PTERO

The 2018 Perfecting Training for Elders and Responsible Ones (PTERO) will be held in Cebu City. Registration is now open. Please refer to the official website for all details and inquiries.

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The tabernacle, the cloud, and the glory, being a full type of the Triune God, are a picture of the goal of God's eternal economy — to have a corporate people to be His dwelling place for His expression and representation in eternity.

Visayas Collegian Conference 2015

The conference is from Oct. 29-31, 2015 in Cebu City. Pre-register here.

Breaking Through

Experiencing the Lord in the Breakthrough was so fresh to me. I was fully recovered and unveiled regarding how lovely He is and could be. To go out of my shell was really a hard thing. Even calling on the Lord's name for me is somehow so objective. But at that time the Lord's name was so intimate and sweet. He made me realize that consecrating myself to Him is not a terrifying thing. It is really true that without consecration nothing follows.

I never regretted saying "I love You" to the Lord not that He loved me first but simply because He is so lovely. May we all have such experience with the Lord not just in the Breakthrough but also in our day by day fellowship with Him.

Consecrated Ones

On February 2-14, 2015, saints from different regions in the Philippines including from some nearby countries, willingly offered themselves to be perfected in the Middle Age Training (module II) held in the Meeting Hall in the Church in Cebu City. A total of 167 saints participated and consecrated their time to the Lord to receive His rich dispensing for the carrying out God’s New Testament Economy.

If there was one word to perfectly describe the whole atmosphere of the training, then that would be "consecration." Much of the burden of the speakers was to bring out the middle aged ones to present themselves new again before the Lord. Wave after wave of messages, throughout the whole two weeks, much has been revealed in the matter of consecration. Without consecration, nothing follows. However, if one willingly consecrates himself in a constant way, then it will be counted by the Lord.

One by one, the trainees lined up in front, before the Lord and before everyone else; boldly declaring that in their remaining days, they will be absolute for His economy. In His move in this earth, there is a need for these precious saints to become a pattern for the younger ones and the new believers. They learned that despite their busy days in their work or business, they can still participate fully through consecrating their whole being to Him. We believe that this training has shown them a newer and broader view regarding His move including His needs for more stewards. The Lord is constantly speaking and showing them the way to carry out His work. What a glorious sight to see them offer their being to the Lord!

PRAISE THE LORD!

Jesus Is A Man

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Yet, He is also a man. And His humanity is of a different source than ours. If we as human beings live according to our natural efforts and strength, relying on what we can do and what we have which is limited, the Lord Jesus lived a life relying on a source from the heavens. By death and resurrection, the Lord uplifted His humanity. His humanity is not only new and holy, but also uplifted. Fine, tender and balanced, something that we can never be despite our persistent efforts. Yet our Jesus, in His humanity is fine. Mark 6:39-40 “And He ordered them to have all recline by companies on the green grass. And they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.” This shows that the Lord, in feeding the five thousand, required the people to have an orderly arrangement. To do this needs a proper humanity. He is also tender, Matt. 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Throughout all the opposition the Lord was meek and throughout all the rejection He was lowly in heart. He is balanced, Luke 9:51-56 shows that whether the people rejected Him or welcomed Him, He was continually the same; no rejection could irritate or offend Him.

As I ponder on these things I realized that I have lived a life that is not up to the standard. I cannot do it on my own and with my own efforts. Last December young people’s conference, I was refreshed by the humanity of Jesus. His humanity is the only humanity that can express God. We may all have the Spirit mingled with our human spirit to express Christ but, if we tend to neglect this and live by ourselves, forgetting the other person within us, the Spirit mingled with our human spirit will be void. If we live this humanity of Jesus we are able to express Him as the person within us. A wonderful way to have this humanity wrought into us and be expressed through us is to behold the man, eat the man and be the man. How can we do this? The simplest way is to call upon His name “Lord Jesus!” If we call upon Him, slowly we will be open to Him and then He will have His way in us. We can then be open to come to the word of God for the Spirit today is consolidated in the word. When we read the word and pray-read the word we can masticate His humanity. This humanity that we take in will make us spiritually healthy. In this way we will remain in the church life. The humanity of Jesus is for the Christian life and the Church life.

I really praise the Lord that He has done His ways to enter into us as the Spirit. Now we are able to enjoy Him and all His riches. Much more we are able to enjoy Him in His fine, tender, and balanced humanity. All we need to do is come to Him, behold Him, eat Him and be Him. Hallelujah!

