MGC Speakers for August 2005

Decoding The Da Vinci Code (Part 1)

Someone wrote, “My heart cannot rejoice in what my mind rejects.”

So can’t I. For our Lord Jesus commanded us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37, NIV) That’s why we Christians must know not only what we believe but also why we believe. Sincerity is not enough. We could be sincerely wrong. We need to be sincerely right. Our faith is not blind but intelligent. Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Last Thursday, I gave a talk to our Young Pro Fellowship on the bestselling suspense thriller, The Da Vinci Code. TIME magazine hailed it as “The Novel That Ate the World.” More than 25 million copies are already sold worldwide. The novel is also translated in 44 languages. It topped bestseller’s lists such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Publishers’ Weekly. A movie version is in the making with Tom Hanks taking the lead. TIME also recently named author Dan Brown as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People.

Now why so much ado about a work of fiction? For it is marketed as a fact-based exposé. The book claims that Jesus did not die on the cross (so it follows He did not resurrect). But He ended up marrying Mary Magdalene and had children. Their alleged descendants are now living in France. That’s baloney, of course! But you know how people tend to look at fiction as if it is the truth. And it attacks the very foundation of our faith, that is, the person and work of Jesus.

How do we respond as believers? We should not be afraid of the novel. I won’t forbid you from reading it but actually encourage you to do so. Why? People are reading it. They will be asking questions. We can actually use it as an icebreaker in sharing the Gospel. God opened a door for us!

The apostle Peter commanded us: “Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of Christ.” (1 Peter 3:15-16, Contemporary English Version) We honor God when we defend our faith.

That’s why I will expound on this topic in our next issues of Straight from the Pastor. Watch out for it!

MGC Speakers for August 2005

Not Getting Any Younger

Last Sunday, I celebrated my 36th birthday. Yes, I am “only” 36 years old. Whether I’m still young or already old depends upon your point of view. But what I saw in the “40 Million Minutes” video (http://www.sermonvideos.com) made me pray the prayer of Moses: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NIV)

An average person lives 77 years. That’s 40,000,000 minutes. Exactly what the Bible said. “We can expect seventy years, or maybe eighty, if we are healthy, but even our best years bring trouble and sorrow. Suddenly our time is up, and we disappear.” (v. 10, Contemporary English Version.) That also places me in the category of mid-lifers. :-(

Now you do the math…

On the average we spend 40 minutes every day on the phone. That’s a total of 2 years in a lifetime. I think it could be more. Have you noticed that to most of us the first thing we usually touch in the morning is our cell phone?

We spend a total of 1½ hours each day getting ready for office (that includes taking a bath and getting dressed). That’s a total of 4 years of your life. To some of us, it could be more. And I am not only thinking of the women.

We watch 3 hours of TV every day. That’s a whooping 9 years of our life. He who has no sin cast the first stone.

But, an average Christian spends less than 10 minutes each day with God. That’s less than 7 months of our lifetime.

Now, I am not saying don’t use the phone. I could hear some of the teenagers heave a sigh of relief. I am not talking about throwing away your TV or cutting your cable connections. I could almost see the smile of couch potatoes. And, God forbid, I am not asking you to avoid taking a bath. That’s really gross!

But the way we use our time reflects on our values in life. What we value in life we make our priority. Someone said, “When we say we have no time, what we are really saying is ‘It’s not my priority.’” Have you ever said that to your spouse… to your kids… or to God?

So, what do we really value in life? I think we need to do a lot of soul-searching. After all, we are not getting younger.

Yours in Christ,

Bro. Eyriche Cortez
Associate Pastor, English Worship Service

Being Faithful In So Little

One very stormy night an elderly couple entered the lobby of a small hotel. They asked for a room. But there was none for them. But the clerk took pity on them. He said, “I can’t send a fine couple like you out in the rain. Would you be willing to sleep in my room?” The couple hesitated but the clerk insisted.

The next morning, the man said to the clerk, “You’re the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I’ll build you one.” The clerk just smiled politely.

A few years later the clerk got a letter from the elderly man. A round-trip ticket was enclosed. He asked the clerk to come to New York. When the clerk arrived, the elderly man brought him to a magnificent new building. Then he said to the clerk, “That is the hotel I have built for you to manage.” The elderly man was William Waldorf Astor, and the hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria. The young clerk was George C. Boldt, the first manager of the hotel.[1]

Our Lord Jesus once said, “Anyone who can be trusted in little matters can also be trusted in important matters. But anyone who is dishonest in little matters will be dishonest in important matters.” (Luke 16:10)[2] George Boldt was faithful in the least. That’s why he was trusted with much.

Now there’s a widow in the Old Testament who opened her home to a prophet. God did not bless her with a hotel to manage. But because of her faithfulness God preserved her life and her son’s life.

