4th Sept Sermon Discussion - You Can! Because God is Faithful

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22nd August Sermon Discussion - Dare to Dream!

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8th August Sermon Discussion - 4th Dimensional Thinking

[TODAY’S SERMON...]

Last week, Pastor Khong shared about the 4th dimension. If you recall, the 4th dimension is the world of the spiritual world. It is where the works of the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit of Satan, and the human spirit of man take place. There are 4 keys to the 4th dimension which are thinking, vision and dreams, faith and words. Today, we will look deeper into the 4th dimension thinking.

Do you know how powerful our mind is? It is said that the state of life is determine by the state of mind. This means that your thinking controls the way you live. And that’s why to enter into the 4th dimension, we can’t have 3rd dimension thinking (worldly thinking). We need to renew our mind to have 4th dimension thinking. Look at Romans 12:2

[HOW DO WE RENEW OUR MIND?]

We need to think in 3 specific ways:

1) Think possibility
Have you heard before the ‘half full or half empty cup theory’? It goes like this. Water is being filled to the half line marker of the cup and you decide whether the cup is half full or half empty. This theory is used to see how people perceive their situation in life. People who see the cup as half empty are normally pessimistic about life. They don’t see any possibilities to their problems. Whereas people who see the cup as half filled, are normally optimistic about life. They see possibilities instead of problems.

You see, when we face challenges in life and we don’t think of the possibility, we are actually saying that our God is the God of impossible. And with that thinking, we can never enter into the 4th dimension.

Today, will you believe with all your mind that ‘with God, all things are possible’ and ‘you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength’ ?

2) Think pure – Matthew 5: 8
There are 3 types of impure thoughts. They are anxiety, sin and inferior thoughts.

Anxiety: In Mat 6: 25-34, God tells us not to worry. But honestly, how many of you worry a lot? Share with your cell what are 3 things that your normally worry about. Do you know that worrying goes no where? It’s like sitting on a rocking chair. You can rock all you want but it goes nowhere. Today, surrender your worries to God and trust Him. Know that He has good plans for you.

Sin: Look at Romans 1:28-31. Are they sinful thoughts in you? It can be thoughts of envy, lust, murder etc. Will you confess to your leader about it? Don’t wait till your thoughts become real. Remember, our mind can control the way we live.

Inferior: Let’s discuss. When you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see a masterpiece or do you not like what you see?

When we do not like ourselves, we are actually criticising God’s creation. Maybe some of you here dislike the way you look because of what people say about you. Write it down on a piece of paper of all those hurtful words that were said about you.

Take the paper, close your eyes, and tear it because these are all lies and you need to let go of it and start to believe that you are a MASTERPIECE! You are SPECIAL!

3) Think Paradise
Read Ephesians 2:6-7

To think paradise, is to think that you are with God in the heavenly realms.

Do you know that you are 4th dimension creature living in 3rd dimension world. Look at Ephesians 2:6. God is seated with us! Now you know this truth, will you start to have 4th dimension thinking? When you start to have 4th dimension thinking, you will see the impossible becoming possible, the supernatural becoming natural, and the victimize becoming victors!

[PRACTICE WHAT YOU LEARNT..]

1. Some of you here might not be leading a group because you think you can’t. Today, will you take a leap of faith to believe that you can? Invite 1 friend to your cell 40DOF group or Teens excite.

2. Have you been reading the bible? To have 4th dimension thinking, you need the word of God. Start reading the bible today!

3. Memorise Romans 12:2

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18th July Sermon Discussion - The Danger of Drifting...

Scripture: Hebrews 2:1-4; 6:11-12

[TODAY'S SERMON]

Imagine that you are on a raft in an open ocean and you are trying to reach an island. To reach the island, you will have to put in effort and paddle towards it. The moment you stop paddling and do nothing, your raft will just float around aimlessly according to current of the ocean – You end up drifting away.

Our Christian walk is very much the same. The moment we do nothing, we end up drifting away (from God). Two important truths we need to learn from today’s message:

1. Spiritual drifting comes from negligence.
2. Spiritual drifting can be overcome by diligence.

[HOW WE SEE IT...]

So what is all this talk about negligence and diligence? Well let’s try to explain it:

Do you remember using a pencil back in primary school? You have to constantly sharpen your pencils to make sure that they are useable. Negligence is when we are irresponsible and do not constantly sharpen and make sure that our pencils are useable. So in the event we need a pencil, we might just find that our pencils are blunt, broken and useless.

Diligence is when we constantly take responsibility to make sure that our pencils are sharpened and useable at all times.

If your Christian walk is a pencil, are you sharpened and useable or are you blunt and broken? The moment you stop sharpening your walk by reading the bible, spending time with God or praying, you end up drifting further and further away from God.

