It took me like 3 nights to prepare this. The 1st 2 nights i was really brain-dead. After work, after school ... my brain-juice is almost sucked dry... urgh. But thank God He sent many angels and inspirations down and thereby i can share my conviction and type out a message. Well the thing about preparing a message is ... if it doesn't impact or touch you... you cant possibly expect it to touch others. So i cant really share something that is not birth off from God's revelation! So in preparing this ... i really realise the importance of having 1stly) Good REST! A Healthy rested mind is position to received revelations! 2ndly) To plug into the WORD. Deep in. I cant say anything out of my own knowledge. Because head-knowledge is just factual dead words. But a life-changing Word. A Rhema word. is what that really strikes your heart and your mind like a ligtning! 3rdly) Pray up. when ya battery is flat. there is only one thing to do. charge it la! so prayer charges ya spiritual life... it opens up the channel when God's words can travel down on a heavenly "telephone life" into ya spirit man.
ok wanan post my sermon here in remembrance!
Matt 22:37-40
In the 2 great commandments that is mentioned in the bible, we are especially called ... or i should say commanded to love God wholeheartedly and love people fervently!
Today we;ll just look at loving people!
The bible calls "christians" as a family with other believers. When we accept Christ, we are no longer wild "unadopted" children. (that's when you get the song no more running wild .... from our church song..) We came with our baggage of 'needs', 'concerns' and 'imperfection'. But it's in this family we learn and we forge strong support in our lives.
Eph 2:19 (TLB):
You are members of God's very own family, citizens of God's country and you belong in God's household with every other Christians
As you can see we all belong to part of God's family. In church, we've learn to make new friends and step out of our comfort zone to know people
Personally, I am not a very sociable person when i first came to church. In fact, I'm very close up in nature. I have many emotional walls around my heart. Often, I will appear friendly but i d0 not dare to show who i really am inside.
Coming to church, i am introduce to a family of friends who applied the caring system. I was slowly but surely touched by their sincerity and concern. In church, I was also slowly taught to step out of my circumstance/my past to learn to fellowship. It has helped me tremendously to overcome my low self-esteem... and find my identity in Christ.
So this year, i hope all of us can start the year by building strong bonds of friendship here! Here i am going to share with you 3 'C's to build friendship.
1) Communicate
a) The best way to communicate is to be present!
Communication calls for an availing of self to the people.
Matt 9:36 :
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd
Just a verse before Matt 9:35 - Jesus was already moving around performing miracles and healing the sick!
Jesus had a mission in life. That is to save the world. However, He never fails to minger with the crowd, teach them and meet their needs. No matter how big His mission or purpose was, He was there to meet their needs. He was there for them.
b) Learn to build conversations
Find a common interest or topic to discuss. Go a step further to find out a person's interest. To make communication flow, we can learn to find topics we can agree upon. Usually friends will find the conversation enjoyable if the topics are agreed or affirmed by both parties
c) Listening to your friend
Listen with your heart. When a person mentions about a subject, don't just listen to it on the surface. Get to the root of the issue by finding out more. At the same time be sensitive to the person's character and background.
As a general rule of the thumb. listen more. talk less. Because God gave us 2 ears and a mouth.
Communication is the key to every relationship.
2) Connection
a) The 5 Language of love of a person are as follow:
- Words of affirmation ( encourage )
- Acts of Service ( go the extra mile)
- Gifts ( makes people happy )
- Physical touch ( Pat on the back. another form of strong affrimation)
- Quality time ( Quality doesn't equate to quantity. QT is the time spent that draws your friendship closer. )
To enhance friendships, it's important to take note of a person's love language. Different people have different needs. Knowing the love language helps to feed the love tank of a person. This is a simple way to meet the needs of a person.
3) Communion
When we pray, doors are opened.
In Genesis 1, before the earth is formed .. the Holy Spirit hovered around the face of the earth.
When we pray, the Holy Spirit hovers around the person as well the relationship. It becomes easier for us to engage in the person in a relationship.
As much as possible, we can also learn to pray with the person. Praying opens the eyes of unbelievers to the reality of God!
Ecc 4:10-12
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
In a Cross, the vertical beam is our relationship with God. The horizontal beam is our relationship with Men. God wants us to know our life is a journey to be Christ-like. There are times where friends can prick us the wrong-way. But just as how iron sharpens iron, every single relationship we hold is God's way of helping us improve our character!
This year let's build strong friendship in our cell group! Before we can start on integrating friends.. let's learn to apply the caring system to touch the lives of our friends.! :)
Food for thought after sermon ( short 2-3 mins reflection and sharing )
1) Who is the most faithful or trustworthy friend you have had? Have any friends been unfaithful or untrustworthy ?
2) Has a past relationship or failure bothered you? Has it kept you from trying again ?
3) Can you name 3 friends or potential friends who encourage and help your faith in God? What can you do to pursue those friendships ?
[ questions adapted from Strong Men in tough times - on chapter 'My Brother's Keep' ]
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