A Dose Of Positive Attitude

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.


Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood... or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim... or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining... or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live... or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Michael continued... "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read "He's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

"Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Matthew 6:34 states: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Enjoy each day, each breath and mostly... each and every friend.

And remember to start each day with an "attitude of gratitude!"

Sunday Re Cap (22nd July 2012)

Jesus Name Made This Man Strong-Part 2

Acts 3:1-16

There are five exaltations of Jesus—that's the essence of this sermon, to magnify Jesus. He is

1. The long-awaited servant of the Lord;

2. Glorified by God;

3. The Holy and Righteous One;

4. The Author of Life; and

5. Raised by God from the dead.

This ought to be the pattern of preaching of the gospel. It must always start with exalting Jesus; who He is, what He has done…but it does not and must not end there as we see the other part of this sermon. The other half of the sermon, as at Pentecost, is to show the listeners how utterly far they are from the truth and how dishonoring they have been to the worth of Jesus.

Four Devastating Charges against the People

The first two are mentioned in verse 13: "The God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up [that's the first one] and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him [that's the second one—they even went farther than the pagan Pilate in denying Jesus' truth and worth]." The third indictment comes in verse 14: "But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you." You traded infinite righteousness and holiness for a murderer. This shows how suicidal it is to reject Jesus. Finally, verse 15 says, "And you killed the Author of life." He gave you life and you killed him. Peter's point in these four charges is to drive the point of the insanity of rejecting Jesus: it is taking the life of the giver of life, and worse, it is asking for takers of life to be released on the world instead of the giver of life. Rejecting Jesus is utterly anti-life. It is murderous and suicidal.

How does it apply to us?

Firstly, when we do not exalt Jesus in our conversations, testimonies and preaching then we will begin to slowly but surely stray from the truth. Eventually we may even begin to reject the truth that is found in Christ. It is a slippery path to destruction to reject Jesus.

Secondly, when we begin to exalt Jesus, then there will be true conviction firstly in our own hearts of how far we are from the truth and this will lead to genuine repentance and not repentance for the sake of our conscience or having been caught “red handed”. It’s an Isaiah 6:1-5 experience!

Next, exalting Jesus will cause the hearts of the listeners to turn to him in genuine faith and repentance. Acts 2:37; 3:19

Good News Acts 3:19: "Repent therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Lord."

This is a pattern for us to follow when we preach the good news. By the way, Acts 4:4 says that about 5,000 people are converted by this message! )

Click here to listen

The Purpose and Use of Flags, Banners and Shofar in a Worship Service

Dear Church Family

We have been blessed the last few weeks through the use of flags and banners during our worship services. Most have embraced it and are enjoying worship more than ever before. More importantly, many are enjoying breakthroughs in their personal lives and we hope to post some testimonies here soon.

However, to help us understand better and fully enter into this new season at Rivers Of Water, we encourage you to read as much as you can about this. One such article can be found below.

Please click here to read. 

Some of us may also have some questions about the use of the Shofar in the Worship Service.

Here is an article that may enhance our worship experience. Click here to read.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us and we will be more than happy to help you understand.

Sunday Re Cap (15th July 2012)

Jesus Name Made This Man Strong

Acts 3:1-16

There are three things in this text that we want to look at the next 2 weeks:

1. The content of the word;
2. The content of the wonder;
3. The relationship between the wonder and the word of God preached.

1. The Content of the Word

Between v12-16 comes the first part of his sermon that is so much like the Pentecost sermon. What Peter does is exalt Jesus in five different ways and show how his listeners have been totally opposed to him and heaped disrespect on his value.

Learn these five exaltations of Jesus and make them part of your praise vocabulary. Jesus is:


1. The long-awaited servant of the Lord. (v13)

2. Glorified by God (v13)
3. The Holy and Righteous One (v14)
4. The Author of Life (v15)
5. Raised by God from the dead (v15)

The other half of the sermon, as at Pentecost, is to show the listeners how utterly far they are from the truth and how dishonoring they have been to the worth of Jesus.

