Talk: Big Day HI, EVERYBODY! Welcome to The Feast! And I pray that God will just pour out love and His blessing into your life. We have three stories I want to share with you. Before I do, let me share my message: How we see something changes that something. How we perceive that something changes that something. Let me apply that to God perceiving us, looking at us, seeing us with His eyes of love. Because by the way He looks at us with love, we get changed. Here are my three quick stories: A Cheesy story; A Shopping story; and A Love story. The Cheesy Story What’s the Cheesy story? Here it is: It is about a dying girl with her barkada, gang-mate with other guys doing stuff together-- loving God, serving God. Beautiful, beautiful group. Now the guy is on that stage when he needs to move on-- start a family. So, he starts praying, “Lord God, who do you want me to marry?” Then the image of his friend, his girl barkada, flashes in his mind, flashes before his eyes. And he is like, “Really? That girl? But she’s just my barkada.” So, he keeps on praying and praying. And he looks at the girl and says, “Yeah, it’s possible.” Because he checks the criteria (a list of qualities, character traits which in our Light of Jesus Family we recommend singles to check out so that they will make the right choice for a spouse). The guy begins to tick off the qualities and he says, “Right, this is the girl I’m looking for.” So, he starts courting the girl. And man, this single girl comes up to me and says, “Bro. Bo, si ganito, nililigawan ako… Yuck!” She looks like she wants to throw up – not because she doesn’t like the guy, but that she regards him just as a friend. So, when he starts making the moves, she just can’t handle the situation. I tell her, “I’m not gonna give any advice— except one thing: Just bring this thing to prayer.” That’s what she does. She brings the matter to the Lord. And the Lord says, “Yeah, give him a shot.” You know, these guy and girl are now married.  They’ve got kids. They’ve got a fantastic family. They’ve got a beautiful marriage. So, did the girl and the guy actually change? No. What changed was their perception. When your perception about something or someone changes, that something or someone changes. The Shopping Story Here’s my second story: This friend of mine calls me and says, “Bro. Bo, I need help.” He describes his financial difficulty and adds, “I am not asking you for money. I am asking you to help me by buying some of my stuff I wanna get rid of. Then he gives me a list of his stuff, and the only kind of useful for me was a guitar… So, I bought the guitar. Two years later, I

Big Day THE Healing Love of God is flowing into your life right now. I’m declaring it. I’m speaking forth these words: The Healing Love of God is flowing into your life. Amen and Amen. If you want to receive the Healing Power of God, if you want to pray for healing power of God, you need to act in three ways. Number 1: Seek God. All throughout the Bible, God heals. In the Gospels, Jesus heals thousands. The same Jesus walked in Galilee 2000 years ago is the same Jesus here living with us. You pray as you go to Mass, as you go to The Feast. Jesus and His healing are the same yesterday today and forever. I say it again: God’s Healing Love is flowing into your life. Seek it. But when I say seek God’s healing, I’m not just saying pray for God’s healing. But seek it, work for it, cooperate with His Grace. I’ll tell you a sad story… I was praying for someone with lung cancer, and then we chit-chat, and we ate together, and then after we ate, I saw him go to the back of his house, and I saw him smoking. No judgment. I don’t know why he still does that. He knows it’s wrongand all that. He has lung cancer but he still smokes. No judgement. I am not condemning this particular person because I don’t know his reason, and I don’t know his situation. All I am saying is, generally, when you say I seek God’s healing, you’re not only praying for it-- but you’re finding ways by which you can cooperate with the grace of God that brings healing. So that means finding a way to live a healthy lifestyle, finding ways to have healthier habits, learning how to take care of your body. I just needed to say that. Number 2, very important, you need to surrender to God’s Plan. I connect this to what I shared last week: God knows better how to heal you. He knows if the healing would be instant—or would it be gradual? Would it be with the help of medicines, would God use a doctor, or surgery? You know, we just need to leave that up to God-- even leave the chance that… what if God does not want to heal you physically, but He wants to heal you spiritually, or some other ways? You know, we have no control. There is no formula. But that’s the message we shared with you last week. And I’m going repeat it today: Do not trust any formula. If there’s a preacher or any healing book that says there’s a formula —“You do this: A,B,C,D, and the healing will happen. Guaranteed!” Hmmm, do not trust a formula. There is no formula. Trust in God. Trust that He knows best. And there are times that He does not answer the way we want Him to answer. You say, “I surrender myself to Your

