Saturday, December 29, 2007
Fantastic Services!!! Welcome Back Riel!!!
The Christmas Eve and the Christmas Morning Services were AWESOME!! Brother Riel Pasaribu made it to service for the 1st time in 10 months after surviving the Garuda Airlines crash in Jogjakarta!!! The congregation surged with thanksgiving as we welcomed Reil back!! We are looking forward to giving Riel an entire service soon to share his amazing testimony!!! God's Spirit moved in such an amazing way on Christmas morning that I am still shaking my head in wonder. Thank you all for praying for our family during the service!! We are a part of a wonderful family... Joy and I have been talking much about how blessed we are to be a part of the amazing destiny that we all share!! We are looking forward to a blessed, splendid and breakthrough New Year this 2008!!!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!! May the time that you spend with family and friends be refreshing and memorable as we focus on the greatest gift of all and the reason not only for the season but for all of life... Jesus Christ!!!
It is Christmas Eve in Jakarta and we just arrived home after a wonderful service! We will need to get to bed soon because we have another one first thing at 9am on Christmas Morning!
But I wanted to get a message out because I have been leaving you all hanging much too long and I apologize. The main reason is simply that we have been extremely busy, though it has mostly been Christmas Church related fun! The other reason is that I ate something that messed me up... hives all over my body, my face swelling up and the worst part...my tongue was about double the normal size and I couldn't breath properly. The doctor says it was an infection caused by bad or badly cooked sea-food. I never want to deal with that again! It took more than a week to truly get back on my feet. Thanks for your continued prayers because I still can't imagine eating certain things that I normally would be able to.
Hi-lights of the Christmas Season include the Christmas in Reverse production which was conducted by our youth and children on December 9. It was beautiful, powerful and not to mention downright fun!
The Little Steps School which we run on the same premises as the Church conducted a wonderful production entitled "The Stars of Christmas" which was very nicely produced. Many Children participated as every element of the production explained the true meaning of Christmas to all who attended!!!
Jevan Jal Assemblies of God Church and our ICCJ Indian Theopholus Ministry conducted a combined Festive Outreach to the Indian Community of Jakarta and it was awesome! Well over 1,000 people attended, more than half of them being "pre-Christians"... Many were touched and saved and many more brought further along in their quest of seeking truth! Amen!!!
The Women of Harvest Christmas party was a major success which is still being talked about. The food was great, the music, games and mesage were wonderful and attendance was triple of what it was last year... I think the word has gotten out that Pastor Joy knows how to throw a great party!!!
The ICCJ Staff Christmas Party held at our house was a blast and the food was fantastic... no left overs at all!
We conducted our final Wedding for the year on December 23 at 6pm... for Shelin (long time youth member and youth leader) and Neeraj at the Sunlake Hotel in Sunter. It was awesome and I am confident that this couple is going to accomplish much for God as they work together in His purpose!
All of the services here at ICCJ continue to be marked with the Presence of God as we endeavor to move forward into all that God has for us as a Church! I want to thank all of your for your support, loyalty, enthusiasm and especially prayer. 2008 is going to be even greater if we don't become weary in well-doing! Keep up the good work! Merry Christmas!!!
It is Christmas Eve in Jakarta and we just arrived home after a wonderful service! We will need to get to bed soon because we have another one first thing at 9am on Christmas Morning!
But I wanted to get a message out because I have been leaving you all hanging much too long and I apologize. The main reason is simply that we have been extremely busy, though it has mostly been Christmas Church related fun! The other reason is that I ate something that messed me up... hives all over my body, my face swelling up and the worst part...my tongue was about double the normal size and I couldn't breath properly. The doctor says it was an infection caused by bad or badly cooked sea-food. I never want to deal with that again! It took more than a week to truly get back on my feet. Thanks for your continued prayers because I still can't imagine eating certain things that I normally would be able to.
Hi-lights of the Christmas Season include the Christmas in Reverse production which was conducted by our youth and children on December 9. It was beautiful, powerful and not to mention downright fun!
The Little Steps School which we run on the same premises as the Church conducted a wonderful production entitled "The Stars of Christmas" which was very nicely produced. Many Children participated as every element of the production explained the true meaning of Christmas to all who attended!!!
Jevan Jal Assemblies of God Church and our ICCJ Indian Theopholus Ministry conducted a combined Festive Outreach to the Indian Community of Jakarta and it was awesome! Well over 1,000 people attended, more than half of them being "pre-Christians"... Many were touched and saved and many more brought further along in their quest of seeking truth! Amen!!!
The Women of Harvest Christmas party was a major success which is still being talked about. The food was great, the music, games and mesage were wonderful and attendance was triple of what it was last year... I think the word has gotten out that Pastor Joy knows how to throw a great party!!!
The ICCJ Staff Christmas Party held at our house was a blast and the food was fantastic... no left overs at all!
We conducted our final Wedding for the year on December 23 at 6pm... for Shelin (long time youth member and youth leader) and Neeraj at the Sunlake Hotel in Sunter. It was awesome and I am confident that this couple is going to accomplish much for God as they work together in His purpose!
All of the services here at ICCJ continue to be marked with the Presence of God as we endeavor to move forward into all that God has for us as a Church! I want to thank all of your for your support, loyalty, enthusiasm and especially prayer. 2008 is going to be even greater if we don't become weary in well-doing! Keep up the good work! Merry Christmas!!!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Secret Series and Christmas
We have been getting incredible feed-back on how the sermons loosely inspired by "The Secret" (Rhonda Byrne) have been impacting lives! Not that I agree entirely with the book, because the Secret Things of God are entrusted to the Church.
