FAIR SUNSHINE

Again: we have not enough self-denial; and that is one reason why we do not prosper. Far be it from me to say aught against the self-denial of those worthy brethren who have left their country to cross the stormy deep to preach the Word. We hold them to be men who are to be had in honor; but still, I ask, Where is the self-denial of the apostles now-a-days?  I think one of the greatest disgraces that ever was cast upon the church in those days was that last mission to Ireland. Men went over to Ireland; but, like men who have valor's better part, brave, bold men,—they came back again, which is about all we can say of the matter. Why do they not go there again?  Why, they say the Irish "booed" them. Now, don't you think you see Paul taking a microscope out of his pocket, and looking at a little man who should say to him, "I shall not go there to preach, because the Irish booed me!"  "What!" he says, "is this a preacher? What a small edition of...

We have known men who believed Calvinistic doctrines, but who preached Calvinism in the morning and Arminianism in the evening, because they were afraid God's gospel would not convert sinners, so they would manufacture one of their own.  I hold that a man who does not believe his gospel to be able to save men's souls, does not believe it at all. If God's truth will not save men's souls, man's lies cannot. If God's truth will not turn men to repentance, I am sure there is nothing in this world that can.  When we believe the gospel to be powerful, then we shall see it is powerful.  If I walk into this pulpit, and say, "I know what I preach is true," the world says I am an egotist; "The young man is dogmatical." Aye, and the young man means to be; he glories in it; be keeps it to himself as one of his peculiar titles, for he does most firmly believe what he preaches.  God forbid that I should ever come tottering up the pulpit-stairs to teach a...

We have no eyes now like the eyes of the Saviour, which could weep over Jerusalem: we have few voices like that earnest, impassioned voice, which seemed perpetually to cry,  "Come unto me, and I will give you rest."   "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not."   If ministers of the gospel were more hearty in their work of preaching; if, instead of giving lectures, and devoting a large part of their time to literary and political pursuits, they would preach the Word of God, and preach it as if they were pleading for their own lives, ah! Then, my brethren, we might expect great success; but we cannot expect it while we go about our work in a half-hearted way, and have not that zeal, that earnestness, that deep purpose, which characterized those men of old.  Then again, I take it, we have not men in our days who can preach like Paul—as to their faith, What did Paul do? He went to Phi...

In the first place, we have not men with Apostolic zeal.  Converted in a most singular way, by a direct interposition from heaven, Paul, from that time forward, became an earnest man. He had always been earnest, in his sin and in his persecutions; but after he heard that voice from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?" and had received the mighty office of an apostle, and had been sent forth a chosen vessel to the Gentiles, you can scarcely conceive the deep, the awful earnestness which he manifested.  Whether he did eat, or drink, or whatsoever be did, he did all for the glory of his God; he never wasted an hour: he was employing his time either in ministering with his own hands unto his necessities, or else lifting up those hands in the synagogue, on Mars Hill, or anywhere where he could command the attention of the multitude.  His zeal was so earnest, and so burning, that he could not (as we unfortunately do) restrain himself within a little sphere; but he p...

We visited a dear brother in Quezon City on our way home who has been going through a difficult chapter in his life. He’s been struggling with severe back pain for months—pain that’s made even the simplest movements excruciating. On top of that, he’s now facing the possibility of losing his job because he can no longer keep up with its demands. Photo by K The visit wasn’t long, but it gave us the opportunity to share a meal as a family at a nearby ramen house. We didn’t talk much about work or the pain. I honestly zonked out at the table from the travel, having barely gotten three hours of sleep the night before. However, we concluded our time with exhortation for the brother to bear his cross, and prayer for the Lord's will in his sanctification.  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. Psalm 119:71   Matthew Henry writes: That it has been the advantage of God's people to be afflicted. David could speak experimentally: It was good f...

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 ...

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...

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...

