After eating lunch on Saturday with Jonathan and Nanette Carino as well as Rody and Tessie Gumpad, they took me to the airport. There I caught an 8pm flight on a small propeller driven aircraft to Bacolod City. Jack Jaco and his son, Jireh, met me upon arrival and took me to the hotel. By the time we all got into our rooms, it was well after 10pm.Though I was very tired, I had a hard time getting to sleep because there was a karaoke bar across the street from my window in the hotel. The later it became in the night and into the wee hours of the morning, the louder and more atrocious the “singing” became.
On Sunday morning, we traveled north of Bacolod City for about 45 minutes to Victorias City where Jack and Adel Jaco live and work. The congregation meets in a large room of their house. Though I do not know of any count that was taken, I would guess that there were probably about 60-70 pressed into that room. Though there was an air conditioner, it did little to reduce the tropical heat. Not only was I sweating profusely, but even the native Filipinos were also sweating and fanning themselves! Nevertheless, they were very attentive to the lessons preached throughout the day.
The assembly of the congregation occurred first and I was asked to preach in that period. The lesson was on “The Proper Use of the Old Testament” from Romans 15:4. After that period of worship was completed, we took a very short break and came together again for the Bible class period. In that time, we studied from Hebrews 3:7-15 and Psalm 95:6-11 on the principle taught in both passages, “Today, It You Will Hear His Voice.” We emphasized the fact that we must not put off or procrastinate obedience of God’s will, but obey it “Today” as tomorrow is not assured. After Jack followed the lesson with words of admonition and offered the invitation, one man (the husband of a woman who is a member of the congregation) responded seeking to be baptized into Christ. He was then taken to a place where they could baptize him. The man baptized is the one in a white shirt at the far right of the picture.
After a break for lunch, we met for another opportunity of further study. “Living a Godly Life in an Ungodly World” was the topic for the study taken from 1 Peter 2:11-12. There was good attention by all as we looked in some depth at the various evidence of the ungodly actions of the world that surrounds us and our need to be different and give examples of holiness to a world living in much immorality. Towards the end of that lesson, my voice started to give out, so we ended the afternoon session at that point.
After getting back to my room at the hotel, I found out that one man was also baptized into Christ as he responded to the gospel teaching in Cebu where we were working last Sunday through Friday. We rejoiced with the angels in heaven at the obedience of these two new brothers in Christ!
This morning (Monday), we began the lectures in Bacolod City at a venue within a short walk of our hotel which made travel very easy. I started the time of study by giving a lesson on ”Learning to Respect God’s Word” from Isaiah 55:6-13. Jack followed with a lesson distinguishing between different periods of Bible history and especially emphasizing the difference between the two covenant – the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ. I then brought a lesson on “The Work of the Devil Today” from 2 Corinthians 11:2-4 showing the contrast between the nature of God’s work and Satan’s work and how the people who submit to the work of each differ. After that lesson we broke for lunch.
The afternoon session began with a lesson on “Salvation and Saul” which showed from the Scripture that Saul (later the Apostle Paul) was not saved by faith only along the road to Damascus as many denominational preachers claim, but that he was still in his sins three days after believing in Christ on that Damascus road (Acts 22:16). I went on to establish that water baptism in the name of Christ is essential for our salvation (as the chart on the blog shows). Jack followed with a lesson on “Baptisms in the Scripture.” He noted that there are a number of different baptisms spoken about in the Bible and he distinguished the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 as water baptism in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. I followed with a final lesson for the day, “Dead Being Alone” from James 2:14-26. We noted from those verses that faith without works “is dead being alone” (James 2:17). We then noted the same of “repentance” without works is dead being alone (Acts 26:19-20; Luke 19:5-9; 2 Corinthians 7:10-11). We also saw that “love” of God without works is dead being alone (Ezekiel 33:31; Matthew 7:21; Titus 1:16) and so is “love” of others without works also dead being alone (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:18; Matthew 25:41-46). Though most denominational would agree that repentance and love must have works to accompany them, they deny the same principle regarding faith. After a short “question and answer” session, today’s study concluded a little after 4pm. The Lord willing, we will finish these lectures with a half-day session tomorrow morning before I fly back to Manila in the afternoon.
Thank you again for your interest in this work. Please pray that all things done might be to the glory of God as His truth is proclaimed. God bless!
