TO ALL EMO's, THIS IS FOR YOU

[See graphic arts below]

I have ministered to many EMO's in various community, schools and churches. Oftentimes, they have been looked at with disdain and prejudice just because of how they look. Good thing, God don't judge us based on outward appearance. I have experienced that people who look rebellious are just actually people who are needing love.

I have encountered group of young people in one campus who were kick-out by the school because they started to make cuts in their arms using a cutter. When I counseled them, each one of them shared their frustrations and pains in life. One has a broken family, another has been physically abused. And goes the story of each one trailing stories of frustrations, self-pity, self-condemnation and guilt.

Oftentimes, these young people have been misjudged just because of their looks, their hair-style and their music. Even churches has the wrong goal to change their culture and their looks without addressing the pain and the reasons why they are doing Emo. Instead of receiving love, what they received is prejudice and rejection. All they need is to be listened at, to be cared for, to be accepted, and to be helped.

One Emo asked me, "Does Jesus loves an Emo like me?"
I told him the stories of the "emo's" in the BIble - the lunatic whom Jesus healed, the demonized boy, and Mary Magdalene. And I showed her my own scars in my left and right arms, "Even before this emo culture has emerged, people has been already struggling with self-hate, depression, frustrations and guilt. It's as old as the world. But there is hope. I experienced this freedom and I want to share it to you."

I told the 13-year-old girl who has the worst cuts in her arms, "You don't have to do this anymore, because Someone has already been wounded for you. Jesus has already been punished, cut and wounded for you. It means you are loved, accepted, and forgiven."

"So then it could mean Jesus is also an Emo in this regard?", the girl asked me.
"Well, if we take Jesus becoming "human" to die on the cross, and "emo's" are humans, then it is right, Jesus is an "emo" in this context. He became "emo" for you and died for you to have freedom. If you were called today as "Emo," He was called in his time as "Man of Sorrows." You don't have to do this because Jesus is hurt looking at you doing this because He loves you so much. He already shouldered all the pains and the sins."

This emo girl together with her friends cried as they received Jesus in their lives.

Emo culture, is just one of the many cultures of the new generation has. Instead of looking at them with disdain and prejudice. I think we can only reach them not through condemnation, but through the love of Jesus.

To all EMO's out there - Jesus loves you.
I dedicate the work of arts below for you.

CHANGING OUR "JESUS-LOVES-YOU-FAMILIARITY"

"Jesus loves you."
"God loves you."

Words we are so familiar with. It became so familiar that to many it is just an expression or a quotation. The worst thing is that these words have been used by religion and churches in their own context and perspectives. Oftentimes, the comfort "God loves you" is just given to the lovable but not to the unloveable. We can say outright to good people these words, but to the worst of sinners who are annoyance to our society, we are taciturn to say this. We have seen religious people with a "cause" rallying in the streets condemning some "evil" people declaring that there is hell, and somehow they can never use these words, "God loves you." Somehow, we can just say "God loves you" to religious people but we think twice if we can say these to the fallen, to the unchurched or to people who sinned. To the "worst of sinners" whom we branded - the prostitutes, the "gays", the criminals, the corrupt, and others - we cannot declare these words to them. The religious people became so familiar with "Jesus loves you" that we cannot share it to those who are not familiar with it.

Somehow, these words are but for the sweet and for the lovable. We never realized that these words, "Jesus loves you," is not an expression nor a sweet quotation. These words were written in blood. This is not a sweet word but a "dirty" word so to speak. Jesus became "dirty" as he carried that cross, as he was spit upon by people, and as he hung on that cross. Jesus did all of these declaring that Jesus loves everybody!

Saying "Jesus loves you" is not based on our own context and perception who qualifies to be covered with God's love and who is only worthy to hear these words. Jesus loves everybody - the most sinful and even the religious people.

