Valley Isle Fellowship Love God, Love His Church, Love His World 1033 Waiale Road - PO Box 886 Wailuku, HI 96793 Phone: (808) 244-0865 Fax: (808)249-0235 NEWSLETTER January 14, 2018 www.vifmaui.com Exposing and Defeating Satanʻs Deceits Pastor Stephen Kaneshiro One of Satan s greatest weapons is deceit. He desires you to get things a little bit wrong, but mostly making it look right. A very common example of getting us to get things mostly right and just a little bit wrong is in our relationship with Jesus. Satan makes us think that if we do and say all of the right things, then Jesus should answer all of our prayers, our way. This kind of belief and practice can have devastating results in our lives. When we have this kind of belief and practice, we are actually turning our relationship with Jesus into an investment program. This is where we believe that since I have done all of the right things, or at least some right things, now Jesus has to answer my prayers. These actions on our part can be huge and even sacrificial. However, in most cases, it is usually very minimal. In other words, we try to do the bare minimum in trying to do the right things, and then we expect Jesus to do His maximum in meeting our desires. I once read of a man who took his church to court because he kept track of all of the money that he had given to his church. His pastor preached a sermon once where he made the statement that you cannot out give the Lord, but that the Lord would return to you ten-fold what you give. His charge against the church was that there was on such return on the money that he had given to his church. Others have said that they have been reading their Bibles, giving their offerings, coming to church every Sunday and yet there is no answer to their prayers. They say that they cannot understand why God is so silent and powerless. Dear people, our relationship with Jesus Christ, should never be an investment program. It should never deteriorate to the point where you are simply using Jesus to get what you want. It could be some very good and honorable things that you may want, like the healing of someone with a critical illness or injury. Or even the salvation of someone that you really care about. But when you turn your relationship with Jesus into an investment program, you have made it into something that it was never meant to be. Anger and disappointment in your Lord can begin to overcome you. You can become so angry and disappointed in Jesus that you begin to avoid Him and live to fulfill your own desires. Your thoughts bring you to the point of saying and accepting the philosophy that God s way does not work, so I will do things in my own way. Dear people of Valley Isle Fellowship, this is a powerful lie from the pit of hell. Satan has got you right where he wants you. He has deceived you by turning your sacred relationship with Jesus into the worldly concept of an investment program. The biggest problem with this kind of thinking is that this will reverse of our roles with Jesus. You see, Jesus is God and we are not. This kind of philosophy will turn Jesus into our servant boy and turn us into the Master (or God). If we simply do some good things, then our servant has to perform and provide for us. By living in this way, we turn ourselves into God and God into the servant. This reversal of roles delights Satan and degrades and destroys our relationship with Jesus. This is a self-centered life that focuses on all things that make me feel good. This kind of life focuses on a life of convenience not on sacrifice. It focuses on personal joy instead of the joy of the Lord. Dear people, our lives need to be centered in loving and pleasing Jesus. We should be seeking to be the good servant who seeks to bring glory, honor, and joy to our Master. Our joy and fulfillment is fully achieved when we (continued next page) IN THIS ISSUE: 1-2 Exposing and Defeating Satanʻs Deceits 2,4 Announcements 3 Love Is All That Matters 5 Missional Opportunities 6 VIF Calendar 7 Sermon Notes
Exposing and Defeating Satanʻs Deceits Pastor Stephen Kaneshiro bring glory, honor, and joy to our Master. You see, this kind of life is Christ-centered as opposed to being selfcentered. This kind of life is what Jesus died on the cross to establish with us. This kind of life is the kind of life that will be fully ours when we make it to heaven and live in His presence. Our whole focus in life needs to be adjusted to living to please Him instead of getting Him to please us. We are the ones that need to be sacrificing for Him. He has already sacrificed His all for us. We are the ones that need to be glorifying Him. We are the ones that really need to live a Christ-centered life by loving Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and loving our neighbors as our selves. Let s live in relationship with each other as iron sharpens iron. Let s pray for each other and lovingly hold each other accountable to the Christ-centered life. God bless you as you carry out all of His desires for you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Women...donʻt miss this special time! Friday, January 19 6-7:30 pm Coffee Bar Ministry No Prayer Meeting Martin Luther King Jr Day Monday, January 15 Office CLOSED Part-time (8 am - 9 am and 10:30 am - 11:30 am) Requirement A heart to love and serve God Job Description Set-up/Host/Clean-up Benefits Joy and Fellowship Contact Rosy Olaso (244-8185) for more info and to sign-up - 2 -
