No Longer Strangers | Talk 1: God Has a Plan

Talk INTRODUCTION

BRO. NICO NARVAEZ:

Talk 1 of our new series, No Longer Strangers, is titled God Has a Plan.

St. Paul is known for writing letters for specific local home churches.

For example, he wrote Corinthians for the local home church in Corinth. He also wrote Romans for the local home church in Rome. He also wrote Philippians to Philippi, which is part of Greece now.

St. Paul also wrote Ephesians, but this is a different story. Top Biblical scholars worldwide believe that Ephesians is St. Paul’s greatest theological masterpiece.

Why is that? I’ll give you an Apple analogy.

The Apple Computers group holds two conferences every year. The first one is the Product Release Conference.

For example, this is where they will release iPhone 17 which is the average user. Later on, Apple will release 17 Pro Max for more professional and heavy users. Just like how Corinthians was specifically written for the local home churches in Corinth.

Ephesians is the second kind of conference that Apple does.

It’s called WWDC or Worldwide Developers Conference. This is where Apple releases its software updates, just like iOS26.

(https://www.google.com/search?q=apple%27s+worldwide+developers+conference)

The Cosmic Plan

So, why is Ephesians like WWDC?

Because St. Paul is addressing the bug fixes and the software updates needed by all of the churches. Just like in the software updates, Apple, doesn’t talk about just the iPhone or the Mac but about every single Apple device– and that’s like what Ephesians is.

While the other letters address the concerns of a local home church, Ephesians declares God’s cosmic and eternal plan from the very beginning of history to its ultimate completion — the software of the universe.

What is the cosmic plan?

The unity of everything under Jesus. Let’s read Ephesians 1:1-12:

God’s View

I want to share a personal story. I was debating if I should even share this because it’s really personal to me. I shared this with three close friends of mine.

When I was growing up, I had this deep insecurity that I didn’t have any talent, that I didn’t have any kind of gift, and that my parents didn’t have anything to be proud of me. Disclaimer: My parents never pressured me.

What I felt was self-imposed because my siblings, my cousins, and the children of the friends of my parents were all achievers. They were honor students.

If they were not good at academics, they were good at sports. If they were not good at sports, they were good at music. They were excellent. I know only five guitar chords and I still get confused. I can play Ang Huling El Bimbo because that’s the only one I know how to play. In sports, I play only chess, and my Ninong would let me win all the time because I was a kid. I had low grades in school. The highest grade I got was 83. That was the best effort already. The lowest grade I had was 70. The subject was Public Speaking.

What’s my point? I hope you don’t take this as bragging. I just really want to show you how good God is. In the view of that little boy, he was a loser.

But in God’s view, He said: “I have other plans for you. I have a different plan for your life.”

The very same insecure kid who didn’t have any talent and got a 70 in Public Speaking is the very same person preaching the Word of God to you today.

I hope you’re clapping for God because that’s not me. That’s really Jesus.

God has a plan for your deepest insecurities. God has a plan for the family that hurt you. God has a plan for the work that you hate so much. God has a plan for the friendships that betrayed you. In every single problem that you have, God has a plan for you.

In a worm’s view, a raindrop looks like an ocean.

A blade of grass looks like a big tree.

But in the worshipper’s perspective, in God’s perspective, the biggest mountain is as small as a pebble. The biggest ocean is just a raindrop. The biggest tree is just a blade of grass.

The big problem that you’re thinking of right now is just a speck in the universe.

God has a plan, and God is in charge. Ultimately, God always wins.

Talk

BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:

Last Sunday, I preached and I attended some meetings. At around 3:00 P.M., my wife, with our kids, and I rushed to Feast Fisher Mall Malabon because we wanted to attend their 9th Founding Anniversary celebration. Its Feast Builder is Bro. Randel Serrano. We support him.

By 7:00 P.M., we were already going home. I was already bone-tired. I couldn’t wait to get home, take a shower, and just plop on the bed. But on our way home, we encountered a procession of the Black Nazarene. If you’re Filipino, you know what a procession looks like, right? You got all those floats; you got all those images of the Black Nazarene.

Imagine a sea of people covering an entire street. We were stuck there for 5-8 minutes. At first, it wasn’t bothersome– until the crowd started pushing their way towards our car. My wife, my kids, and I started panicking. Do you remember that scene in the Jurassic Park movie where the dinosaurs started bumping the vehicles? That’s exactly what it looked like. The people were just bumping and pushing our car.

It’s funny how quickly holiness can turn into hard-headedness. One moment,

I was praising the Lord. The next moment, I’m clutching the steering wheel and saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know how slowly they’re walking.”

In moments when you get stressed, pray for the Holy Spirit to speak.

At that moment, I felt the Lord speaking to me. It’s as if He told me this is what a real Church looks like. Church is not always calm and peaceful.

Faith is the same. Sometimes, faith comes in the form of a woman who pushes her way through a crowd just to touch the robe of Jesus. Sometimes, faith comes in the form of a man who climbs his way to a tree to see Jesus. Sometimes, faith comes in the form of a mom in tears because her son hasn’t come home.