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:8-16 together…

The LORD told Elijah, “Go to the town of Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve told a widow in that town to give you food.” When Elijah came near the town gate of Zarephath, he saw a widow gathering sticks for a fire. “Would you please bring me a cup of water?” he asked. As she left to get it, he asked, “Would you also please bring me a piece of bread?” The widow answered, “In the name of the living LORD your God, I swear that I don’t have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour and a little olive oil. I’m on my way home now with these few sticks to cook what I have for my son and me. After that, we will starve to death.” Elijah said, “Everything will be fine. Do what you said. Go home and fix something for you and your son. But first, please make a small piece of bread and bring it to me. The LORD God of Israel has promised that your jar of flour won't run out and your bottle of oil won't dry up before he sends rain for the crops.” The widow went home and did exactly what Elijah had told her. She and Elijah and her family had enough food for a long time. The LORD kept the promise that his prophet Elijah had made, and she did not run out of flour or oil.

The prophet Elijah declared to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel that God judged Israel because they worshipped idols. God sent a severe drought. Then He sent Elijah to hide in a place near a stream, which became his source of water. There the Lord sent ravens to bring food to the prophet. When the stream dried up, God told him to go and meet the widow.

We don’t know her name. But we will learn from her example how to become faithful in little so that the Lord may find us faithful in much.

Someone suggested that, due to the drought, life was a day-to-day struggle for food for most people. Every morning they get up and go to work. Then at the end of the day, when they got paid, they buy food at the market, just enough for the day. It was a hand-to-mouth life. Widows were poorer than the poorest at that time.

Yet here we clearly see God’s hand at work. The queen at that time was Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon. She was evil to the core. She was the reason why Israel left God and turned to idols. Elijah was number one in her most wanted list. She wanted to kill him. Where did God tell Elijah to go? God brought Elijah under the very nose of his enemy, in the town of Zarephath in Sidon. But God protected him.

Then God sent Elijah to a widow. According to The Bible Knowledge Commentary, “Widows normally ran out of food first in a famine. Therefore going to a widow for food was a strange directive.”

God assured Elijah, “I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” (NIV) Note the word “commanded.” If you would read the context, the widow was not aware that Elijah was coming. But God affirmed that He will use her as a channel to provide for the prophet’s needs.

To become faithful in small things, WE MUST SENSE GOD’S HAND IN OUR LIVES.

When the widow went out that day, she was so depressed. She only has a handful of flour and a little oil. She had a little boy to feed. She gathered sticks to cook their last meal. She had no idea that God “commanded” or influenced her to gather firewood. That God had set an appointment for her to meet the prophet. In Proverbs 21:1, it says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” The Lord controlled her as He pleased.

That’s why we must faithfully obey God. We must be faithful in little things for we don’t know what God has in store for us. We may not understand God’s ways. But we can surely trust that He knows what’s good for us.

Note also that when Elijah asked for a cup of water, she immediately went to get one for him. Remember that there was drought. Water was so scarce. She could be standing in a long line just to get a cup of water. She was willing to serve people even if she has so many concerns of her own. She did not use it as an excuse. She was faithful in so little. That’s why God blessed her.

Then Elijah asked for bread. Now she answered, “In the name of the living LORD your God, I swear that I don’t have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour and a little olive oil. I’m on my way home now with these few sticks to cook what I have for my son and me. After that, we will starve to death.” Imagine her surprise when Elijah promised her that her jar of flour won’t run out and her bottle of oil won’t dry up until God sends the rain.

But here comes the test. She must first make a small piece of bread for Elijah. Then whatever is left with her flour and oil, she would then make bread for herself and her son. Elijah asked her to make a step of faith. If you were the widow, what would you do?

The Bible says she “did exactly what Elijah had told her.” Then and only then did God bless her.
It says, “She and Elijah and her family had enough food for a long time. The LORD kept the promise that his prophet Elijah had made, and she did not run out of flour or oil.”

To become faithful in small things, WE MUST SERVE GOD WITH WHATEVER WE HAVE.

To be faithful in small things means serving God and doing the right things even if people doesn’t appreciate what we are doing. You may not be preaching up front. You may not be serving as one of the leaders of this church. You may be doing just menial tasks. Maybe you wanted to do more. But you have limited strength or time or ability or financial means. But you did whatever you could do. You followed what the Bible commanded us to do: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, Modern King James Version)

God knows your heart. He sees your efforts. And He will reward you for your faithfulness. So if God leads you to do something, do it for His glory even if it is just a small task. Who knows? God may be preparing you for something big.

When my wife Ellen lost her left arm in an accident, she did not blame God. She did not despair. She sought to learn how to do things with one hand, things that we normally do with two hands. And now she can do it better and even faster.

To become faithful in small things, WE MUST SENSE GOD’S HAND IN OUR LIVES.

To become faithful in small things, WE MUST SERVE GOD WITH WHATEVER WE HAVE.

Let us pray…

[1] Story from the Biblical Studies Foundation. http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=528
[2] Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are from the Contemporary English Version.

Note: Pastor Cortez preached this sermon (with Chinese translation) to the Women's Fellowship of MGC last July 21, 2005.

Ignorance or Apathy?

