Meeting 17! Lovely intimate meeting with 2 important messages

Do You Ever Feel Too Needed?

Philippians 2:3 says to regard others more than yourself. The Holy Spirit wants to develop in us a desire to prefer others and meet their needs. However, living this way can sometimes be tiring. Let's face it - we all have days when we don't want to go out of our way to help someone else.

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed trying to help others the way we think we should. At times it seems all of our family members need us, our employees need us, our friends need us, and they all need us in different ways.

Where are you all needed the most and what is usually demanded of you? How do you deal with it?

Do we ever feel too needed? Yes! And it's OK if you do too. We all feel overwhelmed from time to time. But we must remember that God gives us grace to do whatever He's asking us to do.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)

When you feel weary trying to meet the needs of others, go back to Philippians 2:3 and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Humble yourself before God and He will strengthen you to be there for the people in your life that He's asking you to help.

Does anyone go to certain parts of the Bible for guidance?

Jeremiah 29:11

Prayer Starter: God, I want to obey Your Word and regard others more than myself. When I'm struggling, lacking a desire to help others and feel overwhelmed, give me Your grace and strength to love and help the people You've placed in my life.

And then, we spoke about..

LOVE

God is love but what Bible verses stand out about His love?  What are your favorite Bible verses?  Here are mine followed by a personal commentary.

Ask each person what love means to them

God is Love

God is love and that is so clear, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.  Let me show you why God’s loves is displayed in His Word, the Holy Bible and what this love of God means to me.

Romans 5:6-10 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

These verses are so rich in love.  God’s love is no better displayed than on the cross because Jesus died for us while we were still sinners and enemies of His.  Certainly I would die for my family but for someone who was my enemy?  That is exactly what Jesus did for us.  The wrath of God we deserved was placed on Him Who didn’t deserve it so that we would get what we didn’t deserve (grace).  This proves that love is not a feeling or an emotion but it is active in His blood shed for us.  Love is a verb and it’s what you do, not what you say or what you feel.  That is the consummate action of God’s love.

First Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

If you think you can love like this, forget it!  It takes the power of God through the Holy Spirit to love the unlovable.  That is what God did.  He loved us first when we were unlovable.  When Paul uses the word “is” this word is like the mathematical use of the equal sign.  So think of this; love is equal to patience.  Love is equal to kindness.  Love is equal to humility (in not boasting or envying others).  Love is not acting in arrogance or rudeness.  It’s not irritable or resentful, even though I am at times.   It doesn’t rejoice in sinful activities but rejoices in the truth.  Finally, love bears all things (puts up with people), believers all things (gives people the benefit of the doubt), hopes all things (expects the best in all situations) and endures all things (like when people are rude to you, irritate you, resent you, brag to you, or envy you.).  Even though these are things that we should be emulating, these are impossible in our own strength and their source is God, therefore they reflect the love of God and God is their source.

First John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

This verse shows us the source of love…the source of all love!  It is God.  God is not only love but “love is from (or originated) God.”  John chapter four is one of those chapters where I often hold against a person that professes to be a Christian but doesn’t act loving at all.  John flatly says that if a person has that love, then that person shows that they have been born again and that born again person, by displaying such love, obviously knows God however “anyone who does not love does not know God” (1 John 4:8a).  If someone says they are born again and that they know God but hates their brother or sister, then he or she is a liar because it’s not hard or really, really hard, it’s impossible to claim to know God and love God and hate your brother (1 John 4:20).  John says that person does not have eternal life in them (1 John 3:15).

Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

The most God-like love is to love your enemies.  Not only to love your enemies but to do good to them and then lend to them and not expect to be paid back.  That paying back will come at Christ’s return and you will receive a hundred fold for what you give (Matt 19:29). 

There can be no greater privilege than to be the sons and daughters of the Most High God. 

So God’s love is like this: He loved His enemies first (us) and then did good to them (us, by Jesus’ death) and lends to us all that we have (with no requirements to pay back) because “He is kind to the” ingrates like me and like you and even kind to “the evil,” which means all human beings.  

God is love in ways that I cannot even describe.   He loves you and wants to save you but you must repent and confess your sins and then believe in Him by trusting in Jesus (Rom 10:9-13).  Do this and you too will be a son or daughter of the Most High God.

