Posted on November 24th, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in Prayer
Thanksgiving is near and many will be giving away Thanksgiving cards, Thanksgiving greetings and gifts. The roasted turkey will be the main course and for those who are on a strict diet, they may need to take an appetite suppressant.
But in the midst of all these – the gifts, cards, greetings and food during Thanksgiving, we hope that t will be celebrated meaningfully. Let God be at the center of all the celebration as we have Him to be thankful for.
Posted on November 23rd, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in Uncategorized
“Get thee up into the high mountain.”
Isaiah 40:9
Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the mountain’s brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content to wear the miner’s garb when they might put on king’s robes; tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul’s Husband. Make Him the source, the centre, and the circumference of all thy soul’s range of delight. What enchants thee into such folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne? Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!
Posted on November 23rd, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in Giving
This past few months, SBC has conducted relief operations through the coordination of Pastor Lance Gotcher with donors form the US. The victims of Ondoy in Santolan, Pasig City were the major recipients of the supplies and relief goods.
Posted on November 22nd, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in doctrine
“The power of His resurrection.”
Philippians 3:10
The doctrine of a risen Saviour is exceedingly precious. The resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to know that He has risen, and to have fellowship with Him as such–communing with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life–seeing Him leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves, this is even still more precious. The doctrine is the basis of the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root, so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Saviour more lovely than the doctrine itself. I would have you believe that Christ rose from the dead so as to sing of it, and derive all the consolation which it is possible for you to extract from this well-ascertained and well-witnessed fact; but I beseech you, rest not contented even there. Though you cannot, like the disciples, see Him visibly, yet I bid you aspire to see Christ Jesus by the eye of faith; and though, like Mary Magdalene, you may not “touch” Him, yet may you be privileged to converse with Him, and to know that He is risen, you yourselves being risen in Him to newness of life. To know a crucified Saviour as having crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to know a risen Saviour as having justified me, and to realize that He has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new creature through His own newness of life, this is a noble style of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May you both “know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” Why should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen.
Posted on November 17th, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in Stewardship
Proverbs 27:24 “For riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.”
Riches and possessions do not satisfy and they do not last. Even if a person owns the best of possessions like a Ferrari, eventually, he or she will have to find Ferrari parts to replace the ones which get destroyed. One law of thermodynamics says, in essence, that everything decays or moves toward regression.
So, if a person becomes dependent on riches, he or she will soon find something else to replace the satisfaction which that possession brought. Why not set our hearts on something that will last? Things that are eternal, perhaps.
Posted on November 17th, 2009 by Pastor Jeff in Daily Living
“He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.”
Ecclesiastes 10:9
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter.
Yesterday I spoke at Bethel Baptist Church, Quezon City in their youth service. I talked about Luke 2:52 “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” In these verses, four areas of our lives are given and I challenged the young people who were there to focus on growing in those four areas, namely, 1) mental, 2) physical, spiritual and 4) relational areas.
