Weekly Newsletter: February 19, 2016

February 19, 2016
Mitchell Quijano
Newsletters

Verse for today:

Romans 8:28

²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.

English Standard Version (ESV) Footnotes: Some manuscripts “God works all things together for good”, or “God works in all things for the good”

Can we still believe in Romans 8:28?

You’ve heard it thousands of times:

“Don’t worry; everything will work out just fine.”

All things are not good. It would be mockery to say that they are. The death of a child is not good. Cancer is not good, drug addiction is not good, war is not good, blasphemy is not good.

It’s the eternal optimism that is borne not in the crucible of reality but in the wishful thinking of dreams, of Hollywood make-believe, or of a naive Pollyanna outlook. We know of countless tragedies and needless suffering, yet we repeat the myth to our children without blinking an eye: “Don’t worry; everything will work out just fine.”

The overall context of Romans 8:28 is one in which Paul addresses living by the power of the Spirit in the midst of suffering and pain. Paul was no stranger to suffering; his several near-death experiences, beatings, imprisonments, and persecutions were enough to eradicate any Pollyannaism that might have lurked in his heart. In the chemistry of the cross God takes things that, in and of themselves, are bad, and He puts them together, much as a chemist might take chemicals that, in and of themselves, may be deleterious and mixes them to make a medicine that brings healing.

The focus is not on isolated events in the believer’s life, but on the sum total of all events.

Is Paul saying, “Whatever happens is good”? No.

Is he saying that suffering and evil and tragedy are good? No.

Is he saying everything will work out if we just have enough faith? No.

Is he saying that we will understand why God allowed tragedy to come? No.

God is actively at work in your life!

What, then, is he saying? He is erecting a sign over the unexplainable mysteries of life, a sign that reads, “Quiet. God at work.”

When I was young, my mother used to bake delicious cakes. Before she made a cake, she would lay out each one of the ingredients on the kitchen counter. One day I decided to try an experiment. One by one I tasted each one of the individual ingredients to a chocolate cake. Think about it. Have you ever tasted baking powder? How about baking soda? The flour was horribly bland and I won’t try to describe the raw egg. Even the “semi-sweet” chocolate tasted terribly bitter compared to the sweet milk chocolate I was used to eating. To sum it up, almost everything that goes into a cake tastes terrible by itself. The striking thing was that when my mother mixed it all together in the right amounts, placed it in the oven, and then laid it out to cool, an amazing metamorphosis took place. The cake was delicious.

Do you see the difference between saying “each thing by itself is good” and “all things work together for good”? Think about it. The difference is tremendous. The verse does not tell me I should say “it is good” if my leg gets broken, or my house burns down, or I am robbed and beaten, or my child dies. But it does say that God will use these events, and weave them together with every other facet of my life in order to produce what He knows to be the very best for me.

THIS SUNDAY AT BALBOA UNION CHURCH

Worship Service at 10 a.m. – ALL ARE WELCOME!

SPEAKER: Speaker – Betsy Moran

Sunday School Teachers: Jillian Monaghan & Shery Hansraj

First Testament Readings and Psalm	Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 , Psalm 27
Epistle Reading	Philippians 3:17-4:1
Gospel Reading	Luke 13:31-35

Prayers Concerns

Please Pray for Our Brothers and Sisters from Siria and Iraq

Lord, please remind the world that we are all brothers and sisters and there should be no violence among us, only love and attempts to understand one another.

We also remember in prayer our former pastor:

Luis Veagra – facing health issue

Up-coming BUC Activities

Saturday February 27th 2:00 pm-AAAM Program

Sunday February 21st -Visit to Howard Fundacion Nueva Vida-after service

Saturday, March 19 – FAMILY PICNIC

If you want to collaborate with any of our committees specially Property & Management or Memebrship please feel free to contact us at councilsec@balboaunionchurch.org or office@balboaunionchurch.org.

Building 773:

We continue our work sprucing up Building 773 – the basement, apartment C and other common areas. We would be happy to have any volunteers that can assist with this, and any donations towards this work would always be appreciated.

Good Deeds Program in Casco Viejo:

In BUC Missions we are Collaborating with “Good Deeds ” Program: Here is more information regarding the Good Deeds Program. And here is some information regarding their activities, if you want to participate and volunteer more actively.