What is Lent?

The Christian season of Lent

Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter. In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday is the day Lent begins. It occurs forty days before Good Friday. The official name of Ash Wednesday is “Day of Ashes.” The Bible does not mention Ash Wednesday, or Lent either, for that matter.

Ash Wednesday is the commencement of this period of repentance. The Bible contains numerous accounts of people using dust and ashes as symbols of repentance and/or mourning (Genesis 18:27; 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3; Matthew 11:21). The tradition is that the symbol of the cross is made in ashes on a person’s forehead as a symbol of that person’s identification with Jesus Christ. A similar concept is mentioned in Revelation 7:3; 9:4; 14:1 and 22:4.

Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. It is intended to be a time where sinful activities and habits are forsaken. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.

Not all Christian churches observe Lent. Lent is mostly observed by the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denominations, and also by Roman Catholics. Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Easter. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days of lent because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. Lent for Eastern Orthodox churches begins on Monday and Ash Wednesday is not observed.

Lent in 2010 starts on Wednesday, the 17th of February and will continue for 46 days until Saturday, the 3rd of April. So, the first Sunday of Lent is 21 February.

Palm Sunday will be on 28 March and on that day we remember the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, exactly one week before His resurrection (Matthew 21:1-11).

Why not challenge yourself to read the Gospel of Mark, two chapters today and thereafter a chapter a day. When you come to Easter Sunday you would have finish reading the gospel and gain a deeper understanding of the life of your Savior. Deepen your walk with God during this period of Lent.

Prayer Focus

(1) G412 will be a fellowship for youngsters to meet to have fellowship on Saturday evening at 7:30pm to encourage them to nurture great friendships and establish a vibrant relationship with God. It is a fellowship beyond the BB & GB circles where everyone can invite their friends to come. This fellowship will officially kick off on the 27 March, at 7:30pm.Ask God to help the planning team to have wisdom to do the necessary … which includes organization, artwork, programming, arrangement, musicians, drivers and transportation, refreshments, confirmation from parents and etc and etc.

(2) The English pastors including Rev. Laura (STS lecturer) will be meeting on 18 March to deliberate on the update of our catechism booklet for baptism and other related documents of the church being translated into English by Rev. Chong Fui Yung. The pastors fellowship will be held on the 19 March. Please pray that the pastors will be wise, passionate, purpose driven and humble to learn for the advancement of the gospel.

(3) The English General Council will be held on the 19th march 2010 evening. The members of this council consist of all the pastors-in-charge and the chairperson of the eight English congregations. This council meet periodically to discuss issues relating to the administration, development and growth of the church. Pray for God’s wisdom to be upon all our leaders.

The Marriage Course

Session Two was held on Tuesday evening and the topic covered was The Art of Communication. This is one of the foundations for a healthy marriage.

Many couples assume that to keep the peace it is better to shut up and sweep everything under the carpet. But this is also a pattern of communication which eventually lead to the failure of the marriage.

Intimacy in marriage requires effective communication. Communication involves the message, the sender and the receiver. It is just like a radio. There is the message, then there must be a transmitter and the receiver (or radio) to receive the message. All must work well. So building intimacy in marriage involves hearing each other’s experiences, thoughts, feelings and desires. It is the break down of communication that eventually collapses a marriage.

The topic of the evening emphasized the importance of talking. Husband and wife need to tell each other their thoughts. Some have been taught to hide feelings and this is unhealthy in a marriage. It takes courage and practice to re-learn to talk at this level.

The barriers to talking were explored. Good communication begins with listening. Most of us take listening for granted yet it is possible to close our ears when the other person is talking. This is known as filters which is a hindrance to listening. Couples were given sufficient time to practice effective listening.

The Bible places great stress on listening: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). “Those who answer before listening—that is their folly and their shame” (Proverbs 18:13).

Session Three will be held on this coming Wednesday at Wisma Charis at 7:30pm.

News Information

Malaysia Catholics accept 'desecration' apology
8 March 2010, Monday

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - -- Catholic authorities in Malaysia on Sunday accepted an apology from a Muslim magazine after its writers took part in a Catholic service and allegedly desecrated the communion wafer. "We accept the public apology. It is laudable," Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Catholic "Herald" newspaper, told AFP. "We trust they will not repeat it. We are not holding any grudges."

