House2HouseMD

With Thanksgiving Is it possible we may have made idolatry of thanksgiving to mean what we only do at the end after our expected answer to prayer? If we get the expected result then we thank God who has bowed to our demands and produced what we demanded in prayer. No wonder we have become a thankless generation - ungrateful to God for who He is but instead waiting first for specific prayer answer. Maybe we can learn from Jesus who saw the hungry crowd and with seven loaves and fish in hand began to thank God in the present reality - uncertainty of feeding 5K people with what is at hand. This type of thanksgiving is echoed by Apostle Paul as he wrote his Philippian friends: “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:6-7 Thanksgiving is the expression of complete...

Esteem Others Better than Self? The world encourages us to first take care of self. The instruction in the plane before take-off clearly speaks to this. “If you are travelling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person”. Very contrary to Jesus who came to serve and not to be served. Esteem others better than self? You must be kidding. The Philippian Church had conflict without and within. The root of all conflict is selfishness (James 4:1-3). We have conflicts within in our homes (marriage, children, in-laws and outlaws) and even in the Church itself among individuals and camps of people. Paul is now addressing the root and asking the Philippians and us to deal with it. Why? Again for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of Christ there must be unity. Jesus said they will know us (as His) by our love for one another. “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of ...

My Conduct, Your Conduct How we conduct ourselves matters to God for one purpose – for the sake of the Gospel; in essence for the sake of Christ. Our conduct is not the basis of salvation but if you are saved and has Christ living in you, there is an expected conduct (way of living). We established last week that “For to me, to live is Christ”; meaning Christ is doing the living and enabling the doing in me. Let’s hear Apostle Paul encourage his friends, the Philippians – Jesus will complete the good work He started in them and us. We must always answer, Is this how a “Kingdom of God’s” child would act? 27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation,[d] and that from God. 29 For to ...

For To Me, To Live is ………? I encourage you to please stop, reflect and answer the question and fill in the blank: For me to live is …? I have struggled myself to fill in the blank. Why are you living? What may be the possible answers we could give? For to me, to live is to be wealthy and have nice family; to live is good health and good sports; to live is good church family. What is your answer? This is how Apostle Paul answered: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”. Philippians 1:21. We looked at the fear of dying, now let’s deal with living. “To live is ….? 1. Notice that Paul did not say, “For to me, to live is for Christ.” He said, “To live is Christ”. Both are equally true for Paul. But he means to live is Christ. What does it mean “to live is Christ”? To live for Christ places the emphasis of living in the things I can do for Christ and not the things He can do thru me. His Holy Spirit lives in me and He enables my “doing”. I thank God. 2. If I am livi...

Fear of Death and Dying No one wants to talk about our biggest fear, the fear of death and dying. Woody Allen said, "It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." The fear is for the unknown. “Death is the termination of all biological functions that sustain a living organism”. It separates. A co-worker Dr. Jeff passed away yesterday. He had been sick for a couple of months. Mr. Rivera, a former neighbor in his 80s died last week. Mr. Rivera had also been sick for about a year. Please pray for these families that God will comfort them. We all have had close relatives die. It is painful. People that have no relationship with Jesus fear death and dying. They may pretend not to by masking fear with temporary pleasantries. How about the believer in Jesus? “He (Jesus) too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all the...

Fear of Speaking What is the most courageous thing you have ever done? Courage is there to overcome fear. We all have many fears - healthy fears (of fire, height) and destructive fears. The fear of speaking is debilitating. Even more so is the fear of speaking the TRUTH. Satan capitalizes on our fear of speaking the TRUTH. He is the father of lies so he makes sure people will fear so as to lie to one another. Even worse is the fear to speak to people about Christ and the good news of the gospel. Have you noticed that we are not afraid of discussing the weather and other non-consequential topics even with strangers, but we freeze when it comes to telling them about the gospel of salvation in Christ? You and I are not alone. Even Moses in the Bible had the same fear to speak. He told God so. Apostle Paul wrote his beloved Philippians to encourage them about speaking and preaching the gospel. He says learn from people who are overcoming their fears. Listen to Paul, Philippians ...

Chains/Suffering for Christ and the Gospel Oswald Chambers writes, “The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them”. Stuff in our lives just happen and often we can’t stop or control them. My son was sick this summer and he spent almost two months in the hospital. It was very hard for him and us because we could not help him in our capacity as parents. God helped him and he is well now. We thank God and thank you for praying. Apostle Paul did not bargain to be in jail and now writing the Philippians from there. False accusations, series of bad decisions by some officials and their desire to please the people landed Paul in jail. Caution: The consequences of our stupid mistakes/decisions (e.g. spending beyond your means) are not suffering for Christ. Listen to Paul tell his own story in Phil...