THERE are times when God answers my prayers and gives instant healing right there.

You know (there are cases when) the doctor says to a patient, we can’t see the tumor and the tests have turned negative. You know there was a lump there… now there is no lump.

You know, there are times when (the healing) is instant. But there are times when God decides to heal one slowly, though time. And the person recovers. And praise God!

But why was it not instant like the other time? I don’t know.

There were times when God would heal without medicines.

You know, we just prayed and when she was going to the doctor… But before she was on her way to the doctor, the healing happens.

But there are times when God will not answer my prayers in the way I want Him to.

Because that person I was praying for did not get well physically.

You ask me why? I don’t know. But this I know: He knows what is best.

And I go back to the very simple teaching that in human life, there are two domains: the domain that I have control of, and the domain where I have zero control.

Meaning to say, in this area I control, I’m going to take responsibility. And I’m going to take care of myself. And I’m going to find a way to heal myself. And I’m going to pray earnestly. And then I am going to take my medicines. And I’m going to do radical self-care. But at the end of the day, I will leave everything in the hands of God.

Because there is a territory where I have no control over. And that’s why there is anxiety. And that’s why there is fear. And I need to trust in God.

Today, God is asking you: “Trust Me. From beginning to end, trust in Me. I love you. I know what is best for you.”

We’re still reflecting on this beautiful story about this woman touching Jesus and getting healed, receiving the healing power of God (Mark 5: 21-29).

I want you to know that she didn’t touch Jesus. And that’s what we need.

So, here’s the thing: Let’s pray that we receive the healing of God through this series. But I’m also praying another prayer…

That you become the cloak of Jesus.

Today, you’re going to hear from my fellow preacher, Philip Sumera, our Feast Builder for young people in Feast Manila. He is an amazing preacher and you will be very, very blessed.

Talk: Big Day             

August 22, 2021                  

HOW are you?

Kumusta po kayo?

I am all set to serve you today. Allow me to start with a story.

I remember when my wife Sally and I were invited to be guests in this amazing Father and Son Tandem at Fast Talk where we had a great time with Bro. Alvin Barcelona and his son Aio.

There was a segment where the (game masters) separated Sally and me – for this memory game on how well you know your partner. They asked each of us the same question—to see if we would have the same answer. Patay na! Are you like me– with a problem remembering dates, remembering names? It’s because I got a lot of things in my mind and – palusot ko lang po iyon (just my alibi). And guess what—sablay ang mga sagot ko. I gave wrong answers.

You know what, praise God, God is good. Why? Because I didn’t have to sleep outside of our room. Natulog pa rin akong katabi ko ang asawa ko (I still slept beside my wife). God is really good.

Today, friends, the message that I want to share with you is actually a question:

Last week, we talked about the story of an important synagogue leader whose name is Jairus. He sought Jesus and he asked that He go to his place to heal his daughter.

Now, along the way, something unexpected happened– that we will talk about today.

I pray that something unexpected will happen as well to you watching this Feast.

Let’s read Mark 5:25:

We’re now introduced to this character who got an issue for 12 years.

This woman is bleeding. 12 years.

The Bible did not give the name of this woman but she was identified because of her issues.

And this story has been my go-to story whenever I’m invited to give a talk about healing.

But you know what, friends, today, there’s something that Jesus needs to hear within you. For just like this bleeding woman, you might also have an internal bleeding. And no, I’m not talking about physical bleeding– but an intense bleeding, a hurt within, an identity for God.

Now, for 12 years, this pain has been with this woman– to the point that it has become her identity. So, friends, please listen…You better be careful … or you might forget who you really are.

The woman’s thoughts are filled with her issues. And these thoughts have become her identity. But it doesn’t end there. For it’s not just her thoughts that made her lose her identity — but also, what others thought of her.

She’s thinking of what others would say about her. How would they react when they would see her? What they would say?

You see, one reason we forget who we are is when we play this internal critique (an act of criticizing; a detailed analysis and assessment of something) which becomes our internal critique and eventually we start believing it.

Just imagine this woman — for 12 years, her issues playing and playing and playing within her. It is a constant, consistent loop that is playing within her.

Friends, what is on your playlist?

What is it that you continue to listen to and that’s playing loop within you?

I encourage you, press that stop button and stop listening to those critiques in you.

Warning: My beloved friends, listen. If you don’t stop listening to those critiques in you, you might forget the champion in you.

That champion in you is listening. So, you better check that playlist that you’re listening to.

Let’s move on…to Mark 5:26

One of our taglines in Feast SM Manila is that it’s a place where broken heart gets healed. And I’ve heard a lot of beautiful testimonies, grace-filled testimonies from young people who were healed by God through The Feast.

