Talk BRO. AUDIE VILLARAZA: OUR message today is a little instructional. I think you might not appreciate it based on the statement but if you dig long and hard and deep enough, I promise that this message will minister to you.Say to your neighbor, right next to you, "Follow God's Rhythm of Restoration.” Let’s open the good Book to Exodus 16: 4-5:Hear me out:It seems to me that sometimes, God will bless you in a big way, but He'll also make sure that you also obey Him in a big way.I wonder now that maybe some of you are not receiving simply because you're not obeying.For now, I leave it at that because God gave the Israelites an instruction: Three Insights about The SabbathManna, the bread that came from Heaven, that fell from the sky, was good only for one day.The following day, it would be spoiled and rotten. You would not be able to consume it. So, Moses said, prepare it and eat it within the day.Like manna, there are three insights that I can share with you about Sabbath:1. Like manna, Sabbaths need to beYou cannot depend on the restorative abilities of your Sabbath --the emotional, physical, and spiritual restoration of manna-- if you take it only once a month.You cannot feel nourished for the rest of the year if you go to church only once a year. You need a fresh dose of Sabbath every week. That is why I honor those who make a regular effort to receive and celebrate the Sabbath every Sunday.2. Like manna, Sabbaths are EdenIn the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were in unity with God the Father and there was abundance. But when they were exiled from the Garden, they acted like slaves. They needed to till and toil the land.Fast forward to the Israelites who were slaves. At that time, slaves had no days off. They had no idea how to rest. They could not ask for a vacation leave and promise to be back as a better slave. They could not practice the Sabbath.Friend, whenever you practice Sabbath, it's like you're entering small portions of Eden where you experience the abundance of God because you trust Him.3. Like manna, Sabbaths are miracles that also require faith.You cannot really rest and have peace of mind and peace in your heart if you do not believe that God is providing your needs. As you stand here today, you have to trust in God that He will provide for you today and for the entire week.Say this with me: "Jesus, speak to me. I need Your Word. Let it give me life. Let it sustain me. Let it nourish me. Amen.” Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. TimetableSabbath has a gift. And it is called time.Time is something that we need. At times, we feel that there is so much to do but so little time. It seems that time is always running short.But

Talk BRO. JOHN BEN: For us, Feast Builders here, preaching is a kind of work. Since we are talking about rest, we want to rest todayJ. So, we invited guests to help us give the talk today. Today, I am blessed to share with you that through our talk series here at The Feast, we have learned to synergize our efforts. You know, when you are working with people and you’re combining outputs from different people, you get something better than what you can alone. Last year, we went through the entire Bible-- from Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. What has made it easy for us Builders-- even Bro. Bo-- to prepare the talks are the Bible Nerds. They are a group of young people who research backgrounders for our talks. It makes it easier for us to identify the theological concepts and mystery behind what we are reading so we can apply them in practical ways. We invited two of them for a table discussion about our talk today on Work. Please welcome Tisha Caro and Bene Sanchez. And, of course, Bro. Alvin Barcelona, our main preacher. So, we are sitting down--resting and working. The Reality: Two Kinds of Work JOHN BEN: It's kind of hard to connect work with rest. But in the Bible, there are two kinds of work: Tisha, please tell us more about it. TISHA: As we know it today, work means our jobs that consume five to six days of our week and at least eight hours of each day. A big part of our lives is spent on work. It's what we need to do. It puts food on our table. It allows us to pay for our electricity bills, groceries...For the majority, it's hard and tiring. At times, when I ask people, "How are you?" They would respond, "I'm tired. I want to quit." That is the reality. BENE: Genesis 3 reflects our reality today. Let’s read the verse> As soon as we wake up, we think of how we will survive for the day. So, we go to work and do chores we don't want to do. We go to meetings that could have been done through email. Do all the paperwork that nobody wants to fill up. Question: Was that what God intended for you and me? TRISHA: Yeah. If God is good, why did He have to make us work? Why can't we just relax? But if we look at the first page of the Bible, we'll see how God intended work to be. In the Bible, we read that the very first worker was God. In Genesis 1, He showed us how He worked. He brought light. He separated the waters so that life could live in it. He created dry land. He made livestock. He made vegetation. Work was made for beauty and for benefit. God created these things because He wanted humans to benefit from the world He created. That's how He imagined work

