GoQuestion : How to Crush Your Enemy Without Even Touching Them

GoGroup Question
Ice breaker : Distribute a piece of paper for each member.Take time to think and then write your opinion about : What Go Group means to you personally? It can be positive or negative comments. Please relax, You may enjoy your snack or drink while you think.After you all finish writing, read and share it to your group.Leaders, please collect all the comments after you finish.You can email all of the comments to icagosolid@gmail.comWe will make an opinion pooling about GoGroup.Let's find out together what improvement can we make in the future.All of the pooling will be published on : http://gosolid.blogspot.comWithin two weeks, we will choose the most quality comment and prepare prize for it.The quality comment doesnt always a positive one. It can be critic, dissapoinment or suggession. All of this is made for improvement of all gogroups.

Now. let's go to the main disscusion!

How to Crush Your Enemy Without Even Touching Them (by Scott Stricker)

1. In what occation do you usualy sing? (church, birthday party, happy time, in the bathroom)
2. And what make you sing?
3. In no 1 and 2, did anybody say about singing in time of sadness or in the difficult situation or sing when we face enemies? May be this is a not common idea to sing in the difficult situation. But actually in our scripture today 2 Chronicles 20 about King Jehosaphat who sing in this difficult situation. How could it be? Is that possible? What's your opinion about this? Is that make sense?
4. Singing that we are talking about is not just ordinary singing. It is PRAISE (Praising God). For us Christians it become make sense because of what we have leart from Scott's sermon. There are three points that say why we should Praise.-Change Our Focus-Change is Coming-Chance for Deliverance(for complete sermon note see below)Please, if there any testimony about praising God and how it affected our life, please share.
5. This is the conclution for today discussion. How is our praise and worship life. Do we do praising God everyday? How often? Do we realize the power behind the praise? 6. If there any commitment you want to make related to praising God, let's pray together and keep reminding each other about it.

SERMON NOTE
How to Crush Your Enemy Without Even Touching Them by Scott Stricker
“Praise is Powerful” Choose to Praise

(vs 1 -4) After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at Hazazon-tamar." (This was another name for En-gedi.) Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord's help.

The king and all the people got together and sought the Lord’s help. He answered them through a prophetic word.

(17 – 19) But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!"

18 Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. 19 Then the Levites from the clans of Kohath and Korah stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout.

Choose to Praise

Jehoshapat and the people faced what was an impossible situation but they didn’t sit around complaining or feeling sorry for themselves. They grabbed a hold of the prophetic word, a promise from God, took it as fact, and began to PRAISE the Lord.

We also have the promises of the Lord. He promises us that he will never leave us or forget about us, He will work all things together for good, and that He has a plan for us. But, often times when we face our battles we choose to worry, to doubt, to complain and in doing those things we forfeit the power of praise.

• Hebrew word for praise is HALAL: to praise, celebrate, glory, sing (praise), boast
• Celebrate
• Glory
• Sing
• Boast

Change Our Focus

(vs 12b ) "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

They said, “God, we know that we are outnumbered and that we can’t beat them. But we are not going to look around at how bad things are how horrible our situation is, we are going to look up.” And then they put their words into action. * (vs 21) Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army

That is looking up! They put their worship band at the front as head of their attack formation.

Where are you looking, around you or up?

Darlene Zschech

"I learned we’ll never find hope looking at our circumstances," she says. "It’s only found by fixing our eyes on Jesus who doesn’t change and who’s always faithful.“

When we are surrounded by circumstances and difficulties we can experience the POWER OF PRAISE by looking up

Change is Coming

Don’t just Praise God when things are going good. Don’t just praise Him after he answers your prayer. We need to praise him… - Before the Battle v. 18 ...all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD - During the Battle v. 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. - After the Battle v. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they praised the LORD. This is why it is called the Valley of Beracah to this day.

Many of us don’t have a hard time praising God when we see the light at the end of the tunnel or when we can see that the victory is ours, but it can be hard for us to praise him before we see any results

Darlene Zschech commented that praise is "thanking God for things even though they’re not there yet," she says. "It’s appreciating Jesus not [just] for what He can do, but for being your Savior. And there’s power in that.”

