The Chinese/English-Speaking Year-end Conference on December 23-25, 2007 at Oxford Hotel in Angeles, Pampanga was attended by 583 saints from 14 churches, namely Quezon City, Manila, Angeles, Bacoor, Caloocan, Dagupan, Malabon, Makati, Navotas, Pasay, San Juan, Tarlac, Valenzuela and Mandaluyong. The prayers and hymn singing of the saints before the start of the messages released the spirits of the speakers.
Message one revealed God’s intention in His economy—to head up all things in Christ through the church. God’s salvation is to save us not only from our fallen, sinful condition but also from the heap of collapse. Here, the saints realized the need to be delivered from the heap of collapse and be headed up in Christ.
Message two unfolded the need to recover and preserve the genuine, all-inclusive oneness by destroying the high places. High places involve the exaltation of something other than Christ and thus create division in the Body. In the Lord’s recovery, the saints should elevate Christ and Christ alone.
Message three urged the saints to serve with a burden from the Lord. All saved ones must pick up the burden to serve the Lord and the service must be in one accord.
Message four unveiled the vision of the woman, the dragon, and the man-child. We need to be constantly open to the Lord as our Husband and permit the element of Christ, the divine constituent of Christ, to work in us continually to saturate and permeate our whole being.
Message five encouraged us to live uniquely for the gospel to gain young people. The speakers led us to pray and consecrate our whole being for the gospel—that this coming year we will be able to take care of at least one soul for the Lord. The Lord charges us to go and bear fruit and that our fruit should remain.
Message six concerned the establishing of the Recovery Version study group wherein saints were encouraged to read the Recovery Version of the Bible and the Life-studies. We need to spend at least 30 minutes in the Word everyday. In this way, we can bring people to salvation and nourish them.
The conference ended with everyone having a joyful spirit and being refreshed and strengthened for the coming year. Thank the Lord that through the messages we received the enlightenment that we need to enjoy the Lord and pick up the burden to serve Him.
Edlyn Balaquit
Church in Quezon City
Tour of a Life-Time Part 13
(Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)From December 26 to 29, 2007, about 341 young people and serving ones from 18 local churches gathered at the blending hall of the church in Baguio for the 13th Tour of a Life-Time Conference. Twelve brothers coordinated in releasing 11 messages concerning the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The brothers spoke on God’s people who are sojourning this world and waiting for His second advent. As we build His church, we also fight. The Lord is ever faithful and trustworthy that in receiving eternal life, we are being reconstituted and sanctified.
Our God is a God of purpose. We were opened to see that God is also a God of recovery. In the midst of the heap of collapse, God is doing a work of recovery. Seeing the history of the children of Israel and from our own experiences, God could have easily given up and did a work of creation all over again. But He did not for He will bring them back. He will have His way to fulfill His heart’s desire. We may have diverted, “side tracked” or fallen before, but it doesn’t really matter, for He will have His way. God will bring back! The Lord is working upon earthen vessels to transform them into precious stones for His building. Thank the Lord, this is His principle. As the One who desires a mutual dwelling place, He will eventually have it. Whether we give ourselves or not, He will eventually gain His mutual dwelling place. Since He will have it, then why not have it today, why not with us, and why not with me. Though we are but filthy rags and nothing, we can be God’s outlet! He chose to work on us. He chose to do a recovery work. I enjoyed a verse in Jeremiah 30:3 saying, “Yes indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah, and I will bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.” If man rejects to be God’s outlet, God will find another outlet, but this one will be eliminated…We are nothing but we can be God’s outlet.
“Lord, thank You. You are a God of purpose. Though we failed You before and still fail You, You are still working Your self for You will gain what is in Your heart. Lord we want and choose to be this group who will allow You, who will work with You, who will open to Your work of recovery. Thank You, You are recovering us. Cause us not to look at ourselves. We give ourselves to be Your outlet here on earth. Lord, gain what is in Your heart through us.”
At the end of the conference, all the young people consecrated themselves in reading the whole Bible for the year 2008. May the Lord preserve the heart of these young people as the next generation to bring Him back, for Christ and the church. Seeing them functioning and serving causes our heart to praise and glorify God for His recovery work. May they be saved from just being inspired or touched, but be revived to rise up to be sanctified and be reconstituted by His word being God’s vessel for His economy.
Jerich Colaynay
Alex Ah
A Year of Revival
Before 2007 ended, saints from Mandaluyong, Quezon City, San Juan (MANQUEJUAN) cluster gathered together to enjoy the Lord in His present move and speaking. On December 31, the conference which started at 8:30 a.m. at the meeting hall of the church in Quezon City, was composed of three messages given by some brothers who joined the conference at Oxford Hotel in Pampanga.
The first message was about serving with a burden and coordinating in one accord. The condition for receiving burdens from God is an open spirit to God. We must learn to receive burdens and release burdens through prayer in our intimate fellowship with the Lord. Without a burden, all our activity will be dead and ineffective; with a burden we will be living and flourishing. We also must serve with one another by coordinating in one accord. We must have the consciousness that we need others and that others need us for our coordination in the Body, causing us to have the spirit of a learner and a spirit of coordination.
