MT. ZION

MT. ZION This page is to inform the members and attendees who are with us and important announcements and issues that are connected with our church.

It will also serve as a venue to encourage one another. Official page of Mount Zion Christian Fellowship (MZCF).

03/07/2024

Mid-week Devotion

That you may know…what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:18-20)

In this passage from Ephesians, Paul prayed a powerful prayer, longing that God’s people would know several things. One of those was great the power of God towards those who believe.

This is the same mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead. If the death of Jesus is the supreme demonstration of the love of God, then the resurrection of Jesus is the supreme demonstration of God’s power.

We could say that what the resurrection is really all about is power. The essence of the cross is love; but love without power isn’t enough. Without power, love may be noble or well intentioned, but it isn’t enough. We need both God’s love and His power, and the resurrection is a demonstration of the fact that God’s self-giving love is full of power.

The great power of God brought life to the dead, but this mighty power that raised Jesus went beyond His resurrection. That same power raised Him to the heavens after His resurrection, raising Him above all demonic foes and every potential enemy in all ages.

This power – that which raised Jesus from the dead and lifted Him to the heavens – this same power is for those who believe! What can be said about this power?

This power is greater than the worst evil and harm of humanity. Jesus was subjected to the very worst in mankind when He was crucified; yet this mighty power of the resurrection made Him triumph over it all. No matter how bad man is, God is greater.

This power brings healing. When Jesus rose from the dead, He no longer suffered from His wounds, even though they were still visibly present with Him. The power of resurrection is healing power.

This power is toward some people – toward us who believe, according to Ephesians 1:19. We might think that this power is toward those who do great things, or toward who have achieved some high spiritual, mystical place. That’s not what the Bible says; this power is towards those who simply believe.

This power is for continued living, not just for a one-time experience of resurrection. The power was not only to raise Jesus from the dead, but to raise Him permanently above every enemy and spiritual foe. This is an abiding power, not a one-time experience that ended when once used.

The wonderful truth Paul explained in Ephesians 1 is that resurrection power is here for the people of God, those who believe now. It is not only for when they die, and God wants the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to live in His people today. It is toward us who believe; believe and receive it today.

01/17/2024

Mid-week Devotion

When the Blessings Dry Up

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
(1 Kings 17:7)

God used this prophet Elijah to speak forth His word against a corrupt regime. The regime was so corrupt that after his bold announcement (found in 1 Kings 17:1) they wanted to kill him. So, God sent His servant away to a safe place by a flowing brook where he was miraculously fed by ravens. It was a time of rest, restoration, and learning for Elijah as God stretched his faith and his thinking through those ravens.

Then we come to verse 7 and find that “after a while that the brook dried up.” It didn’t happen suddenly; it happened “after a while.” We can picture Elijah sitting by the brook day by day, observing that the water level slowly dropped and the speed of the flow began to slow. Elijah saw the flow of the brook slow down until it dried up. His source of water was gone.

Why did it happen? It happened as a direct result of his own prayers. Read it for yourself: “because there had been no rain in the land.” This was the drought Elijah prayed for. Perhaps when he first prayed he didn’t know how the answer to the prayer would affect him personally, but now he certainly knew. It isn’t easy when God’s gracious and righteous answer to your prayers brings hardship upon yourself.

Nevertheless, he did not pray for rain to come again – not even for his own survival. He kept the purpose of God first, even when it adversely affected him.

We can regard Elijah’s experience as an illustration of something many Christians experience, what F.B. Meyer called “the drying brook.” He wrote, “Ah, it is hard to sit beside a drying brook - much harder than to face the prophets of Baal on Carmel.” Meyer also mentioned different kinds of drying brooks we might experience:

The drying brook of health, sinking under a creeping paralysis, or a slow consumption.

The drying brook of money, slowly dwindling before the demands of sickness, bad debts, or other people’s extravagance.

The drying brook of friendship, which for long has been diminishing, and threatens soon to cease.

It takes a special grace, a unique work of the Spirit of God, to see the brook dry up in front of you and to bear it with godly endurance. We like to see things move from one success to another, from glory to glory, but there are times when God knows that the drying brook is exactly what is best for us. He didn’t bring you to that place out of anger or punishment; indeed, we might say that Elijah had to live by that brook because he had a particular closeness with God. The season of the drying brook became a season of higher education and deeper experience.

