Talk BRO. BO SANCHEZ: Today, we will be talking about Sadness. I don't like talking about sadness. How many of you want to be happy? To be happy, we have to talk about Sadness. But the problem is this: If you think that happiness is the goal of life, what happens is we look at sadness as the enemy-- but it’s not. What we do is try to get rid of it as fast as we can but that's not the way to go. Preach this to yourself and to somebody beside you: “The Lord heals the broken.” Let’s sing it again: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. Sadness: Enemy or Gift? If happiness is the purpose of life, is sadness the enemy? The answer is No. But that's why a lot of people try to get rid of sadness. They do that by overeating, overworking, over-Tiktoking, and over- Netflixing. When people are sad, that's how they cope. They try to get rid of sadness or escape it. We learned from this series that difficult emotions carry special gifts. So, sadness also has a gift. We'll find out what that is. When do we experience sadness? When we experience losing a loved one, money, material things, opportunity, boyfriend, girlfriend, or friend who migrated elsewhere. To understand sadness better is to liken it to physical pain. When you say it hurts, you may be referring to physical pain or emotional pain. A freak thing happened to me. I visited a friend at his house. I entered through the door. I bumped my head on the top door frame. Bang! I saw shooting stars. My head throbbed with pain. The only consolation was that I felt I was 6'8” tall. My friend was very apologetic, "Bro. Bo, I'm sorry. Welcome to my hobbit house. All of our family members are below 5 feet tall. So, all of us are cute. You are not." He gave me some ice which helped to massage that sore spot. I had to pass through the door again when I was about to leave. It was hilarious. The entire cute family placed five pairs of hands on my head to guard the injury as I walked through the doorway. My friends, I tell you that story because that is the role of pain. Do you know that there are people who do not experience pain? It is a rare condition called CIP or Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. They don't feel any pain which makes it such a dangerous condition. They cut themselves or they break a bone yet they don't feel pain. To be graphic: Imagine that you have CIP. Some of your friends came by your house unannounced one morning to have breakfast. You started frying eggs in the kitchen. Then, 370°F hot burning oil dripped onto your foot. You had second-degree burns. Your foot looked like sushi-- blisters are popping out from your skin. But you

TalkToday, we are in Talk 2 of the series, Feels, Why our Emotions Matter.The topic for today is Fear.How many of you know it is like to feel fear? What is your greatest fear?May I share with you what my two greatest fears are?My first greatest fear are cockroaches. The greatest nightmare for anyone who is afraid of cockroaches is not when you see them, it's when they disappear in front of you. I don't know about you but I am the type who will turn my house upside down just looking for that one cockroach. I don't care if I lose sleep or late for work the next day. I'm going to look for that one cockroach to send it to cockroach heaven. Especially, I’m going to do it quickly-- before it realizes it has ability to fly.Which, by the way, that’s my second greatest nightmare: cockroaches that fly. Don’t you just hate it when cockroaches think they can fly? For some reason, when they fly, they always seem to fly to you. You’re their landing strip-- like they’re magnetized by you.We have different fears. Fears come in different faces. What might scare you might not scare me and vice-versa.But here's the truth: Our fear is always real. It happens first in our mind. That's where it begins. But when you let fear marinate in your mind, I'm telling you, you'll go from bad, to worse, to worst.From Chaos to CreationI remember my friend, BG. One time, he started developing cough. It was so persistent that in the evening, he was still coughing.He started to consult Dr Google -- everybody's doctor. Before the night ended, that cough had already turned into cancer-- in his mind. Why? Because he was truly afraid. It was a mild sickness, but it grew in his mind.Does fear come from God? No. The Bible says in the beginning of Creation, there was nothing except for chaotic waters, which was darkness, was a representation of fear.So, God replaced chaos with Creation. You can say that God did not create fear. Timothy says: "For God has not given us the spirit of fear. Instead he has given us power, and of love, and self-discipline." -- 2 Timothy 1:7Romans itself says that God can still use your fear-- and He can use every emotion that you have for the good. That's how good God is.Let us read the Word of God. Everybody, let’s sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.No FearWe open our Bible and talk about fear. I think that this is the best place we can park our hearts for a moment. The Word comes from 1 John 4:16 NLT:Put your hands over your chest, and say this with me:Lord, speak to me. I’m listening.You know what I’m going through. Right now, I need Your wisdom.Be here with me, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.Let’s thank the Lord, and sing once more in His honor:Thy Word is a Lamp unto

TalkINTRODUCTIONBRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:I want to introduce our complicated and technical series calledFEEL: Why Your Emotions Matter.While there are some people who are good at managing their emotions, some of us are not very good at that. Why? We have two reasons:We have trouble labelling ourWe have trouble leading ourThose two problems go hand-in-hand. You cannot lead something that you're unable to label. If you cannot label it, you cannot lead it. What you cannot name, you cannot tame. Our goal in the next five Sundays is to learn how to navigate our emotions-- not just to label and lead them, but so we can love God, others, and ourselves better.Our goal at the end of our series is that when you feel like praising God, then you praise Him. When you feel like saying "Amen," then you shout it.We Filipinos are so shy about our emotions. We learned from our parents that whenever we expect guests at home, we need to dress up the place because it's nakakahiya-- shameful-- when we’re not properly dressed.We are afraid of what might people say. It's our culture. But we want to stray away from that. We want to get in touch with how we feel.Jesus Grappled with EmotionsEmotions have been there since time immemorial. It started even before the Creation of the world. It's not a 15th century invention.In the Old Testament, in the Book of Psalms,David had so many extreme emotions.One time, he was joyful. The next time, he was praising the Lord. The next minute, he was lamenting.That's why lament is a word that means prayer through intense pain. That's why you see David grappling through his emotions.But so did Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus grieved over the death of His friend,Lazarus. The Bible says that Jesus was enraged (when he saw people turning the Temple grounds into a marketplace). So, He turned over the tables at the Temple.Jesus felt emotions.But so does God. The Bible says that the Lord felt anguished when the Israelites turned away from him.People have two extreme spectrums when it comes to emotions.1. LogicalThese are for people who feel through their mind. They always have a rational explanation to what they feel.2. EmotionalThese are for people who basically feel everything. They are those who like to speak out what’s in their mind. They wear their heart on their sleeves.Two Kinds of Emotions:a. Cry like a waterfallb. Erupt like a volcanoThere is nothing wrong with both emotions. There are those who don't belong to any of those two-- people who have mixed emotions. Sometimes, they're logical. Sometimes, they're emotional.We want to know how to sort our feelings so we will know how to communicate them, how to embrace them, and how to learn from them so we can bring even the most difficult pains to the Lord. BRO. BO SANCHEZ:We're going to talk about shame today. My one big message is:You are already loved.Where did shame start? It's in the first two pages of the Bible.We

INTRODUCTION BRO. BO SANCHEZ:I came from Korea. Saranghae!I brought my bike there, so I did biking every day.I try to bring my bike wherever On YouTube, there are videos there on how to lighten your bike. The lighter your bike, the faster you go and the easier you pedal. That's the reason people buy light bikes. There are videos there on how to change your bike handle to something lighter, change the fork to carbon, change your seat and your wheels to something thinner...But you see, when I bike, I'm not after speed. My goal is not only to strengthen my heart and my lungs but to develop muscles. Because of my busy schedule, I bike only for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. I want to make the most out of it. My goal is not speed but strength, so I got a heavy bike which is 12 kilos.I also put my bag there which has my water, my books, my tools for my vlog, my gadgets-- I have two mobile phones.The GoalThe point I'm driving at is this:Life is a journey.Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon.The goal is not speed but strength.People ask me: "Bro. Bo, where do you go when you ride your bike?"I answer, "To a coffee shop."I bike to a coffee shop. In there,I drink my coffee. I pray. I read. I love it!But the destination is not the coffee shop. I can ride a car to go to the coffee shop. The goal of the trip is not the coffee shop. The goal of the trip is to gain strength.What is the goal of your life? Is it to go to Heaven? I'm telling you:Yes and No.We all want to go to Heaven. We talked about this last Easter Sunday. Heaven is not a place for ethereal souls floating on clouds. Heaven is going to be corporal, physical, and amazing. But Heaven is not the goal.The goal of your life is to gain spiritual strength. The goal of your life is to become more like Jesus.Do you know how to become spiritually stronger? It's when you go through difficulty.Say this after me: "I will take up my c ross."Trials in your life are crosses but so are responsibilities. When you take responsibility, you gain spiritual muscle. You do things you're not supposed to do.Think about it: Why should I serve the Lord for 40-plus years?It's a responsibility that I do not need. But when I started to be responsible for the people in my life, I became stronger. I've got 200 hundred employees in my business. I'm responsible for them. I wake up in the morning and I think about them. My business must grow because if not, 200 families will starve. They are my responsibility and it's difficult. But guess what? It's good! I'm getting stronger.When God calls you to do something, say Yes even if it's difficult. Do it even if it's something you don't want to do.We all

