I. SERMON NOTES​

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Facilitator's Note: Introduce the message naturally in your own words. A brief recap, a thoughtful question, or an everyday situation can help. The aim is to help the group engage the passage afresh, rather than simply repeat the sermon.

 

A. Opening: Finding Direction

• The Car and Compass Analogy: About 20 years ago during a driving holiday without GPS or Google maps, a dashboard compass kept rotating and settling on NE regardless of the direction. A magnetised object inside the car was masking true north, leading the driver in circles.

 

• Spiritual Blind Spots: Just like the car analogy, we can be so confident, contented, or preoccupied with anxieties that we fail to detect what is hiding true north from us.

 

• The Need for Truth: We need something outside of ourselves—Truth itself—that our spiritual compass can lock onto.

 

• Core Passage: 2 Chronicles 7:14–16 calls us back to God, promising that when we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wicked ways, He will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

 

B. Spiritual Change

• “Revival”: may be looked at as a call to make a change.  Change is not an event.  Real, lasting change happens through a journey. 

• Levels of Change: Spiritual change can happen at three levels: 

Personal > Group > Society.

 

• Personal Awakening and Re-awakening:

 

• For Pre-believers: It is an awakening, opening hearts to know Jesus' saving grace (such as "Amazing Grace") in unexpected lowliness or magnificence.

 

• For Christians: It is a re-awakening and renewal of faith, where "sleepy Christians" re-encounter their "first love" in Jesus.

 

• Spiritual Obliviousness: As the saying goes, "a fish discovers water only on the day it is caught". Comfort can make us numb to our blessings until they are lost, leading to spiritual drift.

 

• Shared Outcomes: Both awakening and re-awakening bring us closer to God, result in rejoicing, and provide true restfulness.

 

• Group and Societal Impact: Being revived allows us to awaken others, spreading spiritual change from person to person, group to group, and nourishing society. To be one in ministry to the world.

 

C. In the Beginning, God Loved

• Human Limitations: Humans cannot awaken or revive themselves to reach the Truth; God has been loving and working from the beginning. Without an external reference, we can inflate towards self-importance and self-righteousness, descend into self-consciousness or self-shame or slip into a state of spiritual unconsciousness.

 

• The Airbag Analogy: Just like the airline instruction to put on your own mask first, if we are spiritually unconscious, we cannot help others. God ensures everyone has an airbag, but we must want to put it on.

 

• Non-Coercive Love: God does not force the airbag on us because true love is not coercive; He wants us to trust His grace freely out of personal conviction rather than mere compliance.

 

• The Fall and God's Protection (Genesis 3):

 

• In Genesis 3:3–6, the serpent tempted Eve, leading both Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

 

• Their eyes were opened, they felt naked and ashamed, and they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7).

 

• In Genesis 3:21, the Lord God mercifully made proper garments of skins and clothed them, protecting them because they were vulnerable.

 

• God's Ongoing Pursuit: Day 7 of God's creation plan is still ongoing; God has not stopped working to save us and draw us back to Himself.

 

D. What Prevents an Awakening / Re-Awakening?

• Walls of the Heart: Citing John Ortberg's book "I'd Like You More If You Were More Like Me", physical walls like the Great Wall or Berlin Wall pale compared to walls of the heart—such as pride, ego, and vanity—which block us from returning to our Maker and keep us away from the real fullness of life.

 

• False Prophets and Deception:

 

• In Genesis 3:5, the serpent twisted the truth.

 

• In Matthew 4:6, the devil deliberately misquoted Psalm 91:11–12 when tempting Jesus.

 

• Jesus countered this by trusting God the Father, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 in Matthew 4:7 ("Do not put the Lord your God to the test").

 

• The Confidence Game: Maria Konnikova’s book "The Confidence Game" highlights that people are most susceptible to being conned when feeling vulnerable or overconfident—with overconfident people getting conned more often. Separation from our Creator puts us in grave danger.

 

E. What If a Person Is Willing But Not Feeling Ready?

• Just Want to Seek God (2 Chronicles 7:14):

 

• Humbly seeking God and turning from wicked ways is like picking up an old telephone line and hearing a dial tone, knowing the other end is already waiting. Alternatively, it is like powering a mobile phone and connecting to an unlimited data plan paid for by God for eternity.

 

• And when the phone rings or messages come in, God Himself will let us know what will unfold.

 

• "Good Dog to Good Dog" Principle:

 

• Inspired by the story of a pre-believer describing the fight between a "bad dog" and a "good dog" inside him (the one that wins is the one you feed), we must let our "good dog" talk to another person's "good dog".

 

• Bad-dog communication leads to defensiveness and escalating tension, whereas good-dog communication (nourished by the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) builds others up.

 

F. Personal Story: The Phone Rang

• A Street Encounter: The speaker shared a personal experience of witnessing a violent quarrel between two delivery truck drivers (Mr S and Mr T) that escalated into a physical wrestle.

 

• The Holy Spirit's Prompting: Moving forward to help, the speaker whispered a prayer ("Lord, please restore peace") and reminded himself to "be kind"—realising later it was the Holy Spirit praying and guiding him.

 

• The Power of Kindness: By offering a gentle word and offering to buy water ("I'll buy water for you to drink"), Mr S's good dog responded, leading to peace, handshakes, and a defused situation.

 

• Spiritual Surrender: The experience felt spontaneous, spiritual, and like an act of surrender—leaving the speaker filled with peace and joy. As Matthew 5:9 states: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God".

 

G. Footsteps of Others

• Following Faithful Examples: The speaker was pre-activated by remembering a testimony shared in 2021 by a former Finance Committee Chairperson who also stepped in to calm a public argument.

 

• Acts of Service in the Church: Many brothers and sisters (such as ministry chairpersons, camp commandants, pastors, and congregation members) answer the call to serve even when feeling unready.

 

• Jesus's Commendation: Jesus sees all quiet acts of service, declaring in Matthew 25:36, 40: "I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me... As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me".

 

H. A Home for God's Love

• The Concept of Home: Referencing Dick Lee's 1997 National Day song "Home", we long for a place where we belong.

 

• God Making Our Hearts His Home:

 

• In 2nd Chronicles 7:15–16, God promises that His eyes and heart will be in His consecrated house forever, and His ears will be attentive to prayer.

 

• Jesus confirms in John 14:23 ("If anyone loves me, he will keep my word... and we will come to him and make our home with him") that God desires to make our hearts His home.

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 I. Return home to God

• Jars of Clay (2 Corinthians 4:7, 16–18): Though our outer self is wasting away, we carry an eternal treasure in jars of clay to show that surpassing power belongs to God, not us.

 

• The Spirit and the Bride: Revelation 22:17 issues an eternal invitation: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price".