Posts

Fellowship forgiveness

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  1 Juan 1:9 Kung ipinahahayag natin ang ating mga kasalanan, ay tapat at banal siya na tayo'y patatawarin sa ating mga kasalanan, at tayo'y lilinisin sa lahat ng kalikuan. Ang Mateo 6:14-15 ay madalas gamitin bilang kundisyon ng buhay na walang hanggan. Ngunit nalilimutan nating ang panalangin ay orihinal na binigay sa mga dati ng mananampalataya. Ang mga alagad ay humihingi ng tulong kung paano manalangin hindi kung paano magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan. Nang manampalataya tayo kay Jesus , binigyan Niya tayo ng buhay na walang hanggang at kapatawaran ng ating mga kasalanan. Ang buhay na iyan ay hindi maiwawala kailan man. Ngunit habang tayo ay nabubuhay sa lupang ito, tayo ay nagkakasala. Ang kasalanang ito ay sumisira sa ating pakikisama sa Diyos at maibabalik lamang ito kung tayo ay magkukumpisal ng ating mga kasalanan. Ngunit kung tayo ay may galit o selos ating kapatid, nangangahulugang ito ng nagpapatuloy na kawalan ng pakikisama. Ang tanging paraan upang mahin...

Eternal life is a gift

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  This is clearly my most favorite topic. If there is one topic I repeatedly blog on it’s eternal life by grace through faith . Eternal life is a gift of God. It is offered by God through faith in Christ . If a person believes in Jesus, he receives eternal life right at that moment. You cannot work for it. You don’t get eternal life by joining a religion. You don’t receive it after a lifetime of faithfulness or doing good work. Jesus paid the penalty of sins at the Cross so sins will not be an obstacle for man to reach Hid. Instead, the question is, does he believe in Jesus? Does he accept God’s free gift by believing in Jesus for it apart from any works? If he did, he receives eternal life that cannot be lost. If anyone thinks eternal life can be lost, it is because one way or another he believes it partly depends on him. He actually believes he can work for eternal life. If eternal life is a gift and not something to work for, you can’t lose it by works either. God promised...

Kailangan ko bang umanib sa isang relihiyon upang maligtas?

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  Ang maikling sagot ay hindi. Kailan man ay hindi kundisyon sa pagkakaroon ng buhay na walang hanggang ang pag-anib sa anumang relihiyon. Narito ang mga pasahe ng Kasulatang nagtuturo paano magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan : Juan 3:15 Upang ang sinomang sumampalataya ay magkaroon sa kaniya ng buhay na walang hanggan. Juan 3:16 Sapagka't gayon na lamang ang pagsinta ng Dios sa sanglibutan, na ibinigay niya ang kaniyang bugtong na Anak , upang ang sinomang sa kaniya'y sumampalataya ay huwag mapahamak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan. Juan 3:17 Sapagka't hindi sinugo ng Dios ang Anak sa sanglibutan upang hatulan ang sanglibutan; kundi upang ang sanglibutan ay maligtas sa pamamagitan niya. 18 Ang sumasampalataya sa kaniya ay hindi hinahatulan; ang hindi sumasampalataya ay hinatulan na, sapagka't hindi siya sumampalataya sa pangalan ng bugtong na Anak ng Dios. Juan 3:36 Ang sumasampalataya sa Anak ay may buhay na walang hanggan; nguni't ang hindi tumata...

Beggars telling other beggars

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  I don't know why but I find it off-putting when I hear Christians na linis na linis sa kanilang sarili. Yung tipong kapag nakakita ng isang nagkasala, sa halip na tulungang makabangon ay lalo pang inaapakan at binabaon gamit ang kaniyang Biblia . Don't get me wrong. We need to confront sins and we need the Bible to show them why they are sins. But one thing I learned as an adviser is kapag naliligaw ng landas ang isang estudyante, hindi mo siya maibabalik by berating him. Instead use kindness to win him back.  Marami na akong estudyanteng nakausap at pinuntahan sa bahay (o bahay ng kanilang nobyo/nobya) and judging them with a judgmental attitude never works. Instead show them why they are wrong, give them options on how to correct their ways and encourage them to return to school (or to their homes).  The same thing is true with believers. You won't win fellow believers back to Christ by berating them with Bible verses . On a deep level, alam nila iyan. Ni hindi mo ka...

Live for others

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  If there is one thing modern living teaches us, this is it: You can't live for yourself without self-destructing.  We need other people. We need to love others, we need to allow ourselves to be objects of others' love.  I know it sounds vulnerable. You're giving other people access to your life. But if you live for yourself, you will find soon enough that that is the shortest way to limit your growth and development. We are like rough stones whose rough edges are polished by our interactions with others.  When we believe in Jesus , we are placed in the Body of Christ to edify one another. We are not made a single new creation. We are part of a new creation made up of newly created individuals.  When we learn that there is more to life than what you want or need, when we learn to live for God and for others, blessings come. Sharing ourselves means investing in others' growth and there is satisfaction in having a role in the growth of others. We also show that...

