Preaching activities from March 21 to April 8, 2018

March 21 (Midweek Service at Metro Tuguegarao)

Brother Jay taught us “Hebrews 11”. He shared to us the stories of each individual that is presented in the chapter and how faithful they are to God. We need to have the faith of this individuals to gain also the reward coming from our God.

March 24 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In our bible study, brother Rody continued with his previous lesson on “Helpful steps in making evangelism successful”. And he also preached in the sermon with the topic “Abiding in the church of Christ”.

In the afternoon at Palca, I preached to them about “Following Jesus in a distance”. When Jesus was caught by the soldiers, Peter followed Him from a distance and by doing that, Peter sinned when he denied Jesus three times. We should not follow Jesus from a distance for us not sin, but we should be closer to Him and participate in all the works of the church. We should not be also go ahead of Him by adding to His words because by adding or subtracting the words of God, we will sin.

March 25 (Bible study at Amulung)

We went to Amulung to preach in an old congregation that started way back 1990’s. According to brother Rody, it was already 20 years back when they last came to this congregation. The congregation did not die, they continued serving God but because of some personal problems with brethren, communications stop. But we are happy that everything was solve now and we are again in unity with them to serve God. Brother Virgilio Bocarile first preached to us with the topic “Love God” then followed by brother Rody who preached “Abiding in the church of Christ”. Invitation was extended, and one young lady came in front to confess her faith. She was baptized in a near river.

March 26 (Hospital visit)

I went to the hospital to visit brother Leonardo Uton who have a high blood pressure and stomach pains. Together with his wife, I always pick them up first before going to Palca because it is hard for them to get any ride going to church every Sunday. March 24, when we arrived at their house, sister Linda, his wife told us that they needed to bring brother Leonardo to the hospital. The ambulance is already there and ready to bring him to a hospital here in Tuguegarao. The closest hospital from them is in Piat which is 20 minutes ride, but they prefer to bring him here in Tuguegarao which is an hour ride, because in Piat, they do not have the equipments. And so, I visited him and happy that I saw he is already ok. We prayed together with his wife and his daughter.

March 27 (Midweek bible study at Tuguegarao)

I taught in our bible study “Hebrews 12”. It talks about the right way of living as a Christian. We need to follow the example Jesus showed to us, and the chapter also shows how God disciplines his children, that we also need to remain faithful and the final judgment.

March 28 (Funeral service at Minagbag, Quezon)

Brother Jay invited me and brother Manny to be with him in preaching at a funeral in his congregation. Our brother Ernesto Dominguez, who was one of the first converts in that congregation passed away from the sickness of pneumonia. He is already old and so his body cannot respond to any medications. Brother Jay led us in singing, and brother July led the opening prayer. Brother Manny preached to us about “Where are the dead?” and finally, I led the closing prayer.

April 1 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

Brother Rody continued to teach to us the third part of his lesson on “Helpful steps in making evangelism successful”. In the sermon, he preached to us “The Lord’s Supper”. We have some visitors with us who are from Enrile, Gattaran and also someone from the country of Alaska. He was married to a Filipina and they are both living here in Tuguegarao.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them about “The thief’s cross”. It is a prophetic fulfilment as told by Isaiah and we can see the humility of Jesus on the cross. We can also learn about the kingdom of Christ in the cross during his conversation with one of the thief and finally, the reward hereafter.

April 3 (Hospital visit)

I went to visit two of our brethren from Palca who were hospitalized. Sister Pacita, having a high fever and brother Jun because of his diabetes. Jun is sister Pacita’s grandson. They are in one hospital but are in different rooms because of medication needs. Again, I am happy to see them both improving from their previous conditions. We prayed together to ask God more blessings from Him.

April 4 (Midweek bible study at Tuguegarao)

Brother Jay preached to us the last chapter of Hebrews (13). He talked about how love should remain in us always and several edifications for us to remain worthy of God’s blessings.

April 8 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

Brother Rody taught to us the final part of his lesson “Helpful steps in making evangelism successful”. In the sermon, he preached about “The use and misuse of tongue”.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them about “The resurrection of Christ”. We answered the questions who raised Christ from the dead? When did Christ rise from the dead? Where did Christ Rise? How is it known Christ rose? And why did Christ rise from the dead? After the service, we took picture as a group but unluckily, some of the brethren were not with us because it was again raining very hard. It is hard for them to walk going to church. Next time, I will take pictures of them and also attached the pictures here.

Preaching activities from February 21 to March 18, 2018

February 21 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

We continued to study the book of Hebrews and with brother Jay, he shared to us the things we can learn from the 7^th chapter.

February 23 (Visitation)

I visited sister Gina Simangan, a member of the Lord’s church in Palca, but living in a near village (Dagupan). She is very sick because of Diabetes. I went to their house to give them the help coming from the church at Palca. I also handed her a little help for her medicines. We prayed together with her family. Today (March 19), she is already in good health and unlike before, she cannot stand up, but now, she can already work normally. Thanks to God.

