All or nothing

OMG! I just finished preparing my presentation on the topic: Parable of the Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:16-22), which the programme will start at 2pm. Im leaving in a while for mass, so needa blog faster. SWT! Im such a last-minuter. Well, that's me! Got to tell you the truth that the first time I received this topic, I was staring at it for hours.. I had no idea of what message to convey. But everything 'cooks' and 'links' last night when I started to prepare the Intro. Anyways, just wanna share wf u peeps this strong message frm God. Intro: Based on the Article of USA Today, a survey was carried out, asking adults " what would they spend on first if they are wealthy?" Percentage responses: House/Cars: 40% Educaion for kids : 30% Vacation: 10% Household help: 5% Pay off debt: 4% Clothes/jewelery: 5% Investment: 4% Charity: 2% Well, this proves that ppl tend to spend on themsleves first. Points: 1. Rich young man came up and asked Jesus: Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Jesus replied: If you want to enter life, obey the commandments. How to obtain eternal life? What is eternal life? It is like that comes from God. The Greek word translated means joy, fulfillment & peace with God. Once you believe in Christ, your eternal destiny in God's kingdom is guaranteed. The rich man had everything except the idea of goodness that would secure him a place in the kingdom. 2. Verse 20: Rich man asked: What do I still lacked? This talks about Faith - this indicates that yet the rich young man did not think his obedience was enough to gain salvation. Verse 21: Jesus replied: Sell all your possessions. Jesus was probably testing his faith by telling him to sell all his possessions. Since he's a rich man, the love of his life was the stocks and bonds he might possessed in life. The rich young man was at the crossroads to choose God or money. 3. Verse 22: when he heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. This reflects Trust -Indicates that the rich man prefer to indulge in his wealth rather than to sell off everything he had to follow God. Let us take a chair as an illustration. Do you believe that it will hold you up when you sit on it? Let the chair represent Jesus Christ. To receive eternal life you must transfer your trust from yourself to Christ. Closing: If you don't get the 3 points above. Well, just remember this particular concept

Substance over Form

I. Substance reflects reality II. Form reflects legal form Let us apply this concept to the context. Substance (reality) represents the way you obtain eternal life, by giving up the precious thing in life. Form (legal form) by obeying the commandments, but keeping the precious possessions beside you? We have to look at the reality rather than in legal form when making a decision. Closing prayer: Lord, as we receive your message today, help us to practice what we learnt from this parable. We need the blood of Jesus to cleanse our greedy and materialistic heart. In this parable, you taught us how to earn the eternal life which you've already given to us. For it cannot be traded easily with only the good works we do but with undivided trust and loyalty in you. Father God, we open our hearts to you right now and trust Your Son as our personal Lord & Savior. Give us the strength to take up the cross & follow you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. I hope this entry would be of help to you guys. =]