Christians' Hypocrisy

Hello. No idea if anyone still reads my blog but anyway here goes.

For the longest time in my life, I have decided not to share my thoughts on the web. Hence, such a temporary hiatus from me. Besides, I guess it is just me being not-that-hardworking in spending time penning down  typing out my thoughts in my blog.

I joined Facebook since 22nd October 2007 (thanks to timeline, now I know). When filling in my personal details, there was this part on religion which I quite hesitantly type out Christianity. Throughout my life, I have believed that Christianity is a relationship with God and was never a religion to me. To define something as a religion, as Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary puts it, is an activity which someone is extremely enthusiastic about and does regularly.

I find that God is real and He has a personal relationship with me. So, if you can say that you have ups and downs in your relationship with your boyfriend/ girlfriend, I can say I have my ups and downs with God as well. It has never been all smooth.

I will not go all holier-than-thou by quoting scriptures word for word and telling you how to live a perfect Christian life, because I am not perfect myself.

I believe that we need to learn to be righteous and learn how to live in holiness. It is a challenge. But I find quoting scriptures and shoving down what you call the 'Word of God' down people's throat is just not the way to do it.

I prefer living out the Word of God - whatever Jesus has taught in his parables, whatever that Paul challenges the churches to do and not to do - I will do my best to learn to live that life, but if I fail, I pray that God by His grace will lift me up and give me strength so that I can try to apply what has been taught in the Bible in my life again.

Thus, I believe it is through our actions and behaviour that the world judges us. All eyes are on us Christians. In this short excerpt in the book of Matthew, Jesus talks about hypocrisy.


Matthew 7:1-5  "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 

If I confront someone about the person's behaviour, should I not check myself first before doing so?

I will not deny the fact that there are seasons of drought, whereby I cannot read the Bible, I cannot pray and I cannot worship.

... but I never stop telling God my struggles in life. LORD, I CANNOT PRAY A FULL PRAYER, READ YOUR WORD and I CANNOT SING UNTO YOU.

I can be totally honest with Jesus because this is relational. I can honestly tell you, if I read the Bible for the sake of reading, it will be just another passage of words which later on I will go ~blah~. (I don't quite fancy reading for a fact, if you force me to read something which I have at all no interest in).

When I say I cannot pray a full prayer, I was talking about the way how we are being taught in Sunday schools, whereby we start off our prayer with Dear Lord Jesus/ Our heavenly Father in heaven... and end the prayer with an AMEN!
Yes, during my spiritual drought seasons, I am unable to perform such long prayers. All I do is speak to God in one or two sentence and then just drift away in my own thoughts unknowingly.

Why am I unwilling to make myself sit down and pray those long prayers? Because I don't want to make my relationship with God a religion. It makes me a hypocrite to pray just because it is written in the Law that I have the obligation to pray. This is what Jesus said when he taught about praying.


Matthew 6:5-13  "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

A relationship with God should never be ritualistic. When I was studying in the UK, I realised that people have a culture of asking you 'How are you?' but they don't really care! It has become a form of ritual, that it will be socially unpleasant if you do not ask about the other person's social well-being when you meet. BUT my point of view is, why do you ask in the first place, if you don't really care? So whenever I ask any of my friends this question, HOW ARE YOU? I really meant... hey what has been going on with your life lately because I really want to know...even when there is nothing much going on in your life.

Since God is real to me and He is also my best friend... I do not want to pray a full prayer because I had to fulfil my ritualistic obligation per se. After all, I was being taught that praying is having a conversation with God. You cannot have a conversation, if you are feeling obliged to do so. The conversation will end...swiftly.

I will not deny the fact that sometimes my carnality gets in the way and made me an insensitive, intolerant, and selfish bastard  person. 

...and I know you are the same and I learn how to forgive you for your undoing. I am not ashamed to admit that there are times I falter and failed to live up to God's standards - but by God's grace, I humbly learn to lead a better life, knowing that I am sinful in nature and having the guts to admit that I am wrong... and finally applying what Jesus has taught in his parables and the teachings in the Bible.


You may encourage or rebuke me in love if you agree/ disagree with what I have posted. Long story short, I do not want to lead a hypocritical Christian life because the God I am worshipping is a true and living God. Because rituals are just too main stream...

