FAIR SUNSHINE

The Muslims became restless towards the end when all they heard was about Jesus dying on the cross. They did not want to hear about their secret sins brought out into the open, nor did they want to hear about a mere prophet being the Savior of sinners. Whitefield said, “I was honored to have rotten eggs and pieces of a dead cat thrown at me as I preached Christ.” Though I have had some type of resistance and threat before alas, I have not yet had such an honor. God has graciously taken me often to the brink but not over. My time will come. I purposely avoided preaching at this spot but it was inevitable. The crowd was more than usual being days away from the New Year. Despite my fears and excuses not to stand here, God prevailed. I was not sent to preach the Gospel to the many who were irritated and annoyed, and who honked horns to drown me out - but to the few who listened patiently and intently. Just as Jesus did not come for the self-righteous but for sinners. If there is such a thi...

We will be joining the churches of Lubbock Reformed Church, Grace Covenant Reformed Church, and some from Vanguard Presbytery, for a thanksgiving fast this coming 29th of December to worship the God of heaven and earth for His bountiful blessings, His exceedingly gracious answers to prayer this past year, for taking us to deeper waters, and to petition His mighty hand for the coming year.  May we see greater manifestations of His grace in our daily family worship, our personal devotions, our deepening of the faith, our desire to know Him daily through His Word, and to remain in constant awe at His majesty and mercy.

God is clearly directing my steps, from diving into a study of the Covenants and now into Biblical theology. The importance of learning this subject cannot be overemphasized enough. As I progress into it I realize the utter illiteracy of modern Christians who are desperately unable to translate the truths of Scripture to everyday troubles and therefore have absolutely no desire to go into serious Bible study since they cannot see the hope there is at the end. This is partly because the pulpit leaves out the uniformity of God's counsel in redemptive history as a progressive revelation in an unfolding fashion in their study. The beauty of God's Word is turned into something merely academic when Scripture is understood to be a collection of disconnected stories and not part of a whole, and thus it falls outside the interest of the layman. He cannot make anything of it. An understanding of B iblical theology addresses these and more. Typology - Understanding the Bible's Promise...

Father led me to Brother Ryan Denton , and in turn, led me to the praying brothers and sisters of Grace Covenant Reformed Church. It is clear as day. This is not to deprecate or look down upon the faith and conviction of brethren in Christ who were "raised" to believe differently. I thank the LORD for His Sovereign hand in my affairs. The enemy meant it for evil, but God meant it for good (Genesis 15:20) . My motive is never to divide but to emphasize the distinctions in church government and polity.  The absence of accountability in churches run by a single pastor is severely open to error and abuse, whether by overzealousness or lack thereof. It has led to unnecessary hurt and even hostilities between people who are supposed to love one another. Despite the command, the "gang" mentality still holds sway as personality overshadows Christ-like love. Coming from two downcast but God-sent experiences that opened my eyes to this crucial issue, Presbyterianism embodied ...

The church does not have the power to save. The church cannot save. In the simplest terms it is the gathering of the saved. It is basically powerless by itself. It is a candle unused. The power to save a soul was never given to assemblies of men. That power comes only from the Holy Spirit empowering the only means of salvation that God has ordained - the Gospel. It is God alone who saves through the Gospel. The Holy Spirit who empowers the Gospel was given to the church through the obedience of the Son. He is the Comforter who stands with the Christian to give him power and enables him for the impossible task of witnessing, against an unbelieving world, for a kingdom that no man alive has ever seen. The kingdom of God does not advance apart from the Holy Spirit empowering the very people who have been redeemed to be a part of it. It is the very purpose of creation and redemption: that these people, whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life even before Genesis 1, woul...

