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Newsletter Monday Edition
July 23, 2012 |
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Greetings!
 What is the Ministry of Grace?
In the New Covenant era, the apostle Paul encourages all Christians to give this ministry a thoughtful consideration.
As we all have received the precious gift of salvation by grace through faith in our dear Brother and Redeemer, Jesus Christ , so are we to exercise the Ministry of Grace to those around us, to our church and to our community.
This ministry is simply a recapitulation, a duplication, of God's boundless gift to us when He gave His Son to take our place on the cross. It is our freewill gift to Him which can never ever match His grace towards us.
We will try to include in each issue of the Gospel Life Newsletter, for several weeks to come, biblical support for the Ministry of Grace or Giving which we will bring to you from a booklet published by Gospel Life Community in March, 2011 entitled "Christian Principles of Resource Management and Investment."
Let's all continue to pray for the spirit of generosity to spring endlessly from the bottom of our hearts.
The Church Staff |
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Pastor L J Dijamco |
Gifts That Keep On Giving
Our weekly spiritual food came to us through Pastor L J's message yesterday at the Good News Hour in keeping with our month's theme, "Spiritual Gifts," under the subheading, "Ministry Gifts."
Through several life experiences he cited many examples of "gifts that keep on giving." He related one almost impossible situation of car keys lost by one of our young people at their Huntington Beach outing last week.
Reconstructing the event, the keys were likely picked up by someone, placed on a railing where other people passed, picked up by some bikers who asked Pastor L J and Riley Charles, who were standing beside their parked car, ( far away from the other guys who were looking for the keys at the beach) if they were looking for keys! Pastor L J expressed amazement at how this gift of the prayer ministry was an example of a gift that keeps on giving!
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As the apostle Peter relates to us, we have been given a gift for ministry, he said, enumerating the five-fold ministries given to the church (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) in Ephesians 4:11, and the motivational gifts found in Romans 12: 4-8 (prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation or encouragement, giving, leading and being merciful).
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As Christians having been entrusted with at least one spiritual gift each, Pastor L J reminded us that we have been called by God, to do good things, and to use these gifts for God's glory.
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Prison Bible Ministry
The Monday Small Group Fellowship coordinated by Ernie and Ruth Jordan has embarked on a book drive as a project for their prison ministry by collecting new or used bibles and Christian books.
Luis Diaz, member of the Monday SGF, reminded us yesterday to help them with their project and urged everyone to bring their spare bibles and Christian books to church and to leave them in the large white box located in the church foyer for this purpose. Please note that the bibles and books have to be in paperback/soft cover, with no names, addresses, phone numbers and/or other personal information written in the covers or pages of these donated books. Before Luis made the announcement, there are 114 books already collected. They hope to gather 500 or more books in this campaign. |
Hospitality To Visitors
We had another "almost full house" yesterday during the Godd News Hour, among whom are several guests who have never been to our church in the past.
A big thank you to the Gospel Life congregation for always making our visitors feel at home. One set of guests we had are members of the Hollywood SGF coordinated by Sperry Anderson and Medy Alcaraz. Sperry commented on how this was an answered prayer for them as no one asked or invited the guests to come although they had been praying that somehow they would be motivated to come to Gospel Life to attend our services.
It was a big surprise for him to see them come in during the praise and worship time! They stayed for the fellowship lunch, too.
Let's continue to meet and greet every guest who comes to our church, and spread God's love to those around us, especially to all who are new to our community. |
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Vigil for the shooting spree victims in Aurora, Colorado. |
Keep in Your Prayers
We remember the victims and families of those who were killed and injured in Aurora, Colorado as a result of the mayhem caused by one person, the reason behind which is not known to the authorities at this time.
There were 12 killed and more than 50 injured when a man opened fire in a movie house shortly after midnight last Saturday at the particular movie's first showing.
So much pain and suffering had been caused. Let's pray for the recovering victims and for the families of those who were killed, so that they may receive health and healing, as well as peace, grace and comfort in Him.
The perpetrator is in custody and had his first day in court earlier today. He needs our prayers, too, so that he might seek and find God in this critical time of his life. |
Ministry of Grace Corner
"God calls all believers to the ministry of grace." ....It is "God's way of partnering with all of His children, both rich and poor. Generosity overflows from God's grace, not from the abundance of our material posessions."
2 Corinthians 8:1-4 "My friends, we want you to know that the churches in Macedonia have shown others how kind God is. Although they were going through hard times and were very poor, they were glad to give generously. They gave as much as they could afford and even more, simply because they wanted to."
(From the booklet published by Gospel Life Community Church, March, 2011, "Christian Principles of Resource Management and Investment." |
Marketplace Ministry Understanding Your Gift
Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. - 1 Corinthians 12:1 In First Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, the apostle Paul is teaching us about the role of spiritual gifts in the Church. He correlates these gifts to a human body, telling us that each person's gift helps the whole Body of the Church. This is such an important principle for us to learn. I must say I learned this principle regarding my own spiritual gift the hard way. - "God will never speak as strongly to you as to someone else," said my mentor to me one day. The statement shocked me. "What in the world do you mean by that?" I argued with him. - "Your spiritual gift of administration/leading is one of the most dangerous gifts in the whole Body of Christ. The reason is that you can see the big picture better than anyone else, and you're so task-oriented that you will run people into the ground getting your project completed because you think you see it so clearly. That is why the best friend you could ever have is someone with a prophetic gift to discern whether the big picture you see is actually the picture God is directing. It is the one gift that can almost stand alone better than any other - at least that is the opinion of the one with that gift." - Oh, how I have learned this lesson the hard way! He was so right. There have been many a church staff destroyed by a person with the gift of administration. During my years as an ad agency owner, I saw how I stressed out my staff because of the tremendous load I put on them with multiple projects. It was so easy for me because the more balls I had juggling, the better I felt. I was oblivious to how my multi-task personality impacted those around me. - Today, I have some special relationships with intercessors and prophetic people whom I depend on for confirmation of direction. I have learned their spiritual gifts of discernment are of great value in determining strategic direction. I have learned that God has placed within each person a spiritual gift that is designed to make the Body of Christ function better for His purposes. When we discover the spiritual gifts God has placed in those around us, we are better able to see the Body function as a real body-totally dependent on one another. Some of us are more sensitive to God's voice because God has gifted us in that way. Others of us are less sensitive because God wants us to depend on others in the Body for their gifts. Find out whom God has placed around you today and discover a new dimension of spiritual productivity.
(Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.) |
MAILING ADDRESS:
436 Crestwood Lande Walnut, CA 91789 |
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Dear Father in Heaven, I sing praise to You today. You have carried me through these years. You have blessed me and taken care of me. You have comforted me and guided me. You are my ever-present help. I praise You, God, from whom all blessings flow.
I praise You above all heavenly hosts. I praise you Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are the greatest. You are magnificent. You are worthy. I love You. In the name of Jesus I offer this praise, amen. |
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