MY STORY 3 – PTR. ALVIN GUTIERREZ – 10AM MORNING SERVICE

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)

6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)

13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with herGo back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I I will staywill stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

RUTH 1:6-18 (NIV)

17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

THE DECISIONS WE MAKE TODAYTODAY

DETERMINE THE STORIES WE’LL TELL

TOMORROWTOMORROW.

SOMETIMES THE BEST DECISION YOU CAN MAKE IS TO STAY

WHEN IT WOULD BE EASIER TO GOGO.

HEBREWS 12:1-2 (NIV)Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

RUTH 2:11-12 (NIV)11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

WHAT DOES GOD WANT

YOU TO WANT?

james 5:7-9 (esv)7 Be patientpatient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waitswaits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patientpatient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patientpatient. Establish your heartsEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

BE PATIENT.

IF YOU QUIT TOO EARLY,

YOU’LL GRIEVE DEEPLY.

WHERE DOES GOD WANT

YOU TO STAY?

james 5:10-11 (esv)10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfaststeadfast. You have heard of the steadfastnesssteadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate Lord is compassionate and mercifulmerciful.

BE STEADFAST.

GOD IS COMPASSIONA

TE AND MERCIFUL.

galatians 6:9 (NIV)

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper for at the proper timetime we will reap a harvest if we if we do not give updo not give up.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:58 (NIV)

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firmstand firm. Let nothing move younothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in your labor in the Lord is not in vainvain.

2 THESSALONIANS 3:13 (NIV)

13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what never tire of doing what is goodis good.

HEBREWS 12:2-3 (NIV)2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

GOMER AND

HOSEA 1:2-3 (NIV)2 When

the LORD began to speak through

Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman

and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this

land is guilty of unfaithfulness to

the LORD.”

HOSEA 1:2-3 (NIV)

3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a

HOSEA 3:1-5 (NIV)The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

HOSEA 3:1-5 (NIV)

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

HOSEA 3:1-5 (NIV)

3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

HOSEA 3:1-5 (NIV)

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.

HOSEA 3:1-5 (NIV)

5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)5 Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)

6 “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)7 When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think, ‘I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)8 She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has— the grain, the new wine, the olive oil; I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)9 “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine I generously provided each harvest season. I will take away the wool and linen clothing I gave her to cover her nakedness.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)

10 I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be able to rescue her from my hands.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)

11 I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days— all her appointed festivals.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)

12 I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees, things she claims her lovers gave her. I will let them grow into tangled thickets, where only wild animals will eat the fruit.

HOSEA 2:5-13 (NIV)13 I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images of Baal, when she put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about me,”says the Lord.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

14 “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)15 I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

16 When that day comes,” says the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

17 O Israel, , I will I will wipe the many wipe the many names of Baal from names of Baal from your lips, and you your lips, and you will never mention will never mention them again.them again.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)18 On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, so you can live unafraid in peace and safety.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

19 I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

20 I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

21 “In that day, I will answer,” says the Lord. “I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds. And the sky will answer the earth with rain.

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)

22 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees. And they in turn will answer, ‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’

HOSEA 2:14-23 (NLT)At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’ And to those I called ‘Not my people,’ I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”

SmallSmall disciplines that lead to bigbig life

changes.

JONATHAN AND DAVID

2 Chronicles 15:2-7(Niv)

2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.

2 Chronicles 15:2-7(Niv)4 But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5 In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.

6 One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

Hiroo Onoda

HIROO ONODA (1922-2014)

In 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle,

HIROO ONODA (1922-2014)ready for when his country would again need his services and information. Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties he believed were enemy scouts, Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.

HIROO ONODA (1922-2014)Hiroo Onoda was 20 years-

old when he was called up to join the army. At the time, he was far from home working at a branch of the Tajima Yoko trading company in Hankow (now Wuhan), China. After passing his physical, Onoda quit his job and returned to his home in Wakayama, Japan in August of 1942 to get into top physical condition.

