Yfc Covenant Orientation (2009 Edition)

CFC YOUTH FOR CHRIST 3 Year Pastoral Formation Track Year 1 ‐

COVENANT ORIENTATION 2009 Revised Edition

YEAR 1: COVENANT ORIENTATION (2009 EDITION)

CFC Youth for Christ

YFC Covenant Orientation TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: THE COVENANT ORIENTATION GUIDELINES AND DYNAMICS A. Rationale B. Covenant Orientation Talks Overview C. Objectives D. Suggested Schedule E. Guidelines In Conducting the Activity 1. General Guidelines 2. Roles and Responsibilities of Service of Service Team 3. Materials Needed 4. Reminders for the Team Leader F. Profile of Speakers of Speakers and Sharers Chapter 2: EXPANDED TALK OUTLINES A. Orientation Talk B. TALK 1 Loving, Honoring and Serving God C. TALK 2 Loving, Honoring and Serving the Family D. TALK 3 Loving, Honoring and Serving our Brothers and Sisters in YFC E. TALK 4 Loving, Honoring and Serving our Country

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Chapter 3: THE COVENANT OF A CFC YOUTH FOR CHRIST MEMBER A. Dynamics of the of the Commitment Ceremony B. The YFC Covenant Card

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APPENDICES A. Participants Handouts B. Worship Workshop Outline

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CHAPTER 1

THE COVENANT ORIENTATION GUIDELINES AND DYNAMICS A. RATIONALE The Covenant Orientation is the first set of pastoral formation track teaching given to the youth upon joining CFC Youth for Christ through the Youth Camp. This special formation to new YFC members is conducted as a one day activity within the first 3 months of their of their YFC life after their Youth Camp. After initially responding to God’s invitation during his/her Youth Camp, the Covenant Orientation will help them learn how to put their faith into action by deepening their commitment to God. The Covenant Orientation Talks will guide them how to rightfully respond to God’s invitation to have a loving relationship with Him.

B. COVENANT ORIENTATION TALKS OVERVIEW 1. Talk 1 Loving, Honoring and Serving God God, being our Creator and Father, cares and loves us so much. He wants to see us happy and live fruitful lives. It is about time that we acknowledge this and respond to God by loving Him back with all our heart, soul and mind. ‐

2. Talk 2 Loving, Honoring and Serving our Family Our family is one of God’s great blessings to us no matter what situation our family may be in. One way of showing of showing love and honor to God is through our family. We are called to be a source of love of love and unity to them. ‐

3. Talk 3 Loving, Honoring & Serving our Brothers and Sisters in YFC God extends our family when He called us to belong to our community. We share the love we have not only to our blood brothers and sisters but also to our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as to our friends who are not yet part of the of the community. We learn to value the gift of friendship of friendship and strive to be good influences to them and be our brother’s keepers. ‐

4. Talk 4 Loving, Honoring and Serving our Country We believe that the country we are born into is part of God’s great plan for us. We are called to take pride in it and to be agents of change as we help build the kingdom of God in our motherland. Here, we are taught to make concrete steps to help our society, our community, most especially our poor brothers and sisters. ‐

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C. OBJECTIVES The Covenant Orientation aims to achieve the following goals: 1. Learn and understand the covenant of a CFC Youth for Christ member. 2. Renew and deepen our commitment with Christ by understanding and following our covenant with Him. 3. Develop a sense of identity and responsibility in our role as a believer of faith, a member of our church, our family, our community and our country. 4. Inspire the youth as they mature in their Christian life through YFC. 5. Live out the covenant of YFC through the pastoral formation and activities.

D. SUGGESTED SCHEDULE 8:00am – 8:30 8:30 – 8:40 8:40 9:00 9:00 9:45 9:45 – 10:20 10:20 – 10:30 10:30 – 10:40 10:40 – 10:50 10:50 11:35 11:35 – 12:05pm 12:05 – 1:00 1:00 – 1:30 1:30 – 1:45 1:45 – 2:30 2:30 – 3:15 3:15 – 4:00 ‐

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4:00 – 4:45 4:45 – 4:55 4:55 – 5:00

Arrival/ Registration Opening prayer Orientation/Energize Talk 1: Loving, Honoring and Serving God Worship Workshop Worship Proper Snacks Gathering Talk 2: Loving, Honoring and Serving our Family Group discussion for talks 1 and 2 Lunch break Gathering / Opening Prayer Icebreaker Talk 3: Loving, Honoring& Serving Our Brothers & Sisters in YFC Activity: Affirmation Exercise Amazing race if needed (If there’s no GK site, find other activities th that would fit the 4 talk) Talk 4: Loving, Honoring and Serving Our Country Commitment Ceremony Closing Worship

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E. GUIDELINES IN CONDUCTING THE ACTIVITY 1. GENERAL GUIDELINES a. The Covenant of YFC should be given to every member within 3 months after their Youth Camp. b. The Covenant Orientation talks can be given as a one whole day activity. c. Like any YFC activity, the teachings should be given in a light atmosphere. The talks should be made interesting and its importance stressed (e.g. anecdotes, jokes, stories, personal life experiences), making it real to the young adult. d. For Community Based program, the Covenant Orientation Planning should be done by the Cluster Couple Coordinator during their cluster service meeting. e. For YFC Programs (HS and Campus Based), this pastoral formation track is conducted in the Sector Level through the Sector Program Coordinators and Sector Program Youth Head/ Provincial level implementation for some areas. f.

The talks must be delivered by young adult leaders who have already undergone this pastoral formation track. After each talk, copies of the teaching outline are distributed, and the assembly will be divided into discussion groups (or even into their own households if possible) to further discuss the teaching (Discussion starters are provided in the talk outline). The household or discussion groups allow members to bring up and share more personal aspects of the teachings. As they lead the groups, this system also trains the Household Heads in being true Christian leaders.

2. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SERVICE TEAM The Service Team for the Covenant Orientation as follows: a. Team Leaders/ Assistant Team Leader The team leaders for the Covenant Orientation are the Cluster Couple Coordinators and Cluster Youth Heads For the youth heads, the brother as the team leader and the sister is the assistant team leader. The couple coordinators oversee the pastoral content and needs of the activity. •

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b. Worship leader/s Worship leader/s must be properly briefed to prepare for his exhortation points and his line up of songs. Songs should be those that the new YFC members learned from their youth camp. If new songs will be ‐

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introduced, it is important that this be taught during the teaching of songs before the worship proper. c. Person in charge of the logistical requirements for the activity takes care of the venue, physical set up, sound system, LCD wall and projector, venue, etc. ‐

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d. Secretariat team in charge of registration, food preparation, registration form, ids or nametags, pen and papers, first aid kit and other materials needed. ‐

e. Music Ministry prepares the song sheets/PowerPoint of songs if there is laptop and LCD projector available, songbook, guitar and other musical instruments for teaching of songs and worship. ‐

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Speakers and sharers for each talk.

3. MATERIALS NEEDED It is suggested that the team should prepare the following materials for the Covenant Orientation: a. Expanded outlines for the speakers and sharers b. Sound system c. Instruments for the music ministry d. LCD projector e. Laptop f. Registration sheets g. Participants’ Handout h. Covenant Cards i. Song sheets j. First aid kit k. Other needs for the talks. (Talk 1 Timer and Whistle; Talk 4 GK Audio Visual Presentation) l. Invitation Letter to the CFC Leaders (CFC Cluster and Chapter Heads) ‐

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4. REMINDERS TO THE SERVICE TEAM a. It is very important that the team should take time and plan out for this event. The Covenant Orientation is very important, as this would guide the YFC member in living his/her life as a true follower of Christ through YFC. b. Also, a recollection and story conference (briefing of the activity, schedule, basic content, etc.) is very helpful for the whole team. This is one of the things that the team leader has to make sure will happen. It would really be very helpful that as the team prepares for the event; their hearts are also set for it.

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c. It is advised that the team leader should talk and give a briefing to the speakers and sharers about their talk and/or sharing, also of what is expected from them to deliver. d. On the Covenant Orientation Day itself, set a call time for the whole team. Have service team worship. Give reminders to the whole team. e. Before the first talk, give a short orientation about the activity. Give the short talk on Covenant. (See the talk below.) Run down the schedule for the day. (Refer to schedule.) Introduce the speakers. • • •

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Make sure that as a team leader, you are able to connect the talks to each other, recalling the previous sessions and stressing the importance of each.

g. Take this opportunity to help those new members grow in worship many of them still haven’t raised their hands, clapped, danced as an expression of love for God or have spoken out words of prophecies in faith. Encourage them to do so. ‐

F. PROFILE OF SPEAKERS AND SHARERS The following may be very helpful to the team leaders as they discern and choose God’s messengers for each talk/session: 1. It is highly suggested that the speaker for every talk must be at least a YFC Household Head. We have to consider the exposure of the speaker to the community. It is believed that as a household head, he/she has experienced how it is to live his/her covenant with the Lord. (Please take note that the speaker for Talk 1 shall also give the Worship workshop.) 2. As for the sharer, he/she may be a YFC member (at least 6 months). One who is enjoying his/her journey with the Lord. Since the participants are very new to the community, they could very much relate to the sharing as they could see themselves through it. 3. It is up to the team leaders’ discretion whether they would choose a brother or a sister to be the speaker and/or sharer of each talk. As long as they have prayed and discern for the person who will efficiently convey God’s message. However, it is highly recommended that a YFC brother should give the first talk as it also includes the Worship workshop.

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ORIENTATION TALK YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION EXPANDED TALK OUTLINE I.

INTRODUCTION In the fifth talk of our youth camp, Growing in the Holy Spirit , we heard and learned how we could deepen our relationship with the Lord and where we were introduced to a special relationship and a special covenant with our God. At birth, when we were baptized by the Spirit, this covenant already started. In the youth camp, it was rekindled. We were again reminded of what this covenant is about. This session will refresh us of what it truly is. More so, re live that moment when we stood to signify our commitment to the Lord, to this community, and to discover our identity as Youth for Christ and ultimately as sons and daughters of God. ‐

We need to understand more about our covenant. The heart of where we are right now. There is a need to appreciate the concrete situation which allows us to live out our covenant and here in YFC we believe through God, our family, our brothers and sisters and our country. II. What is a COVENANT? A COVENANT is a solemn agreement between two parties/persons. It establishes a significant family like relationship between the parties. It is not just an ordinary promise especially since our covenant is a covenant with God. It involves two important things: commitment and sacrifice to remain faithful to the covenant. ‐

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The two types of covenant relationships: 1. Covenants between parties equal in power and position. (Note to the team leader: Please take time to read the following verses to have a better understanding and explanation for this point.) Genesis 21:22 32. Abraham and Abimelech 1 Samuel 18:1 4. David and Jonathan ‐

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2. Covenants between parties unequal in power and position. (Note to the team leader: Please take time to read the following verses to have a better understanding and explanation for this point.) Genesis15. God with Abraham Genesis 31:44 54. Laban and Jacob ‐

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III. GOD’S COVENANT WITH US God’s covenant with us is a very special one. It is bound in a personal way, like of God to Abraham; of God to us, His sons and daughters. God wants to make a covenant with us and enter into a personal relationship with us. 1. Jesus came to bring about a new covenant. Read Luke 22:20. John 6:56. 2. The New Covenant is not merely a matter of obeying a set of laws, but of entering into a living relationship with Jesus. Our covenant with God is not an agreement between equals, and is not done on our initiative. It means that it is God who is calling us. That is how special we are to God. He acted first by sending Jesus. 1. All that God is asking from us is to follow from what God has already done for us. (1John 4:19) 2. God’s commands are taken in the light of His action in Jesus. John13:15 34 ‐

IV. THE NATURE OF OUR COMMITMENT A. We are to love and serve God. We are to be God’s own servant people. B. We are to love and serve our families. We are called to be a source of love and unity to them. C. We are to love and serve our brothers and sisters in YFC. We are no longer our own masters. We are to lay down our lives for one another. We are our brothers’ keepers. D. We are to love and serve our country. We are called to live our lives in true righteousness and holiness to be a people that the Lord can use as a body, to be light to our nation and to the world. V. CONCLUSION This is what this day is all about. We will talk about this special covenant with God. Let us open hearts and listen to what God want to say for us today. He invited us to a personal relationship during our youth camp, now He is offering a deeper relationship with Him by inviting us to a special covenant with Him. As we listen to all the talks today, may our hearts be open and ready to respond to the beautiful offering of God to us a covenant of a life with Him. ‐

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LOVING, HONORING AND SERVING GOD TALK ONE OF THE YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) I.

