Jason Lau

Q2. (2:22) Who has come alongside you to teach you? What potential leader in your church needs someone to come alongside them? Do you have a person or two that you are mentoring "as a son with a father" or "a daughter with a mother" (2:22) Who has come alongside you to teach you - Alongside does not JUST limit to a Spiritual Father-Son; Mother-daughter" relationship. Alongside means more than this - typically refers to a form of discipleship where individuals come alongside those in need to offer support, encouragement, and assistance. The emphasis is on walking with people through life's challenges and providing practical and spiritual help. Alongside can be both formal and informal, and it often involves personal relationships and mentorship. Potential people in the Church needed for "Alongsider": Laborers who are doing grass root ministry; Disciples are who are required to be established in building a strong foundation in their walk with God (Galatians 2:6-7)- usually involved in disciple-making, discipleship Leaders who needed to be equipped for the work of God's service (Ephesians 4:12) A person whom I "disciple, come alongside, mentor" - is because want to see spiritual multiplication/spiritual generations be fulfilled in the life of my physical son, and physical daughter (2 Timothy 2:2) - where we (father-son; father-daughter) as a team, collaborate in the campus ministry - reaching out to the "nations" - international students and region beyond (2 Corinthians 10:15-16)

Philippians 2:22 refers to Timothy's service to Paul as a "son with a father" rather than merely as a "slave." Leaders who serve Jesus with a "slave" mentality demonstrate a commitment to humility, selflessness, and a readiness to serve in all circumstances, setting a positive example for others in the faith community. They prioritize the well-being of others and are more likely to inspire and build stronger, more unified congregations. Leaders who serve Jesus out of preference, on the other hand, may imply a conditional or self-centered approach. It suggests that one serves when it aligns with their personal choices and desires, but one may not be as willing to serve in challenging or uncomfortable circumstances. This kind of service might lack the same level of commitment and selflessness that serving as a "slave" embodies.

Q1. (2:1-4). To achieve unity in your congregation, why is humility necessary? Can you give an example of how a lack of humility caused a division in your church? What are you doing to bring unity to your church? Humility is necessary for unity in a congregation because it helps to prevent selfishness, pride, and divisiveness. A lack of humility in a church can lead to division. For example, some members can become self-centered, seek personal gain, or promote their own agendas at the expense of the greater good, it can create tension and conflict within the congregation. This can result in factions forming and a breakdown in the sense of unity that should exist among believers. To bring unity to a church, leaders and members can take various steps, such as: 1. Emphasizing Humility: Church leaders can actively promote humility and selflessness as core values within the congregation by teaching the importance of serving others and considering their needs can help reinforce these principles. 2. Small Group Fellowship: Encouraging small group fellowship helps to provide opportunities for members to build relationships and support one another. 3. Transparent communication and perhaps offer a tool like "MBTI" to understand self and other members' character/personality better to serve one another or develop a conflict resolution process in place for reconciliation. 4. last but not least - Prayer: Regular prayer for unity and harmony within the church is vital. Seeking God's guidance and intervention in matters of division can be powerful in promoting unity.

Quite often we miss the voice of God because we are anticipating God to speak in such, you know, great thunderous tones or in such a mystic way. I say, "Well, the Lord spoke to me." Oh, how did He speak?" My, the voice of God must really rumble like thunder or something, you know. And we think that when God is leading us that there must be something almost like a trance experience where I become, you know, almost in this trance and I hear a little sign saying, "Beep, beep, beep, beep, turn right. Beep, beep, beep, beep, go forward," you know. "Beep, beep, stop." And that is some kind of a mystic thing where I'm walking around in a trance. God is leading me. I'm being led by the Spirit. Not so. In fact, when God is leading our life He does it in such natural ways that generally, we're not even aware that God is leading us because it just seems such a natural thing. Don't expect God to speak in some earthquake, or in fact, it's awfully hard to hear God many times when our earth is shaking around us. It's awfully hard to hear God in the midst of the tempest and the storms of life. It's hard to hear God when it seems like everything around us is being consumed. Many times we need to get our hearts very quiet before God. We need to get away from the tempest. We need to get away from the shaking and the things around us to get alone to where we can really hear that still, small voice of God within as He guides us, as He assures us of His love, as He assures us of His purpose. And we get the strength and help from God when He speaks to us. And it's that still, small voice within. So natural that it seems like it comes maybe even from our own heart or our own mind. But in reality, it is God speaking to us. It's always an exciting experience when we come to the realization that that thought didn't come out of our own subconsciousness, that thought came to us from God. God planted that thought in our mind, that still, small voice. It was God speaking to us. And it's beautiful. It's a glorious experience to hear the still, small voice. The Lord said, repeated the same question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And Elijah still didn't understand the question. He answered the Lord the same way. Now the question was, "What are you doing here?" Not "Why are you here?" So the Lord got then to specifics with this upset prophet because, in reality, he was doing nothing. He was hiding. Doing nothing. He had put himself out of service. He was out of commission. He wasn't. There was no one to witness down there. There was no work for God to be done in that barren wilderness. So he was doing nothing. God doesn't like for us to do nothing. And so the Lord re-commissioned him. He said, Now look, get out of here, and get on up to Damascus: and when you get there, anoint Hazael to be the king over Syria: And then get down and anoint Jehu to be the king over Samaria: and then anoint Elisha to take your place and all ( 1 Kings 19:15-16 ). God put him back to work. God got him away from this place of hiding in a cave, of doing nothing, and commissioned him back into service for the Lord. Even as God wants to get us off our duff and get us back to doing something that's worthwhile for Him.

(1 Kings 19:14) In what ways does self-pity prevent us from discerning the Lord's voice? The biggest clue that self-pity is not of God is the word “SELF”. At the heart of self-pity is a disagreement with God over how life—and He—has treated us. In Short, self-pity is focusing on self-centeredness, and that prevents us from focusing on our relationship with God and hence, prevent us from discerning the Lord’s voice. What is the relationship of self-pity to pride? Self-pity is a subtle form of pride. We think of pride as thinking too much/highly or too lowly of ourselves. It certainly is that, but humility is not the same thing as self-debasement. The Bible, though it tells us to pursue humility, never allows us to drift into self-loathing or self-pity. Rather, we are told to have a sober estimation of ourselves (Rom. 12:3). We are to think of ourselves accurately. Truthfully. And when we major in self-pity, we aren’t acting in humility – we are acting in pride. For what is pride except having our eyes focused on ourselves? And what are we doing when we live in self-pity other than constantly looking at our problems, our issues, and our struggles? Ironically, this is one of the reasons why self-pity is dangerous for our souls. It’s a subtle form of pride we are allowing into our hearts. To entitlement? Self-pity is a gateway to entitlement. How does a sense of entitlement stand in the way of true discipleship? One of the side effects of self-pity is the thought that we are entitled to something – some substance or some habit. Something other than Jesus in which we find our relief, comfort, and satisfaction. We deserve this, or so self-pity tells us. We may or may not have a reason for self-pity today. If you do, there is good reason to fight that impulse. There is reason to turn your eyes from self to Jesus and fix them there and continue to walk forward with Him (a true discipleship)