[THE BIBLE SAYS...]

Hebrews 2:1
“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”

How is your spiritual walk? Are you spending time with God? Are you reading the word? Are you praying? If your answer is no, then it’s time to listen to what Hebrews 2:1 says!

Pay much closer attention to your spiritual walk. Make it a point to seek God everyday so that you do not drift away!

Remember, what is it that we must do to drift away? – Nothing!
So what are you going to do so you don’t drift away?

[YOUR LIFE...]

Pause and think through your spiritual walk for a moment. What are some areas that you’ve not been sharpening? Write it down below and commit to the Lord that you will start sharpening it today!

Example: Prayer, quiet time, reading bible etc.

[SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...]

The great thing about God’s plan for our lives is that He didn’t just plan for us to walk through our Christian walk alone! Apart from being there, God has also sent many people to you to minister to you on His behalf. A good example would be your cell group!

Take some time to ask these questions as a cell:
1. What are some things we can do as a cell to ensure that all the members of the cell do not drift away?
2. What can I do during my own daily schedule to ensure that I do not drift away? (Click here to read full post)

20th June Sermon Discussion - Consider the Goodness and Severity of God

Scripture: Romans 11:21, 22

INTRODUCTION

• Take a moment and think through what God is like. Now try and put a picture to what God is to you.

• Is God like an old gentle man floating up on the clouds giving out gifts and love to everyone

OR

• Is God like an angry giant up in the heavens looking down in anger waiting to zap everyone with lightning?

• God may or may not be either one but to know God as who He truly is, we need to know God and see Him completely.

MESSAGE

• The truth is that God is good and loving, but at the same time God is severe and fierce.

• God’s goodness is always popular but people usually don’t want to talk about God’s severity.

• In order to truly know God, we need to see every part of Him and not just choose the parts that we want to see.

Question: Based on Romans 11:21-22, what do you think will happen if you only choose to see God’s goodness and not His severity?

• We need to see and understand God’s severity before we can understand God’s goodness.

• If we choose to see God in an incomplete way, then we will end up falling away and rejecting the truth – Look at the book of Jeremiah!

• We need to see God fully and complete! He is not 50% gracious and 50% severe – He is 100% gracious and 100% severe!

How then shall we live?

#1: We need to be overwhelmed by the grace of God

• We are all imperfect and have sinned and because of that we actually deserve to die and not live another second. But take a look at Lamentations 3:22-23.

• God loves us so much that’s why He doesn’t consume us! And He demonstrated that love in Romans 5:8!

• We all actually do not have the right to live and have any form of blessings in our lives. But because of God’s grace and mercy, we can live a life full of blessings.

#2: We must not take His grace for granted

• Hebrews 12:29 tells us that God is a consuming fire.

Question: Take a look at another verse, Hebrews 10:26-27. What do you think will happen if we always say that it’s okay to sin because God will always forgive us?

• Always listen to the voice of God and do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:15).

• If your heart is hardened, your reject the word of God and because of that you cause yourself to stop receiving God’s grace, mercy and love.

APPLICATION

• The way to always be overwhelmed by the grace of God and not to take it for granted is to walk closely with God.

• The question is, how is your quiet time? Do you spend time with God?

• Choose today to walk with God every day. Do your quiet time every day. As you obey God and spend time with Him, you will learn and see God in His completeness. Don’t choose parts of God that are better for you. Choose God for all that God is.

MEMORY VERSE

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

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13th June Sermon Discussion - "You Can Be A Blessing!"

Introduction:

How many of you want to see yourself leading a group or inviting your friends to the 40 days of faith? If you want, you need to start now! Yeah! Though 40 days of Faith officially starts on 1 August, you need to start praying and planning now. Don’t worry its just a few simple steps☺

Bible verses: Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-8

3 simple steps that we can take in response to this call and experience the miracle of multiplication

1. Go and see the need

Write down the names of your friends/family members that you want to invite for 40 days of Faith.

How many of you here are troubled or stress out on what to do to reach out to them? Let’s look at what Jesus do when He reach out to the multitudes.

In Mark 6:34 states ‘When Jesus arrived, he saw this huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke – like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them. Looking at this verse, it says that the crowd was like sheep with no shepherd and what Jesus did was to meet their needs by teaching them. He didn’t spend thousand of dollars nor perform a talent show to reach out. He just met the needs of the people.

Activity 1:

a) How did you come to know Jesus and what makes you believe in Jesus? Write it down. I believe many of you here believe in Jesus because Jesus met your needs. Maybe some of you here a wounded heart and Jesus met your needs by healing it. Maybe some of you here have fears and Jesus met your needs by helping you to overcome your fear.

b) Look at the names of the friends/family members that you have written just now. Do you know their needs? Write it down beside their names and start praying for them. If you don’t, then its time to spend time with them, to know more about them and pray for them. And if their needs are something that you can meet, are you willing to help them meet it? For example, some of them need friends to study with. Are you willing to set up a study club and study together with them? Or maybe some of them need friends to go out with. Are you willing to organize a simple outing for them to spend time with them?