Maybe it's time to be enlightened and move from what is familiar.
How?
Get out to the street, look for someone who is branded as worst of sinners by our society, and start by whispering as if you are speaking to that person and say, "Jesus loves you."
This is the start and you will discover that the used-to-be familiar words "Jesus loves you" to you will come alive and will have a deeper meaning. Your prejudice will be gone, your legalistic mindset will be gone, and your selfishness will be gone.

Now, then let us change the spotlight from those "worst of sinners" to -

   you.

How many times you can easily declare the words "Jesus loves me" just because you are faithful in the church? or just because you have done good things in your life? or maybe you have been performing nicely in your religious activities? But why you can't declare these words, "Jesus loves me" when we fall into sin? when we became inactive in the church? when we made a shameful sin?

Now, let us get out of the familiar and let us make these words real in your life. Think for a moment the worst sin which you have done in your life and the sin for which you have been ashamed of, and declare verbally with boldness -

"Jesus... loves me."

God loves you not based on your performance. Remember, God loves you already even in your worst.

"Jesus loves you." The "you" here represents all kinds of people. Change the "you" with any kind of sinner you can think of, and the words will still fit because it is Jesus who loves, not us. And when we see these people how Jesus loves them, then we can move out from the familiar, and love them with authenticity.

Across The Wilderness of Hope

A friend online shared this poem that really touched my heart and my soul as a preacher. It spoke to me that no matter what happen in life, there is hope. John the Baptist was raised in the wilderness, in a very unlikely place, but even there, there is hope. It spoke to me since I have been in my own "wilderness" but even there, hope abound and made me what I am now today. It spoke to me that what matter most what we preached and shared is none other than Jesus. [Thank you Earl for this great poem.]

O remember John who spread news in the wilderness.

Who would listen out there, out there where abound the grass?

But he called all to shed their former selves for the new,

Beyond  regular days, not the ordinary.

Repentance is not shedding a tear, or showing sorrow.

And hope is not lost when there seems no tomorrow.

Something is coming like the wind, like refreshing water,

Something like fire burning, like hope making things new.

It is not in the city where lives are priced by real value.

It is not in possessions, that life is filled with riches.

Somebody comes to the poor to say God blesses,

Somebody whose life is a gift, a gift so very true..

Like John, we point beyond the Jordan to a greater one,

Our task is not to draw the world to us, not ourselves.

But find Jesus with others along a hope for all,

Across sea, hills, wilderness, plains, and villages.

- b y  E a r l  C a n l a s

A Call For Men To Advance The Kingdom Of God

The Blessing of Ministering to New Believers

We all love children. Looking at them and playing with them surely takes away our stress. I, myself, love children, too. I love to look at them, play with them, cuddle them, kiss them and hug them. Children has this innate characteristics to really give you a one-of-a-kind refreshing. Their innocence and angelic character relaxes your heart and mind.

One child whom I love is the child of one of my friend in the church. Her name is Keyl. Everybody in the church loves Keyl. She is so cuddly and cute. When her Dad posted her pictures in Facebook, I was so glad. When I get tired at work, just a glance at the above picture eases my mind.

Kids make the place happy.

Kids make everybody sweet.

Kids refreshes you from any stress.

Connect this in a church and you will discover that this is also the one that can contribute to the liveliness and happiness of the church. What I mean is- the new believers. Yes, the new converts, the visitors or the people new to our church. They are the "babes" in Christ.

And isn't it also true that knowing that there is a new believer or a new visitor in the church makes the church happy? Isn't it true that we act differently when there is a new convert? We are conscious of our actions to make our new believers feel accepted and loved. New believers make everybody sweet. Why? Because there is a new "babe" in the church. New believers remind you of your first love. New believers remind you of how sweet it was to be a child of God. New believers has this innocence. New believers appreciate much what we often took for granted. To them, everything in the church is wonderful. Everything they see is a delight and a blessing. And we, in reaction to their attitude, becomes very accommodating to them. Visitors change our Sundays. When you have no visitor brought in the church, you don't care if the songs are too loud, or the message is long or the people don't smile. But when you have a visitor, how you prayed that the songs will be okay, the message ought be perfect, and  you wish that everybody will smile and shake hands with your visitor. You are careful and you ensure that nothing will offend your visitor. Speaking of, taking care of fragile kids, right? New believers make us behave how we ought to behave in the church. Visitors make our church gatherings happy.