Big Day 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

Big Day THIS is my joy that I am able to serve you and I am praying for us as we are going        to enter into a very special series. God knows what you need. He knows what you need to hear. So, I’m praying that you are going to hear it right now in Jesus’ Name. Amen. Our one big message today is this: Love is on the way. And I am praying that Love is on the way toward your direction right now. Where does this come from? Okay. Let me breathe. Because this is going to be difficult. Love is on the way. This one big message  is in my reflection on the passing on of a dear, beloved friend, Fr. Michael La Guardia. We honored him last week. I just want to tell you one story about him. Sigh…Yes, my heart  is grieving… Can you imagine… He was only 56 years old—so young… His passing so sudden…  Like, we were just exchanging messages online a few days ago… And all of a sudden… So, yes, sometimes, when I think of Fr. Michael… I’m sad, I am very sad. But there is this beautiful moment when I smile. And the reason is this: I remember how much he loved us and how he loved me. Because he is so personal in his love. Mike Viñas, one of our preachers, posted this about Fr. Michael: “You know, akala ko lang ang special sa iyo…I thought I was the only one special to him. You know, Fr. Michael…he made you feel like he loves you, like you are special to him. And akala ko ako lang ang close sa inyo. ‘Yun pala, lahat ng tao—which is amazing.” Anyway, I was sick with the Coronavirus Disease (COVID). When I was recuperating, you know what Fr. Michael would do? He would visit me, give me Holy Communion. And I’m telling you, I would tell him, my wife Marowe would tell him, “Fr. Michael, you know, nakakahiya… You’re very busy…” And then, he would say, these are his words: “It’s okay. You’re on the way.” And that struck me, as in, “Wait a minute…Waaait a minute…” May I share with you what he did? He said he was supposed to visit his mom. Now, I want you to think with me… Geographically: Fr. Michael is here… he is in Bicutan (a barangay in Taguig City). We are on Sucat Road, Parañaque. And Fr. Michael’s mom is in Mandaluyong. Okay? So, when he said, “It’s on the way, you’re on the way,” I am like, “Fr. Michael, you’re brilliant. Man, you’re a great theologian. You’re an amazing Bible teacher. But right now, your logic is failing you because I’m not on your way. You’re there in Bicutan, in the middle (in between Sucat and Mandaluyong) and all you have to do, from Bicutan, is turn right to get to Mandaluyong. You know what, he turned left toward Sucat to get to

Talk 17: Commitment and Service WELCOME BACK to our deep dive into Matthew’s Gospel. Today, I want to preach the crazy message, “We go up to go down.” I know what you want to ask me: “Brother Mike, okay ka lang? Stressed ka ba? You’re blabbering gibberish.” I agree the statement makes no sense. But in today’s Feast, I’ll explain that this non-sensical message was the core message of Jesus. The Problem of Not Listening In our Bible story today, Jesus predicts His coming death. Again. And every time He talks about His dying, the apostles don’t get Him. They hear His words but not His heartbeat. Which is our problem too! The first time Jesus predicts His death, Peter says, “Over my dead body!” or something to that effect. And Jesus calls him Satan. The second time, the apostles do something worse: They argue who was the greatest among them. The Entire Scene Is a Comedy For the third time, Jesus predicts His death and what do His disciples do? They jostle for political power. It’s so hilarious, I bet Matthew expected his readers to laugh. It was a sitcom. Here’s His prediction: As usual, His disciples didn’t get it. This is how they respond: Just in case you’re thinking Mama Zebedee is an overzealous Stage Mom who is dragging her reluctant boys to sing in the birthday party, think again. In Mark’s version of this story, there was no Mom. James and John were the ones who asked for the plum positions. This was a family plot to grab power. They wanted to go up to stay up. We’re Going Up for a Purpose Jesus said, “We’re going up to Jerusalem.” Jerusalem was the capital of ancient Israel. That’s where the big shots were. If you wanted a seat among the powerful, that was the place to go. And who doesn’t want to go up? We hear this all the time today:  “Aim for Number One,” “Go to the Top” and “Climb the Corporate Ladder”. But that’s the craziness of His Kingdom: Jesus was going up so He could go down. He was going up to become powerless to serve the powerless. And did you notice? He said to His disciples, “We’re going up…” not “I’m going up”. It was like Jesus saying, “Guys, I’m going to suffer to rescue the suffering. I’m going to die to give life to the dying. That’s my plan. May we do this together? Will you also go up to go down?” Jesus’ version of “Going Up” is very different. It actually means two not-very-appealing actions… Listen to how Jesus replied to Mama Zebedee and the Zebedee Boys: But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”  (v.22) Cup of suffering? I’d rather have a cup of coffee or tea or hot cocoa. But suffering? We live in a culture that hates inconvenience. We don’t

