Prayer Request

1. Pray for CCM Combined Meeting @ 17 May 2012

2. Pray for Parent's Day Celebration @ 19 May 2012

3. Pray for Corps family: Freddy, Alice, Allyn and Daniel Cheong

4. Pray for Corps family: Kim Aun, Jasinta, Jonathan, Joshua Lim

Announcements

1. Youth Worship
Date: 29/04/12 (Sun) Time: 7:30pm Venue: Worship Hall
Worship: William; Preaching: Soon Bee; Bible Reading: Brandon; Offering: Wei Jian.
Youth please take note.

2. Cell Group
Date: 04/05/12 (Fri) Time: 8:00pm Venue: Officer Quarters
Please come and join us.

3. SAFE Committee Meeting
Date: 06/05/12 (Sun) Time: 12:30pm Venue: Worship Hall
All committee member please take note.

4. CCM Combined Ascension Meeting
Date: 17/05/12 (Thurs) Time: 8:00pm Venue: TSA Worship Hall
Our corps is the hosting Church, please come and support. Colonel Gillian Downer is the invited speaker for that day.

5. Dialog with Colonel
Date: 18/05/12 (Fri) Time: 8:30pm Venue: Corps Worship Hall
Colonel Gillian Downer would like to meet only Corps Council members to have a dialog session.

6. Parents Day Celebration
Date: 19/05/12 Time: 7:00pm Venue: Community Hall
Cooking competition, all brothers, sisters and youth are welcome to take part.

7. Malaysia Family Camp
Date: 31/05 - 03/06/12 Venue: YMCA Camp Fees: RM230 Day Camp: RM110 Closing Date: 30 April 2012
Being the host Corps, all brothers and sisters are encourage to join and also being a volunteer in helping in this Malaysia Family Camp.

The unknown faithful

I AM constantly amazed by how small the Army world is. Family and friendship links are part of Salvationist DNA! Frequent travel around the UKT strengthens this perception. Very early in this appointment it taught me to be careful when using sermon illustrations based on Salvationists, because someone in the congregation would be able to identify the anonymous person spoken about!

Amazement changes to apathy when I am bombarded with celebrity gossip. I have little interest in my own sense of fashion, so why do I need to know what famous people are wearing?

Apathy turns to awe when I turn to Scripture and carefully read its pages. It is so obvious that in my rush to get to the ‘good bits’ I miss the fact that the Bible story is full of people we know nothing about, yet who had a huge impact by working out their destiny under God – the unknown but faithful of God.

For example, look at Exodus 31:1–5. Who on earth – or in the Bible – is Bezalel? And how do we pronounce his name?

Almost a third of the Book of Exodus is dedicated to details about how the Tabernacle – Israel’s wilderness sanctuary – should be built. In particular, chapters 25 to 31 give the blueprint for the finer details. It is Bezalel who is given the responsibility of overseeing this work. He was the ‘Bob the builder’ of his day.

Bezalel means ‘in the shadow of God’, and he was God’s special choice for a particular purpose. His name is mentioned again only in the parallel chapter of Exodus 35. On this basis, it is possible to read the Bible yet never really notice anything about Bezalel; yet, in truth, without his work the Tabernacle would have been a plain, uncomfortable, easily forgotten building.

A closer look at these verses will bring a clearer perspective on our own life.

This is not a random story. God says: ‘See I have chosen’ (Exodus 31:2 all quotations from New International Version). Everything starts with God. When we see what God sees, feel what he feels and do what he says, we gain a sense of our own ‘chosen-ness’. It is time once again to pick up our calling from God and run with it. It is time to fight, to fight for something that is higher, something that is important.

Our lives are too valuable, our calling too great, our God too good, for us to waste. God uses ordinary people by giving them an extraordinary calling.

God says: ‘I have filled him with the Spirit of God’ (31:3). I like the way the early Old Testament Scriptures, without question, credit God with the giving of all good gifts, skills and talents. It is God who made Bezalel a great craftsman. There is a huge amount of information in these chapters about the building project, but there comes a point when we need to work out the revelation from God and not just the information, as this takes us to another level.

Alongside the calling and the revelation come the gifts (31:3). Bezalel is given wisdom to grasp what is needed, understanding of the steps to take and the practical skills to ensure the task is completed. We have God’s provision to do all that he has called us to do. When the people of God use the gifts of God, the world will be changed.

