ZONEDVOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

ZONEDEditor in ChiefAssistant EditorArt Director

NIGELLE REYESCHARMAINE ERASQUINCAMILLE ALCERA

Priority of A LeaderPastor Nathan Leigh

Mark 12:28­30 “And one ofthe scribes came and heardthem arguing, andrecognizing that He hadanswered them well, askedHim, "What commandment isthe foremost of all?" Jesusanswered, "The foremost is,'Hear, O Israel! The Lord ourGod is one Lord; and youshall love the Lord your Godwith all your heart, and withall your soul, and with allyour mind, and with all yourstrength.”There are leaders in thehome that seem to send amessage to their kids thattheir job or their hobbybecomes a priority and thatis why all of a sudden Daddyis not so much in churchanymore. But the verses inMark state specifically thatour first priority should beour relationship with God. Ifwe love God we willexperience His love withinand will express that love toothers.

Its All About LovePastor Bill Wilson

How does a man like theapostle Paul who was oncea murderer of Christians, gofrom there to becoming aservant of Jesus Christ andknown to being one of themost compassionate men inthe Bible? One verseexplains this and it can bethe testimony of manypeople living their life forChrist.2 Corinthians 5:14; “ForChrist’s love constrains us,because we are convincedthat one died for all, andtherefore all died.” This isPaul’s explanation of his lifeand what moved him. If wewere students, we wouldunderstand that this word“constrains” is a veryinteresting definition. MostEnglish words have what wecall a primary, a secondaryand so forth definitiondepending on the text andcontext of the word beingused. This word has 3primary definitions which are

very unusual; it means thatthis word means the samething in all 3 of thedefinitions. Paul is saying thelove of Christ constrains me:it is the love of Christ, all byitself, nothing more, nothingless, did something in aman’s life that flipped himfrom being a murderer toone of the greatest soul­winners, Biblical author, andthe list goes on and on. Howdoes that work?"For the love of Christconstrains us," some say"the love of Christ controlsus, having concluded this,that One died for alltherefore all died."Constrains is a muchstronger word than compel;the first definition is it forcesmotion or movement in anunnatural manner. You canbe this close to connectingwith the love of Christ for youbut if you really didn’tunderstand what He did foryou then it doesn’t matter.You can be in church all yourlife and it still doesn’t meanthat you have connectedwith what Christ did for youon the Cross and the lovethat drove Him to it. Butwhen it connects, whenChrist’s love connects withyou, it forces movement inyou. The love of Christmoves you, it constrains you.Paul says “the love of Christmoves me ­ I don’t have achoice.” The love of Christmoves people and itmanifests in their life.

EDark and UglyEmotionsPastor Dennis Legaspi

Emotions. They make whatwould otherwise be drab andcolorless lives so delightful inmany different, excitingways. But as delightful asour emotions can be, theycan at times be just asoppressive, just as dark andugly. This is so clearlyillustrated in Psalm 13:1­2“How long, O Lord? Will Youforget me forever? How longwill You hide Your face fromme? How long shall I takecounsel in my soul, havingsorrow in my heart all theday? How long will myenemy be exalted over me?”Visualize David. Here clearlywas a man oppressed by hisemotions. We know that hehad just slain Goliath, almostovernight becoming the mostfamous hero in the land. Butalso because of this veryadulation King Saul, is drivento insane jealousy andbecomes David's mortalenemy. Saul is bent on onething alone: to kill this youthwho had become everythinghe longed to be, but wouldnow never become.And how is David bearing upunder the strain? David isemotionally wasted. He'sutterly despondent,bewildered. He's wonderingwhen and how it will all end.David does at least threethings here that further

aggravate his ugly mood, hisslowly spreading depression.He wallows in self­pity. Heplans and formulates hisown way out then hebecomes bitter and resentful.Oswald Chambers says, “Nosin is worse than self­pity. Itobliterates God and puts selfon the throne. It opens ourmouths to murmurings andour lives become cravingspiritual sponges, withnothing lovely or generousabout them.”We see how the psalmforces us, through David tosee ourselves and how badlywe handle these dark andugly emotions. To see howour instinctive ways ofcoping with them dig usdeeper into the hole, furtheraggravating, rather thanrelieving our pain. But moreimportantly, it shows us whatwe're to do during thesetimes. They call us to faceour dark emotions squarely,through these dark andturbulent emotions, Godoffers you invaluableopportunities to see yourselfas you really are.One writer calls thisredemptive abandonment.God's cunning use of ourextreme negative emotionsto strongly prod us to cometo Him shorn of every idol wecling to, in place of Him. Godmeets you in your weakness,not your strength. Hecomforts those who mourn,not those who live above

