24TH APRIL 2013 - A DAY TO REMEMBER - THE DAY WHEM EVERYTHING STARTED

HOW TO RAISE GREAT KIDS

以弗 Ephesians 6：1-4 - 21-04-2013
Speaker: Dr. Mark Terry
以弗 6:1-4

HOW TO RAISE GREAT KIDS

Raising children is d hardest job.

1.  Listen to your children
  
A.   Spend time with your childrren
:  Find something tto do together
:  Schedule time with each child
:  Both quality and quntity of      time are important.

B.  Give them your full atttention

2.  Love your children unconditionally.

A.  True, Christ-like love is unconditional.
:  Conditional love says : I shall love you "if" or "when".
:  Unconditional love says, I shall love you no matter what.

B.  Tell your children that you love them.

C.  Show your children that you love them.

Life lessons: ( lives ~ learns) :

~ If a child lives with love, he learns that the world is a wonderful place to live.
~  If a child lives with christian, he learns to be christanity.

3. Limit your chidren.
.  Establish your family rules.
.  Explain the rules
.  Enforce the rules
   ~ Fairly and consistently
.  Modify your rules as your child grows older.
.  Praise your child for obedience.
.  Release them ~ Let them go.

Our very first 2 monthsary Celebration

Come to think of it, everything that happen between us seems to be a blessing from God. From the very beginning on how we met, to the day we celebrated our 2nd monthsary since the day we became more than friends (:
A letter from shepherd is the very first monthsary letter I rec in my entire life :D it is just WOW :) *TOUCHED*
May God be the center of our relationship and be within us every moment every second. Amen

What is Worship - STONEBRIDGE WORSHIP LEADER WORKSHOP 2013

ROMANS 12:1
Our worship is our RESPONSE (Not a performance, showcast our talents, etc)
°Response to God
°Worship is more than just singing, drama, dance, etc but we have to use that as it is what God gives us
Music only have 7 notes, with half notes between them. It isn't that hard/complicated after all - but if we use it in the right way, it is great!
Worship should always makes us see God BIGGER, Focus on Christ
°Woship is all about Him
Definition: Worship is ALLTHAT I AM RESPONDING TO EVERYTHING THAT GOF HAS REVEAL HIMSELF TO BE
Worship leader isnt only the people who are on stage. Sound mixer, musicians, slideshow controller, etc are ALL worship leaders
Worship is like a wave in the sea. Starts out from a small waves and picking up from each other and Becomes bigger and bigger - my vision
Challenges face by Worship Leaders:
1) in my heart, what do I love - the greatest challenge that you face when you come to your platform
It is not what you do musicly, it is what you bring to the platform. You yourself? Or Christ? [Matthew 22:37]
2) Our hands, what do we practice - skills and ability. Undervalue skills (it doesnt matter how good i play, i just wanna worship God. Or we make the skills our idols? We must do it well
Skills must be develop, training, work hard
OUR SKILLS WON'T MAKE OUR WORSHIP MORE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, IT'S ALL ABOUT OUR HEART
[Psalms 33:1-4,  Exedus 36:1]
3) What do I believe about Bible? What do i Believe what is important?
1 Tim 2:4
God wants our lives to be changed, and to immerse into the truth
God's word is so important that not only happen during the sharing message but it's also during worship - everytime as we lead and as we want to lead and pin people into Christ, we have to pin ourselves first towards Christ
4) What do we model?
1 Tim 4:12
our worship lives starts off the stage. In public and in private.
One goal when we off stage - see Jesus rise and magnify Him
Our speech - gracious and truthful
Our conduct -
In faith - we need to have a growing closer relationship with Him
In purity - why are we on stage? If it to make Jesus greater or is it because of ourselves.
Think Of ourselves as Ushers:
When you go to a music concert, they lead you to your seat, serve you, etc. People come to the show to see the real main attraction but not the Ushers
we lead people to Christ but not ourselves. We lead other people to see Jesus but not seeing us
A FAITHFUL WORSHIP LEADER - Fulfilling our responsibilities God has given us
MAGNIFY THE GLORY OF GOD - Clear and specific what we are doing
IN JESUS CHRIST - understand the role of Jesus Christ in our worship [1 Tim 2:5]
AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - Cant worship our Father without the presence of Holy Spirit.
SKILLFULLY COMBINING GOD'S WORD - song Lyrics matter!
AND DOING IT WITH MUSIC - glorifying God
AND CHERISH HIS PRESENCE - YOUR musical gifts wont bring you to God's presence, but Jesus Christ will.
Without private time of worship, without God pouring down into you, you wont be able to have anything to pour out to others - DEVOTION
APART FROM CHRIST, WORSHIP IS JUST A PERFORMANCE

ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER 彼此鼓励 / 劝慰 [Hebrew 10:19-25]

Speaker: Ronnie Lee
°Church Theme: Building up one another

Established Church: it's very easy for the established church to forget the initial purpose of establishing the church
So, we have to stir each other up by encouraging each other (v28-29)
-Do not give up on meeting each other(it means more than meeting during Sunday Service - NOT meeting and catching up each other, in which having time to catch up each other after Sunday Service is a BONUS)
So when? - Cell groups, Youth Fellowship, Hangout, etc
BUT Why? - It fulfills the purpose part of the Church Ministry by encouraging each other in a smaller group

Praising - Psalms 100:2 - Gladness & Joyful [Keyword Attitude]
Giving - 2 Cor 9:7 - cheerfully [keyword Attitude]
Grief & Lost - 1 Thes 4:13 - Do Not Grief like men, coz they have no hope. But Sorrowful yet always Rejoicing - Joy of the Lord [not depends on circumstance, but depends on your faith, walk with Him] [keyword Attitude]

Conclusion: Encourage one another with love and good deeds,
We are human, we need to be encourage, we are people who at times fearful, easily discouraged, faithless if you are true to ourselves

Good example of stories in Old Testament :P Prophet  Elijah
1 King 17:12-16

Lesson: The more we give, God give us even more [time, money, blessings, etc]

Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing 似乎忧愁，却是常常快乐的

Uncle Ronnie Lee
2 Corinthian 6:3-10

A lot of churches nowadays give a properity set of teaching (Once you believe in Jesus, everything will be fine, you'll get rich, etc)
IT IS WRONG
It is very wrong to have someone believe that believing in Jesus will allow him to get rich.
INSTEAD...
Jesus said that you have to take up your cross and follow Him - sorrows, pain, etc

The outside looks at the churches in sorrow and pain.. WHAT SHOULD THEY SEE? should they look at christians equally? Joyful When things are good n pick mouth when things are bad? Just like the world? Will this give an impact? Yes. But i belive there are more negative impacts than positive impact

I believe that Jesus is the happiest person in the whole world. But. The Bible says Jesus is in sorrow.. so how can He be happy?

Up to 2012, Bible is still the best seller in the world. 6 billions copy are printed. however, THE FIRST BIBLE FOR AN UNBELIEVER TO READ IS NOT THE BIBLE-BOOK... THE FIRST BIBLE THE UNBELIEVERS SEE AND READ IS YOU.. IS ME.. CHRISTIANS.. so.. how should they see churches?

In this world, we are NOBODY.. but...
Check 1 Corinthian 8:3 - we are known by God

We have lots of probs in our life. We have 1001 reasons to be sorrowful. But remember.. to rejoice -  2 Corinthian 6:10

Philippians 3;8 - we are nothing - this is what a Christian is
Wealth, money is not a sins, but the love of of it over anything else is a sin

Romans 8- I urge you, if you dont remember anything of my sharing, If you are depress, feel sorry to yourself, sad, guilty, THEN GO AND READ ROMANS 8

Roman 8:17 - ... if we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory 如果我们和他一同受苦， 也必和他一同的得荣耀
>>> That's the secret why Christian can rejoice in sorrows

Because Jesus never said, Willy, if youre in sorrow.. i will take your sorrow away from you.. but He gave us Roman 8:17 and give us eternal life

1 Corinthian 3:21-23
2 Corinthian 6:4-7
2 Corinthian 11:23-28

We stay up to this age. God hasn't call us home first. Cos we have work to do.

Pray to God: God, speak to me, before i start to speak to Your people

Matt 5:11-12 - Rejoice and Be Glad
Matt 5:13 - You are the salt of the world
Matt 5:14 - You are the light of the world

Because the first contact with the outside world is you when we give the TESTIMONY

Because the world doesnt read the bible, the world read us..

