FAIR SUNSHINE

Half an hour before our evening class, dear Moureen sent me these. I praise God for the conviction He hath gifted to these newborn saints, both with zeal for the gospel, whom we are greatly privileged to have in our walk. She and Neil went out on their own to read scripture in Santa Maria among the mixed crowd, only a day after my wife and daughter laboured in the same place. I could not have been more pleased to see these children needed no prodding to do good with their salvation. The first leaf breaks out of the ground. May the LORD prune these to make them fruitful to His praise. Psalms 144:12-15    That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:   That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:   That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no compl

It has been continuously raining this past week, by reason of the tail end of a passing storm traversing the border of the archipelago's area of responsibility. My wife was determined to labor for the gospel at all cost come Saturday, standing in three different locations around Santa Maria. Mine own beloved wife reading scripture first among the muslims, with our daughter doing the last two of the readings. Among the line of crowds waiting for the commute there are visible listeners, but the rest are folks with bewildered looks. The two preached under the rain on the first instance, with the LORD granting space after the pour for the work to finish, our prayers being graciously answered. <

Congregations in every age must see themselves as learning communities in which gospel truth has to be taught, defended, and vindicated against corruptions of it and alternatives to it. Being alert to all aspects of the difference between true and false teaching, and of behavior that expresses the truth as distinct from obscuring it, is vital to the church’s health. 1  As the years go by, I am increasingly burdened by the sense that the more conservative church people in the West, Protestant and Roman Catholic alike, are, if not starving, at least grievously undernourished for lack of a particular pastoral ministry that was a staple item in the church life of the first Christian centuries and also of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation era in Western Europe, but has largely fallen out of use in recent days.  That ministry is called catechesis. It consists of intentional, orderly instruction in the truths that Christians are called to live by, linked with equally intentional and ord

Gil is one friend among the very few I have. And when I say few, I really mean fewer than few. He is known among veteran bikers in the local motorcycle community, and has been riding big bikes when I was probably still in grade school. Now at 66 years of age, doing 140 on the freeway is a stroll for him. When the circle of friends we were riding with eventually formalized itself into a club and I was opposed, he shared my sentiments against it. When I closed my welding shop in Parañaque and moved to Bulacan, that was our last contact. He has been in my prayers ever since the LORD found me. Time and again, I would be reminded to visit him and share the gospel, but I always had an excuse. I cannot help but think I had a fault in this and was to blame, that he had to be hurt before I would go to show my concern for his soul. This last week while fixing his bike alone in his home,  his hand got caught inside the gears, trapping his index finger. For over an hour he tried to free himself,

This soldier stood visibly shaking. From his hands, to his neck, his shoulders, and his knees, as he read the word of God to the people - for the very first time. My children and I have been communicating closely for the past weeks regarding preaching the word, or in this case, reading the word. They may not be fit for preaching yet, but the word is always ready to be read. He voluntarily read the scripture list thrice for a good 45 minutes. Drenched in sweat and cramping all over, I asked him afterwards how much of an awakening this is. I reminded him of his request when he first approached me: I want to preach. So now he understands, that he didn't know then how much of a load he was asking for. To preach Christ, one must first know Christ. To preach is far more than the act of pulling words out of a hat, but of pleading the gloryof God, for anointing and the Spirit. It is the Spirit that gives life, inversely, it is the preaching of the letter that kills, and that, we have plent

We are greatly privileged to have witnessed our prayers come to fruition. From what seemed to be years of nothing, God has been silently but faithfully working behind the scenes. He has taught us that in waiting for Him we will learn more, than if He would have given us quick answers.  He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed quietly sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. Mark 4.26-27 There is always an excitement when the first bud breaks from the ground. Amazement follows when the first leaf unfolds. This is how it to us as my dear son in Christ, who lives in Longbeach, posted his first public proclamation. It was a tremendous honor for us to have met this young man's great saint of a mother shortly before she went to be with the LORD. Prayerfully admonishing her two children in God's ways while yet alive, God answered her faith. And though He answered her not in her li

This young man started writing me several months ago, and after an exchange of letters where I recommended several churches nearer to him, he started attending our public outreaches. He lives 46 kilometers away in Pasig City. For someone to travel that far from where we are just to join us says a lot about finding treasure that is worth making the trip. I can surely relate to this. Being a new babe in the faith, he had a passion to preach about Christ. But upon joining our evening bible classes, his zeal slowly shifted to a realization of an even greater pursuit: that of knowing Christ.  He started commuting all the way from where he lived, to Bulacan. Leaving as early as 6AM to join our 8AM worship services. Every week for more than a month now. And to finally affirm his sincerity, without even telling me, he quietly searched for a place near us, and one day made the move to transfer all he had from Pasig, to live here. He is now one short ride away. Each morning, I wake up to inquiri

My wife is my great earthly encourager. Whenever I step out to proclaim the gospel in public in the power of the LORD, I know it is because she is praying for me. I can not do without her intercession, as I can never do without the LORD's. Before I leave, she makes it a point to embrace me, as if it were our last. This particular afternoon, she affectionately said goodbye and whispered to me, 'the Lord is very pleased with what you are doing,' and it greatly troubled me as I pulled out of our street. Even along my route 26 km away, it kept resounding in my head. I wanted to stop by the side of the road and just weep.  "Do I Lord? Do I really please you? Do I even dare believe that I do?" It seemed to be an impossible, almost blasphemous thought, that I ever did anything to please my Lord. Not that He is hard to please, but my not so few shortcomings hung so clearly in between my eyes. God has greatly magnified Christ in my studies this past year, and along with it

 Journal Entry for my Book Study. 2.42AM. July 1st, 2021 Impatience will but lengthen out the days of sorrows. Every impatient act adds one more link to the chain; every act of frowardness adds one lash more to those who have already been laid out; every act of muttering will but add stroke to stroke, and sting to sting; every act of murmuring will but add burden to burden, and storm to storm. The most compendious way to lengthen out your long afflictions is to fret, and vex  and murmur under them. As you would see a speedy end of your long afflictions, sit mute and silent under them. They shall last no longer than there is need, and then they shall work for your good. God will not allow the plaster to lie one day, no - not one hour, no - not a moment longer than there is need. Some flesh heals quickly; proud flesh is long a-healing. By affliction God heals some, but others, longer. 'If need be, you are in heaviness, through many trials," 1 Peter 1:6. Consider this Christians,

I was pleasantly interrupted this last Thursday afternoon as I was doing my reading at our barn door, by a neighboring mother who called my attention, asking me about having to attend church again. She has started to attend the services at the end of 2019, just after the chapel was built, but due to the insistence of her husband to cease from such she has since stopped. I will tell of her background briefly, without going into specifics, only that on this particular day, she was recommended by her parole officer to attend a Christian church anywhere near her as part of her probation program. She immediately thought of us.  Come evening, we enjoy quietness in our area, and it had crossed my mind that my voice could probably be heard from the outside as we did our study. And so I deliberately raise my voice more than usual in the hopes that our neighbors might hear. This mother had indeed by God's providence been listening in, over our wall, on our evening bible classes. Being c