Monday August 31, 2015

Coming Up Sonday September 6, 2015 

Philippians 1:4-8. A Transforming Fellowship

Read Mark 12:28-34

Isn’t it true that some Christian fellowships and individuals are just simply magnetic while others are just plain pathetic, no matter how hard they try? What is it that makes a fellowship magnetic and transforming? What is it about a congregation that either draws people in or pushes them away? This week we’ll study together the various aspects that make a congregation either magnetically transforming or just plain pathetic.

Jesus is the epitome of a magnetic personality, in the good and wholesome sense. People were drawn to Jesus, even those who sought to trap Him or remove Him from the scene. One such incident reveals this clearly. Jesus has been teaching in Jerusalem and a teacher of the law, that is an expert in the Torah or Law of God, sought to trap Him in His words and teachings.

This man asked Jesus what He believed was the greatest commandment. The answer that Jesus gave would reveal to all His alliances and His theology. All the accepted schools of the day differed in their particular nuance with this answer.

But Jesus was undeterred by the question. He reiterated the Word of God, the Torah and quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (NIV84)

“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your   soul and with all your strength.”

Even before the Teacher could respond Jesus added Leviticus 19:18.

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.”

Herein lies the secret of magnetic fellowship and personality. It’s not about faked charm or enigma. It’s not about a put-on personality or dress sense. It’s not about programs or activities that a fellowship might run. The key element to being attractive and transformational is to love God with our entire being. People who genuinely and deeply love God (more than money, sexuality, popularity and so on) have an attraction that nothing in this world can imitate or duplicate. People and congregations that genuinely love God radiate a special yet intangible ‘something’ that draws people in. The fundamental question that we have to ask of ourselves and of our congregations is, do we genuinely love God with our entire being?

If the answer is yes we will experience a natural flow into the second command that Jesus raised from Leviticus 19:18. You simply cannot love God without loving others. You cannot love God and have a cynical or negative view of others. God’s love, by its very nature, flows outwards towards others. God’s love flowed outwards to us and our love flows naturally outwards to others.

If you and your congregation want to be transformational rather than tragic it begins not with programs or self help lists but with growing in love for the Lord.

Prayer:

Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for

Adoration:

Confession

Thanks

Supplication:

· Pray that each person in your congregation would be growing in love for God. Ask the Lord to so magnify this love that people outside the church see you all as Jesus’ disciples.

· Pray that the students at the Reformed College in Myanmar would be  growing in love for the Lord and through that be filled with the Spirit so that they can learn to grow and teach others about Jesus.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. When  we talk about an attractive or magnetic fellowship what dangers do we have to be aware of?

2. Even though we can not manufacture or imitate love for God, why do we need to talk about this issue of loving God wholeheartedly?

3. How can we grow in love for God?

One on One
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this," he continued... "Life is the coffee. The jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups... Enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything they have."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly... and leave the rest to God.

Far too many believers think that to have an attractive personality that draws others to Christ they have to be out there, charismatic type people who loudly rejoice and praise God in every and any crowd. This is not reality, nor is it truth.

To be a person who draws others to Christ we need to cultivate a love of God into our hearts and lives. As we grow in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (look it up! I am not doing all the work for you!!!) we will naturally grow in love for others. As we grow in love for others we will exhibit that natural attractiveness that draws others to Christ. The old saying is true. What’s in your heart really does show on your face.

So the billion dollar question is, How do I grow in love for God? Here are some things you can be doing to be growing in love for God.
Spend quality time with God regularly. Block it out in your diary and make it non-negotiable. Make sure that the time is not a time when you are tired and worn out.
Read the Word and meditate deeply upon it. To meditate deeply means simply to think deeply about it. Ask the hard questions and search for answers. God will provide.
Serve God in areas where you don’t normally serve. This will challenge you and force you to rely on God. As God comes through you’ll be praising God and growing in love for Him.
Seek to make a new disciple regularly. Again the passion of new believers will rub off onto you.
Spend quality time with passionate and zealous Christians. The passion and zeal will rub off onto you.
Pray. Ask God to transform your heart and to renew your mind in Christ Jesus.

As you interact with people, they will quickly read you and decide whether you are genuinely loving or not. If God’s love is filling your heart, they will see that love and be attracted to the God you worship.

Copied from http://www.inspire21.com/stories/christianstories/GodsCoffee

Personal Questions

1. How’s your prayer life?

2. Describe your current thought life?

3. How’s your relationship with your spouse or your parents?

4. Discuss how and if you’ve struggled with sin/temptation this week.

5. How are you worshipping God through work, family and social networks?

 Pray

• for unity to encompass your church and your city/region.

• for the love of Jesus to be the central motivating factor in your church and your own heart

• for reconciliation to occur where it’s needed in your life and the lives of others in your church/city.

Reflection:

1. Why does loving God and each other make for a transformational church?

2. Why can’t this be ‘put on’ or faked?

3. List 5 things you can do this week to grow in love for God and love for others.

  

Saturday August 29, 2015

Read  Phil 1:3-5, 2 Cor 6:3-10, 2 Cor 11: 22-28

At the end of a particular week, I decided to take Philippians 1:3 seriously and I counted the number of believers I’d given thanks for over the entire week. The number of people on my list was staggering, even overwhelming. How many did I have?  0!  I had zero people on my list!

I then decided to understand why praising God for other believers was such a low priority on my list. Life can get so busy and so chaotic... life can get so hectic that praising God let alone praising God for other believers becomes virtually impossible. We can get so caught up in our own worlds and our own problems and issues that we just don’t think about praising God for other believers.

And yet Paul praises God for other believers every time he prays. He says clearly in Philippians 1:3, ’I thank my God every time I remember you.’ Paul’s words here are not idealistic or filled with faint praise. Paul is describing his heart felt attitude towards the Philippians and his practice in prayer. We have no reason to take these words as exaggeration or non-literal.

