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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 21:14 |
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 Even if we know that men of God, servants, prophets, kings, apostles, and the Lord Jesus Christ most of all, bore troubles so severe as to cry out “Abba, Father, why have you forsaken me? ” we too, when thrown into moments of helplessness even to a much lesser degree but no less wrenching it seems, can feel “na parang nag-iisa lang...,” as Raul de-Asis Hipe shared during a Sabbath message on June 26, 2010.
Being stoned, starved, shipwrecked, exiled, imprisoned, thrown into a pit, torn apart, would make one think, here I am doing the mission of the LORD God, not any crime but I am met with all this...
Yet also it is when we really listen to what these men and women of God spoke and wrote, those who went through severe troubles, that the most reassuring words come. They soar as magnificent praise to the Almighty... recognizing beyond words the work He is making of us, “more precious than gold that perishes...”
“I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together...
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!...
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.”
-David, after fleeing from Abimelech, Psalms 34:1-3, 8, 19-20 NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. –letter of apostle Paul to the Romans, ch. 8:35-39
CLICK ON THE LINKS below to LISTEN TO THE PODCAST or DOWNLOAD THE MP3 FILE to understand the glorious intricate work the Almighty is making of our inward heart, allowing trials which alone can test the level of our trust, faith, maturity and how committed are we to that pearl of great price, the Kingdom of GOD...
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Last Updated on Thursday, 01 July 2010 08:18 |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 25 June 2010 22:07 |
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 Anything solid left to stand on? Anything left that is not hostile, pretentious, fake, defiant, sick, threatened, inflated, shaken, flooded, submerged, disguised, dismembered, incinerated, decimated or about to be? Fear tries to keep up appearances of hope, but where do we look for hope, when it is now pared down to a kind of vague wishing, not-sure-cross-your-fingers counting on “someone out there,” “somebody up there,” “something in here”? Hope, supposed to “spring eternal,” now just recycled illusions sustained by photo-op smiles and handshakes?
What if you had the chance find the original only true HOPE, that continues for the whole human family, uninterrupted, invisible, certain, as Juan Gabriel Cardona honored during a Sabbath message on June 19, 2010, “the strong and confident expectation...” woven throughout Scripture:
“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance...” —apostle’s letter to believers in Rome, ch. 8:24-25
Can we count on this hope? If we are used to stuff that crumbles as soon as it is labeled invincible, how can we begin to believe in the realities that the Eternal Living GOD reveals? What is it like to actually experience, by the longsuffering mercies and precise intricate artistry of the Potter, the state of “not seeing yet believing”? How can we tell the false hope from the real, especially when the fakes can seem so appealing?
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?
While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant,
The hope of the hypocrites shall perish, whose confidence shall be cut off...”- Job 8:11
CLICK ON THE LINK below to LISTEN TO THE PODCAST or DOWNLOAD THE MP3 FILE to find out how the only true hope literally changes everything we value, and forms in us made of dust, a treasure which nothing in heaven or earth can ever destroy...
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Last Updated on Saturday, 26 June 2010 07:40 |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 26 May 2010 23:24 |
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 What can possibly strangle the life out of someone who is working to “bear much fruit” after he comes to know the Word of God and strives to “walk in the Spirit”?
During the Sabbath message of May 15, on the count-up to Pentecost, Raul de Asis-Hipe stripped the bark off the wildly prolific species of THORNS, which the Eternal God constantly warned about. As old as the land and thriving in the lives of all of us who are looking the other way.
Far from being an occasional prick, thorns were a constant pain in the neck of landkeepers in Israel, who had to uproot and burn the lot. Only a lazy man would dare relax for long before his fields were overrun by these unproductive invaders.
Even the tirelessly working apostle Paul who brought the good news of the kingdom of God to the known world* found rebellious, corrupt, oppositors of God to be more of a thorn in the flesh than the headaches and eye trouble he hinted at in his letters to the churches...