The absence of an affection for God amongst toddlers, children and young adults of Christian families in many, or almost all churches (I say all because I can safely assume that families who attend church during Sundays have fathers who do not lead their families in daily and intentional worship in their homes,) stem from the unfulfilled obligations of the parents in raising their household in the Scriptures and in the fear of the LORD.  It is a pathetic excuse to say we simply do not have time. What we really are saying is either one of two things: I do not know I was supposed to lead my family daily in worship, or, I do not want to make time for it. These are the same people who can sit for hours fiddling with their gadgets, or watching movies, or doing other 'important' things. In our modern day we are simply detached from the reality of God and assume that just because we attend church our children will automatically learn God. We lazily delegate the teaching of our childre...

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...

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.

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...

Father has provided us the means to purchase bibles in our pursuit of putting His word in the hands of the children, to be distributed freely, and teach them the habit of opening the scriptures, not just listening to it read to them. To familiarize them with stories from both testaments and show how Christ is pointed at in the old, and fulfilled in the new, and that He can be seen in every story; how Christ is "written in the volume of the book," and inculcate the truths of God by way of catechism questions and answers. The end of every class is great encouragement to us in this work. Each one can recite the 10 commandments at will, but it will require God's grace to give it life in them, to be understood, and eventually lived out. This we thank God for and plead His hand.

The LORD fans the smoking flax aflame once again. Such encouragements couldn't have come at better times. I have many of these glorious helps from Father. You sow a seed and leave it there, you pass by the next year, a tree has grown. I have many times thought of taking down my social media accounts because of the difficulty in keeping up their maintenance them for want of time. I should not think of fruit in terms of human capacity but of fruit in terms of God's sovereign grace and providence. And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Mark 4:26-28 I have been graciously accepted at VPSM, an answer to prayer all by itself. Father has continuously blessed my desire to be equipped for the kingdom's use. Since we began 3 years ago I have always sought to be unde...

Last year, I was told indirectly by a pastor, "I am an ordained elder. You are not." Thereafter the poor congregation was threatened unnecessarily with carefully chosen excerpts from Calvin's Institutes to refrain from corresponding with me from that day forward, and if I were to take just one, I would be a wolf.  This is the kind of darkened pride that would rather watch sheep drown, than praise God for leading them to greener pastures. Father has always led me through the narrow path right from the very beginning, and He is not about to let go of me now.   Contrary to what most believe, that numbers and success dictates the health of a church, I have absolutely no desire to add another soul to my accountability on judgement day. I am terrified and joyful at the same time, for the small sheep entrusted to me. Small in number yes, but in awe of God's majesty and gracious election. I would rather be Smyrna, than Ephesus. It was by God's good graces that I responded...

I have scarcely the time to write in my journal now, much less blog at a regular pace. It seems 24 hours is not enough to do all the things that have been laid on my plate this past weeks. Yet I will make an effort to squeeze everything I can into this one post. Work Work is still ongoing. I have been asked to consider extending my services for another 3 months to a prestigious visual effects company working on a much anticipated program showing I believe early this year should all go well. The schedule is quite flexible as I work at home and was provided for by the company with my own machine, which I will return upon completion of the project. The tension starts when other projects come in simultaneously. Presently I am back again to handling one. Which means I can sleep normal again. Languages Study My study in the Greek and Hebrew languages is proceeding quite nicely. I can comfortably ready Koine, and am able to translate small portions of scripture. The focus is on particular cha...

Since the early days of this small ministry, Father has faithfully provided for His work without fail. We have been waiting for months for an answer for provisions for new tracts and bibles and He has finally delivered.  Help came in from two of our fellow saints and dear children from Taiwan, Wilma and Mark , both dear children and spiritual offspring of our brother Blaine and sister Ingrid , (Mark's dear wife, Vea, traveled the distance from Pangasinan and fetching the stash of bibles from Baguio to bring it here to Bulacan) - and from our beloved brethren in Christian Word Center in Cavite City, headed by the Lord's faithful pastor, L.A. Cruz , who in behalf of the church sent us a box of new bibles to give away. His church hosts a weekly feeding and gospel ministry to a great number of poor people held inside a cemetery, and goes out to proclaim the gospel to the masses in the parks. And now they have looked graciously upon us for the help we need. Truly, a fellowship wor...