College Retreat - The Lord's Return

I am so thankful for being able to attend this year's college retreat in Chilliwack on the Lord's return.  It was very heart warming to see all the brothers and sisters again and to pursue the Lord with other believers.  Here are some key points that I enjoyed:

1) We need to be those not only believing in the Lord's return, but more importantly those living a life waiting, expecting, long, and hastening His return (2 Peter 3:12), taking it as an encouragement.  This implies that as His Bride, we have prepared ourselves adequately and are ready to meet our glorious Bridegroom.

2) There are several signs that must take place before the end of the age such as:  the political situation in preparation for the anti-Christ, the economic situation, calamities, bible prophecy, and Matthew 24:14 about the gospel being preached to all the nations.  The first four signs, we have no control of but the one thing we can do is preach the gospel!

3) The way to prepare for Christ's second coming can be seen in the parables in Matthew 25.  First, the parable of the 10 virgins shows us that we need to be watchful in life, paying the price to buy the oil for our lamps (signifying allowing the Holy Spirit to spread into our soul), which is accumulated daily.  Second, the parable of the slaves shows us that we need to be faithful in service, by trading our talents (signifying using what the Lord has given us).

Overall, I'm appreciating that the subject of the Lord's coming doesn't just have to be a scary thing.  It's good to have a healthy fear, but we can also prepare for His return and hasten it because as His Bride we long to see our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus.

(Photos credit to Robert Pranata)

Good companion reunited again

From left to right, Jason, Jerry, Robert, moi, Leonard, Dernanto

Other than the retreat, things have been going well in Victoria.  I spend most of my time after work doing chores or working out at the fitness centre across the street.  I plan to spend more time reading the bible/praying with Jerry on Skype now.  We got to know each other during our trip to Chilliwack and are burdened to pursue the Lord together.  Work has been going well and I feel that this position will provide me lots of opportunity to grow, since I'm working directly with both occupational and physical therapists.

Keep in touch and I miss you all!

Life on the Island

Praise the Lord for his testimony in Victoria.  May the Lord continue to gain His testimony here.  I was very much supplied by all the portions of the saints during our Lord's table and prophesying meeting.  In smaller meetings like this, you can't hide in the back row because there is none!  We enjoyed the morning revival series on 'The Vision of the Proper One Accord in the Church.'  

One point that touched me is that we need to serve the Lord with the one vision, the vision of the age that includes all the vision of the Bible, based on the teaching of the apostles.  We may love the Lord, serve Him, but if we do not have this vision as revealed in the Bible, we cannot be one and the Lord cannot pour out His commanded blessing (Psalms 133).  May the Lord give us such a vision that He may gain the oneness among us He desires.

We were treated for a buffet meal for lunch

Almost all Victorians tell me that Victoria is more beautiful than Vancouver.  Less rain, less clouds, more sun, more boats.  I'll post more photos so you can decide!

Lots of tourists

Horses are pretty common

Very similar to Vancouver's Granville island.  I kind of like this one better :D

Water-taxi.. only on an island would you find this

Seals at the harbour!

Water taxis.. and yep, water-homes as well!

Parliament buildings

Pretty random but we saw Darth Vader playing the violin

As for work, things are great.  Learning lots in the clinic and I'm fitting in quite well.  And I finally moved into my new place with Internet access so I can keep in touch/Skype with you all.  In my free time I'll spend most of my time in the fitness centre across the street from my place.  

Please let me know how you're all doing and I hope to see you soon!!

Victoria

Sorry for the lack of updates since I left.  For those who don't know, I recently moved to Victoria for work.  My prayer this summer was, 'Lord, take me wherever You want me to be this fall.'  And I experienced the Lord's faithful seeing Him working out everything for me to be here.  Lord, may my time here be worthwhile in Your eyes.

So during these past few days I've been living with the Lee family, a couple in the churchlife who are moving to the Vancouver area next week.  They are really sweet and have been taking care of me, making me breakfast and lunch even though I told them they didn't need to.  They don't have any internet so I have to find other places to get online.  I will be moving to my new place with Internet this Saturday so it should be easier to keep in touch starting from then!

Some recent enjoyment of a hymn I've been enjoying is that when we call on the Lord:
1) we participate in the Triune God,
2) we become joined to the Lord, and increase the element of God in us,
3) we grow with the growth of God,
4) the life of God matures with us,
5) we are built with others as His bride,
6) we bring Satan closer to the lake of fire,
7) and we speed up the coming marriage of the Lamb.

Calling in the such a simple practice, but it really allows the Lord to have His way to fulfill His economy in us!

May we all have such a simple life of calling, enjoying, and taking in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bibles for Canada + New Jersey Training

Montreal Bible Distribution - I thank the Lord that my limited-French skills were put to use.  Handing out bibles in French at Metro stations was such an enjoyable experience.  I realized that people there are hungry for the Word of God especially in French.  Often times we ran out of French bibles before our shift was over.  I had one experience of meeting a young man who was unsure if he was saved or not.  I told him about Romans 10:13, and we called on the Lord, and he walked away with a smile on his face. There were several contacts who really wanted further contact.  May the Lord gain some remaining fruit through this distribution!

