Talk TODAY, I want to preach the message, God still trusts you. We’re about to read the popular story of the denial of Peter. Who doesn’t know this story? This tale is found in ALL four Gospels. So. even 2,000 years ago, the story was already a box office hit. Peter was clearly Apostle #1. The leader of the band. The first Pope of the Church. Yet why do we love talking about how he fell? But isn’t this like every single story in the Bible? You can describe the entire Old Testament as “How every anointed leader failed—from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Moses to David, Etcetera— but how God was still faithful.” Peter The Sinner Matthew showed Simon was not just Peter the Apostle but Peter the Sinner. Throughout his Gospel, he exhibited the guy’s many shortcomings in the full display-- but his denial topped the list. Let’s read how Jesus predicted that His disciples will abandon Him: On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” (Matthew 26:31-32 NLT, emphasis mine.) Let me pause here. Have you ever asked, “How could Jesus bear so much pain? So much suffering?” Obviously, He loved us. He suffered for love, that’s true. But here’s another reason: Jesus knew how the story will end. Friend, are you going through intense suffering right now? Remind yourself of how your story will end. Here’s a hint: At the last chapter of your life, you win. It may not look good now, but trust in Him. God has already won the battle for you. Peter’s Core Problem Let’s continue reading today’s passage… Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” 35 “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same. (v.33-35) Do you know what is Peter’s problem? Overconfidence. That’s the core problem of humanity.  Hey, I’m all for confidence. I love confidence. Confidence is essential to success.  But overconfidence will kill you. Hubris has destroyed lives, families, churches, businesses, and nations.  And that’s what happened to Peter.  Overconfidence is seeing only your strengths and not your weaknesses. It’s believing in your own lies about how great you are. Some self-help authors will tell you this message: “You are enough.” Usually, they say this to people who depend on others’ approval for their own self-worth. So, they say, “You are enough. You don’t need people to like you so that you can like yourself.” I love that. I’ll say

Talk FULFILLED TODAY, I’d like to preach the message, God wants you to eat and drink His love. For the past two years, we’ve been unpacking the Gospel of Matthew. Today, we arrive at the start of the climax: Everything we read so far led to this point in the story: Two Stories Matthew juxtaposes or placed two opposing stories side by side. One is a story of devotion, the other a story of deception. Last week, we read the story of Mary of Bethany who loved Jesus so much, she anointed Him with extravagant perfume. But in today’s story, Judas exchanged Jesus for 30 denarii. How much is that? A denarius is a daily wage in ancient times. So, in modern Philippines, 30 denarii would be about P15,000. Yes, Judas sold Jesus for the price of an entry-level mobile phone. Lesson? Wise people give up everything to follow Jesus; Foolish people give up Jesus for loose change. Perhaps Matthew wants us to ask ourselves: Are you Mary or are you Judas? Do you give up everything for Jesus? Or do you give up Jesus for what turns out to be nothing? I know I become Judas when I give up Jesus for my pride. Or my lust. Or my greed. A friend of mine hooked up with the wrong girl. He knew from day one she was bad news. This person was not going to bring him closer to God. But he was very attracted to her. And so, he gave up Jesus for her. Two years later, he came to me a broken man, regretting his choice. Remember this Truth: The 30 denarii are not worth it. Don’t exchange Jesus. Period. Jesus Died on the Passover—Here’s Why Let’s go to the core story of today’s reading: The Passover Meal. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is another name for Passover. A little explanation of a Passover meal: Passover is the biggest feast of the Jews because it’s their origin story. Once upon a time, they were a bunch of slaves in Egypt, suffering under the cruelty of Pharaoh. But God rescued them and made them a great nation. In the reading, it gives you this sense that Jesus planned their Passover meal very well. Including the fact that it was done one day earlier. This is clearer in the Gospel of John, but even in Matthew, when he said, “On the first day of the Festival”. Bible scholars believe that this was the sunset of the previous day. Because that’s how Jews counted their days. It always starts at sunset. Why celebrate it one day earlier? Jesus knew that by this time tomorrow, He’d already been hanging on a dirty cross. My point? Because He wanted to tie these two events together—what God did in the first Passover, and what God will do through His death, is the same-- but much, much greater. God Is Vulnerable to You Let’s go on: Question: If an acquaintance betrays you, it

