Its finally here!
There will be no connect group this saturday but instead we'll go for the night sessions of GenFest!
Mike Goug,Cam Benett and Matt Garner
are the speakers for this event.
Lets all be diligent in our sch work the rest of this week so that we'll be able to go for it. Steady?!
Dun forget to invite your frens to come along as well :)
Ps: Post any queries on the tagboard
What is discipleship in the world's perspective as compared to God's perspective? Is it a term that we ourselves may have used too loosely nowadays? As I reflected, I asked myself this question,
"Can I call myself a disciple or follower of Christ?"
I really wante to share with all of you gals this devotion of mine. I pray that may God bring clarity and understanding into your hearts as you read on.
Last weekend, when Sarah asked us if we ever had a distorted image of God, I never really pondered on the question not till I was doing my devotion yesterday. As I look back 3 years ago when I first gave my life to Christ, I reflected on what I have done with my salvation. The honest answer was NOTHING. I could justify that I was a new christian and my focus was to grow at that time. But really, I can say with all honesty, nothing. It was a sobering thought that all the 3 years, I thought I knew worship, purpose and everything else, my works...it was all nothing. It dawned on me that I never really captured the meaning of worship, everything that I've learnt, I really cannot say for sure that I truly understood or had a revelation of it. I am not douting my salvation but rathersomething was amiss in those 3 years. It was good fellowship, learning, being fed but there was not outworking in my life.
But I thank God that He has taught me so much this year. He has teared down and rebuilt my foundation from scratch. I vividly remember the LORD dropped into my heart this question last year.
"What if one day everything you once knew was different? Would you still trust in me?"
I did not fully comprehend the meaning not till recently. The past few months particularly in the recent few weeks, I am determined to be a true disciple of Christ.
"Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matt 7:21)
"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8: 34)
4 main things I wanted to share are these.
1. Scripture
2. Sacrifice (Salvation)
3. Sanctification
4. Submission
God reminded me again and again, the power of His WORD. We all know that His word is sharper than any two double edge sword which divides the spirit and the soul. His word is eternal and will never fade away though heaven and earth may fade away. His word guides us and is like a lamp unto our feet and light for our path. This is His Scriptural truth. We were called to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The truth lies in us obeying all His commandments and not just mere declaration.
His Word was made flesh (Jesus). And this God reminded me the power of His BLOOD, that was shed on the cross for each one of us. His blood which justifies us to be His children, coheirs with Christ. His blood which washes us and cleanses us.
What can wash away my sin,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (adapted from the song by Brooke Fraser)
Do you truly believe this gals? That His work was finished on that cross. His blood brings new life in us. =)
The power of the heart was something that struck me when I was reading gospel of Matthew after the beatitudes. The first thing that Jesus spoke was on heart conditions. I asked myself.."Of all things that He could start saying, He started by teaching on the heart issues, why?" And the LORD showed me that it was firstly, Jesus was the Son of God and He knew the Father's heart. He knew that since the fall of Adam and Eve, the heart issue has always been the thing that hinders true worship or intimacy with God . This deals with our fear of the LORD (John Bevere series) and our obedience to His word. For defilement, and the power to choose and obey His commandments comes from within our hearts. So God has always been teaching His people to deal with heart issues.
The word "sanctification" came to me one morning and when I did my devotion, there was a verse which challenged me. What were the words on my mouth and what was the meditation of my heart. Sanctification is not only in the Spirit. When Jesus died for us, He sanctified us in spirit with his blood. However, sactification is also necessary in our heart and words. Nothing is compartmentalized. It is something that I needed to learn too. Our attitude and approach towards things is also a heart condition. For example, does the words I speak reflect His character? But I thank God that by His grace and the Holy Spirit, he teaches us his way of life. In his word, God reminds us to think of things which are true, noble, just, pure, or lovely (Phillipians 4:8). And also to let words of edification come out from our mouths and to guard our tongue or words.
From the heart also comes the power of submission. This refers to our obedience to His spoken and written word. To take up our cross daily, to submit to His lordship. The final bit that I had a revelation on was this.
"Why were we saved?"
Without a doubt, because God loves us. But more than that, it was for a purpose. For His purpose.. for good works. That we may be used by Him as vessels of righteouesness. This is the outworking of our salvation. And really, all these that I've just said is part of our worship to Him. It is definitely more than a song.
Have a blessed day.
