Talk

BO SANCHEZ: We are so privileged that today we have a financial expert to share the stage and give a message to you on how to have multiple income streams.

Because we just ended our series on Genesis last Sunday and for the next four Sundays, we will be working and focusing on money, finances, bringing these into the Lordship of Jesus.

And our speaker is Rex Mendoza.

If I will describe all that he does, it will take 28 minutes. He is the director of 20-plus companies. I have no idea how he does that.

Two of those companies are already publicly listed — Globe Ayala Logistics, probably you also know that name. He is the founder of Rampver, the biggest distribution of mutual funds in the country. He is, of course, the husband of the beautiful woman beside him right now– Anna. And they have three beautiful children.

My dear friends, he is one of the biggest blessings of my life. And I want you to welcome Rex Mendoza.

REX MENDOZA: This is an answered prayer. Bro. Bo knows that I say a prayer every day– more than once– and each prayer has the requests, the asks, the wishes, and the hopes. Three of those stanzas I’m going to be sharing with you today because they cut through what I want to share with you.

1. First Line of Prayer

The first one goes like this: Lord God, I pray that you bless me with the power to effectively inspire and influence the people who I will have the opportunity to touch so that I can make a massive positive difference in their life.

So, when I got this invite, to speak on a topic involving Thrive, how could I say no? How could I not take this as an opportunity to share with all of you that we can go beyond limitations? We can go beyond all of these that would have limited us. How many of you would like to help brothers, sisters, parents?

We all like to help them.

Let’s go beyond family and loved ones. How many of you would like to help the needy, the people who ask you for help — even if you don’t need them?

A clincher question is: How can we do that if we don’t have enough?

How can we do that if we, ourselves, don’t have enough?

How can we help the needy if we, ourselves, don’t have enough?

So, that’s the reason that when we think abundance, we think thriving– it has to come from God. It has to be an anchor here that He likes us to realize,

He likes us to imbibe and embrace.

And for that reason, I studied and sought guidance. And I chanced upon this verse: Proverbs 10:4-5 (above).

You know, I’m never really too fond of reading the Bible but when I got close to Bro. Bo, I forgot to read all the other (books). I got so focused on my spiritual life that things kind of changed— even in the way I do business.

In Proverbs 10: 4-5, we are called to optimize. We are called to do our very best. For those who probably would just like to focus on meanings, the Proverb says this:

3 Big Gifts

To build, create, and grow are a must. We’re all given three big gifts.

1. That’s God-given. All of us in this room are talented— in many different ways.
2. Platform of Talent has to be brought to what we call a platform of opportunity. Because if your talent is not matched with the platform of opportunity, then it doesn’t mean anything. Many people are talented to sing– but if you’re in a place where it’s not valued, you essentially won’t earn and get enough money from it. So, the platform of opportunity is partially God-given too.

3. The third one, however, is only about you, it’s only yours. It’s called Effort.

So, again, talent, platform of opportunity, and effort.

Effort comes from you. We have to go beyond what we can and optimize — because not everyone is given the same thing. As God would have said, what’s given to you, you will have to grow. Because there are others that you need to bless. They weren’t as blessed as you that’s why you need to optimize and try to bless them. So, God blesses them through you.

3 Steps to Wealth Creation

You see, wealth creation is very simple. You have read many books, and you have listened to a lot of people about wealth creation. And clearly, the process may be summarized into three steps:

1. Enhance your earning potential;

2. Live a lifestyle below your lifestyle;

3. Accumulate and grow what you can keep. Plain and But easier said than done, right?

You know, I’m not so fond of budgeting and cost-cutting. That’s probably what other people would put across and take a heed. Kaya naging magka-kontra ang Starbucks at Milk Tea ngayon, di ba? — That’s why Starbucks and Milk Tea have become sort of adversaries. They always say, you know, if you just cut down on coffee every day, you’re going to be a millionaire. Sino ang nag-cut down sa coffee pero hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin millionaire? — Who cut down on coffee but until now is not yet a millionaire? ‘Yung kawawang Milk Tea naging kontrabida, e.– Poor Milk Tea has become an antagonist. Walang kinalaman ‘yon. –There’s just no connection between cutting down on coffee and becoming a millionaire.

