The brother of a young man who was murdered finally faced the killer in court nearly a decade after the crime. His voice trembling, he said, "Where my brother is today, he can probably forgive. But I can't."
Understandably, victims of mistreatment and injustice find it difficult to forgive - even to say the words that can begin to heal the deep wound and ease the pain that remains in the heart. To forgive is not our immediate natural response. As a result, families live alienated from each other because of long-ago hurts. Long-simmering feuds erupt into violence.
But think about what Jesus said on the cross. He had healed the sick, fed the hungry, and taught the wandering. Now, even though He was innocent, He was humiliated, mocked, and beaten. In the darkness of that moment, no one could expect His parched lips to say, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). But they were the first words He spoke from the cross. Imagine their impact on the people who heard them! Jesus expressed neither anger nor hatred, but the most loving words a person can bestow - words of forgiveness.
O God, help us to be like Your Son in forgiving others when we are mistreated. - JDB Our sins, O Christ, You've borne away -
Because You died, today we live;
To know such love, what can we say!
O Jesus, help us to forgive. - DJD
To return good for good is natural; To return good for evil is supernatural.
Article selected from “Our Daily Bread”.
This Week @ Detonate: Is Good Friday just another holidays??? Is Easter Sunday another day to receive a gift... like an egg??? What is so significant about these 2 days???
R3D
Where mercy meets you!
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
Time: 5:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: 44 Hoot Kiam Road - Level 2
Come to find out more for yourself and join us for a great time in knowing more friends and a time filled with knowledge, joy and love! =)See you at 5:00pm in church!
Annoucement: R3D (Returns 3 Days Later) is a Detonate Youth Easter Outreach on 3rd April. It is time again for us to invite our friends and family members to this evangelistic service! Let's continue to pray for them to response to our invitations, that they will know the amazing love of God. Where mercy meets you!
Pentecostal Power
I heard about a man who, in a rousing service, prayed, "Lord, come down through the roof. I'll pay for the shingles." When I was a boy, I liked that story because I wished that the church services I attended could have been more exciting.
As I grew older, however, I began to realize that genuine Pentecostal power produces something deeper than mere excitement. Great things happened on that unique Sunday described in today's Scripture reading because the disciples were "filled with the Holy Spirit." God desires that all Christians be filled with the Spirit. It's not an option. It should be the norm for every member of Christ's body.
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul said, "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." We experience this when we acknowledge our need of His presence in our lives, choose to obey God's Word, and continually depend on Him. When He takes control, the result will be that we speak encouragement to one another. We will have a song in our hearts, give thanks for all things, and submit to one another (vv.18-21). That kind of Pentecostal power can revitalize church services and transform lives. - HVL O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,
Revive Thy church with life and power;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
And fit Thy church to meet this hour. - Head
A church is running on empty if its members are not spirit-filled.
Article selected from “Our Daily Bread”.
This Week @ Detonate: Detonate Youth is going out for street evangelism again on the 27th! Let us unite our hearts together as we go forth into the world to proclaim God's love. Keep praying that there will be no hindrances and more souls onto the Lord! See you at 4.45pm in church!
Annoucement: R3D (Returns 3 Days Later) is a Detonate Youth Easter Outreach on 3rd April. It is time again for us to invite our friends and family members to this evangelistic service! Let's continue to pray for them to response to our invitations, that they will know the amazing love of God. Where mercy meets you!
Fear and Great Joy
Mary and the women who went with her to visit Jesus' burial site were not expecting the reception they got at the tomb. They had come at dawn to put spices on their Friend's body - not knowing how they would get into the tomb. But as they came near the grave, they were startled to see that the huge stone had been rolled away from the opening. Even more incredibly, they saw an angel sitting on it.
It's no wonder that they felt a sense of awe and fear. But they also felt great joy after the angel invited them to look inside the empty tomb, and then he told them to go and tell the other disciples that Jesus had risen.
Nearly 2,000 years after that initial proclamation, we who are Jesus' followers also have mixed emotions about sharing such good news. We feel great joy that Jesus is alive, but we also feel uneasy telling other people about Him. The women felt a sense of awe from seeing and hearing an angel by an open grave, but our fear is different. We fear what people might think of us when we tell them that Christ is risen. But like Mary and the other women, we have a responsibility to tell others the good news. God's Spirit will give us courage to overcome our fear and share our great joy. - JDB Oh, what joy - the Lord is risen!
