Aroma of Worship

Miracle Story #1

Jan 19, 2010 Blogs Leave a comment
Posted by Abigail Abanilla

This was originally from our Pastor at Celebrate God’s Goodness Fellowship Center. They once lived in an area surrounded by NPA (New People’s Army).

NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It was formed on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA conducts its armed guerrilla struggle based on the strategical line of ‘protracted people’s war‘.The NPA has been classified as a terrorist organization by the United States.

The NPA operates mostly in the rural areas and their targets often include politicians, military, police, criminals, landlords, business owners and occasionally U.S. agents in the Philippines.

Our pastor was preaching the Word of God in their area, until they got tired of him and wanted to do something with it. One day, our pastor and his family noticed some rattling noise from outside. When he tried to look through a hole, he saw the gunmen surrounding his house. They all felt horrible and he had his family hide in safety while he kept looking through the hole. He was listening to their conversation and noticed that they were not doing anything.

He heard one of them saying, “I’m sure, their house is here somewhere. It was just here”. One of the leaders of the troop told him, “Are you sure? There’s nothing in here. This is just a big rock and nothing else”.

Our Pastor was so amazed to hear that. He can see them, but they couldn’t. Since they only saw a big rock. The gunmen just grew tired so they all went home.

God was surely protecting our Pastor and his family, and that was a great miracle he has shared with everyone for the past 20 years now.

Books in the Bible (Old Testament)

Jan 16, 2010 Blogs 1 Comment
Posted by Abigail Abanilla

These are the books in the Old Testament and what they are all about. This is for reference purposes: to help students and everyone else learning the bible. The books are ordered the same way it is in the Bible. (Reference: BIBLE, Contemporary English Version)

Genesis – This book tells about a number of “beginnings” – the creation of the world and of the first man and woman. It also tells how God made a special covenant (agreement) with Abraham and promised to bless him and his descendants. Genesis also includes a number of stories about two of Abraham’s descendants: his grandson Jacob, who was also known as Israel, and Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph who became an important administrator and court official for the king of Egypt.

Exodus - The name Exodus means “departure” and this book tells how God used a man named Moses to lead the Hebrew people (Israelites) out of a life of slavery in Egypt. God led the people through the Red Sea and into the Sinai Dessert. He miraculously provided them with the water and food they needed. God made an agreement (covenant) with the people and gave the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai so that the people could live as God intended.

Leviticus - This book contains many of the laws and instructions God gave to Moses in the desert. It lists detailed descriptions of the responsibilities of the priestly clans, such as presenting sacrifices and offerings on behalf of the people of Israel. The priests of the Israelite religion were to come from the tribe of Levi, the same tribe that Moses was from. The first high priest was Aaron, Moses’ brother.  Read more...

Desert Song

Jan 14, 2010 Music Leave a comment
Posted by Abigail Abanilla

Have you felt like being in the desert? What does it feel to be like in the desert by the way? In the desert, there’s just sun. There’s no water. All you can see is an endless horizon covered with sand.  There’s no food either. There are no trees, just plain sand and sun together. If you find yourself in a desert without water, food and without shelter to keep you safe, what would you do? Do you think you can survive out there? Another fact, in the desert there are scorpions. Sounds terrible.You feel thirsty and hungry and scared, with no one beside you and no there’s nowhere to hide. The heat of the sun is more than painful than you can imagine and safety is nowhere to be found.

A lot of us have been in these situations. Well, not literally in the desert. But there are stages in life when we feel like being in the desert, scared and alone: when everyone around us has left us to die. This is the time when all we see is a big horizon before us and we don’t know where to go: we don’t know how to get out. At the same time, we thirst for the things we need. We thirst for the love of the people in our lives, but they are nowhere to be found. Not even a shadow.

Everyone faces and will face these situations. But the question is, how would you face it? Are you going to close your eyes and start living a lie just to forget everything real happening around you? Or are you going to try and see if you can find your way back home? Are you determined enough? What if there’s just no chances at all?  Read more...