Posted on Monday, April 26, 2010
Title: Dynamic Worship
Date: 24.4.10
Speaker: Pastor Denis Lu
Passage: Isaiah 6:1-8
- Every person in the world is a natural-born worshiper. Everyone worships someone, something, or both.
- Before we came to know Jesus, we were worshiping something else.
- There are still times when we get distracted away from Jesus. There are still idols and concerns in our lives that draw us away from him.
- For Isaiah, who was on his way to the temple, he saw the Lord. He saw beyond the physical.
1. It’s Attention Grabbing!
- When we’re worshiping God, we’re shifting our focus from something else to God.
- King Uzziah was one of the great kings of Judah. When he died, the people were troubled and distressed – like anyone would when someone important to them has passed on.
- Isaiah was probably disappointed and lost as well.
- Many times when you worship God, you’re not really in the zone because we’re occupied with other things e.g. people, projects.
- For worship to be dynamic, it has to be attention-grabbing and bring our focus from man to God.
1.1 It shifts our focus!
- Real worship begins when we consciously realize that God wants to shift our focus.
- God was actually saying to Isaiah in v1, “Stop looking at the human king. Look at the divine King!”
- How to breakthrough and get deeper with God in worship? We gotta understand that God is King and sovereign over our lives and everything else.
- God is still in control and knows how to take care of his people.
- Look to God who is on the throne.
1.2 It draws us into God’s presence!
- This doesn’t happen automatically. Sometimes we just have to bring a sacrifice of praise – “I don’t feel like it, but I choose to worship God.”
- Going towards the temple brought Isaiah into a state of preparation.
- This spiritual preparedness allows us to enter into God’s presence faster.
- Position-wise, Isaiah was prepared to meet God. And God showed up.
1.3 It does depend on our spiritual readiness!
- How ready and hungry are we to enter into God’s presence?
- Worship is not what happens on stage. It is a lifestyle that occurs wherever we go.
- The more ready we are, it is like lighting a lighter in a room full of gunpowder.
- [1 Corinthians 14:15] => everyone has 3 parts – spirit, soul, body.
- Real worship is a total immersion experience! Spirit, soul and body have to be involved.
- Spirit: human spirit, which is engaged by the Holy Spirit.
- Soul: intellect. Our thinking component.
- Body: our body.
- When we worship God with a song, try to get into the meaning of the lyrics. Get into the spirit of the song. The depth of meaning will be different.
- Worship is about the heart. Worship is a progressive deepening experience over time.
2. It’s Supernatural!
- Isaiah was in the presence of God and he saw into the spiritual realm.
2.1 We catch on to who God really is!
- We get a better glimpse of God in some aspect of his character. God is exalted. High and lifted up. Worthy of praise and worship.
- Seraph: angelic beings. In Hebrew, it means fiery zeal.
- True worship occurs when, even though the worship leader and team is leading, they are so fired up in worshiping God that this causes you to take your focus off them and onto God.
- We see the holiness of God.
- The whole earth is full of God’s glory – sometimes it’s hard to believe so, because the world is so ugly.
- But when we are able to appreciate God for the wonders of the world, we’ll be able to worship God in his glory.
- The whole earth is full of God’s glory – but we have forgotten that. This is why we find it hard to worship God.
- We’ve got to rediscover a fascination with God’s creation of the world.
- When we see the holiness of God, there’s a change in position. We realize that we’re nobody, and that God is awesome.
2.2 We are gripped by who we really are!
- The more we see God for who he is, the more we’ll see ourselves for who we are.
- We begin to recalibrate ourselves to God.
- [Joel 2:28] => we are Holy Spirit-empowered people! Pray in the Spirit more.
- We will see the things of God and who God is.
- During worship time, God will deal with our heart and remind you of certain situations. Sometimes he gives us words of encouragement too!
- So… Write down all these tweets from God!
- Be enriched in the worship atmosphere.
3. It’s Being Real with God!
- No pretense. Isaiah was real with God. He saw himself in comparison with God’s holiness – that he was a man with unclean lips.
3.1 We are broken before God
- Pride is broken. Stubbornness, lack of trust and faith, hopelessness etc. are broken.
- Unless you are broken before God, you won’t go to a higher level with God.
- In worship, there’s no shame in admitting our failures.
- Worship is not a feel-good time. It is a total immersion transformation.
- You come in defeated, but you go out having hope in God.
- [Psalm 51:17]
3.2 We respond freely, immediately and passionately to God!
- Sing to the extreme without screaming.
- Draw out that passion! Go all out. Spirit, soul and body.
- Come clean with God. Worshiping God actually brings us to the point of brokenness. It doesn’t show us how good we are.
- We are always left in a place where we realize that God is so great.
- [Hebrews 3:12]
- Trust the Lord when he speaks to you.
- Learn to receive and write down what God has spoken to you.
- [Hebrews 3:15]
3.3 We get on board with God’s agenda
- This means we’re gonna say, “Yes, Lord. Amen.”
- Respond to God.
