This video is a challenge!!! Church planters and church leaders watch this:

One of the best Wednesdays of the year!

- started the day meeting with two of our most loyal business people in church and talked about discipleship and leadership. I love spending time with people who’ve been there and who are willing to train and impart to the next generation.

- Picked up my mother in law at the airport and celebrated her birthday. Blessed to have a mother in law who loves me and my family.

- Went back to church to polish the preaching and prepared for a talk I was going to give to our church leaders about CHRIST-CENTERED DISCIPLESHIP.

- Wednesday service was full again. Acel – the pregnant worship leader – is one of the most anointed worship leaders I’ve seen. God was in the worship.

- Yeng Constantino – a famous singer in the Philippines shared her story that brought tears to a lot of people including mine. She shared how this GOD cold love her inspite of her shortcomings and sin. Only the God of the Bible can do such a thing.

- preached on the Omniscient God – the God who knows everything and saw almost 20 people received Christ for the first time.

- Met with the Victory Group Leaders of the church – shared the plans of the church and the culture we wanted to create as a church in the city.

- I love this church! I love Jesus! I love my Mother -in Law!

Check out Victory Greenhills TV Channel – click here

Found this blog really convicting and worth the read. One of the things I pray that I would not fall into because of its subtleness is contrived humility. Read on and hope you guys can comment if this article helped you.

Have you ever found yourself in prayer pleading a case before God when you suddenly get a sick feeling that either God is not listening or he’s not willing to hear you? What do you do when that happens? Hopefully you haven’t followed my example.

I have recently become painfully aware of a tendency of mine, when feeling inadequate to approach God, to try to bend his will through tears and contrite statements. Knowing that God will not despise a humble and contrite heart I’ve been seeking to make myself that way so that he would accept me and hear my pleas.

But there is a humbleness that does not flow from the gospel, and I frequently fall completely into its trap. It’s the same humility that we see in men who flog and cut themselves and do other religious practices thinking that by these works God will finally hear their prayers. But true humility does not come through self-made regulations (Colossians 2:23).

The humility that pleases God (Psalm 51:17) isn’t an outward show, but a response of faith to Jesus’ work for us and nothing else. The place where we ought to go when we sense our unworthiness in prayer is straight to the cross where we put full trust in the righteousness of Jesus on our behalf, where he canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14) .

We can be comforted when we pray, knowing that it is not our righteousness which gains us entrance into his presence (Hebrews 4:16), but that of Jesus, whose blood washes away the sins of all those who by faith trust in him alone.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1,2)

This blog is found here, more great articles on this site

Do you have the Stallones, Willis, Statham, Li, Crews, Rourke, Couture who backs you up pastor? Who are the expendables in your church? Who backs you up? Who are the elders or what we call “olders” in church who you run to for advice and bounce back your ideas and recent learnings from Scripture on how to run a biblically- faithful church. I am glad to have some EXPENDABLES in church – older men and women who’ve been there, done that and have gone through seasons of brokeness, humbleness and victories in life.

I honor and thank the Morans, Salva’s, De Jesus, Tans of our church. The Expendables. You cannot not have them on your side. Pastors choose your weapon well.

Everybody pastor of a church faces pressure. The pressure to make the church grow, the pressure to have a healthy cash inflow to fund the work of God in the city, the pressure to balance ministry and family, the pressure to preach a new message week in and week out, the pressure to be pastoral in times when you don’t feel like being pastoral. All this pressure is normal. And this pressure reminds us to hold on to God.

As much as this stresses a pastor, it also reminds me that the leader of this church is not me. That spiritual growth is not about me. The financial health of the church is not about me. Yes I have a responsibility to lead with skillful hands as David wrote in Psalms but ultimately the result comes from God.

Our part is to plant and water but it is God who causes it to grow. We don’t manufacture growth. Our goal is to plant. The reason pressure mounts is because we are trying to make it grow and we can’t.

After the hostage crisis, Filipinos have shifted their interest in the recently concluded Miss Universe where our own Venus Raj finished as the 4th runner up – the highest since Miriam Quiambao competed a long time ago.

