The Bible League Of Heroes

The object of this picture puzzle, is for you to use your knowledge of the characters/heroes in the Bible and identify them from the picture. I received this from my colleague Wilson..

I've been able to identify most of them, but not all. I'll put my answers up once you guys have tried to guess who they are.. *or given up*
This pic was taken from New Creation Church Singapore.. and don't check there for the answers.. I don't think the answers are there either..

Have fun ppl..



PaulOS Blogging Off!

Keys To Releasing Your Potential

No no no.. I am not preaching.. just sharing what I learnt about a year ago, and I think I am still failing to fully realise this teaching. Below, are the sermons notes from City Harvest Church, Singapore shared by Pastor Kong Hee, when I was there from the 16th to 18th April 2004.

Keys To Releasing Your Potential

Living with the ability brings about a sense of responsibility. Dying with the ability unused reveals irresponsibility. Our responsibility is sowing & reaping. Unreleased potential can be dangerous.
What you have done so far is only a mere fraction of who you are supposed to be. Sometimes we dont know or understand our potential

1. Know your SOURCE *not socks*

(Joke : I scribled down in my sermon notes "source" but to my friend sitting next to me it looked like "socks". So "Jesus is Paul's socks" was a joke.)

(Creator/Manufacturer)
*Think about the analogy of the SONY DVD Player and it's manual. How we need to refer to the manual for the DVD player in order to know how it functions according to it's purpose.
When the DVD player is spoilt we need to take it to the AUTHORISED dealer so that it can be diagnosed and fixed.

Same goes to us, our manual is the Bible and our Authorised dealer is the Holy Spirit. God knows what we are made for and how we are meant to function and operate. And we need HIM to heal us when we are spoiled.*

a. God believes in you and your abilities (given to you by God)

b. You are in God's class because you are Spirit- Gen 1:26-27
i. God spoke in the Spirit
ii. Making - "asah" ~ Hebrew- making something out of something else. (fish created out of the sea) (plants and animals created out of the ground)
iii Creating - barah - making something out of nothing

c. You are designed to operate like God.
i. created in His image. Our spirit is like His.
ii. Created to be like God
Rom 1:17 - The Just live by faith
Rom 14:23 - what is not from faith is sin.
If you arent' functioning like God you are "malfunctioning"

d. You can dominate rule and subdue the earth
e.g cigarettes, alcohol are all produced by the earth. These things are not meant to rule you. We are not meant to be addicted to these things.In fact the "earth" is for us to dominate.

1 Cor 9:27 - We must discipline the body to rule/dominate the earth
1 Cor 6:12 - Everything is permissible and but not everything is good

e. You can plan to do and be anything
Gen 11:6 (Building of the tower of Babel) "then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them"God interfered in building of the tower. Unless God interferes we can plan to do anything and do it.

f. You can accomplish what others consider impossible
Mk 9:23 - All things possible to him who believes
Matt 14 - Jesus & disciples in the boat during the storm- Peter operated in faith and operated like God because of the law of faith. He walked on water just like Jesus(Mk11:24)

g. You must stay attached to God
Jn 15:4 "ABIDE" staying attached is a necessity. Man without God is a paralyzed spirit walking on two legs.
Heb 1:3 - Done by the word of God
Eph 3:20 - "ACCORDING to the power that is within us"
Phil 4:13 "through Christ" meaning "with Christ"
Rom 8:31 - with God we are UNLIMITED with our own experiences and abilities we are limited

2. Understanding your FUNCTION
2 Cor 4:16 - "our inward man is being renewed everyday"
Ecc 3:11 - He has put eternity in our hearts - we (our inward man) are made to last eternally

Don't equate your life with your body. FAITH makes things happen. Potential makes a demand on faith and faith makes a demand on potential.

