Talk 2: We Have Dual Citizenship WE CONTINUE our beautiful series, Citizen: How To Build a Nation, with Talk 2: We Have Dual Citizenship. And I’m praying this will bless you, this will change you, and it will minister to you. I invite you to say this prayer with me deliberately, as we come in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit… Everybody, raise your hands and together with me, say this: Let’s give honor and reverence for God’s Word, as we all sing: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path. Holy Spirit, use this time to speak to us. Two Questions…And More We opened this series last Sunday (March 20, 2022) with a beautiful message where we said “God likes politics.” It’s a little new message to think that, “Hey, God likes politics.” He does. Why? Because God loves you. God is concerned about you. Like Bro. Bo said, politics is one of the messiest, the dirtiest arenas in the world, and God is concerned. Because that’s where sin has infected and infested the life and heart of many. And what did we say? We’re called to what? We’re called to serve the Lord through politics. By discerning who the best candidate is for you. And looking at politics-- the issues of politics— through the lens of faith. And so, we’re called to be restorers—not  destroyers. Today, we’re going to move forward in faith with this message. But before I do that, may I share with you a personal story? I remember when I was in college, 10 years ago, I happened to pick up this book that was lying around in our home. I think it was my brother who was reading it. My brother is very intellectual. So, the book was titled Sophie’s World. It’s very deep book. I mean, it’s a philosophical book. I wasn’t able to finish it. I couldn’t get past Chapter 5 without getting a migraine. That’s how deep the book was. It’s a philosophical book that tries to answer two of Life’s most difficult questions: Who am I? Where does the world come from? Not only did I not get answers to the questions —because I didn’t finish the book. But the book also opened a Pandora’s box of other existential questions. Like, I started asking: Why was I born into this family? Why am I a Villaraza, and not a Sanchez? I mean (Bo and Marowe) I could have called you Daddy and Mommy. I could have been brother of your sons Bene and Francis. I wasn’t a Sanchez—or a Lubaton, or a Barcelona. Why was I a Villaraza? Have you ever asked those questions: Why were you born in that family? Why are those your parents? Another question for me was: Why was I born a brown-skinned Filipino? Not the light-skinned Koreans, like Jin and Jungkook of the now popular boy band, BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan).

Talk I WANT to invite you right now as we begin our talk series today. To invite God’s Presence in your life and to ask God to speak to you in a very personal way as we all come in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit. Lift your hands as high as you can and then say this with me… Everybody, let’s all sing: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path I am declaring that God is going to illuminate your path right now with the things that might be blurry, that might be confusing. I want to welcome you to our brand new series. It’s a special series. It’s a unique series called CITIZEN: How To Build a Nation. And we’re going to talk for the next few Sundays about this thing that’s happening in our country. We’re headed towards elections and I’m sure that a lot of you have a lot of questions: How do we choose the candidates? How do we know who the right ones are that we choose to vote for? I want you, for a moment, just open your heart and open your mind because God is going to speak, okay? I want God to disturb you at your comfort zone right now. And I want you to know that God is concerned about politics. Here is our title--you might be shocked a little bit by this: Did you know that? Some of you are a little bit allergic to the word politics. But God likes politics. How do I know this? Because God is concerned about the welfare of the world because God cares about you. God loves you. As early as the Old Testament, God was already showing interest in politics. When was this? When He was deeply immersed in the politics of Israel. God actually chose the kings of Israel. God chose King Saul, the first ruler of Israel. And then when Saul disobeyed God, you know what He did, He raised a shepherd boy to be king. His name is David—considered to be the greatest king of Israel. And then before David died, He chose another king—the son of David, named Solomon—considered to be the wisest king of Israel. Daniel says: So, check it out. God is the real king maker. God is the one who puts people in position. He’s the one who puts people in the place of leadership. So, if you’re the type of person, and you feel like God is calling you to lead, you better make sure that you’ve got God’s blessing in your life and God’s anointing. If God is concerned with politics, what do you need to do? Listen to this: I want you to say this to the person beside you… Say, “My friend, God is calling you to serve Him through politics.” Really? Are you sure, Bro. Audee? Because you know, like I said, some of

WE’RE going to give you-- I know we said this last Sunday that that we’re going to give you a special new series about the political arena, the elections coming up in the month of May. But we are going to park that for just one Sunday. And we’re going to talk about something special today. So, with that, we invite all of you, especially if it’s your first time, this is a beautiful way to declare God’s abundance over your life. Join me in doing this, as we signify the symbol of our faith. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Everybody, just lift your hands out, stretch your arms, stretch your faith, and stretch your voice. And say this with me: Everybody, lift one hand, and if you’re online, please stand up to give honor and reverence to God’s Word, as we sing: Thy Word, is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path. We invite the Holy Spirit to come and descend upon us. Friends, this is your Upper Room right now. And I believe God is going to speak a message to your life. ‘I Am the Vine’ We’re going to take a reading from John 15:5. It’s very famous and some of you have already known this: A lot of people ask the question: How do you sustain your connection, your relationship, with God? This is the answer: Jesus says, I am the vine and you are the branches. So, what is the answer to that question? How do you sustain your relationship? You stay connected. Okay, it’s easier said than done… Because anybody who’s been in a retreat or a spiritual event, know this… that after you’ve attended a retreat or maybe after you’ve attended The Feast, you come home, you’re spiritually high. You know, you’re walking on Cloud 9 and you feel like your untouchable. Everything that you do is good. You feel like you’re on your way to sainthood. And then the second week comes, and then third week comes, and then Life happens. You know, work happens. Our children happen. Neflix happens. And you’ve got all these distractions. You’ve got all these noises in your environment. So, what happens is that you slowly backslide to your old ways, to your old habits. You know, you go back to who you are. So, how do we really sustain this connection with Jesus? Okay, I love that Jesus used this analogy using plants. Shout out to all plantitos and plantitas, and plantlolos and plantlolas! We Need Structure Jesus used Botany which is the science, the study of plants, to give this analogy. He says, I am the vine, and you are the branches. Let me show you this picture. This is a picture of a vine. It’s a good-looking healthy, luscious growing vine, don’t you agree? What makes a vine healthy? Anybody? “Water.” Yes, you feed it with water. What

