Prepared Heart for the Sunday Encounter (23/7/06)

I was supposed to sing in the choir in Paradise Central this morning, but I wasn’t feeling so well last night (runny nose) that I messaged my friend, who was picking me up this morning, that I wouldn’t be able to sing in the choir, thinking that my voice might be affected tomorrow.
I woke up early this morning and did my devotion as usual, and I asked the Lord to speak to me this morning and to prepare my heart well for another encounter with Him in the church this morning. As it turned out, His words spoke to my heart in my devotion and prepared me for the message in the church this morning. As it turned out, His words in my devotions met with the message by Pastor Matt Heins this morning that it just flowed along. These were the words that spoke to my heart in my devotion this morning.

When you were converted, God made everything available to you;
How you implement what He has given you is your choice (2 Peter 1:3-9)
We are to work diligently on our faith,
Yet always be aware that only God can bring about lasting change in our lives…
Through the work of the Holy Spirit…
When you sense God developing an area in your life, join Him in His activity
So that His salvation will be demonstrated fully.

Prov. 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

The following is Pastor Matt Heins message this morning, titled “Guarding Your Seed”

Guarding your seeds (potential/talents) by investing into them (e.g. investment in the bank account)

Six seeds or deposits of God:
1. Intimacy -personal relationship and connection with the Mighty God
2. Interaction with other people* building significant relationship with other people through:- Love- Grace - Acceptance* We can love, be gracious, and accept because He first Loved and Graciously Forgiven and Accepted us
3. Involvement- to make a commitment to grow and get involved and God will MULTIPLY our gifts or talents (just like the bank account)
4. Instruction- to continue to learn more from the Words of God and to have a learning spirit(2 Timothy 1:14-17)- we need to embrace challenges to help us grow
5. Investment- to invest our talents and gifts in the house of the Lord and God will multiply them
6. Influence- to make an influence to the deposit of the whole world (friends, family, work, university etc)
+ Finally he ended his sermon by saying, “Guard the deposits with the help of the Holy Spirit”

Another revelation that He showed me about the messages today was an illustration of a sower/farmer. God has given us the seeds when we accepted Him into our lives. The next step is ours, which is to scatter them at the right place/soil to make it grow and produce fruits and multiply into hundreds and thousands. That step of sowing the seeds on the right soil is the most important part.
I truly believe that Paradise Church is the good soil for me to sow my seeds and I’m so happy that I’ve found the soil where I can sow and multiply what I’ve got.
That were truly great messages that God had spoken to me and the whole church today. I was glad that I said the prayer, so that God could prepare my heart well for these words He had revealed to me today and also an encounter with Him even in the worship.

PTL, the God of revelation!