- [Psalm 40:6-8]
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 7:31 AM
Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010
(Intercession-corporate)
-Brother Michael
17/04/2010
[Matthew 18:19-20]
-go on morning walks with Jesus
-Have I grown to be a better disciple of God?
-corporate intercession: praying together with one or more believers/ praying together as a corporate body.
1) Blessing of God's presence (v20)
[Jeremiah 23:23-24]
[2Chronicles 5:13-14]
-manifest presence of God,not only omnipresence of God
-when we feel God tangibly, our intimacy with Him is deepened
-He will be there when 2 or 3 gather tgt
-God will bless us with His presence ( better with a community of believers)
-God really cares abt our corporate life (much more than we actually think abt)
-link between corporate life and personal life is very deep and strong.(more than we actually think)
[Numbers 14:30]
[Numbers 14:32-35]
-why must we suffer from the consequence of e sins of people around us?
-we should help each other, do life tgt. (if you know sth is wrong, but you're not doing anything YOU ARE DOING STH WRONG)
-God's design is so that, together, we can achieve more.
[Ecc 4:12]
[Genesis 11:5-6]
-you can do more things together.
-this is about SYNERGY.
-when we are caring about our corporate life, we are caring about our individual life.
2) The power of a united prayer (v19)
-pray in unity (God will answer our prayers, but it must be according to God's word)
-pray the prayer of agreement
[Psalm 133:1-3]-NIV
-when we are impatient, we fail to agree with what they say.
-see God answering our prayers when we are united.
Michael's conclusion abt prayer meet:
-prayer meetings are generally not well attended
-prayer meetings are boring
BUT
-we must see the value of prayer meeting
-our prayer is going to change things (HAVE FAITH)
-we go to prayer meet not to be entertained
Labels: E-sermon
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 10:05 PM
Posted on Monday, April 12, 2010
Prayers that amounts to much
(Daniel 9:1-19)
Daniel's Prayer
1 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus [a] (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian [b] kingdom- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
"Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
15 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
17 "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."
What is prayer?
Why do we need prayer?
If God is sovereign, why do we still need to pray?
(Genesis 1:26)
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
God’s purpose is to rule and reign over the earth.
(Ephesians 3:10- 11)
10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Belonging to a universal church is good but we need to belong to local church.
We are God’s link to His authority and activity in the earth.
God will not move without us.
We need to be the vessel that God can work through.
(2 Corinthians 5:16-21)
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors”
“We are gotta be God’s ambassadors”
Prayer is dependence on God.
Definition of Prayer/Intercession
1. Man giving to God the legal right and permission to interfere in earth’s affairs
2. Man giving God earthy license to influence earth.
3. Man exercising his legal authority on earth to call upon God’s influence on planet earth, to summon heaven’s power on earth.
(Ezekiel 22:30-31)
30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."
(Daniel 6:10)
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
If you do not know God’s word, you will not pray with understanding.
(Revelation 1:3)
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Daniel pleaded with the Lord.
(Jude 3)
3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
If you give up taking the easier route, you are contemplating faith.
2. Prayer with humidity and repentance (v3b-18)
Why did Daniel use “we”?
He identify with the people, representing and praying for them.
That is a sign of humidity.
Not self- righteous in praying.
Repentance must have an outcome of fruit.
Grow in security and maturity
3. Prayer with kingdom-mindedness (v19)
We bear your name- it must be consistent
Prayer with kingdom in mind!
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 8:41 PM
Posted on Sunday, April 4, 2010
Labels: E-sermon
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 7:22 PM
Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2010
Speaker: Wenjiang 28/3/2010
A for Abstinence
What is fasting?
The willing and voluntary setting aside of our appetite to talk to God and hear from God.
Appetite for food, hunger, fun, sleep.
Why is fasting good?
Do we fast to deny ourselves so that God will pity us?
Benefits of fasting/ abstinence
A. Humble ourselves before God and entrust our lives into His hands
B. To spend time to seek God
C. To be more spiritually aware of God's presence and His will for us in our lives
Instances where fasting fails/ do not work:
Fasting that fails
Isaiah 58:2-7
1. Fasting that fails to engage with the truth (v2-5)
God cannot be mocked and deceived
Fasting will fail if it is inconsistent with the truth
Matthew 6:16-18
Zechariah 7:5, 8-10
2. Fasting that fails to contend for your faith (v6)
God wants us to break from our bondages through fasting
3. Fasting that fails to lead us to compassion (v7)
It's about feeling for others that are suffering
Isaiah 58:9-14
Labels: esermon
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 5:20 PM
Posted on Sunday, March 21, 2010
http://alexanderhope.blog.friendster.com/2010/03/d-for-devotions/
Mark 1:35-39 (Amplified Bible)
35 And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed.
36 And Simon Peter and those who were with him followed Him, pursuing Him eagerly and hunting Him out,
37 And they found Him and said to Him, Everybody is looking for You.
38 And He said to them, Let us get going on into the neighboring country towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.
39 So He went throughout the whole of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Introduction:
ID2010 is the year of discipleship.
It occurs in 2 phases: Being a disciple to Being a disciple-maker.
Jesus is not as interested in what we do as much as WHY we do - the motives, attitudes, reasons behind it.
