tattoo ?

i know you gonna remove it, but are they accepting tattoo in the CG ? meaning, can you bring ur tattoo fren next time ?

you are a good communicator  ... you can learn a lot from this church.

try to get access to Pst LY (am i correct ? i assume you are going to taman bullion one). Then you can discuss about running your own CG, which you can bring tattoo fren easily. in the mean time... just enjoy

congratz, at least you know i am happy you that you decide to do more for Christ

never promised to GOD 
this is a typical noobies mistake

when you promised to GOD, you give devil to accuse you when you fail to keep your promise. The aftermath, you may ended up worse before you repent. I heard so many stories about experienced christian (e.g. yan7 if you notice his nasty postings)... that backslided... cuz in the begining he promised, he failed to keep, devil accused, game over.

Just say: According to YOUR grace given to me, i will do aaaa, bbbb, cccc, dddd... This, will make no room for devil to accuse when you failed in near future.

how can you sure your CG will support you if you fall back ?  ... do you know why general fahmy hates botak leader so much ?

Salvation is about resting in God.
Your Trust/Faith is in God so much so that you are at rest, because you know He is the one who save you. 

It's not about struggling in your effort to obey God (Righteous Life) that gives you salvation.
If you think about it, that is the works that the Bible speaks about.

This foundational truth must be firmly establish before God works in your life to make you obedient.

Salvation is about the work of Jesus, nothing about us or from us.

I am a man of GOD, help me and you will be blessed
kindly give me feedbacks.

In my business, i do service in IT industry. My business model requires me to do the work first and get paid later. It depends, 7, 30, sometimes 60 days. After work, i invoice the customer and get paid based on approved terms.

My customers are corporate, either direct, or i am a sub contractor to somebody else. Christianity value is not applicable. Professionalism speaks. But payment ... different things.

Late payment is not common, unless something serious happen.

My case:
one of my customer simply delaying payments, with various reasons. It almost 90 days already.

In business, reasons are not always genuine nor good faith. Reasons are just something to give in order to buy time or get excuse. Here the tenet: just tell somebody what he needs to hear.

So what should i do,
keep calling ? he already gives many reasons.
sue to court ? the cost it's not justify.

therefore i "beg" the customer by wa (whatsup) him. This time i use religious attributes    : I am a man of GOD, help me and you will be blessed.

then the customer reply:
please be mindful and considerate of your words.

any idea why he reply like that ? am i insulting him ? kindly gives me input and feedbacks and tqvm

The experience of Jacob

Jacob's Trick

Eventhough Jacob was squeezed and threatened by Laban, he could still play tricks on him (30:31-43). One day Jacob told Laban that he wanted to go back to his own country and that Laban should give him his wives and his children for whom he had served so many years (30:25-26). Laban answered, "I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake" (30:27). Laban seemed to be nice, but he was crafty. Crafty people are always nice. Whoever is nice to you is crafty, but whoever is bold with you is honest. Laban was very crafty with Jacob, saying that he had learned that by having Jacob stay with him, he had received the Lord's blessing. When Laban said to Jacob, "Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it," Jacob answered, "Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming: and now, when shall I provide for mine own house also?" (30:28-30). Jacob seemed to be saying, "I have worked here for many years, but still I cannot provide for my own household. When shall I be able to provide for my own family?" Laban, realizing that if Jacob would leave, God's blessing would depart with him, seemed to say, "Stay with me. I don't care how much I pay you. Simply tell me what you want. As long as we are under God's blessing, everything will be all right."

Now we see that Jacob, who had suffered Laban's squeeze, had a way to steal Laban's wealth and make himself rich. When Laban asked him what he should give him as wages, Jacob said, "Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the black cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me" (30:31-33, Heb.). Jacob seemed to be saying, "Uncle Laban, promise me one thing and I will stay. Take from your flock all the speckled, spotted, and black cattle and leave all the white ones with me. From now on, the cattle which are spotted, speckled, and black will be mine." Laban thought that this was an excellent suggestion, for he knew that the white cattle could only produce white cattle and that they could not produce any that were speckled, spotted, or black. Hence, Laban removed from his flock all the cattle which were not purely white and gave them into the hand of his sons (30:34-35). The flock left to Jacob was purely white. Probably thinking that, once again, Jacob had fallen into his trap, Laban "set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks" (30:36). As we shall see, this gave Jacob the opportunity to play his trick on Laban.

In playing his trick, Jacob took rods of poplar, hazel, and chestnut trees and "peeled white stripes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods" (30:37). Jacob then set these striped rods before the flocks in the watering troughs, "that they should conceive when they came to drink" (30:38). In 30:39 we are told that "the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle striped, speckled, and spotted." Jacob then separated his cattle from Laban's cattle. Furthermore, when the stronger cattle conceived, "Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's" (30:41-42). Thus, the speckled, spotted, and striped cattle were stronger, and the white cattle were feebler. I do not believe that Jacob's scheme actually worked; it was merely an invention of Jacob's clever mind. But whether or not the trick worked, the results appeared, and Jacob thought that his plan had been successful.

