Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Jaeson Ma’s New Single: “LOVE”

Published
by
jimmy
on August 28, 2009
in Off-Road
. 2 Comments

JMA-Love-2

This is awesome.

Fellow pastor and friend Jaeson Ma has his single “Love” out on iTunes from his JMA-sitting-edit2upcoming debut album.  Over the last few years, Jaeson has been spreading the Gospel all over the world to thousands of young people.  But, when he was 15 his sister gave him a prophetic word about being used by God to both preach to thousands as well as make music to reach the masses with God’s message.

After I heard about the upcoming release of “Love” I couldn’t wait to hear it.  When I finally got a hold of the single it turned out to be entirely inspiring.  It is totally Jesus, Gospel centered.  Or, like the theologians like to put it: “It is the retelling of the old, old story” but set to a new electrifying sound!

I hope that you can all hear it, download it, be blessed by it, inspired by it and take the time to “spread the Love.” This is more than just about supporting a great brother in the Lord, it’s about spreading the Gospel in every way and with every effort.

You can find the song on iTunes or on YouTube at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kZ6wBoqTk&feature=related

Also, here is an excerpt from his blog recounting how God put it all together. It really is an awesome testimony so I hope  you can take the time to read the whole thing and be encouraged.  [You can read the whole story on Jaeson's website by clicking here.]

“In early 2008, when I met Carl Choi (manager of Far East Movement & Jin the MC) he heard my music and saw its potential. When we met, it was a divine encounter. I led him back to God & he led me back into my passion to make music. He then introduced me to Kevnish (Far East Movement) and Jin the MC. By God’s grace, I had the honor to help bring them both to faith in Christ and be baptized in water. I still remember that day when Carl, Kevnish and Jin were baptized at Carl’s apartment, God’s light was shining all around us. We could feel His peace and joy. At the same time, we knew God had called us on a mission to make music that would change the world.

Carl told Kevnish and Jin that he wanted to help produce my next rap album. They all heard a few of my old songs and Jin said, “This is cool. But I feel like rap constricts you bro, your preaching and prayers are so powerful, there’s got to be a way where you can take the same way you preached and prayed over us and put it over beats!” Carl agreed and told me to think about how I could take my best sermons and messages, one-liners and put them into songs made for the radio. I told them this is what I always dreamed of doing, talking or preaching over music, but I didn’t know how to do it. Carl told me to keep working and praying on it…

A few days later, one night at the office, Kevnish from Far East Movement (my producer) and I had a brainstorming meeting on the production and direction of my artistry and music. He asked me, “So what do you want to do? How do you want the public to perceive you? What audience do you want to reach? Cause if you want to reach the urban market you got to become black and change your dress and swagger. If you want to reach the Latin market than you got to dress this way. Or if you want to reach mainstream White America you will have to approach it another certain way!” After hearing all that, I told him I just want to be myself, I want to speak the truth from my heart and do what God has called me to do to preach, but in a new way, not through a pulpit, but through music.

Then something divine happened. Kevnish was a bit stumped on my response, but then he asked, “Hey, do you have any of your sermons on youtube?” I told him of course. He then said, “Why don’t you take that beat your friend sent to you and play one of your youtube sermons over it at the same time?” I did as he asked me to do. When I played the beat and then pressed play on my youtube sermon, something supernatural happened, it was as if heaven touched earth as my preaching landed perfectly over the melodic beat. Somehow the cadence of my preaching would coincide with the music being played perfectly. It was powerful. It was a new kind of sermon. It was the new new. Kevnish was completely shocked. He said, “Oh SH**, that is crazy! I feel goose bumps! Can you see my hairs standing up on my arm right now? This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard! It’s more than rap it’s beyond rap. You just created a whole new category of music! This will transcend genres, cultures, you don’t need to cater to White, Black, Brown or Yellow you can just be you and preach over beats, over anything. I can see you rocking stadiums with this style, you just preach over the verses and then I’ll create top 40 hooks that the crowds can sing along to. It will be an outer body, spiritual experience…this is going to change the game.”
I was totally amazed myself when Kevnish was saying all this to me. I didn’t believe myself completely. Would people really listen to me preaching over beats? Would this approach really work to reach the masses with the message God had put upon my heart?

Kevnish then asked me if I could freestyle a sermon over the beat on the spot. I told him, “Of course I can, I’ve been preaching for 10 years, I can pull a sermon out whenever, at any given moment and preach from my spirit!” So we played the beat (a special beat which is the music for my first single LOVE given to me by Charles Jones a friend of mine who when making the beat felt from God it was to be given to me to rap over)… as the beat played I asked Kev if there was a topic or theme he wanted me to preach on, he said, “How about love?” …. The rest is history… I started with the first line that came out of my spirit at that very moment saying, “Now Hollywood wants to make you think they know what love is, but I’m going to tell you what true love is…” Kevnish was shocked again. At that moment we knew we had discovered something precious and powerful. This new sound would touch and change the hearts of many around the world… we were about to change histories for eternity.”

