Come Hear What the Lord Has Done!

Need to be uplifted mid-week? Need to connect with the Creator God, Jesus Christ to be filled and to be loved, to be instructed and to be comforted? To be challenged and called, stirred in your heart and blessed tremendously? Ah, and have your belly filled with a yummy array of multi-cultural food?

Come out tonight to hear many testimonies of what the Lord has done in the lives of your friends at the Bridge! We are meeting at 7pm in the Jr. High Center to share in food, fellowship and worship as we praise His Name and give God the glory He deserves! Bring a dish to share with everyone!

Many will speak of His goodness, His faithfulness and the powerful way He moved in their hearts as they sacrificed their time this past weekend at the Angels Gate facility in San Pedro. This short but intense overnight retreat gave us the opportunity to draw close to God and learn His Word.

Our memory verses were:

Luke 9:23

 "Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me"

Romans 13:14

"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill it's lusts"

Psalm 23

"The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever"

(*Ask anyone who attended to recite the verses to you & they should have them down!)

See you tonight & bring a friend!!! This event is open to all college age young adults who attend the Bridge, and/or discipleship on Wed nights.  Whether you went to the retreat or weren't able to, we'd love to see you tonight and share with you God's Word and have you receive a blessing from the Lord!

Back from the retreat: THE GATHERING!!!

Hi friends!

We're back from an incredible, life changing weekend spent in the company of brothers and sisters in Christ and in the presence of our Lord Jesus! It was a hard core intense weekend physically, mentally and spiritually! Anyone feeling sore? Haha. What a great reminder of our small sacrifices unto the Lord. Amen! Amidst a non-stop schedule of team building exercises, challenges of willpower, fasting from food, little sleep and chilly windy weather, we survivied! Not only did we learn to overcome near impossible personal and team tasks, each of us came closer to Jesus on a deeper level as we learned how to tune into hearing His voice, follow the Good Shepherd and understand what He requiers from us in obedience and servanthood.

Here we are fellowshipping on Friday night (2/24) - breaking bread together with some delicious food and snacks to fill our stomachs and store up energy for the weekend!

Here John and Pastor D are sporting the stylish retreat T-shirts which promote the camp theme: Knowing God, Hearing God & Following God! These two leaders gave us a run for our money when it came to sit ups, push ups, flutter kicks & scripture memorization.

One activity we did Friday night was to get into coed teams and practice on the spot evangelism.  A few of our leaders would introduce a scenario (ie: having the answers to a test/cheating; gossping about a school sex scandal; living a casual lifestyle/sleeping over with a gf/bf; going to get high/do drugs to celebrate something; etc) This activity challenged us to step up in boldness in proclaiming the Word of God and ultimately showed us that we have a great need to LEARN the WORD of God so that we can be ready in season and out of season!

Friday night closed in a time of worship and communion as we dedicated our hearts to the Lord and prepared for what He had for us. In response, we wrote down on a paper, the true confessions of our hearts and tossed them into a fire to symbolize surrender of these areas in our lives over to Christ.

Saturday everyone fasted from 7am - 5pm to practice denial of the 'flesh' - the desires that our bodies have that we so easily give into, often without thought - that can often take precidence in our lives above Christ. Following the activity packed day of exercise and scripture memorization, we gathered as a group to hear Pastor Randolph from Calvary Coastline Venice share with us about "Following God with a pure motive."

He used the passages from Mark 1 and John 6:59-66 to help illustrate a few points.  The first, found in Mark 1 was the idea that God uses our natural giftings that He has given us, in our regular lives and vocations in the world as well as our spiritual lives and tasks in which we serve Him.  In this Bible story, Peter & Andrew were casting their nets while John & James were mending their nets, when Jesus came by and called them into service, to follow Him.  As they drop their careers and step into their callings in the Lord, they find their skills quite useful as peter & Andrew 'cast' out the gospel to fish for men while John & James 'mend' relationships and bring healing to hurt people as they care for the body of Christ. 

