God-given Commands

Here are a few: 

- to "love mercy", not just do it (Micah 6:8, KJV)

-to do "acts of mercy, with cheerfulness" (Romans 12:8)

- to "joyfully" suffer in the loss in the service of prisoners (Hebrews 10:34)

- to be a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)

- to make our joy the joy of others (2 Corinthians 2:3)

- to tend the flock of God willingly and "eagerly" (1 Peter 5:2)

- to keep watch over souls "with joy" (Hebrews 13:17)

From Piper's book Desiring God. 

"The pursuit of true virtue includes the pursuit of the joy because joy is an essential component of true virtue." - John Piper

Books I Recommend.

Four Christian books I recommend to read, that challenged, inspired, and encouraged me. There are others, of course, but four for now :)

Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus is an interesting book to read. He gives a different perspective. He gives insight as to what the human soul 'thirsts' after, and it's not just for Christians, but for every human being. His book points to Christ, and gives people who are not Christians reason to search. Interesting book. Have a read and give me your thoughts on it. 

J.I. Packer's classic book has been both educational, and challenging. This is a small book, but it's content is quite heavy. This is a must read for Christians. He gives an in-depth understanding of God's character. By the end of the book, you will "know" God a little bit better :)

This is a wonderful book. A challenge to the local church to stop using programs, in order to bring in the masses, but rather to take up the assignment of the Great Commission of 'making disciples'. Greg Ogden gives principles on how to do that. I've been touched by his book and his story, that I have personally given my time and energy this year and years to come to doing what Christ has urged us to do. Make disciples. Stop with the programs already. Begin with the relationships and teaching! 

John Piper's books are always challenging, and inspiring. The man has such a passion for God, that it rubs off on his pages, you cannot help but be greatly inspired to live for God when you are done reading (or even in the midst of reading). 

Career Fellowship

Dave & Andrew listening...

Our Career fellowship has recently begun once again. We had a rough beginning, when we first started last year (2007), we met once a month, but we didn't meet often enough for relationships to be built. It was awkward at times, because we didn't meet very often. We met tonight (April 24), and fellowship was good. We had a time of singing, and the whole evening was just based upon relationship building - this is what we're aiming for - that we relate to people, that we become a community where we can support each other, and uplift one another in prayer. Praise God for this fellowship, and we hope that we can reach our friends who are not believers yet, and bless our brothers & sisters (from other churches who don't have a fellowship at their church). 

Tonight we had this picture frame, and we plan on putting pictures that we're going to gather throughout the year, and by the end of the year, we'll have a collage of pictures, and verses that spoke to our hearts on it. It's exciting! This is o

ur fellowship project, and it'll be neat to see what it looks like by the end of the year. We also were to bring one object to share with the group why and how that object represents us. It was neat to hear some of the objects people brought, and how it related to their personalities, characteristics, and what stories were behind their objects. I'm looking forward to growing with these brothers and sisters of mine over the following months. Pray for us, we need your support, and encouragement to persevere, 'spurring' one another on towards good deeds, and acts of love (Heb. 10:24,25).

(Front: L-R; Brenden, Will, Dave, Grace)

(Back: L-R; Isabella, Carol Y., Karen, Andrew, Sam, Carol)

** Missing: Ruby, Ken K., Julia, Desmond, Pam, Maggie, Anthony

God Bless, 

Sam 

Timothy & Hope Fellowship

Iron Chef (March 7, 2008)

Left to Right: Natalie, Ken, Sonia, Alex, Dave, Fi, Viv & Mike

Every year, we hold an "Iron Chef" cooking competition for fellowship. A time where people cook, and spend time together 'experimenting' - err, I mean, cooking food for one another, and especially for our beloved counselors :)

Sister's Appreciation Night

Here's a pic of 2007's Brother Appreciation Night (June 8, 2007)

Nice :) We do this every year to demonstrate our appreciation of our brothers & our sisters in Christ. It's really a great time to build relationships, and teach us to continue to be grateful for the people God has placed in our lives. 

Congregational Symbol.

Just thought I'd post the symbol of the Cross designed for our congregation by Terence Wong. To me, the idea behind this symbol (and how it was crafted), is that every name for every person who has attended our congregation, is within the Cross. They are family. We are God's family, and we must abide in Christ, John 15:5 "I am the Vine. You are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing." To me, this symbol means that we have been ingrafted into the family of God (Romans 11:17-21). Thanks Terence, for our symbol :)

Our Community of Faith.

When I got this blog a year and a half ago, I didn't know 

how in the world to upload photos to add to my blog. I know I've had a lot of words in my blog before (Sunday messages), but they are simply there, if you couldn't come to service, and wanted to know what the message was about.

I found out that in the 1.5 years of life of my blog, I never once snapped shots of our congregation! Well, here are a few pictures for y'all to see what our community of faith is about. We're casual people, and we're also relatively young. We don't pretend to know everything about the Christian faith, because it's a journey that we're all on together as we continue to grow up in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1). As you can see in the above picture, we're a fairly small congregation (approx 30-35 people), and the majority of our people are in their high school years. We have a growing number of people in their young careers and in University (or entering into Uni). 

We also have a great Awana program (www.awana.org) in our church, and many of them we are trying to teach the Scriptures to, so that they do not remain spiritual infants in Christ, but they mature in their faith. I love my congregation! They are awesome sheep. If you don't have a home church, or if your interested in the Christian faith, we invite you to come and drop by. We're pretty friendly people =) 

(Left to Right) Julia, Ken, Isabella, Carol   

A little history about our congregation. We started about 7 years ago today (in 2001) with only a handful of people. Initially, the congregation started off because most of the parents who were attending the Chinese service had no place for their children to go, and thus the english congregation's birth! :) Since that time, there has been a growing passion to reach people for Christ, regardless of age, ethnicity, or culture. 

One of the most beautiful vision of the church is described in the Scriptures in Revelation 5:9,10, "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth." We live in one of the most multi-ethnic cities of the world - Vancouver - Our congregation seeks to reflect that vision, and one day reality, in Revelation 5. Our congregation is growing, slowly, but surely. I look forward, by the Lord's graces and mercies, to see where He's going to take us all. It'll be an adventure, for sure ;)

Holli & Dave - LOL

 

              Blessings in Christ, 

 Sam

Back Again!

I completely forgot that I had a blog. But here I am, 1.5 years after my last blog in 2006, writing in the late evenings of a Wednesday night. I just want to say that I'm back. I will be posting my messages, for anyone who wants to read them, on here. I will also post pictures (I'm going to try to at least), so please be patient with me. 

I'll update everyone on my journey as assistant pastor of VCLC. Let's just say it's been an adventure that the Lord has taken me on, one that I will never forget. 

Stay tuned...