So why does Paul praise God every time he prays? If you read yesterday’s passages and notes you’ll see why. Paul thinks about other believers as co-workers, fellow soldiers and sharers together in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, we can engage in chronological snobbery at this point. We can easily think that Paul had nothing better to do and that he had all the time in the world to sit and meditate for hours on God’s word – unlike us who are time poor and pressured 24/7 to get things done.  We can easily think that Paul led a blessed and charmed life and didn’t have the worries, the hassles and the pressures that we do.

Such thinking is at best self-justifying and at worst a demise into thick and foggy delusion. You and I will never be as busy or as harassed or as pressured as Paul was. The two passages from 2 Corinthians show clearly that Paul was a busy busy busy man. He had an eternal weight of pressure upon his shoulders, persecution from non believers and the burden of caring for the many churches he had planted Yet even so, he praises God for other believers every time he prays. Paul has time to praise the Lord and to rejoice in the partnership he shares with other believers.

Our issue is not a time problem. We share with Paul the same 24 hours in each and every day. Our problem is a conception problem. It’s rooted in the way we think. We don’t tend to think about other believers as Paul does and we tend to think of our own pressures and deadlines above and beyond anyone else. We tend to elevate ourselves and our issues to the utmost priority. In the brutish vernacular of the day, we tend to be selfish and self-centred!

Let me throw out a challenge to each of us. This coming week (Monday through Sonday) commit to praying each and every day and to spending at least ¼ of your prayer time in genuinely praising God for other believers. If you’re strapped for time, commit to unplugging the TV for the entire week and to logging off from all social media and all internet gaming sites for the entire week. Are you up for the challenge?

Prayer:

Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for

Adoration:

Confession

Thanks

Supplication:

· Pray that tomorrow’s service will be glorifying to God and an edification for the saints. Pray that God would powerfully be at work in the lives of believers and that non believers would be challenged to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

· There are several ministers in rural villages being supported by Shiloh Church Ministries. Pray that these men would be powerful in proclaiming the Word and that God would work through their preaching.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Why should we be praising God for other believers?

2. What does praising God for others do for the person praising God?

3. What things stop us from praising God for other believers?

Friday August 28, 2015

Read 2 Cor 8:23, Phil 2:22, 25, Phil 4:3, Col 1:7, 4:7, 10-11 , 1 Thess 3:10

H

ow we view other believers is vitally important. Think about it! You rock up to church on Sonday morning and the hall or auditorium is filled with people just like yourself. When you think or reflect on these people, what do you think? Does your mind just dismiss them or ignore them? Do you mentally comment on their hair do or style of clothing? Do you cringe at the way that particular person acted the other Sonday?

If Paul were to stand in a congregation, as he no doubt did many times, I suspect he would look around with a warm heart and that he would be encouraged by all the people he sees who are partners in the gospel with himself.

We catch a glimpse of Paul’s thoughts on others in several passages, including those we read earlier. In 2 Cor 8:23 Paul talks about Titus.

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honour to Christ.

The word Paul uses for partner is koinōnós meaning companion. It comes from the well worn word koinōnia (κοινωνία) meaning fellowship. The word picks up on the rich and deep fellowship Christians have in Christ Jesus. Paul considers Titus a fellow participant, a companion in the faith.  The other term used fellow worker is simply one word in the Greek, synergós, which is a compound word made from syn (together) and work (ergo).

In Philippians 2:22 Paul describes his relationship to Timothy in terms of a father son relationship where they slaved together in the work of the gospel.

Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25 is called a co-worker and a co-soldier in Christ Jesus. They battle and fight together for the cause of the gospel.

Euodia and Syntyche are said to have contended (or wrestled) by Paul’s side for the sake of gospel with all the other co-workers, all of whom share their names in God’s Book of Life.

In Col 1:7 Epaphras is called, literally in the Greek, the beloved co-slave. He is someone dearly loved and who has proved himself to be a slave of Jesus Christ, right beside Paul in all his labours.

Tychichus is lauded with titles. He is a beloved brother, a faithful servant (the word here is “servant” not “slave”) and a co-slave in the Lord.

Aristarchus is a co-prisoner with Paul, someone sharing in the hardships of being imprisoned for his faith in Chris Jesus.

It’s clear that Paul sees other believers as co-workers, fellow soldiers and fellow slaves in Christ Jesus. It’s clear that he values them and praises God for each one of them.

Now imagine with me how your church could be so fundamentally different if you entered church and looked at others with this same mindset that Paul has. Imagine how radically different your church would be if everyone had that same mindset that saw each other as co-workers, as fellow slaves or fellow soldiers. With that mindset you couldn’t walk past someone with your head down. You couldn’t pretend not to see someone. You couldn’t entertain ungodly thoughts as you smile somewhat hypocritically at someone. You couldn’t sit at the far side of the church hall hoping to avoid that person on the other side.

With that mindset you your eyes would light up as you saw each person. Your face would break out into an uncontrollable, welcoming smile and you’d radiate joy. And you know, with that kind of church, people would stop putting family lunches or sport or music etc above church in priority. With that kind of church, our pews would be filled to overflowing and we might even see people coming on time, not 5, 10 or 30 minutes late!

Prayer:

Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for

Adoration:

Confession

Thanks

Supplication:

· Spend time praising God for at least 30 other coworkers you have in the gospel.

· Ask the Lord to grow an appreciation for other believers throughout your church at all levels. Pray that love would flow freely and abound in your church.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. How can you cultivate the mindset mentioned in today’s readings, within yourself?

2. How can you cultivate it in your church?

3. What role do cell groups play in this?