I BELIEVE THAT I AM SPECIAL TO GOD. A. God loves me. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Let us make this statement personal to us as if the Lord is speaking to us: “For God so loved me that He gave me His only Son, so that if I believe in Him, I will not perish but I will have eternal life.” (Speaker leads and invites participants to say this statement with all of their hearts.) God loves us in spite of our sinful nature. He accepts us for who we are. B. God forgives my sins. “...for this is My blood of the Covenant, which is poured out to many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28) God is full of mercy. He wants to forgive our sins so we can always be close to Him. C. I am a son/daughter of God. “You yourselves are no longer a slave but a son or a daughter; and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.” (Galatians 4:7) We were once “slaves” of sin, but Jesus freed us. We became sons and daughters of God the Father and brothers of Jesus. Because of this special relationship, God assures us of His infinite love and grace.

II. OUR RESPONSE It is very evident that God loves us so much. There is no other response but to love Him back. As the scripture says: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

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A. We are called to love the Lord with all our heart. 1. Loving God with the core of our being. Loving God with all our heart means loving the Lord with our whole being. “With all our heart” means to accept totally and live out the ideals and principles of our Lord Jesus Christ even if it means to deny ourselves. a. Loving God means that we should always include God in our decisions, may it be big or small. b. Loving God means striving to be 100% FREE. This is by living out a true Christian life that is pleasing to the very heart of God. Living out a Christian lifestyle is expressing love to our God. 1. Zero Drugs – YFC says no to substance abuse. 2. Smoke Free – YFC says no to smoking. 3. 0% alcohol YFC believes that drinking alcohol is not a sin itself but as young as we are, our bodies may not be able to handle and control alcoholic content. ‐

4. Pure Inside and Out– YFC believes in purity of thought, speech, and action. 5. 100% man and woman – YFC believes that God has created specific roles for us as men and women. 6. Free from pornography YFC believes that our bodies are created sacred by God and should not be exploited for selfish pleasure. ‐

7. Virgin and Proud – YFC believes that sex is a sacred gift given by God that is appropriate only after marriage. YFC believes that sex in essence is used for pro creation. ‐

8. Real Love Waits – YFC believes that special romantic relationships are God’s gift. Thus, we believe in the essence of waiting, as we prepare ourselves to receive this in His perfect time. (Note to the Speaker: Should emphasize that choosing to be 100% FREE is constantly a challenge. They may be struggling in one of these areas, but it is never too late to offer and surrender to God. This could help them realize that even if they failed, they can still love God by trying again and that God still loves them in spite and despite of it all.)

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2. Loving God entails sacrifice because sometimes, it is hard to give up something for the Lord (A bad habit, fasting, being generous with our time, talent and treasure, etc.) The phrase “Putting your heart into it.” means to work hard for something to achieve high standards. (e.g. a high grade, a. good thesis or project). It is also the same in loving God; it entails “putting our heart into it”, and gives all our perseverance for the Lord. We must exercise excellence whether service to our friends, family, community and society. B. We are called to love the Lord with all our soul. Our souls were created by God, who is also a pure Spirit. There is a longing for our souls to be united with God, to be one with Him. (Ps. 84: 1 2) ‐

Prayer is a means of communicating with God and being “one” with Him. Prayer nourishes our soul and brings it closer to God. We must be consistent with our prayer time. Aside from our personal prayer times, here in YFC, we are introduced to praying with brothers and sisters. We call this worship. Worship is praying and singing our praises to the Lord. 1. Decide to pray everyday. 2. Make prayer a habit allocate a certain place and time for prayer. Start with a 15 minute prayer time. 3. Make your prayer dynamic sing songs, read scripture, talk with God, pray the rosary. a. Practicing the sacraments expresses our souls’ longing for God. b. Hearing Mass nourishes our souls. c. Receiving Holy Communion is receiving Jesus Himself. d. Going to confession, our souls are washed and polished by Jesus and reunites us with the Father. e. Sharing God to others is saving souls for the Lord. f. We should be eager to bring other souls to the Lord by our desire to serve actively in YFC activities, Youth Camps or church activities. ‐

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C. We are called to love the Lord with our mind. The mind includes our thoughts, intentions, and learning. Our mind is powerful. What we think can make or break us. Sometimes, we think about people who we love. We should practice also thinking about Jesus and the things He has done for us.

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Counting our small and big blessings. Thanking God daily for each day and for all the answered prayers.

