After about 3 hours of rest, we began the lectures held at a
function room here at the hotel where we are staying in Ormoc City. I would
estimate the attendance at about 75 or a little over. The crowd was about half
made up of non-Christians while the other half were member of different congregations
on the island of Leyte. Again, several denominational preachers were among the
number as well as a preacher from an institutional church here in Ormoc. Though
I do not believe this audience was as attentive and perceptive as yesterday’s
gathering in Bacolod (the liberal preacher was the most discourteous and
disrespectful of the group), they listened to the teaching and showed some
favorable signs.
The morning session began with the lesson on “Salvation and
the Seed, God’s Word” with an added section on how to establish authority in
religious matters. The next lesson was What I Written in the Law? How Do Your
Read It?” from Luke 10:25-29. Jonathan gave the last lesson on “Are We Saved by
Faith Only without Works?” This was a more in depth form of the lesson than he
gave the previous day.
After the lunch break, I presented a lesson on “The Church”
showing several characteristics of the church built by Christ and seen in the
New Testament. Jonathan then gave a lesson on the nature of baptism. Since this
is an area where Cebuano is the main dialect, Jonathan preached mainly in that
dialect because it is his native tongue. I gave the last lesson on Salvation,
Saul and the Thief on the Cross.” The audience showed signs of understanding
the main points of when Saul was saved, how that conversion serves as an
example to us and why the thief on the cross does NOT serve as an example of
our salvation. After the lesson, a question/answer period was offered, but no
one had questions.
Willie, the local preacher here in Ormoc, extended an invitation
after the lessons, but there were no visible responses.
The Lord willing, tomorrow we go south to Baybay and work with the congregation in that place. It has been small and struggling for some time and we hope to reach new prospects with the meeting this time.
