Special Talk: Thrive

2022-09-03T14:40:48+08:00

Talk BO SANCHEZ: We are so privileged that today we have a financial expert to share the stage and give a message to you on how to have multiple income streams. Because we just ended our series on Genesis last Sunday and for the next four Sundays, we will be working and focusing on money, finances, bringing these into the Lordship of Jesus. And our speaker is Rex Mendoza. If I will describe all that he does, it will take 28 minutes. He is the director of 20-plus companies. I have no idea how he does that. Two of those companies are already publicly listed — Globe Ayala Logistics, probably you also know that name. He is the founder of Rampver, the biggest distribution of mutual funds in the country. He is, of course, the husband of the beautiful woman beside him right now-- Anna. And they have three beautiful children. My dear friends, he is one of the biggest blessings of my life. And I want you to welcome Rex Mendoza. REX MENDOZA: This is an answered prayer. Bro. Bo knows that I say a prayer every day-- more than once-- and each prayer has the requests, the asks, the wishes, and the hopes. Three of those stanzas I’m going to be sharing with you today because they cut through what I want to share with you. 1. First Line of Prayer The first one goes like this: Lord God, I pray that you bless me with the power to effectively inspire and influence the people who I will have the opportunity to touch so that I can make a massive positive difference in their life. So, when I got this invite, to speak on a topic involving Thrive, how could I say no? How could I not take this as an opportunity to share with all of you that we can go beyond limitations? We can go beyond all of these that would have limited us. How many of you would like to help brothers, sisters, parents? We all like to help them. Let’s go beyond family and loved ones. How many of you would like to help the needy, the people who ask you for help — even if you don’t need them? A clincher question is: How can we do that if we don’t have enough? How can we do that if we, ourselves, don’t have enough? How can we help the needy if we, ourselves, don’t have enough? So, that’s the reason that when we think abundance, we think thriving-- it has to come from God. It has to be an anchor here that He likes us to realize, He likes us to imbibe and embrace. And for that reason, I studied and sought guidance. And I chanced upon this verse: Proverbs 10:4-5 (above). You know, I’m never really too fond of reading the Bible but when I got close to Bro. Bo, I forgot to read all the other (books). I got so

Special Talk: Thrive2022-09-03T14:40:48+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 9 – God Turns Curse into Blessing

2022-08-27T14:09:51+08:00

Talk Talk 9: BO SANCHEZ: Last talk on our series on Genesis today, Talk 9. We have been super-duper blessed. Just working through, navigating through, Genesis. Can you actually say that you know more about God’s Word and you know more about Genesis and you heard the Lord in our series on Genesis? We were blessed by that series. Amen. Today, I want to preach the message: God Turns Curse into Blessing. I want to share a bit about my story. When I was a kid, growing up, I didn’t like to read. Do I have classmates here? I would rather watch the whole day cartoons than read 10 minutes of a book. That was me. And so, all my academic life, I just had bad grades —even until my college days. I probably had mild dyslexia—that was undiagnosed. Because when I would read the words, the letters would just invert themselves. My Childhood Story The only thing I remember, when I was a kid, I took up a spelling quiz and there were 20 words to be spelled. And I was able to spell correctly only two words. It was horrible—18 words I could not spell correctly. I could not understand why receive was spelled with an ei, and believe was spelled with an ie. I mean, who makes these rules? So, there I was. What made it even worse was, you know, I lost all confidence in school. Because not only where my grades bad—I share this always—I was not good in sports. Some of my classmates, they were not good with their grades, but at least they were terrific in sports. I wasn’t. You know, in PE (Physical Education), we were required to play basketball. And I did not know how to play. I remember, I would be dribbling the ball, walking, and then I would trip on the ball, I would fall flat on my face. I would look around me and everybody is laughing. But guess who was laughing the loudest? My PE teacher. So, that was life. To make it worse, I was an incurable introvert. I liked being alone. I didn’t like being with a lot of people—which made me a perfect target for bullies. And so, when I was growing up, I was bullied. I remember watching the movie Spiderman, and I saw Peter Parker being bullied by his classmates. It was so surreal. Because, oh, my gosh, that was me. But, of course, in the movie, Peter Parker becomes Spiderman and he beats them up, right? https://www.google.com/search?q=peter+parker Well, I became a Jesus- follower-- at the age of 12— which gave more reasons for the bullies to bully me. That was my story. Curse to Blessing I also already shared my story that when I was eight years old, I was molested, and that traumatized me. And so, you could say that a huge chunk of my childhood was miserable. And there was a part of me that felt that my

