Today's Devotional: "I Will Save Thy Children"

But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 

Isaiah 49:25

     The youth are the objects of Satan's special attacks.  {FLB 269.2}

     Wherever we turn, the battle goes on unceasingly. . . . Multitudes of the youth are swept away by the overwhelming tide of evil. In every earnest Christian heart the question rises, "Why, oh, why, in a land of Bibles and Christian teaching, can the adversary of souls exert over our youth a power so mighty, so unrestrained?" The reason is apparent. Parents are neglecting their solemn responsibility.  {FLB 269.3}

     If a field is left uncultivated, a crop of weeds is sure to appear. So it is with children. If the soil of the heart is uncultivated, Satan sows his seeds of anger and hatred, selfishness and pride, and they quickly spring up, to bear a harvest that parents reap with bitter regret. Too late they see their terrible mistake.  {FLB 269.4}

     One of the signs of the "last days" is the disobedience of children to their parents.  {FLB 269.5}

     The sin of rebellion against parental authority, lies at the very foundation of the misery and crime in the world today.  {FLB 269.6}

     Jesus loves children and youth. He rejoices when He sees Satan repulsed in his efforts to overcome them. Many a youth is in imminent peril through manifold temptations, but the Saviour has the tenderest sympathy for him, and sends His angels to guard and protect him. He is the Good Shepherd, ever ready to . . . seek for the lost, straying sheep.  {FLB 269.7}

     Parents stand in the place of God to their children, and they will have to render an account, whether they have been faithful to the charge committed to their trust.  {FLB 269.8}

     [Christian parents,] be true to your trust. God will help you. Guided by Him, your children will grow up to bless and honor you in this life and in the life to come. {FLB 269.9}

Ellen G. White
The Faith I Live By

Today's Devotional: Working Together

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 

Galatians 6:2

     Children as well as parents have important duties in the home. They should be taught that they are a part of the home firm. They are fed and clothed and loved and cared for; and they should respond to these many mercies by bearing their share of the home burdens, and bringing all the happiness possible into the family.  {FLB 268.2}

     Even the little ones should be trained to share in the daily work, and should be made to feel that their help is needed and is appreciated. The older ones should be their parents' assistants, entering into their plans, and sharing their responsibilities and burdens. Let fathers and mothers take time to teach their children, let them show that they value their help, desire their confidence, and enjoy their companionship, and the children will not be slow to respond. Not only will the parents' burden be lightened, and the children receive a practical training of inestimable worth, but there will be a strengthening of the home ties and a deepening of the very foundations of character.  {FLB 268.3}

     Work is good for children; they are happier to be usefully employed a large share of the time; their innocent amusements are enjoyed with a keener zest after the successful completion of their tasks. Labor strengthens both the muscles and the mind. Mothers may make precious little helpers of their children.  {FLB 268.4}

     The approval of God rests with loving assurance upon the children who cheerfully take their part in the duties of domestic life, sharing the burdens of father and mother.  {FLB 268.5}

     If children were taught to regard the humble round of everyday duties as the course marked out for them by the Lord, . . . how much more pleasant and honorable would their work appear. To perform every duty as unto the Lord, throws a charm around the humblest employment, and links the workers on earth with the holy beings who do God's will in heaven. {FLB 268.6}

Ellen G. White
The Faith I Live By

Today's Devotional: Silken Cords of Affection

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 

Ephesians 4:32

     The principle inculcated by the injunction, "Be kindly affectioned one to another" (Romans 12:10), lies at the very foundation of domestic happiness.  {FLB 267.2}

     Unkindness, complaining, and anger shut Jesus from the dwelling. I saw that angels of God will flee from a house where there are unpleasant words, fretfulness, and strife.  {FLB 267.3}

     Gentle manners, cheerful conversation, and loving acts will bind the hearts of children to their parents by the silken cords of affection and will do more to make home attractive than the rarest ornaments that can be bought for gold.  {FLB 267.4}

     Tender affection should ever be cherished between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters. Every hasty word should be checked, and there should not be even the appearance of the lack of love one for another. . . . Children are to respect and reverence their parents, and parents are to manifest patience, kindness, and affection for their children. Each one should seek in every possible way to please and make happy the members of the family circle.  {FLB 267.5}

     Acts of kindness. . . . will bind hearts together, and will draw them closer to the heart of Him from whom every generous impulse springs. The little attentions, the small acts of love and self-sacrifice, that flow out from the life as quietly as the fragrance from a flower--these constitute no small share of the blessings and happiness of life.  {FLB 267.6}

     Oh, what rays of softness and beauty shone forth in the daily life of our Saviour! What sweetness flowed from His very presence! The same spirit will be revealed in His children. Those with whom Christ dwells will be surrounded with a divine atmosphere. Their white robes of purity will be fragrant with perfume from the garden of the Lord. Their faces will reflect light from His, brightening the path for stumbling and weary feet. {FLB 267.7}

Ellen G. White
The Faith I Live By

Camp Meeting 2013

It’s official! This year’s camp meeting will be held on October 29 – November 3 at the Royal Valley Free SDA Church.

