI centre to pray.
I stayed behind with Justin, Ben, Danny, Derrick and a few other SMCI staff till 9.30am.
9.30am
The students finally finished their examination and we were given 30 minutes to talk to the students. Ben spent 30 minutes to preach the Gospel message to about 300 of the students. About 100 of the students raised their hands to indicate their decision to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
Ben Preaching the Gospel to the studentsBen Preaching the Gospel
Students listening attentively to the Gospel message
Students listening to the Gospel message
10.15am
We walked back to SMCI to join Pastor Mike and the team who were praying earnestly. Pastor Mike shared about how God had answered our prayers. We no longer need to leave for Bohol at midnight via a slow ocean liner tonight. That was an answered prayer. We could wait till 2pm to take the fast ferry the next day.
Corporate Prayer
Corporate Prayer
11am
We drove to Peralta’s house. Pastor Mike said the Peralta couple is a friend of SMCI. The wife is a doctor and the husband is a businessman. They live in a large compound guarded by a security guard. The cosy brown bungalow where they live is located in the middle of the large compound. They have a beautiful garden and a white puppy.
We were served the famous buko pie (coconut pie) and fresh and fried lumpia (popiah) for snacks. We had some good fellowship while munching our snacks in the garden.
Home of Peralta
Buko Pie (coconut pie)
12.20pm
We visited the campus of the College of Engineering and Architecture.
We waited for almost 2 hours before being given the chance to speak to a group of young men and women in green T-shirts and army pants. They were having their drill and inspection in the field. Their supervisors were all wearing army camouflage uniform. Two of them were seen going round to snip the hairs off some of the students. Another group of students were busy practicising their rifle drills.
Students having their drillThe team waiting patiently to share the Gospel to the students
The sky started to turn dark and it started to drizzle. We were all very concerned that the rain would start to pour before we could share the Gospel to these students. Pastor Mike gathered everyone together and we prayed for God to hold back the rain.
Miraculously, the sky turned blue and the drizzling stopped and by 2.15pm we were given the signal to go ahead to share the Gospel with the students.
The officers gave the commands and the students obediently gathered to sit in front of a concrete platform. It was really exciting to see how God touched the hearts of the supervisors and officers to allow us to spend 30 minutes with these few hundred students. Imagine that they were literally commanded to sit down quietly to listen to the Gospel.
Pastor Mike preached the Gospel and even carried a young man on his back to demonstrate the meaning of faith. The students started to laugh and looked amazed when he actually carried the boy who appeared heavier on him around on his back.
About 100 students raised their hands to confess their faith after the message and we quickly fanned out to distribute the Good News Gospel tracts to the students.
Pastor Mike sharing the GospelPastor Mike carrying a boyFew hundred students sitting on the grass to listen to the Gospel
Pastor Mike preaching
Officers joining the students to listen to the Gospel
The officers happily posed with Pastor Mike to take a group photo after the session.
2.50pm
We drove to the Café Antonio, the family restaurant, owned by the Peralta’s family for lunch. We had chicken chop and rice for lunch.
4.50pm
Benz, Martha and Jill wanted to go shopping at a Christian book shop next to Lee Plaza. Derrick and I decided to join them.
The books at the Christian book shop were really very cheap. I bought a DVD and several Christian books from the shop. A copy of the New Testament was only selling for 30 peso (S$1). We walked to the Lee Plaza to have a look but go bored after barely 10 minutes.
6pm
Pastor Mike was at the hotel lobby working on his laptop. I sat down to chat with him. He suddenly looked at me and asked if I could take the Sunday School the next day. Sunday School? I didn’t even see any children around in the SMCI centre. I decided to ask him the age group of the people who were attending the Sunday School. I was surprised when he told me that the Sunday School was meant for adults.
He told me the local church usually have a Sunday School lesson for 1 hour before the main message by the pastor. I asked him what he wanted me to talk about and he said I could pick any topic I want. I hesitated for a while before replying him in the affirmative 45 minutes later.
Dr Chong came to join us and he wanted me to show him how I could balance an empty coke can on the table. Yi Fei was siting a table away. He came over to join us and showed us how he used his teeth to open the top of the empty coke can. Wow! This guy is amazing. He literally used his teeth like a can opener. I recorded the entire stunt on video. This would make a very good Youtube video!
