Devotion-John 2:1-11 June 2, 2008
Posted by lowhongsang79 in NT#04 - John.1 comment so far
Just a sharing for today’s devotion 
John 2 recorded an event involving Jesus when He was at Galilee, attending a wedding. Just thought that i wanted to share something short about it.
Verse 1-3: “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”"
So He was at a wedding, the wine ran out and His mother, Mary asked Jesus to do her a favor(a miracle).
Verse 4: ”Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”
Sounds like He wasn’t very agreable to it. (Ok, this is open to interpretation 
)
Despite that, He did the miracle anyway. He turned the water to wine. But i thought i learnt 2 things about Jesus here…
1)He attended to an earthly need.
2)He submitted to an earthly authority(His mom).
However, having been told what to do, He did it very differently!
He did exactly what His mom told Him to do, but in a way that was totally counter the culture of His times.
The culture of His times can be found in the first part of verse 10: “(the master of the banquet)and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink;”
What Jesus did, second part of verse 10: “…but you have saved the best ’till now.”, Jesus gave them the best wine instead of what the culture of the time would have expected.
Talk about WWJD. 
If you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts! May 5, 2007
Posted by enerjhee in Interesting Stories, Jhee's Sharing, Leadership, NT#19 - Hebrews.add a comment
The above verse is repeated 3 times in Hebrews 3 & 4.
I remember I was at Ps Serene’s house for G12 meeting, which was located near an MRT track.
When the MRT passes, it was very obvious and loud. Then Ps Serene said that she is used to it that it does not bother her anymore. She has been CONDITIONED not to hear the sound of the MRT passing.
Then it brought me to this verse.
When we hear the voice of God and do not obey or respond to it, we actually CONDITION ourselves not to hear the voice of God. We harden our hearts. Sooner or later, we will not hear God.
Is it because God stops speaking to us?
Well, just like the MRT that passes, its volume and noise level NEVER changed – it has always been loud. It is just that we have been CONDITIONED not to hear it.
Even if God is speaking to you as loud as before, but because you have hardened your heart, you have CONDITIONED yourself not to listen to His voice. And that CONDITIONING is likened to “hardening your heart”.
Are there areas in your life where your heart is hardened? And sometimes, you need someone to tell you this.
Have you heard His voice clearly, and decided not to respond to it?
Dont “soften” your heart, change it!!!
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13
Worship in Revelations March 26, 2007
Posted by enerjhee in Jhee's Sharing, NT#27 - Revelation, Worship.add a comment
by Kenny G (Rennie’s cell, also in my worship band)
Revelation is not only a “doomsday” book, but it also offers an insight into what worship is like in heaven, and will be like in the future. In Revelation 4, John is brought up into the presence of God in heaven, and what he sees is nothing short of God’s powerful majesty, splendor, and glory. In particular, he sees the multitudes worshiping God, and we are given the exact words sung. Here are two examples:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev 5:12)
“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev 7:12)
There is one particular pattern to these, and all the other songs in Revelation; that is, the lack of the word “I”. There is no reference to the self, not even phrases resembling “thank You for what You have done for me”, nor “I will praise you with my lips”. Everything is about God in worship, because faced with His overwhelming presence, all you can do is to give Him praise and worship.
We won’t see a lot of songs we sing now, whether in service or cell group, in heaven. Take, for example, United Live’s “Take it All”:
“Jesus we’re living for Your name, never be ashamed of You. Our praise, and all we are today, take take take it all”
In that one line, the self is referred to three times (“we”, “our”, “we”) – as many times as Jesus (Jesus, Your, You)! The same goes not only for contemporary songs, but also for hymns, like “Be Thou MY Vision”.
The songs we sing therefore deviates from the Revelation model quite abit – while worship in Revelation points to God, the songs we sing often point God to us – there is the danger of having self take precedence over God. While such songs often enable us to express our feelings of love & gratitude to God, and thus have a role to play in worship (after all, my favourite song is “Just Let Me Say”, a love song to God), we must always remember that it is all about God, that songs that describe His undilluted (from thinking about oneself) presence, majesty, glory, splendor, power, etc. When worshipping, think of Revelation 4-7!
