5 Lessons I Learned from Extreme Productivity Preaching (Victory Ortigas’ Proof Series)

1. God doesn’t want us to be lazy.

The Apostle Paul gave a strong warning against idleness to the people of Thessalonica.

"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to workshall not eat.'" -Thessalonians 3:6-10

2. God wants us to be fruitful.

Jesus wants us to be fruitful. But we can only be fruitful if we stay with Him.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." -John 15:1-4

3. Your identity will lead you to your purpose.

Pastor Rico said that the unique talents and skills that we have is the key to discovering our life's purpose. Our talents and skills are God's gift to us and He wants us to use them for His glory and honor.

4. Our gifts must cause us to work harder.

Pastor Steve Murrell said in his blog that being gifted is not a call to be lenient, instead it's a call to hone that gift to be more productive. Sometimes, we have the tendency to become lax and overlook the things that we are particularly good at. Because we know that it's easy for us, sometimes we fail to understand that it's the very gift that God wants us to develop. The greatest tragedy is looking for other gifts when God's gift for us is gleaming in front of us. When this happens, of course, there is no other way to solve this problem but to come confidently to the Father who loves us so much and will open our eyes to see our gifts given by Him.

5. Worldly achievements, when offered to God, become great things.

Before Pastor Rico's preaching ended, he showed to us a video of girl who studied filmmaking in UP. Her story inspired me a lot. She said that on the day of the filmmaking, they encountered so many trials such as rain and muddy location. But her mother prayed with her. The situation was beyond their control that time, but certainly not beyond God's. In short, they lifted up in prayer their petition and that is for God's will to be done. In the end, the girl graduated from college, got superb comments from the defense panel who graded her film and lastly, her film got recognized in the Manhattan Film Festival. What a victory it is when we offer our winnings to Christ!