We all had a really wonderful time celebrating Pst Ray Llarena's 67th. This is a photo of Ethan and I from the party... Leah jumped into one of the pics :-)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Pst Ray's 67th Birthday
We all had a really wonderful time celebrating Pst Ray Llarena's 67th. This is a photo of Ethan and I from the party... Leah jumped into one of the pics :-)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The difference between Unforgiveness & Hatred
This is a sample posting from my new blog at www.sjmjournal.blogspot.com
One of the greatest challenges we face in the Church is blindness. I am of course referring to a spiritual rather than a physical blindness. I am speaking from experience because though I hate to admit it, I have spent much of my time “flying blind.”
This is a dangerous thing especially for leaders as evidenced by the words of Jesus when some of the Pharisees had a problem with Him.
Matthew 15: “12Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Jesus was clearly saying that there were, and I believe there still are blind leaders in the religious systems of the world, even in the Church of the One and True Living God. He said they are blind guides and that both they and the ones following them will fall into a pit.
I don’t think I have to ask you if you would want to be on a bus or an airplane with a blind driver or pilot. I don’t think you would want a haircut from a blind barber, directions from a blind police officer or anything else of the sort. But would you want to attend a Church led by a blind Pastor or with a committee of blind Elders or Deacons? Think about it. Especially if you are a leader… And hold your breath because it’s not too late. The Word of God offers the solution.
1 John 2: “ 9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness (not being regenerated). 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness (stumbling); he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
I recommend that you go all the way from verse 1 to 11 in 1 John 2, but I will just use these 3 powerful verses in this posting. If you read the scripture, it is very clear that those who love their brothers are in the light and that those who hate their brothers are walking around in darkness.
It’s important to identify who John is talking about at this point. My opinion is that he is speaking primarily to believers, though this of course at some level would also differentiate those who are saved and those who are lost. But check out the final statement in verse 11. “…the darkness has blinded him.” We normally get blinded by light. We would not use the term that we were blinded by darkness in normal conversation. The picture that we get from this terminology is clear that those who hate their brothers are walking around in a lighted situation (the Church), undoubtedly surrounded by others who may or may not be blind because this is an individual condition. It doesn’t matter how bright a room is if you are blind. You will still stumble over the most well lit item. In other words, it’s not about the light in the room, it’s about the darkness affecting your eyes. It matters not whether it is day or night to a blind person.
Does this mean that you can be saved while hating your brother? Well now… that is a difficult question to answer and it gets down to technicalities regarding terminology and a study of the original language used to write this letter. Let me just offer a few thoughts and my humble yet studied opinion.
The Bible is clear that your sins will not be forgiven if you fail to forgive the sins of others against you. Plainly, if you don’t forgive others as Christ has forgiven you, then you have no part in Christ and you are on the express train headed for the eternal damnation station. So the question remains, can you have forgiven someone and still hate them, therefore rendering yourself saved but blind? I think so and I think it is more common then we could possibly comprehend. Forgiveness can be viewed as a more technical exercise even when genuine where as hatred is more emotional…
Now for the hopefully interesting example from my own life which I will boldly share with you. There was a guy many years ago who cost me much! Specifically, he cost me well over $100,000 because of a hostile business transaction (before I entered ministry or was even a dedicated believer in Christ). I hated him. I did not forgive him and I never intended to forgive him.
I went to Church one Sunday and Dr. Joe Fuiten at Cedar Park Church in Bothel, Washington delivered a message about forgiveness. I responded and went to the altar and I got right with God and forgave that man. I really did. I was free and heaven bound again!
A few months later, I was in a restaurant enjoying my meal when the culprit walked in the front door. My countenance fell. My wife asked me what was wrong. My ears turned red, my face was flushed and every muscle in my body tensed up. I still hated him even though I had forgiven him. He saw me and left immediately…
I spent a restless and sleepless night before my God considering the evil that was in my heart… asking him to remove it from me. I asked some wise and spiritually devout friends of mine how to achieve this and I made it my immediate goal in life. My finding was that I needed to pray for him. I was told (and the scriptures verify) that if I were to truly pray for him, that I would eventually replace the hatred with genuine love for him for it is impossible to pray for someone, filled with God and led by the Spirit who helps us to pray, without our hearts being changed. If genuinely and intentionally doing so.