Living uniquely for the gospel to gain young people is the second message. For the sake of God’s work and for the future of the gospel, there is more hope with the young people. Our gospel work should place special emphasis on high school and college students. We should spend and pour out our all to save, cultivate, edify, and lead these young ones. We must rise up to follow the Lord’s present move and adjust ourselves to correspond to His regulation in order to be useful to Him. We need to pray, “O Jehovah, revive your work/ In the midst of the years.”
Message three is about consecration. If we want to serve the Lord we must consecrate ourselves to Him. God’s purchase is the basis of consecration. We need to see that we are not our own and that we have been bought with a price—the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s love is the motive of consecration. The meaning of consecration is to be a sacrifice and the purpose is to work for God. The items to be consecrated are people, affairs, objects and ourselves. The result of consecration is to abandon our future and to be burned to ashes. We will be freed from sin, be enslaved to God, have fruit unto sanctification, and live an overcoming life. Lastly, for God’s benefit, it is to be well pleasing to God, to prove what the will of God is and to accomplish God’s eternal purpose.
Once again, we all renewed our consecration to the Lord, giving our all to Him. Instead of having the traditional New Year’s resolution, we consecrated ourselves to the Word of the Lord so that in the year 2008 the Lord will surely have His revival among us.
Mitchie Eugenio
Church in Quezon City (D-7)
Beautifiers from the Beautiful God
On January 20, 2008 the saints from Rizal gathered in Antipolo for a homeowners’ conference. It was for the brothers and sisters who have a Lord’s table meeting (LTM) in their homes. Saints who longed to open their houses for the LTM were also invited. Sister Charing Garcia gave a message concerning Beautifiers from the Beautiful God. The message was both encouraging and refreshing. It will be good if all the saints will be able to read it so we recorded it below:
God is beautiful. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; that do I see: to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in His temple.” Likewise, Isaiah 33:17a says, “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty.” This beautiful God values beauty. Let us consider the garment of the high priest—God commanded Moses to make holy garments for Aaron, his brother, for glory and for beauty (Exo. 28:2). The garment is for glory and for beauty! Glory is God expressed. Beauty is pleasing in the sight. God designed the garment of Aaron. In messages 116 to 132 of the Life-Study of Exodus, we can see the intrinsic meaning and the significance of the garment of Aaron as the high priest.
We have proved that God highly values beauty. Thus, even the man that God created also possesses in their heart and nature the longing to remain beautiful or to be beautiful. Hence, there are a lot of cosmetics or products to make you beautiful! Mostly are so expensive but millions of people patronize these products just for the desire to be beautiful. They also match organic food to health and beauty. So-called famous cosmetic surgeons become so rich; although cosmetic surgery is so expensive the rich ones fall in line for it just to be applied with this beautifier. There is even a case that was put on newspaper. After a man had spent half a million pesos to fix his face, he became uglier and sued the doctor who performed the surgery on him. Praise the Lord Jesus that the beautifier that I am going to tackle is free.
Abiding is the first beautifier. According to the direct word of our beautiful God in Psalm 90: 1, 17, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; indeed the work of our hands, establish it.” In Psalm 90 the beautiful, eternal God is our home. We have found our eternal home in our beautiful God. We can dwell in Him, we can abide in His covering and thus we can have His beauty. Through dwelling in God and allowing His beauty to be with us, we are qualified to do His work and thus He will establish the work of our hands. What is the work of our hands that our Lord will establish? His ardent desire of building up His Body which is none other than His local church and we cannot deny that the up-to-date move in the Lord’s recovery is the house-to-house meeting, especially the LTM so that His Body can be built faster so that the members of His Body function unhindered. Every member can prophesy to build up the church, that is, His Body.
For this reason, we need to consecrate ourselves, which is the second beautifier. Psalm 110:3 says, “Your people will offer themselves willingly in the day of Your warfare, in the splendor of their consecration, Your young men will be to You like the dew from the womb of the dawn.” The book of Psalms is poetic. The poem here in Psalm 110 is wonderful. It says, “Your people will offer themselves willingly in the day of Your warfare.” As long as we are in the local churches we are in the day of His warfare. This is the day when His people voluntarily consecrate. We need to consecrate ourselves voluntarily. Especially the young people, this kind of consecration is so precious and our voluntary consecration to the Lord is a beauty of holiness. This beauty is even refreshing to the Lord, because from the dawn of the morning, the young people will come as dew to Christ! What a beauty! So, do you really want to be beautiful? Consecrate yourselves, as well as your house, voluntarily to Christ and to the church for the building up of His universal Body. This building up can be most practically done in every church through house-to-house LTM!
