FAIR SUNSHINE

Currently seeking Christ, more than public preaching, posting, and social networking.  Before I elected to wholly close down my connection to that platform, Facebook, near a year ago, many souls did earnestly admonished me to leave my postings public, relating how they served to edify the saints. Perhaps this held a measure of truth. Yet, I perceived a profound danger: that the act itself did serve to unduly elevate my own person, whilst also drawing my spirit into the shameful waste of precious hours, spent merely observing the idle activities of others. A decidedly sour taste began to develop in my mouth for the sheer, daily clamour of the place—the overwhelming barrage of repetitive notions, the ceaseless memes, and the quotations from every popular theological celebrity of the hour. One was utterly swamped by the fleeting thoughts of men upon the affairs of this world, upon the character of their neighbours, and, most regrettably, upon the very nature of the Divine. I found mys...

Posting this for record's sake, as the topic is of much importance. Chapter 1 of What is the Church by R.C. Sproul In the seventeenth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus gives the most extensive prayer that is recorded for us in the New Testament. It is a prayer of intercession in which He prayed for His disciples and for all who would believe through the testimony of the disciples. That prayer is called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. One of the central themes of that prayer is Christ’s request to the Father that His people might be one. It was a prayer for Christian unity. Yet here we are, in the twenty-first century, and the church is probably more fragmented than at any time in church history.  We've seen a crisis with the question, "What is the church after all?" Historically, via the ancient church council of Nicea, the church has been defined by four key words. It is, 1) one, 2) holy, 3) catholic, and 4) apostolic. As we study the nature of the church, I want to look ...

After the patient space of one full year dedicated to the humble discipline of Family Worship, it hath now pleased the LORD to mercifully birth the reading of the Holy Scripture into four new households this year. This is a visible testament to the Sovereign’s pleasure! Our own young ones, having been diligently instructed in this sacred practice, have carried the custom learned in our home directly into their respective dwellings. With a commendable zeal, they now intentionally read the Scriptures to their own unbelieving families—a work of bold, spontaneous evangelism. A visible stirring is already observed amongst those who have heard the Living Word thus plainly read. The very heartbeat of this ministry in the home is to magnify the reality of God's great glory as the Scriptures are opened and the Psalms are either read or sung—and by the whole family participating in unison. The precious fruit of all this labor, however, is not presumed by us, but is dutifully left to God’s ow...

So keep these words deep in your heart and in your soul, and have them fixed on your hand for a sign and marked on your brow; Teaching them to your children, and talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up: Writing them on the pillars of your houses and over the doors of your towns: So that your days, and the days of your children, may be long in the land which the Lord by his oath to your fathers said he would give them, like the days of the eternal heavens. For if you take care to keep all the orders which I give you, and to do them; loving the Lord your God and walking in all his ways and being true to him: Deuteronomy 11:18-22 / 6:7-9 The gift of family worship, was given to us April of last year and has continued non-stop 7 days a week till this day. It also gave birth to the weekly prayer meeting in which the whole gathering participates, all thanks be to God for the great kindness He evidenced through the exa...

It is an inescapable truth that there is a weighty and strange, prevailing disparity between the open passions of the world's devotees and the quiet, retiring disposition of the Christian soul. I have paused many a time to ponder why the adherents of novel and unconventional ideologies seem ever so unreserved, so vocal, and so insistent in the public square, while we, who hold the veritable key to eternal life, keep our profession of faith confined to the muted corners of our chapel walls. The question presents itself with poignant clarity: Why do Sodomites who promote sin and degeneracy labor with such determined effort to present their tales to the very innocents in the school-room, when the Christian father and mother, knowing the priceless worth of sacred Scripture, so often permit a day to pass without committing to the reading of the Bible with their own dear children at home? Must we not feel a prick of conscience to see those Mormons who follow a misguided phantom of a d...

My wife takes our current house help through the pages of the New Testament each day before starting work. Her life is unbelievably difficult, and seemingly hopeless. Singled out by her in-laws for her background, she struggles between being beaten and maltreated by her husband, disrespected by her children, and having nowhere to turn to, till she found solace in talking about the Lord. As believers we are to treat each soul brought to us by the Lord as a candidate for His mercy. Each gasoline boy, driver, or security guard, a recipient of a gospel tract. These bread crumbs, done consistently and without regard for numbers, will one day surprise us in heaven. I tend to imagine a soul in heaven approaching me saying, "Remember that one tract you gave at such a place? The Lord used that to save me. And now I am here to worship God forever because you obeyed."