The ministry of Bezalel reminds me that the Church is not about superstars. The Salvation Army is full of people who care, act and serve like Bezalel – who faithfully, without seeking the spotlight, serve God in their corps. It may be through the welcome given to visitors, the stacking of chairs at the end of the meeting, offering a meal to a homeless person or the mentoring of a young person as they develop in their faith. It is the miracle of God working through his people.

So then, God is not calling us to take up space on this earth to make a name for ourselves. We are called to change the world where we live.

What is your legacy for the future?

Why not compose a phrase, of not more than eight words, of what you want your epitaph to be? You may not ever make the headlines, but you can help to shape eternity.

• Major Herbert is Territorial Candidates Director

Youth Fellowship Apr 2012

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Prayer Request

1. Pray for Corps members spiritual experiencing with God

2. Pray for Corps family: Benjamin, William, Joseph, James, Eng Chai & Wei Jian for their coming SPM and PMR examination.

3. Pray for Corps family: Tian Seng, Ah Seong, Ah Peng & Lenny

4. Pray for Corps family: Davi & Keisha

Announcements

1. Helping Hand Project
Thank you for those who joined in the walkathon and also raised fund for the project.
Official amount raise will be announce at the soonest.

2. Youth Special
Date: 22/04/12 (Sun) Time: 7:30pm Venue: Community Hall
Youth please take note.

3. Corps Council & Pastoral Care Council Meeting
Date: 22/04/12 (Sun) Time: 12:30pm Venue: Worship Hall

4. Prayer Meeting
Date: 25/04/2012 (Fri) Time: 8:00pm Venue: Community Hall
All brothers and sisters are welcome to join and submit prayer request.

5. CCM Combined Ascension Meeting
Date: 17/05/12 (Thurs) Time: 8:00pm Venue: TSA Worship Hall
Our corps is the hosting Church, please come and support. Colonel Gillian Downer is the invited speaker for that day.

6. Dialog with Colonel
Date: 18/05/12 (Fri) Time: 8:30pm Venue: Corps Worship Hall
Colonel Gillian Downer would like to meet only Corps Council members to have a dialog session.

7. Parents Day Celebration
Date: 19/05/12 Time: 7:00pm Venue: Community Hall
Cooking competition, all brothers, sisters and youth are welcome to take part.

8. Malaysia Family Camp
Date: 31/05 - 03/06/12 Venue: YMCA Camp Fees: RM230 Day Camp: RM110 Closing Date: 30 April 2012
Being the host Corps, all brothers and sisters are encourage to join and also being a volunteer in helping in this Malaysia Family Camp.

Dawn, on the first day of the week

A GROUP of women make their way anxiously out of the gate, towards the garden not far from the city wall. The last vestiges of night seem to cling to them, seeping into their minds and numbing their emotions.

They walk slowly, carrying the jars of spice with which they would anoint the body of their Lord, determined to complete the last office to the dead, which had been interrupted by the approach of the Sabbath.

This symbol of kindness would be their last act of loving devotion for the Master – the one they had believed to be the hope of Israel; but that was over now and all that remained was the slow, tortuous journey towards the garden where hope and love lay buried in the tomb.

They walked in silence, but even if their voices did not form the words, they still echoed in their minds refusing to be silenced: ‘What if we cannot move the stone? What if the guards bar our way or arrest us? What if, even now in Jerusalem’s early morning, the Temple police are rounding up the other disciples? What if some people came during the night and took away his body?’

So many unthinkable ‘what ifs’!

We can understand how they felt, can’t we? We all face questioning moments in our lives. In relation to health: What if the condition I have is more serious than I first thought? What if I lose my physical independence? In relation to employment: What if I lose my job? How will I manage? What if my savings don’t stretch to meet the bills? In respect of relationships: What about the future? What if I’m left alone? How will I face life then? How will I cope with the loneliness and isolation? Questions about ultimate realities: What if this life is all there is? Is death the final farewell to all I have known and loved?

Most alarming of all in the context of the Easter drama, we are compelled to face this question in relation to the life of Christ and ask as the apostle Paul did: ‘What if Christ has not been raised from death?’ (see 1 Corinthians 15:14). If that were the case then what a catalogue of despair follows as a consequence! Paul speaks for us all when he says, if Christ has not been raised from death –
• our preaching has no purpose (1 Corinthians 15:14)
• our witness is false (v15)
• our faith is futile and we are still in our sins (v17)
• our hope of eternal life is lost (v18).

