24th May 2008 Mirabop Birthday

disFCBC Powerpuff Girls

Hello girls! :0) Guess who's birthday it was? (not today though, it was a while back but she was in 144 re-encounter camp, Hint!) None other than our very sweet, lovable & florally bright sparkling cell leader Mirabel!

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Hmm, She doesn't look so satisfied does she? Wonder why, tee hee!

We had a very fun filled day at Minds Cafe playing board games and celebrating, lets move on to the happy exciting filled pictures of the day along with a short series of "Powerpuff Girls" Curious to know what it is? Roll roll down your mouse!

P.S: Lots of photos, so let it load first than slowly scroll down!

"Happy Birthday to.... ME!" by Mirabel, Ha ha! :0)



Aww, look at Ming's expression and Mirabel's little puffy cheeks! Ha ha, Happy Birthday Mirabel! We love you so much!



The Present.



(giggles) "PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.... Please do not try taking a group photo of church girls at home? Tee hee :0)" Notice the signboard above us if you don't get it, Ha ha







That's the summarization of the celebration at Minds Cafe, but there's a few other shots you need to see, Mmm keep scrolling down, Yes you do that now.











The Powerpuff Girl Series :0)



The Powerpuff girls, Woo!

Ha ha, Hope it was "enlightening" for you! :0) We had a very fun filled day and to summarise it all, We never fail to amuse, shock and sometimes frighten the "bop" out of Mirabel, A great example would be this photo and today's experience, She sure has crazy and unique girls!

Once again...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRABEL!
God Bless You
We love you and we hope you have a great year in everything you do, May the Good Lord bless and guide you in everything that you do, May his grace, mercy & Presence be upon you at all times and May you grow to desire Him more and more as the day goes by!

Much love,
Nicolette & Girls

At YCYPAO Cluster Meeting

Spot Dina.

What happens when..

.. you have an overdose of succulent Thai food?
(Haha, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLETTE!)

...when you hang out too much with the younger ones?

Can you spot me? I bet i merge in rather well. =p

Psalm 83 (23 Mar)

Yes there was no nation called Israel for a loooong period in history because of destruction.

And also yes, just as God has said repeatedly in the Bible that He will gather His people back to His holy land, a new nation of Israel was formed in 1947. To date, God has drawn huge numbers of Jews from many nations back to Israel since then, to take root in the land.

Pastor Yeang Cherng's sharing on Psalm 83: Click on this page.

Studying Psalm 75 (15 Mar)

Study of the verses

lifting up of horns- to assume a confident position, the figure being taken from fighting oxen

This psalm is a celebrative psalm; celebrating the anticipated victory of the Lord over the wicked; and the exaltation of the righteous.

V1- Thanksgiving to God for His wondrous work
V2-6- God warns the wicked not to be proud
V7-8 Psalmist warned the wicked that because God is the Judge, they would experience the fullness of His wrath
V9-10- psalmist declares to praise God forever as He will cut off the defiance of the wicked and exalt the righteous.

Leading Questions:
1)What word/phrase appears the most in this psalm?
Horns (4 x); lift up horns (4x)
2)What does this word signify?
to assume a confident position, the figure being taken from fighting oxen
3)What does the Lord oppose?
Self-reliance instead of God-reliance (v4-5; 7)

My Learning:

Who is God?

He opposes the proud but lifts up to those who lives by faith in Him

How then shall I live?

How to live a confident life?
Be thankful- He is on our side
Be rejoicing- the victory is sure

(Source: Sook San's notes)

Studying Psalm 74 (14 Mar)

Study of the verses

This psalm is an appeal to God against the destruction of the land by the enemy.
(Historical event to this psalm is uncertain; the only occasion that matches was the invasion of the Babylonians in 586 BC) This Asaph may be a later member of Asaph of the Asaph musical guild.

V1-2 – An appeal to God to not to be angry with His people but to remember them; His sheep
V3- asking God to take a look at the destruction done by the enemy
V4-8- descriptions of the destructions done
V9-No prophet to give spiritual guidance/counsel for the people
V10-17- Psalmist sought God himself; and pleaded with God to show His right hand, as He had done before.
V18-23 Psalmist petitions to God for deliverance and not let His people to be fallen into the hands of the enemy.

Leading Questions to Psalms 74:

1)What did the enemy destroy?
-The sanctuary of God (vs. 3; 7; 8)

2)Why did the destruction happen?
-God is angry with His people (vs 1)

3)What troubled the psalmist in vs 9?