In the Japanese army, Onoda was trained as an officer and was then chosen to be trained at an Imperial Army intelligence school. At this school, Onoda was taught how to gather intelligence and how to conduct guerrilla warfare.

“You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you [to] give up your life voluntarily.”

Once on the island of Lubang, Onoda was supposed to blow up the pier at the harbor and destroy the Lubang airfield. Unfortunately, the garrison commanders, who were worried about other matters, decided not to help Onoda on his mission and soon the island was overrun by the Allies.

The remaining Japanese soldiers, Onoda included, retreated into the inner regions of the island and split up into groups. As these groups dwindled in size after several attacks, the remaining soldiers split into cells of 3 and 4 people.

Onoda first saw a leaflet that claimed the war was over in October 1945. When another cell had killed a cow, they found a leaflet left behind by the islanders which read: ""The war ended on August 15. Come down from the mountains!"

But as they sat in the jungle, the leaflet just didn't seem to make sense, for another cell had just been fired upon a few days ago. If the war were over, why would they still be under attack? No, they decided, the leaflet must be a clever ruse by the Allied propagandists.

Again, the outside world tried to contact the survivors living on the island by dropping leaflets out of a Boeing B-17 near the end of 1945. Printed on these leaflets was the surrender order from General Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army.

HIROO ONODA (1922-2014)Having already hidden on the

island for a year and with the only proof of the end of the war being this leaflet, Onoda and the others scrutinized every letter and every word on this piece of paper. One sentence in particular seemed suspicious, it said that those who surrendered would receive "hygienic succor" and be "hauled" to Japan. Again, they believed this must be an Allied hoax.

Leaflet after leaflet was dropped. Newspapers were left. Photographs and letters from relatives were dropped. Friends and relatives spoke out over loudspeakers. There was always something suspicious, so they never believed that the war had really ended.

Year after year, the four men huddled together in the rain, searched for food, and sometimes attacked villagers. They fired on the villagers because, "We considered people dressed as islanders to be enemy troops in disguise or enemy spies.

The proof that they were was that whenever we fired on one of them, a search party arrived shortly afterward."3 It had become a cycle of disbelief. Isolated from the rest of the world, everyone appeared to be the enemy.

In 1949, Akatsu wanted to surrender. He didn't tell any of the others; he just walked away. In September 1949 he successfully got away from the others and after six months on his own in the jungle, Akatsu surrendered. To Onoda's cell, this seemed like a security leak and they became even more careful of their position.

In June 1953, Shimada was wounded during a skirmish. Though his leg wound slowly got better (without any medicines or bandages), he became gloomy. On May 7, 1954, Shimada was killed in a skirmish on the beach at Gontin.

For nearly 20 years after Shimad's death, Kozuka and Onoda continued to live in the jungle together, awaiting the time when they would again be needed by the Japanese army. Per the division commanders instructions, they believed it was their job to remain behind enemy lines, reconnoiter and gather intelligence to be able to train Japanese troops in guerrilla warfare in order to regain the Philippine islands.

In October 1972, at the age of 51 and after 27 years of hiding, Kozuka was killed during a clash with a Filipino patrol. Though Onoda had been officially declared dead in December 1959 Kozuka's body proved the likelihood that Onoda was still living. Search parties were sent out to find Onoda, but none succeeded.

Onoda was now on his own. Remembering the division commander's order, he could not kill himself yet he no longer had a single soldier to command. Onoda continued to hide.

In 1974, a college dropout named Norio Suzuki decided to travel to the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Nepal, and perhaps a few other countries on his way. He told his friends that he was going to search for Lt. Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman.

Where so many others had failed, Suzuki succeeded. He found Lt. Onoda and tried to convince him that the war was over. Onoda explained that he would only surrender if his commander ordered him to do so.

Suzuki traveled back to Japan and found Onoda's former commander, Major Taniguchi, who had become a bookseller. On March 9, 1974, Suzuki and Taniguchi met Onoda at a preappointed place and Major Taniguchi read the orders that stated all combat activity was to be ceased. Onoda was shocked and, at first, disbelieving. It took some time for the news to sink in.