Is it any wonder that, contemplating such a dreadful possibility, Paul says in verse 19: ‘If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied’ (New International Version)? What a world this would be if the presence of the living Christ were not a reality!

However, Paul doesn’t end his message there and neither can we. Though we are faced with a world that often rejects Christ and the values of his Kingdom and though we are often confronted with the doubts and uncertainties and ‘what ifs’ of a creation that awaits liberation from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:21), nevertheless we do not lose heart, for crashing down upon the granite cliffs of doubt and fear come the mighty waves of faith that declare ‘but now Christ!’

Over every fearful ‘what if’ is written large in letters of gold: ‘But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead’ (1 Corinthians 15:20). Across the centuries of sin and despair, this great shout of victory still rings out: ‘The Lord is risen indeed!’

The absolute certainty of the Resurrection and the presence of the living Saviour in their lives, have been the inspiration and hope for men and women throughout the centuries. In view of this, Paul says that we can stand firm, undisturbed, faithful in giving ourselves to the Lord, because over every ‘what if’ of life – the fears we face, our sin, our failure, our weakness, even the fear of death itself – we can confidently write: ‘But now, Christ is risen.’ Hallelujah!

Because he lives I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives all fear is gone;
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because he lives.
(William Gaither, Happiness And Harmony 7)

• Colonel Hinton is Chief Secretary, THQ

Prayer Request

1. Pray for Major Raelton's grandson Alexi

2. Pray for Corps family: Benjamin, William, Joseph, James, Eng Chai & Wei Jian for their coming SPM and PMR examination.

3. Pray for Corps family: Tong Sing, Iris, Yoke Peng, Tong Meng

4. Pray for Corps family: Soon Bee & Wei Lin

Announcements

1. Youth Fellowship
Date: 15/04/12. Time: 7:30pm Venue: Community Hall
Youth please take note.

2. Officer's Business Consultation Meeting
Date: 16-19/04/12 Venue: Kuching, Sarawak. Please pray for our officers and take note that Officers will be away at this time.

3. Cell groups
Date: 20/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 8:00pm Venue: Bro Tan home.
All brothers and sisters are welcome to join.

4. Helping Hand Project
Date: 21/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 08:00am Venue: Youth Park
Our corps target to raise RM2000 for Education Programme for Day Care & Tuition of Children in Myammar.

5. CCM Combined Ascension Meeting
Date: 17/05/12 Time: 8:00pm Venue: TSA Worship Hall
Our corps is the hosting Church, please come and support. Colonel Gillian Downer is the invited speaker for that day.

6. Parents Day Celebration
Date: 19/05/12 Time: 7:00pm Venue: Community Hall
Cooking competition, all brothers, sisters and youth are welcome to take part.

7. Malaysia Family Camp
Date: 31/05 - 03/06/12 Venue: YMCA Camp Fees: RM230 Day Camp: RM110
Being the host Corps, all brothers and sisters are encourage to join and also being a volunteer in helping in this Malaysia Family Camp.

God’s purpose affirmed

STUDY PASSAGE: LUKE 19:41–48

LAST week we began a journey towards a holy place, using the one Jesus made to Jerusalem as our guide. This week we move on to read the rest of Luke chapter 19 and see the purpose of Jesus affirmed through teaching, testing and tears.

It might be helpful to use this study as a base to ponder on our own sense of God’s purpose for our lives.

PURPOSE AFFIRMED
In outlining his purpose throughout the journey Jesus took with his disciples, there were teaching, testing and tears.

Jesus taught about his Kingdom by declaration and demonstration. He warned of the consequences of ignoring God’s ways and introduced the truth that God’s purposes can turn human ideas upside down.

Jesus also spoke directly to the disciples about his death: ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again’ (Luke 18:31–33 all quotations New International Version).

Luke’s writing is clever. Where the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying, Luke immediately records Jesus bringing sight to a blind beggar.

His Kingdom again challenges the norm. When people tried to silence the outcast, the beggar and the disabled, Jesus gave them dignity, honour and healing.

But even as Jesus was seemingly enjoying his moment of glory, trouble was brewing. Often there are times of testing, particularly when we are working out God’s purpose.