Love Is All That Matters Pastor Darren Sarmiento And may you have the power to understand, as all God s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians3:18-19 NLT In church, we are bombarded with so many things that we need to know and do, and things that we shouldn t do, as Christians. So how do we manage all this in our lives so we can make sense of it all and start to see how we can actually live it out? According to the scriptural passage above there are two things we need to do. Before I give you the first thing let me give you the second thing we need to do. The second thing you and I must do is don t worry about all the things we are to do UNTIL we get a grasp on the first thing we need to know. The first thing we need to know is to pray for the power to understand the greatness and depth of God s love for us. To begin to live the lifestyle of a Christian, it first begins with knowing God s unconditional love that He has bestowed on us. In Revelation 2:4 Jesus is telling the Ephesus church (I m paraphrasing) the number one thing you should be doing and are not doing is to love me with your whole being. I find it interesting that we are looking at this scriptural passage in Ephesians and the Apostle Paul is talking about this very thing. The emphasis is this-love is all that matters for Christians around the world. To experience and have the love of God and the love for God is what makes us complete and helps us understand how to live the Christian life. In verse 19 Paul says, May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Here s a question. How do you experience the love of Christ? You and I and the rest of the world can experience God s love and Jesus love in believing in the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ! Paul said we might not understand Jesus love fully which is revealed through the gospel. Nonetheless, we can experience His love enough to believe in Him, and surrender, and commit to follow Him for the rest of our lives. The Apostle Paul ends in essence in saying that now you and I can know how to live the Christian life because we have the love and power given to us through Jesus Christ. Do you truly believe in the gospel? Do you believe that Jesus died and resurrected from the grave to pay the penalties for your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness? Do you know and understand that He did this because he loves you and in Him you now have a right relationship with God? If you truly believe in Jesus, then you have experienced God s love for you. Enough that you can commit to follow Jesus and it will be Him that will lead you to live the Christian life. Now grasp and understand that Love Is All That Matters * * * * * * * * * * - 3 -
Announcements Childcare Ministry Schedule Today, Jan 14 Team 1: Karen F, Kolbe F, Alysha F, Melanie F Jan 21 Team 2: Wendy C, Christine B, Lauryn I Jan 28 Team 3: Jennifer B, Francis C, Jaydee G, Jules G Feb 4 Team 4: Hawea R, Cheeng S, Jezra S, Danae O Church Cleaning Schedule Week of Week of Jan 18-20 Team 5 Carol Sn, Marion K, Makanani C, Josie Y*, Kathy W Week of Jan 25-27 Team 6 Stephen K*, Hubert I, Leslie T, Ernie P, David P, Chad K Week of Feb 1-3 Team 1 Yeiko E, Elaine Y, Teri C, Cecile H, Cathy D, Kenneth K, Lucille K* Be in the know! Join our text alerts... To receive messages via text on your cell phone: A) If you have a smartphone, get push notifications. On your iphone or Android phone, open your web browser and go to rmd.at/mrvif Follow the instructions to sign up for Remind. You ll be prompted to download the mobile app. B) If you don t have a smartphone, get text notifications. Text the message @mrvif to the number 81010 or (808)670-3442. C) Give your cell number to the office and request to be added. *Standard text message rate may apply. For more information or help call the Church Office @244-0865. Week of Feb 8-10 Team 2 Paul Y*, Linda Y, Mimie F, Loida P, Ruth M, Jean K, Del K, Tonette K *Key Monitor Sign-up on the back table to be a part of this ministry. Volunteers Needed! Join a team to be part of this vital ministry caring for our little ones (on a rotation basis) during morning worship service. Sign-up sheet at the back table. For more information, contact Cheeng @ 385-4364 - 4 -
MISSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES NAMB Missionary Spotlight: Praise God for bringing unreached people groups to the U.S. Pray for us as we share the gospel with them in Queens, New York City. May their hearts be open to Jesusʻ Love. International Mission Board Connecting in Prayer https://www.imb.org/pray/ Susu of Guinea(SOO-soo) - I shared previously about a young man who had been living with a local pastor and had become a believer, and who had then been taken away by his family. I shared that his family later had allowed him to return to the pastor s family, saying that he was free to choose what he believed. However, it seems that that wasn t quite the case. Either the young man has been threatened or he has been cursed by others in some way, because he will no longer enter the church. He continues to share in family worship at the pastor s house, but he will not attend services in the church. Please pray a hedge of protection around this young man. Ask God to reveal his power in this young man s life so that this young believer will see that no weapon forged against him will prevail (Isaiah 54:17). Central Asian Peoples While watching his favorite foreign television show online, one man noticed an ad for a Bible reading website. Clicking on the ad, he came to the site, downloaded the smartphone Bible app, and in less than a week, read 44 chapters of the Bible along with 100 other Scripture passages from the Topics section of the app! He shared the app with two of his friends, and now they, too, have read and listened to large portions of the Bible. Without ads, the reach that is now possible could never have been achieved! In a political climate that has made it almost impossible to give out a hardcopy of the Bible, praise God that your prayers and giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering have made it possible, through ads for the website and app, for hundreds of thousands of people to learn about the Bible for the first time! New York, NY Pray that the Lord of the harvest will establish local churches that are an answer to Luke 10:2 and develop laborers for the harvest. 22,636,573 people live in metro New York 44.7% are unaffiliated with any religious body 4% are affiliated with an evangelical church 1 SBC church for every 70,518 New York City residents - 5 - SBC Chaplaincy Spotlight: PrayerConnect Connect with missionaries and chaplains by praying for them and their work, either through specific ministry prayer requests or on their birthdays. Patrick Ballard P.O. Box 12 Flat Rock, NC 28731 playbanjo@att.net Patrick Ballard is a missionary who serves as a nursing home pastor in North Carolina. I serve 49 care centers per month in six counties in western North Carolina with worship services and pastoral care. Please pray for souls to be saved in the facilities where I serve. Pray for more ministry partners and a reliable work vehicle. Remember my family and my best friend as well. Thank you for praying!
Valley Isle Fellowship Calendar January 2018 14 9:00 am - Worship Service 12 noon - Trustees Meeting 15 Martin Luther King Day - office CLOSED Prayer Meeting - CANCELLED 17 6:30 pm - Youth Night 19 6:00 pm - Sweet Life Cafe 21 9:00 am - Worship Service 22 6:30 pm - Prayer Meeting 24 6:30 pm - Youth Night 28 9:00 am - Worship Service - Ordinance of Lordʻs Supper 29 6:30 pm - Prayer Meeting 31 6:30 pm - Youth Night February 2018 2 5:00 pm - MOvinG Men of God Menʻs Ministry 4 9:00 am - Worship Service 12:30 pm - Discipleship Leaders Meeting 5 6:30 pm - Prayer Meeting 7 6:30 pm - Youth Night 11 9:00 am - Worship Service 12 6:30 pm - Prayer Meeting 14 6:30 pm - Youth Night 16 6:00 pm - Sweet Life Cafe Valley Isle Fellowship 1033 Waiale Rd., PO Box 886, Wailuku, HI 96793 ph: (808) 244-0865 - vifoffice@vifmauihawaii.com - www.vifmaui.com SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE Worship Service - 9:00 am Sunday School - 10:30 am * * * * * Senior Pastor Stephen Kaneshiro cell: (808)419-8100 email: icastephen@gmail.com Associate Pastor Darren Sarmiento cell: (808)757-1651 email: darrens@vifmauihawaii.com SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE Worship/Study 6:00 pm www/facebook.com/valleyislefellowship @VIFMaui - 6 -
Eli - Losing His Way 1 Samuel 1-4 Pastor Stephen Kaneshiro I. A man still trying to be. A. Eli was a and a. 1 Samuel 4:18 B. He was and. 1 Samuel 4:15 C. He was. 1 Samuel 4:18 D. He still tried to the Lord. 1. Addresses. 1 Samuel 1:12-14 2. Tried to lead the people to the and of the Lord. 1 Samuel 1:15-18 3. Samuel into the service of the Lord. 1 Samuel 1:25-28 II. His downfall his. A. He raised sons who were. 1 Samuel 2:12-13a B. Sons used a sacred duty for their own. 1 Samuel 2:17 C. in controlling his sons. 1. Had let them go 2. They would not to and their father. 1 Samuel 2:22-25 3. They did not even and the Lord God almighty. 1 Samuel 2:25 4. He would not do what was in disciplining his sons. III. He. A. He knew the sins, but he would not do the necessary. 1 Samuel 2:27-36 & 1 Samuel 3:8-18 B. Prophecy is a. Jonah 3:3-10 C. The prophecy is. Samuel 4:10-11 & 4:12-22 - 7 -