my shepard protects me

psalm 23

John 10

-door gives access to things

-we have access to God, and Jesus is our door

john 10 10

just because we have God, doesnt mean that the thief will not come

the thief will surely come to steal, to kill and destroy

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Jesus is not just the door, but the shepherd guarding the door so that the sheep can rest in the dark at night

1 sam

David as the shepherd risk his life to protect his sheep

john 10

Jesus died for His sheep so that He can protect His sheep from the curse of sins

how the shepard  protects

1. the valley

psalm 23 1-3

green pastures and still waters

psalm 23 4

real life happens... where theres valleys, ups and downs

we are never meant to stay in the valley

in darkness, even if we cant see God, God can see us

psalm 23 4

-shadows cannt hurt us

-things we are going through is nothing but shadows

   -death is real... Jesus conquered death so tt we dont have to fear the shadow of death

2. the rod and the staff

rod = stick the shepard use to chase the predator

staff = use to fend the sheep who are going astray

job 1

-how does Satan know that Job has a shalf over him if he has not attacked Job..

-we complain how much God has not done for us, but not knowing how much God has protected us

psalm

3. the table

psalm 23 5

God prepared the table, and wants to dine with us

what is on the table is not impt but who is at the table

pslam 23 5

God prepared the table and enemy (sickness, etc) surrounding us

1 peter 5

we must be sober minded and watchful cos the devil is wanting to steal a seat on the table

   the devil is looking and waiting for a crack and opportunity to attack us

      on the day we are not feeling good, the devil comes sitting on the table, eating our food, slowly stealing our heart and devotion to God

1peter 5 8

be firm! the devil dont have a seat on the table!

provers 13 20

dont let bad company sit on the table

probers 27 17

relationship pulls us inward or away

ppl are sent be either God or devil

1 cor

be careful not to let the wrong ppl to sit on the table to 

pic relatonal intelligence

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love unconditionally

value regardless of gender, race, age, etc

not everybody should be sitted on the table

everybody gets love but not everybody get access to our life

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we always pray God to bring us out of our situation, but God says pray that God comes into our situation 

GOD DWELLS IN OUR DARKNESS

God sent Jesus in the darkness cos He can be a light to us in our darkness

-God doesnt bring us out of the darkness immediately.. if we wants God to bring us immediately, we will be disappointed

-God dont work according to our timetable... God has a plan for us

   we must learn to trust God

-challenges of life will come.. but God promise that He will be with us!

-dont go through the challenges, but grow through the challenges

TREASURES IN DARKNESS

-God uses Christmas to remind us that in dark season, God is always with us

-God uses dark places to bring us to higher places

-we must plant the seed in a soil, a dark place so tt it will come to life

   -we are the seed.. too much of the good things can hinder us from growth

-God doesn't send the bad things, but uses the bad things to let us grow

-in the dark places, we pray more, seek God more, prioritize more

-going through all good will not bring out the best of us

3 things to do when in a dark place

1. believe

-bring God into our situation 

-keep believing and speaking out the promises of God

-go through dark places believing!

2. trust

-God is working for us, in us

-learn to trust God's timing

3. surrender whole heartedly

stay in faith, but whatever the outcome, joyfully surrender

-faith is trusting God even if life doesn't make sense

unless the seed is placed in the dark place, it can't grow and one day something beautiful blossom!

WHAT KIND OF WORLD WILL WE CREATE

-we cannot proclaim what we cannot see, what we do not know

-God sees what we cannot see

when we connect with the spirit of God, we will see what the world can't imagine

-what poverty steals from us is the ability to see a better life

   -a lost of a dream

-we can see what the world don't see

   -ppl lost their job, their income, their hope, dreams and ability to see a better future

-we see what we couldn't see before, began to dream dreams we can't imagine

   -imagination is playground of God, God began to show what He can do in and through us

if we can celebrate the success of others, it shows tt our soul is healthy

our mission, task, calling, opportunity is what Jesus came to do

it's through the scars that God shapes us to be healer of the world

-ppl asked why does God gives a broken heart... 

   -we can't bind the broken hearted if we nv know a broken hearted

what kind of world are we going to create

   -a world tt the world can't imagine

it's a suffocation tt we can't see what is infront of us, but have to keep moving forward

-the best thing is to have someone in front whom we can follow.. and tt is Jesus

   -this is the power of hope.. when we are in darkness, despair, just get close enough to Jesus

replace the mourning with joy, replace the sorrows with hope

this is what God is going to do to us

God is going to create a new us in us

ppl thought tt God will give us a path tt will avoid pain.. however, this is not the reality

-we learn to pick up the broken pieces of who we are and create a new world through the broken pieces

-the qn is not whether God has called us to do great things but are we willing to pay the price

-everything God created is created to give us life

   -breathe deeply the oxygen we didn't pay for

   -drink water tt is freely placed in this earth

God can use the material of our pain, scars to create a new us

what kind of future do we want to create?