Lectures with Denominational Preachers

Our day began as Jonathan, Jack and I met for breakfast and had a very good discussion about future work to be done. They had some excellent suggestions about new efforts that they believed would be fruitful. After we work out some further details, I will be sharing those plans.

After breakfast, we drove about twenty minutes to the venue for today’s lectures. It was at the building of a group known as the “Calvary Christian Church.” It was located at the end of one of the most narrow, rough and winding roads that I have ever seen. The man who called himself the “Pastor” of this place also was the head of a group of denominational preachers affiliated in an independent “ministry” known by the quasi-acronym “PAUSE.” As I understand it, those attending today were all denominational preachers with one institutional preacher thrown in. The rest were from either Calvinist, Evangelical or Pentecostal groups.

When we arrived, we took a few minutes to set up and by that time, the crowd had arrived. There were 81 registered in attendance. I started by preaching on “How Did God Use Prophets to Speak His Word?” which dealt with the inspiration of Scriptures and how that worked to produce a message perfectly revealing God’s word. The end of the lesson made application by showing that, if God perfectly revealed His will in Scripture by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we cannot change it in any way. After a short break, I brought another lesson on the “Blood of Christ and Salvation,” from Hebrews 9-10 showing how the blood was representative of the life in OT sacrifices. That lesson ended with Romans 6:3-11 showing how we are cleansed by the blood when we come “into Christ” and “into His death” (or His blood).

After lunch, I started with the lesson “Salvation and Saul” taking the three parallel accounts in Acts of Saul’s conversion. We noted the timeline to show that faith only could not have saved him on the road to Damascus because he had already believed for three days before Ananias said he was still “sins” and needed to have them washed away (Acts 22:16). We used the same approach to show it was not at the point of repentance and prayer, or a personal appearance of Jesus, or receiving a miracle. Rather, Romans 6:3-11 was again used to show it was at the point of baptism that Paul met the blood of Christ and was saved thereby. Several of the young preachers wanted to stop and have a question/answer period, but we had already agreed to have it at the end after all of the lessons. That agitated them and some left very angry at that point. If we would have allowed that question/answer period then, there is no doubt they would have tried to take over at that point and that would have been the end of the opportunity to teach.

Jonathan brought a lesson on the “Two Covenants” next to clarify why we do not make appeals to the Law of Moses for authority in our teaching and practice, but appeal to the gospel as the will of Christ that governs all, both Jew and Gentile, today. Towards the end, he made an application of the principle to show why we do not use mechanical instruments of music in worship today. I finished the lessons given with one on “Repentance and Holy Living.” It stressed the need for us to be holy in all aspects of our conduct and put away every manifestation of evil and worldly ways.

At the end of the lessons, we opened the floor for questions. There were only four or five questions asked – none that were confrontational in nature. It was obvious that they were somewhat shocked by what had been taught, but they did not seem to know how to challenge it. It was also obvious that they understood the teaching. Many had been taught in their seminaries a warped concept of what members of “churches of Christ” believed, and it was clear that did not match what they heard. Several noted the fact that they were challenged by the lessons and needed to give them further thought. Almost all expressed thanks for the lesson and invited me to come again in a future trip if possible. I think we were able to open a door and that is the most we could have hoped to do with this opportunity. Please pray that these souls will continue to search with an honest mind for the truth.

Responses on Monday in Bacolod

Jonathan Carino’s flight from Cebu arrived yesterday so he could join us in the work here on Negros. We met in the hotel restaurant this morning and ate our breakfast together before going on to the lectures. I always enjoy the time with Jonathan when we are traveling as he always helps me to think more on spiritual things.

The venue for today was the Mayfair Plaza. It has various rooms and spaces in the concourse on all three levels. We were in a function room on the second floor. It was supposed to be air conditioned, but less than half way through the morning session, the air conditioning gave out. It became unbelievably hot inside as 81 people were attending in a room that was very small. My guess is that the temperature was in the upper 90’s as it felt like an oven. Fortunately, they fixed the air conditioner over the lunch break, so the temperature was much better in the afternoon. It never got to what I would think was cool or even comfortable, but it was not outrageously hot!