Talk 16: Commitment and Labor WE’RE back in our transformational study of Matthew. My big message today: Don’t get what you deserve, get what Grace delivers. I heard this preached by Judah Smith and I’d like to share it with you today. Imagine this scene. You’re in your office Christmas Party. And there’s a Raffle. And your name is called too early. Your name is the third that is called. (Rats.) The first winner wins a mug. The second winner gets a P250-gift certificate. And you win a T-shirt. In front of the shirt, it says in beautiful and bold red letters, “Boracay”. You’re supposed to be happy. It’s a nice shirt. But you’re not. Actually, you’re grumbling that your name was picked too soon. Because you can no longer win the bigger prizes. True enough, at the end of the party, someone’s name is called, and your officemate walks up onstage to receive an all-expense paid trip to Boracay. Groan. You ask, “Lord, why do you give me the Boracay T-Shirt, and he gets the Boracay Trip?” It gets worse. You realize that the guy who won the Boracay trip doesn’t even go to church and curses in four languages. You continue your prayer, “Lord, I’m the good guy here. I attend The Feast. He’s a pagan!” Do you feel this sometimes? This is what envy does. It steals our joy. It prevents us from being able to celebrate other people’s blessings. Instead, it gives us misery. We become unable to celebrate with others because what is good for them becomes bad for us. This is all addressed in our key Bible passage today. When Life Isn’t Fair We’re going to read one of the most illogical stories in the Bible. Jesus said, 1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. (In the first century Greco-Roman world, markets—or Agora in Greek—were very different. People went to markets to get hired.) 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. 6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’ 7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’ (Matthew 20:1-7 NLT) It’s so fascinating, I want to retell the story so you get all the important details. One day, at 6 a.m., the Landowner goes to a group of men looking for work. He hires them

Talk 15: Commitment and Class We’re here again in our beautiful exploration of Matthew. Today, I want to preach the simple message, “Love people over things.” Here’s a Warning: When we love things more than people, we destroy relationships, families, companies, churches, ministries, friendships. We destroy ourselves. Think about it. Our worst problems—corruption, war, crime, drugs—all come from this one decision of loving things more than people. Let me ask three questions… Question 1: Why Do Families Breakdown?           One big reason is money. According to Ramsey Solutions, the number one cause of marital fights is money. And the number two cause of divorce in the US (next to infidelity) is money. According to TD Ameritrade, 41% of  Gen Xers ended their marriage because of money. That is an astronomical number I’m still trying to wrap my mind around. I remember Robert (not his real name), a 37-year old man who was sobbing like a child in front of me. He told me how his wife finally walked out of their home, bringing his two kids with her. “I can’t blame her. It was my fault,” he said. “I put my job over my family. I hardly spent time with my them…” But now, it was too late. No matter how much he begged his wife to return, she just doesn’t want to come back. Question 2: Why Are There Drugs? It’s all about money. Each year around the world, 750,000 people die of overdose from illegal drugs—Shabu, Cocaine, Heroin, and a truckload of others. But how many of the 269 million drug users around the world “die” in other ways? They are physically alive, but emotionally and relationally and professionally and spiritually, they are already dead. Question 3: Why Are There Wars? Here’s the truth: No one wins a war. Even the country that claims victory still lost. Wars have produced billions of orphans and widows and widowers. Just in the last 100 years alone, 108 million people died from war. And why does war happen? Answer: Greed. In World War I, it was all about who controlled the wealth of the colonies in Africa and Asia. In World War II, it was about Germany and Japan wanting more land and oil and resources. Let’s talk about something you know very well: Why did Spain conquer the Philippines for 333 years? If you asked the missionaries at that time, they’d say, “To spread Christianity!” And I’m sure there were many very pure-hearted missionaries who came here and were willing to die to make Jesus known. And I thank God for them. I’m a happy Catholic today because of those selfless missionaries. I believe that “What was meant for evil, God meant for our good.” (Loose paraphrase of Genesis 50:20-21) Because historians tell a very different story about why Spain came here. Kings wanted more wealth. Spain conquered South America for gold and conquered the Philippines for spices. And in their desire to get richer, it was okay

