Nieto Bible Page

  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...

  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...

  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 ...

  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...

  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...

  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...

  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 ...

  "God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." We've all prayed the serenity prayer . I do. Many times. When I am faced with circumstances I cannot control and I entrust it to God.  It scares us to be in a circumstance we can't control. We wanted to be in a safe environment where we can flourish.  But life is not a game. It is a warfare and if you're not strategic and tactical in how you live, this life will swallow you whole.  As a believer in Christ, our enemies are the flesh, the world and the devil . And the devil and the flesh often cooperate with the world which will include people who don't always have our best interests in their hearts.  No matter how careful we try to live (not to mention if you're careless, you can exponentially multiply the dangers), we sometimes find ourselves under the machination of so...

  "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!" This has been the rallying cry of the Marxists . And they never forget it while they spy our freedom and by subterfuge undermine our institutions.  The same rallying cry can be really useful for Christians , except we're not trying to win the world. Instead we're forsaking it as we put our sight on something better- a city not created by human hands .  Christians need to be united if we are to win the struggle against the world. The world will always try to pigeonhole us into accepting its ideas and systems. They will squeeze us to shape us but we should resist it. Together. With one another. With Christ .  Unfortunately, there is a lot of amicide inside the church where brothers are shooting each other. Instead of helping each other to make a stand, we're busy playing king of the mountain, building a house of card on other believers' happ...