Straight From My Heart

Hello! Welcome to our worship service today. It's always a pleasant sight to see God's people gathered in the Lord's day like this to praise and to pray. Our presence here is a symbol of God's grace abounding, from your choice to come to worship and from the time you took your ride or walked to this place God's grace was and is at work. It is The Lord who put the desire in our hearts to be with God's people today, it is also through the working of the Holy Spirit that are all able to worship today. Prayerfully let us savor every moment and engage ourselves to prayer as we listen and seek God. No one should go home empty handed when the heart is hungry for God. As the old Methodist preacher would say only those who are filled with themselves will go home empty in heart. And that those who came empty will go home filled. With this I remember the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount " Blessed are the poor in spirit....." Let The Lord do the subtraction of the unnecessary in our hearts so we may enjoy simplicity. Our quest in living a simple life is not a simple process at all. God in His grace makes the subtraction process both humorous and hurtful. Somehow the humor makes us bear the hurt and learn the lessons. So I ask you what are the things, people, relationships , opportunities that God is obviously deducting from your cluttered heart ? Well, by faith see God's hand and embrace God's purpose. Believe me though the process is painful the relief of being unloaded with many heavy things ( we put ourselves) is beyond compare. Go through it and don't interfere with God, and see that simplicity is something your guts can't do but His grace can. Pray for Pastor Bobby as he will be leading the team to help the victims of typhoon Pablo. He will focus on this for the next three months. For Pastor David who is in Baguio to visit his family. For Rev. Judy Leones to handle the weekly clinic at the welfare center. And the rest of us who will be doing various ministries this week . Pray for Dr. Dey Brato as he oversee the building project and with him the various teams. As we cross our Jordan let us remember we need God more today that yesterday. Together with the psalmist I say in my heart .... " I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of The Lord" Psalm 122:1a Joyfully let us surrender to God and see that His subtraction is paving the way to a simple life by faith. Respectfully, Rev. Arnel C. Tan

Straight From My Heart

As we enter the threshold of a new year, let us do so with a united desire to know God more and to unclutter our lives that we might travel light in this journey of faith. In prayer, we continue to seek God's direction on how to do His will this year. We continue to listen and obey God as we journey with other brethren from various groups in responding to the needs of the people of Compostela Valley. Pray for Pastor Bobby as he leads the team that will do the rebuilding projects. For the next three months, Pastor Bob will be facilitating this effort. Pray that God will open the doors of blessings by which we can share our resources. This year will also be a challenging one to all of us especially in the area of purging our hunger for material things, and in prayer, discerning our involvement in whatever ministry God will lead us. Pray for Pastor David Tan as he speaks to the high school students of Davao Christian High School on their ‘Spiritual Emphasis’ week. Remember me in prayer as I give the message for the first flag-raising ceremony for the year 2013 at the city hall. Along with these activities, let us all remember to pause and pray. Today begins the 52 Sundays of 2013 . . . let us ask for God's grace— that The Lord will grant us the opportunity to be in His house on every Lord's day! Let us make worship and prayer a joyful response to the invitation of God to commune with Him. By the way, the distribution of the our daily bread devotionals for teachers starts this month. Pray that God will touch the lives of teachers and students through this. We will also partake of our first communion in 2013 today. Take this time to reflect and refocus our hearts and minds to The Lord Jesus Christ. As a body of believers, let us celebrate and remember Christ who died and rose from the dead for our sins and for the glory of God and let us have a sense of deep homesickness in longing for the coming of our Lord. Finally, let me express my appreciation to all those who worked hard and sacrificed for the dawn Christmas services and the simple celebration of our 60th anniversary . . . to God be the glory! Let us look forward to see God's direction; let us be on our knees in prayer and as we stand, we march, crossing our Jordan Rivers in full obedience to God's leading. HAVE A PRAYER-FILLED AND HOPE-FILLED NEW YEAR TO ALL! Prayerfully, Rev. Arnel Tan

STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN.... BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

By: Rev. Arnel Tan ". . . Step out of the traffic. Take a long, loving look on me, your High God. Above politics, above everything." Psalm 46: 10 The Message This psalm finds an emotional welcome in many hearts who are in the midst of the noise and complexity of life. So many take time to take notes and in agreement, many wanted to memorize Psalm 46:10. This is good because it will lead to a deeper realization that this Psalm is so impossible to apply without surrendering to God who, alone, can still us from within. To ‘be still and know that I am God’ requires us to ask God to activate the function of our sanctified imagination. Meaning, in prayer, ask God for an image in your mind that will remind you of His command to be still. One painter would picture God's peace in His painting of a terrible storm . . . and in the midst of it, a calm bird resting. What is your picture of ‘be still’. In my busy work in church and broadcast, ‘be still’ for me means being able to unhurriedly enjoy my brewed coffee amidst the demands and pressures of life and ministry. It is being able to set boundaries and accept my limitations. This would mean not taking a tasked that will disrupt the stillness of my heart in communing with God. Let stillness of heart be expressed in the language of prayer. I need to remind myself that my main job in church is to lead people to God, to pray and step out of the way, lest I cause traffic in their ‘stillness’ and pursuit of knowing God. As a redeemed community, we too must enjoy the use of our sanctified imagination and picture what it is to be still and know God. In the midst of our load of ministry, we can have a ‘still’ heart flowing with grace and in God's presence, touching lives of others . . . And those who we encounter are attracted to our unique peace. In quietness of heart, the Lord develops a godly confidence in facing our daily pressures. When we are in prayer as a congregation, it is here that we are most not in control . . . yet it is here that we are consciously close to the One who is in charge. Being still before God is an assault to our pride and busy lives. We would rather do something than be still . . . that's why God commands us to hush, cease striving and bow down to Him, exposing ourselves to His presence in worship and enjoying friendship with Him in prayer. Psalm 46:10 must not only be a therapy . . . it must be a lifestyle that slows us down that we may rest from performance and perfectionism. Being still before God is a royal invitation from God to see things from His perspective. Upon receiving the instruction from God's word, let us exercise a sanctified imagination to picture how this looks like and then let us avail of His grace to apply this into the mainstream of life where stress is overwhelming! Amen.

