Talk

BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:

Honestly, the first time I started studying The Sermon on the Mount, I felt like Jesus was jumping from one topic to the next. I don’t know if that’s how you feel.

But Jesus is a genius. This isn’t just a random topic that He picks one after the other. We will study this prayer line by line so we can finally understand and ultimately appreciate the Prayer.

Jesus doesn’t say: “My Father.” He says: “Our Father.”

Jesus is not like a four-year-old child who’s always saying: “No, that’s my daddy.”

Our youngest daughter, Ellie, will fight anybody to tell you that I’m her daddy.

She will fight her brother. She will fight my wife.

Jesus is not selfish. It’s very powerful for you to realize that we all have the same Father.

I was riding in a plane many years ago. You know how it is that when you’re in a plane, for some reason, life likes to make you relax for the first 30 minutes.

Once you’re on the way down, life likes to rock a bit and you get that turbulence.

You don’t like turbulence, right? Turbulence is like the potholes of Heaven.

I hate turbulence simply because you start thinking about the way that you lived your life and you start apologizing to the Lord about your many transgressions

I was sitting beside a nun at that time. She started praying The Lord’s Prayer.

I started joining her. I didn’t know who she was. She didn’t know who I was. But at that moment, we were family.

When you say, “Our Father” together, it reminds you that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Even though we don’t have the same last name, even though we come from different backgrounds, we’re all the same in the sense that we have all been purchased by the same Blood through Jesus Christ.

Jesus proclaims that holy is the name of God.

When you say that God is holy, it doesn’t mean that He gets any holier than He already is– because God is already holy.

At the same time, it reminds you that you are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, you’re also made to be holy.

The problem is, more often than not, we make very poor representations of the holiness of God.

I remember this story told by Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual leader of India:

Mahatma Gandhi was a Buddhist but he was so mesmerized by the person of Jesus. So, one day, he went to a church.

But the ushers told him, “You cannot enter in our church.”

In India, they practice the caste system where the richest cannot hobnob with the lowest. The brahmins who are the richest in India cannot mix with the dalits or the lowest class.

At that moment, Mahatma Gandhi said: “I love Jesus Christ. The thing about you Christians is that you are so unlike your Christ.”

He likes Jesus but he doesn’t like Christians.

When people meet you, are they like: “Wow, God is so good.”

Or are they like: “If Christians are like that, I’d rather not be one of them.” Be very careful because we are representations of the holiness of God.

When we say: “Holy be your Name,” we’re saying that God is holy–but we’re also saying that we’re made to be holy.

What if I tell you that you can experience Heaven right now– without dying?

Do you think it’s possible? Absolutely. Here’s another story:

I went to Payatas many years ago. It’s a mountain of trash, dumpsite of garbage in Quezon City.

I met a family there who loved the Lord very much.

I dined with them. I noticed that they have very little stuff but they share what they can with others. They pray to the Lord. They love each other.

In that tiny space and messy garbage mountain, I saw the Kingdom of Heaven break through in that small family.

The Kingdom of God can break through in your life if you want Him to.

How? We go to the next line…

Heaven is a place where the will of God is fulfilled. Do you want to experience Heaven on Earth?

You have to allow the will of God to be fulfilled in your life.

Are there areas in your life where the will of the Lord is not being fulfilled? Maybe the Lord is King over your health, but he’s not King over your finances.

Maybe the Lord is King over your relationships, but He’s not the King in your job.

There are many areas of our life where we say the Lord is King, but He’s not King in every aspect.

Whatever that aspect in your life, the will of the Lord has to prevail in that place.

Jesus did not say: “Give us this day, our weekly, monthly, or yearly bread.” Jesus knew exactly how people behave.

If we’re given extra portions in advance, we’re going to stop depending on God.

When life is good, sometimes you forget God.

Filipinos know this. Imagine that on January 1, your boss comes, gives you your entire one-year paycheck. By February 10, you’re already borrowing money. By February 11, you’re already borrowing into next year’s bread.

