Wednesday, August 12, 2009
@ 12:28 AM
Saturday Night Life Sermon ( 8 August 2009)
S.H.A.P.E ( Experience )
Romans 8:28
More than conquerors
28And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
There is a purpose behind your past experiences.
With experiences, comes wisdom and knowledge. Thus, we will know more about God through the things we experience as God will reveal himself in the experiences.
Our experiences are unique! God takes each experience ( be it good or bad ) to teach us something new!
However, experiences aren’t always positive. Bad experiences happen to good people too.
The key thing is that we must love God! For Christians who love God, they will use experiences to learn and grow. For Christians who don’t love God, they will think that God doesn’t protect them therefore, letting them go through all those bad experiences. And for people who don’t know God, they will just treat it as coincidences.
The story of Joseph:
1. Genesis 37:3-11
2. Genesis 37:18-36
3. Genesis 39:6-14
4. Genesis 40:5-23
5. Genesis 50:20
Through the numerous experiences that Joseph went through, it leads to who He is today. If he complains along the way, things may not be the same anymore. As long as we love God, we will hold on!
There must be the presence of bad experiences to let us know how ‘good’ the good experiences are. Just like there must be the presence of valleys to let us realize how pretty the hilltops are.
Through these experiences, God will send people to help us in our lives. We must be open to it and after then, we will then be able to help others too.
Three things we need to know about experiences:
1. Our past experiences is God’s foundation for our own futures
• 1 Corinthians 1:3-5
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
• Quote: “Life can only be understood backwards, but we can only live it forward”. A lot of times, when we are going through these problems, we will think that it is tough and difficult to overcome. But when we have break out of it, and when we look back, we will then realize how we have grown from these experiences.
• Our lives may have broken glasses, but God can use these broken glasses and craft it into a beautiful piece of stained glass.
2. Our past experiences can be used to comfort people
• We cannot ask directions from people who haven’t been to that place before.
• God can use you, experiences, problems and etc to heal others.
• Psalms 50:15
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
• We must recognize that God will be with us during times of troubles, He will be there protecting us in His arms.
• God wants us to have transparency in our lives and not hide our wounds and hurts.
3. Our past experiences with God can lead and teach others about God.
Mark 5:18-21
18As Jesus was
getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with
him. 19Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them
how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis[a]how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
John 12:9
9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom
he had raised from the dead.