** Personal notes
We are not MEASURED by what we see in our body, because the core of MAN is his Spirit. Therefore we are SPIRIT. Therefore meaning that we are without boundaries. The spirit is eternal. Therefore , dont get hung up on what we have or the past. We are made to grow, to pursue for things in the future. Therefore we should be excited about the future and not the past. How much good can it do if we are still excited about the past. The things in the past will soon be boring. **

Phil 3:13 - Look to the future to motivate and not the past.

So are we living life from the "body" or from the "Spirit"? Know your source.
The body can easily get "tired" HOWEVER Spirit - God's spirit is always energised.
This potential is used to be realised for the future.
"Faith draws deep into the potential that has been implanted. Faith demands/draws from potential & vice versa. Therefore we focus on God in order that He be glorified"

3. Understand your PURPOSE
Success and accomplishments without an understanding of purpose is meaningless. It will only lead to disillusionment and emptiness. No amount of wealth and fame and status can give you the fulfilment that you want. It doesn't matter what you do, if you don't understand why you are doing it, you are wasting your time.

Gal 1:15-16 - our purpose has been preassigned to us before even we were born
The purpose of something is the reason why it exists or the manufacturer's original intent of making it.

Only God knows our purpose and why we exist. We need to find out from Him then only can we understand it from His perpective and original intent of making us the way He made us.

Life without purpose brings abuse (Abnormal Use), thus damaging it.

*Disclaimer : These sermons notes are just the authors interpretation and in no way intended to defame the pastor in question. Read it with wisdom and understanding that comes from the Lord. And I pray that you understand it and it will impact your life*

PaulOS Blogging Off

The Dew Crew

I'm just submitting a picture update of the Ministry that I have been and still am serving vigiourously. It's none other than the Dew Crew.

The Dew Crew serves DUMC (Damansara Utama Methodist Church) in many ways.
(This is how I've interpreted it-lah)

1. Providing Audio & Video services to run the many activities and events in the Church day to day function (Full Day Conferences, Feastive & Evangelical Events, Plays & Musicals etc.. )
2. Running of weekend celebration/services. Working together with the MWM (Music & Worship Ministry)
3. Giving advice to the Church Administration and Pastors on technical advice on Video and Sound quality in the main sanctuary

All in all, this is one of our spiritual acts of worship and service unto to the Lord. We do this so that visitors and church members alike are provided with the best that we can offer in video & sound/audio quality. We aim to provide an environment that is conducive in order that they may worship our Lord God Almighty and listen to the Word of God that is being shared by the pastor.

We have learned over the years how to handle new equipment from the "resident" experts. Information is passed down from generation to generation. Lessons are learnt on-the-fly and some classes are conducted to have some semblence of training. But the #1 requirement of this ministry is Availability & #2 is A "never give up" attitude.

Most of us are not qualified for this technical ministry, but our hearts just desire to serve. We come from many backgrounds, from IT professionals, Accountants, Engineers, College Students, Freelance Photographers & Videographers, Personal Assitants, Company/Shop Owners, Temporarily Unemployeds, Salespersons, Bank Officers, Chiropractic Advisors .. wow the list goes on.

We serve, because we love Him and therefore we are Always Ready to Serve

Note : Mostly gals... where have all the good guys gone?

PaulOS Blogging Off...

p/s We're always ready to welcome anyone who wants to join us in this ministry....

Revival Update!!!

Yeah it's been a few weeks already.. And the GWBR (Great Wedding Band Revival) is on it's way.

We've had 3 practices so far or was it 4? All sponsored (@ the moment by the groom himself)
Very generous of him.. :)

All 3(or 4) practices were held at the ancient Black Widow studio, located above the 7-Eleven along Jalan Gasing next to St Francis Xavier Church. Every Thursday night. We've managed to find our drummer. I do hope he will be a permanent addition to the band. Steven Lai's his name.. and he learns fast.. powerful .. and really a cool dude.

For the moment, we've (or rather I) come out with "glamour names" just for the heck of it...