One of his main points taken from John 6:59-66 was that how we respond when discipleship is tested by Doctrine, is a true indication of where we stand with Christ. We must follow Jesus beyond any incentive or idea that we can get something of a reward, but rather because we recognize that He is the Bread of Life that brings ultimate satisfaction.  As we strive to be sactififed, or move through the process of purity and towards a life that honors God and gives Him glory, we must filter out our impure desires and surrender them before Jesus.

Pastor Randolph also added a special note to all of us in our singles lives!! He emplores us to serve God faithfully and for the young adult men to find their wife at the well (and for the young adult women to focus on serving God). He gave Biblical examples of Moses (Ex 2), Isaac (Gen 24) and Jacob (Gen 29) who all found their women serving the Lord "at the well" and presented that metaphor to encourage servanthood and dedication to Christ to find a lasting and God honoring relationship & marriage!

Samuel & Steven (From CC Venice) brought us into a sweet time of worship and response as we were each anointed with oil in prayer.  Sidenote: all of this took place in the dark as the power went out - a sign of spiritual warefare, and yet we did not stop praising and worshipping our Lord and pushed through in victory in His Name! 

More pics & details to follow!

Choice, choices, choices! Fri Night 2/17

Friday night's passage was on John 14:1-6, which speaks of Jesus' exit from earth and glorious preparations for us in Heaven. The emphasis lies on the fact that He not only knows the Way, but He IS the Way to Heaven. 

After a beautiful worship set, Pastor D prompted us with the thought that we all make choices all day long from the very start to the end.  Most of these choices are material, tangible - should I wear this red shirt? should I take a jacket? should I eat this banana? should I wear my hair up or down? etc. He then challenged us to truly consider how there are also ETERNAL choices. These choices, to open the Bible each morning and pray to God during the day are not temporary, but last beyond this lifetime. We have the freedom to choose this closeness with God or to be selfish with our time here on Earth. In this, we realize that there are good and bad choices that crossover in your relationships, extracurricular activities, friends, music and your overall lifestyle. 

The challenge this week is what choices are YOU making? WHAT are you choosing, or better yet WHO are you choosing?  If need be, reconcile yourself with Jesus today, ask for His forgiveness and set your heart determined to choose Him. 

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in John 14:1-6, assuring them not to worry, or "let your hearts be troubled" (v.1) as He is going to leave them.  But with the news that He will leave, He extends a promise to them that He will prepare a place for them in His Father's house (v.2).  Jesus tells the disciples that He will return for them.  One of His disciples, Thomas asks Jesus the honest question, "HOW can we know the way? (v.5).  This is often our attitude towards the things of God, as we as humans grasp to understand His ways and our place in them.  (see image below for Jesus' response):

(John 14:6)

Jesus responds to John's heartfelt question and lets him know, HE IS THE WAY. This Way is superior to the ways of the world. In addition to being the Way, Jesus is also the TRUTH. Contrary to the world's idea of relevant truth (what true for me isn't necessarily true for you) Jesus is stating that He is the absolute Truth, which means that apart from Him you are outside of what is true. The enemy comes in to lie to you and convince you otherwise and sadly, we fall for his lies time and time again.  When we believe that Jesus is the TRUTH then we find that He is the LIFE as well.  The dynamics of our very existence shifts and we learn of our eternal life with Him and live each day sharing the good news of Jesus until we reach Heaven.  

When we are lost in this life we do many things to feel better about our confusion or lack of understanding.  We invent our own paths, take control of our lives and strive for our own knowledge in our own strength.  What we really need to do is admit that we are broken, that we are unable to reach God and eternal life on our own and surrender our control over to Jesus Christ.  Following Him will give us purpose and direction and lead us to the most glorious eternal end.  We closed the night with the worship song to our Lord called, "Give Me Faith" by Elevation Worship (lyrics on video):

What a blessed night! We pray that God will continue to make His Word alive to us and may our intimacy with Him grow as we exercise our faith in Him.  Next up...The Gathering: A Bridge retreat. Stay tuned!

Discipleship WED night 2/15 @ CCSB

Dudes Discipleship & Daughters of the King discipleship groups have been meeting for a month now and the blessings keep flowing forth as we strive to know God better and grow in fellowship with one other.

We had a wonderful time of worship, potluck style food, sharing & laughing as we paused mid-week to see what the Lord had for us.