The theme will be “Christ Our Example,” giving special focus to the work of Medical Missionary Evangelism.
We have very special speakers this year, including

• Pastor Willie Manipol, a pastor and naturopathic doctor who founded the Corinthian Naturopathic College in Glendale, California;
• Sis. Juliet Tano, a self-supporting medical missionary based in Iloilo, who comes with extensive education and experience in the field of health and natural healing; and
• Sis. Monica Hahn, a bright and eager young woman originally from California but is currently based in Cavite to do work as a self-supporting medical missionary.

So yes, this camp meeting promises to be storehouse of manifold blessings waiting to be opened for everyone who will attend. Do come and bring your family and friends.

Updates will be posted on this blog so watch out for those.


God bless!

Today’s Devotional: Keep Looking Up!

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

 

Several years ago, while journeying from Christiania, Norway, to Goteborg, Sweden, I was favored with the sight of the most glorious sunset it was ever my privilege to behold. Language is inadequate to picture its beauty. The last beams of the setting sun, silver and gold, purple, amber, and crimson, shed their glories athwart the sky, growing brighter and brighter, rising higher and higher in the heavens, until it seemed that the gates of the city of God had been left ajar, and gleams of the inner glory were flashing through. For two hours the wondrous splendor continued to light up the cold northern sky--a picture painted by the great Master Artist upon the shifting canvas of the heavens. Like the smile of God it seemed, above all earthly homes, above the rock-bound plains, the rugged mountains, the lonely forests, through which our journey lay.  {FLB 248.2} 
   
Angels of mercy seemed whispering: "Look up! This glory is but a gleam of the light which flows from the throne of God. Live not for earth alone. Look up, and behold by faith the mansions of the heavenly home." This scene was to me as the bow of promise to Noah, enabling me to grasp the assurance of God's unfailing care, and to look forward to the haven of rest awaiting the faithful worker. . . .  {FLB 248.3} 
   
As God's children, it is our privilege ever to look up, keeping the eye of faith fixed on Christ. As we constantly keep Him in view, the sunshine of His presence floods the chambers of the mind. The light of Christ in the soul-temple brings peace. The soul is stayed on God. All perplexities and anxieties are committed to Jesus. As we continue to behold Him, His image becomes engraved on the heart, and is revealed in the daily life. . . .  {FLB 248.4} 
   
My dear young friends, ever keep Christ in view. Thus only can you keep the eye single to God's glory. Jesus is your light and life and peace and assurance forever. {FLB 248.5}

Ellen G. White
The Faith I Live By

Today's Devotional: GOD'S HELPING HAND

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature. 

Mark 16:15. 

"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." He "sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16, 17. The love of God embraces all mankind. Christ, in giving the commission to the disciples, said: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."  {FLB 247.2}

All who are ordained unto the life of Christ are ordained to work for the salvation of their fellow men. Their hearts will throb in unison with the heart of Christ. The same longing for souls that He has felt will be manifest in them. Not all can fill the same place in the work, but there is a place and a work for all. . . . Every gift is to be employed for the advancement of His kingdom and the glory of His name.  {FLB 247.3}

Christ desires to use the youth in His service. He needs missionaries. The barren fields all over the world call to heaven for laborers. If the youth will give themselves to God, He will give them wisdom and knowledge, preparing them for service. If they will consecrate themselves to Him, He will make them vessels unto honor, into which He can pour the precious oil of the Spirit, to be imparted to others. God's helping hand--this is what you may be if you will yield yourselves to His keeping.  {FLB 247.4}

To everyone who offers himself to the Lord for service, withholding nothing, is given power for the attainment of measureless results. For these God will do great things.  {FLB 247.5}

To young men and young women, as well as to those who are older, God will give power from above. With converted minds, converted hands, converted feet, and converted tongues, their lips touched with a living coal from the divine altar, they will go forth into the Master's service, moving steadily onward and upward, carrying the work forward to completion. {FLB 247.6}

Ellen G. White
The Faith I Live By

Nahisulat Na Radio Program: Ang Dios DIli Magbiya

Sabbath School Lesson for the Third Quarter of 2013 Now Available for Download

Recent technological advances have changed the way information is produced, consumed, and shared in ways that may have been unimaginable in decades past. Used with an eye single to the glory of God, these advances are wonderful instruments for sharing the treasures of the Gospel and the upbuilding of God’s kingdom.

