Youths

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 21/5/06 Bro Bobby Sng   References : Psalm 22:1-8, 16-31 , Matthew 27:45,46 What does the cry to God mean? 1) Heart of the Gospel - This was the only time in all eternity that Christ was forsaken by God. This cry stemmed from an intimate relationship with the Father. - One can only imagine the pain He felt when this intimate relationship was broken 2) Revealed the awful/terrible of sin 2 Cor 5:21 - He who knew no sin, met sin on our behalf- There was darkness all around for 3 hours. - How terrible it was that God could not bare to see His own Son as He bore our sins on the cross. 3) Highlights the depth of divine love In the book of Matthew , Jesus uses "Father" no less than 44 times to refer to God. - But this time, he could not call Him His Father, but "My God , My God" - Displayed LOVE, deep deep love to go through all the pain and suffering for our sake. 4) Final Victory Psalm 22:22-31 - This cry was not a cry of despair. But a cry of victory. And the Victory belongs to the Lord. posted by xh 29/05/2006 11:46:52 AM 0 comments

Jesus is Lord 19/3/06 Bro Bobby Sng 1) Respect John 12:20-22 Philip was a greek and should be a friend of these people. They wanted him to introduce Jesus ("Sir") Matt 21 - The son addresses the father as "sir" as a sign of respect. Even in schools to show respect to teachers. - Calling the Lord as Sir/Lord is to show respect to Him and also by the lives we live, that dont bring shame to Him but glory and honour to Him 2) Title of ownership Luke 19:28-33 The Lord has ownership over all things. John 1:3 , Col 1 :16, 1 Cor 6:19,20 - Therefore every part of our lives belong to Him 3) Sign of Allegiance Acts 25:23-27 Festus could not judge Paul. So he asked King Agrippa to try Paul. So that he could write to his Lord, Caesar. Lord here refers to a standard title to the emperor Caesar. posted by tongli 27/03/2006 01:10:10 PM 0 comments

Man after God's own heart - David (Bro Chris Lim) Readings taken from Acts 13 began with disciples ministering to the Lord (v2) and then the Holy Spirit showing them the next step to seperate Barnabas and Paul for God's work. "Ministering to God" explained as seeking what the Lord wanted of them.  Most of the time we seek the Lord for the things we want rather than  really seeking His will. In Paul's message to the Jews in Antioch (13:17-22), he recounts of how the Lord brought Isarel out of bondage and how the people rebelled against Him time and again.  The phrase used was He had to put up with their ways for forty years (v18).  Then God gave them judges for 450 years and then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul. God was heartbroken by His people whom He loved. (Yes, God can feel hurt just like us...He who formed our eyes, does he not see?  He who formed our ears does He not hear; formed our hearts and does He not feel?) Among so many people who were self seeking and rebellious, God finally found David, whom he described as "a man after His heart, who would do all His will"  v22.  It was as if God found a treasure.  He found some one who actually cared for what He wanted in His heart. We all know the command of the Lord to love Him with all our hearts, minds soul, strength, with all our being.  Also, the command to acknowledge Him as Lord in all that we do (Provb 3:6).  But often we hurt Him with our indifference and our self centredness. Nothing wrong in asking God to help you in this or that when we are in need.  But the Lord wants us also to love Him and seek what is in His heart.  We must progress from self centred to God centred.  How?? Question: Why was David so different from the rest of the people?  How come he had a heart for God when others did not?  I personally believe he had a very close and intimate relationship with God.  He knew God and what God felt and he knew that God loved Him very much.  And I think that was why he was also willing to give himself fully to do God's will.  Do we know how much God loves us?  So, to progress from self to God centred, firstly we must walk closely with the Lord - talk to Him and He to us and let Him reveal Himself to us (in reading of His word, experiences with Him etc).  As we know Him more, we also will love Him more. Secondly, we refer to the passage about sinful woman anoiting Jesus feet at Pharisee's house. (Luke 7:36-47).  Jesus said:- He who has been forgiven much loves much, while he who has been forgiven little loves little.  The more we walk with the Lord, the more we see how sinful we are and how much we have been forgiven and the more we love Him. One who does not walk closely with the Lord is not sensitive to the sins he commits; also proud people who are self righteous feel they do not need God, nor need to be forgiven. Lastly, to progress, we must commit our way to the Lord and He will bring it to pass.  Sometimes we feel ourselves so weak, but when we look to the Lord, He is there to lift us up out of our weaknesses to move on.  We cannot but depend on Him to progress in this walk. posted by tongli 09/03/2006 09:52:33 PM 0 comments