Jasmine
After a loooong long time, Connect Group is back again!!I can't wait as we come together to learn from one another thru sharing as well as receive the word of the Lord thru John Bevere!
This week's Connect group will be at...
1)As you look back at your life far, did you have a distorted /wrong mindset what who God is? What was it?
2)What do you find difficult to obey God in? / In which situation do you find it hard to obey God?
3)What changes do you think you need to make in your life to be obedient to God?
We'll also be attempting to make AB Yiros for dinner! (Winnie,we'll TRY to save some for you..)
We're planning to go marketing on friday evening..so if u can come come!
Let's come with expectant hearts to receive and give our all to the Lord as we praise and worship thru songs!
Hi Gals!
I will not be able to join you for connect group the next 2 weeks. However, there will see be connect group on Saturdays and we will be covering 2 lessons of Draw Near per week.
Sarah will fill you in on more details.
When I return, I would like us to share and discuss our experience at Edge Conference and watched a message preached by Ps Steve Kelley.
The closing date for dicount in registration of next year's Colour Conference (Hillsong Women) is 30 September.
Please go to Hillsong website for further details and if you are interested to come along with me and Kareeann, pass your registration money to her this Sunday. That would be great!
Hi all, looks like the baton has come full circle and once again fallen on my able (or unable?) hands. Today I will be sharing about the power of choice, something I believe God has been speaking to me about through my times of prayer and reflection.
So, what is choice? Dictionary.com lists about 8 different meanings of the word choice, all I believe, culminating in one ultimate meaning : the right, power or opportunity to choose. Now I'd just like to highlight the the words "right" and "power" because all too often some of us forget that one of the first gifts that God presented to us as His creations was the Power of Choice.
Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die"
From the very beginning, man was given the choice to make his own decisions, knowing that every choice and decision that he makes has a consequence. It is not any different in this day and age. We still have the power of choice as did Adam to choose to
-love the unloved
-live lives that are set apart.
-build solid convictions that are unshaken by the world and all it has to offer
to name a few. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this is one of the few things that God has openly declared we have power over. Recent events in the life of the church and the people around of us have made it clear that we have no power whatsoever over the things that happen in our lives and that of the people around us. However, one thing's for sure, hard as it may be, the grace of God has enabled us to say this day
"I choose to trust in God who is faithful"
"I choose to praise God despite my circumstances"
or even more simple things like
"I choose to wake up early for church despite feeling tired"
"I choose to love this person despite the fact that he/she is clearly hard to love"
I'm not saying that merely declaring these will change the things in and around us. What I'm saying is that by taking the step of faith to declare "I CHOOSE..." we are opening our hearts and humbling ourselves before God with an attitude that says "Lord, I don't feel like it but today I CHOOSE..". And what I've found over the past few weeks is that as I continue declaring what I choose to feel and do, the Holy Spirit begins to work wonders in my spirit and after some time my "I CHOOSE" starts becoming "I DESIRE" and on one or two occasions it has actually become "I LOVE TO.."
Our very walk with God today is a direct result of a choice we made to give our lives to Christ. Let's not forget that the power of choice is still very much ours today as it was in the days of Adam. Feelings and emotions are subjective. Choosing today to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us through the choices that we consciously make will ensure that we don't live like the reeds in the sea, easily swayed by things that are not of God. I have learnt some costly lessons in the area of not fully using the power of choice that God has so generously given to me, and my prayer is that God will continue to strengthen me as I choose this day to make Godly choices that will reflect that Holy Spirit in me as He will in all of you.
Love y'all,
Chuen
Hey everyone,
Since we are not gathering on Saturday, please make yourself available for lunch on Sunday. I'm trying to arrange transport to fit all of us and we will probably go somewhere different for lunch instead of heading back to Chinatown.
Connect Group will resume on 22 September 2007.
We will cover 2 lessons on each of the Saturday till the end of October to ensure that we will complete the Draw Near series.
Please read the next 2 chapter for 22 September.
Take the opporunity this Saturday to rest well, finish up assignments due next week or attend to things that needs to be completed straight after conference.
Sarah's friends will be joining us for service this Sunday. If you havent had a chance to meet them last week, do make them feel comfortable. We might have another girl coming with us too, she has yet to know God and is from China. She will either be with us for 11am service or 5pm service.
Prepare your hearts for Edge Conference!
Wooohooo our first picture post! Which one is the best?? I know I asked all of you to choose which one was best on my blog so I could put it as the blog header but then I realized that not al of us are in the picture....So shall we wait for another one?