Talk

BRO. AUDIE VILLARAZA:

I have some unfortunate news. Today is the last talk of this series,

WHO CAN LEAD US? Good things always come to an end. But for every ending, there’s always a new beginning.

Next week, we’re going to dive into something new. It’s going to be

Grand Easter Feast. I hope you’re going to be there for our Holy Week Retreat. But for now, I’m going to close this the right way.

Finally, we came to this guy named David, who is regarded as the greatest king of all of Israel. He was somebody whose heart was after God. A man after God’s own heart. But if David had some victories, he also had some defeats. David had some highs, but he also had some lows.

In 1 Samuel 22:51, David gives a testimony about God’s love.

David says that God is someone whose love never fails. It endures forever.

David has been through so much in life, yet he says: “Lord, you give great victories to me and my descendants forever. I feel your unfailing love.”

Do you also have a testimony about God’s love? It doesn’t have to be a big testimony. It doesn’t have to be a testimony as big as David’s. You don’t have to kill a giant like Goliath to have a testimony.

In the same way, you don’t need to be a recovering addict to have a testimony. You don’t need to come from a broken family to have a testimony. You don’t need to have 14 children with 14 women to have a testimony.

Testimonies

Sometimes, the loudest testimonies are the smallest because they show us that God’s love can be found even in the small places.

I googled some really cool testimonies. Maybe some of you can resonate with these:

I love small testimonials because they show us that God’s love can be found in simple choices, through a random text message from an old friend, through a simple hug, through a worship song, and through the sun shining on you.

These testimonies tell us one truth and one truth alone:

God’s love never fails.

Put your hand over your chest. Say this with me:

“Lord, I need Your Word. I need your wisdom.

Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

One more time, Everybody, lift your hands and let’s sing:

Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path.

Victories…and Defeats

We’re going to look at the life of David from a different perspective.

We’ve seen David as a shepherd boy defeating a Goliath giant. We’ve seen David conquering nations and defeating his enemies. We’ve seen David forgiving King Saul.

Now, we’re going to look at David from a different angle. We’ve seen his victories.

But I believe that if we’re going to understand and appreciate David, we also need to see his defeats.

If we know only about David’s strengths and not his weaknesses. We might feel that David is perfect — and we’re not.

I don’t want to stand here in front of you and just talk about my milestones or showcase my unbelievably good-looking smile.

If that’s the only thing that you see every Sunday, you might think, “Why am I so messed up? Unlike Brother Audie, who seems to have everything going for him?”

So, I’ve got to share my defeats with you all the time, so that you can relate to me.

The two most powerful words that bond you with another person are:

“Me, Too.” “You’re afraid of the future? Me, too”. “You worry about your family? Me, too.”

When you say that to somebody, it instantly bonds you. We all have defeats. We all have losses. Why? We’re all human. Some of us might feel blessed right now, but the next day, some of us might feel burdened. That’s the fact of life. That’s why it’s good to look at David who also had failures. While he was a good king and a faithful servant of the Lord, David also failed God.

We’ll explain the three big failures of David– and the nine life-saving lessons we learn from these three catastrophes…

It wasn’t that David was left behind. He stayed behind. We know that he’s not a coward but for some reason, he stayed behind. For me, that set up the sin.

Why? Here are two reasons.

• He was absent from
• He was alone and he was distant from his

You’re always going to be in a battle. Who among you is tired of traffic? Who among you is tired of debts? Who among you is tired of taking maintenance pills?

I know some people who say: “I’m tired of this kind of life!”

So, they work out to be healthy, they get rid of their financial debt.

But the moment a bit of comfort comes, they go back to the same habits.

If we’re going to learn anything from David, it’s to always be battle-ready.

Always put on the armor of God when you step out of your comfort zone. The enemy will always find a way to attack you. Never relax because evil never relaxes.

In the army, a soldier is part of two teams: a squad and a platoon.

