Last year I preached this new year message in several churches where I was invited to preach. This message has blessed my heart so much. I hope this will bless you too as we celebrate the first Lord ’s Day this year. My three main texts are found in Exodus 12:1-24, 13:1-10, Exodus 23:14-19 and Deuteronomy 16:1-22 Introduction: The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who was pictured as a man with two faces, one looking backward and the other forward. New Year’s Day provides a valuable time to ponder the past while anticipating the future. The New year In the Old Testament— The first month of the Hebrew calendar was in the spring, around March/April. In its later history the nation of Israel adopted all 12 months of the Babylonian calendar as their civil calendar. (The month of Nisan Being the first month) With regard to the year, the Jewish historian Josephus stated that Israel had two New Years—the commercial New Year, which began in the fall … [Read more...]
Truly Thankful
Last December 16, 2007, it was my turn to teach Sunday school at the Career class again, so I decided to teach on the topic of Thanksgiving since it was thanksgiving Sunday at our church, the Cebu Bible Baptist Church at 55-23 Katipunan St. Labangon Cebu City, pastored by Dr. Armie Jesalva. I also preached this sermon last December 23, 2007 at the Bible Baptist Church of Mohon Talisay Pastored by Pastor Gemmo Suberano. I am so blessed by this sermon that I will be preaching this today at the Thanks giving service of Bible Baptist Church - San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, pastored by my father in law, Pastor Eddie Gerodias. For my introduction, I discussed the history of thanksgiving in the United States, and proceed with the story of the government mandate to celebrate thanksgiving. Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth Rock, proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in 1621 to celebrate the survival of the Pilgrims in their second year in the New World, as well as an abundant harvest … [Read more...]
Should Christians celebrate Christmas ?
Today we are going to talk about Christmas. No we will not be talking about Santa Claus, gifts, reindeers or food or most especially considering the tons of food we have in Christmas,we are going to talk about something important. We are going to answer a very important question, should Christians celebrate Christmas. I read an article the other day in our church publication stating that Christmas is a pagan holiday and that as Christians we should not celebrate Christmas. I totally agree with the writer that Christmas as it is celebrated right now has its roots in a pagan holiday. If you do a little bit of research in the internet you can find that during the time of the Romans, December was the month of orgies, feasts and festivals to the gods. This is what they called as the fest of Saturnalia. Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and began on December 17. As the winter was coming, the Romans wanted to appease the gods, in order that they could survive the winter. For … [Read more...]
Another interview with God ?
I'm sure nearly all of us has seen “The interview with God” and perhaps we are somewhat “touched” be the message conveyed by the presentation. See what matters most in this life. However there is another interview with God that truly reveals what God really wanted to say to mankind. I think this interview with God is the one that really ask the right questions and the answers of God are those that are really found in his Word. “Another interview with God” focuses on the issues that are truly imptant not only in this life but in eternity as well. It shows God's true message to mankind as revealed in His Word. So click on the link above and may you respond to God's message for you. … [Read more...]
PRINCIPLES OF STEWARDSHIP
Among the many roles that I assume, one of the most important is being a Sunday school teacher at the Cebu Bible Baptist Church. I teach Sunday school to the career class together with Atty. Valeriano Loon and Prof. Roland Go. Last Sunday I talked about the Principles of Stewardship as laid down in the Bible. My Main text was Mathew 25:14-27. Jesus was talking here about the parable of the talents. The parable is as follows; the master leaves for a journey and leaves to his servants several talents. In Bible times money was in the form of rings of gold, silver, or brass and was weighted. The Talent represents a large amount of money. The amount of which varies depending on whether it was of silver or gold equivalent and whether it was light or heavy weight. The current value of a talent could be somewhere from 1,000 to 30,000 dollars.(U.S) One servant was given Five talents, the other two and the other one. When the master returned both servants that were given the five talents and … [Read more...]