Gossip

In Ancient Greece, Socrates had a great reputation of wisdom.  One day, someone came to find the great philosopher and said to him:

- Do you know what I just heard about your friend?
- A moment, replied Socrates.  Before you tell me, I would like to test you the three sieves.
- The three sieves?
- Yes, continued Socrates.  Before telling anything about the others, it's good to take the time to filter what you mean.  I call it the test of the three sieves.  The first sieve is the TRUTH.  Have you checked if what you're going to tell me is true?
- No, I just heard it.
- Very good!  So, you don't know if it's true.  We continue with the second sieve, that of KINDNESS.  What you want to tell me about my friend, is it good?
- Oh, no!  On the contrary.
- So, questioned Socrates, you want to tell me bad things about him and you're not even sure they're true?  Maybe you can still pass the test of the third sieve, that of UTILITY.  Is it useful that I know what you're going to tell me about this friend?
- No, really.
- So, concluded Socrates, what you were going to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor useful.  Why, then, did you want to tell me this?

"Gossip is a bad thing. In the beginning it may seem enjoyable and fun, but in the end, it fills our hearts with bitterness and poisons us, too!"

- Pope Francis

Hopeful Connection

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me - Proverbs 8:17

Do you recall falling in love?  You hoped to know the person better and learn all the details that made the individual special.  You spent all your free time with your new love.  You formed strong bonds to last through troubles and time.  It was a moment when you felt connected to another person, when there was someone outside of yourself whom you could not picture your life without.

A. W. Tozer spoke of the desire to know God better.  The moment God became real and special to him was when he was fifteen years old.  He had heard a street preacher say that people needed to call on God if they did not know how to be saved.  Tozer ran home to his attic, got on his knees, and began a lifelong pursuit of God.  This moment inspired his pursuit to a deeper knowledge of God.  He loved and grew in his connection to God for the rest of his life.  Our pursuit of God should be lifelong.  God is too deep, too wide, and too high for the knowing to ever end.  The pursuit begins at the moment you understand that God truly loves you, and this begins your connection of hope.

Just tell our heavenly Father, "I love You and long to know You deeper. Lead me in Your ways so that I may walk closer to You day by day."  Amen

Source: 365 Devotion for hope by Karen Whiting

Chinese New Year Eve Dinner and First Day Lunch Fellowship

Chinese New Year eve dinner with the Yap's family. We had steam garlic prawn, curry chicken, pipa duck, ji hoo char, lor bak, tu tor soup and roasted chestnuts.

On the first day of CNY, our lunch consists of Korean Fried Chicken, Curry Prawns, Curry Chicken, Garlic Crabs, Onion Omelette and Vegetables Soup.

Lor Ark (Duck)

BRAISED DUCK (LOR ARK)

Most people tend to associate braised duck with the Teochews.  However, braised duck is also traditionally eaten in many Hokkien families.

Malaysia is a melting pot of a cornucopia of different cuisines which borrow heavily from each other.  So it is hard to pinpoint the exact difference between the Hokkien and Teochew versions, or which is more ‘authentic’.

In general, the Teochew version is darker-coloured and more savoury, while the Hokkien version is lighter and sweeter.

Some Hokkien Braised Duck stalls make this dish with a thickened gravy.  No starch is added to the gravy, apart than the slight natural thickening effect as the fats and collagen from the duck dissolve into the sauce during braising.

Ingredients : Sugar, 5 Spice Powder, Star Anise, Cloves, Cinnamon Stick, Dark Soy Sauce, Rock Sugar. 

[After cleaning the duck, stuff it with ginger, garlic and blue ginger (galangal)]

Walk the Talk

James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (NIV)

The book of James encourages Christians to act like Christians and live a life that proves the gospel is at work.  It is intensely practical, action oriented and describes the outward serving of faith.  According to James, if faith is real and if we truly trust God, then our faith will lead to all kinds of practical actions for the benefit of others.

In today’s verse, James urges the believers who listen to God’s Word to demonstrate a sincere commitment to the Lord by reacting to what they hear with obedient action.  The very nature of this passage is application, being doers of the Word.  The original language gives the sense that we must “keep on becoming” doers of God’s Word.  Genuine faith calls for obedience that endures.

The Word of God is not just a beautiful piece of literature to be savored and enjoyed.  Its purpose goes beyond provoking thought and inviting meditation.  It demands a change of heart that prompts a change of behavior.  Genuine faith does what God’s Word says and experiences the blessings from it.  Genuine faith believes God is right and is willingly to change to do what is right based on God’s Word.

The keys to the Kingdom

THE KEY OF DAVID

Matthew 16:19 — I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

BOOK QUOTE: When Heaven Invades Earth [Chapter 2]

THE gospel of salvation is to touch the whole man: spirit, soul, and body.  A study on the word evil confirms the intended reach of His redemption.  That word is found in Matthew 6:13 (KJV), “Deliver us from evil.”  The word evil represents the entire curse of sin upon man.  Poneros, the Greek word for evil, came from the word ponos, meaning “pain.”  And that word came from the root word penes, meaning “poor.”  Look at it: evil—sin, pain—sickness, and poor—poverty.

