Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Biblical Principles of Stewardship

For the final message on Stewardship, Mr. Barry Marshall, Operations Director for Card Services of JP Morgan Chase Bank N. A., Manila Site and Elder of Union Church of Manila, shared to the people of Connect the BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES OF STEWARDSHIP.

"Steward" defined -one who manages a property; finances, or other affairs.

5 Biblical Principles of Stewardship

1. Everything belongs to God
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

-stewardship is a lifestyle, "He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.'

"But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him."
Luke 20:9-15

2. Time belongs to God
-breeds a dangerous self-importance if we allow ourselves to be mastered by time.
-we should ask ourselves, "what is telling me to do with my time?"
-time is a gift, a special gift that once lost we can never get back.

3. Our "call" belongs to God
-anything you do between Sundays.
-statistics showed that:
122 of 132 public appearance of Jesus were in the marketplace
45 out of 52 parables Jesus told had a workplace context
39 out of 40 miracles in Acts were in the marketplace
Jesus worked as a carpenter for 3 years
Jesus called 12 workplace individuals to build His church

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."1 Corinthians 10:31

-The workplace is where Christians have the greatest opportunity to fulfil the Great Commission.
-Be different... Be Godly in the workplace.

4. Our possession belongs to God
a. What I have belong to Him
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty." Haggai 2:8

"I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills." Psalm 50:9-10

b. What I got came from Him
"But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today." Deuteronomy 8:18

"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

c. We are stewards not owner of God's resources
"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" Matthew 25:21

"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:2

5. Money belongs to God
"A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD." Leviticus 27:30

-on first fruits
"We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the Law.

We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the LORD each year the first fruits of our crops and of every fruit tree.

As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there." Nehemiah 10:34-36

-a tenth
"Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year." Deuteronomy 14:22

"Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.
" Matthew 22:19-21

-giving back to God regularly, sacrificially and with priority

PRACTICAL THINGS TO DO:
Pray - ask God to challenge you
Assess - how much can you give?
Give - with sacrifice and regularity

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
" James 1:19-25

Monday, October 29, 2007

Call Center Agents' Day


We give back all the glory, honor and praises to our Lord Jesus as our Call Center Agents' Day turned out well.

A million thanks to all the people who helped the family of CONNECT in order to make this day a reality! Thanks to the people present earlier in participating and making themselves available for a few hours. Thanks to Mr. Barry Marshall in speaking to us and challenging us on becoming a good and faithful steward of God.

Here are pictures of us:

P. Mau on opening remarks



P. Rainier, P. Ro with Mr. Barry Marshall



The Agents in praise and worship



Raya sharing her testimonial



The guest speaker from JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.




We had an ice breaker game called "human bingo" and we gave out prizes for two winners of the game. Winners were Venus and Ruben (one of the first time guest).


And for the early birds winner, we have Maureen (also first time guest) and the very consistent guy Marc, never fails to come in early for our monday-fellowship.










And of course, more pictures!


Our hosts for the day, Rajsh and JV



P. Mau presenting to our guest speaker a simple token of appreciation from CONNECT


Elder Bonnie leading the group in closing prayer and benediction



And more group picture with our guest speaker:

The whole group after the program



The JP Morgan Chase people with their Boss stooping down



Sir Barry with agents from ICT Group



The CORE Group, Pastors with Sir Barry

One more picture for the whole group

We hope to see the following people, who joined us for the firts time today, on our next monday fellowship:

Sir Jumar from iSourcing - Libis
Charyl and Maureen from JP Morgan Chase Bank - Makati
Meshelle from ICT Group - Marikina
John from eTranznet (transcription company) - Makati
Ruben from HSBC - Ortigas
Ian from Teletech

And we look forward for more Call Center people to join in our growing family in CONNECT!

God bless us all this week!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Connect in Somethin' Fishy!

After the long wait, finally the Series Break in Somethin' Fishy came to reality!

There were 15 call center people present earlier, with the group are 2 pastors- P. Mau and P. Euge. We also had Sharmaine, from Minacs Canada- Libis, who joined the group for the first time.

All we did was ate... and had so much fun! Here are few photos taken:


table napkin, Rajsh's remebrance



on the line, Sherwin and Steff



with Janet and Love following



food, food, food!



this is supposed to be candid! With Abe, P. Mau and P. Euge



Told you it was fun!



Rajsh, Abe, and Sharmaine



No left overs, hehe!



they actually came in late but then again, better late than never!



and more pictures





Group pictures of the day

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Stewards of time and journey




Praise be to God for bringing us today Pastor George Payocong to minister to us and share a wonderful message about Time and Journey. All were blessed with the message and with the sharing we had! And we bring back all the praise and thanksgiving to our God! Indeed it has been a fruitful and a hyper morning shared in His presence and with His people.