With these technologies becoming more and more available, we have decided to try and keep up by producing digital versions of our publications. It is quite an endeavor, and thus would have to be done in increments. One of the first to be given attention is the Sabbath School Lesson, which we began to distribute as an ebook during the second half of the past quarter.

From this quarter on, however, the digital and the print versions will be released simultaneously. The lesson in pdf is now available for free download here. Click on the Menu button at the bottom of the file to display Download and Print options. Or  the Full Screen button just beside it for online reading. A widget has also been added to the top of our sidebar.



The digital version is perfect for smartphones, tablets, ebook readers, and personal computers so you'll have the lesson with you everywhere you go. And because it's paper-free, we've been able to add pictures and illustrations that are not on the print version.

This quarter’s lesson is the first of a three-part study of the inspired book, Christ’s Object Lessons by Ellen G. White. The book itself is a compilation of Christ’s Parables with inspired explanations and elaborations.

We also invite you to listen to and even download the sermons we feature on this blog which are also accessible through the sidebar or by the Audio Sermons tab.

If you desire more materials, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email.

We hope you are blessed by the materials that we share.

Songs Performed at Last Sunday's Radio Program

Molahutay

Be an Example

God's Peculiar People: 10th Summer Camp Meeting

We are inviting everyone to our 10th Summer Camp Meeting this April 16-21, 2013 at our church grounds.

Here's our full address:

Royal Valley Free Seventh-day Adventist Church
Block 3 Lot 4 Kalayaan Street, Skyline Village Phase III,
Catalunan Grande, Davao City

For inquiries and directions, you may reach us at:

+63 (82) 297 3084
+63 921 536 3460
royalvalleyfreesda@gmail.com

Our guest speakers, led by Pastor Dave Matudan of the Seventh-day Adventist Present Truth Believers, will fly in from Luzon with more than twenty young singers and ministry trainees.

Themed "God's Peculiar People: Under Siege, Empowered, Militant, Triumphant," this camp meeting ensures that everyone who will attend will receive a God's message for him for this present time.

Come with your family and friends and be blessed.

For more information, view our camp meeting page.

Sermon of the Week: The Happiest People

Sermon Title: The Happiest People
Delivered by: Pastor Patrick Herbert, Gilead Institute of America



To download a copy of this sermon and other sermons in this archive, follow these instructions:
1. Find the Internet Archive logo on the control bar and click it. The icon looks like this:  

2. Select "Full Version at Internet Archive." This will open Internet Archive in a new tab.

3. In the leftmost column of the new tab, you will find two download options, one a VBR ZIP and the other Ogg Vorbis. Click on your preferred option.

4. Choose where to save your file.

5. Save.

To listen to other sermons on this site, click on the 'audio sermons' tab above. Have a happy Sabbath, everyone!

P.S.

It's our 11th church anniversary today, yay! God has been working very wonderfully for us and through us. May this new year for us bring us closer to the fulfilling of our mission and the return of our Lord and Saviour. Let's all continue to pray for one another.

Listen to Sermons Right on this Blog

We put up a new gadget!

If you look at the top of the right column in this blog, you'll find the new gadget which allows you to listen to the featured sermon of the week. The featured sermon will be changed every Friday, but as we will also put up a sermon each week in individual blog posts, you will be able to browse through and listen to all sermons posted in this blog by clicking on the Audio Sermons tab near the top of the blog.

Please note, however, that the sermon will start over every time the page is refreshed. So if you would like to listen to the sermon while browsing through blog, open a new tab.

The ability to download the file will be made available very soon. Meanwhile, if you'd like a copy of the sermon of the week or of other sermons in our archive, let us know by emailing us at royalvalleyfreesda@gmail.com and we will email you the sermons you request.

This week, the sermon is entitled "Tools for Perfection" by Pastor Patrick Herbert of the International Association of Free Seventh-day Adventists.

The Church in Sitio Nawan

Here are a few photos from the recent visit to Sitio Nawan, Pangian, Malita, Davao del Sur.

The uphill climb takes an average of 45-90 minutes. 

The brethren welcoming those who are visiting for the first time. The church in Nawan is a 15-minute motorcycle ride and an hour's hike away from the church in Pangian, which planted it two years ago and continues to nurture it. Elders take turns taking the hour-long hike up the hill every Sabbath.  

Elder Esperanza (middle, last row), Bro. Joseph and Bro. Anthony with the youth and children of Pangian and Nawan on a hill near the church.

The children of Nawan and Pangian giving a special number, action songs and memory verses, during the Sabbath afternoon program.

The brethren who came for fellowship.

The hike back proved to be a greater challenge because of the pull of gravity and the steep trail.