We should learn about Him and study His teachings to gain wisdom. We can achieve this by reading and reflecting on Scripture and/or other Christian books. We are blessed to have in our community a scripture companion (scripture journal), In His Steps, that could be very helpful. We are encouraged to write our reflections on the readings of the day for us to develop a deeper relationship with God and understanding of His love. We must learn how to witness to other people how the Lord is working in our lives. Being single minded for the Lord. Consulting him on what He wants us to do. ‐

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III. THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN OUR LOVE FOR GOD WILL BE TESTED A. When we experience sufferings, trials and doubts. In all things, we should realize that loving God is not based on feelings but on solid commitment. We should believe and be faithful to Him no matter what happens in our lives, because amidst all our challenges, we should remember that the Lord is faithful. B. When we sin. We feel guilty to come back to the Lord because we feel unworthy. This dampens our love for God. Solution: Go to confession and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness. He will not only be happy to see you come back to Him, but He will even embrace you. (The Parable of the Lost Son could be cited.) C. When we experience dryness in prayer or we become impatient when our prayers remain unanswered, the Lord is testing our faithfulness. The more we pray to Him in times like these, all the more He will be pleased with us and will reward us. IV. CONCLUSION God is our Creator and our Father. He cares for us. He wants to see us happy and live fruitful lives. He loves us and He considers us special. Let’s acknowledge this and respond to Him by telling Him how special He is in our lives. Let us love Him will all our heart, soul and mind. (Note to the speaker: At this point, the speaker shall conduct a worship workshop. Refer to the attached worship talk outline)

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We now want to strengthen and put into expression the ideas we have heard and learned in this session. What a better way to express our love for God with all our heart, mind and soul, but through Worship. (After the worship workshop, divide the group into their households and process the worship workshop experience.)

DISCUSSION STARTERS: (Gather as a group. Do not forget to start and end the group discussion with a prayer.) 1. How is my relationship with God after the youth camp? 2. What more can I do to express my love for God with all my heart, soul and mind? (Choose one concrete example in your life where you can grow in your love for God.)

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LOVING, HONORING AND SERVING OUR FAMILY TALK TWO OF THE YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh.24: 15)

ACTVITY PRIOR TO THE TALK: PAINT ME A PICTURE Dynamics: 1. The participants will be divided into groups of 8 10 members 2. They will be asked to illustrate a situation or incidents portraying different activities of a family. 3. Sample situations are as follow: a. family in the park b. family watching TV on a Saturday night c. family doing a general cleaning of the house Note: the speaker can include other situations 4. They will be given 1 minute to illustrate the situation. After which, they will be asked to freeze. 5. The Speaker, together with the Service Team Head and the Assistant Team Head (who will act as judges) will go around to see what each group came up with. 6. The judges will signify each group to act out the situation. 7. The best group to illustrate best the situation earns the point. 8. The group with most points wins. ‐

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INTRODUCTION There are no such thing as coincidence only providence. In the Youth Camp, we realized that God has a purpose of bringing us into YFC. That is because He wants us to know and feel His love for us through this community. We did feel His love that weekend, we experienced a change in our lives and we saw things differently. People started to see the change in us and the first to witness this change are the people closest to us –our family. In the first talk we embraced the commitment to love, honor and serve God. This leads us to making greater and bolder improvements in our life. Today we will face another challenge that is to be witnesses to our family, to honor our special covenant with them.

II. THE FAMILY There are two things that we should realize about the family:

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A. The family is God’s plan (Gen.1:27 28; Gen.2:18 24; Gen.7:1) ‐

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God created the family for a purpose to be a means by which His kingdom is established on earth. (Have speaker cite an ideal family life – loving parents, harmonious relationship between siblings, etc.) ‐

But sometimes, God has a different plan for those who seem to live in a family that is being challenged (e.g. by problems, conflicts, separation, etc.). Yet, there is no reason for us to question God for putting us in that situation. We should still recognize that our family is still God’s gift to us; that we should still honor our father and mother, and learn to forgive them. B. The family is under attack/ is being destroyed. Realizing this, the evil one is working very hard to destroy the family so that God’s plan in the world won’t happen. People say it is outmoded or outdated. Some think that the concept of family no longer exists at this time, as an individual busies him/herself with his/her chosen career and would just be content in engaging to casual relationships. The world has distorted the meaning of being a family and had made the roles of its members unclear. Ex. Gay Marriages, Pets as Children, Abusive parents, “Under the Saya”, Dysfunctional family. Some say that family is a barrier to progress (e.g. issue on abortion— having too many children hinders economic growth, issue on using contraceptives.) Threats to marriages increases – divorce, separation, same sex marriage. We need to see the spiritual side to this, and take our part in this battle by offering our very families to the plan of God. This can happen when we play the role God has given us for our families. III. OUR COVENANT WITH OUR FAMILY A. Relating With Our Parents Honor and Respect (Ex 20:12) only commandment with a promise attached to it. We respect our parents primarily because they are our parents. (Sir.3: 1 15) They chose to participate in God’s work of creation; this in itself should be enough reason for us to honor them. When we honor them we honor God as well. We respect and honor our parent’s in spite of their faults, mistakes, and problems. ‐

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1. Show them their importance to us (e.g. stand up to greet them, pleasing our parents; surprise them on their birthdays and anniversaries.) 2. Valuing them by saying “I love you” or kissing and hugging them. 3. Attitude of gratitude: Express our appreciation. (E.g. saying thank you and I’m sorry. Or “po” and “opo” or any other words that show respect.), gestures of respect “mano” or bless by hand. 4. Speak well of them/Avoid speaking negatively about our parents. Explain things with respect to them. 5. Obedience (Eph 6:1)/ Accept direction / listen to advice: Our parents are God’s stewards on earth. 6. Accept correction (Prov.13:1 A wise son pays attention when his father corrects him, but an arrogant person never admits he is wrong) 7. Serve our parents (joyfully doing our household chores, doing well in our studies.) 8. Spending quality time with them. B. Relating with Our Brothers and Sisters in Our Families 1. Seeing our families (even our brothers and sisters) as God’s gift to us. 2. Expressing to them their importance to us and appreciating them. (e.g. Checking up on them thru texts, thanking them) 3. Respecting and listening to what they have to say even if they are younger. 4. Lovingly correcting them. (E.g. when they use your stuff without permission don’t yell or be angry instantly, ask and remind them gently to ask permission from your first.) 5. Finding opportunities to share. We are friends with them. 6. Spend quality time together. enjoying in helping one another out— homework, school projects of brothers/ sisters. know and be interested in their personal lives / love life. ‐