#6: Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader - Counting On Your Name

Hey people,

University has been really hectic and the work load is ramping up. It can be very tiring and makes me really weary. Nonetheless, Jesus tells us to run to him and cast all our burdens on Him. He puts the joy in our hearts and lift up our souls. For His yoke is easy ad His burden is light.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11: 28-30

This song tells us to count on the name of Jesus despite all situations or circumstances. For He is the joy of our salvation and there is nothing He can't do. :)

Be blessed by the song! Hope you enjoy it and do give some feedback!! Thanks! :)

Verse 1:

My name is written on Your hands

You've called me Your own

You’ve called me Your own

Now I am Yours, no earthly power

Could tear us apart

Tear us apart

Chorus:

I’m counting on Your name

I’m counting on Your name

Counting on Your name to save me

I’m trusting You’re the way

I’m trusting You’re the way

Trusting You’re the way my Saviour

Verse 2:

My life is built nothing less

Than Your faithfulness

Your faithfulness

Counting on Christ and Christ alone

I’m hoping in You

Hoping in You

Bridge:

I believe

I believe

I believe You are the way

Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader
#6 - Counting On Your Name
Singer & Guitarist: Vincent Lee
Songwriter: Tim Hughes, Nick Herbert, Ben Cantelon :: Worship Central UK

The New Journey Begins!

So for the past 20 years or so, did I really enjoyed my life? Apparently I did. I had a great childhood. I had a great time talking to my friends about it and laughing about those little silly things that we do when we were young.

I actually stapled my hand!! That is like wow!! *Alright kids! Don't try this at home!* But seriously, doing all these silly things really bring back sweet memories and when I reminisce I just realised how much I have grown.

When I was 20 years old going on 21, there are a few things which I think I am quite proud of doing because it really took me a lot of courage to do these things.

Matters such as:

1) Travelling alone in a foreign land

2) Donating blood

3) Serious soul searching

4) Be more upfront and vocal about certain feelings and emotions - rather than continuing to hide and suppress them for a long period of time (who knows if you can get cancer if you let these emotions just build up)

I guess something on number (4) which I think I should elaborate on why is it wrong to hide and suppress your own feelings. After all, you are the master of your own feelings and emotions. Well the thing is , some emotions and feelings - even after through many years of supplication through prayer, I still feel that if I had not been upfront about it, it really bothers me and distracts me throughout my life and it does affect my communication with the other person, something like a communication barrier if you would like to put it that way. So by being upfront with my feelings, I tore down that barrier because I am really tired of not being able to get to know the person better because on my part, I am having communication barriers with the person because I have not come clean.

_________

How does the gospel of Jesus Christ affects me?

I think that this question is a really interesting question when they brought it up at Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF).

On a personal basis, I basically think that the BIBLE is a BIG STORY BOOK. Like little children we always love to listen to fairy tales, where the stories always have a Happily Ever After ending and the best part of stories is the moral values in the stories.

My friend once told me that the BIBLE is the acronym for a book which contains Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. I am quite fascinated by the acronym to be honest. But that is just for the fun bit of the Holy Bible.

On a more practical and serious note, I think the Bible tells us plenty of stories which points to an amazing storyteller name Jesus Christ. Jesus has always taught in the Bible by using parables or short stories which contain very important life values. However, we as Christians are often being asked, isn't it difficult to live a purely righteous and holy life in this new age? Well my honest answer is, it is indeed hard to live by all the morals and values that Jesus has taught through the parables.

However, it is not impossible. The Gospel is not just some fairy tale but it is an amazing tale because Jesus Christ is real and it has historical basis. But the best part of it is this! The Happily Ever After ending for any other fairy tale might be impossible but the Happily Ever After ending in the Bible is possible, not by our own strength but we must depend on the grace and strength given by God. Therefore, the Bible is entirely practical and the happy endings are feasible. :)

___________________

I was shocked when my Departmental Tutor told me that he viewed my blog!! (Just in case you are reading this Rev. Chris Noke, greetings to you!! :) ) Okay, and now I get a feel of how when one of my friend told me that some parents viewed her blog and called up the school because one of her posts has been very disturbing! Oh my, the pressure!!

___________________

And there it goes, I begin my amazing 21 by staying back in London during summer, thinking through certain important matters that will impact me in life and now I begin a wonderful second year.

I now know why people choose LSE, because the lecturers are phenomenal!! And now I know why LSE is called one of the top school of thoughts in the world in social sciences of course. :)

Till then!! I missed each and every one of you reading this post! :D

Loves,

Vincent

#5 : Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader - Saviour Of The World

Hey guys,

Exams are near the corner!! While many of my friends are striving hard in this exam, I decide to take a break from the so called ENDLESS WORK.

I have recorded this song ''Saviour of The World'' quite sometime ago but I didn't have time to upload it on my blog.

Enjoy listening, while I will return to write more , soon after exams.

God Bless!

Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader
#5 - Saviour of The World
Singer & Guitarist: Vincent Lee
Acknowledgement: Ben Cantelon :: Worship Central UK

Conversation & Community

CONVERSATION AND COMMUNITY
BY PAUL BALOCHE 4 MAY 2010
Lately, I’ve been chewing on these two words and asking questions like “did our worship time feel like a conversation with a Living person-with God, or did we just contrive a spiritual performance? Did our time of worship foster a sense of community within the church or are we just enabling people to have a solo “experience” with God?”

This has been one of the busiest years of ministry in my life. Conferences, festivals, touring, writing and producing a new worship project, on top of keeping my local church worship scheduled properly, and being a husband, dad, a son to aging parents, etc. You can relate. Many of you have similar roles and schedules to wrestle with. On one hand we rejoice and are energized by the opportunities - on the other hand we can hit a wall of exhaustion that leaves us numb down deep in our souls.

I’m grateful that there is some light (and a vacation) at the end of the tunnel coming up soon. But here are a few things I’ve observed lately. One thing I have noticed in the past few months is that many of us attend these wonderful events and are greatly inspired by the nights of worship, concerts, and performances. We experience high times in the presence of God with believers from extremely diverse backgrounds and denominations. A very powerful sense of community occurs in such a short time because of several factors including the grace and presence of God, the spiritual hunger of the participants, and the skillful leadership of many of the presenters.

But then I go back to my local fellowship and inadvertently, try to impose a concert experience On my 8:30 am service, it falls flat. They look at me like “what are you doing?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back from a conference pumped and instead of letting that encounter seep out from the inside, I end up trying to copy the David Crowder Band, or Hillsong United, or whoever, and I’ve come to realize that the concert experience doesn’t translate to most of our churches on a Sunday morning. Worship concerts are a completely valid and exciting event but they usually don’t translate to Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are more of a “un-concert”.

I confess that when I travel with my “road band”, they are all professional musicians who have been making a living at playing music for many years. But when I return home to my “church band”, they are made up primarily of talented volunteers who serve selflessly and do a great job every week of leading our local fellowship. But they’re not full-time pros.

For many of us who get to lead, our hope is that after 30-40 minutes or however long…. there is a sense of connection between the congregation and the Lord and a connection with others in the room. To facilitate a conversation between the believer and their God and to create an environment that feels “safe”, where they’re not worried that the worship leader is going to ask them to do all sorts of unnatural, embarrassing actions (depending on the tradition or denominational expression)

Our job is to help others worship, specifically the people that we are currently serving each week. Asking God to give us HIS heart for the community that we serve. The people that attend my fellowship don’t want or need a performance. They need connection- with God and with one another. Our job is to facilitate that as best as we can.



Paul Baloche Paul is the worship pastor at Community Fellowship in Lindale, Texas, and is married to Rita. His songs include ‘Open the eyes of my heart’, ‘(Hosanna) Praise Is Rising’, and ‘Our God Saves’. For more info, visit www.leadworship.com

#4 : Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader - One Voice

Hey there! It's 4am in the morning and as you know I am living in halls. Hence I am not able to play my guitar loudly at this time. Instead of doing the usual strumming, I toned down my strumming and made it slower.

In fact I think this is great because I am able to concentrate on practising my singing instead of strumming. So if you are a guitar player and you feel that it is hard to play and sing at the same time, you should always try the (D,D,D,D) 4/4 strumming pattern.

Try it slowly. Play the song through before singing. Once you're confident of the chords, then you can add in the singing.

Well, playing the guitar and singing requires practise. Although I am not vocally trained, I still reckoned that the best way to improve your singing is to sing it out loud.

If possible try to imitate how people sing. Thirdly, join the choir or worship team. You always learn new singing techniques, for example use your diaphragm to push your vocals instead of using your throat.

Fourthly and most importantly, enjoy yourself when singing. Well of course when you sing unto the Lord, sing with all your heart and that's what matters most. I am sure that the Lord hears and He is well pleased.

It is alright to be an average singer or guitar player now and there is nothing to be shy about because everyone has to start somewhere from below and besides there is always room for improvement. :) So don't sweat it if you can't sing like Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston.

The fourth song I am singing is One Voice and I love this song because it's powerful, meaningful and relevant.

Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader

#4 - One Voice

Singer & Guitarist : Vincent Lee

Original Composer : Hosanna Integrity Music.

#3 Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader - Love Came Down

Vince Lee - The 10 Week Worship Leader
#3 - Love Came Down
Singer & Guitarist : Vincent Lee
Orginal Composer & Singer: Ben Cantelon, HTB, Worship Central UK.