Chance for Deliverance

(Vs. 27-30) Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. 28They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the LORD with harps and lutes and trumpets.29The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

Chance for Deliverance

Talk about being delivered and the joy that comes with it. I believe that when we praise and worship the Lord it will release His power and we will experience wonderful things like.. miracles. - It’s not our own power but the power of God that delivers us and gives us victory over our enemies and problems.

Challenge

Choose to praise God and keep your focus on him. Don’t just praise him afterward but before and during your battle. Allow him to deliver you as you praise him. * Deut 10:21 o He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise , the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes.

Teaching with Fire

DO I REALLY CARE?
     That is the question we must all ask ourselves. I can tell you almost everything you need to know about Sunday school teaching. I have done it for years. But classroom techniques and instructional strategies are a waste of time unless you deeply care for the young people you are attempting to reach.
     It starts on the inside. Without a fire that burns in your bones, it doesn’t matter how many teacher’s quarterlies you have read or how many years you have been in the classroom.
     Henrietta Mears, an author who spent a lifetime in Christian education, has said, “The teacher has not taught until the pupil has learned.”
     How do they learn? When children love the messenger, they are open to the message. That is why caring must always precede communication. If people don’t like you, they’re not going to listen to you. It’s that simple.
     The answer to a successful Sunday school program cannot be found in the careful lesson plans that have been written and published for decades. Some people treat their teacher’s manual as if it were inspired and ordained by God – but most of the time it has never been tested on kids!
     Every week the lesson plan at Metro Sunday School becomes written curriculum that is used around the world. It is not published before it is presented but only after it has been designed, developed and demonstrated.
     What we have developed may be the most exciting, effective material you can find, but it will be as boring as 4 A.M. if it is not presented by people who have a fire burning within their spirits.
     If you don’t “feel” the lesson, your classroom will become as dead as a funeral parlor. It is only when your “thus saith the Lord” is accompanied by a heart of compassion and caring that the message comes through. People of every age will respond by feeling what we feel. When we don’t care, they won’t either.
     Every week when I deliver what we work so hard to prepare, I treat that hour as if it were heaven or hell – because that is exactly what it is.
     Speaking to a group of Christian educators recently, I was rather blunt. “If you look at your class as anything less than life or death, you do not deserve to be a teacher. If you walk into the classroom ten minutes late, week after week, you need to resign. You wouldn’t come in late on your job all the time, but I’d venture to guess that some of you do it on Sunday.” There is no excuse. I’m sorry, there just isn’t.
     What does this have to do with Christian education? Everything. Sunday school teachers need to come face to face with the depth of their love and concern. If people don’t know how much you care, they couldn’t care less about how much you know.
     You can be a teacher for 30 years and have a dozen achievement certificates on your walls, but they are meaningless if you don’t have a heart for your class. Do you cry when they cry? Are you touched bye their feelings? The Bible says Jesus was not only touched by people’s infirmities, but by the very feelings of the infirmities.
     The world has grown tired of the games being played in many churches. What they are searching for is something they recognize instantly. It is called reality.
     As Christians we have learned the right words to the right songs and have become experts on the topic of love and forgiveness. We have practiced how to smile and how to show concern. We can even yawn and praise the Lord at the same time. Isn’t that amazing? There is just one problem. People recognize a phony when they see one, and shallowness is exposed faster than most people imagine.
     The days of attempting to “Fake it ‘til we make it” need to end. Either we are in this thing for the right reason – and for the long haul – or we need to get out of the way and let someone else take over.
     The world is watching. They’ve seen enough scandals. Now they want to see if what we believe really works. A hurting child is only looking for one thing – something with compassion and concern. They are looking for love that is shared heart to heart.
     Are we teaching because lives need to be transformed? Or are we there only because no one else would take the class? It’s hard to believe that some teachers can present a lesson week after week and never take the time to talk personally with one student. In most cases they’ve never been in the kids’ homes or don’t even know the kids.
     What conclusion can I draw about a Sunday school teacher who never visits a home, never phones an absentee and never invites someone to attend the class? Do they really care?
     Life is too short and the problems are too great to hurriedly spend fifteen or twenty minutes every Saturday night putting some slop-job lesson together. It is time we stop thinking about teaching the lesson and begin to consider how we can reach out with love and concern for a child.
     We’re not supposed to be teaching lessons; we’re teaching people.

