Christmas Greetings from BFGFC's Dancing Boys

Today at Voicebox Cellgroup: Jesus, The Only Gate for the Sheep

Scripture: John 10:1-10
Preacher: Ptra. Angie Lim

Summary: When we enter the Door (or the Gate), we can have:

1. Salvation (vv.7, 9)
2. Divine Protection (Jesus becomes our protector; also in Ps 23:4)
3. Abundant life (v.10)

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We had a lively discussion at our cellgroup meeting today. Everything flowed smoothly. From Atty. Candy's stories about her budding lovelife (Yihee!) to Mia's biting stories (literally!), we had fun catching up with each other.

When it came time for us to discuss the Word, everyone got serious as we reflected on our faith. The highlights of today's discussion revolved around these questions:

1. Why do you think a lot of people seek ways or still want to customize a different approach to God when Jesus already clearly stated that He is the only way to God?
2. Have you ever felt limited by your being a Christian?
3. Look back and remember who you were 10 years ago. How have you grown since then?
4. Do you equate spiritual maturity with ministry?
5. How do you think you will fare if you're on your own? Will your faith stand?
   

Our answers (summary):

Why do you think a lot of people seek ways or still want to customize a different approach to God when Jesus already clearly stated that He is the only way to God?
Because they don't want to be told what to do. They want to continue living their own life the way they want to. They don't understand that entering the Door actually frees you and gives you peace and joy and abundant life, instead of tying you up in bondage to life's demands.


Have you ever felt limited by your being a Christian?
Yes and No. It actually boils down to how you look at it. If your priority is to obey God, then you are choosing that path willingly, without feeling that you had no choice in the matter. But if your priority still consists of doing what you want, then you are choosing to walk the path you laid out for yourself.


Look back and remember who you were 10 years ago. How have you grown since then?
Here, all of us shared a bit of our testimonies of how God has sustained us all these years.

• Ate Mari and I both shared about growing up in Christian households, being active in church then being sidetracked by the world when we came to our teenage years. But God never allowed us to be snatched out his grasp. And for that, we thank the people who never failed to pray for us.
• Mia shared about her 'biting' stories and other temper tantrums. Then Ate Mari testified to the change in Mia after she 'entered the Door' and got saved. Mia has found a true relationship with God as evidenced by her changed life. Now, she doesn't bite people anymore. Only chicken. (HAHA! Her words, not mine! LOL).
• Lawrence has obviously grown in his faith. He and I have pretty similar stories - both of us got involved in the ministry in our early teen years. His calling has been evident right from the start - the call to lead people to worship. A true worshipper, Lawrence is slowly but surely fulfilling the prophecy about him - something about singing to the nations (Hello Youtube star! Soon you're gonna sing live. ü)
• Candy had quite a lot to tell. 10 years ago, she was still studying in high school. 10 years later, she's still in school - Law school. But as to her faith, she told us that she felt that she hit a dead end after entering law school. This was due to her ministry being put on hold because she had a hard time juggling her schedule in school and in church. This brought us to question no.4 (see above). But before that, we encouraged her. We reminded her of her faithfulness. Yes, her ministry commitments dwindled. But not her faith. It may not have been as strong as before, but we all go through trying moments in our life. That's what we, her support group, are here for - to pray for her so that she can continue to stand strong in her faith. And Candy is still standing. She knows her priorities and despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to honor the 4th commandment which is to "Keep the Sabbath day holy."

Do you equate spiritual maturity with ministry?
Not really. You can have lots of ministry but still be far from God. You can be very active in the ministry but not active in your relationship with God (i.e. you're not praying, you're not reading the Bible, you're not spending time with God).


How do you think you will fare if you're on your own? Will your faith stand?
We ended on this question and reflected on whether we're in this relationship with God only because someone's pushing us to be in it (our parents, our cell leaders, our church friends, etc.) or because we are in love with God and we choose to be intimate with Him. I asked them, what if they're like Kimmie, uprooted from her comfort zone and without parents and friends to check on her spiritual life (physically, since we still do that over the net and the telephone), will we still be as strong as we are now in our faith with God?

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I know this post is quite long and wordy (I wasn't able to take pictures because I was so engrossed in our discussion), but let me end by reposting my current Twitter status:

Home from church. Great discussion at today's cellgroup. God is cooking up something big for BFGC this 2010. We can feel it coming. =)

Amen and amen!

Fridate! ♥ November 27, 2009

Lawrenzara @ Burgoo (SM MOA)


Lawrence draws random people (muntik na pati un server namin)



After dinner, we walked around the mall and discovered an MTV event at the Activity Center. Cool! :)


After that, we headed over to the bay area to check out the bands.

