Jonathan and I boarded a
plane early on Saturday and flew to Bacolod City on the island of Negros (the
“Occidental” portion). We had only gotten about two and a half hours of sleep
the night before after the end of the classes, finishing the business
necessary, and getting packed for the trip. Between that and the sleep deficit
built up through the week of classes in Cebu, we were both exhausted when we
arrived in Bacolod. Since we had arranged for no schedule on Saturday, we spent
the day catching up on sleep. We went to eat supper and then went back to sleep
for the night. By this morning, I felt revived and ready to go, though still
nursing a very sore throat.
This morning (Sunday),
Jonathan Carino and I were driven by Jack Jaco to his place for worship in Victorias
City, on the northwest extreme of Negros Island. The congregation there meets
in a room that is built on to Jack and Adel’s home. Jack has been a dear friend
and co-laborer for many years, especially after the death of our esteemed
brother Cipriano Carpentero. He stepped in at that time and has continued to
work with us on most trips due to his good knowledge of Scripture and his
mastery of several dialects used in the Philippines. It was my first time to
see his sweet wife since she had a very serious medical problem that we feared
for a while was life threatening. We thank God that her health was restored and
she seems back to full strength. All three of their now grown children (Jireh,
Shalom and Shammah) were there today. It was the first Sunday back at home for
Shalom and Shammah after being gone for several years to be nurses in Saudi Arabia.
(They were highly decorated there for the jobs they did and offered lucrative
extensions of their contracts, but they are looking for employment where they
can have greater freedom to worship with the saints and grow in the Lord.) All
of the children, but especially Shalom and Shammah, have developed a very close
relationship with me and call me their “Uncle Harry.” It was so good to see
them safely back in the Philippines and hungering for spiritual things. The
girls bought me a very special and dressy “barong,” a long-sleeved shirt that
is used for special occasions. I wore it for worship today.
Both Jonathan and I were
asked to preach in the worship. I was the first and delivered a lesson on
“Characteristics of a Life of Faith” from Hebrews 11:13-16. The lesson followed
the outline given by the text in verse 13:
· Not having received the
promises…
· But having seen them afar
off…
· Were assured of them,
embraced them…
· And confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth
The passage encourages us to
grow in our faith through understanding the promises of God and accepting them
as a reality, not doubting and failing in our faith. We are urged to keep
heaven in sight as our goal and see it as the place of our true citizenship.
John preached next on how to identify a strong church. He first noted that it
was not by numbers, money, social things or an organization added by man. He
showed from Scripture that it was by education from God’s word, working with
diligence for the Lord, consecration in the lives of the members and vision to
continue growing in the labor of edification and evangelism. It was an edifying
service! Though I could not understand every word of John’s lesson, I could
easily follow most of it as his projected outline was in English.
