Talk BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA: We're going to take a passage from the Book of Matthew which is very appropriate in celebrating Easter. Most of us are familiar with this story. Before Jesus was crucified, certain events happened… Raised to Life: What It Means I pray that this resonates with you and in whatever stage in your life you are right now. Many times, we have also denied Jesus. complete humility and sincerity, let us pray: Father, we ask for Your forgiveness and mercy for the countless times we have turned against You. In this moment, we pray that Your mercy flows like a river in this place. We receive that forgiveness. We receive that mercy. Thank You, Jesus, for Your love that endures and forgives. Today, we want to know Your love even more. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path We are going to do a four-Sunday talk mini-series before we launch into another long series. This special series is called Raised to Life. We are going to try to answer the question: "What does it mean to be truly raised to life with Jesus?" What is the evidence that you are being raised by Jesus? It's through L.I.F.E: Two Reasons God’s Love Is Not Appreciated Sometime in 2021, when the Coronavirus Disease (COVID) Pandemic lockdown was lifted, we were able to have our first face-to- face Feast session at the Barcelona Academy in Bulacan. We called it FBA: Feast Barcelona Academy. A few months later, I was able to bring to FBA my wife Kristel and our son Ethan. I was so excited for Ethan to experience the Holy Mass. The moment the Mass started, Ethan was silent. He was observing everything. For ten minutes he was silent… Suddenly, he gripped and pulled my hand for me to lean down because he wanted to say something. Once I lowered, he said, "Dad, can we go home now?" Of course, I wasn't expecting him to appreciate the Holy Mass as he was only four years old at that time. I shared this story because I wanted to show you an example of how sometimes we fail to understand or even appreciate the love of Jesus that happens through the Holy Mass. We fail to understand the sacrifices of Jesus for us to give us this celebration. Why? Two possible reasons: We have a broken perspective of We have never fully experienced God's love. You cannot love without getting Even the band Nazareth sings: Love hurts... Love scars… Sometimes, when you love, there is pain. If you get love without getting hurt, then you have never really loved. Even God got hurt when He was rejected by many of us. But the difference between God's love and our love is that even if God gets hurt, He doesn't get tired of loving you. True Love There is no way to love people perfectly. Only God can do that.

Talk PART 1: The Two DisciplesThe disciples were in Jerusalem. They were broken-hearted and devastated because their hero was crucified and was no more. There were two disciples. One of them was named Cleofas. The other one didn't have a name.The Gospel writer, Luke, didn't tell his name. We don't know if the person was a guy or a girl. These two disciples were leaving Jerusalem… I repeat: they were discouraged, they were forlorn, they were giving up.They were walking to Emmaus (their hometown) which was seven miles away. That walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus symbolizes a person who is walking away from God, away from his spiritual community.At that moment, they were so devastated that their hero and their master is dead.They were leaving their community, they were leaving their friends, they were leaving their commitment.As they were walking, Jesus appeared but they didn't recognize Him.And Jesus, every step of the way as they were walking-- supposed to be away from God-- He was giving them a “Bible Study”-- He was revealing to them how the Old Testament was all about Him.Friends, please understand this. This is powerful. This message is intense:Even if you, you, you are walking in the opposite direction, your Jesus, He’s going to hang out with you. And He’s going to be walking with you. And He will not let you go. And He will chase after you and He will run after you.This is the Jesus that you have and that you worship. And so, He walked with them. Until the “Bible Study” was concluded in Emmaus.Then He broke bread. (Liturgy of the Word / Liturgy of the Eucharist).At the breaking of the bread, all of a sudden, their eyes were opened and they discovered Jesus.Then Jesus disappeared. Where did He go? Where else-- to Jerusalem – with His spiritual community.So, what did the two disciples do?“Oh, my gosh, it was Jesus! He was the one giving the Bible Study.Oh, He was the one breaking bread…” Where did they go? Let’s read:They Went Back to JerusalemLuke named only one of those two disciples: Cleofas, and the other one unnamed.I have a suspicion that Luke says, “You’re that other disciple.Put your name, write your name: You are the one who is discouraged. You are the one who wants to give up. You are the one leaving your spiritual community-- and leaving your God.But you cannot get rid of Jesus. He sticks to you.He says, “I will never leave you until you make a U-turn.” Until you say, “I belong there… This is the Jesus...”Shake the person beside you and tell that person: “Walk back to Jerusalem.”You need to go back to Jerusalem. You’ve been gone too long. God misses you.Let’s walk back to Jerusalem.Put your hand over your chest. Everybody say: Jesus, continue to move in my life. You are alive! Be alive in my life. Remove what is dead. Cut away what is not growing.Let me flourish. Let me be alive with You. Amen.