 

The passage last night was from 2 Timothy chapter 2. We completed an inductive study (observation, interpretation & application) of chapter 1 in the previous weeks. Paul (in prison) writes his final letter to Timothy in Ephesus to further exhort him and the church body. Here are the main takeaways from this week's study:

• Remain STRONG in the GRACE that is in Christ Jesus (v.1)
• Justice is receiving punishment for something you deserve
• Mercy is NOT receiving the punishment you deserve
• GRACE is receiving something you don't deserve
• Aim to be reliable, credible, faithful, competent & qualified to teach God's Word (v.2)
• Join in suffering following Paul's example but more importantly Christ's example (v.3)
• Jesus give us 3 examples/metaphors to showcase endurance
• Soldier - Stay focused, and not distracted by civilian/worldly affairs (v.4)
• Athlete - Stay obedient, follow the rules (v. 5)
• Farmer - Stay diligent, work hard and be patient (v.6)
• The Lord will grant you understanding of His Word (v.7)
• Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and His power and person is what separates who and what we believe from other religions (v.8)
• God's Word is not held in prison, is not in chains, but goes forth when we are willing to endure and suffer for the glory of Christ (v.9, 10)

This week's memory verse is 2 Tim 2:1
"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus"

Have a blessed week & don't forget to come out FRI night and to sign up for the Bridge retreat: THE GATHERING coming up SOON!

                                     "We LOVE because HE first loved us" - 1 John 4:19

God's glory out of death [Feb 3 Fri night]

Friday night was a packed house! The night started with a beautiful set of songs to the Lord, responding to His presence with worship to the King! This really set the tone for the evening as Pastor Dennis came up to share a word from the Lord.


Our passage was from John 11 after having covered John 10 last week and being reminded to follow the Good Shepherd and that as His sheep, we "listen to His voice" (v. 3).  We studied the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus found in Chapter 11 verses 1-16.

The sisters (Mary and Martha) put in a request to Jesus on behalf of "the one whom You love" (v.3), their brother Lazarus as he was deathly sick.  We learned that Lazarus died and that Jesus came to interrupt the lives of the sisters to bring Himself and His Father glory through the circumstances, and to get a hold of each of their hearts.  The main idea of the message was that through death God wants to bring His glory. 

The death we learned about is not confined to a physical death of our bodies but can include the death of something that can rule your life or take your attention away from Christ. A challenge was put forth to apply this scripture and ask, is the Lord causing or requiring something to die in your life? Do you have to kill off your pride, a relationship, a job etc in order to be stripped of everything within yourself and look fully to Him?

In this process of "death" we must know that Jesus sees all. His timing is perfect and is not on our timetable or by our standards (2 Peter 3:9) In the story, Jesus waits two days until He arrives to where Mary, Martha and Lazarus are.  Two days! This brings up the question in Martha's heart, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 21). Isn't this often how we feel towards God? And yet we are encouraged to be honest with God in our pleas and be open to see how He is working everything out. Pastor D said this quote, "Man's impossibility is God's opportunity"! 

With this truth in place, we are even more challenged to watch our reactions, and not trust ourselves (Prov. 3:5) but to persevere (Gal 6:9) and be confident that God's agenda goes forth regardless of our own agenda.  Sometimes God's delays give Him the opportunity to show us a miracle, to display His hand in our lives and to require us to trust fully on Him.  

In the continual process of becoming pure, called sanctification, which we are all in, we are reminded that God is all powerful, and that He is doing a beautiful work in our lives and hearts as we learn patience and trust. God wants us to put everything we have in HIM and not be able to credit any other person or thing, or even ourselves when the end result comes. 

Jesus is talking about the here and now, saying I AM the "resurrection and the LIFE" (v.25) assuring us that death does not have a hold on us as in 1 Cor 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" God's power is above and beyond how we grasp death and yet we hold fast to the LIFE we've been given in Christ.

Lastly, a cool example is found in Isaiah 6, when King Uzziah died. At that time, the King was highly regarded as the main figure to worship, and yet the year He died, Isaiah reports, "I saw the Lord" (v.1).  The thought here is that even amidst death or the things that we must put to death, if we seek Christ, we can see HIM amidst our pain, confusion or suffering and HE will receive the glory in the end. 