A squad has 8 to 12 soldiers. A platoon has 3 to 4 squads.

The platoon is a group of about 20 to 50 individuals representing your organization, your community, or the company where you work. That’s important.

But there’s a more important group which is the squad— persons who you are close to. It could be your Light Group, your family members, your closest confidantes. A platoon is a blessing but a squad is a necessity. You need to have both in your life.

St. Peter gives us good advice.

He says: “Stay alert. Watch out for your great enemy, the Devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I wonder why St. Peter used the analogy of a roaring lion. How do lions attack their prey? Lions, unless they’re super hungry, will never attack a herd of animals. That’s why giraffes, deer, and zebras travel together. More chances of surviving.

Because the rule of the jungle is if you’re alone, you might as well pour ketchup all over yourself because you’re part of the meal.

Do you ever wonder why temptation is at its strongest when you’re alone in the bathroom, in the bedroom, with your thoughts in your head while you’re scrolling down on your phone?

The irony of life is you can be surrounded by a lot of interesting people, but be on your phone and still be alone. Isn’t that sad? Sometimes, you think that you are surrounded by so many people, but you are alone. So, what do you do?

You build a squad. Build this group that you can call at 3:00 a.m. I have what I call 3:00 a.m. friends.

When I am in trouble, I can call them at 3:00 a.m. and they will answer. They are Didoy Lubaton and Mike Viñas.

I can call when I’m being tested. You need to have people like them in your life — people who will run through the mess that you’re in and save you. You have people like that? If you don’t, you better look for one.

You can find them here, in church.

There are tasks that David should have done, but there are those that David did not do. I’ll give you an example.

David’s greatest mistake is Bathsheba. David was doing so well until Bathsheba showed up.

When David saw this woman with unusual beauty, he should have called his wife and said: “Honey, you’ve got to call our neighbor and tell her not to take a bath in the nude because some people might see her…There are predators out there.”

That’s what David should have done. But you know what David did?

David picked up his phone not to call the wife– but to take photos.

Here’s the second mistake: Instead of just ignoring that woman, David sent messengers to fetch her.

What should David have done? He should have walked away upon learning that the woman is married– because he, too, is married.

But they dined by candlelight. Before the evening ended, they proceeded to make a baby.

The best way to stop sin is to not start at all. If you have a pornography addiction, stop looking at those images that might tempt you. If you know you have an addiction to that substance, stop tasting it again and again– because that’s how the addiction starts. The best way to stop a sin is to not start it at all.

But, hey, if you happen to start the sin, you defeat it while it’s still small.

You know, you defeat it while it’s still young and it’s still developing. Recognize it when it’s still small.

Some don’t recognize the sin when it is still small.

So, what happens? You tell a white lie and then you tell another white lie until it becomes a web of lies. You’re so lost that you don’t even recognize what’s right and what’s wrong. Some of you started borrowing money with little interest. You keep on borrowing money until the interest is already eating you alive and you’re now wallowing in debt.

David just defeated the giant Goliath. But then he gets defeated by a woman named Bathsheba. How ironic is that? What is this telling us?

Sometimes, the real giants that you face are not the Goliaths. But the desires that go unnoticed — the conversations that you don’t have with your wife, the feelings that you don’t communicate to your friends, and the desires that you allow to grow in your mind and your heart.

Kill the wrongdoing while it’s still small. Fight it while it’s still gestating.

The moment when you are tempted, you consult God. Don’t consult God when the problem is already at Level 10. You consult God while the problem is still at Level 1. Include Him in the process.

Matthew 26:41 says: Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

There is a saying that the eyes are the windows to one’s soul. If your eyes see something that’s dark, the darkness will transfer and go inside your spirit. You’re protecting something so important

The Word of God is your strength and your weapon.

When you go out into the world, you bring the Word of God with you. Don’t ever go out without that weapon because the Word of God is our greatest weapon against sin.