Talk BRO. BO SANCHEZ: This Course that will happen for seven weeks will change your life and will save some of you -- your family and your health. I need to tell you this: There are some of you in this room whose current lifestyle is depleting little by little. You don't know it but it's siphoning your health and your family. In a way, it's also taking away your love, inner peace and joy. It's collapsing the infrastructure of your life. I'm telling you: You need this 7-week Course. So, extend your hands towards the Word, Everybody, and just sing this with me, with faith: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. God rested. But here we are acting like supermen, superwomen, acting like little gods -- not resting. I want to preach this Word for you: "Let God be God." Put your hands on your chest and say: "Jesus, speak to me. Change my life. Reconfigure my schedule. But most of all, my heart. Bless these seven weeks. In Jesus' Name. Amen.” Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.  Happy Fathers' Day again. I don't have a dad anymore. He has been in Heaven for years now. But I really thank God for Community. I said last week no one can replace a mother’s hug. And I know that no one can replace a father’s' hug, either. One day, in Heaven, my dad will embrace me. But while I am waiting for that day, I'm surrounded by family and people I love. Before you sit down, can you just hug some people around you? If it's too weird for you, then don't do it. But if you're comfortable, then give some people a hug. Yes, we need each other. We're more fragile than we think we are. We think we're strong but we're more vulnerable than that. Tell somebody beside you: "God will speak to you today." Is This You? Raise your hand if you agree that people are tired. Whenever I go around and I ask people, "How are you?" One of the most common answers I get is: "I'm tired but still beautiful." I have yet to hear someone say, "I'm rested and I'm gorgeous." We're an exhausted bunch of people. I will describe to you in one sentence the human condition today: We normally say, "You're so OA or overacting." But now, I will say, "You're so OU-- overworking but underliving." OU is the phenomenon that is happening right now. OU is a pandemic. Millions of people are living this way. If what I will describe will resonate with you, raise your hand and say, "That's me." But if you think that the person beside you is doing what I am describing but his hand is down because he's in denial, I want you to get that arm and raise it. How many of you have no energy to engage

TalkBRO. BO SANCHEZ: Welcome to the last talk of our series, FEELS. In the past five weeks, we discussed the more difficult emotions such as Shame, Fear, Anger, Sadness, and Jealousy.Thanks be to God, today we'll be talking about Happiness.Are you happy? I want to warn you that not all are happy with happy because there are ways by which we can be toxic about happiness and that's what we'll unearth later on.What Is Happiness?I'm going to preach on this message that it's truly about the goodness of God. What's the definition of happiness?For me, it's a feeling of goodness.Popular illustrator Lynn Schulkins has this bunch of doodles that describe what happiness is...Happiness is a good cup of coffee.It can be a cup of hot choco or a hot matcha too. For a friend of mine-- whom I will not disclose because it'll be hazardous to my health-- happiness is a soju bottle (Korean alcoholic beverage).Happiness is a back scratch.  How many of you can relate? I can relate. If somebody is giving me a back scratch, it's my first installment to Heaven. I feel so good.Happiness is an extra hour in bed. I cannot relate. I love waking up early. But I have friends who feel they won the Lotto if they have an extra hour in bed --and they do not have to wake up to the sound of the alarm clock. Happiness is travel.As my auntie   would say,"You have a mole on your foot." Happiness is a foot massage.    