Ramblings of a (long ago) Beauty Queen Wannabe

Today at the Inauguration rehearsal, one photographer (who also happened to be a 'talent scout' - his words, not mine) asked me if I wanted to enter the Ms. Chinatown contest. I said NO. He kept asking why not, blah blah blah. I said I was too shy. But he insisted and kept on telling me how good an opportunity it was - that opportunity came only once, why not grab it now when I have the chance, blah blah blah. Thank God Ma'am Marta called me into her office so our conversation was cut short. But not before he asked for my number.

As I thought about this, I discovered that I'm actually having second thoughts about my initial response. I mean, entering a beauty contest was one of my biggest dreams when I was a little girl. I gradated from wanting to join Little Ms. Philippines to Mutya ng Pilipinas to Bb. Pilipinas. But that was all it was - a dream. I never did anything to pursue that dream. But now, one thing the photographer said stuck in my mind - "When you grow old, at least you'll be able to say, 'I was able to experience this once in a lifetime event.'"

But of course, I'm not saying I'm going to do it. I wouldn't do anything that God doesn't want me to do. And regarding this matter, I'm not so sure this is what He wants me to do. . . Or is it?

*confused*

I Survived My First Payroll Duty!

This week has been really challenging for me at work.

Because of the big event we have coming this Nov. 29 (Hope Sunday and Thanksgiving Service) and Nov.30 (Inauguration of the new High School building), everyone has been rushing to fulfill their assigned tasks. But of course, despite everyone's busyness, someone has to work on everyone's salary. And since our Payroll Officer (PO) officially resigned effective October 31, the task of doling out cash in everyone's atm fell on moi.

On top of being assigned the usual HR and Marketing duties, I had the Payroll to think about. Unfortunately, our previous PO came to the office just once this week, and that was after I have already finished the payroll. He came to check on my work and it turned out to be correct (yey!). Apparently, my note-taking skill paid off. I was taught to do the payroll in a rush and only for a few hours last pay day. I studiously took down notes, knowing that that may be the last time he tells me what to do. And good thing I did. It turned out my notes were a great help to me. Thank God!

To make a long story short, by God's grace, I was able to do the payroll on time (payslips were released early Wednesday morning) and on my own.

What I learned from this is that God really does equip those He has called. I mean, it was He who gave me this new post. I'm not an accounting major. I'm not even that good in Math (I do OK but not GOOD-good). But because He gave me this job, He made sure that I will be able to do it. He gave me common sense and good note-taking skills (ha!). Without God, I wouldn't be able to do this.

Now I'm pretty excited to do next payday's salary. Haha! :)

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Lawrence and I will watch New Moon tomorrow night. *Excited*

Janey Updates - 11/23/2009

This is what I have been up to for the past week:

2 trips to MOA in less than one week (Nov 13 and Nov 19)



Thursday night hang-out w/ Lawrence @ church.
We were supposed to have our cellgroup but others didn't make it so he and Brz did some recording instead.



Friday (11/20) HCHS 63rd Anniversary
Abby and the Hope Chorale rendered a song of praise to God for his faithfulness for the past 63 years.



Saturday (11/21) STDC Section2 Christmas Party at MFAG





The pastors playing Christmas Charade

After the party, I hurried over to HCHS for the run through of the Inauguration Event on Nov.30. And then as soon as the Asst Principal gave us the go signal to leave, I hurried over to church for cellgroup. By the time I reached church, a headache was starting to work its way in my system. It kept getting worse as time went by. After the cell, I still had band practice for Sunday Service and then to make things harder, when it was time for me to photocopy the church bulletin, the photocopying machine ran out of ink. I had no idea how to change the refill, the other machine is not working properly. It was already 8pm and since my headache has grown unbearable already, I decided to have our neighboring copy center do the photocopying for me. And so there they were, drunk and singing along in the videoke, while the owner works on the church bulletin. Hilarious, right? But I couldn't find anything to laugh about, heck, I couldn't even smile coz I was in so much pain.

Good thing there's a nearby Starbucks to help ease my discomfort. :)

Sunday (11/22) Sunday Service
Service ended quite early. We started at 8:30am and finished around 9:40am. So we had at least 40 minutes before second service started.

The Juniors and I hung out as usual, and despite the colds and the scratchy throat and the headache-in-the-making lurking at the back of my head, I still had fun spending time with them.





Halfway into the second service's Praise and Worship, the headache escalated and so I immediately went home (with Abby) afterwards. We stopped by McDonald's to get some lunch first. Despite the pain, I was ecstatic to find that MD's Icy Blue Float is back. Yey!

After lunch, I went to sleep. Then the next thing I know, Abby was waking me up and telling me Lawrence was there. Indeed, there he was, standing at the door of my bedroom. Aww! :) He came to visit me. How nice. Hehe. His family was scheduled to be in VFGFC that Sunday so we weren't able to see each other at church that morning.

