Dear family, brethren, and friends,

James Paet picked me up at 8:00 A.M. and then Lordy Salunga joined us for the 2 ½ hour drive to reach Alacala on Wednesday.  Glenn Fiesta is an evangelist with this new congregation which began meeting a couple of years ago and now has an attendance of about 30.  Today’s attendance was 93.  The church meets in the San Vicente Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Alcada because they have no church building.  Though struggling without adequate support, they have a happy and healthy outlook rather than murmuring and complaining.
                                                            
The meeting began with the sermon “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors,” which was completed before the lunch hour.  After lunch I preached “When Peter Confessed Christ” (Matt. 16:13-19), showing that Peter confessed Christ to be God’s anointed King and deity in the flesh.  Jesus promised to build his church on this bedrock truth.  His church was built hundreds of years before Roman Catholicism and modern denominations.  One lady came forward during the invitation song with tears in her eyes to confess Christ and to be baptized for the remission of her sins.  We rejoiced with her and with the angels of heaven.

The open forum included a wide range of questions.  Here are a few.  Were people living under the Old Testament baptized?  No.  Were they saved?  Yes, if they obeyed God by faith in the promise of the Savior who would come (Heb. 9:15).  When does a person need to be re-baptized?  We must obey God from the heart (Rom. 6:17), i.e., we must act by our own free will based on an accurate understanding of God’s command.  If a person realizes he did not understand the steps leading to baptism or did not understand the Scriptural purpose of baptism, he needs to obey from the heart (Mk. 16:16; Rom. 10:10; Acts 2:38).  This does not mean a person must understand everything he can learn over the course of many years studying the Bible.  After baptism, we continue learning from Christ to the end of our lives on earth (Matt. 28:20; 2 Pet. 1:5-7).

What is the meaning of kingdom in the Bible?  In its broadest sense it means rule.  The application is determined by the context.  In Psalms the universe is God’s kingdom because He rules over all of it.  In some passages an earthly kingdom or nation is identified.  In nearly all New Testament passages it refers to God’s spiritual rule in the hearts and lives of His saints – those who are saved in Christ – the church of Christ (Matt. 16:18-19; Col. 1:13-14).

This has been a very fruitful and profitable day.  And, why do I feel compelled to return again and again to the Philippines?  Not only the events mentioned above, but also such simple events as often happen as occurred this morning.  When I got on the elevator to go down and leave, a Filipino man greeted me and asked what I was doing today.  I explained that I would be teaching the Bible and that I come often for that purpose because many people are interested to learn.  He immediately asked for my contact information because he is interested to learn!  I gave him a copy of James R. Cope’s foldout tract on “The One True Church” with my contact information on it.  I have already received an email message from this man and will follow up with him.  And that, dear brethren, is what brings me back to the Philippines again and again!  Thank you for helping to make it possible.

By 7:00 P.M. we reached the hotel.  When I walked tonight there was a cloud cover and light sprinkle of rain. But as I continued on the course around the parade ground, the moon kept insisting to burst through the clouds with its brilliant white light.  I was joyfully reminded that many of you are also viewing that same brilliant white light that reminds us all of the great God who put that beacon in the heavens to bless us!

My Thursday appointments were with Jojo Tacbad at two places.  First in the morning I preached for the church at Sta. Ursula, Betis Guagua where he has labored for over 20 years.  The last time I was here over 20 years ago the church met in his house, but now they have a commodious meeting house. 52 souls attended today as we studied “The Prison of Sin” (1 Pet. 3:19).

During the open forum which followed there were several questions about Gld’s plan for backsliding Christians.  We should reach out to them to restore them as happened with Simon in Acts 8 (see also Gal. 6:1).  If they stubbornly refuse correction, the church must withdraw fellowship from them as commanded in 1 Corinthians 5.  Yes, we do not treat them as bitter enemies but continue to admonish them as erring brethren.  If the church withdraws from an impenitent preacher, we should not work with that preacher but avoid him (1 Tim. 6:1-6).  There were other good questions and this was a profitable session.

After lunch we drove a couple of hours to reach a small church composed largely of women meeting in a widow’s house at Candating, Arayat where Jojo also preaches.  The lesson presented was entitled “Work While It Is Day” (Jn. 9:4) and the large room overflowed with 32 attendees. They could not have been more attentive and desirous of learning.  It is a privilege to preach to such worthy, noble souls!

I was so busy after supper that there was no time to walk until 10:00.  The air was unusually cool for the Philippines and I had another surprise.  A big bold beautiful moon had cleared away all the clouds and dominated the sky – sending my smiles to you and vice versa!  Falling asleep was not hard when I finally hit the pillow at 1:00 A.M.

Friday James Paet drove me with Lordy Salunga’s family to the Unity St. Church of Christ in San Fernando where Archie Alarcon has as an evangelist for years.  The church meets in a large room which is part of their house and we had a full house with 27 people present.  “Don’t Defy Gravity: Embrace It!” based on Proverbs 23:34 was our first study.  Just as it is foolish and harmful to defy God’s physical law such as gravity, it is unwise and self-defeating to defy His spiritual laws, all of which are designed to bless us.

“Trust God Till the Danger Passes” based on Psalm 57 was our next lesson, emphasizing that this prayer is our prayer as surely as it was David’s.  It was wonderful to be reunited with these precious saints after several years have passed.  May God bless them as they press forward serving Him.

James and I left Angeles City to travel to the airport in Manila at 4:00 P.M., hoping to make the trip in a couple of hours.  Alas, it took over three hours because of heavy traffic (surprise, surprise), but all is well that ends well and I got checked in for my flight three hours in advance – which gave me time to work on this report.

This completes the first segment of this trip.  Tonight I start the second segment by flying all night and into Saturday to reach New Zealand via Australia.  Thank you for all of your prayers for safety in these travels.  When I get a little tired or hit a few frustrating snags, I always remember how thankful Paul would have been if he could have traveled like we do!

Although I have worked until 12:30-1:00 A.M. every night this week, I still cannot catch up all the email messages.  When I travel and preach, I always fall behind in correspondence.  I know some of you are wondering why I have not answered and I apologize but do not know how to solve the problem.  I truly regret that I am so slow in my work and cannot always answer your messages.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

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https://truthbooks.com
https://www.truthmagazine.com