A reporter interviewed a man on the street. “Which do you think is the biggest problem in our nation today: ignorance or apathy?” The man answered, “I don’t know and I don’t care!”

As Christians, we cannot afford not to know. We cannot afford not to care. One of my favorite Bible teachers, Dr. John MacArthur, wrote, “I believe that we need to take every legal means available to us as citizens to effect change in country. Every time you have an opportunity to do that—you need to do that.” That is not a violation of the separation of church and state. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure freedom of religion. It is the responsibility of the church to serve as the conscience of the state. MacArthur added: “If there is a forum where you can say what needs to be said, then you need to say that. If there is a letter that you can write, then you need to write that letter. If there is a vote that you can make, then you need to make that vote.”

Personally, let me emphasize my conviction that what we really need is not a change in government but a change of heart. Whatever opinion you may have about the pressing issues now, we need to heed God’s Word: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV)

Instead of blaming others for the sad plight of Jerusalem, Nehemiah prayed: “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you.” (Nehemiah 1:6) Brothers and sisters, we need to imitate Nehemiah. Before we become part of the solution, we must admit we are part of the problem. We should not wait for others to call on God. Let us take the initiative. We need to cry out to the Lord for the sake of our beloved country.

In the Old Testament, the Lord lamented, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30) If God would look for such a person among us who would intercede on behalf of our nation, would He find someone? For if we will not do it, no one else will.

Yours in Christ,

Bro. Eyriche Cortez
Associate Pastor, English Worship Service

PRO-Government

“Hello, Garci?”

That controversial wiretapped chat on cheating in the last election between President GMA and COMELEC Commissioner Garcillano stirred up loud protests demanding her resignation. Peso-dollar exchange remained volatile. Prices of almost everything went up. It seems we are polarized as a nation.

As Christians, we cannot help but be involved. Yes, we are heavenly-minded. But we should have earthly good. What do we do in the midst of this brewing storm?

We should become PRO-Government. Now, before you react, allow me to explain. One of the three institutions that God ordained is the government. (The other two are the church and the family.) “Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished.” (Romans 13:1-2, Contemporary English Version) How we relate to the government reflects on our relationship with God.

So, first we must PRAY for the government. “Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God.” (1 Timothy 2:2) Do you want that kind of quality life? Then pray! We have no right to criticize or complain if we are not praying for the government. And this is good and pleasing to God (v. 3) Most of all, pray for revival. What we need as a country is a change of heart, not a change of government.

Second, we must RESPECT the government. We are commanded to “revere God. Respect the government.” (1 Peter 2:17, The Message) How can we say we revere God when we don’t respect the government? In Romans 13:1-7, three times the Apostle Paul called those in government as “God’s servants.” During the New Testament times, the empire was anything but respectable. However, the apostles called on us to respect those in power. Yes, we may disagree with their decisions and actions. But we must do so with respect.

Third, we must OBEY the government. One way of doing that is by paying our taxes. We are to “obey the rulers because… it is the right thing to do, and not just because of God's anger. [We] must also pay [our] taxes.” (Romans 13:5-6, Contemporary English Version) And not only paying our taxes on time but paying it right.

So we must PRAY for, RESPECT and OBEY the government. Someone wrote, “What makes people good Christians ought to make them good citizens.”

Yours in Christ,

Bro. Eyriche Cortez
Associate Pastor, English Worship Service

Pay It Forward

Remember the movie Pay it Forward?

It’s about Trevor McKinney, an eleven-year-old boy who shared this brilliant idea: When we benefit from someone else’s good deed, instead of paying the person back, we have to “pay it forward.” Now we have something to pay forward. We ourselves would not have heard the Good News if people then were not sent to share it to us. That’s why every believer should be involved with missions.

First, we can pray. The Lord Jesus said, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:38, Modern King James Version) Be informed by reading about mission work in Christian magazines or newsletters from Christian organizations or over the internet. Through that, we would know what to pray for.

Second, we can go. Consider joining in a short-term mission trip. My wife Ellen went with a group of women to Indo-China late last year. It was a very memorable experience for the team. They visited a tribe displaced by ethnic cleansing. There Ellen shared her life testimony. They also “smuggled” Bibles into a region where it is forbidden to own a copy. And the highlight of the exposure trip was a prayer walk in a tourist spot in Thailand. They were horrified when they saw rampant prostitution there. So they asked God to intervene. About two weeks later, a day after Christmas, a tsunami swept through that place.

Third, we can give. God provides His support through people. Thus, Makati Gospel Church is now receiving pledges for our mission fund. Pray and ask God how much He wants you to commit to give for a year. You can choose to give it monthly, quarterly or lump sum. Our goal for year 2005-2006 is P4.1M. We already inserted Mission Pledge cards in our bulletin. At the back of the card there’s a list of people and organizations we are supporting. You may drop your pledge card in the offering box next Sunday, July 10. I challenge you to make that step of faith!

Brothers and sisters, through praying, going or giving, let us “pay it forward!”

Yours in Christ,

Bro. Eyriche Cortez
Associate Pastor, English Worship Service