An 18-year-old man in our corps received a vision to begin a music school in Ghana. He began collecting musical instruments to ship over, and planned to go there last summer with his family to commence the work. Every room in his home was filled with donated clarinets, trumpets, cellos and drums! But the success of the project meant that costs began to rise. This resulted in his family sometimes eating less than a meal a day, over some months, in order to raise enough money. The vision was really tested.

Now – months after its launch – many children in Ghana have a new purpose, passion and proficiency because one young man and his family chose to persevere through the time of testing.

Luke 19:41 captures the triumphal entry, ending in tears. The preceding verses show the pain that burdened Jesus, as people misrepresented him. Some say that when Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he was prophesying the fall of the Temple. As he entered it, he shouted out in indignation: ‘It is written... “My house will be a house of prayer”; but you have made it “a den of robbers”.’

As we come close to God’s purposes, the things that touch his heart will touch ours and stir our emotions too.

This Easter, allow God to touch you deeply about the things of this world that disturb his heart. Be prepared to face the challenges ahead in order that his victory may be known.

FOR REFLECTION
• As we journey into Holy Week, consider when we hail Jesus as King through our worship. Do we go on to hail him as King through the way we represent him to the world?
• Do we recognise the way God has prepared a place in history for us today? Are we going to waste the days he has prepared for us by ignoring his purposes for this age?
• Do we represent Jesus by reaching out to the marginalised or do we keep ourselves with the crowd, waving banners, before going back to our comfortable lives and following the ways of the world?
• What teaching have you received that is going to help you know Jesus more passionately this Easter?
• What testing are you going through that may help reveal more of God’s purpose for you?
• What is Jesus ‘shouting’ to you this week? Is your temple (your body) a house of prayer, or does it resemble more the den of robbers, where God has given so much and you are not using it to his glory?

Today, cry out ‘Hosanna!’ – knowing that it means ‘He saves!’ Journey well!

• Captain Smith is corps officer at Southwark

Easter Sunday April 2012

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Prayer Request

1. Pray for Major Raelton's grandson Alexi

2. Pray for Corps family: Ang Chye Thiam and Family

3. Pray for Corps family: Mrs Chin & Kok Keong

4. Pray for Corps family: Blessy, Yen Wong, Ah Hoe & Sam Ooi

Announcements

1. Corps Sport & Outing
Date: 11/04/12 (Wed). Time: 8:00am Venue: Jubilee Hall (Badminton)
Please contact Sis Jasinta for more information.

1.1. Prayer Meeting
Date: 13/04/12 (Fri). Time: 8:00pm Venue: Corps
Please submit your prayers and come to prayer.

2. Senior Citizen's Breakfast
Date: 14/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 8:00am Venue: Paya Terubong
All brothers and sisters are welcome to join.

3. Banana Leaf Ministry
Date: 14/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 11:00am Venue: Corps Community Hall
Volunteers are needed. Thank you.

4. Helping Hand Project
Date: 21/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 08:00am Venue: Youth Park
Our corps target to raise RM2000 for Education Programme for Day Care & Tuition of Children in Myammar.

5. Officer's Business Consultation Meeting
Date: 16-19/04/12 Venue: Kuching, Sarawa. Please pray for our officers and take note that Officers will be away at this time.

6. CCM Combined Ascension Meeting
Date: 17/05/12 Time: 8:00pm Venue: TSA Worship Hall
Our corps is the hosting Church, please come and support. Colonel Gillian Downer is the invited speaker for that day.

7. Malaysia Family Camp
Date: 31/05 - 03/06/12 Venue: YMCA Camp Fees: RM230 Day Camp: RM110
Being the host Corps, all brothers and sisters are encourage to join and also being a volunteer in helping in this Malaysia Family Camp.

Good Friday April 2012

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Preparation accomplished

A journey towards Easter – the first of two studies by Captain Catherine Smith

STUDY PASSAGE: LUKE 19:28–40

LENT is often thought of as a journey. In these last two weeks before Easter, allow the journey Jesus made to Jerusalem to mirror your own pilgrimage with him to a holy place.

In his journey, the preparation came from pilgrimage, prophecy and promise.

Jesus was on a pilgrimage to partake in the Passover, one of three Jewish pilgrim festivals. If they were able, people travelled with their families to Jerusalem to participate in this important feast.

Many today still keep the tradition of Passover; it is a meaningful journey through God’s story in humanity and our response to it. The significant symbolism and memories evoke a sense of God’s hand through history and, indeed, our place in it now through Jesus. Are there some simple ways you could recreate this in your family or corps?

