{"id":12207,"date":"2022-05-22T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=12207"},"modified":"2022-05-24T09:28:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T13:28:05","slug":"from-strength-to-strength","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/sermons\/from-strength-to-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"From Strength to Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-gdm-google-drive-embedder-viewer\"><iframe width='100%' height='100' frameborder='0' scrolling='yes' src='https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1SqfS9TzIyGx2d4AYbB1nxoj29uhSd0lR\/preview?usp=drivesdk' allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Read<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Psalm 84<\/p>\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Consider<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Psalm 84 is titled The Pearl of Psalms among the Jewish.\u00a0 The Psalmist described his desire for God as a pilgrim.\u00a0 First, it reflected his longing for the temple and the privilege of worshipping in God&#8217;s house. \u00a0Then, the pilgrim&#8217;s journey reveals his trust in God through his prayers and how God gave him blessings.\u00a0 Pilgrimages to the tabernacles were a great feature of Jewish life.\u00a0 What about the pilgrimage in your life?\u00a0 Theologians used to say; that if the Ps 23 is the most popular, the Ps 103 the most joyful, the Ps. 119 the most deeply experimental, the Ps 51 the most lamenting, then this one is one of the sweetest of the Psalms of Peace.\u00a0 Psalm 84 illustrates the joyful desire and attitudes of his pilgrimage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">However, not all of us have the pilgrims&#8217; joyful excitement and anticipation when coming to God&#8217;s house.\u00a0 Week after week, month after month, what is your expectation when coming to worship?\u00a0 Have you discovered that there is a change in your heart?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">Rev. Amy Yu<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Pray<\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Dear Lord, God of all creation, may you examine my attitude and intentions of coming to the house of the Lord.\u00a0 Forgive me when we did not come with a genuine desire to engage with my mind, heart, and soul.\u00a0 Forgive me for treating the church as a place to satisfy my needs rather than seeking to honour you.\u00a0 May you open my eyes to see your goodness, love, and glory and reveal that I need you.\u00a0 Give me the desire to glorify you more than anything else.\u00a0 Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your crucifixion, resurrection and second return.\u00a0 May you give us the church to continue to gather and have the vision to honour you before your return.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">In Jesus&#8217; name, I pray, Amen.<\/p>\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Diving<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Deeper<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Can you summarize each outline with ONE word?<br \/>(v. 1-4) =<br \/>(v. 5-7) =<br \/>(v. \u00a08-9) =<br \/>(v. 10-12) =<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Take time to reflect on the following questions:<br \/>When was the last time that you felt the longing to come to church and have the thought that it is a privilege to worship there (v. 1-4)?<br \/>When was the recent time that you had to make a sacrifice to attend worship (v.8-9)?<br \/>When was the last time you prayed and truly felt God&#8217;s presence (v.8-9)?<br \/>When was the most recent time you felt the blessings through worshiping God (v. 10-12)?\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">A true worshipper comes with a true desire to see God. So what has been robbing your joy to worship?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">How can we live closer <strong>WITH<\/strong> GOD in our lives?<br \/>How are we being <strong>TRANSFORMED<\/strong> to be more like Christ?<br \/>How is the Holy Spirit empowering us to imitate Christ in what we <strong>DO<\/strong> this week?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 84<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":12099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[55],"ctc_sermon_series":[524],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[175],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12207"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12222,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12207\/revisions\/12222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=12207"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=12207"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=12207"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=12207"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=12207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}