Straight From My Heart - May 19, 2013

Pulpit To Pew by Rev. Arnel Tan

Written by DCBC Admin Saturday, 18 May 2013 01:17

If you find yourself praying for this church, I can honestly say that you have now become a part of this family minus the formalities of membership requirements. Please, do continue to pray for the church and the ministers, that together we will have a heart that seeks God! If there is one thing I truly wish to highlight in the life of the church in Acts 2:41-47, it’s the obvious testimony of delight in doing God’s agenda . . . meaning, there is no one in that church doing what they are obliged to do.

Willingness to give; willingness to serve; willingness to participate; prevails among the believers. Honestly, there is no need to preach about giving, they are already doing it; no more need to preach about praying, they love praying; . . . here is a vibrant community that hungers for God and is totally enjoying being loved by God. No wonder people, priests, and a lot more are attracted-not to their programs or projects . . . they are attracted to the life of Christ that is present in the lives of the believers!

My prayer is that the church which gathers here will not be known as nice people with impressive moralities, but rather, a people who are loving Jesus and enjoys being unconditionally loved by Christ . . . abounding in the grace of God; looking forward to communion with God; and through the love of God, makes a difference in the community! Let us be governed by the Holy Spirit in living out the life of Christ in us in full freedom!

 

Enjoying freedom in Christ,

 

REV. ARNEL C. TAN

April 27 Straight From My Heart

Pulpit To Pew by Rev. Arnel Tan

Written by DCBC Admin Saturday, 27 April 2013 11:58

by: Rev. Arnel C. Tan

By now, many should have realized that discovering God’s agenda and doing God’s agenda go side-by-side. It cannot be manipulated by human strength nor be rationalized by human reasoning. It must be traced back to the influence of the Holy Spirit. It takes the third person of the Holy Trinity to show us how our own personal agenda blocks us from seeing God’s…in the same manner, it takes the Holy Spirit to equip us to do what God requires.

Our church is taking this journey of discovering and doing God’s agenda. It is a beautiful, and at the same time, a painful experience for all of us. Beautiful, because we have seen how God works and the depth of His wisdom is beyond our understanding. Painful, because it strips us of our own cherished identities and it makes us wait…and the waiting itself is also a beautiful and painful experience. As I see it, we are still far from the end of the journey. I praise God for placing us in the right journey together.

Discovering and doing God’s agenda happens on the personal level. I am thrilled to see that this is becoming a whole-church journey. Communing with God’s people in prayer; hungry for God’s word; generously pouring out resources to reach the community and care for each other…all these fit into the agenda of God…then He blesses us with a building—meaning, God’s real project is not the church building…it is…building the church inside the building.

Thank you all for your patience during the many unpredictable stops and go’s….let us extend grace to each other and let the work of Christ be done in each of our lives, making us give up our own agendas…to see His. I was so touched last Monday morning when I found a rice sack (5-kilo sack) full of coins on my table with a note saying…’this is for the church’…given by parents whose kids wanted to give their coins to the church. When I ponder on these, my faith grows and my agenda drops. Indeed, God’s ways are not our own. Beautiful and painful…this is our journey of giving up our agenda and doing His!

April 22 Straight From My Heart

Pulpit To Pew by Rev. Arnel Tan

Written by DCBC Admin Monday, 22 April 2013 13:42

Acts 1:24a " Then they all prayed....." The  early church was faced by a leadership vacuum, they are looking for a replacement for Judas. Given two qualified candidates Justus and Matthias the church was in a dilema who to choose. To resolve the crisis they were not asking themselves for their choice they were unanimous in seeking GOD'S CHOICE!  How do you seek God's choice and his leadership agenda for the church? They all PRAYED!

As the Spirit convicts us of our prayerlessness the Spirit also empowers us to become prayerful people of God. It is in prayer that we learn to WAIT UPON THE LORD. Then we begin to see the WISDOM OF GOD then we are able to make  WISE CHOICES.  In other words waiting on The Lord in prayer is the key to make God approved choices. It looks like that where we are today as a church, stranded here at Davao Christian High School ( happily stranded) as much as wish I could give you all the details when we will be moving to our temporary location in Abreeza I really don't know. Believe I'm slowly learning to enjoy not knowing all the details. Waiting is now beautifully irritating.

As we all learn to wait in prayer the more we make wise and God pleasing choices....even if the permit is not yet granted by City Hall, let's look at the bigger picture- GOD's AGENDA. Again the building is not the main thing the people and becoming Christlike, a people of grace, communing with God and serving the community is the main thing. Saying is not a holy excuse for lapses rather an opportunity to see that God 's project is us! As God delays and frustrates our own plans we see His wisdom and His deliverance. I think what God honor is our moment by moment dependence on Him, rather than a magnificent church building.

For the mean time let us continue to enjoy being stranded in where He wants us to be stranded. Confident that His time is perfect. Prayerfully that like the early church THEY ALL PRAYED should also be our response and responsibility. Being a part of this journey is not just giving your money more than that it is really PRAYING TOGETHER as we all seek His agenda. Only in the power of the Holy Spirit can we see our own Avena for this church pulverized. Only by the same power of the Spirit we are made simple and not addicted to power or image!

WATCH, WAIT AND WONDER!

prayerfully,

REV. ARNEL TAN

Acts 1:8

Pulpit To Pew by Rev. Arnel Tan

Written by DCBC Admin Saturday, 06 April 2013 10:16