There was a Maturity Seminar scheduled for that afternoon but because I wasn't feeling well, I didn't make it. Sayang. Mom told me afterwards that the seminar was very good. Oh well. :(

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Here's our neighbor-cats dozing off during lunch time yesterday. How sweet. :) ♥

BFGFC 17th Missions Convention

Unforgettable moments:

1. P&W blooper at today's service: The guitar & keyboard went silent while doing the intro. It turned out to be a loose connection. A-w-k-w-a-r-d! 0_o
2. Rev. Kimberly Snider gave a powerful message about being involved deeply into the call of Christ to his disciples to go and make disicples.
3. For the first time, we were able to overshoot our missions pledge target for year 2009. As of October 2009, we already gathered 101% of the targeted amount! And that's not even counting the November 2009 pledges. Praise God!
4. The Board and the Pastoral staff went out to lunch with our guest speaker. I was able to officially meet Rev. Kim Snider. And as she and her husband are very much involved in the media ministry (Asia Pacific Media Ministries), the conversation soon turned to producing short films, publishing, and writing. Then she told me that they are offering writing classes next year. And so because I have always dreamed of being a published writer someday, I promised myself to enroll in that class, starting February. Thank God for opening doors for me. :)
5. After lunch, the youth leaders gathered for a meeting. We started to plan for next year and also our vision for our cell groups. It was a very productive discussion; we were able to discuss a lot of things, settle a lot of issues, and basically prepare our report to the Senior Pastor in next month's staff meeting.
6. After the meeting, Brz, Lawrence and I stayed for a while as the guys did some recording stuff. They're into recording nowadays. Hehe. After that, Lawrence and I went to Sushiyum (yey!!). :)
   

Today at Voicebox Cellgroup: Are You a True Disciple?

Today at carecell, we discussed Ptr. Patrick's preaching last Sunday about being a true disciple of Christ. It was an enlightening time as we discussed what it takes to become a true disciple, what it means to "take up your cross," and whether we are both the noun and the verb disciple.


Everyone shared their thoughts on the scripture passages provided; I wrote down their answers for our record. :)


Our group came up with a definition of a true disciple: "A true disciple is one who follows Christ, obeys His Word, and shares Christ to others not only through evangelism but also through discipleship and mentoring."


Mia wrote our answers on the board so we could make one general definition of what a true disciple is.

We reflected on our own spiritual growth and remembered the ones who took the time to disciple and mentor us, contributing greatly to where we stand today in terms of our spiritual maturity. Then we tried to identify the people in our lives whom we are targeting to take up under our wings. As 2 Timothy 2:2 says,

²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

After our discussion, we proceeded in planning what our carecell will do to impact our community for next year, 2010. Here are some of the things we came up with (no final plans yet, just some brainstorming of ideas; all are still subject for Pastor's approval):

• Saturday children's ministry (art activites, tutorials/study group / music trainings)
  
• New cellgroup to open at CSB (College of Saint Benilde)
• Care acts (doing something nice / rendering special service / helping out our oikos)
  
• Partnership with soup kitchens / orphanages (not a one-time event, but more of a regular cellgroup activity)
  

Discussing our plans for next year.

I am excited with the things our group can do for God as we submit to His leading for our plans next year.

Lord, may you instill in us the importance of clinging unto you, for without you, we are nothing and we certainly can do nothing. Stir up in our hearts the passion to go out and make disciples, to go out and share Your love, Your Word to the people who needs them. Open our eyes Lord to see whom you want us to reach out and minister to. May you give us a compassionate heart, a heart that beats with the same passion as Yours does. Remind us that this is why You have called us in the first place, to glorify Your Name and to be Your hands and feet on this earth.

The Joys of Teaching, Writing, and Posting in Scribd

Teaching and writing are two of my few passions in life. There is always that unexplainable feeling of satisfaction whenever I finish explaining a concept or after I have written a piece that has just been waiting to be released from within me.

Recently, I have experienced another aspect of the joy of writing - and that is being able to share it to a bigger audience, even to people whom I may not even get to meet personally.

For those of you who don't know, I keep a Scribd account where I store all my Sunday School/Carecell/Bible study teaching materials, preaching manuscripts and powerpoints, and other written pieces, mostly for teaching. Once in a while I get notifications saying one document has been placed on the site's hot list, or that one of them has been included in some other user's favorites. It's very encouraging to get these kind of notifications but my favorite is when a user actually contacts me and asks for a copy of a certain document. They'd usually ask for those they can use for their own ministry.



These kinds of affirmations are confirmations of sorts as to what my gifting really is. It makes me want to work harder and develop these God-given skills further. It also thrills me to know that even if I can't get out of Metro Manila as much as I want to, I can still reach out and help others through the gifts God has given me. Praise the Lord! He certainly has diverse and dynamic ways of using people for His ministry. You can never limit God and how He plans to use you. Thank you God for this privilege of being used by you. :) To You be all the glory!

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
Psalm 115:1