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.