Consider Your Destiny

Every week in HOGC we get life changing sermons.

A good habit for us to have is to take a sermon that has been preached over the week to reflect and act upon it.

James 1:22-25 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Let’s not just be hearers of the word, but be doers of the word. We want to apply the word of God in our lives.

Share joke

A married couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. At the party, everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.

The husband responded “When we were first married we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions and my wife would make all the minor decisions. And in 60 years of marriage we have never needed to make a major decision.”

Do you agree that our decisions in life shape our destiny?

2 weeks ago Pastor Lia preached a powerful sermon on “Consider your destiny!”

It’s such a powerful sermon that we cannot just let it slip by.

We want to spend time during this CG to reflect and apply it into our lives.

And let this also start a habit even in our personal time to regularly reflect on sermons that have been preached.

So let’s take out our notes from the sermon that weekend. We will recap the points and take some time to reflect for each point.

Consider Your Destiny!

Pastor Lia shared that we need to consider our destiny!

Consider by giving attention and thinking carefully about the decisions we make.

Knowing that God has a destiny for our lives. Destiny is God’s best plan for our lives.

Our decisions in life shape our destiny.

We want to live out our best life on Earth. We want to last the race and stay the course. And in order to do that we need to consider our destiny in everything that we do. Do our decisions bring us closer or further away from God’s plan for us?

Pastor Lia taught us 3 things to bear in mind as we walk this Christian journey. Can anyone remember the 3Fs?

Get a few responses

1. FAITH

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

- That is a big perspective change that needs to take place especially as we are saved and we have the Holy Spirit within us

- We are led first by the spiritual, then the natural, not the other way round!

Feelings vs Faith

How many of you know people who are always ‘emo’? One moment they are on a high, smiling at you and buying kopi for everyone; the next moment they bark at you and show you a face as black as the kopi.

You may have heard these sayings, ‘do first, regret later’ or ‘life is like a roller coaster’. I wonder if the people who crafted these phrases are like our ‘emo’ friends as they seem to let their feelings and emotions rule in the choices they make and the life they lead. This is not what God intends for us!

We want to be spirit-led, not emotion-led. We need to live according to Faith, not our Feelings.

When we wake up in the morning, do we choose to live the day by our feelings or by faith?

Instead of feeling ‘sian’ to start a work day or ask if you can snooze another 5 times, why don’t you choose faith over feelings and ask yourself:

- What is God saying to me today?

- What does today hold in light of eternity?

- Who will I bring faith, hope and love to today?

PRACTICAL

Let’s take some time now to reflect and write down a list of FAITH decisions / pre made decisions we want to start / continue making in this handout.

distribute handouts

What are some “FEELINGS” decisions that you should not make?

What are some “FAITH” decisions that you need to make?

E.g. (In the areas of)

- Daily decisions

- Relationship with God

- Relationship with People

- Church

- Habits

- Study / Work

- Finances

- Leadership

- Etc.

Set countdown timer on screen for 5 min & let everyone write their reflection.

Bishop Dale Bronner said this - Maturity is being able to remain faithful to your commitment long after the emotion has passed.

Will we remain faithful to our commitment to act on the Faith decisions we have just made after tonight’s meeting? We start our Christian journey by faith. Will we continue it walking by faith 1 month or 10 years down the road?

Faith opens the doors to miracles.

Wow story of Regine’s dad’s or Pat’s mum’s salvation?

If you need a miracle, we need to live a life of faith!

Don’t just live life in the mundane zone.

Live your life in the Miracle zone.

Let’s live in the miracle zone! To see miracles happen in our lives, in our church, in our CGs.

2. FOCUS

Let me now show you a video. See if you can guess who the murderer is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

What you focus on is what you see! I gave the instruction for you to guess who the murderer was so you started focusing on that, rather than notice all the 21 changes.

Our walk in life with God is always full of distractions. What we focus on is what we see. If we focus on God, we will see God. If our eyes are attracted to other things, we will get distracted and lose our focus. That’s why Paul advises us in

1 Corinthians 7:35 (NKJV) 35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

Paul knew the many attractions in life that may potentially distract us away from God or our God-given destinies. What he highlighted in this verse is for our own profit, to do what is proper, that we focus on and serve God without distraction.

The prince of this world i.e. devil, works smart and hard to pull us away from God by distracting us with what attracts us. If we don’t guard our hearts and be careful,

Your attraction leads to distraction leads to detour leads to death.