“Do not be afraid of their words, or be dismayed by their looks, for they are a rebellious house...” –Ezekiel 2:6
What threat do thorns have on our spiritual journey? CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen to the podcast or download the mp3 file to find out how we can identify creeping signs of its presence... When are we in danger of becoming one? What possibilities open up when we untangle ourselves from the clutches of thorns?
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 May 2010 23:36 |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 09 May 2010 23:49 |
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 One of several perceptive hints in our picturesque Tagalog is that we use the word ugat for both ‘vein’ and ‘root,’ as observed by Raul de Asis-Hipe during the Sabbath message of May 1, 2010. In the quest for continuity, geneticists are now excited by the possibilities that come from isolating building blocks of human life such as embryonic or even amniotic stem cells, anticipating that its ability to self-renew will enable them to regenerate new cells, mend tissue damage, restore healthy blood and bone marrow, open the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind, make the body good as new...
Yet the very same roots our Almighty Creator commanded us to honor so we could have the kind of long life worth having, are slipping from our grasp. The more we race for youth and longevity, the more the younger workforce is forced to toil 24/7, relegates our parents to functionaries, valued only for their economic utility, slaves to their children, set aside as “non-performing assets” at a certain age, each generation a vile antithesis of the fifth commandment, wrinklier and sicker...
“Honor your father and your mother...” –Exodus 20:12a, NKJV
Could there be any particular reason why the LORD God turns our attention to parents immediately after the first four commandments? How does honoring our parents affect our being, the relationships we have and our view of life? What exactly about parents is most essential that we honor? How scathing is the condemnation of our Elder Brother Jesus Christ for those who help others or even give to the church at the expense of neglecting their parents? In what way does honoring our parents help years before a cuddly baby turns into a sulky teenager? Who is responsible for teaching sons and daughters how to honor parents? Is there any letup for parents’ effort to ensure their sons and daughters learn what often seems impossible to teach?
Does honoring our parents carry significant consequences for our destiny?
CLICK ON THE PODCAST EPISODE below to listen to or DOWNLOAD the MP3 LINK to take a second look at how deep and how far honoring our roots will take us...
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 May 2010 21:23 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 06 May 2010 12:07 |
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 In Scripture, covenant between people involved measuring each other up, agreeing to conditions of mutual benefit, obtaining critical support of forces necessary for a sovereign to establish rule and order; words of honor exchanged with trustworthy persons especially when one can’t find them in his own family...
Taking off from the 32nd day of the count-up to Pentecost, the Sabbath of May 1, 2010, Juan Gabriel Cardona explored the beauty of COVENANT as prepared by the LORD God from the beginning and throughout the ages:
From the time the Almighty Creator introduced Himself “I AM THE LORD your GOD” to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, making covenant (Heb. beyrith) with both conditions and promises extending to their descendants... to GOD’s REMEMBRANCE of His covenant whenever those same willful, headstrong descendants cried out to Him... to the time GOD Himself made a covenant with the people of Israel, the most basic manifestation of which was the commandments...
One feature stands out: That even when people have been consistently unfaithful, the LORD GOD has always been faithful “from eternity to eternity...”
Making it all the more astonishing that the Almighty Father went ahead to lay everything on the line to give His only Son for a “new covenant which the LORD GOD will make with the house of Israel..”
“Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.” – Galatians 3:15-17 NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thus, far from being adjustable and subject to human predilection for “discarding the old in favor of the new, or magnifying just one aspect of the faith (obedience, grace, salvation, etc), covenant (Gr. diatheke) in all its completeness, now carries final, exacting weight, more in the sense of ‘will’ and ‘testament,’ “huling kagustuhan ng mamamatay... walang bisa hanggang mamatay muna ang gumawa” The shedding of the precious blood of the Lamb put this covenant into effect...
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?... –Hebrews 10:26-29, NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen to the podcast episode or DOWNLOAD the mp3 file to explore the beauty of GOD’s covenant, one of the themes central to His relationship with human beings; and the thoughtful, eternally hopeful extension of covenant to us, born in “the times of the end...”
