Jonathan and his family
picked me up this morning at the hotel about 8:30 and we made the short drive
to the meeting place. I was pleasantly surprised and very thankful for the fact
that the elevator to their 14th floor meeting place is now working!
Not having to climb two floors on uneven stairs is a real blessing to me!
The worship services started
about 9am. The first hour is for the assembly and included the Lord’s Supper as
well as the collection. I preached a lesson entitled “Faith in Action – Moses”
from the text Hebrews 11:24-27. We noted that saving faith is never presented
as merely a mental assent or “accepting Jesus into your heart as your personal
Savior” without any action of obedience. Instead, saving faith is seen as full
trust that involves a submission to all God instructs. We saw from the life of
Moses that faith acts in the faithful as one:
- · Chooses the Way of Service Over Self-Indulgence
- · Determines Action by the Principle of Right, Not Ease
- · Sees with Spiritual Vision, Not Worldly Priority
After the assembly hour, we
went straight into the time for classes, but all stayed in the main room and I
immediately started another lesson. In that hour, I taught on “Stirring Up the
Memories” from 2
Peter 1:12-15 and 3:1-2. We examined the texts in 2 Peter to see that Peter recognized
the recipients had heard and learned these things before, but wanted to remind
them again of the things taught before by inspiration. He wanted to leave them
with this epistle, so that after he was dead, they might remember these truths.
(The fact that Peter wanted them to retain and repeatedly use this epistle to remember
principles of truth shows us that NT writings were intended to be collected and
kept as sources of divinely inspired instruction just as was done with OT
writings.) Why was there a need to stir up memories of the things spoken before
by inspiration? Because:
- · The Standard of Truth Is Things Revealed by Apostles
- · Some Have Never Heard that Truth
- · Some Have Forgotten or Rejected that Truth
- · Some Try to Change Others Minds about that Truth
- · Salvation Demands It! – It Is the Power of God to Salvation (Rom. 1:16)
After the class time, we
broke for lunch and resumed for a Gospel Meeting effort. The members had
invited their friends and neighbors to come and several members of other
congregations also came to take part. (Members of the congregation in central
Cebu City have started several new works in recent years as their work
continues to abound in the Lord’s service. The first lesson was “By What
Authority Are You Doing These Things?” from Matthew 21:23-25 and Mark 11:27-30.
We noted specific teachings and practices of the denominational world that lack
the authority “from heaven,” but are instead “from men.” We then focused on how
we can be sure that our actions in religious matters are authorized “from
heaven” as we follow our Lord’s instructions from the gospel without addition
or subtraction.
The last lesson of the
afternoon was “The Danger of Religious Lies” taken from Ezekiel 13:22-23.
First, we examined the principles laid down in the text stated the effects of
religious lies or error:
• They make the heart of the righteous sad
• They strengthen the hands of the wicked
• They cause the wicked not to turn from evil & be
saved
• Only truth can make righteous glad,
weaken hands of wicked & point sinner to salvation
We then made application of
these principles by examining two popular religious lies of our time: “One
Church Is Just as Good as Any Other” and “We Are Saved by Faith Only.” Jonathan summarized both lessons in the dialect afterwards. The
lessons were well received by our visitors, but there were no responses to obey
the gospel as this is their first time to hear these principles. Members of the
local church will continue to follow-up with them. Please keep them in your
prayers.
