Gospel Meeting at Carcar

In an earlier update, it was noted that two of the families (those of Cherlito Laug and Leotino Banal) from the church meeting in central Cebu City had started a new work in Carcar. (Cherlito’s brother Arnold also helped start the work as he returned from working the last 10 years in Singapore.) I wrongly reported that Carcar was in the Cebu City area. Actually, the city of Carcar is about an hour and a half drive south of Cebu City. We left a little before 8am and were able to get started with the lessons by 9:30am.

There were about 80 or more in attendance today. Over 40 were visitors who were not members of the Lord’s body. It was the first time most of them had ever heard the gospel message. This congregation had its beginning only two months ago, but they have already baptized 7 from the community. They wanted to have a Gospel Meeting as soon as possible to invite the community, so I was the first American preacher to come along and I readily agree to help in the effort. Jonathan Carino and the members from the central Cebu City congregation had not even seen the building previously. It was made in native style of bamboo and thatched roof from materials that came from their own land and they provided the labor. It was very functional.

Since most of the visitors did not speak English, it was decided that we should fully translate the lessons. This was a slow process of me speaking one sentence and Jonathan Carino translating it. While he was translating, I thought of how I wanted to phrase the next sentence to be clear and concise. Though it is a cumbersome exercise, it has the advantage of making one be as simple and to the point as possible.

The first two lessons were presented before lunch. The first was “Why Are There Some Many Differences in Religious Practices Today?” It was a very basic lesson beginning from 2^nd Timothy 3:16-17 showing the implications of inspiration as it is declared in God’s word. The basic point is that God said exactly what He meant to say, even choosing the words used, so we can know and understand all that He wants us to do from the gospel message revealed. The second lesson was “By What Authority” from Matthew 21:23-25 and the parallel account in Mark 11:27-30. The leaders wanted to know by what authority Jesus has acted and the text of Matthew 21 showed that He was clearly acting from the authority that came from heaven. But Jesus demanded from the leaders an answer as to the origin of John’s baptism, which they had rejected (Lk. 7:30). Jesus gave only two options for the practice of John’s baptism: it was either from heaven or from men. After asking, Mark’s account says that Jesus demanded, “Answer Me.” We then saw that Jesus would call upon us to answer for the origin of our religious practices as well. We noted several religious practices found in the denominational world which clearly do not have heaven’s authority behind them, but are examples of religious practices invented by men. Our plea was for those in such practices to cease such and base their teaching and practice on the gospel of Christ – the means by which God communicates divine authority today.

After the lunch break, we had another lesson on “The Blood of Christ and the Salvation of the Sinner.” It was a basic lesson on the fact that Jesus provided the ultimate sacrifice which can forgive all who will be cleansed by His blood. We then proceeded to show that we are forgiven when we contact that blood and it is applied to take away our sins. The question is, “When do we contact that blood of Christ?” The Scripture shows clearly that the point when we contact the blood is when we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins (Rom. 6:3-11). Following the lesson, we had a short question-answer period as well. At the close of the service, two decided to obey the gospel and be baptized into Christ!

By about 4pm, we were on the road again going back towards Cebu City. It took over 2 hours to make it back with traffic being much heavier than it was this morning. Since it was hot and so humid that the air felt like it was dripping water, I was totally wet with sweat and exhausted. I intend to eat something for supper (as I had no lunch) and then hit the bed quickly tonight in order to rest for one last effort during this trip – preaching on the Lord’s Day here in Cebu before flying to Manila tomorrow afternoon. God bless!