Talk BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:Thank you, Bro. Bo.For now, at this moment, I want you to lift your hands as we honor and give reverence to the reading of God’s Word.Let’s all sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path…We are on the fourth installment-- we’re almost wrapping up our series Messy Saints. We’ve been talking about the different problems that the people of Corinth had been experiencing.Let me give you the fourth one: about how the people of Corinth were gifted but they had divisive members.And I pray that the Lord minister to you. So, we’re taking a page from the Book of Corinthians-- Corinthians 1:13. Chances are, if you’ve ever sat through a wedding-- either you got married or somebody you know got married, you would be very familiar with this piece of Scripture. Paul said:And he said the most beautiful words:Preach that to yourself: Love is my highest goal. Lord, this is Your Word. And today it will unleash wisdom, and information, and change will happen in the life of your people. This is what we’re declaring in Jesus’ Name. Amen.One more time, Everybody:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path… Let Love be your highest goal.I want to take you through a timeline of how social media has evolved in this world. What is the trendiest social media platform nowadays?It's TikTok.But before TikTok, there was Snapchat. Before Snapchat, there was Twitter.Before Twitter, there was Facebook.Before Facebook, there was Multiply.Some of you probably sold some stuff in Multiply.Before Multiply, there was Myspace.Before Myspace, there was Friendster – this revolutionized social media.But before Friendster, there was ICQ. The young people don't know the struggle.ICQ was a chatroom where you could enter and chat with anybody. That was the first time in history where you could chat with any person around the world, and you wouldn't know who they were.This is where the ASL term was invented. It stands for Age, Sex, and Location. When somebody says ASL, you would tell them how old you are, your gender, and your location.Some of you don't know the struggle because back in the day, you had to dial up to get an Internet connection. Once connected, you get disconnected every 30 minutes. Why? Because you ran out of load. You would need another scratch card.The second reason you would get disconnected is that somebody lifted the landline. Young people today are so blessed because of WiFi.But before ICQ, what was the thing that you used so you could get to know someone? It was called the Slam Book -- a notebook that had random questions that would be answered by your friend so you could get to know him or her.Questions like, "What is your favorite color?" "What is your motto in life?"The most favorite question was, "Who is your crush?" For me, the hardest question that the Slam Book always had was, "What is love?"Your young mind wouldn't know

Talk BRO. DIDOY LUBATON:Excerpts…We can be correct in our ways but sometimes, it's not caring for others. Let me expound on that as we preach today.The third problem that Paul addressed to the Corinthians is this food offered to the idols.Should the people eat or not eat food offered to the idols?Our one big message for today is "Others First."Read with me 1 Corinthians 8:ConflictSome of you may be wondering what is happening.There are so many issues about the food!Here's the context:The Gospel was preached from Israel all over the world. The Gospel traveled across the nations.It also went up to the nation of Greece, in the middle of Corinth.Paul was tasked to preach to the Gentiles -- the non-believers. Since Paul experienced a conversion, he started to preach the Gospel which was really converting people to Christianity.It took a while but here it is:There are some churches of Christ's followers coming together from different places.Take note that people from Greece grew up with their mythology.They were surrounded by temples for Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Athena. The capital of Greece, which is Athens, comes from the worship of Athena, goddess of heroic endeavor and military victory.The people are used to offering animal sacrifices at the temple.Number 1 is clear. Christians know that they should not eat what was offered to the idol.But Numbers 2 and 3 are not clear-- a gray area.So, a conflict.The Food IssueImagine: In Corinth at that time, there was a wedding feast, there was a banquet, a birthday party, or a simple business meal in someone's home.Some of the hosts were not yet deep in faith.But some already were. For them, it was normal to include in their meal the meat from the temple.If you are a Christ follower already, you cannot be choosy about the food that the hosts have prepared for you. It would be impolite to ask if the meat came from the temple.This food issue was dividing people.Another context here is that Paul was a tentmaker.He was an entrepreneur. He didn't demand income from the church to sustain him. As an entrepreneur, he understood that it was not just about being formal and strict. It was all about relationships.What would a good Christian do at that time? Most members of the church in Corinth knew that food was good. They believed it was okay to eat the meat and that the people who were complaining should grow up.But some minorities of the Christian church in Corinth believed otherwise. And Paul needed to address this because it was already dividing the church and hurting the relationships.Here's a side note: If something is already hurting relationships, do something about it.Paul tried to address the food issue.To Eat or Not To EatThe question seems to be "To eat or not to eat?"But Paul knew that there was a deeper relationship problem that was dividing the church. That’s why he addressed it wisely.On the surface, it was a theological question-- but underneath, it was a pastoral question.

