Hi everyone! What an incredible month March has been! We praise God for the spiritual impact as we attended the Evangelism Conference held at Kaumana Drive Baptist Church earlier this month. The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention and our Big Island Baptist Association hosted this event. Mahalos to Michael “Bong” Abagon and David Whitehead for their leadership! We joined fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from eight of our BIBA churches and missions. We were led in worship by the worship teams of Kaumana Drive and our very own KIBACH Praise Band.

Wally Dyer said that he was totally amazed to see how many great musicians from our fellowship that God has raised up to express their devotion through their musical gifts. And although we miss those whom God has reassigned to seminary, bible school and other mission assignments, God has indeed richly blessed us with very talented and capable musicians to presently lead in worship and witness every Sunday! We say Amen and Amen with you, Wally! We also were treated to great teaching and great food—typical Baptists who enjoy feeding our stomachs!

The keynote speaker Gary Hollingsworth from the North American Mission Board shared Psalm 126:5-6 “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.” He took just forty minutes to present the four imperatives: Go! Sow! Weep! Reap! It has taken me the past four Sundays to unpack his message. Instead of shouting to the outside world “You all get in here, you sinners!” We need to go outside these “safe” walls and share the light and life of Jesus.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday with the Zachary Suffern’s baptism. The Lord’s Supper will be moved from April 1, to April 15. Then we celebrate Easter Sunday with our Joint Service @9AM followed by a special presentation of the Possess the Land-Room to Dream, refreshments and traditional Children’s Easter Egg Hunt. Remember to sign up for our One Month to Live small group bible study campaign that will begin the following Sunday, April 15 and end on Sunday, May 20. Gail Inamine will be preaching the first two Sundays and I will be preaching the last two Sundays of the campaign but prayerfully invite those who may be looking to make some positive changes in their lifestyle to enjoy the best life that God makes available.

When we get serious about following Jesus, what an incredible journey He takes us on! Have a great week! Pastor Daniel

The Greatness of God

February 7, 2012 Hi everyone!
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 6:10-20

Recently, a church member approached me following one of our services and asked a question: “Pastor, do Baptists not talk about the devil? I don’t recall in any of your messages where you talk about the devil! Is there a particular reason why this subject is not talked about?” I tried to answer the question as honestly as I could and said: “I am not sure why other Baptist churches and their pastors do not speak much about the devil but I believe that it is due to personal preference. For me, to the contrary, I do talk about the devil fairly often, calling him by the names in the Bible as “the enemy of our souls”, “Satan”, “ the evil one”, the “accuser”, the “thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy, the father of lies”. BUT I make a conscious effort not to give him center stage and prominence in any of my messages. The Bible is quite clear when it says that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Christ in us gives us the authority and the power to overcome the evil one. I choose not to give Satan any more attention than necessary. I believe that God alone is Creator and the devil is like us in that we are created beings, lesser than God. That is why we call God Almighty! James 4:7 reminds us that our focus instead is to be on God. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

If we keep our focus on God, then He gives us all that we need to resist the “flaming arrows” of the evil one and we will then enjoy the fullest life possible! Live life to the full, Kinoole! Fix your eyes fully on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and stand fast! Stand firm on His Word and pray. And thank you for praying for Gail and me and our families! We are indeed blessed to have your prayer support! Pastor Daniel

A Belated Happy New Year Greeting!

Hello everyone! Sorry this is already twelve days late but maybe the saying "Better late than never!" applies here! This comes with a New Year's prayer, from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesian church in chapter 1:15-20 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. . . the Apostle Peter caugtht this thought when he wrote his letter to the saints in 2 Peter 1:3-4 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." God makes His power available for life and godly living but we cannot go with God and remain the same as we are. As we begin this new year, remember what Jesus said to the Apostle John in Revelation 2 to give to the church of Ephesus: "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." May 2012 be the best year ever as we return to our first love, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength! Amen? Let's get to work! See you this Sunday! Pastor Daniel