ohla

videos from bro's church
Who is Jesus? from Bibles for America on Vimeo.

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Sin, it just won't leave.
AAARRGGGGH!!!

But praise be to God who calls and works mightily to shape and mould us, til he returns.


"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

*sadface*

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ ... (2 Cor 4:4) 

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom 1:21) 

A blessed weekend

wow. what a weekend.
i seem to say this every weekend. but yes. and truly. they just keep getting better ^^

Was best friend's driver for the day whilst he had no car.
Discovered where the Samsung Care Centre was, surprisingly close to home.

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Squaaasshhhh with friends @ Monash of which i still am incredibly horrible.
However I did learn to very important lessons
1) keep running: i actually stand around and spectate on court (silly i know), watching the other person return the ball, to which I am standing still. no wonder i don't get to the ball on time
2)  wait for it to bounce: more likely of hitting it back ><"

So we decided to leave squash as our stomachs were rumbling. foooood.
little to know, bump into two gentlemen outside the sports centre inviting us to a bbq that was happening right that instant about 5meters away.

Turns out I was the last person they spoke to that noon, as they had one more flyer to hand out. A Christian group called Faith on Monash Campus sharing some good convo and food over the weekend. Was great to hear their stories and be encouraged by them. From what started from small groups to now a church that borrows Chadstone Hoyts for their Sunday service.
thought at the end of it though: hmm...all the nice guys seem to have wives already LOL

Plodded along to dfo for some cheap buys_

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white singlet like lacy dress $8
happy lemon dress $24
bargain :D 

then ohlala WHITE NIGHT. Incredible fun, of which i didnt get back until 3pm. pooped.

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melbourne is swarming with lovely people.
venturing into the gardens, ngv and acmi were definitely a highlight. to see everyone buzzing with energy and a...

willingness to try everything despite it being new 

and patience to cue, 

was admirable. 

was great to find was to avoid the bottle neck at flinders, but kudos to the elderly that survived it.

*source*

who would have thought burger edge wraps at midnight would to sooo tasty.

the unfortunate event was that there was police surrounding a body with a white sheet over it at Heyington Station =/ I hope they are able to resolve the happenings. that was kinda scary.

Sunday was another , had no idea what was going to happen apart from acknowledging i'll be in attendance at church at 10.30am. Best friend agreed to come. wooot. although he still thinks it's a centre for mass brainwashing, I do pray that what he thinks is brain washing is actually indeed a mighty God working in the hearts of men to reveal a true and liberating freedom that we can be reconciled to an equally loving and just creator God through the work of Christ Jesus on the cross, conquering death once and for all.

*sigh*

being Christian never means loosing your intellect. I hope at some point people can see this.

so this brings me to 6pm sunday night with absolutely nothing on.
puts it out there that i'm free and ohla the wonders of the internet a friend responds inviting me to run.

i am so unfit.

but the stories to share throughout the evening were amazing.



so from having no plans, being open and available, the adventures never cease

What time is it now?

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

 a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

be above reproach

A wife of noble character who can find?

Answer: I disagree with the premise

No wife of noble character can be found upon first sight or a particular instance or with I-will-look-really-hard syndrome

With time, suffering, sacrifice and insert a-whole-bunch-of-other-character-building-adjectives after meeting, then eventually you get to 77% of what is described in Proverbs 31: 10 - 31

Brilliant poetry though.

=P

a husband who ain't a douchebag, who can find? >.>

lewl jane, so harsh, so harsh =P

hmmm.. it also seems I am not the only person with a two year deadline >.>
But Mr. A is a zillion intelligence levels above me *squints*

Let the Games begin.

 

Jesus scrutiny

so what we know about Jesus Christ is recorded down in the Bible and easily accessible today in Western society. Events are also recorded via other Jewish scholars and non-religious historians of the time. Of course context would be important aka. taking the entire Bible into consideration and all that parts that talk about Jesus' actions and words for a complete analysis.

But today I just want to ponder on the following.
1. Jesus is a character of human history, he existed, was born of woman and wandered around, most likely walked around everywhere
2. therefore, being born of women he would have had an earthly father, mother and later we find out he also had siblings, or ya can say step-brothers/sisters...

and this is where we take the off ...Mark 3:31 - 35

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³² A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³ “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Okay, so the context/what happened prior is - here is this Jesus character running around from one side of the Sea of Galilee /Jordan River to another, going from place to place teaching, healing, amazing crowds and also causing havoc, via attracting followers and enemies alike with authoritative tone.

hmm.. lets see, does verse 33 just slightly peeve you off? >.>
Jesus' family ties were outside/looking for Him and he pretty much responds like a rebellious teenager "who the heck are you?" *disowned* followed by a later comment, pointing to the crowd/gathering of people in front of him stating -  actually you know what? they (once strangers) are my family.

