Quotable Quotes by Donald A. Carson

How do you measure God's love?

How your life is working out at the moment, or the Cross?

The Sower

What happens to the seeds sown in your heart? (Matthew 13)

Birds, shallow soil, thorns, fertile soil.

A long time ago, four boys went to a revival meeting. The four of them were equally skeptical and equally intelligent, with no real need for religion or God, and approached the event with a great deal of apprehension and uncertainty.

At the event, they found themselves unexpectedly moved to tears as they acknowledged their feelings of guilt and wretchedness. They recognized their "sin", and were touched by the story of Christ's perfect sacrifice for them on the Cross. They went to the front of the stage when the preacher called for responses, and gave their lives to Jesus, weeping as they knelt, and invited this Jesus into their lives.

Then, they went home, drying their tears from their eyes. They all slept well that night.

The next day, one boy went for his classes and heard his Biology professor launch an irate polemic against the pitifully primitive Young Earth theorists, and their 'pals', the ignorant Creationists. Then, he walked into a Finance lecture where he rigorously took down everything his lecturer said, and daydreamed about investment banking. After that, he sat in the second row of a Philosophy lecture where his instructor challenged his auditorium-packed crowd if anyone believed in absolute truth or moral absolutism. He left the lecture fifteen minutes early so that he could put the finishing touches on a paper critiquing Richard Dawkins. He likes Dawkins much more now. Then, he goes home.

The same day, another boy woke up feeling full of life and excitement for the new day and the new life that the preacher had talked about the night before. He gripped his newly-bound leather Bible and rushed to catch the bus to school. On the bus, a man in a well-pressed suit scoffs at his naivety. A girl giggles and calls him old-fashioned before scurrying off. In his History class, his lecturer noticed his ornament and from his elevated podium, and challenged the historical authenticity of the boy's Bible. Embarrassed, the boy blushed, and put his book back in his bag. He tries not to be seen.

Another boy spent the first fifteen minutes of his morning reading the material the preacher's assistant handed out. He tried to do his "quiet time" and read about "word becoming flesh". He was confused. He tried to follow along with the ancient text, and was just enthralled by its spirituality. He repeated his routine all week long, starting his day this way. He read about sharing his faith with others, and telling the world about the change in his life, about being a "new creation", but he was afraid. Now, he reads his Bible in between classes, but always under the table. He never talks about what he knows he should. Sometimes he forgets to pray. Every now and then, he forgets to be quiet in his "quiet time". Yesterday, he decided to leave his Facebook description for religion blank.

The last boy felt absolutely nothing different the next day, and got out of bed. He read the material the preacher's assistant had handed out, and tried to do his "quiet time". He didn't understand about the "word becoming flesh", but was happy to learn something new. A quiet joy was burning in his heart, and he alone knew why. He was in love. On the bus, he told his girlfriend that he had become a Christian. She was worried that he would become political, or even a fanatic, one of those Jesus freaks. He told her that he was spiritual, not religious, and that Jesus was his best friend. She wants to know what this means. He tells her. She is impressed and wants to know more. In his heart, he prays, "Jesus, make me brave, make me bold. Help me to love the way you do. I want to love, and share the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but I'm scared. I'm just a kid, you are so much more. Help me please." Best friends don't let each other down.

Christians are Active!

To all who thought that being a Christian meant just going to church and living right with God on your own- think again! Some brothers and sisters at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois are trying to change just that mindset- that Christians are active! A dear friend, Barnabas Lin pseudo-Singaporean and onetime fellow GBC youth is part of the leadership that leads this movement organized by Northwestern's MEIV (Muti-Ethnic Intervarsity Fellowship). The blog for the event, is Engage NU: What the hell, God?

In addition, they've also been featured on the their campus newspaper, the Daily Northwestern HERE. The title of the article is: "Evangelicals Push For Social Change". Read more!


This is a letter from Barnabas, asking for prayer:

Dear beloved family across the world, and dearest Singapore friends,

As some of you know I've been the Outreach Coordinator of my
fellowship this year, and we've been planning towards this HUGE week
of engaging our campus called "Engage NU: What the Hell, God?!" I've
gotten together with the Asian American Intervarsity Chapter, Greek
Intervarsity Chapter and House on The Rock (Black Chapter) and we
have been planning since February for this. AND THIS IS THE WEEK. It
has been a crazy week, but God has been so good! We've been taking
our campus by storm, and this morning, our president appeared on the
front page of the school's Daily Northwestern Newspaper. There is
much warfare going on, and I implore you to pray. For those of you
that I still need to return calls to, I will do so very soon tonight,
I have just been running around for the past 3 days making sure our
stations don't fall apart (we have stations that rotate through all
the major hotspots on campus, engaging people on the 5 issues of
Race, Justice, Sex, Ambition and Science) and our first two big
outreach events are happening tonight.

There's so much going on, I have set up a blog, that has already
(since its launching yesterday morning) already hit 250 or so web
views with people from all over the nation (our staff have been
sending out the link to a lot of Northwestern IV alumni. Oh by the
way, I am a part of the Multiethnic Intervarsity Chapter at
Northwestern, just in case you didn't know).

Please keep me and the whole campus in prayer, you can access our
blog here: http://engagenu.blogspot.com

Love,

Barnabas

Praying!

The Shepherd's Song

Let me just share with you what I read this morning for QT- this morning I was in Matthew, and there was a particular verse that stood out to me: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9:36.

A long time ago, I wrote this song called "The Shepherd's Song" and one line from the song reads "lost and forsaken, like sheep blind and misguided, without a shepherd who would guide us" and I NEVER knew that it was a direct quote/idea from the Bible. I was pretty struck by it just because it's another one of those "Only God Moments". What are those? When God does cool things and makes the right connections that seem like impossible if not unlikely coincidences.

I wrote the song in 2001 (woahhh- 6 years ago) and recently, got in touch with the friend who cowrote it with me (Jaehyeon- he's in Korea, and I haven't seen him since we graduated from JC in 2004,) My first msg to him was "happy birthday- I finally got the guts to record that song that we wrote in 2001- here it is!" He replied, "Yea its been so long- i really like the recording. really surprised haha just listening to it was a gd birthday present :) thanks man" That was yesterday, and today, here I am in Matthew 9. I suppose it could be coincidental, but it seems somewhat... unlikely and too striking.

I find it amazing that this same idea can just loop on me and come back to hit me smack in the head, reminding me of how lost, how helpless we are without Jesus. More than that, the verse describes His response- He had compassion on us, and that means so much, knowing that God sees me in my struggles and lostness and wants to help me, to love me, to be my father. It's kind of like when you see a person in need, a person struggling with some difficulty, you feel "aww so sad" but it usually just stops there- Jesus didn't stop there, His compassion and love just overflowed, and He taught the crowds, healed them, and eventually died on the cross for them- all because we were sheep, without a shepherd.

The Shepherd's Sacrifice

Verse 1:
Lost and mistaken
Like sheep blind and misguided
Without a shepherd who would guide us

We wandered through life dark as night
Unable to tell dark from light
Without our sight we muddled through
In longing for a Shepherd who

Verse 2:
Was scoffed at, forsaken
He came to earth born in a manger
Despised and cursed- a stranger
He denied himself Heaven’s delights
And chose to share in human plight
To earth the King of Kings came to
To bring God’s love to me and you

Chorus:
The Shepherd of the Earth
Came down to be a lamb,
The Master now a sacrifice
For the sinner that I am
(Repeat)

Copyright Caleb Yap 2001