Death is conquered by God's Son;
Grant us courage, Lord, to tell it;
Lead us to some seeking one. - DJD
The Two Greatest Hindrances to Witnessing are Cold Feet and a Cold Heart.
Article selected from “Our Daily Bread”.
This Week @ Detonate: Hello ladies and gentlemen! Let's guess who shall be our speaker for the upcoming youth service next Saturday!....No! Not Brother Andrew...Not Pastor Rupert...Yes! You are wrong! It is not Pastor Bryan......Wanna give up?? :D
Yes! He is Elder Boon Heng. Remember him? Yes yes...Elder Boon Heng will be speaking this Saturday. Our Saturdays have always been great and this one will be no exception. So come on down early for service and feed on God's Word.See you at 4.45pm! Amen?
Annoucement: R3D (Resurrect 3 Days) is a Detonate Youth Easter Outreach on 3rd April. It is time again for us to invite our friends and family members to this evangelistic service! Let's continue to pray for them to response to our invitations, that they will know the amazing love of God. Where mercy meets you!
I will not doubt
We have a picture in today's Scripture reading of the way we sometimes react to trials. Like the disciples, when we are tossed by the waves of adversity and buffeted by the winds of human experience, we begin to doubt God's care. When everything appears to be against us, we are prone to forget that the Lord has said, "I will never leave you nor forsaken you" (Heb. 13:5).
What peace we forfeit when we refuse to take God at His Word! How much better it is to keep our eyes on Him and trust His promises!
The poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox put it like this:
I will not doubt though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails;
I will believe the Hand which never fails
From seeming evil worketh good for me.
And though I weep because those sails are tattered,
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered,
"I trust in Thee!"
I will not doubt though sorrows fall like rain,
And troubles swarm like bees about a hive;
I will believe the heights for which I strive
Are only reached by anguish and by pain,
And though I groan and writhe beneath my crosses,
I yet shall see, through my severest losses,
The greater gain.
May these words be our trusting prayer today - RWD
Article selected from “Our Daily Bread”.
This Week @ Detonate:
Hello Detonate Youth! Pastor Isaiah is back with us again this Saturday. Let's us pray for the Word of God to minister to our hearts! And let us continue to give thanks to God for His unfailing love and blessings that are upon our lives.See you at 4.45pm!
Annoucement:
1) Detonate Youth Easter Outreach on 3rd April. It is time again for us to invite our friends and family members to this evangelistic service! Let's continue to pray for them to response to our invitations, that they will know the amazing love of God. More details coming up!
Fly With Eagles
A well known business leader commented on the winners and the losers in his field. "The winners fly with eagles," he said, "and the losers run with turkeys."
When Jesus selected the small group to whom He entrusted His mission in the world, the men appeared to be anything but "eagles." Yet Jesus knew that by His power and grace they could soar. But He had to teach them to fly together.
What a strange mix! There was Peter, impetuous and uncouth. And Andrew, simple and believing. Thomas had a question mark for a mind. Matthew probably held his post as tax collector by cooperating with the Romans. And Simon, a Zealot, may have belonged to a guerrilla band determined to disrupt Roman trade or to riot in the streets to make life miserable for the foreign overloads.
Think of it - one from the political right, the other from the left. It would be a little like having a lawyer for the ACLU and an organizer for the John Birch Society on the same church board. Why this diversity? Perhaps to teach us that loyalty to Jesus comes first. Discipleship, true to its name, requires us to learn love and obedience and submission in a diverse community of faith under one Head - Jesus Christ.
God builds His church with different stones,
He makes each one belong;
All shapes and sizes fit in place
To make the structure strong. - Sper Unity among believers comes from our union with Christ.
Article selected from “Our Daily Bread”.
This Week @ Detonate: Hi friends, we are pleased to have Pastor Arron from Bethel Assembly this Saturday at 5pm to share with us God's Word. Let us come and receive God's message through His servant with an open heart! Have a fruitful week ahead!
