Let
me begin by apologizing for not sending reports out every day during this trip.
My practice has always been to give every effort to send daily reports as I
strongly believe those supporting these trips deserve to know what is happening
in a timely way. However, it has been impossible to do that on this trip due to
several factors. First, preparations for the classes that began Monday have
been very time consuming. I have been working very late hours to prepare the
charts needed, getting only 2.5 to 5 hours of sleep over the last five days. I
have been literally exhausted for several days. Second, the problem has been
compounded because my back and hip are in great pain with climbing and
descending 4 flights of stairs to the venue each day as well as being on my
feet to teach for over 6 hours of actual speaking time each day. My hip
replacement surgery is scheduled for next Thursday and I knew this trip would
be hard, but I had no idea it would be this painful. Third, the time planned in
our classes have gone significantly past the time schedule due to much
participation and questions to answer. That is a good thing for the work, but
it has cut into time that I would have used to make reports. I have also had no
time to take pictures, so I have asked others to give me copies of their
pictures and I will go back to add them later. Please accept my apologies for
not getting these updates out more frequently.
In
the classes on the Epistles of John, we have completed our study through 1 John
4. On Tuesday, we examined 1 John 2:1 – 3:9. Today (Wednesday), we started with
1 John 3:10 – 4:21. We have repeatedly noted how John answered Gnostic doctrine
in this book and then have made specific application to our lives and teaching
as well. Today’s class also spent a great deal of time considering the repeated
points on the necessity of brotherly love as commanded in this book.
In
the “Fellowship” class, we are on target with the original schedule:
Mon. – What Is
Fellowship?
Tues. – Fellowship in the
Truth
Wed. – Forbidden Fellowship:
“Do Not Receive Him”
Thur. – Commanded
Fellowship: “Receive Him”
Fri. – Fellowship
Questions in Times of Controversy
Tuesday’s class included material intended to show that God has given
His word by inspiration in a way that should give us confidence that we can
understand and obey it. While some have questioned the “clarity” of the
Scripture on some moral and doctrinal issues, we noted the contrasting claims
of the Scripture. We also noted that when people say that the Scripture “lack
clarity” on such issues, it always leads to an effort for a broader fellowship.
In today’s class, we noticed the Bible teaching on who is a “false teacher” and
what the Bible instructs about our responsibility to exclude from our
fellowship those who continue in a sinful practice or the teaching of doctrinal
error. We went more than an hour over our scheduled ending time due to the
number of questions and the amount of discussion on the topic.
As most of you know, we had planned on an opportunity to preach at a
Baptist church in Cebu, but the plan seemed to fall through just previous to my
departure. After last Saturday’s studies in Cebu, we were asked whether we
might be able to come on Sunday afternoon. Since we had tickets to fly to
Manila, we said that we could not do so then, but offered to fly back and
preach there next Sunday. It would have been very expensive to buy tickets on
short notice and with the airline delays being so bad at this time, it would
have been questionable as to whether the schedule would work under these
circumstances, but we were willing to try. The Baptist group from Cebu got back
with us today and said they wanted me to come on my next trip when we could
have more time and they could invite others to come. I look forward to coming
back and meeting that opportunity – especially on a new hip with significantly
less pain, the Lord willing! Please keep this in your prayers.
