For those who are asking, here’s some info for the efforts going towards SENDONG victims.

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We are all grieved by the tragedy that has befallen Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and other parts of Mindanao. From our congregation in Cagayan de Oro alone, more than fifty families have lost homes and possessions as a result of this calamity. We are all crying out for God’s comfort and mercy for all those who’ve lost their loved ones, and who need help to recover from this ordeal.

As a church, we immediately responded to help the city in practical ways. Victory Metro Manila has sent financial aid to help with their relief and rehabilitation efforts. We are also coordinating with Operation Blessing to assist in disaster response in the area.

Our churches in Mindanao have also taken part in this effort. Victory Cagayan de Oro has opened their center as a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes in the floods. Our leaders in Cagayan de Oro have also risen up to help their community by taking up a special offering to help their members with the relief efforts. Victory Pagadian, Victory Zamboanga, and Victory General Santos have sent financial aid as well.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386411&id=565993075

How we can Help

Our senior pastor in Victory Cagayan de Oro, Pastor Janssen Torredes, is currently coordinating Victory’s relief efforts for Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. According to Pastor Janssen, the most practical way to help right now is to help fund the relief efforts. The immediate need is to provide food and water for the affected families. Our team in Cagayan de Oro will take care of purchasing, packaging, and deploying the goods to the affected families.

How to Give

Let’s do what we can to help our brothers and sisters in Mindanao. We are accepting cash donations for those afflicted by tropical storm Sendong.

Here are ways on how you can give to Sendong relief efforts:

1. Through BPI Express Online

Please select the “Others” church code.

NOTE: For more information on how to give online, please visit victory.org.ph/give.

2. Through your local congregation

Please indicate “Sendong Relief Efforts” on the “Others” field on the offering envelope

3. Through BPI.

We’ve set up an account just for Sendong Relief Efforts.

Bank of the Philippine Islands
Name of Account:  Victory Christian Fellowship
Account Number:  C/A 0821-0298-13

4. Relief Goods.

For donations in kind, we have been coordinating with Operation Blessing. You can drop off relief goods at their office at
CBN ASIA-The 700 Club office, 4th floor, Sagittarius Bldg, HV De la Costa, Salcedo Village, Makati City 

Thank you for your Christ-like compassion and service to our brothers and sisters in Mindanao. Let us continue praying for those who have lost loved ones, and for those who are participating in relief operations in the affected areas of Mindanao.

There are moments when God tests us with the very provision He’s given.

Take Abraham for example in Genesis 22.  God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice him up there.

Tests are necessary.  We don’t like it.  Some actually hate it.  But we need it.  It shows what’s really inside.

You want doctors tested and take their board exams.  You want cars tested for safety.  You want computers tested so they work well.

Tests are there to bring to surface what’s really inside.  For a medical student, the test shows what’s inside their brain.

Tests are not punishments but preparations.

They prepare us for future promotion. Grade 2 students take their final exams to get promoted to Grade 3.

For many of us, God tests to bring promotion – because He DOES have something HUGE in store for the future.

God tested Abraham with the very provision given.  The very thing that was promised was now the very thing being taken away? It didn’t make sense.  However, at the end, it all did.

When God tests us with the very provision He’s given, He wants to see if…

We’re so focused on the provision that we miss the Provider.
Or we seek His hand rather than His face.
or we pursue the blessing rather than the Blesser.

Tests bring up what’s really in there.

After everything, God’s verdict “NOW I KNOW…  that you fear God…”

“NOW I KNOW…”

When God looks inside our hearts, what will He find out?

It’s a valid question that deserves a valid answer.

Different people approach it in different ways.

… Getting an upgrade for their iPhone 4.
… Finding a relationship that would make them feel significant.
… Relaxing through a nice movie with people you enjoy being with.
… Eating chocolates and ice cream. (haha, that’s me!)
… Receiving a promotion at work.
… Finally conceiving and having their first baby.

The list goes on and on and on AND on.

The problem though, which I myself have discovered, is that it doesn’t last very long.

Soon, there’s a new upgrade
… the relationship you’ve longed for isn’t working out so well.
… the movie didn’t turn out as nice as rottentomatoes.com says.
… you feel bad because the chocolate and ice cream gained you a few more pounds (haha, that’s me again)
… the promotion was great but soon enough, you want a better job.

Satisfaction seems elusive. Contentment becomes noncommital.

I was reading Colossians 2 this morning and it all went back to the basics of life.

Sin has always and will continue to be the problem.
Greed. Pride. Lust. Selfishness. Doubt. Unbelief.
These will continue to plague us unless we deal with it.

“But how”, you may ask.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul says,

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)

Key thoughts on this…

1. YOU WERE DEAD

Sin has a way of ending life.

2. BUT GOD MADE US ALIVE.

“BUT GOD…”

Two amazing words.

Only through Jesus can this happen. He is the resurrection and the life. Whatever is dead in your life, He is able to make it come back to life.

3. HE FORGAVE US ALL OUR SINS

The greatest need of man today is not more stuff, more friends, or more money.

The greatest need of man is to be forgiven.

We owed a debt we couldn’t pay.
He paid a debt He didn’t owe.

 4. HE CANCELLED THE CHARGES AGAINST US.

Imagine if you were in debt 20M pesos. Then the bank says, your debts have been cancelled.

How would you feel?

Our debt was more than 20M pesos. It was going to cost us our very life… life in hell for eternity.

5. HE NAILED OUR SINS ON THE CROSS.

The offended paying for the offense of the offender?
Unheard of.

But it was done.

 6. HE DISARMED THE POWERS AND AUTHORITIES.

There’s stuff we don’t see. There are those happening behind the scenes we don’t observe with our naked eyes.Jesus disarmed all these. No longer do these have power over us.

