Ay Jiamin, glad you're doing the reading. We sure can find lots of odd stuff in the Old Testament. While I can't give you the interpretations of the passage, there are others who are more well versed in the background of the culture and the significance and symbolism of the objects, so yeah here's a link.

http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=wes&b=1&c=15

Hey this week don't forget to read days 5-8 for Bible tour k.

I wanna share some insight from the first 4 days, read on if you have time! Some are stuff that can't really be applied, but just to show how brilliant the Bible is! Some are quite deep la, and some may not easy to understand esp cos I tried to keep it brief. Whatever it is, they show that the Bible is so sophisticated and coherent, it really must have been written with God's inspiration.

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Day 1 - Gen 1 - The Creation Account

1. The Trinity found in the first 3 verses of the Bible
God, Holy Spirit and Jesus expressed in Gen 1:1-3
Gen 1:1 - "In the beginning, God" (Hebrew: Elohim = God of transcendence/Creator God)
1:2 - "the Spirit of God hovering..."
1:3 - "And God said" (Word of God = Jesus. See John 1:1-3, Rev 19:13)

2. The Structure of the Creation Account
Creation account was a systematic fulfilment of Gen 1:2 -
"the earth was formless and empty"

a. God produced form by separation
b. God filled each form

a. Day 1: Separated night and day
b. Day 4: Made sun and moon for day and night

a. Day 2: Separated sky and sea
b. Day 5: Made sky animals and sea animals

a. Day 3: Separated land and sea, land plants created
b. Day 6: Made land animals and people, plants used for food

See the neat structure? Day 1 with 4, 2 with 5, 3 with 6.

3. Man Created in God's Image
Gen 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him."
Double emphasis on being created in God's image. We are to regard everyone as such. There is no place for murder or causing hurt to a fellow man, as how God dealt later with Cain (Gen 4:10-12)

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Day 2 - Gen 2 - Creation of Adam and Eve

1. Garden of Eden
While Eden was physically a garden, theologically it was the presence of God. Thus when Adam and Eve sinned, they were taken out of Eden, i.e. taken out of God's holy presence. The cherubim which were then placed to guard Eden (Gen 3:24) parallels the man-made cherubim guarding the ark of the covenant (Exo 25:18-20), which to the Israelites represented the presence of God.

2. Name of God used changed from Elohim (God) to Yahweh (LORD) from Gen 2:4 onwards
Everytime you see 'LORD' in the old testament, it's Yahweh. Everytime you see 'God' in the OT, it's Elohim.
From Gen 2:4, the account of creation of Adam and Eve begins. 'Yahweh' (meaning: covenant Lord) is now used instead of 'Elohim'.
This shows that God has not just created a 'thing', but has created a relationship.
(Remember my sermon in Jan?)

3. Adam made from the dust of the ground (v7)
In Hebrew, the word for ground used in this verse is 'adamah'. 'Adam was formed from 'adamah'. But more than just a linguistic r/ship, there's also a theological r/ship between man and the ground. When Adam sinned, the ground was cursed (Gen 3:17b). What happens to adam affects adamah, and what happens to adamah affects adam (Gen 3:18).

4. Theology of Marriage
It's interesting how the author (Moses) seems to pause the story to give a theology on marriage in v24.

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Day 3 - Gen 3 - The Fall of Man

1. The attack of the devil is an attack on the given Word of God
a. (v1) Devil raises doubt on the given Word "Did God actually say...?"
b. (v4) Devil proceeds to outrightly deny the truth of the given Word "You will not surely die..."

The devil still attacks us in this way today, christians and non-christians.

2. The heart of sin is to be God
(v5) Devil tempts man with the possibility of being on equal footing with God.
Consider the continuum: 'Like God'----------------------'Be God'. Somewhere along this continuum is God's divine perogative for our identity. We are like God but not God. We are 'god' (please note inverted commas!) in that we were given rulership over the animals (Gen 1:28). So you can say we're meant to be somewhere in the middle of the continuum. That's God's divine perogative.
The devil tempted man to move towards the right of the continuum, and this entails being able to know both good and evil. But this is out of God's perogative! Can man handle the knowledge of evil? Of course not, just look at the world today! And Gen 6:5 tells us about our sad state upon acquiring the knowledge of evil.

3. The beginning of spiritual warfare (v15)
Seed of the woman vs. Seed of the serpent.
Seed of serpent will bruise seed of woman's heel - devil will attack and cause injury
Seed of woman will bruise seed of serpent's head - devil will ultimately be defeated

'Seed' is a very impt concept in the OT. It means offspring. The chosen 'genealogy' recorded in the Bible is planned by God and purposed to lead to the ultimate, anointed 'seed of woman', Jesus Christ himself. Jesus defeats the devil (bruised head), but at the price of suffering and death (bruised heel). This is a fulfilment of this genesis verse.

In the OT, the devil constantly tries to derail God's plan for Israel (bruised heel), and sometimes to the Israelites it does seem like God's plan is derailed (e.g. when they went into exile). But above all the turmoil, uncertainty, grief, disobedience, God is still on track.

To appreciate this better, we need to get a good big picture of the Bible, which is what the Bible tour will give us!
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Day 4 - Gen 4 - Cain and Abel

1. Significance of the name Enosh (v26)
v26 "..and he called him Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD."

'Enosh' like the Hebrew 'Adam' means 'man', but implies a weakness and dependency. Which explains the sentence which follows 'At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD." This sentence opens the history of prayer in the Bible. Man has begun to feel the effect of the separation from the presence of God (Gen 3:23).
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HAHA! Since Jiamin don't want to post the photos, i do it.
See Jiamin every photo is so embarrassing.

