Partnership in the Gospel

When you think of the word partnership, what do you think of? Do you think of WWE tag team champions? Or maybe you think of some sort of romanticized view of relationships, like Edward and Belle from you know where. Do you think of sport – ping pong, handball, relays, and stuff like that? Maybe you even think of commerce, where two parties pool in equity together, sign a contract, and form an entity called a ‘partnership’ where profits are split (business studies and commerce people know what I’m talking about)!! Whatever you may think of, the concept is still the same right? It’s when two or more people come together, work together, in achieving some sort of specific goal.

So last week, we looked at Philippians 1:1-11. Carey spoke specifically on the partnership that Paul had with the Philippian church and the unity that they had as a result of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We looked at the joys and struggles that Paul shared with the church (Paul was in prison!) We then in turn, looked at how this passage relates to us, and how our view of church and partnership should be.

Four key points about partnerships that were looked at:

1. The unity in Christ (v1-2)
2. The partnership resulting in joy (v3-5)
3. The partnership because of Gods grace (v6-8)
4. The partnership that results in prayer (v9-11)

You know, going to church is honestly one of the best things in the world that God has blessed us with. What do you think when I say that? Do you think… sif church is boring! Do you think… nah I have more fun at school or on Saturday. Let me explain what I mean when I say church is one of the best things out there.

Going to church beats going to school by a million miles. Just think about it for a second – what greater joy is there in life than to know God, have a personal relationship with him, to know that Jesus Christ has cleansed you of all your sins and filth through faith, knowing that the Holy Spirit now lives in you to make you more like Jesus, what greater joy is there in life than that?! And now think about it for a second, to be able to SHARE and PARTNER with someone in that joy! It’s crazy, it’s mind blowing. This joy that we have in knowing God, it’s one that we share with our brothers and sisters in Christ! When you’re at school, you’re with a bunch of people who don’t dig Jesus, who think Jesus isn’t king, who couldn’t care less about God… but when you’re at church! Now that’s a completely different story, you’re with a bunch of brothers and sisters who love God and want to give up everything to live for this God because they know who he is and love him so much because he is worthy!

I want to encourage you to really reflect on the joy of knowing God. It is only then will you truly understand the true joy in partnering with other Christians, brothers and sisters.

Encourage your brothers and sisters when you see them, ask them how their walk with God is going. Ask them how they are going, whether there’s anything you can be praying for. Let’s end superficial relationships in church. Let’s get real with each other. Let’s love each other just as Christ loved us and let’s share and partner with each other because of the joy we have in the gospel. Let’s continue partnering with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’ll end with a short passage from Philippians 1:3-6
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God bless

CYA Leaders

Seeing Light in Darkness

It’s amazing how in darkness, the light shines all the more brightly.

Last Sunday, we looked at the Biblical teaching of sin. The topical was ‘God and the depravity of man’, the first of a three part series. The verses we focused on were as follows:

Hebrews 11:6 – Without Faith it is impossible to please God

Romans 14:23 – Whatever does not proceed from faith is Sin

Romans 3:10-12

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
¹²All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”^[a]

I want to emphasise again that outside of Jesus Christ, noone can please God, nothing we do is good, and everything that we do is sin. A lot of people have this misunderstanding and misconception that sin is doing bad things like swearing, lying, cheating, lusting, getting angry etc. That might only be just a small portion of what sin actually is. Sin is dishonoring God. Sin is living for your own glory. Sin is living as though God doesn’t matter. Before you became a Christian, your whole life was sin, because your whole life was lived without faith in Christ and in rejection of God. Romans 3:11 tells us that we had no desire or motivation at all to seek God, we loved our sin, we hated God. We might not have said we hated God with our mouths, but we lived it with our lives. ‘God, I want to live life my own way, I don’t care about your way of living, and I want to rule my own life!’ That was our attitude before we became Christians.

Because of our total rebellion against God, we are totally deserving of Gods judgment. Wickedness must be punished. Just try to think of a society where murderers got away free, people that stole your lunch were not punished, bullies at school were able to beat up whoever they wanted without any punishment… It’s a society that won’t work right? In that same way, for God to be fully just, he MUST punish wicked sinners. And the sad truth is… we’re all sinners, we’re all wicked. There is no one righteous, not even one. The punishment for our sin is the full force of God’s wrath, the righteous anger of God, the full justice of God, Eternity in hell, separated from Gods love, but not Gods righteous anger.

So now… here’s the dilemma:

If we love our sin, and given the opportunity to either choose God or sin, we’d choose sin (refer to Romans 3:10-12), how can a wicked person, who is fully deserving of Gods wrath, be made right with God?

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When we hated God, God loved us. When we were blinded by darkness, God opened our eyes. God sent the messiah, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in OUR place, for OUR sin, to drink of cup of Gods wrath that WE deserved. Jesus didn’t deserve it, Jesus was pure and spotless, yet because of Gods great love for us, Christ took the punishment in our place.