Human Can Opener
7pm
We walked to a restaurant nearby the hotel for dinner. We had grilled chicken. We had some good fellowship with the folks from GLCC. We were all busy sharing riddles with each other. Yi Fei asked me how to form 4 squares with 7 match sticks while Jeremy asked me how to cook 3 fishes with 2 frying pans in 3 minutes. Even pastor Michelle joined in by testing us a puzzle about a square with a dog inside it.
9.30pm
I got back to the hotel at 9.30pm. I had to spend about two hours to back up my video before I could think about my Sunday School message. I was also very distracted by the puzzle about the 3 fishes asked by Jeremy. I told him I would give him the answer the next day. Derrick told me to stop think about the riddle and start to concentrate on my message. He was right. Thanks God the answer to the riddle flashed through my mind while I was talking to him.
I still could not get any inspiration on what to speak on at 11pm and I was running out of time. I decided to talk about the brevity of life based on James 4:14 after some discussion with Derrick.
I stayed up till 1 am to prepare for the Sunday School message. It was really tough to work on a message within such a short notice. Thank God I could use Powerpoint to help me.
Tags: Christian Mission, GLCC, Gospel, Philippines, SMCI, Student Outreach
27 Jul 09 The Wow of missions in the Philippines 17 July 2009
17/07/2009
For someone who is a night person I found it really tough to wake up at 6am in the morning. We had to wake up early and get ready to move out by 7.45am.
I was kind of glad when Dr Chong called later that Pastor Mike would be picking us up at 8.45am instead of 7.45am. That gave me another one more hour of sleep.
9am
We arrived at the main campus ll Bajumpandan of Negros Oriental State University. This is the department of Air Science and Tactics. The campus consists mainly of a large 3 storey building facing a large open field.
Negros Oriental State UniversityNegros Oriental State University
The GLCC and SMCI teams fanned out and went into different classes to share the gospel.
I took some video clips of the team in action before settling down to find out more about SMCI from Pastor Mike at 11am.
Team members of SMCI and GLCCSeeking permission to share the Gospel from the University
Sharing the Gospel to students at level 2 open area
Ven sharing the Gospel to students under a tree
Students listening to the GospelStudents listening to the Gospel
Pastor Mike told me that SMCI started in 1998 after a young Filipino named Joy Pinero who was working in Singapore got burdened to reach her own people. She started an outreach to students in various universities and won over many young people to the Lord after she returned to the Philippines.
Pastor Mike with Joy Pinero
Pastor Mike was invited to join this mission work in 2000. The team led by Pastor Mike was able to preach the gospel in every classroom in 5 different universities and high schools when they first started. They preached the gospel 170 times to over 14,000 students and thousands of students made professions of their faith for Jesus within a short span of 8 weeks.
A young student named Ven Tabunda heard the gospel message and was gloriously saved during one of these meetings. He took the gospel to his family and they were saved as well. Today his father pastors a church in this part of Philippines and Ven is now the national director of Student Movement for Christ International (SMCI).
Ven Tabunda
Ven sharing the Gospel with some students
SMCI grew from its beginnings on the island of Negros to the large city of Cebu, then to Bohol, Leyte and then to the city of Davao on Mindanao.
Today SMCI has a staff strength of 45 workers and they have weekly bible studies in over 55 university and college campuses in the southern part of Philippines.
We left the school at 1pm to head back to SMCI to have a time of corporate prayer. We prayed earnestly for God to continue to open the Gospel door for us. Some of the team members were in tears as we prayed passionately for this gospel outreach.
Group prayersMelody praying earnestly
The GLCC team continued to fold more Gospel tracts. I noticed that some of them were busy making correction for a typo error on the Gospel tract. The local printer had made a typo error and printed “giving our sins” instead of “forgiving our sins” on the Gospel tract. The printer missed out ‘for’ in the word ‘forgiving’. Wow, this is really hardwork. They had to make the corrections on thousands of gospel tracts. I have bad handwritings and decided not to make things worse.
Pastor Mike wanted me to do a video interview of Pastor Michelle, Mike and Daphne after lunch. These are young people in their twenties who have dedicated their lives for this gospel outreach through SMCI.
We decided to head back to our hotel to conduct the interview. Conducting a video interview is definitely much easier with the help of Derrick who used to work for Mediacorp. He helped to film the interview from another angle while I closed in on the person being interviewed.