Disciples take responsibility for their lives!
If Jesus were to ask us if we lived out our full potential and influence for Him, can we confidently say yes to Him?
Spiritual discipline are spiritual exercises given by God to transform and strengthen us!
Devotions bring us to the highest high and sustains us in the lowest low.
Personal time with God keeps our inner fire burning - it helps us to walk closely, love God, love people and serve Him effectively!
Even Jesus spent devotional time with God!
1) The Discipline of Devotion Helps Us to KEEP OUR FOCUS (v35)
1.1) Jesus Took Deliberate and Initiative to Spend Time With God
Sunday 0300 HRS (v35....early in the morning.... as in 3am kind of EARLY)
Jesus, only nine hours after a powerful ministry, got up at 3AM to seek God.
Jesus wanted to be in the Presence of God! Jesus GOT UP Himself. Nobody woke Him up - not even the Father was mentioned in this entire passage!
1.2) Jesus Got His Life Re-Focused (v38)
The whole town of Capernaum was there.
Jesus's popularity soared because of His miracle ministry among the towns people.
Like all opportunistic humans, Jesus's disciples must have wanted to cash in and milk on His popularity.
The town loves Him- His ministry could receive alot of support and respect from the locals. With the whole town behind Him, it's hard to imagine that Jesus and His disciples will have material lack in that town!
Yet in v38 ......get going on into the NEIGHBORING country towns......that is WHY I came out.
Instead of choosing to remain in the town where everything is cool with Him, Jesus urged his disciples to move on and go to the nearby towns. He remembered God's mission for Him from the very beginning- to preach the Good News and ultimately die on the cross for Mankind!
Jesus got His life re-focused after His 3am devotions with God.
Have we been so busy fulfilling tasks and assignments that we forgot our calling in our respective marketplace (workplace, universities)?
Had you lost focus on WHY you do what you do?
Are you merely a serving machine now?
If you are, please wake up and know that God loves you as His child, and you serve Him out of love, not to hit goals or to "earn" God's favor or human approval!
Warning: Just because your ministry is doing well does not automatically mean that your personal relationship with God is doing well!!!!!!
1.3) When We Spend Time with God on a Daily Basis, We Allow God to Adjust Us on a Daily Basis
1.4) It is Most Advisable to Do Devotions in the Morning
Psalm 5:3
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
Research from University of Pennsylvania had shown that the mood you start your day with has an effect on the rest of your day.
Morning is the time where you are least distracted.
We may remember to bring our keys and cash before we leave our house, but do we bring God with us before we go out?
1.5 )If you want to hear the still small voice of God, you need to be still before God!
Exodus 14:14 "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Psalm 46:10-11
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
2) The Discipline of Devotion Helps Us to CONNECT WITH GOD
Let's put the situation into perspective:
Saturday 1200 - 1800 HRS
Jesus was having a powerful miracle ministry in Mark 1:32-34
Saturday 1800 - Sunday 0300 HRS
The town people left. Jesus and His companions went to rest.
Sunday 0300 HRS (v35....early in the morning.... as in 3am kind of EARLY)
Jesus, only nine hours after a powerful ministry (and tangibly experiencing God's presence and anointing working through Him), got up at 3AM to seek God.
In contrast, we often left the Bible in our bags after we returned home on Saturday night after service.
2.1) It is not Enough to Connect with God Only a Few Times per Week
Connection with God is our source of strength and anointing!
Connection with God cannot be accumulated! Do you eat buffet one day and then go without food the next day?
John 15:5 "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."
2.2) The Human Heart Wanders Easily
The Gospel of Mark recounts Jesus's solitary time with God on 3 occasions:
Mark 1 After the miracle ministry in Capernaum
Mark 6 After feeding the 5000
Mark 14 The night before Jesus was arrested.
Do you feel tired physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually?
What gets you the most distracted from God?
What takes away so much energy from us?
eg. family issues, burdens and tasks, strained relationships, repeated failures, worries?
WILLINGNESS NEEDS TO BECOME INTENTIONALITY
SPEND TIME WITH THE GOD WHO WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU!
Labels: christianity, devotions, E-sermon, esermon, God
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 2:16 PM
Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2010
13/3/10 - Joshua
Outreach- What does it mean to outreach, really?
[romans 10;14-15]
[Philippians2:12-14]
1) Working out of our salvation (v12-13)
-What does it mean to be saved?
-We approach God with fear and trembling because God is holy.
-He opposed to sin
-We shld live a life worthy of the Gospel
-God will help us in the work of salvation if we co-operate with God.
-If our realtionship with God is seared, we will see no value in doing God's works.
[1timothy 4:16]
2) Being blameless (v14-16)
-Do things without complaining or arguing when doing God's work
-we are still trapped in a cycle of "i hav not enough" and we tend to forget to give thanks to God with wad we have now
-when times are bad, what's ur response towards helping fellow brothers and sisters?
3) Be committed (v17-18)
-Time is short
-What u intend to carry to ur next life?
[2 Cor 5:11-15]
Labels: E-sermon
WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 6:53 PM