So, let me tell you where I come from. I look at optimization in the first step which is enhancing earning potential. Because when your income is high, you can afford a bit to spend– and still accumulate something after that.

So, again: budgeting, cost-cutting, are important– but they are not my real first step. It’s enhancing income. And when you enhance income, you have more to spread around. But income comes from two places. There are two sources of income: active income and passive income.

Active income is when we earn from our personal, active participation in a profession, field of endeavor, or business.

Passive income is derived from income that is generated by our assets and investments.

They say that active income is linear income. Why? Because you’re the bottleneck. We all have 24 hours a day. If you’re going to be paid for your time, you will never be earning enough because you cannot add to the 24 hours. You are going to be that bottleneck.

But they say that passive income is exponential income. Because as you build passive income, it never grows lower– because it doesn’t need you. It doesn’t need your direct participation.

So, we have to have both: active income and passive income.

You see, studies have shown that if you want to be a millionaire — in dollar terms—you have to have 7 Streams of Income.

How many of you have seven sources of income now? Is anybody here from the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue)? Maybe that’s the reason no one’s raising a hand. I know that some of you are probably shy to reveal you have 7 sources of income.

But I guess for most Filipinos, the answer is really “No.”

And you know why? Because we’re Filipinos– there’s only one income, one avenue for income, and lots of avenues for expenses.

We were told, “Study, do well in class, get a job, get that income, and from there, you have the world of horizons in front of you.”

Hindi ba dapat, baliktad? — Shouldn’t it be the reverse? Larger avenues of income, lesser avenues for expenses. That’s how you accumulate. But why don’t people do this? Because we don’t know how.

Two Questions

There are only two questions I’m bound to answer here—to increase and enhance your income potential.

The first question is this:

What do you do with your money?

I challenge many of you: Think now– from the very first day you earned your income. First day. That first day, to today: Magkanong pera ang dumaan sa kamay ninyo?– How much money went through your hands?

This is now the clincher question: Nasaan na? –Where is the money now? Alaala na sila.– Just a memory. Ano ang ginagawa nila?– What is your money doing? Ano ang nangyari sa pera ninyo?– What happened to your money?

Your money is doing now what we call Peranormal Activity– mga hindi maipaliwanag na pangyayari sa pera mo– circumstances about your money that cannot be explained.

You know, for that much money that went through your hands, di ba dapat nakapagpundar ka ng kahit ano man? — Shouldn’t you already have acquired some property? Di ba dapat nakapag-tabi ka ng pwedeng kumita para sa iyo?– Shouldn’t you have already saved some amount that would already be earning more for you?

Let me tell you this: If you cannot make money work, you will work for the rest of your life. Always remember: Money has to work for you because if you don’t make it to start working for you, you will work till the end of your life.

But if money works for you, money is the best employee—works 24 hours a day without complaining. But when money works for you and gives you that exponential – first, in income– there will come a time when your passive income becomes greater than your active income. When that happens, guess what, you can stop working. Then, it’s not the function of your age. You can retire at 40, 45, or 50.

Retirement is not an age. It is a time of emancipation. That is something that Filipinos define correctly. We think retirement is an age that hits when you get to 60, when you get to 65. Wrong.

Retirement is a time of freedom. If you can afford to retire, who cares if you’re 50? But you can work beyond emancipation. You can work even if you have enough. Why is that? Because you want to—not because you have to. You work because you’re making a difference. You work because you’re having fun. That’s what we want to do. That’s why we want to make money to work for us.

I thought there was nothing Biblical about this. Quite frankly, there is. Actually, I even thought, where did this idea of having seven sources of income come from? What’s that possibility? And I chanced upon this verse — Ecclesiastes 11: 1-2 (above).

Diyan pala galing yung seven—akala ko, rule of thumb lang ‘yon, e. Nauna pala ‘yung Bible doon sa 7. — So that’s where the 7 came from. And I thought having 7 sources of income was just a rule of thumb in wealth creation.

