Simple Shepherd Models of Profound Worship - Part2

God is first, is possible to say almost spontaneously, you loose appetite for the things that you were after before. For a short glorious moment, sheep became unimportant to the shepherd, going to Bethlehem is. For a short glorious moment career is no longer your world, family is no longer your god, reputation is no longer your idol. For a short glorious moment, the shepherd says who would take care of the sheep? I’m sure they are worried but at that point in time, worshipping God is so overwhelming that Holy abandonment is there, for the first time they longed for obscurity, for the first time they gained fresh confidence, for the first time a hunger is felt inside.

Simple Shepherd Models of Profound Worship - Part1

What kind of worship God honors? What kind of worship pleases the Lord? The issue of worship is fragile, instead of uniting, somehow due to the selfishness and self righteousness of men it cause division among God’s people. Some worship in silent way while others worship in a jolly way and to some degree the tension is built. Let’s not escalate the tension but let us focus ourselves in the record of the scriptures reminding us that the worship of God must be done in such a manner that it is not complicated nor cheap.

Reason for the Season - Part2

We celebrate Christmas not because it just happens to be a holiday. We celebrate Christmas because it is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Without the birth you know what? There will be no Savior, we are on our own. Without the birth there will be no Savior and without a Savior, there will be no hope, and without hope no eternal, no heaven. But actually Heaven is just a consolation the real reason why we want eternal life, because we want to spend it with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Reason for the Season - Part1

All over the world people are busy. The crowd in the malls, wrapping presents, wrapping gifts, setting up Christmas trees, installing lights in homes, cooking big dinners, going to Christmas parties, singing carols, people from everywhere at all ages and many are wishing merry Christmas but what’s the big deal? What is the excitement all about? True the world is excited and busy, there can be no doubt about that but most of the people have no idea what Christmas is all about.

Christmas Dawn Prayer Meeting Message

Let me express my deep gratitude to all of you who took time to wake up early today to worship with us. Our prayer is for all of us to celebrate a worry-free and worship-filled Christmas this year and the whole of next year. Worry-free? Worship-filled? Is this possible? I believe that this is not only possible. . . this is also God-honoring! When we worship, we are choosing to trust God over and above our circumstances . . . and in prayer, we choose to tell God our needs and sincerely offer to him our thanks. As a result, God grants us peace amidst the atmosphere of fear and panic . . . a peace that can only come from the Prince of Peace whose birth we celebrate.

Let our dawn prayer meetings be done in grace and from the heart, meaning, no one should come to church obligated or pressured. Out of our hunger for God, we offer to him five (5) mornings of prayer. Together with God’s people from our church and other churches as well, we wonder in worship. Let there be holy expectancy in our hearts. It would be good to come earlier so we can start to pray and prepare ourselves for worship. While the service is going on, let us focus our hearts and minds on Jesus. This is also an appropriate time to pray for our brethren in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, which, recently, were devastated by the storm ‘Sendong’. White envelopes are available for your free-will offerings for the purpose of helping the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities.

Christmas is God’s invitation to worship . . . let us therefore, like the shepherds, the Magi, and the people that surrounded the stable on that first Christmas, respond to God by spending time with Him and His people in prayer. Prayer connects us to the Prince of Peace and the Prince of Peace empowers us to live life and celebrate a worry-free Christmas.

‘When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were and they fell down before Him and worshipped Him.’ ….Matthew 2:10-11 NLT
Let the wise men inspire us to worship instead of worry.

Prayerfully,
REV. ARNEL TAN

What Did Paul Said About Worry - Part2

The truth and the thought that Christ will return again to get all the redeemed, must remind us that let us joyfully cultivate the liberating expectation of being with the Lord one day. Therefore our hearts must not be on the things of this world i.e. coffee maker, cars, house and lot, careers… Enjoy them but if you put your heart there enter the password “worry”.

What Did Paul Said About Worry - Part1

How do we joyfully respond to the pressures of worries that is happening every day? From bouncing ball to bouncing checks that happen everyday. Remember when Paul wrote the letter regarding the exhortation about the worry and how we can overcome it, it is not addressed to the general public. The audience of Apostle Paul is not everybody but rather, to the believers of Philippi because if you’re not a Christian you have all the reason to worry.

Pulpit To Pew

The pressure of a busy Christmas is obviously on the loose! To stay calm and worshipful is a continuous challenge for us all. Let us pray this week that God will stir a holy expectation in our hearts to truly become worshippers of Christ . . . the reason for Christmas. Let us focus on Christ as the center of our celebration in church and family as well. Worshiping God is not done solo . . . it is a corporate act of a redeemed community. Therefore, as we come to God’s house on December 21-25 at 5am each morning, we seek to spend time in worship and in prayer.

It is in this season of rush that we choose to hush. Probably the only rush is likened to the shepherds who said . . .” Hurry, let us go to Bethlehem to worship the Lord!” Come to church early, we will open the church doors by 4:00am. Come early so you can spend time in prayer. During the service, focus your minds on God; sing from your heart and offer your prayers . . . and, most of all, take time to be silent and to listen to God. You will not hear an audible voice but you will experience a unique kind of peace that passes all understanding.

