Chongs Worship

Spring is coming

William Chong — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:22:00 +0000

The song “Spring is Coming”, by Steven Curtis Chapman, has been reverberating in my head, and it so happens to be the first day of spring (in the Southern Hemisphere). In this song, Chapman, who lost his adopted 5-year-old daughter in a tragic accident, sings about hope for those who’ve put their faith in the Messiah, even while they continue to live in a fallen and broken world.

The lyrics of this song describe an intensely hopeful metaphor of “new life breaking through”, declaring that suffering in this life is momentary, and that Spring is coming soon. It’s the last song on the CD, “Beauty Will Rise“, which traces through Chapman’s grief, questions, answers, and his unwavering hope in the God who remains sovereign, and remains good.

Have a listen here:

Lyrics:

We planted the seed while the tears of our grief soaked the ground
The sky lost its sun, and the world lost its green to lifeless brown
Now the chilling wind has turned the earth hard as stone
And silently seed rise beneath ice and snow

And my heart’s heavy now
But I’m not letting go of this hope I have that tells me

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
It won’t be long now, it’s just about here

Hear the birds start to sing
Feel the life in the breeze
Watch the ice melt away
The kids are coming out to play

Feel the sun on your skin
Growing strong and warm again
Watch the ground: there’s something moving
Something is breaking through
New life is breaking through

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And it won’t be long now, it’s just about here

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(Out of these ashes, beauty will rise)
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
(Sorrow will be turned to joy)
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(All we hoped for soon will appear)
It won’t be long now, it’s just about here
(Out of the dark clouds, beauty will shine)
(All above in heaven, rejoice)
(Spring is coming soon)
(Spring is coming soon)

by Steven Curtis Chapman
© 2009 One Blue Petal Music

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-William

There’s still a lot to learn!

William and Cheryl Chong — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:40:31 +0000

On Friday, we had an enchanting night out to celebrate six months of married life. Dinner at a fine Italian-style restaurant on Cockle Bay, a random interlude of Christ-centred rap music, then an evening of enjoying each other’s company, and reflecting on the amazing partnership, the astounding gift God has given us.

Even in just six months, God has already taught us heaps. There are some things about marriage (and about your partner for life) you can only learn by actually being in the thick of a confrontation, or in the aftermath of a disappointing exchange. Books on marriage can only trace outlines around the specific issues in our marriage… real-life issues such as living with your spouse’s habits, and how to show patience, forbearance and forgiveness towards their SSB’s (secret single behaviours). Over time, we’ve realised more and more how immensely dependent we are on the Lord to change us and help us to serve one another better.

What challenges and convicts us the most, however, comes from a passage in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church.

Eph 5:31-32: “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Our marriage is a picture, however imperfect, of Christ’s covenantal love for His church. We earnestly want to improve our marriage, not because it makes us look good, not because we get fame and glory, but so that it would be a better picture of Christ’s marriage to the church. That’s something worth striving towards, we think.

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- Cheryl and William

The ear, an engineering marvel

William Chong — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:35:31 +0000

At work this week, I’ve been tasked with diagramming and labelling the anatomy of the ear for an educational project. Not only is it an important organ to have as a worship leader, it’s an amazingly crafted structure of our bodies, and fascinating to study as part of my work. The way each component works to turn air vibrations into nerve impulses that become recognised as sound is simply amazing (you can learn more about it here).

So it’s no surprise that Tortora and Grabowski’s “Principles of Anatomy and Physiology”, a standard textbook for health science and medical students, states this: “The ear is an engineering marvel because its sensory receptors can transduce sound vibrations with amplitudes as small as the diameter of an atom of gold (0.3 nm) into electrical signals 1000 times faster than photoreceptors can respond to light.” (p.546)

An engineering marvel – and Christians would recognise God as the Engineer, since the Bible plainly states in Proverbs 20:12: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both.”