Turned out, that the Bible already came out about it way before any of these financial how-tos.

Actually, the Verse says you can even stretch the 7– yes, to 8!

Again, the interpretation is:

Save and Invest.

Rain will come. Are you ready for that rainy day?

What we had is not a rainy day. What we had was a rainy two-year COVID.

And not a lot of Filipinos were ready for it. Not a lot of Filipinos had emergency funds.

It’s Not Just for You

On top of having our abundant 7 sources of income, we have to strive for meaningful abundance– because there are other people to help. It’s not just you. It’s not about your loved ones. It’s going beyond that. And if you don’t have enough, how can you go beyond?

Push your limit. What’s your excuse?

“E, Sir, hindi ako pwede, e.– I can’t do it. I’m already employed.”

My Sources of Income

Bro. Bo just said that I’m actually the director and consultant of 19 companies. So, the incomes from those companies consist my Earned Income.

Your 7 sources of income are, in total, your Earned Income.

Earned Income limits its base on you– involving your active participation. That’s what’s called salary for a lot of people. I have 19 streams of salary income.

Profit Income, meanwhile, is what you get when you invest in a business. You start with your own talent of baking, of cooking– sharing this with others, and earning a bit from it—until you grow that enterprise and hire people to leverage and replicate you. Little by little, your time goes lower– in terms of participation in the business. But your profit goes higher because you’ve spread out yourself through others.

I have about 12 businesses today—and they are not exactly small. They are on top of my Earned Income. They are in the form of three royalty incomes. (Royalty income is income received from allowing someone to use your property).

You can write books, songs, or a program that will make you earn continously.

Ang tagal nang namatay ni Freddie Mercury, hanggang ngayon kumikita pa yung mga kanta niya. — Freddie Mercury died a long time ago, but his songs are still earning. Mary Austin, the girlfriend, already got over $50 million royalty from the songs that he had written and sung.

On top of royalty income, there’s Rental Income. In a way, I probably amassed 24 houses, lots, condos– to rent out.

Before you think you’re fascinated with that and amazed with that, Bro. Bo and I are in a mastermind group where our real estate guru – guess how many units he has to rent out? Over 750. Can you imagine? May paupahan kang 750 units?

You have 750 units for rent — in posh Makati and BGC (Bonifacio Global City).

Magkano ‘yon buwan-buwan? — How much does he earn every month? Kaya naman bakasyon siya six months a year. — Small wonder he goes on vacation six months a year.

And then you have Interest Income, Dividend Income, and Capital Gains– from investments that you can have in companies that can work for you. Why dine in Jollibee and Mcdonald’s when you can own Jollibee and Mcdonald’s?

That’s the way to do it. Right.

II. Second Line of Prayer

If you’re going to be looking at my sources of income— wala lang sumbungan sa BIR– don’t tell BIR :) —it leads you to the answer to my second line which I put on my prayer on a daily basis. And I want to share this with you because I want to be able to inspire you to think and pray and hope the same:

Lord, please bestow on me the capability to provide the very best for my family, loved ones, and other people who need me. Through your blessings, let me be able to give them the best of health, wealth, love, and happiness that will make life worth living.

If you go beyond your loved ones, if you go beyond yourself, you become unstoppable. You become a blessing of the Lord on Earth.

Let me move to the second question.

The first one was: What do you do with your money?

The second one is this: What do you do in your spare time?

Usapang totoo lang. Ang Pinoy, spare time: gumagasta, kumikita? Gumagasta,e. –We spend in our spare time. We’re not converting spare time to income-generation time. Spare time—what do we do? We entertain ourselves. And entertainment costs money. It doesn’t just waste money, it can actually waste time—which is a better resource.

There’s research that shows that the average Filipino would spend time in social media, tele- and Korean novelas three hours a day. Kung hindi ka naka-three hours a day, babawiin mo ‘pag weekend. — If you don’t get three hours a day, you claim those hours during the weekend. So, average, three hours.

Let me tell you this: Three hours a day. Watch yourself. When you binge on this tele- and Korean novelas, and your Facebook, and your Twitter—alam ‘nyo ‘yon? You know what hapens? May tinitingnan ka lang, biglang nag-scroll ka na.