Churching Experience

There’s a certain point in our life when we will ask for something that will give us joy; and based on my experience, one of the things that could give abundant joy to a believer is to be with the saints. One way of being with the saints is churching. We can also say that churching is one way of shepherding, but most importantly, churching is a way to be mingled with the saints for us to be able to experience the reality of the church life.

There’s this song that I love hearing so much, Hymn 1153; the last stanza says,

We have found that meeting with the saints
Is the greatest joy on earth;
‘Tis by this our spirit never faints
And our lives are filled with worth.

And the chorus goes on to say,

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory;
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
And the half has never yet been told!

To have the church life and be in the Body is one of the most glorious and wonderful experiences. In the Body, we can really sense that there is oneness. One good example of oneness is that, when we meet a brother or a sister from another locality, even if we’ve only met him or her for the first time, there’s a feeling of familiarity within us; that feeling that you’ve met him or her before somewhere somehow. Another example is fellowshipping with one another. All the localities that we’d visited welcomed us so warmly with all the smiles in their faces that we ourselves couldn’t help but smile back. The churches that we’d visited in Leyte are the churches in Ormoc, Baybay, Kananga, Isabel, and Palompon. The saints there were expecting us and they were even excited to see us. They made preparations for our accommodation, food, and transportation. Even in their service, we can feel the sincerity and that they really care. How wonderful! Each one of us should have the heart to care for one another; much more, we need to have a heart to care for the Body.

There are still localities in Leyte which have no churches yet. One is Palompon. When we went to that place, the saints there were really eager to have their own meeting hall for them to have a proper testimony in that place. There was this young sister who even cried when we touched the matter of consecration. Consecration is not a small thing, but the after effect will be far more wonderful because the Lord could work within us fully without hindrance. May we pray that the saints in Palompon, Leyte would have a thorough consecration so that the Lord could have a way to work within them. Not just Palompon, but also all the localities in Leyte. Hallelujah for the Body!

Touching the Lord

Mark 5:21-34

5:27 - When she heard the things concerning Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment.

5:31 - And His disciples said to Him, You see the crowd pressing upon You and You say, who touched Me?

What is the difference between pressed and touched? The crowd by pressing the Lord didn't receive anything — they are just intruders, checking the outward miraculous work of the Lord.

May times we are just like this. We are attracted to the things done by the Lord outwardly but we are not concerned of the Lord Himself.

But the woman, she touched the Lord and she was healed after suffering from the flowing of blood for many years. It means that the Lord transfused Himself to the woman even without His consent.

Even in our experience, we sometimes pressed the Lord together with the crowd. We do not deeply touched the Lord in His person. When the woman touched Him, power come out of Him (5:30). The Lord had no choice but to transfuse power to the woman. Even today, if we really desire to touch the Lord, He has no choice even without His consent we will be healed from our disease (sins, sinful acts, deeds, etc.).

When the Lord asked "Who touched Me?" (v. 31), the woman became frightened and trembling (v. 33) but the Lord said, "Daughter your faith has healed you." (v. 34)

Faith caused the woman to touch the Lord. That is why she was healed. Oh, Lord! Grant us faith to touch You. Faith comes from the word of the Lord and depends on it (Matt. 8:26). Maybe she was listening when the Lord was preaching or doing something miraculous. Oh, may we hear the word of the Lord!

Rom. 10:17 says, "So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of the Lord."

Today, are we pressing the Lord with the crowd or touching the Lord personally? May we all learn the lesson.

What is God's Will for You?

Those who seek after God often come across this question. What does God want? What am I in God's will? Does God want me to be a preacher, maybe a doctor, or expand my business?

In His Word, we find that He wants His Body, the Body of Christ. Much more so, He wants the oneness and the reality of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:3-4 tells us to "keep the oneness of of the Spirit... one Body and one Spirit."

To get there, you start by enjoying Christ as everything. This is the beginning of God's will. Hebrews 10:5-10 points out that Christ came to do God's will which is to be the reality of all the offerings of the Old Testament and be our unique enjoyment. In the Old Testament, they need to make offerings for forgiveness of sins, of wave offerings and many others. In the New Testament Christ is all these.

Furthermore, you enjoy Christ by functioning in the Body life. Rom. 12:2 calls this the good, well pleasing, and perfect will of God. This means that as believers, you are members of the Body of Christ. As members you have your measure and function. The normal functioning of each member causes the Body to be realized and be built up in oneness.

Therefore, God's will is for you to enjoy Christ as everything by functioning in the Body life for the reality and oneness of the Body of Christ.