As it turns out, the holiday season has been a wonderful time to release these sermons because Christmas can bring with it, feelings of hope and joy for some... or of pain and hopelessness for others.
One principle that we have unlocked is that feelings are important for one very large purpose. They reveal to you what you are thinking. It is impossible to feel good or positive, if you are thinking bad or negative thoughts. Conversely, it is impossible to feel bad or negative, if you are thinking good or positive thoughts. Your thoughts determine your destination which is why the Word of God encourages us to think about good things, holy things, positive things, to have faith and to trust God with our future, to worship Him in spite of our circumstances and to allow the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ to instill in us the Peace that Surpasses all Understanding... I could preach but I'll stop.
Friend, if you have the blues... don't take that as your que to sing the blues. Instead, sing praises to the King and allow thoughts of His goodness, greatness and love to overwhelm your feelings. Take your feelings right now and change them by focusing your attention on Jesus, the one who even though He was God, was born a human in a lowly manger so that He could experience what we experience, grow up and become the only needed sacrifice to save all who would believe in Him and receive Him!
As it turns out, the holiday season has been a wonderful time to release these sermons because Christmas can bring with it, feelings of hope and joy for some... or of pain and hopelessness for others.
One principle that we have unlocked is that feelings are important for one very large purpose. They reveal to you what you are thinking. It is impossible to feel good or positive, if you are thinking bad or negative thoughts. Conversely, it is impossible to feel bad or negative, if you are thinking good or positive thoughts. Your thoughts determine your destination which is why the Word of God encourages us to think about good things, holy things, positive things, to have faith and to trust God with our future, to worship Him in spite of our circumstances and to allow the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ to instill in us the Peace that Surpasses all Understanding... I could preach but I'll stop.
Friend, if you have the blues... don't take that as your que to sing the blues. Instead, sing praises to the King and allow thoughts of His goodness, greatness and love to overwhelm your feelings. Take your feelings right now and change them by focusing your attention on Jesus, the one who even though He was God, was born a human in a lowly manger so that He could experience what we experience, grow up and become the only needed sacrifice to save all who would believe in Him and receive Him!
"Christmas in Reverse" 09 Dec
Our Christmas production for this year, brought to us by the ER Youth and ICCJ Children, is titled "Christmas in Reverse." It is coming up on 09 December and will be a combined 10am service... let me put that in black and white... there is no 8:30am and no 10:30am service. Only the 10am service. Don't be overly early and don't be late :-) See you all there! This will be a great service to bring friends to!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
A Season of Harvest and Blessing Jakarta
We here at ICCJ are thrilled to be in this season of Harvest and Blessing in which God has allowed us to participate with Him! Firstly, several dozen precious people received the gift of eternal life in paradise with our Creator and have joined God's family in many Churches throughout Metro Jakarta at JakJazz!
Also, the Financial Seminar was a success! Many testimonies have been submitted from attendees about how the teaching challenged their perspective and will change lives as God's Word is put into practice. The one testifimony that blows my mind is from a man who did not understand the difference between tithes and offerings. He has been giving all of his tithes to charities outside of his Church. Amazing (and sad)! Imagine having been giving big 5 figures every year (he is well to do) and to still be under a curse for not understanding and therefore not obeying God's Word! I wonder how many others there are like that?... People who feed the children and support televangelists with BIG dollars but are still living their lives from a position outside of God's blessing! I thank God that this man will now be enforcing God's blessings in his life by giving his whole tithe to the "storehouse" so that there will be "food" in God's "house" (Malachi 3... read it if you don't know it). In plain language, that means that we must give our tithe (the 1st 10% of our income) to the one Church in which we are planted, covered and from which we receive a steady and purposeful diet of God's Word in order to be blessed.
May God continue to add to His Kingdom and may we who are in His Kingdom continue to improve and be strengthened in every way... all for His glory! Thank you friends for your prayer support over these last couple of weeks. We so appreciate the CARE (Home Group) Pastors and Lay Leadership of ICCJ who are busy following up with those who have received eternal life throughout the last few weeks! Our Pastoral and Staff teams are fairly tired from the demanding schedule at the moment and we would appreciate your further prayer coverage as we take this time to recover and interact with our families during the blessed Christmas season.
Also, the Financial Seminar was a success! Many testimonies have been submitted from attendees about how the teaching challenged their perspective and will change lives as God's Word is put into practice. The one testifimony that blows my mind is from a man who did not understand the difference between tithes and offerings. He has been giving all of his tithes to charities outside of his Church. Amazing (and sad)! Imagine having been giving big 5 figures every year (he is well to do) and to still be under a curse for not understanding and therefore not obeying God's Word! I wonder how many others there are like that?... People who feed the children and support televangelists with BIG dollars but are still living their lives from a position outside of God's blessing! I thank God that this man will now be enforcing God's blessings in his life by giving his whole tithe to the "storehouse" so that there will be "food" in God's "house" (Malachi 3... read it if you don't know it). In plain language, that means that we must give our tithe (the 1st 10% of our income) to the one Church in which we are planted, covered and from which we receive a steady and purposeful diet of God's Word in order to be blessed.
May God continue to add to His Kingdom and may we who are in His Kingdom continue to improve and be strengthened in every way... all for His glory! Thank you friends for your prayer support over these last couple of weeks. We so appreciate the CARE (Home Group) Pastors and Lay Leadership of ICCJ who are busy following up with those who have received eternal life throughout the last few weeks! Our Pastoral and Staff teams are fairly tired from the demanding schedule at the moment and we would appreciate your further prayer coverage as we take this time to recover and interact with our families during the blessed Christmas season.
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