New Season

As we welcome a new chapter in 2010 and close the chapter on 2009, I began to think about the future and the past. Everyone has made mistakes and failed in one or more areas, we have all had setbacks.


But we can't allow these setbacks and failures to stop us from moving forward. Jesus came that we would have life and have it more abundantly. Abundantly in the Greek=superior in quality, excessive. That is exactly the life God has for you and I. Jesus also said that we have an adversary that wants to steal, kill and destroy. That's why when we start moving forward, the Devil brings up our past. He wants to keep you from your future, keep you from your God ordained destiny.


Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; Do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; Do you perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.


The past is over, God is more interested in your future...


I believe God is calling us into a new season, a season of change. The only way things will be different in 2010 is if we seize the moment. It can't be business as usual, we need to stretch into the personal mold that God has designed for us as individuals.
As I peer into this new season and look to the future I'm reminded of Elisha.


In 2 Kings 6 it speaks about the prophets building a new place for their ministry because they out grew their old building. They were chopping down trees for that purpose and during this process one of them lost their axe head and it flew into the water. They could not continue until they got the axe head back. Elisha threw a stick into the water and the iron axe head floated to the surface. When this miracle took place it brought Elisha's ministry to another level.


That's exactly what is going to happen in 2010!


God is calling us into a new season, a new dimension and we are going to see dramatic changes in the ministry. Remember our destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. We must choose to embrace and stretch into God's plan for our lives and ministry. And just as God brought that axe head to the surface, He is going to bring our ministry to the surface. The axe head is a symbol of the anointing and the anointing is about to be revealed in a greater way than ever before in 2010. We are going to operate at a new level of ministry.


The axe head is rising, God's anointing is being manifest in a greater way.
The future is going to be amazing.


It's a New Season...

The Perfect Gift

It's Christmas Eve and I'm reflecting on the goodness of God. It's been a great year and of course it has been filled with ups and downs, and it has been the downs that God always reveals Himself. I think that without the downs we wouldn't appreciate the ups of life.

Last year we were without a church building for most of the year, in fact Christmas of 2008 we were having service at a basketball court. We have been in our building now for three months, and God is bringing an increase.

Last Sunday we had our Christmas Celebration Service and it brought well over one hundred un-churched young people from all over Metro Manila, who were there waiting for our Christmas Party that featured our annual talent show, "V.O.'s Got Talent".

We did something different in the service by putting the Christmas Story to music using traditional songs with a contemporary arrangement. We had great reviews, but more importantly around one hundred young people received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

That is what Christmas is all about, Jesus came that no one should perish, but have life through Him. God sent His only Son to evangelize the world made Him a missionary and sent Him to a field that was hostile to His message and would eventually murder Him. But God loved us so much and Jesus concurred, both knowing the end from the beginning, knowing what He would suffer, and He still came.

Jesus was born to die.

That's what Christmas is all about; He gave us a perfect gift...He gave us His Life.

To view pictures of the event, or to learn more about Victory Outreach Manila check our website: http://www.vomanila.tk/

God's Battle-Axe

Jeremiah 51:20

You are My battle-axe and weapons of war; For with you I will break the nations in pieces.

God is a Warrior, Jesus is a Warrior and so are you. You are His weapon of choice, you are His Battle-axe, He wants to fight through you...

The world is a battle field and a place of darkness. God has called us to reach Treasures of Darkness. We are actually Battle-axe's out of Darkness commissioned to go back to the pit we once operated in, as Warriors for God. Who better to go into the stronghold of Satan than those delivered from it's power.

The sad thing is many Warriors have been lost because they choose to stop fighting, and became statistics M.I.A., P.O.W. or ultimately Hell.

We all have to make choices; Fight or Surrender, to be a Battle-axe for God or not...

A Battle-axe must keep a cutting edge and not let anything or anyone dull it's blade.

The Battle-axe head must pass through the fire as the metal smith gets it red hot and shapes it with a sledge hammer, beating it until it's shaped for battle.

If you want to be God's Battle-axe, you have to pass through the fire: Trials, Temptations and Hardship. These are the tools used by God to shape us for battle.

Warriors are ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances that bring out their potential. Then they begin to inspire courage in others. Men and women who will re-write history and leave a legacy for generations to come.

We are the Battle-axes of God...