February 25 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In our service here at Tuguegarao, brother Rody took the opportunity to teach us in our bible study and sermon because he will again be leaving us and traveling to Mindanao for two weeks preaching. He shared in our bible study about “Helpful steps in making evangelism successful” and in the sermon, he preached about “The four second sermon”.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them “Christian Beware”. The lesson is about the attitude of some other Christians that we should beware and avoid doing.

February 28 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

I shared in our bible study the 8^th chapter of the book of Hebrews. About the new and better covenant.

March 4 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

I taught in our bible study the first part of my lesson about “Do we look for another?” The lesson is all about the miracles of Jesus and explaining to them how this applies to our life as a Christian. In the sermon, brother Jerome preached on “John 3:16”.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them about “In time of tragedy”. The lesson is teaching us what we needed to do when tragedy strikes us, our brethren, our family, or others. We need to pray, mourn with them, comfort them and be with them if possible.

After the service at Palca, my wife and I traveled to Manila. We arrived at around 1:30 in the morning and brought brother Rody, sister Tessie and brother Jun in the airport for their flight going to Mindanao for the two weeks preaching.

We traveled back to Tuguegarao March 7 in the evening.

March 11 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

I continued with the lesson I started about “Do we look for another?’” in our bible study and brother Jerome preached “Two appointments” in the sermon.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them the lesson “Don’t be a fool”. We should not act like a fool (as the bible describes it) but we need to be wise, following the wisdom of God and the knowledge of His words.

March 12 (Visit brother Samuel Gamet)

Together with brother Jerome and Jay, we went to Cabarroguis, Quirino to visit brother Samuel Gamet. He is a faithful brother in Christ and a trusted preacher in Saguday Church of Christ. He had been hospitalized since February 23 and was admitted in the ICU because of stroke. He is now on a stable condition but still needs our prayers because half of his body can no longer move. We traveled going to the hospital for three hours but we are only allowed to stay in the room for only 30 minutes as ordered by the management. We prayed with his wife who is with him.

On our way back, we need to stop over in the house of one of our brother here in Tuguegarao who is living in Enrile. He is brother Marciano Mabatan. Together with his family, they needed to ride a jeep for 30 minutes travel going to church every Sunday to worship with us. Sadly, on March 9, he went to attend the last night of the wake of their relative, but on their way, he was hit by a car while walking in a right path. He was then brought to the hospital, but he died before arriving. We went to talk to their family and handed them the help coming from the church here in Tuguegarao. We also talked of the services we will do.

March 13 (Service at the wake of brother Marciano Mabatan)

With the three of us again (Jerome, Jay and I), we held a service in the wake of brother Marciano. Brother Jerome led the opening prayer, brother Jay shared a lesson about Death and I led the closing prayer. According to their family, the siblings of brother Marciano made an arrangement that we will have a service on the last night of the wake, but they will have the service in their own church in the burial. We cannot do anything because that is already decided by their family. But we know how our brother lived. He live faithfully in serving the Lord. It doesn’t matter where his siblings will bring his body before burying him, what is more important is the way he lives.

March 14 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

I shared in our bible study the lesson on Hebrews 10. We talk about the law which is the shadow of the things to come and the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

March 18 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In our bible study here in Tuguegarao, I shared to them the lesson “Master of time” that is God who created time, paused the time during Joshua’s battle, reverses time during Hezekiah’s reign and will end time on the last day. In the sermon, brother Jerome preached about “Benefits of being a Christian”.

In the afternoon, at Palca, before going to the chapel, I always pick-up on our way brother Leonardo and sister Linda Uton, but this time, they cannot come to church because they needed to bring brother Leonardo to the hospital. He is again having a high blood pressure and according to sister Linda, he have a hard time sleeping. Please pray for our brother Leonardo.

In our worship at Palca, I also preached to them the same lesson on Master of time. After the service, there where students who came from a nearby high school. They conducted an interview with me. They first asked about what we think about the 10 commandments and so I answered them in about 3 minutes long explaining that we are not commanded to follow the 10 commandments, because the is for the Israelites, the commands we needed to follow now are the commandments of Jesus Christ. The next one was, what about abortion? I answered them directly and said that abortion is killing a baby which is a SIN. After that, I invited them to attend the services of the church at Palca. I pray that they will come next week.

Preaching activities from January to February 18, 2018

January 17 (Midweek bible study at Tuguegarao)

I discussed in our bible study "Hebrews 4" and it talks about the promise of rest, warnings on disobedience and Jesus as our High Priest.

January 20 (Gospel Meeting at Dugayong, Amulung)

This is the congregation where brother Jimmy Duque is preaching. They just have a newly built chapel with the help of individual brethren from US. It is not fully a concrete one. They use plywood as their walls. It is a better place to worship then before because they are only staying under the trees and sometimes in houses of the brethren. 

Brother Robinson Pulveras was the first speaker and he preached about "Does everyone has the right to his own belief?" then I am the second speaker. I prepared a lesson but brother Jimmy came to me and asked me to preached about immodest dress and other worldly acts. And so I preached to them about Holiness or worldliness with the examples of tattoos, earrings for men and immodest clothing. The third speaker was brother Jerome Forelo and he preached about "What is a Christian?". And finally, brother Rody preached about "The True Church of Christ". When we sung the invitation song, 7 precious souls came in front to confess their faith and we baptized them in the near river.

