Look John! We're hitting two birds with one stone. Because today, we’ll be talking about the two Gospels, Luke and John.
Luke was a former doctor who gave up everything to become Christ's follower, an apostle and a disciple for the world. While John, along with his brother James, were the first disciples of Jesus who were called “Sons of the Thunder.”
ERMITA
What struck me most was the relation of the two brothers, James and John, serving together as the Lord's disciples. It was a real dream team that nobody and nothing could stop or separate. It showed their closeness sharing the same conviction and beliefs. In this time and age, you can hardly find siblings doing and sharing the same things and going through life’s journey as one. Friends, brace yourself for today’s topic -two great Gospel authors in the bible that will be an eye opener and mind boggling experience for all of us. Be Blessed, ADRIAN PANGANIBAN
08.26.18 / 9:00AM Cinema 3, Robinsons Place Manila
Waiting For You Have you ever felt like you have gone too far away from God? Perhaps you count the occasions of your sin and find it too many. You conclude that it may now take a while before you can return to him. I believe that this is the enemy’s tactic: to use condemnation to make it hard for us to come back to God. He places a lot of shame in us and even the idea that God will punish us. God’s nature is very different though, He loves us immensely. I love the story of the prodigal son for it shows how God welcomes us back. Luke 15:20 “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Reading this makes me wonder, how did the father know when his son would return? How is he there when the son is already walking home? In my reflection, I was blown away by God’s revelation. The father did not know when exactly the son would return. He was there waiting every single day ever since he left.
READINGS:
First Reading: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b Psalm: Ps.34 Second Reading: Ephesians 5:21-32 Gospel: John 6:60-69
Friend, God has been waiting for your return every single day. Come back to Him. He loves you. In Christ, JOHN BEN RODRIGUEZ
BREAKING NEWS Your Story According To...
Talk 4 & 5 - Luke and John “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19, NIV, emphasis mine)
Pe rsonal Re fle ction and Group Sh ar i n g 1. What one thing fascinated you about Luke’s Gospel? 2. Do you experience God’s loving care for you in your own “poverty”? 3. And do you reflect God’s loving care for the materially and spiritually poor around you? 4. What one thing fascinated you about John’s Gospel? 5. How much do you trust in God’s Love for you? Can you share experiences when your trust in God’s Love deepened?
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20, NIV) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, NIV) “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31 NIV) “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9 NIV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV)
BLESSING BLOG
MY PICTURE OF GOD Manny Gaspar, a dedicated servant in the Music Ministry, recalls the scars of his past and shares how The Feast community has helped him overcome each battle. Both of my parents in Bacolod had helped so many of our relatives and even those whom we had no affiliation with. They believed that by adopting and sending them to school until they graduated, they would be prepared to support their respective families in the future. So when my mom died in 2013, I took the liberty of bringing three of her recently adopted children here in Manila, treating them as my own, including 7 dogs and 2 cats. For some time, I was afraid because I was not equipped in so many ways. There was a political perplexity of working in the corporate world with my subordinates and with the owners of the company. There was a time when I only had P50.00 in my wallet, enough to take me to Manila. I had to explore options to prioritize my debts, bills, rent and meals. My then seven-year relationship was especially difficult. And I’d been worried for my father who has been devastated after losing mom. As if the heaviness in my heart was not enough, my adopted child was raped by our driver for my then Uber business. It ripped my heart apart. For all those difficulties, I never stopped serving the Lord. God knew us from the very strand of our hair down to the blood in our veins. I trusted He’d never leave me. He’d never give the things that I couldn’t handle. My previous boss invited me to The Feast and I found a home and family who shared and cared for me through good or bad times. This was where I drew my strength every Sunday. I learned a lot from the talks and worship and it changed my personal outlook and defiance towards life. Serving in the Music Ministry, my talent was honed. I learned about the essence of servant leadership and the importance of worship. I was further blessed when my adopted daughter gave birth to her baby Atarah, who was born seven months premature, by God’s grace, came out alive and healthy. Manny, intentionally deepening his spirituality, at The Feast Bay Area Audience of One session in PICC (now The Feast Ermita in Robinsons Place Manila), the Gateway Program, and the Great Image Living in the Light
Now, I am working with Great Image Services Corporation as the National Sales and Operations Manager. In our company, we are also facilitating a
Feast Video every other Friday with Feast Ermita builder, Bro. Adrian Panganiban. The owners are also members of the Feast community and one of their advocacies and services to people is to mount the core values of discipleship program from the head office to the branch operations consisting of 60 branches and 300 employees nationwide. I served as the key admin person off-stage for most Kerygma conferences and Grand Feast in the past three years. Along with the music leaders, in 2015 we pioneered and helped the music ministry by creating the training program to hone and produce three batches of front liners, band players, choirs and worship leaders from 2015 to 2017. About 300 music servants graduated from the course. God also gave us provisions to continue doing this gift of service to the ministry along with my co-servants Bro. Ricky Sy and Bro. Richmond San Juan. Each one of us goes through difficult times and some of us even have more burden to carry. Never look back and dwell on the pain, but instead, learn from them. Share those battle scars because you will never know whom you will bless and inspire. Make disciples and serve others. God will equip you. Remember the cross, remember the wounds on Jesus’ hands, and remember to whom it was for. It’s for you and me. “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” Matthew 20:26
Blessed by the Feast? Share your story and inspire our community. Email to a1media.feastbayarea@gmail.com
SCENES FROM LAST SUNDAY
HE IS DOING
SOMETHING
NEW RECAP FROM LAST SUNDAY
BREAKING NEWS
Gospel Reading according to John John 6:51-58
Your Story According To...
