WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

Jesus was with His disciples in Caesarea Philippi when He asked them a question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  (Matthew 16:13) The disciples dished out several names that people thought Jesus was – John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Then Jesus looked at each of them and asked a poignant, forthright and candid question, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

We can breeze through reading this question Jesus asked but if we look into it deeper, we realize that how we see Him directly affects how we live our lives before Him.

If He is merely a good teacher, we will appreciate the lessons, maybe even post it on our socials and get a few likes.
If He is just a good example, then we will always applaud His modeling but always feel we can never live up to it.

But if He is Lord, Messiah and King, then we know that salvation alone comes from Him and that the rest of our lives will be lived in subservience to His will.

Who is He to you? Because how you answer this question will spell the difference on how you will live your life the rest of your days.

THE CUSTOMIZATION OF LIFE

God is in control and therefore in EVERYTHING, I can give thanks, not because of the situation but because of the One who directs and rules over it. – Kay Arthur

APEC TAKEAWAYS 2014

As a member of the Every Nation family, Victory gathers together with other churches in the region for our version of APEC – Asian Pastors Equipping Conference.

This year’s theme was “100 Years From Now” held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a fresh take on the core values we have as a church movement.

1. Lordship
2. Evangelism
3. Discipleship
4. Leadership
5. Family

The following are the tweets I posted this week while Jenn and I were in APEC. These were some of the myriad of take-aways we had.

The starting point of everything is the honor of God. – Steve Murrell

 

Follow the pattern. Guard the good deposit. – Steve Murrell on 2 Timothy 1:13-14

 

Jesus is my Lord not because I have no choice but because it is a logical choice for He is in absolute control. – Timothy Lo.

 

Prayer is important because where there’s great opportunity comes great opposition. – Manny Carlos

 

Mission draws us together.
Relationship keeps us together.
Doctrine is worked out together.
Experience is judged together. – Steve Murrell

 

No to entitlement. Just be thankful you are part of the game. – Jun Escosar

 

Our sons don’t need our lessons but our presence. – Rod Plummer

 

On building teams: Some activities are too dangerous to do alone like law enforcement, scuba diving and ministry! Build a team. – Steve Murrell

 

To be a leader, you need to build a team, lead the team and trust the team. – Steve Murrell

 

You’re the leader not necessarily because you’re the smartest. Maybe it’s just because you got there first. Stay humble. – Steve Murrell

 

Character is built by grace and faith but greatly in the midst of suffering.. – Joey Bonifacio

 

Your wife will be the heart of the home when she is in the heart of her husband. – Eddie Asato

 

Build your family to honor God and His word. – Eddie Asato

 

God is more at work in our children’s lives more than we could ever be. He loves them more than we could ever love them. – Eddie Asato

 

LORDSHIP IS…

Core values define who we are and determine how we behave.

Different organizations and individuals have distinct core values. They are evident in their culture, language and lifestyle.

This month, we celebrate 30 years of Victory. When we started 30 years ago, there were certain core values that defined who we are and determined how we behaved. The 5 we will revisit are LORDSHIP, EVANGELISM, DISCIPLESHIP, LEADERSHIP and FAMILY.

Jesus is LORD. Lord means Master, Controller, Absolute Authority, God. He calls the shots and has the final say.

I remember when I first attended Victory in 1993, the banner on the backdrop of the stage was undeniably visible – JESUS PERIOD. It didn’t have the word period but it had the dot after Jesus. I had to write it to make it obvious.

This throwback picture below was taken in our 1998 Metro Manila Christmas Convergence.

And this was just not a nice banner. It was exemplified by our founding pastor, Steve Murrell.

He graduated from University of Mississippi with a business degree. He was supposed to take over his dad’s lustrous and flourishing multi million dollar business. At 24 years old, when he felt the call to go to the Philippines with his wife Deborah, they abandoned all ambition, acknowledged Jesus is indeed Lord, and took the plunge to go into the mission field.

What originally was supposed to be a one month long trip to Manila with 65 summer missionaries in July 1984, turned into a few months, a couple of years and now almost 3 decades.

It is easy to confess Jesus is Lord, but living it out is another thing.

This has become a model and an example for me to live by.

What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord ?

L.O.R.D. means…

1. LOYALTY TO JESUS.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)

Lordship means living a life in allegiance to Him no matter what.

2. OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Lordship means obeying what He says no matter what others say.

3. REPENTANCE FROM SIN

“Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” (2 Timothy 2:19)

Lordship means turning away from sin no matter how pleasurable it may seem for the moment.

4. DEATH TO SELF

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Lordship means dying to self no matter how we desire to do what we we think or feel is right.

He is either Lord of all or not at all.

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Other blogs on Lordship here…