The lack of prophet/lack of spiritual counsel; guidance
4)What did he do to overcome the situation?
He took up the spiritual mantle and pleaded with God for the people (v10)

5)What did the psalmist plea for?
appease of God’s anger(v1); remembrance of His people(v2); His intervention against the destruction(22-23)
My Learning:

Who is God?
God is one who is able to deliver.

How then shall I live?

How to seek God in troubled times?
1)Be Humble; admit our dependency
2)Be Proactive; raise up in prayer
3)Be Thankful; remember His goodness

(Source: Sook San's notes)

Studying Psalm 73 (13 Mar)

Psalm 73 (THE MESSAGE VERSION)
An Asaph Psalm

1-5 No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted.
But I nearly missed it,
missed seeing his goodness.
I was looking the other way,
looking up to the people
At the top,
envying the wicked who have it made,
Who have nothing to worry about,
not a care in the whole wide world.

6-10 Pretentious with arrogance,
they wear the latest fashions in violence,
Pampered and overfed,
decked out in silk bows of silliness.
They jeer, using words to kill;
they bully their way with words.
They're full of hot air,
loudmouths disturbing the peace.
People actually listen to them—can you believe it?
Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

11-14 What's going on here? Is God out to lunch?
Nobody's tending the store.
The wicked get by with everything;
they have it made, piling up riches.
I've been stupid to play by the rules;
what has it gotten me?
A long run of bad luck, that's what—
a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

15-20 If I'd have given in and talked like this,
I would have betrayed your dear children.
Still, when I tried to figure it out,
all I got was a splitting headache . . .
Until I entered the sanctuary of God.
Then I saw the whole picture:
The slippery road you've put them on,
with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.
In the blink of an eye, disaster!
A blind curve in the dark, and—nightmare!
We wake up and rub our eyes....Nothing.
There's nothing to them. And there never was.

21-24 When I was beleaguered and bitter,
totally consumed by envy,
I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
in your very presence.
I'm still in your presence,
but you've taken my hand.
You wisely and tenderly lead me,
and then you bless me.

25-28 You're all I want in heaven!
You're all I want on earth!
When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
God is rock-firm and faithful.
Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
Deserters, they'll never be heard from again.
But I'm in the very presence of God—
oh, how refreshing it is!
I've made Lord God my home.
God, I'm telling the world what you do!

Study of the verses

V1- Psalmist acknowledgement of the goodness of God to Israel
V2-12- Psalmist’s doubts overwhelmed him to the point of almost losing faith as he saw the prosperity of the wicked
V13-16- psalmist’s perplexity over the value of his salvation
V17- the turn of events when he ENTERS into the sanctuary of GOD
V18-20- Psalmist saw the destiny of the wicked; beyond the present prosperity
V21-26- Psalmist’s confession of his perspective dulled by his ignorance; his -conviction of the Lord’s presence with him; being his strength and portion forever
V27-28- Psalmist conclusion of those who are far and unfaithful will be destroyed; but those who are near God will find joy and safety.


Leading Questions to study Psalms 73:

1)What was the spiritual condition of the psalmist?

He almost lost faith in God. (vs 2)

2)What was offensive to the mind of the psalmist?

- he was perplexed by the prosperity of the wicked that he saw against his understanding of the value of his salvation in God. (v3-12; 13-14)

3) When was the turning point for him?
(vs 17) – it was when he enters into the sanctuary of God

4)What did he learn about God?
The Lord’s goodness over His people is sure. The temporal prosperity does not outlast the eternal blessing of God. Those without God will surely perished; despite the seemingly blessings.

Who is God?
He is one who assured my destiny even in times that I cannot see the prosperity

Application: How than shall I live?
How do I find rest for my soul in times when the wicked are prosperous?
1)Envy Not; trust in His goodness
2)Doubt Not; lean on His wisdom
3)Run Not; enter into His presence

(Source: Sook San's notes)

Who is Asaph?

Book III (of Psalms) – 11 out of 17 psalms in this portion are written by Asaph (Ps73-83)

Who was Asaph? (www.easyenglish.info/psalms/psalm073-taw.htm)

We can read about Asaph in two books of the *Old Testament, Chronicles and Nehemiah. From them we learn 4 things about Asaph:
· his father was Berechiah (1 Chronicles 6:39)
· he was a music leader (1 Chronicles 15:17 ... this verse also calls Heman and Ethan music leaders)
· he was a *seer (2 Chronicles 29:30) ... a *seer can "see what will happen", it is another word for "*prophet"
· he lived at the same time as King David (Nehemiah 12:46)

In 1 Chronicles 25:1 - 2 we read this:
v1 David and the leaders of the army made these people separate. They were the sons of Asaph, the sons of Heman and the sons of Jeduthun. Their job was to *prophesy. They had to make music with *harps, *lyres and *cymbals.
v2 Here is a list of the men that did this work. From the sons of Asaph (there are) Jaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. Asaph told the sons of Asaph what to do. Asaph *prophesied with help from the king.

