Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship.

An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous, and in fact they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatever, and are essentially inimical to the whole conception of following Christ.

With an abstract idea it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge, to become enthusiastic about it, and perhaps even to put it into practice; but it can never be followed in personal obedience.

Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

The Cost of Discipleship, 1937, (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 59, paragraphing added.

Psalms 1 ¹ Blessed is the manwho walks not inthe counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD,  and on his law he meditates day and night.

Our new pastor BB shared to us how we could succumb to SIN.

1. Don’t walk in the area of sin and weakness. Here BB is enticed from the look of the kare-kare.

2.Don’t stand in the area where you would most likely be tempted. RUN AWAY BB!!!

3. Once you come near, you tend to walk, stand and lastly sit in and succumb to the temptation.

BB’s three steps to avoid temptation is great but we must also remember that the power to overcome the temptation and sin is through the power of Christ. We are already made victorious over sin through Christ’s death and resurrection and God gave us His grace the Holy Spirit to empower us to say NO to ungodliness.

Romans 8^:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Follow BB the Bear in Faceboo, click here to enter his fan page

Churches stop growing when disciples are not being empowered. It is a proven fact – the way to kill a church is to not empower people to make disciples. You can have a great program and a nice worship hall but if you are not empowering people – you can’t grow.

We create bottlenecks when we don’t empower people to make disciples. Don’t be happy if you have a big small group. Don’t boast that there are 30 people attending your small group. Ask yourself, have I empowered them to make disciples? Are new leaders being released to fulfill the Great Commission? Am I responsible from holding people back from making disciples by not empowering them.

This year change how we make disciples. Empower people to go and make disciples!!!

Some practical tips on how we can empower:

1. If you are currently leading a small group and you have people under you that are spiritually progressing, encourage them to start leading small groups this year.

2. Some of the people you are leading keeps on inviting their friends to attend your group, tell them to stop inviting and tell him/her to start a victory small group with his/her friends.

3. Partner up. Some of the people in your small group just needs a little push. Try partnering them up together to lead a small group together. Two are better than one.

4. Let someone lead your group and jump start your own group. Some take a radical step and let someone else lead their small group while he/she starts a new one.

5. Ask for a commitment. Movers are committed. You cannot work with someone who is not committed. I learned this from a top executive of a company. He said as a leader you must learn how to sift people. See who is ready and see those who are not. If they are ready, empower them. If they are not – guide them and encourage them but you can’t force them.

It is almost Christmas. And as I was reading through the book of Jeremiah I just felt the amazing love of God come and reaffirm His unconditional love for us. If you are someone who have turned your back against God or you have become unfaithful to God, this following verses are for you. I believe God wants you to COME HOME.

¹² Therefore, go and give this message to Israel.^[a] This is what the Lord says:

“O Israel, my faithless people,
come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
I will not be angry with you forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt.
Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹⁴ “Return home, you wayward children,”
says the Lord,
“for I am your master.

²² “My wayward children,” says the Lord,
“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”

Is it Wrong to Celebrate Christmas Knowing How People in Cagayan de Oro are Suffering?  a blog post by Sale Mallari

“And so this is christmas” wrote John Lennon.

Merry christmas was all over the song, but the irony of it is that images of death, war, and poverty was shown in the background video.

I am reminded of this song again four days ’til the BIG DAY! This image of a man carrying the dead body if his young child stayed in my head like stain that even when I have seen it so many times, it still brings me to tears.

How can we as a nation celebrate this most beloved holiday? We are known for laughing and joking even at the worse tragedies. But now, nobody can joke about it anymore. Our humor is no match to the gloom of people’s weeping, wailing and desperation which led many to loose their sanity.

I was thinking, is it a right to spend and party and continue on business as usual while one island in Cagayan De Oro was virtually wiped away from the map? Knowing of – a man who was the lone survivor of a clan composed of thirty people?  a mother escaping from the rising flood  and unaware that her child was already drowning? (Now she stares in empty space);  thousands of people who lost everything now struggle to survive? With these images, can I still dare say Merry Christmas?

Before falling into a fatal trance called ”guilt trip” that only I have inflicted upon myself, CS Lewis came to the rescue. I was today reminded of an article  or sermon he wrote/preache in the 1930s advent of World War II ( CS Lewis was a professor in a prestigious college in England, Oxford if I am not mistaken and known for writing Chronicles of Narnia, of course). A fellow professor challenged the idea of learning during war. What’s the use? With what’s at hand, there is no guarantee it will be finished.

CS Lewis responded that death is always around us everyday. War only makes it so much close and real (something like that as I try to understand his argument amidst nosebleed). “There has never been a time when there were no crises, alarms, difficulties, and emergencies.” (Tama!) “The problem with war is that it aggravates the human situation, which is that we were not made for this world, but for eternity, and one day we will leave this world for our real destination.” He concluded therefore that yes, we should continue learning in wartime.

For me the lesson applied also to celebrating christmas. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and milestones while everyday people suffer of cancer, children and infants die of curable diseases, women and kids get traficked as sex slaves and so much atrocities happen every minute right in the very city we are in. I never said “Oh I can’t go to graduation today because a million people suffered genocide in Rwanda.”

