A Blessed Sunday: The Revolution of Character

Today, after drinking  a cup of coffee and eating "kakanin" I head on the church without much to take care of. The scripture verse this Sunday was from Colossians 3:1-4. Pastor E talked about character, how it is our inner strength. He says character is not what we do but it is who we are and it defines us, the expression of our faith.

Pastor E didn't speak so much he just elaborate the importance of character as a Christian and how Christian should be after accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, that the old has gone and the new is here, we must live like Christ like. A Christian a completely changed person, transformed in character.

The responsive reading was very touching and it reads like this -

Father, During this coming week there may be times when I shall not be able to sense Your presence or to be aware of Your nearness.

When I am lonely and by myself I TRUST YOU TO BE MY COMPANION.

When I am tempted to sin I TRUST YOU TO KEEP ME FROM IT.

When I am depressed and anxious I TRUST YOU TO LIFT MY SPIRITS.

When I am crushed by my responsibility and overwhelmed by the demands of people on my time, I TRUST YOU TO GIVE ME POISE AND A SENSE OF PURPOSE.

When I am rushed and running I TRUST YOU TO MAKE ME STILL INSIDE.

When I forget You I TRUST THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET ME.

When I forget others I TRUST YOU TO PROMPT ME TO THINK OF THEM.

When you take something or someone from me that I want to keep; when You remove the props I lean on for comfort in place of You; when You refuse to respond to my questions and to answer my selfish prayers, I WILL TRUST YOU EVEN THEN. Amen

New Year Celebration 2017: Should We be Optimists or Pessimists?

Went to church on New Years eve and then went home and sleep, we have no preparation for the New Year. My sister wake me up when 12 o'clock strikes in the clock so I could see few fireworks in the sky, there's not much then it is drizzling. The night is very silent, my father fired eight pieces of "kwitis" then when they're all fired up, I went down and sleep again.

It's New Year and most people sleep late but the church service started very early because it is first Sunday of the month. Pastor opened his preaching for the day by asking if we are pessimist or optimist.  Looking back, I am always an optimistic person, I always look at the bright side and I always find good reason in every situation, like why a flight has been cancelled or delayed, that life is more important than money and so on... then my light dies... I became pessimistic and expect worst in every thing, I became hopeless...

Anyway, the scriptural scripture this Sunday is from Ephesians 5: 15-17. Pastor reminded everyone to watch our step because sometimes we are guilty of living too fast, to redeem our time and make most of every opportunity and do God's will.

Pastor E shared a lot of inspiring verses from the bible after the preaching proper like Let not your heart be troubled.” (John 14:1 KJV),  “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6) and other verses that were strong enough to pacify a hopeless and weary heart.

Since I went to church early without eating anything I decided to have a sip of coffee, ate bread  and peanut butter after church and while I am eating an aunt called and invited us to their house to eat, was told that some of our relatives were there eating.  I am already full but we don't want to disappoint our aunt so my sister and I went to their home which is now owned by her son. Well, they have plenty of preparation for the new year,  there was a lot of food to eat.

A Blessed Sunday: The Beat of A Thankful Heart

It was been a long time since I blogged about Sunday, I have been procrastinated on doing so. I have planned to just write a late post but my mind was too busy and can't focus.

How are you going to describe your heart today?  That's the question asked by Pastor E to everyone and I could write a long sentence to describe mine but I'll just skip that.  The scriptural verse for this Sunday was from Luke 17: 11-19 with the scriptural topic of "The Beat of a Thankful heart".

Pastor E shared  that the thankful heart beats for those who are without.  We see hurting people all around us and yet we are paralyzed to help because our hearts are telling us:

[Photo courtesy of greatergood.berkeley.edu]

• “Why bother…nobody will change”.
• “It’s too risky…you might fail or get hurt.”
• “Someone else can a better effort at helping than I can.”

