Word Circular 2016 - February

WORD

FEB/MAR 2016

CIRCULAR

February - March UNILAB Bayanihan Center Open Life Groups 0900 - 1020 am Coffee Fellowship 1015-1030 am Worship Service & Kids Church 1030-1200 pm

Community Site Churches WORDCOMM ORANBO 5:00-6:30 pm Kid’s Church 4:00-5:00 pm Rizal and Metro Manila Public School Teachers Association Inc., Center, Oranbo, Pasig City

WORDCOMM CAINTA 10:00-12:00 am Dahlia St., Greenland Subdivision, Cainta, Rizal

WORDCOMM OLONGAPO 5:00-7:00 pm 1395 Rizal Avenue Corner 14th St. West Tapinac, Olongapo City

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2 Sunday gatherings

We kicked of 2016 with a mini series on Why Church?, revisiting the Church’s original design and how we are personally AND communally called to living it out (not playing it nor ‘winging’ it) here in WordComm. We, the Church, were God’s dream… Take a moment imagining—God dreams, too! And He has visions of glory for us, so He pursues us with His love, giving us His life in every gathering. While it’s great feeling like it’s just you and God on a swing and He swings you up so high you feel like flying, but we’re better off flying the V formation than flying solo. That’s what we’re called to, after all.

Last week, we started a second series, on Prayer this time.

If you’re the type to only be praying when your plane’s experiencing turbulence, then welcome aboard the Hot Line Express and get used to the turbulence, haha! I’m kidding. But do come and learn how prayer is a great, great privilege to know the heart of God, His character. Because when we do, that’s the time we ask to align ourselves to His will—no matter what the situation—and be all in. Our pastors will be leading us in unearthing the ‘not-so-secret-secrets’ to a meaningful prayer life rooted in intimacy. Let’s respond in faith and in action, shall we?

So if all this seems like we’re going back to basics, it’s probably because we are. And let me conclude all the flying references with a lesson learned from Star Wars. If you feel like The Force Awakens was a rip off of A New Hope, J.J. Abrams wants you to know that to go forwards is to go backwards. Let’s use the “relationships that [embrace] the history we know to tell a story that is new.” So keep your heads up for the coming weeks ‘cause you’re playing the lead, Church! See what I did there? ;) Remember the flying V. //KS

EDITOR’S NOTE

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Water Baptism Day February 7, 2016 We rejoice with:

Hannah Perdigon Miguel GebaĂąa Cielo Perez Monique Acosta Celine Perlado for expressing their faith in Christ through water baptism.

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WHAT IS BAPTISM AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT? • • • Baptism gets its meaning and importance from the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in our place and for our sins, and from his triumph over death in the resurrection that guarantees our new and everlasting life. Because of Jesus Christ's magificent work of salvation that rescues us from the wrath of God, we are instead brought to everlasting joy in His glorious presence. It is not just about religious rituals or church traditions; it is about Jesus Christ and Him dying for our sins and rising for our justification. Baptism professes our obedience and faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified to bear the sins of millions and raised to give them everlasting life in the new heavens and the new earth. Here are some biblical truths about Baptism: - O NE -

Baptism is an Ordinance of the Lord The Lord Jesus commanded it—he ordained it—in a way that makes it an ongoing practice of the church.

We find this most explicitly in MATTHEW 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

The main verb is, “make disciples,” it can be paraphrased as, “having gone, make disciples of all nations.”

The defining participles are “baptizing them” and “teaching” them.” So the church is commanded to do this for all disciples. Making disciples of all nations includes baptizing them.

Thus, baptism is a command, an ordinance of the Lord Jesus to be performed until He returns at the end of the age.

- TWO -

Baptism Expresses Union with Christ It is clearly taught in ROMANS 6:3-4 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Water baptism is not the means of our being united to Christ, rather by faith—and we show this faith through the act of baptism.

FAITH UNITES TO CHRIST; BAPTISM SYMBOLIZES THE UNION.

The imagery of baptism is Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

INTIMACY

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“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

It dramatically portrays what happened spiritually when you received Christ: Your old self of unbelief, rebellion, and idolatry died, and a new you of faith, submission, and treasuring Christ came into being. That’s what you confess to the world and to heaven when you are baptized.

- THR EE -

Baptism is Immersion in Water We believe this expression of union with Christ happens “by being immersed in water.” The clearest evidence for this are the words of Paul in ROMANS 6:3-4 which describe the act of baptism as burial and rising from the dead.

When you are submerged under water, it signifies you are buried with Christ; and then you emerge from it to signify rising from the grave. The word baptism in Greek means dip or immerse. And most scholars agree that this is the way the early church practiced baptism.

Only much later in time did the practice of sprinkling or pouring water was practiced, as far as evidence suggests.

- FOUR -

Baptism is in the Trinitarian Name Baptism means immersing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That’s what Jesus said in MATTHEW 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

This means that baptism is not just any ordinary immersing in water.

