CITICHURCH - Grace Rivera's Testimony - September 20, 2020

[Music] good morning city church or good afternoon depending on the time that you're watching this but again we want to welcome every single one of you this wonderful sunday morning thank you for spending your morning with us and starting the week strong with us look september's almost over and we're just excited to be with you today my prayer is that i hope that the message today it finds you well it finds you strong and i pray that this is a time that you gather your family together as you listen to the word of god if it's your first time we've got amazing services that happen throughout the week wednesday nights for young adults at seven o'clock p.m thursdays we have a community bible studies friday nights we've got youth saturdays we spend your our mornings with your children that's four to seven years old in the morning at 10 a.m and then later on in the afternoon at 2 p.m that's for our pre-teens yesterday we had an amazing time with the youth we had this new zoom room called united as in y o united parents if you've got teenagers that would be a great avenue for your teenager to know more people to know more about god to know more about the word it was just a fantastic time of sharing and exchanging stories in the name of jesus all right well today i'm happy and i'm excited because there's someone different that you're actually gonna see on camera you must be so tired of seeing me or pastor joe i mean i'm always in the midweek services pastor joe's always here on a sunday so without any further ado this is a wonderful woman of god she's a great leader she's a great pastor and she has a heart for people now would you all welcome today this morning or this afternoon depending on the time that you're watching pastor grace rivera good morning if you are to evaluate your commitment from a scale of one to ten one being the lowest and ten being the highest what is your level of commitment this in regards to your job career relationship your spouse your family your friend in pursuit of your dream walking in your calling and purpose in life serving in church and of following the lord what would it be like it's matthew 16 verses 24 to 26 relevant to the modern church today then jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever decides to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what prophet is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul or what will a man exchange for his soul i have shared my life's testimony with some close friends but today i'll be sharing it with you sharing my life's testimony is like revisiting my painful past and how the lord turned it into victory i am grace rivera one of the pastoral staff of city church i help people to overcome their defecals in life through counseling and prayer what i'm doing is like i pay it forward for what god has done in my life by the time i have done sharing i pray that you will celebrate with me for what the things have done in my life and in yours fulfill find your fulfillment in your god-given purpose and be complete in the presence of jesus christ every time i'm asked to speak i always align my thoughts with three questions why how what why is it important for me or necessary for me to share my life's testimony revelation 12 11 says and they overcame him the evil one by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death the second question is how will i share my testimony i have three segments my life before christ my life when i met christ my life with christ today i started my life before christ i met my husband through a blind date set up by my board mate we dated for a year and nine months then we got married when i was graduating in college by the six months of mars was romantic then it dried up slowly paul my husband was employed in the biggest brewery factory san miguel corporation drinking bottles or pails of beer every day was like drinking water daily he came home drunk most of the time there were so many fights and in the span of four years i threatened to leave him several times he was into all forms of vices and the last straw that hit me so hard was when he started smoking marijuana when i when i found out about vase i was really terrified and leaving him was my only option i confronted him about it and it led to a heated argument there was a time that was the time i intended to live but he said that i cannot bring the children with me my two daughters and that moment i stepped up and that moment i stepped out of the gate there was no way of turning back with that kind of marriage i was scared to leave my children behind what will be their future in such kind of atmosphere atmosphere i stayed and persevered a chaotic marriage for the sake of the children our eldest daughter was sickly at that time too i was in a terrible situation i was verbally and emotionally abused there was no love and respect in our marriage since i decided to stay i became vengeful in retaliation to his verbal and emotional attacks i turned out to be hard-hearted and became the worst person i can ever be there were several things i did to him when he came home drunk when he was sober i behaved well it started with alienating from him either i slept with my children in their room or i let them sleep on our bed so he can sleep with me you reject me i'll reject you too that was my survival principle if by chance he slept on our bed i kicked him off from the bed and found him sleep and found himself sleeping on the floor the next morning i felt so good when i did that the physical abuse i did to paul escalated one evening i gave him two uppercuts right and left knock him down revenge became my best friend with so much anger brewing in me one very late night i pushed him with my pointing finger on the last step of the stairs and he fell tumbling down he survived i became a husband bitter i felt so good every time i hit him but on the fourth