Incidentally it’s also via our ears that we are able to hear the gospel call. Check out what the prophet Isaiah declares:

“Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
All the nations gather together,
and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior.
I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.” (Isaiah 43:8-12)

Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), and what a broken world needs to hear, with our beautifully engineered ears, is the gospel.

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Our time in Malaysia

William Chong — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 06:11:18 +0000

We’ve arrived back from two weeks away in William’s birth town of Kuching, Malaysia. It was an excellent time to really take a breath, get to know the extended family on the Chong side of the tree, and have our spiritual batteries recharged, so to speak.

Several observations about Kuching, and Malaysia:

It’s hot! Temperatures ranged from 25 to 35 degrees, but humidity typically hovers between 80 and 100%. Cheryl in particular found it difficult to withstand much of the humid weather, which made her start sweating within a minute of standing in the sun (or even just walking outside). But God was graceful and we both survived the searing, sticky heat – and it made us appreciate the cool weather in Auckland even more!
Kuching keeps on surprising with its pace of change. The old places in Kuching (e.g. Chinatown, Carpenter Street, Tabuan Jaya) have remained pretty much the same, but there are modern and impressive buildings and developments arising across the city. Such developments include The Spring (a shopping complex larger than Sylvia Park), new hotels such as the Pullman and the Sheraton, franchised hawker food stores, Western-style coffee and cafe outlets such as Starbucks and Coffee Bean.
We took the opportunity to enjoy the expertise of Malaysian optometry and dentistry – that is, Cheryl got a new prescription and contacts/glasses, and both of us got our wisdom teeth extracted.
We enjoyed a huge variety of delicious foods over the two weeks. As an historically important trade location, the country of Malaysia typically offers a wide range of cuisines influenced by the immigration trends over the past 500-plus years. So we enjoyed an assortment of food types including: Hokkien (Kuching kolo mee, fried kway teow, tomato mee, cha kueh, kueh chap, Bak kut teh), Hakka (Lui cha), Malay (beef rendang, kek lapis [layer cake]), Indian (roti canai/telur/tisu/bom/pisang/milo, thosai, dhal, briyani rice), and too many others to list here. We tried most of these and really enjoyed it.
We tried to inject a bit of who we were into the wedding banquet William’s dad hosted (which was all in Mandarin, with half the guests strangers to us) by playing Dennis’s superbly-crafted wedding video. It was awesome that they could hear our vows and the promises we made to the Lord and to each other regarding our marriage – that meant a lot to us, and helped make the trip worthwhile!

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Thoughts about the state of the Body of Christ in Kuching:

Just like any other city in the Asian region, there’s a real need for Gospel ministry, biblical teaching and preaching, and a real concern for salvation and sanctification of souls in Kuching. Even though Christian ministry is essentially closed towards the ethnic Malay population (who are Muslim by law), much of the Chinese minority (of which I’m a part) practise either ancestor worship/Taoism or Buddhism, and need instead the exclusive, saving work of Christ.
Of the churches that do exist in Kuching, there’s a strong Pentecostal/charismatic influence on some of them (overt speaking in tongues, flag and tambourine-waving, emotionalism-based worship music). Ministry challenges include a proclivity for people to “add-on” Christianity to their existing beliefs, religions and traditions, the need to translate between multiple languages and Chinese dialects, and the shortage of bible-based Christian resources.
That being said, we enjoyed fellowshipping with fellow believers in Christ, particularly during the second Sunday we were there when we visited Agape Baptist Church, where the worship was truth-filled, passionate and sincere.

With all this behind us, we’re looking forward to being back in New Zealand, as both of us are starting new roles in the near future. On Monday Cheryl begins a one-year web development course at Natcoll. In about two weeks, William will be (Lord willing) at a new role, still within the medical writing field. The LORD has been immensely gracious towards us!

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-William and Cheryl

Off to meet the Chongs

William Chong — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:55:38 +0000

When you read this, Cheryl and I, along with our sisters and another friend, will be in the air and en-route to my birthplace of Kuching, Malaysia, where we’ll be for the next two weeks.

