Luke 18:9-14.

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

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In the sermon, Pastor Tzeng spoke about the prayer of the Pharisee which tried to use outward actions to gain righteousness before God. However, we cannot gain peace by our own actions compared to others. It may temporarily ease us to compare ourselves to others, but even the richest and most powerful people have anxiety and lack of peace. This is because our peace only comes from God.

The prayer of tax collector had radical sincerity in it. We can compare this prayer to the calling of Matthew, the tax collector, who Jesus reached out to with radical love. A sincere person will pray to God with a sincere posture like the tax collector did. Jesus himself prayed in this way, with struggling sincerity at Gethsemane.

Whether it is the prayer of the Pharisee or tax collector, we find that we are all completely limited. Even in the heart of trying to be humble, we can be prideful at the same time. Therefore, it’s not as if we can resolve self-righteousness and pride on our own. We need the grace of God from above and that is accepting the love of Jesus on the cross.

May we have the faith in God’s love that is completely beyond us and be sincere in our relationship with Him.

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He Was Transfigured Before Them

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In the sermon, Pastor Tzeng spoke about the meaning of the scene of Jesus being transfigured before the disciples. The context of the scene is Peter’s confession of Christ. This confession of Jesus Christ is something all believers go through and forms the basis for our faith. It changes our eternal destiny and gives us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

After Peter’s confession of Christ, the Lord took him up to a mountain where he was transfigured before the disciples. In this event, he was next to Moses and Elijah and Peter was seemingly happy and comfortable with this. He even offered to build a shelter for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. However, after the voice of God came down, Peter realized that Jesus was on a higher level than the other two and fell down trembling in holy fear.

In the same way, we can become comfortable with our faith in Jesus Christ after we confess he is our Lord and savior. However, the event of transfiguration needs to happen in our faith. We shouldn’t be satisfied with our faith and our faith needs to take the next step and we must open our eyes even more to the Lord. His Word must burn in our hearts and we to know his calling for all of us, including the dream of the Kingdom of God.

We may be small like a mustard seed now, but the love of Jesus has the power to transform us. Also, Gratia Church may be small right now, but we must live truly like the early church and God has the power to change transform us into a beautiful church in His glory.

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Gratia Concludes Discipleship Training with Testimonies

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Gratia Church concluded 3-day discipleship training in Colorado on May 22. It was full of grace and testimonies of God’s work in the students.

Pastor Walker wrapped up the discipleship training with closing service, encouraging students to live with the greater righteousness and love of God for the Kingdom.

During the testimony time, every single student gave testimonies of God’s grace that was poured down on them through the discipleship training. Brother Moses shared his gratitude towards God that he received through Bible Studies and receiving the gift of tongues. Sister Chinyce testified how she was pierced in the heart and how God unconditional love of Jesus came to her. Sister Carina was in tears sharing the love of God that she received and wanting to share God’s love with others. Brother Abel shared gratitude and greater vision of God’s Kingdom that he was able to see. Brother Bill shared grace opening up his heart in a greater loving relationship with God.

One overarching theme in all of the testimonies was a deep gratitude to God, a deep gratitude of the Bible Studies, a deep gratitude towards the pastors and ministers.

Please pray for the discipleship training students and ministers to keep the grace receiving deeply in their hearts and grow as a fruit of love of God, being guided by the Holy Spirit for God’s Kingdom.

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Gratia Has Graceful Thursday Bible Study

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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

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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

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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

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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 

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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.