What is Missions Fest Conference About?
People of all ages come together to participate in a variety of missions related experiences. Colourful exhibits provide current information. Children participate in programs that raise awareness of many people groups. Youth are challenged to reach out to others. World class speakers and music are important in these gatherings; international flags and costumes are part of the decor.

Church Group Attendance
Please contact us ASAP to arrange transportation as the vehicles will be filled on a 1st come, 1st served basis. Our drivers may begin picking people up around 8:15 AM, Sat., Jan 31. The vehicles will return to Chilliwack sometime around midnight.

Permission slip required for children and youth attending without their parent(s)/guardian(s).

What about meals?
BREAKFAST    Be sure to eat before leaving home.
LUNCH     Pack a bag lunch (no microwave available).
SUPPER    Bring about $10/person to buy supper OR bring food.

There is a life skill that every person needs to learn - how to make wise choices. Whether you are young or old, wise or learning, ready or not - each one of us has the responsibility to make wise choices. The is a serious responsibility. There is a life principle that says, “Casual living leads to casualties.” It’s up to us to make wise choices.

Throughout the months of January and February, we will be looking at seven steps in developing the life skill of Making Wise Choices. And this is the process we are looking at:

Words will determine your thinking. Your thinking will determine your emotions. Your emotions will determine your decisions. Your decisions will determine your actions. Your actions will determine your habits. Your habits will determine your character. Your character will take you to your destination.

Words Produce a Harvest

Mark 4:3-9, 14-20 - Parable of the Sower

You Reap What You Sow

“Don’t be misled - you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirt will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Example: In the beginning Adam and Eve only had God’s words. All knowledge they received was truth. Then one day Satan came and spoke lies. With just a few words they were deceived. So don’t be misled. Be careful of who you let speak into your life.

The Seed that Never Fails

“You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

Example: King Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king. He grew up in a family that didn’t love God. His family did what was evil in the sight of God. King Josiah didn’t have God’s Word to read, but he wanted to please God. He thought he was doing good. One day he found God’s Word and realized that he wasn’t. And it changed his life. But not only his life - the whole nation as well. There was a revival in the nation.

Get God’s Word in You

“Never stop reading this Scroll of the Law. Day and night you must think about what it says. Make sure you do everything that is written in it. Then things will go well with you. And you will have great success” (Joshua 1:8). “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I won’t sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

The starting point in Making Wise Choices is God’s Word in you. You are going to have to spend time in the Bible so that it changes your life.

Join us as we rejoice in what God has done and anticipate in what God will do.

Happy New Year!!

God bless you & We bless you!!!

Welcome Inn - The Christmas Story as told by the Innkeeper.

Come and enjoy good fellowship and a turkey dinner.

Merry Christmas
God bless you & We bless you!!!

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23).

We cannot control where problems come from. Some times they are internal, you cause them yourself. Sometimes they are external. But here’s God’s promise. If you give Him your problems, in exchange He will give you His peace.

That doesn’t mean that He’s going to take away your problem. Peace is not the absence of problems. Peace is the ability to cope with it. When you give God your problems, He gives you the power to deal with that problem. He gives you the hope to cope with that problem. Now, what you have to do is take the initiative. Peace and faith run on parallel tracks. God says, if you want to get His peace, you have to go to Him on faith and you have to take the initiative.

Four Wrong Places to Look for Peace

• We tend to look for peace by having more stuff.
• We tend to look for peace through an activity.
• We tend to look for peace through some kind of drug.
• We tend to look for peace through relationships.

How do we develop a peaceful heart?

A Peaceful Heart is a consistently pure, passionate and patient heart.

If you don’t have a pure heart, you are not going to be at peace with God. If you don’t have a passionate heart, you are not going to be a peace with yourself. If you don’t have a patient heart, you are not going to be at peace with others.

God’s Plan for a Peaceful Heart

Priority

You were created to have only God as your first priority. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). When God is your top priority in life, everything else falls into place.

Exchange

Exchange your problems for God’s peace. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you peace” (Matthew 11:28).

Accept

If you want to develop an ongoing peaceful heart, you have to learn to accept your limitations. There are things that you cannot control in life. Quit focusing on your limited. Focus on God’s unlimited power. “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Confession

When you are impure peace goes out the window. You got to purify your heart so that you can have peace again. God’s plan for purification is confession. Confession is simply agreeing with God that you have sinned. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Enjoy

Enjoy God’s eternal peace. When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating that God’s eternal plan for peace has been completed. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God wants you to have peace for all eternity. Settle your eternity and you will settle your heart. That starts by accepting God’s gift of eternal peace through Jesus Christ.

