OCTOBER 20, 2007

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

(Bugallon Woo-sung UMC)

One of the activities was a lecture from Pastora Gay Montemayor. She started it with a question:

WHAT IS LOVE? Love is an indefinable word and can only describe love just as Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 13.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, bso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 cIf I give away all I have, anddif I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 eLove is patient and fkind; love gdoes not envy or boast; it his not arrogant 5 or rude. It idoes not insist on its own way; it jis not irritable or resentful;2 6 it kdoes not rejoice at wrongdoing, but lrejoices with the truth. 7 mLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, eendures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For nwe know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For pnow we see in a mirror dimly, but qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as rI have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

            Because of the depth of the meaning of love, God defined it by giving up His Only Son. LOVE IS COSTLY.

            And when we commit to God, it is because we love God that much and His people. God gave and give us passion such as His Son- to win loss souls. If we want to LEAD, we must KNEEL before our CREATOR, to HUMBLE ourselves and to LOVE HIM no matter what.

            A bit of disappointed because only few youth leader attended this activity, to Learn from these workers who have that passion for Christ. I believe youths have that inner fire waiting for it to be burn. I also want to be a witness, just like them, these workers, on God’s amazing power. I want to be one of the youths who have that fire, that passion to SERVE CHRIST no matter what.

            I admit, that when I was called to be a leader in Pangasinan Central District, I had so many doubts, so many excuses. But God, with His incredible grace, showed me HIS WAYS, and HIS WAYS ARE ALWAYS BETTER.

            At times, there will be confusements, doubts, tempers, angers, and times where there will be sorrows, cries, giving-ups, and at times there will be joys, laughters in serving. And all these times, GOD IS ALWAYS THERE, GENTLY LEADING, TEACHING, GUIDING and LOVING US.

            We are a bunch of losers, sinners, unworthy, speck of dust.

            But God showed His love for US ALL… AT THE CROSS.

            And because of Him, I am forever worthy to be His child.

            What Is Love?

            GOD SHOWED HIS LOVE AT THE CROSS.

            May I always remember… may I never forget how GOD DEFINED THAT LOVE FOR ME.

“Oh Lord, my God, how great is Your love for someone like me, how wide and how unsearchable are Your ways. No one can define what love really is. But You showed us that LOVE IS COSTLY. You showed us that YOU LOVE SINNERS, SUCH AS US, THAT GREAT. So great, that it took You to DIE on the CROSS for me.

Thank You Father for saving me. May I rejoice always in Your salvation, to be joyful, knowing that I’m forever Your child. To dance in praising You and magnify Your Name.

Worthy are You, Oh Lord.” amen