Interestingly, the response of the family to hearing those words are not included. Or maybe those words never reached them, through a potential thick crowd. But nevertheless, he said it =P
First clue - their response wasn't the most significant part of the story.


The bible doesn't mention much about Jesus' family connection but focuses on another event.
lol. you bet... the obvious - Himself. In particular what he came to do and why - sent into the world to die on a cross, in place of the punishment mankind deserved, being the ultimate substitution sacrifice for our rebellion(sin) against God, so what we may be set free from the punishment of death, to live a life in Christ who resurrected, conquering death.
A guy coming in and constantly talking about his own death and resurrection. Hmm. egotistic/semi emo/glorious much? But in an ironic way, since his words and actions explain that drawing close to Him means drawing closer/getting to know God the Father personally (who is it seems is invisible in the sense that he doesn't have a physical bodily presence). Kinda like a messenger on a mission. (lol, at those cringing when reading this, yes I'm bypassing the Triune God factor completely =P, story for another day)

If I was his half brother or sister I would probably be quite pissed off, maybe a tad embarrassed or even maybe a little ashamed if I was to seek approval of man. Why? Because, this guy is claiming to be God?!?! and telling me how to live my life?!?! - saying he is the only way to God. He is my brother literally! and I would have pushed him around in the dirt growing up, I would have been there seeing him eat at the dinner table..or something along those lines. Interesting eh?

Another response could be woah. I never need to go to a doctor again since Jesus has freakishly good mutant elixir powers. He raises gives sight to the blind, restores the paralyzed and even raises people from the dead! Check out my bro, he is AWESOME!

Funnily enough, these were the opinions of the crowds around Jesus. Either he was crazy, at times accused of being devil possessed (Mark 3:20-22) or awed (Mark 2:12) 

How do you respond?

More importantly... why?

Anyways, so here are some thought conclusions_
a. Clearly Jesus was very focused and concerned regarding people 'following God and doing His will'
b. Jesus didn't really give one group of people priority over others, in the sense that he was willing to teach and preach to all those that were willing to hear
c. his "family" are those who love God and share his world view
d. He didn't waste his time with the stubborn
e. He can be quite frank
f. There is much haste, he was eager to get his message across to people, instructing his disciples to then go make disciples of all nations
g. that means the work of spreading his claimed Good News doesn't stop at himself..and tickles down to us today also 0_0!!

Hmm. in a world where family and loved ones and love" are probably placed at a utmost importance in one's life aka. husband, wife, kids etc etc. Like it seems loneliness is troubling humans and when they progress through life. "Family" is that traditional final step, that supposed solution (side note: if everyone was like me, it would literally be the end of the world as it would mean no procreating lewl)
Jesus is concerned with something far far exponentially greater than "family" relations. He wanted his listeners to have a personally everlasting relationship with God and for those to believed to demonstrate this. Live it out! Love God , love others.

interesting eh? Challenging no doubt >.>




...now that I think i about it. I mistitled this post. it should just be Jesus thought splat lol.

ohla..more Moore...>.>

 

Let the studies begin

=P

on the side_
lewl if i actually did end up for one reason or another in sydney
i have two jobs lined up waiting for me.

=]

D is for...

Deuteronomy 31-32

 deliverance, distress, dilemma, destruction, disturbing

ohlaala ... last Friday's youth group recap..intense...... ><"

woah ._.!

Nine Year-Old Recaps The Entire Bible from neids on GodTube.

Just woah. What memory and insight. Well, if you dunno what the Bible is about, this kid gives a very concise outline of the entire thing from memory 0_0
I encourage you to click and watch. If it's not your world view, that's fine. But my point here is, he does a very good review/outline of what is actually in the book.
even adults who attend sunday services every week, probably cannot articulate it in this manner.

bible back on Hollywood agenda

biblical epics may come back with a big bucks it seems.
started more so in the 60-70s to rival the rise in success of television, keeping theatre go-ers glued to the box. They needed something fanciful and big to draw audiences in.
in the same time period, was 3D tech too. but of bad quality.

anywho.. this interest in turning the Old Testiment stories could be of great interest or could backfire. I mean, comedy has been tried e.g the flop of Evan Almighty .. but this time Hollywood is getting serious. how close will they try to adapt the original text?

Paramount and New Regency are building the big-budget Noah with Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky;
Relativity has Goliath in the works with director Scott Derrickson;
Warner Bros. has its controversial Judah Maccabee/Hannukkah movie with Mel Gibson producing (that film is competing with another Maccabee project);
Steven Spielberg is considering directing Gods and Kings, a Moses story; and an adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost starring Bradley Cooper as Lucifer is aiming for a January shoot.

time shall tell..

comment from producer Wyck Godfrey saw "comic-book, video-game and fairy-tale cycles running their course" and maybe this might be the next big thing.
hmm Godfrey has a good point. comic book to movie is extremely over done well for 2011 anyways. i mean how many more Iron mans can we tolerate. maybe bible stories can work?