The summary of the message earlier is as follows:

-The word TIME is mentioned 770 times in the Bible
-Time does not speak of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years alone but it also speaks about season and eternity.
-Before God created the world there was no time.
-We (man) are creatures finite.
-In Ecclesiastes 3:11, it was mentioned that "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." which refers to our SOUL.
-Beyond the grave, the soul survives!
-"Everlasting life" was mentioned in John 3:16
-Our focus should be the eternal destiny of our soul.
-Ephesians 2:2 said "...in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."
-God has gives us opportunities but it is up to us on how we grab it.
-Ephesians 5:16 said "making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
-Part of managing TIME is managing CHANGES.

EIGHT REASONS WHY MANY CHANGES ARE INEFFECTIVE:

1. WE ALLOW TOO MUCH COMPLEXITY- while we shoul keep our lives simple!

2. WE FAIL TO BUILD SUBSTANTIAL NETWORK/COALITION- do not neglect to talk to people who will be affected by the "change"; prepare the mindset and start communicating with them, do not assume they will know and they will always understand.

3. WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR A CLEAR VISION- our purpose in life must be clear. Vision; those things beyond what is obvious. Beyond call center, how do we envision our lives. Have you ask your self "Why am I doing what I'm doing?" and "Why am I doing the way I'm doing this way?".

4. WE FAIL TO CLEARLY COMMUNICATE OUR VISION- understand what's going on and don't just go through the motion. Stabilize yourself, build something that will last, otherwise it will outlast you.

5. WE PERMIT ROAD BLOCKS- whenever there is change, there will be oppositions and if you permit those "road blocks" to slow you down, it will slow you down.

6. WE DO NOT PLAN SHORT TERM RESULT AND REALIZE THEM- short connected victories should be managed chunk by chunk and piece by piece before it is achieved.

7. WE DECIDE VICTORY TOO SOON- and when it happens, the momentum slows down! Do not claim the victory too soon but rather rejoice when it comes.

8. WE FAIL TO ANCHOR CHANGES ON GOD- if our desire and our goal is not anchored with God, expect it to fail. Make sure to make Him you anchor in everything that you do and will do.

ASK YOUR SELF: Am I on my way to the way that I want to go? How far have I gone?

Conclusion
-In every attempt in life, it should be achieved one step at a time.
-Start the day with a word of prayer.
-Establish a strong relationship with God.
-If you fail to manage your time, it will manage you!
-If you are not the boss of your time, you will be its slave.

Hyper Monday!

It's been a very hyper morning today! Thank God for the Pinoy Henyo ice-breaker game that served as energy booster to start our day.

It's just so wonderful to have spent this morning with God and His people, for fellowhip, breakfast, the message of P. George, laughter, and more laughter! Praise the Lord for a fruitful start of the day and a very energizing moment to start the week! A total of 26 people were present, of which it includes 3 pastors, and 2 newbies!

To Karry of People Support-Makati and Lecil of Teleperformance-Tektite. Welcome to the family of CONNECT and we hope to see you again next week, and on the upcoming Mondays ahead!

Our early birds for today is no other than Marc,
and Venus, kina-karir po nila! Hehe! Praise be to God for the example of these two in coming early for the fellowship. Hope you enjoy the chocolate treat, way to go guys!

And as P. George have said "you make every Monday a special day, may picture-taking lagi!" here goes the picture taken earlier:



Praise and Worship lead by P. Mau



Call Center People present earlier were 23



"Active Listeners" are Marc, Karry, Lis and Leah



Pastors of the Day are P. Euge, P. Mau and P. George



P. George sharing his final thoughts before the benediction


Group pictures of the day:









As per next week, the long wait for the series break will be over! As We'll spend our time in breakfast and fellowship in SOMETHIN' FISHY! For updates, keep your cellphones alert or visit our bolg regularly, further details will be announced!

God bless us all this week!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Amazing God at work!

After last week's 15 number of attendance, our mighty God brought 25 people today of which 6 were newbies! Let us WELCOME Gennah (E-PLDT-Mandaluyong), Venus (One Global-Ortigas), Lis (Sykes-Makati), Sir Erick (Teleperformance-EDSA Central), Lyndon (iZONE-Ortigas), and Ruel (invited by Francis). Amazingly, that number doesn't include the three non-call center guest we had; P. Jon, P. Ro, P. Bj and Mark del Rosario (Youth Ministry Leader), so in total there were 29 people gathered for an early morning fellowship in the presence of our Holy God.


Kudos to the early birds Mich, who came in around 6am and then followed by Venus, one of our newbie that showed faithfulness by being on time for the fellowship!
May the Lord be glorified by your efforts in waking up early to spend time with His people and study His word.



Here are more of photos taken earlier:


with Ice Breaker Master Rajsh


the Youth Pastors P. Ro (UCM) and P. Bj (GCF)


the Posers Jv, Marlou, P. Jon, Kath and Raya


P.Jon as our speaker


after the message, a Prayer offering


Group Picture of the Day

For next week's breakfast fellowship, we will be having Pastor George Payocong as our guest speaker, the series on STEWARDSHIP continues.

We hope to see you all again! The early birds (first two) gift continues too! God bless us all this week!