Present FruitfulWork to the MasterPastor Ricky Sarthou

There will be a day when wewill face our Master andmake account for how welived our lives. Romans14:12 says, “So then, eachof us will give an account ofhimself to God.” Theproblem of the third servantwas not a lack of ability orIQ. It was attitude. He was“wicked and lazy.” He didn’teven think of depositing themoney in the bank to gaininterest. The point is,whatever God entrusts withus, he expects us to grow it.To hide or not to use it iswickedness.The ultimate will of our Lordis to have a joyous reunionwith us. He longs to say,“Come and share in yourMaster’s joy,” when we meetHim. This is what’s at stakein making our life count.The psalmist wrote, “Onething I ask of the Lord, this iswhat I seek: that I may dwellin the house of the Lord allthe days of my life, to gazeupon the beauty of the Lordand to seek Him in histemple.” (Psalm 27:4) That’sa life that counts.

Prayers of A LeaderPastor Nathan Leigh

James 5:16­17 “Therefore,confess your sins to oneanother, and pray for oneanother, so that you may behealed. The effective prayerof a righteous man canaccomplish much. Elijah wasa man with a nature likeours, and he prayedearnestly that it might notrain; and it did not rain onthe earth for three years andsix months.” Elijah was aman just like us. Somepeople see prayer as a lastresort to be tried when allelse fails. This approach isbackward. Prayer shouldcome first. James says topray for each other so thatyou may be healed, theearnest prayer of a righteousperson has great power andproduces wonderful results.Probably one of the mostunderestimated issues in theChristian life is the prayers ofthe leader. When you startpraying for your family andthe people you areshepherding, you take on alifestyle of proactive prayer.We don’t realize that wespend too much time talkingwith our kids and not enoughtime talking to God about ourkids. Our children can benumb to our voice especiallywhen a child is goingthrough different stages butGod can reach his heart.God can work inside theheart of your child.

The Remedy for BrokennessPastor Joby Soriano

David tells us the remedy for brokenness in Psalm 51:17, “Thesacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject aheart that is broken and sorry for sin.” David recognized thatGod didn’t want the ritual of sacrifice. God wanted his crushedheart, his broken spirit, and the very center of David’s being.God wanted a repentant heart.Humility is the remedy for brokenness that is an essentialprerequisite for real intimacy with God. Take the life of Moses.God took Moses through a process of disappointment anddisillusionment that resulted in brokenness. Because Moseswas broken, God could invest him with spiritual authority andcommission him to do an impossible task. Because Moses wasbroken, he experienced intimacy and communion with God. Helearned God’s will for his life and for the people of God.The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have thistreasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness ofthe power will be of God and not from ourselves.” We are theclay jars. Sometimes we want to decorate and beautify the claypots, thinking we can attract people and change peoplebecause we are so attractive. But God has another idea. Thetreasure is Jesus, not the pot.

The Reality of BrokennessPastor Joby Soriano

Psalm 31:12 says, “I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: Iam like a broken vessel.” When a person is broken, he is almostuseless, unless he gets repaired. We can reject the discipline,complain about our pain, become bitter and arrogantly justifyourselves before God and others. We can stubbornly refuse tobend, to bow or to be broken. The most common response is tobecome downcast, depressed, feeling worthless and washed­up, and even quit. We take out our bitterness over what ishappening to us on to those around us. We develop a shortfuse, we say things that we don’t really mean, and we losecontrol of our emotions very easily. Some of us blame God forwhat has happened and either drop out of church or quit servinglike we used to and become discouraged, disillusioned, andeven depressed.