Some gain the things of this world in the strength of their youth at the cost of the next life, and all they have are rusty memories that die with them. While some set their eyes upon eternal things at the cost of this temporal life, and gain a crown that will never fade away. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Matthew 19:29-30 

We are currently teaching covenant theology to the children starting from the Pactum Salutis. God has been so gracious as to provide the wisdom to translate this deep subject into simple language in order to communicate it well to the children. Covenant Theology is pivotal in giving us a coherent picture of the plan of redemption that culminates at the cross of Christ. It answers many questions and unifies what may seem to be disconnected stories of Scripture into one seamless and majestic revelation of the eternal God's grand design. Our goal is to explain the promise, necessity, and reason for the coming Messiah and His work in redeeming us to the Father, according to His eternal will. We are pleased to hear each precious soul, from the eldest to the youngest, recite scripture. May it please the LORD to preserve these blessed children unto salvation for His name's sake.

This Sunday was a review of the lessons from the past month. The children who have been with us for fourteen months have responded so wonderfully to the catechisms that I cannot begin to praise God for deepening the children's understanding. The Old Testament's main ideas, starting with the Genesis' prophecy of the coming Messiah up to Joshua, required about a year to study. Much grace has been given to the teachers who put their hearts to pray for the children, and going the extra mile by burning the midnight oil, studying for the lessons, often well into daybreak. It gives me great joy in encouraging them that their labors in the LORD are never in vain, and that they have been given the privilege of shaping these minds who would one day, Lord willing, be granted saving grace. They have a hand in affecting these children's lives who in turn will be the very ones to take the gospel into their homes, to their parents, and to their siblings. God is able to do more with th...

We are opening our channel to everyone who find joy in the worship of God. The only requirement is a humble heart. Join us without any obligation, and start the worship of God in your own homes. Here is our Telegram link. Photo Credit  Our daily Family Worship with the whole church, consistently upheld by LORD, is now on its 15th month. Every 9:30 in the evening, Monday to Sunday, the church gathers to read Scripture, share thoughts, and sing/read the Psalmody to the LORD. What started off as a 15-minute family covenant quickly spread like fire among the saints, with worship going for as long as 45 minutes to an hour. Some of the children have also started an afternoon family worship for those who work the night shift. It so pleased the Lord to birth the reading of scripture in one of the homes of a dear saint where she reads with her parents and sibling who are unbelievers, but now look forward to the reading of scripture. Truly if we have great joy in honoring the Lord, he will g...

This very afternoon, I did endeavor to take my dear wife upon a brief season of repose, but alas, the pouring of the rain caught us midway, compelling us to seek shelter in a random, humble shop. It was in this appointed moment that there did appear, seemingly out of nowhere, this man—a soul given over to the sins of the flesh, specifically one whose life is consumed by the sad confusion of homosexuality—who approached us, pleading for alms. I recognized instantly that these are Divine Appointments, Heaven-sent Gospel opportunities that must not be trifled with. To merely furnish him with coin that he might remove himself from my presence is an act of cruelty. Furthermore, it is a great vanity to fill an empty stomach without also providing the everlasting Bread of Life, just as it is often a fruitless endeavor to offer the Gospel to a man consumed by the immediate pangs of hunger. My heart was heavy, for the poor wretch did obviously desire only the transient earthly currency that he ...

A religion that costs nothing, does nothing, and is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown. 1 -J.C. Ryle And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Samuel 24:24 1. J.C. Ryle (2015). “Holiness: It's Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots”, p.106, Letcetera Publishing

Thank you for your kindness dear brethren. All the way from Reformed Presbyterian Church Dumaguete. Courtesy of Nate Sonner.  

It is right to care for the found sheep. It is not right to forget there are still lost ones. Make your short time here on earth count. Witness for Christ.

Ο λόγος σου είναι λυχνάρι στα πόδια μου και φως στο μονοπάτι μου. Psalm 119:105 I are indebted to Jeff Chavez of Theoglossa for his selfless assistance and inspiration. May the LORD return his kindness tenfold. I am nursery level in both languages. Slow in Greek and twice as slow in Hebrew. But in time we'll get there. Maybe I'll post another reading a year from now Lord willing to see if I improved or not.