— As part of your work, you were just going to check out something. Pag-tingin mo, isang oras na, di ba?– But before you know it, you have already spent one hour scrolling. So, parte pa ba ng trabaho mo ‘yan?– Is that still part of your work?

Three hours a day, seven days a week equal to 21 hours; 21 hours times 52 weeks in a year, are more than half of a year’s productive time.

That’s the very reason, you know, when I was young, I was able to do productive activities. I was able to teach in MBA (Master in

Business Administration) school. I was able to write for a newspaper.

Activities That Don’t Give You Income

I was able to do many things because I hardly watched a Korean novela or tele-novela in my life. Minsan, dapat makakatapos na ako ng isang episode, e, pinigil pa ako ng asawa ko.– The one novela I tried to watch, I didn’t even finish– because my wife told me not to watch it because it was controversial.

So, how much time are you devoting to things that don’t give you income? And if you can convert that into pesos? What will happen? Think about it. If you learn, you earn. How much screen time do you devote to educating yourself to expand your income? Compare that to the amount to get to entertain yourself.

Ano ang natutunan natin? What do we learn?

Take the tele-serye Probinsiyano. Akala ko mag-kaka-apo na si Cardo Dalisay (the main protagonist), buhay pa rin, e.– Cardo Dalisay, already going to have grandchildren, remains alive. His co-stars all have already died– still he lives.

What do we learn from those shows?

Meron pa akong nabalitaan na tele-serye, Halik. — I heard about another series, titled Kiss. Gusto ninyong mapanood ang nag-hahalikan? — Do you really want to watch people kissing each other? Bakit hindi na lang kayo ang mang- halik.– Why don’t you be the one to do the kissing? So that at least, there is a firsthand participation in an emotional exercise.

Then there is (the heartthrob actor) Jericho Rosales. Aba, e, konting buhok lang ang pinagkaiba namin. — Why, the only difference between us is just a few hair strands. If you’re going to ask my wife, I think—believe me—she’d rather kiss me.

Ano natutunan ninyo sa mga tele-novela? What do you learn from these television novels?

Pag-medyo close kayo ng driver ‘nyo, siya pala ang tunay mong ama. — When your driver seems very close to you, you eventually find out he’s your father. ‘Yan ang mga natuttunan natin. — That’s what we learn. Samantala, ano ang kikitain mo diyan?– Meanwhile, what will you earn from it?

Kwidaw ka, mabait sa iyo ang maid n’yo.– Caution about your maid being extra-good to you. Baka siya ang tunay mong ina.–She might be your real mother.

What do you do in your spare time?

This is the reason I move you to my third line.

III. Third Line of Prayer

My third line is this:

Lord, guide me and help me to nurture and grow companies and organizations that will outlive me. Companies and organizations that will continue to serve people—pursuing the mission of prospering individuals, families, our country, and the rest of the world.

I’d like to be at the forefront of it all. That’s the reason I share this with you. Again, it’s all free– this is a QR code that attaches you up to our YouTube channel, our Viber group, our TikTok—alam nyo nag TitikTok na rin ako kasi kailangan makasingit ako doon para makatulong doon sa kailangang may matutunan. You know, I even do TikTok just to be able to help those who need to learn about financial management.

I share this with people so that we can move the needle on prospering our country – because we can never prosper without prosperous individuals and families. We have to be able to do that. Again, I said enhance your earning potential—I’m not fond of cutting expenses but you still have to live a lifestyle lower than your income; accumulating and grow what you can keep.

But you see it doesn’t stop at enhancing your earning potential. You have to do it with purpose.

And doing it with purpose links me up to Proverbs 3: 9 (above).

Siya dapat ang nauuna, e. –God should be first. Ngayon, dahil kulang ka, hindi pwede mo Siyang unahin.– Now, if you don’t have enough, how can you make Him first? Kasi kailngan mauna ka, e. –Becasue you need to take care of yourself first. Pag medyo maluwag ka, madali Siyang unahin—dahil yung matitira, sapat.– If you have more than enough, it’s easier to make Him first– because you will still have leftover wealth for yourself.

