Build Bridges not Walls

1 Corinthians 12:12-31 NIV
[12] Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body---whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free---and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. [14] Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. [15] Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. [16] And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? [18] But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. [19] If they were all one part, where would the body be? [20] As it is, there are many parts, but one body. [21] The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don't need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don't need you!” [22] On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23] and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, [24] while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, [25] so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. [26] If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. [27] Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. [28] And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30] Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues ? Do all interpret? [31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

Human body is really complex. Every single part of body is connected. 

The most challenging in church, among obeying God commandment, overcome sins and also relationships among one another. Relationship is the most challenging because person is full of emotions and a lot of feeling inside. 

Despite all there things, we are called to love one another.

John 13:34-35 NIV
[34] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1. Bridges connect

It is about friendship, and it bring people together. 

2. Walls separate 

Wall separate. Whenever people build walls, it separate one party to another party.

Isaiah 59:1-2 NIV
[1] Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear. [2] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Walls will cause us lonely, as it build some disconnection

3. Building bridges of connections, acceptances and vulnerabilities.

Three things about human:

1. Different in characters
2. Emotional creatures
3. Sensitive

Known Only to God

Nehemiah 11:1-4 NIV
[1] Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. [2] The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. [3] These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon's servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on their own property in the various towns, [4] while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem): From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez;

In this period, people are excited in a revival back to God. Nehemiah and Ezra did not do it alone. They were joined by a great host of people who dedicated themselves also to the service to God. 

If we want to serve, not because we want to be recognized but to really serve and giving our heart totally.

Nehemiah 7:1-2 NIV
[1] After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. [2] I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do.

1. There are those who are drafted.

Nehemiah 7:1 NIV
[1] After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed.

Matthew 20:25-28 NIV
[25] Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. [26] Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--- [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

2. There are those who volunteer

Nehemiah 11:2 NIV
[2] The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

Volunteer requires effort, time, sacrifice, money etc.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 NIV
[57] But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

April Fools Day 2015

Matthew 5:22 NIV
[22] But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Psalm 14:1-2 NIV
[1] The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. [2] The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

God using word fool is pretty strong, it is not a good word to be used or address to one another.

Luke 12:13-21 NIV
[13] Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” [14] Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” [15] Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” [16] And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. [17] He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' [18] “Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. [19] And I'll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ' [20] “But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' [21] “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

He does not call him that because:

• he is dishonest.
• he is failed to plan ahead

In our society, this guy might be the one of very successful people.

1. A foolish person is a thankless person

Twelves time in short passage this man said 'I' or 'ME' or 'MY' or the like

2. Foolish person is blinded by lies

12 apostles does not have a place to stay, but this person having such abandon life, and yet he wants build bigger barn to ensure he can store more wealth.

3. Foolish person is forget about others

Verse 19. It explain that the person want to take life easy and it is all about him. He forget others.

4. The foolish person forget about future.

Verse 20. This very night the life will be demanded from you. 

The person is building something that only last temporary but should build something that last forever.  

Get Save Today

John 12:32-33 NIV
[32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [33] He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

John 3:13-15 NIV
[13] No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven---the Son of Man. [14] Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Only thru Jesus that we can get saved.

Numbers 21:8-9 NIV
[8] The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” [9] So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

Living Above Reproach

According to Solomon, we have to guard our heart, which is guarding our eyes, speak, ear. As a Christian we have to reproach in all areas. Living according to Jesus.

Philippians 2:14-18
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

This verse are always guard our heart, and not to be grumbling and arguing. life a live above reproach.
Did people see me as someone who always grumbling or complaining?
 whatever we are doing today, it reflect our heart, and how close we are to God.
Learn the benefits of doubt.

 Do I have people in my life that giving benefit of doubt?
 walk in the age long enough and it will fall.
 Am I changing to be more and more like God or the other way around? It is time to create some distance to far from what makes distance to be like Jesus.
Be undervalue the weakness.
Do not let the environment dictates your holiness

Sinful Nature

Romans 1:21-32
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

The act of sinful has been brought into this level.

Romans 2:1-4
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

It is easy for us to condemn, but it is hard for our life to follow what bible said. What are we comparing to? What is our standard that we use to compare?
Paul understand that Jews and Gentiles are having this in mind. Jews are chosen one as they are from Abraham lineage, many of them believe that if they have a little sin, they can still inherit kingdom of God.

Romans 7:19
19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

When Sin control you, it will make your spirit heavier and make us tired easier.

 Ephesians 5:3
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

 Have I recall things that to satisfied my sinful nature? When the temptation is started, we are already losing it. When we are in the edge of temptation, we are losing battle.

 Bible said if we resist the devil, it will be flee from me.

Feed my spiritual nature, as when we are tempted and fall into sin, we are feeding our sinful nature, which is why we have to feed our spiritual feed to ourself so we can become strong in this.

James 1:13-15
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

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Friendship or Facebook

Real friendship
Proverbs 14:24
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
 but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Qualities of AHAVE [friend closer than a brother]
1. Deep relationship
1 Samuel 18:1
18 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
Do I have a have relationship with my small group? if I can’t deep with my brothers, how do I can lead them deeply? We need to learn deeper question.
2. Courage to speak the truth in love
Proverbs 27:5-6
5 Better is open rebuke
 than hidden love.
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
 but an enemy multiplies kisses.
3. Willing to sacrifice
John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.