Another thing, new believers make everybody sweet, and new believers refreshes us from any stress. To the new believers, our issues in "Christianity" is not their issues. All they know is that they have a new life in Jesus. To the new believers, even our issues in the church is a petty thing to them. New believers make us behave differently.

This is why if the church has no new believers, no people being reached and no new members, the church is not that happy. There is no liveliness. There is no baby in the house! And since there are new people being reached, we tend to focus on ourselves to the point that we tend to notice our differences, and eventually, conflicts emerge in our midst. Why? Because there are new babes in the church. Everybody is stressed out, and all our attention is among ourselves in all those years. 

But just wait when a new believer comes, O, the atmosphere will be different. There is a new child of God, there is a babe in Christ, and their presence makes our gatherings happy.  New believers make us sweet. They refreshes us from stress, making us realize that there is no need to dwell in unnecessary issues and better to minister and focus to these new believers.

Just like Keyl, our attention is to her when she is around in the church. Her smile makes us happy. Keyl makes everybody sweet. Keyl relaxes you from stress. This is the same blessings you get when you minister to the new believers.

The blessing of ministering to new believers is that actually, they are the ones blessing us.

- A r t  R o y  R e m y

__________________________
Just few more radical thoughts:

I will not spend my time resurrecting the dead when I can focus on new births.  

If we want radical change in our churches, if we want any issue to vanish, if we want liveliness in our midst, let us focus more on the new believers and pool all our resources and potential to minister to them.

We are called to "love our neighbors." How much more when our neighbors are already with our Church. 

“Let us count 

disciples 

and not

attendance.”

- S t e v e  M u l l e r

The Church is The People Not The Building

Jesus has never confined the Church in a building or an edifice. From the very time He started His ministry, He was always in the streets, in the open field, in the seashore, in the community reaching and helping people. His kingdom has never been about palaces or building. His kingdom is in the hearts of man.


The last time He attended the Jewish meeting inside the synagogue was when he came to the front, stood in the middle, opened the book in Isaiah and read,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering the sight of the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

After he read it, he closed the book and started ministering to people. It was his declaration that his work and mission is not inside the building or in the temple but in the community. Jesus has no pulpit nor a church building of his own but He radically changed the lives of people in His days. Even before He ascended to heaven, his command was, "go ye...and preach the Gospel." It is not about a system, nor of organization not even of a building. It is all about reaching the community with His love. It is all about others for the Lord.


The Church is not a building because a building has no heart to care for people. It has no compassion to care for people. The Church is the believers who are passionate for Jesus and in reaching people for the Lord. As a church, are we like Jesus? How many of our activities focus on -


- preaching the Gospel to the poor?
- healing the broken hearted?
- delivering the captives?
- recovering the sight of the blind?
-setting free those that are bruised?
- preaching the breakthrough year of the Lord?


Or all we do is all for us believers and all for the name of activities and programs but no lives has been touched and changed?


When we misconceive that the Church is a building, we will be what we think we are.
All but rocks and stones. No liveliness. All walls, facilities and equipments but no life.
One of my radical friend who is passionate for Jesus, Olai Espiritu posted in her Facebook these quotes -

As long as we believe that the Church was born between four walls, we will always need four walls to have a church. A concept that will lead us to confusion. We must be focused on the mission entrusted to us, not just a church building or a gathering of believers.

Time for us to live who we really are and we are the people loved by God and saved by His grace. A radical truth: It is wrong to say, "I will go to church" because the church is not a building. It is better to say, "I will be with the Church today in worship."


The community is waiting for the church to come alive and for the church to touch them. The community will be amazed and blessed to discover that the Church has flesh and blood, and is not rocks and stones.

“Christianity

is best spread 

not through

force

but through

fascination.”

- C l a i b o r n e