Queen's Road Cell

Winnie shared about pastoral and practical issues in the Youth MInistry as it tries to evolve to survive and be more effective in its role.  I noted how everyone loved being pastored and cared for by leaders but by nature were emotionally unready for any change, even if that change is intellectually perceived to be desirable! We continued discussion of some Christian clichés: 1.          “Judge not, that you be not judged” This is a very Biblical statement – it comes from the lips of Jesus! (Mt 7:1). It is often used as a reason for not making a statement about someone’s morality. ‘Judgement’ is withheld (or at least, unspoken), and this makes us seem very spiritual. Clearly Jesus does not intend for us to not exercise discernment between what is good and worthy and what is evil and unworthy. A few verses down (Mt 7:6) He tells us to identify ‘dogs’ and ‘pigs’ and to withhold spiritual treasures from them, and this would be impossible witho...

Edmund Chan speaks of the 4 purposes of mentoring as promoting: 1. Wisdom in thinking - a perspective based on Scripture 2. Humble boldness - a posture of brokenness, meekness and openness before God 3. Thoughtful, skilled competence - pragmatics to help us deal wisely with and not react to situations. 4. Power sourced from God that works in love We looked at Rom 12:1-2 to ask ourselves how we get the 'certain perspective' mentioned in the study.  Paul looks back at Romans 1-11, and he summarizes God's saving plan as 'mercies'. On the basis of those mercies, he then asks us to present our entire selves ("bodies") as living sacrifices. In contrast to dead sacrifices, all our lives - our actions, speech and thought - are to be surrendered to God. We are "living" also because we have obtained spiritual life through new birth, and are thus able to please Him by being "holy and acceptable". Verse 12:2 tells us how we can be accept...

We started sharing about work situations and found encouragement in the devotion shared by MT and Selwyn about Daniel's (as in the book of Daniel) experiences in the workplace. This led to the question: "When is it right to leave a job?" We said that it would be right to leave when: 1. The job requires us to do something against the law of God. 2. The job habitually takes so much of our time that our church attendance, ability to serve and personal devotions are made impossible. We said that it was not wrong in itself to leave for a job with better pay, perks, position or people, but that the change of job would reveal our inner motives. A desire to leave with these things as a priority in our hearts would be wrong. Joyce shared that she would not leave a job ONLY because her boss was bad, but would look at many other factors. I thought that it would be a good time to talk about Christian cliches! 1. "God loves us unconditionally".  This is often paired...

 In today's study we look at 3 aspects of Christian life: 1. The God we are to know We are called to know God intimately, not merely to know about Him 2.The life we are to live We are called to use our days well in the light of eternity 3. The purpose we are to embrace We are called to be focused on a life goal I said that this was a summary of the life of a disciple, and that there was no better Scripture passage to study than Phil 3:7-14: 7  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10  that I may know him and the power of his resurre...

Eugene shared about how respondents to the Evangelism Explosion program he was attending were probably a biased sample because they were willing to sit down with those sharing the gospel. The questions asked seemed very simple intellectually, with many assumptions about core beliefs like 'heaven' and 'God'. That raised the question as to whether only somewhat simple-minded, non-intellectual people would receive the gospel and be saved. On one hand, we must affirm that the Christian faith is robust enough to handle any amount of intellectual questioning. On the other, there is no doubt that part of the glory of the gospel is that it speaks to the foolish and the weak in the eyes of the world (1 Cor 1:26-29). We are not saved by being either foolish or wise - we are saved by the power of God unto salvation! I shared the importance of  having a world view that explaiedn 1) origin 2) meaning 3) morality and 4) destiny. This is not something that is explained by the cycle ...

Faith in God and Salvation Heb 10:36-11:6, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9  not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9) 1.        The meaning of faith a)       Faith is knowing and accepting In Heb 11:1 the writer tells is that Faith (Gk. “ pisteos ”) is not a vague hope. “Assurance” and “conviction” speak of certainty . The KJV translates the Greek word for ‘assurance’ as “substance” and the word   for ‘conviction’ as ‘evidence’.   Faith substantiates the hope we have. If you get lost hiking in the jungle, you can have faith that you are rescued. But if you see a helicopter overhead with people waving at you, that helicopter substantiates your hope. Faith is evidence – it points us to the unseen truth, just as policemen gather tangible things like fingerprints or bloodstains to prove a case. Peop...

In this paradigm there are 3 attitudes we are asked to cultivate: 1. Nothing to prove 2. Nothing to lose 3. Nothing to hide. I point out that even non-Christians can express these attitudes! How are Christians meant to have these attitudes in ways that are different from non-Christians. "Nothing to prove" is an attitude where we have a sense of sufficiency and security. A non-Christian at the pinnacle of his or her success can certainly say this - that his or her worth cannot be questioned.because of a record of achievement that cannot be easily matched. People generally respond with this attitude when their achievements are questioned and they are asked to validate their worth. For a Christian, worth is not ultimately found in our possessions or achievements. Our worth is found in our identity as children of God for whom Christ died. We may not be successful in the way the world counts success. But our security in Christ suffices for us to stop trying to ...