TalkINTRODUCTION BRO. BO SANCHEZ:Give the Lord a big hand, Everybody. God is here. God is in our midst. Thank You, Father.I want you to give each other a big hug or a big Hi-5, and just tell that person: “God is here. God is here.”So, good. Amen. We need to give a big hand to our Worship team. Thank you so much, guys.Amazing. So beautiful. And yes, as Fr. Mark said, hundreds of people serve us every Sunday.And whether they be here in Worship, or whether they be the ushers or members of the Warmth Ministry, or the Security, or the people taking care of our kids, the Awesome Kids Ministry-- let’s give them another big hand.Thank you. Thank you so much.The DreamerHow many of you believe that God made you a dreamer? You are a dreamer. He designed you to dream. Raise your hand if you believe in that.You see, we are made in God’s image and likeness. Therefore, if you are a dreamer, I have a suspicion that God is a dreamer. What do you think?Is God a dreamer? He dreams. He has a vision for you. He sees your future.And he sees it to be good. Do you believe in that? That your future is good?God has a dream for your life.Oh, believe in that. That is so good.Now, there’s something I need you to know. You know, that’s how I sign my letters-- most of them, by the way, 90% of the time.I say, May your dreams come true.There are two kinds of dreams. There are small dreams and then there are big dreams.When I was a small boy, 10 years old, I had a favorite TV show: Voltes V. Now those of you my age, you know that. Voltes V is a robot -- five connected spaceships. I’d even memorized the theme song...Tatoe arashi ga hukou tomo...(Though the storm should blow...) Never mindAnd I wanted to have my own Voltes V robot. My problem was it was incredibly expensive.And I couldn’t buy it, of course.But then my classmate, he was a rich kid. One day, he came to class, and he had in his bag a Voltes V robot.                       And my classmates, I mean, we were just so awed.We were worshipping that thing and we said, “Oh, my gosh, there it was!”Dreams: Voltes V... Mercedes BenzAnd then, the years went by, I grew up...One day, my wife Marowe and I were in Japan, walking on the streets. And on one of those streets, we saw in one of the stores a Voltes V robot.And my wife said, “You have the money now, Bo. Buy it.”We went in, we looked at it... Oooh, aaah, made of steel! Wonderful!The five spaceships connect to one big robot. Oh, amazing... “I won’t buy it,” I said.And my wife said, “Wwwhy?”She was insisting, “You know, you have the money. Yes, it’s expensive but now you’ve got the money. Buy it!

Talk BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA: We are in this wonderful Presence. As we break open the Word of God, Everybody, lift your hands, and let’s sing together: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path. You Look Like God The Scripture I'm going to read is not new. You've heard this Scripture time and time again. I'm choosing this passage because it encourages me so much to know how God sees me. To those who might be new here, if you don't know how God sees and loves you, this Scripture will change that:  It's plain and simple. According to the Scripture, you look like God. The biggest problem with many of us is that we don't usually like ourselves, especially the way we look. If you're young enough and have the time and resources, you'll probably have something done to yourself. But here's the thing: that's how God made you. You were created in His image and likeness. For everyone who is in here and even those watching online, you made the right decision to come to church today. The enemy doesn't want you here. He doesn't want you to hear from the preacher that you are created in God's image and likeness. The enemy wants you to hate yourself for who you are. But God wants to tell you that you are perfectly, completely, and absolutely loved-- because He created you. The enemy is shaking because you're here in church and you're bound to be encouraged by this message today. When you start loving who you are and how God made you to be, you're likely to do great things for God. Here's our big message for today: Let's pray... "Father, this is Your Word. We thank You that you are here with us. Thank you for creating us in your image and likeness. Teach us how to love and appreciate ourselves the way you appreciate us. Teach us that because Jesus is in us, we can do great things through His Name. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. Surprise: Two Lessons! Copying has been a practice in every culture. For example, you copy an original song and you try to make it your own. You copy something so successful, and you try to bank on that. Copying can be good especially if you copy the good stuff. There is, however, also danger in copying. When I was in high school, our Science teacher announced that there would be a pop quiz. Of course, we were not prepared for it-- 50 percent of the students in the room started grumbling. There was only one guy who was grinning from ear to ear. Ernesto (not his real name) was the smartest guy in our class, and he was probably prepared for the quiz. Suddenly, something crazy happened for the very first time. Ernesto, who always sat at the front, discretely showed