We started with me preaching on “Salvation and God’s Word, the Seed” from 1 Peter 1:22-25. It was a basic, introductory lesson on the need to depend solely on the Word of God as it instructs in salvation. Jonathan followed that lesson with one on “The True Church” that gave further instruction of “the seed principle” that each seed bears fruit after its own kind. He then applied that as to how one may identify the church that Jesus built. I was next to preach on “By What Authority” from Matthew 21, making application to the religious practices found in the denominational world and examining whether they are authorized by God’s Word.

In the twenty minutes that remained before the lunch, we had a question-and-answer period. There were a couple of good questions and then two young men tried to take over the period to advance the denominational doctrine of salvation by faith only. They denied that water baptism was essential for salvation, so I asked them to deal with passages like Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 22:16 and Mark 16:16. Though I gave direct answers to their questions and the Scriptures to evidence those answers, they were extremely evasive and wanting to appeal to things other than the Scriptures to sustain their views. At the close of the afternoon session, they tried to do the same thing and were caught in their own evasiveness and contradictions. It turned out to be a great blessing that they manifested such as it caused some who had not obeyed the gospel to see the difference in their teaching and what the Scriptures clearly show.

After lunch, I began with a lesson on “Salvation and Saul” showing without a doubt that Saul (later Paul) was saved at the point of being baptized into Christ and His death (blood) for the remission of sins. Jonathan then taught a lesson on the “Two Covenants” showing that we are not under the Law of Moses, but the gospel of Christ today. I then presented two short lessons in succession: “Repentance and Its Works” and “Almost Persuaded.” At the conclusion of the second lesson, three came forward to confess Christ and be baptized for the remission of their sins.

Thank you again for your help in every way as we try to do all we can make this effort a success by preaching the truth of our Lord and bringing the glory to His name! The Lord willing, tomorrow will be spent at a denominational venue with a gathering of denominational preachers. Please continue to pray for us and the efforts being made. God bless!

Lord's Day in Bacolod

On Saturday, I flew from Cebu to Bacolod (on Negros Island) after a 3 hour delay in the airport. The original plan for Sunday was for me to preach in Victorias City where Jack and Adel Jaco and their family labor, but that had to be changed. Jack’s two daughters, Shalom and Shammah, have adopted me as their “Uncle Harry” and they have recently returned from contracts as nurses working abroad. (They hope to come to the U.S. after gaining experience, but their next contract will probably be in England, north of London. If anyone has connections that could possibly get them to the U.S., please let me know.) Since I could not be with the family today, we all went out to eat last night and had a great time catching up. Jireh, Jack and Adel’s son and oldest child (30), knew of a good place where we could talk and have “Chicken Inasal,” my favorite meal over here. We had a few other dishes as well that were excellent. I am also very impressed with Jireh and his growth as he works in a responsible position with a bank, but fills in preaching for Jack whenever he needs to be away.

This morning, Jack took me to the church that meets in the YMCA building. This had started as a sound work and had been such for years before an American from an institutional background came and taught error regarding the organization of the church. He finally left a number of years ago after being very unsuccessful in expanding his work, so the congregation became open to hearing from sound brethren again. I had preached with the congregation several years ago and I see that they are making progress in the truth. This time I taught one lesson on the organization of the church and another on “Am I in the Faith?” from 2 Cor. 13:5-9. The lessons were well received and they invited me back on my next trip. They also made an announcement of the lectures we will have tomorrow in Bacolod. Several promised to attend. By the way, they worship next to a Pentecostal group with the typical blaring instruments, shouting and other chaos. It was a trial preaching and hearing over all of that!

In the afternoon, we traveled to the place of Shem Tagapan where they have built a nice meeting place at the side of their home. (In fact, the meeting place is much nicer than their home suggesting good things about Shem and the family’s priorities.) They had already been meeting and Shem had preached one lesson before our arrival. I was asked to present a lesson and I preached on “The Fully Equipped Church” from Ephesians 3. There was no air conditioning in their place and it was during the heat of the day, so it got extremely hot before we finished. It was a true joy to be with Shem and his family again and see their faith and growth.

We have rented a meeting room in central Bacolod for a full day of lectures tomorrow, the Lord willing. Most will probably be brethren, but we expect some visitors from denominational backgrounds as well. Please keep us in your prayers.

