Friday, July 17, 2009

Growing in Grace

What is GRACE?

Someone gave a pretty good explanation:

GRACE is God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

"Growing in Grace" was the theme of our Church Camp this year. We didn't make it to the chuch camp because of obvious reason: "$ No Enough" :P

Still, thank God that we get to learn about the theme when sharings were overflowed from the camp into the prayer meetings and subsequence Sunday services.

Also, some campers were called to present the theme song and here they are:


edited for protection of members' privacy...
except for Desmond, haha!


Theme Song: "Grace that is Greater than All Our Sins"


Heavenly!! (Recorded and uploaded by Pual Chua)

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Chorus
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?


Some of the brethren in this group were joking that they can be called the "100 Years Old Choir" as the age of all of them would add up to more than a 100, haha!

Pastor shared a humbling experiece about how he thought he had covered all the bases on the grace of God through Jesus Christ and was very happy with his work, but he came back from the church camp to discover that he has totally left-out the gracious God - our Abba Father!

The verse which Pastor used to greet the campers throughout the camp mentioned about grace from God our Father, which he totally skipped and only focused on the Lord Jesus Christ... quite a humbling experiece I must say so for our dear Pastor, but glad that he is humble enough to listen and learn from the Holy Spirit :)

Galatians 1:3-5
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


AMEN!

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Monday, July 13, 2009

ABOVE ALL

Above all powers, above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure what you're worth

Crucified
Laid behind a stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all

Song presentation by Daniel Lau, our church Elder's one and only son :)

Gave a short exhortation before he sang...


Once again, Daniel played and sang so well... Praise the Lord!



That was a short clip I took with my humble-handphone. See below for the full version of the song, a LIVE worship with Michael W. Smith which interjected with photos that compliment the song. It helps to bring out the impact of this beautiful worship song:

Jesus is above all

and He loves us above all~


Enjoy!




Jesus...
Like a Rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all



2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.


Dear Lord Jesus,
You became poor for me, thank You.
Please help me to love You always.
And forever!
Amen!