A Chapter Ahead

Today, just like any other day, there are just too many reasons to be thankful to God. First, I was able to attend the fourth session of my Foundation 4 Victory training. I know that this is a great blessing already because of the many changes that occurs with my schedule at work every now and then. Just this week, my rest days were changed from Tuesdays and Wednesdays to Mondays and Tuesdays. My F4V trainings happen every Wednesdays. Thank God it starts at 6:30pm and I’m off from work by 4:00pm. By next month, for all I know, I may be transferred to another work schedule again (we operate on 24/7 schedule) and I may not be able to attend the nexy training but still, I thank God that I was at the session earlier. Every session counts!

The old One 2 One book. The latest version
was made available this year, 2013.

Second, the fourth session was led by Pastor Nuel Nanez and the topic is about Discipleship. I thank God for the many learning I have acquired in just a single session (which lasts for only about 3 hours) that I want to go home immediately to blog about them. Pastor Nuel is such an animated speaker. I am deeply honoured to be sitting inside his class. I thank God for Pastor Nuel and for all the pastors at Victory Ortigas!

Third, I am back to blogging again. After a long time, there will be another blog post for Passion 4 Jesus again. Looking back, my last blog post was written July of last year. That’s around 7 months ago and a lot of things had happened already. I just became a born again Christian around 9 months ago and a lot of things worth sharing had not been shared in this blog yet. I thank God for every single moment that I live as a Christian. A lot of times I say that I “searched” for God and “found” Him but because of the session earlier, I realized that God was the one who was actually searching for me and found me indeed. It’s not the other way around. God was not lost. I am. I am more than joyful that I responded to His call.

 Discipleship is about responding to God’s call. From the time Jesus started his mission on earth and said, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) to the time that he ascended into heaven and left the apostles with the Great Commission when he said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19), we knew that his core mission was to “call” people.

My second One 2 One buddy is Dan. 

As a Christian, I know that this is not an easy task. Even the seemingly simple task of inviting my friends and relatives to Victory Ortigas even just for a time had proven to be a very daunting task to carry out. But if you will ask God for grace and if you will continue to cultivate a meaningful relationship with the people that you want to reach out to, victory is at hand. This is one of the reasons why I am so glad that I belong to a church that puts a very high premium on creating relationships. Victory actually encourages us to make meaningful relationship with others, one soul at a time.

I thank God for the One 2 One book. This book had not only changed the lives of many by leading them closer to Jesus, but it also created many meaningful relationships around it. Through it, a Christian is not anymore required to become a very fluent public speaker in order to share the Gospel. A Christian only needs to know how to create meaningful relationships- and this, I believe, is common to all human beings. 

The One 2 One book had truly given everyone a great opportunity to introduce Jesus to others in an easier way. By simply being a chapter ahead, everyone is given the power to change another person’s life.

To know more about Discipleship in Victory Church, please visit www.discipleship.ph.

Five People You Meet In A Small Group

The Let Us series of talks at Victory Ortigas emphasized the importance of having a small group who shall act as your spiritual family on Earth as you move along in your walk with God. A single Christian was compared to an ember which needs to be with other embers in order to survive longer through the heat that they can produce altogether.

The series allowed me to realize how blessed I am to be a part of a small group which is very instrumental in my growth as a Christian. Because of my small group I am constantly reminded that God designed us to be in fellowship with others and that it pleases Him to see us praying, singing and carrying out tasks for Him altogether.

Below is a list of the Five People You Meet In A Small Group, inspired by the title of Mitch Albom’s novel “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. This is also inspired by what Mr. Anthony Pangilinan shared to us during one of his talks that I attended. He said that we should meet quarterly five people who we look up to so that we can learn from them and eventually be like them.

For people who are in a small group, this can be a fun way to spot “who’s who” among you and you can also use this as an opportunity to know more about each other by opening up to the group the roles that each one of you play.

You can also use the list as a springboard to other names/titles that you can come up with to describe the other members of your small group. If you were able to do so, please feel free to share it with us by using the comment box below!

Please download the image above to tag your small group friends on Facebook! Don't forget to share this
to your church-mates too!

