Free will

"...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Phil 2:13

For some time I have made my theological stand that man is saved by grace alone. That also mean we can't will ourselves to be saved because our fallen nature is constantly in conflict with God's will. We're fickle-minded and we change over time, but the grace of God changes our hearts so that we can respond to his grace forever. One cannot imagine a salvation that is temporal. What then does that tell us about the one who offers salvation? That he saves us now and forsakes us later due to our nature which tend to reject him? May that not be so, for even I will never bow the knee to such a diety. However the doctrine of grace demands that God continue to will us unto salvation despite our eventual "willful" rejection of grace because the power of the Holy Spirit at work in believers is way too strong even for a "cousciencious objector" of grace.

That said, it shouldn't be confused that since God saves us forever, so we can sin since we'll be saved eventuallg. That is a gross misunderstanding of the goodness of God because the Spirit at work in us always compels us to do good. Inspite of that God allows some believers to, at their seemingly free will, to fall away so that his grace will be manifested and abound even more.

On a darker note, there are those who think they are saved but are not. So there seems to be a kind of uncertainty about who gets saved and who doesn't. That shouldn't be so if we understand the work of God in salavation. He always finish the work He began to His glory.

Therefore God's sovereign grace saves even the hardest hearts, leaving no room for any of us to boast. If we should boast, let us boast in the amazing grace of God. The resulting decision is not a result of our free will, but God's work to offer us salvation and enabling us to bypass our stubborn will to respond to His grace.

Free will? Yeah, our will has been set free bythe Spirit which wills our souls to be saved tothe glory of God. Hallelujjah!

At Rhema Conerence 2008

I was at Rhema Conference on the opening and closing nights. I only stayed for the worship though because I brought Chia Ee with me. The sound on the opening night was very loud. I know that they have warned everyone that worship will be at "full volume", but I thought that were too high on the dB scale. Even Chia Ee had to struggle in my arms to indicate that he wanted to get out of the hall. Thankfully things got more bearable during slow songs. And there I was sitting and worshipping and with Chia Ee sitting on me or next to me. He clapped when the congregation clapped and danced when they danced. It was a marvellous sight.

I finally felt free - freedom from the feeling of responsibility from my involvement with R-age. It's not that I've been carrying some guilt on my back, but I always thought my service to the ministry isn't complete. I guess it never will as long as I still have a heart for the young people of Singapore. But yes, I felt free. Free because the family and fatherhood is the best form of worship to a married man. "No amount of success can compensate for the failure in the family", my dad once to told me. I couldn't agree more. Now I have two kid. They will become youths one day and they will be my ministry, my responsibility until I die. To love them is to serve them. Loving them is a reflection of God's relationship towards me. Grace and providence comes alive on earth and it has never been clearer.

Back to Rhema. I was delighted to see the guys who ran the show. The kids that are leaders now - that is a great encouragement. The ministry will always be in good hands when we trust the Lord in everything we do. There were notable missing people there which i shall not mentioned. You know who you are and you know your time in R-age isn't up yet. Come back soon!

Inspired

I finally got my cop of Foo Fighters Live at Wembley Stadium. Man, I am so totally inspired by Dave Ghrol. He really made drummers feel dem good about themselves. I reall want to rock like him. When he played drums during the encore set with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and Stephen Hawkins on vocals (!!!), I was totall floored! I remembered the first time I watch Nirvana on Laser Disc and his live performance on "Aneurysm" I knew I wanted to be that kind of rock drummer.

Well on hindsight, I thought I did just that with Gloria, but at that time I think I was still new to this showmanship thingie. Watch Daren of Vertical Rush, now that is a showman. I love his style of play. Brandon Khoo too, but Daren is my man because of the kind of music he played with Sky in Euphoria. Sadly I think I have to take the drummer out of me for a while while I attempt to re-start the TOSOG project with Eve, Josh and Caleb again since the bith of Jo-En.

Jo-En, just like his kor kor - my inspiration too!

Taking another break

I informed Pastor Meng Charm last week that I'll be taking a sabbaitical from ministry for at least the next three months. I cited family commitments as the main reason. But creatively, I also wanted to be free to do something I like in these three months as I jam and rehearse for a possible recording in February.

Let's see how things goes. I just returned from Chiana Mai last night and I don't know where to begin. I know all the guys are just a phone call away, but I am procastinating. If I don't do it now, then when?