The blessings of God get better and better with the passage of time. Etab started our first Leaders Retreat after moving to our new land, at Camp Alfredo Resort, Guimaras in 2015 and then to Goducate at San Miguel in 2016 and this year to Damires Hills at Janiuay. Damires Hill is definitely a Resort with higher aesthetic quality in its amenities and accommodation. But more importantly, this is one year when we shifted our focus from R & R to solid immersion in corporate prayer and preaching by Pastor Peter Chng – our Guest speaker from Singapore. We packed the morning itinerary with two back-to-back preaching and one evening service, culminating with a Holy Spirit encounter.
About 121 leaders attended this Retreat on 31 October 2017. Pastor Peter spoke about the Church having a great need of Teaching ministry, Preaching ministry and Healing ministry. I like it when Pastor Peter differentiated teaching from preaching. Teaching is to inform the mind while preaching is to clench the heart. That is one trait I would love for all our pastors at etab to have – a strong preaching ministry every Sunday to clench the heart of the people for God.
Pastor Peter Chng drew the example of Jesus’ ministry that attracted the multitudes because there is the quality of excellence, quality of permanence and quality of relevance in the ministry of Jesus. And so must we, as leaders of the church if we want to continue to lead effectively.
Instead of focusing on the outward performance of a leader, Pastor Peter emphasized the importance of ATTITUDES in a leader’s life, thus bringing out his key text for the first morning service from Matthew 5:1-11 on the BEATITUDES.
The BEATTITUDES is the PRESCIPTIONS given by Jesus on how we can be blessed in this life.
1) Those who are poor In Spirit = EMPTINESS IN OUR LIFE
2) Those who mourn= BROKENNESS IN OUR LIFE
3) Those who are meek= SELFLESSNESS IN OUR LIFE
4) Those who hunger and thirst=EAGERNESS IN OUR LIFE
The first 4 beatitudes have to do with our inner lives.
The last 4 have to do with God.
5) Those who are merciful= TENDERNESS FOR GOD
6) Those who are pure in heart= HOLINESS TO GOD
7) Those who are the peacemakers=ACTIVENESS FOR GOD
8) Those who are persecuted= FAITHFULNESS TO GOD
For the second morning service, Pastor Peter Chng explained to our leaders from Ephesians 5:18 on why we must all be filled with the Holy Spirit:
- Because the work of Jesus COMMANDS us to be filled with the Holy Spirit
- Because the work of Jesus DEMANDS that we be filled with the Holy Spirit
Then he gave us 7 checklists of a person being full of the Holy Spirit: –
- FEARLESSNESS TO SPEAK FOR CHRIST (Acts 4:31)
- JOYFULNESS TO SING (Acts 2:46-47)
- HOLINESS TO SHINE FOR JESUS CHRIST (Acts 7:55)
- WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE FOR JESUS CHRIST (Acts 4:34-35)
- READINESS TO SERVE JESUS CHRIST (Acts 6:3)
- STEADFASTNESS TO STAND FOR JESUS CHRIST (Acts 4:19-20)
- YIELDEDNESS TO SUFFER FOR JESUS CHRIST (Acts 7:55)
I am personally very convicted by this one point that Pastor Peter shared on. He said that when we are yielded to suffer for Christ, there will be REALITY IN OUR CONFESSION and AUTHORITY IN OUR CONVICTION. We will know what we believe. PAIN – means Positive Attitude In Negative Situation. What an apt acronym for our pain. God sends pain to cleanse our soul.
Do we as Etab leaders have all the above-mentioned evidences of a person full of the Holy Spirit? Disappointingly many of the leaders are yet willing to sacrifice for Jesus Christ as we are still trying to be calculative with God and the church. Our lack of readiness to serve Christ is shown in the way we love to murmur when given a job to do by the pastors. We are still not as yielded to Christ yet as God wants it. Therefore, we need more of the workings of the Holy Spirit within us to empty all our sins, our stubbornness and simply to surrender and yield to His will.
We have about 10 interns for leadership within our group and they have yet to be filled with the Holy Spirit and so Pastor Peter Chng gave us 3 steps to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit:
- Personal preparation
….. with openness of heart
….. with oneness of mind
…… with obedience of will
- Personal Prayerfulness
- Persistent Yieldedness
When we yield our
……. MIND to God, we will become INTELLIGENT CHRISTIAN.
…….SPIRIT TO GOD, we will become SPIRITUAL CHRISTIAN
…….EMOTION TO GOD, we will become WARM CHRISTIAN
…….WILL TO GOD, we will become FORCEFUL CHRISTIAN
When we are full of the Holy Spirit and under the anointing of Him, there will be AUTHORITY IN THE WORK OF GOD and the SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORD OF GOD.
During the evening service, Pastor Peter Chng led us to a study on the River of Life from Ezekiel 47:1-12 and John 6:36-39. There he taught us on THE MIRACLE OF SUPPLY. For the River of Life to flow out of our life:
- There must be an ALTAR in our life
Altar = SAVIORHOOD OF JESUS
- There must be a THRONE in our life
Throne = LORDSHIP OF JESUS
Many of us want God but we are not prepared to surrender to God. If we want to experience the miracle of this supply of the River of life, Jesus must be our Savior and Lord of our lives.
Then Pastor Peter Chng led us to the MEASURE OF SUPLY. He talked about the need to press in all the time as Jesus wants us to keep walking and thirsting for Him more and more.
The water level reaching the………….
- Ankle = the need to WALK IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
- Knee = the need to PRAY IN THE HOLY SPIRIIT
- WAIST/LOIN = the need to be FRUITFUL in the walk with God
- OVER THE HEAD AND SWIMMING = letting the Holy Spirit take over
Jesus wants to give us His Spirit without measure and therefore we should want more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
When we are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we will be:
- Irresistible
- Irrefutable
- Irrepressible
Last but not least, Pastor Peter Chng shared on the MINISTRY OF THE SUPPLY and that is:
- To bring life to others
- To nourish the life of others
- To heal the life of others.
When we have this River of Living water flowing out of us, then we will be fulfilling what Jesus spoke in John 6:36-39. This river of God flowing out of us will bring:
- The lasting sufficiency
“The more than enough” dimension or the El Shaddai character of God will be in us to impart to others.
- The Living sufficiency
Wherever the river goes, there is civilization.
If people comes in contact with us, there is LIVINGNESS in us.
To encourage our people to desire for the River of Life to flow out of our lives, he exhorted all of us to practice the 3 verbs:
- Thirst
- Come to Me (Go to the right source which is Jesus Christ)
- Drink (put into action the drinking aspect.
And so chairs were being removed and all of us came forward and waited upon God and true to God’s nature and word, the Holy Spirit came upon all of us, touching us, refilling us, renewing us and even baptizing the new interns. Glory be to the Lord. Department heads went to pray for their interns and power of the Holy Spirit came so strongly on every one. Glory be to God.
Our leaders returned to their Hotel Rooms so touched and ministered by the ministry of Pastor Peter Chng.
All I can conclude for this Leaders Retreat is:
ATAS PLACE
DELICIOUS FOOD
IRRESTIBLE RECREATION (DESPITE THE RAIN, OUR PEOPLE COULDN’T RESISIT THE BEAUTIFUL SWIMMING POOLS AND STILL SWAM REGARDLESS AND EVEN TRACKED THE 1.8KM MUDDY FIELD TO REACH THE FLIMSY LOOKING CANOPY WALK)
SOLID PREACHING
POWERFUL ENCOUNTER
FUN BONDING
UNHEALTHY SNACKING
Hallelujah!! Glory be to God!
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