Let us come to worship with a welcoming heart . . . expressed with our open hands for others and open hearts to welcome everybody. Let us listen intently to the word as it is proclaimed . . . I’m sure God is trying to say something to you and to all of us. After our time of communion with God, take time to go back to the community as a minister of grace. By the grace of God make a difference and be a blessing to others. Today starts our preparation for a worry-free and worship-filled week. By the way, our regular prayer meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays will still go on because not everyone can come to our early-morning prayer meetings.

As Pastor Jim Bryan Smith says,” Our holy expectation should turn to holy obedience.” Christmas is God’s invitation to worship, to relate to the Father, to experience friendship with the Son and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and to see the wonderful oneness of the body of Christ in this city of Davao! Come with hope and hunger for God!

Prayerfully,

REV. ARNEL TAN

What Did Jesus Said About Worry - Part2

I think when Jesus said birds, He’s referring to those little ones. But there are three things to learn, they have a Heavenly Father who feeds them, you know when two birds are talking they’re talking about us, they’re chatting about us “look at this human beings they're worried” and the other bird said “I have tumor but I don’t worry” you’re heavenly Father said what? Would you like to repeat that to yourself, how many sack of rice you consumed? How much is the sack of rice between 1912 and 2011 and it’s increasing but your heavenly Father feeds you.

What Did Jesus Said About Worry - Part1

The issue of worry is not that simple at all, to be honest with you, unaware we become defenders of worry instead of being delivered by God from worry. Many times as I preach the sermon "don’t worry" it ends up being misinterpreted by good people who say the pastor preached about don’t work, the pastor preached about don’t study or more, or so the pastor preached about don’t save, none of these things are true. So therefore today let’s go to the records of the scripture and ask ourselves in this Christmas season, should I spend it in worry or I should become the shepherd or the wise men whose focus is to worship.

Thanksgiving to God - Part2

A lot of you don’t know how to pray when you’re well, but you know prayer when you are tested. I remember my good friend Mr. Daniel So, their life is okay, income is fine, spiritual life is superb, until God allows brokenness, how? The wife got cancer. Then Mr. So, when the wife wass operated on that day, for the first time, forgot about Singaporean posture, in the middle of the hospital, wept, cried in Mandarin he prayed help us Lord! What an experience.

Thanksgiving to God - Part1

It is in this passage that we begin to see the heart of Jesus. Where? Jesus said “did I not cleanse ten, where are the nine?” Then, furthermore, Jesus said “only one gave thanks and then a foreigner?” The statement of foreigner is not a statement of prejudice but rather, our Lord wants us to realize, assuming that the rest of the nine were Jewish and the one is a Samaritan. It is safe to say that if you’re a Jew you have sufficient background of who God is compared to a none Jew.

Pulpit To Pew

As we enter the month of December, it is timely that we all start around the Lord’s Table. Before food, parties and activities drown us all, we need to check our anchor and make sure it is grounded in Christ. Just in case our anchor breaks, it is wonderful to know that Christ is stronger than our anchor! Let us make a conscious and free choice to make this season a time of drawing near to God through prayer. Join us for our Dawn prayer meetings starting December 21-25 at 5am to 6am. Though this has been a Christmas tradition in our church from way back 1997, let us prayerfully savor it’s freshness by acknowledging the presence of God!

Let us remember in prayer the family of those brethren from the Victory Chapel fellowship who died in a vehicular accident on their way to attending a Thanksgiving service. As a community, we grieve with them and will be open to any possibilities of ministering God’s comfort upon them. As you read these items, please pause and pray for God’s comfort on them. Our weekly feeding of the children of our Moslem friends in Barangay 76 is ongoing every Thursday. Thanks for the leadership of Pastor Bobby and Pastor Leones and other volunteers. Please pray for them and for Jethro Adang and Omega and their kids who are doing community work in Myanmar. Let us remember in prayer the ministry of the Samaritan’s Purse, a ministry of compassion for the kids in Mindanao. Pray for God’s strength and joy as the team meets and trains for the distribution of gifts next year.

Prayer is indeed the expression of the helpless and prayer is the language of our church. Make this month a month of Prayer . . . a time to draw near to God; a time to listen to His voice and a time to obey His will. We cannot and must not do these alone . . . we need God . . . we need each other. We do not move solo . . . we move together; we move by His grace for His glory!

Living The Welcoming Faith - Part2

You miss a lot if you only have selected friends, you must have a lot of friends regardless of their backgrounds, culture and races. Be a welcoming saint, let me put it this way that it’s not only prejudice in the Philippines but prejudice all over the world. Prejudice is there because people are rich or poor, brown or white, yellow, black, white, regardless of the color, because people are generally proud. Proud of our color, proud of our race. Nationalism is good I think we should be proud to be Filipinos, but if we feel superior towards others because we are Filipinos, or Chinese, or Americans, or whatever, that my friend, is prejudice.

Living The Welcoming Faith - Part1

The Christian faith is a welcoming faith, meaning that it is God’s desire that no one should be left out. It is God’s desire while He favors a few, like He favors Israel, it is at the back of the mind of God that while one group is favored it will result that many will be benefited out of the favor that He gave to that group. So, if you pass the let exam this year and so you are now a certified teacher, call that what? Favor from God. So what is the purpose of that favor? So that many students under you would be blessed. In other words the reason why God blesses us, so that others will be blessed.