Hi Church,

1. ALABASTER GATHERING
Date: 1 Aug, Friday night at 8pm Cynthia’s place.

2. MANDARIN SERVICE
Date: 3 Aug Sunday morning from 10am to 11am in Tweenies room.

3. REV. XENN SEAH SUNDAY SERMON
Date: 3 Aug Sunday morning from 1115am at Auditorium.
Rev Xenn Seah has an incredible testimony as he was a drug addict for many years and served his sentence in Singapore. In the midst of his addiction, he found the power of Jesus’ name and has never ceased preaching about this power. Xenn Seah is the Director of Impact Asia, a division of Global Impact Ministries, Inc. He is also currently serving as the Chinese Evangelism Ministry Coordinator for Multi-cultural Ministries, General Home Missions Division, UPCI. Xenn is based in California but travels widely to the Chinese speaking world, particularly China where he regularly impacts many church leaders.

4. FESTIVAL OF PRAISE
Dates: 1 Aug, Friday to 3 August, Sunday at 730pm Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Join in this annual celebration led by worship leader Reuben Morgan and Parachute Band in a time of praise & worship. Rev. Mark Conner from CityLife Church in Melbourne, Australia will minister God’s Word every night. For more information, please go to http://www.festivalofpraise.org.sg/

5. SCHOOL OF SCRIPTURE 2008 - REV T.F. TENNEY
Date: 4 Aug,Monday to 6 Aug, Wednesday nights at 730pm in Tabernacle of Joy, Chinatown Point Level 5.
School of the Scripture 2008 brings the curious and the Christ-hungry, back to the pages of a timeless classic - God’s Word of life. Powerful principles of the Bible will be revealed through the renowned ministry of Reverend T.F Tenney; a wonderful and anointed man of God.
Check out TJ’s website for more details at http://tabjoy.org/sos/

6. BIBLE STUDY SERIES - GRIPPING GRACE
Date: 15 August till 21 November, Friday nights at 730pm in 2nd floor classroom.
Breaks fall on every month-end Fridays Prayer Services i.e. 29 August, 26 September & 31 October.
For more details, please go to http://www.alivecommunity.net/church/announcements/gripping-grace.html
7. FISHERS OF MEN GATHERING
Date: 16 August Saturday night and meet Paul at 715pm Lakeside MRT
Part 2 on “Managing High-maintenance Relationships”

8. MARRIED LADIES GATHERING
Date: 23 Aug, Saturday afternoon at 3pm Hwee Huan’s place.

9. CHURCH CAMP DATES
Pre-camp service: 12 Dec, Friday night at 745pm Auditorium
Camp Dates: 14 Dec, Sunday to 17 Dec, Wednesday.
Do avail yourself for our once a year camp retreat.

10. INDIA’S ORPHANAGE & PHILIPPINES BEAM UPDATES
Check out the updates by Pastor Chacko & Pastor Banez by clicking the links below:

Pastor Chacko’s orphanage in Mumbai, India
http://www.alivecommunity.net/church/announcements/pastor-chacko.html

Pastor Banez’s Baguio Evangelistic Academy of Ministries Building Updates
http://www.alivecommunity.net/church/announcements/calvary-tabernacle-baguio.html

Read Matthew 7:9-12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”(verse 12)

“We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

“Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.” (Ephesians 6:8)

Here’s a page off the book God’s Outrageous Claims, authored by Lee Stroebel:

• Five hundred years before Jesus was born, someone asked Confucius, “Is there one word that may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” Confucius replied, “Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
• Four hundred years before Christ, a philosopher in Athens taught, “Whatever angers you when you suffer at the hands of others, do not do to others.”
• About three hundred years before Christ, the Stoics had a teaching that said, “What you do not want to be done to you, do not do to anyone else.”
• Roughly two hundred years before Christ, the author of The Tobit, which is part of the Apocrypha, wrote this particularly succinct version: “What thou thyself hatest, to no man do.”

In short, those philosophers were saying, “I won’t hurt you so that in return, you won’t hurt me.” That is just about protecting your own self-interests. Notice that none of them said the awe-inspiring statement that Jesus made during his sermon on the Mount. He said, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” That is the Golden Rule that Jesus wants us to live by. He is telling us to intentionally bless and care for a person regardless of whether the other person pays back the favour or not. Instead of watching out so that we do not hurt anybody, Jesus wants us to make an active effort to look for ways in which we can bless people in a way that we would want them to bless us. Does this sound too hard for you to achieve? Indeed it is, but Jesus is on your side to help you.

Practising the Golden Rule as a day-by-day lifestyle gets difficult when we try it by our own human efforts. We need to tap on God’s love to be generous even in inconvenient situations. While we can apply the Golden Rule occasionally, depending on our mood, God can enable us to do it as a lifestyle despite requiring us to make sacrifices of our time and money because He has a limitless source of love. When we open ourselves to God, receive His grace and surrender ourselves to Him in both the good times and bad, He begins to shrink our self-centredness and enlarge our capacity to love and care for others. Then will we begin to see the joy behind serving and blessing people.