year of our marriage a divine intervention took place a friend of ours persistently invited us to a three-day life in the spirit seminar she said that i don't have to be good to come to the lord which was contrary to the belief that i had that i was raised i was raised that i have to be good before i can come to the lord her words keep bringing in my heart and it steers within me we attended the seminar and found it to be refreshing the message will focus on jesus christ especially his death on the cross on the third day of the seminar we were led to a prayer of acceptance receiving jesus christ as our own personal lord and savior we got born again together i got baptized with the holy spirit while paul was baptized a year later that was how we met the lord god arrested us there were still arguments and fights but there became they became lesser a lot of changes took place the desire for god was born paul started to come home right after work he learned to be a father to our daughters he became the husband that i was longing for i opened up to him and confessed the things i did when he came home drunk our marriage was restored kathy our eldest was totally healed god is the stir god is the restorer of marriage god is also the healer our friend emmy invited us to magellan hotel and restaurant where their fellowship every sunday the people were so friendly and welcome us warmly it was a good start for both of us we were so hungry for god we were discipled and paul's advices began to dismantle one by one our search for truth opened a new drawer of disciplines in life and affirmation of new habits we consistently attended the sunday services and met new friends prayer worships and studying the word of god became so vital in our walk with god we develop family time too on my end the lord begun to soften my heart for five years god worked in my heart and taught me how to live in righteousness and holiness anger resentment vengefulness lying aggression and the like begun to diminish spending time with god in prayer and in his word had changed me the lord restored love and honor for each other love and honor became the foundation of our marriage we renewed our marriage covenant our marriage covenant with each other in sickness and in health in persecution and in trial in per in poverty and on and in abundance we had to face together till death do us part one day we prayed and asked the lord to give us a son and he also answered that prayer the presence of god became so real to us first things first we share the gospel of jesus to my family and the paulo they received the lord on christmas day it was the greatest gift that we have given to my family forgiveness and restoration took place while we were rejoicing that my family received jesus the opposite took place in the family of paul there was a great persecution at home since we lived with my parents-in-law at that time my pa my father-in-law started alienating from us he didn't want to eat with us during breakfast lunch and dinner when paul was at work there were so many many insults cursing words spoken against our faith and i just said and i just shed in tears and asked god for daily strength after three years of prayer and holding on to jesus for their salvation to our surprise mommy got born again and gave his life to the lord now she is now with the lord daddy also soften up paul showed love to daddy serve him until he gave his life to the lord the change in paul's life was so undeniable that led daddy to believe god's work in his life they used to disagree in so many things but because paul was a rebellious unto daddy but before that he passed away there was reconciliation and daddy gave his life to the lord as we grew with god we were given the responsibility to teach sunday schools sunday school classes we serve in choir worship team welcome team cleanup team we just enjoyed serving under the leadership of the senior pastors we learned about mission call mission call began to steer in our hearts during our first missions convention we were the first couple to heed to the mission's call we believe that god's love faithfulness and goodness steered us to respond to his call a burden to bring the good news of jesus christ wherever we go grew in us in hitting god's call we took the first step by seeking counsel and prayer from our pastor after days of prayer and fasting the call became stronger then paul decided to resign from his secure job our journey for mission began when he resigned we were sent a missionary sending church in manila for six intensive six-month intensive training after the training we came back to cebu and we were pioneer pioneering at church in karkar as a test run there was no promise of financial support but we were committed to serve when we transferred to car car the first thing we did was to enroll our two children to a private school or public school but we were denied because of our faith persecution begun so we decided to enroll the children here in the city in the public school because that's the only thing that's the only fear that we can afford during the time paul and i had a difficult situation during that time because we because he has to stay in car car for five days well i have to stay four to five days here in the city to keep watch over the children and help them in their studies we traveled back and forth every week and we only saw each other on a sundays and saturdays on saturdays and sundays it was a difficult setup for both of us because our family time our finances were affected we spent most of our savings for our daily sustenance and our travel there were instances that we turned a day into fasting and prayer because there was nothing to eat personally i'd rather take the suffering myself than see my children bear the suffering aside from that there was a persecution from the religious church the religious leader attacked us daily that we were promulgating a wrong belief fear