In Psalms 119:11, David said: “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

One great way you can get rid of your temptation is if you actually tell it to someone you trust. All of a sudden, you feel so humble. When you tell that temptation to someone, that sin loses its power. When you tell it to someone you trust, you will realize that the Lord actually heals you. Anything that you reveal to the light, it’s illuminated and you feel light.

You feel like there’s a burden that’s being removed from you.

After finding out that Bathsheba was pregnant, this is what David did:

David wanted Uriah to come home and sleep with Bathsheba to make it appear that the father of Bathsheba’s baby is Uriah and not David.

Uriah, however, did not go to bed with his wife, saying, “How can I sleep with my wife when my fellow soldiers are out there on the battlefield?”

David then asked Joab to put Uriah at the front lines to be killed.

From an adulterer, David is now a murderer.

This is a battle that he just lost. But it doesn’t mean that he lost the war. Whenever we lose a battle in life, some of us think that we’ve lost in life’s war. Not true.

Have you ever tried concealing wet underarms? The more you try to hide it, the more the stinky juices form. So, what must you do? You’ve got to let the wind blow the wet underarms dry.

When we try to conceal sin after sin and lie after lie, they fester in our life. You can never conceal a sin. Just own up to it. You acknowledge that you might have lost the battle, but that doesn’t mean that you lost the war. Reveal it to the Lord. When you continue to conceal, God cannot heal.

None of us is immune to sin. Some of us sin more than others — but we all sin. Just because you’re faithful yesterday and you’re faithful today, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be faithful tomorrow.

You have only one, so you might as well protect it

This Lenten season, one of the best pieces of advice is to encourage people to receive the Sacrament of Confession.

Come before the Lord and acknowledge your sin before Him.

Instead of concealing your sin, give it to the Lord. I want you to realize and to be encouraged that even though you have messed up, even though you may have sinned, God’s love never fails.

God’s love will never quit on you.

I love the story of David because it speaks so much about who we are and how we also struggle. I want to show you how the relentless love of the Lord changed David from the inside out.

This is the same way that God is going to do to speak over your life. God justified David. While everybody else saw a shepherd boy,

God saw a king in David.

People might see you as a failure, but God sees you as faithful.

People might see your mistakes, but God sees you as a masterpiece in the making. People might see all your liabilities, but I believe that God looks at your potential. Because the Bible says that God does not look just at the outward appearance.

Only man does that. God looks at the heart. God justified David. Because of that, David felt so empowered that he defeated the lion, the bear, and Goliath.

David said: “The Lord is my strength. He is my rock. He is my fortress.

He is my deliverer.”

In the same way, God’s love strengthens you. God’s love empowers you.

God Disciplines David

When you’re weak, God makes you strong. When you find yourself at the lowest point of your life, He comforts you. God empowers you.

But God also straightened out David.

God disciplined David. He corrected David because that’s what every good father should do.

If a father and a mother love their children, they discipline their children because they don’t want the children to grow up in wicked ways.

How did God discipline David? He disciplined David through Nathan.

Nathan said: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view.’”

God disciplines us the same way. He confronts your sin and confronts you. Why? Because He’s a good father.

He straightens us out when we are messing up. But it doesn’t end there because we see in the story how God understood David. Even though David sinned against God, David was not cancelled. Instead, David was restored.

David confessed to Nathan:

Sin will always have its consequences.

When you make the wrong choices, it has consequences.

But thank God that His mercy endures forever. His mercies are new every morning.

So, God doesn’t cancel you.

You know what God’s love does?

God will go the distance to wash away the sins that try to destroy your life. That’s what God’s love does.

What God’s Love Does

Finally, this is what God’s love did for David. God sealed His promise to David.

In spite of all David’s flaws, God kept His covenant with him.

And David says:

Would you like to know how David’s descendants were blessed forever? From the lineage of David, came a Man. He was the Son of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God. And His name is Jesus. Descendants were blessed through this one Man named Jesus. *

*How is Jesus a descendant of David?