Secondly, the thankful heart beats with a faith that things can change no matter what the circumstances. As Paul  said on Philippians 4:6-7 ~

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It is with a heart of thanksgiving that we are to pray and let God know our needs. When we pray, God can do two things:

1. Change our circumstance
2. Give us His peace in our circumstance

Thirdly, The thankful heart beats for the Giver…not just the gift and lastly the thankful heart beats with thanksgiving and more is given.

A Blessed Sunday: What Are The Things you Have that you can Trade?

There was a different Pastor today at church since Pastor E was assigned out of town, Pastor J talks about the things you are willing to trade for something else from the book of 1 Peter 5:8-11. She said if we are experiencing good life and doesn't experience problems we should be already nervous what path are we already walking. Maybe we are already walking a path to Satan's lair, Pastor J set Job as example how he was tempted by Satan and how he remained faithful to God.

[Photo courtesy of pinterest.com]

Pastor J shared some insights or ways to know if we are already trap by the enemy, first she said we are trapped when the things we want were given without struggle because it is true that when a person life is well he forgot God. He encouraged every one to be vigilant, to focus and be observant and secondly to meditate God's words.  A life without trial is an enemy's way to trap you.

A Blessed Sunday: Framework of the Home

Today is the continuation of Pastor E's teaching about the home, his topic is about the "Framework of the Home" from the book of Ephesians 5: 22-23 and Ephesians 6:1-4.

[Photo courtesy of worldthatlacksgod.blogspot.com]

Pastor E talk about the husband and wife on the first part of his message even thought I don't want my tears flow instantly. He says the women sacrifice just to be with their husband, they left their family so they could with their husband and all men has the accountability to love and cherish them so they could flourish, he encourage the men to be the man of identity, be a leader but not a dictator,  be a man of integrity.

Pastor E asked the men congregation how do they treat their wife. Do they treat them unjustly or humiliate them in front of other people? As it says, humiliating your wife doesn't do a you any good because your wife reflects you.  It is true that most wife are abused inside the home because they are weak, have lesser value compare to their husband. Pastor E says the wives are the women who took courage and struggled to form a complete home and it doesn't mean they have to go down.

The second part of his preaching is for children to honor their parents and obey them.

A Blessed Sunday: Fortress Inside the Home

Everything inside the church today is in Philippine language "Tagalog" because the country is celebrating "Buwan ng Wika" so Pastor E's preaching is in our national language and his topic this Sunday is about the "Fortress Inside the Home" from Psalms 100: 1-5 and Psalms 127: 1-5.

[Photo courtesy of silverfox1341.blogspot.com]

Pastor E talked about the strength of the foundation of the home, the elements that should be present to build a strong Foundation.

A Blessed Sunday: A Firm Foundation

Home is the first institution God had created. Pastor E's topic on his preach this Sunday is about A Firm Foundation from the book of Joshua 24: 13-15. When building a home we always want it to be safe and productive, we always first create a solid foundation.

[Image source pastorbrianlamsermons.blogspot.com]

Pastor E shared three D's that are integrity of the home, the first one is discernment (verse 13), which talks about God's blessing, Him being compassionate and merciful. We become what we rare because of God's bountiful grace, we are blessed beyond measure but unfortunately we overlooked God and cast  Him aside our home. The second is duty (verse 14), we must fear the Lord and recognized His position in our life. Most of us fear the Lord but we are not committed, we have no consideration we live according to our own desire.

The last D is decision (verse 15), we must choose God's will and serve the Lord and when we serve the Lord faithfully He is being praised. Pastor E ended his preaching asking if Jesus is the priority of your life.

A Blessed Sunday: Serving in the Shadows (Epaphras)

This Sunday is different from the other Sundays because today I am not just part of the congregation. I am the liturgist today and it is making me nervous, since this will be my first time to be speaking at the pulpit in front of the congregation.

[Photo source: vimeo.com]

Today is the third Sunday that Pastor E talks about people who serves in the Shadows, and this Sunday he talks about Epaphras life from the books of Colossians 1: 7-8 and Colossians 4: 12-13 , his faithful dedication , cooperation, conviction, commitment and consistency.