It’ll be a great opportunity for Cheryl especially, to meet the folks that populate my dad’s side of the family tree (and there’s a quite a few of them). And there’s always the great hawker foods, cheap shopping, and exciting colour of a tropical city to explore. I went briefly last year for a family emergency, so this time around it should be just as precious a time. I know my dad is making preparations for a banquet to celebrate our marriage.

We’ll try and post updates on things we’re getting up to, and we’re hopeful that there’ll be a church or two that we can visit during our time there. Please pray for safe travels and for opportunities to present the reason for the hope that’s in us!

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-William (p.s. Go the All Whites!!)

Our Wedding Video

William and Cheryl Chong — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:25:26 +0000

We’ve now updated our wedding website with the long-awaited wedding video!

Our good friend Dennis has been working on this (and the rest of the footage) since February, so it’s definitely a labour of love. I hope you’ll enjoy it, especially for those that couldn’t make it on the day!

Please visit our wedding website to view the wedding video: http://www.williamchong.dreamhosters.com/wedding/

Alternatively, you can go directly to the video via this link (but we’d ask you not to share it directly if that’s alright, as it’s an unlisted video on Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAbTyQyxRro

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-William and Cheryl

Sovereign Grace – All I have is Christ

Cheryl Chong — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:08:45 +0000

Thought I would just briefly share a song that has filled my mind all day for the last week or so. Text is copied and pasted from Sovereign Grace Ministries. As William said to me – what a powerful refrain.

Those of you who knew me a little younger than I am today will know that I used to be a Nightwish fan (among other things). This meant all sorts of cultural/emotional/spiritual detours that go along with Scandinavian operatic metal (and other things). In case you can’t tell, that’s gone, or at least I really really want it to be. Fantasy has nothing on grace.

…But for my body of death. God, teach me how to live out my salvation.

All I Have Is Christ
By Jordan Kauflin

as recorded on Looked Upon

Lyrics

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

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Cheryl
syndicated from chongsworship.com

Impact 2010 – Photo highlights

William Chong — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:43:10 +0000

A nice slideshow of photos from Impact 2010.

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UPDATE: Download the messages from the conference here: Impact 2010 messages

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Impact 2010 – music ministry thoughts

William Chong — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:53:54 +0000

As some of you know, we recently had the privilege of attending the 2010 Impact Bible Conference in Hastings. For myself, one of the highlights of Impact is the music ministry: over four days’ worth of worship songs led and performed by the Riverbend Bible Church music team. This year I got the chance to chat with music director Warren Jardine and get to know some of the musicians better, and even play alongside them during one session on the violin. It’s a joy to meet and get to know fellow brothers and sisters who desire to use their musical gifts to honour the Lord.

The bible encourages us to “speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19), and over the course of the conference I appreciated a number of songs that I hadn’t previously heard or had been freshly arranged (examples of the songs in square brackets):

“The Battle Belongs to the Lord” (Jamie Owens-Collins) - an accomplished slap-bass line added a funky edge to proclaiming from 2 Chronicles 20 and 1 Samuel 17: “The battle belongs to the Lord”. Originally a 1980′s Christian rock anthem, but at Impact 2010 the lyrics on our spiritual battle were just as encouraging. [video]
A student choir from Hastings Christian School sang a sweet 3-part version of “Psalm 51: Create in Me a Clean Heart”. Great harmonies and a faithful adaptation of the version performed by Keith Green. [video]
We had a treat with keynote speaker Ken Ramey’s wife Kelli singing two solo items for us, including a worshipful take on “We Cry Holy Holy (We Fall Down)” [video]
A female solo vocalist dovetailed with a poignant cello melody in the Gettys’ “Hear O Israel” (Deut 6:4-5), and made for a haunting and memorable call to worship during the Friday evening session [video]
“Then Sings My Soul/How Great Thou Art” – you could hear a pin drop as the pianist started with a soft but instantly recognisable first line of “How Great Thou Art”, before building into the chorus. The song transitioned well into Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Thou Art”, and it’s a song pairing we’ve done (in reverse) once before. [video]
There was a duet of a Casting Crowns song, “To Know You”. I really appreciated how heartfelt and relevant the lyrics were to my ongoing work at being more holy: “More than my next breath | More than life or death | All I’m reaching for, I live my life to know You more | I leave it all behind, You’re all that satisfies | To know You is to want to know You more…” [video]
“Jesus Messiah” – another Chris Tomlin number. It’s definitely a congregational song as long as it’s pitched correctly – we all know Chris loves singing high on his CDs. [video]
“Lord I Offer My Life” – this was done as a beautiful R&B-tinged duet by Vic and Marie Moore. It sounded like they really meant it when they sang it, and I can still hear their intertwining vocal lines in my head: “Lord I offer my life to you, everything I’ve been through, use it for Your glory…” A privilege and blessing to hear such gifted voices.

