Pastor Anthony Miranda's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Anthony Miranda
It is customary for us to set goals and make plans each time we start a brand new year. Sometimes we have goals thats seems to be very impossible to achieve. Or, sometimes we are asked to do some things that seems to be impossible for us with our given limitations and circumstances. What shall we do when we are facing a “Mission Impossible”? We shall face the impossible the way DANIEL did. Do not panic. Ask why. Never rush and ask for time. Invite people to pray with you. Empathize with others and Lay your problems and petitions before God.
We grew up with the tradition that gifts are opened under the tree on Christmas morning. 2017 years ago, God sent us His “Eternal Gift”, some may have already opened it, but many are still yet to. Our Eternal Gift of salvation is secured by facts fueled by faith. The Bible defined our salvation as a “process”. It has it’s past, present and future known as justification, sanctification and glorification. Grace is the source of salvation, and our Insecurities shall not defeat our faith when we keep our Faith in God and our Trust in His Word.
God created us after His own image. We are predestined to conform to the purpose of His will. However, the fall of mankind unreconciled us with God. God gave mankind a chance through Noah. He pursued us through the patriarch, through the judges, kings and prophets. Until ultimately, He finally gave His only Son. The arrival of the Messiah, which we celebrate on Christmas day, paved the “Road to Reconciliation”. Repentance leads to Reconciliation with God. Overcoming our pride. Admitting our faults and Developing our sincerity.
Typical celebration for the Christmas season are family reunion and reconciliation. However, the GREAT reason for our celebration is our salvation. God gave His Son as gift that Reveals the truth about Him. Expressed His love that Allowed us to have relationship with God. Therefore, we shall spread the Word.
The real purpose of Christmas is not simply to accept gifts, but rather to accept the things in life that are truly difficult to accept such as forgiveness, fears, failures and frustrations. When the information that ushered transformation to mankind got to Joseph, he was not as completely willing as Mary. Having nothing to do with it, he was deeply bothered by the pregnancy of Mary. But after hearing from the Angel, he obeyed God over his human nature. He received peace of mind from the message that fulfilled the promise of God. He eventually accepted Jesus to be his son.
What is the real purpose of Christmas? It’s interesting when you ask people this question and receives varying answers that points to shopping, vacationing, family gathering, gift giving and partying. It is not surprising that many now a days aren’t really sure, or worst, not completely aware of the true purpose of Christmas. Everyone is saying that this is the best time of the year and yet, people tends to become crazy during this season. Traffic are jammed, flights are overbooked, prices are surging, phone networks are busy, social media are flooded with posts, shopping malls are filled with hot-tempered people and crimes against property are rising. This is what happens when the world steals the reason for this season. When the world removes Christ from Christmas. When people replaces Christ with “X”. When people say happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas. When people argue about what is politically correct and incorrect [...]
Many Christians neglected the Holy Spirit. Most likely it is unintentional, or simply because they don’t know since nobody told them about the Spirit of God. We talk a lot about the Father and the Son while the Holy Spirit is ignored by many despite of the fact that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity being the third Person. A three-legged stool will not stand without one of its legs. Like a bulb, it won’t light unless it is connected to a power source using some sort of conduits that allows the electricity to flow to light up the bulb. The source of power is God the Father, the conduit is God the Son, the electricity is God the Holy Spirit while the bulb represents us. The Holy Spirit makes the Word of God personal. He gives us the GRIT of a true Christian. He Guides us, He Reminds us, He Intercedes for us and He Teaches us.
A little boy was asked by his father to say grace at the table. While the rest of the family bowed their heads, closed their eyes and waited for the boy to pray, the little guy opened one of his eyes and looked at every dish of food his mother had prepared. After the examination, he bowed his head and honestly prayed, “Lord, I don’t really like the looks of it, but I thank you for it, and I’ll eat it anyway. Amen.” It’s hard to be thankful when we are in midst of too many negative things happening around us. Furthermore, how can we thank someone we do not know? Unless we understand why we must be thankful… we can’t be truly thankful. Appreciation is Perception. And Unless we know who we shall be thankful to… we won’t be able to thank Him enough. Gratitude is based on our Attitude. We must SPARK to give thanks and know the Lord [...]
A prominent, powerful, popular, prosperous and highly educated Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Jesus in the middle of the night. Skeptic, yet inquisitive and curious. Just like Moses, Nicodemus wants to “know God”. Jesus talked to him plainly, but he can’t get it. The Lord continued to explain further to Nicodemus, but still, he didn’t get it! No amount of human intelligence will be ever sufficient to truly know God. One must be in the realm of the Spirit to be able to know the Lord. To be in the realm of the spirit, we must be REBORN. REceive the Holy Spirit. BOdy shall be used to honor God, and ReNew our thoughts and attitudes.
Many of us grew up in a religion where everything was just fed to us, and we took them hook, line and sinker out of respect to our family elders who are blinded by their belief and traditions that they themselves inherited. We simply believe everything that we are told, unmindful of the gravity of its perpetual consequences. If we are meticulous with our general affairs, shouldn’t we be more prudent on matters that are eternal? Until when are you going to do things simply because you are told to do so? Thankfully, we have within our fingertips the God-given “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” (The BIBLE). It is the true authority that contains the infallible and inerrant Word of God. I don’t know about you, but I will not put my eternity at stake to teachings that we just hear from here and there. We must be like the Bereans that examines the Scriptures every day to see if what they were taught are true. Knowing God should [...]
There is always tension between human experiences and God’s promises. Our hope is not wishful thinking, but rather a confident expectation of the fulfillment of His Promises. The Lord wants us to use our experiences. Not just the good, the bad, but even the ugly ones. We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. So we must Embrace all our Experiences. Extract the wisdom that we learn from them, and Employ our Experiences by Ministering to others, Motivating others and Modeling for others.
Why do people subscribe to dating websites?.. To meet someone and hopefully find their match. Even identical twins have different personalities, but every personality has its compatibility. God woven each and everyone of us in our mothers’ womb. He even knows the count of our hair, and He certainly have good reasons why we were built the way we are. On top of those reasons is for us to love Him with all our hearts. To honor Him with our every word. To love our neighbors and always feel for them. To show compassion at every instance. To always think of His laws and teachings. And not just to be hearers of His Word, but most importantly, to be doers of them.
In America, 40% of food goes to waste simply because they expired before they’re consumed. When we don’t use our muscles, we lose them. When we don’t use the knife, it becomes blunt. When we don’t stay in touch with our friends, we lose our connection with them. When we don’t use our “Abilities”, we’re cheating ourselves. No matter who you are, God gave you special abilities. He had a great deal of investment on your life. He created you, He Shaped you and He gave His only Son Jesus Christ for you. He wants you to use your God-given abilities to Uplift Him, to Serve others, to be a good Example to others, to generate your Income and To build up the church.
53% of people in America are unhappy with their work. As in water, face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man. It all begins in our hearts. In some other parts of the Bible it is said that our hearts are deceitful, how can we understand it. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. The secular saying that goes, “follow your heart”, is not completely reliable after all. Listening to our hearts does not always lead us to right decisions in life. Following your passion without education leads to destruction. God placed in us hearts that are programmed to perform His purpose. We “Hear our Hearts” when we are passionately Helping others. When we are willing to take the Extra mile. When we Always do things for the Lord, Remarkable things starts to happen.
People are always tempted to measure themselves based on what other people think of them. They let the world size them up using the standards that doesn’t hold. Barometers that doesn’t last such as wealth, power, beauty & fame. Wherein the truth of the matter is that, we should be eternally concerned about who we are to God, and not for who we are to this fallen world. God has given each of us our distinct, and very unique SHAPE. The acrostic SHAPE represents Spiritual Gifts, Heart (which are your passions in life), Abilities, personality and Experiences. To know our “shape” we must Accept ourselves for who we are, Believe that God shaped us out of His love, keep our Confidence tha [...]
This noisy world tends to suppress the small but very powerful voice of God. Hearing God is just like tuning into a radio station. If you miss the frequency even just by a fraction of a digit, or a hairline twist on your dial knob, you’ll miss it. Distractions in life are like “magnetic fields” that distorts the clarity of its sound. It takes focus, practice, and consistency until you can truly hear the Lord speaking to you clearly. All of us needs a “Season of Clarity & Encouragement”. A time in our lives when we must be silent when we must be still. Life is like sailing at sea, sometimes it’s calm, sometimes it’s rough. We can only come out strong when we Stay with the Lord, Align our focus on God and Invite Him into our lives. Let’s cross to the other side!..
Having more doesn’t mean you’re having enough. “The more the merrier”, is a myth. In every stage of our financial ladder, there will always be the shadow of stress. And unless we learn how to biblically handle our finances, it will always bring us doubt, discontent, selfishness, stress, and temptations to cheat. But the good news is, God has promised that He will supply all the needs of those who believe in Christ Jesus. The premise to the promise is to ask for it, be content, cheerfully give, depend on the Lord and exercise integrity.
The quick-repair that most people do in dealing with their insecurities is to ignore. Pretending that it’s not there. Everyone experience insecurity at times. Common causes of insecurities are: when we feel unloved, when we compare ourselves to others, our imperfections, acceptance by others, not measuring up to standards of others, our fears & failures, tragic incidents or getting significance in wrong things. We can not go on without addressing our insecurities properly and biblically. The good news is, we don’t have to live insecure lives because God’s will for us is to be secure and not to live in fear. Let us together unlock the meaning of The ABC’s of Defeating our Insecurities.
Over the years, Pastor Anthony realized two very important things in life. First, that we will only live two lives in a lifetime. One is life with the world, and the better one is life with God. Secondly, we will have to go through many and different seasons of our lives. He gave voice to what the Bible teaches us when it comes to handling these different seasons in our lives. And for this week, he talked about “Season of Loneliness”.
There is no other love that lasts forever other than the everlasting love of God. Marriages collapsing, families breaking apart, friendships are shattered, churches are split and nations are divided because of love that doesn’t last. To be able to love forever, you must first have (Love of God) it, before you can share it. Pastor Anthony led the church to investigate the Bible if can truly love forever.