Sunday Service

GOOD LUCK ON FINALS GUYS!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Wow, today's worship was just heavenly! I feel like I haven't worshiped so freely for a while and this afternoon the Holy Spirit just made my heart burn for God. Lord I can sing of Your love forever!

Pastor David's sharing completely blew me away. I had been praying to God to tell me what my calling is and to help me live a disciplined and purpose-driven life, so today's message on goals and Pastor David's prayer gave me God's answer. Hallelujah!

Importance of goals:
Goals determine our attitude. Attitude determines our sense of joy. That sense of joy determines our sense of purpose. Many people in this world live like football athletes running around and hitting each other aimlessly. We need to set goals to know where to run! We need to set our end zones right so nothing in this world will be able to shake us. We won't be drown by this world because God has shown us the light.

Two end zones that we will/must go after for the rest of our lives if we love Jesus:

1.First End Zone: Build Up God's Kingdom: We need to prepare for the harvest by building God's system so people will see His light.

• Billions Will Be Saved: In Revelation7:9~15, John saw countless people before God's throne. These people were all saved during the Tribulation. City after city will surrender to God in a matter of days as nation after nation will turn to Him before Christ returns. If ten billion will be saved in seven years that means three millions will accept God as their personal savior every day!! This is incredible! I'm so excited!
• The Need For A "God System": Yet the Tribulation is also a time of great darkness; the anti-Christ will take over and rule this earth with one government. To counter that, the people of God needs to start building a global system of refuge that will offer a way out of the anti-Christ' network. Billions don't get saved because big churches are build or holy preachers are raised; they will get saved if we would build up God's network on earth. We are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. We need to establish a system not of this world but of heaven.
• Building His Kingdom Now: A kingdom is made of government, education, and economy. It takes a lot of money to build a kingdom, but God desires many of us to have the wealth of Babylon to build up the system. God will use us as key people to turn kings' hearts to God's kingdom. That's why we need to study hard in school so in the future we can connect with CEO's of global companies that dominate the world. We need God's people to rise up in every area: in the government, in the education system, and in the economy. God will use the world's system to equip us, and we need to do all we can to learn so we can invest into God's kingdom. This is not the time to slack off, this is a time to work hard. We need to excel above our peers because we are going to build a system not of this world. There is a calling to take leadership and build up God's network, a network built for the sake of saving souls.

2. Second End Zone: Jesus' Millennium: Everything we do today needs to be built into the Kingdom of light and last forever into eternity.

• There will be a flood that washes everything away when Christ returns. When the flood comes everything will perish, but the system we built in this world for God will stand. Everything we do will stand strong so when Christ comes, He will not destroy it, and will build His millennium kingdom on it. That's what it means to build for the eternal kingdom.

It is time for us to shift our reliance on the systems of this world to the kingdom of God, because the world will soon come under Satan's control. If we build our confidence on the world, we are building our houses on sand. We need to build our house on Jesus, the Rock.

Let's run toward these two end zones and follow Jesus!

THIS IS TOO FUNNY

Hahaha, o man, I had to share this with y'all. Tarah, my STI prayer group leader, kept in touch with us through email, and here's one of them:

These are HILARIOUS!!!

They're Back! Those wonderful Church Bulletins!
These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not come this way again," giving obvious pleasure to many in the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be try outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may beseen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would end him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

Pastor Updyke unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday with the slogan: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours."

Sunday Service

We had some awesome testimonies today; Sarah led a friend to Christ through msn, John and several other Supernatural On Campus comrades encountered the Holy Spirit through wholehearted worship, and Amy took a leap of faith out of her comfort zone to pray for a waiter at Shakey's Pizza! I'm so encouraged by what John did at UCSD, I want to gather with other sisters and brothers in Christ in UCI as well!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK (got it from Saturday's ministry meeting): 515. Meet 5 new friends this week and get their information. Share the gospel to at least 1 of the new friends. Stay in contact through whatever means (texting, emailing, calling, mailing an Impact postcard, and instant messaging) with the 5 new friends. Wow, this is what I call living a focused life!