YES, by God’s Merciful Grace, our Light of Jesus Feast Mercy Ministry started Year 2022 afresh with Jesus. Light of Jesus personnel, Feast Mercy Ministry servants, supporters, and volunteers gathered via Zoom for a Recollection on January 18, 2022. We started amid the murky floods and devastation left by Typhoon Odette, catastrophic tropical cyclone, the strongest storm of 2021 hitting the Philippines in mid-December. Odette came on the heels of the discovery of Omicron in November, another variant of the Coronavirus – highly transmissible, bringing anew the horrors of surging COVID cases. Undaunted, during our Mercy Ministry Recollection, we recalled blessings in the year that was, Year 2021, and lifted Year 2022 to the Loving arms of the Lord. We are still in the middle of the storm right now, and yet, we know that Jesus is with us in the midst of the storm. Alam niya ang ating pinagdadaanan. The call is for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, so that we don’t sink in the waters of despair, fear, disappointment, and anxiety. Take our steps going to Jesus one at a time, and yes, let’s not look at the strong current and big waves surrounding us. Instead, focus on who Jesus is. He is Lord of all. Jesus is all along with us in this journey and He will surely bring us to the other side of the shore-- the harbor of peace, the harbor of Joy, the harbor of hope. And so, as we have done year after year, we start The Feast Mercy Ministry by looking up to the Lord of Mercy and lifting for His blessing our Year 2022 and the people He called us to serve. My prayer for all of you is to see Jesus in the midst of the storms. HERMIE MORELOS, chairman, Light of Jesus Feast Mercy Ministry WELCOME! RANDY BORROMEO Executive Director, Shepherd’s Voice Radio and Television Foundation, producer of Mercy Ministry Retreat It’s really a joy to welcome you today. It’s good for us to pause for a while at the start of the year to receive and try to listen to what God is saying. Even Jesus went out of the way. At certain times in His public ministry, He would go to an out-of-the-way place so that He could commune with God and listen and try to hear what God is telling Him. And this is evidence of a relationship that is deep enough for us— to be able to stop and listen. Matthew 11:15 reads: Whoever has ears, let them hear. And I am inviting all of you to lean unto God’s Word, lean unto this special moment that we have. We have a very, very good and capable, wisdom-filled speaker today. What we need to do is to listen in for a few hours, let us forget about the work because many times we focus too much on the work for the Lord, we forget the Lord of the Work. Now is a

Talk FULFILLED TODAY, I want to preach the message, “Jesus wants your heart.” The story we’re about to read is found in all four Gospels. In Mathew, Mark, and Luke, the woman is unnamed. But in John, he names her Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Let’s read: If there’s one thing you’ll learn from The Feast, it’s to read the Bible always in context. For the past 2,000 years, this story has been distorted beyond recognition, supporting this or that craziness. For example? Some preachers used the words of Jesus, “You will always have the poor among you…” (v.11) to convince Christians to lessen the value of serving the poor vis-à-vis worship and evangelization. They say, “Don’t focus too much on meeting the material and physical needs of people. It’s their spiritual needs that matters. Didn’t Jesus Himself say, ‘You will always have the poor among you?’ So, you can’t win, no matter what you do. It’s a losing game. But here’s where you can win: Focus on saving souls. Because that’s what will last…” That thinking is garbage. Why? First, we just read this story in Matthew. The core theme of Matthew’s Gospel is the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus, where the poor are God’s VIPs. Second, the story follows the sheep-goats Judgment Day story-- hands down, probably the most powerful teaching of Jesus on loving the poor. For crying out loud, loving the poor determines Kingdom entrance. Third, the words of Jesus in the story were hyperlinked to the Torah… Jesus Was a Rabbi Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi. He taught like one. When He said, “You will always have the poor among you…” (v.11) He was actually quoting an Old Testament verse. And since His Jewish audience knew their Bible by heart, as Rabbis do, He would routinely quote just a part of the verse to refer to the entire verse or passage. Here’s the original text: There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:11 NIV) If you read the entire section, you’ll note it’s all about loving the poor. So, when Jesus said, “You will always have the poor among you…” (v.11) He was NOT saying loving the poor was less important-- or was useless. He was telling them the opposite: Love the poor! Do We Really Get Jesus? Back in 2008, I already had a ton of books in my personal library. So, I went through the titles and categorized them. What I saw made my heart sink. I discovered that I had 17 books on prayer, 16 books on leadership, 34 books on family life, 18 books on evangelization, 38 books on the spiritual life… But alas, only 3 books on loving the poor. I realized this spoke volumes of what we think it means to follow Jesus. Was this a mirror of what was important in my

Talk TODAY, I want to preach the message, Trust the Judge. We’re about to read the very last public teaching of Jesus before He gets arrested. So, this teaching must be very special. To Matthew, it’s the core, conclusion, and capstone of all that Jesus taught: The upside-down Kingdom of Jesus. Jesus Is The Coming Judge But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ 41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ 44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ 45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ 46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” -- Matthew 25:31-46 NLT Warning: The passage sounds very simple, but it’s very deep, loaded with three difficult truths we’ll unpack today. Let’s start with the most controversial one… First: YOU CREATE YOUR FUTURE We usually don’t talk about Hell at The Feast—but it’s right here in this passage. People

