Sunday Service
- Adult 1st Service: 9AM
- Adult 2nd Service: 11AM
- Youth Service: 10:45AM
Traveling Again
I will be out of town for the next 5 weeks. My original plan was to finish the upcoming House Church Seminar for Laypeople in Jacksonville, go to San Diego for the House Church Conference for Pastors, come back to Houston and preach on Sunday, and then depart for Korea on Sunday afternoon. But I could not get a ticket to LA, where Korean Air Line flights depart. The only ticket available on that day was for a flight departing in the morning. If I take that flight, I can't preach on Sunday morning, so there is no point in coming back to Houston. So I decided to go to Korea ...
Passion Week – The Week in History that Changed the World (Day 5)
Day 5: Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus
Read: Mt. 27:27-56; Mk. 15:16-41; Lk. 23:26-49; Jn. 19:17-30.
Last Seven Statements of Jesus from the Cross
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
“Dear woman, here is your son,”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“…so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ ”
Jesus said, “It is finished.”
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” ...
Passion Week – The Week in History that Changed the World (Day 4)
Day 4: The Betrayal
Read: Mt. 26:17-35; Mk. 14:12-25; Lk. 22:7-20; Jn. 13:1-38.
Living to treasure the glory of God in our hearts in order to risk our lives for the joy of others is the most worthy cause for our existence. But, the fundamental problem of a man is that the heart is twisted by the affection for the flesh. When our affection for life is satisfied by anything less than the glory of God, we are in danger of betraying the glorious splendor of His majesty. We are twisted and wicked when we become passively or intentionally become disinterested in the worship of ...
Passion Week – The Week in History that Changed the World (Day 3)
Day 3: A Conspiracy Against Jesus
Read: Mt. 26:14-16; Mk. 14:10-11; Lk. 22:3-6.
Have we abandoned Jesus when He would suffer the most for us? To abandon a friendship is to thrust a dagger into the ribs and vanish. Judas was from the tribe of Judah, the same tribe of Jesus. Also, Judas was the treasurer of the group, the most trusted one, yet he betrayed the Savior. Also, Peter proclaimed, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away” (Matt 26:33). Yet, he denied the Lord three times. Max Lucado said, “Peter was loyal from a distance. He ...
Passion Week – The Week in History that Changed the World (Day 2)
Day 2: The Question of Authority
Read: Mt. 21:23-27; Mk. 11:27-33; Lk. 20:1-8.
The chief priest and the elders challenged the authority of Jesus for doing “these things”: cleansing of the temple, miraculous healings, and teachings. They attempted to trap Jesus in His word to prove Him to be a false prophet. They asked, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
Jesus answered their question by replying with a question designed to catch the interrogators in their own inconsistency. Paul said we were dead ...
Two Sides to Every Coin
Although not as frequently as before (especially our first year of marriage), Gina and I still occasionally have arguments with each other. They are more arguments than all-out fights these days, but we still deal with them here and there. What I am slowly learning from our arguments is this: there are always two sides to an argument, and it is crucial that I really try to understand her side before I react. This takes time, patience, and humility – three things that I do not always have.
The same goes for you and your parent(s). It may not even be arguments – ...
Don’t Abandon Your Missionaries
When I started house churches in 1993, our current practice of having each house church support a missionary family wasn't in place. But I adopted this soon after we started to help house church members be more missions-minded.
At first, I asked house church members to find their own missionary families. Most of our house churches chose missionaries they already knew. So there was a personal relationship between house churches and the missionaries they supported. But as house churches multiplied, the number of shepherds who didn't know any missionary families started to ...