Talk

Talk 6:

BO SANCHEZ: Can everybody say, “You’re already blessed.” You’re already blessed. You really are.

“Bro. Bo, hindi pa. May utang pa ako. —Not yet. I still have debt. I owe someone P100,000. And I still do not have P100,000. I’m not yet blessed.”

No. Let me say it again: You already are blessed. Why?

Because last week, I said this— we said this together— that the greatest blessing is not money. Not things. The greatest blessing is Life with the Blesser. That’s our greatest blessing.

Do you have the Blesser with you? Do you have the Blesser in your life? Yes?

Then you are already blessed.

Put your hand over your chest and say “I’m already blessed.”

Worry Is Irrational

The other thing is this: Let’s say you do owe P100,000— or even P1 million. You know what, even if the money is not yet there, we believe this— I believe this: that whatever you need to earn that money, you already have. You got to believe in that. You really do.

Now, why am I talking about money? Because I am going to share a bit personally to start the message.

In the past few months— this is a confession— I, Bo Sanchez, have been having worries about a challenge to my finances. Personally— thinking and worrying about my finances. When I share that to my friends, you know what they say?

“Ows, ikaw? Ang yaman-yaman mo. You? You’re very rich.” Now, let me qualify that.

Yes, God has blessed my finances. I share this and I teach this— because I am a financial teacher. I teach people to invest. And so, I’ve been investing —

I practice what I preach. Over the past 20-plus years, God has blessed my finances by leaps and bounds.

But what I’ve learned over living on this Planet for more than five decades is that worry is irrational. If you worry, you understand how many, many times, it’s not rational. It’s like if you take one step backward, you look again at the situation, you realize, yes, you have a problem, and you’re worried about that problem.

Then you look at your whole life, and you say, “My gosh, I’m so blessed.” But no, the problem is there sticking like a sore thumb.

I also teach people how to build many income streams. I tell people do not just have one —you need to have many.

Fr. Mario was talking about this: that if you are blessed, it’s really to bless other people. So, why not be blessed more, why not earn more so that you can give more? So, I tell people to have multiple income streams so that if one fails you, you’ve got a few more. And so, I practice that.

My Worries

So, let me give you an idea of my worries. I have seven income streams. Four of them, I dedicate to the ministries— whatever I earn there I give and support the ministries.

Let me share two of them that I dedicate to the ministries. The first one would be my author’s royalties. I have written 60-plus books. Because many of them are bestsellers, I earn a lot. And

I would give that to the ministries. At its peak, I was earning about P300,000 a month. But I don’t know if you noticed this— in the Philippines over the past years, bookstores have been shrinking. Yes, they have been.

So, that was a major channel by which the books were being sold. And so, my royalties began to go down.

And I was thinking, “Oh, no, the ministries need that money.”

The second income stream is what I raise from my pilgrimages. I would lead about one or two pilgrimages every year. And I would be able to raise about

P2-P4 million a year for the ministries.

Well, guess what happened during the Pandemic— you know, were there pilgrimages? No. Travel was zero. So, for almost three years, the ministries lost between P6 to P9 million. That was huge. Right?

By the way, we have a pilgrimage this coming September 27 — it’s going to be the first one — to Fatima and Lourdes. If you want to come and join us— for 14 days — come and join us, you’ll help our ministries. I don’t earn from that.

I’m not worried about my finances. I’m not. God has blessed my finances– my needs are met. I’m telling you if I grow old, as old as (Senator, now Chief Presidential Legal Counsel) Juan Ponce Enrile— and according to the memes, he was the gardener in the garden of Eden— even if I grow as old as him, I know that my needs would be met.

My worry is the group of 200 employees that I have in my personal businesses plus the 200-plus employees in all our ministries. I’m worried about them.

Will they be okay?

What God Told Me

And so, I brought these worries into prayer. It’s crazy— after 43 years as a missionary, I still get worried.

So, I came before the Lord and I said, “Lord, God, I come before you…”

And as I prayed, God gave me one Word — one beautiful Word. You know what He told me — in my heart, in my prayer?

God told me this: “Not everything depends on you.”

Oh. Oh. You know sometimes, you assume that everything depends on you.

