Thursday, August 7, 2008
no intellectual property rights :)

FOP-Sunday's!

Ps 39: 4-5 -> “LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

- Our days are numbered.
- We do not know what will happen tomorrow. That’s why in James 4:13-15, it says [Look
here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there
a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will
be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”] We
ought to live our life everyday with the perspective of eternity in our hearts :)

Here on earth, humans are always drawn by 3 things in life. In 1Jn 2:15-16….

1. Lust of the physical pleasure (Movies, food, sex, etc)
2. Possessions (Consumed with consuming)
3. Prestige (Image, status, popularity)

Not that we’re not allowed to enjoy these things but eternity should be in our heart. (Roms12:2) We know that these things will eventually pass away. If we were to focus most of our energy and efforts on the pleasures of the world, it’ll ultimately be in vain. The world values will eventually pass away (1 Jn 2:17, Ecclesiastes)

Hence Hebrew11:25 :)

So what exactly could we be focused on that has eternal value?

In 1Jn 2:17, it says that whoever who does the will of God abides forever. So what exactly is the will of God for every human being on earth?

1. Knowing God (Being a friend of God)

- How do we make friends? How do we build a relationship with someone? We got to spend
time, communicate and we also want make sure that we do the things that he/she likes
and avoid doing the things that he/she hates.

- Knowing is not a one time thing. Those who have got best/close friends will know that if
you want your friendship to last, you got to keep on working on it. Neglecting your friend
often leads to a break down of that friendship. That’s why we say that salvation is not a
one off thing. We got to keep on working on it.

2. Loving people

- The bible says in 1Cor13 that faith, hope and love last forever and the greatest of the
three is LOVE.

- The way you treat the people around you will last for eternity. If you have been a true
friend to people on earth, that’ll carry on for eternity and you’ll not be alone in heaven!

- But we tend to treat people based on the values we placed on them. If we placed an eight
on someone, we tend to smile brighter and behave better. But if we placed a two on
someone, chances are you wont have too much respect for him.

- JESUS placed a 10 on everyone. His entire ministry is about loving people. Healing the
sick, casting out demons, feeding the hungry, disciplining His followers, giving them a
vision greater than themselves that eventually led them to great destiny, etc. All these
He did out of love. That’s why we say that the purpose of a ministry is love. It is all about
people.

3. Invest your time, talent and resources in the work of God.

Eph2:10 -> For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Although we’re not saved by works, we are created for good works!

- It is in serving that you can find life.

Pastor Mark gave us this example. He got all of us to do an action of getting. (the give me action with your hands) Then he went on to say that when we were a child, we want our parents to give us what we want. When we are in a relationship, we want our partner to love us. When we are in church, we want the people(cell grp leaders, pastors, ushers, etc) to serve us. All our lives, we just want to be served. We want to receive from people. But the bible says that it is more BLESSED to give than to receive! I would rather be able to give $100 with ease than to receive a $100! The rich gives but the poor receives. (Be it physically or spiritually). Any human being with a common sense would want to be the rich. Nobody likes being poor. Some may think that giving too much will cause you to be poorer. This is WRONG! WHY??? It is a biblical principle that you WILL REAP when you SOW! So as you began to sow into people’s life, you’re going to be even wealthier(physically and spiritually) It is in the giving that you receive…


So, right at this very moment, you got to ask yourself 2 Qns.

1. What did you do with Jesus? Do you have a relationship with Him?
2. What did you do with your life?