HI, everybody, thank you for joining us at The Feast!

I have three very simple messages I’d like to share with you.

Here’s the first one:

Are you hungry? I am not talking about physical food. I’m talking about spiritual hunger. I want you to make The Feast not just a nice thing to have, to set
the tone the tone of the week. All of that is wonderful. That’s nice way to start the week.

But go deeper. Look at The Feast as a nice thing to have but I need The Feast because I am hungry for the Word of God. Without the Word of God, I die. I die of malnourishment. So, you got to go deeper in the way you look at The Feast.

Here’s my second message:

There are going to be thee preachers at The Feast: Audee Villaraza, myself, and Didoy Lubaton. And what I want you to do is like look at the preacher, and slowly look behind the preacher. Meaning to say, you know what a preacher is?

For me, a preacher is this: a spotlight. You don’t look at the spotlight when you watch a movie. Yes or no?

I mean when you watch a movie, you look at the star of the movie. You look at the actor—and
that’s you. You don’t even think there’s a spotlight.

The preacher is the spotlight.

Don’t look at us. Don’t look at who’s preaching. I want you to look at the Jesus that we cast our light to.

Again, it’s deepening. Once upon a time, one asked, “Who is the preacher? If the preacher is nice, I will listen.”

No. Go beyond that. I want you to go deeper than that. Can you mature? Can you grow up? Go deeper and ask: “I want the Word of God. I want Jesus. I’m not satisfied with the spotlight. I want to know who does the spotlight cast its light upon.

Which brings me to my third message:

Happy All Saints Day!

What is a Saint? A lot of persons think a Saint is somebody who prays three hours a day, so active in The Church. All of these are wonderful. But they are not the essence of what a Saint is.

Do you know what the essence of a Saint is? A Saint is someone—are you ready?—who allows God’s love into his life. He allows God to love him, to love her.

That’s what a Saint is. Because he knows that when he allows God to love him, he changes, he transforms.

You cannot help it. The love of God will transform you. So, that’s what a Saint is. A Saint is hungry – which brings me back to my message Number 1— for the Word of God. He is hungry for Jesus. He is desperate for Jesus.

That is why you are here at The Feast. Because of Jesus. God bless you. Have a beautiful time “eating” the Word of God.

SPECIAL TALK

TODAY, we are taking a break from our talk series Miracles and More, since we are celebrating All Saints Day.

Last Sunday, we started a contest called The Saint in Me and we asked you to dress up like your favorite saint.

My favorite saint is St. Benedict because my (second) name is Benedict. My father explained to me that St. Benedict is the patron saint for protection.

But now I am dressed up not as a saint but as a holy person… He is Carlo Acutis, only 15 years old but already beatified, so he is now called Blessed Carlo Acutis.

And here’s an entry from Railyx Espardinez dressed up like St. Lorenzo Ruiz

We are having a special talk titled Holy Win – as in Halloween with a twist. Because we are going to talk about how to win like a saint.

Let’s read together with our chosen Scripture for today. It comes from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

Here’s our message:

I Am Yours.

What does it mean to be a saint?

There’s a story about two brothers who had terrorized the small town where they lived for years. They were known to  be unfaithful to their wives, abusive to their kids, and alcoholics.

And then one day, without any warning, the younger brother died. The older brother went to the parish priest and said, “Father, I’d like you to preside over my brother’s funeral, and it’s important to me that during the service, say my brother was a saint.”

The priest said, “I can’t do that. We both know he was far from it.”

The older brother pulled out his checkbook and said, “Father, I’m prepared to donate P100,000 to your church. All I’m asking is that you publicly state that my brother was a saint.”

So, on the day of the funeral, the priest began his sermon by saying, “Everyone here knows that the deceased was a wicked man, a womanizer, and a drunk. He terrorized his employees and cheated on his taxes.”

The priest paused for a second and then continued, “But as evil and sinful as this man was, compared to his older brother, he was a saint!”

Paul opens his letter to the Corinthians with the greeting typical of letters in that day by stating who it’s FROM, then who it’s TO. Who was this letter written to? It was to those who were “sanctified in Christ, called to be a saint” in Corinth.

What does it mean to be called Saint?

When we think of Saints, we imagine people from a time when dinosaurs still ruled the land. Ok, maybe not that old. But saints are very old. By the way they dressed, by the way they spoke, and by the way they lived. They were people who were devout and pious. People who gave their life to the Lord.

And yet, when Paul wrote this to the people of Corinth, he called them Saints? I think when you understand the context, you might disagree with Paul. Because the people of Corinth were far from what we would call Saints.

The Corinthians were known for their immorality. They were partiers, drunkards, corrupt. They had a reputation for the reckless pursuit of pleasure. And yet Paul called them Saints.

And that’s not all. Paul also started his letter by saying: 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth. For most people, when they hear the word, “church”, they
automatically associate it with a building where religious people meet. But the ancient Greek word for church was a nonreligious word. It was called “Ekklesiai” which means an “assembly of people” who gather for a specific purpose. So, when Paul said “to the church of God,” it was a gathering. But it wasn’t just a gathering of people. It was a gathering of God.

So now, you’ve got the Church of God, something that’s good, but it’s in Corinth, in something that’s bad. Paul placed an important emphasis here. You’ve got a city that’s bad, but a Church that’s good. So, who should be influencing who? This is the power of God’s Church. The Church is meant to influence the city and not the other way around. We need Christ-followers who are set apart for God’s purpose. People who won’t conform to the corruption of the world, but will serve with love and humility. That’s what a Saint is: to be set apart for God. For God’s exclusive use.

Actually, you’re not called to be a saint. You’re called a saint.

You’re set apart. You are made by God and you are made for God! Let me teach you a powerful prayer. When you wake in the morning, position
your heart and mind and say: “Lord, where do you want me to use YOUR resources today? Lead me where you want me to use YOUR time. To influence YOUR world.