Uncommon Life

UNCOMMON SERIES: UNCOMMON LIFE.

READ Isaiah 6:1-8.

“Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:8.

Everyone has a calling of his own. We have an Uncommon GOD, giving us an Uncommon call, and He expects us to live Uncommon lives. God has called us to live extraordinary lives.

HOW TO LIVE EXTRAORDINARY LIVES.

1. Remember your IDENTITY. We are created different from the rest.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27.

From the beginning, God has created us to be different. He has created us to be extraordinary. The word “Image” means to mirror or to reflect the real thing. We have an extraordinary God who created us in His own image.

And He has caused everything that has to do with him to be separated from the rest. When God led the Israelites from Egypt, He separated them. God separated a special tribe, the Levites, to serve Him as priests.

2. Know your DESIGN. Our design is to stay right there beside Him. We are called to live close to Him.

Our God is a holy God and He calls us to be like Himself: To be holy, just as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16).

We are called to BE holy, NOT to DO holy. We do not do good so we can be holy.

Through the years, the concept of the word SAINT has been misused as a term for people who cannot do wrong, the righteous, ones with spiritual powers who can talk to the demons, and ones with extraordinary faith. However, Paul referred to ordinary, imperfect people: Philippians, Corinthians, Galatians, etc., as saints. In fact, when he addressed them as such, he was rebuking them for legalism, sexual immorality, and others.

We are the Saints. We are holy, not because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are holy because of what Christ did on the cross for us. While we were sinners, God moved ahead of us so we can have access to the Father and be atoned (“at one”—16^th century definition) with Him. Our holiness is a manifestation of the holiness that God has given us in His love for us.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.

3. Remember that we REPRESENT Him.

“Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:8.

We serve an extraordinary God. When we encounter a holy God, a beautiful God, we will keep coming back for more and we will tell others about it. God is looking for people who will represent Him. We are holy, therefore, we are the ones qualified for the task.

The LORD is sending us, instead of the angels, because the angels do not understand the concept of grace. They do not understand the concept of forgiveness and how it is to fail God, be picked up by a holy God, be restored, and be sent forth again to serve Him.

Isaiah’s response to the call of God to live an uncommon life is “Here am I, send me!” (v 8). Here I AM speaks of location, while Here AM I says, “my entire being I give to You” (Romans 12:1).

Our response is to live holy lives in the lives that we live. If we are students, housewives, or a businessmen, we should let our lives speak about the Lord, so that they will be attracted to our message (Matthew 5:16). BE HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY. God will bring us places, all we have to do is stand on His grace. When we serve a holy God, we are assured that He will take care of all our needs.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future’” Jeremiah 29:11.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” Isaiah 53:5.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” Matthew 6:25a.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20.**

Busy Enough?

BUSY ENOUGH? COUPLES’ WORKSHOP, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER!

Dim lights, lucent carded cotton billowing to an ambient breeze, candlelight on every table, and live strains from a piano completed an aroma of romance! Busy Enough?, the second chapter of Victory Alabang’s 4-part Couples’ Workshop held last September 19, was a night of extravagant surprises as couples enjoyed a mouth-watering Rigatoni dish prepared by top chef, Len Calayan and took home free magazines courtesy of Poch & Doris Bermudez. Lucky participants received prizes distributed by BG & Jhoey Hernandez. Artist entrepreneur, Margot Uy was in charge of the event design.

Attendance of the said event had an estimated 30% more participants than the first part held last month. Pastor Chico Pena and wife, Mary Anne, shared the platform with another of Victory’s most formidable couples, Ardy and Vera Abello, as they addressed issues on priorities and the magnitude of spending time together as a couple. “Para kang sinagasaan ng pison!,” Elmer Buscado, one of the participants appreciatively exclaims as he puts his arm around his wife, Leah. Another couple, Hector and Shirley Lim agrees, “kami kasi, puro work work, work!”

More to look forward to as Victory Alabang gears for the 3^rd part of the series, Common Cents, on October 27, 7pm, Friday at the Victory Center, 4^th floor, Filinvest, Festival Mall, Alabang. For Inquiries and Reservations, contact (02) 771-1212.

Uncommon God

UNCOMMON: UNCOMMON GOD.

We are commonly interested in the extraordinary, the unusual, or the uncommon. The bible teaches us that we must be able to recognize the common from what is not.

“You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 10:10).

We serve an uncommon God, but because of religiosity, we have reduced Him to stone idols and other misrepresentations of who He is. The 20^th century Christians treat God with utmost lack of reverence, lack of awe and with disrespect, referring to Him as the “Man upstairs” or “My bro, Jess!” We fail to recognize the holiness of God. To serve a holy God, we must first understand His holiness.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Isaiah 6: 1-3).

1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).

The vision given by God to Isaiah in the temple came in a time of grief for Isaiah and the land of Judah. King Uzziah, their king for 52 years, died, and Judah was in distress at the loss of their ruler.

