By the time you read this, I will probably have read this article in our worship service. I thought it was very insighful and solidly biblical.

Re read it again and I know you will be blessed.

=)

Pastor Arlen

10 Reasons Not to Panic…

Greetings Church Family,

Today, I would like to place two things before you. The first is our theme for 2008-2009. Last week’s article affirmed that we who follow Jesus Christ are his body and He is our head. The Bible also uses the picture that we are the Bride of Christ and our Fiance is coming to get us one day soon. But are we ready for our marriage to Jesus? So this year, our focus will be: who we are in Christ and how we can best prepare for His coming.

The second thing I want to tell you is that time really flies. September/October marks the 10th year of our existence as a Church Family. It also marks the 5th year of our church plant in Aiea. So the elders and I have discussed hosting a Thanksgiving Celebration on Wed. Nov. 26th at 7:00p.m. Pastor Owen and Christ’s Church at Aiea will join us as well.

Let’s celebrate our anniversary and pending wedding with Jesus together!

Blessings,
Pastor Arlen

Today’s article on our Statement of Faith has quite an unusual title. Let me explain…

I heard a message this past week speaking about this topic that everyone needs to follow someone. Even leaders need to be lead. That’s the theme of this article.

While there are those among us who always like to be first and like to be the one leading the charge, it’s not wise to rely solely on your own thinking and planning in every situation.

Even for us as a church family, I hope you understand that you are not following every whim and fancy that I have for our congregation. My goal as your pastor is to lead you to Christ. And my battle cry is “Follow me as I Follow Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1) Jesus Christ is the leader (i.e. head) of our church as our Statement of Faith affirms.

The Church- We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

So let me challenge you to reexamine in your life, how are you following Christ? Is your first response to God’s word and His Spirit obedience? If God were to redirect us as a church, would you be willing to follow? He’s the head, and as in any good leadership structure, we must “follow the leader.”

Blessings!
Pastor Arlen

Did you know that we’re right in the middle of hurricane season? Are you prepared? What resources do you need to be prepared? Flashlights, Candles, bottled water, portable gas stove, canned goods, etc.

There’s a lot we need to be prepared for a hurricane. But there’s so much more we need to be prepared for life.

That’s why Jesus made sure we had everything we needed to live life and fulfill the personal calling each of us has. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit and He is all we need. This week’s Statement of Faith focuses on the Holy Spirit:

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christlike living and service.

We cannot live the Christian life alone. But that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. He guides us and completes us. The Apostle Paul understood this fact so fully that he said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” That Christ living in us is the Holy Spirit.

Whatever you face today, are you prepared? If you’re living your life yielded and guided by the Holy Spirit, you have all you need.

Blessings,

Pastor Arlen

Let me ask you a question.  “What Jesus fully human?”  It’s likely that if you have been in the church for a while you’ll reply, “Of course Jesus was fully God and fully human.”  It’s the answer that we’ve all been taught in the church.  But I’m not sure we really  understand the paradox.
I think we all understand what it means for Jesus to be fully God.   We are able to accept that in the beginning to time, The Father, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit co-existed and planned and created the universe.  And throughout history, the divine Jesus has occasionally appeared to people as “THE angel of the Lord” or in another divine form.
But I’m not sure we grasp what it means for Jesus to be fully human.  Because when we read about Jesus in the Bible, he’s always performing miracles and walking on water and doing amazing supernatural feats.  It’s easy for us to stumble into the error of separating Jesus into two personalities.  When we see him performing miracles our error would be to see that as the divine Jesus. And when we see him getting tired or hungry we can relate with that so we associate that with his humanity.
But don’t be mistaken, everything Jesus did he did as a human.  In Philippians 2 the Bible affirms that Jesus didn’t regard equality with God as something to be grasped.  In other words, when he walked the earth, he put aside his divine power and functioned purely as a human totally dependent on God.  And when he performed a miracle, he did it as a man connected to God and totally dependent on God to supply the power for the miracles.  Just like us.  Doesn’t that blow your mind?
Re-read the first line of this week’s statement of faith with a renewed understanding of how Jesus was fully God yet fully human at the same time.
Jesus Christ – We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.