But what was surprising was how people were disappointed and tried to put down Ms Venus Raj because of her answer during the Q and A portion of the Ms. Universe. Here is the video of the Q and A

She might not have given the best answer to the question  but it was really a tough one to answer. People have been focusing and highlighting her Q and A instead of her achievement. I think it is human nature and I think it is sad but I also think it is natural. What do I mean? Let’s have a mental exercise:

Tell me what you observe:

A.  2+2=4

B. 2×2=4

C. 2-2=4

Most of us would have answered letter C was a wrong statement and only a few of us would have commented that A and B were right – right? Why?

Because for us it is easier to spot what went wrong and not what went right. I think this is mankind’s ultimate blunder since the beginning. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden He told them they could eat of any fruit in any tree except the fruit that is in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of the hundreds of good trees, man choose to eat the forbidden fruit thus sin entered the world. The result?

Gen. 3:6-8 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Since sin entered the world, man’s relationship with God and with fellow men changed. Concepts like shame, afraid, bad, mistakes, shortcomings, anger, violence, sexuality became an issue. Man chose to disobey and to live in sin. We all have fallen from the glory of God.

Romans 3:10-18 As it is written:  “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  ruin and misery mark their ways,  and the way of peace they do not know.”“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

You might be as beautiful as Venus Taj or a hunk of a guy like Brad Pitt but one thing remains the same – we all have committed the major major blunder of sinning against God and the penalty of that sin is not just a 4th runner up finish in a beauty contest but an eternity without Christ or what the Bible calls a spiritual death.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So how do we try to make up for our own blunder? Well there is no way…..but God did made a way and it is acknowledging His way. After Adam and Eve sinned they hid because of the shame of their sin and disobedience but look at what God did.

Gen. 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

God is asking – WHERE ARE YOU? And this is the story of the gospel. From Adam and Eve to the story of the lost sheep – God made an all out search for you – yes you with a MAJOR MAJOR blunder.

Luke 15:4-7 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety–nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety–nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

I hope we learn a lesson from the beauty queen. Life is not as beautiful apart from knowing who Christ is and what He has done for us.

With life going great, a great family, a colorful solid police career – Captain Rolando Mendoza’s life took a sudden turn.

Mendoza was fired from his post as chief of the Manila Police’s Mobile Patrol Unit in 2008 after he was charged with robbery and extortion, or the so-called hulidap practice of some police of planting evidence and seeking a pay-off from the victims.

Mendoza claimed he was innocent and appealed to be reinstated. His sympathetic brother and fellow policeman, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, told reporters his brother had grown tired of waiting for justice.

Rolando took matter in his own hands. With anger and revenge in his heart, he took a tourist bus hostage and killed 8 foreigners in the process. He also died during the hostage drama.

We can easily judge police officer Rolando Mendoza as someone who is violent and crazy. We could also say that he has brought shame to this nation. I don’t know Mr.Mendoza and his past, violent patterns or such. What he was trying to do was fight for justice. he wants his name vindicated. He felt angry at the justice system and that anger compelled him to confront the injustice he experienced. He was angry at the system that he was working with. His anger might be a righteous virtue but how he acted and take matters on his own hands proved to be fatal, futile and stupid.

Interestingly, the God of the Bible does get angry like Rolando Mendoza.

Deut. 29:24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

Lev. 26:27 -28 “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.”

Jesus also got furious, angry and enraged.

Mark 3:5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

If you look at the hostage drama and our lives – we can see a spiritual parallel. Just like Rolando, God has every right to get angry at the sin that was committed against Him. He had every right to destroy and kill us – sinners. It is what we call God’s wrath and it is mention many times in the Bible. We as sinners deserve such treatment.

Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The truth is that everyone but the sinless Jesus merits the wrath of God. None of us deserves love, grace, mercy from God.

Ephesians. 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

However, God’s anger and wrath and the punishment we deserved is diverted because of God’s mercy which was displayed at the cross.

Romans. 5:9   Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

1Thessalonians. 1:9-10  for they themselves report what happened when we visited you. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

The Bible uses the word PROPITIATION to designate how Jesus diverts the wrath of our angry God from us so that we are loved and not hated. The dictionary defines PROPITIATION as something that appeases or conciliates an offended power.