And what God said, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”

–Psalms 127: NIV

My dear friends, may I speak this Word into your life: Are you worried today? Are you concerned about something today? Maybe you’re thinking about your children. Maybe you’re concerned about your future. Whatever you’re thinking of right now, God’s Word for you is this: Not everything depends on you. You have to learn to trust in God.

Now, I want you to know something. As I speak to you, has anything changed— anything whatsoever changed— in my income streams? I’m telling you, nothing has changed. My circumstances, while I was worried, until now, have not changed.

But I’m more relaxed, I’m more at peace. I’ll tell you why. Because I realized that I am already blessed. And this is the Word I’d like to share with you: I have learned to deeply trust in God. Because, really, at the end of the day, we can never graduate from trusting in God.

JAN SILAN: My name is Jan.

For those who don’t know me, I lead this very small Feast in Makati — it’s called Feast Makati in Salcedo.

About a thousand go there — this is pre-Pandemic time — 90 percent of them are single, and 90 percent are working in Makati.

They just go there to be refreshed, to be relaxed, like, “Lord, I receive Your love. I receive Your grace…”

Now, we’re trying to get back to pre-Pandemic times, little by little.

And this is my very small family — my wife Angela, and our boys.

Love them so much.

The Meaning of Blessed

As we Feast, I hope we remember as well and keep in our prayers those who have been affected by the earthquake this week: We pray in

Jesus’ mighty Name that the Lord will bless you, the Lord will surprise you this week. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

So: You are already blessed!

But what is the meaning of Blessed?

We always say, hashtag #Blessed on our online posts.

While I was preparing for this talk, I looked at Instagram— you can do it right now if you want, I don’t mind. Go to Search #Blessed.

I did this last night, and I saw that 144 million individuals posted that they are blessed…

The “blessings” they posted were about vacations, more about new houses, weddings, food, body— lots about body.

But what do you really mean by Blessed?

Meaning of Blessed in the Bible

We’ve been studying Genesis for quite some time now and it speaks of a different level of Blessed — different from what we know as Blessed.

We feel blessed when our prayers are answered. Such prayers as: “Lord, grant I can sell this product; “I can graduate”; “Sana siya na, siya na— Let him be my boyfriend. Let it be him.”

And when he does become your boyfriend, you promptly post: #Blessed! So many #Blesseds. But in the Bible, what does Blessed really mean?

Number 1: It means Abundance of Life. The Lord is telling us, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

We have to multiply. Abundance is there.

Number 2: The Ability To Rule. To be His representative here on Earth. And last: The Access To Make a Choice

At least for Genesis, these are what it means to be Blessed.

As our ongoing Feast Talk series, Blessing and Curse, puts it, we have the ability to choose: Blessing or Curse. Talk No 1: Creation story— Blessing or Curse; Talk No. 2: Cain and Abel— Blessing or Curse… What do people always choose? Talk No. 3: Noah’s Ark— Blessing or Curse. Talk No. 4: Tower of Babel— Blessing or Curse. Talk No. 5: Father Abraham— we took up last week— has many sons.

And today, Talk No. 6: We’ll journey with someone who again posed a question, a reflection to us: Blessing or Curse?

I love the energy of Fr. Mario earlier, as he pointed out: Family, Faith, Friend.

I’m going to work on Family, Faith, and Friend.

Jacob’s Choice

Jacob. Today, we will be looking at someone’s life, someone choosing Curse since the moment he was born.

Later on, he will be called Israel.

Actually the name now of the Holy Land (major part of ) Bro. Bo’s Pilgrimages. One day, he thought, “Can I bring Jan Silan with me?” So, I was there a few years ago.

When he was not yet named Israel, Jacob, all his life, was fighting for something that the Lord had already given him.

Do you know of someone like that? Fighting for something that is already his?

That’s why I want to pose a question to everybody here— single, married, whatever age, you’re a nun,

or whatever: Are you working for your worth?

And this is very difficult. I was praying about Jacob, and I was looking at his life: from the day he was born, this was his issue: his worth.

What Is My Worth?

That is my question all the time: What is my worth?

For example, especially if my wife is mad— she is just mad, you know, she’s running events, she’s thinking about her office work, she can’t make the kids obey her, her husband she cannot make to follow her. So, she’s really stressed.