That’s the reason we have to expand our base so that we can honor and make Him first.

Ang Filipino pinaka-mabigat magbigay, e. Kumakalansing ang bigat. Di ba?

Barya, e.– The Filipino is the heaviest giver– of coins. So, what happens? The Lord becomes only residual — which is actually wrong.

He has to be ahead. But for Him to be ahead, you want to be abundant.

Tithe and give wholeheartedly.

He is the Source– all of it came from Him.

Ladies and gentlemen, I move to the last idea. And the last idea is that you have to enjoy this process. Always anchor everything on what truly matters. Because if you anchor it correctly, you will never have the lack of energy, the lack of will power, the lack of zest – because you’re having fun.

I just celebrated my 60th birthday. Bro. Bo, somehow, touched me with that introduction. You know what he said?

He said Rex lives an end life. It’s not an or life. Because that’s what I’d like to share with people. That there is no battle between Luxury and Charity.

To us, it’s Charity versus Luxury– if you’re luxurious, you can’t be charitable. Wrong!

Why can’t it be Luxury and Charity. I can give wholeheartedly. I can help— but at the same time, I can also have luxury vehicles like Ferrari and Maserati, right? Masama naman ‘pag hindi mo na-fu-fulfill ang dreams mo, sa tamang panahon.– It must be bad if I am not able to fulfill my dreams– at the right time…

Family versus Career and Business. Why versus? Can’t it be Family and Career; Family and Business?

I want to introduce you to the biggest asset blessings of my life—Anna, Peevee, and Reanna.

Wala pong halong biro, I’m a busy person. — No kidding, I’m a busy person. All those involvements I talked about entail commitment. But this is no excuse not to have a great family life. I cherish my wife who happens to be my treasurer also.

Also, why Employment versus Entrepreneurship? Why versus? That if we want to be businesspeople, we think we have to make a shift. No. It doesn’t have to be a shift. While you’re working

for a company, you can also have a business. All you need to do is take two steps:

1. Magpaalam ka.–Ask permission from your boss for you to invest in a business.
2. Even if you already have a business, you still have a salary. You give value to both Employment and Entrepreneurship. When you give disclosure and performance you can

naturally deal with your entrepreneurial dreams. Why does it have to be versus?

And lastly—especially to parents: Ano yung isa sa pinaka-irony ng buhay? — What is the most ironic in life? You do well, you want to give your family the very best — but you have to deprive them too. Why? Because if they’re spoiled, they won’t learn. Delayed gratification is one of the most important principles you have to teach children. But as we do well– better than our parents– we are always tempted to provide and even spoil our children.

So, Providing versus Depriving. Why can’t it be and?

You Provide and Deprive. Deprive children of what they don’t need yet.

Deprive them of the things they aspire for themselves. And provide the very best for their needs so that they will see you as a responsible parent.

There are so many ways to thrive. And I hope I shared some with you.

Maraming-maraming Salamat po, and Blessings Always.

BO SANCHEZ: I love the Body of Christ. What do you think? Do you love the Body of Christ? The Body of Christ— I like saying that it’s like a typewriter. There are so many keys and each key is important.

You know, Rex and I— we’re very different. I live in a tiny house — he’s got a number of not-so- tiny houses. My cars are all very functional– they bring me from Point A to Point B. He really has a Ferrari.

But you see, both of us are children of God. And we are very close friends. You see, we need a Rex Mendoza in the Body of Christ. As much as you need somebody like me— who lives in a tiny house. I’ll tell you why simplicity is something that you cannot impose as one universal standard for everyone. I live a simple life.

Do you believe that Rex lives a simple life? How?

He has only one Ferrari. He can afford a hundred of them. You know what, I’m talking about?

So, you cannot say this is the standard. No. There are many expressions (of being simple) but the thing is, between Rex and me, though we are very different, we have one Lord that we worship. Amen. And we have one purpose.

And so, may I invite you to stand up even just briefly and then extend your hand towards the Word and everybody say:

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Today, I want to preach the message— just to wrap things up— God made you worthy.