The first two are mentioned in verse 13: ..you delivered up [that's the first one] and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him [that's the second one]. The third charge comes in verse 14: "But you denied the Holy and Righteous One; This shows how suicidal it is to reject Jesus. Finally, verse 15 says, "And you killed the Author of life." He gave you life and you killed him. Asking for takers of life to be released on the world instead of the giver of life. Rejecting Jesus is utterly anti-life. It is murderous and suicidal.

However, Peter has awesomely good news for these suicidal kinsmen of his in verse 19: "Repent therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Lord."

Let us begin to exalt the Name of Jesus. If we do not do that, we will begin to gradually reject Him, His power and authority. Let the essence of our preaching, conversations be exalting the Name of Jesus. When we do that, Jesus is glorified, his power begins to flow in and through us and we will be Christ focused and not self focused. Miracles are about to flow! The lame raised, deaf hear and pre-believers will turn to the Lord. Are we ready to be the new wineskin for the Lord to pour out His Spirit?

Next Week….The Content of the Wonder!

To listen click here

Mark Drake Seminar

Christian Marriage Seminar

Sunday Re Cap (8th July 2012)

An Anointed Prayer (Acts 4:23-31)

Five reasons this prayer is relevant to us today:

1. The Answer That Came

Acts 4:31: The answer that came shows us that Pentecost was not a unique event, but the Holy Spirit is freely available now if God’s people would pray! This outpouring of the Spirit is exactly what is desperately needed in the church in Malaysia because of the challenges that face us.

2. Who Is Praying

This prayer is relevant because of who is praying. Acts 4:23 Luke does not say they went to "the other apostles." He says they went to "their friends," literally: "their own." Therefore this prayer is relevant to us because it is prayed not by someone with special rights and privileges, but by Christians. So the prayer is relevant because of who prayed it—people like you and me.

3. When It Was Prayed

The occasion for this prayer is very dangerous threats against the preaching of God's Word in the name of Jesus. They do not assume that they can keep on and advance in effective ministry without a fresh baptism of the Spirit. If the early Christians needed to seek a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to carry on in their situation, how much more we.

4. To Whom It Was Prayed

It is remarkable that these Christians take five verses to tell God who he is, and two verses to ask what they want from him. God does not need to be told who he is. But Christians need to know who He is. They identify God in two ways. First, they say he is the Creator of all things. Verse 24. Second, they say that God is the one who is ruler of all, even the deeds of evil men. Many would tell us that doctrine and theology are not important if you can have the power of the Holy Spirit. But these early Christians knew their doctrines well.

5. What Was Asked

They ask for three things: that God would give them boldness; that he would stretch out his hand to heal people; and that he would cause signs and wonders to happen—all this through the name of Jesus. In other words their desire is to be empowered in such a way that the name of Jesus will be vindicated. This is relevant for us because it shows us how we should be seeking the power of God's Spirit. We should be praying for it like they were—and remember Jesus says not to lose heart, but to keep seeking and knocking and asking the Father for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11). And that means praying not only in general ways for the outpouring of God's Spirit but in specific ways: for the gift of bold proclamation, for his hand to be stretched out to heal, and his Son's name to be honored and vindicated through signs and wonders. Preaching is primary but signs and wonders are helpful witnesses to the Word of grace (Acts 14:3; Heb 2:4)

It is a very relevant prayer. Not for an inward looking people who are merely interested in unusual experiences, but for a people who long for the salvation of sinners and the magnifying of God's glory and the public vindication of Jesus' name. If that is what we want, then this is the way to pray.

Click here to listen to this important message.

Crossing Over-Message by Rev David Lai

Rev David Lai

Have you been "stuck" in your condition for some time and not able to cross over to your rightful position in Christ? Jesus our Savior has made all the provisions for us to cross over. Let the second half of this year be a season of crossing over. We are called to be Christians who operate out of our position instead of our condition. We can either give in to our circumstances which is our natural condition i.e. sickness, poverty, depression, etc. or begin to stand on our position which is revealed through the Word of God and fly like an eagle through the storms of life. An eagle uses the storm to rise higher. We are called to be "eagle" Christians! Let's abide in Christ through His Word by studying, meditating, confessing the Word of God daily and slowly but surely we will be begin the process of crossing over. 


Click here to listen to this timely message at GROW BM on Sunday 1st July 2012.