And to husbands who are here, I ask: Isn’t it that all you want in a day is that your wife is happy?

That’s the goal of my day. I mean, I have no other goal in a day than to make Angela happy. But if she’s not happy, I’m questioning my worth. Then, I have three boys now. Another boy coming in September. So, this is a picture of my boys, from left: that’s Mateo, that’s Javi, and that’s Julio. Sometimes, I ask myself — not if I will have the provision for them because I know the Lord will provide.

Not about, “Lord, do I have the money for their tuition fee?”

I actually just enrolled the eldest in Grade 8 and the next one in kindergarten.

Last month, I didn’t have money, but then I eventually had the money for their enrolment this week. I know the Lord provides. And so, that’s not my issue.

My issue is this: Will I be a good Dad? Who among you is raising a teenager?

For you, I pray for patience, love, and understanding, in Jesus’ Name.

So, I really badly need patience as my eldest is now a teenager. There are times I think I am patient enough. But then, at times, I realize, I still need deeper patience — because you know, you don’t want to be stressed every day.

But of course, sometimes, you snap at your son. And when you snap, you say words that you don’t even mean. Words you don’t want to say would just come out of your mouth.

And you’re like, “Where did that come from?”

In moments like that, I just question myself: “Am I worthy to be his dad?” Those who have issues, know that you’re not alone.

Jacob’s Issue: His Worth

Jacob was dealing with all of these issues:

No.1. He was born a grabber.

Let’s imagine this: The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer – Isaac is the son of Abraham—and his wife Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So, she went to ask the Lord about it: “Why is this happening to me?”

Right now, my wife is 32 weeks pregnant. For her, every movement of our baby Yosef in her womb hurts…

Imagine: All the more with Rebekah. She had twins! And they were struggling, they were wrestling. And by the way, there was no ultrasound before so she did not know why it hurts so much.That’s why she was asking the Lord, “Why is this happening to me?”

Let’s continue reading:

Then the other one:

I was with my wife Angela when she gave birth—to Javi, October 12, 2018 at 3:00 a.m. It was my first time (to witness such delivery), so I had my picture taken.

That was funny— 3:00 a.m.— so there were no people in the entire delivery room– just my wife and I and the personnel in charge.

I could hear the doctor, the OB-GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist), saying, “Angela, push!”

I could hear my wife grimacing, “Ooooo…”

And I too was like, “Ooooo. Push him out, push him out!”

She had an epidural (an injection for pain relief) the first time, none the second time. And so, she really felt the pain.

Imagine: Rebekah Giving Birth

Now, I am picturing that moment Rebekah was giving birth to twins… As the first baby,

Esau, was coming out, there were little hands holding on to his heels.

That was Jacob. And that’s why he is called:

Because even at the time he was born, Jacob was already grabbing the bekorah— which means the birthright of the firstborn.

During that time, in the Jewish culture, the firstborn inherited everything— the wealth, the authority, the blessings. Jacob knew about this and so, he wanted to be the firstborn. And since he didn’t get what he wanted, you know what he did all his life? Iniisahan niya yung kapatid niya—always putting one over his brother.

I remember my Mom would shout, for instance: “Anak, tubig!— Son, water!”

I am the eldest among the three of us sibs, and as Kuya, I would look at my sib to my right and to the one to my left, like asking, who my Mom was referring to.

It was like that: A “Me-first” mentality.

That’s why you have to attend The Feast every week. Because every week, here at The Feast, we are reminded that we are blessed.

Two Lessons from Esau

Do you know someone who’s hungry?

Not physically, but emotionally?

How would you know if you’re hungry emotionally?

I’ve been ministering to single people for the past 10 years. And I know someone who just broke up with her boyfriend.

She was like, “Ayoko nang mabuhay!

— I don’t want to live anymore!”

The following week, she already had a new boyfriend.

I asked her how come she had a new partner right away.

She said, “Because, for the first time, someone told me I love you.”

And then, of course, when you’re stressed, you forget to pray for what you want.

And when we don’t have what we want or need, we feel hungry.

Last lesson: Blessings stolen. Bro. Audee Villaraza will talk about this next week.