Quote from ; Bill Wilson – Whose Child is This

Vallery's Sharing : 10 things we can learn from Hillsong Church

1. We are all leaders.

No matter what we do, we influence someone in one way or another. If you are a mom, dad, brother, sister, employer, employee or friend, you have someone in your world that you influence, either you do it on purpose or unconscious. So basically that is everyone!

God called us to be examples of Jesus. As Nelson Mandela said, we are born to manifest God’s glory.

Matthew 5:14-16 (ANIV)
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Some thoughts about being a good leader

a. A leader is not about a position or title but a person’s character
b. A leader is to be a good example (1 Tim 4:12-16)
c. A good leader shows honor and respect to others
d. A good leader takes initiative
e. A good leader cares more about his/her followers than themselves
f. etc

All the things a good leaders does all has to do with his/her character.

One thing I just want to re-emphasis is that a leader takes initiative. I see many people complaining about different things in church or in their life, but when asked to do something about it they say they cant or don’t want to.

Both a good leader and a good follower should always be up for a challenge.

2. Servant hood

In order to be a good leader you first need to learn how to be a good servant. You can’t lead if you can’t serve!

Matthew 20:25-28 (NLT)
But Jesus called them together and said, "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. [26] But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. [28] For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 23:11-12 (NLT)
The greatest among you must be a servant. [12] But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

How often do we see people as soon as they are given a higher position or a position of leadership, they suddenly are too good to get their hands dirty anymore. Pride is one of our biggest challenges. It was what caused Lucifer to fall. Let us not allow ourselves to become proud of ourselves. Don’t ever forget where you have come from and it is God who gave you the promotion.

3. Spirit of excellence

I have been told by Jeff that 2007 is the year of excellence for ICA.

Genesis 4:2-4 (NLT)
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. [3] At harvest time Cain brought to the Lord a gift of his farm produce, [4] while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his offering, but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected.

What do we give to God? Do you give him your best and finest work or do you give him whatever is left over?
Same in church,… do you give God your very best in music, worship, Sunday school, youth, greeting people, and even clean up? No matter how big or small your job is…. Are you doing it with excellence?
When you think of how much God loves you and what he has done on the cross for you, God totally deserves our very best!!!

4. Spirit of faith

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

How much faith do you have to see people get healed, marriages and relationship restored, financial provision? How much do you believe God can do such miracles?

Matthew 10:1 (NLT) – Mark 3:15;6:7
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.

Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart!!! Power of confession.

5. Discipleship

Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. [20] Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

ICA culture : people come and go. Don’t see it as a weakness but as an opportunity.

Titus 2 – encourages the church to disciple the people

Titus 2:14-15 (NLT)
He (Jesus Christ) gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right. [15] You must teach these things and encourage your people to do them, correcting them when necessary. You have the authority to do this, so don't let anyone ignore you or disregard what you say.

6. Open to change

In general, people don’t like change. They prefer stability because people like to feel in control but Change is something that is inevitable (something you cant avoid). Society changes every 10 year with a different generation. Even at ICA as I said before, people come and ago, there is a constant change of people coming to ICA. It has become part of the ICA culture, you have to be able to be flexible to change. Illustration: hillsong events department, ICA on the move – majapahit, heritage club, somerset, ptc.

7. Live under Kingdom principles, not the worldly principles

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

How often do people (or we ourselves) do things just because everyone else is doing it? How often do we use the excuse… it is trend or that’s just our culture?

“Jam karet” is one of the most common examples. Where in the bible does it say that is ok to be late? What I do know is that the bible teaches us to have integrity. Integrity means honesty, being honest. So when you say you will be there at 7, you are there at 7. or if you say the meeting starts at 5 then you start at 5. That’s called accountability.

8. Expand your territories

Where there is life, there must be growth! We need to continue to grow in our spiritual journey. Life is not a destination but a journey!
Allow yourself to grow and stretch yourself. Illustration: Body muscles – baby learning to walk, crawl, stand, walk, run

3 Major challenges every believer must fight against:
1. Spirit of familiarity – getting stuck in your comfort zone!
2. A negative spirit – fear, guilt, blame, lazyness
3. Pride

by : Vallery D

 

Chapter 11 Forgiveness: You don’t give – You don’t get

This chapter of the book emphasizes what Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark 11:24-26

‘Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But, if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’

This is both mercy and a warning coming from Jesus. And when Jesus speaks, He wants us to take Him seriously. We cannot view what He says the way we view the other authorities or relations in our lives. When He says something, He means it. He is faithful even when we are faithless. So when Jesus said, ‘But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses’. He meant it.

