Last night was very short and today was very long. By the time I got back to the hotel last night, it was 9:45pm. After eating a little fruit and crackers, I posted and sent out the report for yesterday’s work as well as doing some other work. By the time I finished everything, it was very late and wake-up time for this morning arrived far too soon. Yesterday, we also had to change our intended schedule for today. Those changes made today much more taxing. The ones with whom we were scheduled to study in Toril on Tuesday told us that they needed to change the time to this afternoon and evening so that people could attend that are working throughout the days. So, we decided to begin the lectures in the morning at Tagum as scheduled and go until 4pm and then travel to Toril for more lectures until 10pm. It made for a very long day with much travel.
The lectures at Tagum were for denominational preachers. We had about 150 in attendance. I began by preaching on “The Inspiration of the Scriptures.” Ron followed with his lesson on “New Beginnings in Christ.” After lunch, I taught on “Salvation & Saul.” Ron spoke last on “Salvation by Grace through Faith.” We concluded with a question and answer session. The first several questioners were very angry and hostile to the teaching and tried to talk over our answers. Once we shamed them a little by noting that their rudeness was not consistent with their claim to follow Christ, they calmed and the audience became much more attentive. This reaction is fairly common among the denominational preachers who first hear the truth. If they will come back a few more times in future lectures, some of them may be obedient. One such result took place today with the denominational preacher that arranged the lectures. He had heard the teaching before, but he was convinced after today’s session and was baptized into Christ.
After Tagum, we drove to Toril in horrible traffic at a snail’s pace. It took two and a half hours to get there. When we arrived a little after 6:30pm, we learned that the main preacher for the denominational group had been hospitalized earlier after suffering a stroke. He has heard us before and is getting very close to obedience. As I understood it, he is expected to recover since it was a light stroke, but he will remain in the hospital for several days. The “associate” preacher met us along with about 20 to 25 people of that church. They were very kind and attentive. Ron started with a lesson on “Salvation in Christ.” I followed with the “Faith, Grace & Obedience” sermon. After that, we had a break of about 30 minutes. Since it was 9:20pm, there was only time for one more lecture. Ron took it and I returned to the hotel to write this report and print outlines of lessons wanted at several of our previous venues. I just heard from Ron that one more was baptized at the close of the study. We are thankful to God for the response of these two to begin their new lives in Christ today!
