Victory in suffering (12/26)

Gospel: Matthew 10: 17-22

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ~ Matthew 10:21-22



Merry Christmas brothers and sisters in Christ! Today is the second day of Christmas and the feast of Saint Stephen, a man who was filled with faith and Holy Spirit; who completely entrusted and submitted his self to the Lord. His suffering and strong faith to God is a great example of courage and faith that our Gospel speaks about today.

The disciples were warned by Jesus that by following Him they too may experience suffering and persecution. The disciples took the risk just to serve and follow Jesus and this only shows their complete trust and total surrender. But Jesus assured His disciples that the Holy Spirit will guide them and make them humble servants of the Lord.

The Gospel today reminds us to have faith in God and have the courage to face all life’s challenges and sacrifices all for the glory of our Lord. Like our fulltime missionaries in the community, they gave up their jobs just to serve God and lead other people from different places to be closer to the Lord. And during their missions, they too experience persecutions in various ways but God has filled them with the Holy Spirit and made them faithful and courageous.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, at times when we feel afraid and seem to fail, just remember that we have a great God that will help us. Let us surrender ourselves and keep our hearts faithful to the Lord like Saint Stephen, the disciples, and our fulltime SFC missionaries did. Once again, Merry Christmas!

Bro Nel

Unit 1

The word was made flesh (12/25)

Gospel: John 1: 1-18

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14


Christmas as a kid was always fun. I would wake up in the morning, open Santa Claus' gifts and celebrate it with family and friends. But one Christmas morning, my brothers and I woke up with gifts under the tree but nothing from Santa Claus. We got sad, thinking that he might have forgotten us. My parents explained to us that Christmas has a deeper meaning more than just presents.

As we grow older, we learn and discover a lot. Our endless seeking for knowledge makes us well informed with things around us. One of them is the true meaning of Christmas. It's when God's promise turned into flesh; Jesus Christ was born. He is the man who made the biggest impact in everyone's heart and the very same person who saved us from our sins.

You may receive all the gifts in the world but none can make you satisfied and blessed than receiving the greatest gift that you'll receive; the love that the Lord has promised us. It is the love that we are now sharing in this community will be the same love that we’ll extend to those who hasn’t fully know Him.

May we all have a blessed Christmas!

Bro Tim
Unit 1

The birth of John the Baptist (12/23)

Gospel: Luke 1:57-66

Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.  ~ Luke 1:66

God gives us dreams to live them out, not just to hope for them. He places big things in our heart so we can use our faith!

Bro Shilo
Unit 1

Deeper faith (12/21)

Gospel: Luke 1:39-45

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ~ Luke 1:41-42

Indeed, the Holy Spirit is God's gift to us. In the past 7 years working and staying here in Dubai I’ve been through a lot of struggles and personal problems. But having a deeper faith and relationship with God and living with the Lord as the center of my life, I always feel the joy and power of the Holy Spirit on my daily routine as a person, as a brother in the community and as a Christian. For me, everyday God is working for each one of us through the Holy Spirit. God is alive and always there for us no matter what. Be prepared and ready every moment of your life by accepting HIS love and grace...

Bro Manny
Unit 1

Journey (12/17)

Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah ~ Matthew 1:17

Browsing the pages in our bible we can see how people refused and accepted the calling and the commandments of the Lord, as well as how our God continuously and constantly stood by His people to offer His undying love and mercy. Because of his Love - God’s glory has passed on to generation to generation as people from all walks of life carry their cross to share and evangelize not only in obedience, but for love and gratitude to the lord our God.

In the past I am so much concern about finding and landing a good job in a well reputed company with an attractive salary package. These things are normal but as I observe the people who have all these, with all the material things in life, I came to ask myself, “Are they truly happy? Can these things make us really happy?” There was a time that I felt everything is well in my life but I cannot help but notice the feeling of something is lacking and no matter where I turn to I can still feel that there is a void that needs to be filled. And this void made me seek more than what this material world can offer, this emptiness directed me to dig deeper and question my goal and purpose in life. Little did I know that I was only feeding my soul and the void that I was feeling was the emptiness in my spirit. And this realization brought me to a path that leads me to seek the Word, where not only my soul was filled but my spirit as well.

This experience made me understand that by carrying our cross we are not only feeding our spirit but also experiencing the fullness of life with the Lord in our hearts. And this is the reason why the glory of God has been passed on to from one generation to another as we cannot disregard, refute, exclude the fact that we need the love and mercy of the Lord our Father.

Bro Jason
Unit 1