The lectures in Zamboanga City began today at about 9am with 80-85 in attendance. I introduced the studies and their purpose then presented a lesson on “The Inspiration of the Scripture.” After that lesson, we sang one song, and then I had another lesson on “Holy Living in Christ.” Since Ron has now returned home, I must take almost all of the teaching myself with only brief breaks. So, I had about 3 hours of teaching during the morning session.
In the afternoon, I began with the first part of my material on “The Authority of Christ.” The first part of that material went for over an hour and a half dealing with the need for authority, the source of authority, and the difference between specific and generic authority. We stressed that Christ’s authority is established by the teaching of the gospel. So, if we rightly understand how the gospel was taught and how we are to understand it, we will correctly see how Christ authorizes us to act.
After the first less, my voice badly needed a rest, so Jack Jaco gave a lesson on “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth.” He dealt with the different dispensations and covenants found in God’s word. It was a very simple lesson easily understood by the audience regarding how God’s regulation of man has changed in various times. He concluded by showing the need for us to focus on the gospel as the means through which we are taught about God’s will for us today.
For the final lesson of the day, I covered my remaining material on “The Authority of Christ.” This part of the material shows that all teaching is done by direct precept or command, approved example and/or necessary implication. The lesson closed by making some application of these facts and showing that we may rightly understand God’s will through His truth. After that lesson, we had a question and answer period until the time for our venue ended.
Our audience is very attentive and seems very ready to learn. However, it is different in composition to that in previous days. As I understand it, about two thirds of the people are faithful brethren from Zamboanga or the Pagadian area. Of course, these brethren are very supportive, but the 30-35 non-Christians in attendance are the main focus of these lectures. This is the first opportunity most of them have had to hear the gospel, so we hope and pray their hearts will be open to it. The Lord willing, we begin our studies again tomorrow morning at 9am.