My prayer of 6 years was most graciously answered by Father this last Wednesday when I was officially accepted to be a member of Grace Covenant Reformed Church , a congregation of the  Vanguard Presbytery in Clovis, New Mexico. The dear brothers and sisters I am privileged to pray with weekly are from here. Their reverence of the Triune God is evident by how they pray. The many ways God pours out His blessing upon us is clear evidence of their faithful and loving intercession on our behalf. Prayer is a very good gauge of a person's spiritual temperature and mindset. Listening to how a person prays gives me a clear picture of his/her heart. Furthermore, an understanding of the covenants, beginning from Adam all the way to the consummation of Christ, of God being the covenant God, was also pivotal in making the gospel all the more clear for us. I bless my Father as He has always been steering me steadily into a greater revelation of His truths from when He first started with me. One...

The Christian's desire to make Christ known is directly proportionate to how he sees Christ. If he sees Christ for the beautiful Savior that He is he will, with all that is in him, make it his personal business to make Christ known to all men by all means and at any cost. If he doesn't see Christ that way. Why indeed would he go through all the trouble? It is safer to be a silent Christian like Jonah was among the pagan sailors. Will not the Christian give priority only to what is important to him? If Christ is not worth telling people then Christ means little, and is even an embarrassment for the Christian. And so the crisis really is not about the lack of zeal for the great commission, or about how little and insignificant the person of Christ is to the Christian, but about how ignorant the church is regarding God's will in the unfolding advancement of redemptive history as He moves towards the fulfillment of His covenantal purpose. There was a plan from eternity past th...

Today's crowd was unusually boisterous and dense. Not antagonistic. Not accommodating either. I used a fish vendor to paraphrase the brief passage about the Pharisee and the tax collector so that people could better relate to the narrative. Our limited supply of tracts were all given away just when I was done addressing the crowd. It took all forty-five minutes just to distribute the small batch we had. It turns out, many were opposed to receiving one. There are a lot of cults that preach here and ask for money from the populace. And people disdain this practice. That's a pretty broad brush that, regrettably, lumps us in with the corrupt lot when people think that all street preaching is just about asking for money. I can't help but think that my recent absence might have caused the labor to start over from scratch. I did not see any familiar faces today. This is not something new. Our eyes and hope remain fixed on Christ. He will do what is right. I trust there are still t...

Biblical Theology is a fascinating study for me. This will be helpful before I start on my systematic study early next year Lord willing. I prefer an actual book than digital versions. There is just something missing when reading using the phone. I for one love the smell of fresh pages. The canonical, thematic and ethical book is  beautiful, while the New Dictionary is what I am currently using this semester.

She embraced the gospel immediately and without apprehension. The difference between her person then and now is night and day. I am amazed with the LORD. Whenever I hear her pray, I am reminded of how wonderful the heart-changing power of the Holy Spirit truly is.

It is with indwelling sin as with a river. Whilst the springs and fountains of it are open, and waters are continually supplied unto its streams, set a dam before it, and it causeth it to rise and swell until it bear down all or overflow the banks about it. Let these waters be abated, dried up in some good measure in the springs of them, and the remainder may be coerced and restrained. But still, as long as there is any running water, it will constantly press upon what stands before it, according to its weight and strength, because it is its nature so to do; and if by any means it make a passage, it will proceed.   So is it with indwelling sin; whilst the springs and fountains of it are open, in vain is it for men to set a dam before it by their convictions, resolutions, vows, and promises. They may check it for a while, but it will increase, rise high, and rage, at one time or another, until it bears down all those convictions and resolutions, or makes itself an under-ground passa...

"I am afraid," I told my wife as we were about to begin. I have always been afraid. Never a time I was not. I have endless excuses running through my head like a train three inches away. Her words strengthened me, "I would just tell the people that salvation is found only in Christ." I can almost hear the Lord asking me, "since you first began, have you ever lacked anything?" Nothing, O Lord. You have always, always been faithful to supply the grace necessary. Forgive this miserable servant. Glorify your name. Angat Public Market is a 15.3 kilometer ride from the border of Pandi and Bocaue. I have been asking for this place since the past plandemic, making about three return trips on separate occasions and finding almost no people due to the imposed curfew. I was not sure if we will find people here in the afternoon but I went with intention to preach whether there were people or not. There was a sizeable crowd when we arrived. Very seldom have we stood o...