7. HE TRIUMPHED.

We are no longer victims but victors.
We are no longer whiners but winners.
We can now believe burdens to become blessings.
We are able to turn trials into triumphs.

All because of Jesus.

Jesus.
Yup, Jesus.

To feel good?

Well, that’s not the right question to ask.

Ride in the wave of His grace.
Nothing you can do but all about what He has done.

Feelings will just follow.

Visiting our Victory Church in Bacolod has provoked my faith big time.

VOLUNTEERISM.

You know a church is growing when you see Volunteerism in high gear.  Everyone wants to pitch in.  People want to honor God and make disciples.  From the kids to the oldest member see lives transformed by the gospel of Christ.

Couples Ministry to Youth. Kids church to ushering. Worship team to admin support.

You know people are sold into the vision when everyone feels they are a stock holder of the organization.

CHANGED LIVES.

Borrowing the NBA line, Pastor Ryan made a sticker  with the Victory logo and the statement “where amazing happens” posted in his car.

Amazing is an understatement.

When God steps in a situation, things change.

From Mike to Jeffrey, Pie to Jopher.  Amazing.

Kids bringing their parents to church, old classmates who’ve turned from drugs to Christ.

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE.

The church is in the process of expanding their facility in Robinsons Place Bacolod.  Everyone pitching in, offering, sacrificing – starting with their senior pastor.

Ryan sold his X-trail and donated the money to the building fund.

That’s an adventure of faith.  Having a wife and 3 small kids – pretty bold step of faith.

Grabe.

DIET.

I need to get into a diet. Haha!

Kuppa Gelato. Calea Mudpie. Manukan inasal. Felicia’s meals.

Again, grabe!

LESSONS LEARNED.

When I visit a Victory church in the province, people say I was able to help.  This trip, they’ve been able to help me.  I thought I was going to be a blessing.  I came out of this trip blessed.

With our Senior Pastor, Ryan Gidor

When God radically changed his direction in life, he made a choice.

His desire for God was to use him wherever God has placed him.

As you watch his story, you’ll notice the truth that weaves – God uses ordinary people to make disciples.

As I was preparing for our message this weekend, I came across an article that listed down the different Bible characters and how they could’ve come up to God and made an excuse why God can’t use them.  Some of them actually tried.

I was reminded of one of my most favorite verses in the Bible that says,

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)

Here are some of the Bible characters God used mightily yet had their flaws…

Noah got drunk.
Abraham was too old.
Joseph was a daydreamer.
Jacob was a liar.
Leah was ugly.
Moses had a speech problem.
Gideon was a scardey cat.
Samson was a womanizer.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Jeremiah & Timothy thought they were too young.
David had an affair with a married woman and murdered her husband.
Elijah was suicidal.
Isaiah thought himself unworthy.
Jonah ran away from God.
Naomi was a widow.
Job went bankrupt.
Martha was a perpetual worrier.
The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus at the well was five times divorced.
Zaccheus was too small.
Peter denied Christ.
The disciples fell asleep while praying.
The little boy only had 5 loaves & 2 fish.
Paul was a religious fanatic.
Timothy had ulcers.
Lazarus was dead!

How about you?  What’s your excuse?

Testimonies from the recent Prayer and Fasting keep coming in.

Here’s one which is probably in my top 3 most favorite Prayer and Fasting testimonies shared by Noemi.

Why fast? More than praying for things to happen, it was an encounter with God.  All of a sudden my lifestyle changed. I have finally finished the New Testament, which given my Bible reading pace, I would have for 6 months. My eyes were opened to people other than myself. I began to see prayer requests in the hearts of others without them telling me.

My prayer started to sound like an intimate conversation with God – like I was talking to a long-time friend. His words speak to me like no other. I appreciated the things that I have and realized that I don’t lack a thing. I was going through something personal at the moment butI was filled with peace – the kind that the world cannot give.

Why fast? Because to deny yourself of a pleasure in its simplest form (food) for a greater purpose is to see who God really is in His greatest splendor. When we draw near to Him, He will make Himself known.

With all that I gained from those 7 days, I will never be on the losing end even if God doesn’t answer my 10 faith goals. I am already a winner in every sense of the word.

“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

He is indeed a prayer answering God.

Here’s one from Leng G. who sent me a text this morning.

Hi. Ptr Paolo, wud really like to thank u for prayin healing towards the sick people last worship night before the fast. I was not really prayin for myself but to those people around who raised their hand somehow my body conformed to the pain on my legs due to sprain and I just totally ignore the fact that it was painful it was then when u pray that I felt the difference between there is pain or not. I m really refresh and until now the sprain didn’t come back..thank u so much…… God keep u and ur family always ….

Again, I say to you, that if two of you are in agreement on earth about anything for which they will make a request, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:19, BBE)

Today’s was a long day.  Full of meetings.  His grace was sufficient.

Lots of great stuff today.

Met about “Strong” series.  Message no. 2 on the way.  Message no. 1 here.

Great to meet with men (metro manila pastors) who are passionate for God and His kingdom.

Afternoon staff meeting was good. Every department positioned for a great year… by His grace.

Good ‘passionate’ discussion on certain things.  I’m thankful for men who will say what they feel is the right thing to do and are not just “YES” men.

Prayed for a guy who is believing God for restoration of marriage.

Lord, I pray for all the marriages represented.  Heal, restore, strengthen.

Prayed for the nation tonight.  Awesome.

P Manny shared a powerful message.  ”Don’t have a grasshopper mentality.”

“How you see yourself is how others will see you.” – Manny Carlos.  This principle was taken from Num 13:33 which says, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

We cry out for this nation.  Lord, heal our land.  Heal us, your people.