When we get things in advance, we tend to waste them sometimes.

Jesus taught the disciples what He taught the Israelites when they were in the wilderness– the Lord sent manna or bread every single day.

If people stored up that manna and save it for the next day, it’s already spoiled.

God is trying to teach them that the miracle is not in the stockpile.

The miracle is in the Source. He’s trying to teach people– even today– that you can wake up the next morning and still expect that God will show up.

When I was young, there was a whole week when my family and I ate only sardines because there was a surplus of sardines that we bought for a camping trip.

I started complaining by Day 3. Do you know what my mom did? She prayed.

She simply said: “Lord, Thank You for our daily bread. Thank you for these sardines.”

I did not understand it back then, but now I understand that the sardines represented God’s faithfulness. The dish represents a time when God never allowed us to go hungry. We ate sardines every single day, but it simply meant that God was faithful every day.

Daily bread is not only about food. Maybe your daily bread can be the patience that God gives you every day to run through EDSA on a traffic day. Maybe your daily bread would be the wisdom that God gives you every single day to make good decisions in your family or in your life.

Some of you have a sardine story. For some of you, it might be the time that you stretched P200.00 until your next paycheck. Maybe for some of you, your sardine story is when you used only one gadget for the family because you could not afford a gadget for each one. Maybe for some of you, it’s when God continued to give you the strength even though you’re emotionally drained and He kept on providing. This is a message that God is faithful– one day at a time.

To paraphrase, Jesus was saying: “Lord, forgive me the way that I forgive others too. With a measuring cup that I use to forgive others, use that same measuring cup when forgiving me.”

The problem there is that many of us don’t even use a measuring cup. We use a thimble — a small cup.

Sometimes, we don’t even forgive people. I’m not going to be a hypocrite to stand in front of you and talk about forgiveness when I know that in my heart, I also struggle with forgiveness.

Today, our nation is riddled with corruption and flood control issues.

As a Filipino, I am frustrated, mad, and enraged. But I also believe that God calls me to respond in a way that is pleasing to Him.

I will teach you 5 Lessons the Lord has been teaching me in the last few days.

When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in the New Testament story, Jesus did not identify him as the tax collector. He called him not by his sin but by his name.

He said: “Zacchaeus, come down from that tree.”

Because of the love of Jesus, Zacchaeus was led to repentance.

He was led to restitution. The love of God can truly change people but we also have to believe it.

Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It’s really easy to hate people but hatred will never heal any issue.

Jesus always spoke the truth but He spoke with love and kindness. Jesus called out the wrongdoing but he never dehumanized the wrongdoer.

St. Paul said in his message to the Ephesians:

God calls us to forgive but if there is abuse, we got to make the abuser accountable because love and justice go together.

Forgiveness is not the absence of accountability. If people did harm, let’s make them accountable.

Let me give you this example:

Last night, I was excited to come home because a package from Shopee arrived. It’s a surprise for my son. He’s turning 8 years old next week.

My gift for him is an electronic Game Boy that costs P800.00. When I was young, this was very expensive.

This morning, I opened the package and what I saw inside are wet wipes. I got scammed! I was frustrated. It broke my heart.

P800 worth of two wet wipes!

Is God calling me to forgive the seller? Yes, but I still need to report them.

I still need to tell you about it so that they don’t victimize other people too.

When somebody steals your wallet and you catch the suspect, God will call you eventually to forgive that person. Why?

So that you can release the bitterness in your heart and release you from the need to plot revenge. But you might need to report that person to protect others from such evil.

We’ve all fallen short of the grace of God.

Let’s be very careful that we start pointing fingers at people, yet blinded by our own sins.

Jesus said: “Let he who has not sinned be the first to cast a stone towards that sinner.”

We need love because only love can heal the brokenness of people. Only love that’s bold enough to demand justice and brave enough to hope for redemption can transform even the most corrupt of hearts. Love people. Allow Jesus to be the judge. Let’s trust God that He knows what He’s doing to allow all these issues happening in our nation.