Biblical Joy & Worship Pt.2

Published
by
jimmy
on August 13, 2009
in The Driver Seat
. 0 Comments

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Passionate Rejoicing

Psalm 32:10-11 (English Standard Version)

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

All I can say is “wow.” The kid in the video is pretty intense.  Gotta admire the passion though. LOL.  The part that kills me is where they start “clawing” at the box! What the heck are they doing!?

Well, when we talk about loving God and worshiping him with passionate rejoicing – which the Bible encourages us to do – we are talking about nothing less than an intense emotional, soulful, and psychological response to God.  The kind we experience and give at the concert of our favorite band, at the winning shot of our favorite sports team, at the sight of loved ones, at the sight of our bride to be walking down the aisle,  at the sight of our kids first steps, and so on.

After all, if we are capable of this kind of real, genuine, natural kind of joyous response to theses things, then how much more to God?  1 Peter 1:8 says the kind of joy that God gives to those who believe in Jesus is “inexpressible and filled with glory!”

In 1 Peter 1:3-6, Apostle Peter gives us three biblical reasons why we can worship God with passionate rejoicing:

1. A New Living Hope [1 Peter 1:3]
“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”

For those have put their faith in Jesus, we have a hope that is not stagnant and stale!  Instead, we have a hope that is living and active in our lives!  Peter tells us that we have this hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  When Jesus rose from the dead he defeated sin and death for us.    Thus, the fact Jesus is risen from the dead means we can have complete hope in that we are free from sin and death through faith in Him!

2. A Heavenly Inheritance [1 Peter 1:4]
“…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”

Another reason to have great joy is that we have a heavenly inheritance.  Think of it!  By way of analogy, you might say that your bank account in heaven is totally full!  But of course our inheritance is not of earthly or temporal things, but rather priceless, eternal things!  Things that cannot perish!  They last forever and cannot be destroyed or taken away.  Also, they are undefiled things.  One example is that for some of us we sometimes experience bad memories or thoughts even during events of joy or goodness.  This is because those areas of our hearts, minds, and thoughts have been “defiled.”  But our inheritance will be entirely pure and clean of any kind of defilement.  Lastly, our inheritance is unfading.  People find even the most enjoyable things in this life gets “old” after awhile.  But in Christ we are going to have experiences and blessings that will never grow old for all eternity!

3. A Guarantee of Glory to Come [1 Peter 1:5]
“…who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”

Our third reason to worship God with passionate rejoicing is the fact that we have a guarantee of the glory to come.  Peter tells us that we are being guarded by no less than God’s awesome power to ensure we will enjoy the final stage of our salvation that is to come in the last days.  This is that salvation Peter is speaking of:  That we will be glorified with Christ.  We will rise from the dead with new glorified bodies just as Christ did, and that we will be joined together with Christ forever and ever in a time and place where there will be no more weeping, no more tears but rather eternal, inexpressible joy and pleasure for God and His people.

RELATED VERSES

1 PETER 1:8 [ESV]

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Missions Update: Aug 10,2009

Published
by
jimmy
on August 10, 2009
in Newsletter
. 2 Comments

Hello!

It’s been awhile since I’ve given any updates on my site about how things are going over here in Asia, so here goes!

One big reason for the absence of updates is because I lost ALL the pictures I took while I was in India. I think I was so disappointed I had not the strength to give any updates in a time of recovery.  I took all the pictures with my iPhone .  I gotta admit, the iPhone did a pretty good job considering it’s just a phone.  It gave me some surprisingly decent shots including a picture of the cutest little girl on the face of the planet who I ment while I was visiting one of our villages.

Oh well.  Just gonna have to take a new batch of photos when I go back!

taj-mahal

The Taj Mahal – Agra, India [Google Images]

Other than that, I had a great, great time in India. We have the most beautiful kids in the world.  Our kids are from the poorest, most rejected, most neglected and abused parts of Indian society, but yet, you would never have known that from their big smiles, joyous dancing, glorious singing, and passionate praying.  Our kids either have no parents or are children of parents from lepers and AIDS colonies.  Yet, they have pride, dignity, joy, and peace all because of the love and care our workers are giving them in the love of Christ!  That’s why we call them “Royal Kids!  They are children of the “King of Kings”!