I took the route going to Saint Joseph cemetery in San Jose del Monte passing through the border of San Nicolas and noticed the traffic in front of this well hidden cemetery. This is familiar road that I often pass through but I have never noticed there was a cemetery here. This particular place had a good throng of people going in and out. After making a round inside and handing out a handful of tracts, I asked permission from the police officers stationed at the entrance if I can preach the word to the people. Surprisingly, they encouraged me greatly that I should do so. There was a large table of Baranggay officals across me, and they along with the police were my audience. The message of judgement and redemption can be heard far inside the cemetery. I finished past 8pm and would have gone to my third venue but I opted to go home instead in time for family worship. The LORD is good.

Despite the heavy drizzle this late afternoon people still flocked to the cemetery to visit their deceased. This is the perfect time to remind the people that God owes no man another day. It really is not about the dead, but about the living, who for some would soon have their turn being visited by their own relatives. The LORD in answer to prayer prepared a favorable spot for me beside the long table where all the Baranggay officials were. My bible was wet from the rain, but the people sat through the whole message and the LORD arrested not a few people with the pleading since this intersection was extremely busy. Many of the occupants of the houses across listened intently. O Lord, may this not be for judgement but for salvation. Let thine word go our in power and let those who have ears to hear come to Christ. I rode on to the next cemetery on my list.

A ship in the middle of the ocean began to slowly capsize in the dark of night with a thousand souls on board. In just a few short minutes, men and women, young and old, children and toddlers were already flailing in the water. Amidst the screaming the crew scrambled to mobilize the life boats as quickly as they can, with one crew member handling a life boat, and within thirty minutes he began pulling people out of the water one by one with great effort. As the poor sailor struggled with all his breath to rescue those still in the water, the one's already on board simply comforted one another, saying, "We're safe, we're safe. We should sing songs to celebrate our rescue, and thank this fine officer." The battered sailor began to plead with the people, "help me with the people still in the water. Many are still drowning! Help me!" One of the men in the boat replied, "We're safe, we're safe. Why risk our safety for others still perishing? Do y...

The children's Genesis book study comes to a close ( by the Lord's grace), and anticipation is high as we announced the start of our Exodus study next week Lord willing.  This is our second major review of the events taken up from creation all the way to Joseph. The study of Genesis was a great opportunity to thoroughly explain that God created only male and female, to talk about the perversion that is homosexuality, and its modern day attempt to corrupt children's minds and destroy the family.  Today's reviews were about the experiential application of Scripture. To teach them how to react biblically regarding scenarios with their family, friends, about forgiveness, telling the truth, the evils of lying and cursing, and Christ's finished work on the cross being the only way back to God apart from works.That salvation is through Christ alone. It was very humbling to hear them answering advanced trivia about Genesis and about our catechism studies. Here the children ...

Some parents of the children in our class also take them to the neighboring churches who give out gifts to attendees. The teachers there are surprised that the children know the books of the bible more than they do, and can explain their way through the Genesis narrative. This is great encouragement to us. It has also come to our attention how the students when playing outside keep silent and do not participate when the more rowdy children start cursing and behave badly. By God's grace we are teaching their young minds not to look at the problem when dealing with stressful situations in their family life. To respond instead by looking to God and trusting in Christ. God is working a change in the hearts of these blessed ones. We are now teaching them how to pray. The LORD is good.

God has continued to prosper His work here, growing this week's attendance from a class of just a few kids when we first started. I will never grow weary of emphasizing that we only prayed to begin a work among the families here in the compound, and Father has abundantly answered above what we asked by drawing the children to Himself. It appears that the change in the families would affect the younger generation rather than the older, that it would originate within their families rather than from the outside. God is to be praised for His wisdom. One mother told us that she frequently finds her son watching Super Book and reading his bible. And there are numerous indications that some of the kids are actually reading the Bible on their own. When they respond to questions from their teachers that I didn't anticipate them to remember or know the answer to, I am always in awe as I listen from behind my study. We express our gratitude to God for their tiny voices. They can now re...