Start well but moreimportantly finishwellBro. Babes SimpaoIf you want to succeed inyour endeavors, in your workand your career, and in thethings you do in your life,fearing God and seekingGod’s guidance in everythingis important. Your initialsuccess can help in yourfuture successes. Your initialachievement will provide youwith a capital to grow yourbusiness. One success maylead to another. So keep inmind that in anything we door undertake. It is imperativethat we seek God’s guidanceso that we can start well anddo our task well.Uzziah, the king of Judahduring tumultuous times withthe Philistines, started welland did what was pleasing inGod’s sight. His peopleunanimously picked him as aking when he was just 16years old, and had goodmoral and spiritual advisersin the person of his fatherAmaziah, and Zechariah,who “instructed him in thefear of God” (2 Chron. 26:5).He amassed a huge army,equipped them with the bestpossible equipment, andmade them the most elitemilitary units in the world atthat time. He conquered thePhilistines, destroyed theircities, and rebuilt entiretowns. He fortified Jerusalem

He fortified Jerusalem with reinforced walls and additionaldefensive turrets complete with counter­siege equipment. Hecreated numerous tower strongholds in conquered areas tosafeguard drinking wells and masses of livestock. In theprocess, he provided many Judeans with work taking care ofboth his livestock and vast areas of agricultural produce.His fame throughout the region spread, even going as far asEgypt. Transformed into an effective leader, he continuallybeheld the interests of the people. God granted him success inevery administrative and personal endeavor he looked into. Asone would say it today, Uzziah was on a roll. Why? Simplybecause “he sought the Lord” (2 Chron. 26:5).It is ironic that Uzziah ended up not finishing well; beingdisgraced in his final years. Uzziah grew proud blatantlychanging worship protocols. (2 Chron. 26:16­18). He was thenconfronted by Azariah and 80 other brave priests. Oftentimeswe do not see the consequences of our behavior and actionsand it takes someone who cares for us to point things out forus. Uzziah’s hardened heart resulted in God striking him withleprosy that lasted until his death. What’s worse, Uzziahcouldn’t be honored even in the grave; he was buriedseparately from his own royal ancestors simply because he hadleprosy (2 Chron. 26:22).Why is it imperative to finish well with the life and purpose thatGod gave us? It is a tragedy to run the race but not actuallyfinish it.

Jesus Loves Us UnconditionallyPastor Joby Soriano

All those who say they love the Lord but don’t love others,should question their relationship with God. Romans 15:7,“Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to theglory of God.” Most people don’t know the difference betweenacceptance and approval. The Lord doesn’t approve ofeverything you do, but He loves you and accepts you as youare. When you come to Christ and you’ve messed up in yourlife, He’s not going to say, “See? I told you so.” He’s going toaccept you. Similarly, we don’t have to approve of everythingother people do. But we do have to accept them. That is themark of true Christian love.

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The Reality ofBrokennessPastor Joby Soriano

Psalm 31:12 says, “I amforgotten as a dead man outof mind: I am like a brokenvessel.” When a person isbroken, he is almost useless,unless he gets repaired. Wecan reject the discipline,complain about our pain,become bitter and arrogantlyjustify ourselves before Godand others. We canstubbornly refuse to bend, tobow or to be broken. Themost common response is tobecome downcast,depressed, feeling worthlessand washed­up, and evenquit. We take out ourbitterness over what ishappening to us on to thosearound us. We develop ashort fuse, we say thingsthat we don’t really mean,and we lose control of ouremotions very easily. Someof us blame God for whathas happened and eitherdrop out of church or quitserving like we used to.

The Best is Yet to ComeBro. Paul Tan-chi

In the Christian life, we may have started off with a lot ofbaggage in our past, but it’s how we finish that counts. Look atSolomon, who started off very well, praying for wisdom that hewould do the right thing. But his appetite was for women and bythe end of his life he was worshipping all sorts of gods becausehe was drawn away by women. So with Eli the priest who wasoverweight, didn’t take care of his family and was veryundisciplined. We see a pattern here with appetites in their lifethat lured them away.In Philippians 3:17­19 Paul wrote, “Brethren, join in following myexample, and observe those who walk according to the patternyou have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, andnow tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross ofChrist, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite,and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds onearthly things.”Who are these people that Paul is talking about? The enemiesof the cross are those who trust in themselves and their goodworks and are dominated by the appetites of the flesh. Lust,power, money and fame are all appetites that Paul says werethe gods of these people, making them enemies of Christ.Appetites have a way of side­tracking us, and pull us away fromour relationship with God.God wants us to finish well and pursuing intimacy with Him isthe only way to do that.