I embarked on my journey of prayer. I even prayed for his wife… who I hated too. And his son… who I despised. I didn’t have to pray for his daughter because I liked her but I prayed for her anyway. I’m not going to lie to you. It was not easy. It was one of the most difficult purging processes of my life and it took I don’t know how long… probably the better part of 3 or 4 months. I kept it in writing in my Bible and I did it every day. I sometimes had to begin by playing worship music to soften my heart and get “in the mood.”
One day I woke up and I realized that I didn’t hate him (them) anymore. I still didn’t trust him and I’m pretty sure I still wouldn’t today, but I loved them with a strange, surprising, supernatural love. Today when I think about them, I truly hope that they are doing well. Actually, by all appearances, it seems that they are doing well because I have checked on the internet.
But the best news? I received my sight! It was soon after that when I started to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I gained new understanding when I would read God’s Word. It changed me!
As long as I keep purging myself from hating anybody, I won’t be a blind guide, leading people into a ditch of death but rather leading them on the narrow path in the light. As the great Charlie Peacock song chimes, “I want to be in the light as You are in the light, I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. Oh Lord be my light and be my salvation, cause all I want is to be in the light.” And we of course know that He indeed is the light .
One of the greatest challenges we face in the Church is blindness. I am of course referring to a spiritual rather than a physical blindness. I am speaking from experience because though I hate to admit it, I have spent much of my time “flying blind.”
This is a dangerous thing especially for leaders as evidenced by the words of Jesus when some of the Pharisees had a problem with Him.
Matthew 15: “12Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Jesus was clearly saying that there were, and I believe there still are blind leaders in the religious systems of the world, even in the Church of the One and True Living God. He said they are blind guides and that both they and the ones following them will fall into a pit.
I don’t think I have to ask you if you would want to be on a bus or an airplane with a blind driver or pilot. I don’t think you would want a haircut from a blind barber, directions from a blind police officer or anything else of the sort. But would you want to attend a Church led by a blind Pastor or with a committee of blind Elders or Deacons? Think about it. Especially if you are a leader… And hold your breath because it’s not too late. The Word of God offers the solution.
1 John 2: “ 9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness (not being regenerated). 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness (stumbling); he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
I recommend that you go all the way from verse 1 to 11 in 1 John 2, but I will just use these 3 powerful verses in this posting. If you read the scripture, it is very clear that those who love their brothers are in the light and that those who hate their brothers are walking around in darkness.
It’s important to identify who John is talking about at this point. My opinion is that he is speaking primarily to believers, though this of course at some level would also differentiate those who are saved and those who are lost. But check out the final statement in verse 11. “…the darkness has blinded him.” We normally get blinded by light. We would not use the term that we were blinded by darkness in normal conversation. The picture that we get from this terminology is clear that those who hate their brothers are walking around in a lighted situation (the Church), undoubtedly surrounded by others who may or may not be blind because this is an individual condition. It doesn’t matter how bright a room is if you are blind. You will still stumble over the most well lit item. In other words, it’s not about the light in the room, it’s about the darkness affecting your eyes. It matters not whether it is day or night to a blind person.
Does this mean that you can be saved while hating your brother? Well now… that is a difficult question to answer and it gets down to technicalities regarding terminology and a study of the original language used to write this letter. Let me just offer a few thoughts and my humble yet studied opinion.
The Bible is clear that your sins will not be forgiven if you fail to forgive the sins of others against you. Plainly, if you don’t forgive others as Christ has forgiven you, then you have no part in Christ and you are on the express train headed for the eternal damnation station. So the question remains, can you have forgiven someone and still hate them, therefore rendering yourself saved but blind? I think so and I think it is more common then we could possibly comprehend. Forgiveness can be viewed as a more technical exercise even when genuine where as hatred is more emotional…
Now for the hopefully interesting example from my own life which I will boldly share with you. There was a guy many years ago who cost me much! Specifically, he cost me well over $100,000 because of a hostile business transaction (before I entered ministry or was even a dedicated believer in Christ). I hated him. I did not forgive him and I never intended to forgive him.
I went to Church one Sunday and Dr. Joe Fuiten at Cedar Park Church in Bothel, Washington delivered a message about forgiveness. I responded and went to the altar and I got right with God and forgave that man. I really did. I was free and heaven bound again!