Above everything else, guard your heart. It is where your life comes from. (Proverbs 4:23)

Your heart is the center of your being. Above everything else, of first importance, we must guard our heart. You should be a good guard with your heart. In other words, you should develop a heart of patience and keep your temper under control, just like a good guard would.

This issue of patience is certainly one that we all need to work on. It is so easy to lose our patience. How do you develop a patient heart? God wants you to learn to be patient.

But the fruit the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy and peace. It is being patience, kind and good. It is being faithful and gentle and having control of oneself. There is no law against things of that kind. (Galatians 5:22-23)

What does it mean to have a patient heart?

A Patient Heart is simply trusting in God’s timing.

“You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors” (James 1:3).

I Need A Patient Heart …

1. When I Am Growing In Faith

“So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything” (James 1:4). “…troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

My Response: Partner With God’s Timing
“God wants us to grow up … like Christ in everything” (Ephesians 4:15).

2. When I Am Growing With Difficult People

“A fool gives full vent to anger, but a wise person quietly holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11). “I’m challenging you. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst” (Matthew 5:44).

My Response: See People Through God’s Eyes
“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other” (1 John 4:11).

3. When I Am Growing In Experiencing Loss

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28).

My Response: Weep, Wait and Connect
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  If you do this, you will experience God’s peace” (Philippians 4:6-7).

4. When I Am Sharing My Faith

“But that is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him” (1 Timothy 1:16).

My Response: Keep Praying and Keep Sharing
“So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time” (Galatians 6:9).

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Your heart affects everything that you do. This word that is translated as “heart” means your soul. It means your life - your whole self. It means what comes out of your innermost being - your drive, your passion, the activity of your will, the result of your character. Your heart is all that you are. The heart is your passion.

The first step in enlarging your heart is to purify your heart. Before you can have proper passions, you must have a pure heart. Once God purifies your heart, what passions should you pursue?

Passion is a pure heart in motion.

Loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself … that’s better than all offerings and sacrifices put together! (Mark 12:33)

Three Passions of a Christian Heart

1. A Passion for God’s Presence

“You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence” (Acts 2:28). “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome” (Ephesians 3:12). “And (Jesus) asked them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have faith in me?’” (Mark 4:40). “‘Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you” (James 4:8).

2. A Passion for God’s People

“The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:31). “And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need” (Acts 2:44-45). “So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified” (Romans 15:7).

3. A Passion for God’s Plan

“Look here, you people who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what will happen tomorrow? … What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15). “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Special Guests: Rev. Damianus & Regina Thomas
Pastor of Mbeya Christian Centre, Tanzania

Supper at 6:00 pm
Fellowship and sharing to follow

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

“Above all else, guard your heart.” Protect your heart. Make sure that your heart is right. Why? Because your heart affects everything that you do. Proverbs 27 says, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man” (v. 19). What is in your heart reflects who you are as a person.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

God desires to transform you from the inside out. He desires to develop within you a pure heart. How does God develop a pure heart in me? How does he take anything that is impure and make it pure?

Admit My Heart is Impure

“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death …” (Romans 6:23). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Believe God can Purify My Heart

“… but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).

Commit My Heart Fully to God

“Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference” (Romans 3:22). “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3-4).

If you would like more details about salvation click here.

God is all-knowing. God knows all things - past, present and future; real and potential - and he knows them all at the same time. There is nothing he does not know.

God knows you more fully than you know yourself. “Even the hairs on your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7). God knows you inside out. “God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). He knows our every action and imagination. He knows our every thought and emotion. He knows our every word, spoken or silenced. Nothing can be hidden from God.

O Lord, you examine me and know. You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do. Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. … Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. (Psalm 139:1-6, 16)

God knows what we do (vv. 1-3). God knows what we think (v. 2). God knows what we say (vv. 4-6). God knows our whole life (v. 16).

Caution: God knows your sin.
“You have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Moses is speaking of one particular sin: a stubborn refusal to wholly follow the Lord!

“I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

If there were no final, ultimate judgment day, then God’s total knowledge of my life would not be so threatening. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

Comfort: God knows what you are going through.
All your trials and temptations. All your doubts and fears. All your struggles and victories. All your joys and sorrows.

Quote by Andrew Murray: “He brought me here. He will keep me here. He will make this trial a blessing. He will bring me out again. Therefore, I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for His time.”

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). God invites us to come to him and find in him everything that we need.