The Eagles at football.
Rev Joel Yong
Wesley Methodist Church Singapore
20 July 2014
Soloist Lauren Yeo
Panis Angelicus fit panis hominum,
Dat panis coelicus figuris terminum.
O res mirabilis, manducat Dominum,
Pauper, pauper, servus et humilis.
Obstacles to life change
Pygmalion vs Golem
Pygmalion effect: greater expectations result in better performance .
Golem effect: lower expectation result in lower performance.
Experiment
Students given IQ test.
Teachers given names of 20 said to have high IQ
After a year these 20 found to do well.
BUT their names had been choosen at random.
Thoughts determine deeds.
Rev Joel
Bottom of class in Sec 2
Was told and believed
Unless you put your foot to the pedal you can't go
Studied and studied
Within a year reached near top of the class.
Eg Lot's wife
Longingly looked back expectantly at Sodom
"Good old times"
2) Don't let yesterday's give you an ingrained mindset
Having left Sodom and Gomorah
Lot lives in a cave with his daughters
Isolated.
But the past licentious incestous atmosphere of sexuality remained.
His daughters get him drunk in order to get pregnant by him.
They had an ingrained contaminated mindset, influenced by their yesterday.
3) Don't let your yesterday leave you with a narrow mindset,
Eg Israelites, free but hungry in the deser
Would rather be well fed slaves in Egypt.
Tunnel vision, microscopic view
Fail to see the big picture.
4) Don't let your yesterdays limit you:
Israelites saw the enemies as giants and felt like grasshoppers .
For their fear and failure , wandered in the desert for 40 years.
Fail to see, blinded, that you can do bigger things
One thing in common of these examples
FAILURE
Failure to reach destination
Failure to accomplish what God had wanted them to accomplish.
Our yesterday ended last night
"Yesterday" some church members were ugly
Late in registering for course/camp
Rude to staff/volunteers / Sunday school teachers
Come with consumer mindset demanding to be served rather than wishing to serve.
Bury that yesterday
May there be a new tomorrow
Sermon Illustration
Rev Joel introduced football to a group of disadvantaged kids
Group of 28 grew to 100.
Team "eagles"
Entered under 16 competition
11+ year olds vs 15+
Held steadily to 0-0 at half time
Crowd cheered
Lost double digit but left field proud
Not influenced by their background but by what they decided to do.
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