Join us in person or here on Sunday at 10:00AM for the English Sunday message. The Chinese message starts at 11:00AM . You can also join us on our Youtube Channel or Facebook Live .

(11/30/2025) William Go

The Cities of Refuge

Scriptures: Joshua 20:1-9

I. The biblical meaning of “city of refuge,” consider these key points:
II. Six cities were appointed: three on each side of the Jordan River.
III. The Cities of Refuge were six cities allocated to the Levite tribe in the Old Testament that provided asylum for perpetrators of unintentional manslaughter.
IV. Names and tribal territories of the Cities of Refuge

The following are the names of the six Cities of Refuge as well as the tribal territories they were found in:

1. Kadesh in Galilee – in the hill country of Naphtali “Holy Place” “Consecrated or Sanctified”– Righteousness. (Joshua 20:7)
2. Shechem – in the hill country of Ephraim “Back or Shoulder” – (Joshua 20:7)
3. Kiriath-arba(Hebron) – in the hill country of Judah – “Association or Fellowship” – (with God and church members) (Joshua 20:7)
4. Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben – ”gold ore” or “remote fortress” (Joshua 20:8)
5. Ramoth in Gilead “Heights or High Place” – “Look to the Lord – Exalted place – from the tribe of Gad. (Joshua 20:8)
6. Golan in Bashan – from the tribe of Manasseh “their captivity: their rejoicing” – Protector and victory (Joshua 20:8)

Speaker: William Go

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Sunday School Christmas Celebration Service 12/14/2025:
   We will have a very special Sunday School Christmas Celebration Service on Sunday, December 14. This will be a combined Sunday Service with the Chinese Group. The Breaking of Bread will begin at 10:00 AM. Our Christmas celebration will be from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM with a short message, followed by presentations from our Sunday School classes. Our students will share Christmas songs, skits, and musicals to celebrate the birth of Christ. We warmly encourage brothers and sisters to invite your family members to join us for this special occasion.
2. Winter Conference 2026: 2026 Winter Conference wil be held on Friday and Saturday, January 2–3, at our church. The theme of this year’s conference is “Christ Is Our Life” (Colossians 3:4). There will be a total of four messages: Friday: one in the morning and two in the afternoon; Saturday: one in the morning. Our speakers will be Richer Shaw, Timothy Siu, and Paul Lin. All messages will be translated, so that everyone may be encouraged and edified together. We especially encourage youths and parents with younger children to join. This conference is designed to help believers learn to live out the life of Christ and face today’s challenging world with His life. For more information and registration, please visit: www.hocla.us/wc.
3. Parking: We continue to reserve our church parking spaces on Sunday for the elderly, those with children and those with special needs. We are grateful to the Lord that our brothers have secured permission from Dr. Howard Chen’s Orthodontics clinic for the use of his parking lot at 318 N Garfield Ave., which is conveniently located on the same side as our church and adjacent to Dim Sum Express. Please click here for reference. The lot offers 30 parking spaces, and we encourage all congregants to fully utilize these spaces. Please ensure that you park within the designated lines, lock your doors and windows, refrain from leaving valuables in your vehicles, and maintain cleanliness in the parking area. This arrangement is available every Sunday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
4. In-Person Meetings: Welcome back! English group, Chinese group and children Sunday School is back to in person meetings. Our meeting schedule has changed, Sunday morning starts 9:15AM with Breaking of Bread followed by worship and message at 10:00AM. Please refer to the schedule for details.
5. Prayer Meeting: Prayer Meetings are Tuesdays from 8:00 to 9:15PM, joining via Webex for the combined session of the meeting (Meeting number: 6 2 7 5 6 4 2 7 4 Password: 4 0 0 0). We are using Zoom for the English group session, please reach out to Richer for login information.
6. Feature Pages: Checkout our worship YouTube channel for our latest music productions. Also checkout the two new webpages on the Chinese site featuring hymns and the sharing of our brothers and sisters.
7. Howto: There are several ways to watch the HOC Sunday Sermon. Click here for the two methods.
8. Bible Reading Plan: For the 2025 Bible-in-a-year reading, we will follow “Listening To The Word” and will read through the Bible in a year. With a reading plan, we can keep one another accountable in our Bible reading. For more details or to join the plan, click here.

See our sermons page for past sermons.