By: Pastor Jeremiah Balbuena
This Love Month, I want to share a little bit on this prominent lesson we learn from “Beauty and the Beast” – that unlovely things must first be deeply loved before they become loveable.
This is what Paul writes in Romans: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, [...]

By Rev. Jeremiah Balbuena
In Ephesians the Apostle Paul declared that most Christians have been so imprinted by the world that they don’t know who they really are in Christ. He then reminded that as believers, we are redeemed, we are forgiven, we have understanding, we have the mystery of God, and we are heirs with [...]

By:  Ptr. Jerry Balbuena

When the Christmas season begins, one word falls from our lips more than any other. Surprisingly, it’s not the word “joy” or “carol” or “tree” or “food.” It’s the word “gift.” If you listen in on conversations in shopping malls, parking lots or anywhere else, I’m sure you’ll hear the word mentioned [...]

I Peter 5:2-4 gives a very powerful, compelling thought on the subject of relational discipleship. Look at these words:
· BE shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, [not an option, not a request but a command]
· SERVING as overseers – [as [...]

We hear a lot about Global warming, about McDonald’s going green, recycling their Happy Meal boxes. Their take-home bags are made out of recycled materials, and they guarantee that the Big Mac is made from beef that wasn’t raised in a tropical rainforest. But a lot of us have acceded to the thinking that [...]

Recently, when I encouraged a close friend to turn up the heat in his marriage to 212 degrees, he immediately asked, why 212? Why not 260? Why not 210?
At 211 degrees the water is already very hot, but at 212 degrees the water comes to the boiling point. Raising the water temperature by one extra [...]

Going through my files, I ran into Dr. Eli Javier’s 1997 Report to the General Council Convention. In that report he presented 12 Dream Points he dubbed as “perspectives from one who can be regarded as ‘outsider’ and an ‘insider’. Then I thought this should etched in every wall of ICS.
1. [...]

by: Ptr. Jerry Balbuena
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks were frequent, a group of concerned citizens decided to build a rescue station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat manned by the few devoted crewmen who kept constant watch over the sea. Day and night these courageous men faced the [...]

Each year there is a sand-sculpting contest near the ocean in Newport Beach in California, USA. Artists create incredible works of art: castles, faces, dragons, cars, and so on—all built with sand. It takes incredible talent to be able to do this, and thousands of visitors come each year to ooh and aah over [...]

I’m confident we all would agree that 2008 was a tough year: war, a tumbling stock market, natural disasters, the continued threat of terrorism, and an ever-widening political divide. You can’t help but wonder if 2009 is going to be more of the same. Perhaps we all need an encouraging (but challenging) word to get [...]