Two journalists from the "Al Islam" magazine took the wafer and spat it out after entering a Catholic church to investigate claims that Muslims were illegally converting to Christianity. "Al Islam magazine apologizes because the article had unintentionally hurt the feelings of Christians, especially Catholics," it said on its website Utusan Karya on Friday.

"It is also not the intention of Al Islam to insult the Christian religion nor to desecrate their house of worship," said the monthly magazine which reports on issues concerning Malaysian Muslims. The apology came after the archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Murphy Pakiam criticized the government's "failure to act" over the incident. "The journalists have displayed utmost disrespect for the Catholic community when they admit receiving and spitting out the Holy Communion," he said.

However, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail defended the handling of the incident, saying the pair did not understand the significance of the wafer, which Catholics believe represents the body of Jesus Christ.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has been beset by religious disputes in recent months. The multi-ethnic country was hit with a spate of fire bombings against churches and mosques in January, triggered by a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" as a translation for "God" by non-Muslims. The rows have strained relations between majority Muslim Malays and minorities including ethnic Chinese and Indian communities who fear the country is being "Islamised". About nine percent of Malaysia's 28 million population are Christians, including 850,000 Catholics.

Church Concerns

Church Activities For This Week

Weekly Message

Sermon Outline

Gideon—From Zero to Hero
BB & GB enrolment Sunday


A Hopeless Background
3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, 4 camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. ~Judges6:3-5


A Voice of God
11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" ~Judges 6:11-12


Confirmation of the Voice of God
"But Lord," Gideon replied, "how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" The Lord said to him, "I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man." ~Judges 6:15-16


You can be a Hero when you listen to God’s voice and that He is with you.

Weekly Article

Be Strong & Courageous

By Pastor Kong Hee, founder of the City Harvest Church, Singapore

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

God, Moses and the Israelites all encouraged Joshua to excel in His leadership. What exactly is needed in leadership? Four things apply:

(1) Courage. Seventeen times, the Bible says, “Be of good courage!” Therefore, having courage is a very good thing. The primary ploy of the devil is to bring discouragement to a leader, that is to take courage out of your heart. If he succeeds, then he has trapped you in a place of weakness, despair and hopelessness. Your vision would soon disappear. What is courage? Courage is the capacity to do what is right even when it is unpopular. As such, courage relates to the integrity of character. A courageous person will do what is right in the midst of opposition and mockery, even when there are no perceived benefits to him at all. When you do what is right—simply because it is the right thing to do—that is courage.

(2) Boldness. Someone once counted that 365 times, the Bible says, “Fear not!” In other words, in every single day of the year, a leader must never be afraid. To be bold is to have confidence. David says, “Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Ps. 27:3). Even under house arrest in Rome, Paul preached “with all confidence” (Acts 28:31). The Bible says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward” (Heb. 10:35). Courage relates to character; boldness relates to your personality. Have a confident personality and be secure in who you are.

(3) Strength. Again and again, Joshua was exhorted to be strong. Strength is the ability to stand up on your feet whenever you are knocked down. There are many confident and charismatic people who are not strong. Whenever they are hit by a crisis, they wilt away without having the ability to bounce back in life.

(4) Wisdom. Proverbs constantly speaks of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge is the getting of information. Understanding is the analyzing of information. Wisdom is solving the problem. Proverbs says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Prov. 1:7). A leader must be wise.

(http://www.konghee.com/www/2010/03/be-strong-courageous/)

No Apologies Workshop

Life Group Discssion

Who is your hero in life? Or anyone that you emulate?
 
2. Who were the enemies of the Israelites and what kind of hard did they cause the Israelites? Read Judges 6:1-5.
 
3. What did the Israelites do? Read verse 6.
 
4. What was the reasons for the suffering of the Israelites? Read verses 7-10.
 
5. What did the angels called Gideon? Read verse12. How significant this words were to Gideon?
 
6. What was Gideon’s response to the call of God? Read verses 13-16.
 
7. What lesson can you learn from this study of being a hero?
 

Prayer Focus

(1) This is a new fellowship for teenagers from age 12 and above. It is designed for these teenagers to enrich their lives and to help them experience true friendship and meaning in the family of God. This fellowship will officially kick off on the 27 March, at 7:30pm. Ask God to help the planning team to have wisdom to do the necessary … which includes artwork, programming, arrangement, musicians, drivers and transportation, refreshments, confirmation from parents and etc and etc.