“Why does God let them dry? He wants to teach us not to trust in His gifts but in Himself.” (F.B. Meyer)

If God has placed you beside a drying brook, don’t despise it – let it work its perfect work

"Enduring Word"

God bless us all

06/07/2023

MID-WEEK DEVOTION (06-07-23)

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

For many people, 1 Corinthians 13 is their favorite chapter in the Bible. Because it describes the character and nature of love so well, it is sometimes called “The Love Chapter.” These words conclude the chapter and tell of the never-ending nature of love.

Faith, Hope, and Love

The three great pursuits of the Christian life are not miracles, power, and gifts; they are faith, hope, and love. Though the gifts are precious, and given by the Holy Spirit today, they were never meant to be the focus or goal of the Christian life. Instead, the believer’s main pursuit is faith, hope, and love.

What is your Christian life focused on? What do you really want more of? It should all come back to faith, hope, and love. If it doesn’t, we need to receive God’s sense of priorities, and put our focus where it belongs.

Because faith, hope, and love are so important, we should expect to see them emphasized throughout the New Testament. Think of these passages:

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:5-6)

You could add to these 1 Peter 1:21-22, Colossians 1:4-5, and 2 Timothy 1:12-13.

Faith, hope, and love are all important, but the greatest of these is love. Love is greatest because it will continue and even grow in the eternal state. When we are in heaven, faith and hope will have fulfilled their purpose. We won’t need faith when we see God face to face. We won’t need to hope in the coming of Jesus once He returns. But we will always love the Lord and each other and grow in that love through eternity.

Love is also the greatest because it is an attribute of God (1 John 4:8), and faith and hope are not part of God’s character and personality. God does not have faith in the way we have faith, because He never has to “trust” outside of Himself. God does not have hope the way we have hope, because He knows all things and is in complete control. But God is love and will always be love.

The point isn’t to get us to choose between faith, hope, and love. The point is that without love as the motive and goal, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are meaningless distractions. If you lose love, everything is lost.

Praise God from all whom blessing flow, a blessed day ahead kakabsat. God bless us all

11/09/2022

Mid-week Devotion

Trying To Make Sense Out Of Life

Life is unfair: The righteous suffer while evil men prevail. Justice is capricious as life appears to unfold in random fashion: Innocent children are victims of war and flood, while piggish dictators ravage their people for personal gain. Good people get cancer and the brutish often live in wealth and enjoy good health into old age. (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 7:15; 8:14; Daniel 4:35; Job 11:7-9; 33:13; Romans 11:33, 34)
One could reason: If God is good, then He is weak. Otherwise He would stop the suffering and injustice. If He is strong and sovereign, then He is cruel or indifferent for allowing the carnage to continue. The book of Job however, shatters such thinking.
Here is the essence of Job: One day Satan, in conversing with God, accuses Job of following God because He is blessing him. In order to demolish his argument, God gives Satan permission to take everything of Job's except his life. As Job loses his health, children, and resources, his "friends" argue that his suffering is due to his sin. In the end, God vindicates Job, and restores everything twofold.

FIVE CONCLUSIONS FROM THE BOOK OF JOB:
1. God reserves the right to use us for His glory as He so chooses:
"But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth… Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself ?" (Exodus 9:16; Job 40:8) (See Isaiah 45:9; 64:8)
2. Job demonstrates the fact that it is possible, amidst extreme suffering to maintain one's faith:
"At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'" (Job 1:20, 21) (See Job 1:22; 13:15)
3. Job's counselors wrongly assumed that his tribulations were related to sin; that righteous people always prosper, while suffering is always our punishment for engaging in evil:
"If [the righteous] obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment." (Job 36:11)
4. Suffering deeply enhanced Job's relationship with God:
"My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." (Job 42:5)
5. God owes us no explanation for His actions. He gave Job none."
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)

03/13/2022

The Love of Jesus ❤

03/07/2022

Hallelujah! We're Together Again

12/06/2021

Because God is Sovereign and Omnipotent you are never alone. Leave Him all your burdens in life // Sovereign Over Us
-iscelebrationoflife

12/03/2021

Lead me to the Cross // Our next generation on their beautiful presentation

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