Talk 14: Marriage And Celibacy Welcome to our exciting excursion through Matthew’s Gospel. Today, I want to preach the simple message, “Wherever you are, serve there.”  I tweaked a very popular quote spoken by many gurus: “Wherever you are, be there.” I love this original quote because it’s about embracing the present moment. If you’re washing dishes, wash dishes. If you’re cooking, cook. If you’re cleaning, clean. Be aware. Be mindful. Be here and now. I believe most of our pain come from being trapped in two prisons: The prison of the past and the prison of the future, also called the prison of regret or the prison of fear. We’re either meditating on our past failures or our future worries. But if you want to have more peace in your life, you must walk out from these two prisons and enter your present moment. But today, I want to take you one step further… Serve In Your Struggle Wherever you are, don’t just be there—serve there. When God created you, He designed you to serve. And you will never experience deep fulfillment unless you follow your original design. Your joy will remain shallow unless you live a selfless life. And how should you serve? I believe God wants you to serve in your present state. Are you married? Serve there. Are you in a difficult marriage? You love each other but every day is a struggle. Serve there anyway. Are you separated? Serve there. Even with the pain. Are you separated from your spouse and you’re living with a new partner, and you’ve got three kids already, one with your ex, and two with your present partner, but you cannot yet get married in church because your ex-wife does not want to help you get an annulment?  What should you do? Serve there. Even in the craziness. Are you a widow or widower? Serve there. Are you a consecrated celibate? Serve there. Are you single waiting for the right person? Serve there. Are you single for a long time now and tired of waiting? Serve there. Are you single and have accepted the possibility that you might be single for life? Serve there. Even during times when you’re lonely. (News flash: Married people get lonely too. And the loneliest people I’ve met are married people who married the wrong person.) Because life doesn’t go as planned. And life is messy. But in the middle of that mess, serve there. Serve in the struggle. Serve in the chaos, the confusion, the conflict, the complication. Warning: This is real talk. You will taste the rawness in your mouth. Capture How Jesus Thinks Let’s read our main Bible reading for today: Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” (Matthew 19:3 NLT)  At that time in ancient Israel, there was a raging debate about divorce, and the Pharisees wanted to snag Jesus into the