Blessing and Curse: Talk 9 – God Turns Curse into Blessing2022-08-27T14:09:51+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 8 – The Lord is with you

2022-08-27T13:48:20+08:00

Talk Talk 8: SAY, “The Lord is with you.” We’re almost to the finish line of the book of Genesis. Today, we are going to talk about an Old Testament character and one of you might probably know this guy already. He’s pretty famous. His name—a very common name— is Joseph. In the Bible, you’ve got St. Joseph in the New Testament. But in the Old Testament, there is this one guy called the Dreamer. You know, you guys are also dreamers – when you’re in the office, Day Dreamers. So, Joseph is a very famous guy. Quick, quick trivia about Joseph: Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob. Remember, we’re studying the family of Jacob? Jacob had 12 sons. Can you imagine that? In our family, we’re only two, and it already takes big effort to relate to one another. Imagine 12 children! History Repeats Itself So, Joseph was the youngest child of Jacob. And they were 12 siblings altogether. You know how it is in families. Filipinos would probably know this— when the youngest is often the favorite. We’re a family of three. I'm the youngest. I think the reason the youngest is the favorite is when you’re a parent, normally, with your first child, you want to perfect parenting, you’re so controlling, you want to make sure you get this right. But when the second kid comes, you’re a little more relaxed, laid back, you know, it’s okay. But normally, when you get to your third kid, onwards, that’s when you let go: “Basta humihinga, okay na.—As long as the kid is breathing, and there’s no blood, it’s fine.” That’s why, sometimes, it’s the bunso, the youngest, who feels like, “Bakit hindi kasing-strict si Daddy at si Mommy sa akin? Why are Daddy and Mommy not so strict with me?“ Kasi sawa na sila-- sawa na silang magalit-- they are already tired of getting angry. ‘Yun ang narasan ko, e-- That was my experience. My parents were so tired of disciplining the first two children, so when it came to me, “Ahh, that’s it.” Joseph’s case was like this. In Genesis 37:33, this is how the author describes Joseph: So, because of this, the brothers hated him. You know, in life, there is what's called generational curse or generational sin— it’s sin passed from one generation to the next. It’s a dysfunction that you pass on to your children, your children’s children. That’s why, you know, if you’re not careful, history will repeat itself—if you don’t break that curse. Generational Dysfunction At this moment, the Genesis author is telling us that there is a generational dysfunction in the family of Abraham. What is that dysfunction? It’s called favoritism. All the way from Abraham. What did Abraham do? Abraham favored Isaac over Ishmael. And then we see that Isaac did the same thing—Isaac favored Esau over Jacob. And now we see that Jacob is doing the same exact thing—favoring Joseph over his 11 siblings. You know, as

Blessing and Curse: Talk 8 – The Lord is with you2022-08-27T13:48:20+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 7 – Let God Win

