Many years ago, I remember watching a world cup game. This one national team who always wins the world cup if not ranks high was playing against my favorite team. I was expecting for it to be a sad game where I have to witness my favorite team getting crushed. But something interested took place. The team who was favored by all experts to win this game started to struggle. They weren’t able to perform at the level they used to perform and they were playing at a sub-par level to what they used to be. What gives?

Even as a unprofessional soccer spectator, I could easily notice the teammates going at each other. Their face was showing their anger and disappointment at other players and I saw no coordination whatsoever but it felt they were blaming each other for any mistakes or lack of good performance. Eventually, that favorite team who the world thought would win, end up losing to a team who know one thought would win.

Going back to our main passage, we see an interesting verse from what Paul says in his anaology of the body in comparison to the church. He says how each parts of the body can’t blame or disparage one another, but they must know they are interdependent and they exist to be in harmony and need of one another. Isn’t this the true image of the church? We need Jesus. But as a church, we also need one another. When we are in harmony and love, that’s when church grows. However, when we bicker and fight one another, that’s when things go down, just like that soccer team example mentioned above.

What kind of church are we building today? Are we focused on how not-needed the other is or are we focused on how we are interdependent and in need of each other to expand God’s Kingdom together? May we all be those who can live in harmony and love by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Source: https://bibleportal.com/devotional/morning-evening-aw-tozer/08-18

Aren’t these Bible verses so precious for us Christians to read? When we look at the Apostle Paul’s attitude toward the Jews, we can see a very passionate man who has a love for his people. For Paul, Christ was His all in all. Yet, he goes on to proclaim for his people’s sake, he is willing to go to the extent of being cut off from Christ. Being cut off from Christ is impossible, however, Paul is showing his commitment and love to do anything and everything possible to see his people being saved.

In our walk of faith, this is an important life posture we too want to possess and develop more and more. How often do we grow cold or indifferent especially toward our own people and their salvation? It’s a big problem if we are only obsessed with our own kind, however, it is equally a problem if we grow distant from our own kind because we are so focused on saving others.

The words of the Apostle give us a very balanced and fresh perspective on how we should go about our walk of faith. We must always first and foremost give up our all to follow Christ. However, once we do so, we don’t grow cold to our loved ones but our love towards them only grows more and more. As our love toward Christ grows more and more as we let go of our idols, our loves should go great toward saving others and also our own kinds no matter how much they won’t understand us.

May all of us begin the new month of love with this same passion of the Apostle in our hearts. Just as he loved his own people and sought to share the Gospel with them with all means, let us too go forward by sharing the precious Good News to all those around us and especially to our loved ones who do not know yet our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

Although the sermon went through many heavyweight doctrines such as the ‘theory of representation,’ ‘original sin,’ ‘original righteousness,’ ‘Federalism and solidarity,’ and more, members paid attention and received much grace through the precious word of God.

May the Lord bless all the DC members as they unite and remain in Christ’s love and bear much fruit as they enter the second half of the second month of 2021.

Everyone was exhorted to remember that now the life in Christ as justified ones are having peace with God and access to the amazing grace. “We must not live tied to our past sins or old memories. But let us live joyfully running toward the bright future Chris has given us,” said the preacher.

After the service, members practiced choir for the upcoming dedication service that is going to take place in the newly acquired Baltimore church. Members are hoping to offer up beautiful praise to the Lord in response to His amazing grace and gift given to all DC members through the Baltimore church.

“We hope to bring many thirst souls to Jesus Christ as we worship and grow in this new church God has given us. May the Lord do His amazing work through us as the new church is dedicated for His purpose,” said a member.

Please pray for DC to experience an amazing revival as they go toward the bright future ahead of them.

As we are heading toward Christmas 2020, it was a very apt message that shed light on why we need Jesus and how the world was like before the son of God finally entered into this world. Everyone received the word with humble hearts and repented deeply for their sin as they heard the powerful echoes of the apostle’s voice ringing straight toward people in today’s world from 2,000 years ago.

“As painful as it is to hear the words about sin, we must listen and see our sins so that we may be healed by the healer and savior Jesus Christ. We don’t want to live thinking we are healthy when we are sick. May the Lord open our eyes so that we can deeply repent of our grievous sins and go forward to the only one who can save us from the power of sin, our Lord Jesus Christ. May all of us daily wash our garment on the blood of the lamb and be the one who can enter the heavenly city with robes that are washed white as snow,” said a church member.

Please pray for all the DC members to gain great victory in the coming week as they are praying for many important prayer topics to come through this week!

“We looked into these precious parables of heaven our Lord told us to clearly tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven. We are going through an exciting time and God’s amazing work has revealed itself through our churches and ministries. We want to celebrate this amazing grace of God and move forward with much anticipation for His coming Kingdom and His righteousness. May we rid any negative thoughts of wrong historical understanding but move forward knowing God’s providence and His predestination of love,” shared a member.