I remember a story… about this beautiful lady who was so brokenhearted because her boyfriend cheated on her. She thought he was so sweet, always sending her messages—like, “I love you, Babe” — only to find out he sent the message to all (girls he liked). Ouch.

And in her brokenness, she jumped from one relationship to another hoping to find someone who would fix her and would make her feel better, someone who would complete her. She also started to listen to advice like, “Tara, inom na lang natin ‘yan — let’s just have a drink so that you would forget the problem.”

I also do that a lot of times. I also do a lot of things that I thought would make me better. That I am willing to do and to give anything—all my resources– to try new things, to try different things because I want to be better.

Can you relate?

But the problem is, instead of getting better, we get worse.

Go straight to your manufacturer.

He’s the expert in fixing broken hearts. You may have forgotten that He is the one who made you. He knows every detail about you. He can definitely make all things new.

Moving on to Mark 5: 27-28:

Friends, for 12 years, this woman has been listening to her issues—it’s in the loop.

But on this blessed day, she heard about Jesus. And the news gave her hope. It made her question her inner issues. It made her change her thoughts.

Friends, in these difficult times, we need to continue to share the news about Jesus. The world now is polluted by fear, by weariness, by anxiety, by hurts, by difficulties.

Let’s continue to give hope to others by sharing Jesus to them.

Let’s be the torch bearer of Christ. And be the light.

Give them hope. Help them to believe again.

Now, our Scripture said, the woman thought to herself, “If I can just touch His robe, I would be healed.”

She’s got a healing thought. And as I put myself in the story, I can say that this is so difficult to the bleeding woman. Let me give you two reasons:

With her condition, she’s unclean. People like her may not have any contact with the society. So, it would be a risk for her if she would pursue Jesus.

Remember that the goal of Jesus was to heal the daughter of Jairus.

And the woman worried that she might get rejected by the crowd. She might be rejected by Jairus, even by Jesus.

But she was so desperate. She wanted that healing so bad. And you know what, her desperation led to her salvation.

I just want to share with you, my beloved friends, my all-time favorite basketball player, Kobe Bryant. What I really love about him was his passion and his dedication to the game. He had this Mamba mentality (doing more than the next guy). And that mentality, that attitude, that mindset, or perspective, that thought made him unstoppable.

Friends, what are your thoughts right now? I encourage you:

Start having a great relationship thought. Start having successful thoughts

Why is this important?

So, start having those amazing thoughts.

God bless you, everybody.

Talk       

Big Day            

August 22, 2021

 LET’s all continue with this story of this beautiful passage. I’m praying that God is using this to speak to you and me.

I want you to turn to Mark:

You know, there is something about this part of the story that tells us something very important and I want you to listen to this…

Mark, who happens to be the author of this Scripture, said when the bleeding woman touched the robe of Jesus, she was healed instantly.

If that’s the case, here’s my question: Why did Jesus need to pause? I mean, Jesus was on His way to heal another person. Why did He need to stop and then look for that woman?

Was Jesus credit-grabbing? Like what some of us do when we do something praise-worthy? We post it all over the Internet so that people will appreciate us. So that we can collect all our likes.

Absolutely not. Because we all know that Jesus, He’s not like us. Jesus’ intentions are unlike ours. His are always pure. His heart is always pure. So, why did Jesus need to stop?

Come on, Jesus, there is a daughter in critical condition in the house of Jairus. Gotta move on…

You know what, I love the fact that Jesus stops because this tells me that I am worth stopping for.

And guess what, Jesus wants you to know the same thing. Jesus wants you to know:

Jesus will delay the plan just because you need help.

Come on, somebody, say right now, “Thank You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus!”

But here is the best part: It’s when Jesus says: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

Know this: That Jesus doesn’t call everyone Daughter. I mean, not very often. But He does this one time and I think that’s important.

It’s so important that Jesus does this because we all know that the Devil knows your name but he will always call you by your sin..

But God knows your sin, but He will always call you by your name.

And so that’s why I am amazed why Jesus does this. Because that’s what He wanted to heal in the first place. He wanted to heal this woman’s bleeding. Jesus did not just want to heal the sickness without healing the source.

You know, oftentimes we look to God to heal our sickness. But God, guess what, He always wants to go deeper. He always wants to go to the source

(of that ailment).

Because if God heals the sickness without healing the source, you know what will happen. That sickness will just keep on coming back—again and again.

So, in this case, Jesus does not just want to heal the external, or the physical, bleeding of this woman. Instead, He wants to heal the internal bleeding because that’s more important.