Christopher - Chris "Strings" McKhoo
Paul - Phat Fingers Paul
Steven - Rimshot Steven

Anyways, we've been playing a 3 piece band so far and it's been really cool. But I do miss that lead guitar at the moment. So all our practices have been without a lead guitarist/keyboardist.

Reasons for this...
Terence is getting married so we don't wanna bug him to before his wedding
Sekhar is also busy.
We hope to get the keyboardist and/or a lead guitarist in for the next practice onwards.

Our list so far is this

(Practiced Songs as of 11 th March 2005)
1. Every Breath You Take - The Police
2. Message In A Bottle - The Police
3. Islands in the Stream - The Bee Gees
4. How Deep Is Your Love - The Bee Gees
5. Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
6. Ready For Love - Bad Company
7. Bright Lights - Matchbox 20
8. Times Like These - Foo Fighters
9. Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
10. Long Train Running - The Doobie Brothers
11. Love Will Keep Us Alive - The Eagles
12. Wild Wild West - Escape Club
13. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

Yet to Practice (11th March 2005)
1. You To Me Are Everything - The Real Thing
2. Inspiration - Chicago
3. Glory Of Love - Chicago

Songs Struck from the Original List
1. My Sharona - The Knack (due to lyrical content and music style)

More Songs to Suggest?
1. Will You Still Love Me - Chicago
2. Kau Ilhamku - Man Bai (according to Chris, the groom is supposed to sing this)
3. Oye Como Va - Santana

The groom's brother, Shanker, will be singing a few songs... I wonder if the bride wants to sing as well? hmm ... Anyways... it's such a cool bunch of people to jam with... Nobody has time to take pictures....

p/s The Groom saw some of the suggestions.. and he vehemently protested in the SMS to me "No New Kids on the Block or Surface" ... Sorry Musical... he's the king of the day...

PaulOS Blogging Off

Stunned, Stung & Sting - Part Deux

It's been a long time since I said "SOON" for this post. Things have been quite topsy-turvy for me and I do hope to get things more stabilized soon.

Anyways, continuing the Sting Experience...

Along with the techno-cum-middle eastern beat he started of the first song, Send Your Love. He effortlessly glided into the next song Message in A Bottle. Man! What a rush! This was then followed by If You Love Somebody Set Them Free. Chris and I resisted the urge to stand. Still very inhibited as Asians... I think

After completing the songs, he interacted with the crowd with the regular Malaysian greetings of Selamat Petang, Apa Khabar? and ended with the common cheer of Malaysia Boleh!. He then went on to thank the organisers for inviting him back after 10 years, (Concert @ Stadium Merdeka). After that he introduced the band starting Dominic Miller on Guitars. A Sunburst Fender Stratocaster. *drool* I was too far away to see what kind of pickups. But I suspect they were single coil pickups. Dimarzio's maybe. Followed by Rhani Kirja on Percussions, Jason Robello on Piano & Keyboards, followed by Keith Carlock on Drums, lastly his 2 wonderfully dressed ebony sirens, Joy Rose and Donna Gardier. Sting himself stradled an old worn Orange and Black sunburst Fender Telecaster bass.

He started the next song in a slow pace since the interlude had already slowed the pace from the first 3 songs. The crowds continue to cheer as he stood upright plucking a Baby acoustic guitar tucked under his arm. He "shushed" the crowd as if to say that this is a serious song that needs silence to fully soak in the song. He sang a relatively new song Dead Man's Rope. It was a wonderful song about someone who's about to executed and talked about the person's contemplation and advice to others. Or at least I think so...

The next song played was Brand New Day , followed by Shape Of My Heart . This guitars for this song was played by played by Dominic Miller on a Midi Classical guitar. I was literally in heaven just listening to the plucking and sounds emitted by this guitar. After that wonderful song, the band continued with the song Englishman in New York. I looked forward to a bass solo by Sting, but I was slightly disappointed as they went into an extended drum solo piece. Sting then switched his axe for a recogniseable Yamaha Silent guitar on which he played a favourite song of many, Fragile.

