Youtube Series: Christ-Centered Relationships

Happy first day of September! I'm a little bias though because it is my birth month. Anyway...I'm really excited to share with you guys what preachings I've been listening to on-line. A week before I got engaged, I began to pray about marriage and for God to make me into the person that He wanted be to be. Like I said in my previous posts, the Lord told me to delight in Him so that I could let go of anxiety, worry, and frustration to experience His joy. I went on Youtube last week and stumbled upon Pastor Francis Chan and his wife Lisa Chan talking about what marriage truly looks like to God and the purpose that God has for it on earth. Let me be honest you guys...I love them. I mean, I felt like I had just eaten a full meal and felt satisfied. I didn't get to finish them all in one day so I broke the three videos into parts by watching at home, before class, or before bed. I knew God had intended for me to watch these videos all along to confirm what He's doing in my life. I was so moved by the Lord that I even ordered their book (which I'm leaving y'all a link to the best deal I could find), "You And Me Forever: Heaven In The Light of Eternity", that recently came out a few days after I watched their videos. I totally love these videos and the message that I know is on God's heart for His kids who are planning on getting married and who already are. You might watch these and think that they're meant for married couples but truly I tell you that if we as single gents and ladies prepare our minds for this before-hand, we will be walking in with God's beautiful vision for this. Hope y'all enjoy and feel free to comment. I myself am taking a a lot of notes for myself and also for some good Facebook posting. Have a good labor day!

Christ-Centered Relationships Series: Pastor Chan & Lisa Chan

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Preparing The Banquet

(Matthew 22:2-3) “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come." Picture this, you live in a small village where everybody knows everybody. The king of the village is preparing an elegant wedding banquet where the saying "bigger is better" falls short. In his kingdom the whole community goes all out whenever it's time to celebrate. As he finalizes all the preparations, he sends out his advisers to invite all the towns people to come celebrate with his family the joyful occasion. To his surprise, many neglect to show up and the reception continues but lacks familiar faces. The prince becomes discouraged but knows that no matter the number of those who come to support him he is going on to celebrate with his family and true friends. The wedding goes on and the couple is married. Those who did not attend missed out on the lovely ceremony. Why did they not come? Some would say that maybe they thought they had nothing to wear to such a glorious celebration or that maybe they did not want to be looked down upon because they were commoners. The reasons we do not know, but the one thing for certain is that they refused to attend.

When we lead worship, it is our mission to invite the congregation or people to come worship with us, just as the King's servants did. It is our heart's job to lure people into the Lord's presence so they can (Psalm 34:8) "Taste and see that the LORD is good" Just like those who refused to attend the King's banquet, we will come across people who flat out do not want to raise their hands or embrace a new song, but we have to present them with the invite and then let them make the decision. We cannot be discouraged by those who do not attend our spiritual celebration. Do we give up? Of course not. We just simply have to keep going and pray that they will join us, even if they come late. Better late than never. God has prepared a spiritual banquet for us to come and taste and it is our privilege to help those around us find their way to the table. If we sing, it doesn't matter how beautiful the voice is or how in tune the instruments are, this will all fall short if we do not invite the people to come and taste the meal with us. It's almost like the congregation knows who's real and who isn't. It's funny because we know when we're wanted and when we're not. When someone invites you to a party all it takes is one look at the person's face and his/her tone to know if the invite is legit or out of pity. The same goes in worship. If the people don't feel realness in your words, voice, and tone, they just won't take the invitation. We are all in search of a genuine corporate worship. The plaguing question is, will people find it when you sing, play, dance, or paint? Will God see a humbled heart? We must really think about this before we extend our invites to people because they just want to feel welcomed. Take what's in your heart and just wear it on your sleeve. You will run the risk of getting hurt but Jesus did the same. The Father sends the invitation for us to come to celebrate the wedding of the church to Christ but sadly many do not come. Our goal is to dwell in God's presence and reach out and bring those who are thirsty who need to be satisfied. As worshipers what else could we most desire than to spend time with the Lord in His presence? To feel the joy and the sheer pleasure in convincing others to do the same. Through our lives others will see how good the Lord is, so it is important to reflect Christ in all that we say and do. (1 Peter 4:8) "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Let us prepare the banquet for the world to feast on. Once we get them to come to the table then we must let them eat and celebrate. During our worship we must lead them but then let them taste and see for themselves that the Lord is good and that there is joy in those who take refuge in Him. There, they will no longer hunger or thirst. As worshipers (we have all been called to worship), we have to be willing to share with others what the Lord has shared with us so that we may all say this: (Psalm 27:4) "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." Continue to send out your invitations because (1 Corinthians 2:9) "That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