The Bible, particularly the first book, Genesis (Genesis 32), narrates that people sin against God– so, they need a Messiah, a Savior to forgive them and set them free from their bondage.

God would send the Messiah through the lineage of Abraham, because of his unparalleled faithfulness in God. Abraham begets a son, Isaac, and Isaac begets Jacob, renamed Israel — meaning God perseveres — since God prevailed after Jacob wrestled with an angel, thus fulfilling God’s plan that the Savior would come from David’s lineage.

Jacob becomes the father of 12 tribes of Israel, one of them the tribe of Judah.

From Judah comes Jesse who becomes the father of David– and one of his descendants is Joseph.

From Joseph’s line comes Jesus. So, physically, Jesus descends from David– and inherits the right to be in line to the throne as King of Israel.

Joseph gets engaged with Mary who conceives Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

According to the Gospels, Joseph marries Mary and thus, by the human law, he is the legal father of Jesus.

So, God fulfills His promise to Abraham to make him father of all nations and, through him, down to David, send the Messiah to the Israelites and all nations– a covenant God fulfills for all of us to this day.)

Surrender

At this moment, I wonder how many failures, and losses, and defeats you have had in your life?

It doesn’t end there. Because of God’s unending and unfailing love, you don’t have to end in a mistake. You can end in victory because of God’s love.

How many would like to receive the love of God that will change you and wash away every sin over you?

We’re going to declare God’s victory over our life.

We’re going to say that the best is yet to come. God’s love is still changing us. It’s not done yet. He’s not done.

Put your hand over your heart and say:

Lord, touch my heart. I know that I messed up. I have sinned against You. But I believe that You have the power not just to forgive me, but to restore me and to give me a new beginning. So, I might not have done this the proper way the first time, but today, I’m doing it correctly.

Today, I receive Your love. I receive it fully. Completely. Wash away my sins, oh, God. I come back to be restored and to be renewed. In Jesus’ Name. Amen”

 

Commitment

I want this to be our moment with God.

If there’s anybody here who has never given your life to Jesus this is a beautiful moment for you when you’re going to step into His Presence and acknowledge all your failures, and your sins, and your mistakes, and your errors and say:

“Lord, I want You to be in my life.”

But for those of you who come here every week, this is a renewal of our faith to declare one more time that Jesus will be our Lord…But there’s one thing that I believe, that we know this already, but for some reason, I get surprised every time: that God can love me again, and again, and again– in spite of my sins.

That completely keeps me in awe.

So, starting today, here’s what I want you to do: I want you to walk into the throne room of God and expect Him to bless you.

And expect Him to love you. And expect Him to forgive you. Expect Him to be with you all the days of your life.

Lift your hands in the Presence of God and say this with me:

Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I need a savior, So, I look to You, right now, to change me from the inside out. I believe that You are the Son of God and only You can rescue me. So, from this moment on, I call You my Savior. I call You my Friend. And I call You my Redeemer.

Thank You, Jesus, for making me brand new.

Let’s take this part, Everybody, from the bowels of your heart, I want you to declare out loud:

Love Offering

Yesterday, I was talking to one of our former social workers in our Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly. She was sharing about Anawim’s needs.

And I said, “Yes, I will help.”

The day before, a former Feast servant, already in Bicol, and doing great work there, asking for help.

And I said, “Okay, I will help.”

The day before that, I also helped someone. The day before that, I also helped another one.

You know, I prayed: “Lord, I am always giving…”

And I realized, “It’s good that I have something to give…” Imagine if instead, I was the one asking for help…

If you know you are blessed, if you have something to give… Today, are you blessed?

Let’s all stand, let’s give to the Lord. Lift your envelope, come before the Lord, and let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, I Thank You for this opportunity to be generous. I give my life to You and I give You this Offering. Bless me more so I can give more.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

This story was first published in the Feast Family Online News Magazine
Published by THE FEAST (April 20, 2025)