Week 2 - NCC

"I'm in a movie theater! It's a cute feeling, going to church and ending up doing it in one of my favourite places in (well in general, not Eng Wah particularly) the world."

Well that was pretty much how I felt before the service started. It really is an experience, and one not all that bad really. I guess it helps when you're listening to a sermon in a really comfy, plush seat. A long sermon I might add. Total time was slightly over 2 hours, not that anyone complained really; Pastor Joseph Prince is very listen-able to.

Listen-able, though not without questions.

But if anything my resolution has taught me to be, is not to judge, neither to critique (too much), but to accept, think, analyze, ponder, learn. So, all in, it was a good message. I'm going to keep my thoughts a little shorter this time though. Got to learn to be concise. Or at least, try to be.

I liked how after two New Creation creations (both fast, catchy, and forgotten), we ended with two very golden oldies, which I admit, took me by pleasant surprise. I also liked the testimonies, which, now that I think about it, is very reminiscent of Hillsong Church. Hrmm. And of course, Pastor JP is a great, charismatic speaker.

I wager what I heard on Sunday was a "classic" New Cre sermon; having listened to another of his sermons just today, I noted the same point (from Sunday) iterated briefly before he launched into the sermon... that was recorded 5 years ago.

There's lots to be said about the sermon, but overall I drew two points from it... one prompted beforehand by the Holy Spirit, the other a throughly reworded truth, but essentially the same point (to me at least) I've been learning for a while. Note, there are differences, especially in... how you work it out.

The first, paraphrased.

Man is often given over to negativity. Something in us often believes the negative, the worst case scenario. We often do not need to teach people that God judges (we inherently believe it), but need to be taught to know that God desires to give to us (we inherently doubt it).

To me, perhaps that is why God has given us preachers like Ps JP, churches like New Cre. Are they the whole church? No. Are they the better church? No. Is the Word they bring better, or flawed? Neither. Perhaps I am rash to say this, but to me they stand as a bulwark against the steadily rising force of unbelief, of disbelief, that i would daresay even many Christians suffer from. The enduring strength in the belief in miracles, in the supernatural, in the knowledge and conviction that our God is a God who is good, and good to us, are key to the Christian faith. In that same way however, is discipleship. That's my opinion anyway.

The second, summarized (and added on from my own knowledge), is as such:

The concept being preached is, you are what you eat (or listen to). You hunger for what you feed on. Consistency is vital, continual active partaking of the Word is vital.

The analogy of hunger is taken straight from John Bevere, where in his book 'Drawing Near', he writes at length on the importance of watching your intake... fill yourself with the world, and you will not hunger for God. Fill yourself constantly, hungrily, on God's Word, and you will grow in the supernatural. This, to me, was the key message as well, behind Sunday's sermon.

The day's following events played out interestingly well enough as well, praise God. When your life follows God's prompting, it really rarely is bland. There's always something to take notice of, to think about, to learn from.

PUNCH on!