Relationships

All right, welcome. Good morning, everybody. It's good to see you. And if you haven't been joining us, we've been doing a series on relationships.! And what kind of relationships have we been doing? Shout it out.

! Huh? Singleness. What did you say? All of them. All of them. Okay, thank you. Well, that concludes it. I think our sermon's done. I'm joking. But we've done, last week we did friendship.

And Pastor James walked us through the story of David and Jonathan. How they spurred each other on towards the Lord. How Jonathan was like, you are the anointed.

And I'm here to back you up. Do you have friends that will back you up and spur you on towards the Lord? We talked about singleness. And Pastor James talked about the story of the Ethiopian eunuch.

How he used his singleness to seek the Lord. He went to the temple to seek the Lord. He wasn't able to find him there. But then he met, who did he meet?

Which disciple? Philip. All right? And he opened the word of the Lord to him. We talked about marriage. And 1 Corinthians 13.

How love is the foundation of marriage. And as we, as the husband and the wife, get closer towards the Lord, they will also get closer to one another.

Is the marriage founded on love? And lastly, family. Right? We have our given family. The Lord has provided a family, our parents.

But we also have a new family. A new family that is in Christ. Are the slides working today? Yeah? Don't know?

So today we're going to talk about the book of Colossians. And it is from the book, one of the epistles. And Paul was writing from prison to the church in Colossae.

Anybody been to Colossae before? No? Anybody know where it is? Modern day? It's modern day Turkey. Okay? Anybody been to Turkey? Very, very interesting historical country.

Paul writes to the Corinthian church. Sorry, Colossian church about the Messiah. What about the Messiah? The Messiah is the firstborn of all creation.

He is the creator. He is the sustainer. And he is not just one of the Roman gods like they worshipped back then. But he is the Lord of creation.

He is the God of all creation. And he's also responsible for a new creation. And this new creation is this new body in Christ.

New body in Christ. Back then, in the church of Colossae, there might have been different Christians from different backgrounds. Romans that came to know Jesus.

They had a religious background of worshipping different Roman gods. There could have been Jews. There could have been Jews that had come to know Jesus. And they came from a Jewish background.

And they were following the law still. And today, in our church, there's people from different backgrounds. We have Canadians. Canadians. We have the Aussies.

We have from South Africa. We have, right, from UK. We have people from different backgrounds. How do we get along together?

Right? How do we get along together? And so Paul is writing to the church in Colossians. You are a new body. You are a new body.

And because we're a new body, there's no longer Jew or Gentile. But we are one body in Christ. And so this book offers a template for what our church, here at the gathering, should also look like.

So let's stand. And we're going to read together the scripture together. Colossians chapter 3. Let's read together. All right.

One, two, three. Put on then. As God's truth is. Giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen. All right. You may be seated. Once again, there's some seats in the front.

If you want to come up, you can come up to the front. All right. So the first question we are going to discuss in our groups is, let's go to the next slide.

What does this passage tell us about God and relationships? So go into groups of three or four to the people beside you. Get to know each other.

And have some discussion. Especially about the first two or three verses. What does this passage tell us about God and relationships?

Okay. So let's go into groups. Colossians chapter 3. Have a great time of discussion. We're going to have a discussion for around three minutes. Okay. Three minutes. Once again, the question is, what does this passage have to do with God and relationships?

About God and relationships. Okay. All right. How's everybody's discussion going?

Good. All right. I want to hear from some groups. Any groups want to share? Any groups want to share?

Any groups want to share? Let's get two groups to share. Let's take two groups. Maybe a group in the back. Okay. Shout it out. What was one thing that you observed about God and relationships?

Betty, your group. Just shout one thing out. Okay. Very good. Give a hand to Betty. Yes. Absolutely. God loves us. Forgives us. Absolutely. What about, um, Mihi, your group?

Anything? Very good. Let's give a hand to Mihi. Yeah. Those are great points. And, uh, Mihi brought it out.