Talk LET’S sing: Speak to us Lord, we’re listening. Let’s give the Lord a big, big hand. Today is our last day of our study of the Book of Matthew. Could you imagine: 26 months! And it has been such a journey through the Pandemic and today. Just in case you won’t notice, we’re ending our 26-month long series. How about we give a big, big hand for that season. We really studied, dove in, and wow, it has been beautiful. And we need to move forward. I think it’s God’s call for us to move forward today. But you know, the more we know about God through the Gospel of Matthew, the more that I feel also anxious. Why? Because I realized, the more that I’m so far from the Lord. The more that I know more about it, the more that I feel… Hmm, there’s so much work with you Didoy, and I’m so far away from God’s heart. But I think of the greatest distance -- from here (in the mind) the message needs to travel to here (in the heart). What am I trying to say? The goal of this Bible study is not to know more but to love more. So, take a pause today. You’ve been attending The Feast online, or now live? Has it brought you to love more people? Did it make you love yourself more? Not just about our religious practices but our relationships? Today, we’re going to talk about the greatest event that happened in the history of human kind and that is the Resurrection of Jesus. And the big message today is: Your story is not over. Before we go there, which is the second part of the Talk, try to notice that Jesus included specific people—groups of people in the movement, in this gathering, in this faith that we have. The followers of Jesus are very, very different. The first thing we would like to reflect on is that the Kingdom of Jesus includes women. Women in the house make some noise, please. During the time of Jesus, there were many other Rabbis (Teachers) like Him. Too many teachers actually. But there’s a big difference with Jesus. Because the other rabbis, the other teachers, had male followers. Jesus was CO-ED. He was open to have followers who are women. Because in Asian culture, women were designated to be at home. They were supposed to be silent in affairs. They were supposed to be just taking care of the children, managing the household. It was very, very radical that Jesus brought in women to become His disciples. Jesus saw them as equals—as God bearers, God carriers. And remember, the followers of Jesus, they were  there, throughout the journey of Jesus’ ministry. They saw Him preach. The women saw Him perform miracles. But they also saw Jesus die. They also saw how painful it was. To see your teacher, your rabbi crucified-- and you cannot do anything about it.

Talk OPEN your heart to the way that the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you loud and clear today. Let me give you our big message and I want you to preach this to somebody near you. Say this: God wants to love through you. Isn’t it amazing? We have been studying the book of Matthew for over two years and through the Pandemic. We have been studyin the Book of Matthew verse by verse, line by line-- and it’s really blessing us. Thank you, St. Matthew, for enriching our walk with Jesus. And you know, what better way to culminate this series, to end this whole series, by talking about what’s so relevant right now. We’re going to revisit in the next few weeks the death of Jesus. As we are about to end studying the Gospel of Matthew, we are going in and journey with Jesus step-by-step towards Calvary. But you know, one thing I got to say is that nothing happens by accident in God’s Kingdom. Everything is divinely appointed by God. God orchestrates the blessing that He gives into your life. And so, in good godly timing, you know, Holy Week is just around the corner. So, there’s no accident in God’s Kingdom. We’re talking about the death of Jesus, and then Holy Week comes. We get to experience and encounter Jesus— suffering Jesus, giving His life. Holy Week Traditions Speaking of Holy Week—just a little quick sharing. I remember, when I was in my teenager years—about 10 years ago. No, okay, 15 years ago. That sounds better, right? So, I remember, I loved Holy Week—because of the Station of the Cross. I lived in a small town in Taytay, Rizal, and we had a very old-school Catholic tradition. Our Station of the Cross meant that we should go around-- in the middle of the hot day-- we would pray each Station in one house after the other. And then we followed by what we called Pabasa (sung-through story of the Passion of Christ) from Friday, 3 p.m., all the way to Saturday, 3 p.m. We would be singing the Psalms in Tagalog, and it was amazing. But before some of you might say, “Wow, ang religious mo pala, Bro. Audee…” listen to me… I loved Holy Week but not because I was religious-- far from it. The reason I loved Holy Week was the Station of the Cross meant everybody would be joining—including my crush… It’s strange when you’re young to experience Holy Week. Because there were a lot you didn’t understand, a lot you could not do. Like, you couldn’t watch action movies, comedies, romance—at least not in my family. The only movie we were allowed to watch was the re-run of the never-ending The Ten Commandments, the old film by Cecil B. DeMille, which takes 16 hours to watch. You couldn’t go out-- you couldn’t go biking, you couldn’t play basketball, you couldn’t go swimming, you couldn’t go skateboarding …