Burn Out?

2nd Corinthians 6:2-5 (ESV)
2Co 6:2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2Co 6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
2Co 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
2Co 6:5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

Turn your attention to verse 5 and the word, sleepless nights especially caught my eye! The root word in Greek is kopos and translated in KJV as labours and in its literal meaning is pains or cut!

You see we hear a lot of complains about burning out after serving in ministry and these verses has heartened me to think about why and how I am serving in ministry.

Shall we then say we should serve and never complain and just trot on like we are on this never ending journey?

By no means!

Why is Paul writing like this? Jenn and I concluded that is because of his faith and love for God that causes him to preach the gospel and work for God no matter the cost!

So what we should do is to increase in our faith and love for God and with that as our grounding and starting point, serve Him and we will be able to do it like Paul does!

Men & Women

Alyssa asked a question about the difference between Men and Women here.

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Here's my reply

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Men and Women are different because they are made differently.

The make decides (generally) who does what better.

I was thinking about your question and it hit me that if we were the same then why did God make 2 sexes?

I'm not saying one is better than the other, in God's eyes we are the same in status and the love is the same for all, man or woman alike.

But if God in all his sovereignty and supremacy designed us man and woman then it must be Good because apart from God there is no Good.

Hi Anonymous

Thank you for your constructive criticsms, we'll think about what you said.

By the way, what's your name? ,)

Retail Therapy

It works for me as well! Except I don't buy clothes, (though that should work fine).

I bought 2 CDs, Copeland's In Motion and Number One Gun's Promises for the Imperfect. I like the Copeland better, heh.. amazing melodies and riffs!

Buying the CDs made me so happy! Haha.. Ok, enjoy your shopping!

Ripoffs Recluse is

Anonymous said...
God. The tracks on purevolume sound like rip offs.

6:10 AM

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See the below post's comments for the comment..

First of all I don't think there is any one band that is wholly original in their songwriting, they can be very creative in their songwriting but we are ultimately who we listen to we cannot create something we haven't heard.

And if different members of the band listen to various types of music then once they combine their juices to write, a "new" sound comes out, but really is it original?

We do not have creative powers, we are not God, we can only improvise. We were made in His image thus I believe we have "pseudo-creative" powers yet nothing near that the powers of God.

We cannot make something out of nothing because we are not God and we can only make something out of whatever there is around and so we improvise.

I'm not that affected and I'm only typing this post out because I've been thinking through to myself that we sound like this band with this band or that band.

Yet like Daniel and I observed with Silverchair, with their first album they sounded like ripoffs but they were good at what they did! Some people branded them Nirvana ripoffs!

But Nirvana's a great band to emulate!

And with their subsequent albums, they refined their sound and by Neon Ballroom there was a twist yet a grunge element remained and finally with Diorama they had a wholly new sound!

Now, tell me, if Silverchair was gonna worry about sounding like ripoffs and let that impede their songwriting, do you think they'd have grown in their songwriting process and finally come out with their very creative album, Diorama?

I don't think so.

Our songs are a reflection of who we are and what we listen to, our songs are limited by our technical capabilities but we are who we are and there is not one similar combination of 3 people or 4 people that are totally similar as the way we are put together! So as much as one can say that a band is ripoff there is no one like you or me.

Finally...

The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:8-9

There are only so many chords and so many notes in this beautiful thing God gave us called music and there we are limited to how we choose to use it and improve it to the best of our abilities to glorify Him who gave it to us and God, I believe will be pleased with our efforts!

Partnering God to Glorify Him?!

Yes, we know that God desires to be glorified, right?

I was at FOP (Festival of Praise) today and was very ministered to by the worship (Hillsong and Delirious!) and the message delivered by Colin Dye from the UK.

Very articulate and witty man..

Anyhow he pointed out that we have the same faith as the Apostles have! Yes, Apostles with a capital 'A'! I'll show ya!

2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Emphasis mine)

Wa man, that's like how cool! Simon Peter had faith to step off the boat leh! We have that faith too! Because our faith is in Jesus Christ!

Then he shared from Exodus 33 also, and in verse 18 Moses said to God, "Please show me your glory." (Emphasis mine)

And Pastor Dye said the key is simple as that, when your genuine focus is for God's glory, God will prosper your ministry and your life, simply because God wants to partner us in glorifying Himself!

It is my desire that all the ministry that I am involved in will be prospered & blessed by God because we that are involved in it seek only to see God's glory revealed and magnified! CFS, Camy, Recluse and TOSOG, my life, my relationships! Ahh!

Revelation! I internalised this truth today, thank you Lord! You are so GOOD! Amen! GLORY TO GOD!

Recluse is going recluse

Yes! We are going recluse...

After the sound is cut from stage at Sonic Fest, I wonder if we'll be playing anymore shows. I wonder if we'll get down to recording The Cinematic Moment...

But you don't have to wonder! You can go here to check our music out and maybe buy our cd? Hehe.. What a shameless plug.. But I've been getting good reviews so, yah check us out k?

Peace man!