Today Jack's topic is: "God is Our Foundation"

He Commanded us to GO: In Acts 21, the disciples traveled to different places. These Christ followers believe that everywhere they go, there are nonbelievers who need Jesus' salvation. The disciples' mission was simply to spread the gospel. God will do miracles through us, but only when we are willing to stand up and go. In Matthew28:19, Jesus gave His people the great commission; He didn't say, "stay and study my Word first," Jesus told them to "Go! Go out there and make disciples of all nations!" It is time to reap the harvest for God's kingdom, and we cannot afford to waste anymore time waiting until we are "ready" to do God's work.

Paul Declared That God Is His Foundation: So anyway, Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem, but all the disciples pleaded with him not to go. There are many people persecuting and attempting to kill the apostle. A prophet also urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem, yet Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."(v.13) Paul was eager for His Lord to be known and he had already given everything up for God long ago. Paul is declaring, "My God is good! I build my faith upon the rock, the Lord is my foundation!"

Worshiping Him In The Wilderness: The name of our God is Foundation. In Isaiah28:16, God built the cornerstones on Zion. God loved that place so much because David worshiped Him there constantly. Though Zion is a deserted place, the Lord called it His dwelling place. Where is our Zion? God wants to meet us in our spiritual wilderness. The wilderness is God's invitation to us to encounter Him in the most intimate way. When we are most weak we'll hunger after the Lord more and God will respond to our cry.

God Is Smiling At Us: When we are dry in the spirit, when we are feeling hopeless, when depression is overwhelming us, God is there, shining His smile at us and trying to cheer us up. Such tender love! Imagine the Creator of heaven and earth, the Almighty God, the Holy One, kneeling down besides His fallen child and doing everything to let His beloved know that everything will be alright, that He will make the pain go away, and that He will never abandon the child. In Psalm42, the psalmist cries out to God in his distress and marvels at how kind the Lord's countenance is. When we fail in life, when others criticize us, when everything seems to be falling apart, we can turn to God, and find Him smiling down at us, comforting and encouraging us.

A Pastor's Dream: In heaven, the servants of God lined up and offered their sacrifices to God with their faces down. The Lord went from one servant to another, carrying a torch in His hand and setting each offering on fire. Some offerings got burnt to ashes completely, some only partly, and those servants wept with sorrow. When the Lord approached the pastor, he woke up from his dream, terrified. What kind of foundation are we building for our lives? Will it withstand the test in the end? Our lives need to be based on Jesus Christ, the foundation God laid down for us, or else we will be like fools building houses on sand, and when a tsunami comes the house will immediately crumble.

But as always, Jack "saved" the best for the last (we love you Jack!), here are his main points:

1. Foundation Provides Security: Jesus is our security. His insurance policy is forever free, forever guaranteed, and has the best service! God wants us to live a worry-free life. Worry is actually a sin because when we worry we are not trusting in God. The church in Redding proclaimed that Redding is a cancer-free city because in God's kingdom there is no illness! Let's proclaim that the cities we live in are worry-free zones! Long Beach, Bakersfield, Riverside, San Gabriel, Pasadena, Irvine, and San Diego are worry-free zones in the name of Jesus!

2. Foundation Brings Hope: God's unfailing love brings us hope. His love is patient, it endures, and it suffers long. God brings us new hope daily. He doesn't toss us a second hand or used hope, He always gives us brand new hope! We have hope in God, that whatever we build upon our foundation in Christ will stand firm to the end.

3. Foundation Never Fails: the world will fade away, but God's Word will remain. In Isaiah54:10~11, God declared that His unfailing love will never be shaken, and that He will build us with sapphire and stones of turquoise. Sapphire symbolizes love and longing! The Lord longs for us with great affection. Stones of turquoise stand for friendship and consistency in relationship. Wow, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords calls us His beloved friend! This is awesome!

God I want to build my life on this rock instead of sand, Lord be the fire in me, be the purpose of my life!