Talk BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA: We're going to take a passage from the Book of Matthew which is very appropriate in celebrating Easter. Most of us are familiar with this story. Before Jesus was crucified, certain events happened… Raised to Life: What It Means I pray that this resonates with you and in whatever stage in your life you are right now. Many times, we have also denied Jesus. complete humility and sincerity, let us pray: Father, we ask for Your forgiveness and mercy for the countless times we have turned against You. In this moment, we pray that Your mercy flows like a river in this place. We receive that forgiveness. We receive that mercy. Thank You, Jesus, for Your love that endures and forgives. Today, we want to know Your love even more. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path We are going to do a four-Sunday talk mini-series before we launch into another long series. This special series is called Raised to Life. We are going to try to answer the question: "What does it mean to be truly raised to life with Jesus?" What is the evidence that you are being raised by Jesus? It's through L.I.F.E: Two Reasons God’s Love Is Not Appreciated Sometime in 2021, when the Coronavirus Disease (COVID) Pandemic lockdown was lifted, we were able to have our first face-to- face Feast session at the Barcelona Academy in Bulacan. We called it FBA: Feast Barcelona Academy. A few months later, I was able to bring to FBA my wife Kristel and our son Ethan. I was so excited for Ethan to experience the Holy Mass. The moment the Mass started, Ethan was silent. He was observing everything. For ten minutes he was silent… Suddenly, he gripped and pulled my hand for me to lean down because he wanted to say something. Once I lowered, he said, "Dad, can we go home now?" Of course, I wasn't expecting him to appreciate the Holy Mass as he was only four years old at that time. I shared this story because I wanted to show you an example of how sometimes we fail to understand or even appreciate the love of Jesus that happens through the Holy Mass. We fail to understand the sacrifices of Jesus for us to give us this celebration. Why? Two possible reasons: We have a broken perspective of We have never fully experienced God's love. You cannot love without getting Even the band Nazareth sings: Love hurts... Love scars… Sometimes, when you love, there is pain. If you get love without getting hurt, then you have never really loved. Even God got hurt when He was rejected by many of us. But the difference between God's love and our love is that even if God gets hurt, He doesn't get tired of loving you. True Love There is no way to love people perfectly. Only God can do that.

Talk PART 1: The Two DisciplesThe disciples were in Jerusalem. They were broken-hearted and devastated because their hero was crucified and was no more. There were two disciples. One of them was named Cleofas. The other one didn't have a name.The Gospel writer, Luke, didn't tell his name. We don't know if the person was a guy or a girl. These two disciples were leaving Jerusalem… I repeat: they were discouraged, they were forlorn, they were giving up.They were walking to Emmaus (their hometown) which was seven miles away. That walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus symbolizes a person who is walking away from God, away from his spiritual community.At that moment, they were so devastated that their hero and their master is dead.They were leaving their community, they were leaving their friends, they were leaving their commitment.As they were walking, Jesus appeared but they didn't recognize Him.And Jesus, every step of the way as they were walking-- supposed to be away from God-- He was giving them a “Bible Study”-- He was revealing to them how the Old Testament was all about Him.Friends, please understand this. This is powerful. This message is intense:Even if you, you, you are walking in the opposite direction, your Jesus, He’s going to hang out with you. And He’s going to be walking with you. And He will not let you go. And He will chase after you and He will run after you.This is the Jesus that you have and that you worship. And so, He walked with them. Until the “Bible Study” was concluded in Emmaus.Then He broke bread. (Liturgy of the Word / Liturgy of the Eucharist).At the breaking of the bread, all of a sudden, their eyes were opened and they discovered Jesus.Then Jesus disappeared. Where did He go? Where else-- to Jerusalem – with His spiritual community.So, what did the two disciples do?“Oh, my gosh, it was Jesus! He was the one giving the Bible Study.Oh, He was the one breaking bread…” Where did they go? Let’s read:They Went Back to JerusalemLuke named only one of those two disciples: Cleofas, and the other one unnamed.I have a suspicion that Luke says, “You’re that other disciple.Put your name, write your name: You are the one who is discouraged. You are the one who wants to give up. You are the one leaving your spiritual community-- and leaving your God.But you cannot get rid of Jesus. He sticks to you.He says, “I will never leave you until you make a U-turn.” Until you say, “I belong there… This is the Jesus...”Shake the person beside you and tell that person: “Walk back to Jerusalem.”You need to go back to Jerusalem. You’ve been gone too long. God misses you.Let’s walk back to Jerusalem.Put your hand over your chest. Everybody say: Jesus, continue to move in my life. You are alive! Be alive in my life. Remove what is dead. Cut away what is not growing.Let me flourish. Let me be alive with You. Amen.