If there are meetings in our house, it is easy for us to obtain the third beautifier which is beholding the Lord. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; that do I see: to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in His temple.” While in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” We are like a mirror. Whatever is in front of the mirror, the mirror reflects. If we, as mirrors, are before or beholding our beautiful Lord God, certainly we would reflect the beauty of the Lord. What a beauty! Not only that, we are even transformed unto the image itself of the Lord from glory to glory. As for the writer of the Psalm, he would behold the beauty of the Lord in the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is in our spirit and also in the church. Meanwhile, the Lord is in His Word and Spirit. We are going to do our individual beholding of the Lord in our spirit. The best ways are praying unceasingly, calling upon the name of the Lord, and pray-reading His word. The corporate beholding of the Lord is in the church. The church practically exists if there is a meeting. Thus, the house-to-house meeting is really suitable so that no one has a reason not to corporately behold the beauty of the Lord that we reflect as a mirror. If others see us, they will see the beauty of the Lord. Alas, we are beautiful!
If we are already beautiful, then we are expressing the Lord; surely we will exalt the Lord, which is the fourth beautifier. In Isaiah 28:5 we read that, “In that day Jehovah of hosts will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of glory to the remnant of His people.” Although this verse refers to the Israelites, the saved Jews in the coming restoration of the age, we can see here that the crown and diadems are both on our head. If we exalt Christ, that is, always giving Him the first place, we are living the God-man living; thus, He will be our crown of glory and the diadem itself of beauty. What more is that we surely will be beautiful.
Just as in the head Christ is our beauty, so in our feet He is still our beauty—this is the fifth beautifier—preaching. Thus, we need to be filled with and permeated by Christ to be beautiful! Song of Songs 7:1a says, “How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals, O prince’s daughter.” While Romans 10:15 says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the news of good things!” And let us see Ephesians 6:15, “And having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.” In the book of brother Lee about the Four Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery, he mentioned these: truth, life, the church, and the gospel. The truth conveys life, life produces the church, and the church should preach the word of the gospel, which is the truth.
For the church to be a church that has beautiful feet, she should be a church that preaches the gospel, not only when there is a gospel meeting but also everyday. Where are the members of the church everyday? In their houses, thus house-to-house meetings are very effective so that we can have the beauty of God.
Thus, the beautifiers from the beautiful God can be obtained through Abiding, Beholding, Consecrating, Preaching, and Exalting the Lord (ABCPE). Eventually when we become beautiful we would behold the beauty of our Lord Himself. Our beauty would not only be the beauty of Jerusalem, which signifies the local church; but it would be the beauty of Zion, which signifies the overcomers. Zion is the beauty of Jerusalem. Psalm 50:2 says, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.” The shining of God is the dispensing of His goodness. Hence, we would be the beauty of the local churches, those who enjoy God in Christ.
As a response to the message, the saints testified their practical experiences. One brother who came from Saudi Arabia said that he marveled at the change he saw in his wife from the time they had LTM in their house. His wife’s business before was related to idols, that’s why they had misunderstandings in matters of the Lord. But thank the Lord that their house was opened for LTM. Now his wife is managing a small store and canteen near their house. Meanwhile, our brother because he had already enjoyed the church life in the Philippines became sad when he went abroad where previously there was no meeting. He prayed to the Lord to open a way to have an LTM in that place. God worked in his environment to fulfill his desire. He was transferred to a place, where he met a couple from India, who are already our brother and sister. Praise the Lord! This couple opened their house to start the LTM. Thank the Lord for the couple that opened their house for the meeting. It was also another testimony of how important household is for the fulfillment of God’s economy! One sister testified that opening her house for LTM was different from the traditions in Christianity. It brought more blessings to her household. Another brother testified that his household became more useful in the Lord. One sister declared that her household-to-be will serve the Lord and they will open their house for the meeting of the church. Praise the Lord!
Sister Divine also presented their experience in cluster 2 of the church in Malabon. She mentioned that if the house-to-house meeting would be seriously carried out, saints would be produced as overcomers, that is, Zion which becomes the beauty of the local church. One sister became ill and was hospitalized. Because there is a meeting in their house, she herself sent home her housemates to take care of the meeting. She said that there are doctors and nurses who can look after her. Another sister with a meeting in her house has a husband who was once hospitalized. At the time when the meeting was approaching, she bided goodbye to her husband and said that she already needed to go home because of the meeting. We are thankful for such testimonies of the brothers and sisters who were very much gained by the Lord mainly because the meeting is in their house.
Brother Danny Sy expressed that the opening of our homes for the meeting is equivalent to bringing the beauty parlor inside our homes. Because we always enjoy God in our homes surely we will become beautiful without expense. He encouraged the brothers and sisters that they should desire to open their homes.
The testimonies expressed the uncountable blessings of the Lord in the households who opened the meeting for His table. Everybody’s joy could be sensed in the atmosphere of the meeting. Those who have been carrying this out were even more encouraged to continue with it, while those who have not were encouraged to open theirs.
Johanna Marie delos Reyes