My first point is we are chosen. God has chosen you. God has chosen you to have a relationship. The reason we were created in this world is to enjoy a relationship with our heavenly father.

God knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb. You know, before MJ was, you know, before MJ was born, God knew, right? God knew before James and Christina, right?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Now, this word chosen, right? What nation? Right? The chosen nation is Israel.

Because Abraham followed the Lord. And out of him came a nation, a chosen nation, a holy people, a royal priesthood, God's special possession.

And so the first observation is that we were chosen for a relationship with the Lord. Number two, we are consecrated. Holy and pleasing to the Lord.

Be holy for I am holy. First Peter, it says. What does holy mean? Holy means we are set apart. We are different. If we are Christians in this world, how are we different from the people in our workplaces, in our industry, in our schools, in our workplaces?

How are we distinguished if we are distinguishable from others who are not Christians? If God has called us, chosen us, we should be holy and set apart.

We need to reflect Christ-likeness. And not only does he say we are holy, but we are beloved. Do you remember a couple, I think maybe a month ago, James shared, what is that image that reminds you of the love of God in your life?

Right? Some people said, I think Jordans, you remember? Jordans, somebody said butterflies, right? We need constant reminders that God loves us so much that he created this world.

He sent his son to redeem this relationship that has been ruined. And the last thing is character. God has called us to be ambassadors for who he is.

An ambassador is what? A representative of a country. Right? When you represent a country, you want to share the qualities of that country.

And we are God's nation. A chosen nation. We are to exemplify Christ-likeness. Christ was compassionate.

He saw the multitudes like sheep without a shepherd. And he had compassion upon them. Christ was humble. He stepped down from heaven to be among us as flesh.

He was meek. He humbled himself before the father's authority to come down, to be the ultimate sacrifice.

He was patient with his disciples. He bared with them. Especially Peter, who had to learn multiple times. He forgave them. And at the end, it says, above all things we should put on, above all things we should put on, love.

Right? Love is the supreme virtue. If you have love, you have all the virtues. It's like you have the infinity gauntlet.

The infinity stone. Right? You can have Spider-Man's, you know, web shooting. You can have our Professor Xavier's, you know, mind controlling. You can have Wolverine's healing ability.

But if you have the infinity gauntlet, you have them all. You can control time and space and, I don't know, the souls of people. Right? You have it all.

If you have love, you have it all. If you have love, you will forgive. If you have love, you will care. If you have love, you will place the other person first.

And so, these are the three things. Chosen, consecrated, and character. Is it easy? It's not easy. If you know, I'm a pastor's kid.

And with a pastor's kid comes also the expectations of being like a pastor. And so, I've had comments like, oh, you know, you should know it all.

You're a pastor's kid. Right? And believe me, back then, we didn't have ChatGBT. Right? We couldn't just Google anything and be like, yeah, I know it all. Right? Or, you know, if you did something wrong, you know, you'd be like hurting your parents' position or reputation.

And I felt restricted. I felt like I didn't want this. I don't want to be chosen. I just want to be free. That's why I love to travel and go out and be free and get away.

Because sometimes the expectations are heavy. Right? You've had expectations on you. Maybe it's at work. Maybe it's with your family. And it's not easy.

But God has not called us to have an easy life. To go to the beaches and Phuket and Bali and just live an easy life. No, God has called us for a holy life.

Amen? And out of living this holy life will come eternal blessings. I want to invite Brayden. Let's give him a hand. So Brayden is one of our youngest teens here.

And I had the privilege of, yeah, just connecting with him while he's here. And we've been able to play ball a couple times after a youth group. And believe me, I've never seen so many air balls in my life.

And it became so constant that it became our strategy to win. Because I would run and get the rebound and score afterwards. And so he's part of the winning strategy.

And we utilized his weaknesses for our greater gain. So let's give a hand to Brayden. Even in the midst of really busy exam season assignments, he has made the time to really prepare himself to share with us today.