The Centerpiece of our lives

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  Who are you if you are stripped of all that you possessed or loved?  For Job , this is not hypothetical. It is his reality. One day, he is the richest and most respected man in the East, the next day he is stripped of properties, and children and soon enough even of health. I wish I can say with Job, "Naked I come, naked I will go. Praise be the name of the Lord." Given my fiery temperament, I will probably curse but in time, I hope I will surrender to His will.  I don't think I have reach the maturity of Job to be able to say all is well. I hope I can and I will when the time comes. One thing I know: for Job, Yahweh is the Centerpiece of his life. Even when he asked for an audience with the Lord, he did so knowing fully well that God is the center and circumference of our life. That makes what he undergoes a puzzle to his friends. Their only conclusion is he sinned, something God Himself deny.  What Job missed is understanding the behind the scenes. Readers knew ...

No mixing of apples and oranges

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  Salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. And I thank God for that. If salvation comes by being good and perfect, I won't qualify.  This is a wonderful news. Yet some are not ready to accept it. They have been conditioned since birth to work, work and work for whatever they want or need. They see anything free with suspicion.  I cannot blame them. Humans are known for scamming people by offering something as free but which comes with strings attached.  Not so with God. Free is free. He did all the work. He paid all the bills. So He can offer it to anyone who believes for free.  So reject any teaching that tries to dilute the goodness of God by mixing grace with works. Whether by the works of the law, or man-made work requirements or faithfulness to the end kind of works, these works are incompatible with grace when it comes to eternal life. They may be helpful in living spiritually (the Law for Israel, daily works for believers today), but the...

My God is bigger

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  No matter how many problems come my way, I know for sure that I will emerge victorious. Not because I am a genius or powerful, but because my God is bigger... Yes, He is bigger than my mistakes, my past, my losses, my sins, my fears, or anything that people use to discredit me or to put me down. I don't have to be defined by my past. Sins are not my reality, instead my position in Christ is. My losses are temporary because God's best are yet to come.  My problems may be insurmountable from human perspective, and everything may ve hopeless but this is God's expertise. His grace and power are best seen when we are at the end of our ropes.  This requires a change in our thinking from human viewpoint thinking to divine viewpoint thinking. We need to study the Word of God to change our perspective and to act in light of it.  When we focus on our problems, God seems small. He's the last in our mind as we scramble to find human solutions. But if we focus on God, the probl...

Christians are free

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  I will admit that some Christians are not appealing. Bawat pulgada ng kanilang buhay ay may utos. Nakakasakal kumilos dahil may isang daan lang na tama sa kanila sa kahit anong isyu.  Iisang uri ng damit, iisang uri ng Biblia , iisang uri ng kanta... ang anumang deviation is a sin.  Mas mukha pang korte kaysa simbahan ang ating mga simbahan.  Hindi nakapagtatakang ang ating mga young people ay nagmamadaling tumakas sa ating simbahan. Sa sandaling malayo dahil nagkolehiyo, hindi na sila umaapak sa simbahan.  Sakal na sakal sila sa tindi ng legalismo . Ang sanlibutan with its open arms ay mas appealing kaysa ating legalistic, graceless church.  It doesn't have to be this way. We should make our church grace-oriented . We should show unconditional love to everyone.  We drive people away when we are very exacting in our relationships.  We are saved by grace . We should live by grace .  Manatiling nakapokus sa biyaya . Huwag ninyong hayaang nak...

Pray for me

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  I love gifts. Unfortunately kakaunti lang ang nagbibigay. At madalas sarili ko pang pera (binuking kita loving!). But seriously one of the best gifts you can give to me is to pray for me.  Nahaharap kami sa kaliwa't kanang hamon. May kolehiyo na kami and God willing this year, madadalawahan na. Nai-imagine ko na ang stress ng paghahanap ng pera.  Dagdag pa diyan ang problema sa trabaho, sa nanghihinang katawan nila Tatay at Nanay, at mga personal na problema. Nariyan din ang problema sa simbahan dahil ang paghahanda ng sermons ay hindi kasing simple ng pagkonsulta ng AI .  So we need your prayers. Please pray for us dahil nasa stage kami ng parenthood na magastos at nakakaalala. Nakakaalala rin ang malayo ang iyong anak. Kailangang matutong ipagkatiwala sa Diyos ang kanilang kabutihan.  If you pray for me and mine, I will consider it an act of love.  Manatiling nakapokus sa biyaya. Huwag ninyong hayaang nakawin ng mga huwad na guro ang inyong karapatang ...