Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Having safely arrived in Cebu City on Friday, April 15, Saturday morning we used a rented van and traveled three hours to Bogo City.  Jonathan Carino was ill and could not join us, but we had plenty of help because Roy Matta, Pablo Espinosa, Fred Ogario, Mario Rubio, Raquim Miego, and others made the trip with us.  Gil Suico and Rupert Ramirez gathered saints and visitors in a function room at a hotel in Bogo City where they preach.

I started as soon as we arrived by preaching on John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.”  The point of the sermon is that Jesus came to offer salvation, not food, not finances, and not fun time.  Plans were made for 70-80 to attend, but 120 people not counting small children were crammed like sardines into the room.  They were very attentive and engaged, even answering questions posed to the audience.

After the lunch break we studied the sermon “Young People, Read the Bible” (Ps. 119:18-20) and then concluded with a verse by verse study of Matthew 16:13-19 entitled “When Peter Confessed Christ.”  Although we baptized no one today, there will be follow up work with the visitors and there will almost surely be conversion from our audience.  The work in Bogo City is definitely growing.

On the Lord’s Day I worshiped at the Cebu City church of Christ where Jonathan preaches.  His diabetes has been giving him trouble, but he was better today.  The attendance was 49 including an American from Dallas, TX – it is a rare treat to meet an American brother in the Philippines.  I spoke during the Bible class and during the worship hour on “Selecting a Mate: The Lord Builds the House” (Ps. 127:1).  Many young people were present and gave very good attention to the study.

After lunch we visited the Lapu-Lapu church of Christ where Pablo Espinosa has labored for many years.  About 40 souls heard the lesson “Young People, Read the Bible.”  Pablo asked me to return for an all-day gospel meeting and I hope to do so in the future.  He is a faithful and steady worker in God’s kingdom, and is respected in his community.

In the late afternoon Jonathan and I boarded a plane for Bacolod City, Negros Occidental for two days of gospel preaching.  A Filipina where my son David preaches in Batesville, AR obeyed the gospel several months ago and her father is a long time Baptist preacher here.  He agree to attend and invited us to visit and study in his home as well.  There were 77 souls gathered as began Monday morning, April 18.  Jack Jaco and other saints made advance arrangements for us to use a function room at a hotel here in town and the room was full.

The series began with my sermon on “The Message of the Bible: Salvation in Jesus Christ” (Jn. 20:31) followed by “The Two Covenants” (Gal. 4:24).  After lunch Jonathan spoke on the church of the New Testament.  Then my next lesson was “The Blood of Christ and Baptism” (Rom. 6:3-4), showing that the blood of Christ is the basis of our salvation, but it is received when we submit to Christ in water baptism.  The baptism of a penitent believer is salvation by grace through faith.  The final study was “The Bread of Life” (Jn. 6:35) which emphasizes that Jesus came to give the spiritual blessing of salvation and he did not promise material gain or benefits such as a feeding ministry, financial services, or fun and entertainment.   There was only one question in the open forum regarding the purpose of John’s baptism.

The follow up visit and study with the Baptism preacher went very well.  His wife provided delicious snacks.  He observed that he liked the preaching because it was Bible based.  Though attempting to defend the Baptist doctrine that we are saved by faith before baptism, he conceded that what I presented about the necessity of baptism was “technically correct,” i.e., he was not willing to deny what Mark 16:16 says.  He promised to join us the next day to study again.

Our Tuesday meeting began a few minutes after 9:00 A.M. and the attendance was up to 86 today including several denominational pastors again.  A large number of young people sat in the front rows both days, so my first topic was “Young People, Read the Bible.”  Next, I taught “When Peter Confessed Christ,” a verse by verse study of Matthew 16:13-19 which gave me an opportunity to discuss the meaning of Peter’s confession and of the establishment of the church or kingdom of Christ in Acts 2.

After lunch Jonathan taught God’s pattern for making New Testament Christians and he explained denominational errors on baptism.  My next subject was “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God” (Rom. 1:16-17).  We must learn about the right God, the right Savior, the right gospel, the right baptism, the right church, and the right life in order to be right with God.  When I opened the floor for questions, the only question was a request for outlines of the lessons presented both days.  As soon as I returned to my room, I located all the outlines on the computer and sent them by email to Jack Jaco who will make copies and distribute them to our brethren and the visitors.

Jack then admonished the audience to obey the gospel and we sang “Trust and Obey” as an invitation song.  A Pentecostal preacher came forward to confess Christ and be baptized.  He also explained to the audience that this was the end of a long search for the truth.  He had bounced from denomination to denomination because he was never satisfied that he was hearing the truth.  He explained that we have shown Scripture for everything we have taught and he is fully convinced this is the true gospel.  Jack was working with him before I came – all I did was to shake the tree so the ripe apple could fall!

The older Baptist preacher with whom we visited last night then stepped forward to say he thought what he was teaching was was right for all of these years only to find out now that he was deceived.  He also requested the outlines to make a final review of all the new things he had heard during these two days.  He commented that after that review, he would be baptized and he admonished others in the audience to do the same thing.

We then spread out all the Bibles, books, CD’s, and other study materials I brought for distribution and watched these precious hungry souls joyfully taking the materials as fast they could get their hands on them!

This work is made possible by hundreds of helping hearts and hands – thank you, dear brethren.  Truly, God is glorified by the power of the gospel of Christ to save souls.

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
http://www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com
http://www.biblework.com
http://www.truthmagazine.com
http://www.CEIbooks.com