Author, The Legos Principle (2012)
Senior Pastor, Victory Fort, Manila, Philippines (62,000 people attending in 15 locations)
Member of International Apostolic Team of Ever Nation Ministries
Serves as board member of directors of Real Life Foundation
Wife, Marie; 3 sons
GUEST BIO
Joey Bonifacio: The Lego Principle
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com-THE POWER OF CONNECTION
In 1988, Joey bought his 2 sons their first Lego® kits. Since then the building blocks have been a part of their family. When their third son came along, Joey says they bought him the larger bricks in the DUPLO sets. Over time, all three boys would consider Legos®one of their all-time favorite toys. Joey says that these children’s building blocks represent the two greatest commandments that Jesus told us: Love God. Love your neighbor. Regardless of the size, shape or color of a Lego® block, each one is designed to do one thing: connect. The pieces are designed to connect on the top (like when we connect with God) and on the bottom (like when we connect with others). “It all boils down to a relationship with God and relationships with others,” says Joey. “If you can connect to the top with God and to the bottom with others,” says Joey, “you can pretty much shape the world you live in.”
Joey reminds us that to be a disciple of Christ we must connect with God and to each other. He says that God designed life not only so we could enjoy it with him but also with one another. Discipleship is relationship. He says there are lessons that the Bible teaches us on connecting with others.
BUILDING BLOCKS OF FORGIVENESS, TRUST, LOVE AND COMMUNICATION
Forgiveness:When their boys were young, Joey and Marie were in the car and the boys were misbehaving. Joey wanted to teach them a lesson, so he dropped them off on the sidewalk and told them he was leaving them there until they behaved. To Marie’s horror, Joey drove away. Eleven years later, the Lord reminded Joey of that day. He wept and realized how wrong he was. Joey asked his son to forgive him. “To forgive others set you free,” says Joey. “Not forgiving is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Forgiveness is God’s provision for restoring relationships. “It is the reset button of relationships,” says Joey. “It’s what reboots relationships that have gone sour.”
Trust: Joey says we all trust at different levels and different proportions. When their son, David, went to Joey and Marie with his desire to go to Kabul, Joey said, “You do realize that it is possible that you will not come home, right?” David said, “Wasn’t it you who taught me to not be afraid of death?” David went to Kabul and came home in one piece. Joey and Marie trusted God and their faith grew. “This is one of the building blocks of discipleship: growing in our trust of God and one another.”
Love: Joey says there is no other more misunderstood word than love. There are too many definitions but the kind of love Joey is referring to is God’s kind of love. “God’s kind of love is beyond human comprehension because it is not a feeling, not a emotion, not a decision. Love is a person for God is love,” says Joey. When we learn to walk in His love, we will have the ability to extend the same love for others.
Communication: One day, Joey was meeting Marie at the movie theater at the mall. Marie thought he was at a mall where Joey was earlier that day. Minutes before the movie, Marie wasn’t at the theater. Joey called her. She was standing in front of a theater in another mall! While trust is the foundation of relationships, love is the motive. Forgiveness resets and restores. Communication is the building block by which relationships grow and thrive. It is the sending and receiving of information. Without communication, relationships die.
Joey says every man and woman, young and old, should be a disciple who makes disciples. “This is the hope of the nations and the way to transform the world one person at a time,” he says.
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