January, 2005

Thanksgiving
We had a great worship on Christmas Sunday. It has been awhile since we had a joint worship. From adoring the Creator-God to praising the Incarnated-God to anticipating His Second Coming, all God’s people “shouted for joy” with thankfulness. In the afternoon, six new-born Christians were baptized at Pastor Larry’s home. We prayed for nice weather, and God provided us with a sunny day. How amazing! Of all the baptismal services, I believe it was the biggest turnout. After the baptism, we listened to the life-changing testimonies. What a blessed day! Praise God!

New Year
With the new year coming, the church will be focusing on reaching out this year. To move into this direction, we have selected a theme “Living with a mission.” With His grace, God calls us into His Kingdom. Though we are saved by grace, through faith, we don’t want to take His grace for granted. It is true that we don’t have perform any duties to maintain our Salvation, otherwise, it will not be called “Grace.” Yet we don’t want to forget that though grace is free to us, it costed the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, anyone who is in His Kingdom needs to live with a mission. I pray that we will learn to do that this coming year.

On the pulpit, if the Lord’s willing, Pastor Larry plans to finish his expository preaching on the book of James, then preach a series on “The God we worship.” After that, he plans to preach on the book of Romans. May the Lord use the pulpit as a means for the spiritual growth of the flock.