God's Favorites

Everyone wants to feel loved. Even the most hardened criminal deep down inside wants love.But not everyone feels love, many are rejected and unwelcome.

Sometimes we are all guilty of favoritism. We tend to judge people by what they have or don't have, skin color, nationality and whatever box we can put them in.

The problem with putting people into categories,it's easy to forget they have feelings, fears, hopes and dreams, just like us.

The bible calls us to love each other and show that love in practical ways. James shows us the biggest road block to showing love...is favoritism.James 2:1-13

The Greek word used for favoritism in James 2:1 is (prospolepsia)=partiality,favoritism, it has the idea of giving judgment on a person based on the outward circumstances, not on inward merits. Or you could say on their appearance rather than content of character.

James 2:4 He says favoritism starts with evil thoughts. It does not matter how you justify favoritism, it starts with evil thoughts. Favoritism always hurts someone...

Romans 15:7 Says to accept one another, just as Christ accepted you.

The Greek word for accept is (proslambano) it means to grant access to your heart

That's exactly what Jesus did for us, He accepted us into His Heart. Even before we changed our behavior. While we were still sinners and enemies of the Cross, Jesus died for you and I. We should accept people (access to our hearts) no matter where they are from or what they have done, Christ died for them too.

James says if we show favoritism we are guilty of sin and will be judged, sinful attitudes hinder our walk with God. Sins of attitude are the foundation for sins of action.

That's why repentance has to do with a change of mind, behavior won't change until we change our mind. What we believe impacts how we behave.

God doesn't look at the outward appearance He looks at the attitudes of the heart.

People matter to God, so they should matter to us.

We are all "God's Favorites"...

vomanila.tk

Wake-Up,Take-Up & Shake-Up

It is a fact that the Bible is a huge best seller, it has been rewritten in more translations and languages than any other publication. It can be found in most households around the world.

I remember growing up we had a large decorative family Bible that would take center stage on our coffee table, it was beautiful. But no one ever read it, it just sat gathering dust. It was just a decoration.

A few years ago high school seniors were asked questions about the Bible to find out how much they knew about God's word. Some thought Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers. And the Gospels were written by: Matthew, Mark, Luther and John. Some said Eve was created from an apple. Someone even said the epistles were the wives of the apostles.

Is it any wonder why our world is in a downward spiral?

The nations of the world need to turn back to God and His Word. The Bible is not irrelevant, it's very practical when read, understood and applied.

In the book of James chapter 1:21 he says; humbly accept the word planted in you. The word "accept" in the Greek translation means to; welcome, receive favorably, embrace, approve not reject. We must cultivate a heart and life that welcomes and embraces God's Word.

Its not government that can bring change, its God's Word living in and through His people that will change the world. Its time for the church to WAKE-UP, TAKE-UP & SHAKE-UP our cities with the Word of God.

http://www.vomanila.tk/

Victors not Victims

Asia is experiencing calamity after calamity. Typhoon's and flooding in the Philippines, Vietnam, India, China and Japan. Another major earthquake hit Indonesia and lets not forget the tsunami that ravaged American Samoa.

When you see this mother and child running for their lives in Manila from Typhoon Ondoy, it's easy to understand the the crucial time in which we live.

Are these the birth pains that Jesus spoke about before His return?

We must be vigilant, and steadfast in our pursuit of Godly Wisdom.

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him. But when He asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8

This is a call to Faith in God...

Even in the midst of calamaty, we must trust God and not doubt. Doubt will only result in instability. Doubt makes us like the wave of the sea, blown and tossed.

Tossed=Greek_rhipizo=agitate, to disturb, to agitate the mind or passions...

Godly wisdom will give us the ability to contol our emotions so we can control any crisis. Whether it's the storms of life, or an attack from the enemy...

Godly wisdom will give us a clear perspective from His point of view, then we can look beyond the storm.

It's not what we pass through in life that defines us, but how we react to the things we are passing through.

We are victors, not victims...

Flood of Revival

As I think about the recent devastation in the Philippines due to typhoons and major flooding, I can’t help looking at the Big Picture. I believe God is about to bring a flood of Revival through this tragedy.

It’s time for leaders to rise up and bring the multitudes into the destiny that God has preordained for them.

This is our time!

These very same men and women will be sent through out Asia, after all we are the

“Gateway to Asia”…