Since the website is a worldwide publication, those who have read my sermons from different places have sent me affirmations of encouragement. Some of them were asking for spiritual advice and we have been communicating through the Internet. It is encouraging to know that God can use an ordinary Christian like me to touch people’s lives.
There are those who ask who I am. But as much as possible I don’t want to talk about my ministry and who I am, because I am not promoting myself. I want my readers to focus on the message and not on the messenger. But since my sermons will be available in this book here, I’ll share to you very briefly my background. Looking back to what has happened in my life; I can now understand why God allowed those experiences: I can relate to people who have similar experiences like mine.
I have been a nightclub singer in Manila, Philippines at one point of my life for quite a while. I sang in different nightclubs and while I was in that business, I have been associated with the mobs. If you are a male vocalist in an orchestra, you cannot avoid having a lot of women in your life. For so long I have been wallowing in the mud of sin. But when I heard God’s Word through a preacher, suddenly faith in Jesus grew in my heart and I thirst for God’s Word. I got born again in 1975. God made a miracle and changed my life.
Hoodlums are religious too. Most of the members of my gang were professional killers. At the time, Dewey Boulevard in Manila Philippines was their territory, it was where high class night clubs were lined up for miles. We used to go to church at night in Baclaran. We were seriously religious, that is why I can relate to people who are fanatics because I was once a fanatic too. I know how it is being bad because I was once a thug.
Most of my friends in my hometown who knew me find it mind-blowing to see how God can use a wretched sinner like me. But there will be no miracle and God’s grace cannot be demonstrated if He uses a good natured, clean and righteous man. But no! God will use a wretched vile sinner to demonstrate His grace. God has the power to change a man’s heart.
What I am writing in my sermons is not just theory but my own true-to-life experiences. I did not copy my sermons from other preachers. These are raw and I know some of the messages are hard for other pastors to swallow. But I do believe that it is the Lord who has given me the insight otherwise, I can do nothing on my own.
In other ministries, they sell all the materials to those who needed them and it is okay. But for me, I spend my own money for the ministry like sending free copies of my sermons to Christians in the States and even in the Philippines. The Lord knows my motive in serving Him.
I can’t be confined in a church, or be under a certain denomination, or be part of a formalized religion. Because then I won’t have the freedom to share what the Lord has given me the topics to teach. I never dreamed about this before, but the Internet is by far the most effective and appropriate tool for me to use because a lot of people can be reached and all the messages are accessible to anybody who wants to read them.