Let us pray our favorite prayer, our Novena to God’s Love: Father in Heaven, thank You for every person here— whether virtual or actual… I pray that the word that You’re going to speak today will jump out from the pages of this Book and leap straight into the heart of Your children. Speak, oh God. All of Your children are listening today, Your moment to shine— not mine, not any one of the preachers here onstage. But we are here to listen to You. So, bless us, in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray, and all of God’s people say, Amen. Jesus Wants To Give You Overflowing Joy! Our passage is from John 15: 10-12: Let me just say this: There is one word that is not allowed to be said in our home— my home. One word that cannot be spoken in every room and in any corner in my house is the word boring. Let me explain. We taught our son Ethan— he’s now four years old— never to say the word boring. When he was two years old, my wife and I made this conscious decision that we were not allowed to say boring in Ethan’s presence— or even any time at home. It was not allowed. Why? Because we noticed that some children, whenever they’re not doing anything, the first words that come out of their mouth are “I’m bored.” How many parents can relate? Raise your hands. And so, we said to Ethan: “If you hear the word boring, the first thing you’ll say, “That’s a bad word.” Bad Word, Good Word But you know what? I realized something—that a lot of us, you know, we think boring is not good. But I come from an age and a time when my generation— I know who you are if you snicker and you raise your hand, and you say “Amen.” We come from a time and age, and place, where you are not allowed to say boring. Otherwise, you will get screamed at by your parents. You remember that? During my time, there was no Internet, no WI-FI. But there were so many activities that you could do. You could have a snack. You could take a nap. You could play a musical instrument. You could study ballet— or for the boys, karate. During my time, that was the thing: karate. One of my fondest memories is what we did when I was growing up, when we had brownouts. How many of you can relate to this? Raise your hands. There was no electricity. No WI-FI. No Internet. That meant we could bring out the candles and then we could play shadow figures on the wall, and we could do it for hours. Distracted Generation Today, we have a distracted generation, infected by a virus. What is the carrier of this virus? The dopamine dispenser that you call your phone, that you call your gadget. That you call your TV. That you

2021: THE YEAR THAT WAS! JANUARY 2021 Talk: Rhythms of Grace The Feast Family January 2021 started with Bro. Bo Sanchez, our founder, SFH—Serving-from-Home—and his introduction of The Feast Talk series for January 2021, Rhythms of Grace. The January 2021 Feast talk series brought us back to our long-running study of the Gospel of Matthew. We discussed how Matthew described the different ways people respond to Jesus: 1) Some are positive, believing in Him and saying, “You’re the Messiah!”; 2) Some are negative, rejecting Him and saying, “You’re the king of demons!”: 3) Others are neutral, still asking, and doubting. Mercy Ministry: Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly The Coronavirus Disease Pandemic may have stopped mass gatherings, business operations, even family reunions --but not mercy and kindness. Long before the COVID Menace, Sis. Aida Dy (above right) and Sis. Lynda Reyes (extreme right) benefactors and Board members of our Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly, have been raising funds for Anawim. One of their projects: selling fashion accessories at The Feast Bay Area. They also organized members of The Feast to visit our lolos and lolas regularly. The pilgrims in action for the lolos and lolas, from top: They sing; They dance; They go crazy following wacky action song led by a lola. FEBRUARY 2021 Talk: Rhythms of Grace How Do I Love Thee? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight… Yes, those are the first lines of Sonnet 43, How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrettt Browning, English poet of the Romantic Movement which we quoted since February is Valentine Month, and our issues indeed counted the way God loves us… We continued the Feast Talk series, Rhythms of Grace, focusing on the part of the Gospel of Matthew discussing the Pharisees “demanding” that Jesus produce a miracle, revealing the emptiness of the soul apart from God. Here, Bro. presents a key message of the Talk series: “God is inside you.” Mercy Ministry: He Cares Mission for Street Children In Genesis 15:18, God promised to give Abraham and his descendants a land: “I promise to give your descendants all this land from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River.” The land, as we know now, is Canaan, located on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. From Abraham’s story, He Cares Mission for Street Children borrowed the name of its latest project, yes, The Promised Land. By God’s grace, a supporter donated to He Cares 5.5 hectares land which He Cares, led by Bro. Joe Dean Sola, is now developing to provide food for the children under its care. Since He Cares’ Day 1, the Light of Jesus Family has supported the Mission as Bro. Bo has included the Foundation as a partner beneficiary of The Feast Family, part of LOJ’s Mercy Ministry, now with Bro. Hermie Morelos as chairman. MARCH 2021 Talk: O.G.