Healthy food for the sheep has arrived. God continues to support His work. Thank you for our sponsor. Beeke and Smalley's Reformed Systematic Theology Volume set is now complete. This stash includes two book on the church fathers. Three books on the study of the book of Revelation. The Returning King goes well with The King in His Beauty. Steve Gregg's study on the four views on the (Historicist, Preterist, Futurist, and Idealist) . And of course, one by G.K. Beale. Last but not least are two books on both the Westminster Confession of Faith, and an expository on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

The most useful books for the whole week that compose the Sunday liturgy, with the family worship guide being used daily, 7 days a week. We keep the services 2 hours short, with an hour of close fellowship prior to start. An hour dedicated to prayer, worship, catechism, and Scripture reading - before the message. Ending in songs from the Westminster Scottish Psalter, and another hour of fellowship. God has tremendously blessed the dear ones by instilling a greater awareness of sin, and a deeper reverence for His commands, especially the seriousness of Lord's day, by which most of them have stood firm against much opposition and ridicule from employers, and even from their own families. The fruit of God's faithfulness shone through when I spoke with one of the young ones, "Should God gift me with my own family, we will dedicate every night to worshipping the Lord. From my children and to my grandchildren." Each one of them share the same sentiment. What a blessed work...

This hour did yield a peculiar blessing and a stirring intellectual engagement, for I encountered a certain learned Romanist apologist, a man named Timothy, whose knowledge of Church history was remarkably adept—a novelty indeed, in all my years of ministry upon the streets! He did most ardently contend for the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith. Yet, despite the fluency of his defence, one must ever be brought back to the fundamental, agonizing question: Is the finished work of Christ upon the Cross ultimately sufficient, or is it still deficient? Must the soul trust God fully, resting upon the blessed assurance that its Salvation in Christ is altogether complete and needing nothing else? Or must the anxious heart still be compelled to add to what God hath already accomplished, believing the Divine work to be deficient? In this essential dichotomy lies the whole compass of our peace! May the Lord grant that all souls cling only to the perfect, final, and glorious sufficiency of the...

The observance of Holy Week is, in the Philippines, a deeply rooted custom. Even before I had fully grasped its spiritual significance as a mere child, the people were already flocking to this sacred site in Bulacan whenever the solemnity of Good Friday drew near. Their pilgrimage commences upon the Thursday, with souls pouring in from all corners of the metro, some even traversing the considerable distance from Cavite entirely on foot, determined to arrive in time for the awful reflection of the Lord's Passion. The roads for many kilometres are forthwith blocked and surrendered to the multitude, the highway becoming a river of humanity. Thus, even those who attempt the usual conveyance must still finish their journey by walking a considerable distance to reach the ground. I recall the year of my adolescence when a neighbour invited this writer to undertake the journey on foot. We departed our dwelling at the fourth hour of the afternoon and arrived just before the chiming of midni...

Let us maintain a sober and necessary distinction between those who merely criticize the spiritual decay of the age and those who, in the fear of the Almighty, labor against it. There is a vast gulf separating those who simply affirm the existence of error from those who are truly broken before God because of the transgression! Verily, a great chasm separates those who merely attend the assembly and those who, in humility, worship God in Spirit and in Truth. As the sacred record laments, the wicked doth often surround the righteous, wherefore wrong judgments abound in the public square and even within the hallowed courts of the Church (Habakkuk 1:4) . Of such wrong judgments is born a grievous lack of urgency for the advancement of Christ's eternal Kingdom—a damnable disease we call complacency. This slothful spirit doth stand in direct violation of the LORD's solemn command to "occupy" our appointed posts until His glorious return (Luke 19:13) . We must affirm tha...

Father doth bless the work by turning the ministry of the Children’s Church in a more experiential direction: seeking to implant in the little ones a consciousness of the deep, humbling reality of the heart’s corruption, even in their tender years. We are forced, hourly, to acknowledge that we are totally inadequate to communicate the glorious salvation of Christ with the requisite power, and thus we know that our strength and help cometh from the LORD alone! We grieve to report that the cruel affliction of molested children is lamentably common in this locality—a silent plague where, tragically, the parents and immediate relatives are often found to be the heinous offenders. With fear and trembling, we taught the children that their innocent bodies were a gift bestowed by the Lord to be theirs alone, and that no other person, save their own mothers in needful instances, should touch or gaze upon them in parts that ought to be private. They were given solemn warnings to be keenly aware...