Starting our new series on David, we first looked at Samuel 13:7-14.

In Samuel, Saul disobeyed the Lord's command out of fear. Despite being told to wait for Samuel for seven days, he takes it into his own hands trying to make things right by his own means. The consequence for Saul was to lose his Kingdom as he wasn't "after God's heart".

When have we acted out of fear? What does it mean to be after God's heart? To be after anyone's heart is to act in their best interest, not our own; to maintain a trusting relationship and to "please" them at all cost. I personally find it a struggle to help others when its not "convenient" or requires me to change my plans. Our lives are so structured, that when God intervenes, we become scared, helpless and frustrated. Do we trust God's plan for us, or do we take control and try to resolve our problems on our own? Whilst it may be easier to do the latter, it often ends in failure and we enter a situation worse than the one before.

But even David, a man after God's own heart, was not perfect. We must seek forgiveness when we fail and know that we can still live a life after God's heart even amidst our imperfections.

Three Action Points:

-Act in Faith Not Fear
-Repent and Seek Forgiveness when we fail
-Live to Pursue God's Heart

"Let's be the revolution that lives for holding nothing back"- After Your Heart, Phil Wickham

Thorn in my side

Galatians 6:14-15

I was listening to Bon Jovi's latest album and one song really struck me, it was one called Thorn In My Side. I thought to myself...ahhh biblical! But I could not be further from the truth. The song takes a very worldly view of things and to the average listener it wouldn't be a problem, perhaps even encouraging. The line that hit me the most was..."You can test my faith But you can't take my pride". Fitting quite well with this passage...pride, what we boast about. Today a lot of people say things like, keeping my pride, fight for pride, I will not lose my pride etc etc. Pride and face is such a massive thing but really, why? I mean, what have we actually done to be prideful about? What can we actually boast about? There is always someone stronger, someone smarter, someone taller, the list goes on.

What we can do is boast in the Cross. It isn't something that we have done or we have achieved but we are definitely part of it! Through the Cross we have new life and through the Cross we become more than conquerors. It was never about ticking the boxes, following the Law but it is about change, it is about new creation. Without the Cross, what we believe in is nothing, it would be the same as every other religion out there because there would be no change. We would still be trying in our own strength, boasting in what we have done, boasting in our pride. That thorn in your side...it's to tell you that God is in control, that it is God who will get you through and it is God who has done it.

~Sck

P.S. If you are reading this, post a comment :)

Reaper

Galatians 6:7-10

You reap what you sow. It isn't about yourself, about following the rules but it is about love. It isn't about ticking the boxes, being able to follow certain rules but it is about love. Sow to please the Spirit: love one another.

Sounds simple right? Loving others is always easier said than done. We are taught to love others as we love ourselves, but how do we do that? I always struggle with loving others, I have zeal for the Word but a lot of the time I find that too much of that means I fail to love others. Without love, anything is pointless. It's always really hard to see how much you love yourself, perhaps we should try a little exercise. Just take one day and focus on how many times you forgive yourself and remember what it is for. Then, see if you would have forgiven someone else if they did those particular things, or whether it would have annoyed you.

Let's all try to sow love everywhere, I am sure it will be a wonderful sight when the fruit appears.

~Sck

Bearing one and other's burden

Galatians 6:1-5

At some point of our lives, we all carry some kind of burden and how we handle it is a life long lesson to learn.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Being able to bear burden is a skill but to be able to share other's burden is a gift. Some people are better at carrying the bricks than others, but each one of us CAN bear burdens and at some degree carry each other's burden. However,as it says in the scripture, you need to be spiritual, which I believe link to the spiritual fruit in the passage before : love, patience , self control in particular. Only when we bare these spiritual fruit we would be able to bear one and other's burden. Often we miss out the middle part, forgetting to restore the person gently , meaning doing this with love and care. We often sing and pray for leaving the burden at God's feet, but the journey of carrying this burden to God's feet is not easy. Listen to the need of others is a way to carry this burden with them (not for them tho, we all need to carry our own burden ultimately). If no one has asked you to pray for them, ask the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead you to pray for the right person.

Love

1 John 4:12-17, 19

Winnie (speaker) mentioned love is not simply acting nice towards other people; it is something that is a lot deeper and requires commitment. To genuinely love everyone around me and care for them from my heart is something that I often find challenging. It is not because I dislike them or anything (I am very nice), but because love itself takes a lot of effort and commitment, and I don’t think I can ever be close to love like God without relying on His love. And this is part of the reason why the line ‘Show me how to love like you have loved me’ from the song ‘Hosanna’ touches me every time I sing it.