Part 2 of meeting no.16: Where you are in Christ

When we discover who we are in Christ, we will often face attack from outsiders and need to continually remember that by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)

Good has given us salvation and will therefore not leave us in bondage. In order to get into this closer relationship with God, we need to get to know Him for ourselves.(How Do I Get To Know God Better?: http://www.gotquestions.org/know-God.html )

John 17:3New King James Version (NKJV)

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Edith stressed the importance of not waiting to die in order to have eternal life. Deliverance is in the word.

Hebrews 1:1 (ESV)

The Supremacy of God's Son

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

We need to remember the importance of growth and journeys. Rather than constantly looking at others and what they're doing, we must remain focused and also to look at how far God has brought us!

Great message from our guest speaker and sister Edith. 

"I won't go back, I can't go back to the way things used to be, before Your presence came and changed me."

Part 1 of meeting no.16: The road to Emmaus

Step-to-step of how we started our meeting! Many thanks to our sister Rae for delivering such a great message <3

Introduction

• The bible tells us not to be ashamed of our testimonies, that our mouths should speak of his righteousness and we should speak of his name to our brothers and in the midst of a congregation to sing of his praises. What testimony do you have in the last week or so? Describe your testimony in a couple of words.

SUMMARY

Luke 24:13-35- Finding God on the Emmaus road

Cleopas and a companion of his (disciples of Jesus) were walking to Emmaus following the day after Jesus had risen from the dead. On their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem they were talking about things that happened. As they were walking Jesus appeared to them they were kept from seeing him, and did not recognise him.  Jesus asked them what they were talking about and why were they sad. They were surprised as to why this man had not heard of the things that had been happening for the last couple of days. Jesus asked them what things and they told him of Jesus Christ of Nazareth- the things that had happened to him. Jesus responded by “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”. They then drew close to the village to where they were going and then continued as if he was going farther. Cleopas and his friend asked Jesus to stay with him. When they were at the table, Jesus broke bread with them and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they realised the man they were speaking to was Jesus. They asked each other “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us”. So they rose up and returned to Jerusalem and told the other disciples that Jesus had risen.

• The background of this is that Jesus had died and risen. It was the third (Underline the third day in day)-completion, Jesus had done it he had completed what he set out to do.
• Emmaus (underline this word) has several meanings. Its thought to be a Hellenized version of the Hebrew name Hammath. The name Hammath comes from the root חמם(hamam), meaning to be warm. Greek meaning is said to mean warm spring. root-verbחמם (hamam) means to be hot or warm, and that usually in the physical sense. Emmaus means hot springs.
  

  • The spiritual (Greek) meaning Emmaus means “earnest longing”.  During their walk to the town they had a longing to understand what the man was saying to them-discussions and questions. They wanted to know more.
  • It was town 7 miles away from Jerusalem (Underline the 7 miles away)-completion and perfection (
• They had lost hope, being sad and walking downcast (depressed, melancholy, gloomy, dejected meaning in greek). They’re walking away from everything that God was doing in Jerusalem (Jerusalem was the centre of all what was going on as believers). They believed the saviour had died and was no more. They thought the man who appeared to them was a stranger
  

  • Look to verse 19-24. The way they were talking about Jesus they did not really believe that he had resurrected. This is why were so discouraged because of vs 21, because they thought Jesus would save Israel in the way they expected, the last thing they expected for Jesus is to suffer. Looking for someone to save them from the oppression of Moses etc
  • Have you ever lost hope- how am I going to make it? Had the most wonderful experience but if I can just have you, have a desire/a longing? If you can just appear in my life
  • The hope is that you’re going to show up and satisfy the longing. The men were sad and had lost hope, but Jesus still appeared
  • Why did Jesus show up to the two men? He is pursuing and seeking them
    

    • Psalm 14:2- God is looking down from heaven, to see if there are any of us who’ll seek him
    • Luke 19:10- Jesus told us he came down to seek and save those who are lost. The men were lost and had lost hope walking away from everything God was doing in Jerusalem.
    • Luke 15:8-10- the parable of the lost coin. Woman searching for her lost coin, if she loses one coin would she not search over. Same as God who continues to pursue and try to find us
    • Luke 15:20. The parable of the lost son. The lost son was a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion. The same here in this story the two men were a way off from Jerusalem were things were happening but Jesus still saw them and turned up.
    • Ezekiel 34:11- God says him himself will search for his sheep (us) and seek us out

    
    
  • If you'd like the rest of the notes on this message, please email us at ladieswhofellowship@gmail.com