• Perish to Proliferate

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    Read: John 12:23-35 One of my chores as a child was to watch over large thin spreads of rice grains as they dry on the side of the street or plaza. After harvest, the grains need to be completely moisture free before being put away for either consumption or for next season’s seedlings. The sweltering…

  • Fools With And For Christ

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    Read: 1 Corinthians 1:18-30 No one wants to be called, or even thought of as a fool. I think to make it hit harder, let me use the word idiot, forgive my language. No one wants to be called, or even perceived as stupid. To be made fun of or to be condescended upon is…

  • Freedom Isn’t Free 

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    Read: John 8:31-36 I grew up on the eastern foothills of Mount Tirad, a 1,154 meter high mountain near the city of Candon, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The mountain is significant to Philippine history because it was the site of the 1899 Battle of Tirad Pass, where a Philippine hero, the young General Gregorio del Pilar,…

  • A Firm Foundation Forged From Frailty

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    Read:  1 Corinthians 3:10-15 When we think of a foundation, we think of something sturdy and strong, certainly not something depicting weakness and defeat, such as death. But death is actually the very foundation of our faith, the death of Christ, which is one of the twin events upon which Christianity was founded, His resurrection…

  • The Death That Did Away With Death

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    Read: 1 Peter 3:18 As a child I had, thanatophobia,  an extreme fear of death, probably due to the trauma of my father’s passing when I was five. Anything connected to death absolutely terrified me – cemeteries, crosses, coffins, and even the colors white and purple, because those were the colors of crepe papers people…

  • The Rewards of Righteous Suffering

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    Read: Revelation 22:10-13 Parents have an effective trick up their sleeves to get their children to do something, which, by the way, could be quite a challenge. This is the age-old giving of rewards.  And it almost always works.  Rewards are effective incentives to get people to do something, even if it means that they…

  • Mining the Meaning

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    Read: Romans 8:28-39 There is nothing more powerful than a period of great suffering that incites reflection and contemplation. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains.” In our suffering, we need to lean in, listen closely, and learn what lesson might be gained…

  • If We Should Suffer

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    Read: 1 Peter 4:12-16 There is no word to describe the pain of being separated from someone loved so dearly. It cuts deep into the soul, gnawing at every fiber of one’s being. For me, the pain is most torturous at dusk. There’s something about nightfall that aggravates the torment. Have you ever experienced being…

  • Till I Entered The Sanctuary of God

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    This is the first Sunday of 2024, and, naturally, we dedicate this day to worship with our brothers and sisters in our respective local churches. We drive, commute, or walk to the house of worship, and enter the sanctuary of God. Physically, we step into the church.  In this article, I want to talk about…

  • Soul-Care: What We Need To Do More This Year

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    Let me first greet you all, “A happy and blessed new year!” We can hardly believe it is now 2024! We thank and praise God for spiritually sustaining us last year. This year, it is our earnest desire to continue serving the Lord. Serving God is what we do until rapture. But on this first…