P.S. This is my new friend Neil who is one of the little children in attendance with the church meeting at the YMCA. He came up to me and wanted to know all about me and my work. When I asked his name, he told me it was Neil. So I asked him if he knew that he had the same name as the first man who ever walked on the moon. That thrilled him and he was my companion as long as I was there! Love these added joys that come from time to time. We hated to say goodbye, but I hope we meet again. Jesus said, "Let the little children come unto Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God." Amen!

1st Corinthians Classes in Cebu End

The Cebu classes on 1^st Corinthians ended today. We started as we always do with a review of things learned in our studies of the previous day. A number of them expressed that yesterday’s study of spiritual gifts had helped them greatly. Their excitement was still evident as it had been on Thursday.

We took about two and a half hours to cover chapter 15 regarding the resurrection. There were many questions and good discussion as we went through the chapter and also related its teaching to that done in Acts as the gospel spread. We noted that the resurrection of Christ is fundamental to the gospel message and is also the foundation for our hope of a bodily resurrection at the end.

After a short break, we started the study of the last chapter. We noted the teaching stated in the text concerning the collection as well as that found in other passages. We finished with the study of Paul’s final exhortations to the church in Corinth as well as his concluding statements. Jonathan and Lordy did their excellent work in clarify points in their dialects.

Following the class and before we had our lunch, we passed out certificates of completion for the study. As is always the case here in the Philippines, we then had an extended picture taking session – what they refer to as “A Remembrance.” It is always good to be with my Filipino preaching brethren and see their joy in learning more from the Scripture!

The Lord willing, I will be flying to Bacolod tomorrow about noon and my work in preaching will start of Sunday. Jonathan is scheduled to join us on Sunday afternoon. Jack Jaco has already gone ahead immediately after the classes in order to prepare for us. Please keep all of us and the work in your prayers.

Teaching on Lord's Supper and Spiritual Gifts

[Note: At the request of several students, this blog entry does not have pictures of the class, but reproductions of some of the charts on spiritual gifts used today. The students wanted them posted online, so they could find them when needed in the future. I will include extra pictures of the students tomorrow, the Lord willing.]

Today was the hardest day of this effort. Even after a good night’s sleep, I awoke still exhausted as the schedule is extremely taxing. The students were also very tired as this is our fourth day of classes. The studies are demanding as we get into some depth which demands constant concentration. So, I appreciate these good men for spending their time and effort in these studies.

We spent over two hours dealing with 1^st Corinthians 11, the vast majority dealing with the Lord’s Supper. Many of these men came from various denominational backgrounds, so they have practices from those backgrounds that have affected their thinking. We spent more time than I had anticipated on questions referring to some of those practices. We emphasized that Paul clearly says the Lord’s Supper was to be partaken in the assembly of the saints. We also dealt with a refutation of some who want to make the container a third element in the Lord’s Supper that signifies the new covenant and demand that all drink from one container. Instead, Paul teaches that the “cup” it the contents, that is, the fruit of the vine.

In the remaining part of the morning session, we needed to complete the twelfth chapter, so we shortened the morning break. We covered the different spiritual gifts by first defining them. We then noted the fact that they were to be used for the good of the entire body (church), not the good of the individual given the gift. It is obvious that the Corinthians sought the gift of tongues above the other gifts, but Paul corrects them for that misunderstanding and lists it last in the order given.

After lunch, we covered 1^st Corinthians 13-14 to complete Paul’s teaching with concern to spiritual gifts. We studied at length the cessation of spiritual gifts that occurred when the complete revelation was given. We also cover the practical regulations of the spiritual gifts (especially in contrast of tongues and prophecy) as shown in chapter fourteen. We concluded the afternoon session with noting the principle of doing all things decently and in order, showing how this principle should guide us in our services today as well. 

It was a packed half-day of study and we ended later than normal, but we were able to fully cover the material and answer the questions the students had. I had promised them to start that the material was not difficult to understand if they would keep focused on the points step by step. At the end of the session, all of the students said the points from the text were very clear and they were surprised at how easy it really was to understand. So, it was a very tiring day, but a very productive one as well!