A few months later, I was in a restaurant enjoying my meal when the culprit walked in the front door. My countenance fell. My wife asked me what was wrong. My ears turned red, my face was flushed and every muscle in my body tensed up. I still hated him even though I had forgiven him. He saw me and left immediately…
I spent a restless and sleepless night before my God considering the evil that was in my heart… asking him to remove it from me. I asked some wise and spiritually devout friends of mine how to achieve this and I made it my immediate goal in life. My finding was that I needed to pray for him. I was told (and the scriptures verify) that if I were to truly pray for him, that I would eventually replace the hatred with genuine love for him for it is impossible to pray for someone, filled with God and led by the Spirit who helps us to pray, without our hearts being changed. If genuinely and intentionally doing so.
I embarked on my journey of prayer. I even prayed for his wife… who I hated too. And his son… who I despised. I didn’t have to pray for his daughter because I liked her but I prayed for her anyway. I’m not going to lie to you. It was not easy. It was one of the most difficult purging processes of my life and it took I don’t know how long… probably the better part of 3 or 4 months. I kept it in writing in my Bible and I did it every day. I sometimes had to begin by playing worship music to soften my heart and get “in the mood.”
One day I woke up and I realized that I didn’t hate him (them) anymore. I still didn’t trust him and I’m pretty sure I still wouldn’t today, but I loved them with a strange, surprising, supernatural love. Today when I think about them, I truly hope that they are doing well. Actually, by all appearances, it seems that they are doing well because I have checked on the internet.
But the best news? I received my sight! It was soon after that when I started to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I gained new understanding when I would read God’s Word. It changed me!
As long as I keep purging myself from hating anybody, I won’t be a blind guide, leading people into a ditch of death but rather leading them on the narrow path in the light. As the great Charlie Peacock song chimes, “I want to be in the light as You are in the light, I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. Oh Lord be my light and be my salvation, cause all I want is to be in the light.” And we of course know that He indeed is the light .
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Go For It ICCJ!!!
This is my first blog posting here, not as the Pastor of ICCJ. Therefore, I will be setting up a new site in the near future and this post will end this era but I will leave the blog up for those who want to reminisce with me :-)
The services this past Sunday in which Joy and I resigned were marked with hugs and tears. I told someone that I think my shoulders were still wet hours after we left the sanctuary. Because of the amazing growth in the Church over the past couple of years, it has become impossible to know everyone by name, and so some of the good-byes were with people we only know by face. Joy had one person come up and exclaim that she has only been with us a few months and had never talked to us, but she will miss us, the Worship and the Word. It's amazing how connected we get in the House of God in a supernatural way!
I looked around the facility, which is not the Church because the people are the Church, but I took a mental picture of all the places where so very many memories were made as we sought the Lord together. Joy and I will never forget the mighty things that the Lord has done among us and our supernatural bonds.
We are grateful to all of you, past and present who have had a part in our lives. You are in our hearts and we love you very very much!!!
I want to now address just those who are presently a part of ICCJ. Obviously, things are going to change quite a bit. The Pastor who mainly preaches and the Pastor who mainly leads worship are leaving. This is big and we admit that. But I want you to know that there is a new preaching Pastor and new people who will lead in worship who have also been appointed by God to lead this congregation. I'm encouraging you to expect great things from Pastor Gordon Myers and his team. Do not allow your emotions to bring you down, but immediately believe God for more of His presence and explosive growth in the Church. Here is some advice. Go to the Church that God tells you to, and never ever leave a Church unless God tells you to. Stick together, pray, and watch what God will do in amazement!
Some are asking about the prophetic word that I received that Pastor Joy and I will be coming back to Indonesia at a later date. Because of the wonderful time we have had, many are asking that it would be soon. Though that is very flattering and touches our hearts, we want you to know that we will only return in God's timing and we do not know how long that is. I further want to say that when that day arrives, only the Lord knows if that will be back to ICCJ or to another Church or even another city. We belong to God, the Church belongs to God and we are simply given assignments by Him for the good of the Church of Jesus Christ. If one day we come back specifically to Jakarta and Pastor a different Church, the same advice applies as I have already stated. Never go to or leave a Church unless God tells you to. Be loyal and stand together in unity.
Pastor Joy and I are praying for a smooth transition and that ICCJ will reach levels never achieved yet in our ministry or any other previous Pastors ministry. Go for it ICCJ! Make us proud and do even greater things through the strength that Jesus Christ gives us!!!