Granted, there were a few song choices didn’t lend themselves to worshipping in Spirit and in truth so well. One in particular was Planetshaker’s “You’re All I Want”: to me it was vague in giving good doctrinal reasons for the repeated proclamations of love, to the point that you could almost substitute Jesus for Jessica/Joe and keep the rest of the lyrics. [video]

But all in all, there were just a breadth of good songs that helped to support the theme of the conference, point us towards a magnified view of God, and instil a desire to live a life that could be worthy to bear the name Christian. So for all those things, I was really grateful for the music ministry at Impact 2010.

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UPDATE: Download the messages from the conference here: Impact 2010 messages

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-William

Impact session 12: Ken Ramey – Set apart for the Master’s use

Cheryl Chong — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:31:50 +0000

Disclaimer: If you’ll forgive the incomplete sentences, these are my hastily scribbled notes from Impact conference 2010. As always with notes, an exactly accurate representation of the sermon isn’t always possible, so this may not summarise his entire message perfectly. I think the full sermons will be available eventually from Riverbend Bible Church, where the conference was held – would have to check back on that.

(UPDATE: Download the messages from the conference here: Impact 2010 messages)

- Cheryl

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Subject: 2 Timothy 2:20-22, starting at 2 Timothy 2:14

[14] Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. [15] Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. [16] But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, [17] and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, [18] who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. [19] But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
[20] Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. [21] Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
[22] So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. [23] Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. [24] And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

1. Wanted to thank for this opportunity. Great encouragement at Impact by fellowshipping together.

2. Sanctification results in service. Being made holy needs to bring glory to God.
2.1. In order to be useful to God, we need to be pure. God uses clean instruments, ie, those who are completely set aside for his work, devoted to him.
2.2. God can choose to use dirty vessels if he wishes, but that is not the norm. See the law of cleanliness for priests. They were required to keep themselves clean, otherwise they would be killed (bells on the robe, and rope around the ankle when the high priest went into the inner sanctuary) – such was the holiness of God.
2.3. God sovereignly wished Israel to be set apart: “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy.”
2.4. But Israel did not set themselves apart – and as a result, forfeited their usefulness.

3. Paul exhorting Timothy to be a holy minister, commentator: “to be an awful weapon in the hands of God”
3.1. 1 Tim 1:3 – to make sure the gospel is kept pure, to make sure that strange doctrines not taught.
3.2. Needed to trust his eternal security and affirm it by his holiness.
3.3. Church is ultimately impregnable (Jesus WILL build his church), but it’s still imperfect. Not everyone associated with the household of God is known to him. In Matthew, Jesus relates the parable of the wheat and the tares. The owner of the field did not pull out the tares immediately, lest he risk pulling out true wheat along with the false. He instructed that the servants should allow both to grow together, then at the harvest time they should gather up the tares and bind them to be burnt, but bring the wheat into the barn.
3.4. In the meantime, the wheat should set itself apart to maximise its usefulness to Jesus.

