Saturday, May 31, 2008

Word for the Weary

1. Comfort means " to breathe again "

2. To rise up from depression:
Say I believe
I belong
I bless.

3. God is great -
He has Unchanging Promises
Unlimited Power
Unchallenged Plans

4. Wait on the Lord:
1) Rely on God's Strength
2) Rest on God's Sovereignty
don't flap your wings like the crow
soar on the wind of the Spirit like the eagle
3) Relinquish your Shoes (rights) to God

Monday, May 26, 2008

Of Faith, Faithfulness and Freedom

Faith = Revelation (rhema) + Personal Conviction + Action
The Holy Spirit takes the rhema and convicts us so that we rise up acting in faith.

We can only be faithful in keeping what we know.
We need to have faith in moving to what we do not know.

Freedom from Fear (root cause of sickness) -
God's perfect will is not to heal you but that you don't get sick (Ex 15:26 Deut 28:1)
Fear is sin. Perfect love cast out fear (1Pet 4:8, 1 John 4:18)
Faith at communion - the body for healing and the blood for forgiveness (1Pet 2:24, 2 Tim 1:7)
Antidote to fear is to trust in the Godhead - power (Holy Spirit), love (Father), sound mind (Jesus the Word)
Condemnation is of the devil; Conviction is of God (Rev 12:10)

39 roots of disease (eg anxiety, fear, self-hatred, self-rejection, guilt)
anxiety often the root cause of hyperthyroidism
Healing - do you want to be healed? Then believe and rise up in faith.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Seven Churches

1.The loveless church Rev 2:1-7
*2.The persecuted church Rev 2:8-11
3.The compromising church Rev 2:12-17
4.The corrupt church Rev 2:18-29
5.The dead church Rev 3:1-6
*6.The faithful church Rev 3:7-13
7.The lukewarm church Rev 3:14-22

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Need To Meet

Heb 10:19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Matt 18:15-22

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that `every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

MT 18:18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

MT 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

MT 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

MT 18:22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

The verses above show us the need for us to meet each other (in a small group manner) though we may not want to. It is a matter of the will to decide even if my body, mind or emotions do not want to.

I have found out that 9 out of 10 times when I willed myself to go to a small group (cell) meeting, I am blessed with renewed strength, faith, commitment and a joyful hope. The 10% is often due to my own walk – I have not yielded an area, or I was in a bad attitude that day.

I also found that my presence at a meeting often makes others stronger, gives them hope and increases their faith. This is the encouragement that God desires one of another.

We can easily make the excuse that we need to do this or that or whatever (too busy due to work, family etc) BUT if we are WILLING, God will make a way. Let us decide that we will commit to help one another on this journey of faith.

Remember the example of Jesus our Lord. He met his disciples in a small group. This model from the Lord is clear enough to show the vital importance of cell life. The cell allows God to minister to each individual as well as allow each person to minister one to another. Let us not deprive ourselves of such a blessing. Let us pray and encourage all whom we know need to be involved in cell life.

The habit of regular cell and celebration life is critical in our growth in the Lord – to know Him and to make Him known.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

TOUCH your workplace

TOUCH =(Transforming Others Under Christ’s Hand)

10 Christian values every workplace need

  1. Love – kindness at work
  2. Encouragement – Impulsive and Intentional Encourager
  3. Forgiveness
    1. See others from God’s perspective Matt 9:36, Matt 5:44
    2. Leave the offence at the Cross Eph 4:32
    3. Operate out of will and reason Isa 1:18
    4. Rebuild and Restore Isa 58:12
  4. Balance
    1. Vertical God-ward relationship
    2. Horizontal people-ward relationship
  5. Accountability
    1. Recognize the lines of accountability (top-down, bottom-up and lateral)
    2. Recognize your need to become vulnerable
    3. Replace tolerance with loving accountability (speak the truth in love)
    4. Respond appropriately
  6. Excellence – excellent work leads to credible witness
    1. Prepare
    2. Persevere
    3. Practise at every opportunity
  7. Communication – relevant message meets needs and challenges growth