2022-08-13T14:45:14+08:00

Talk Talk 7: BO SANCHEZ: When I was 17 years old— not too long ago— I met, for the first time, one of the biggest spiritual mentors in my life. His name: Mike Joseph. And Mike Joseph looks like Saddam Hussein. I would travel with him and every time we would travel, he would always have a difficult time with Immigration. We would be lined up and the Immigration officer would just spot him, pull him aside— so we needed an extra hour because they would bring him to an ante-room for some questioning. He’s in heaven now and for the first time in his life, he has no problems with Immigration. He holds a very special place in my heart. Courting Style Mike Joseph— spiritual giant, a man who founded many, many ministries, really close to God. As a 17-year-old kid, I came up to him, and I said, “Mike, can you be my spiritual mentor?” And he said, “Yes.” I was so delighted. We sat down together for the first time, and he started asking me questions— about me, what I was doing. And then he popped this question: “Bo, do you have a girlfriend?” I smiled, and I said, “Yes! Just a few days ago, it was my birthday, and she said, ‘Yes!’” I told him the cute story of how it happened: She was a member of our Community, was a member of the Music Ministry, I had a crush on her. And a few days before my birthday, I said, “Can we meet in the Pink Sisters’ Chapel* to pray?” Style! So, she agreed. And on my birthday, at the appointed time, we met. And her first question was, “Where are the others?” I said, “Just the two of us.” I escorted her into the chapel, we knelt, I held her hand, and then I prayed: Lord, thank You, for this beautiful relationship that we are entering into. Thank You for Your blessing. Amen. You know, my eyes were closed, but I knew that she was staring at me with her eyes bulging out, her jaw on the floor. And then after I said Amen, she said, “What just happened?” I said, “We’re now boyfriend and girlfriend.” For some reason, she did not object. Style! *The Pink Sisters is a society of contemplative nuns known as Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters with a convent in Tagaytay City. The order was founded in Steyl, Holland, in 1896 by Saint Arnold Janssen who chose the color pink for the sisters’ habits because, in the words of Sister Mary Amatrix, “the rose-colored garment symbolizes the glowing love for the Holy Spirit.” Calling… So, I was telling the story to Mike. And Mike Joseph was just laughing and laughing, and then he tells me something unexpected. He said, “Bo, I have a suggestion. At this age, at this season of your life, having an exclusive relationship will shrink your world— at a time when you should be expanding it.

Blessing and Curse: Talk 7 – Let God Win2022-08-13T14:45:14+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 6 – You’re Already Blessed

2022-08-06T02:56:28+08:00

Talk Talk 6: BO SANCHEZ: Can everybody say, “You’re already blessed.” You’re already blessed. You really are. “Bro. Bo, hindi pa. May utang pa ako. —Not yet. I still have debt. I owe someone P100,000. And I still do not have P100,000. I’m not yet blessed.” No. Let me say it again: You already are blessed. Why? Because last week, I said this— we said this together— that the greatest blessing is not money. Not things. The greatest blessing is Life with the Blesser. That’s our greatest blessing. Do you have the Blesser with you? Do you have the Blesser in your life? Yes? Then you are already blessed. Put your hand over your chest and say “I’m already blessed.” Worry Is Irrational The other thing is this: Let’s say you do owe P100,000— or even P1 million. You know what, even if the money is not yet there, we believe this— I believe this: that whatever you need to earn that money, you already have. You got to believe in that. You really do. Now, why am I talking about money? Because I am going to share a bit personally to start the message. In the past few months— this is a confession— I, Bo Sanchez, have been having worries about a challenge to my finances. Personally— thinking and worrying about my finances. When I share that to my friends, you know what they say? “Ows, ikaw? Ang yaman-yaman mo. You? You’re very rich.” Now, let me qualify that. Yes, God has blessed my finances. I share this and I teach this— because I am a financial teacher. I teach people to invest. And so, I’ve been investing — I practice what I preach. Over the past 20-plus years, God has blessed my finances by leaps and bounds. But what I’ve learned over living on this Planet for more than five decades is that worry is irrational. If you worry, you understand how many, many times, it’s not rational. It’s like if you take one step backward, you look again at the situation, you realize, yes, you have a problem, and you’re worried about that problem. Then you look at your whole life, and you say, “My gosh, I’m so blessed.” But no, the problem is there sticking like a sore thumb. I also teach people how to build many income streams. I tell people do not just have one —you need to have many. Fr. Mario was talking about this: that if you are blessed, it’s really to bless other people. So, why not be blessed more, why not earn more so that you can give more? So, I tell people to have multiple income streams so that if one fails you, you’ve got a few more. And so, I practice that. My Worries So, let me give you an idea of my worries. I have seven income streams. Four of them, I dedicate to the ministries— whatever I earn there I give and support the ministries.

