29 Jun Comfort And The Cross
Deacon Hui Zhen - 27 November 2014
A Blessed Spirit, A Surpassing Heart
God's love to us has never decreased, and it will never change. However, our spirits are often incompatible with God's loving heart to us because we often gauge how blessed we are according to our actions, serving, attitude in life and external conditions. Through the Sermon on the Mount, Lord Jesus emphasised that it is not what man has on the outside nor their actions that win their election and blessings in Christ, rather, it's God's deliberate revelation to His chosen ones who possess the 8 beatitudes that make them the blessed people on earth, because they are called children of God - greatly loved, greatly blessed and greatly used by God. In all things, God is most pleased with our hearts of seeking Him, loving Him and submitting to Him in our existing conditions and existing level of faith. The heart of needing-God is what that drives Holy Spirit to continuously convict God's children in all areas of lives, enabling them not only fulfilling the laws and decrees but surpassing them.
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1. The traps of Comfort.
- “Suffering”: Abstract
- The problem of “not having problems”
- Resistant to even little inconveniences
- Stay in comfort zones
- <Lk 9> 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
- Spiritual battles faced in comfort:
- People proud toward God (no need for Him)
- God-loving spirit put to sleep
- Flesh is stirred up
2. Be intentional about carrying the cross in the midst of comfort.
- [one slide] Cross and Comfort: Opposites or Correlated?
- If we do not carry cross intentionally:
- Devil will get us
- World will consume us
- Many things other than God will influence us
- Accusations grow
- Get listless about “God-stuff”
- Evangelism becomes non-urgent
- People who want to live by the truth will remain in a constant state of battling and tension
- Carry the Cross: Centre on God, Gospel and Kingdom
3. The importance of gatherings.
- <Heb 10> 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
- <Mt 18> 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
- Value creates Momentum
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