April 18, 2014th Year of Our Lord
Dear family, brethren, and friends,
On the Lord’s Day, April 13, we worshiped with the Dipolog City church of Christ where Edgardo Parangan preaches. Though he suffered two strokes last week, Edgardo attended the services today. He moves slowly and awkwardly but is showing improvement. I preached on “The Prison of Sin” and then Cyrus Gesulga preached on God using us as His people in the ministry of reconciliation, i.e., to spread the gospel. The church building was full and appeared to hold around 50-60 people.
In the afternoon we drove out into the countryside to the Diwan church of Christ where Chito Calimpong preaches. About 50 people crammed into the little bamboo and nipa hut with a dirt floor, which serves as their meeting place. (Nipa is dried palm tree branches.) My lesson was on “Simon Samaritan Sorcerer Saved.” There were many high school and college age young people present who could understand my English, but Cyrus summarized the sermon in the local dialect for the sake of the older people in the audience.
Many of these younger people want to attend the classes on “The Home and Family Life” this week in Dipolog City, but they will have to get up early to take care of the farm animals and go home each day to put the animals up.
Today, Monday, at 2:00 PM we began the series in a function room at The Top Plaza Hotel in Dipolog City for five days on “The Home and Family Life.” If the first day starts in the morning, participants coming from a distance arrive all along during the morning, and the audience is not complete until after lunch. This means the late comers miss part of the series and there are constant interruptions as they enter. We avoid these problems by starting at 2:00 PM the first day, and we dismiss the last day at noon, which allows an afternoon of rest at the completion of the series.
Over 50 people came today, which is a good sized audience with which to work, though only 40 received workbooks. As an outline or framework, we follow the lessons in L.A. Stauffer’s Family Life: A Biblical Perspective, and Mike Willis’ Harmony in the Home. About half the audience appears to be under the age of 30, which is a good time for them to have these studies. Though the Philippines has a family oriented society, there is much immorality and corruption beneath the surface and Christians are affected. Jack Jaco, Rody Gumpad, and I are teaching the series. Cyrus Gesulga gives early morning devotional type lessons.
The lessons on this first day gave an overview of marriage and of the importance of love in the home. Tony Boy Hornedo, the deaf mute preacher in Manila, informed a friend of his in Dipolog City about our meeting, and she came today. Since she cannot hear, a special seat was reserved for her at the front so that she could clearly see each of the PowerPoint charts as they were put up on the screen. She is a Jehovah’s Witness, so I gave her some additional study materials to take home with her.
On Tuesday our attendance went up to 60 including three more deaf mutes. Everyone was focused and attentive as we covered material on the roles of husbands, wives, and children. As well we studied the duty of discipline, honor for parents, and selecting a mate. I taught two very basic lessons on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Thirteen lessons were discussed in a day and a half, completing the workbook on Family Life. Our participants have enjoyed learning and singing “God Give Us Christian Homes” and “Where Love Is in the Home.” Both songs are sung several times each day during our series.
“Harmony in the Home” was Wednesday’s theme as we used Mike Willis’ workbook by that name as a guide. Different kinds of sins which have a destructive impact on family life were studied as “works of the flesh” and “the old man” of sin. Then, attention shifted to the new life in Christ and principles in the Sermon on the Mount which have a constructive impact on family life. At the end of the day there was a 30 minute Q & A period which was productive with questions from young and older alike.
On Thursday, April 17, our rented function room in the hotel was full again and everyone was very attentive as we finished teaching the series on “Harmony in the Home.” I again made applications to home life from the Sermon on the Mount dealing with things like patience in adversity, prayer, and the Golden Rule.
The whole afternoon was devoted to “Man’s Leadership in the Home,” a four-part series I developed several years ago. Rody, Jack, and I used Joshua 24:15 to underscore the importance of men fulfilling their duty to be spiritual leaders in the family. We discussed a man’s personal spiritual growth which prepares him to lead his wife, his children, and the family unit as a whole.
Friday morning I taught four lessons covering every chapter and verse of the Song of Solomon, “A Celebration of Love.” The story of the courtship and marriage of Solomon and his Shulamite bride is everyman’s story. God blessed mankind with the experience of passionate love within the context of marriage, which is pictured in the love story told in this book.
Muslims attack this book as pornographic when they claim the Bible has been corrupted, though they claim to believe it. Pornography is not an expression of the healthy and wholesome passion of love in marriage but rejects God’s gift for a cheap, empty, destructive counterfeit. There is not one pornographic line or word in the Song of Solomon but rather it celebrates passionate love as God intended it within the confines of marriage.
The Song of Solomon teaches husbands and wives to cultivate the garden of marriage by giving attention and affection to each other. When these lessons are applied, we will have harmony and happiness in our homes – we will have Christian homes. This is the remedy to much of the rampant sin and immorality engulfing the world today!
By God’s grace, Edgardo Parangan, our host, regained enough strength and agility to sit in with us during today’s session. We hope and pray he will fully recover from the two strokes he suffered two weeks ago.
As is customary in the Philippines, a certificate of completion is given to each participant at the end of a seminar or series of lessons like this one. The students expressed their appreciation for the teachers’ work and the teachers expressed appreciation for the good participation of the students.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we start our journey eastward across northern Mindanao toward Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, preaching a few days along the way. A week from tomorrow, Rody Gumpad and I will journey to Laoag City, Ilocos Norte to present a series at the Laoag City church of Christ on “God’s Plan for Unity When Issues Divide Brethren.” Then, before we know it, May 1st will arrive, and I will fly home, God willing. Please continue to pray that the trip will be safe and successful to the end.
When I have taken my walk on the boulevard at night next to the ocean, I have enjoyed seeing the moon come to its full phase, and know that someone at home is observing the same moon. My family, the saints at the Hebron Lane church of Christ, and the brethren who help to make this trip possible are never far from my mind. I thank God for you, one and all!
In Christian love, Ron Halbrook
To see good Bible study material, go to
www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com
www.biblework.com
www.truthmagazine.com
www.CEIbooks.com