Spiritual Sunday: God's Promise Fulfilled

Spiritual Sunday teaches all about life and our Big Boss.

Remember my post on Labor Day about the mini house of prayer that the people of Brgy. Bongbong, Ozamis City started to build?  Now by God's grace, I am so overwhelmingly glad to announce that it is now finished!  Yes, God has again made the impossible possible!  Yes, God has shown to His people that what He had started, He will finish!  And yes, God has been so faithful in fulfilling His promise!

Through the cooperation of the Happy Church, people from the Happy Church Bongbong Outreach, and other kind-hearted private individuals, the house of prayer is now completed with walls, ceilings, and flooring!  So the Happy Church Bible Study Center Bongbong Outreach was officially opened yesterday, August 3, 2013 at exactly 6 o'clock in the morning!  The founder of Happy Church, Pastor Elvie Go blessed the opening of the center together with missionaries Beth and Kendra.

Missionary Beth, Pastor Elvie, and Missionary Kendra

A host of people gathered which made the first worship service held at the center fully jam-packed!  And this is only the beginning.  More and more people will come every week to hear God's word and to have fellowship with the other brethren.

Now that the bible study center is finished, Bongbong outreach leader Maria Lourdes T. Putis would like to thank all the people who had contributed to the success in putting up the building.  As mentioned in my previous post, everybody (men, women, kids, and oldies) took part in making their dream house of prayer come into reality.  

Outreach Leader Lourding

Founded by prayer, this center would surely bring the good news to more people.  Founded by love, this center would surely bring more souls to the feet of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  For He is faithful and true!

So here's a quick vid telling the story of Happy Church Bible Study Center Bongbong Outreach:

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Labor Day:  Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church
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Labor Day: Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." - Matthew 16:18

Outskirt of Ozamis City lies a small barrio, Brgy. Bongbong.  It is a relocation site for the previous inhabitants of the coastal area of Baybay Triunfo after its big fire last 1997.  Concrete houses were given by the government with the help of a foreign non-governmental organization.  Then these homeless people had the opportunity to start their lives all over again.  Step by step, they stood up after their fall.

And after 16 years, the Bongbong inhabitants had developed into a community of simple and humble living.  They had also grown into friendship and love through the teachings of the Bible.  As an outreach leader of the Happy Church, Maria Lourdes T. Putis gathered her neighbors for weekly fellowship.  At first, they held it in a small nipa hut.  Eventually, the attendees grew in number so they transferred and squeezed into her small piggery.  Now can you imagine listening to the word of God with pigs around?  Well, they had managed and survived it for years until the group decided to pray for a meeting place for them to be more comfortable.

So the small group started praying and being faithful in their tithes and offering.  They saved whatever amount of money they had managed to collect in every meeting.  They brought a piece of this, a piece of that, just anything that could be of help for the construction of their mini house of prayer.  They started from total scratch until last week, they had agreed to start laying down their plans into something tangible.  After years of waiting, finally they had started building up the foundation for their weekly meeting place of worship!

The Happy Church Bongbong Outreach in Worship

In unity, the group started piling up hallow blocks for the foundation.  Then a good-hearted member contributed rocks to fill the foundation.  In order to save up for labor, all members complied to take the load of carrying these rocks.  The mission was to get what you can manage to bring from the heap of rocks to the construction site about ten to fifteen steps apart.

Truly, the bayanihan spirit of the Filipinos prevailed.  Everybody helped - men, women, adult, youth, and children alike.  There was even a pregnant woman doing her share too!  Everyone was so willing to help and happily doing his or her job.  

The lolos and lolas didn't mind their aching backs, the happy-go-lucky lads took a break from their basketball game, the pa-cute lasses ignored the scorching heat of the sun, and even the little kiddos considered it as their playtime!

After successfully transferring the rocks from its pile to the construction site, the neighborhood shared a big pot of steamy hot sweet chocolate rice porridge a.k.a. champorado (just to make it sound sosyal).  

Champorado + hearty talk + good laughs = true Christian fellowship.  That equation made their day after their toilsome labor!

Truly, answering God's call takes a lot of sacrifice.  But sacrificing for the love of God and brethren is being rewarded eternally.  Like the Happy Church Bongbong Outreach, living a life in simplicity and contentment is greatly accepted at its best.  They may not be rich in worldly riches but they are rich in love.  What they did for each other in building up their meeting place is indeed a labor of love.  The foundation had been laid out and there are still walls, ceilings, flooring, etc.  Through faith, they are fervently praying for the completion of their "home".  And they are positive that they will and they can finish what they had already started! 

This is Only the Beginning

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Easter Sunday: The Symbolism of the Easter Eggs

He is risen!  Jesus is risen from the dead!  As we commemorate Jesus' resurrection today, we make use of Easter eggs.  These are any kind of eggs which are colored and hand-painted with different designs making them special.  These are given from one person to another as a way to celebrate the victory of Jesus over death!

Then what do these eggs symbolize?  Simple!  As an egg hatches, a birdling is given a new life while the shell is being left behind.  The shell symbolizes the empty tomb of Jesus and the birdling is the life that Jesus had freely given to us.  For it is written, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." - John 11:25-26        

This is God's eternal promise to us.  That as we believe and receive Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we are being freed from the wages of sin.  And once we do, we are given a new life - the real life that God is so longing for us to have.  In the same way, the shell also symbolizes our old life and the birdling as our new life.  We should leave behind our worldly past to enjoy the eternal future God has stored for us through Jesus Christ! :)  

Easter Sunday Celebration at Happy Church

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.  The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:8-11

Happy Easter, everyone! :)

Experience the love of Christ!  Visit Happy Church at Bernard Ave., Ozamis City.

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