Next song up was Fields of Gold with Douglas Miller on a regular classical guitar. Sacred Love was played in it's regular way, but what was amazing that they switched midway to a blues tune for this song, which was AWESOME. Then Sting and Joy Rose sang a duet of the song Whenever I Say Your Name, which he originally recorded with Mary J. Blige. Some say that this live version sounded better. :) For this song, Ms Donna Gardier stood on a platform behind the percussions set. There she danced to expose a silhoutte of a lady dancing. This was all so amazing!!

Next song played was another favourite of mine... Every Little Thing (She Does is Magic). THe next song played, was a song I was not familiar with, but I think it was from the album Sacred Love, the song had a lot of ... Live my life in the lyrics. After doing some research I think the song was entitled Never Coming Home. For this song, it had a lot of Sting doing some funny antics like walking, waist high kicks and shmy-ing on stage from left to right as he played a lead on the bass.Jaon Rebello (on Korg SG keyboards) also played a lead section in Jazz style for this song. Bravo to all for the showmanship.

At this point Chris and I had not gotten up from our seats. But when Dominic started the next song with a tune that sounded like it came from U2, we just got up off our behind's and started to dance to the rhythm of Roxanne! Man, that was a wonderful rendition of Roxanne. After that the whole band walked off stage, and of course in tradition, the crowd just shouted for MORE! MORE! MORE! as we clapped louder and louder. How could they leave us without playing Every Breath You Take ?

They came back on stage soon after and kicking off with the song Desert Rose. Sting sang a good version of the Egyptian voicings for this song. He went on to sing If I Ever Lose My Faith then followed by everyone's favourite Every Breath You Take.

They took a short break after that and came back on stage and continued by playing the hauntingly wonderful tune of A Thousand Years with sting on guitars. A Black Fender Stratocaster.

After that song we all just clapped and clapped and cheered him on. That was the end of the concert. And we then left the bowels of the stadium to enthralled by the songs and the performance. Truly worth the RM128 that we paid for the tickets.

We congregated outside the stadium to meet up with Chris and Adeline. We talked for a while and joked as we waited for the traffic jam to subside. Surfgod, Kingston and I walked back to my car as I offered them a ride back to Setapak.

As I reached my car, I pulled out my car keys and pushed the Car Alarm Arming/Disarming button, I realised that I had not locked my car!!!
As I reached my car, a guard came up to us and said "Encik cuba periksa kereta awak kalau ada apa-apa yang hilang! Sat tadi saya ada nampak orang dalam kereta awak sebelum konsert bermula. Saya ingatkan yang dia tu tuan punya kereta itu. Tapi selepas tu bila saya balik saya nampak dia di dalam kereta BMW di tepi kereta awak. Lepas tu saya panggil polis lah! Dan lepas tu mereka buat pengumuman dalam dewan."

Translates to " Sir, please check your car if there's anything missing from your car. I saw someone in your car earlier before the concert started. I thought he was the owner the car. But later when I came back I saw the same guy in the BMW next to your car. So that's when I alerted the police. That's when the the announcement was made in the hall"

Then it became appartent that the announcement that we heard was actually for the car that was beside mine. A thief was actually in my car!! So I just briefly looked around in my car and found nothing amiss. The coin box still had the coins in it. I had a golf set in the boot of my car and that was still there. Indeed I thank God for blinding the theif from taking anything in my car.

We then drove home to Setapak, stopped by at mamak (all night's roadside eatery) talked about the concert. Dropped the blokes off at their respective places. Then I drove home alone back to my house in Bandar Utama, with a grin of satisfaction on my face. Thanks be to God for giving me this opportunity to watch this concert with good friends, and showing me that He did keep my car safe and sound.

Phew... that's all.. till then.. .PaulOS Blogging Off!