Isaiah, as he shared the vision, referred to God as Lord, which means Adonai (Hebrew) or sovereign ruler. In a time of crisis, God showed Himself sovereign.

2. GOD IS A HOLY GOD.

“Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Isaiah 6:2-3).

God was gracious to give the seraphs 6 wings, with two that will cover their feet, for these are reminders that they are merely creations of God and are unworthy to stand in His holy presence.

In Exodus 33:20-23, Moses was so consumed of who God is that he asked that he see His face. God said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” He put Moses in a cleft of a rock and passed by him, covering Moses’ face with His hand until he has passed him by. He then removed his hand and allowed Moses to see his back. Even upon just seeing the back of God, Moses’ face shone, causing fear and trembling among the Israelites.

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, offered unauthorized fire before the LORD contrary to His command and they died before God. God spoke to Aaron through Moses, “Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored”(Leviticus 10:1-3).

God finds it irreverent when we go to him in our own strength. He wants us to depend on Him. God struck Uzzah down when he tried to save the ark from falling when the oxen stumbled (2 Samuel 6:6-7). In the new testament, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira fell down and died upon lying in the presence of God (Acts 5:1-10).

3. GOD IS LORD.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Isaiah 6:3b).

While in the first verse, Isaiah referred to God as Lord, or sovereign Ruler, in verse 3, He referred to God as LORD. LORD in Hebrew means YHWH (YAHWEH), the name of God. LORD speaks of God’s essence and nature that is transcendent— one that goes beyond what is rational; exceeding usual limits.

In Hebrew times, scribes use special pens to write the name YHWH; after which, these pens are discarded and can no longer be used for it has been used to write the HOLY name of God. No other word is worthy to be penned by the ones used to inscribe the name of God.

In the days of the bible, something is given emphasis through repetition. (e.g. John 1:51; John 5:25; John 16:23, etc.). This can be likened to the current times when we use markers to highlight words that we feel are important to be remembered. The word HOLY is only attribute of God that has been given the emphasis of being repeated three times: God is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY.

God is holy but He is never distant. In Matthew 27: 50-51, the curtain at the temple was torn when Jesus gave up his spirit, allowing us to come before God in all His holiness, and in all our unworthiness. The only thing we can offer God is a pure heart and our unadulterated worship (Malachi 1:14).**

Unfinished Business

THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS: OUR ROLE IN THIS UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

Have you ever started anything that you did not finish? We all start something in life that we don’t finish for many different reasons; We discontinue reading a book, quit on our music lessons, or stop going to the gym because we got busy, we’ve lost interest, we got bored, it got too expensive, or sometimes, we just stop for no particular reason. But there are things that have major consequences if we quit, such as our marriages, our contractual obligations, and unresolved conflicts that can result to casualties as far as our relationships go, if we give up.

The Great Commission is an unfinished business. God has given every believer, every Christian, and every church, to go to every nation and preach the gospel so that every person in the world will have the opportunity to respond to it.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20)”

When we stop making disciples of all nations, even when we have reached our families and friends, we still have not completed the mandate of God. The unfinished business of world missions has serious, eternal consequences.

3 out of 10 people do not recognize the name of Jesus, and everyday, 66,000 people die into a Christ-less eternity. The Great Commission is about people. People that Jesus paid the same price he paid for with us: His suffering on the cross. How can they respond if we don’t tell them about him?

Jackie, one of the most influential Every Nation pastors in China, had to open his dictionary to know the meaning of the words God and Jesus when he heard the gospel for the first time in an accidental meeting with a Christian missionary. It only takes 1 Jackie to reach families, to transform a community, to impact a generation, and to see changed lives. One life can make a difference in the world.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)”

Jesus will come back when the Great Commission has been fulfilled.

A group of Filipino missionaries in Afghanistan who have been giving medical assistance to Talibans, and laying their hands on them, praying for them in the name of Jesus, have been announced targets for killing by the village Imam. They have put their trust in the promise of Jesus that he will be with them to the very end of the age. One of them was a flower arranger who has become one of the most radical missionaries to the muslims, having learned the afghan language and has been preaching the gospel to the people in their language. These people who go on missions are ORDINARY PEOPLE who are WILLING and AVAILABLE.

There are 3 ways to get involved in the Great Commission:

1. Pray.

“And as he taught them, he said, ‘Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?’” (Mark 11:17a).

Pray for open doors. Major things can happen through prayer.

2. Give.

Give to send out and support missionaries to preach the gospel all nations.

3. Go.

Go out in obedience to the Great Commission. No race, language, or culture raise an obstacle for every person to hear the gospel if we just OBEY

A biblical church is a global church. We must ultimately be in the same vision that God has for all nations.

Princeton University, originally established in 1746 to train Presbyterian ministers and was the finest school for evangelists, had a dictum: If you want to follow Jesus Christ, you must follow him to the ends of the earth, for that is where he is going.

God has already gone ahead and has prepared the hearts of people. We just need to go and help make disciples of all nations.

“After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” Revelations 7:9a.**