1. The Leader is the person that you personally look up to when it comes to his faith in God. You are inspired by the way he lives his life as a Christian and/or by the way he relates to others in the group. You, at some point, would want to emulate his ways.
   Keywords: Inspirational, Role Model, Servant Leader


2. The Teacher is a great sharer of God’s Word. He normally cites biblical verses during discussions and his insights are remarkable and worth listening to. He can be a great pastor.
   Keywords: Bible, Instructor, Pastor, Teacher


3. The Prayer Warrior is the first person you would turn to when you are in need of prayers. He blesses others by the way he prays and is probably the first one to ask for any prayer requests from the group during meetings. He can also be a great source of encouragement.
   Keywords: Encouragement, Prayer 


4. The Confidante is the one who knows most of your innermost thoughts and feelings more than anyone in the group. He can also be your activity partner, best buddy or bestfriend.
   Keywords: Activity Partner, Bestfriend, Buddy, Secret Keeper 


5. The Lil' Bro/Sis is the one you have once reached out to or would want to reach out to give any kind of help such as advice or guidance. You have been or has the potential to be a Leader, Teacher, Prayer Warrior or Confidante to him/her.
   Keywords: Advice, Guidance, Help

Are you interested to be a part of a small group in Victory? Please check out this link.

On Readiness and WikiChurches

The greatest challenge that I have encountered when I was still starting to build this blog, Passion 4 Jesus. Net, is the concept of “not being ready yet” to share my Christian experience to others. Everytime I think of a new topic to write about, a voice inside of me says that I am “not equipped yet” in sharing the Gospel through my blog.

When I attended the worship service at Victory Ortigas last Sunday, something extraordinary happened.

Last Sunday’s preaching was focused on how Victory Christian Fellowship was founded. I have learned that a man named Steve Murrell along with other missionaries from the United States came to the Philippines during 1984 to share the Gospel especially to the students who are attending classes in colleges and universities within the University Belt or U-Belt. I knew that during those times (1984 to 1986) a lot of rallies were staged to express the opposition of the Filipinos against the dictatorship of Marcos. In the middle of the rallies, imagine a group of American missionaries sharing the Gospel in front of “rallying-mode” students inside the old Tandem Cinema.

When Steve Murrell came to the Philippines as a missionary, he will describe himself as “idealistic” and “unprepared” for what was in store. Perhaps, his whole experience as a missionary in Manila is what became his motivation to write the book WikiChurch. In his book he said that today’s churches should be “WikiChurches” or use Wikipedia’s successful concept that people of all ages, backgrounds, expertise, and cultures (and not just paid experts) contribute. [Source: http://bit.ly/yqvIAe]

WikiChurch by Steve Murrell
[Source: http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com]

He further explained that the Bible didn’t speak about “being ready” in terms of sharing the Gospel to others. Jesus did not necessarily call the “experts” to be his followers but instead he called the common people- the fishermen- and even the “sinners”.

When I became a Christian, it occurred to me as a blogger that one day I can use my knowledge and skills in blogging to share the Gospel to others. In one of the previous worship services at Victory Ortigas even a young pastor said, “If you want God’s best for your life, find out what God is doing in your generation and throw yourself into it." Blogs and other social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) are some of the greatest communication channels ever invented during our time. And clearly, these tools can be used to share the Gospel to others.

This is how I came to the idea of creating Passion 4 Jesus.Net. My goal is to inspire as many young people as I can to be passionate about Jesus.

I couldn’t describe to you the feeling that I felt when I realized that I can actually bless others through blogging for Jesus. I also couldn’t describe to you the experience of being tempted not to continue writing anymore each time I sit in front of my computer to start an article. But I thank God that I can always ask for His grace to keep me going and to rely on faith that it is Himself who is supplying me with the strength and wisdom that I need to share my experiences to others. I realized that when you start getting closer to God, that’s when more temptations come in. Knowing this, the more that I felt more blessed. It gave me the slight nudge that at least I am actually doing something for Jesus and that I am also getting somewhere near Him.

Another line that I will never forget during last Sunday’s worship service goes like, “God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”

For me, this nailed the message that Steve Murrell is wishing to impart to everyone through his book. God doesn’t call the “experts”, instead he calls every one of us, even the weakest among us, to share in the building of his kingdom.

Whoever we are and wherever we are in the world, we are welcome to share our Christian experience to others and to encourage others to start their own walk with God.

Just like how Victory puts it, “Honor God. Make disciples.”

To God be the Glory!

Keeping The Fire Burning

God gives timely answers.

Saturday night. My event at SMX just ended. I decided to taste the famous Pares that can be found in Retiro in Quezon City. My officemate lives near the site of the famous Pares restaurant so I decided to go with her.