A Blessed Sunday: Serving in the Shadows (Hur)

The topic of Pastor E's preaching this Sunday is a continuation of his topic the previous Sunday, it is about Serving in the Shadows but today it is about Hur, from the book of Exodus 17: 8-13.

[Photo source: vimeo.com]

Pastor E talks about Hur's character,  Hur has support and cooperation, potential and his participation is persistence. He encourage everyone to be faithful in their  place serving God and use everyone's God given talent to serve God,  he said that a potential without participation is a little value and participation is essential but without persistence you will not see victory.

Today, my mother and sister went to church with me after a long years of her not going to the church. I have been inviting her but she doesn't want to, but one surprising day she just said she want to go to church and it happened today.

A Blessed Sunday: Serving in the Shadows (Bernabe)

Pastor E started a new topic this Sunday which is about “Serving in the Shadows” from the book of Acts 11: 19-26 where Bernabe was mentioned. Pastor E says that Bernabe is a faithful servant and his life has a large impact to people during those times.

The qualities of loyal servant of God can be found in Bernabe’s life, he is a good person, blessed with the Holy Spirit and has a strong faith. How's our attitude in serving God? Are we committed and willing?

A Blessed Sunday: The Confidence in Discipleship

It was first Sunday of the month and it was raining hard, the church service started very early. There were only few people inside the church maybe because of the heavy rain, people were trap on their home. I was a bit soak in rain despite of having an umbrella.

Pastor E's scriptural topic was continuation and the last part about being a good disciple of Christ "The Confidence in Discipleship" based of scriptural verse John 15: 7-11. According to the bible to be a Gods disciple we should do three things - forget about our self, bring the cross and follow Him.

On the scriptural verses 7-8 we are told to be confident in our position, we should abide God and His words and when we do it God is glorified. Secondly, on verses 9-10 there is a provision, God's love us and He challenge us to remain in His love, while on verse 11 we have the confidence in our position in life since God equipped us with many talents and abilities, along the way God provided for us even though we challenged Him by doing nothing, for not growing as a Christian.

A Blessed Sunday: The Cost of Discipleship

It's the last Sunday of the month and Pastor E's topic on his preaching today was from the book of Luke 14: 25-33 with a a topic of "The Cost of Discipleship". Blessings are free and costly and there is very little blessings require in serving the Lord conveniently, Pastor E asked the congregation that considering God's investment in us, what God have received from us?

Pastor E also gave some points on the cost of discipleship like the criteria, God says on verse 26 to love Him more than we love our parents, brother and sisters and whoever do not so cannot be his disciple then on verse 27  it was said that in following Jesus there will be a cross to carry, it means responsibility and on verse 28 we have to sit down and think if we can continue serving God given the responsibilities and cost.

A Blessed Sunday: A Portrait of Fatherhood

Today, is Father's Day Sunday. Instead of Pastor E preaching it was his wife who delivered God's message, the scripture reading was from the book of 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 with a topic "A Portrait of Fatherhood.

[Photo courtesy of fathers-days.net]

Pastor E's wife shared the traits of a father, according to her a father is able to express genuine love, he has transparent life where he isn't ashamed to cry in front of others, he has unselfish diligence, genuine spirituality and positive influence in his child's life.

There was some testimony from other members for their father, they were called to share something in front of the congregation.

A Blessed Sunday: Service that Pleasing the Lord

Hospital was our second home for a few days already, my father and I go home in the morning to collect water, do the laundry, cooked food and do other household chores and then we returned during lunch and went home again in the afternoon and went back to the hospital at late afternoon. It was been our routine for several days, it was hard to sleep during the night because we have to monitor my mother's urine every hour, by draining her catheter and measuring it. I sleep a bit at night and do the task during early morning but I can't sleep well at all because I was worrying with my mother's condition.

Anyway, I am not planning to attend church service today but my sister texted that if I want to go to church I just have to make sure that everything is right at home, so I immediately searched for my jeans and went to church with a cloudy mind, lack of sleep and non-stop worrying.

