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.

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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 youth Sunday and there nothing much happened, Pastor E is out of town and assigned to deliver a preach in other church.  The service was prepared by youth and the Sunday service was all about singing praises and a short message from one of the older youth, it was told the music and interpretative dance rendered by the young people talks about FAITH.

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The speaker also shared some insights how to equipped or teach the next generation:

1. Approached God – Prayer
2. Admit and Reject your sins
3. Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior

Since there was no preaching this Sunday which a little disappoint me the church service finished early. I love listening to God’s words because it comforts me and give hope to me.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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!

It is the last Sunday of the month today, Pastor E and his family is already home but the church already invited a new speaker, which is Pastor J.

The scriptural topic this Sunday was from the book of 1 Corinthians 13: 3-7 and 13 with the scriptural topic about God’s love. According to Pastor J, love is sacrifice. If we love God His words reflect to ourselves, if we have something to sacrifice for God it would be our time.

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Love is trust (1 corinthians 13:7) without trust there is no faith. We should always trust God and let Him rule with our life. Pastor J says that trust is also important among married couple so that their relationship won’t fail and prosper.

Love  doesn’t fade away (Psalms 136), Pastor J says we should go far away from God’s love and we should love God as always. She set an example how a young couple started their lives together as very sweet couple and they go to church together and how they ended walking to church separately after 50 years of marriage.

This Sunday is different from other Sundays that had passed because Pastor E wasn’t around, he is on vacation leave, as what I have heard it is for one month they visited her wife’s family in Northern Philippines.

Today is Valentine’s Day and the church was decorated by young people with heart cut outs. The speaker this Sunday was one of the members of the church, it wasn’t energetic like Pastor E but surely it has a message within a message but it feels like I was in a classroom and listening to my high school teacher.

The scripture verse was from the book of Jude 21 with scripture topic of Remain in God’s love since it is Valentine’s Day. The speaker shared three challenges to be considered which are:

1. What does it mean to love God?
2. How can we remain in God’s love?
3. How will God reward those who remain in His love?

The speaker says God doesn’t abandon us and He doesn’t leave us alone in our struggles (Psalms 91:2). We show our love to God when we observe His commandments and apply His principles which are written in the bible.

When I wake up this morning my head still feel so sensitive and a bit painful when I speak but I have no plan of not going to church today. I was planning to take a bath early but there isn’t water coming from the faucet yet, the water supply wasn’t good since December. Anyway, the church service  is very early today since it is the first Sunday of the month, I was late when I came it is already on scripture reading gladly I was still able to get the scriptural verse which is from 1 John 4:7-12 [God’s Love and Ours].

“True love is rare, and it’s the only thing that gives life real meaning.” ― Nicholas Sparks

The preaching for this Sunday is about love, since it is love month. Pastor E talked about God’s love for all of us, how He sacrifice His life for everyone. He elaborate too the facts of God’s love where it is described in the context that it is unspeakable, unending (eternal), unselfish, unmerited and unconditional.

Secondly, God’s love was demonstrated in Calvary when He sacrifice His life for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21), His love was also displayed in the Christians. Some people in the bible who demonstrate different types of love are Joseph to his brothers (Forgiving love), Hosea to his wife (Redeeming love), God to Peter (Compassionate love).

When the love of God is present in the life of a believer, it will be visible in five different areas which are love for the Savior, love for the scripture, love for the sanctuary, love for the saints and love for the sinners.

The Challenge for this Sunday:

Love does not actually count the cost, it does not keep a ledger of profit and loss. Love is spendthrift. It does not measure itself out with an eyedropper. Love is extravagant. Love seeks out a need and never stops giving. Love is a risky business, for it costs …. costs EVERYTHING!

This Sunday is different from previous Sundays I have attend the church service because it is exchange pulpit Sunday and  different Pastor (R) was in-charged to speak in front of the congregation. The church service didn’t start early because we’ve waited until the choir was done practicing their number in the parsonage.

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Anyway, the Pastor who preached in front of us is from another church in town and the scriptural topic he tackled is True Worship Offer to God and scripture reading can be found in Genesis 22: 1-10 when Abraham worship God through offering Isaac.  The new pastor shared that true worship is a systematic way of obedience, a rendition of service, act of sacrifice and a sign of celebration. We are told too that everyday is a worship day and it isn’t only Sunday because when we are doing good things to others we are worshiping God so which means service isn’t only mean temple worship and it doesn’t only mean singing. Attitude matters, singing is just an ingredient of worship the most important thing is the word of God.

Pastor R says too that when something is done repetitively, it means importance so when someone repetitively asked how are you doing or if you are doing alright, it means you are very important to them.