CORDILLERA HIGHLANDS BAPTIST CHURCH & MISSIONS
Bontoc, Mountain Province
2616 PHILIPPINES
REXTON F. CHAKAS, Ph.D.
Pastor
For the month of June 2009, the emphasis at Highland is on Commitment and Revival. In the Philippines, the months of April and May are summer months, ergo, vacation months. In June, with the onset of the school year, those who have gone on vacation [spiritually, included] come back to Bontoc. Those who have gone to work in other places for the summer are back. This is the reason why we emphasize commitment and revival.
The first Sunday of June is our Commitment Sunday. We center on re-committing our lives to God. We center on going back on our promises and commitments to God and His Church.
The second Sunday of June is our Freedom Sunday. Since Philippine Independence Day falls on June 12, we decided to name June 14 as Freedom Sunday. Yes, we have heroes in the Philippines who gave up their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today. The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, so we who believe in Him, will also be set free from the bondage of sin and darkness.
The third Sunday of June is Fathers' Day at Highland. We are grateful to God for giving us fathers at Highland--fathers who are faithful to their families, and fathers who are faithful to God and His Church. There will be baptisms after the morning worship.
The last Sunday of June was named Welcome Students Sunday. This will be a day where the emphasis will be on learning. If you are a student and live near our place, we invite you to attend the worship.
We invite those near Bontoc to come and worship with us. If we could be of spiritual help, please let us know.
APRIL 2009
For the month of April 2009, the emphasis at Highland is on spiritual growth. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. ” (2 PETER 3:18). Christian growth is everyone’s need.
Babies are cute and delightful in many ways. But if a person were to remain a baby for ten years, twenty years, something is terribly wrong. In a literal, physical sense there are no twenty-year-old babies. But there are twenty-year-olds, forty-, sixty-year-olds who often act like babies. And what do we say about them? That they are cute and delightful? Think of a grown man coming to church dressed like a baby and with a flower in his lapel that squirts water at you. You will find that he will not have any friends because people like that are unpleasant, a real pain in the neck. You know, if there is one thing very hard to tolerate, it is immaturity. I’m afraid that God is similarly annoyed by some of us, for there is a lot of spiritual immaturity among Christians today in the church. We do not want this to be said of the Christians at Highland.
But need to encourage young Christians to grow. And older Christians too, for we never outgrow the need to grow. We need to emphasize the basics of the gospel:salvation by the death and resurrection of Christ, by God’s grace (his free gift), by faith (not by anything we can do to earn it). That is quite proper. Butlet nobody misunderstand: there is a lot more to learn in God’s word besidethese basics. And it’s sad when someone who has been a Christian for a
long time knows nothing else than a single verse.
So come over and grow with us!