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C. We are called to be Instruments of Healing. Learning that we have received God’s healing during our youth camp, it is about time that we ourselves become God’s instrument of healing to the person/s dearest/nearest to us. a. Loving (Mt.22) loving your neighbor is the direct result/ effect of loving God. Our closest neighbors are our families. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4 7 the type of love that we should practice: ‐

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1. Love is patient and kind. 2. Love that is not jealous nor conceited nor proud. 3. Love that is not ill mannered nor selfish nor irritable. ‐

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4. Love that does not keep a record of wrong. 5. Love that is not happy with evil but happy with the truth. 6. Love that never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail. b. Witnessing 1. Be forgiving, patient and loving towards your brothers and sisters. 2. Initiate healing find ways to reconcile differences within the family. 3. Praying and interceding for family members 4. Initiate a family prayer time. 5. Serving God with our family whenever possible (Speaker mentions how she/he can serve together (e.g. CFC, Parish, etc.) ‐

IV. CONCLUSION How can we refer to God as Father if we do not have a good relationship with our parents? Having a good relationship with our family defines our relationship with our God. There is an attack on the family. As YFC members, we need to take a stand to protect and build the family — become witnesses and a hope to other families and take our part in our vision of “Families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.”

DISCUSSION STARTERS: 1. How can I grow in my relationship with my parents? 2. How can I grow in my relationship with my brothers and sisters? 3. What concrete steps can I do to improve my relationship with my family?

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LOVING, HONORING AND SERVING OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN YFC TALK THREE OF THE YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live in unity.” (Ps. 133:1)

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INTRODUCTION: LOVING YFC AS A FAMILY Blood relations are often the strongest type of relationships. Families have strong ties because of the same “blood” we share. Comrades in arms/soldiers feel a close bond among themselves after they have sacrificed and “shed blood” together. The blood that unites us is greater than any of these—the blood of Jesus Christ. (Jn. 3:16) He has made us God’s children—we are brothers and sisters. Because we are a family, we should relate to one another in ways a family should.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILY TYPE RELATIONSHIPS ‐

A. Commitment 1. Consistency in our relationships being committed whether we feel like it or not. (e.g. attending YFC meetings faithfully and punctually) 2. Being ready and willing to be inconvenienced on behalf of a brother/ sister. (e.g. brother giving his seat for a sister, making sure everyone has their share of food before eating.) 3. Being a brother/sister no matter what happens. 4. Choosing to be loving in spite of misunderstandings. ‐

B. Unity (Ps. 133:1) 1. Avoid being exclusive. 2. Being a brother to all 3. Being a brother/sister even to those you aren’t close to. 4. Go beyond your chapter, program, sector, and area 5. Decide to grow in your relationship with the brother/sister. 6. Go out of your way to get to know all brothers and sisters. 7. Pray for unity always within YFC, the Catholic Church, and all Christian churches. (Jn. 17:20 23) ‐

C. Loyalty 1. Protect the brothers/sisters. 2. Protecting the character of brothers/sisters. 3. Refuse to believe/listen to gossip about brothers and sisters. 4. Loyalty means correcting a brother or sister with love and respect.

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5. Protecting the brother/sister physically. (e.g. making sure a sister gets home safely, having concern/ looking out for one another) 6. Protect YFC as a body/ community. 7. Keep yourself from doing things that will destroy the name of YFC D. Love Love should always be part of our relationship as brothers and sisters. “If we love God, we must love our neighbor “ (Matt. 22:39) 1. We love by showing honor and respect—giving importance (Rom 12:10) (e.g. greeting one another, listening to one another’s ideas and opinions) It is God’s command that we love one another. (Jn 13:34 35) 2. 1 Cor.13:4 7 expresses the kind of love we should have. ‐

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E. Service 1. Like any family, love and loyalty is expressed through service. Have a “What can I give?” attitude as opposed to “What can I get?” (The attitude of servanthood is more important than the actual service). 2. Be open/willing and ready to serve in any way (e.g. speakers, music ministry, household heads, facilitators, clean up committee etc.) III. OBSTACLES THAT HINDER US FROM GROWING IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS A. Fear of Rejection We should draw our confidence from knowing that the King of Kings has accepted and loved us as we are. Rejection from others won’t affect us as much because of this fact. We should then grow in confidence in relating to our brothers/sisters. Let us be the ones reaching out to others. B. Pride Take on the attitude mentioned in Phil. 2:3. Love others and reach out to others because God loved you even if you did not deserve it. IV. OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND OUR YFC FAMILY SHOULD ALSO BE EXTENDED AND BE EXPRESSED IN OUR SCHOOLS We do this by being: A. Witnesses 1. Being responsible students. 2. Being the best we can be for the Lord. 3. Striving to live a Christian lifestyle. Let us live out our 100% Free lifestyle.

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4. Being good examples to our classmates (by not cheating, respecting school authorities and property, participating in nation building activities). B. Evangelistic 1. Inviting our classmates to youth camps. 2. Sharing our faith/service in YFC to our classmates. 3. Helping establish/sustain YFC in your school. V. CONCLUSION If we love God, then it follows that we should love one another (1 John 4:20). As God’s family, each of us is called to love, honor and serve one another, building up God’s community as a witness to all. (Note to the team leader: In lieu of the discussion group, the activity below could be used.)

AFFIRMATION EXERCISE (To be given after the talk) Dynamics: 1. After the talk, the speaker shall instruct the group to divide themselves into households. The “Affirmation Exercise” shall be introduced. 2. They will be asked to form two lines [line 1 and line 2] facing each other. 3. At the sound of the whistle, each line makes a step –line 1 to the right, line 2 steps to the left. 4. Facing partners, each will have a minute to honor and share an area of accountability to the person in front of him. 5. The speaker claps his hand to signal the reversal of roles, it is the other’s turn now to honor and share for a minute. 6. At the sound of the whistle, both lines must move one step –line 1 to the right and line 2 to the left. 7. Repeat until everyone gets to honor and share an area of accountability to each other.