TalkBRO. JOHN BEN RODRIGUEZ:Sexual immorality was already happening back then. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 says:Honestly, this passage is harsh, right? Isn’t it we were talking about accepting and loving people in our previous series, Table Talks? Then why is the passage today like this? I'm quite confused. Are you?This is a good reminder that you cannot read the Bible as it is and apply it literally.You must look through the lens of the context of what was happening back then. Just a review: This series is about Paul’s personal letter to the Corinthians; hence, we cannot take it literally and apply it to ourselves.Why does Paul want to expel the guy?He was actually quoting Deuteronomy 17:7 NIV: “You must purge the evil from among you.”Are they condemning the one who is sinning? Are they canceling this person? That’s what we’ll find out today.What This Case is NOT About1. This passage is not about the church judging theIf you take it literally, you can misinterpret it-- that you must condemn people who are into sexual immorality.But no. This is about a church member of Corinth back then who was possibly a leader.The leader who was sinning was proud.Who among you here has management roles in your office? You know that this is an admin-level matter. You need to issue a memo if something like that is happening because a leader is sinning and is proud. In 1 Corinthians 5: 12-13 NIV, Paul says: For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside.So, it is not about judging other people who are sinning.A survey among young people asked: “Why don’t you attend church anymore?” The common answer was this: “Because Christians are self-righteous.”And sometimes, sadly, it’s a reality. Because everyone can be tempted to be self-righteous and judge others.That happens because sometimes, people misinterpret verses like these. That’s why we are clarifying this in our Bible study today.2. The passage is not about judging any church member whoReality check: Who among you here has never sinned? If you raised your hand you can already ascend with Jesus to Heaven. Even I cannot raise my hand. As human beings, we sin. Even the leaders, the preachers, and the priests do sin. Everyone falls short of the glory of God. Paul says that in Proverbs 24: 16:The Hebrew word for sin is khata which means misses the mark. Everyone misses the mark-- and that’s okay.If this is not about judging church members who sin, then what is this about? It is about the state of the heart.In Corinth, the leader who had been sinning was not repenting. He was proud of it. I want to encourage you that every time you sin, and you feel bad and you repent,That’s a good position that you must take.You must always come back and say, “Lord, I have sinned. I want to follow You again.”3. This is not about judging

TalkExcerpts…BRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:We’re starting a new series today called MESSY SAINTS. We’re going to take a deep dive into 1 Corinthians-- a letter from the apostle Paul to the people of Corinth.What’s awkward about this letter is that Paul is revealing the ugliness of what’s happening in Corinth. (Located in Peloponnese, Greece, now known as Archaia Korinthos.) He’s revealing skeletons in the closet. The letter was a private conversation between Paul and the Corinth community. The community was like a home church, like our Feast Lights which has 10-30 members per home. Most probably, a total of 150 parishioners.There are a few lessons to learn from 1 Corinthians:Paul knew the Corinthians He lived in Corinth for 18 months.Even if it’s labeled1 Corinthians, this is not the first letter. This is more like a reply to a letter they sent to him.After Paul lived in Corinth, he moved to Asia Minor. There, he received a letter from the people of Corinth. The letter said that there was a conflict in the community.So, Paul addressed them through 1 Corinthians. Paul addressed these five issues that were happening in church.Is something familiar to you? These are the same problems in home churches today.What was Paul trying to tell us? He was simply blasting our false idea that the church is perfect, like Heaven on Earth. If you expect the church to be perfect, you’ve got the wrong idea. As long as you are living on Planet Earth, the human church will always be chaotic.You don’t have to look far for proof. Look at your own life. Did your life become perfect when you started attending church? No! Then why expect church to be perfect? The people who head church are imperfect.Have you ever been questioned by some people, “Why do you get angry?You go to the Feast, right?”The perfect answer to that is this: “That’s precisely the reason I go to church-- I’m imperfect. I need God’s grace. I fail but at least, I’m in church. I learn from God.Let’s lift our hands as we all sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my pathCorinth ‘Saints’When you’re writing a letter or an e-mail today, the first thing you do is you write the name of the one who’s going to receive the letter, and then you put your name in the end.Back in the day, it was different. They wrote their names first and then addressed the people they were talking to.But what’s interesting in this Scripture is how Paul addresses the people of Corinth:Wait a minute… You mean to tell me that these guys who are disobedient, disunited, self-righteous people are called to be saints? There’s a disconnect somewhere.I might say the same thing about you. Did you know that you’re called to be saints? May I give you an analogy…If you’re building a house, the first thing that you’re going to do is you’ll go to your architect so he can draw designs. But the moment