And so Brayden, how long have you been with us in the gathering now? I've been to the gathering for seven to eight months now. Right. And what brings you to the gathering?

Why did you choose the gathering? When I came to the gathering for the first time, I felt very welcomed. So I gave it a few more tries. And I just feel like every time I came, it felt more like a family to me.

And everyone's very welcoming. And everyone here in this room just brings me closer to God overall. Wow. Very good. Awesome. All right. And what's the discussion that we're going to have?

The second discussion question that we're going to have. So the second discussion question we're going to have is, what does this passage tell us about humanity and relationships?

All right. So go in your groups and we'll go back to the passage. And you can discuss for three minutes. We'll see you in a bit. All right.

Let's hear from another two groups. Maybe we can. All right. One of the kids groups. Liam, Ryan, you want to share one thing?

What did you see about humanity and relationships? Very good. Give Ryan a hand. Ryan actually came to know Jesus a couple months ago.

So let's give a hand for that also. All right. Let's hear from another group. Grace, you want to share something? Your group?

Very good. Let's give a hand to Grace. Great sharing. All right. One more. Okay. Very good. Thanks for your sharing. All right. Brayden, take it away.

All right. So from what you guys have said, I believe there are some truths. Yeah. Yeah. But in this sense, God has given us a higher calling, right?

In the way that we are in relationships with others. And God says in Colossians 3.12, he says, put on. As these characteristics mean they don't come naturally for us, which needs us to have more trust within the Lord.

Right. And that will help us begin to have more of these qualities. And as these qualities just don't come very easy towards each person.

Right. But as I have grown as a Christian, I found it a little hard to overcome some of these characteristics. Right.

And just be more like God. Each person has been chosen to be different and born different and built different. Right.

Each of us are different in this room. And God has created us to be like that. And God also has created us to have different paths and different careers and different dreams.

Right. He has given us a different guidance. And yet we still struggle to bear with one another. Because each of us are just different.

And some of us are just not compatible with one another. But that's what makes, that's why we must bear with one another. And just be able to accept them no matter what. All right.

And secondly, as you much bear with, like as you have to bear with them, you also have to be able to forgive them and accept them. Right. Well, in the Bible, what does it mean to forgive?

And what is the meaning for it? Well, it means to let go of the desire to get even or the right to require the offender to pay for what he has done.

And to forgive is to say, you are free. Your debt is paid. Right. As Jesus paid for our debt.

Right. and when we say we offend God it's because he he is justice right and because we still sin every single day and we can't pay for that for our own costs right and he had to send his own self to bring Jesus to pay for our debts right and I find it hard to forgive sometimes and I bet all of you guys do too all right I had a difficult relationship last season with my basketball team and if you know me I really love basketball right at that moment all my teammates then always discouraged me never passed me the bond just didn't really like accept me was on the team right made me feel useless made me feel like I wasn't a part of the community I wanted to be with right and it's gotten worse when I got into a game in the finals I was we were at a crucial moment

I was completely open and he didn't pass me the ball one of my one of the best teammates on the court he took it to himself and he said I'm gonna take control of the game because I'm because he wanted to be a little more selfish and I I got really angry at that because it costed us right but in the end I realized something why why do I have to be so frustrated at them if it's my it's my fault that I can't I can't be improving on my own skills right and God would forgive them no matter what so I should do what God has done forgive them and learn from learn from hope they will learn from their mistake for not being able to accept one another right and finally I just realized that and I learned that um God has given me the courage to do this and I was be I was able to be confident enough to talk to them and fix my situation right and that's why sometimes forgiving is difficult you feel like you don't want to do it but you kind of have to because God has called you to right and God has forgiven even the people who has hung him on the cross he's forgiven everybody right and from that

