So blessed..sermon notes from moi's fren blog..ha..got permission of course

The reason i copied this sermon portion frm my fren's blog is reali for my reference but mostly it is bcoz i need this word in season..Hop you are blessed by the sermon too..Thank you my friend, your sharing of sermon is mutliplied now..haha..Thanks for allowing me to copy into my blog..heee..so blessed again..

O, to share..a disciple is a TRAINED worker with a GREAT ATTITUDE..in the bs i gav bel lst sun..ha..in line yea..

Below is the sermon shared by Pst Mark Conner.

1 Tim 4:7-8

Paul says we have to train ourselves to be godly. We dont try to be godly, but we have to train! There's a difference between trying and training.
Training helps you do what you cannot do by willpower alone.
(daph's thots: no wonder i had a good time running yest..yes..training gets me to where i wan to go)
Trying doesn't get you anywhere, training does.

Train in Greek is Gymnaso, which speaks of gymnasium, exercise!Therefore, we must engage ourselves in spiritual exercises to position ourselves to be more godly.
Below are 5 spiritual exercises that we should engage in...

The discipline of.....

celebration
prayer
reading God's word
fellowship
serving

Learn the discipline of celebrating God's goodness in your life.
Phil 4:4
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Learn the discipline of prayer.
Praying is telling God that we need Him in our lives and that we are dependent on Him. Without Him, we are really nothing.

Learn the discipline of reading God's word.
It is a way of connecting with God, a book that allows our minds to be challenged and an avenue for us when we look for inspirations, wisdom and guidance through life.
God's word is like soap that cleanses our soul.

You may want to try the following out daily and see the transformation in your life!

S-O-A-P= Speak ; Observation; Application; Prayer

Write down a verse that speaks to you. Make observation how you view/see the verse. Apply the verse in your life. Make a prayer that's appropriate in your life.

Learn the discipline of fellowship.
Acts 2:42
Fellowship helps us to learn the ability of getting along with people.
EQ is 2 times more important than IQ!

Learn the discipline of serving.
It will break the self-centredness in us.
1 Pet 4:10 The above 5 disciplines are active.

The next 5 disciplines are those of which we have to "disengage". They are not common.

solitude
silence
fasting
sacrifice
secrecy

Solitude is the deliberate disengagement from the busyness of the world.
Lk 5:16
When going for a retreat, we can get clarity on what's happening in the world around us.

Silence:
Eccl 3:7 Jms 1:9
Learn to listen more than we speak. Hearing magnifies in silence.

Fasting is giving up something more pleasurable for something more purposeful.
Eg. TV fast. It is a powerful way of having self-control and to say "no" to tempations.

Sacrifice is a powerful way of transforming your character and moulding us into a christian.
Rom 12:1-2 Lk21:1-4

Secrecy is for "approval addicts", the group of people who always seeks approval of others. We should learn to eliminate everyone on the grandstand except one, God himself. Do something anoymous. Pray for someone without letting the person know. Giving/blessing someone without his/her knowledge. This act will not feed your ego, but it feeds your heart and soul.

Conclusion

Discipline is unpleasant at the beginning. Howerver, along the pain, there's a reward and when we see the reward, it motivates us to be even more disciplined to carry on the spiritual training as it's self-validating.

Discipline is NOT a measure of maturity. It is not how many hours you pray, how many hours you spend fasting or fellowshipping; but we are looking at the final product here: are you becoming more like Jesus?
Build the growth plan around your life.