Worship In Spirit and Truth -- John 4:19-26 --

False Worship
· Playing religious games
· Focus on Ritual and not reality

Jews: Know God but do not worship in spirit. For them worship must take place in a specific place, more outward form not inwards (V20)

Samaritans:Do not know what they worship (V22) (Who are they actually worshipping?)

We must identify what is false worship and false worship

Worship is NOT:
· Defined by its location
· The worship service
· The music
· A form
· A practice

True Worship
The absolute of Christian worship – must
The action of Christian worship – worship
The aim of Christian worship – spirit
The attitude of Christian worship –spirit
The authority of Christian worship - truth

· True worship is when you know who you are worshipping; allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.
· When we worship, we worship in corresponding with the nature of God.
We need to know God by reading His word.
· Be aware of His presence in your everyday life, believe and acknowledge him. (V13,14)
· Every little thing you do, you mean it in your heart to give glory to God. (Colossians 3:17)
· There is no doubt that the truth is the word of God. (John 17:17)
· Be real to God, engage your heart and your mind in true worship.

Worship is an experience of the heart and it engages your thoughts

5 items of Worship
1. Singing: 1 Corinthians 14:15
(When we sing songs, it is not just about singing the words but we need to reflect on the words and put it into action. Worship is a commitment and it is life changing. )
2. Praying: Acts 2:42(Praying in the spirit; you may not know God’s will at that time and you are praying the things of God. This is an act of yielded-ness towards God. Acknowledging that you are surrendering your life and situation to God and praying according to the spirit and His will.)
3. Preaching: Acts 20:7
4. The Lord’s Supper: 1 Corinthians 11:20-30
5. Giving: 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Note: The above are not exhaustive.

Desiring God

Paul recently introduced me to this website by John Piper. It's www.desiringgod.org and I find it amazing that there are so many resources on their website! And it's all free! I personally enjoy and find his messages very very powerful. There are even free online books you can download. So check it out. =)

Sarah

Spiritual Growth Is Not a Private Matter

I received today's devotional from The Purpose Driven Life and thought it's a nice encouragement even as we start the new year.

-Susan-

2009/01/12

Spiritual Growth Is Not a Private Matter
by Rick Warren

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Some of us hesitate to commit ourselves to developing an intentional plan of growth that requires accountability or relationship with others because we believe spiritual growth is a personal and private matter. We choose to believe each person develops in his or her own way at his or her own rate.

This is an aberration from the truth.The idolatry of individualism has influenced even the way we think about spiritual growth.So much of the teaching on spiritual formation is self-centered and self-focused without any reference to our relationship to other Christians.

This is completely unbiblical and ignores much of the New Testament. The truth is that Christians need relationships to grow. We don’t grow in isolation from others. We develop in the context of fellowship.

Over and over again in the New Testament we find this basic truth: Believers need relationships with each other to grow! Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another …” (NIV).

God intends for us to grow up in a family.

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

Happy New Year everyone!

Hi all...

Just a reminder not to let this blog waste away. =) Can always post anything that you glean from your devotions, or anything that you have questions about or want to share with us.

7 things Pastor mentioned we should do this year:

1. Count your blessings
Instead of saying "I'll be happy if..." we should be counting our blessings! Give thanks in all that you do. Now is a great time to look back as the last year and see how God has been faithful and give thanks to Him.

2. Read the Bible everyday (if you are a couple, try to read the Bible together too)
Be disciplined to spend time with God each day, and to read His word. It will help us to grow and give us wisdom and insight on our daily lives.

3. Fast and pray
Pastor said he fasts and prays at least twice a week. When we are weak from fasting, we can depend more on God and learn of his strength and goodness in a deeper way.

4. Build our families
We need to ask God for unconditional love to give to our families and loved ones. Spend more time with your family if you haven't been. Support them, be with them when they need you. Shower them with God's love and they will be touched and blessed.

5. Get out of debt
Owe no man anything. "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 16:7-8

6. Worship in spirit and in truth
Let us worship God with our lives. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24

7. Serve faithfully
Be faithful with the gifts and talents that God has given you. We are all called to be ministers. If we are not serving in church, we should be serving our families in God, we should be serving in our marketplace. Service should be a lifetime offering to God. I read a joke somewhere before that God didn't say we can take sabbatical leave from serving God. God wants us to serve Him all our days. Think about how you can serve Him more this year.

Blessed New Year!

-Sarah

Summary of Hope Project Part 2

Had the intention to write a thank you note for all of you and it seems that Sarah did it before i could.. hee... Thanks darling! You have spoken my mind once again!

Let’s also thank Sarah for putting together the Christmas Carol songbook and the door gifts.
Thank you all once again for all that you contributed! The Lord is well-pleased with the offering of your service for Him! We serve a living God who loved us and gave Himself for us! Hallelujah!

Indeed, the party was a success as I felt the presence of God was moving and working in the hearts of the people. Let's continue to have gatherings like this and take every opportunity to spread the Good News to our loved ones and friends.

I'm game for watchnight service! =)

Summary of My Hope Project

Blessed Christmas to All! =)

Last Saturday was great! I think we all had a lot of fun eating, playing games, watching the DVD testimonial and singing carols. Thank you all for your hard work in the preparation.

Thanks to Serene and Yi Xian for helping to book the function room, making the "Merry X'mas" words, ordering and picking up the food and the cake. Thanks to Kenny for preparing the games and prizes. Thanks to Sharon and Yeng Wei for coming early to set up, blowing the balloons and coming up with the idea of putting the gift exchange numbers inside the balloons and for inviting Peishi. Thanks to Jonathan for being a great host for the Win, Lose, or Draw and for inviting Gerin and Jasmine. Thanks to Susan for bringing the projector and setting it up. Thanks to Paul for inviting Norman, for setting up, and for helping me with the door gifts and playing the guitar for our carolling session. And thanks to Serene's parents for the yummy chicken curry and kueh kueh!

I think the party was a great success! Although we did not manage to bring as many friends as we would have liked to, we have created a precedent for us to work on for the future. This does not need to be a Christmas affair only, as and when we bring pre-Christians to church/cell, we can also show the video. I think the videos were very touching and a few people have asked me for copies of it.

I also believe that God will work in the hearts of those who came, whether they need to accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, or to rededicate their lives to Jesus. And He will also work in the hearts of those who did not accept our invitation and we must persevere to invite them again for future activities.

We should follow up with an outing, Serene suggested cycling at ECP. Any opinions?

Also, do invite your friends to our Christmas service on Christmas Day at 10am in church.

Lastly, anyone want to go for watchnight service?

-Sarah

On winning the lost

I read this during devotion today and felt that it is relevant for our My Hope Project...

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. "
2 Tim 4:2-5

The ideal conditions for sharing the faith or plucking the fruit will rarely be there:
"Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap."
Ecclesiastes 11:4

So, just do it!
"Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well."
Ecclesiastes 11:6

God has sovereignly placed you in the midst of lost people who desperately need to hear the message of Christ's love. From you. Today.

When sharing Christ, some principles to think about:

- Be willing to suffer for the gospel, Paul stated, "This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained." (2 Tim 2:8,9)

-Be sure that yo uare a clean vessel whom God can use, "If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." (2 Tim 2:21)

- Openly acknowledge Him before others, "If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself." (2 Tim 2:12)

- Make a diligent effort to accurately communicate the truth of God's word, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2 Tim 2:15)

-Avoid getting unnecessarily embroiled in foolish arguments, "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful." (2 Tim 2:23,24)

-Recognize God's sovereign role in bringing a person to Himself, "Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." (2 Tim 2:25,26)

-Sarah