What can a dead person do to make himself alive again? Could Lazarus raise himself from the dead? If you saw a dead bird or dead animal lying on the street, what do you reckon are the chances of it jumping up onto it’s feet again? Probably zero percent right? In the same way, how can someone who is spiritually dead in sin make himself alive again?

Ephesians 2:4-5

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Salvation is a gift! We don’t deserve it. What we deserve is the righteous judgment of God on our lives. Read Ephesians 2:4-5 again! Just read it, read it over and over again, and just try to comprehend what you’re reading.

Some of you are possibly weighed down heavily with your sin… you feel a great weight of ‘guilt’ and sin on your heart, you often ask yourself questions like ‘how could God love me so much to send his son to die for me?’. You often tell yourself ‘I don’t deserve Gods love, I am a wretched sinner, I deserve to go to hell! I don’t deserve to see light’. It often plagues your mind that even though you call yourself a Christian, you’re constantly sinning against the one who you claim to be worshipping. ‘How can I be a Christian if I keep sinning?’ ‘I am unworthy, I am weak’ ‘I am struggling with a particular sin that I can’t ever get rid of and I feel as though I am a slave to it, and I know I shouldn’t do it but I always do, and afterwards I feel this great weight of guilt on my heart, am I really worthy of being saved?’

I want to say that you are right… you are unworthy, you are weak, you are a wretched sinner… and so am I. You don’t want to know how many times I’ve been broken over my sin, how many times I’ve wept over my unworthiness before God. I want to tell you brother and sister that there is hope!

Let me tell you a story, you might remember it as I tell it:

There was once a son who came from a wealthy family. His father was rich! The son could have had whatever he asked for. But because of his selfishness and evil desires, he told his dad to divide the property so he could take his share of the money… You could say he wanted his dad dead. How else do you get your share of an inheritance? The father has to be dead. The son wasted all of the money on prostitutes and other wicked things. He comes to his senses and decides to go home to his father. What does he say to the father?

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Was the son worthy to be welcomed back? NO! He was not worthy, he was unworthy and the father would have been justified never to talk again to the son. Yet what does the father do?

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Read the whole story in Luke 15:11-32. It’s an amazing story.

We are unworthy, we are weak, but God loved us in our weakness. He sent his son to die for us when we hated him. Can we even begin to comprehend the love of God? It is beyond comprehension! Don’t be tied down with guilt of sin, Christ has paid the penalty and punish for our sin. God no longer declares those who live by faith in Christ as guilty.

Remember your unworthiness, remember your weakness, and then remember that Christ died for you in your weakness, and he rose again to give you new life. Are you beginning to understand the magnificent glory of Jesus Christ? Are you beginning to see the surpassing greatness of Gods love and mercy in our total depravity? Christ has the power to set you free from sin and slavery to sin, run to him.

I know I’m weak, I know I’m unworthy to call upon your name

But because of grace, because of your mercy, I stand here unashamed.

I’ll leave you with a prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus

Ephesians 3:14-19

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I pray God will give you the power to understand the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge =)

God bless you my friend.

Derek

Have you ever done Pottery?

Have you ever had the opportunity to do pottery before? The opportunity to mold and shape and make and break it. When I was in year 8 I remember having art class with lessons on pottery. Always wondered why we did it and to this day never really understood the meaning behind the 13 weeks of pottery and theory that we did because I never had to use it. But I guess it does come in handy if you get into that trade later in life but for an asian kid in year 8 that was being encouraged to “go into medicine or become a lawyer”, pottery never eventuated in anything.

But that’s not my point. I was just reflecting the other day on Isaiah 45:9 and it says:

“Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?”

In the whole scope and scheme of things. This verse brings out so much. How ridiculous that notion is. The idea that the clay has anything to say to the maker. I mean imagine if you will. That whilst in pottery class, with the teacher standing in the front, other guys around you and you’re making something with the lump of clay put in front of you. The clay is never going to jump up and say “NO, don’t make me a pot, I want to be a cup”. That’s completely ridiculous! Is it not?
But that is exactly what all of us have done. We all have turned away from the creator God who has made and shaped us and we all have said “NO, I don’t want to live for you, you’ve made me into this, but I don’t want to be it, I’ll choose what I want to be”.

As ludicrous as the clay saying to the potter “No”, it’s the same with God and us. We have no right to say to God “No”, but we have.

Oh, we are such sinful creatures. We have all turned away from God and walked our own way and rejected Him.

But that is why it’s all the more confusing why God would ever send His son for us. The one who was perfect. He sent His one and only Son, the one who listened, the one who honored His Father, the one who did the will of God. He went willingly to the cross so that we could come back to God. Jesus was sent for US so that we could come back to God and live for HIM.

