16th August Sermon Discussion - “Families That Can Save The World”

Scripture Reference: Malachi 4:4-6

A. Warm-up
1a. Describe your family in 3 words.
1b. Share a happy experience in your family.


B. Discussion
2. God wants to grow families that can save the world. Who is the most important person in the family who can achieve this?

3a. In the sermon who is the best example of a father?
3b. In John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus spoke about His purpose in coming to earth. What is His purpose?

3d. Give some examples of what God the Father has done for us.

4. In Romans 8:15, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

We lose the spirit of sonship when we have to perform to feel accepted or when we harden our hearts towards our parents.

What can we do to turn our hearts back to our parents?

(We must learn to forgive our parents from our hearts, until then we cannot learn or experience the Father’s love.)

5. According to the sermon, in what ways can a father reach out to his children? Discuss.

C. Application
6. Take some time to pray for our fathers that GOD will help them grow in their roles as fathers to us. If some of our fathers are pre-believers, we can pray for their salvation.

7. Ask God to show you ways you can show His love to your family. (Click here to read full post)

9th August Sermon Discussion - “Your Time is Up!”

Scripture Reference: Daniel 5:17-30

A. Warm Up Activity: Finger Catching
Instructions:
1) Form a circle
2) Stretch out your right hand and put your left first finger on top of the right hand of your friend next to you
3) Leader will read Daniel 5:17-30
"When you hear these 2 words – 'God' and 'king', you catch the finger that’s on your right hand, at the same time avoid being caught by your friend"


B. Discuss
1. Who avoided being caught all the time? How did he/she do it?
The 2 factors are to listen carefully for the 2 words and to act fast enough. Likewise Pastor Khong has given us a serious warning that we need to listen to and to act upon.

1a. What are these 2 words of truth?
i. You may have crossed the line of no return, Experience God’s grief
ii. You don’t have to cross the line, Experience God’s grace

2. Compare the lives of these people to see how they have cross the line:
2a. King Belshazzar
Arrogance, pride (Daniel 5:22)
Defile God’s temple (Daniel 5:2-5, 23)

2b. Samson
Sin of Pride
Womanising

2c. Ananias & Sapphira
Lied to God & his leaders (Acts 5:1-10)

3. The purpose of a warning is to give us advanced notice of something coming. God gives us warning through His word, His leaders and events happening around us. Why do you think God goes through so much trouble to give us warning?

4. You don’t have to cross the line. Are there areas of your life that God is warning you on?
a. Sin of pride
b. Boy-girl relationship – heavy petting
c. Addiction to games
d. Have not spent time with God in reading his word or prayer, for a long period of time
e. Unforgiveness

5. What is your response to God’s warning? (Click here to read full post)

2nd August Sermon Discussion - “What Do You See?”

Scripture Reference: Matthew 9:35-38, Galatians 2:10

The opposite of love is indifference.

1. #Cell leader to bring a set of newspaper#.
Let's have a look through the many stories in the newspaper, what do you see about the condition of the people (pain & poverty)? Share a story that catches your attention.

2. How do you think God feels when He sees these people you mentioned in the stories? What would Jesus have done?

3. During the sermon, we were taught that in order to keep our heart tender and soft, we have to go meet a need. Take a moment to ask God to give us eyes of compassion to look for someone around us that we can show kindness this week.

(Click here to read full post)

26th July Sermon Discussion - “Molded to be a Masterpiece”

Scripture references: Jeremiah 18:1-10

A. WARM UP
In small groups of 3 or 4 persons, share what you know about the process a potter takes to produce his final ceramic/potter product. (take about 3 min)

What are the factors that will determine how the final product will look like? (take about 3 min)
Possible answers:

• The picture the potter has in mind and his continual shaping
• The treatment process to the clay (quantity of water used, frequency of water used, ability to get rid of air traps in the clay…)

B. DISCUSS
Let us read Jeremiah 18:1-10

Observation: In this passage, you will learn what you’ve just shared earlier, that is

1. How the pot turns out as a final product depends on the potter, and
2. How the pot turns out as final product depends on the quality of the clay

Therefore, from Jeremiah 18:1-10, we learn that if we want to be molded as God’s Masterpiece, we need the same 2 truths:

Truth #1: It’s NOT ABOUT Me! God Must Be My Centre Of Attention – Don’t Be 2nd Best
Jeremiah 18: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."

Truth #2: It’s ABOUT Me! I Am God’s Centre Of Attention – There Is A 2nd Chance
Jeremiah 18:4 “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

C. APPLICATION

1. We all want to be molded by God to be His desired masterpiece. Is there any area in your life right now that God is showing you that He wants to remould for His purpose. Share and pray with one another.
2. In the process of being molded by God to be His desired masterpiece, God always gives us a second chance. Share a breakthrough that you want to see God do for you today. Pray a blessing for each other.