Here Comes The Bride

You Are Cordially Invited To: Isaac and Rebekah's Wedding       Well although you can't actually attend their wedding I have decided to share this beautiful love story with you. Desperate, Adam makes his oldest servant swear that he would not allow Adam's son, Isaac, to marry one of the local Canaanite women. Does that sound familiar readers?? How many of our mommies and daddies think that no guy is good enough for their little girls or that no girl is good enough for their baby boy? Adam felt the same way. He didn't want just any wife for Isaac. He wanted a wife from his own family to marry his son. Here God shows us the importance of marrying someone with your same beliefs that loves God with all their body, mind, soul, and heart. (1 Corinthians 6:15-20) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 

The servant, traveling back to Abraham's native land, arrived at the town and made the camels kneel beside a well. As the women of the town began to come out of their homes to draw water the servant began to pray to the Lord for guidance in choosing the wife for his master's son. He told the Lord that he would know who the right woman was if she gave him and his camels water. This is where Rebekah came in. As she was walking to fetch water, the servant asked her for water and she politely gave him a drink from her jug and offered to do the same for his camels. The servant pondered over whether the Lord had come through for him but then when he asked whose daughter she was and she answered Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor, there was no doubt. He praised the Lord for taking him directly to one of Abraham's relatives and stayed at Rebekah's parent's house until Rebekah agreed to go back with Abraham's servant. Like all parents and siblings, Rebekah's brother and mother wanted her to stay a few days more at home before she departed to marry. Sound familiar? Hee Hee. After the servant talked them out of their wish Rebekah agreed to go see her future husband and left her family, as all girlies have to one day. Imagine how Rebekah felt before all of this? A virgin young woman getting a sudden marriage proposal on an ordinary day. I'm sure she must have been thinking how heavy the jugs were or how beautiful the sky was but out of the blue her life changes in an instant. She goes from being a mama's girl to being the fiance of the son of Abraham who has been highly favored by the Lord. No pressure. Like many of us girls she must have been thinking, could this be it? Could he be the one? Finally...I've found my one true love. Talk about blind date central. She knew nothing about Isaac but all she did know was that it was the will of God. And this is why she was chosen. She could have easily told the servant, "No way! I'm not traveling miles and miles on a camel to marry someone who might not even be that cute! I have to look at this person every morning for the rest of my life!"

On the contrary...She boldly left her family with her servant girls and mounted on the camel to meet her beloved. And here comes my favorite part!



Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi to his home in Negev meditating and coming from a time of prayer with the Lord when suddenly...Evening fell and Isaac spotted some camels coming closer toward him in the field. I'm sure he was taken back after spending time by himself and then suddenly seeing a group of camels approaching. Could it be (he must have thought)? When he looked up, Rebekah also laid eyes on him. This was love at first sight because the bible says that Rebekah quickly dismounted from her camel when she saw Isaac. She asked the servant who that man was coming up to meet them and when he said that it was Isaac she quickly covered her face with her veil. She must have said I do a thousand times in her head as he was walking toward her. Isaac took a hold of her hand (improv) and then took her into the tent to marry her. The word of God said that he loved her deeply and he must have if it only took one look to fall in love with her.

At Last! My Other Rib

(Genesis 2:20-24)

He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. “At last!” the man exclaimed. This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’because she was taken from ‘man.’”
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

When reading how the Lord created Adam and then Eve I began to think about how romantic our God is. We've all heard the phrase, "the other half of my heart," but in this case the Lord made it so that Eve was given life from the other half of Adam's rib. Literally she was made beside him and from a part of him. Many of us girls have also heard the saying, "behind every man there is a great woman," but the Lord made it so that "beside every man there is a great woman."

According to Google, " ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the chest cavity. They serve to protect the lungs, heart, and other internal organs of the thorax. "

Our God is so romantic that He sealed what the love of a man toward a women would be for life by giving one of Adam's ribs to Eve. This act symbolized how a man's job is to protect a woman physically and emotionally. Oh how you think of everything God!

When Adam saw Eve I bet his eyes sparkled and that his heart lept inside of his chest because he said, “At last!”This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!" God had created Eve just for him and from him. Today we might here something sweet like, "I finally found the other half of my heart that I've been looking for my whole life!" You see, God created Eve because he saw that it was not good for the man to be alone. The Lord recognized that Adam needed a partner-- someone to share those beautiful moments with that would complete him in the natural sense. God occupied Adam's eternal heart but He knew that a woman would occupy his heart on earth and that this woman would be good for him...she would be a "helper." A partner in life. You see even though Adam completed the work that God had for him, God himself saw that something was missing. The man could work and work and work but at the end of the day Adam needed a companion to share his life with. At the end of the verse the word says that,"This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." There comes a time when Adam and all men say, "Finally! I found the missing piece!" God created this beautiful blessing and gave birth to the closest kind of love that symbolizes how He loves us: a true love between a woman and a man. Just like the Lord has created us to be one with our future husband, (or if you're a guy reading...with your future wife) God wants to be one with us. He wants to spend time with us because He knows that alone, separate from Him, we just can't live complete.