Talk We’d like to open the Book of Luke, Chapter 4. We’re going to take a page from this amazing piece of Scripture that talks about why Jesus came into our world: How many of you believe that? May I share with you my favorite core memory here at The Feast? It happened many years ago. I think I’ve shared this a couple of times. If you are new here, I pray that you receive this with fresh ears and an open mind. Many years ago, I was serving here at The Feast. One day, at the end of our session-- we had two sessions in the morning-- I was on my way to my car out there in the parking lot when somebody came up to me-- somebody I had never met, somebody I had never seen ever. I knew that he was a first-timer and that he didn’t know me. Why? Because he called me Brother. That means he is a first-timer. And because he called me only Brother, he didn’t know my name. He said to me, “Brother, may I talk to you for a few moments?” I was like, “Sure. How may I help you?” Before I knew it, he was already telling me his whole life-- about the struggles that he was going through and how he was a recovering alcoholic. And because he was living with the bottle for many years, eventually his wife of eight or nine years, left him and she took their two kids with her. For Whom Our Church Exists To cope with the loneliness, the pain, and the loss of his family, he became addicted to drugs. And at the time we met, he had been taking shabu for almost eight months. That morning, he decided to take a stroll around the Cultural Center complex with no agenda whatsoever. Then he saw a group of people, many people just going to a single venue-- and he got curious. So, he followed them, and before he knew it, he was being ushered to a seat in this big, massive hall by some of the most well-dressed and well- mannered people. By this time, he felt completely out of place. He had no idea what he attended. Eventually, the Mass started. And there was a part of him that wanted to stay but another part wanted to leave. But that part of him that stayed eventually started participating. He listened and by the end of the Talk, he shared with me, he was reduced to tears. Because for a long while, he hadn’t felt the love of God in his life. And he knew right then, at that moment, that he wanted to fix his life. He said something that I will never forget. He said, “Brother, do you think that there’s a place for someone like me in your church and your community?” And at that moment, you know, I thanked the Holy Spirit spoke through me because the

Talk TODAY, I want to preach the message Love like Jesus.There is a person beside you who may need Jesus, who may need His love. Might be your husband or your wife. Might be your son or your daughter. Might be your mom or your dad. Or might be a friend. Or might be a stranger.Whoever that person is, I want you to be Jesus to that person and express the love of Jesus to that person. Either by handshake or a big hug, it doesn’t matter. Just express the love of Jesus to that person. Love like Jesus today.Fr. Mario loved us like Jesus this morning. Thank you so much. Always does. Thank you for the Word. Thank you for the Eucharist.So beautiful! What a gift!We want to thank our Worship Team for loving us like Jesus. Thank you.Thank you so much.Meet Engineer JunI want to tell you a story… Two weeks ago, I met this guy.His name is Engineer Jun. And his story is that at a very dark season of his life, he entered The Feast in Cebu.You see, Engineer Jun is a contractor. And you know, as a contractor, you give a little… I won’t bore you with the details…But two weeks ago, he was telling me that at that point, you know, things happened in his business thatwhen he entered The Feast in Cebu, he owed P120 million.If you were Engineer Jun, and you were buried under P120-million debt, how would you feel? Devastated. Hopeless. That’s how he felt.When he entered The Feast, not only did he have P120-million debt, he was being sued right and left by his suppliers.So, in his mind, he was saying, “That’s it. My life is over. It’s gone.”That’s when he walked into The Feast. And he started praying and he started worshiping. And then guess what happened?Somebody gave him-- of course, you’re a first-timer at The Feast, what do they give you? The Novena to God’s Love booklet.And that’s what he has there in his hand. There are spaces in the booklet for seven dreams you want to be fulfilled, right?He wrote: I will pay all my debts.He did not know how. But he wrote it down.The second he wrote was: All my court cases will be cleared.He did not know how that would happen. Okay?So, he kept writing his dreams. And then, No. 7, it was empty.And the first thing that came to his mind was: My wife, my family and I will go to the Holy Land.And as he was writing that, he was saying, “Ang dami ko ngang utang, paano ba ito?-- I have so many debts, how can this dream come true?”It was like impossible, right?Miracle at The FeastEngineer Jun walked into The Feast in Cebu in 2014. The servants there, they cared for him, they loved him.The leaders there spent coffee time with him. They just journeyed with him.Two weeks ago, Engineer Jun and I chatted, and he said, “All my debts have been