We really lost the war! How could they have been so sloppy?Suddenly everything went black. A storm raged inside me. I felt like a fool for having been so tense and cautious on the way here. Worse than that, what had I been doing for all these years?

Gradually the storm subsided, and for the first time I really understood: my thirty years thirty years as a guerrilla fighter for the Japanese army were abruptly finished. This was the end.

I pulled back the bolt on my rifle and unloaded the bullets.

I eased off the pack that I always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it. Would I really have no more use for this rifle that I had polished and cared for like a baby all these years?

Or Kozuka's rifle, which I had hidden in a crevice in the rocks? Had the war really ended thirty years ago? If it had, what had Shimada and Kozuka died for? If what was happening was true, wouldn't it have been better if I had died with them?

During the 30 years that Onoda had remain hidden on Lubang island, he and his men had killed at least 30 Filipinos and had wounded approximately 100 others. After formally surrendering to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Marcos pardoned Onoda for his crimes while in hiding.

When Onoda reached Japan, he was hailed a hero. Life in Japan was much different than when he had left it in 1944. Onoda bought a ranch and moved to Brazil but in 1984 he and his new wife moved back to Japan and founded a nature camp for kids.

In May 1996, Onoda returned to the Philippines to see once again the island on which he had hidden for 30 years.

On Thursday, January 16, 2014, Hiroo Onoda died at age 91.

When Onoda returned to Japan, he was seen as a hero. He was also given his pay for the last 30 years. Life was much different in Japan now than he remembered, and not at all to his liking.

Many of the traditional Japanese virtues he cherished such as patriotism were nearly non-existent in the culture; indeed in his view Japan now cow-towed to the rest of the world and had lost its pride and sense of itself. So he moved to Brazil and used his pay to buy himself a ranch there and eventually married.

HIROO ONODA (1922-2014)Onoda released an

autobiography: No No Surrender, My Thirty-Year Surrender, My Thirty-Year War War in which he details his life as a guerrilla fighter.

After reading about a Japanese teenager who had murdered his own parents in 1980, Onoda became even more distressed at the state of his country and young people in Japan.

He then returned to Japan in 1984, establishing a nature school for young people where he could teach them various survival techniques and teach them to be more independent and better Japanese citizens.

In May 1996, he returned to the Philippines to the island he had lived for 30 years donating $10,000 to local schools; as you might imagine, he is not too popular with the locals there, despite the donation.

“Men should never

give up. I never do. I would hate

to lose.”HIROO ONODA(1922-2014)

“Men should never

compete with women.

If they do, the guys

will always lose. That is

because women have a lot more endurance. My mother said that,

and she was so right.”

HIROO ONODA(1922-2014)

““One must always One must always be civic-minded. be civic-minded. Every minute of Every minute of every day, for 30 every day, for 30

years, I served my years, I served my country. I have country. I have

never even never even wondered if that wondered if that

was good or bad for was good or bad for me as an me as an

individual.”individual.”

““Parents should Parents should remember that they remember that they are supposed to die are supposed to die

before their before their children. Nobody children. Nobody

will help them later will help them later on, so the greatest on, so the greatest

gift parents can gift parents can give their children give their children is independence.”is independence.”

““Never complain. Never complain. When I did, my mother When I did, my mother said that if I didn’t like said that if I didn’t like my life, I could just give my life, I could just give

up and die. She reminded up and die. She reminded me that when I was me that when I was

inside her, I told her that inside her, I told her that I wanted to be born, so I wanted to be born, so

she delivered me, she delivered me, breastfed me and breastfed me and

changed my diapers. changed my diapers. She said that I had to be She said that I had to be

brave.”brave.”

MATTHEW 26:39 (NLT)

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, Yet I want your will to be done, not minenot mine."

DO NOT QUIT.

Ituloy ang laban.

JESUS WILL JESUS WILL NEVER GIVE NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU.UP ON YOU.

THE ONLY THING WORST

THAN THIS LIFE, IS THIS

LIFE WITHOUT JESUS.

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