Crosspointe Makati Podcast

We have added to our hearts compassion, selflessness, forgiveness and love for the lost people. Thank God for joining us throughout this series. Now we're in position... Jesus our mission. We are ready to go...

Whether you're learning about Christianity for the first time, or you came to the faith decades ago, you may wonder what it means to live a Christian life. It can be especially challenging to determine how to live a Christian life in a secular world, where many aspects of a modern lifestyle conflict with God's design. We're going to look at several ways Christians can live life the way God intended: one of dependence on and dedication to Him.

Increasing our faith requires trusting the Lord with our whole souls and striving to act as He would in all circumstances. Jesus Christ's early Apostles opened a rich vein of pure gold for our consideration when they pleaded to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5)

The word “gospel” is not a contemporary word. It’s derived from an old English word, godspel. It simply means good news or glad tidings. Additionally, “evangelist” is translated from the Greek word evangelistes and  means someone who is a presenter of the gospel, or good news. Many call  themselves evangelists and assert they are presenting the good news.  But of the many “evange­lists,” or preachers of good news, who really understands and pre­sents the complete meaning of Jesus Christ’s message?

This was one of my big lessons in Lent this year, the lesson of patience and faith. This idea that by being still, I leave room for God, for God’s work, for something bigger to happen than the next thing I might do if I were to act on my own. Being still gives me time to think, to listen, to wait.  Being still means that I know, in act and deed that God is with me, leading me, and I have surrendered to His guidance. Being still says I am faithful, and that I need and love and trust God. One simple action that holds so much silent, purposeful meaning.

How do we shape a Christian response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

I’m sure there has been much pain in your life. You have probably had extreme ups and downs, and times of emotional, spiritual, and physical unrest. This is why gratitude can be one of the most difficult virtues to uphold.

We forget that gratitude is not only about our accomplishments, what we have, or the good fortune we experience, but that gratitude comes from simply being a person alive in the world. There are many blessings in disguise that aren’t always apparent to us, and many of these blessings are afforded to us simply for being alive! As long as we have life, we can learn to be grateful for it, and uncover our unique human blessings despite the hardships. Below are some broad and general blessings that you may have overlooked.

In the parable, when the widow kept coming to the unjust judge her plea was “Grant me justice against my adversary” (Luke 18:1-8 NIV). In her plea, she used a word that is easy to overlook but that makes all the difference in what she requested. What’s that word? It’s justice. The word justice is based on the word just which means “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair” (Oxford Dictionary). So when the widow requested justice, it indicated that she wasn’t asking for a favor, she was asking for something that was rightfully hers.

In any society, there are laws that dictate what should happen when certain conditions are met. We are normally aware of the laws that result in negative consequences if we break them, but there are also laws that benefit us if we ask according to them. The persistent widow understood this.

We can learn from the widow by asking for things smartly. By smartly, I mean with knowledge. Asking with knowledge not only includes knowing what is rightfully ours, but also the way we ask. If we do, it’s no question of whether or not we will get what we ask for, it’s only a matter of when we’ll get it. Jesus used the example of a judge “who neither feared God nor cared what people thought” (Luke 18:2 NIV) to represent how we can get a breakthrough in a worst-case scenario by our persistence. But at the end of the parable, He goes on to explain how God, unlike the judge, is just, pointing to the fact that we can definitely get an answer in reality.

The story of Cain and Abel is the next major story in the Bible, after the Creation account and the story of the Garden of Eden. In short, Cain murders his younger brother Abel and is exiled for his crime. But is the story ‘just’ a moral tale, or might it be an attempt to explain something deeper about the development of human civilisation?

When we look at the world with all of its trials, troubles, tribulations, and heartaches; we sometimes ask: "Where is God? Why doesn't He do something?" Is it that God is not able? Is the situation too large or too difficult for God?