Christ also can help you from your most difficult situations no matter what if you're struggling with and you just want to figure out what to do next God is probably going to help you and be there and tell you it's okay and everything's under control that's why you should put your trust in God and yeah great let's give Breeden a hand I've also experienced uh difficult teammates uh Mr. James uh I think three years ago our season ended because of uh COVID when we are expected to win it all and of course this season something else happened also but it's okay I will I will call my inner LeBron uh tonight today and uh we will try and get the victory so all right we're gonna move into the last part of our discussion and the last part of our discussion is about uh let's go to the third slide how do we apply this passage what this passage teaches into relationships how do we apply what this passage teaches into our relationships all right so we'll look into this uh for three minutes go new groups and we'll conclude afterwards all right let's gather back together all right which group wants to share all right let's have our university students share which university students want to share

Ryan you want to share Matthew come up let's encourage Matthew all right share us uh one of the points that you guys shared in your group very good let's give a hand to Ryan and let's invite let's invite Darren to come up who just got engaged also let's give a hand with that all right Darren you want to share something from your group all right let's give a hand to Darren yeah some great points you guys great points uh my first point from this uh this section is number one is peace let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts what does that mean that the peace of God would rule in our hearts it's surrendering to the Lord letting him be in control right surrendering to Christ and what he has in store for us and so when we surrender ourselves then this peace will also pass on to our outer community and so this is not just an inner peace this is a peace within the community where we can then reconcile and forgive one another it says in in first John chapter one if we claim to fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness we lie and we do not live out the truth but if we walk in light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus's son purifies us from all sin as we walk with Jesus we will have fellowship we will have peace as we are one body in Christ imagine if our church here at the gathering we we're a gathering of peace peaceful people people who are different but yet are willing to reconcile with one another forgive one another accept one another love one another what kind of church would we be what kind of church would we be my second point is thankfulness how many times was thank be thankful or thankfulness mentioned in this passage how many times you guys remember many times very good good answer first

Thessalonians it says be thankful in all circumstances we need to practice gratitude and contentment as a group and that would avoid comparisons jealousy pride gratitude did you know that when we are practicing gratitude there is actually psychological changes in our body did you know anybody knew okay it says here feelings of gratitude can regulate corosal production in your brain and reduce anxiety and stress similar to giving gratitude triggers the brain to release neurotransmitters and hormones related with happiness including dopamine and serotonin God has designed us to be a people of gratitude a people of gratitude did you guys notice that when you're thankful you're happier anybody anybody agree with this study or you want to disagree you can disagree

I mean you can do another study I mean imagine if we were a gathering of thankful people people who praised the Lord and were thankful for what he had done for us in and through our lives imagine what kind of gathering what kind of church would we be and the last thing I want to mention is the word of God what did it say let the word of God word of Christ dwell in you richly richly not just like oh if it's convenient not just oh when I have time when I'm done my Netflix show no it's richly right it is of valuable importance it is should be our focus what should we do with the word of God we should be teaching we should be admonishing which means correcting guiding rebuking seeking the truth we should be singing about the word of God just as we sang earlier and once again it says with thankfulness in your hearts the word of God changes lives the word of God changes lives it is powerful it is a double edged sword as you read it little by little you become become more like Christ

God changes you from the inside out as we trust in the Lord to read the word the Holy Spirit teaches us the things and reveals the mysteries of his will the word is a lamp for my feet and a light into my path what is the difference between a community who just plays sports and a community who focuses on the word of the Lord the lather is a follower and a body of Christ imagine if our community focused on peace reconciliation forgiveness acceptance imagine our community focused on thankfulness imagine if our community focused on the word of the Lord in our small groups in our fellowships even in our sports we're praying connecting connecting connecting with each other let's take a moment as the band comes up to just reflect on what the Lord is teaching us today how can we apply what the Lord is teaching us let's just close our eyes and let the Lord speak to us as we sing this response song what is the Lord teaching us today how can we grow as a community to become the body of Christ moment