Pastor’s Corner (Page 5)

FAITH and FEAR during a PANDEMIC But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.“ (Matt. 8:26 NKJV)         In one of our lockdown bible studies, Pastor Jonathan Pokluda (Overcoming Anxiety during COVID-19) said something that stood out for me: “Whatever you feed grows.” He was referring to a choice we make daily… whether to feed our Fears or to feed our Faith. This pandemic serves either to grow your fears or to grow your faith. How you are processing the onslaught of news, factsRead More →

There’s Joy in Brokenness. “Kintsugi” Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together using gold as the adhesive. It’s built on the idea that, in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create a stronger, more beautiful piece of art. Kintsugi says “embrace brokenness, add creativity and imagination, the result is beauty.” “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) Intimacy with God does not mean freedom from Pain and Suffering. In fact, the Bible shows stories upon stories of people close to God and called by God experiencing a good measure of brokenness! Sometimes, the secret to findingRead More →

For the Love of Christ! 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Cor. 5:14-15 (NIV) I’ve heard of different types of compulsions springing from various mental health issues, most of them negative!… there are compulsive gamblers, compulsive drinkers, compulsive robbers, compulsive eaters, compulsive spenders or due to the current COVID-19 threats, even compulsive handwashers and compulsive sanitizers! But Paul shows that not all “compulsion” is evil. There can be “goodRead More →

In 2021: Commit to Change! Funny conversation between two factory workers on a lunch break:  Laborer 1: “Oh no, not baloney again! I can’t believe this, I hate baloney! This is the fourth time this week I’m having baloney! I’m tired of baloney… I just hate it! Laborer 2: “Why don’t you just ask your wife to make you something different?!” Laborer 1: “I’m single… I made these myself!” That’s the point! – most the ‘baloney’ we have in our lives we put there ourselves! Unless we are willing to change our ways and alter our behavior, we will have the same old baloney weRead More →

Sunday WordPastor’s CornerNovember 2020 Be Careful What You Pray for… A few years back, we went through a sermon series on “The Prayer of Jabez” (from 1 Chron.4). We quoted and noted highlights from David Wilkerson’s best-selling book with the same title.It’s a good prayer – “Lord bless me, protect me and keep me from pain”… who wouldn’t wantthat, right? Yet, if our prayer life is filled with only that… we’re in grave danger! True Growth, Transformation and Maturity (even in the Christian Life!) INVOLVES some pain, some discomfort and some struggle. I shudder to think what kind of life we’d have if we wereRead More →

Pastor’s Corner August 2020 Bro. Vino Atienza 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:6-7 NIV) “Power, Love and Self-discipline” The Apostle Paul was cautioning (not chastizing!) Timothy to replace his fearfulness with fearlessness, his selfishness with selfless love and his disarray with discipline – he can do this simply by “fanning into flame” the fire at the altar of his heart! … Basic, yes. Easy, no! Any fire leftRead More →

Pastor’s Corner June 2020 WIN-Seattle Heavenly-Minded And Earthly-Relevant! 13”You are the salt of the earth…” 14“You are the light of the world…” Matthew 5:13 &14 We’ve heard it said that there are Christians who are “so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good” – and, sadly, because of a skewed view of the gospel, that labeling is sometimes correct! However, there’s really no reason that it’s our accepted reality. The Gospel – the full, abundant and fruitful good news of Jesus – calls and provides for us to be both! Dr. Michael Wittmer (Author, “Becoming Worldly Saints: Can you serve Jesus and still enjoy your life?” ; ZondervanRead More →

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Pastor’s Corner WIN-Seattle April 2020 FAITH and FEAR in the time of COVID-19      But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (Matt. 8:26 NKJV) In one of our recent bible studies, Pastor Jonathan Pokluda (Overcoming Anxiety during COVID-19) said something that stood out for me: “Whatever you feed grows.” He was referring to a choice we make daily… whether to feed our Fears or to feed our Faith. This pandemic serves to either grow your fears or grow your faith. How youRead More →

Pastor’s Corner WIN-Seattle March 2020 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 NIV It was during one of the Sundays in November of 2016 that I shared a message entitled “Love is not Rude”. I felt, at that time, that we (the church) needed a strong reminder to be mindful of our Christian witness during a very divisive and vitriolic election period – lest we contribute to our own decline and irrelevance! This year, 2020, we enter another round of the ‘election brouhaha’… maybe a reminder towards Christ-like meekness will be both appropriate and timely. The word “meekness” (“mansuetus” in Latin; “prautes” inRead More →