Despite the challenges we have faced so far in 2020, we have so much to be thankful for.  Come listen to the young and old members of CCIC share what we are thankful for this year.

Ephesians 5:20

Gratitude is an antidote to frustration, depression, and anxiety.  Cultivation gratitude can change our lives.  It can help us feel better and make us healthier.  It can make us more generous and help us treat others better.  It can change our mindset to be the mindset of Christ and bring us closer to God.  In this sermon, we'll learn how to cultivate a heart of gratitude from the story of 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19.

A “friend“ becomes an enemy. How dealing with that helps someone discover God’s help is ever present.

Injustice is nothing new. Since the beginning of human society, human beings have used their physical strength, economic prowess, and positional authority to take advantage of one another. But how should Christians respond to injustice? To understand God's desire for justice and righteousness, we listen to the piercing words from the prophet Amos. In our text, we see that worship is rejected when justice is ignored. In the whole course of Scripture, we get a picture of the God who cares deeply about the interconnectedness of worship and ethics.

Dr. Kevin Chen shares a timely message during this season of unprecedented turmoil, tension and division around the world.

Matthew 5:9 says

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

This is reminder to those of us blessed with knowing Jesus, to find ways to promote peace, build bridges and ultimately point the way to Christ, the one true source of peace.

Sometimes people see the poor as people to be ignored:  overlooked, stepped over, avoided, lazy, unmotivated, etc.  In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus explained how a person can be poor for more reasons than just financial.  More importantly, Jesus showed how He identified with the plight of the poor and how He expects the members of His Body (the church) to minister to the needy around them.  Come and join us as we look at God's heart for the poor.

This is B.H. Teh. Today I like to share with you about God’s faithfulness and His Sovereignty. Our God is a good God and He cares for us. He knows what is best for us in all circumstances. At times we do not comprehend why “bad things” happened to us. At that moment, we might be angry with God. However, when you look back in time and connect the dots, you’ll see the hands of God is all over our lives, and you will be amazed that God allowed these events to happen at His timing for a better reason.

Prior to COVID, every quarter I have a business trip to our Taiwan Operations in Hsinchu. My last visit was in December 2019. I came back from Taiwan on Dec 18, 2019. I was excited to be back because Mary & I were hosting the CCIC Christmas caroling party on the Sunday of Dec 22, 2019. That was the second Christmas caroling organized by Lisa Wong for our church.

On Friday evening, Dec 20, 2019, I spoke to my dad over the phone who lived in Malaysia. He sounded weak that day because He was diagnosed with Vitamin B12 deficiency which is common for elderly people. On the following day, Dec 21, 2019 around 4pm PST, I received a text message from my nephew that my dad passed away in his sleep. He was 84 years young! I was so shocked and disbelief. I couldn’t imagine how could my dad passed away so unexpectedly as I just spoke to him in less than 24 hours ago!

My younger brother and I managed to catch the midnight flight to Penang, Malaysia. The spouses and children managed to get their air tickets on the following week. Thank God that everyone was able to make it safely to Penang for my dad’s funeral.

It was a stressful and hectic 2 weeks for me; making funeral arrangements remotely before my flight, the 5-day wake at the funeral home, the funeral day itself, and after the funeral, we had to move my dad’s stuff out of the house before we head back to San Jose. We got to clean up his house because the house doesn’t belong to him. It was belonged to his family business. Imagine the items my dad had accumulated over the years. We had to hire 2 big dumpsters to haul away the things we can’t bring back with us.

As I looked back, I was grateful to God that He allowed the passing of my dad prior to the COVID-19 pandemic & the lockdown. We had a relative passed away during the COVID pandemic lockdown. All non-family members were not allowed to attend the wake and the funeral.

I believe God was gracious to us and everything happened with His permission. He allowed our family members travelled safely to Penang for the funeral; He allowed many friends and extended family members to attend the funeral and show their last respect to my dad. He allowed me to catch up with many old friends and previous coworkers in Penang.

God timed it so well that both Matthew and Sara were on their Christmas break from college, so they get to attend the funeral in person. Majority of the immediate family members were around to help clean up my dad’s house. Otherwise, there is no way for me and my other three siblings cleaning up the house in less than a week.

