Grub Time! Gardena Bowl Fellowship 1/27/12

Following the awesome time of worship and hearing God's Word, we headed out for a fellowship night at Gardena Bowl Coffee Shop a few miles away.  It was a sweet time of hanging out, getting to know one another better, having Stacie (she's Japanese) translate the menu and filling our stomachs with fried rice, fried saimin and loco moco plates (Hawaiian/Japanese dishes).  We laughed a lot, shared a lot and realized that we are grateful sheep with a loving and gracious Shepherd who protects us and loves us abundantly.  We usually hold a fellowship night on the last Friday of each month : ) Come out and join us!

Enter by the Door: John 10:1-10 [Fri night 1/27]

Pastor Dennis sharing God's Word

The Bridge worship team

Praying and dedicating the night to the Lord

Friday night's message was both encouraging and challenging.  Pastor Dennis began the night with the statement, "God hears your prayers!" He followed this statement of truth by setting the context of a story Jesus tells in John 10 about the Good Shepherd and His sheep.  The passage describes the humble job of a shepherd, watching his flock of sheep around the clock, laying his body across the entrance gate to sleep and identifying each sheep, as he guards and protects them from any threats.  

Jesus draws a parallel to the shepherd in the story to Himself and identifies meaningful symbolism for us to understand His relationship with us.  We are the sheep that the Holy Spirit guards over as He plays the role of the gate keeper.  Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd as well as the entrance gate which provides us access to the Heavenly Father.  Just as the sheep will only follow the voice of the shepherd they have come to know, we too should seek the voice of God and beware of being influenced by the Enemy who serves as a thief and comes to "steal, kill and destroy" (v.10).

The main emphasis of the passage was the way in which Jesus serves as the door, leading us to a relationship with His Father.  A beautiful truth is displayed in verse nine which says, "If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture".  Jesus as the Good Shepherd knows us closely, rescues us from ourselves and grants us a peace that is beyond our understanding (Phil 4:6-7).

Pastor D wrapped up the message with three practical ways in which we can hear God's voice and live out our faith: 


#1. Read and follow His Word (ask -does it contradict the Bible?)
#2. Wait for a peace from God
#3. Look for open doors (God answers: yes, no or wait) 

The final encouragement for the night came from Ephesians 3:20-21

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen"

DUDES DISCIPLESHIP & DAUGHTERS OF THE KING [1/18/12]

Last night [Wed] at 7pm a dynamic group of men and women gathered for the first discipleship meeting of 2012! Pastor Dennis and his wife Xu welcomed the group with an encouragement to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" [2 Tim 2:1] and a challenge to DTR: Define the Relationship, that you have with Christ. It was an exhortation to strive for growth and maturity, and to dig deep with JESUS.

A time of worship gave honor to the sweet presence of our Lord with these words:

"Give me one pure and holy passion; Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life; To know and follow hard after You"

The study for this semester is the book of 2nd Timothy. We use an inductive Bible study format which includes OIA: Observation, Interpretation and Application of God's Word. It's an exciting time and the men and women split up into smaller groups in separate classrooms to pour over the Word, gain understanding and share our hearts with one another.

This week, we studied 2 Timothy verses 1-7 with the major themes of faith, prayer, boldness, fear and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Paul wrote his final letter [from prison] to his close friend Timothy whom he had mentored and watched grow in faith.
The letter was an encouragement for Timothy to continue the Lord's work in Ephesus and to be let by the Holy Spirit to combat fear of any kind. Also, to "fan into flame the gift of God" [v.6] and to utilize his giftings to glorify the Lord. Paul demonstrates an eternal, Heavenly perspective and passion for Christ. 

Our memory verse for this week is 2 Timothy 1:7!!


"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind."


We couldn't leave until we all recited the verse in unison as a group and then word-for-word one at a time corporately.  It was an awesome challenge and a neat way to memorize the scripture and have it written on our hearts.  Thanks to the leadership at the Bridge we had an outstanding potluck full of deeeelicious food, drinks and snacks and had the chance to laugh and mingle with each other before and after the study. 


Come join us!! We would love to meet you, hang with you and walk along side you as we look to God to direct our lives, change us inside and show us how to give Him the glory in all we do and say.