15th Church Anniversary Celebration
August 19, 2007
Praise the Lord that more than 450 guests and members joined and celebrated our 15th Anniversary on this Sunday.
“”Venture into the New Realm”” was the theme. Before the start of the service, lights were dimmed and everyone was excited .Following the impactful video opening, there appeared the family of honey bees. Together, they worked very hard and built their strong and secure honeycomb. However, the honeycomb started to get very packed up and some of the bees couldn’t fit into the home. They had to think of a solution. As a result, they decided to build a new home, so that more bees could join. This musical skit, presented by exuberant and energetic brothers and sisters from the Youth group, indirectly reflected that our church needs to move to a bigger place in order to win even more hearts for our dear Lord Jesus Christ.
After welcoming each other, Brother Allen led the congregation into a series of cheerful Praise and Worship. Many brothers and sisters danced to their hearts especially when the lyrics reminded us with “”This is how we overcome”and “Hallelujah to the King of Kings…”.
In the pre-recorded video,three sisters, Yammy (SD3), Julie (SD6) and Hoi (SD5), testified how they had moved into a new realm. Yammy said that,after receiving Christ, her life has significantly changed. She was no longer relying on herself and had joy and peace in her heart. Also, she had been encouraged a lot by the care of brothers and sisters. Today, she is working very hard to share gospel and following up on new believers. Thank God for her life! Julie shared with us that her life before knowing Christ was very negative. Her father was so cruel to her that she was often severely beaten. She even thought of attempting suicide twice. However, Christ brought her to a new realm and today, God has healed her completely and she has found real joy in Him. Now she is serving God joyfully; the pain in the past can no longer affect her new life in Christ. Also, the miraculous thing is that her brother followed Jesus and is now a Pastor. Praise God! Brother Hoi, he is weak in hearing, shared with us that life was never the same again after knowing Jesus. Although Hoi and his friends had trouble singing and following the lyrics during praise and worship, they could now use sign language to express their praise and worship to Jesus. Hallelujah! Life has never been so exciting to brother Hoi before! Glory is to Jesus!
The Sermon – “Venture into a new Realm – An Open Door”
Pastor Gavin shared with us that we should venture into a new Realm as Jesus is the door, a door of salvation. With Revelation 3:8, Pastor shared that Jesus was the door that never shut. Jesus had the authority to open the door. The door was open to those who were faithful. And Jesus promised to bless those who were inside the door.
The Response: 19 Said “Yes” to Jesus
Praise the Lord also for the 19 new believers. One of the new believers was a hotel guest who came down to our service wondering what was happening. Halleluiah!