Now, in some weird way, Jacob was able to steal the birthright blessing from Esau. He cheated on Esau about the blessing. But Jacob was actually stealing something the Lord already gave him.

My last question for you: Are you striving for something that God has already said is yours?So, let me end here. I presented to you #Blessed– 144 million persons posted their blessings. Then, I said, “If there are 144 million who say they are blessed… I googled about Depression rates according to the World Health Organization (WHO). I want you to look at what I highlighted in the red box:

Cure for Too Much Stress

Again, let me qualify: there are clinical issues of depression, anxiety.

To those in this situation, please, my prayer is that you see a doctor.

It’s okay not to be okay.

But for those not clinically diagnosed— who are most of us— what is our cure for being so much stressed?

I want to end by how Bro. Adrian Panganiban started: It’s gratitude. My gosh, I slam on gratitude all the time. When my wife is mad or irritated at whatever it is she’s doing, I also get irritated.

But I would always be grateful every day because she is my wife.

At the end of the day, I want to thank the Lord for everything… Angela was there–with some weird happenings in her life and some weird happenings in my life as well– and we met.

Grateful ba kayo sa mga asawa ninyo? Are you grateful for your spouse?

Those with no spouse yet, in Jesus’ mighty Name, this year the Lord will answer your prayer.

As the song by Ushers and Alicia Keys says, …because you’re blinded from the start. Know that the one for me is here for everyone to see. You will always be my boo. 

For those not familiar with the song, Not Rude, Honest, an online opinion platform, says these lines mean a boo isn’t just the guy or girl you are with at the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-12f1_1yOs

It is the person that you will basically love forever no matter what! https://www.notrudehonest.com/post/2017/06/06/you-will-always-be-my-boo

Blinded from the start. That’s Jacob. He did not see his blessing. He has been grabbing for something the Lord has already given him.

And I won’t judge him.

How Do You Pray?

Last question: Who among you is praying for someone?

Whatever you are praying for, do you pray for it every day?

I pray for my wife. I pray for my Feast. This is how I do it:

I have a plan, and my wife has a plan.

We have a plan.

And so, I say, “Lord, this is our plan.

Bless it. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Then, when I don’t receive an answer from the Lord, I am like, “Lord, wala pa. Lord, bless my plan. Lord, please, bless my plan Lord!”

We tend to insist on what we want:

“Gusto ko itong kotse na ito. –I want this car. Lord, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Kotse! Kotse!”

“Gusto ko ang bahay na ito—I like this house. Lord, that’s what I want.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You see a guy. “Lord, siya talaga. He’s really the one. In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Lord, he’s really the one.” I pray like that.

But do you have prayers that are not answered? You’ve been praying for them for like 10 years, and the Lord has not answered your prayers.

Prayers like, “Lord, I pray he (my husband) would change his ways.” “Lord, where is my sale?”

I struggle when my prayers are not answered. Right now, some members of my family are sick.

So, I am like, “I pray his kidney will be healed.” And it does not happen.

God’s Plan

Then, while I was preparing for this message, I remembered something I read many years ago from a book of Rick Warren, an American Southern Baptist evangelical Christian pastor, of Saddleback Church, and author of the best- selling book The Purpose Driven Life which, in a gist, says purpose-driven means to be driven by God’s purposes, not our own.

Warren said:

And I was like, “Huh? How is that Lord? I do include You in my plans. If You’re not included in my plans, I will not push through with it.”

Actually, Rick Warren said:

I was then only 20 years old, but I was already going through a lot of burdens…

So, that time, my prayer changed and I asked God:

“Lord, what’s your plan? Include me, please. Lord, you want people to be financially blessed. Include me, please…” “Lord, you want people to have a house. Include me Lord. Isn’t it you want families to have good relationships? Include my family.” “Lord, make me part of Your plan!”

And the Lord will. Why? Because He is reminding every one of us today that: You’re already blessed.

…You don’t have to carry all your burdens. Because He already carries them all.

Inhale, Exhale. You may be tired of including God in your plans… But now, ask Him what’s His plan.

Tell Him, “Lord, include me in Your plan.”

And I pray you will be lifted. I pray the Lord will bless you even more.

May you receive the heaven that He is promising to be here on Earth.

Pray with me:

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Lord, okay, fine. May I be part of Your plan …?