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LOVING, HONORING AND SERVING OUR COUNTRY TALK FOUR OF THE YFC COVENANT ORIENTATION “You are the light of the world ... let your light so shine before men, that they may your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:14, 16)

I.

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INTRODUCTION As Christians, we don’t believe in coincidences. We know that God has a purpose for everything. God has placed us where we are, for a purpose. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) God calls us to be a light to the nations. We should be able to do that wherever it is that He has placed us our own countries. ‐

II. TO LOVE, HONOR AND SERVE OUR COUNTRY Our love for God is shown by the way we love our country. We can do this by how we show our love, honor and respect to it. As citizens of our country we are called to do the following: A. TO PROTECT. Ensuring the continuity of God’s creation. 1. God entrusted to us the place where we are living right now. 2. It is our responsibility as stewards of His creation to take care of our environment and our country’s resources. 3. Taking care of our mountains, trees, river and seas by not throwing garbage and cleaning up our own area. 4. We help in clean up drive and tree planting activities in our area. 5. Let us not litter as if we can “flush” down our dirt in our surroundings. 6. We don’t vandalize. ‐

B. ADVOCATE. Taking pride in our heritage. 1. Take pride in national symbols (flag, national anthem). 2. Learn about your heritage (If your parents migrated, learn about the country they migrated from. Keep positive aspects of that culture) C. PROMOTE. Take a positive attitude about our country. 1. We avoid jokes or negative comments about our country, culture, and government. 2. We patronize local products, local talents and tourist spots.

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III. SERVING OUR COUNTRY BEING MODEL CITIZENS (Rom 13:1 8) ‐

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A. We obey the laws of the land. 1. Following the traffic laws, pedestrian crossings. 2. This includes the laws and regulations of our schools. (We do not look for loopholes to cheat in school we come to class at the time the school says we should). 3. We should help in furthering the vision and mission of our government and schools especially if our school is Catholic/Christian. (However, this also means that we have to speak up when our country/government begins to adopt unchristian policies that are against life, family and God like abortion, divorce, etc.) ‐

B. Be aware and actively take part in the affairs of our country. 1. Be vigilant in what is happening in our country. Be pro active. 2. If we are of voting age we should exercise this right at every opportunity. 3. Condemn corruption in government and society without condemning the government and society itself. We could always be part of the solution and not add to the problem of society, by being agents of change through the simple ways of not engaging to bribery of traffic enforcers. 4. Be updated of the current issues of the country and take part in coming up with solutions rather than staying on the streets rallying for a useless cause. 5. Use our talents, time, skills, and abilities to serve our country. We could always volunteer in our barangays whenever they need help in the activities or events they are organizing. The things we learn in our community can be shared to our neighbors as well. ‐

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IV. LOVING OUR COUNTRY ALSO MEANS LOVING THE POOR. Mt. 22:39 “Love your neighbor.” A. Loving the poor. 1. Love the poor like Jesus did. As we all know, the poor is very dear to Jesus. We can read from the bible that Jesus Himself lived among the poor. He even chose the poor to be His disciples, shared His teachings to the poor and even allowed them to witness the miracles He performs. 2. Love the poor by not treating them as second class citizen. Each person bears the image of God and is loved by God. If we love God, we must love those whom He loves. (1 John 4:20) ‐

B. Serving with the poor. In Couples for Christ, CFC ANCOP (Answering the Cry of the Poor) is our way of serving with the poor. Our work with the poor upholds the values of stewardship,

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the path of peace, love, sacrifice, humility and hard work. As advocates of our work we live out our love for the poor by: 1. Living a simple lifestyle. (Less for self, more for others, enough for all) 2. Sharing our resources to help the poor help themselves. 3. Spending at least 4 hours in a month to serve in a GK site or other work with the poor program (GK Build, Social Ministries, etc.). 4. Sharing my love for the poor with my family, friends and areas of influence. Our love for all those that God loves, namely our country should give us a greater desire to evangelize. (Mt. 28:18 20) ‐

IV. CONCLUSION (Mt. 22: 15) God has placed us where we are, according to His purposes, so that we can use the circumstances that surround us to be witnesses for Him. As we do this, we also become witnesses to the nations, by giving to our country the love, honor and respect it deserves, as responsible citizens, and giving to God our whole lives as true children of God. When we honor our country, we must honor the poor, when we honor the poor we honored our purpose. Helping the poor people is helping this country to the first world. It is written in the bible that ‘’Faith without action is dead’’. As we believe in God we must also do His will. It is not enough that we pray. What a better way to live a Christ like life but to be Jesus to other people. Share our lives to them. Share our time, talent and treasure to them. We must allow our faith to be expressed in the way we live our lives. ‐

DISCUSSION STARTERS: 1. What are the things am I doing that is showing dishonor/disrespect for the country that God has placed me in? How can I correct these? 2. What concrete decision can I make that will help me love, honor and serve my country better?

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CHAPTER 3

THE COVENANT OF A CFC YOUTH FOR CHRIST MEMBER A. DYNAMICS OF THE COMMITMENT CEREMONY 1. At this point, the participants are now ready to receive their covenant cards. th 2. After the 4 talk, the team leader will now lead the group to the commitment ceremony. 3. The team could prepare an AVP that would show concrete ways of living out the covenant. 4. The music that could be used for the AVP as a reflection song could be SONG OF A SERVANT or I SURRENDER. The covenant cards could now be distributed. 5. By this time, the participants have a clearer picture of what their covenant with God is. (The reflection song could still be played during this time.) 6. The team leader could advice the participants to sign their cards and ask them to stand just like during the youth camp when the participants accepted God in their lives once again. 7. The team leader reads aloud the main points of the covenant, leading to the PRAISEFEST.