This talk is a transition from the whole series of Genesis that we just concluded last Sunday, and we’re entering into the new series. So, I want to read again the key passage of the entire book of Genesis, Genesis 1:27 (above). Tell somebody beside you, “God will continue to speak to you.”

You know, this message— that God made you worthy— speaks to two audiences.

The first one is somebody who in his mind is saying, “I’ll be worthy on my own terms.”

And to this person, I say, “No. God has already made you worthy.”

I was being interviewed by a journalist, and she was enumerating all the achievements that I have. She researched (about me).

And she said, “You did this, you did this— 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 10.”

Then she said something that made me smile. She said, “Bro. Bo, you are a self-made man.”

And I said, “Ah, no. That “self-made man” is a character as true as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is fiction. It is a fairy tale. I am not a self-made man.

I am a God-made man. And you also are a God-made man (woman).”

Every single one of us, we cannot make ourselves. And so, it is very important that you don’t go away from God.

“Apart from me,” Jesus said, “you can do nothing.”

And so, He is the Source of wisdom. So, my dear friends, I say it again: Do not try to make your worth out of your own effort alone. Without God, you cannot do anything.

There is a second audience that I speak to when I say “God made you worthy.”

These are the people — and from my pastoral experience of 43 years as a missionary– I would say that this would be a huge number of individuals who have in their mind a thought on auto-replay. And the thought that is being played in their mind— constantly— is: “I don’t deserve better.”

These are people who– through difficult situations in their life, or with parents who did not raise them up well, looked down on them– think they will only be until down here (toward the floor). And they live in their comfort zone. They do not want to go beyond that. They are controlled by their fears.

And many times, what happens is they get stuck there– because in their heart, they believe this is their fate: “Hanggang dito na lang ako.”

Because of that, because they don’t believe they are worthy, they go around and they negotiate their worth with the people around them. And they will try to gain acceptance— they will struggle for approval and acceptance of other people. They want people to tell them that they’re worthy.

But that is a huge mistake. I believe before you leave the house, before you meet people, you should already establish in your heart that your worth is non-negotiable. It was already established by God.

And that God had said, from the get-go, from Day 1:

“I have made you in my image. You are worthy. I, your God, made you worthy.” When you settle that, settle that in your heart– that God has made you worthy– you go out and you do not negotiate. It is not open for negotiation. No.

Warning: If you find what you’re looking for, if you are looking for proof of your unworthiness, you’re going to find it. You’re going to find people who will criticize you, who will not accept you, who will reject you. You can find proof of your unworthiness and the failures of your past.

And then it will confirm in your mind: “I’m unworthy.”

You need to go back to God because God said you don’t have to do anything.

You already are worthy.

You know, when I think about this, I think of this guy — his name is John Levy, and I met him in Butuan just last week. We had a huge grand Feast there.

And he told me his story.

He said, “When I was 19 years old, Bro. Bo, I already joined the Charismatic Renewal.

And I was so happy. Like, you know, being there, praising God in that prayer meeting.”

But then, he comes from a very poor family.

And so, he would go home to this house, his family. 19 years old. And they could not even afford to buy one kilo of rice.

So, he saw this discrepancy between what he was experiencing in the prayer meeting— worshipping God, praising God, raising his hands— and then going home to utter poverty…

At the age of 24 he said to himself, “No, this doesn’t work. God doesn’t work.

And he left God— abandoned God, deserted Him.

And it is true. John was telling me, “Bro. Bo, noong umalis ako sa Panginoon, my life was destroyed. Totoo ‘yung sinabi ni Jesus, ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing.’”

He got into drugs. And then one day, he was with his friend, and his friend was a drug pusher. The police came, got both of them, threw them in jail. For the first six months in prison, he was hoping and hoping that, you know, the misunderstanding would be cleared— Hindi pala siya drug pusher, yung kaibigan pala niya…

But it did not happen. He got stuck in jail. And that’s when he hit rock bottom. How many of you understand this: one of the most beautiful places to meet

God is in your rock bottom.