Talk 2 - Your Story According to Matthew “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9 Let us follow Jesus and be His disciple. We have something in us that God wants to use to serve and bless others. He is doing something in us. He is calling us. Listen to His voice. God is doing something new. He did something new in Matthew’s life as God transformed him to be one of His disciples.
“Nourish your soul. The need for God is very real.” - Fr. Marlon Reyes The Eucharist, the Bread of Life, is the Living Bread and Living Presence of Jesus Christ. What are we really looking for in life? Let us focus on Jesus, who is our ultimate happiness, fulfillment, and security, and not on the on the perishables and things that only satisfy our pleasure.
Why is the book of Matthew important? To wake us up!
At the end of our lives, God alone will matter.
Sometimes the temptation is not to sin but it is because of spiritual pride - thinking that we are better than others.
Let us not take for granted the bread of life offered to us by the Lord Himself.
God is not finished with you yet because you are a working progress. Your past courage zone will become your comfort zone. God is not yet done with us. We have to be born again and to be such, we should transform, forget and turn away from our own lives and sins. In Matthew, he announced that the church is now the new Israel and that God is the God of all nations and tribes. Much of our prayers are selfish. Much of our suffering comes from our selfishness because we think that we are the center of the universe. But, your suffering can be another person’s blessing.
Bro. Adrian introduced us to a Copernican revolution for us to discern that we are not important as we think. We can change our paradigm and experience the following: first, our world gets bigger; second, our gratitude gets bigger; third, our dreams change; and last, our suffering gets smaller and smaller. It is a great feeling when your prayers get answered but it is a greater feeling when you become an answered prayer to other people. Life is all about learning how to suffer, embracing suffering and accepting the will of God and not your will.
MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER God Is Really Into You LUKE was a Doctor. And his education was obvious in his literary style: He wrote in sophisticated polished Greek, most likely targeting educated, highly-placed Gentiles (non-Jews). One of his core messages to this moneyed class? “God cares for the poor.” Luke says that the mission of Jesus is to “announce the good news to the poor.” And if Matthew’s Beatitudes start with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Luke’s version says simply, “Blessed are the poor.” But God doesn’t just care for the materially poor. He also cares for the spiritually and socially impoverished. Whatever your poverty is, God cares for you too. He’s on your side. Why is JOHN so different from the other Gospels? As we discussed previously, Mark, Matthew, and Luke are called synoptic Gospels because they were written from the same viewpoint (that’s what synoptic means), written within a 15-year period. Mark was written first and Matthew and Luke copied from Mark (97% of Mark is found in either Matthew and Luke) plus another common source that no longer exists. For example, the word “Kingdom” was mentioned 47 times in Matthew, 18 times in Mark, and 37 times in Luke—but only 5 times in John. But Jesus utters the pronoun “I” only 17 times in Matthew, 9 times in Mark, and 10 times in Luke—but He says “I” 118 times in John. Point? For John, the Kingdom is the person Jesus Himself. We’ll explore what this means today. Here’s a hint: God is really into you. And He’s inviting you to trust him. Have a soul-refreshing Feast today. May your dreams come true, Bo Sanchez
The Builders: Adrian Panganiban • John Ben Rodriguez Council Heads: Mayvin Alejandro Gigi Alvarez Mon Bumatay A1 Feast Bulletin Staff Media Heads: Ryan Alejandro and Joemer Ernn Embernate Editor in Chief: Judee Quiazon Associate Editor: Bethany Dechavez Editorial Assistant: Krystel Ramos-Tobias Writers: Juliann Silva, Robby de Guzman Chief Photographer: Ryan Carlo Mahinay Photographers: Androu Magno, Mcaine Andrei Carlos Layout Artists: Dino Castañeda, Robert Quiazon Art Director: Wilma Cosme Contributing Photographer: Dahlia Bagatsing