Fellowship does not constitute unity. Just we happen to be in the same place at the same does not mean are united in heart and mind. Jesus proved this in His discourse against those who call Him “Lord” but do not act according to His will. Even though they did eat with Him in the same table, He will dismiss them for being “workers of iniquity.”

But fellowship is the first step towards unity. when we have reached unity, fellowship our favorite activity, if anything.

People come and go in a fellowship, until they enter into a covenant. Just like a marriage vow, our decision to give our lives to God in faith is a covenant of grace which the Lord Has established for us through His death. And together with it, we also entered into a covenant of brotherhood with our fellow Christians. We become part of the household of God through a local church or ministry, and we become accountable to that body to support, participate, and bear with.

Only through sharing can we actually begin to attain and experience becoming one with our brothers and sisters in Christ. By sharing our material possessions we experience “having all things common.” By sharing spiritual things we experience oneness of mind, heart and soul. Then we can speak the same thing, as Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 1.10.

True unity in the body will not compromise the 6 important apostolic doctrines expressed in Ephesians 4.1-6.

Unity among believers will not materialize until each of them is truly united with the Lord.

Having said all these, I believe ecumenism is not the Bible’s way of unity. It may a fellowship and a covenant between churches, but without God to back them up.

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New seating arrangement. The church was surprised to see a new and more orderly arrangement of the seats. It gave everyone a clearer view of the stage, less clutter, and more space to add seats should we need more (although we are already at full capacity). The mothers have a more comfortable seating at the back, the ushers can move around more easily, and guests can be attended more quickly.

New members of the Body of Christ. We also welcomed four new members of New Life Harvest family. They were the fruits of our labors in Bulacan, Bulacan where a weekly Bible study is conducted in the house of brother Lito and sister Edith.

Great music and wonderful moments of worship. Our praise and worship is always a great time for the church to express their gratefulness and adoration to God, and the worship team is leading us all with their precisely selected songs and music.

God’s words were delivered mightily. In the third part of my sermon on The Overcoming Church, God’s words are reminding us once again that there more obstacles to face before we can sit with Christ on His throne as overcomers with him. Yesterday’s message showed us two more gates of hades that the enemy threw against the true believers in the church ages of Sardis and Philadelphia, namely, the spirit of denomination and the loss or lack of perseverance.

Communion service. In the afternoon service commemmorating the death of the Lord, we just had our most number of attendees so far. Practically everyone stayed to participate in the communion and the presence of God came down upon us mightily. IT was such an invigorating experience!

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This afternoon I and brother Dante were with Pastor Nonoy’s company at Makati’s prestigious hotel to participate in and support the ministering of the Word of God to a group of employees under the supervision of HR Manager, sister Jeng. The opportunity to share the Gospel came about when the company hired the sister and gave her a project that would attend to the spiritual well-being of their people.

Initially, we are given the time to prepare and develop a series of Bible studies that will catch the people’s attention and inspire them to read the Word of God. For this afternoon, Pastor Nonoy talked about “Kinds of Filters” in which he showed how people’s minds are being polluted by the sin the wickedness of the age, and how the Word of God can provide the filter to cleanse and purify our minds from the evils of this world.

Already the employees are exhibiting varied responses. Some are troubled and afraid of what the Bible might show them. Others are excited at the thought of learning new things from God. Only God knows where the future takes us into this new endeavor. But we believe that wherever God brings His words, He is reaching out to the lost children of the Kingdom.

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The believers are composed of about 4 or 5 families, most of them came out of the Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination in the area. Among them are Sister Wilma and her husband. She was set to become a ‘Pastora’ in one of their Bible study outreaches when she met brother Joel and learned of them Message of the hour. They were baptized right after the presentation in Tagkawayan.

Although their decision has brought persecution against their family and friends from their former church, they received it gladly and rejoiced that they were being persecuted because of the truth that they have finally received. And their present situation is doing more good to the work of the Lord than harm, because more souls are coming and embracing the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We witnessed the baptism of four young people during my visit.

The service was held in newly constructed structure made of coconut lumber, bamboo strips and nipa. It was built on a small piece of land borrowed from a relative of one of the believing families. We were received gladly and were refreshed from a long journey by the warm accommodation of Brother Joel’s family as well as the rest of the saints’.

