May 11, 2011

Everyone of us here on earth has a mission, because this is not our permanent home.  Just like anybody else who is going abroad, this is called ‘PDOS,’ or pre-departure orientation seminar.  What we are doing right now is just a preparation for the real life. The real life is not here on earth, it is when you are already with the Father and you are seeing Him face to face. 

This is Jesus’s promise, “that in the house of my Father, there are many rooms.”  For me, these rooms are what Jesus is preparing for us today.  If the rooms are all done, He will come back and bring us home with Him.  But if the room for you is already finished, he will fetch you ahead of the others.

All of us are called to a mission, a mission that is part of God’s plan.  God has a plan for each believer.  His plan is for each to be a part of His mission. 

Our relationship with Jesus  before we could call him Lord, He must first be our Savior.  Our relationship with the Father, He is our creator.  In the Holy Trinity, we have relationship with each person.  The Father, our Creator; Jesus, our Savior; and the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier.  The Holy Spirit is at work right now.  He makes us holy and perfect.  And for us to be holy, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit even though sometimes it’s painful, we have to sacrifice.  This is one trait of a disciple - willingness to sacrifice.

We are called and saved so that we could be children of God.  Rom. 8:29-30 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

To be a true missionary, one must be like Christ.  Jesus came to earth for a mission – to save man from sin and bring him to eternal life.  We are called by God to be like Christ.  We are called to be a missionary.  There is a saying that “the harvest is plenty but the workers are few.”  That is true in Jesus’s time.  But now, there are already a lot of workers, but many are not doing their jobs.

We are all already missionaries.  When we were baptized, we became part of the mission.  In military terms, we become enlisted men during baptism.  But the question is, “have you reported for duty?” We are all soldiers of Christ. 

In Ephesians, it is said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”


Are you already a soldier of Christ, or just an enlisted man?  If you had your victory over trials, then you have experienced the reality of battle against evil forces.  If you are already in the spiritual warfare, the question is, how are your wounds? Your scars?  Has the Lord won or lost the battle?  We would say “sometimes.”  But the sure thing about it, you always win when you are on the Lord’s side.  Because winning doesn’t mean you do not have wounds or hardships.  And therefore we must be equipped before going to war.  There must be training.  Jesus trained his disciples before he sent them. Jesus is the best trainor, and the Holy Spirit is the best “buddy.”  The Holy Spirit will remind you of all that you learned from Jesus.

My life as a missionary is like the life of Jeremiah.  He was a small boy who works at the temple.  In his dream,  God told him that the Lord will put words in his mouth despite his very young age.  It was God who called Jeremiah. 

It is very difficult to stand before the crowds unless you want to be a speaker.  But our observations show that those who volunteer to talk never last. Neither are they effective speakers.  To be truly a good speaker, you must be chosen by God and He has anointed you to become one.

Your elders are being used by God to send you to the mission field.  I used to be so nervous when sharing comes.  I was once a talkative child but  an incident in the family that almost killed my father made me decide to keep my mouth shut from then on.  I indulged in sports that would not require talking—weightlifting.  I gave Region V the first and only gold medal in weightlifting during the “Palarong Pambansa.”   Little did I know that I was being prepared by God to the mission.   

I now realize that God was exposing me to people then.  In being a missionary, you must be sensitive to how God is trying to fix your life.  It is very difficult to stand before the crowd especially if you do not want to.  But it was a decision you have to make.  Just like what happened to me, it enabled me to share God’s goodness to others.

My father died of liver cancer.  He looked like Rene Cayetano before he died.  After three years, I became his look-alike.  I inherited his vices, which eventually took my health away.  It was this miracle that keeps me standing here before you.  At my youth and at the prime of my life, I never felt that I needed God.  It was during my weakness that somebody else has to carry me and feed me that realization came over me that I needed God.

A cousin’s remark changed my life when he said, “Pinsan, wag ka magagalit, isang langaw nalang ang pipirma, bibiyahe ka na” (Just one fly's signature and you're ready to go).  Good thing, my cousin was a member of a charismatic group who prayed over me.  It was during this time that I felt that I was afloat. 

After almost a month of praying-over, one day I found myself looking for food to eat.  God is good, He gave me another chance. God made a miracle and I am here before you to share God’s goodness to me.  He brought back my health because I still have a mission to fulfill.  No medicine, no doctor, no hospital, no witchcraft, no faith healer, no anything. It was by God’s grace through pray-over and my repentance from my sin that did it all.  I told God, if He will give me another chance, "I will share your goodness to all the people.”

It was in a dream that Jesus held my hands and lifted me up.  He said, “bring along your friends.”  He vanished. The following morning, my friends were surprised to see me up.  That day, the house was filled with praises and thanksgiving to God.  They guided me to be involved in the community.  It was their love, caring and support for me that I got involved in the community.  You really have to show by action that you really care for someone that will bring souls back to God.

Since then, I have never been sick as grave as that.  Because I believe that God brought me back to a very important mission.  He made me a missionary.  This is the reason why, I am standing here to attest that God is alive,  a healer and a miracle maker if you have faith in Him.

It has been years that I’ve been searching the meaning of what Jesus told me in my dream, “bring along your friends.”  It was only during the time that I was already a speaker that I discovered its meaning.  The Lord spoke to me, “This is what I meant when I said  ‘bring along your friends.’"  Every time I speak at a CLSS (Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar), I am bringing along the people of the world to the kingdom of God.  I am doing God’s mission for me.

It was during my mission that the first who objected was my family.  But because of my covenant with God, I had to do my mission.  I only expected to tell God’s healing and miracle among parishioners.  But God’s plan was different.  He brought me to Loved Flock, and they sent me to different places here and abroad.  I never dreamt that I would be a speaker in foreign lands.  It has been going on for 13 years that every August to October, I am outside the country.

Being a missionary, you will encounter a lot of trials and tribulations.  Just like Paul who experienced being jailed, persecuted, hungry, and offered a lot of sacrifices.  Missionaries are better off today.  The foundation has been laid down. The seed has been planted among Christians and we are just nourishing them.

I’ve been using a motorcycle to go to the mission, part of my sacrifice in union with Christ.  People ask me questions why I do this.  There is merit for every sacrifice in the name of Jesus Christ.  If you do it just to give you fame, there will be no merit in it.  That is the way I want to show how much I love God.

Being a missionary is hard but it’s also worth it if you know the real meaning of being a missionary.  Let us be prepared for all the trials and assured of God’s promise that in all our works, He is with us.