Tina I need to tell you that the devil will fight very hard to make you forget this truth.

He will subconsciously plant in deceiving thoughts and doctrine to try and make you go back through works. You may not realize it but everytime you have difficulty being close to God, THAT is the time you must remember this truth. That is the signal to know you have been deceived.
I pray the HS will remind you everytime.

And works here is not about good works. It's not Church works. In the Greek, the word  for works is Ergon meaning, anything that is of yourself, as outlines in

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV): For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God

So you need to ask yourself this question: What it means that is not of myself? Answer: Anything that you do.

Something like this: I must walk in line with God's command, to be obedient in order to be saved.......That is Ergon.

Not to say walking in line and obedience is something we should not do. It is something we cannot use to justify before God for Salvation.
That is the difference.

Those 2 will come in naturally when your first base foundation is properly established. Which is Faith and Grace.

Hi tinarhian,

Yup .... God has chosen us, that means, we are all "Jacob" by birth. God only chose "Jacobs". 

Aren't we all supplanters ? We wrestle with God [cf. Lord's wrestling with Jacob in the form of a man]  all the time in various "forms" (wife, husband, children, bosses, in-laws, friends)

Although we may think that we are wrestling with our husband or wife, the other party is actually not our husband, our wife, an elder, or any circumstance, it is the Lord Himself who is wrestling with us. In our experience, we eventually realize that the Lord is here. For example, a sister may eventually say, "It is not my husband who is wrestling with me—it is the Lord."

Wow, those are quite judgmental elders in your church. There are many people in my church sporting tattoos but the pastors and leaders do not treat them any differently but don't get me wrong, they're not condoning tattoos.

But, nowadays they (tattooed Christians) are trying to justify having tattoos in the form of bible verses and even Jesus' name (Emmanuel), saying it's ok as long as it doesn't symbolize anything evil. 

But, the bible has clearly stated:

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:28

You shouldn't change the fact stated in the bible for it is perfect. The Word of the Lord is complete, there shouldn't be anything added or removed from it.

Carl Lentz Hillsong NYC Pastor has a lot of tattoo   

As what has happened to Tina,

The stone throwers at the temple wanted the prostitute to be condemned for the things she did.
That's how some people in the Church operate, today. Very old school. Very Judicial. Very legalistic.

You're doing wrong, repent first before we accept you. The train of thought is the same.
They saw her as something of filth, dirty and unclean, they forgotten the grace given to them.

Jesus defended her from the Church of that day, gave her no condemnation first. ( John 8:11 -  neither do I condemn you ).
Then He asked to leave her life of sin.

The Church wants you to be condemn first, then repent.
Weird isn't it?

It's like everything is reverse. Many old school Christian do not practise the truth you've just outlined above.

i mean look how mischief he is, he does not use physical force, he use brain. and guess what, his brother Thor exactly like... Esau... strong, but naturally not smart.

As what has happened to Tina,

The stone throwers at the temple wanted the prostitute to be condemned for the things she did.
That's how some people in the Church operate, today. Very old school. Very Judicial. Very legalistic.

You're doing wrong, repent first before we accept you. The train of thought is the same.
They saw her as something of filth, dirty and unclean, they forgotten the grace given to them.

Jesus defended her from the Church of that day, gave her no condemnation first. ( John 8:11 -  neither do I condemn you ).
Then He asked to leave her life of sin.

The Church wants you to be condemn first, then repent.
Weird isn't it?

It's like everything is reverse. Many old school Christian do not practise the truth you've just outlined above.

No one can overcome God

God wrestled with Jacob was to transform him [Rom 12:2] to be Israel, a prince of God, one who represent God on this earth.  It has nothing to do with the devil per se.

What was wrong with Jacob that the Lord had to wrestle with him? There was nothing wrong. The reason the Lord wrestled with Jacob was because he was still so natural. Here the dealing is not with anything sinful; it is with the natural life, with the natural man. It takes a long time to expose our natural life. We need an extended period of wrestling before this can take place. Through this period of wrestling, our naturalness, like Jacob's, is utterly exposed. As we read chapters thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three, we see how natural Jacob was. He had been dealt with and he had suffered a great deal, but, in chapter thirty-two, he was still natural. He did not trust in the Lord, and he was absolutely unable to express the Lord. He was natural, and his expression was full of himself.

Few Christians realize the crucial significance of Jacob's experience in this portion of the Word. Most devote their attention to dealing with outward sin, wrong doings, and worldliness, never thinking that their natural life, natural strength, must be touched. But the Lord is not only concerned with changing our outward living; He desires even more to touch our natural life.

Eg. Whether or not you exchange words with your wife, if your natural life has not been touched, you are still natural. In the eyes of God, there is not much difference between losing your temper with your wife or controlling it. If you lose your temper, you are you, and if you control your temper, you are still you. 

There are 2 thinking for your scenarios:

1. Maybe they are brainwashing you ... if yes:
But GOD uses them to teach you about how to respect / appreciate other culture called: "old school christianity".