One of the many dangerous bends in the trail. One misstep could send you sliding along the slippery slope and down the hill. Before their church was established, the brethren of Nawan walked this trail back and forth every Sabbath, sometimes having to walk an additional hour all the way to the church in Pangian. Such devotion!

Despite the distance and the scarcity of resources, the brethren in this remote area continue to be faithful, denying self and giving all in their God-given ability to serve Him.

May God richly bless this church, the brethren of Pangian, and ourselves as we endeavor in our respective capabilities to surrender all for the cause of our Lord.

Faces Lighted Up: Pastor Patrick Herbert at His Vine Free SDA Church in Florida

Pastor Patrick Herbert of the Gilead Institute of America and the International Association of Free Seventh-day Adventists spoke during the Sabbath morning service at His Vine Free Seventh-day Adventist Church last March 16.

Here is the video that was uploaded by His Vine Free SDA Church on Youtube.

Church Floor Tiling

Yes, the church floor is getting tiled. Thanks to brethren whose hearts were touched to share their blessings with the church that has been our home for a year and a half now. The picture shows Phase 1 of the tiling project which will be completed today. Phases 2 and 3 will involve tiling of the floor of the right wing and the back portion of the building (after completion of the flooring in that area).

Other improvement projects include mounting of the right wing ceiling, painting the entire ceiling, and improving the lighting and ventilation system.

One wall of the building had been taken down to create more space and improve ventilation.

Church brethren have been very generous in giving to the cause through donations in money, materials, and labor.

This is yet another proof that the Lord never leaves His people without help. More updates to come in the weeks to follow, especially as we gear up for the Summer Camp Meeting this April 16-20.

We would be very glad to have you at the camp meeting. Do come and invite your friends, too. Guest speakers and singers will be flying in from Luzon to bring messages of mercy, awakening, and empowerment to everyone - Seventh-day Adventist and otherwise.

For more information and directions on how to get here, email us at royalvalleyfreesda@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

And if you are impressed to lend a hand for this church-building-in-progress, check out our Church Building Page.

Be blessed today.

Audio Sermons Now Available!

We are working on converting audio sermons into mp3 files that you can take with you on your phones, tablets, computers, music players, or play at home using your CD/DVD players. For now, we still have only three titles available. But next week, we are targeting at least ten more titles. If you would like to have a FREE copy of these sermons, leave a comment below that states the title you like and your email address or write to us at www.royalvalleyfreesda@gmail.com. We hope these messages will bless you as much as they have blessed us.

1. Stand in the Light by Pastor Patrick Herbert, Gilead Institute of America
2. Tools for Perfection by Pastor Patrick Herbert, Gilead Institute of America
3. God Does Kill by Pastor Patrick Herbert, Gilead Institute of America

God bless you.

Church Updates

It has been quite some time since this blog has been updated, and so much has happened. With every passing day, we bear witness to the grace of God in what He does through His people.

The last quarter of the past year has been truly wonderful in that it opened to us doors for more learning and service.

In October we held our Annual Camp Meeting and were much refreshed by the review of the pillars of our faith. November saw us thankful for another year of service through the airwaves with the celebration of the Radio Ministry's 9th Anniversary. In December, we became better acquainted with another congregation of Present Truth Believers who are based in Luzon. Pastor and Sister Catubigan were graced with the opportunity to attend their annual camp meeting and were very much blessed by it.

The acquaintance has been such a blessing that we have invited the said ministry to our very own camp meeting this summer. That's something we can all look forward to. Details about the upcoming camp meeting will be saved for the next post, so do come back and see.

Besides the camp meeting, we are also gearing up for Vacation Bible School and the possibility of visiting our Luzon brethren again for their Youth Congress.

As for these past months, we have been busy making improvements in the church lot and building, establishing our Publishing Office, holding medical missionary classes and cooking demonstrations for the members, and putting together a youth choir, among others.

God has also brought us in touch with four other churches in and around Davao City with whom we can learn and work together as we realize that the time we live is indeed God's time for gathering together His precious jewels and preparing them for the last great work.

We have also had the opportunity to extend help to our brethren in Compostela Valley who were victims of the typhoon Pablo. The scene was truly devastating - another reminder from God that we are nearing the end of our time and we ought to take up our work more seriously than ever before. We are planning a second visit to the area in the next few months. Should you be impressed to help in this cause, please contact us through our email address: royalvalleyfreesda@gmail.com

I'll be posting photos and updates in the days to follow and I'm hoping that you will come back to follow the progress of the church. If you are involved with a church and/or a ministry, we would also be very happy to hear of you and the work that you do.

May the Lord prosper all our efforts as we endeavor to serve Him and work with Him!