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B. SAMPLE OF THE CFC YFC COVENANT THE COVENANT OF A CFC YOUTH FOR CHRIST MEM BER 1. I am special because I am a son / daughter of God. * I will spend time in prayer where I can grow in loving, honoring and serving Him. * I will learn and grow in living out these ideals and principles of my Lord Jesus. * I believe that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. * I will not dishonor the Lord through drunkenness, drugs or immorality. * I will participate actively in the life of my Church. 2. My family is God’s gift to me. * I will love, honor and respect my parents in spite of whatever state or circumstances they are in, * I believe that my blood brothers and sisters are God’s gift to me. *I will strive to grow in unity and understanding towards them. * I will be a source of healing to whatever brokenness or hurt. 3. It is m y privilege to be studying in my school. * I will show love and loyalty to the Lord and to my school by being a good student. * I will take responsibility in my studies. * I will respect school authorities. * I will serve my classmates and build good relationships in school. 4. I belong to the bigger family of CFC Youth for Christ. * I will relate in love and loyalty to the brothers and sisters from other schools, cities, provinces, states and countries. * I will serve the Lord in YFC in whatever way I can, whenever / wherever the Lord chooses to call me. IV. APPENDICES * I will follow the directions of my elders and leaders in YFC. 5. God has a special purpose in allowing me to be born / live in this country. * I commit to love and serve my country with all my heart. I. PARTICIPANTS HANDOUTS * I will honor our culture, our traditions and our values.

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Loving, Honoring & Serving God Talk 1 of the YFC Covenant Orientation Participant’s Handout I.

I believe that I am special to God. A. God loves me (Jn. 3:16) B. God forgives my sins (Mt. 26:28) C. I am a son/daughter of God (Gal. 4:7)

II. God is so special to us that He enables us to love Him more than anything else. (Mt. 22:37) A. Loving God with all our heart 1. Heart means “core”. We love the Lord with the core of our being Includes our ideals and principles, and decision 2. Loving God entails sacrifice B. ...with all our soul 1. Our souls long for God (Ps. 84: 1 2) 2. Practicing the sacraments express our soul longing for God 3. Eagerness to serve C. ...With all our mind 1. Includes our thoughts, intentions and learning 2. We should grow in our knowledge of Scripture/books about the Lord 3. We must learn how to witness to others about the Lord’s work in our lives. ‐

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III. We will go through times of testing. A. Sufferings, trials and doubts B. Sin will make us feel guilty C. We will experience dryness in prayer Discussion Starters: 1. How is your relationship with God after the youth camp? 2. What more can I do to express my love for God with all my heart, soul and mind? Memory Verse: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt. 22:37)

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Loving, Honoring & Serving our Family Talk 2 of the YFC Covenant Orientation Participant’s Handout I. Two things to remember about the family: A. It is God’s plan (Gen. 1: 21 28; Gen. 2: 18 24; Gen. 7:1) B. The family is under attack ‐

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II. Our role in the family: A. To our parents: 1. Honor and respect (Ex. 20:12) 2. Obedience (Eph. 6:1) 3. Respect primarily because they are our parents (Sirach 3:1 15) ‐

B. To our brothers and sisters in the family: 1. Seeing our families as God’s gift to us 2. Finding opportunities to share C. Being instruments of healing: 1. Loving 2. Witnessing 3. Praying and interceding for family members 4. Serving God with our family Discussion Starters: 1. How can I grow in my relationship with my parents? 2. How can I grow in my relationship with my siblings? 3. What concrete steps can I do to improve my relationship with my family? Memory Verse: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

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Loving, Honoring & Serving our brothers and sisters in YFC Talk 3 of the YFC Covenant Orientation Participant’s Handout I. Loving YFC as a family A. Blood relations are often the strongest type of relationships. B. The blood that unites us is the blood of Jesus Himself. II. Characteristics of family type relationships A. Commitment B. Unity C. Loyalty D. Love (Mt. 22:39) E. Service III. Obstacles that hinder us from growing in our relationships with brothers/sisters A. Fear of rejection B. Pride C. Cliquishness IV. Our love for God and YFC should extend and be expressed in our schools A. Being witness B. Being evangelistic C. Loving our neighbor — our classmates

Memory Verse: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live in unity.” (Ps. 133:1)

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Loving, Honoring & Serving God Talk 4 of the YFC Covenant Orientation Participant’s Handout

I. Introduction God’s Purpose (Jer. 1:5) ‐

II. Loving, Honoring and Serving Our Country A. Showing our country honor and respect. 1. Avoid treating our country like one big trashcan/toilet. 2. Take pride in our heritage. 3. Take a positive attitude about our country. B. Serving our country being model citizens. (Rom 13:1 8) 1. Obeying the laws of the land. 2. Being aware and actively taking part in the affairs of our country. ‐

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C. Loving our country means loving the poor. (Mt. 22:39) 1. Love the Poor as God loves them. 2. Serve the Poor through GK 3. The desire to evangelize. (Mt. 28:18 20) ‐

Memory Verse: “You are the light of the world ... let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:14, 16)

Discussion Starters: 1. What are the things that am I doing that shows dishonor or disrespect to the country that God has placed me in? How can I correct these? 2. What concrete decision can I make that will help me love, honor and serve my country better?

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APPENDIX

WORSHIP WORKSHOP I.

INTRODUCTION 

Start the session with just a simple prayer after practicing some songs.

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Choose a slow worshipful song for this activity . Make sure it’s a song that people know well enough or is easy enough for people to sing without looking at the words. (Note: Slow songs make it easier for people to feel the presence of God more and as such are more effective for this activity).

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Explain the words of the song / Help people understand what it means and encourage them to pray the song as they sing it. In order to help participants focus even more, ask them to close their eyes. Worship, in a sense, transports people into God’s presence – into His “courts” if we may refer it in that way – encourage people to take note of how they perceive that in the vision that they will see in their minds.

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Sing the song (For the speaker, make sure that you yourself are praying the song)

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Get feedback. Find out what images they saw in their minds. Was the Lord present in the picture of their mind’s eye? Where were they? Were they standing, seated, kneeling, hands outstretched or clasped?