When my wife and I got married, I told her that there are five languages of love according to Gary Chapman. The first one is Words. The second one is Gifts. The third one is Service.The fourth one is Time.The fifth one is Foot Massage.My love language is foot massage.Happiness is growing old with you.I'm not just talking about couples.I'm talking about old friends.When I'm with my old friends whom I've served God with for 20-40 years,  it feels so good.Happiness is a mother's hug.This is bittersweet for me.My mom passed on many years ago. She's in Heaven.The older I got, the more I realized that you cannot replace a mother's love. No one can give that to me anymore. I miss it.One day, I know that I will receive that again.   Feeling of GoodnessThat’s what happiness is.The ones I mentioned are the simple joys of life. My suggestion is that when you go home, make a list of the simple joys that God has given to you and thank Him for each of them. Happiness is also about the fruit of our work-- such as graduating from school. Happiness is accomplishing goals. Happiness is a birthday. Happiness is closing a sale.How many of you just love your work?  You love your work-- and it’s good.It’s a gift from God. This overflow of goodness, when did it start?We’ll find out as we read God’s Word:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.Read with me:My Friends, we

TalkBRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:We're talking about emotions. So far, we have covered Fear, Anger, Shame,  and Sadness. Today, we're talking about this delicate emotion called Jealousy.How many of you know what it feels like to be jealous?Even if we don't admit it, we get jealous, right? Some of you might be jealous right now of the persons standing next to you because they had more rest this week. They're carrying their luxury bag-- while the only ones you have are your eyebags.How do we look at jealousy in the context of how God sees it?Open your Bible at the Book of Genesis Chapter 4:1-5 about the two children of Adam and Eve:Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant.When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. --Genesis 4:1-5 NLT The GiftsIn the story, we have two brothers -- Cain and Abel.Cain was a farmer who brought crops to the Lord. Abel was a shepherd who brought lamb.We don't know why God did not accept the gift of Cain but accepted the gift of Abel.But thank God, the Book of Hebrews explained it to us:While I was studying this, it seemed to me that sometimes, we can give God a gift. But if we don't give with faith, it's unacceptable to the Lord.How do we know if we're giving a gift with faith?I do not know. Because we don't see each other's faith. One thing I perceive-- what Abel’s gift makes him a righteous man was that he didn't expect anything in return-- unlike Cain didA righteous person is someone who can give but not expect something back.The problem with Cain was he gave to God-- but only as his response to how God reacted to the occasion...which aroused his emotion of jealousy.I pray that the message today is something that you need. Preach this to your seatmate today: "Entrust your desires to God."Lord, this is Your Word. It's alive and active. But until we put it into practice, it'll be meaningless. In the few precious times that we are together, we ask You to be the conductor of this symphony. Allow Your Word to sink deep in each one's heart so that no thief can take it away from us. Thank You, Lord. We hear You loud and clear. This is our prayer, in Jesus' Name. Amen.Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. When Jealousy Kicks

Talk BRO. BO SANCHEZ: Today, we will be talking about Sadness. I don't like talking about sadness. How many of you want to be happy? To be happy, we have to talk about Sadness. But the problem is this: If you think that happiness is the goal of life, what happens is we look at sadness as the enemy-- but it’s not. What we do is try to get rid of it as fast as we can but that's not the way to go. Preach this to yourself and to somebody beside you: “The Lord heals the broken.” Let’s sing it again: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. Sadness: Enemy or Gift? If happiness is the purpose of life, is sadness the enemy? The answer is No. But that's why a lot of people try to get rid of sadness. They do that by overeating, overworking, over-Tiktoking, and over- Netflixing. When people are sad, that's how they cope. They try to get rid of sadness or escape it. We learned from this series that difficult emotions carry special gifts. So, sadness also has a gift. We'll find out what that is. When do we experience sadness? When we experience losing a loved one, money, material things, opportunity, boyfriend, girlfriend, or friend who migrated elsewhere. To understand sadness better is to liken it to physical pain. When you say it hurts, you may be referring to physical pain or emotional pain. A freak thing happened to me. I visited a friend at his house. I entered through the door. I bumped my head on the top door frame. Bang! I saw