Jesus destroyed the power of sin, sickness, and poverty through His redemptive work on the cross.  In Adam and Eve’s commission to subdue the earth, they were without sickness, poverty, and sin.  Now that we are restored to His original purpose, should we expect anything less?  After all, this is called the better covenant!

We were given the keys to the Kingdom — which in part is the authority to trample over all the powers of hell (Matthew 16:19; Luke 10:19).  There is a phrase key of David, which is mentioned in both Revelation and Isaiah (Revelarion 3:7; Isaiah 22:22).

All that the Father has is ours through Christ.  His entire treasure is at our disposal in order to fulfill His commission.  But the more sobering part of this illustration is found in controlling who gets in to see the King.  Isn’t that what we do with this gospel?

When we declare it, we give opportunity for people to come to the King to be saved.  When we are silent, we have chosen to keep those who would hear away from eternal life.  It was a costly key for Him to purchase, and it’s a costly key for us to use.  But, it’s even more costly to bury it and not obtain an increase for the coming King.  That price will be felt throughout eternity.

When we are silent, we have chosen to keep those who would hear away from eternal life.

[A LIFE OF MIRACLES by Bill Johnson]

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob. . . . I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. (Isaiah 41:14–15)

Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and a threshing tool with sharp teeth?  A worm is delicate and is easily bruised by a stone or crushed beneath a passing wheel.  Yet a threshing tool with sharp teeth can cut through rock and not be broken, leaving its mark upon the rock.  And almighty God can convert one into the other.  He can take an individual or a nation, who has all the weakness of a worm, and through the energizing work of His own Spirit, endow that person or nation with strength enough to make a profound mark upon the history of their time.

Therefore a “worm” may take heart.  Almighty God can make us stronger than our circumstances and can turn each situation to our good.  In God’s strength we can make them all pay tribute to our soul.  We can even take the darkest disappointment, break it open, and discover a precious jewel of grace inside.  When God gives us an iron will, we can cut through difficulties just as an iron plowshare cuts through the hardest soil.  As He said in the above verse, “I will make you. . . .” Will He not do it? John Henry Jowett

Christ is building His kingdom with the broken things of earth.  People desire only the strong, successful, victorious, and unbroken things in life to build their kingdoms, but God is the God of the unsuccessful—the God of those who have failed.  Heaven is being filled with earth’s broken lives, and there is no “bruised reed” (Isaiah 42:3) that Christ cannot take and restore to a glorious place of blessing and beauty.  He can take a life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it a harp whose music will be total praise.  He can lift earth’s saddest failure up to heaven’s glory. J. R. Miller

“Follow Me, and I will make you . . .” Make you speak My words with power, Make you vessels of My mercy, Make you helpful every hour.

“Follow Me, and I will make you . . .” Make you what you cannot be— Make you loving, trustful, godly,

Make you even just like Me.

Source taken from Stream in the desert

Amazin'graze

Christmas comes early this year.  Received a surprise Christmas gift : 

December 1 - Amazin'graze : Festive Granola Box, Festive Nut Butter Box and Merry Gift Box.

7 December   - Merry Christmas facemask

                         Balocco  Panettone

18 December - Delicieux Gift Set

23 December - Domaine Saint Vincent Red Wine 

                         Ferrero Rocher + 3-tier Stainless Steel Steamer

DANISH BRIYANI HOUSE at Batu Ferringghi, Penang

We had a blessed Sunday lunch at Danish Briyani House, Batu Ferringghi.  We spend 3 hours eating and talking over a wide range of delicious food.  We had Cheese Naan and Garlic Naan, Mixed Vegetables, Chicken Briyani, Chicken Karahi and Mutton Rara Goshi. 

Present in Praise

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Acts 13:1-3 (NIV)

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ACTS 13:2

IN WORD

A lot can happen when people worship God.  Many disciples were gathered together in Acts 2, presumably for worship, when the Holy Spirit came upon them in wind and fire.  The church was born, the first sermon was preached, and amazing things began to happen in Jerusalem and beyond.  In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit spoke with instructions: Send out Barnabas and Saul.

There seems to be a connection.  When people worship God—really worship Him with love in their hearts and truth in their minds—the Holy Spirit is there.  That’s no coincidence.  He inspires our worship, and the more we worship, the more deeply He dwells with us.  The God who is enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3, NASB) is mightily and manifestly present when we worship Him.  If we want Jesus to be in our midst, all we need to do is follow His instructions: Gather two or more in His name.  Worship brings the throne room of heaven into the company of our fellowship.
But He does more than just show up.  He also fills us and gives direction.  God may hesitate to instruct people who aren’t serious about following Him.  But a group of worshipers who have made it clear that He is their desire will hear Him.  The volume of His voice grows louder when we worship. At this point of genuine worship in the early church, a mission to a lost world was launched.

IN DEED  Have you ever wished for such specific direction from God?  Be careful what you wish for; an obedient heart is a prerequisite for hearing His voice.  But given such a heart, worship Him.  Praise Him in the company of others with similar hearts.

This gathering of the Antioch leaders to worship and fast is too infrequently repeated in our age.  But if we will spend our lives in worship, He will direct us in how to spend our lives.

Be not afraid of saying too much in the praises of God; all the danger is of saying too little. —MATTHEW HENRY

[From The One Year Worship the King Devotional by Chris Tiegreen]