Today we played this game which I called Fastest Finger First. Basically, each pair is suppose to stand back-to-back, and then turn around and then guess how many fingers the other person is holding. We had a face off and Sean is our Fastest Finger Reader!
Our lesson today is on 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1. The book of 1 Thessalonians was a letter written by Paul to the people at Thessalonica. What happened was that Paul went to that place, preached the gospel and left after a few weeks. He was worried that the Thessalonians will forget about their faith. To his surprise, the Thessalonians held fast to their beliefs depite the persecutions they faced. Their faith was so famous that the whole of Macedonia and Achaia knew about them.
Put it in our context, just imagine the youths at YM congregated for YM camp and a speaker came over to tell us about Jesus. During the camp, the youths were fired up for God. Even after the speaker left, the youths continued to be on fire for Jesus. Months later, they are still jumping during worship, doing their QT everyday, meeting up consistently.
Back in those days, there was no TV or internet or even radio! Yet, the fame of the Thessalonians faith spread far and wide! Imagine how great their faith must have been!
The extent of their fame is as if the whole South East Asia and Australia have heard about YM! Sad to say, we are not even close to that.
Why is that so?
Lynette said it's because we don't have their courage. Someone mentioned that it's because they had confirmation of Christ's resurrection, but we don't really have. Their faith is greater.
I think we can gather our answers from verse 5: "... because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."
It was because whatever they heard from Paul was not just words. It came to them with power of the Holy Spirit. They felt something inside of them, stirring within them when they received the gospel. But more importantly, they had deep conviction.
We discussed what conviction was.
A whole list of definitions came up: -assurance -strong belief -great faith
According to dictionary.com, convictions is: -a fixed or firm belief -the act or process of convincing -an unshakable belief in something without the need for proof or evidence -finding by the judge or jury that the accused is guilty of a crime
Conviction comes from the word "convict". You usually get convicted of something negative. For example, John was convicted of murder. You don't use conviction for positive things like John was convicted of donating money to the needy.
So, conviction is actually a realisation of how small and how guilty you are in front of a BIG, HOLY, and MAGNIFICENT God.
My challenge for you guys is, this week, ask yourself: Is Christianity just plain words to you or something you hang onto with DEEP CONVICTION?
Ask God to reveal to you which one are you. Because, if it's just words, Christianity will mean nothing to you. You will just be a sunday christian. There's nothing special in your life. BUT if you receive Jesus with deep CONVICTION, your life will never be the same again. You have purpose and everyday is such great excitement and joy.
Ok. I will stop here. On Wed, I will post a question. The first person to answer on the tagboard wins a prize! =)
-Yas
told the world! :D @ 7:19 PM
WELCOME♥
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PROFILE♥
HELLO: WE ARE THE YOUTHS :D
Lynette
Shenna
Carolyn
Dom
Sean
JonGAN
Nicholas
Ben
Natalie
Lihao
Lonhau
Jeremy
JonSOON
Tzeyong
Sarah
Andrew
Samuel
Carissa.
Yasmine
Shaocai
KaiKein
important DATES
Birthdays.
Shenna:25th Feb 1993
Clarine: 17th April 1991
Carolyn:25th April 1993
Andrew: 1st May 1993
Sarah: 3rd May 1993
Samuel: 4th June 1993
Dom:22nd June 1993
Sean:23rd June 1993
Tze Yong:2nd July 1993
JonGAN:16th July 1993
Nick:18th July 1993
Kai Kein:26th July 1993
Ben:15th Sept 1993
Nat:11th Oct 1993
LiHao:20th Nov 1993
Lynette:5th Dec 1991
LonHau:11th Dec 1993
Jeremy:23rd Dec 1993
JonathanSOON:23rd Dec 1993