‘We love because he first loved us’
Winnie also mentioned in order to experience God’s love we need to first believe that God loves us, which I think is true to some extend. But I also believe God works in many ways and that his love is powerful enough to overwhelm even an unbeliever’s heart, and to bring a lost soul back to him. I believe his love surpasses our faith.

The pursuit of happyness

Galatians 4:17-20

What do you have zeal for? What do you pursue?

In the passage, Paul speaks of zeal, a deep passion in pursuit of something. Often we are told that if we long for something with a passion it is right and therefore we should go for it. That if it feels right then it IS right and that it is good. In the file the pursuit of happyness (good film btw) the main character strives and strives for one thing...money. He works hard and from nothing, he gains everything. In every trial, every time he falls down, he gets back up and continues forward. In the end he gets the money and he declares himself as happy. It seems simple enough, that money was his happiness, but I think there's a deeper longing. Throughout the film he is with his son and he does not let go of that. Even though his son hinders his pursuit of money, they are almost always together. I would say his happiness comes from finally being able to live a life with his son without being burdened by their needs...this is merely fulfilled by money.

As we all know money can be good and can also be very destructive. What we all long for is rooted in God, this is the way we were created, it is in our nature to long for God. Our zeal must be for God, our pursuit must be for Him because that is what we were created for. Money can be lost and stolen, if we place our trust in money or anything else that we may strive after, it will, at some point disappoint. But if we strive for God, He is faithful, He will always be there to meet your every need. When all is said and done, nothing matters except our relationship with God because only He is eternal.

~Sck

Galatians 3:26-29 UNITY

^"26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

It is quite easy to see people from other backgrounds as 'strange' because they don't behave in the same ways we do. Although there is nothing terribly wrong with our own culture or tradition, we should be careful when it gets in the way of us seeing other Christians from other places as equal brothers and sisters.

For a long time the Jews thought they were the chosen people of God because he had revealed himself to them. They were shocked when they realised God wanted EVERYONE to know him - Jews, Gentiles - including the very immoral Greeks and Romans. It was a difficult to them that Greeks and Jews were considered equal before God.

So what can we learn from this? Leave everything behind in your culture that prevents you from seeing a Christian from somewhere else, as a brother or sister.

We are now all children of Abraham, and are blessed by God so that we can in turn bless others.

Brownie Points

Galatians 3:6-14

I remember in primary school I used to do try to score points with my french teacher and I actually got pretty good at it. Good at scoring points that is, not at french. That kind of sums up what I got from this Brad's message last week. I know that for me sometimes I'll sin and then try to do something to make up for it...as if that would actually make a difference. I think that because nothing in this world is free, that there is always something attached, we fail to fully grasp what it means to know that God gives us righteousness for FREE. All we have to do is accept this. We can't gain it because there is nothing we can give God that He needs, so it is impossible to earn it. It is pointless trying to score brownie points with God because it doesn't make a difference, He won't love you any more or any less.

I would say that we should just sit back, think about what God has done for us, what He has given us and just be secure in Him. Just enjoy God, delight in Him and stop trying to get to Him because He will come to you, just where you are. Be still and know that He is God, only then can you understand what He values, what He wants and how we should respond to His love.

~Sck

Foolish and Ignorant

Galatians 3:1-5

Foolish foolish, how foolish we are to try and understand God's Word by our own strength! I was just reminded of Peter and how he is constantly jumping in and getting things wrong because he is thinking and seeing from his own perception. He just didn't understand what God was saying because it is counter-intuitive, it's not of this world, it's not what you expect. God is so much bigger than what we can see or what we expect Him to be.

I know that I'm often blinded by what I think or what I think I know about God that I miss out on what His Word really means. I've seen a lot of christians (and I myself am guilty of this) who know that we are forgiven by God and are freed by His Spirit but yet we are so legalistic. You can't do this, you must do that, you must speak like this...after a while you do what is expected of you and you expect that of others. But in fact we live according to the Spirit and there is so much that we need to learn, that in every situation you must discern what the Spirit is saying because every situation is different. Often we read one part of the Bible and conclude that...ahh, that is how God is! But we may well have missed the whole point of it. We know about God be we do not know Him.

We need to live according to the Spirit, not our own strength, we need to have His understanding, not ours. It is only through the spirit that we can know God, to be able to think properly so that we will not be foolish.