God willing.

full article *link*

wrap up.

another week has gone by and zomg! first week uni was quite the insane crazy filled epic-ness.
But in hindsight, I guess an outsider would consider it boring/unexciting, considering I did tune out in almost all my lectures.

What struck me most, was that not one day went by without the topic of Jesus coming up, and thus naturally Christianity. It wasn't like I was looking and forcing his name to be dropped in conversation, but I was directly asked. I have to admit it was a rather strange yet pleasant experience. I'm not sure why, but every time I feel as if I'm place on the spot light again and that I must be super careful of the words i choose and the way its delivered or I'll be an embarrassment and failure, having either misinterpreted the question or stumbled to give an adequate response.

1 Peter 3:15 comes to mind constantly, "... Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...". But its okay to screw up and it's most likely that you will, however, "for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" Ephesians 2:10. He knew exactly what we are going to do but despite all this still sent Christ!

So it was a challenge, and being my final semester, there is no need to be shy and make the most of it. Since i'm taking majority first year subjects, it's like im in primary school, were all the tutors make us play icebreakers and do that introduce your partner thing. When introducing oneself to the class or being interviewed by peers to be introduced to the class, this question asked was "what is your beliefs". So classes started like "Hi, this is Sandra and she is Christian"
Verryy...different from four years ago, "Hi this is sandra and she likes movies" >.> lol.

Oddly enough, my peers actually expect more from me, and look up to me. something is ssooo sooooo soooo incredibly foreign. I will definitely need their help way more when it comes down to optics and physics =.=""

aside from my ever increasing fascination with God's love displayed in Christ, I managed to catch up with GIRLS! yes FEMALES! and friends from uni!!! making such a conscious effort to do so =P

Open house Melbourne was really neat, despite me not being able to go to the only building i wanted to visit Y_Y also stupid me brought a camera, but no SD card =.= soo my photos were incredible limited. .. bleeeh

hope ya like this _

first stop intercontinental hotel, smack bang next to the Rialto,
this used to be a laneway, where horses drew in goods, but now converted atrium/restaurant.
the right is of Venetian style, the left English/london style.
very very impressive

good friend Ly, that drove me into the city.
i dislike your low angle snaps of me!! grrr

Glad to see you Yoyo!
The second stop was the Origin Energy's rooftop.
it was unepic, and had a lot of plastic grass, so i took no photos.

St. Paul's cathedral
...was the last stop before Ly dashed to work

meet up with church friends at level 6 Myer building.
Mural Hall. It was so woah. 1930s murals on the wall and i had no idea this thing existed~!
bumped into an old sunday school teacher outside this .
so random and unexpected.

pixel building, which i thought was a part of RMIT but isn't
the building is self sufficient and uses all this recycle energy thingy.
can't tell you anymore, as this was the only building i wanted to see, but they weren't taking
any more people in for the day. boooo =P
its still in construction, so it will make it harder for me to ninja my way in during the week.
*cough* a habit of mine, during long extensive uni breaks. instead of studying, i wonder the city and walk myself into random buildings until i get kicked out, which hasn't happened to me yet =P

made it to the 60L green building instead. very interesting.
biggest tour group here too.
meet amy. she organised this =]

coming back to glenny to dine, saw a really lovely rainbow!!!
my interests in optics traces back to grade 1 or 2? when i took the school bus home
and saw a really pretty rainbow outside the droplet covered murky windows =P

GLENWAVERLEY IS SO THE PLACE TO BE!
instead of noble park -.-"

dinner with kauface, andrew, tracy,frank,jason and barton.
topic of conversations ranges from barton's shiny forehead to perfect eyebrows, to frank swimming across the ocean with all our money to hobos, hipsters, mainstream, dumpters
harry pothead, london, ramen, fangirls.

hmm..they sound like lyrics
lol, can never get bored with you guys =P

a week of incredible growth where i'm somewhere between these two images.

• 

leave you with something hilarious_

on the side_
*sits and waits* for friend on the other side of the world to pop online to chat.
that is why I love the internet. =]

so what's the deal with Easter?

a long weekend
a break
easter bunnies
chocolate eggs
some religious thing..

those are some elements that pop to mind for people when easter comes and goes. But how did it start? Is it just another Hallmark holiday, do buy into the cards and gifts of consumer goods for everyone? or is that just what it has turned into >.>

anywho, I'll try to give some insight into what Easter means and its origins.

