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Gratia Has Graceful Thursday Bible Study

Gratia church held graceful Thursday Bible study with regular attendees on April 28 and all of them received abundant grace. They wanted to walk the path of faith by following the examples of the ancestors of faith. A member shared her reflection.

“Today’s Bible study really spoke to me and helped me to realize the strength of God’s love. He doesn’t care what wrongs you have done in the past, but he will always help to guide you in the right direction. Self-righteousness is something we should be aware of because it may lead us to become selfish with God and not accept and serve others in the way that He wants us to. I hope to continue learning Bible.” shared by a member.

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Run In Such A Way

In the sermon, Pastor Tzeng spoke about running the race in this year and in our lives. People of this world run the race enslaved in the sinful structures of the world. However, the people of Jesus Christ have been set free. However, although Paul proclaims his freedom in Jesus Christ, he says he makes himself a servant to everyone. We also are free, yet we serve others in order to evangelize them and save them for Jesus Christ.

As we run the race, we should know the end goal of this race of life, this race in this year. The end goal is the eternal crown we receive. The temporary crown of this world fades away, but treasures in heaven will remain. Therefore, we should run knowing the eternal crown and live bearing fruits for God’s glory and Kingdom.

In this way, we won’t live our lives aimlessly. Depending on your goal, you will run the race differently. If we know the goal of God’s Kingdom, then we will self-discipline ourselves and for the freedom of God’s Kingdom. This is the greatest fruit that we should run for. Let us have self-discipline this year, not because we are forced, but because we are free, yet it’s to serve everyone and to serve God’s Kingdom.
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Gratia Easter Service: Joy of Resurrection

On April 17, 2022, Gratia Church held a graceful Easter service to celebrate the joy of the resurrection and the victory of the Lord. The service began with a special Easter song that young members of Gratia had prepared.

The sermon delivered by Pastor Walker Tzeng, was on John 21:1-14 entitled, “Palm Sun It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn”. The sermon focused on the Lord’s grace in guiding us from the cross towards the resurrection. He encourages us to be fishers of men with a new net and boat, which is the Word and belongs to Church. We are a living sacrifice in living communion with God through the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Following the baptism, members had communion together with the service of bread and wine, which Sister Kellie organized. It was a beautiful time when the body of Christ could celebrate the Lord’s love and life that he gave to all of us.

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The Parable of the Rich Fool

In the sermon, Pastor Tzeng introduced the scene in which Jesus gave this parable, in that a person with greed in his heart was attempting to get Jesus to help him. However, our faith shouldn’t be so shallow, as if faith is just trying to get things from God. This is conditional faith in which we only do good things to get good things. A deep faith is simply loving, trusting, and being with God in a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

However, the hubris of mankind is that we seek to desire control in our lives, particularly with this acquiring of money and things. Money and wealth end up being a gateway to storing up so much sin in our hearts and being controlled by that. We may try to sugarcoat our heart with faithful words saying we will give to God if we’re able to gain a huge wealth, but God sees the depths of our heart and we are too limited and weak to control our greed. That is why Jesus gave us the wisdom to pray for daily bread instead.

The truth is, our life can end at any moment, just like this rich fool. Therefore, we must not store up wrath and sin in our hearts, but rather store up fruits of love and treasures in heaven. Hell is a small place of pride where we lock ourselves in with the sin and wrath we stored in ourselves. Rather, if we open our hearts to Jesus, God pours down amazing blessing upon us that we store in our hearts and we can take to heaven.

When we have faith that Jesus Christ has given us eternal life, then we also can have the common sense wisdom to live for eternity.
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Gratia Holds Graceful Easter Retreat 

Gratia held a graceful Easter retreat on April 16, 2022. During the Easter Retreat, Pastor Walker preached on John 20 over two Bible Studies. The first Bible study focused on Mary, John, and Peter’s witness of the empty tomb. The second Bible Study focused on the receiving of the Holy Spirit and doubting Thomas. Members were exhorted to go beyond the cross and live a life of resurrection.

After the Bible studies in the morning members hiked Mt Davidson where there is a big cross on top of the mountain and enjoyed the beautiful nature. Everyone received abundant grace through this time and wants to celebrate the risen Christ.

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