And, Jesus says this many times in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

‘For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ Matt 6:14-15

‘Forgive, and you will be forgiven.’ Luke 6:37

‘And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ Matt 6:12

Here the author relates his personal experiences in his ministry of the consequences of having an unforgiving heart.

Ex. 1 – the story of a rich man who died and was outside the gates of heaven. Jesus was there and dealt with him about his disobedience. The man pleaded with the Lord that if He would extend his life, he would serve Him. The Lord consented but before sending him back to his body, he was shown a vision of hell. There he saw his wife’s mother burning in the flames of hell. The man was amazed because she had said the ‘sinner’s prayer’, confessed to being a Christian, and had attended church. Why is she in hell?
The Lord told him that she had refused to forgive a relative and therefore could not be forgiven.

Ex. 2 – the story of a wife who complained to the author about not experiencing the presence of the Lord even after going to every service. The author after praying with her, felt no sense of God’s presence at all. God spoke to the author and said ‘she is holding unforgiveness against her husband’. She agreed to this; ‘but have done my best to forgive him.’ But because of the horrible things he had done to her, she wrestled with forgiving him. The author explained God’s command and Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness;

‘For you to receive from God you must forgive. You cannot forgive him in your own strength. You must take this before God and ask God to forgive you. Then you can forgive your husband.’

She released her husband, said this simple prayer, wept and spoke in tongues for the first time. She experienced the presence of the Lord.

In Matthew 18, Jesus sheds further light on the bondage of unforgiveness and offence.

Peter asked, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’

Peter as always, talks before thinking and felt generous saying this, taking things to the extreme. Jesus saw through this question and gave a shocking response. ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’

In other words, forgive as God does, without limits.

Jesus explained the enormity of this statement through The Parable of the Talents. He shows the compassion and forgiveness of the master writing off the higher debt of a servant. But, the servant did not show mercy to a fellow servant owing a lower debt, Jesus shows our ‘true self’ in holding on to debt or offence.

The offences we hold against each other cannot be compared to our offences against God, yet God forgave by sending His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.

As a lesson to believers, Jesus explains the parable further that once the master heard of the unforgiveness by the servant to another, the master scolded and condemned the unforgiving servant and delivered him to the torturers until he pays the debt. And Jesus concludes, ‘my heavenly Father (like the master) also will do this to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.’

Three major points in these verses.

1. The unforgiving servant is turned over to torture.
2. He has to pay off the original debt
3. God the Father will do the same to any believer who doesn’t forgive.

The Bait of Satan
July 12, 2006

From Joey

Thanks for remembering me while discussing about Job. I honestly feel I can not compare to Job's life before God allowed the devil to 'shake' him. I don't mind saying this, eventhough I was raised a Catholic, I didn't live the faith. I controlled n wrecked havoc in my life and business dealings. Some of you knew that I was divorced before Annabel came to my life and before totally committing to God. Again, I recommitted when the Lord spoke to me one night at my hospital bed because He showed me His plan/purpose why I should be on a wheelchair for now. Service to Him! That is it; will serve Him to the maximum spreading the Good News to the wheelchair bound and sick people. I am a living testimony to God's goodness and mercy and at the same time, His purpose in my life. And, I tell you focusing on God and His Glory is tough as Satan tries to bait his traps and get me to lose my hope and trust in God by throwing all sorts of trials and challenges in my way like our marriage, finances, health etc. But, I will continue to seek the Lord as my refuge during all these times and be humbled by His power, hoping for His hand for guidance and His love to overcome all adversities. It is all about being humbled and obedient to God.

Recent update.... I'm walking more steadily now but still need strength in my right leg and hand muscles. No more assistance getting up from wheelchair, sitting longer hours without foot swelling, doing more computer work and writing my daily journal. Meet weekly with all-men cell group and also ministering to wheelchair bound church members uplifting them spiritually. Daily email with former fellow patient who is a new believer and edifying him in the Lord. Onwards for Jesus! God bless ICA. Joey