The woman’s identity was when she’s bleeding from within. After living for many years— 12 years— after living in shame, this woman probably developed a poor sense of her identity. Everybody didn’t want to socialize with her. Everybody avoided her. She must had been hurting and bleeding from within.

And I wonder, how many of you right now listening to this message feel the same pain? You might had been sick or you might be sick right now. People have heard about it. And they’ve lost trust in you. They’ve distanced themselves away from you.

Come on, how many can actually relate? You are hurting and bleeding from within. You’ve lost the trust of somebody.

And you know what, as a response, what did this woman do?

She avoided people. She didn’t want to get too close to people. Because out of her own fear and her insecurity she actually forgot her true identity. She forgot who she was.

I remember this story–what happened to a person named Juan.

One day, Juan and his wife came face-to-face with a cold-blooded killer in a dark corner. And the killer pointed a knife at Juan and his wife and asked them a question.

He looked to the wife first and he said, “What’s your name?”

The wife, trembling, shaking, answered, “Inday! That’s my name!

Inday!” Now, the killer paused for a while, then said, “You know, that’s my mom’s name. And because that’s my mom’s name, I will not kill you.”

And then the killer turned to Juan and asked him the same question.

“How about you? What’s your name?”

Juan stopped and thought for a moment, for a second, and then he said, “My name is Juan. But my nickname is Inday.”

Isn’t this something that we all do? Come on, out of fear, and sometimes out of threat, and even sometimes out of shame, and even sometimes out of desperation, we would gladly sell our integrity to the highest bidder. We would put our purity to the first sweet talk that comes around.

Isn’t this true that we all do?

Anyway, let me end with this beautiful story. This is a beautiful reminder and I’m hoping this message is ministering to you.

You all know that my wife and I, we’ve got a three-year-old here at home. He’s almost 34 next month—because he’s already in that age, he already knows, he understands things we are deliberate about, imparting to our son Ethan the right values.

Just this week, Ethan did something that compelled me to talk to him in a very serious way. He asked one afternoon if he could watch TV while we were having lunch. You know, my wife and I, we believe that meal time is a sacred time for a family to talk to each other. And so, we wanted to teach this value to Ethan that early on.

So, we said, “No. ” And we turned off the TV.

And then from out of nowhere, you know what Ethan did? I’m sure parents can relate to this: he rolled his eyes.

So, instinctively, I pulled him aside and told him, “Come on, we never taught you that. That’s not who you are, my Son. Come on, you’re better than that.”

I don’t know if my son understood that or not.

But hey, let me preach this to you…

Sometimes, the world will try to define you according to the bad things that you did, or the mistake that you made. But I wonder if God would say this same thing to you: “You are better than that, my Child.”

See, your value doesn’t depend on who you are or what you’d done. Your value actually depends on Who is inside of you. And His name is Jesus and what Jesus did for you on that Cross.

Your identity is based on what the Savior did for you and me, and He says that you are worth stopping for– just like that bleeding woman when He delayed His trip to the house of Jairus to heal his daughter.

It was as though Jesus was saying, yes, Jairus’s daughter needs me. But hey, there is another daughter who also needs me first. Because…

My dear friend, you are worth stopping for and I pray that you are receiving this right now…

Today, God wants to remind you the simple and powerful truth that failure that you had, that’s not your name. The mistake that you did, hey, that’s not your name. The sin that you’re carrying right now, that’s not your name. Instead, God wants to remind you right now that Faithful is your name. Hopeful is your name. Beloved is your name.

When you find yourself this week, this month, or this year questioning your identity, remember that God calls you Daughter. God calls you Son.

God calls you Child.

Remember who you are, my dear friend. Always know your identity.

See, the enemy will try to disrupt you from knowing who you are. But God doesn’t want that. God is always constantly reminding you who you are.

And so, I hope you remember that you are God’s Child. When you become

insecure this week, when you become afraid, say, “I’m God’s Child. I’m God’s Son. I’m God’s Daughter.”

That’s how you do it.

Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for this message that has spoken, has ministered to all of us today…

Jesus, I invite You to be part of my life. I invite You to be my God, to be my Savior, to be my Rescuer, to be my Redeemer.

I invite Your Love into my heart and I declare that Your Love is healing me from within, that all issues that I have accumulated over the years, Your Blood is washing them away.

You are cleansing me.

You are making me brand new.

And I thank You that You are there for me.

I thank You that I am worth stopping for.

I thank You that You call me your Child.

I declare that I am your Son.

I am your Daughter.

I am your Child.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.