The services this past Sunday in which Joy and I resigned were marked with hugs and tears. I told someone that I think my shoulders were still wet hours after we left the sanctuary. Because of the amazing growth in the Church over the past couple of years, it has become impossible to know everyone by name, and so some of the good-byes were with people we only know by face. Joy had one person come up and exclaim that she has only been with us a few months and had never talked to us, but she will miss us, the Worship and the Word. It's amazing how connected we get in the House of God in a supernatural way!
I looked around the facility, which is not the Church because the people are the Church, but I took a mental picture of all the places where so very many memories were made as we sought the Lord together. Joy and I will never forget the mighty things that the Lord has done among us and our supernatural bonds.
We are grateful to all of you, past and present who have had a part in our lives. You are in our hearts and we love you very very much!!!
I want to now address just those who are presently a part of ICCJ. Obviously, things are going to change quite a bit. The Pastor who mainly preaches and the Pastor who mainly leads worship are leaving. This is big and we admit that. But I want you to know that there is a new preaching Pastor and new people who will lead in worship who have also been appointed by God to lead this congregation. I'm encouraging you to expect great things from Pastor Gordon Myers and his team. Do not allow your emotions to bring you down, but immediately believe God for more of His presence and explosive growth in the Church. Here is some advice. Go to the Church that God tells you to, and never ever leave a Church unless God tells you to. Stick together, pray, and watch what God will do in amazement!
Some are asking about the prophetic word that I received that Pastor Joy and I will be coming back to Indonesia at a later date. Because of the wonderful time we have had, many are asking that it would be soon. Though that is very flattering and touches our hearts, we want you to know that we will only return in God's timing and we do not know how long that is. I further want to say that when that day arrives, only the Lord knows if that will be back to ICCJ or to another Church or even another city. We belong to God, the Church belongs to God and we are simply given assignments by Him for the good of the Church of Jesus Christ. If one day we come back specifically to Jakarta and Pastor a different Church, the same advice applies as I have already stated. Never go to or leave a Church unless God tells you to. Be loyal and stand together in unity.
Pastor Joy and I are praying for a smooth transition and that ICCJ will reach levels never achieved yet in our ministry or any other previous Pastors ministry. Go for it ICCJ! Make us proud and do even greater things through the strength that Jesus Christ gives us!!!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
A Resignation to Begin a New Season
It is with gratitude to the Lord for the great things that He has done, but also with sadness as we close a chapter as I write this entry for the ICCJ Pastors Journal and prepare to leave many close friends behind.
This coming Sunday, March 8, both Pastor Joy and I will resign from ICCJ as Pastors. The Lord has made it clear to us that it is time to make a shift. Pastor Gordon Myers one of the previous Pastors of ICCJ and one of my Spiritual Fathers has come and he will be an interim Pastor until a time that God provides another great Pastor for this wonderful congregation.
I want to thank the leadership of ICCJ for your love and support during these last three plus years. You guys are awesome! Keep up the good work!
We love you ICCJ'ers! I am confident of much fruit that will remain and am looking forward to hearing the wonderful progressive mutual testimonies from here onward. May God bless us all as we continue to walk step by step in unity with Him!
This coming Sunday, March 8, both Pastor Joy and I will resign from ICCJ as Pastors. The Lord has made it clear to us that it is time to make a shift. Pastor Gordon Myers one of the previous Pastors of ICCJ and one of my Spiritual Fathers has come and he will be an interim Pastor until a time that God provides another great Pastor for this wonderful congregation.
I want to thank the leadership of ICCJ for your love and support during these last three plus years. You guys are awesome! Keep up the good work!
We love you ICCJ'ers! I am confident of much fruit that will remain and am looking forward to hearing the wonderful progressive mutual testimonies from here onward. May God bless us all as we continue to walk step by step in unity with Him!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Pastors Power Up... Wow!
Pst Joy and I have been needing a breakthrough in many areas but especially in our own personal relationship together for some time. This last week was spent at a ministry called Pastors Power Up (pastorspowerup.com). It was amazing and God performed the very miracle that we were needing and much much more. I cannot even believe the amazing difference that Joy and I are experiencing in our lives together. For those of you who have been praying with us, thank you so much for your love and support! We are looking forward to our return to Jakarta this week and the powerful ministry that this fresh start will allow! God is faithful!!!
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