[Image source: mbchiawassee.org]

This Sunday is my father's birthday and it was exchanged pulpit Sunday which mean different Pastor will do the preaching, the preacher was a woman pastor (Pastor E.F) from sister church, her topic for the day was about "Service That Pleasing the Lord" based on scripture reading Matthew 25: 14-31.

What kind of service pleasing the Lord? According to Pastor E.F, productive service pleases the Lord, a service that is effective and fruitful, God gave us talents and ability for us  to flourish, He expected us to level up. Secondly, passionate service pleases the Lord, it is a service that is burning, committed, eager, excited, enthusiastic, hot and emotional in short it is a service that is from the heart. We should work with love to the Lord, our motivation should be love to glorify God. Thirdly, a faithful service pleases the Lord, it should be close, consistent, devoted, loyal and trustworthy. A faithful servant never retired, he served faithfully as long as he is alive. According to Pastor E.F a good servant acknowledge God as the owner and him as a steward and faithfulness is keeping promises.

A Blessed Sunday: The Call to Discipleship

Today, is the first Sunday of the month so the service started 7 o'clock in the morning. Pastor E topics is about the "The Call to Discipleship" based on Matthew 4:19 when Jesus invited Peter and Andrew to follow him to be fisher's of men.

[Photo courtesy of relationaldiscipleship.wordpress.com]

Pastor E encourages the congregation to strengthen their faith and live like Jesus wanted His children to be, to follow Him and live on His words. He also discuss about Jesus invitation to Peter and Andrew,  he said it was not only for them but for everyone. Peter and Andrew followed Jesus without hesitation, they trust and became obedient.

A Blessed Sunday: A Home That’s Blessed

On Friday the church held a family camp at Acacia Village and it was attended by  some church members, I think only few had attended since it rained earlier before the agreed meet up time. This Sunday Pastor E focused about the home and the family, he said that God began human existence with a marriage and a family. The first community that God established was a family and a home. The scriptural reading was found at Joshua 24: 11-15 and 2 Samuel 6: 9-11.

According to the Pastor E's before the Israelites have a formal place of worship, the place of worship was the home, and all worship was directed and lead by the head of the home, the husband and father – Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Today, we have replaced the home with the church. For many Christians and their families all spirituality is exercised IN church, all prayer is IN church, all teaching is IN church – and not in the home.  We depend everything in the church and we forgot the spiritual practice at home.

[Photo courtesy of heritagekept.com]

Pastor E gave three ways on how do we experience the genuine divine blessing in our home and these are:

1. Choose to make your Home His Home -  Joshua 24:11-15, We have to choose to live according to God’s design for us in our homes & families.
2. Welcome His presence to your home - 2 Samuel 6:9-11, Pastor E says that every family has a box in their home, that box has the power to shape values of young children and that box was called television unlike the box at the center of Obed-Edom’s house, which contains Aaaron cane, Moses tablets and a jar, this box brought blessings.
3. Build an ark of salvation in your home - Hebrews 11:7, Pastor E talks about Noah and his family.

To begin and initiate God’s into  our home, Pastor E shared 5 E's -

• EXALT God in your home
• EXAMPLE Christlikeness in your home
• ENCOURAGE Faithfulness in your home
• EDUCATE Your children in God’s ways in your home
• ESTABLISH Godly values in your home

When God’s presence is welcomed and encouraged a home is truly blessed!

A Blessed Sunday - Jochebed: A Portrait of Godly Mother

On the previous Sunday the church celebrated Mother's Sunday and today Pastor E's preaching was about Jochebed, wife of Amram and the mother of Aaron, Miriam and Moses. The scriptural verse was from Exodus 2: 1-10, Pastor E talks about Jochebed's selfless love for her children.