Talk BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:Thank you, Bro. Bo.For now, at this moment, I want you to lift your hands as we honor and give reverence to the reading of God’s Word.Let’s all sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path…We are on the fourth installment-- we’re almost wrapping up our series Messy Saints. We’ve been talking about the different problems that the people of Corinth had been experiencing.Let me give you the fourth one: about how the people of Corinth were gifted but they had divisive members.And I pray that the Lord minister to you. So, we’re taking a page from the Book of Corinthians-- Corinthians 1:13. Chances are, if you’ve ever sat through a wedding-- either you got married or somebody you know got married, you would be very familiar with this piece of Scripture. Paul said:And he said the most beautiful words:Preach that to yourself: Love is my highest goal. Lord, this is Your Word. And today it will unleash wisdom, and information, and change will happen in the life of your people. This is what we’re declaring in Jesus’ Name. Amen.One more time, Everybody:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path… Let Love be your highest goal.I want to take you through a timeline of how social media has evolved in this world. What is the trendiest social media platform nowadays?It's TikTok.But before TikTok, there was Snapchat. Before Snapchat, there was Twitter.Before Twitter, there was Facebook.Before Facebook, there was Multiply.Some of you probably sold some stuff in Multiply.Before Multiply, there was Myspace.Before Myspace, there was Friendster – this revolutionized social media.But before Friendster, there was ICQ. The young people don't know the struggle.ICQ was a chatroom where you could enter and chat with anybody. That was the first time in history where you could chat with any person around the world, and you wouldn't know who they were.This is where the ASL term was invented. It stands for Age, Sex, and Location. When somebody says ASL, you would tell them how old you are, your gender, and your location.Some of you don't know the struggle because back in the day, you had to dial up to get an Internet connection. Once connected, you get disconnected every 30 minutes. Why? Because you ran out of load. You would need another scratch card.The second reason you would get disconnected is that somebody lifted the landline. Young people today are so blessed because of WiFi.But before ICQ, what was the thing that you used so you could get to know someone? It was called the Slam Book -- a notebook that had random questions that would be answered by your friend so you could get to know him or her.Questions like, "What is your favorite color?" "What is your motto in life?"The most favorite question was, "Who is your crush?" For me, the hardest question that the Slam Book always had was, "What is love?"Your young mind wouldn't know

Talk BRO. DIDOY LUBATON:Excerpts…We can be correct in our ways but sometimes, it's not caring for others. Let me expound on that as we preach today.The third problem that Paul addressed to the Corinthians is this food offered to the idols.Should the people eat or not eat food offered to the idols?Our one big message for today is "Others First."Read with me 1 Corinthians 8:ConflictSome of you may be wondering what is happening.There are so many issues about the food!Here's the context:The Gospel was preached from Israel all over the world. The Gospel traveled across the nations.It also went up to the nation of Greece, in the middle of Corinth.Paul was tasked to preach to the Gentiles -- the non-believers. Since Paul experienced a conversion, he started to preach the Gospel which was really converting people to Christianity.It took a while but here it is:There are some churches of Christ's followers coming together from different places.Take note that people from Greece grew up with their mythology.They were surrounded by temples for Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Athena. The capital of Greece, which is Athens, comes from the worship of Athena, goddess of heroic endeavor and military victory.The people are used to offering animal sacrifices at the temple.Number 1 is clear. Christians know that they should not eat what was offered to the idol.But Numbers 2 and 3 are not clear-- a gray area.So, a conflict.The Food IssueImagine: In Corinth at that time, there was a wedding feast, there was a banquet, a birthday party, or a simple business meal in someone's home.Some of the hosts were not yet deep in faith.But some already were. For them, it was normal to include in their meal the meat from the temple.If you are a Christ follower already, you cannot be choosy about the food that the hosts have prepared for you. It would be impolite to ask if the meat came from the temple.This food issue was dividing people.Another context here is that Paul was a tentmaker.He was an entrepreneur. He didn't demand income from the church to sustain him. As an entrepreneur, he understood that it was not just about being formal and strict. It was all about relationships.What would a good Christian do at that time? Most members of the church in Corinth knew that food was good. They believed it was okay to eat the meat and that the people who were complaining should grow up.But some minorities of the Christian church in Corinth believed otherwise. And Paul needed to address this because it was already dividing the church and hurting the relationships.Here's a side note: If something is already hurting relationships, do something about it.Paul tried to address the food issue.To Eat or Not To EatThe question seems to be "To eat or not to eat?"But Paul knew that there was a deeper relationship problem that was dividing the church. That’s why he addressed it wisely.On the surface, it was a theological question-- but underneath, it was a pastoral question.