As we get near Sta. Mesa area, I realized that it was a Saturday night and in my phone it just turned a bit past 7:00pm. The youth service at Victory Ortigas had just started. While inside the taxi, I looked around and saw that there appeared a bus in front of us that I used to ride going to Victory Ortigas. I knew just exactly what to do.

Since my officemate knew about my faith, I need not use much words to explain to her that I need to postpone our Pares night for another time. I need to go to the church.

In the middle of the road, with the taxi going to a halt and the stoplight burning scarlet, I jumped out of the taxi and hopped inside the bus that shall take me to Victory Ortigas.

Victory indeed!

Inside the bus, I was contemplating to myself. I was praying to God that may He help me keep this passion for Him alive inside my heart forever. This passion that is so strong that without much thinking I can postpone pre-planned activities and decide to seek for His word.

Once again I was reminded of the same youthful passion that used to intoxicate me way back in high school. I was a typical overachiever during my high school days. I just really love going to school every day. Back then, while most of my classmates are happy during holidays and weekends, I was the saddest person in the planet. I can't help it. I just love being at school! Achieving at school is what wakes me up early in the morning and what makes me sleep late at night too. I just love the life inside the campus! The school was a home to me!

This passion that I am currently feeling right now because of my renewed relationship with Jesus reminds me of how afire I was for school during my younger days. And I just prayed fervently to the Lord to never ever let this fire inside me die down and instead keep it burning, and keep it burning hotter and hotter each day that the person next to me will be able to feel it too! I want to affect others with this fire!

I reached Victory Ortigas. As I entered the service center, the words of the youth pastor blew me away.

The topic was taken from 2 Timothy 1:6-7. It says, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

Fan into flame the gift of God. Fan into flame the gift of God.Fan into flame the gift of God. The youth pastor was talking about passion for God!

Source: www.christthekingwaco.net

This letter of Paul to Timothy incredibly blew my mind and clearly this was God’s answer to the prayer that I said to Him while I was inside the bus. Right then and there, I just wanted to thank Him for giving me the chance to catch the youth pastor's preaching, though halfway through it I arrived, I was able to catch the main essence of what he was talking about. Passion. Keeping the fire burning. 

As a new Christian, this was a real blessing to me. I couldn’t describe to you how much I felt so blessed by God that Saturday night. I just literally wanted to sing for Him and shout His name filled with gratitude and praise! I wanted to write about it immediately and share it to you just like what I am doing right now through this blog.

I believe that we have an indescribable God. He works in ways that we won’t expect and once we put our trust in Him, we can expect to be amazed by His awesome power from that moment on! If you are a new Christian or a long-time Christian, my prayer for you is to keep your passion for God burning forever. May God keep it ablaze so that you too will be able to cause fires inside the hearts of others. May your passion for God never die away but instead continue to inspire others and affect as many people as you can to do the same!

God bless you!

Jesus In My Generation

The Youth Service at Victory Ortigas is being held
every Friday starting 7:00pm.

I went to the Youth Service of Victory Ortigas (4/F Robinson's Galleria) last Friday. I couldn't miss this service because the energy of the youth is unmatched! Once you started singing with them, you will be unstoppable! (Insert Chris Tomlin's Our God song at the background and sing!)

I prayed that moment that may our loud singing and fervent prayers be worthy enough to be heard by the Almighty Father. I also prayed that He may use my generation in order to form an army who shall win souls for Him and fight for His glory.

The preacher last Friday told us that we are young and we are living in the most exciting part of our lives. He quoted someone who said, "If you want God’s best for your life, find out what God is doing in your generation and throw yourself into it."

Looking at the present time, I believe that God is using three important resources in making Himself known to the world - music (Chris Tomlin and Planetshakers); social media (blogs, Facebook and Twitter); and influential people (Manny Pacquiao and Jeremy Lin).

Words can't describe how grateful is my soul to God for allowing me to use my talents in both music and social media for His glory. When I already have the time, I am planning to audition for the Music Ministry of Victory Ortigas and get ready to sing my heart out for God! (Auditions are held every Wednesday, 5:00-6:00pm.) And as a blogger, I am determined to use my skills in order to spread God's message of love for all of us. This is the reason why I started this blog- to inspire the youth to be passionate about Jesus!

How about you? What special skill or talent can you use to give glory to God?

"Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." -Psalm 33:3