Sometimes, faith comes in the form of a worker who is trying his best to be kind and righteous, even though he’s in a toxic workplace.

‘Messy’ Church

What I’m trying to say is that sometimes, faith comes not dressed in Sunday’s best, but in the form of survival.

It’s as if the Lord was telling me at that moment: “You need to see this. Not so that it would make you angry, but that you would understand that sometimes, our faith is messy.”

Why am I sharing this story? Because 2,000 years ago, that was what the Church looked like. Actually, this is still the same Church.

Sometimes, our Church is also messy. Sometimes, you’re sitting there, you’re blessed, you’re inspired, and you say, “Praise God.”

But the moment you hit the parking lot and you hit traffic, you start complaining. And I am preaching this to myself.

Yes, Church is sometimes messy.

But in the middle of all that chaos in the early Church, in the middle of all that mess, there was one guy named Paul who wrote a letter and he opened the letter this way…

He said: To the holy ones who are in Ephesus (that’s the name of the place) faithful in Christ Jesus…

Now, if you notice that text, you might say that that might be a typo. But that’s not an accident that Ephesus is in brackets…

Scholars believe that Paul was not addressing a single church. He’s addressing all the churches that he was building at that time.

So, it was like saying, “Dear all churches…”

If you put this in a modern context– let’s imagine that this is a modern email– this is what it would look like:

To: Everyone who loves Jesus CC: All home churches Subject: Please stop fighting

Why stop fighting? Because we’re family. I like that message.

Family is so warm. It’s so welcoming when you say, “You’re family.”

What We Need

Here’s the truth: It’s nice to post togetherness, but when it comes to living it out, that’s the challenge. It sounds good– on paper– until the friend beside you starts bickering with you, until somebody rejects you, and until somebody cancels you.

Among us, how do we differentiate one from the other, one who follows Christ? How do you know if this person is a Christ follower? one another.” (John 13:35 NIV).

Jesus said:

“The world will know that you are my disciples if you love

What We Need

Here’s the truth: It’s nice to post togetherness,

but when it comes to living it out, that’s the challenge. It sounds good– on paper– until the friend beside you starts bickering with you, until somebody rejects you, and until somebody cancels you.

Among us, how do we differentiate one from the other, one who follows Christ? How do you know if this person is a Christ follower? one another.” (John 13:35 NIV).

Jesus is not saying you need to look like each other. You need to think alike.

You need to agree all the time.

What Jesus is saying is that we– you and I– we just need to love one another. Paul said in Ephesians 4:2-3:

I agree with Paul. Unity is not automatic. Unity doesn’t just fall from the sky, and then, you’re in harmony. Unity requires sacrifice. Unity requires forgiveness. Unity requires humility.

It was hard for me to prepare this topic. Due to the state of affairs in our country, we are a divided nation. Why? Because we have different political affiliations.

We’ve got different belief systems.

One that bothers me is the talk about earthquakes –or the talk about “The Big One.” We’ve seen the signs– earthquakes happening in Cebu, in Davao.

Now, we’re asking: “When will it happen in Manila?”

It’s sure to happen. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the Earth is moving. It’s like Mother Earth is stretching, and so are the tectonic plates. Right now, the pressure is building up. We are in the ring of the path of the Big One. And one day it will come, and Manila will be hit. Metro Manila will undergo a shaking.

It bothers me. Are you concerned about what happens to your family that you leave behind? What happens when you’re the victim? What happens now that we’re all here in one venue, and it starts to shake? What are we going to do about it?

But we’re praying that it doesn’t happen.

Forces That Unite Us

We need to look at it more than just science, more than just seismology. After all, we are all followers of Christ, aren’t we? We need to look at this in a spiritual sense. History will tell you that this is not the first time it has happened.

In the Bible, we read that there was great distress when there was so much sin all over the world. What happened, as we read in Genesis? There was a great flood so that sin would be wiped out. After the great flood, there was a renewal or rebirth.

This has happened over time.

Remember the great exile of the Israelites from Egypt? There was a great struggle in the desert until they went to the Promised Land.

I’ve got to think like this: This is called the Principle of the Pendulum. You know what a pendulum is? A pendulum is a ball that swings. If the pendulum is swinging to the extreme left and then right, that’s when you see floods, earthquakes, fire, and all these natural disasters happening. It simply means that this is already the extreme, and the only way to get out of this extreme is when there is, finally, balance.

What is God trying to tell us? Maybe it’s an indication that He’s trying to strike a balance in our dark world where there’s so much corruption, evil, bickering, and wars all over.

Think about this: The calamities that we go through are not meant to destroy us.

What if they’re meant to unite us? What if they’re meant for you to start seeing that the person beside you is your brother or your sister?

There are two strong forces that unite us.

1. Calamity

Isn’t it true that when there’s a calamity, people start opening their doors to strangers? They start sheltering people. They start sharing what they have. That’s what the early Church looked like. Everybody did not have any need. Why?

Because everybody shared.