shooting stars. My head throbbed with pain. The only consolation was that I felt I was 6'8” tall. My friend was very apologetic, "Bro. Bo, I'm sorry. Welcome to my hobbit house. All of our family members are below 5 feet tall. So, all of us are cute. You are not." He gave me some ice which helped to massage that sore spot. I had to pass through the door again when I was about to leave. It was hilarious. The entire cute family placed five pairs of hands on my head to guard the injury as I walked through the doorway. My friends, I tell you that story because that is the role of pain. Do you know that there are people who do not experience pain? It is a rare condition called CIP or Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. They don't feel any pain which makes it such a dangerous condition. They cut themselves or they break a bone yet they don't feel pain. To be graphic: Imagine that you have CIP. Some of your friends came by your house unannounced one morning to have breakfast. You started frying eggs in the kitchen. Then, 370°F hot burning oil dripped onto your foot. You had second-degree burns. Your foot looked like sushi-- blisters are popping out from your skin. But you

TalkToday, we are in Talk 2 of the series, Feels, Why our Emotions Matter.The topic for today is Fear.How many of you know it is like to feel fear? What is your greatest fear?May I share with you what my two greatest fears are?My first greatest fear are cockroaches. The greatest nightmare for anyone who is afraid of cockroaches is not when you see them, it's when they disappear in front of you. I don't know about you but I am the type who will turn my house upside down just looking for that one cockroach. I don't care if I lose sleep or late for work the next day. I'm going to look for that one cockroach to send it to cockroach heaven. Especially, I’m going to do it quickly-- before it realizes it has ability to fly.Which, by the way, that’s my second greatest nightmare: cockroaches that fly. Don’t you just hate it when cockroaches think they can fly? For some reason, when they fly, they always seem to fly to you. You’re their landing strip-- like they’re magnetized by you.We have different fears. Fears come in different faces. What might scare you might not scare me and vice-versa.But here's the truth: Our fear is always real. It happens first in our mind. That's where it begins. But when you let fear marinate in your mind, I'm telling you, you'll go from bad, to worse, to worst.From Chaos to CreationI remember my friend, BG. One time, he started developing cough. It was so persistent that in the evening, he was still coughing.He started to consult Dr Google -- everybody's doctor. Before the night ended, that cough had already turned into cancer-- in his mind. Why? Because he was truly afraid. It was a mild sickness, but it grew in his mind.Does fear come from God? No. The Bible says in the beginning of Creation, there was nothing except for chaotic waters, which was darkness, was a representation of fear.So, God replaced chaos with Creation. You can say that God did not create fear. Timothy says: "For God has not given us the spirit of fear. Instead he has given us power, and of love, and self-discipline." -- 2 Timothy 1:7Romans itself says that God can still use your fear-- and He can use every emotion that you have for the good. That's how good God is.Let us read the Word of God. Everybody, let’s sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.No FearWe open our Bible and talk about fear. I think that this is the best place we can park our hearts for a moment. The Word comes from 1 John 4:16 NLT:Put your hands over your chest, and say this with me:Lord, speak to me. I’m listening.You know what I’m going through. Right now, I need Your wisdom.Be here with me, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.Let’s thank the Lord, and sing once more in His honor:Thy Word is a Lamp unto

TalkINTRODUCTIONBRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:I want to introduce our complicated and technical series calledFEEL: Why Your Emotions Matter.While there are some people who are good at managing their emotions, some of us are not very good at that. Why? We have two reasons:We have trouble labelling ourWe have trouble leading ourThose two problems go hand-in-hand. You cannot lead something that you're unable to label. If you cannot label it, you cannot lead it. What you cannot name, you cannot tame. Our goal in the next five Sundays is to learn how to navigate our emotions-- not just to label and lead them, but so we can love God, others, and ourselves better.Our goal at the end of our series is that when you feel like praising God, then you praise Him. When you feel like saying "Amen," then you shout it.We Filipinos are so shy about