cerning the venue of an

overnight stay outside

Iligan City Seventh-day

Adventist Central Church,

the Acceptance program

itself, Food fraction, and

more were unsure to the

last minute. Providentially,

and as always, the Savior

supplied everything. It was

a learning experience for

the officers to trust Divine

power despite discourage-

ments that humans are

prone to.

Young people ranging

from 12-22 years old over-

flowed the slots Epaphras

graduates left filling the

Mixed Chapter, MSU-IIT

Chapter and High School

Chapter of ICD.

Ministry to colleges and

universities during the

Acceptance Ceremony at

Macarat Church, 3rd and

4th of March 2012.

Temporary constitu-

tion redress hastened the

approval of application

forms through one on

one interviews and a

purpose of why they like

to enter the organization.

Common last words for

their expectations and

purposes were “…to

attain spiritual growth.”

The mass number of

applicants pumped more

pressure to the officers.

Hanging Church Board

Officers approval con-

As in previous years,

MAS-AMiCUS ICD held for

the latest class of graduates,

Epaphras 2012, the Consecra-

tion, Baccalaureate and

Tribute Services at the Iligan

City Seventh-day Adventist

Central Church (ICSDACC),

March 30-31, 2012.

Organized primarily by

the ICD Shepherding Com-

mittee, Epaphras included 35

SDA graduates from non-

SDA universities, colleges,

high schools and grade

schools throughout the dis-

trict, 14 of such fresh gradu-

ates are now part of the MAS

Alumni.

The class philosophy, “To

walk worthy of the Lord,”

based on Colossians 1:10, was

emphasized by both the Conse-

cration and Baccalaureate

speakers Elder Marcelo Rara,

Jr. and Pastor Eugenio Dela

Pena, who were chosen by the

graduates themselves.

Several of the graduates’

parents also attended the services,

including the potluck lunch held

Sabbath, March 31, at the

ICSDACC Conference Room,

and the Tribute held du- ring the

AY Program.

B u s i n e s s N a m e

J U N E 2 0 1 2 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

An officer orients MAS-AMiCUS Batch Zion during

Acceptance Ceremony at Macarat, Iligan City

67 Zionites compose largest batch yet

by Apryll Eunice Comison

ICD holds Epaphras pre-graduation services by Karen Crystal C. Lasta I n s i d e t h i s

i s s u e :

The Concrete-

ness of the

2

Pinpoint 2

Activity docu-

mentation

3

By God’s grace

I learned

4

MAS Activities 4

That Ye May

Be

4

MAS-AMICUS ICD

accepted the largest

batch yet in history:-

batch Zion.

A conglomerate of

67 students from various

schools pledged to get

them involved in Advent

P a g e 2

The Concreteness of the Abstracts

by Phoebe Mnemosyne Athena Galleposo

organizations dira sa campus. Basin

nalimot mo.” In times when assailed

by doubt and when the clouds of

disbelief seem to cover the promises

of God, go forward on your knees.

For Satan and his hosts tremble when

we pray. Through prayer and by the

grace of God, the group were able to

shoo away every doubt, every

unbelief.

“Now faith is the substance of

things hoped for, the evidence of

things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

As the group marched toward the

Department of Student Affairs, in

their hands is the letter asking

permission for them to put up the

said booth, with the objectives of

catering the needs of SDA students

concerning the enrolment process,

attending to their inquiries, and

making them feel welcome in a non-

Sectarian school. Armed with prayer

and the support of IIT SDA constitu-

ents they moved forward, with them

was Dr. Faith O. Miguel who was

eager to help the volunteers realize

the project. And they did walk in

faith. But God’s ways are not our

ways. His thoughts are higher than

ours. Through the working of the

Holy Spirit, The Director, Dr. Ed-

ward L. Banawa, did not only grant

permission but he himself suggested

that the AMiCUS should cater not

only Adventists but all the enrolees

regardless of their religious affilia-

tions.