I want to remind you of one verse. I hope it brings out clearly what Jesus did. It comes from Romans 5:7-9:

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

He did this so you could have life and life to the full. Believe in Him and live for Him. Let Him guide you and let Him be the one that follow and live by what you were intended for. For the praise of His glory

“No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and made us waste away because of our sins.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray,
for we are all your people.”
Isaiah 64:7-9

A short sharing by Carey

Wow!

hahaha wow! I just read something so awesome haha. I can’t help but laugh cos it’s just so cool!

Aight before I get into it, let me explain what happened and how I got hold of this book yeah?

So I had just finished this one book and I had no other book to read, so I decided to head off to my nearest Christian bookshop and check to see if they got anything awesome to read. I went to my favorite section of the store and picked the first book off the shelf that I saw which might interest me – ‘Power in the Blood’ by Charles Spurgeon. So it’s not really a book that I had much expectation or anything, quite random.

Here’s the quote which blew me away and just brought me such great joy and gladness when I read it!

pg 69
‘How long should a person thank God for forgiving his sins? Is life long enough? Is time long enough? Is eternity long enough? How long should a man thank God for saving him from going down to hell? Would fifty years suffice? Oh, no, that would never do; the blessing is too great to all be sung of in a millennium.

Suppose you and I never had a single mercy except this one, that we were made the children of God and coheirs with Christ Jesus (Rom 8:16-17). Suppose we had nothing else to enjoy. We ought to sing about that alone forever and ever. Yes, if we were sick, cast on the bed of pain with a hundred diseases, with the bone wearing through the skin, yet since God’s everlasting mercy would sanctify every pain, should we not still continue to lift up happy psalms to God and praise Him forever and ever? Therefore, let this be your slogan all through the year: “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!”‘

Over the past two or so weeks, I’ve been quoting Psalm 73:25-26 to myself quite a lot, and what my brother Spurgeon says here is exactly what I want to express to God! God has forgiven such a wretched sinner like me, one that just… deserves death and judgment because of my sin and rebellion, but God has saved me from death to life! Praise God!

Father, let there be nothing in heaven and on earth that I desire besides you

New Life

Heya!

If you decided to make a commitment to repent of your sin, turn away from your old self, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ, then I wanna say that you’ve made one of the BEST decisions that you’ll ever make in your life.

It is our prayer that your declaration of faith in Christ holds true on the last day. Being a Christian is tough, many venture on the narrow path just to fall up after being tempted and led astray by worldly and satanic things. (Luke 8:13-14) We pray that will not be you! God will give you strength to persevere and provide you with his own Holy Spirit to guide you if it is your will and desire to know him and live for him. God is worthy of worship, remember that.

Three quick points as you journey on in your new life. These are by no means the only points, there are definitely many many things that can be added to the list. Heres just three of them.

Point 1.
Never take sin lightly.
Matthew 18:8
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

Does this mean we cut off our hands and feet? No… Jesus was using hyperbole to emphasis how dangerous sin actually is, and the extremes that we must go to when fleeing from sin.

A Christian cannot love sin… sure a Christian still sins and may struggle with sin, but a Christian does NOT love sin. Why doesn’t a Christian love sin? It’s because s/he can’t love sin, s/he will not love sin, because s/he loves God.

Don’t be deceived into thinking that sinning is ok. Don’t be deceived by ‘Christians’ who swear their heads off like it’s the normal thing to do, because it’s not. Don’t be deceived into thinking that reading Gods word is boring, or that there are better things to do than to read it. Do the will of God

2. Continue meeting up with brothers and sisters in Christ
Hebrews 10:24-25
24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Don’t neglect to meet up with your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one body as said in the book of Ephesians. We are there to encourage one another, spur on one another, and build each other up. Don’t neglect the family of believers.

3. Fix your eyes upon Jesus
Heb 12:1-2
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

A lot of things you can fix your eyes on
- Guitar/stuff
- Boy or Girl at school
- 100 UAI

Constantly remind yourself of how Jesus died on the cross for your sins when you were hated him. Remind yourself of the great grace and love of God. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

The world is gonna tempt you as well, Satan is gonna try lead you astray and tempt you with alotta diff things, popularity at school, being cool, money, all this other stuff, but don’t fall for it. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Christianity is about Christ, remember that. It’s not about being a good person, or doing good things. It’s about Christ, so fix your eyes on him.

How to fix your eyes on him?
Read his word, pray to him, desire him, live for him, serve him, glorify him.

That’s all for now. We pray that it is your sole desire and passion to live for God, to love him, to desire a relationship with him, and to glorify him in all that you do.

Amen

Unashamed

Starfield – Unashamed

And I know I’m weak
I know I’m unworthy
To call upon Your name
But because of grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed

Had this song on repeat for the past awhile. It’s crazy to think that there’s so much in life that I can be ashamed about, the sinful lifestyle I used to live, the evil I once used to love. But Jesus Christ died, rose again, and redeemed me. Christ paid the death that I deserved. Now that’s love!

I ain’t crazy, I ain’t loco, I am just blessed enough to know the truth. It’s there for you to know as well.

I stand here unashamed

Some quotes about prayer

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

Martin Luther