our emotions. We learned from our parents that whenever we expect guests at home, we need to dress up the place because it's nakakahiya-- shameful-- when we’re not properly dressed.We are afraid of what might people say. It's our culture. But we want to stray away from that. We want to get in touch with how we feel.Jesus Grappled with EmotionsEmotions have been there since time immemorial. It started even before the Creation of the world. It's not a 15th century invention.In the Old Testament, in the Book of Psalms,David had so many extreme emotions.One time, he was joyful. The next time, he was praising the Lord. The next minute, he was lamenting.That's why lament is a word that means prayer through intense pain. That's why you see David grappling through his emotions.But so did Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus grieved over the death of His friend,Lazarus. The Bible says that Jesus was enraged (when he saw people turning the Temple grounds into a marketplace). So, He turned over the tables at the Temple.Jesus felt emotions.But so does God. The Bible says that the Lord felt anguished when the Israelites turned away from him.People have two extreme spectrums when it comes to emotions.1. LogicalThese are for people who feel through their mind. They always have a rational explanation to what they feel.2. EmotionalThese are for people who basically feel everything. They are those who like to speak out what’s in their mind. They wear their heart on their sleeves.Two Kinds of Emotions:a. Cry like a waterfallb. Erupt like a volcanoThere is nothing wrong with both emotions. There are those who don't belong to any of those two-- people who have mixed emotions. Sometimes, they're logical. Sometimes, they're emotional.We want to know how to sort our feelings so we will know how to communicate them, how to embrace them, and how to learn from them so we can bring even the most difficult pains to the Lord. BRO. BO SANCHEZ:We're going to talk about shame today. My one big message is:You are already loved.Where did shame start? It's in the first two pages of the Bible.We

INTRODUCTION BRO. BO SANCHEZ:I came from Korea. Saranghae!I brought my bike there, so I did biking every day.I try to bring my bike wherever On YouTube, there are videos there on how to lighten your bike. The lighter your bike, the faster you go and the easier you pedal. That's the reason people buy light bikes. There are videos there on how to change your bike handle to something lighter, change the fork to carbon, change your seat and your wheels to something thinner...But you see, when I bike, I'm not after speed. My goal is not only to strengthen my heart and my lungs but to develop muscles. Because of my busy schedule, I bike only for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. I want to make the most out of it. My goal is not speed but strength, so I got a heavy bike which is 12 kilos.I also put my bag there which has my water, my books, my tools for my vlog, my gadgets-- I have two mobile phones.The GoalThe point I'm driving at is this:Life is a journey.Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon.The goal is not speed but strength.People ask me: "Bro. Bo, where do you go when you ride your bike?"I answer, "To a coffee shop."I bike to a coffee shop. In there,I drink my coffee. I pray. I read. I love it!But the destination is not the coffee shop. I can ride a car to go to the coffee shop. The goal of the trip is not the coffee shop. The goal of the trip is to gain strength.What is the goal of your life? Is it to go to Heaven? I'm telling you:Yes and No.We all want to go to Heaven. We talked about this last Easter Sunday. Heaven is not a place for ethereal souls floating on clouds. Heaven is going to be corporal, physical, and amazing. But Heaven is not the goal.The goal of your life is to gain spiritual strength. The goal of your life is to become more like Jesus.Do you know how to become spiritually stronger? It's when you go through difficulty.Say this after me: "I will take up my c ross."Trials in your life are crosses but so are responsibilities. When you take responsibility, you gain spiritual muscle. You do things you're not supposed to do.Think about it: Why should I serve the Lord for 40-plus years?It's a responsibility that I do not need. But when I started to be responsible for the people in my life, I became stronger. I've got 200 hundred employees in my business. I'm responsible for them. I wake up in the morning and I think about them. My business must grow because if not, 200 families will starve. They are my responsibility and it's difficult. But guess what? It's good! I'm getting stronger.When God calls you to do something, say Yes even if it's difficult. Do it even if it's something you don't want to do.We all