And my camera battery died. So less photos =(

Whoa today's FUSION was tiring man haha. The verses are quite good though, I intend to go through them tonight. Anyway hope all those who went managed to take back something, other than the shirt. Ha.

Darn should have video-ed the hiding of Ryan and Joycelyn's meat. Hahaha.

And Jiamin post the pictures leh.

Junting Says: I came across this forward "chain" mail in my Inbox, so i wanna share with you guys.

The Duck & the Devil?

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm.

He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.

He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target.

Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the
head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved.


In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his
sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes.'

But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the
kitchen.'

Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?'

So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing
and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.'

Sally just smiled and said, 'Well,that's all right because Johnny told me
he wanted to help.'

She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and
Johnny stayed to help.

After several day of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's he
finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know.
You?see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing,but
because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you
would let Sally make a slave of you.'

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?



Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps
throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits,
hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ..whatever it is...You need to know
that?God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.

He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you
and that you are forgiven.He's just wondering how long you will let the
devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness;

He not only forgives you, but He forgets.

It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today.

gniTnuJ Says:
HEY OAKERS WHO ARE GOING FOR FUSION09 REMEMBER TO BUY SOME COLOUR PENCILS, IF YOU'RE TOO BUSY NOTIFY ME I'LL GET THEM FOR YOU!

Ryan: Hey does anyone need a devotional ar? As in a quiet time book. I'm going to a christian bookstore one of these days, i can try to find a good one. Enjoy your quiet time this week! Don't forget the 4 days reading also.

What is your deepest fear: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us.
And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Nelson Mandela

Joel Pang says: 

"It is hard to pray when we do not surrender, and hard to surrender when we do not pray. He who surrenders well prays well, and he who prays well surrenders well...Such surrender is the ability to sleep the perfect sleep of faith. It is to be rested in the perfect rest of God."

HELLO EVERYBODY!
WELCOME TO JYM!!!!!



Best Quality Video (Click here)

OAK Chillout @ Springdale
14 Feb, 1600 - 2030

Hello guys! The OAK Chillout for February is confirmed. We will be having water games so do bring a change of clothes, towel, and bathing stuff because after that we'll be eating dinner in my house so do consider my parents - they hosted us so I don't think we should dirty their house. That's all, so see ya guys!

Must watch this! Super lame.




Remember to start journalling this week! And read Day 1 to Day 5 of the 180 Bible tour thing.It'll only take 5 min a day.

Ryan

Jan did a Bible talk from Mark8:34~38 using the example of a parachute. We can know every little thing about a parachute, but if we don't actually put it on before we jump out of a plane, it's no use. In the some way, even if we know and believe heaps about Jesus in our heads, but don't let what we believe change what we do, it isn't much good to us.We need to take time to pray and read his Word and have fallowship with other believers. Obeying Jesus is like a adventure; it's not only exciting, but sometime you might have to fight hard, or give up somethings in order to reach the goal; eternal life!!

I chanced upon this blog and wow look at this church youth group - they're so closely knitted. And it's amazing, the passion and enthusiasm they have even with such a small group.

http://itayanagiyounglife.blogspot.com/

What a Beautiful Oak Tree

Together On The Middle Ground So often there's no challenging voice calling us to obedience and authenticity. Instead, we move nearer our peers, often sitting together on the middle ground, a good distance from God. When challenged by his higher standards, we're comforted that we don't look too different from other Christians around us. Trouble is, as we've seen, we don't look much different from non-Christians either!

What i really like about this paragraph, is the direct and straightness in the author's description of the problem we face today. The question which we usually ask ourselves " Am i behaving like what other Christians are behaving like " is a redundant and completely foolish question. Fact is, we seldom ask ourselves the other way around, whether " Am i behaving like how non- Christians are" Not that i detest non-Christians, don't get me wrong. But, however much you look at a dollar coin, it always has 2 sides. Therefore, when we question ourselves, we have to always question 2 sides of the problem, and not only 1 side.

Yeah, just something really important that i learn today.

- Go Spread Some Wonders!

OAK Chillout @ Springdale
14 Feb, 1500 - 2100

Hello guys! The OAK Chillout for February is scheduled on the 14th, yes that's right, it's V-Day and all we dateless people will meet together at 1500 at my place for a time of fun! 

Fusion '09

When I saw the programme, I quite liked the sermon topics, maybe stuff I've heard before, but I thought they're very important to hear again and again. And the speakers are quite impressive, haha. Our operation DHL camp speaker Joseph Chean is speaking too!

Each session begins with PlanetShakers worship.

9AM: Desire What is God's desire and plan for us? Speaker: Rev Dr. Wee Boon Hup	12NOON: Destiny What resources has God given us? Who are we in Christ? What standing do we have before God to fulfill God's desires in our lives? Speaker: Rev Dr. Gordon Wong
3PM: Death The need to surrender and need to die to ourselves, our plans and selfish ways. Speaker: Mr Joseph Chean	7PM: Declaration The need to step up and declare the Lordship of Christ over our lives not only with words but in our entire life choices and direction. Speaker: Pastor Matt Fielder

Woah yo yo so check it out man, check it out.

It's 21 Feb, Sat.

Do reply June Ting's sms if you wanna go too.

Ryan

HEY ALL! IMPORTANT! hey there is this FUSION09 event going on, as i posted below below below! Well we're thinking of going, well a few of us, and thus we're opening to you guys too! LIKE ALWAYS! SO IF YOU NEED DETAILS!

http://www.weloveourgod.sg/theEvent/

Go There! Everything is there for you!

Cheers,
Junting