Sendong, once again, simply aggravated our situation… that we are not made for this world, but for eternity. All things shall pass. But take heart, God is preparing for us a place where there will be no sickness, emptiness, calamity or death. He will wipe away our tears.

Ondoy, Pedring and Sendong are just some of the profile pictures and photo albums of humanity’s FB page with a status that read “You are not home.” Only with the assurance of God’s saving grace through Jesus can I ever have the nerve to click “like” and comment “I can’t wait to get to heaven. Come soon Lord!”

So to answer my question… Will I be at fault to celebrate Christmas with people in CDO suffering. “No, Sale, you wont!”. Is it wrong? “No, not at all”. What’s always wrong is to celebrate Christmas without recognizing Christs’ work. In relation to CDO, what’s wrong is to simply look the other way and say “that’s none of my business” “leave it to the experts.. the government… foundations.. red cross. What’s wrong is to do nothing, share nothing, pray nothing. What’s wrong is to look at what happened and easily forget.

Now that the country is declared to be in the national state of calamity, we are to face this as a nation. We are called to do our best and give these people some reason to never say die. To do our part in making it hard for them to quit and easier  to pick up the pieces. To be a family to at LEAST one who lost a loved one by giving what we can, as much as we can, and even sometimes, until it hurts.

Acel Van Ommen wrote a song with a line that says:

Sama-sama tayong lilipad, haharap sa ating bukas…

… At sama-sama nating itatayo ang bawat isa!

You’re so right Acel! Hindi tayo malulugmok sa kahirapan! Dalin natin ang pasko sa CDO sa pamamagitan ng ating panalangin, regalo, at walang sawang kwento para maabot yung may kakayanang tumulong. Huwag natin silang kalimutan. Isama natin sila sa selebrasyon.

So, with four days to go.. allow me to be one of the first to greet you “Merry Christmas!” In Jesus name. Amen.”

FYI: Victory Greenhills will be having a special Christmas Eve offering. All proceeds would go to help the victims of typhoon Sendong. We have a Victory church in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Dumaguete. Most of our brothers and sisters were greatly affected by the flood. Let us pray, give and stand with our brothers and sisters in this time of calamity.

Also here is a blog to help those who want to help victims of typhoon Sendong:

http://thammiesy.com/2011/12/help-for-victims-of-sendong-heres-how/

Tomorrow is a day we celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness to us for the past 4 years. Who would have thought we would be where we are today? An 800 seating worship hall at the very heart of Greenhills. A state of the art facilities, great sound system and top of the line architectural design. As I was camping the past two days in our new center, my heart is filled with excitement and joy on what God is doing and about to do in our midst. It brought back so many memories of our growing pains the past 4 years.

- we existed with no office for the first 10 months.

- we literally hauled on and off all our equipments

- our kids church was kicked out off Mcdo two days prior to Sunday and we have to scramble for a place and this happened quite often.

- the aircon in Music Museum is malfunctioning and the best times it did was during the heat of summer.

- transporting our kids from Music Museum to Promenade.

- lack of volunteers and some of our people had to triple up for months.

- lack of singers and musicians.

In spite of all this, God was there and we experienced IT. I don’t know what IT is but we knew IT was there. The presence, the anointing, the hunger for more of God, the passion to volunteer, the vision for the city and the nation, the generosity.

Sometimes it seems things were not going as planned but God shows up. I’ve prayed to God that the spirit remains in our church and grow even more. That we would not need to depend on the latest stuff or a more fancy place. That we won’t lose our freshness and rawness when it comes to worshiping God and making disciples. That we won’t think a better facility means more of God. It boils down to our hearts.

We have been grounded by the gospel. We know that Christ did everything for us. We as a church have nothing to prove. We just go where God leads us. We know it is the anointing of God that produces results and not our works. We rely only upon His grace.

Prayer:

“Lord thank you very much for the privilege for partnering with us as a church. You deserve all honor, glory and praise. Apart from Christ we are nothing. Apart from Christ, we can never be the church. I pray that God you increase. All of you Jesus and none of us. Amen.”

CS LEWIS: “The perfect church service would be one were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.”

….. mix business with small group.

….. make it a mix and match group for dating.

….. remain a care group and not empower your people to make disciples

…… make it Bible teacher centered that it would be hard to duplicate and multiply

…… collect tithes and offerings

…… start late and finish late

…… don’t prepare just flow in the Spirit

To remove any disappointments, frustrations and feeling of any entitlement from how the world treats us, what the world offers to us and what God is doing in us and around us then we have to first understand that IT IS NOT ABOUT ME and it will never be about me.

People have a hard time accepting this. In a world where the system feeds our ego – from Facebook likes, Retweeting, personal branding and self help books it is hard to accept that it is never about us. That people don’t think of us as often as we want to and that the universe and even God doesn’t adjust to what we like.

The mistake we often make is instead of following Jesus, we invite Jesus to follow us. Instead of serving God’s purposes, we ask God to serve our purposes thus the disappointment we experience all the time when our prayers are not answered, our needs not met, our wants not attained.

It is a ME world but to live biblically we have to take the focus off ourselves and look to Jesus. It is by the way, all about Him.

I hope his story would show us about God’s grace and love.