~Sck

Belonging at the Table.

Galatians 2:11-14

A couple of weeks ago Brad spoke on this passage where Paul confronts Peter about his hypocrisy. Peter wanted to appear to be still with the 'in crowd', part of the old order an was too afraid to step out, to stand for what he believes in. Back in the day, if you ate together you were all part of the family and that's still true to an extent these days but that notion has been watered down a lot.

The message was about belonging, and how we all belong to God but it got me thinking on a slightly different matter. I have various groups of friends and sometimes I might deliberately keep them apart because I fear what one group might think of the other. I end up running around pretending to everyone and in the end I start to lose sense of who I really am, where I belong. I end up trying to please people that I waste all my energy on it. In this way I can see what Peter went through, how it is so easy to put on your mask and be like every one else, to fit in, to be part of the 'in crowd'.

It's something I need to work on. I know I belong to God and that is who I should be and that is the right thing but saying it is much easier than doing it.

So that's my reflection on the message, what about you? How has it spoken to you? I am sure God has different things to say to everyone.

~Sck

Grace plus nothing

Galatians 1:6-12

When people told the Galatians that they needed to be more 'Jewish' to be accepted by God, Paul was furious. Paul got his message directly from God and so he had a right to be angry about these false teachings.

But he was angry at the people themselves for being so gullible and listening to men when they could listen to God's message as it was given to Paul. How would this apply to us? Well it means that we are not supposed to believe just anything anyone tells us about God. The message of God is in the Bible and if we know our Bibles well we can be sure that we know what God has to say to us.

It also means that God meets us where we are, in our situations, in our families, in our culture. He is the one reaching out to us. And when he reaches out to us, that means he is accepting us because of his grace, not because of all the good things we do. It's grace plus nothing.

So this week if you are having a hard time, remember that God reaches out to you and that if you ever want to know what he is saying about your situation, there are places in the Bible where you can find that.

God bless!

Galatians

Galatians 4:11

Brad is going to start a new sermon series on Galatians. The epistle is about how our salvation is through grace and not by works. I'm pretty excited about it because it's the sort of thing I like, but that's me.

There hasn't been much said about Galatians yet but I'll share a little about my struggles with works and grace. Sometimes I find myself trying to do things for God, as if to regain His love or favour, this is usually when I have failed or fallen. It's almost as if I need to prove myself, that I am worthy of God's love and His blessings. Perhaps you might feel the same way too sometimes but as you will see as we go through Galatians that God's love and grace is always there.

So keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming blogs!

~Sck

Remain

The Scripture reading was John 15:4-7.

“4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

As the exam season approaches stress and frustration plays a huge part in many of our young adult and teenage lives. So the most important lesson I took from this message was that I must remain in God for him to give me strength and bring me through this tough period in the academic year.

I admit there have been times when work has taken over my life and I have brushed God aside. However time and time again I have realised this does not work.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” I believe this quote is of great importance and will be helpful to all of us who need God by our side.

Ady

Healer

Mark 9:14-30

Last Sunday Ben from St.Cuthberts spoke to us about healing, going out and actually doing it. It's true that the gospel we have is much much more than just words, in fact, it's pretty much all about action. Jesus goes and heals people, He resists temptation, He teaches, He gives and He humbles Himself on a cross. What struck me most is how often we say but never do, how often it's really easy to tell people about Jesus but never live it out, never show His life. I just got back from SEEC which really is no reason for this to be so late but I got more insight there about this notion.

1) 2 Corinthians 3...Here we are told that we are like letters which are read by all. This means that we, our lives are a living and walking gospel for all to read. When Jesus enters Jerusalem, He says that even if all these people were silent, the rocks would cry out in praise! That is exactly what we need to be doing, out lives, our very being should cry out in praise, our whole existence should be to reflect the glory of God!

2) 2 Corinthians 4...We are jars of clay. Ben said that we have the power and authority to go out, preach, heal, free and yes we do. But one thing that I was reminded is that NONE of this is of ourselves, it's not that we have been given a boost by God, but it is God actually working through us. It is in our weakness that God's strength shines through, that His power is perfected.

So let us GO

~Sck

The Gospel According to Leah

Genesis 29: 29-35

Have you ever wondered how you should find your partner according to the bible??

Here is some tips from Jacob (and Brad):

1) Get someone your parents approve of.