(Click here to read full post)

19th July Sermon Discussion - “Standing Tall in Turbulent Times – God and God Alone”

A) Warm-up activity: Tear Down Pride

Logistics: Enough balloons for each cell members (can substitute with nice colored papers too if you can’t get hold of balloons), 1 sharp toothpick, Some markers & 2 “surprised” gifts ( e.g. Chocolates; flowers etc)

1) Distribute a balloon to every cell member and ask them to inflate it (or pass out the sheets of paper).
2) Write on the balloons (or papers) 3-5 things that they are proud of about themselves / what they have.
3) Everyone takes turn to share what they wrote.
4) Cell leader to choose to burst 2 balloons after all have shared (or tear up the papers if papers are used).
5) Cell leader to get the 2 members to share how they felt about having their balloons burst (papers torn); in view of the rest still having theirs left untouched. (Possible responses: Upset, puzzled, feel picked on, unfair why the rest still have their balloons, papers, hurt.)

Transition Statement: We all tend to find our significance / security in the areas we wrote on our balloon. How would you feel if God took that all away? Let’s study the life of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 and learn how and why God humbled him.

B) Sermon Discussion:

1) Read Daniel 4:28-37
2) How did God humble Nebuchadnezzar? (v33- He lost his sanity; driven away by his people; lived like a wild man)
3) Why did God humble Nebuchadnezzar? (v28- He took credit for his status and achievements without recognising that God ALONE governs.)

How did God restore him and why did God restore him?
(v34-36 Only when Nebuchadnezzar looked to God and humbled himself to recognize that only God alone rules, then he regained his sanity, splendor and honor was restored and he returned to the throne even greater than before.)

Seeing how God restored King Nebuchadnezzar, restoring to him all that he lost and even more, we know we have a gracious God.

At this moment, cell leader to present the surprised gifts to the cell members whom he/she had earlier on, burst their balloons (torn their papers). This is to help them recognize that we have a gracious God by giving them now more than what they had at the beginning.

C) Application:

In view of God’s sovereignty and graciousness,
1) What is an area of pride that you would like God to tear down?
2) Share a difficult moment you are walking through. Instead of resisting God, LOOK UP to Him now and acknowledge that He alone rules and thank Him for helping you grow in humility through that struggle.
3) Pray for each other.

(Click here to read full post)

12th July Sermon Discussion - “Standing Tall in Turbulent Times – Drawing the Line”

Scripture Reading: Daniel 3:16-18

Warm-up:

A. Play the familiar game, “Simon says”.

For those who do not know the game, “Simon says” is a game where the game leader specifies a few commands. If the game leader starts the command with “Simon says”, the participants are required to obey the command in order to stay in the game. If the game leader did not use the phrase “Simon says”, participants are required to ignore the command. Let’s start the game with:

(i) Simon says, “Jump 3 times.”

(ii) Jump 5 times.

(iii) Simon says, “Tickle the friend seated next to you.”

(iv) Stop tickling your friend.

(v) Simon says, “Run to the nearest wall, touch it, come back & sit down.”

(vi) Simon says, “Give me a 10 cent or 20 cent coin each.”

(vii) Simon says, “Dig out a $2 or whatever dollar note from the wallet of the person seated on your right and keep the money for yourself.”

a) How did you feel when you were asked to take money from your friend’s wallet? Would you do it?

b) If the rest played along to take money from their friend’s wallet all in the name of fun and you choose not to follow the crowd, how would you feel about being the only one not doing what others are doing?

B. Read Daniel 3:16-18. How did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego draw the line in obeying God ?

Review what Ps Khong taught us about drawing the line.

The 3 Principles about “Drawing the Line”

(i) Please God, not man

(ii) Have a Personal Knowledge that God is Great and God is Good

(iii) Be Willing to Pay the Price for Obeying God

C. Are there situations in your life that you will follow the crowd mindlessly or be prone to compromise in?

Some possible peer pressure situations: Copying homework, speaking vulgarities or swear words, please your friends etc.

D. How can you draw the line for your situation using any one of the 3 principles listed above?

(Click here to read full post)

5th July Sermon Discussion - “Running On Empty”

Scripture Reference: John 7:37-39

Icebreaker : What is your favorite drink when you’re really thirsty ? Does it immediately quench your thirst or make you even more thirsty ?

Context: Some of us may be running on empty without realizing it. We feel drained & tired.

In the John passage, the Lord Jesus invites those who are thirsty to come to Him and drink. Streams of living water will flow from within. We will be able to enjoy an overflowing life.

Q1 : What do you think is the condition of your heart today?

We need to constantly take time out to check the condition of our heart. It is like a car having a fuel gauge to know when it will run empty. Are you near “Empty” or “Full “ ?

Q2 : Is your heart tender & open for God to refill you ?

Our hearts need to be open for God to work & refill us. Same like the car; the fuel cap needs to be opened before the owner can refuel it. Therefore, our hearts need to be open.

Q3: Have you been refilled by the Lord ? How can you be a blessing to someone this week ?

As we are being refilled by the Lord, we must believe God's blessing will flow to us. Through us blessing will flow out to others. We can be streams of living water & a blessing to others.

(Click here to read full post)