Talk 13: Sentencing Servants and Forgiven Debts Welcome to our exciting trip through Matthew. Today, I want to preach the message, “Spit it out”. I know that sounds gross, but believe me, it’s exactly what God wants us to do with anything that robs us of life (more on this later). Question: Have you ever experienced getting choked? I’ve never experienced choking—thank God—but I witnessed someone who did. While I was eating in a restaurant, the man right in front of me started choking. He held his throat, trying to make a sound but unable to produce any. And his entire face turned red as a tomato. I got scared. First, because I didn’t know how to do the Heimlich maneuver. Goodness, I didn’t even know how to pronounce the word. Second, the guy was extra-large. From what I recall, I had to grab him from behind and lift him up. Mama Mia. How can I carry 280 pounds? (I later learned that everything I knew about the Heimlich was wrong. And the first thing I should have done was to encourage him to cough, bend over, and I should give him at least 5 big wallops on his back…) But thankfully, on his own, after a few seconds of his violent grunting, the man was able to dislodge the food and spit it out. And he spit it out hard, making that thing fly to the next restaurant. I’m exaggerating, but man, I’d spit hard too if it was killing me. Choking is a life-threatening emergency.  A choking death occurs every two hours and 70% of the time, food is the culprit. When a piece of meat is stuck in your throat and blocks your windpipe, it’s really scary. Where am I going with this? T.D. Jakes preached about how unforgiveness is like choking... Blockages In Your Spiritual Windpipe When you have bitterness, resentment, or in Tagalog, sama ng loob, it’s a blockage in your spiritual windpipe. God’s supply of love, joy, peace, and power cannot flow into your life. Unless you remove the obstacle, your spirit will ultimately die. That’s why when it comes to unforgiveness, you must spit it out.          If you know that this thing called unforgiveness, or bitterness, or resentment, is killing you, you’ll spit it out hard. But I’m going ahead of the story… We’re Looking For An Upper Limit In today’s key reading, Jesus tells an amazing story about forgiveness: Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”  (v.21) Peter was groping for an upper limit to forgiving others. For the Rabbis at that time, the upper limit was three. Based on their interpretation of the Book of Amos in the Old Testament, they taught that you’re supposed to forgive three offenses, but you’re not expected to forgive on the fourth offense. So Peter probably expected Jesus to say, “Wow Pete, ang holy mo naman!”  Because he doubled the required

Talk 12: Searching Sheep and Restored Relationships Welcome back to our adventure through Matthew. Today, I’d like to preach the message, “Love is tough”. (Hindi ka pwedeng marupok.) Love does the hard things. And love says the hard things. Which brings me to my question. Friend, do you like correcting people? Based on my informal guestimate, I believe 8 out of the 10 people are allergic to confrontations. And I’m part of that demographic. Personally, I find correcting people as pleasurable as giving birth to triplets without an epidural.           But through the decades, I’ve realized that healthy relationships require caring confrontations.  Or else—the relationship suffers—and it simply means my love is as plastic as the spoon in a children’s party. It’s thrown away. Today, we’re going to read a passage where Jesus teaches us HOW to correct people. I must tell you that this is controversial because of two cultural pulls in our modern world… First Pull: “Who Are You To Tell Me What To Do?” I cannot count the number of times I hear people say, “Your values are yours and my values are mine” and “You do your thing and I do my thing”.  This kind of thinking makes correction obsolete. These people believe there are no absolute truths. And if there are really no absolutes, it’s right for them to ask, “Who are you to tell me what to do?” So I hear this a lot too: “As long as I don’t harm anyone, I’m free to do what I want to do.” When someone says that, I ask, “How sure are you that no one is being harmed?  Because I believe our deeds done in the privacy of our bedrooms—even our most hidden thoughts—impact multi-generations.” But the intrinsic logic of this argument, “You can’t tell me what to do because there are no absolutes,” is dishonest, because even if they say there is no absolute truth, if you look beneath the hood, you’ll discover they still believe in absolute truths, like “don’t harm anyone” and “tolerate everybody” and “everyone is equal”. You need absolutes if you want to live amicably with others on this planet. Without absolutes, we’ll create hell on earth. And as Jesus Followers, we believe in His absolutes: That God sacrificed Himself for us, and He calls us to do the same for others. To be selfless. Generous. Faithful. Humble. Committed. By the way, have you ever wondered?  Some of the people who say, “You have no right to judge me!” can be very judgmental towards others. That’s because there’s a second pull in our culture… Second Pull: “I’m Free To Say Anything I Want” When I was in my teens and twenties (not too long ago😎), I loved travelling to far-flung barrios, not only because of the beauty of beaches and mountains, but because of the beauty of the people. Generally, they were kind, warm, friendly, and hospitable. There was so much humanity. Believe me, even if I was