"To *prophesy" means "to tell people what God thinks and what he is going to do". They did this with music. Maybe this means that they sang what they *prophesied.

Asaph was the leader of "the sons of Asaph". They were his family. When he died the family continued to do this work. For many centuries they were "the sons of Asaph". It became the name of a music group. Ezra 3:10 tells us that they sang when they built the *temple in Jerusalem again. This was 500 years after Asaph died! Maybe the family wrote a book of psalms called "Psalms of the Sons of Asaph". We do not know. But, when the *Israelites made our Book of Psalms, they put into it some of the Psalms of Asaph. Bible students think that Asaph made a book of psalms, and some (or all?) of them are in our Book of Psalms. They are Psalm 50 (in Book 2 of "The Psalms of David") and Psalms 73-83 (here in Book 3).

The psalms from Asaph’s book do this:
· they describe the world round us in a clear way
· they tells us that God cares for people
· they make what has happened teach us things
· they tell us that God is very great
· they are good *poetry (poetry is using words in a beautiful way)

Studying Psalm 72 (12 Mar)

Observation
Q1a. How many times did the word “righteous” appear?
Ans: 4xs (v1, v2, v3, v7)

Q1b.Who wrote the psalm?
Ans: David(v20)

Q1c. Why did David write the psalm?
Ans: As a prayer for his son, Solomon, the king after him.

Interpretation
Q2.What is the theme of this psalm?
Ans: Psalm 72 is a “Messianic psalm and prophetically points to the Millennium when, under the righteous reign of Christ, God’s kingdom on earth shall be perfect and universal.” (Marilyn Hickey)

Q3.What is the key verse?
Ans: v1 “Give the king Your judgements, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s son.”

Q4. What is the context of the psalm?
Ans: Psalm 72 is the last of David’s prayers and psalms. (v20)
“Psalm 72 is a prayer for Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, as he was about to take sole possession of the throne of Israel. David was an aged king who had instructed his heir of the awesome responsibilities of ruling a theocratic kingdom. David had shared his vision of the Temple with Solomon (1 Chronicles 28), and he was now praying for the righteous reign and character of his son.” (Marilyn Hickey)

Application
Q5. What is the subject of the psalm?
Ans: How to pray for our leadership/superior?

Q6. What are the complements?
Ans: a)By asking God to give him righteous judgement.(Psalm 72:1)

Citations: (Lay Ching's notes)
1.Marilyn Hickey, “Psalms: Classic Library Edition.” (page 185))

Studying Psalm 71 (11 Mar)

Observation

Q1a. How many times did the word “righteousness” appear?
Ans: 5xs (v2, v15, v16, v19, v24)

Interpretation

Q2.What is the theme of this psalm?
Ans: Psalm 71 is rich with prayer and praise to a loving God Who has never forsaken one who has trusted in Him. The psalmist reveals God’s faithfulness in providing refuge, strength, protection, and security through life, from the womb, through infancy, childhood, early adulthood, middle age, and even old age. (Marilyn Hickey)

Q3.What is the key verse?
Ans: v19 “For your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You have done great things; O God who is like You?”

Q4. What is the context of the psalm?
Ans: Writer of Psalm 91 is anonymous. However, “the Septuagint superscription attributes Psalms 71 to the sons of Jonadab and those who were first carried captive. Jonadab was the son of Rechab, and he assisted Jehu, king of Israel, in the war against worshippers of Baal (II Kings 10-18-28). Jonadab founded a tribe known as the Rechabites, and they lived a strict, godly life as nomads (Jeremiah 35).

Application
Q5. What is the subject of the psalm?
Ans: How to trust God in times of challenges?

Q6. What are the complements?
Ans: a) Pray and call on the Lord. (v1-16)
b) Remember and proclaim past victories in God. (v17-21)
c) Praise and rejoice in the God of our salvation. (v22-24)

Citations: (Lay Ching's notes)
1.Marilyn Hickey, “Psalms: Classic Library Edition.” (page 182 and183)