Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Kidapawan lectures on “How to Study the Bible” continued Saturday with another full house.  The corrected attendance Friday was 138 including 47 denominational preachers and today we had 108 with 34 denominational preachers.  Mark’s topics were study by context, take all the Bible says, and the silence of Scripture.  My lessons focused on translations and word studies, the historical context of passages, and the Bible’s use of figurative language.

The open forum was very productive again.  One denominational preacher who returned today explained he was taught that Ephesians 4:8-11 means Jesus went into hades to save people who died during the Old Testament times.  The passage is not discussing what Jesus did to save certain people but how he conquered sin and death, then ascended to heaven to equip his saints to serve him in different roles.  Hebrews 9:15 shows the perfect sacrifice of Christ saved Old Testament people who lived and died by faith in God and His promises to send the Savior.  Sinners in hades cannot change their status (Lk. 16:26).

Someone else wanted to know if Psalm 150 authorizes us to worship with instrumental music today.  Most people do not realize that God commanded the use of instrumental music during the ceremony of burning animal sacrifices – see 2 Chronicles 29:25-28.  So, that is what we, too, should do if we use the Old Testament as the basis for using instrumental music in worship today.  In reality, we serve God under the commandments of Christ today and he commands that we sing, not that we play instruments (Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 5:19).  We should not add anything to God’s revelation (Rev. 22:18).

It is a joy to report that nine people repented of their sins and false religions and decided to be baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Gal. 3:26-27).  We rejoice with the angels of heaven!  We have learned that others are seriously considering taking the same step in submission to Christ.

On the Lord’s Day 110 souls gathered for the worship in Kidapawan City.  Mark presented a simple but effective overview of the Bible.  I preached “The Prison of Sin (1 Pet. 3:19).”  After a quick lunch, we went to a Pentecostal type church called the Lanao House Fellowship Center where we were invited to preach.  Mark’s sermon gave an introduction to the church of Christ in the New Testament and I followed with “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God (Rom. 1:16-17), dealing with first principles of the gospel.  25 attended and were very attentive.  They invited us to return as soon as possible.  Danny will follow up with this group and Mark and I hope to have contact with them via email.

From 4:00-7:30 P.M. we preached in another Pentecostal type church called Light of the World where 34 gathered including 7 denominational preachers.  The local preacher listened intently, sitting right at the front.  I preached my lesson on “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God” and Mark followed with a study of objections to Bible teaching on baptism.  Once again we shared our email addresses and hope to have further contact with these people, and Danny will continue working with them also.  This has been a very busy and productive Lord’s Day!

The restaurant in our hotel was closed when we got back tonight, so Mark and I walked to another hotel where we could eat supper.  After catching up on some work, I walked about 11:00 and got to bed at midnight.  A big, bright, beautiful moon greeted me tonight and reminded me of many of you who can see it, too.  We must leave at 7:00 A.M. tomorrow to drive to Davao City and catch a plane back to Manila, from where Mark and I will separate for the last segment of our trip.

Thank you for all of your prayers and may God bless each one of you taking time to read these reports.

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
https://www.hebronlanechurchofchrist.com
https://biblework.congregateclients.com
https://truthbooks.com
https://www.truthmagazine.com