And indeed on the 14th of May,

2012, the Enrolment Assistance

Booth was put to realization. A list of

necessary information needed by the

enrolees was printed out, enrolment

flowcharts were already available,

the text hotline was waiting to

receive SMS messages for inquiring

parents and first years, volunteers

were briefed and oriented, and

another table suited for registration

awaits the soon-to-be MAS-AMiCUS

members from the enrolling fresh-

men. The IIT chapter members,

coming from the different colleges of

came and volunteered to help.

Tempers were tested. Characters

were observed. To project the counte-

nance of Jesus to every individual

was the earnest prayer of every

volunteer.

After three days of helping, on

the 16th of May, 2012, the Enrolment

Assistance Program ended. Smiles

were exchanged. Help was offered.

Queries were answered. Thank you’s

were gladly accepted. Prayers were

offered. In a worldly point – of –

view, the program was successful.

Credits to the volunteers! But, hey!

Let me bring you back to the point

where God taught us – SELFLESS-

NESS. For not of works lest any man

should boast. For we are his work-

manship, created in Christ Jesus unto

good works, which God hath before

ordained that we should walk in them

(Ephesian 2:9-10)

It was indeed a unique experi-

ence. MAS–AMiCUS members

sharing the love of Jesus inside a non

-Sectarian school. ENROLLMENT

ASSISTANCE PROGRAM - an

activity where God reminded us the

value of prayer, faith, and selfless-

ness. Simple as it seems. Commonly

heard in sermons yet the most

forgotten and least applied. He

reminded us that these are not mere

words. Not plain nouns. Not abstract.

For these things – prayer, faith,

selflessness, are words that should be

seen, reflected, and lived by. They

are not abstract. They are concrete.

They are action words.

For these For these For these

things things things –––

prayer, faith, prayer, faith, prayer, faith,

selflessness, selflessness, selflessness,

are words that are words that are words that

should be should be should be

seen, re-seen, re-seen, re-

flected, and flected, and flected, and

lived by. They lived by. They lived by. They

are not ab-are not ab-are not ab-

stract. They stract. They stract. They

are concrete. are concrete. are concrete.

They are ac-They are ac-They are ac-

tion words. tion words. tion words.

like Paul. On the other hand, if you are

a compromising lukewarm, you may get all the spiritual privileges you want

and yet never become truly spiritually

filled and fruitful, because all the while you were mixing truth with error until

there comes such a time you would no longer know the difference and any

additional light would no longer even

be recognizable.

Isn’t this too tough? The fact, is, if

you truly trust the truth, you take the risk, but eventually you’ll reap the

freedom. If you greed for the default,

apparently safe, compromising choice, it just means you did not trust the truth

that much, after all.

suppression of obvious truth is needed to maintain the coldness of the unbe-

lieving (Rom 1:18).

What point, then, is this whole talk

pinning?

Jesus Himself has bidden that we

should only be either “cold or hot” (Rev 3:15). But—you ask—why

would He rather have you “cold” than “lukewarm”? The answer is if you are

cold because you absolutely know and

will stand on what you believe is right, then it would only take one pivotal

point in your lifetime for God to

convert all your misapplied zeal to His cause, as in the case of Christ-hater

Saul who at conversion became Christ-

Dear brethren in Christ, pause

for a while as you read this article

and breathe a prayer. It is better yet

to gird your loins with prayer as

you continue on reading for we

have been called to be sober, to be

vigilant; because our adversary the

devil, as a roaring lion, walketh

about, seeking whom he may

devour (1 Peter 5:8). Pray that all

praises be ascribed only to God, not

to self. Not to anyone else.

Prayer, Faith, Selflessness.

Three words. Three nouns. One

concrete. Two abstracts? As the

MAS-AMiCUS ICD (Iligan City

District), MSU-IIT Chapter, by the

grace of God, worked on putting up

an Enrolment Assistance Booth

inside the campus of MSU-IIT for

the incoming freshmen students, a

merciful God was watching over

them, guiding their steps, remind-

ing them of the three words –

prayer, faith, selflessness.