Pastor Mike & MarkPastor Mike and Michelle
Pastor Mike and Daphne
We were all excited and looking forward to the Gospel rally at 5pm. I was told to expect around 5000 students in the evening.
5pm
We gathered at the entrance of the Negro Oriental High School which is facing a busy street. There were many students in this campus. We waited while the local SMCI staff worker went to seek permission from the administrator for us to use the campus facilities for evangelism.
School compound -Negros Oriental High School
We summoned the students who were in the campus to gather at the school hall. We managed to get about 200 students to settle down. Our SMCI staff led the students in some action songs before Pastor Mike took over the stage to share the Gospel message in 30 minutes. A handful of students raised their hands to say the sinners’ prayer after the sermon.
Distributing Good News Tracts and gathering students to the hall
The meeting lasted for only 30 minutes because we had to finish off quickly to allow the students to go home. We walked back to SMCI centre feeling a little disappointed by the miscommunication but we were thankful for those who came to listen to the Gospel message.
Pastor Mike sharing the Gospel to few hundred high school students
Students listening to the Gospel messageStudents listening attentively to the Gospel
I was offered a pre-packed cup of fresh coconut juice bought from the stall beside the SMCI centre. I love coconut juice and I thought the Thai coconut was the sweetest and most delicious one I ever tasted. But this pre-packed fresh coconut juices was far sweeter and more refreshing. I could not help but to ask for another cup. I wish some enterprising businessmen would import this into Singapore one day.
Fresh coconut juice
Justin is always reading his bible
I managed to get my laptop to power up using the Acer charger borrowed from Pastor Mike. I felt safer after successfully backing up the video clips into an external hard disk.
Ready on
Tags: Bohol, Class evangelism, Dumaguete, GLCC, Gospel, Negros University, SMCI
26 Jul 09 The Wow of missions in the Philippines 15-16 July 2009
15/07/2009 – 16 /07/2009
I had to finish some last minute reports for my clients, attend meetings and rushed to attend a farewell dinner for my staff who was migrating back to Indonesia after her marriage. It has been such a hectic day!
I got home at 8.30pm and had less than 1 hour to finish packing my luggage. Derrick was already at Terminal 2 and had already checked in when I got there at 10pm.
We boarded the small commercial plane at 0.05 AM on 16 July 2009. We were seated at 12 A & B of Flight PR 506.
The flight was very smooth and we landed in Manila at 3.40am. We waited for almost 1 hour to collect our luggage which did not appear on the conveyor belt.
We discovered later that the airport staff had moved our luggages to the domestic flight PR291. We had waited in vain for one full hour for nothing.
I was quite surprise to find YaKun Kaya Toast in the airport departure hall. We decided to have kaya toast and half boiled eggs for breakfast since we still had some time before the domestic flight PR291 took off at 7am.
The domestic flight was equally smooth and we landed safely at Dumaguette airport at around 8.15am. We managed to take some video shots of the plane that brought us there and a helicopter which was landing while waiting to collect our luggages. These video shots would be good for our video stock library.
Christian Mission in Philippines
Pastor Mike picked us up from the airport and drove us to check into Hotel Palwa.
10.30am
Pastor Mike drove us to the GLCC church at Tanjay.
Gospel Light Christian Church (GLCC) in Tanjay Dumaguete
Soon the whole bunch of GLCC and SMCI team members turned up in two trucks. I was introduced to almost 25 of them within a short span of 1 minute. It was so tough to try to remember everyone’s name within a short span of 1 minute. Some of them like Mark has a big mole on his face and it was really easy to connect that to his name. It was more difficult to remember the names of the Filipinos because they all look the same to me when my mind was dull from lack of sleep.
The team settled down and started to fold the ‘Good News’ gospel tracts to prepare for the afternoon evangelistic campaign.
Student Movement for Christ Team folding Gospel Tracts
The Good News Gospel Tract
We had a simple lunch before splitting up into groups to go to the schools. Derrick was tasked to follow one team while I tagged on to the team led by Pastor Mike.
All squeezed into one van and ready to go sharing the Gospel
1.30pm
Pastor Mike drove us to Bais City High School with 2600 students. I was utterly surprised that we were given the permission to go from door to door to preach and share the gospel with the students in each class.
Bais City High School
I went from class to class to take videos and photos of our team members sharing the gospel to students in different classes. It was quite interesting to observe and see how each individual member went about to share the gospel to the student.