2) Make a good first impression

3) Be polite

4) Be helpful when you meet in the future-in-laws

5) Make sure that the one is the right one

6) Be patience

7) Completely love your spouse

Jacob's had 2 wives, Rachel and Leah, and Rachel is his favourite wife. Although Leah was left out but God blessed her with six children altogether who made up half of the tribes of Israel. God does not forget the ones who are forgotten and also learn from your Jacob: completely love your spouse.

I have read this story many times, but how ignorance am I to forget the Leah was also blessed. In our lives, we may think others as "better" or "more blessed" than us but God pours out more blessings than we can ever imagine. It is not until much later we see how God blessed Israel through Leah. So if think you are in Leah's position, think twice. You are also the blessed one!

Bonkie

Fragrant offering, acceptable sacrifice

Personally, I don't like things that smell bad. If you have visited my room, you would have noticed my room has an electrical diffuser which you plug into a socket and the room would be filled with fragrance. Even for myself, I will be upset if I smell bad that day (hence you probably would find some deodorant in my bag :P).

"They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." (Philippians 4:18b)

God likes fragrance.

Now, I am not saying that God would smell the odour produced by our body and that we should all go and buy some perfume. The fragrant offering comes from act of service. However, God doesn't necessarily like ANY act of service. Take the Cain and Abel story as an example. God looked with favour on Abel's offering, but didn't like Cain's. Why? Abel offered the best of his flocks to God as sacrifice yet Cain just gave God some of the fruits he had. Cain didn't give his best to God.

Same applies today. God is the God of the entire universe, He lacks nothing. He doesn't need our sacrifices. But He wants us to offer our best to Him - He wants to be our first priority. We have a relationship with God, hence offering our best to Him would not be an unreasonable request because He deserves the best. In fact, we would want to or even have the urge to give Him the best all the time if we really love Him. Just think from the reverse side. When you love someone, you would not want him/her to give you the things that he/she has and keep his/her best for other purposes.

I don't know about you, but this verse makes me think about my life. Did I give God my best? Sometimes I am like Cain, offering some of the things that I have to God, but not the best. For example, quite often I do my devotion at night when I am absolutely shattered by things happening during the day and spend time with God with my leftover energy.

Hmm maybe I should start thinking changing my devotion time.

Let's offer our best to God. God will take it all in.

Shalom.

T

Just a Little Bit More

Philippians 4:10-13

I am sure this is not unfamiliar to all; you will always have a friend
who have the latest phone, the brand new designer bag, the endless
amount of clothes. In fact, most girls I know say they'll never have
enough clothes.
So what is enough?

I guess the answer is we will never have enough, because we are
constantly seeking the "new best thing" or what we have now is not
enough. How many people you came across say I am content with my life,
probably only a handful of them.
So why don't we feel content?

It's because we are trying to fill a missing part of our hearts ourselves,
and the miss part shapes like Jesus. Sorry girls, if the missing hole
shapes like Jesus, perhaps we will fill content. True contentment comes
along with satisfactory. Does Jesus give you satisfactory? Paul wrote
this letter while he was in prison, yet he can still rejoices in what
he has. This is true contentment. Contentment and rejoice what he has,
but not dwelling on the thought of what he does not have.

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

When you lack of power, lack of will or lack of wisdom, don't reach out to
you lucozade, or ring your friend hoping their words will content you,
because God already promised us, He WILL give us strength.

God is the always the new best thing and ask for a little bit more Jesus everyday :)

Bonkie

The Eye of the Tiger

Philippians 3:12-14

As Brad was speaking on this passage last week and drawing the example of Rocky and how he never gives up even when he's down really got me thinking. Athletes put themselves through such grueling training day and night to be good at something, to keep on running, keep on going. Their reward is to be a winner, or maybe a medal but to some for the praise of people. They keep their eyes on the prize and they strive towards it because they value the prize.

It's the same for us in everything that we do. In our actions are we training ourselves and striving for our goal? Of course, winning let's say, a gold medal at the Olympics is amazing and it's a great achievement but at the end of the day, it is for the praise of Man. It's something that is here today and gone tomorrow. But what we have in Christ, well, that is something truly amazing. Everything pales in comparison and if you really think about it we are all fools for not trying harder to reach for that prize. The Praise of God is eternal, it is praise from the most praiseworthy being in existence!

Keeping your eyes on the prize...keep running towards God because He is the most satisfying thing bar none. We were created for that very purpose and that is what will make us whole. Our prize and treasure is in eternity, where nothing can destroy it and nothing can take it away.

~Sck