If you read bible 1 cor 9 below, only the title called: Paul’s Use of His Freedom, what is "his freedom meaning" ? It means: Paul's wearing masks. Paul is pretending for reasons.
http://biblehub.com/niv/1_corinthians/9.htm

2. --Comment about They pretend to like you--
actually they are learning to accept you. This is a process, i mean i know old school-er way of thinking and if they wanted to accept you, at least CG elder, CG elder also briefed them to learn to accept you. It takes time and the process looks ugly and weird. But it is good. Just enjoy the process 

As crucial as breathing.
Actually that's my style of posting, it's for others as well. Sorry if I tend to be repetitive.
Because this is a public forum, there could be first time readers so I was hoping this will be for their benefit as well.
Don't feel helpless. You have the Holy Spirit in you.

Just allow the Bible to speak and influence you. You have the HS, to help you recognize the truth, you will just know it when it speaks to your heart.

something i found in the net while surfing facebook quite a good read

http://www.godvine.com/read/Churchgoers-Tr...Bride--740.html

There are few thinking / approaches / mindset that i can share with you:
1. The speaking in tongues better leave it to your church doctrine. Different church different doctrines. It's not a question of right or wrong. on this point no 1, i would like to stress out the importance of your CG, as your CG is your... local family in malaysia.
2. Taman bullion church is AOG (assembly of GOD) denomination. AOG will indoctrinate that speaking of tongue is impotant. Yes, I agree with AOG point of view
3. You are only 1 month as christian right ? so enjoy the CG that's what i think best.
4. Christian faith and knowledge grows as you get closer to GOD. Later on, at HIS appointed time you will thirsty to speak in tongue. Later... at HIS appointed time.
5. I am not Cessationism, i believe "speaking in tongues" and "prophesying" still available up to today, until Jesus come.
5. Cessationism (you can google Cessationism) believes "speaking in tongues" and "prophesying" stops already. it's not accurate to write only happen in old testaments, it happen only up to paul (apostle paul) still alives, which is around 70AD.
6. Check your church doctrines, is that charismatics, protestant, wesleyan, methodist, or what ? again for 1 month christian, just swallow whatever doctrines, later on me or UW can fix you hahaha... 
7. AOG denomination is naturally charismatics.

My opinion ... yes a lesser christian...

My reason: A sin is defined as missing the mark (hamartia). It's more than lie or not, kill or not, idol or not.
http://biblehub.com/greek/266.htm
You will miss the mark if you are not empowered to walk in spirit on daily basis. How many marks ? depends on your relationship with HS. What is your homework from HS ?

are your parent okay ? how to restore their relationships ? impossible ? nothing is impossible for those that trust in Christ.
to trust in Christ requires faith. The bigger the problem, you need bigger faith.
when the problem break the boundary of possible, you are in the realm of impossible. our Christ is GOD for both possible and impossible.
impossible belong to supernatural realm, where your inner man, spirit man / woman play bigger roles.
the bigger the impossible things are, the higher the requirements for Glossolalia ("speaking in tongues").

so back to you again, what is your homework from HS ? how many impossible homework you have from HS ?

-- i Just want to understand the Word of GOD --
If you just doing like this, you may ended up like Shabir Ally. A few days ago rolemodelboyz put youtube about Shabir Ally. Shabir Ally study about christian literature and use bible to tell that Jesus is not GOD. Crazy ? happen already.

take a look at these two verses:
Deuteronomy 5:16 - “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you"
Matthew 10:37 -  "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

why so conflicting and confusing ? should i respect my parents, or listen to GOD ? what is conflict of interest happen ? confused ?
this is one of many bible verses (which i assume you will study later on) that has potential to bring doubt to your faith. Why so inconsistent ? that's why Shabir Ally use quran, to bring peace to somebody that just want to understand the Word of God, thats all

--
That's why, ask HS, and if HS leads you to speak in tongue, just obey. It's better to obey HS, and we called it pick up your cross

This material got problem already; here is the part:
Therefore, Bible-believing Christians should support issues/candidates that are pro-life and should support issues/candidates that oppose gay marriage and uphold the biblical/traditional understanding of marriage


Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Bible believing Christians, should ask HS which candidate / issue to support. During next 5 years, candidate can change course and who knows the future ? only Christ. Therefore just ask HS, because HS knows what's gonna happen next 5 years.

if HS told Mr A to support pro life and
to Mr. B not to support pro life,
it may happen because who can fathom the depth of GOD's brain ? the width of GOD's tought ? who can see the future ?

Trust in GOD and do not lean on your own understanding.

Mark Virkler is pentecostal. Still believing in the first lesson about hearing GOD that i shared with you earlier ?

Yup, you got that right. 

Because in the same chapter any woman found lying about her virginity shall be stoned.

It's scary isn't it, the law?

Are you asking why there's the law disallowing man & woman from wearing each other clothing or
you're asking what's the purpose of the law as a whole?