Preview to HFAN New Westminster

Some pictures from our new home at:

Cavalry Worship Centre
260 12th St.
New Westminster, BC

Drum Set

Bass Amp

Keyboard

Monitor for the keyboardist

Guitar Amp (Acoustic?)

Farewell CCM - Music Team HFAN Burnaby 2013

It's all started with the fear of the Lord

Just something that came up to me recently about the word 'fear'. Sometime we afraid to stand up and say the correct things because our fear of being rejected/unaccepted. In the other word, we fear human beings... I'm not talking about crazy shooter that just barge in and start shooting people..that's different.

But, fear is pretty uncommon these days, because generally we don't fear anything, everything is okay and we can do everything as long as we believe.. so no need to fear anything.. we do self-talk, we convince our reality is otherwise, and we amuse ourselves with what we did..

But the word fear always come again and again repeatedly in the Bible, and it only talks about one thing that we should fear, the Lord your God. 

Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

Ecclesiastes 12:13
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

1 Chronicles 16:25
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

Proverbs 1, 9, 10, 14
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge

The fear of the Lord adds length to life
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life

Acts 9:31
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

And then I was thinking, what so important about this? 

Fear is not an option. It's so loving of our God to command us to fear Him.. when we fear Him, we fear Him for the right reason. Because He is worthy and it's our duty. When we know who He is, all-powerful and all-loving God, we live in accordance to His will and His leadership. We submit and trust Him.  And the rest are easy.. we just walk following Jesus and enjoying the moments. 

The dying part is the hard one. To go up in life, the world teach us that it's like a linear line, straight line to the top, a ladder, maybe even lie/cheat here and there.. But in Christ, to go up, you have to go down and die of yourself, and only then Christ can work in you and He will rise you up.

Oh, what joy it is to live for and with God, and like Jesus said on John 15, His joy will be in us, and it will be complete.

Aren't we all looking for that full, complete, perfect joy? Yet we are looking in the wrong direction. 

It's all started with the fear of the Lord

Advent week 2 - accepting the gift

This week discussion will be taken from Luke 1:26-38.

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6: 1-2 (Isaiah 49:8)

Have you received any gift lately? What came up to your mind the first thing when someone handed it to you?   
For me, it's FREE! woohoo! who doesn't like free stuff right?  and then see what's the content..
And then I would feel grateful and think, do I deserve this? What would I do with it?

Now, how about the gift of salvation? the gift that last a lifetime, even after our death?

Last Sunday sermon was so practical and comforting.. Ps. Ery talked about 3 things that we are ought to do with the gift of salvation:

First, we need to be responsible with it.  I can imagine how it makes our parents grief  when we abuse their gifts to us.. either it's love, protection, care, Christmas, or whatever gift that they give.

Second, we need to accept it as a whole. Jesus is all or nothing, you can't have half of Him and half of your own selfishness. When Jesus asked the rich man to sell everything and follow Him, it means a totality. Of course it doesn't mean that we literally sell everything and down our banking account to $0.. but we have to renew our mind and re-focus our goal toward Jesus and His salvation, instead of building our own wealth.

Lastly, we need to accept reality and reality of Jesus Christ. It means not denying problem/life struggles.. it doesn't mean we are never sick and poor.. but how can we find strength in those condition and hope in spite of difficult times.  After accepting the reality, we need to response by accepting the reality of Jesus Christ.
Man, how I always love the love letter from our Father in heaven. Someone summed up beautifully here: http://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html

Christmas is not about gift and festivity.. it's about Son of God that came down and giving us all the gift of salvation. (Luk 1:77 ;  Acts 4:12)

So, would you accept the gift of salvation? would you make Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?

Anggur Baru

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Bapa Engkau Sungguh Baik

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