In stressful time like this, God provides help. I am very thankful for a very good friend, Collin, who helped me a lot with the funeral arrangements. I was grateful that I have a kind and understanding manager. Despite we were busy at work during the quarter end, they respected my time with the family during the bereavement.

I’m thankful to both my sisters, they had been taking good care of my dad in Malaysia while both my younger brother and I are in San Jose.

Our God indeed is a good God as stated in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

We had a Christian funeral service for my dad as he had confessed and said his sinner’s prayer led by Jimmy Lee and Uncle Max when my dad visited San Jose back in 2012, that was after my 2nd sister passed away from cancer. I hope the Christian funeral service and the sermon from my home church pastor had planted seeds in the hearts of my extended family members and friends who attended the funeral.

God is good and He is in control. Glory to God!

Hi, this is James. Today, I’d like to share with you how the love of God and my hope in Christ have helped me in coping with the challenging times of 2020. For me, the year 2020 has proven to be one of the strangest and most trying years in recent memory.

On top of the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic and it’s impact on every aspect of our “normal” lives, we’ve witnessed social unrest and riots as a result of racial tension and the call for justice; we’ve watched the political leaders of our country argue and bicker like children on the debate stages; we’ve

I personally felt the threat of this darkness on the morning of Wednesday, September 9. Many of you know which day it is I’m referring to. I do not recall another day such as this during the 30 years I’ve lived in the Bay Area. It was as though I woke up on a different planet. That morning, As I drove from home to a project site, all familiar streets, buildings and their surroundings are shrouded in orange tinted darkness. Cars had their headlights on even though its 9am in the morning. As I cruised down a familiar local street, I still recall vividly feeling the weight of despair and doom on my chest that I almost couldn’t breath. It’s not just the fact that I couldn’t see very well out of my windshield. It’s not just the particles in the air that made my lung ache a little every time I drew breath. It’s a real sense of this layered darkness, building up all around us throughout the year. One that’s only described in the Bible that I’ve always read about and understood as a distant reality. Right then and there, I felt it. The darkness of this fallen world under the curse of sin; The rebellion of men against God; and the hopelessness of many who do not yet know God. There I was, trapped, and feeling closed in from all directions by this darkness.

The strange thing was that, almost simultaneously, I could sense that there was light. A light of hope from within. As I looked up toward the sky through my windshield, it felt as though I could see through the darkness. The thick layer of ash from the wild fire blocked the light of the sun from shining through,  but I knew the sun was there. High above all that engulfed me and blurred my vision, the sun and the blue sky were there. You see, God had just reminded me that His light would never stop shinning even in the mist of ever present darkness.

Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

John 8:12, Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”.

I praise God for the hope of salvation we have in Christ Jesus. He has conquered the grave and triumphed over darkness. We can be discouraged and disappointed. We may feel saddened and helpless at times. But one thing we can hold onto is this hope we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I want to conclude today’s podcast with this scripture from Lamentations 3:21-23. May it be an  encouragement and a blessing to us all.

And therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! God bless!

In this season of highly polarized political views and national division, we need to have civil conversations about challenging topics such as social issues, racial prejudice and injustice, politics, government, elections, voting, and civic responsibility.  As Christians, we need to take a step back and approach civic responsibility with a biblical framework, a Kingdom perspective.  Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and indeed our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21).  However, we are still to be connected to this world.  In following Jesus' example, we render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's (Matthew 22:17-22).  The things that are God's are His standards of righteousness and His mandate to preach the gospel.  These are non-negotiable things that we will not compromise even if there is governmental pressure to do so.  God's kingdom principles address breaking down walls of prejudice and taking care of the poor, sick, and hungry, just as Jesus our King did.  Furthermore, also in following His example, we are to be focused on the salvation of people, which is their ultimate need, and not just address felt and physical needs.  We are to hold people accountable to work for their sustenance while compassionately providing for those who cannot help themselves.  We are to be subject to the authorities that God put in place and to pray for them.  Finally, our hope is in God and in His coming kingdom and not in earthy government administrations.  At the same time, we can exercise civic responsibility through self-examination with God's Word (whether we are guilty of prejudice, etc.), volunteer for and donate to charities with worthy causes and missions and evangelism organizations, do our due diligence in educating ourselves on the issues and candidates as we vote, and pray for our nation and our leaders.  Ultimately, we put our hope in God, in His sovereignty, and His control of human destiny.