Prayer. Prayer unites us with

one another and with God. Prayer

brings Jesus to our side, and gives

to the fainting, perplexed soul new

strength to overcome the world, the

flesh, and the devil. Prayer turns

aside the attacks of Satan (Christ’s

Object Lessons, 250.)

MSU-IIT, known to be an

institution which does not acknowl-

edge any kind of organizations,

specifically those with the tinge of

“religiosity” in it. Knowing this

fact, doubt slowly crept inside the

hearts of the group members. The

enemy, also knowing the rules of

the Institution started to plant seeds

of doubt in their hearts. Whispering

those deadly doubtful words,

“Sugtan diay mo? Dili

baya allowed ang mga

Pinpoint Of the three, it is most easy to fall into the Laodicean sort. In fact, it

is the “natural” behavior of things to

get to the point of equilibrium with the state of environment they are in.

Paul should have been so well

acquainted with this almost inescap-able problem of conformity and

compromise that he has warned all to “be not conformed to this

world” (Rom 12:2). The natural,

equilibrium state is such an easy, default course in this world that, even

thermodynamically speaking, it

should require a continued supply of Spiritual energy to maintain the fiery

zeal of the faithful (Gal 5:16, Rom 8:26, Acts 11:24), while a persistent

Mid-high school to college years mark the period in most peo-

ple’s lives when minds fall signifi-

cantly into and become primarily driven by one of three states: either (i)

they wake up to seeing the invisible

reality of the existence of the faith world and they act with absolute zeal

upon it; (ii) they get hypnotized into the servitude of fulfilling selfish

ambitions and earthly dreams as if

these were life’s ultimate goals; or (iii) they get caught up into the

apparently doubly beneficial and

seemingly safe choice of meddling in the middle, equilibrium condition

characteristic of the Laodicean,

lukewarm, compromising state.

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

By God’s GRACE

I Learned...

...that Godliness, God-likeness is the goal that I must reach.- Jibe Labenz Nebato

... to depend solely on GOD and not on my own.. That life is not self-focused but a

CHRIST FOCUSED one. Not to be self-confident but to radiate CHRIST CONFIDENCE.-

Clendelyn Jane Bala ...to yield to the power of divine truth, the entrance of God's word that gives light and

understanding to the simple, whenever I've done wrong habits and sinful practices. to keep my self away from EVIL pleasures of this world, for they are not for me.-Marian

Mae Montero

...that building patience and perseverance through God’s help is needed to make things realized- Jan Lumancas

...that God puts you in a position where you could least glory, so you may find His grace sufficient for you, and His strength perfect in your weakness.- Karen Crystal Lasta

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GOOD NEWS!

DAWN WORHIP Every Saturday, 4:30 AM MAS-AMiCUS DEVOTIONAL SMTWTh, 6:00 PM @ICSDACC MAS-AMiCUS ICD AUBADE Every Birthday Celebration

COMING UP!

DISTRICT OFFICERS ELECTION JUNE 2012

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2012

MAS-AMiCUS ICD NEWSLETTER Second Issue 2012

BIBLE BRAIN TEASER

Can you find the names of 24 books of the Bible in this paragraph?

This is a most remarkable puzzle. Someone found it

in the seat pocket on a flight from Los Angeles to Hono-lulu, keeping himself occupied for hours. One man from

Illinois worked on this while fishing from his boat. Roy Clark studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Victs

mentioned it in her column once. One woman judges the job to be so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help

calm her nerves. There will be some names that are

really easy to spot...that's a fact. Some people will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book

names are not necessarily capitalized. The truth is, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes

a minister or scholar to see some of them at the worst. Something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty

we have. Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One

revelation may help, books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. And punctuation or

spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete. Remember, there are 24 books of the

Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph.

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By God’s GRACE

I learned...