It was such a blessing to stay with some of our kids at our prayer center. I got to do some hands-on ministry while I was in India as well.  One one occasion I did a bible study with a bunch of young boys in one of our villages.  I had to travel an hour by motorcycle to get to the village which is no easy task in India!  I seriously couldn’t walk straight the next couple of days!  Father Anton had a great laugh about that.  He said it’s time like these we’ll never forget!

And he was right.  This is what I live for:  Heading to a village, sitting on the ground underneath the Indian night sky with a bunch of young boys from the village gathered around me as I told them about the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  At the insistence of some of the boys, we ended our time on our knees together as we thanked God for our time.  I can’t wait to see them again.

After spending two weeks in India with Father Anton Cruz and our kids I went over to Taiwan again. I’ve been here for the last two weeks now.  taichung-current-locationThings have been going great.  I just finished preaching in one church down south in the city of Kaohsiung.  But, in order to get there we had to ride a 3 hour charter bus down…through the worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in the last 50 years!  It was quite the experience.  The bus was getting slapped around like a rag doll by the ferocious winds and rain.  On top of that we had the craziest bus driver!  He was passing up cars left and right like it was NASCAR.  But, we did make it safely and in one piece.

Unfortunately, there have been many thousands of people suffering because of the flooding from the typhoon.  During the services, the church took time to pray for the flood victims.  During the prayer I felt such a cry in my heart from the Holy Spirit, “God, it’s times like THESE that the Church needs to rise up and shine Your light!  It’s times like these we have to stop thinking of ourselves and help our neighbors who are suffering!  I pray that Christians in Taiwan are taking this opportunity to shine your light in dark times!”

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST

taiwan-typhoonPlease pray for the victims of “Typhoon Morakot” in Taiwan, China and various parts Asia.  As I mentioned, this has been the worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in the last 50 years.  Many homes have been destroyed and thousands of people have been left stranded.  New reports are saying that up to 600 villagers may have been buried by a massive mudslide in southern Taiwan.  Still may more reports are still coming in.  Please pray for the victims and for those around them who are doing all they can to help.

You can get more information at the link below:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/weather/08/10/typhoon.china/index.html

Thank you for your prayers and your partnership with me in the gospel.

In the grace of Jesus,

my-signature

Biblical Joy & Worship Pt.1

Published
by
jimmy
on August 5, 2009
in The Driver Seat
. 0 Comments

1 Peter 1:3-8 [ESV]

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

I am so excited by this passage. I was praying through it this morning and my heart got lit up.  The book of 1 Peter is one of the very last letters Peter writes before he is martyred for Jesus.  Subsequently, in it we find Peter using some of his very last words to instruct and remind us of what it means to rejoice and worship God rightly and passionately.

Lately I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit to give me a sober look at my own heart and life in comparison with Scriptures.  Especially in the area of joy.  Over the years, there have been passages I’ve glazed over and routinely accepted without genuinely wrestling with them and internalizing them.  But lately, it’s been hard to ignore the fact that the Bible makes clear that Christian joy is based on things like: the continual deepening of the knowledge of Christ and of our salvation, care and concern for others, and Christ’s second coming.

Being honest with myself, I had to admit that the mention and thought of Jesus coming again does not elicit feelings of “inexpressible joy.”  In fact, I don’t think I feel much of anything!  I can’t relate to the tension Paul expresses when He says something like, “Man, I don’t know what to do!  Die and go be with Jesus?  I mean that gets me freaking excited…or, stay and be with you guys?  This also brings me great joy.”  I’m just sort of like, “Wha?”

So, I started praying.  I started repenting and asking God, “Now make these my reasons for joy, the reasons I worship You.  I want the live with that kind of tension I see in Paul’s life.  I want to be torn between anticipation of seeing you face to fact and love and care for others.  I want to have true Christian, biblical joy!”  And seriously, God is answering that prayer day by day, little by little.  This makes me incredibly happy.

So, I invite you to join me in this pursuit of biblical joy and worship.  Is your worship and joy lined up with the Bible?  Is the joy of your salvation alive and well?  Are you looking forward to being with Christ forever and ever?  Are you in anticipation for Christ’s return?  Do we rejoice with those that rejoice?  Is praying for others a reason to get fired up and motivated for you?  Or, is our joy based on temporal things?  Do such things like “the second coming” seem irrelevant to our “practical” day-to-day lives?

No matter your answers to these questions God the Holy Spirit is ready and available to make biblical joy and worship a greater reality in our lives.  All we’ve got to do is submit, trust, and say “Yes!”

warning vs. threatening

Published
by
jimmy
on August 2, 2009
in The Driver Seat
. 0 Comments

tornado_warning

Here is an important distinction to make:  God warns but never threatens. Here is what I mean by these two terms: warning is an act of love and respect of the human free-will,  whereas threatening is an act of dominating control that undermines a person’s inherit value of human free-will.