2. Jesus

The person beside you might have different preferences in life. Maybe one even supported a different candidate. But why is it that whatever you are, you’re okay to sit beside each other? Because you both love Jesus. Jesus is what unites all of us.

But why do we have to wait for a tragedy for us to unite? Why don’t we start uniting now under the banner of Jesus?

No Skill?

I came from Tacloban this morning.

I arrived at 6:30 A.M.

Last night, I preached to the young people of Tacloban. Faith is so much alive in that area.

When I was done around 7:00 P.M., I asked if I could be brought to the place where I was to stay. There was still so much time before my bed time. So, I could not stop my imagination from playing around. Being a father, I started worrying about the family I left behind. I started thinking of what would happen if there were a big quake and I could not be with them. We live on the 6th floor of a condominium. We’re on the topmost floor…

I started graphically thinking… Have you ever had that moment when your imagination takes you to the worst-case scenario? It really affected me.

It traumatized me. But it was also at that moment when I felt the Lord was speaking to me. The Lord was so strong last night. Before I fell asleep,

I had a vision.

Normally, I don’t really have a vision that I would profess to people. But I truly believe that the Lord sent me a message so that I can communicate it with everybody here, and even those watching online.

In that small room, I suddenly had a mental picture of what we needed to do.

In my head, I was out on the street. I was not with familiar people. I was with strangers, and I was praying over them. I was ministering to them.

In short, I believe that the Lord wants to send us out onto the streets, to speak Jesus over people, to pray for people who don’t ask for it but need it, for people that you don’t even know.

This morning, I prayed randomly for three persons. I believe that vision says that the Lord wants us to return to Him, to preach Jesus to our families first.

When you’re done praying, preaching about Jesus to your loved ones, then go out to the streets. Imagine if everyone of us were to talk to people about Jesus?

You don’t need to have a gift for preaching. You just need to have a good heart to love people. Revival doesn’t start on the streets. It starts in your heart– the moment you say: “Lord, teach me how to love this person. Even though we have differences, I want us to be united in Your name.”

Just a Bit of Faith

Now, how do I know that the vision came from the Lord?

Sometimes, the Lord gives you a profound symbol. But in this case, I was in this room–

The Bishop’s Room. The Bishop of Tacloban lent me his room.

I was in a place of prayer. It was at that moment that I encountered God speaking to me.

Now, this message will not come alive if I just preach it to you. It only comes alive when you yourself say: “Lord, I want to do that. I want to pray for people. I want to love people. I want to forgive people because that’s what it takes for us to be united.”

We don’t have to be afraid.

Even though you have no skill that you might not be proud of, that’s okay. Again, all we need is love.

This message is urgent. Why? Events are happening in our country right now that we can’t even control. We are in this extreme season in our country.

But I have good Gospel news. It’s our Jubilee Year. In the Jubilee Year, there is renewal. There is rebirth. There is recreation. We are pilgrims of hope. We can still Hope, and His Name is Jesus. He is our God, and He is in control.

I don’t know what the Lord has planned for us. But I do know one thing: We’ve got to believe. As believers, we’re not choosing to live in fear.

We’re choosing to live in faith. That’s what it costs to be a believer.

Faith can save you just like it saved that woman who was bleeding for 12 years.

Faith can save you in the sense that it saved the centurion’s servant because he believed he had great faith.

Maybe, you have the faith of Peter. Sometimes, you don’t have it all together.

Sometimes, you doubt. Sometimes, you’re afraid. But guess what? You still have faith.

All we need is just a bit of faith.

Jesus will meet you where you are, and He will reach for your hand and say:

“Come on up, I’ve got this…”

Surrender

My friends, God’s got a plan. The best part is that you’re part of the plan. He’s going to use you for His greater glory.

You need to just say: “Lord, use me. Use me in the family that you planted me into, in the ministry that I’m serving in, in the companies that I’m working for.

I don’t know how it’s going to be done, but You have a plan. I’m in it. I Thank You, Jesus.”

Reach out to the heavens. We only get to do this right now. You’ve been struggling so much, and you’re reaching for different concerns. You’re reaching for affirmation from people. You’re reaching for love– that’s not even real. Maybe you’re reaching for compliments from people who are also in need of compliments. You won’t get it from them. Get it from God. Because God is the source of our strength, and our joy, and our hope.

“Lord, we’re reaching out to You. Look at all Your children right now. We are pleading and begging that when the earthquake does come, the ground may shake, but our faith will never be shaken. Because You are our solid foundation. You are in control. You can command the wind and the waves to be still. You certainly can command this catastrophe to stop. And right now, Lord, we’re pleading for our country. We’re begging for Your mercy, that You would stand firm in our presence and You would take hold of everything. Of things that are shifting because You,

God, You never shift. You are like the rock, a firm foundation that even though the winds come, even though the storm blows, even though the floods come, You’re still there. You are the rock. Even at the bottom of it all. And so, we Thank You, Jesus. We look up, and we say: Lord, this is Your Church.

Each one, say: Use me for your greater glory. In Jesus‘ Name, Amen.