St. Paul said:

We all have temptation. Temptation will always be out there. You will always have to face temptation as long as you are alive.

God does not promise that you’re never going to face temptation. What He does promise is that when you face temptation, He will give you the strength to endure it and He will give you the wisdom to escape it.

That’s why Jesus prayed the last line in The Lord’s Prayer.

He said: “Deliver us from evil.”

You don’t have to fight temptation and evil alone. You don’t have to fight corruption alone.

Judge Jesus will fight it for you. Surrender it to Him.

He will deliver you from all the evil around you.

8 Ways to Good Life in Jesus

In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus unleashes 8 Ways to a Good Life. How do we live the good life in eight ways?

You’re not an orphan. You’re a child of God. You remind yourself every day.

You offer praises to His Name.

Remind yourself that there is a God who is holy, that you are also made to be holy.

Open your life to His Kingdom.

Open spaces in your life where the Kingdom of God can break through– in your finances, in your marriage, in your organizations.

Say: “Lord, do Your will in my life.

If there’s any place where I’m not doing Your will, speak to me in that sense.”

Say: “Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Give me what I need this Monday.” On Tuesday, you say the same prayer.

Initiate forgiveness.

You say: “Forgive us our sins as we also forgive those who have sinned against us.”

Fight temptation with the Lord’s help.

Expect that God will rescue you

Surrender

You have been praying this Prayer for thousands of times. I want us to pray this Prayer together like it’s our first time.

We’re going to marinate the Prayer line-by-line and we’re going to meditate on each word understanding what the significance of what Jesus is trying to teach us: That we’ve got a Father up in Heaven, and He is holy. And His Kingdom will break through in us if we allow His will to be done in every aspect of our life.

And we look to Him for our daily bread, our daily sustenance, but at the same time we ask Him to forgive us, the same way that we forgive others. But we also ask the Lord that we would be able to have the strength to fight temptation, knowing and proclaiming that Jesus will rescue us.

For the first time, just imagine that Jesus is with us and He is teaching us: THIS IS HOW YOU PRAY.

Put your hand over your chest right now and say this with me:

Give God the Praise

Thank the Lord that He is our firm foundation. In the midst of all the uncertainties and fears, we’ve got a God who is so sure that He knows how to live the Good Life.

If you want the secret to living the Good Life,

His Name is Jesus. Right now, He’s with us. We worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Let’s worship the Lord, and declare that He is our rock and firm foundation and our living hope.

Commitment

I invite Everybody right now to make an important decision that you can ever make.

As a follower of Christ, you cannot really call yourself a Christian until you follow Christ Himself.

But it is a personal decision that you have to make. I can’t force you to do it, but I’m going to invite you to do it.

You see, we are in the Presence of Jesus right now, and you know who you are, you know your sins against God. You know how you walked away from the Lord at that time. You know how you have been angry at so many things, and you know how you have fallen short of His grace time and time again.

But that can all change today, in this moment, because the Bible says when you call on the Name of Jesus, you shall be saved.

So, we are going to do this as a Family. I’m going to lead you into a simple prayer. As you pray it, I want you to make this your prayer. When we’re done,

I’m going to count to three and I want you to just shoot your hand up and we’re going to celebrate new life with Jesus. So, put your hand over your chest right now and say this with me:

Dear Jesus, I come to You as I am with my sin, with my brokenness. I believe that You came down from Heaven to save my life, to free me from my sin. I also believe that You rose again so that I can be given new life. Right now, I give my life to You. You are my Lord and You are my Savior. From this day on, I am building my life on Your Name and I am building it on a rock. You are my firm foundation and I will follow You until the rest of my days. Amen.

If you prayed that Prayer, I want you to say Amen by shooting your hand up. On the count of three, here we go: 1- 2- 3!

This story was first published in the Feast Family Online News Magazine
Published by THE FEAST (September 7, 2025)