UECPhilippines

When we are helpless against a fight which seems never-ending, what do we do? Who do we turn to? How do we keep ourselves safe and protected? How do we help those who have less?

在网上或报纸上我们经常会看到招生启事，某某公司招聘一名秘书，年龄在多少岁之间，性别--女，学历—大学本科，会讲中英文优先等等!这些广告都会在我们身边穷出不穷，基本都是这样有条件的招聘，我们从刚才读到的圣经里面看到13节告诉我们说，门徒都是耶稣“随自己的意思叫”的。在路加福音6:12-13写道，耶稣祷告了一个晚上，就拣选了12个门徒，耶稣也要求门徒要常和自己同在,也要被差遣出去传道。

主耶穌應許說：在世上，你們有苦難；但你們可以放心，我已經勝了世界。  

Our hope is firm, because we know that what you know is what gets you through life. Think about this, what you know is what gets you through life. Life is gonna be full of surprises. Life will not always go as we planned.  We may plan all we want, but in a snap of a finger, we are now in a community quarantine in NCR, we have a curfew going on from 8pm to 5am, there are no classes going on, COVID19 has changed our lives and how we live, how we interact with people, and that’s life folks.  

Read Genesis 18:22 - 33 to see how Abraham prayed to God

Rev. William Jonathan Ong reminds us that “We must leave our average behind to experience God’s extraordinary.” Is God calling you to do something extraordinary? Are you reluctant to do it because it would mean leaving your comfort zone? Our God is the same God Abraham trusted when he left his comfortable life to go live in a place he has never been. God kept His promise of blessing to Abraham – just like He will bless you so that you can bless others when you heed God’s call.

Has God ever urged you to do something you feel unprepared for, or to take up a daunting responsibility? You delay, or you try to get out of it. You don’t want to do it because it’s out of your comfort zone. Guess what? God’s plans for you are inconceivably grand that He needs to mold you into the right shape. He needs to stretch you out, to pinch some parts, and to cut off what’s unnecessary. These steps cause pain and discomfort; but without the pain and discomfort, you will not be ready to fulfill God’s purpose in your life. Be like Abraham and obey God with complete faith that He will always keep His promises.

What are you known for, and are you proud of that? Noah was known as a man of integrity and a man who walked with God. He was physically and spiritually fit. He started building the ark when he was 500 years old, and he stayed faithful to God for 100 years while building the ark. He trusted in God’s plan. Because he kept His focus on God, God used Noah to do extraordinary things. If your heart is in the right place, you too, just like Noah, can do great things for God. Are you ready for the next great adventure God will ask you to do?

What angers you the most in our society today? Is it kidnapping children to harvest their organs, or corruption in the highest levels of government, or pedophiles? Now look in the mirror and think of your own sins. Do these anger you too? Do you feel ashamed of your insatiable need to own what others have? How about your neglect in paying your debts, or when you blame others for failures which are your responsibility? Sin, whether big or small, is still unholy in God’s eyes. Accept responsibility for your sins and surrender your life to God. Jesus freely offers forgiveness.

In the book of Genesis, we see how God created a perfect world out of nothing. Day and night, sky and sea, majestic mountains and lush greenery, sun and moon, chirping birds and gigantic whales, man and woman. He can create such magnificence out of His infinite wisdom, yet He loves each one of us unconditionally such that He prepares and provides for our every need.