2. Pray and bring them to the Lord

In Mark 6:30-44, we see how God was able to feed the thousands despite having five loaves and 2 fishes. Indeed, with God, all things are possible.

Activity 2:

a) As we are talking about leading a group or inviting friends for 40 days of Faith, how many of you are fearful doing it or think that you can’t lead a group? Write down those fears and reason why you think you can’t.

b) Today, God wants to tell you that you can! In Phil 4:13 ‘ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.’ Just like how Jesus was able to feed the thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, He is able to help you overcome your fears. As long as you tell God that you are willing to lead a group or willing to participate in the 40 days of Faith, God will help you.

c) Make it a commitment to pray to Him daily for the people that you are inviting.

3. Organize and serve them together

Jesus was very detail at His execution. Similarly we need to be organize in our 40 days of faith.

Activity 3:

a) Take this time to think of the venue that you want your 40 days of faith to be held and write it down. Make sure it’s comfortable, convenient and conducive. There will be a short video for them to see. Do ensure that the place is able to show the video.

b) Which day and time do you want it to be held? After school? Sat?

c) From now till 40days of Faith, it’s about 1 month plus. Organise activities that can fellowship with them or meet their needs before the 40 days of Faith officially start. You can have a study club/a once a week movie outing/a bbq gathering/play sports or computer games etc. It will be good if you can work together with a fellow sister/brother in Christ.

Yeah, remember 40 days of Faith don’t start on 1 August. It starts NOW!

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29th May Sermon Discussion - "I CAN!"

Scripture: Philippians 4:13

INTRODUCTION

Did you know...

• You could share the gospel to your entire school?


• You could lead 100 people?


• You could be the top student in your school?


• You could reach your generation for Christ?

God’s word for you today is that YOU CAN do great things!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re smart or rich or how old you are; God can and will use you to do great things if you let Him because God lives in you!

The most ordinary people can do great things through our extraordinary God!

You can be great! (But you need to believe it!)

Activity: Share with one another in the group what is your greatest dream. It could be to become a millionaire, a pilot, own a mansion or even to be the next Apostle Lawrence Khong! Regardless of what it is, do you believe that you can do it? Do you believe that you can do even more than that? End off telling one another “you can!” and then by saying it yourself that “I can!”

- So why do we need to believe that “I can!”? Is to please Pastor Khong? Is it just so that we will feel excited about the 40 days of faith? NO!

- So what is believing that “I CAN!” all about?

MESSAGE

#1: We live with an attitude of FAITH!

• Attitude is important because it is what shapes our lives.

• Attitude will either liberate us (free us to do great things) or limit us (push us down to never do great things).

• If we always tell ourselves that we can’t do it then we will end up not being able to do it. But if we tell ourselves that we can do it then we will end up being able to do it.

• Romans 8:31 (NIV) “If God is for us, who can be against us?” – God is for you! So step out in this attitude of faith to believe that God can and will use you to do great things!

#2: We choose to act in OBEDIENCE!

• We cannot just believe that we can do great things. We must actually start doing it!

• James 1:22 (NKJV) “But be DOERS of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

• A true attitude of faith that believes God can and will use you will lead to action.

• Philippians 4:13 doesn’t just say “I can”. It says “I can DO”.

• Don’t just believe that you can do great things. Great things don’t just happen. Great things happen through doing something.

#3: We allow God’s POWER to come!

• We can believe that we will do great things. We can start to work on great things. But only when God’s power comes and empower us can we fully do great things.

• Philippians 4:13 doesn’t just say “I can do”. It says “I can do all things THROUGH Him who strengthens me”.

• We can easily say “I can pray and heal the sick!” We can believe that we can do it. We can do something by praying. But only when we allow God’s power to come and empower us can any healing take place.

• 2 Corinthians 3:5 (Amplified Bible) “Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.”

APPLICATION

• 40 Days of faiths is just around the corner. In fact it starts now.
• Do you believe that you can lead a group?
• When you believe it and step out to start doing it, God will empower you and you will see great things being done through you.

Activity: Spend some time seeking the Lord and asking Him to help you lead a group through the 40 days of faith. If you are serious and believe that God can and will use you, tell your leader that you want to lead a group. You may not know how, but take that step of faith and obedience and allow God’s power to come and use you!

Memory Verse:
Philippians 4:13 (NIV) “I CAN do ALL THINGS through Christ who STRENGTHENS me.”

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