Mark Twain said this, “Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.”

If you want to be successful, you need to FOCUS!

PRACTICAL

To have focus, we need to have both:

To-do List / Not-to-do list

Spend the next few minutes to do your personal to do list and not to do list.

To-Do list

What are some goals that you want to put in your to-do list? E.g. reaching out to 3 friends by the end of the year? Get at least one revelation from bible reading a week?

What are some convictions that you would put in your to-do list. E.g. Pray at least twice a day? Attend every church service and CG meeting?

Not-to-Do list

What are some distractions that you want to put in your not-to-do list? E.g. TV shows, social media, sleep, gaming, the opposite sex?

What are some “no no’s” in the area of morals that you want to put in your not-to-do list? E.g. using office time or resources for personal benefit, spending the night with your gf/bf?

Remember: A Distraction dressed in Rationalisation becomes an excuse.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and evaluate - What are some distractions we are dressing in rationalisation? What can we start or stop doing instead of rationalising or justifying what we do or don’t do?

Set countdown timer on screen for 5 min & let everyone write their reflection.

3. FRESHNESS

We have to be fresh before we can refresh others.

In order for our physical bodies to be healthy, we need to consume fresh food daily. I know friends who cook once a week and ration their food for the next 5 days, and there are those who occasionally eat leftovers. Although this food can fill their stomachs, it will never be as nourishing compared to eating fresh food everyday.

Similarly, if we want to be healthy, growing Christians, our manna or spiritual food must be fresh daily.

It is a discipline to keep fresh spiritually. We have to be fresh before we can refresh others.

PRACTICAL

Freshness Test

Take time to honestly evaluate these 3 questions for our own lives. (3-5 min)

You can even rate yourselves 1-5 (5 being the best) in each these area…

a. Are you Jaded with the sacred? - Are we still hungry for God’s word? - Are we still excited about people coming to know Jesus? - Are our hearts still moved when people share their testimonies? - Do we still see it as a privilege to serve God? b. Are you still doing the will of God from the heart? - As we serve in the ministry - in the routine things we do - As we live the life of obedience to God - even for those of us who have been serving or as a Christian for a longer time.

c. Are you a fresh Christian or a flesh Christian? - Are we still led by the Spirit more than the flesh? - When was the last time you had a fresh revelation from God?

Set countdown timer on screen for 5 min & let everyone write their reflection.

musician to start playing softly

Ps Lia shared that people who walked out of church have this trend of spiralling down - they stop applying the Word of God in their lives, start to think that the Word is for others, completing stop listening to the Word. 

This was what happened to me back in 2008 when I left my previous church and backslided for a year. Even though I was a Christian, I never truly knew what it meant to be one. I was never excited about attending service, not hungry for the Word, never applied it in my life and eventually I stopped listening to it. Was my life better without God? No. Was I happier doing what I thought was best for me? No. Life was mundane and deep down, I felt empty.

When I stepped into HOGC in 2009, I realised what was missing in my life was God. Even though I had forsaken Him, He didn’t forsake me. I didn’t want to continue living life without purpose so I considered my destiny and made a decision to come back to Him. Looking back, I thank God that I made this destiny-defining decision back then because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here with you guys today.

The life-changing sermons renewed my mindset, shaped my character and changed my life as I started making faith-based decisions in every area of my life. By living a life of faith, I’ve witnessed and experienced so many miracles in my relationships with God and others, my career, finances, in church. As I focused on my walk with God, God began to reveal more of Himself to me, what it means to serve Him and others, how I can change and improve to be a better daughter, sister, friend, worker, mentor, leader? Distractions have been there along the way but I am grateful that God speaks directly to me or through leaders to keep me on the course.

Every service, CG meeting, QT, serving in ministry, I look forward to the presence and power of God. It is this presence and power that keeps us fresh. It is this presence and power that we can truly live out our best lives and destinies in God!

Friends, Let’s Consider our Destiny! Your decisions in life shape your destiny.

If you want to make a decision tonight on any or all 3 areas - Faith, Focus, Freshness, why don’t you lift up your hands as we worship. Worship with greater faith, focus on the God of miracles, press in to get a fresh word from God...

lead in to worship (5-6min)

Wrap up worship and give instructions to break out for short sharing (15min)

As we worship, will we be fresh!

Worship Let be fresh in our worship to God

Get a fresh word / revelation from God today!

(Option to break out into smaller groups to share about what they have reflected upon)