So, What's the Upside?
Heavenly Passion 04/26/2009
Rev. Jerry Lepasana
Categories: Christian Life
Looking at the Scriptures, there is no doubt that we who belong to Christ have been the object of His passion. Christ was very passionate about us that he gave up His own life just to save us. He paid the price. His passion for us is the greatest love story that any man could ever know. This heavenly passion for us defines who we are -- we are sons and daughters of God.
No More Empty Rituals 04/19/2009
Pastor AJ Camota
Categories: Christian Life
Why do we do the things we do? As a child, we may do things out of fear: I don't want to be spanked... so I will listen to what my parents say and not punch my little sister. We may do things out of duty... We meet deadlines because we have to. We do things out for no good reason at all. I recall reading a book by author Joshua Harris titled Boy Meets Girl, in it he tried to shed some light on the ins and outs of "Christian" courtship. He wrote this book as a follow up to his previous book entitled I Kissed Dating Goodbye. This book blew the minds of Christian young people everywhere. The problem arose when people starting thinking in terms of dating vs. courtship. In feeling that courtship was the more Godly approach, many people starting following strict rules, blueprints, in their relationships. The author noted that while we should avoid fleshly immorality we should also avoid legalism.
Finding the Hydrant of Blessings 04/12/2009
Rev. Jerry Lepasana
I'm sure we are all familiar with fire hydrants. Prior to its invention, firefighters used bucket brigades or hand pumping systems to get water to put out fires. With fire hydrants, you have a discharge pipe with a control valve that allows water to flow from a water main with great force making it easier for firefighters to do their job. In a way, there is a parallelism between a fire hydrant and our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember two Sundays ago, I preached on the encounter of the Samaritan woman and the Lord Jesus Christ, and I highlighted the claim of Jesus Christ found in John 4:13-14: Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus explicitly claim that He is able to give us the spring of living water that can continually meet all our spiritual needs. The reality is: He is our spiritual hydrant that allows us to experience a powerful supply of blessings. He wants us to be a fire hose hooked up to Him!