Romans 9:2-3
Philippian 4:4

DON'T BE A FOOL 不作无知的人

Speaker: Jason Fong [Scripture Union East & West Asia]
Bible Verse: Luke 12:13-21

Introduction:
Who was this Farmer?
What was his Investment Mentality?
How did God view him?
Is this a good or bad problem?

IN TODAY'S CONTEXT: If this farmer is alive today.. He would have been a Uni student of agriculture, Master of Business Management, a CEO of a very big plantation company.

From the world's context, this guy is a VERY SMART PERSON. But in Spiritual context, Jesus called him a FOOL!

Why God calls Him a fool?

FIRST Ans: The folly of SPIRITUAL NEGLIGENCE - Forget about God in His plan [Luke 12:20a - But God said to him: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you...]

Let not come to church become a routine for us.
A lot of people may sing in church pnw, they might not really worship God
A lot of people may put the money into the offering box, they might not really offering it to God
A lot of people may say prayer, but never really come to talk to God

Never Forget what you do the above things for. Don't forget about God

SECOND Ans: The Folly Of EARTHLY PURSUIT [And I will say to myself, "Luke 12:19 - You have plenty of good things laid up, take life easy: Eat, drink and be merry."

Example TOP PURSUITS:
1st: Education
2nd: Money - INSURANCE; ENTERTAINMENT - Like the life of Super Mario.. jump up and get bigger and jump to get gold, eat mushroom n flower.. however.. no matter how pro you are.. at the end.. two words will appear: GAME OVER

When you die, all these doesn't matter.. but we're doing all this like ALL THESE MATTER!! BUT when you die, will all these matter?

THIRD Ans: The Folly of UNWISE INVESTMENT [Luke12:21 - This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself...]

Conclusion:

INVESTMENT - TO COMMIT A CAPITAL INTO A SCHEME AND HOPING THAT THIS SCHEME WILL GIVE YOU A REWARD.

How to be rich in God?

look at the whole bible, only 3 things are eternal..

3 Eternal investment Schemes:

GOD - how to invest with God? - First investment; but not ONLY investment.. Open up our heart and let Jesus enters our heart
Heaven is not a destination, as heaven will passed away.. let us aim to be with God

HIS WORD - dont just read the bible with 'Touch n Go' method, try engage the Bible

PEOPLE: People will have eternal life.. is only either UP with God or DOWN without God..
Some people say we cannot bring anything to heaven, WE CAN BRING OUR NEIGHBORS TO HEAVEN

Let us know who God is rather than what God is

'THIS IS THE LIFE'

Pastor Richard Barnes
3 John: 1-5

Have you ever wonder yourself on finding a PERFECT Church?
There's NO Perfect Church, because we humans are IMPERFECT
A pastor: A church is like a Hospital

4 Marks of a Great Church:

•Love 爱 [v1, v6, v14]
IT IS the love of Jesus Christ - Sacrificial Love [eg. Fellowship with one another]
IT IS NOT the self-centered, romantic type of love

•Truth 真理 [v1, v3, v4, v8, v12]
Truth ALWAYS go with Love
Truth IS NOT all those kind of philosophy, statement, etc
Truth IS a person - Jesus Christ [John 14:6]
Christianity IS NOT a religion
Christianity IS a relationship - w/ God
'Jesus Christ' - a name which consist of Power.. when you hear it, you have to make a decision - you either Accept Him.. or you Repel Him..
A true believer will NEVER ask.. if I embrace myself into this path, what will happen to me?
A true believer will say.. God, lead me and give me the strength to go o n as I know You plan this for me

•Joy 喜乐 [v3, v14, v15]
REAL Joy - leading someone to Christ
Joy IS Relational [Joy of sharing n talking over the phone is NOT THE SAME as Joy of sharing face to face]
JESUS IS JOY [Luke 15] - when we see someone repent and accept Christ

•Service 服侍 [v5, v8, v11]
带着喜乐服侍SERVE WITH JOY -- Gal 6:9-10 [Let us not become weary in DOING GOOD... to ALL PEOPLE]
We can't seperate Love n Trust, we CAN'T seperate Joy n Service neither
'J.O.Y' - Jesus FIRST, Others SECOND, Yourself THIRD (;

So, out of the 4 marks.. how do you scale your church in these?