Prayer Requests and Verse of the Week

Living Life Memory Verse of the Week: Isaiah 57:1

"The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." (NIV)

"The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity" (ESV)

Praise Reports:

• Several people gave their lives to Christ for the first time in both of our services yesterday. God is saving! Another sister gave her life to Christ while doing her devotionals with Living Life :)
  

• One sister was set free from a spiritual stronghold that held her captive for 10 years last week. God is awesome!
  

• Another sister was also set free and delivered from anger through the prayer time during our Sunday service.
  

• Another member was set free from the spirit of fear that griped her during her whole time in Korea. God is doing a great work and we praise Him for it!

Prayer Requests for This Week:

• Please pray for OEM to finish our Lent fast well this week - for strength and faithfulness.
  

• Please pray blessings over our AIM Good Friday joint worship service.

• Pray for salvation to come upon all those who have yet to know Christ for our Resurrection Sunday Service.

• Pray for that the students in my preaching course on Friday would be well equipped to study passages faithfully in sermon preparation.

• Pray for anointing and power for me, our praise team, the drama team and the choir for our Resurrection Sunday services.

Thanks so much. Your prayer support is my life support.

A Commentary on Commentaries

Finding a Commentary

Several people the past few days have asked me about finding good commentaries. So instead of making a long list, I've been recommending these two books which give a great summary and review of various commentaries for both the New and Old Testament.

For the New Testament

For the New Testament, D.A. Carson has recently revised his excellent New Testament Commentary Survey. This will give you some of the top evangelical commentaries to choose from for each book of the New Testament. A helpful tool for teachers, pastors and leaders. For my Australian friends, you can find the Koorong link here. Koorong is having a 15% off sale this weekend so it might be a good time to buy it. And for my US/Canada buddies, I've provided a link from Christianbook.com here.

For the Old Testament

Tremper Longman III has done the survey of commentaries for the Old Testament in this series with Carson. The Koorong link is here and the Christianbook.com link is here. It's a helpful book for those who want to find the best resource for in depth studies on individual books of the Bible.

Please Pray for Me

And please pray for me concerning this weekend's sermon. I feel led to share my testimony and preach purely on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After getting a chance to talk to more people at Wesley, I feel it's time to share the foundation of our faith this weekend.

Pray that those who don't know Christ yet will experience and understand the eternal life-changing message of the Cross. And pray that God would anoint me and use me to proclaim His message clearly and with conviction. Thank you always for each prayer that is lifted up. God will remember and reward you for them =)

Currently Listening Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 By Sting Fields of Gold

A Legacy for Eternity

Podcast Update

We finished up our 4-part series on Ruth this past Sunday, looking at the impact that a life of "hesed" has, even beyond our lifetimes. I was blessed by God over and over again during the preparation and study of these passages. The sermon has been uploaded on my podcast, and you can listen to it through the player on the right or download it through iTunes here.

Slowly Adjusting

It's been 4 weeks so far at Wesley (where I'm currently the interim pastor until the end of the year), and I'm slowing getting a better "feel" of the congregation and my role within it. It's been a cool experience meeting people from so many different backgrounds within our congregation. We have people from Fiji, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Solomon Islands, various parts of Europe, people who have been in Australia for several generations, people who come literally straight off the street and of course Korea. There's also a praise leader who looks like he's from Vietnam ... but claims to be Korean ;P I don't know about that one ...

Seeking Prayer

If you could please pray for wisdom as one of the biggest tasks for me is to help organize their ministries and bring clarity in their structure, their mission and their ministries. Though I enjoy organizing things, there's A LOT to sift through and develop along the way. And most importantly, please pray for a greater anointing of God in my life that I might honor Him and help others treasure Him ... and that His presence might rest heavily upon me, especially as I preach His Word. Thanks for your prayers! As always ... your prayer support is my life support.

Currently Listening The Joshua Tree By U2 Where the Streets Have No Name