was inside in the hearts of the members we assure the members about the promises of the word of god the church grew to 80 members in the span of eight months and they started giving the members were so enthusiastic to study the world with us weekly back in the city when the classes started the children met new friends i brought them i brought them to school and fetched them from school one day i have noticed that they were itching from their head down to their legs then i found out that their thighs and legs were swollen because of bug bites and their hair was infested with ticks i was amazed i was hysterical but i treated them seeing them in such a heartbreaking condition i wept before the lord and asked is this the cause of serving you lord if this is it we have to go through all it all together give us the strength lord many tears were shed philippians 4 verses 11 to 13 reminds me for i have learned in whatever state i am to be content i know how to be a based i know how to how to abound wherever and in all things i have learned both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need i can do all things through christ who strengthens me the scripture became so real to us even until today after 10 months the car car ministry was endorsed to another pastor when the school year ended we were sent to bangkok thailand for the mission's work a day before we we flew paul contacted his pastor friend regarding our arrival in bangkok we arrived at 5 00 p.m in bangkok the following day we waited for the pastor who promised to fetch us it was already 8 00 pm and there was no one to pick us up from the airport the local pastor forgot to pick us up paul decided to take two taxis to fit every luggage we brought thinking that we might be in bangkok for quite a while the streets were deemly lit because of the storm that hit the city a day before we arrived in the parsonage at past nine because the other taxi got installed installed got stalled in the middle of the flooded road and we had to transfer everything in one taxi we didn't have decent dinner we just ate bread crackers drunk water we were so exhausted that we preferred sleep than it the following day the pastor transferred out to a single room in a school building where their missionary missionary missionaries lived temporarily a month later we were able to settle down in a good house the house was big enough for all of us but it was not furnished the first things we brought were mattresses and few kitchen appliances we slept on the floor ate our meals on the floor it wasn't it was a new beginning for all of us i never heard my any i never heard any complaint from the children it seemed that they enjoyed playing house there were instances that our support from the main church were delayed the very last strand of our faith was about to snap but god had been so good to bring in the provision in various ways paul and i were involved in teaching in the local church with an interpreter but we were not able to stay long in bangkok for two reasons first a resident visa was given to an american missionary couple we had to exit thailand to renew our tourist visa every three months penang malaysia was the nearest place where we can get our visas renewed quickly in the span of 10 months we live in bangkok we did our exit three times and it was financially and physically exhaustive though the chingra enjoyed the travel the second reason i was was i got so sick that the ob gynae decided or advised me to had an opera immediate operation because the seas in my right ovary had grown big and ready to erupt i need the operation soon or else it will lead to an infection an internal bleeding which is life-threatening we ask the help of antipath the aunt of pastor joe if she can refer us for a second opinion she accompanied her she she accompanied us to her obi-gani and gave and the same diagnosis was given paul called up our pastor in cebu and he advised us to come home in two weeks time so i can be operated soon in cebu because the surgery in bangkok is twice the amount here in cebu so we said our goodbyes to auntie pat and thank you thank her for her generosity and hospitality so we pack up our things so the things that we need to sell donated some of the items to the local church i was so weak when we arrived here the first thing i we did was to have a checkup and show the diagnosis and ultrasound results from the doctor in bangkok i was scheduled for the surgery that day after we arrived we checked in at sibo doctors hospital that evening the day of surgery came early morning i cried before god for the first time in my life i was overcome with much fear it weakened my spirit my soul and my body i asked paul to pray for me he prayed fervently until we received god's peace at six a.m the nurses prepared me for the surgery then i was wheeled to the operating room at seven then at 8 00 am the operation took place my obigani assured us that the surgery was just a simple procedure and it will just take an hour or so but the surgery took almost three hours and paul was already anxious he stayed in the room and prayed a miracle took place though the seas that had already erupted the seas had already erupted but its fluid was contained in itsa they performed some tests to have the assurance that the fluid was not carried in my blood vessels or bloodstream i was placed in the recovery room for two hours for close monitoring before i was real back to my room i was surrounded with loved ones with good friends prayer partners that i was discharged for the four days later after a year late after a year later aft a year later we continued the missionary call we went to cdo caviar city nothing stopped us from pursuing the call of god we pioneered a church there for six years and started a church in the pollock simultaneously both churches grew and regenerates all throughout our journey with god there were so many mountains to fly humps and bumps along