(message is what we communicate, style is how we communicate)

    1. Listening style
    2. Voice style (someone shouts, you speak softer)
    3. Words style (choice of words need to be ‘salty’)
  1. Promise Keeping (trustworthiness) - promise only that which:
    1. Is consistent with God, His word and will
    2. Is in the best interest of the recipient (meet the real need, not the request) eg. give food rather than cash to the poor who ask for food
    3. You know you can deliver
  1. Stewardship – God gives us opportunities, abilities, resources & relationships to do His will
    1. Time (opportunities)

i. Make time for God and to be with God

ii. Let God teach you how to measure every situation by eternity

iii. Use every circumstance to build the Kingdom of God

    1. Abilities

i. Accept your responsibility to develop your God-given gift

ii. Use your talents to build His Kingdom

    1. Resources

i. Acknowledge that God owns it all

ii. Invest your resources in godly investments

    1. Relationships

i. Look at others through the eyes of Jesus

ii. Invest yourself in building relationships

  1. Integrity – blameless with no compromise to worldly ways

5 Steps to TOUCH@workplace

  1. Pray
  2. See the needs
  3. See the workforce – the 4 soils
  4. Use your resources (email, screen savers, bulletin boards etc)
  5. Take your stand
    1. Assemble
    2. Establish a regular meeting
    3. Develop a written plan (mission, program, review)
    4. Act on your plan

Monday, May 5, 2008

Drawing Near to God

James 4:8 “draw near to God and HE WILL draw near to you”

Key ingredients for drawing near

  1. Submission – surrender to God’s will [FAITH]
  2. Humility – daily walking in this surrendered attitude [OBEDIENCE]

Seek God for who He is and not for what He does only. (compare Moses vs Israelites)

Jesus esteems us highly for He paid the ultimate price for us.

We will hunger for what we feed on.

- let us guard/protect our hunger for God by feeding on more of the things of God such as reading and obeying the Word of God, praying in the Spirit, listening to songs of praise and worship etc.

Two presences of God

- His omnipresence

- His manifest presence (we need to seek God so that His manifest presence is evident) Note: His manifest presence can be His still small voice

Hindrances to true intimacy

- Wrong view of God

- No fear of God

- A religious spirit (one who uses God’s Word to execute his own will)

- Being used of God in service does not guarantee knowing Him intimately (Luke 13:25-27, Matt 7:21-23)

True Worship

- Is to obey God

- Worship is a life of obedience every day to His heart’s desires

True Humility requires

- Obedience to God

- Total dependence on Him

- Proper view of ourselves

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit (Communion means)

- Fellowship (companionship)

- Sharing together thoughts and feelings

- Partnership

- Close Mutual Association

- Spiritual intimacy (the deepest level of relationship)

Tongues – language of intimacy for

- Personal edification

- Intercessory prayer

Building our inner man through

- the Written Word (logos)

- obedience to His Spoken Word (rhema)

- praying in tongues

God does not respond to our need, He responds to our faith!

How to get FAITH

- Faith comes by hearing (& obeying) the Word

How to grow FAITH

- Faith like a seed, sown and expected to yield a harvest, grows from faithful obedience

Intimacy with God is directly proportional to our faith which in turn is directly proportional to our obedience.

Hope is a blueprint ( a vision) or a divine picture given by God and needs to be seen supernaturally. (eg. The stars of Abraham)

Faith gives substance to the hope (promises) of God (Heb 10:22-23, 6:19)

(eg. we see a chair, a blueprint (hope), but we need to sit on the chair, substance (faith))

Conclusion: the 2-sided key to draw near to God is Faith and Obedience (Trust & Obey)

LET US DRAW NEAR TO GOD DAILY.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Spiritual Growth

To grow in the Lord
we need:
1) to have faith
Faith is like the anchor for a mountain climber to have a foothold.

2) to hunger for the Lord
Hunger for the Lord is like the hook which is thrown upwards and forwards so that the climber can move up.