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| Christmas Reflection - Friday, December 02, 2011
Christmas Day is fast approaching and the colour and sounds of the festive season surround us. Amid the busyness, I hope you get some time to stop and take in the deeper significance of this special time of the year -- that you will experience the peace and joy of God being with us.
The story is told of a boy who was looking wistfully at a family photograph. The picture included his father who died a few years earlier. The boy was heard to say, “I wish Daddy could step out of that picture and be with us again.”
In a nutshell, the boy’s response is the Christmas story. God loves his creation and, at just the right time in human history, chose to communicate this to men and women, girls and boys, by becoming one of us.
This is the story of Christmas -- the beginning of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, God's promised presence with us forever -- as told in the Gospels of the New Testament.
As I and my family will be in the Philippines in the next 5 weeks, allow me now to extend to you, our beloved church family, our prayers that yours will be a Christmas season filled with joyful expression of God’s love in your life.
May you know and experience His presence with you this Christmas and throughout the coming year. May you also know the blessing of putting your faith and trust in the Christ of Christmas.
Until we meet again early next year.
Our love and best wishes to one and all!
Pastor Jess, Mae, Aimee & Josiah |
| Early Training of Children - Thursday, November 24, 2011
We give praise and glory to God for the privilege given us as a church to be involved in the spiritual nurture and faith development of the young generation of today, our very own children! To us is given this sacred responsibility of leading our children to Jesus and training them for service!
What an awesome task! What a tremendous responsibility!
As a church we recognize that this is one of our most important ministries, and we commend the work of our Children’s Ministries leadership and her staff of committed associate leaders, Adventurer Directors and staff, teachers and other volunteers who have spent countless hours on their knees praying that the Lord will bless their ministries in a way that will impact the lives of our children for eternity!
Today, as we worship the Lord and enjoy our fellowship together, we will highlight the truth that age is not a barrier in ministry! Our children will take part in our services which are usually reserved for the older generation. This is one of the ways by which we are able to send a strong message to the younger members of our church that they are part and parcel of our church ministries and that their services offered to the Lord in faith are pleasing in the sight of God!
The Lord’s servant has this to say in this regard:
“Too much importance cannot be placed on the early training of children. The lessons that the child learns during the first seven years of life have more to do with forming character than all that it learns in future years.” CG 193.
Let us train and disciple all the children in this church for Jesus. Doing this requires more than just teaching the right doctrines, it is seeing such doctrine being applied which leads to our transformed lives!
Blessings and love to all!
Pr. Jess A. |
| The MARKS OF A MATURE CHRISTIAN - Thursday, November 17, 2011God’s will for every Christian is to grow up. That’s why one of the purposes of our church is to help everybody grow spiritually, emotionally, mentally in every way and have balanced Christian living.
Without a doubt, probably number one cause of problems in the world is immaturity. I have counselled many couples regarding marriage. The number one marriage problem is people just need to grow up. They are acting immature. We get ourselves into all kinds of problems by saying immature things, making immature decisions, acting in immature ways. John Maxwell, writes, “Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” We make decisions based on our reaction emotionally, or because what other people have done to us. Then we blame them making us unhappy. We just need to grow up. Hebrews 6:1 instructs, “Let us go on … become mature in our understanding.”
What is immaturity? How do we know when we have arrived? Please pay attention to the sermon today you will be able to answer the above questions.
Sermon Study Guide
God’s will for every person is personal growth and maturity. The book of James defines what maturity means.
What maturity is not:
Maturity is not ____________
Maturity is not ____________
Maturity is not ____________
Maturity is not ____________
God says maturity is determined by ______________ (Phil 3:13-14)
Five marks to help us know we come to maturity in life
1. A mature Christian is _________________________ (James 1:2-4; 12)
2. A mature Christian is _________________________ (James 2:8)
3. A mature Christian is _________________________ (James 3:2)
4. A mature Christian is _________________________ (James 4:1)
Two sources of conflict in life:
a. __________________________ (James 4:2-3)
b. __________________________ (James 4:11-12)
5. A mature Christian is _________________________ (James 5:7, 11, 16b)
How do you rate your maturity today? 30% _; 40% _; 50% _; 60% _; 70% _; 90% _; 100% _
May God bless you all in the coming week and I challenge you to apply the principles we have learned today.