So the question is what appeased God to divert His wrath towards us who deserves death?

Romans 3:23-25 (English Standard Version)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Hebrews 2:17 (English Standard Version)

¹⁷Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:2 (English Standard Version)

²He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10 (English Standard Version)

¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The reason we Christians – forgiven and loved did not end up dead is because Jesus paid the penalty of our sin. Jesus became the payment and it took the cross to appease the wrath of God.  I think John 3:16 is the perfect verse to sum up this blog

John 3:16-17 (English Standard Version)

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

I love church planting. I have dedicated this site to journal my success, failures, laughters and sorrows of church planting. The past almost three years have proved to be faith extending and fulfilling as a pastor. With the gazillions of blogs that I try to follow from fellow church planters and pastors – it seems that the increase excitement for church planting continues to grow – and with excitement comes zeal. Zeal to do church plants left and right and not really thinking about the advantage and disadvantages of each church being planted.

What do I mean? With the onslaught of church planting, we have seen so many churches get into the church planting thing without proper strategic plans and prayer. Since everybody is doing it – let’s do it also. I think it is bad stewardship. I have pastor friends who are currently struglling in their respective churches who are thinking of branching out and planting a new one. Now some of the church planters might disagree with me on this but I feel like that if you have not really maximize your church – (venue, number of people attending – more seats than people), I think you must stop first and think twice of planting a new one.

Diversifying yourself, your volunteers and your finance might nit be the wisest thing to do at the moment. Sit down and count the cost. Ask yourself – have we done everything possible to maximize our potential and resources on this side of town before moving to another town.

Let me give you an example. You are renting or you own a place that could seat 250 people. Your current church attendance is 150 people. It means you can still have 100 people join you. Multiply that by trying to add multiple services on a sunday. If your current worship service lasts for 2 hours then you can do a 9am, 11am, 3pm,5pm and 7pm. That is 250 people x 7 services. That means 1750 people. That means your volunteers are focused, you are focused, your resources are focused on maximizing the potential of your current location.

We recently started our Wednesday service since our Sunday afternoons was 80% full already. In just a month, we have filled the place already. Our Wednesday lead pastor Jayson is already thinking about starting another Wednesday service which means he will be using the same volunteers and the same resources. Check out his blog here

Unless God tells you otherwise – it is wise to slow it down and think it through. Maximize where you are now and then decide on planting a new one after.

PS: The thoughts I have written here are just my personal opinion. What do you think?

Moses was hesitant to lead the people out of Egypt to the promised land. And just like any superstitious human – Moses asked God for a sign and here was God’s answer:

Expendable is the worst movie I have seen so far this year. So tragic to have a line up of big names and make a movie with no storyline worth rememering and talking about. I apologized to my wife for dragging or should I say drugging her to the movie. Good thing she had popcorn to keep her awake the whole time.

You might be disappointed that Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwatever had cameo roles only. The quality of the film and the cinematography was below par. Watching it reminded me of the Lito Lapid action flicks during the 80′s.

Here are some insights I got from the film though: Note: nothing on the story because there was no story.

1. Team chemistry. It doesn’t mean you have an all star cast that it would automatically produce great results. It is also applicable in business, organizations and teams. In fact there is a tendency to slack down because everybody is a superstar. Either everyone wants to be the star or everybody slacks down because everybody is just too great. Imagine Jet Li with Stallone and Statham – this should have been a dream movie. or Stone Cold doing the stunner to Couture of Crews doing his dance.

2. Never too old. What I love about this film, yes only this one is that Stallone did a bold move of getting the big names of my generation to star in this film. You are never too old to dream. Hopefully in the future projects he could dream of a better storyline. If Stalone is not thinking of retirement I think every Christian must take the cue – there is no such thing as retirement if you are a Christian.

3. The One Thing – there was a Mary and Martha moment during the film when Rourke was talking to Stallone about losing the purpose of life. The scene played out really bad but the message was conveyed. Once you lose that one thing you were created to do in life – then everything else does not matter.

So if you are a die hard fan of the guys in the movie – watch it for loyalty’s sake but if you have better things to do – you can pass this one out.