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Last Updated on Sunday, 09 May 2010 10:02 |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 26 April 2010 22:38 |
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 Recalling the self-defeating tips and tricks students employ to get the sting out of exams in electrical engineering, former student and now college professor Gilbert Deboma reminded us of a much-needed spiritual discipline during a message on April 5, 2010, the 7th Day of the Passover Feast (Unleavened Bread):
“Karamihan ng tao ay natatakot sa mga surprise quizzes or exams. Ngunit ang exams ay pangsukat ng abilidad ng estudyante at ng effectiveness ng guro sa pagtuturo... Sa kolehiyo, bago pa lamang magsimula ang klase, kailangan nang makagawa ang guro ng plano ng pagsusulit. Mahalaga ang mga surprise exam para malaman natin gaano tayo kahanda araw-araw....
“Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you are disqualified.” –2nd Corinthians 13:5
“Para sa mga nais mabuhay sa matuwid na paraan ng Panginoon, nasubukan na ba natin ang ating sarili, o baka naka-tulala lang, sa umpisa nag-iisip pag tumagal ay medyo nawawala na yung iniisip? Anu-ano ba ang mga tanong na maari nating sagutin sa ating paggawa ng self-examination? Para mag-grow naman tayo unti-unti, hindi lang unting-unti...”
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3 file of plain but revealing questions in giving ourselves a test...
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Talaga bang naniniwala tayo na may Diyos?
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Sumusunod ba ako sa mga alam ko na dapat sundin?
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Kapag hindi ako sumusunod, okay lang ba ang pakiramdam ko?
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Ano’ng klaseng konsyensya ang nais kong mabuo?
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Have we accepted GOD’s will for real? O naglalaban pa ang kalooban natin?
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Is our heart right? Do we still feel sad about disobedience the same way GOD does?
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Before moving on to witness to or help other people, do we nurture our relationships within our own family?...
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Last Updated on Thursday, 29 April 2010 09:36 |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 17 January 2010 23:24 |
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 As able human beings reach out to our fellowmen in Haiti, it is devastating to remember how when the earth moves under our feet, we are crushed to death in seconds, even in cities that have stood for centuries. And because we build over a crust of large rock masses in constant motion, with seismometers detecting more than one million (detectable) quakes a year, volcanologists remind us one is occurring right now, and we are all asked to be prepared for what cannot be predicted...
Did the LORD God intend earthquakes to bring calamitous grief? Contrary to the horrible destruction to man-made habitations, Raul de Asis Hipe showed during the Sabbath message of January 16, 2010, how in Scripture, seven occurrences of earthquakes precede momentous healing and restorative events. The giving of the law, recognition of the Son of God, the resurrection of the Christ, the wrath of God, are among them...
CLICK ON THE LINK below to listen to the podcast episode or download the mp3 file to recognize how, despite the perils to physical life as we know it, earthquakes awaken all of us who have the chance to acknowledge the LORD God, and strengthen instead of weaken, and how Scripture reassures us that the “big one” to come will precede the most awesome event in history... will you overcome or will you be among those who will curse God?...
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 21:42 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 07 January 2010 17:40 |
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 “How parents bring up their children, the love they give, the values they teach, the environment they offer, education they provide influences not only their child but the four generations to follow...” With the sanctuary of family ripped by parental abuse, resignation and hands-off neglect, assorted descendants who try to patch a family from casual attachments is but one outcome of the five-generation rule, as Raul de Asis Hipe brought out during the Sabbath message of December 17, 2009.
A general pattern seen either in responsible or rebellious bloodlines, both in blessings, and in curses, the five-generation rule is illustrated vividly in the LORD God’s relationship with Abraham, a singular but encompassing example of one who lived faithful to God, passed the blessing on to his son, his sons conferring their father’s blessing onto their own children, thus making possible for all human beings, drawn near to the Father through the redeeming sacrifice of His firstborn Son, to have a part in that same blessing, essential as the spiritual lifeblood of succeeding generations...
Click on the link below to listen to the podcast or download the mp3 file to recognize the value of the steadfastness of our spiritual parents in continuing that generational blessing and the urgency of our need to understand, so we build up instead of mess up...
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Last Updated on Friday, 08 January 2010 06:43 |
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