Pastor Sereivudh Ly
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| Building a Great Relationship through the Power of Joy - Wednesday, November 09, 2011Most people like to say, “I just want to be happy.” Everyone wants happiness, but there is something else is far better than happiness. What we need in any relationship is not happiness, but joy.
Joy is a lot different from happiness. Happiness depends upon what is happening. Happiness is external, but joy is internal. Happiness is based on circumstances and when they change we are not happy anymore, but joy is based on Christ. Happiness is based on chance, but joy is based on our choice.
Let me share with you why Christians do not have joy. There are three relational killers. These three killers are common. Anytime we are having problems in a relationship it is because of one or more of these three killers. They always kill the joy in relationship.
First, a relational joy killer is selfishness. Selfishness means I want what I want and you want what you want and we do not get along together. We do not care about God’s sovereignty in life or even care whom God put in charge. We try to be in charge everything. James said, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:1-2. James tried to tell us that the root problem of relational difficulties is a power struggle between two selfish, insecure people.
Second, resentment is another relational joy-killer. We hurt each other in relationship sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. We must remember that conflict is a fact of life in a relationship. What you do with that hurt makes a difference whether we are joyful or miserable. The Bible reminds that we need to look carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springs up and causes deep trouble (Heb 12:15).
Third, another relational joy-killer is fear. When fear builds up in our life, the joy goes out of the relationship. The Bible says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. But a good word makes it glad.” (Pro 12:25).Fear causes us to build walls between us instead of bridges. Fear causes us to isolate ourselves. When we are full of fear there is no emotional intimacy. And when there is no emotional intimacy there is no joy. It just doesn’t happen. We wear masks and the results are we are miserable. Actually, fear does three things to relationships. Fear makes us defensive. Fear makes us distant. Finally, fear makes us demanding.
Let me suggest you what we need to do to overcome all these three killers. First we must get to know God by surrendering your life to Him, choose Him to be your personal Savior, and allowing Him to take full control of your life. As a result, we will love people and our life will fill with joy. We know God when we are able to love people (1John 4:8). Second, we must open our heart to receive God’s unconditional love. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us” (1John 4:18). That’s what God desire for you and me to have is His joy.
You will learn more on this joy through the sermon today and I hope you will pay attention to the principles in the sermon today.
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| With Such An Army of Youth - Saturday, October 29, 2011
All glory and praise to God for the ministry of our Maharlika Pathfinder Club in spearheading our well presented “Jesus Loves Jeans” evangelism campaign during the last five weekends of this month.
Indeed, our young people are God’s co-labourers in fulfilling the church’s commission in these last days.
The Lord’s servant has this to say:
''With such an army of...youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a
crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world … '' Education, page 271.
Today, even as we culminate this exciting journey together, let us remember that our work of evangelism is not limited to what transpires here in the four corners of our church building.
Evangelism is a lifestyle. It’s a conscious and deliberate decision to allow the Holy Spirit to have His full control over our lives so that we can become all that God has called us to be in this world – an ambassador of His kingdom; a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ; involved in the work of discipling others into becoming followers of Jesus themselves!
Today, we rejoice because of the victory of the gospel in the lives of our children and few others more. We praise God for crowning the effort of our Pathfinders with this rich harvest of souls for His kingdom!
Blessings to all!
Pastor Jess Anunciacion
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| Biblical Guideline for Children (Part 2) - Saturday, October 22, 2011
Study Guide for today sermon: Biblical Guideline for Children (Part 2)
Parents can break the Spirit of their children by doing the six following ways:
1. Discipline in ___________ – This communicates ______________ of the child
2. ______________ Discipline – This communicates ____________ Standard by the parents
3. Family _______________ – This communicates Lack of personal _________ to the child
4. ___________ Standard – This communicates Lack of ____________ in the parents’ life
5. Unfulfilled ______________ – This communicates Lack of personal _________ to the child
6. Failure to _________ Marriage partner – This communicates ______________ to the child
What are the steps to heal a “wounded spirit”?
1. ____________ our sins to God and our children (1John 1:9)
2. ____________ the hurtful behaviour (Gal 5:16, 22-23)
If I am who was hurt by my parents, I must do the following:
1. I must __________ my hurt is a sin If I am holding on to it (Eph 4:26-27)
2. I must ____________ the “danger” of a root of bitterness (Heb 12:15)
3. I must __________ God and forgive those who have hurt me (Eph 4:31-32)
4. I should take action step to demonstrate _______________ (Eph 5:1-2)
What are the consequences when parents fail to provide what children need?
