C-ing Christ

Thursday, October 05, 2006

oh yea...this game is so fun!!

The Winning Team! L to R: Dan, Josh, Shiyun, Julian, Esther, Cherlyn

The other team L TO R: Hanrong, Marc, Lingxin, Wenhao, Eunice, Deborah, Liwei

2. Singing to the Lord
Thanks esther and her 'childhood friend' Eunice for leading worship. Heh. Learnt a very nice malay worship song. Yup we should sing it more often so that we can familiarize ourselves with the song!

3. CG Affairs
Anntic Camp 11-16 Dec: Sign up with Liwei or me
Personal testimony: it was this camp that God revealed himself to me again and the camp was what led me to be cgl this yr. This camp is really POWERFUL. Wanna experience God? This is a great opportunity not to be missed!!

Evangelism Workshop 14 Oct: Want to know how to share the gospel with your friends? Come on down to this workshop!

Pledge cards: those want a pledge card OR took a pledge card and haven returned me, pls come by my room (Yiling, Esther, Lester)

Survey: those who did the survey but have not returned to me, pls return asap!

4. Bible Study
John Study 1: True Worship
# Explore the theme of worship today

# Key to worship is idea of God's temple
- WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN U THINK OF PHRASE GOD'S TEMPLE? God's presence, peaceful, Sacred/Hallowed/Holy, place where you get closer to God, ourselves, a place for praise and worship, to feel God's love, to go to when you are helpless
John study 1 (John 2:12-22) is to explore what Jesus did at God's temple, the significance of what he did esp why John put this right at the start of the gospel

Context: Passover feast
WHAT WAS THE PT OF PASSOVER FEAST?
Exodus12:13-14 "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -a lasting ordinance."- Feast was to rem the Lord's grace & love
- Pilgrims come, sacrifice to the Lord, existence of stores that sell the animals, more convenient for the pple

>> 1.

#What was happening in the temple courts (v14)
#Jesus response (v15-16)
KEY OF THIS STUDY IS TO UNDERSTAND JESUS' RESPONSE: WHAT WAS IT THAT UPSET JESUS? WHY?
- Exploitation, profit making (but not the main pt)
- SUGGEST: what upset Jesus most was the kind of worship they were giving to God. Just buy the animals. Worship of God reduce to mere transactions
>>romans 2:17-29
29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
Jesus challenging the trad way of worship: He was here to usher in a new order. He represented the new covenant God wants to make with men

Understanding Jesus response & the Jews response
2. What is normal reaction to Jesus-type of action?
- think the person is crazy

3. Jews' reaction
- Jews' reaction: v18 suggest that they felt what Jesus did was not wrong?
- Asking for a miraculous sign showed that they thought that they were dealing with a heaven sent prophet

Destruction and Raising of the Temple
- Symbolic of Jesus' death and resurrection
- 5. WHY DOES JESUS LINK THE TEMPLE TO HIS BODY
- Importance of temple = presence of God: Jesus saying that He is the embodiment of the presence of God>> WHAT IS SO GOOD ABT THIS? NOW THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF GOD’S AMAZING GRACE!
- now God's presence is no longer merely a physical position, but personified in Jesus
- nothing constrains the God's presence – mobility >> Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20
- TO PONDER: has it become so easy that we take it for granted?

Why this incident is at the start of John
- Jesus sought to remind the Jews the meaning of true worship
- Ushering a new form of worship: BRINGING THE FOCUS BACK TO GOD!

Application
Living a life of worship

http://www.fellowshipnet.com/trueworship.html
Worship is not music. Worship is not a song. Our worship is our lives presented to our God as living sacrifices each day that we have breath upon the earth and for all eternity. God is Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. We are spirit beings created by God to worship Him. We worship Him in and by His Spirit within us. All that we do is worship unto our God. It is not just a song that pleases God, but our lives lived wholly unto Him which brings Him joy.

http://www.gotquestions.org/true-worship.html
"Going through the motions" out of obligation is unpleasing to God, and is done completely in vain. He can see through all the hypocrisy, and he hates this. He demonstrates this in Amos 5:21-24 as he talks about coming judgment. An example is the story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of Adam and Eve. They both brought gift offerings to the Lord, but he was only pleased with Abel's. Cain brought the gift out of obligation; Abel brought his finest lambs from his flock. He brought out of faith and admiration for God.
>> If you feel like you are just going through the motions when u go to church, take a step back and think of what you're doing. Mabbe you wanna not go to church and take that time to spend a one-on-one with God, and really open your heart to Him. But dun take the step back and stop going to church! Fellowship with other Christians is also key to your spiritual growth. That's why we have cg! =)

TO THINK ABT DURING THE WK:

WHAT IS IT ABT CHRISTIANITY THAT ATTRACTS YOU?
IS IT THE PERSON JESUS?
IS IT THE GREAT MUSIC?
IS IT THE PPLE IN CHURCH?
IS IT THE SERMONS THAT MAKE SENSE?
HIS WORK ON THE CROSS FOR YOU?
ARE YOU GG TO CHURCH FOR THE RIGHT REASON? OR IS IT JUST A RITUAL?

5. Makan Time!

KR C BLOCK VCF

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