New Jersey Chinese-Speaking Perfecting Training - Praise the Lord for the radio translation (btw, I don't speak or understand Chinese and I think even James Bruce knows more than me).  Anyway, the topic was "The Divine History Within the Human History," and the point that the Lord touched me on the most was the matter of consecration.  The highlight for many of the students were the public consecration times.  After seeing so many young people giving their lives to the Lord, I realized that no other way is so safe, rich, and full of enjoyment.  It was a release to consecrate my education, career, and future to the Lord because we belong to Him and He has to take the responsibility (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  Since everything is in His hand, He knows exactly what we need and will cause everything to work out so that He can dispense more of Himself into us.  Our only requirement is to "offer ourselves willingly" day by day to be produced as the dew that refreshes the Lord (Psa. 110:3).

College Training Overflow

What a summer!  Now that I'm back from all my travels, I finally have time to share some highlights.  Here's some college training overflow:

1. Learning the lessons on church history - God's heart's desire is to gain the church as His counterpart.  But how do we be the church that He desires?  We find the answer in reading Revelation 2 and 3.  There we see a letter written to 7 local churches with only 1 church, the church in Philadelphia, whom the Lord approved of.  Although it was written to 7 local churches, there is only 1 church in this universe.  The conditions of the other 6 churches show us the causes of their degradation.  For example, Ephesus lost their first love, and even though they had good works and endurance, the Lord still did not approve of them.  Oh Lord, gain our best and first love for You!

2. God ordained way - 1) Begetting = go, 2) Nourishing = visit, 3) Perfecting = gather, 4) Building = prophesy.  In our shepherding of others, the first three steps are to gather the material, but we must keep in mind the goal, which is the build up the Body of Christ.  Many testimonies were given by new ones of how they were brought into the churchlife through all of these steps.

3. Exercising our human spirit - Practically, how can we remain on the orthodox line of the church and practice the God-ordained way?  It is to simply exercise our spirit.  The brother shared that if we don't exercise our spirit, nothing happens!

I'm going to miss being in Montreal but...

“What matters where on earth we dwell?
On mountain top, or in the dell,
In cottage, or a mansion fair,
Where Jesus is, my joy is there.”
- Hymn 348

Hallelujah, it doesn't matter where I am.  Lord, as long as I exercise my spirit to turn to You, I can experience You as my true joy. 

Formation d'été (Summer training)

We just finished an awesome week of the summer training on the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.  When we study the bible, we must keep in mind that Christ is the central thought (Luke 24:27).  Instead of going through these books verse by verse, we focused on the crystals or key points, such as:

1) the divine romance (Hosea 1:2, 2:19-20, Jer. 2:2) - that God's intention in His economy is that He and His chosen people would be a universal couple.  For this, our relationship with the Lord should not be religious, but full of love, personal and affectionate.

2) the divine history within the human history (Joel 1:4, Dan. 2:31-45, Eph. 1:3-6) - that within the outward history in history, there is also a divine history where God has been working behind the scenes to bring forth the new creation, which is to work Christ as newness into man.  In our daily living, we can practically be in this divine history by living according to the spirit, being in the move of God, which is to deify man. 

3) Christ as the greater Jonah (Mat. 12:38-41) - this was the only sign the Lord gave to the generation that they would believe.  When we preach the gospel, we don't need gimmicks, but simply preach Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

4) the building of the house of Jehovah (Hag. 1:2-5, 7-8) - in the Old Testament, the house of Jehovah, or the temple, was first a type of Christ as the house of God individually, and then a type of the church, the Body, the enlarged Christ as God's house corporately.  This is the central thought of the bible, and the Lord's coming back depends on the building of His dwelling place.  In all that we do, our education, occupation, family life, church life, we should live with the view of God's building, which is the working of Christ into our being (Eph. 2:22).  The brother shared that we will never be satisfied until the Lord within us is satisfied, and the Lord will be satisfied when He is gaining His building.

There were many other points I enjoyed but I don't want to overwhelm you all.

Here's some photos from the past week:

Andrew (left) from North Carolina, and Joe (right) from Irvine on a nice sunny day before the training started.  I got to know these brothers really well this week and we all shared our testimonies of how we came to know the Lord.

Volleyball court just literally a few houses from the brothers' house!

Action shot

Jesus on 3!  One, two, three... JESUS!!

Look who I found at the Summer Training :)

Olie, a brother from the UK at the summer training.  He's only 17 years old and a really good basketball player

Brother Tim (on the left) and his wife were nice enough to treat a bunch of brothers for all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ.

So I'm currently in Montreal until July 15, then we drive to Champaign, Illinois for the Mid-west college training.  I'm really thankful to the Lord for such a great summer filled with new experiences of Him.  Daily, the Lord has been my life supply both vertically and horizontally through the members of His Body.  

Looking forward to being back in Vancouver in August!  I miss you!!

California!

From this past Wednesday to Lord's day, I've been spending time with the brothers' house in Irvine and it has been great!  They live in a community close to many saints so its so easy to meet together.  And the brothers play sports every day - basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee.  The brothers are so close and it's so easy to enjoy the Lord together.  

Here's a photo with Stac and a couple from Anaheim

Isaac Gonzales

Brothers going for a late night snack!

For yesterday lunch, Stacey treated me for fish tacos

I'm really looking forward to the summer training this week.  I won't have that much access to the Internet but I hope to keep in touch with you all.  I'll be back in Montreal on July 8, so maybe we can skype then!