Easter is a Christian related celebration/weekend that reflects the last days of Jesus Christ (son of God, who was completely man and God at the same time) walk on earth. Being fully man he suffered like us, endured hardship and is able to relate to us. Being fully God at the same time, rendered him abilities such as divine insight, healing, purity - he was without blemish/sin/wrong doing. Fascinating. (not something everyone agrees upon but I'm sharing the story of Christ for who is was and is and ever will be)

What was the deal for God having to come down to earth as Christ to greet and meet us or the people back in the day 2000 years ago. He could have just stayed in the heavenly realms and let us be, kinda like the human concept of some supreme being set this world into motion and forgot about us or just starred through his magnificent microscope at the pitiful human race for his own amusement. But the God revealed to us in the Bible was not like this.

In the beginning he created the world with care, thought, love and a particular order, creating man in his own image having dominion over the animals and land before resting on the seventh day. He created pretty much paradise and best still Adam and Eve (the two/first humans at the time) were able to enjoy this wonderful place in the presence of God himself! Just wow. imagine that. God just walking up to you a physical presence going, hey how's it going? That's goes the gist of Genesis 1-2.

They were able to take and eat of everything in this garden but from a particular tree. God created them intelligent beings with free will to make that choice and honor Him. Sadly, of course, we didn't heed to his advice and ate of that fruit of that particular tree, and were cast out of this garden. We clearly are no longer in paradise. Sin entered the world, meaning just rebellion against God and our distance against/from God. The world we live in, isn't such a pretty place, mainly because humans fail, greed, jealous, lack of love for each other and nature etc etc. Corruption is everywhere and no on is perfect, we can't help it. Even times when we go about doing a "good" act/deeds the intentions behind such an act of sacrifice/help could boil down to self gratification. We want to others to look at us, being good, pride, attention, boastful nature ...our hearts are just filled with malice. Whether conscious or subconscious, I do am guilty of this.

It comes down everything is about me attitude, I stuffed up therefore I can fix it. You aren't relevant to me, I'll ignore you. I want this, I desire that. Life it seems revolves around "I". So, the whole old testament first half chuck of the Bible plays out a single message - that of looking forward to a Savior, to restore us to God again, back to what was "good" prior sin coming. Being so, it looks forward to Jesus coming, son of God, the only perfect one to deliver us/save us. And as we learnt earlier in the Genesis God is loving and doesn't want to see his children/us in such a state, he desires to have a relationship with us (hence putting us in his garden to be with him in the first place), so he sent Christ to pay for our sins, and that price was paid when he died for us on the cross, reflected in today's 'Good Friday' marked in our calenders.

We have to pay for our sins because there is justice. Example, we commit a crime, there is some kind of sentence. It seems in history either we take that sentence or someone else takes it for us. But no one is perfect, if another person paid for your wrong doings, then who's blood will pay for theirs? and it just keeps going in a circle. The balance of justice and love is surmounted into Christ Jesus. He was without sin, and he died for the sinful, so that we may all be set free! It was a free gift to us, he died for us even before we knew him personally to receive his gift and let him live and reign in our lives, true peace.

The story of easter doesn't end there, a Savior dying on a cross would pretty much mean the end of Christianity right there and then. Your most powerful God slain by humans, how ridiculous. Indeed, Christ was humble and went through the cross, to rise from the dead three days later. Hence our modern day easter weekend reflection. Christianity boils down to the fact that Christ did rise, he fulfilled his promises and conquered death for us.

My weekly bible study is currently going through the book of Colossians and we came across a passage that wasn't directly recounting the life of Christ's last days/Easter (like that of the four gospels, chapters Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) but it was just as relevant.

" When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Colossians 2: 13-15

The verses encompass the message that only God can save us, and he did, for us. We have that option to choose to live a life with Christ. We are saved not because of what we bring to the table, not by our talents or good deeds or works, but by accepting the work of what Christ alone has done, his death/resurrection on the cross.
^"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2: 8-9

Paul the author of Colossians continues in v16-19.

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."

Verse 16 starts off reminding us that no particular ritual or tradition or work is what saves us. "they are a shadow of the things to come" , meaning that these traditions are in itself not bad or wrong, but they shouldn't be our main focus, ie. why focus on just the shadow of the person, when they are standing right in front of you. These practice aren't necessary but they do point us to the person, that of Christ Jesus. The verses go on to paint a picture of people that disregard Christ, doing so they tend to set their world view firm in things/materials they see having lost connection to the head (a reference to Christ). The bible uses the analogue of the church ( a group of believers) as a body. Were, each person is valuable and has their part, functioning as a united whole (ideally), with Christ at the head (priority).

So the message, of Easter is a big one, of new life in Christ (salvation), freedom, joy, celebration. It's also a challenging one. Such big big concepts and changes in lifestyle are not brought about by a fluffy chicken toy or chocolate egg.

In sum, one word - Jesus

here is a link painting out the same message of salvation with images
http://bible.org/article/gods-plan-salvation