HEART REVEALING PRAYER

"I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower with inner strength through His Spirit," Ephesians 3:16 Listen to a prayer and you can somehow glimpse what's inside the heart. Take the time to hear your own prayers, maybe you can write them down and then visit them again after sometime. It is here that you will discover your spiritual state. Your prayers unveil the depth of your heart. It is interesting to see that through our prayers we somehow see, not wrong prayers, but shallow prayers. Here we are made aware that the kind of requests we ask God are more often self-serving and not centered on seeking God's glory. If you find that your prayers are too shallow, don't be disappointed . . . we all start here. Keep praying, keep calling, keep enjoying the presence of God . . . soon you will see spiritual depth in your prayers. When prayers are no longer offered to serve our purposes; when praying for others aside from our close family circles are desired; when seeking God is our main preoccupation in prayer, then we are leaving the shallow waters. Paul prayed for inner strength by the power of the Holy Spirit. Honestly, I don't find this in my prayers. To be candid about it, only when I am in an emergency or in dire need do I realize the need for inner strength. A whole lot of my prayers reveal my concern for the external welfare rather than what's really happening inside. Thank God for His tolerance! I think the application to all of the lessons on prayer is to actually start PRAYING! Yes, shallow prayers at first . . . then we enter into God-centered prayers. Whenever we pray, God is doing something that only He can do. Remember, this happens every time you and I pray. God is relating to us, sustaining, cleansing, directing, convicting. Yes, prayer changes things . . . but more than that, God is changing the one who prays! Soon you and I will see some changes in our prayers. Instead of just asking things for ourselves, we now desire to want what God wants us to have! Let us all be fervent in prayers, for when we pray, God is doing a miracle of transformation. Listen to your prayers and see your heart! Prayerfully, Rev. Arnel Tan

What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Conclusion Part2

The moment you surrender to Him, then you get your surprise, the moment you said “Your will be done,” then you would say “His way are higher than my ways.” How do you think Abraham hug Isaac, before or after they climbed mount Moriah? If Abraham escaped and did not obey God, He can hug Isaac, control on Isaac. A tight hug can mean control, or a tight hug means, liberation from control. Which hug do you do? Do you hug someone with controlling heart? Or hug someone with liberating hug? The days of Abraham are numbered, he did not only see Isaac, He saw his grandson, and his great grandson. How God is so good, when you released these to Him, He let you know that this is the only obstacle why you can’t enjoy these because you are holding this. Blessings are now enjoyed when we are controller no more.

What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Conclusion Part1

When a controller releases control he becomes calm. When a controller stops controlling and allowing God to do so in His time even to the next one hundred years , in His ways, not in my fast lane ways, that even today like instant coffee, conversion, maturity, discipleship is made instant by long lectures. Not only in His time, in His way, but for His glory. The Last part of Abraham journey of faith, it was a struggle for control and we noticed from the scripture that it was not Abraham that was a controller, Sarah too, it was not also Sarah who was a controller but everyone in the Bible who will do things their ways is a controller.

PRAYING BELIEVERS

“I believed in you, so I prayed, “I am deeply troubled, LORD.” Psalm 116:10 (NLT)

Prayer has its foundation in our faith in God. It is not a message sent to outer space without knowing who will receive it. Prayers are messages believers send to God . . . in faith that God will listen and in His wisdom, answer our prayers. Such is the privilege of those who believe they can pray. It is not a privilege for the few . . . rather, prayer is the privilege that few believers avail of. How sad!

The Psalmist soon realized that being related with God by faith does not at all exempt us from troubles . . . not just troubles, but deep troubles. In general terms he puts them in one category labeled as “deep troubles”. There are no details given to us about the troubles that beset the psalmist. One thing is sure, we are not exempted from it. Rather than digging for details, let us see how he confronted his troubles. The Psalmist PRAYED!

Let our faith in God lead us to commune with Him in fervent prayers. Here, let us see His hand over our situations and His embrace around our fears and His abundant grace overshadowing our failures and inadequacies. No more denying, no more pretending that we are not affected. Send your concerns to the throne of grace where the Lord meets the needs of the helpless! In God’s wisdom, He may choose to spare us or grant us His assuring presence as we go through the pain allotted to us.

If praying does not guarantee the result I desire, why bother to pray? We continue to pray because we are shortsighted and loudmouthed children of God. We pray so we can experience deep faith enriched by calamities that sweetens our celebration. We pray for we are weak in facing the challenges and forgetful to remember God in our success. One can say he believes and miss the privilege of talking to His Savior. On the other hand, the one who believes is daily nourished and, moment to moment, refreshed by his nearness to God using the privilege of prayer.

Praying believers are not only saved . . . they are walking close with the Savior. They hide and run to the Rock of their safety. “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” is the psalmist’s longing. It is not always ‘bail me out’ and ‘spoil me with your blessings LORD’, rather, ‘draw me nearer to Yourself’ is the deep prayer of the believer. Praying believers are mature believers. They have different appetites and attitudes. It is not their perfection that drives them to call on God . . . it is their vulnerability and clumsiness that leads them to desperately call. This is what the Psalmist meant by “I believed in You, so I prayed.”