1. Children will live “______________” (Pro 22:15)
2. Children will experience “_________” and “___________” (Eph 6:3
3. Children might experience an “early __________” (Eph 6:3)
4. Parents will experience “________/_________” (Pro 29:15)
What are the benefits when parents provide what children need?
1. Children will “________” their parents (Eph 6:1)
2. Children will “__________” their parents (Eph 6:2)
3. Children will “__________” in their personal lives (Eph 6:3)
4. Children will bring “___________” to parents (Pro 29:17)
I hope you have learned some warnings and guidelines from the Word of God to improve our parentingskill! May God bless you all!
Pastor Ly
Love in Christ
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| Evangelism: Our Mission - Monday, October 17, 2011In the same way that You gave Me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world." John 17:18 (Message Bible).
God is at work in the world, and He wants us to join Him. This assignment is called our mission, and it is different from our ministry. Ministry is our service to believers in the Body of Christ, while mission is our service to unbelievers in the world. God created us for both.
Our English word "mission" comes from the Latin word for "sending." Being a Christian includes being sent into the world as a representative of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
The mission that Jesus had while on earth is now our mission since we are the Body of Christ. What he did in his physical body, we are to continue as his spiritual body - the church. What is that mission? Introducing people to God! The Bible says "... Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also."
This church is committed to this mission. This is what we are here for. We live and exist to tell others about Jesus and His love.
Brothers and sisters, let us rejoice that we can take an active part in the awesome privilege of being co-laborers with Christ in the work of ushering precious people into His blessed Kingdom.
Yours in His ministry & mission,
Pastor Jess Anunciacion |
| United Efforts in Serving God and Humanity - Monday, October 10, 2011This month, as a church we focus on evangelism. Talking about evangelism in a large city, Mrs, White counselled us that three things need to be remembered. First, we must learn to work by the united efforts of laborers of different capabilities. “In connection with the proclamation of the message in large cities, there are many kinds of work to be done by laborers with varied gifts. Some are to labor in one way, some in another. The Lord desires that the cities shall be worked by the united efforts of laborers of different capabilities. . . . . As laborers together with God they should seek to be in harmony with one another. There should be frequent councils and earnest, wholehearted co-operation. Yet all are to look to Jesus for wisdom, not depending upon men alone for direction.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 109. (1909).
Secondly, she reminded that evangelism is the work of every believer. She said, “The Lord is calling upon the men and women who have the light of truth for this time to engage in genuine, personal missionary work. Especially are the church members living in the cities to exercise, in all humility, their God-given talents in laboring with those who are willing to hear the message that should come to the world at this time. There are great blessings in store for those who fully surrender to the call of God. As such workers undertake to win souls for Jesus, they will find that many who never could be reached in any other way will respond to intelligent personal effort.”--Medical Ministry, p. 332. (1910)
In other book, she warned the church that “The ordained ministers alone are not equal to the task of warning the great cities. God is calling not only upon ministers, but also upon physicians, nurses, colporteurs, Bible workers, and other consecrated laymen of varied talent who have a knowledge of the word of God and who know the power of His grace, to consider the needs of the unwarned cities. Time is rapidly passing, and there is much to be done. Every agency must be set in operation, that present opportunities may be wisely improved.”--The Acts of the Apostles, p. 158. (1911)
Finally, she emphasised more that “Young men and women should be educated to become workers in their own neighborhoods and in other places. Let all set their hearts and minds to become intelligent in regard to the work for this time, qualifying themselves to do that for which they are best adapted.”
Why does church need young people to do evangelism? The church needs them because “Many young men who have had the right kind of education at home are to be trained for service and encouraged to lift the standard of truth in new places by well-planned and faithful work. By associating with our ministers and experienced workers in city work, they will gain the best kind of training. Acting under divine guidance and sustained by the prayers of their more experienced fellow workers, they may do a good and blessed work. As they unite their labors with those of the older workers, using their youthful energies to the very best account, they will have the companionship of heavenly angels; and as workers together with God, it is their privilege to sing and pray and believe, and work with courage and freedom. . . .”--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pp. 118, 119. (1909).
I would like to challenge all Mt Zion Filipino church members to listen to this counsel and please come to support our young people who have been doing the evangelism since last week and they had done a great job. Well Done, Pathfinders! May God bless you all!
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