(2) Pray for the local churches to devote themselves to reaching children for God, and recognize that their young people is their prized possession.

(3) Pray for our Sunday School, teachers and children (Prov 22: "Train children to live the right way, and when they are old, they will not stray from it." NCV).

(4) Pray for the young people, that Jesus is the Shepherd and Guardian of their souls, that they may be encouraged in all aspects, that no one will look down on them because they are young, that they will set godly example in their speech, conduct, love, faithfulness and purity (1Tim 4:12).

Someone cried, “Where must the seed be sown to bring the most fruit when it is grown?” The Master heard as He said and smiled, “Go plant it for Me in the heart of a child.”

The Marriage Course

We have started the Marriage Course Session One on 10 Mar 2010and we have 10 couples attending this first run of the course set in a romantic environment for the evening event. (The following is a brief report).

The speakers of the evening were Nicky and Sila Lee. We watched the DVD presentation on a big screen and there was sufficient time given to the couples for comparing of notes and discussion. The purpose of the course is to help married couples to build a healthy marriage that lasts a lifetime.

Session One dealt with Building Strong Foundations. The first question was, what is marriage? It is a man and a woman joined together according to God’s plan and it is a relationship of growing interdependence. Jesus said, ‘So they are no longer two but one’ (Matt 19:6).

Every marriage will go through four seasons of marriage.

(1) Spring. This is where the couple is married without children yet. There is full of anticipation and excitement and the greatest need at this time is to accept each other’s difference.

(2) Summer. This stage is a family with children under the age of 12. The length is 12 years. It is a busy and tiring time. To keep the marriage alive, the greatest need is to give time to the marriage relationship. To neglect this is to court disaster for the marriage.

Autumn. This is a family with teenage children at home and this period lasts approximately 10-15 years. Many changes are taking place and sometimes it is a stormy period. The greatest need for couples is to support and encourage each other.

(4) Winter. This period frequently lasts more than 20 years and it is the longest season. Children are grown up and they have their own families and most probably living away. This is sometimes known as ‘empty nests’. Couples are less active but they have more time together. The greatest needs are shared interests and good communications.
———————————————————————--
Session Two of The Marriage Course will be held on Tuesday, 16 Mar 2010 at 7:30pm, Wisma Charis Activity Room.

News Information

SIB keen to resolve ‘Allah’ issue with Home Ministry

Saturday March 6, 2010, By LISA GOH, (lisagoh@thestar.com.my)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) is keen to reach an out-of-court settlement with the Home Ministry over the use of the word “Allah” in its books on Christianity. Counsel for SIB, Bobby Chew, told reporters that High Court judge Justice Aziah Ali fixed April 30 in chambers yesterday, allowing the parties involved “to see if any settlement could be reached”.

“We are exploring the possibility of resolving the matter out of court. We have always been interested in that option,” he said yesterday. Representing the Home Ministry was senior federal counsel Azizah Nawawi.

SIB president Pastor Jerry Dusing filed the suit in December 2007 to contest the seizure of six boxes of Christian educational publications shipped from Indonesia by the Customs Depart-ment at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang in August that year. It was reported that the Internal Security Ministry (now Home Ministry) had given SIB 14 days to return the publications to their point of origin in Indonesia, failing which, the officers would destroy them on grounds that the publications contained the word “Allah”. The ministry also sent to SIB an old circular dated Dec 5, 1986, which prohibited non-Muslim publications from using the word “Allah” in their works. However, the confiscated books were returned to the church on Jan 25, 2008.

SIB had filed the suit over two issues – the confiscation of the books, and the policy that no other religion could import books with the word “Allah”. The church is seeking a court order to quash the minister’s order prohibiting the importation of the Indonesian publications which were meant for SIB-run Sunday schools in Sabah. It is also seeking a declaration that it had the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia translations of the Bible as well as in all religious publications and materials.

SIB is also seeking a declaration that its congregation – a majority of whom are Bahasa Malaysia speaking natives – is entitled to own, possess, use and import materials notwithstanding the use of the word “Allah” in those publications. Yesterday, Dusing said the ministry’s grounds that the word “Allah” in Christian books might cause confusion should not arise. “Christianity books we import would have to bear the mark of the cross on the cover, with a stamp stating ‘Christian publication’ on it,” he said.

Church News