Dr Chong sharing the gospel in a classroom
Students listening to the Gospel message
Dr Chong (a private dental surgeon) was very clinical in the way he shared the gospel while Ivan (ex Mediacorp artist) was full of actions and very passionate when he shared the gospel. I saw Ivan prayed and 10 students readily raised their hands to accept Christ as their Saviour.
Ivan sharing the Gospel in a class
Sharing the Gospel to students who were learning how to type on typewriters
Students listening to the Gospel message
4.11pm
My camera battery was flat and I was feeling hot and dead tired for lack of sleep. A Filipino SMCI staff brought me to the teachers’ room to charge my battery. I found out that the Filipinos in Dumaguette and Bohol speak Cebuana and not Tagalog. One of the SMCI member asked if I was hungry and came back with a bag of barbeque bananas. The banana was coated with sugar and barbequed in a skewer. I think they call this ‘Banana cue’. It is quite different from the ‘goreng pisang’ or fried banana snack we have back in Singapore.
Justin and SMCI staff enjoying their banana cue
4.30pm
We travelled 2 hours to get back to the SMCI (Student Movement for Christ International) centre. We had some fellowship before dinner. The SMCI staff served us with pork trotters and milk fish for dinner.
7pm
We took a casual stroll to the Negros Oriental State University. By 7.30pm the entire hall in this campus was filled with over 300 students. The GLCC team presented song items while the SMCI team performed a skit with a gospel message.
The hall packed with students at Negros University Campus
Students raising their hands to profess their faith in Jesus
Pastor Mike preached the gospel and over 80-100 students raised their hands to make decisions to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
Among those who raised their hands was a teenage boy in a green colour T shirt and his hair is dyed green and red. Pastor Mike took notice of him and went forward to shake his hand.
Student raising his hand to accept Christ
The session ended at 10pm and I was dead tired when we got back to the hotel. I wanted to download my videos into my laptop as a backup but found out that my laptop charger was not working.
Sigh! I have brought spare parts for everything except my charger and it had to die at the time when I least expected.
Read on
Tags: Bais High School, Dumaguete, GLCC, Gospel, Mission, Philippines, SMCI, Student Movement for Christ International, Tractings
26 Jul 09 Amazing Grace
Tags: Amazing Grace, Hymn
25 Jul 09 The Wow of missions in the Philippines
I started to get apprehensive when I was asked to produce a documentary video of the mission work in Philippines because I really hate flying.
I was lukewarm and wasn’t all that excited about going to the Philippines because I thought I have seen it all. I have seen and produced documentary videos of the mission works in other countries including Indonesia, China, Kenya and the Tanzania.
What could be so exciting about a country that is so deep into religious traditions and idolatry?
However my apprehension turned into excitement when I heard that the mission team led by Pastor Mike was planning and praying to share the gospel to 40,000 souls.
40,000 souls! Wow! I was excited by the number but I still could not imagine how this is going to be possible. I have seen mass gatherings of hundreds of villagers in China where the gospel was preached. Humanly speaking, I cannot imagine similar mass gatherings of Filipinos like what I witnessed in China.
I was told that I had to spend 2 weeks in some islands in the Philippines. I told Pastor Vic, “It is quite impossible because I simply could not take so much time off during this period of the year.”
We came to some compromise and arrangement was made for me to spend only 1 week in the field. However the team of 30 from GLCC (Gospel Light Christian Church) had gone one week before me and I was told that I had to travel alone.
“How am I going to carry those heavy tripods, cameras and a heavy laptop and travel to some islands in some remote part of the Philippines all by myself?”
Later I was given the assurance that Derrick would be joining me. Derrick used to work for Mediacorp and has lots of experience in videography.
Thank God that we had Lily who helped to make all the arrangement to book the air tickets for us. She tried very hard to make our travel plan as smooth as possible. However we still ended up having to depart at an unearthly time of 12.05am on 16/07/2009. That would means no sleep for 16/07/2009 and we would be zombies when we arrive in the Philippines.
The few days before our departure date were a mad rush for me. I had to run to Sim Lim Square to get a new HD video camera and Digital camera. I did not feel safe travelling to the Philippines to undertake a video shoot with just one HD video camera. I knew too well that electronic equipments can fail me at the most in appropriate time. I certainly do not want to travel all the way there and get caught in a situation like what I encountered in Sichuan last year when my Canon EOS 400D failed me when I went there to shoot a video of the earthquake scene.