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Thirteen years later, I’m a little bit older now, with four children, and numerous scars from battles I’ve fought, hopefully a little bit wiser than before, and still very much in love with the Lord and the kingdom work.

I have so much to be thankful for! I have people who truly love the Lord and wholeheartedly support the ministry. I have friends who help me in the ministry, evangelizing and going on mission trips with me.

And I want to thank the Lord for turning our financial situation around. When some of the families in the church turned their backs on me we hit rock bottom as we struggled to meet the needs of our family and still focus on the work of the Lord. Thank God for my virtuous wife. She’s truly a gift from God!

I also want to thank God for the gifts that He placed in my life. I’ve enjoyed very much the operation of these gifts!

Thank you, New Life Harvest people, for supporting the work of the Lord in my life! Thank you for respecting the office and committing your lives to the cause of Christ!

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Anointed to Serve

Anointing is power for service, that was the prophet’s simplest explanation. Indeed, the most common use of the act in the Old Testament era was when God appointed his servants to a function or office. Priests, kings and judges and prophets were often times proclaimed in such a way, usually in view of the public and in especially set day.

The same is true with us today. Though the Holy Spirit that God poured out on us we have been anointed to serve in the capacity that God has place on us for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom on earth. And we can only serve God and work in His kingdom effectively under that anointing.

To be anointed is not just a privilege, but a special endowment from the God of heaven, because it is the same Spirit that dwelt and worked in Christ during His earthly ministry. Hence, coupled with our faith in Him, we will be able to do the works that He did on earth, just as He promised in John 14.12.

To move and live under the anointing of the Spirit of God is an experience like no other. I have been preaching and teaching for many years and it never ceases to amazes. I know that whenever I stand behind the pulpit, after having prepared my sermons and committed all things to Him, I will not be speaking alone. Someone, and I know it’s the Lord Jesus Christ, is speaking to me and through me, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I love the anointing of the Spirit. And you should too. I believe all Christians should learn to live and love the moving of the Spirit of God in their lives. We should continue to learn from Him, because this – the great kingdom work – is not ours but His. We might as well depend on Him and rejoice in the end having done our part through His enabling power.

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This sermon deals with the fulfillment of this important prophecy and the three (3) elements that confirm the presence of the Son of Man ministry in our days.

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In the morning service, Pastor Rey preached on the Stature of a Perfect Man, which he drew from 2 Peter chapter 1. He stressed the importance of attaining and reaching the adoption stage for every born again Christian so that the Bride-Church herself could be ready for her adoption. Like the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Church of God will cloth with power and glory and will be presented to the public as God chosen ones in the end time, before she is finally caught up in the air.

In the afternoon service, Pastor Nonoy taught about The Evening Time which he drew from Zechariah 14.7 and Matthew 25.6. He talked about the common misconception among many Message churches who believe that we are still in the midnight hour mentioned in the parable of the ten virgins. He showed us how that the Laodicean church age, the evening time prophesied in the Scriptures, is almost finished, and that we are now at the morning watch of the night, almost to the breaking of day.

The saints were moved by the words of God, so mightily that we had a wonderful time of worship at the close of the afternoon service. Prayers were brought to the throne of God for the ministers and ministries in all our churches, and for the open doors, that God will lead and give His people the boldness to speak His Word with fear of man, and with the urgency brought by the knowledge of God’s time.

Our time is one that truly unique and exciting for those who are waiting for the Lord’s return. The Bible tells us that there saints who will not taste death and this generation of saints could well be these blessed people. The most recent series of earthquakes surely remind us that the time – our time – is headed for something beyond human imagination. But God knows the future and He is showing it to us in His book.

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Pastor Franco Togonon ministers the Word on the 2nd anniversary service

The morning service was graced with the presence of Pastor Franco Togonon. He preached about the importance of being mindful of the original words spoken by the holy prophets and apostles of God.

As pastor of the congregation I gave an exhortation from Isaiah 61 where the Bible speaks of the anointing of the Spirit of God that sets free, heals, restores and make glad. I took them to a short trip back in time and showed them what happened 2 years ago and why ours is still a young ministry. But I also showed them how in such a short time God has restored His people and how we stand today as a healthy, strong, growing and overcoming ministry.

Also present were individuals and families who has recently opened their homes to the Word of God. They came from Divisoria, Malabon and as far as Bulacan.