Blessing and Curse: Talk 6 – You’re Already Blessed2022-08-06T02:56:28+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 5 – You Never Graduate From trusting God

2022-07-30T14:09:12+08:00

Talk 5:   BO SANCHEZ: I want you to say this with me: “You never graduate from trusting God.” We never graduate from trusting God. There is no point in your future where you say, “Trusting God, kayang-kaya ko na ‘yan. Been there, done that. That’s something I’m an expert in.” There is no point in your life, in your future, where you say, “Yeah, I’ve handled that already. I’m okay.” Because I believe for the rest of our life, we will always struggle with trusting God. And that’s okay. It really is. I don’t care if you’re 300 years old following the Lord, or you have four Ph. D.s in Theology from Rome. You know, you will still have a battle with trusting God. My belief is trusting God is so important. Why? Because our obedience to God depends on it. We don’t obey God because we don’t trust Him. That an obedience problem is always a trust problem. 5 Lessons To Be Happy Let me take a pause and tell you a story. I attended a birthday party in my neighborhood. The birthday celebrator is very young—only 95 years old. She is a woman who had a stroke 30 years ago. So, for the past 30 years, she has been stuck in a wheelchair. And so, she should have been miserable. But when I entered the gate, she had this beautiful smile, waved at me, and said, “Bro. Bo, I’m 95 and I’m happy!” And so she started telling me her life story. Sitting beside her was so beautiful and so wonderful to listen to. And I was able to pick out five lessons about why she is happy. 1.Give and expect nothing in return. I mean, I preach this, right? But listening to a 95-year-old woman say that—"give without expecting anything in return” —I really believe that a lot of people are in pain and it is useless pain. Why? Because they give with expectations. And so, that was refreshing to hear. 2.See blessings everywhere. I was talking to her and in every sentence, she said, “Thank You, Lord, Thank You, ” On and on. Grateful people are happy people. Yes? You know what? My belief is that grateful people are not only happy people. Grateful people are rich   people. Because wealth is not measured by how much money you have. It’s measured by how grateful you are. 3.Put people over things. She was not materialistic. She would say, “You know, I’d rather help You know there are so many people who are suffering more than I am suffering.” 4.This, whoa, this surprised She prepared financially. She did. For 40 years, she was a schoolteacher. And with her sister, she kept on saving. Her sister is 80+. They’ve been retired for the longest time. They’re just living off the interest of their investments. Ang galing. Very good. Being a financial teacher, I was saying, ”Wow, these things work!” 5.She lets God keep her company the whole

Blessing and Curse: Talk 5 – You Never Graduate From trusting God2022-07-30T14:09:12+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 4 – Blessed To Be a Blessing

2022-07-22T19:13:01+08:00

Talk Talk 4: Blessed To Be a Blessing BO SANCHEZ: Everybody say, “I’m blessed to be a blessing.” Just in case there are some here-- and I know that there are -- who do not know my backstory, here’s a summary: I’ve been a missionary for 43 years. I’m ancient. But within those 43 years, the first 18 years were the years when I had a distorted theology of money. I did not like money during that era of my life. I was allergic to it. In my mind, I saw money as evil. Business was bad and I remember one day, during that time, there was this one person who came up to me, handed me a thick envelope. I opened it— P50,000. This was during a time when P50,000 was P50,000. And I remember he told me, “Bro. Bo, this is not for Ministry. I want to give this to you. I felt God wanted me to give this to you for your needs.” I said, “Thank you very much.” Two hours later, I was giving that envelope to a friend that I knew had a desperate need. Two hours after. I did not want money to be in my hands longer than two hours. It’s like, I didn’t like it. But during those 18 years, I remember, my heart was torn almost every day because I would see people with financial needs. Grinding Pain Some of those who were in a dire situation were my fellow missionaries. They would tell me, “You know, Bro. Bo. Wala kaming pang-tuition para sa aming mga anak. – We have no money for tuition fee of our children” You know, they were married, they have kids. One of them told me, “Yung Nanay ko nasa ospital. – My mother is in a hospital. We have no money to bring her out.” You know, again and again, these were what people would tell me… And you know what… Ah, how I would compare it? Like my heart was going through a blender, a grinder. Every single day, I would feel their pain. And you know, when you feel pain-- this massive-- you would think crazy thoughts. And I started entertaining “heretical” thoughts—at least during that time: What if I earned as much as I can so that I could give as much as I can. Those were days when I started thinking: What if the ultimate purpose of money was to love people? You know, today, people who have been attending The Feast, you’ve heard me say that again and again. But during that time, whoa, they were like, “Gosh, is this coming from the Lord?” I had so many doubts. But then as the years went by, I began to change my beliefs. When you change your beliefs, you know what happens? Usually, your behavior changes. When your beliefs change, your behavior changes. And then my life began to change. And my finances began to change, and I began to

