Congregation Worship: 6th April 2014
The first Sunday worship service of April saw a packed church and delighted new faces. Pastor V.Nenglian opened the service by reading John 14:27-31 from the Bible and a prayer. The Praise & Worship team followed with hymns while offerings were collected by the Ushers. The offerings were dedicated by Upa Tuanmuanthang.
Announcement: The service continued with an announcement from various divisions of the church.
- The church will have an additional pastor (Evangelist) who will work with the incumbent in various fieldworks. Expenses incurred on the new pastor will be distributed between EBC headquarters and the local church.
- The resignation of L/Upa Capt. Lalsuonglien Tonsing from his responsibilities towards EBC Delhi was accepted. He was in charge of the Media Team, a local deacon member, among others. His job necessitates him to relocate to Mumbai with his family.
- The long planned trip to Kathmandu will soon materialize as 29 train reservations were booked on Saturday. The mission committee invites members to join the trip.
- The mission committee distributed fresh “Pledge Cards” for all. Those interested in giving financial support to missionaries can fill the details and submit it in the drop box. Online submission is also available by clicking http://ebccdelhi.org/missionaryvakna.html
- A missionary couple from Shimla - Vungbiaklal & Maman gave a report about their mission field work in the Morning Prayer fellowship, held an hour prior to the service. It was acknowledge again in the later.
Prayer/ Dedication: - The regular Pastor Prayer held on the first Sunday of each month continues with the pastor praying for the ailing, for candidates who have exams and interviews, for those who received blessings in the past month through materials, promotions, opportunities and birthdays.
- As per the tradition the Pastor dedicated two newborns to God. They are
1) Paukhankhual Tonsing s/o T. Ginliansang
2) Blessy Manthianmuang d/o Pauzakham
- He also prayed for a newlywed couple from Mohammedpur. Although evading Christian marriage, he prayed for their well being.
Brief summary of the day’s Sermon: Pastor V. Nenglian opened his sermon with a welcome speech, acknowledging the new faces. He voiced his empathy to the families of the two recently deceased. The Main topic of the day was “Blessing”, spiritual blessing rather than a materialistic one. He narrowed down the two aspects of blessings that we Christians have - Election and Predestination, while differentiating and familiarizing the meanings.
He said that “Election”, as in general term, defined the concept of choosing and being chosen. The concept when applied to Christians can be misleading. He took cognizance of the doubts that if The Omniscient God, The Alpha and Omega had already chosen those of us for salvation or damnation before our own existence, how and who are we to change the plan and divert our destination. He explained that the “Election” or choosing is in and through Jesus Christ. The ongoing battle between the good and evil gave mankind the opportunity to choose. The Election is done through Jesus Christ.
The Predestination, the Pastor said, is about Christ. Christ was pre-destined to save us from Lucifer ever since the battle that saw the later rebelling in The Kingdom. Since the beginning of time, God’s plan was to have Jesus die for the sin of mankind and through that blood He would overlook the sin. The blessing comes through free will. Humanity does not get bounded, rather we are free to do our will, we can choose. We are predestined to be saved, but through our own will. He substantiate it through the passages from Ephesians ( Eph 1: 1-14) .
The Pastor further elaborated on the path to salvation. To be the children of God, to be part of The Kingdom, to inherit all heavenly glory, to ripe our destined blessings, we have to keep ourselves holy. The Final destination is set. Either eternal damnation or salvation. How we use our freewill will make the difference.
The pastor concluded the service with a prayer.
Upcoming programs Highlight: -
- Couple Seminar on Saturday, April the 12th @ 11am till 3:30 pm.
- Palm Sunday message from Rev. S Vungminthang, GS, EBC on 13th April.
By- Khupminlian Hanghal
Content Writer, Media Team