Zechariah 9:9 exactly prophesies this moment in the journey of Jesus. Preparation had been made in the annals of history, as well as the time that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy. This raises our faith and hope that Jesus will also fulfil his word in our lives.

On 18 March 2008 somebody from another church walked into our prayer room at Southwark. She had written a prophecy for our corps that contained these words: ‘There will be no more miscarriages. This time next year, you will be saying: “See what the Lord has done.”

She did not know I had lost two babies the year before, and that there were a number of pastoral situations creating great tension for the corps.

My son was born on 19 March 2009 and God began to impart new and fresh vision that has indeed led us to celebrate God’s hand in our history and future.

Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus emphasised God’s promises. As the disciples obeyed his instructions to find a donkey, they found the necessary provision (v32).

In our journey with Jesus we should remind ourselves of his promises, be obedient to his instructions and find that God has already made provision for his will to be accomplished.
• As you journey towards a holy place this Easter, would it help you to share in a family pilgrimage to somewhere or something special – taking time to reflect on God’s goodness to you through the years?
• Can you call to mind any word or prophecy that has been spoken over your life or corps? Can you rejoice in the way God has been working things out beyond what you could see?
• Over the next week, write one of God’s promises to you each day and think on that. Does God require any action on your part in order to see a fuller revelation of him at work?

PRAISE AUTHENTICATED
As people praised God, there was recognition and rejoicing. They recognised Jesus as someone amazing. They burst into praise for the miracles they had seen and hailed him as the coming king.

People were exuberant and loud in their praise. Some tried to quieten them, but Jesus was not prepared to do so. In a deeper sense than they realised, their words were true: the King had come, ushering in his Kingdom. The crowds, therefore, could not help but welcome him.
• As we recognise who Jesus is, do we find ourselves rejoicing?
• As we represent Jesus to our world, do people respond in the same way?

Remember, Jesus was ushering in his Kingdom – that glorious place spoken of in Revelation 21:3 and 4: ‘They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (New International Version).

Does that promise not cause us to praise?
• This week, look out for Jesus all around you.
• Where will you recognise him and how will this cause you to rejoice?

The outcome of praise is to lift us to the presence of Jesus. Praise helps put all things into perspective, so that we can see with God’s viewpoint. The people in this Bible passage were caught up in the fascination of the procession of Jesus. They had a deeper journey to take into knowing his purpose.

Prayer Request

1. Pray for Corps various ministries, Malaysia Family Camp

2. Pray for Corps family: Hock Sun and Family

3. Pray for Corps family: Seow Hwee, Loo Thoe & Khye Lin

4. Pray for Corps family: Pong Hoe (Ah Boy) and It Hoe

Announcements

1.Youth Worship
Date: 01/04/12 (Sun). Tin: 7:30pm Venue Worship Hall
Worship: Soon Bee Preaching: Lt. Fiona Bible Reading: Eng Chai Offering: Soon Kean.

2. Good Friday Service
Date: 06/04/12 (Fri). Time: 8:00pm Venue: Corps Worship Hall
Please prepare your heart to join and in remembrance of our Lord.

3. Senior Citizen's Breakfast
Date: 14/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 8:00am Venue: Paya Terubong
All brothers and sisters are welcome to join.

4. Banana Leaf Ministry
Date: 14/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 11:00am Venue: Corps Community Hall
Volunteers are needed. Thank you.

5. Corps Sport and Outing (Helping Project)
Date: 21/04/2012 (Sat) Time: 08:00am Venue: Youth Park
Our corps target to raise RM2000 for Education Programme for Day Care & Tuition of Children in Myammar.

7. Officer's Business Consultation Meeting
Date: 16-19/04/12 Venue: Kuching, Sarawa. Please pray for our officers and take note that Officers will be away at this time.

8. CCM Combined Ascension Meeting
Date: 17/05/12 Time: 8:00pm Venue: TSA Worship Hall
Our corps is the hosting Church, please come and support. Colonel Gillian Downer is the invited speaker for that day.

9. Malaysia Family Camp
Date: 31/05 - 03/06/12 Venue: YMCA Camp Fees: RM230 Day Camp: RM110
Being the host Corps, all brothers and sisters are encourage to join and also being a volunteer in helping in this Malaysia Family Camp.