4. How do we do this? A 3-part explanation. #1: Part with unholy associations.
4.1. In a large house there are many vessels – gold and silver (reserved for special occasions, displayed in a prominent place), as well as of wood and earthenware (used for menial tasks or unpleasant jobs such as collecting garbage). Some serve higher, more noble services than others.
4.2. This does not represent different levels of giftedness but Romans 9 tells us there are different types of teachers. Gold and silver represent true teachers who are useful to the LORD, wood and earthenware those teachers who are less useful to Him. The former are honourable in God’s eyes, while the latter are dishonourable in God’s eyes.
4.3.1. We must purify ourselves from vessels of dishonour – their attitudes/beliefs will potentially corrupt you. We need to separate ourselves from what would contaminate us.
4.3.2. Bad company corrupts good morals. You will become like the people you hang around. Sin is contagious.
4.3.3. An immoral teacher in the church may be more dangerous than atheists or pagans.
4.4. 2 Cor 6:14 – Separate from unbelievers, do not be bound with unbelievers. Not that we should cut off all relationships with them, but we should keep a safe distance from them. In our effort to influence them, we must make sure they are not influencing us.
4.5. Also separate from so-called believers. 1 Cor 5 describes not those of the world but those who call themselves Christian but are living in sin. We are not commanded to have no relationship with them, but rather that we should not fellowship with them. If you get together with them, the sole purpose of the interaction should be to restore them to God.
4.6. Result of cleansing yourself from these things, you’ll be set apart from sin for God’s use. God is absolutely sovereign and is our master. You will be ready for God’s use – equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16
4.7. Eph 2:8-10 – We are not saved by works but FOR works.
4.8. Summary: Are the people we associate with influencing us to unholiness? Do we have to part ways with those people?

5. How? #2: Flee from unholy passions. 2 Tim 2:22
5.1. A continuous command: keep on fleeing, a habitual pattern.
5.2. Advice to Timothy, a “young man” – despite your youth, set the example of what a Christian should look like, and you will earn their respect regardless of their age.
5.3. Sexual lusts – these characterise young men. The image of Joseph fleeing youthful lust.
5.4. Other passions include impatience (not willing to work for change over time), impetuousness, intolerance, impugnance.
5.4.1. Put distance between us and anything that could fan our lusts into flame.
5.4.2. “I wanted the power of the Holy Spirit that night – if that’s what you want, you have to stay holy.”

6. How? #3: Pursue holiness with likeminded companions
6.1. Flee unholiness and pursue righteousness. Don’t be shortsighted on what to stop in your sanctification, you need to get to the “put on.”
6.2. Focus on the holiness to be pursued, and the unholiness will take care of itself.
6.3. * Pursue love.
6.3.1. Chase after God in your love to your saviour.
6.3.2. Also love for others.
6.4. * Pursue peace. As far as it is up to you, be at peace with others.
6.4.1. People get so easily offended.
6.4.2. Prov 11 – it’s to your glory to overlook offence. More sanctified people are less easily offended.
6.4.3. Be diligent to get along with people and maintain unity in the spirit. Pursue patience, gentleness, tolerance.
6.5. * The likeminded believer – those who call on the name of the LORD with a pure heart (ie, continued dependence on Jesus’ strength). You will never become holy as God is holy on your own. You need the help of the body of Christ.
6.5.1. Encourage one another day after day. During the week we are emotionally/mentally hardened against the world; on Sunday there’s a softening.
6.5.2. Ecclesiastes 4:8. Woe to him who falls and there is not another to pick him up.
6.5.3. Must pursue with someone who cares what they look at, think about, listen to.
6.6. * The ungodly friend – a sharp tool in Satan’s hand. You become like the people you hang around.

7. Our usefulness is proportional to our holiness. Thus, if we want to be used by the Master, we must pursue righteousness.
7.1. John Stott: the secret of holiness is merely the ruthless rejection of the one, AND relentless pursuit of the other.

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