I was reading a chapter from “A Call to Spiritual Reformation” by D.A. Carson.  In referring to Paul’s statement in Phil. 1:10 that we should live in full view of the fact that Jesus is coming back soon, Carson says, “Paul does not appeal to the ‘day of Christ,’ the day of his return, in order to introduce a veiled threat.”  Instead,  Apostle Paul is appealing to motives more powerful than a threat – the motives of love and joy intrinsic to the born-again heart and soul.

I think this distinction that God warns and does not threaten has at least the following three practical implications:

1. GOD IS GOOD. God is truly a good God.  His nature, thoughts, actions, motives and so on are all consistent with the fact that He is perfectly good in of Himself and how He relates and deals with us.

Again, “to threaten” is an act of domineering control and coercion.  It is sad to think that for many Christians and non-Christians this is their dominant perception of the nature of God.  Even for some Christians, they might not consciously believe this about God, they may confess “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.”  But when it comes to the way they pray, the way they relate to God, their worldviews, and the way they perceive misfortune in their lives, their true subconscious beliefs bear through their reactions and actions.

2. THE SPIRIT OF OUR EVANGELISM. Just as God truly is a “good God”, His message is truly the good news [or "gospel" which means "good news"].  The absolute thrust of God’s message to all of humanity is how it truly brings unspeakable joy into the lives of all who hear it and receive it.  But also, the spirit with which we deliver our message as Christians ought to be marked with words and actions of love, pleading, and grieving.

So seriously, “to hell” with the “turn or burn” message of condemnation.  It’s proponents and propagators are simply misguided, condemning, self-righteous folks whose “gospel” is nothing more than veiled threats of bitter coercion fueled by self-righteousness and legalism.  The “turn or burn” gospel is really no gospel at all, for it lacks the true spirit of the real “good news.”  Such people have no love or grieving for lost souls.  They shed no tears or even wince at the thought of someone’s eternal condemnation.  Instead, their attitude is, “They got what they deserved!  That’s what they get since they rejected Jesus and our message!”

God indeed gives us grave, passionate warnings about the consequences of our choices.  Truly, a person that chooses not to put their faith in Jesus will continue to be separated from God by sin in this life and then in hell after death.  But, when you take the Bible in as a whole, we understand that whenever we read such warnings the heart tone is love, grieving and pleading.  As Jesus enters Jerusalem at the dawn of “the passion week”, He makes a pleading petition for Jerusalem [Matt.23:27].  In Romans 9:1-3, Apostle Paul states that he is in anguish over lost souls and would rather go to hell for someone if it means they could go to heaven instead.  How quite opposite is the spirit of the Good News of the bible and that of the “turn or burn” preachers that claim to be “just preaching what the bible says”!

3. TRUE CHRISTIAN JOY. The last time I checked “good news” is aimed at making people happy; at bringing joy into a person’s life.  Surely this has a lot to do with why God calls His message “good news”!  The blessed inheritance of God’s people is this:  that the joy of the Lord is our strength!  Knowing that God warns us out of love – and does not threaten us out of revulsion – causes God’s joy to take root, grow and mature in our lives.

This is possible because when we are born again God gives our hearts and spirits a new birth – and with it a new nature.  The born-again heart and spirit thrives upon motivations of love and joy.  What I mean is that as a Christian grows spiritually, there is a huge shift from thinking “have to” to reacting with “want to” and a feeling of joy that “I get to!”

It’s no longer, “Aw man, do I have really have to give my life to Jesus?”, instead it is, “I am so glad I can give my life to God!”  Instead of, “Aw man, you mean I have to live in a way that reflects that Jesus is coming back?”, it is: “Jesus is coming again soon, I want to be ready!”

These attitudes are not coerced by threats, but only made possible by faith and hope in the grace of Jesus and in the work of the Holy Spirit to change our lives.  May we continually respond with faith to the Good News, and with joyous, grateful repentance to the loving warnings of God our Heavenly Father!

RELATED SCRIPTURE PASSAGE:

Ezekiel 33:10-11 (English Standard Version)

10“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ 11Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

VIDEO | Tron: Legacy, FX Test Footage

Published
by
jimmy
on August 1, 2009
in Off-Road
. 0 Comments

When Tron first came out as a kid it was the biggest thing ever…[at least to us boys].  The Tron arcade game had lines of kids waiting to play it.  I remember being too young to understand how to play it and a little too short to see the whole video game screen!

I can’t wait for this movie to come out.