Worship is ... A Lifestyle


When I first joined the weekly Bible study meetings with TI employees at Sir John's house in Loakan, Kuya Mike gave me a compilation of praise and worship songs. As I was listening, most of the songs are sung by one artists - though there are Hillsongs UK and Don Moen, most of the songs are sung a buy a group of guys with voices-you-want-to-have. I do my research and asked Kuya Mike who those artists are and I've learned they are "The Katinas" and the songs are taken from their live worship album, "Lifestyle". Last Monday, I went to House and Praise to buy a copy (discounted!) and I'm so ... what can I say? So blessed with the passion these brothers have for singing songs to God. In the album, most of the songs they sing are popularized by several Christian artists like Don Moen, Reuben Morgan, etc.


The Katinas


At the end of the album, one of the brothers made a short exhortation about what praise and worship really is. It is not singing songs to God. It is a daily walk with God, in what we do, with what we watch, with what we think about. It is a lifestyle. Sometimes we Christians are only 'Sunday Christians'. During the rest of the week, we go back to the ways of the world. It is a challenge to us Christians to pray and ask for God's grace to be able to walk in His ways every step of the way.

Visit "The Katinas" website: www.thekatinas.com

Warning: No Fretting!


This is the title of the sermon by life coach Alice Villareal at Soul XP. At first, sister Alice introed her sermon with our current life situation. When we go the mall, we get to see magazines luring us that we should feel good about ourselves by how we look, by what we have and by being with the people we want to be with. There so many things that we have to do to attain all these things and in frustration, we fret. For one thing, I'm so guilty about this, I've been trying to get myself into shape to attract people I want to be with. To get myself into a ridiculosly metrosexual man I want to be. That was it used to be and when I look back I think is this what matters most in my life? In this course of life, I've learned that to feel good about yourself is communicating with people - to enjoy the fellowship of one another and to know each other - the strength and the weaknesses, that we may help each other as we go in our faith in Jesus Christ. Let me share the key verse we have found in Matthew 6:25-32

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Sister Alice, being a member of an "Astronomical Club" share this fascinating fact about our own planet. She said that according to scientists, for a planet to support life everything just have to be right. Take for example, the earth is tilted 23.5 degrees from the vertical axis. If it goes higher or lower, life would be impossible in Earth. How would this thing happen? One of the factors is our satellite, the Moon. If the moon were smaller or if we have two smaller moons like Mars has, the earth would tilt 30 to 60 degrees from the vertical axis. If this happens, during summer, the northern hemisphere will suffer 6 months of scorching heat and south pole will be below zero for 6 months. It would be like 12 o clock noon for six months and there will terrible rainstorms and hurricanes due to the uneven heat between north and south poles. Another example would be that if a planet to be able to support life, it has to be 90 to 100 million miles away from it's star. Guess what? Earth is 93 million miles away from the Sun. What is amazing is that of all the planets and stars in this wide whole infinite universe only the solar system had the right ingredients to support life. As I was thinking of all these things, I'm so amazed. There must be a creator who planned all of this, who takes note of the nitty-gritty details of even the simplest things. God makes sure that our planet is in balance. Why fret? God provides Sun to enjoy it's light during the day. Why fret? God provides layers of atmosphere to protect us from harmful UV rays. Why fret? God protected us from meteorites outside the solar system by having Jupiter (FYI, Jupiter is a planet with high gravitational pull, it sucks away other foreign bodies. Think of it as a vacuum cleaner) Why fret?

We are so absorbed with ourselves, of amassing things which we think will make us happy. When will I get the job that will pay me 30T pesos a month? When can I work abroad to earn dollars? When can I buy a new house and lot? When can I buy a Porsche? When will I lose weight? When I look like Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes (:)? We are so absorbed, distracted and worried with material and fleshy things that we forgot to praise and thank God for all the simplest things He has done like protection from harm, like the air we breathe. Jesus said in v.33, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.". I guess what is important of all is seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is communing with fellow believers, immersing in God's ministries, to reach out to the broken and pray for lost souls. He continued, "and all these things will be added unto you." God makes us content with the very fruit of His Holy Spirit that material things don't really matter that much. They are there but they would be sufficient enough for your needs. So don't worry if you will lose a job next month or if you are uncertain of your future. God will provide your needs just as he feeds the birds of the air. Why fret? God bless you all!

The Lord is My Strength


Sometimes in life, there are times that we really want to give up on our personal struggles, to snap back into our old sinful lifestyle hoping to be thrilled once more and yet be betrayed all over again. If you are on that stage let God be your strength. Here is today's reading from "Desert In The Streams".

"The Lord hath sent strength for thee" (Ps. 68.28, PBV).

The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust.

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be"--strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement.

"The Lord is my strength" to go on. He gives us power to tread the dead level, to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery.

"The Lord is my strength" to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill Difficulty and not be afraid.

"The Lord is my strength" to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint.

I heard a man say the other day concerning his growing physical frailty, "It is the coming down that tires me!"

"The Lord is my strength" to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, "If only I could do something!"

When the child is ill, and the mother stands by in comparative impotence, how severe is the test! But to do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength. "The Lord is my strength!" "Our sufficiency is of God." The Silver Lining

Link from reubenmorgan.blogspot.com


Guys, reubenmorgan.blogspot.com [ link ] just linked me from their site. By the way, Word for the Word will present a worship concert this July 15. Poster will be posted soon.

Selecting Movies to Watch


I just watched "Nasaan Ka Man" starrring Claudine Baretto. Technically it's a very good movie. Hollywoodish, I should say - owe it to a newcomer director, Cholo Laurel. But you know what, as I grew "older" watching movies, I just realized that even if it's an art movie with excellent directing, cinematography, acting you need not to watch it if it will affect how you view controversial issues in life such as purity, violence and perversions. I left the moviehouse disturbed, graphic scenes of abuse and violence still floating in my mind. I just find it amazing that when you start to walk in the light, evil is easy to discern. When you are in the dark everything seems to lie in one plane - good and evil; moral and immoral - you cannot distinguish which. There is no black or white. Everything is gray. I believe that today, that is how the world operates - morality is relative, what may be immoral for you are okay for others. So, my advice if you feel uncomfortable in watching a movie don't watch it at all. Actually, I have a hunch beforehand.