Friday, September 30, 2011

cell group night

ahhh cell group. it was amazing to serve my little brothers and (many) sisters tonight with Steph&Stephanie, Caren&Karen, Wayne&Kevin haha.

I do believe it is refreshing to be actively engaged in ministry and community, and I have the privilege of doing ministry with Wayne, my current roommate and dear disciplee :)

It is a privilege, a joy, an honor to be able to feed, encourage, and just BE with them. Truthfully, I looked forward to this night as motivation to get through the horrendous night of Renal yesterday, and it really gave me the strength to push that last hour so that I wouldn't be shell-shocked by the difficult exam and be rendered unable to serve.

And thoughts from tonight:
1. There are so many lonely people, and community is truly something that needs to be built. For the sake of these individual people, for the sake of God's kingdom! Truly there is a dearth of loving, compassionate Christians and SUCH an enormous need from new Christians and nonbelievers! The harvest is ripe, but the workers are few. The workers are overworked, they are underfed, they are ill-equipped. What can be done? Pray, then, for the Lord of the harvest to send them. My prayer is that my co-workers in this cell group would be inflamed and guided by the Holy Spirit so that they are FULLY equipped for every good work that is necessary in this battlefield.

2. Truth is essential. To not preach it is folly, and to conceal it is madness. Without truth to discuss, there is no longer any real encouragement! From our discussion group today (we were reading Matthew 7, on the parable of the foundations, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount), it was wonderful to draw out the truth that our foundation is built not on some amorphous, undefined "relationship" with Christ, but on the very words of Christ. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Truly the Word of God, the Gospel, is preached into our lives through the Word of God. Without it, there is no way we could come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord, no way to build a solid foundation! Christ says it explicitly - that "whoever hears my words and puts them into practice" would be like the individual building their house on the rock.
The danger to not holding this truth is fully evident: if we go around deluding ourselves that we have this "relationship" with Christ APART from the Word of God, we will ultimately find our foundation built on some other human construct - relationships, misguided philosophies, even community. And then, how great will the fall of that house be! May God protect and preserve the people of this group from that unhappy fate!

All in all, a wonderful evening. May God be praised, for His name was made much of tonight :)

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