I thought of purchasing another Pro HD Video camera that can record on HDV tapes like my Sony A1 but I changed my mind and bought the Sony HDR XR 520E instead. This new Sony camera comes with a 240 Gig hard disk and it can record full HDV up to 1920x 1080. It can also shoot still photos concurrently up to 12 mega pixel in resolution while the video is being recorded. The HDV video on the crystal clear LCD is super sharp and the colour is very rich. I don’t have to carry so many HDV tapes with me when I travel. More importantly I can save time in downloading the video for editing later.
I was quite happy with the purchase till I got home. I realized that none of my softwares could work on the AVCHD format.
Oh no! I have bought the wrong camera. I went online to hunt for the video Codec and suitable softwares that could edit AVCHD format but I could not find any. I thought of disposing off this camera on Ebay to get the Pro HDV camera that can record on HDV tapes.
I did a more thorough research on Google and I finally found the solution to my problem. I downloaded a trial version of a software that could convert the AVCHD videos to mpg and wmv format. But the converted videos became jerky and distorted. I was devastated, “Now, I really had to Ebay the camera away and get a proper Pro HDV camera.”
I prayed and continued my research on Google. I read through several forums and users’ comments to look for solutions. Everyone seems to be facing the same nightmare that I was encountering. Everyone was asking for help.
Thank God I finally found the right tool. I downloaded a trial version of AVS4You video converter. This software is fantastic! It converted all my test AVCHD videos into wmv successfully without losing any resolution or causing any distortion.
I quickly went online and “paypaled” USD 59 to own the softwares. But I got more than what I bargained for. I would have paid USD 590 for this great software. But the USD 59 I paid allowed me to download a bundle of other very good multimedia and PC system tools with free upgrades for life.
With AVS4You, I am now assured that the new Sony HDR XR 520E is ready to be my work horse for this mission trip. (Sounds like a good advertisement for AVS4You and a life saver for Sony!)
After charging all my batteries over a span of 2 days, I am all ready for this exciting mission trip.
I was excited but I was still apprehensive of flying.
Read more . . .
Travel Journal
Tags: AVCHD, AVS4You, GLCC, missions in Philippines, Sony HDR XR 520E
25 Jul 09 What is wrong with the Prosperity Gospel?
John Piper discusses the heresy involved in the health and wealth or prosperity gospel… which is no gospel at all
Tags: John Piper, Prosperity Gospel
24 Jul 09 Prosperity Gospel
John Piper – The Christian Life is Marked by Suffering, Not Prosperity
Proclaiming the Excellencies of Christ, Not Prosperity, Among the Nations” 1 Peter 2:9-12
Tags: John Piper, Prosperity Gospel
23 Jul 09 Change your behaviour or change your name
Several centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great came out of Macedonia and Greece to conquer the Mediterranean world. He didn`t know it, but God was using him to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah – for it was as a result of Alexander`s conquests that Greek was established as the lingua france (common language) of the Grecian and later even Roman Empire.
On one of his campaigns, Alexander received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier`s name was also Alexander. When the commander learned this, he sent word that he wanted to talk to the errant soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him, “What is your name?” The reply came back, “Alexander, sir”. The commander looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully, “soldier, either change your behaviour or change your name.”
This story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. Is your behaviour compatible with that Name?
Tags: Jesus Christ, name, Testimony
22 Jul 09 Was Michael Jackson happy?
Was Michael Jackson happy when he was alive? He had all the popularity of a great celebrity. He had large followers of fans. He had lots money (at least before he lost them). He lived is a big mansion. But he could not sleep. Why couldn’t he sleep? Perhaps he had no peace. Was he happy? He was trying so hard to please so many people.
Can you find happiness on earth? Where can you find happiness?
• Not in unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”
• Not in pleasure — Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure, if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone.”
• Not in money — Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”
• Not in possession and fame — Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age regret.”
• Not in military glory — Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because, as he said: “There are no more worlds to conquer.”
Where, then is happiness found?
The answer is simple: “In Christ alone.” He said: “I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22)
Where can we find great JOY? The secret is found in the acronym J.O.Y.
To have joy you must put Jesus first, Others next and then Yourself last.
That’s right! Put Jesus on top of everything else. Put Jesus as your motive for doing anything. Put the needs of other people first before looking at your own needs. If you follow this formula you will find true happiness.