Blessing and Curse: Talk 4 – Blessed To Be a Blessing2022-07-22T19:13:01+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 3 – Your God Weeps

2022-07-16T14:40:46+08:00

Talk 2 BO SANCHEZ: The Word I want to share with you today consists of three words. These powerful words: Your God Weeps. Three words. Three words that I hope will be a dagger that will pierce through subconscious pictures of God in your mind. Maybe not everybody, but some of you-- you have embedded subconscious images of a God that is aloof, that is sitting on a throne in the distance. Maybe with a permanent skull on the face—a displeasure, a repulsion. God is someone who is displeased. And yet we have here three words that we dug from a story in Genesis —a story that we all know. How many of you have heard of, know of, read about, listened to the story of Noah’s Ark? Most of you. A Parenting Story Let me begin with a story. Year 2007. I met a man who would change my life forever. He is today my financial mentor. His name: Edward Lee. One of the most, if not the best, stock market trader-investors this country has ever known—a very, very successful business owner. He called me up, asked me to have lunch with him. He changed my financial life. But what surprised me in our first lunch, I learned something very important-- about parenting. We were eating in this really expensive restaurant – he was paying. And then he began by saying, “Bro. Bo, I was born not in a rich family. My mother is a schoolteacher, my father, he’s a door-to-door salesman. And that’s why I believe that every Filipino can be rich.” And so he began with that statement and I loved it. I really did. Then he said, “By the way, I was a very bad student. I was failing in school all my life. Do you know, Bro. Bo, that I was so bad in school, I never finished college. I got kicked out.” At that moment, a waiter comes along while we were eating. I figured-- you know, this was an expensive restaurant-- that this waiter had a college degree. And here, in front of me, was someone who did not, and he’s a billionaire. So, I was curious. I wanted to know how did that happen… And he went on, saying, “You know, I was such a bad student. I was in grade school, I was this overweight kid, always sweating. Every day at class, I would sit at the back – to sleep. There were two doors in the classroom—one at the back— and my mother, being a teacher in that same school, every day, she would go to the back, through the back door, go to me, see me sleeping, pull me out. Then, because I was, you know, soaking wet with sweat, she would wipe the sweat off my back, and she would put powder on my back, and then send we back to the classroom. And I would sleep again.” His Mother Weeps I was wondering, like, how would

Blessing and Curse: Talk 3 – Your God Weeps2022-07-16T14:40:46+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 2 – Step On the Serpent.