After the lunch feast of meat, seafood and fruits, the afternoon service began with a joyful praise and worship. The workers that lined the front row seats were surprised when they were handed the microphone one by one to lead one song after the other. It was a wonderful experience for all of us.

We listened to the songs and testimonies shared by families, individuals and chapters. We listened to another exhortation by Bro. Jeremiah. We listened to the inspirational speeches of our faithful and industrious workers. We cheerfully rejoiced over all the labors of our workers and their teams.

We also expressed our commitment and cooperation to the ministry by placing our names on leaves and fixing them on to a tree on the stage. It was a joyful moment as each of us, including the kids, filled the tree with green leaves while singing joyful song to God.

At the close of the meeting, the gifts were carefully distributed to their recipients together with the afternoon snacks. Despite the fact that everyone was tired, we all went home happy, blessed, loved and inspired to abide in the service of God.

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But what makes this place special, and the reason we travelled so far, is because there is a local congregation in it that has been believing the Message for more than eight years, but with practically no communication with any Message church. Under the care of Pastor Roderick Amparado, the church quietly lived the faith and learned of the Message through the message booklets of the prophet and the books of Richard Gan that came their way. This year, after much prayer and consideration, their pastor has finally decided to communicate and establish fellowship with ministers and saints of like precious faith.

In January 3, 2010, Pastor Roderick and his wife Angie came to New Life Center to pursue his desire for fellowship and communication. He has always wanted to meet the ministers that he only knew by name through the website of Richard Gan’s. Since I happened to be the nearest that he can go to, Pastor Roderick came to our place to personally meet me and extend his invitation to visit his congregation in Sta. Ana.

Responding to the Invitation

I accepted Pastor Rod’s invitation for several reasons. First of all, I was amazed by his testimony of how he came to know the Message, how he received it and taught it to his people, without any outside help except the books that he read. I am equally amazed and inspired by how he patiently endured the cost in the form of rejection by many of his friends and fellow pastors.

I also accepted his invitation because I wanted to welcome them to the fellowship of the saints. They have been on their own for the last couple of years. They needed fellowship and the ministering of other servants of God. They are our brothers and sisters in the same precious faith.

The third reason I accepted Pastor Roderick’s invitation for opportunity of discovering missionary possibilities in the north. As far as I can tell, there is practically no mission work that’s being done for the people in the provinces of Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Norte. This could be the final frontier of our evangelistic thrust in the country before the Lord comes.

Ministering to the Saints

We arrived at Santa Ana in the morning of 19th of January, after 12 hours of land trip. Our team, consisting of Bro. Wandy Bro. Bong and my son David, was very warmly received at the pastor’s residence. There were two elderly sisters already waiting to minister to our needs during our short stay there.

Pastor Roderick arranged for two nights of services with his people. They came from different barangays 5 to 7 kilometers away to listen to the Word of God. They even brought unconverted friends with them.

Knowing that they are already familiar with the Message, I didn’t need to introduce the prophet and the end-time work of God. I just gave them inspiring words related to the soon coming of Christ. On the first night I taught on the “sign” of the coming of Christ that would appear in heaven. On the second night, I showed them how the saints will stand with Christ at His appearing. I also gave them a short historical background on how the Message came to the Philippines.

We took our long journey home in the early hours of the 21st January. Pastor Roderick bid us Godspeed with a prayer for a safe trip.

Kingdom Possibilities

Our short trip to northern Luzon showed me quiet a number of interesting things that might be helpful to future missionary endeavors.

First of all, the region is fresh ground for Message evangelism. On our trip back home, instead of taking the same road , we chose to go through the Ilocos region. The trip took us through towns and villages waiting to be evangelized.

I also discovered that many churches in the area are already familiar with the End-time Message, although not in a positive way. Nevertheless, that in itself is an opportunity to share what the Message really is from a biblical, prophetic and apostolic stand.

Pastor Roderick has already expressed his burdens to evangelize the other barangays of Sta. Ana, and to start a radio program broadcasting the Message of the hour in the region. According to him, there are local radio stations in the Tuguegarao, Aparri, and Laoag City that can be utilized for this purpose.

I am reminded of the word of the Lord which He said to His disciples: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10.2)

May the Lord raise men who are willing to be sent to these places for the great harvest of souls for the Kingdom is my prayer! Amen.

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