Come out as we meet every Friday night at 7:30pm and are truly blessed digging deeper into God's Word! 

THE GATHERING: Young adult retreat [Feb 24 & 25th]

The first Bridge retreat for 2012 is coming very soon! This month, the young adult group will steal away from Friday, Feb. 24th (6pm) to Saturday, Feb. 25th (8pm) [yes, it's an overnighter] for a wonderful, challenging & encouraging time of seeking GOD!

The idea is to learn how to KNOW GOD, HEAR GOD and FOLLOW GOD.  It says in God's Word, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me [John 10:27]" What a better way to spend a weekend then to soak up God's word and have it radically transform your life.

The retreat will be held at the Angel's Gate Facility in beautiful San Pedro. The cost for the entire retreat is $20 which includes lodging, meals and a t-shirt. (Wow - how affordable, start saving now!)

Here are some things to expect at the retreat:
KNOWING GOD

• Scripture Memorization and Devotion Reading - We'll participate in scripture memorization and reading the Word with the purpose of KNOWING and being equipped with the Word of God.

HEARING GOD

• Prayer and Fasting - We'll be involved in times of prayer and fasting which will cause us to HEAR God much more clearly than we do.
• Worship - We'll spend time worshipping God together and on our own; seeking His face and exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

FOLLOWING GOD

• Physical Activity - We'll be pushed beyond our comfortable limits to a dependence upon God for His strength to FOLLOW Him.
• Team Unity - We'll be challenged with team activities to build unity within the Bridge and communicate spiritual truths.

RSVP at thebridge@ccsouthbay.org
Come out Friday night to let us know that you're IN and find out more details. How exciting to learn more about God together as the body of Christ. Can I get an Amen?! Have a blessed week : )

Dudes Discipleship & Daughters of the King [Feb 1]

Our memory verse for the week comes from 2 Timothy 1:13 "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" [Paul in prison in Rome, writing to Timothy in Ephesus] 

Wed night was a great time studying God's word in 2 Timothy! We did an inductive Bible study of chapter 1:8-18, and covered the key themes: not being ashamed, perseverance, grace, boldness, & God's power! In this passage, the author of the letter, Paul is determined not to let Timothy get discouraged as the church in Ephesus is dealing with false teachers and falling away from God's truth. He is empowering them with God's Word and the belief in a Savior who has rescued them from death and brought them life (v.10)

In light of the grace we receive from God (v.9) we are to "hold fast the pattern of sound teaching" (v.13) and live in boldness, unashamed to speak the good news of Christ even to the point of suffering.  We are also instructed to not be ashamed, knowing that, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (sound familiar - it was last weeks memory verse, cool!) Paul also reminds us in Romans 1:16 that he is "not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile"

Paul emphasized his responsibility as an appointed apostle and teacher (v. 11), aware that his suffering is for good reason as he stands firm in his belief in Christ and understands that he must count the cost (Luke 9:23). He then warns Timothy against feeling shame, but rather allowing God to guard over him and in turn allow the Holy Spirit to guard the scripture in his heart and life.

Paul wraps us this section of the letter sharing with Timothy the contrast between Phygelus and Hermogenes who had fallen away from their faith compared to Onesiphorous who was not ashamed of Paul's suffering and encouraged and refreshed him. This was an encouragement to the church in Ephesus to receive God's grace and blessing and be counted amongst those who are not ashamed of Christ!

We ended the night with this beautiful song to the Lord:

"Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name"

And finally, here's the formal blog introduction for our newest addition: Shiloh Olivia Mascardo born on December 9, 2011. Her parents are Pastor Dennis and Xu who lead the young adult discipleship. She is beautiful and such a gift from above (James 1:17)

What a wonderful night where the guys and gals were challenged in their faith, to pray hard to receive the boldness Paul speaks of, the boldness rooted and founded in Christ alone.  Come join us every 1st and 3rd WED night to dig deeper in your faith and to learn how to observe, interpret and apply God's word to your life. God's Word has the power to change you and lift you up!