2022-07-09T15:16:48+08:00

Talk 2: BO SANCHEZ: Today I want to preach on the message Step On the Serpent. I have a story I’d like to share with you from the Jurassic era of my life. When I was in Grade 6, I had a classmate— his name was Ariel. And you see, for some reason, there were only 4 guys in our class of 40. So, Ariel and I became friends. But immediately, I knew that he had lots of stuff that I didn’t have. The first one – the most obvious one—was that he was very, very intelligent. His grades were like rocketships. They danced up to the stars. Mine were submarines. They dove to the depths of the murky waters and darkness. Second, he was a star athlete. I mean—basketball, football, baseball— ang galing-galing niya.—he was very good. Me… never mind. You know, there was one time, I was playing Jackstone. So, imagine: I am sitting on the floor, and of course, I am losing. And then Ariel comes, sits down-- oh my gosh, star player in Jackstone! Do you remember the exhibition part? You’re supposed to have three loops—this guy has eight! Olympic-level Jackstone exhibition. Unfair! Oh, by the way, of course, guapo— handsome. I mean Ariel was guapo. Remember, 36 girls, 4 guys – so, he had a fans club of girls following him. I mean, at that time, I did not know what that meant-- at that time. Anyway, I kind comforted myself. You know, this guy may be brainy, this guy may be athletic…But I had one skill-- and I was proud of it. I knew how to draw. Like, Science notebook, Math notebook-- whatever notebook I had, half of them were filled with drawings. I loved drawing and I knew I was a good illustrator. Now, there was this one day, our Homeroom teacher, she had an activity for us. She wrote each of our names on pieces of paper, gathered the pieces, put them in a box. We were supposed to pick one-- and then, on the spot, create a greeting card for that person. And I said, “Hah, yes, my territory. I’m good here.” So, I drew my greeting card for my classmate, and I remember, it was Superman. Then it was time to give our greeting cards to each other. And lo, and behold, you know who picked my name? Ariel! Of course. He comes to me, gives to me his card, and my jaw dropped. The card looked like Hallmark. I mean, he drew this luxury ship – with the etching and shadows, and the color combination, and then calligraphy – professional-level calligraphy. You know what he wrote? This: I like red ships, I like blue ships, but most of all, I like friendship. —Ariel. You know, after that, I went to God and said, “Lord, naman, o. Why are You so unfair? You gave him so many talents, you did not give me one. Well, I have a little—drawing-- but

Blessing and Curse: Talk 2 – Step On the Serpent.2022-07-09T15:16:48+08:00

Blessing and Curse: Talk 1 – You’re Very Good

2022-07-03T15:41:36+08:00

Talk 1: You're very Good You're very Good BO SANCHEZ: I want you to put your hand on your chest, tell somebody beside you, “I’m beautiful. You’re beautiful. Welcome to out brand-new series, Blessing and Curse. For the next nine weeks, we’re going to dive into Genesis. That’s what we’re going to do and it’s going to do, and it’s going to be powerful. You might saying, Bro. Bo, Genesis? Pwede bang mag New Testament na lang tayo? Gospels? Letters of Saint Paul? Direct to the point: “All things work for good to those who love God.” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” But Genesis? Why? If you got to Jesus, in the Gospels, and the apostles, or the Pharisees, and the religious teachers, when they asked Him hard questions, Jesus would go back to Page 1 of the Bible. That’s what He would do. Genesis was very important to Jesus. And that’s why, we need to dive and study about Genesis. Eto yung problema—This is the problem: For most of us, modern people, every time you hear the word Genesis, we think about Genesis in a very different way. Genesis for us would be controversial questions. Controversial Questions Were Adam and Eve individual real human beings or symbolic? Did God really create the world in 7 days and thus, Planet Earth is only 6000 years old? But science will tell you the universe is really 13.7 billion —with a b— years old. So, ano ba talaga—what’s true, really? I have sad news for you. I won’t address these questions. Because the author of Genesis wrote is not a science textbook. Genesis was written for a very different purpose. He was not thinking about science concepts. He was not thinking about the modern scientific categories that we think about right now. Ancient Irrelevant Fairy Tales? Some people, look at Genesis and say they are just ancient, irrelevant fairy tales. Adam and Eve had a conversation with a talking snake . Hello? Noah’s Ark – Gaano ba talaga kalaki yung Noah’s ark—How big was Noah’s ark, really? Kasya ang lahat ng hayop --Containing every species of every animal in the world? And two pairs! Is Noah’s Ark made of wood? Were termites included? Moral Stories So many questions. Ancient fairy tales. No relevance to our personal life . My dear friends, if that’s what you think about Genesis, that’s a huge mistake. We’ll explain as weeks go by. Is Genesis a bunch of moral stories? A lot of people think so. If you grew up in church, you’d have looked at the characters, the personalities of the Bible— Abraham and Isaac and Jacob—as holy men, models of virtue. And therefore, you imitate them. For example, Abraham. Abraham—99 years old. Walang anak—no child. And then God says, “You will be the father of many nations.” And Abraham trusted God. Ang ganda ‘no? Nice, inspiring. But there is a problem. Very selective reading of the life story of Abraham

Blessing and Curse: Talk 1 – You’re Very Good2022-07-03T15:41:36+08:00