May the Lord pour down abundant grace and blessing as members go through the Holy General Assembly.

[Galatians 5:1] It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

These two verses come close to my heart especially as I’m here at Pilgrim church. As you know, Pilgrim fathers in this country were those who left their homeland back in England in search of freedom. As puritans, they were persecuted for their faith from the state church of England, so they made a dangerous and difficult journey in search of freedom, especially freedom of their faith.

Strangely though, nowadays, when we hear about freedom in this country, it’s not the freedom of faith people are thirsting in this land. But what kind of freedom are they seeking? Freedom to choose my own gender. Freedom to kill innocent babies in the womb and freedom to do whatever my flesh desires. Basically, they seek freedom to sin.

But the freedom Jesus gave us through His truth, and for that matter, through His very life, this freedom was freedom given to us for what? It was given us so that we no longer be slaves to sin and freedom given us so that we can freely love God.

During the early days of America as a nation, the people of this country made laws to ensure freedom be used for its truly intended purpose. That is, to worship God and glorify God through living their faith out freely. To find the evidence of that, we just need to look at the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. What does the law say there? Freedom of religion, in another word, freedom of faith.

How many countries are there to this day where you can’t worship God and get together to worship Jesus? And how many places are there to this day where you can’t hang up a cross, read or sell Bible, and get imprisoned, or even murdered for believing in Jesus?

But this nation began by protecting and ensuring people their freedom to worship, by giving freedom of faith more than 200 years ago. That’s what happened when pilgrim fathers crossed over the vast Atlantic ocean and landed here, and that’s what happened when the people of this land made their government and law for this nation.

But truly sad things are happening in this country today. The nation that once cherished its freedom to worship and love God, now we see growing cold from that love and turning away. Look around and you see many churches are closing their doors and getting sold everywhere. What happened to their zeal and burning passion they once had for the Lord and for faith? The temperature is cooling down and people’s hearts are turning away from God more and more.

And what’s more shocking is how many people in this country are hijacking even the very core founding principles of this nation to twist it for their own means and gains.

For example, let’s go back to this principle of freedom again. What do people mean by freedom nowadays? Do they mean freedom as Pilgrim fathers and Founding fathers of this nation meant freedom? Is it the same freedom Paul and Jesus is talking about in the Bible when they say freedom?

Sadly, that’s not true. Although freedom given us by Christ was freedom given us for drawing closer to God, that’s not what people mean when they say freedom these days.

Rather, when people talk of freedom, they mean freedom for going away and distancing themselves away from God, not closer to God. Freedom means something for them to break their relationship with God not that to build their relationship closer to God. And that’s how we see many stealing away the true meaning of freedom and distorting it away from its original intended purpose.

So called liberals, there are many in that group who tend to associate freedom as anti-faith, anti-belief. I mean, even the word itself, ‘liberal.’ When you think of it, the word liberal is connected to liberty. Freedom. But how have they twisted the word? Liberal is getting associated more with things that are apart from God.

So we as Christians, we have a responsibility to restore and recover these distortions back to its original meaning and purpose.

We read two Bible verses today, and the scripture tells us plainly and very clearly. God is the one who gave us freedom. The Lord Jesus gave us the truth and the truth has set us free. Why then did He set us free?

He gave us freedom so that we can love God. Through freedom, we now can love God more and form a deeper relationship with our Creator. True love only happens with true freedom. Even Disney knows that. Has ever a princess loved a prince because she was forced to?

So also the Almighty God. He does not force us to love Him. When it comes to love, our almighty God, He is not almighty anymore. Rather, He is powerless. Why? Because love is only possible through freedom. So that’s why He gave us freedom, so that we, with our freedom, can choose to love Him freely from our heart.

And that’s what the Apostle Paul did. With his new found freedom in Christ, what did he do? He chose to know and love God.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

What is he saying? He is saying just as the Lord knows me, I want to live to know the Lord as well. Just as the Lord knows me fully, I want to live to know Him fully. Knowing is loving and loving is knowing. With the infinite freedom given him by grace, the Apostle chose to live knowing and loving the Lord fully.

So I pray that we too can live our lives this way. You are now free. And you are truly free through Jesus Christ. Now what will you do with your freedom? Let us use our freedom to know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and use our freedom to love Him, obey Him and follow Him freely all the way to the end. Let’s pray.

The word of God was from Matthew 3, the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus Christ the Lord.

“We dove into how the baptist witnessed Jesus as the one who comes to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. In our walk of faith, we must be born again as we receive the truth, especially through the book of Romans, and then earnestly seek God for the Holy Spirit’s power,” said a church member.

“As we are looking to expand and grow our church and members, we want to understand these important steps where we not only help people come to receive salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ but to guide them toward receiving the power of the Holy Spirit to live for the Great Commission and the universal salvation of the world.”

Please pray for DC members to continue to grow closer to the truth as they receive the word of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit.