We have just completed the celebration of the first season of God’s Annual Holy Feast Days or Festival seasons for this year (2012) – the Feast of the Passover / Days of Unleavened Bread. However, as we have heard in Kuya Raul’s message, the fact that the 7th Day of Unleavened Bread has ended does not mean that we can go about our merry way and start leavening our lives once more with pure abandon. Do we truly realize the importance of God’s Feast Days? Or do we just note their importance whenever we keep them like a track-and-field hurdle or a baton-passing event in a relay race? Do we just keep the Feast Days for the sake of keeping them? Or do we exercise the lessons we have learned from the Feasts daily like an athlete exercises daily as he prepares for a marathon?
1 Timothy 4:7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
The word “exercise” comes from the Greek verb güm-nä’-zō (G1128) meaning to exercise the body or mind vigorously and the Greek noun güm-nä-sē’-ä (G1129) which is the exercise of the body in a palaestra or school of athletics. Webster’s defines the verb “exercise” as: “to use repeatedly in order to strengthen or develop” or “to train by drills and maneuvers” while the noun “exercise” means “regular or repeated use of a faculty or bodily organ”, “bodily exertion for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness”, “something performed or practiced in order to develop, improve, or display a specific capability or skill
Here are some excerpts from the book, “Mr. Tough!” (by Anthony Greenbank) sent by my Daddy from St. Louis, Missouri way back in December 1986:
“Your body is a fortress. Its army of 700 muscles – half your mass are “muscled” by 250 million fibers. Around each fiber are blood vessels so tiny that 400 will cram into a piece of muscle as skinny as a drawbridge splinter. Just look at what men have done with it: Lifted 3-ton elephant one-handed. Torn 3 packs of cards in one go, Cracked a Brazil nut between shoulder blades. Smashed wine bottle gripped in crook of arm by swelling bicep. Shoved 40-ton truck up incline on rails. Snapped barbed wire wrapped tight around bare chest with one gasp. Pulled a team of carthorses to standstill single-handed. Punch a hole through a brick wall.”
The book further describes the following muscles of the human body in colorful detail:
- Sternomastoid – steers head with twin reins of muscle roping breastbone top to rear of ears
- Delts (Deltoids) – piston arms with cylinder head muscle topping arms/shoulders
- Pecs (Pectorals) – bellow chest and bullock arms with breastplate muscles
- Biceps – jackknife lower arm to upper limb with muscle bulge fronting upper arm
- Vastus Internus – snaps out leg/steadies knee joint with inside thigh muscle
- Tibs (Tibialis Anticus) – kick foot up toward knee with shinpad muscle
- Rectus Femoris – straightens leg/flexes knee joint with thighshield muscle
- Sartorious – flexes hip/knee joints and sidekicks leg with flat strap of muscle buckling hip to knee
- External Obliques – turn trunk/swivel spine with corset of slanting muscle
- Abs (Abdominals) – flex trunk on pelvis and empty chest with corrugated muscle wall
- Serratus Magnus – balloons chest and floats shoulder blades with rafts of chestside muscles
- Traps (Trapezius) – fly shoulders (and blades) with big flat kite of muscle on back of neck
- Lats (Latissimus Dorsi) – rows arms/twists trunk/boosts breathing with muscle fanning from waist to armpits
- Flexors and Extensors – control hand palm with 20 sinewy muscles through wrist
- Glutes (Glueteals) – cushion thighs with backside muscle complex
- Gastros (Gastrocnemius) – lifts heels/point toes out/flexes knee with calf muscle mound
- Erector Spinae – cranes body upright with 2 spineside tow ropes of muscle
- Achilles Tendon – hauls heel with muscular yank of 500lbs. a step, making it toughest tendon
- Hamstrings – penknife lower legs to thigh with back thigh biceps-style muscle group
- Triceps – fist out arms and can (+biceps+brachialis) freeze arm rigid with rearguard upper arm muscle
- Brachialis – folds up lower arm (like biceps) with front view muscle on upper arm
Worth noting is the fact that the aforementioned muscle groups are surface muscles only, more muscles can be found in the body’s internal organs.
But wait! That’s not all… Also included in this package are the following items:
- Millions of living cells (less than 1/100th inch long
- Five (5) quarts of blood to flood muscles with oxygen/food
- Heart beating 38 million times yearly, pumping 4,320 gallons of blood a day
- 750 million air sacs in lungs working 21,600 times a day
- Gastric juices able to dissolve metal but not stomach walls
- Liver that can turn body fat into glucose
- 2 kidneys as big as fists storing 1,000,000 filters for blood – to purify 200 quarts of blood a day
- 206 bones hinged by self-oiling joints, bound by ligament
- Nervous system via spinal column and beyond where impulses travel at 300mph
- Skin acting as second lung (pulls in oxygen, pushes out waste), as a sun blotter (traps Vitamin D), as a body barometer (boils/spots/dryness can equal hidden tension)
- Tendons of white cord tissue binding muscle to bone
- Joints (ball and socket/hinge/gliding)
- Glands powering nerve/mental/muscle boost when body is threatened by upkicking hormone production via pituitary, stomach, thymus, adrenal glands… and un-damming torrent of strength.
At this point, the TV shopping agents usually say, “So what are you waiting for?! Pick up the phone and dial the number displayed on your screens right now to get this amazing TV shopping introductory package offer at an incredibly low-low price for a limited time only! So hurry, and call now! Remember, the first 30 callers will get a special 50% discount!”
However, a better thing to do is to pick up our Bibles and turn to the following verse instead:
Psalms 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
And just how did King David (the writer of the Psalms) know this fact? Every special package offer has a user manual and as a discerning owner of this special package, David knew from the very first pages of the user manual (in the book of Genesis) that:
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The good news is – we do not have to pay up anything, worry about zero-installment plans, or special cash discounts to get this incredible package. By default, all of us were born with it already. We just have to use or exercise each component to maximize the entire package’s full potential.
In simple terms, our human body is composed of the following eight (8) major interlinked components:
- toes/feet
- legs
- lower torso (abdomen, lower back)
- upper torso composed of chest, shoulders, and back
- fingers/hands/wrists
- arms
- neck
- head
Interestingly, this number is similar in number and nature to the eight (8) Feast Days of God in Leviticus 23 :
- Sabbath
- Passover
- Days of Unleavened Bread
- Pentecost
- Feast of Trumpets
- Day of Atonement
- Feast of Tabernacles
- The Eighth Day
In order to achieve the body’s fullest muscular potential, one must exercise both effectively (be successful in producing results) and efficiently (achieve maximum productivity with minimum wasted time and efforts).
In an actual physiological sense, in order to build muscle, one must first tear it apart so that it can be repaired and nourished. Whenever we exercise, our individual muscle fibers are being torn apart. In nature, trees do not bear fruit unless they are first pruned and cultivated properly with fertilizer.
John 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
So, what must one do in order to start exercising?
First, one must develop an exercise program and schedule which can typically be 3 days a week with alternate rest periods in between (e.g., M-W-F with T-Th-S rest) and which must be followed diligently.
Of important note is the rest period in between. Although we may physically be at rest after exercising on Monday for example, torn muscle fibers do not actually stop and rest but go to work in repairing or rebuilding themselves in order to grow bigger and stronger.
Similarly, God’s Feast Days and holy convocations are an opportune time for us to stop, rest, pray, and commune with God and His Son Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit as revealed through the Holy Scriptures, the Bible which is our ultimate instruction manual.
Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
As much as possible, all of the major muscle groups are exercised at least once a week in order to produce proportional results and proper coordination. Hindi lang puedeng isang muscle group lang ang i-eensayo. Kung yung mga kamay lang ang magbubuhat pero mahina ang paa at likod, hindi mo rin mabubuhat ng maayos ang pinapasan mo. Strength and conditioning coaches also often talk about strengthening our often-neglected core muscles, those which are not seen from the surface.