TalkWe are going to take a page from the Book of Acts today. It’s beautiful reading.But before I do that, I just want to ask you this question: How many of you here are introverts? The textbook definition of an introvert is somebody who prefers to be alone, not be with other people. Introverts are the kind of persons who prefer to be in a smaller group instead of a large group.Some of us are introverts and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m an introvert myself. But for some reason, the Lord trusts me enough to push me out of my comfort zone. But you see, one problem is when you’re an introvert, you struggle with small conversations. Like you have difficulty when it comes to small talk.Like you don’t like gaps in conversation. Are you like me-- who likes to fill the gaps in a conversation with random things because you feel uncomfortable in that moment, that brief moment of silence?The problem with introverts, when you come to church, is that sometimes, the preacher likes to say, ‘Touch your neighbor,’ or ‘Talk to your neighbor’.And some of you, you prefer having church online. I’m speaking to the ones who are in that virtual space because you prefer not having somebody right next to you. Not having to, you know, eyeball-to-eyeball and talk with somebody.So, there are people who are introverts. But there are also people who are extroverts. Praise God for people like you who make the world fun to live in.Two Reasons God Involves You in Building His KingdomYou see, I used to think like this: If the Lord can do anything-- and He can do everything-- why is it that the Lord requires introverts like me, introverts like you, to have to do something out of our comfort zone?In Tagalog, kung kaya naman ni Lord, bakit sa akin pa ipagawa? -- If the Lord is able to do it, why make me do it?You ever think like that sometimes? That the Lord is so powerful that He can just snap His finger and solve all of your problems and give you all that you need?And in case you’re somebody who thinks like that, let me just say this:If that’s the kind of God that you want, somebody who will just grant your every desire, you don’t need a heavenly Father. You know what you need?You need a sugar daddy. Somebody who's just going to give in to your every whim. But God is not like that. He’s a parent.Two reasons God wants us to participate in building His Kingdom here on Earth:God wants to grow you. The only way that you can grow is to step outside of your comfort zone. Because that’s where growth is. It’s outside your comfort. It’s in the grinding where we It’s in the working where we develop our faith.And so God wants you to grow.God loves you. Imagine a father who couldn’t care less… He would simply let alone his child,

Talk Friends, this is the Word of God. It’s alive and it’s active. And if you allow the Lord to speak, He is going to speak to you over whatever situation that you have. And I know you’ve got a situation that needs wisdom, that needs guidance. And so, we pray: Lord, that You will speak today through this message.  Let’s all sing together: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.  Let me just lay down the foundation of our Talk. We are in Talk 4 of our series called Table Talks. We are talking about the beauty of our Spiritual Community, The Feast, to which you belong. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of this spiritual family. We’ve been telling you about the uniqueness of our Community. Today, the title of our Talk is Damascus Road. There is this 500-year-old chismis-- gossip-- about a debate that is still talked about to this day. You’ve probably heard this at least once in your life. And it’s about a very strange topic-- about this question: How is a person saved? You might say, “Bro. Audee, so deep question, so early in the morning.” Well, this is not your regular Sunday lunch topic, you know, with your fellow gossips. This Topic Is Very Deep The reason I need to bring this out is I think the problem with a lot of us Christians-- I included-- is that we’re so at home in this world. Do you agree with me? We’re so at home in this world that we forget that this is not our permanent home. Our permanent home is with God and so, we need to talk about topics like this: How do you save your soul? There are many, a few schools of thought, that would answer this question. But I’ll give you the two most common ones. People say that you can be saved by faith. That’s one thought. Other people would say that you can be saved by good works. By good deeds. But because we’re Catholics, I’ll share with you our Catholic belief-- our stand on this issue: How we are saved. St. Paul teaches us this: That we are saved by grace. From Ephesians 2:8-9: Paul was saying you cannot earn salvation by your good deeds alone. It’s only by the grace of God that you are saved. And that is true. But it’s not the complete picture. It’s true that God saves you by His grace. You cannot earn it. But here’s the thought: Does it mean that if I give my life to Jesus, if I say that He is my Lord and my Savior, starting right now, I’m saved? Yes. That’s true. So, does it mean that I can go home and kill my very annoying neighbor-- but still be saved? It doesn’t make sense… What Grace Does That’s true: Grace saves you. But that’s not the only thing that grace does. Grace