There is a holy appeal to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to be present. This makes their work in redemption real and true. There is no salvation without the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we call on their name, we depend on them and honor them—this act is because of them, by them, and for them.

- FI VE -

Baptism is for Believers Only Our understanding in the New Testament is that baptism is an expression of faith by the one being baptized; therefore it is only for believers, having repented and expressed their union with Christ’s death and resurrection. It is not something that an unbeliever can do. It is not something than an infant can do. That is why we don’t baptize infants. // Pa stor Ja i

6 Intimacy

word comm

invite you to

SPECTRUMS FOOD + MUSIC + HANGOUT GUEST SPEAKERS + BREAKOUT

theme for the night

R E L AT I O N S H I P S

27 FEB 2016 | 5.30 pm - 7.30 pm MOM & TINA'S (along C5, across Tiendesitas)

COMMUNITY

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Influence

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P r a y e r , what is it? To some it is a t r a d i t i o n , something done before meals, something done during religious occasions and perhaps before you sleep at night. For others, prayer is what you do when you have no where else to turn. It is the l i f e l i n e you grab when your reach the end of your rope, the 911 call, the cry of desperation when all your other resources have dried up.

Or maybe prayer is m i n i s t r y , it’s intercession, me pleading for the saints, me storming the gates of heaven to accomplish God’s will here on earth.

It’s praying faithfully for all the lost that they would find Christ, or at least that our titas, titos pinsans and pumungkins would come to know the Lord. For the courageous, prayer is all about doing s p i r i t u a l wa r f a r e , binding and loosing in Jesus name, releasing God’s power here on earth, setting the captives free and cleansing our world of evil.

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Or perhaps prayer is something done by other more “s p i r i t u a l ” p e o p l e . Prayer is for the gifted, the called, the committed people who have the time and the passion to be intercessors. Maybe someday I’ll be more faithful to pray but right now, I just don’t have the time or the energy. And then there are those, even here in the church, that say prayer is a wa s t e o f t i m e . It’s boring, pointless and irrelevant. Why pray at all?

For the most part all of these understandings of prayer are valid definitions. All, except perhaps for the last, are legitimate expressions of prayer. But none of these definitions, none of these understands, captures the most important, most vital understanding of prayer. For at the heart of it, prayer is, or at least should be, a n i n t i m a t e c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h G o d . Prayer is meant to be intimate; that is, honest, real and transparent, sharing who you are and what you feel and at the same time seeing God for who he truly is, glorious, gracious, merciful, generous, righteous and holy.

Prayer is meant to be a conversation, a two way dialogue between the lover and the beloved. Not a monologue but a dialogue. Is that really possible?

Can God talk to us the way he talked to Moses, face to face? I believe it still can happen. But we must learn to slow down, learn to listen, learn to delight in God’s presence. We must learn to let go of our agenda’s and embrace God’s.

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Prayer is

dialogue between lover & beloved

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When we do that, then prayer can be a deep, satisfying transforming communion.

So why don’t we pray? Perhaps because we really don’t know how to, we don’t have “ears to hear” the voice of God. If that is the case, then there is hope, because prayer can be learned. Prayer is a d i s c i p l i n e we can grow into. For others though, we don’t pray because, in truth, we don’t believe it is needed. Either we don’t believe God really hears our prayers or we don’t believe we are worthy or important enough for God to answer our prayers.

Worse we could be functional atheists, professing faith in God, faithfully involving ourselves in the life of the church and all the while living lives of complete self-sufficiency and self-dependence.

We secretly think, “God is so busy holding up the universe I don’t want to trouble him. Besides, I can manage my life just fine without him.” I’ve heard it said, you can measure the genuineness of a person’s faith by the depth of his prayer life.

If that is true, then most of us will be in big trouble.

What is true, and what we at WordComm want to affirm, is that we are created by God for communion with him and we are created by God to be dependent on him. Jesus sums it up quite well when he says, “A b i d e i n m e … f o r a p a r t f r o m m e y o u c a n d o n o t h i n g ” (John 15:6).

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At the heart of our spirituality should be a desperate cry that says, “God I need you in my life and I long to know you and taste of your love and power.” If this is the root understanding of prayer, then all other forms of prayer; intercession, adoration, confession, worship, thanksgiving and supplication begin to make sense.

For the months of February and March we are going to go on a journey of prayer. We will be studying it, focusing on cultivating hearts that long for intimate communion with God. We will be practicing it, learning to “b e s t i l l a n d k n o w t h a t (Psalm 46:10).

I

am

God”

Hopefully at the end of our journey we at WordComm will become desperate people, dependent on God and trusting in him to work in our lives, in our church and in our nation, to accomplish his purposes and plans for His world. So join us on this journey of prayer. Come early on Sundays and recollect your heart in His presence. Stay late and bring your needs to the throne of grace.

Take time through the week to listen, meditate and intercede. Allow prayer to become a central expression of your faith and let’s see what God will do among us. // Pastor Dave

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God, I long to know you taste of your l o ve & power

and

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DCOMM R O W

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Let's Celebrate!

2 8 Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 10.30AM