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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[ Tagged In ] A Blessed Sunday, Church, Sunday Service

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.

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.

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?