Happy New Year 2015!

By Administration

It’s come to that time when one year has run its course and a new one is about to take over. With Christmas now over and the time to stop and reflect is here, we look back at a year that would have meant different things to different people.

Malaysians have much room in their hearts to consider what might have been as we look back at two massively tragic flights many months ago and now added to that, is a third one that has not only stunned us but has made many of us to seek answers.

Three airborne tragedies in a space of a year; all coming from Malaysia, all begging reasons and all of which are not easy to get over. While we are struggling to handle closure for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, we still have the mysterious Malaysia Airlines MH370, which continues to leave a big hole in the hearts of millions here. And as for MH17, we will never know who brought the carrier down; only that 298 have perished very needlessly over the skies of Ukraine. 

And then there are the serious flooding in the east coast of the country’s peninsula that have wrecked the homes of countless. The rural landscape looks completely like a sea drenched in mud, now almost covering the rooftops. Just today, we hear there is looting as people who have been displaced by the floods have also become desperate for food to feed their families.

At this hour of great need reflected by those who have been victimised by the tragedies that have unfolded, we take time out to think of them, to do what we can for them and most importantly, to pray for them. 

Find a little quiet time to seek the Grace of God. Shed some tears in silence. Dig deep and let our hearts speak honesty. I promise you He will listen to every word you say, hear every plea you make, catch every tear that you shed. 

Let us approach the new year with renewed faith and an emboldened resolve to focus less on the negatives no matter how seemingly pervasive they are. Instead let us look up and find hope in abundance.

In Isaiah 43:18-19 (NASB), God says, “I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” There is always hope and a better tomorrow to come forth. As the writer of Lamentations says, we are not consumed because we have God’s great love and because His compassions never fail.

“They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (3:23 NASB).

We wish all our subscribers, visitors and readers a Happy New Year 2015. May you stay blessed, prayerful, safe and healthy. 

Merry Christmas Everybody!

A Christmas Message from the Pastor

By Pastor Simon Tham



Image Source: connectnigeria.com

Christmas is here today. It is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. However the non-Christian version of celebration is very much commercialised.

Hosanna EFC 2014 Christmas Day Programme

If you're nearby on the very day, come pop in and join us for Christmas. Bring friends along!

If you're not local, there are directions available in the blogsite. Or alternatively you can find us on Google Maps also - just type the name of our church.

See you soon!


Hosanna Evangelical Free Church

Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly; October 19 2014

Launching the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly

"Lux Mundi" isn't just a name given to our blogsite. Hosanna EFC in Malaysia uses the same name for their Sunday weekly bulletin that is available free to all congregants, guests, interstate visitors and speakers.

While we will have a separate article dedicated to the use and adoption of the Latinate "Lux Mundi" for our blogsite and weekly, we have also decided to put our weeklies online as free download resource for everyone who is interested to read.

Reading Third-Party Sourced Articles

From time to time when we come across articles that are of Christian interest, we will have them published here either in its fullness or in part. In both cases we will provide links so that the reader can access the original article at the original website.

When we publish such articles, it does not necessarily mean that we are in full agreement of their authors. It does not also mean that we are in full support of their editorial stand or opinion. The reason for the publication is of interest and may encourage positive commentaries or feedback.

And while we're on the issue of readers' feedback, let it be known that they are individually moderated. We are a Christian blogsite and we are especially mindful of constructive responses as well as responsible writing. We do not tolerate profanities or any expression of vulgarity. Our standard here is to promote maturity, proper writing and also comments that do not offend. Therefore when a comment somehow does not appear even if it had been supposedly published, it is likely because it has not passed the standards that our moderators are placed under to moderate them.


Editorial

Finding Us On Google Map

When coming to visit us, the first thing you musn't try to do is to imagine a church with a steeple or any of such contemporaneous assumptions.

We mentioned in our Warm Welcome note that we're a small church. The emphasis is on the word 'small.' If you have your own transport, it makes things easy. If you have a GoogleMaps-enabled smartphone, you can easily find us because Hosanna EFC is labelled.

For those who use Papago or Garmin GPS navigators, these coordinates - 4.614363, 101.126371 - might come in handy. You simply input these coordinates into your device and your navigator should bring us up on the map and route you to our church effortlessly.

If you can read our blog on your device while travelling but can't access your GPS facility, fear not for we have done some screen captures of Google Maps to give you an idea.

A Warm Welcome

Image courtesy of ministrygreetings.com 


Welcome to Lux Mundi!

In all the years that Hosanna Evangelical Free Church in Ipoh has been in existence, there has always been talk about putting us on the Internet and the farthest we had gone in recent times was to make sure people could find their way motoring to our humble little church. And hence we propped up Google Maps to help us out. And it worked. Just that little add-on helped a few to find their tracks successfully. We had enquiries from other parts of the world as a result. We also had a Dutch student who frequented our church some years back because of Google Maps.

We knew the effectiveness of the Internet. No one needed to tell us the power of reaching others and when one is involved in online outreach, there is no comparison. The problem with us at Hosanna is that we've also been a church with very significant human resource issues.