John turned back to God. And he re-discovered God. And he gave himself to God.

He was saying, in a cell– he was describing it to me— maybe as small as this part of the stage around me— there were 30 guys in that cell.

And because he fell in love with God again, in prison, he started sharing Jesus to the people around him. He got one inmate, opened his Bible, and gave him Bible study. And that inmate invited another inmate, and that inmate invited another inmate. So, he would have Bible studies in the cell, in prison, to those guys, and half of the cell would be listening to him– and he would be preaching to them,

The warden found out and he said, “John, go to the next cell and give your Bible study.”

Every single day, John would go to a different cell, and preach, and preach.

And he did this for two long years.

And then he was released. When he was released, it was difficult. He told me, “Bro. Bo, nobody wants to deal with an ex-convict.” People would reject him, people would not trust him.

But there was one place that trusted him. One place that gave him a chance. He joined a prayer meeting. And there were some titas (aunts) who were there. They called themselves The Super Teytas. They put John under their wings and they gave him a chance (to a renewed life).

They helped him start a business.

Today, John Levy is a successful entrepreneur. He’s got a number of small businesses.

That’s not all.

John Levy is now the Feast Builder of one of our Feasts in Butuan.

I was talking with the Super Teytas– I just love talking with them. They’re older than John, they’re more established in society. They’ve got their own businesses.

And they said, “Bro. Bo, aalagaan namin si John.”

They would coach him, they would correct him if he is wrong– they love him.

It’s just so beautiful.

They’re like the mothers of The Feast and they took care of John.

You know, one of the businesses of John is selling eggs.

And so, the Super Teytas would say, “Kaya suportahan natin yung itlog ng ating Feast Builder! Pwede,

English nah–pangit pakinggan (sa Tagalog) ☺

But you know, they love John. And, as his Facebook post (above) says, John Levy feels honored to be serving the Lord with other Feast leaders.

The reason I tell you John’s story is this: Okay, God made us worthy.

But for what? Worthy for what?

We find the answer in Genesis 1:28 (above).

So, God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27). He made us worthy.

And the following verse says “and God blessed them.”

So, here’s the first thing: God made you worthy to be blessed.

And that’s what Rex was talking about. You know, don’t say, “No, I don’t deserve to be better.”

You’ll be living in your little comfort zone, and you don’t grow, and you won’t expand, you won’t optimize.”

But God says, “No. I made you worthy. You’re going to represent me. You’re made in my image. You look like me, and I’m going to send you as my ambassador, and you’re going to represent my love, my joy, my victory, my majesty to the people around you. You’re going to be my comfort to them. You’re going to be my provision to them. You’re going to be my supply to them. You’re going to be my embrace to them. And so, I’m sending you.

So, don’t just say, “Oh, I’m until here. I’m going to limit myself to this.”

No, no. Grow, expand. You’re worthy to be blessed– and why? Let’s read the verse again: God then blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.

Why? Not only are you worthy to be blessed. You are made worthy by God to bless others.

I make things very simple. You know, I don’t want to complicate things.

But the reason God wants you to grow is so that you have more to give. And you’ve heard that from Rex. You’ve heard that here at The Feast again and again and again.

God made you worthy. But God did not only make you worthy, He made your neighbor worthy. He made everyone worthy. He made men and women worthy. He made kings and slaves worthy. He made old people and young people worthy. He made rich people and poor people worthy. Every single person is made in His image of equal dignity and therefore, that’s why, we’re supposed to be our brother’s keeper.

Genesis 1:27 is the foundation for all of the verses of the Bible— if you really think about it— all the stories.

And that’s why Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it unto me.”

That’s why Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Because everyone is worthy. And so, think about it. Stop thinking of yourself, guys. Please. There are so many people that need you. Be the best that you can become. Grow and flourish and create a world of flourishing that will be enough for everyone around you. Amen.

Let’s pray:

Jesus, thank You, for giving Yourself to me on the Cross. I did not deserve this. But You made me worthy that You gave Your life to me— with a high price of Your life. And so, here I am. Bless me so I can bless others. In Your Name. Amen.