1 Corinthians 12 : But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
Proper Attire/Outfit: Wear light loose clothing appropriate to exercise (para hindi mag-overheat)
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
We are what we eat. Muscles need a proper diet in order to grow properly. One must never eat just to satisfy appetite. An ideal diet is composed of a balanced food pyramid mix of fruits, vegetables, protein, carbohydrates, and a very small amount of fat (forming the pyramid’s apex).
Depending on your metabolism, eating too much or the wrong foods (junk foods like chips, sweets, and candies) will either make you fat and end up with a calorie surplus or weak and sickly. In a similar manner,
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
After removing harmful foods from our diet, we must replace them with good, nourishing food. Continuing:
1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
It is often difficult to starting to exercise, especially if we have not been exercising at all. Similarly, it is difficult to eat the right kinds of food, if we are not used to it eating them. Kaya ipinagpatuloy ni Apostle Paul na:
1 Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Exercise must be done gradually and through a stepped learning process. Before every exercise session, we must do some basic stretching routines in order to loosen up the joints and ligaments that link the muscles and bones together. Wag bibiglain, kailangan matuto ng uti-uti and uminat muna bago magbanat ng buto at bumanat sa pagbirit.
One cannot learn all there is to learn about exercise in one sitting; learning is a gradual and interactive process that is more than just books and libraries. One learns proper exercise techniques by reading the first pages of the manual, doing the exercise, learning from experience, and then learning other techniques a step at a time.
Isaiah 28:9 “ Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.”
The purpose of a regular exercise schedule is to reinforce proper exercise techniques through repetition. Once the basic techniques have been mastered, they can be done subsequently without much difficulty and in a shorter time. However, we must not be proud and rest on our laurels; instead we must always remember to continuously advance in learning and upgrade our exercise technique as this is a lifetime process.
2 Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Once one has learned the basic techniques, one can start learning more advanced techniques, increasing the weight and number of repetitions, and imparting the same techniques to other diligent fellow exercisers.
Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
After we have been exercising for some time and repeating the same routines, there is a tendency for us to get stuck in a rut or groove and keep doing the same thing over and over again to the point that we become comfortable with what we are doing. Worse, we can become bored and stop exercising altogether.
Let’s say we have finished reading a certain exercise handbook or quick reference guide. Let’s say we have done all the exercise therein and experienced some growth, but at some point in time, that growth peaked or reached a plateau. What do we do? Do we continue or do we just stop exercising?
It is important therefore to add variations to our routine, explore other techniques, and add new exercises in order to sustain and increase the muscle growth that we currently have. Similarly, we must not be complacent and become too familiar with the Bible as it is unlike any other user manual or exercise handbook.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Obviously, the head is the most important part of the body and must be exercised as well. Without it, the rest of the body would not function. The head is the body’s HQ (headquarters), CPU (central processing unit), nerve center, central core command, or core nexus. Physically, the head contains the nose, ears, mouth or voice, eyes, and the most important part: the brain. It is through the head that we discern the world around us through the five (5) basic sensory inputs of smell, hearing, taste, sight, and touch. Spiritually, the head contains the mind or spirit in man (often referred to “mind” or interchangeably as “heart” in the Bible).
The universal themes of a number of cartoons and computer games are in fact based on the central head principle. Cartoons such as Voltes-V and Voltron are based on the concept of a robotic body composed of mutually dependent units supporting and controlled by a head unit. Campaigns of RPGs (role-playing games) and MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) such as Dune, Red Alert, Age of Empires, Ultima Online, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft essentially revolve around gathering resources (wood, gold, minerals, gases) in order to build the most number of units (structures, vehicles, troops) and upgrade them (through increased strength, stamina, attack range, damage ability or HPs – hit points, shielding levels, character-specific skillsets), with the end goal of limiting or eliminating the other player’s ability to do the same by means of conquest or annihilation.
Worth noting is the fact that it is impossible to achieve the goal of winning until the primary or head structures and units (central HQs, spawning centers, and heroes) are built (by the player who wants to win) and destroyed (by the player or group of players who eventually win). In RPGs/MMORPGs, you can win even if you sacrifice most of your secondary structures and units and these are eventually destroyed, for as long as your head structure remains and those of your enemies are destroyed.
Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church (his Body) and as the Head, it is He who controls, provides direction, nourishment, and guidance to the Body. In the Body of Christ, it is the Head, Jesus Christ who sustains the Church and in fact sacrificed Himself for it as elaborated by Apostle Paul in his epistles:
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Unlike secondary structures which can be sacrificed for the sake of victory, Jesus Christ’s desire is that as much as possible, no body part or member of the Church should perish:
John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
John 18:8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.”
In a broader sense, the entire Body (composed of Jesus Christ and the Church) has an ultimate Head, and that is God the Father who is one with Jesus Christ, His Son:
John 10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”
John 14:28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
1 Corinthians 15:27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Although the members of the body (the Church) physically stop working during the Sabbath, the Head (Jesus Christ and His Father) continues their spiritual work for the Church.
John 5:16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
What then is the victorious outcome or endgame for the Church? What is the reason for the work that God the Father and Jesus Christ are doing? The endgame is so that we can be one with Them as They are one.
John 17:11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
As we exercise, our mind provides guidance for the rest of the body (i.e., which part to exercise on which day) and as we exercise our Christian life, we must keep the endgame or goal that our Head, Jesus Christ and His Father have in mind. What must we do in order to be part of that Body that wins in the end? We can find the answer in the same book.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
As we work out and build our physical muscles, we must more importantly continue to build our spiritual muscles and bear much fruit.
John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
In order to build our spiritual muscles, we have to practice, apply, or exercise the lessons that we have learned and continue to learn from God’s Feast Days every single day. God’s Feast Days are not meant to be a mere checklist of days to be ticked off from the calendar once we have kept them. The principles that we are supposed to have learned during the Feasts are supposed to be practiced or exercised every day, and not just during the hours of the actual Feast Day.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
To achieve consistent results, do not skip routine. Similarly, don’t skip Feast days as all of them are essential to our spiritual growth.
God’s Feast Days are structured in such a way that all major muscle groups or aspects of His Plan of Salvation for scheduled and planned out in the year, with 3 festival seasons or times in the year wherein we must appear before Him, similar to the typical 3-day weekly exercise and rest schedule.
Lest we forget about God’s Plan for those months of the year wherein we do not have an annual Feast day to celebrate, God has established the weekly Sabbath as a constant reminder for us to exercise our spiritual life whilst we rest from our physical labors. A restful Sabbath to one and all!
Twenty days from now (6 April 2012), we will be celebrating the Passover for this year. For most 
Scriptures With Songs
Ask the question, “What is faith?”
Three days ago (on 29 February to be exact), the results of the 2011 Philippine Bar exams were released. Out of 6200 admitted examinees, only 5987 actually took the Bar exams. Of these 5987, only 1913 passed the Bar. Despite the shift from the pure essay exam in previous years to a combination of multiple choice question (MCQ) and essay-type questions, resulting in the second highest passing rate in the history of Bar examinations (31.95%), the passing rate remained relatively lower compared to the other professions. These questions were formulated and checked by members of the Committee of Bar Examiners. For the essay-type portion, examinees were required to write a legal opinion (with a 50.78% passing rate) and a trial memorandum (with a 15.47% passing rate). Many indeed are called, but few are chosen.
Interactive Bible Study, February 25, 2012, Sabbath Service
It was about the middle of the night while still preparing for my message, when we received a text message from the Deboma family in Zambales requesting for an urgent prayer for Juan Miguel. Apparently, Miguel (the 2nd of three Deboma siblings) is suffering from stomach ache since coming home from school that afternoon and it was already late at night and the pain has not subsided and even became more unbearable. So I requested Ann (the mother) if I could speak with Miguel and I asked him if it was really painful and he replied, yes. While we are praying over the phone, I can hear from the background, Miguel uttering, “aray ko po”, “aray ko po!”. I couldn’t help but pity the young boy, who, when not sick would play silently and all alone, as if he has his own world, and satisfied with whatever things he finds to play with.