the road cliffs and valleys to pass through but god was with us he has been so faithful and he showed up and he showed us what is life in him after six years we endorsed the church insidio antipolar to the main church so we came back to cebu and established a church in la palapa city this was the bible study group of pastor joe that he endorsed back to the city or to the church after he left for manila in the process of time the church grew and was very generous we plan to buy quality pieces of sound equipment for our sunday and midweek services we submitted the budget and requested for it but wheat was denied because the church didn't have the funds or the budget to buy the equipment we were taken aback with our response because we had just deposited a huge amount to the main church account it was a good journey for a while until envy struck we were falsely accused of multiversation of offerings deposits were made every sunday server after every sunday service by our treasurer to china bank depository account of the main shirts cast reports were recorded and receipts were even properly issued another accusation took place that was paul was accused that he pushed people as he laid hands on them in prayer the accusations came from people we love we respected we were broken during that time we decided that not to begrudge them but allow god to be healing in our brokenness there are many very many tears shed before the altar of the lord after we receive our healing we resign from the church decently we never talk against the church though it left a big scar in our hearts but god vindicated us and proven us innocent from their accusations to summarize everything persecution false accusation rejection deprivation even life-threatening experiences those situations we carried we encountered as we committed to follow the lord but those things also those experiences form our characters we have learned forgiveness because we were offended we have learned healing and experience healing because we experience brokenness that's how the lord work in our lives we pioneered church in in the city another church in we pioneered another church in the city we started it in sarosa international hotel restaurant after four months the devil hit me hard with an uppercut that caused me to drop my knees and held onto god that was when my husband passed away so suddenly due to allergic reaction to the food he ingested i was numb shocked disoriented but by the grace of god i use that painful scenario to my own advantage i keep my relationship with god and make it stronger and better paul was my best friend my partner in life my colleague in the missionary works my lover my strengths when i was awake my leader my pastor he was just gone like that after 21 years of marriage the scripture says life is like a vapor he died at the prime of his life at the age of 46 there were a lot of questions questions that were unanswered at that time but i stayed committed to the lord the more i held unto him and this was my prayer where will i go you are everything i've got on the last night of the week's service which i called worship service i quoted ii samuel 24 24 with my revision i will not give an offering to the lord my god with which cost me nothing i offer paul to you lord the best of my offering i have never given my best offering to god if i did not submit myself to the prophet to the process of self sacrifice sacrifice the passage of scripture of scripture that says the maker is the husband to the widow and the father to the fatherless pacified me ii corinthians 4 verses 7 to 10. but we have this threshold in earth and vessels listen that the excellence of the power may not may be of god not of us we are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed you are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying about in the body the dying of jesus christ that the cr the life of christ also may be manifested in our body this verse kept me afloat preparing the messages for sunday midweek services every week was so much of a burden while i was in the midst of mourning it was getting harder i didn't have someone to cry on when i was down but i had learned to run and strengthen myself in the lord i know what is greed grit holding on to what is secure stable and strong and i have found that in the lord jesus christ i continued the bible studies ministered to the sick in the hospital or in their homes trained the leaders and at the same time did the role of a father mother to my three teenagers the 40 member church was so generous and we were able to purchase good quality sound equipment when pastor john sheila decided to come back to cebu and start a church i offered my services and donated all the church instruments and joined with them from the start of city church i knew my calling by heart my purpose is always behind the scenes to support the leader the senior pastor and bring encouragement to the people through counseling and prayer because i knew my purpose i can say no to the things that do not align my proof for god's purpose in my life and i can learn and i learn to say yes to the things of god in accordance to his purpose for me my life with christ today i'm so blessed not with material things not with millions of pesos in my account but which with my experiences with god in my life's journey rich with my relationship with my children and their families rich with my relationship with my mom richard my relationship with my siblings and their families reach with my faithful friends reach with the things of god reach my relationship with people in church relationship with the leaders and the staff i am so blessed and i thank god for every experience i had either good or bad because i learned to draw closer to my god i thank god for the people whom i have whom the lord permitted to cross my path in life to make me who i am today in whatever season of my life i have this confidence god will