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Sing the song one more time, this time challenging the participants to allow their physical bodies to express what they see themselves doing in their minds. Help them realize that their whole bodies want to pray also, and that if they intend to give their lives to the Lord, at the very least, it begins with surrendering their bodies as expressed by a raised hand, outstretched arms or bended knees.

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Feel free to sing in the spirit or in tongues or sing a second song, as the Spirit leads.

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Get feedback on what they experienced . prophecies or visions.

Find out if some may have received

II. UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP A. Worship is the central point of our gatherings 1. It’s supposed to be inspiring and should build up the body. Worship should be nourishing and spirit filled. ‐

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2. Recently, however, much of our worship has been dry and sometimes perceived as a waste of time. This is so because many times, our worship leaders are unable to lead people to worship. Many times our worship is not worship at all. B. Worship is being able to honestly say “You are God and I am not, and THAT IS GREAT!!!” NJB Psalms 150:1 6 1. Alleluia! Praise God in His holy place, praise Him in the heavenly vault of his power, 2. Praise him for His mighty deeds, praise Him for all His greatness. 3. Praise Him with fanfare of trumpet, praise Him with harp and lyre, 4. Praise Him with tambourines and dancing, praise Him with strings and pipes, 5. Praise Him with the clamour of cymbals, praise Him with triumphant cymbals, 6. Let everything that breathes praise Yahweh. Alleluia! ‐

1. Just as we experienced at the start of this talk, worship is being able to come into that loving, healing and mighty presence of God and being able to acknowledge that HE ALONE IS GOD – loving, healing and mighty! At the same time, we are blessed by the healing grace of His presence and by the mere fact that this same GOD holds us as special and in spite of our sins and imperfections sees us as the gem of His creation. 2. Worship is paying “homage” to our true King and Captain. In the same way that subjects in ancient times have to regularly visit their ruler and pay “tribute” or “homage” or “tax” (in more modern terms). We come to pay homage admitting that everything we have is His. At the same time, we are grateful that HE gives all of these – our bodies, our minds, our money, our property – for us to freely use, and that He never punishes us as we deserve whenever we misuse these things which are rightfully HIS. 3. Worship is one of the very few times when we are able to have a taste of how it was and a foretaste of how it will. It’s the time when we in our “fallen – sinful human natures” are able to connect to God in spirit the way it was meant to be before our sin made it impossible for us to continually be in God’s presence (as Adam and Eve were). It allows us a foretaste of the kind of relationship we will have with God when we are made perfect in heaven. ‐

4. There are three levels that we usually go through when we really worship: a. The first is when we start speaking words of PRAISE – or what we might be liken to as “introductions” in any audience. This is where we honor God and acknowledge His greatness.

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b. The second is WORSHIP – this is when we start saying how we feel and when we begin to truly realize God’s greatness. In this level, people start to “offer” themselves to God saying “I belong to you…my life is yours”. c. The third is GLORY – this is when we actually come into the holy presence of God. It is at this level that God speaks, we listen then we respond. This is where we receive prophecies, visions, where we cry at the realization of God’s love and mercy, where emotional and “physical’ healing takes place. Sadly, most worship leaders are not aware of this nor do they strive to reach these levels of worship. We sing a lot of songs, we say a lot of words that include the word “Lord” and “Amen” but few of these are able to make actual worship take place. Maybe, this is why there are less and less of the spiritual gifts (tongues, prophecies, visions etc….) during our worships and activities. Every worship, whether it is alone in your own prayer time, a household meeting, a teaching, assembly or “Praisefest” should reach this third level. Any worship leader who does not have this as their goal for worship misses the whole point, and may have not actually lead people to worship. Before we start to think that leading worship is next to impossible, we need to realize that the effort is almost totally out of our hands and in the very capable hands of God Himself. God wants us to connect to Him much more than we want for ourselves and for our members. This takes a huge pressure off of our shoulders because worship then does not depend on our eloquence or on the dynamics or tone of our voices but rather depends on and simply begins with an honest desire to be in God’s presence. III. SOME IMPORTANT ATTITUDES REGARDING WORSHIP A. Every worship should start with an exhortation. Exhortation is giving people reason to worship. It should be able to inspire them to come before the Lord in jubilant praise. It can either be a personal sharing, a story or a bible verse. An exhortation need not be long but should be encouraging and acknowledges God’s greatness in our lives. B. You need to worship in order to lead worship Avoid just singing songs. Enter into God’s Holy presence, raise your hands and mean it. Pray in tongues. Listen to God. Don’t be too conscious of the words you will use, just speak exactly what is in your heart. Talk to the Lord as if He were in front of you, because He is. Avoid making

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your prayer a “well rehearsed speech” with words “Lord” at the beginning and “Amen “at the end. ‐

C. Worship is an expression of your life Worship is very important, but is only an expression of the even more important reality you are living. Be careful in saying words like “Lord Jesus We Enthrone You” or “Refiners fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy” if it’s not true in your life, if you do only what you want in your life – in other words – you are calling the shots. Worship especially leading worship is difficult if there is serious unrighteousness in your life (e.g. premarital sex, cheating, gambling, stealing etc….) ‐

This doesn’t mean that you should choose not to worship or decline from leading worship – since after all, none of us are worthy because all of us are sinful. Rather, it’s in always having a genuine repentant attitude. Come before God’s presence and humbly ask for His mercy. Be Real and Honest. Come before God in total humility. Surrender and allow God’s spirit to flow through you. Never fake it. Be knowledgeable. Know the songs by heart. Know their meaning, the right tune and know how to lead people into singing in the spirit. D. Avoid anything that distracts Avoid anything that distracts you or the people you are leading from focusing on God – who after all is the object of our worship. Don’t use action songs during the “worship proper.” Try to make everything clear – announce song titles and numbers. Announce where the song is headed (next line or verse). IV. CONCLUSION NJB Exodus 34:29 33 29. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, as he was coming down the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face was radiant because he had been talking to Him… 33. Once Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ‐

NJB 2 Corinthians 3:18

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Yfc Covenant Orientation (2009 Edition)

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