[Image source: huntercastle.com]

Anyway, Pastor E continue his preaching about things to see in Jochebed's life which are enumerated in four C's: The first one was her credentials, she was born to the Levites in Egypt and wife of Amran. Jochebed's credential was her deep relationship with the Lord. She and her husband were evidently very dedicated and religious people. They were willing to defy the order of Pharaoh and keep the commandments of God. Secondly, courage, she was very courageous woman this could be seen in  Verse 2 where Jochebed refused to give in to a godless system that would have cost her the life of her son. Thirdly, Jochebed has confidence to resist the world and was strong woman motivated by a strong faith for God's will and the last C is charity, she has a wonderful way on how she gave herself to her kids.

Have you ever had to give up and let go of someone or something very precious to you?

When you let go, when you released that person or that thing, did you feel like part of you was breaking; now there was some new emptiness in your life, isn't it? As what we can read in the bible, Jochebed  give away her 3-month-old baby, not knowing what would happen to him, she placed baby Moses in a papyrus basket and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile...

A Blessed Sunday: Honor your Mother

Last Sunday was Mother’s day but it was just this Sunday that the church celebrated Mother’s day, yes it was a week late. Within the service, three young people shared testimonies about their mother's, their love and sacrifices for them. The church gave token of appreciation for all mothers in the church, they were given a hand fan which is useful this summer season. Pastor E’s scriptural topic is about honoring mothers, treating them with admiration and respect and the scriptural verse was from Ephesians 6: 1-2.

[Photo courtesy of beforeitsnews.com]

Pastor E quote from the bible that mothers are like precious gems and rare stones (Ephesians 6:2). We can honor our mothers by recognizing her work, giving her respect (Proverbs 20:20), valuing them as our mother and considering them highly and spend time with them.

My mother wasn't perfect like everyone else, we always disagree with each other when we have different views and opinions about things but when something went wrong around me I know that there's only one person I can cry and talk too and that's her.

A Blessed Sunday: Faithful Christian Service

This Sunday, Pastor E’s scriptural topic was about Faithful Christian Service based from scriptural verses Matthew 25:21, 1 Corinthians 4: 12 and Galatians 5: 22-23. Pastor E told the congregation that it is our duty to serve God but we served God in a voluntarily phases, in short we see ourselves as volunteers.

God put us in our particular place to be faithful and with a purpose, these purpose can be found in the following bible verses and what God encourages us to be:

[Photo courtesy of tnvalleytalks.hoop.la]

1. Hebrews 10: 25 – God wish each of us to be faithful in our attendance in church
2. 2 Timothy 2: 15 – Be faithful in reading the bible
3. 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 -  Be faithful in praying without ceasing
4. 2 Timothy 2: 19- 22 – Be faithful in our moral lives
5. James 2: 14-18 – Be faithful in serving others

Pastor E elaborates more and shared a story how King Henry III became an obedient King. He finishes his preach asking everyone a question "Will God find us faithful?"

A Blessed Sunday: Becoming A People of the Towel

It was first Sunday of the month and as usual the church service started early, during this day there was no Sunday school for all levels. Pastor E scriptural topic is about "Becoming People of the Towel" which literally means becoming servant of God. The scriptural verse was from John 13: 1-5 and John 13: 12-17

Pastor E tells about the story of Epaphroditus, a servant who risk and  gamble his life to serve Paul, he gambled everything for Jesus Christ so that the man of God would be served.

[Photo courtesy of journeychurchgillette.com]

On the book of John chapter 13, on the eve of His death, Jesus assumes the place of a slave and serves His disciples. While they were eating the Passover, Jesus gets up from the table and dons a towel. He poured a basin of water, and He began to wash the disciple’s feet.  He took the place of a slave before His men when Jesus did this. He took the place of the lowest kind of slaves, who were called “the people of the towel”. They were called this because it was their job to wash the feet of those who were superior to them.

Pastor E says Jesus did this to call His disciples to become people of the towel as well. He wants every person who follows Him to be a servant. He wants us to be a people of the towel. If we are to achieve that goal in our lives, we must develop a heart for others and we must learn from Jesus through His Labor, Lordship and Love.