never forsake me i am not perfect or someone who had figured it out all together but one thing i treasure i treasure the most is the very presence of god and i just want to take this opportunity to thank pastor joe sheila and the family for being with us in the hardest times of our lives what is your take home in the story of my life or what can you bring home after you listen to my story i just want to give this to you life is not about us it's all about him it's all about the lord if you have if you want to have a better life run to him he is the life giver he is the life changer secondly life can never be achieved in its fullness apart from the lord apart from the lord fulfillment is found in pursuing god's purpose and another thing life is complete in jesus christ alone he is our all and in all i have been a widow for 20 years but i have found my completeness in him my wholeness is the lord the pursuit of god's purpose was not easy it was not an easy journey but it's worth it because i have come to know the god i serve better can attest that the god i serve is trustworthy that's the reason isaiah 26 3 to 4 is very real to me and it has become my life verse at this season of my life and i quote isaiah 26 3 4 this is a song of judah a song of praise you will keep in perfect pace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you trust in the lord forever for yahweh the lord is everlasting stress at this point i just want to quote the scripture that i have quoted earlier about matthew 16 24 to 26 the cause of tree discipleship said said this to his disciples if anyone decides to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever desires to save his life we lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what prophet is it for a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul three three things in this particular message we're in we can find what true discipleship is all about number one is self-denial self-sacrifice is god's way and it's the only way we can find our real self colossians 3 verses 2 4 it says set your mind on the things above not on the things on earth for you died and your life is hidden with christ in god when christ who is our life appears then you also appear with him in glory number two take up your cross suffering is part of life here in earth embrace it allow god to use it to make you better it leads us to find the significance of life i have learned two important things about suffering the first is the suffering i went through before christ it made me the worst of me secondly the suffering that i went through when i gave my life to the lord it made me better those were the pruning shears in my life philippians 3 10 says that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death it's a dying of oneself daily his resurrection empowers us to identify with his sufferings and to be conformed to his death the third one follow jesus follow him he will show you how to live life to its fullest self-help is no help at all he is our very help in time of need matthew 10 38 says and jesus said it and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me no circumstances in life either loss of life loss of job loss of wealth loss of health could either separate us from the love of god that is in christ jesus no trial no temptation no test is bigger than our heaven than our heavenly father he has deposited the holy spirit in us to lead us into a better life and that is abundant life abundant life is not dependent on any circumstances it is dependent on the grace of god gauging myself with the cause of true discipleship i can say i'm still on the race pressing on to lay hold of that of which christ has laid hold of me toward the goal of the price of the upward call of god in christ jesus it's not over yet until he says it's over can i pray for you heavenly father is thank you for your presence in our meals this time i know that the holy spirit is with each one of us touching lives you are our healer you are our provider the store the restorer of our lives you are everything that we need for life and godliness father thank you for being with us today and i pray father that to those who are seeking you they will find you at this moment in their lives to those who are going to make any decision in life a crossroad in their life that i pray for wisdom guidance and the leadership of the holy spirit to be upon them for those who are desiring to find a new job and a better job lord i pray for favor to rest upon them this is always our persian daily as we continue to walk with you lord you are a god who is always good trustworthy faithful and no matter what circumstance the circumstance of god that would come our way you are always there for us you'll never leave us nor forsake us you're always our strengths we're always our stability and our security lord thank you father for your goodness and your faithfulness in our lives and i pray father that you'll continue to reveal yourself to us as we seek you for you said in your word to those who seek you they will find you and you will all just reveal yourself to us god father thank you for your promises our yes and amen to those who believe in jesus name we pray amen

Channel: Citichurch PH

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Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Citichurch, Citichurch Cebu, Jesus, Bible, Faith, Pray, Prayer, Hope, Obedience, Church, Philippines, Love, God, Savior, Messiah, Jo, Alfafara, Brian, Kairuz, Grace, Rivera, Herbert, Pascual, Brian Kairuz, Jo Alfafara, Grace Rivera, Herbert Pascual, Cebu, Waterfront, Church in Cebu, Jesus Christ, Bible Study, Preaching, Preaching Cebu, Holy Spirit Cebu, Worship Cebu, Worship, Live Louder, Deeper, Camp, Recharge, Christmas Special, Production, Volunteers, Ministry, Ministry Sunday, Rahab, Rahab Sunday

Id: 1IvnF9SlNEM

Length: 46min 52sec (2812 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 22 2020