Jesus wants to impact people through your acts of compassion, love and kindness. He wants you to make a difference in a person’s life! Though sacrifices that you have to make to live out the Golden Rule are huge, know that “no expression of compassion to another human being is a wasted effort” (God’s Outrageous Claims, Lee Stroebel). Your deliberate act of kindness will feed a hungry child, help the lame walk, revive a widow’s pleasant memories, touch a dear friend, and bring a person to know the loving God - Jesus Christ. Now, that’s a victorious life!

This is part II of the 5-part series The Victorious Christian

Hi Church,

God’s plan for us Christians is to live the overcoming life. God wants our witness to be powerful. He wants us to be people who receive supernatural favour and walk in his divine strength and power. While this power is available, many do not know how to get a hold of this great grace. Pastor Bobby Mathew will share in this 12-session series on how you can get a hold of this power. He will deal with the practicalities of tapping into God’s divine provision. These sessions will plug you into the living Word, which will produce divine fruit in your life. Each session integrates worship, teaching and ministry on Friday nights.
Dates: 15 August till 21 November, Friday nights from 730pm to 930pm in Auditorium.
Breaks on month-end Friday Prayer Services - 29 Aug, 26 Sep, 31 Oct

Some of the topics that will be covered include:

1. Recognizing the Holy Spirit
2. Building the Inner Man
3. Meditating on our Position in Christ
4. Hearing the Voice of God
5. Discerning the divine will
6. Warring for Your Inheritance
7. Receiving the 5 fold ministry
8. Receiving an Impartation
9. Discerning the Body of Christ
10. Receiving Inner Wholeness
11. Balance in the Ministry
12. Christian Character
God bless,
Pastor Bobby

Dear Pastor Bobby,

God is good and greatly to be praised!

We would like to give updates with pictures of the on going building construction here in Calvary Tabernacle, UPC, Baguio City, Philippines.

With seven weeks gone since we started the first phase of the project, we have completed the removal of the old building, done excavation, rip rapping of the loosed soil along the lot area boundaries, planted
foundation, and built a number of posts. At present we are still working on the basement level and constructing more beams and posts (please see attached pictures).

More than three years ago, our local church here started to raise funds for a new building program. There is need to extend the seating capacity of the church auditorium and to replace the more than 28-year old wooden structure adjacent to the church hall. Before it was pulled down, the said building housed the main facilities of the bible school (dormitories, class room, library, kitchen and dining area) for more than twenty years.
The project, which is a four-story building from ground level, is estimated at present to cost Ten Million Pesos (P10,000,00) or equivalent to USD 227,272.73 considering a P44 : $1 exchange rate.

God has blessed the initiative and the cooperation of the brethren of the local church. By His grace, we were able to raised the accumulated amount of One Million Three Hundred Pesos (P1,300,00.00) or equivalent to US$29,500.00.

Due to the rising costs of construction materials (from January 2008 to May 2008 alone, prices has jumped to 30% more), and to be able to maximize the value of the available building fund at hand, we have decided to start the project.

In this regard we would like to present to you the financial need and to solicit help for us to raise the required amount. Any donation or help you can give for this worthy cause will be greatly appreciated, all for
the glory of God and for the cause of the ministry.

It is our prayer to see the work of the Lord here in our area to continue to grow and for the Baguio Evangelistic Academy of Ministries, our bible school in the district, to resume operation the soonest possible.

Thank you very much for your prayers and continuous support. God bless.

Yours in His service,
Pastor Eugene C. Banez Jr.

Praise the Lord!

Beloved in Christ, its a joy to write to you again with our ministry updates. I hope this finds you well in the Lord. The summer vacation is over and the monsoon is supposed to have begun in India. But apart from the heavy 3 day shower that we received in June, there has been no rain except for light drizzles once a week. The crops are going to be a failure again this year.

The Lord has been good and faithful throughout the past months. The childcares and orphanage have reopened after the vacation break. We started with a new childcare in Sathenagar, Mumbai. Its a slum area with a big opportunity to reach out to the lost. We already have a church functioning in this place and God is blessing the work here. There are 30 children right now; we plan to expand later. 2 new children have been added to the orphanage. One, Uday, is fatherless and the other, Ankit, is an orphan, having lost his father in his childhood and mother just a month ago. We are glad to have the opportunity to look after them and care for them. Please continue to pray for the children’s education and our staffs.

Our rural pastors have started work in 3 new villages. New doors are opening, please pray for more workers in these rural interior areas. To meet this need we started a Bible school in Kerala, South India last year. This is our second year. 13 new students from the villages have joined the school this year and we have 8 from last year. I am thankful to the Lord for the good response this year and for giving these youths, a chance to study the Word freely. Please pray for the sponsorship, running and administration of the school.

Everything else is well by God’s grace. We need your continued prayers for the ministry and our pastors working in various areas, in village ministry and among the children and also our sisters working with the ladies. We are thankful for your prayers and support, you are individually in our prayers. I would love to hear from you all and am praying that the Lord will bless our friendship as we partner together to spread His Word to the nations and the unreached. May God bless you, your family, ministry and job, abundantly!

Yours in His servants,
Pastor Chacko Thomas
Lighthouse Ministries, The Church of Jesus Christ In India
http://www.lighthouserelief.org/Site/Blog/Blog.html