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FOR two weeks, we’ll give Matthew a Christmas vacation. We’ll resume studying his Gospel on January 9. Today, we’re going to unpack a beautiful passage from Luke. Here’s the Christma s message we want to preach to you today: Angels Are All Around Us I want to take you back 2,000 years ago to a quiet evening out in the fields, where some shepherds were tending flock. There weren’t any lights coming from cars or lampposts or smartphones. Only the moonlight illuminated the surroundings. When all of a sudden, they were soaked by a bright light. It came from an angel of the Lord. We can only assume that they had never seen an angel before that incident – because the verse says that “they were terrified.” But the angel reassured them and told them, “Do not be afraid.” It’s funny how the first reaction of the shepherds to the angel was not excitement or joy, but fear. And it wasn’t just simple fear, but extreme fear. They were terrified. This was not the first time that an angel of the Lord appeared before human beings. And it also wasn’t the first time that the angel’s first words were: “Do not be afraid.” When the angel Gabriel appeared before Daniel, she said, “Do not fear.” Same thing happened when she appeared before Zechariah. She said, “Do not fear.” An angel also appeared to Hagar and said, “Do not fear.” Truth: Take a look at this photo of a beautiful angel. Trivia: The Bible rarely describes angels as having wings. Only two types of angels with wings are mentioned in the Bible: Cherubims and Seraphims. The image of an angel with wings only caught on because angels were said to move quickly from one place to another. So, people started assuming that they had wings. No one has a factual accurate description of what an angel looks like. So, for us to assume that this was what the angel that appeared before the shepherds that night looked like is completely inaccurate. If the angel came as a person we know, there’s a big chance that our first reaction won’t be fear. For example, what if the angels that showed up at your front door looked like this: Mega popular, especially among millennials, this is BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. Or what if they looked like this: SB19, Filipino boy band that debut in 2018 consisting of Josh, Pablo, Stell, Ken, and Justin, the first Filipino and Southeast Asian act to be nominated in the Billboard Music Awards for the Top Social Artist category. AsiaAsani Or what if they looked like this: The Kerygma 5, singing Feast Preachers, from left: Jon Escoto, Arun Gogna, Adrian Panganiban, Alvin Barcelona, and Obet Cabrillas. Or lastly, what if they looked like this: The Prayboyz, from left: Audee Villaraza, Carlo Lorenzo, Mike Viñas,

THE CLASH Talk 12: Stewardship vs. Negligence WELCOME to our happy study of Matthew. Jesus tells this parable: “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. 16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. 19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ 22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ 23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ 1“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:14-30 NLT) Today, we want to preach the simple message: Don’t lose your biggest blessing. We will also share three

THE CLASH Talk 11: Foolish vs. Wise WE’RE nearing the finish line of Matthew. Today, we preach the simple message, While you’re waiting, God is working. We call this season Advent which is Latin for coming. I believe Jesus comes in three ways. First, Jesus comes Every Time He comes to us at every single moment of our life. Every moment is pregnant with His Presence. That was the last He said in the Gospel of Matthew: I am with you always, even to the end of the age (28:20 NLT). He didn’t say, “I’ll sometimes be with you” or “Occasionally, I’ll be with you,” or “When you’re a good boy or good girl and behave according to my expectations, I’ll be with you.” He simply said, “I am with you always.” 24/7. No breaks. No vacations. No exceptions. Say it, “Jesus is with me always.” In your good times, in your bad times, in your ordinary times. He meets you in your daily circumstances, in your joys and in your sorrows, in your mountain peaks and in your lowest valleys. He also meets you especially in the faces of the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the dying, the imprisoned. He also meets you in prayer. So, when we pray, we “enter into His Presence” as if we were outside it prior to praying. When we pray, we simply become aware of His Presence that has already been with us all along. I repeat: Jesus meets us every time. Second, He’ll also come to us at the End-Times We believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. Christ is coming back. 8don’t know when. I don’t know how. But He will. On that last day, good will win over evil. And all creation will be restored in every dimension—social, cultural, personal, and cosmic. God is creating a new Heaven and a new Earth. And every human that has ever lived on this planet will stand before King Jesus to receive His mercy if they choose to receive it. But Jesus comes not only at the end-times—Third, Jesus will also come at the End of Our Time Yes, mamamatay ka rin. But if you’re a Jesus Follower, that statement doesn’t have to scare you. Because where you follow Jesus doesn’t matter. Earth or Heaven, as long as you’re following Jesus. Friend, your best years are before you, not behind you. The best is yet to come. After this little introduction, let’s dive into our reading for today… Five Wise and Five Foolish In Matthew Chapters 24 and 25, Jesus gave three parables about being ready for His return. We’re going to read the last one: Ancient Jewish Weddings Were Different Many have a hard time understanding this story. Because we do our weddings differently from the ancient weddings done in that part of the world. Ancient Jews knew how to celebrate. The wedding party lasted for an entire week of eating and singing and dancing. No wonder, one wedding celebration