January 21 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

Brother Rody is not with us for a long time here in Tuguegarao and he is again going to Manila the next day, he told us that he will be teaching in the bible study and preaching in the sermon. He shared to us "Psalm 93" in our bible study and preached about "How to beat the blues?" in the sermon.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them about "Choices of Cain". This is the lesson I prepared for the Gospel Meeting at Dugayong. This lesson talks about how Cain choose his path that instead of repenting of his first sin, he became prideful and continuously added another sin. This tells us that we should not follow his path and Jude said in his letter. 

January 24 (Midweek bible study at Tuguegarao)

Brother Jay shared to us "Hebrews 5" the continuation of the writer on how we consider Jesus as our High Priest.

January 28 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In our bible study here at Tuguegarao, I also shared to them the lesson about "Choices of Cain". In the sermon, brother Jerome preached about "Where do you set your affection?"

In the afternoon, I preached at Palca about "Psalm 23" but I divided the psalm into two parts. I first preached the first part in this service which is from verses 1-4a. This is not most read and quoted chapter of the bible but many do not understand its meaning even for us Christians. I am happy that after the service they came to me and thank me because for so many years, they only understand the real meaning of this psalm. I thank brother Joe Price because I got this lesson from his website bibleanswer.com.

February 2 (Gospel Preaching at Ajat, Iguig)

This is the first scheduled preaching activity with brother David and sister Catherine Porter who are from Blackfoot, Idaho. Brother David is not a preacher but is helping in their congregation when they have no preacher. 

The preaching was scheduled in the afternoon and the weather was a little bit cold for me, but for our American brethren, it is still hot. There is also a little rain showers during that time. I stayed in the back because I brought my 5 year old son with me. In almost all of the preaching trips during the stay of our brethren here, he is with me. I wanted to train him now that he is still young. I want him to join me now that he is still in the kindergarten. He was absent in their class but after two years, he can no longer do that when he is in grade school. I want to teach him to sing the praises to God but sometimes, when the activity goes beyond an hour, he
 is already moving around. I pray that God will guide my son to fear Him and serve Him. 

Brother David preached about "". For a non-preacher, he is very good in sharing a lesson. Brother Jerome then summarized the lesson he preached in our native dialect because many cannot understand english.

After the preaching, brother Rody led the invitation song, and 3 precious souls came in front to confess their faith. I led our closing song and brother David led the final prayer. We went to the near resort to baptized the converts. We baptized them in a pool even though we need to pay for the entrance fee.

February 3 (Gospel Preaching at Palca and Sampaguita)

Again, my prayers are answered because we have another opportunity in Palca to hear other brethren preach to us. I am still the local preacher in this area. Brother David again preached to us with the topic "". Brother Rody summarized the lesson afterwards. We sang the invitation song but no one responded. We have three visitors who were cousins of sister Nenita Quines. 

In the afternoon, we went to Sampaguita, Solana where brother Jerry Soliva is preaching. The chapel is not yet done and so they just assembled a tent beside the building for us to assemble. Brother David preached about "How to have a peace of mind". Brother Rody summarizes again the lesson. The invitation song was sung and 1 precious soul came in front to confess her faith. During the preaching, it was raining and windy. A part of the tent was destroyed and the brethren got wet. It so happen that we are almost done and so it didn't bother anyone.

February 4 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In the morning, brother David preached in both our bible study and sermon. He shared "Take time to be holy" in the bible study and "Resist the devil" in the sermon.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them the second part of my lesson on Psalm 23. We have many brethren who were not around because of sickness that includes sister Valentina Mabborang (dizziness), Brother Jun (diabetes), sister Gina (Diabetes) and sister Tersing (not yet known but she is scheduled for a check up)

February 5 (Gospel Preaching at Tuguegarao)

During our lectureship here in Tuguegarao, we were divided into two. All the men are in the chapel building and brother David preached to us, while all the ladies stayed in the house of brother Rody and sister Catherine shared lessons to them. Brother David preached about "Can we trust the bible?" and "The family as God would have it?" We extended the invitation and there were three precious souls who came in front to confess their faith. We baptized them in our baptistery. Sorry I do not have the pictures of the converts and their baptism.

February 6 (Gospel Preaching at Sanchez Mira)

In our trip going to the area, we passed by the location where brother Francisco and Francisca Duque got the accident. It happened Monday after our activity at Tuguegarao. Brother Francisco led our closing prayer and I remembered everything he prayed for. H mentioned in the prayer that the Lord will guide this preachers. It came into my mind, why didn't he include himself in the prayer, he is also a preacher. But then, the accident happened on their way back home with his wife. They are only 3 kilometers to reached their house but the accident happened. The driver of the other motorcycle was drunk. As shown in the picture, both vehicles got wreck. They were still brought to the hospital, but they didn't survived. They are both born in the same year and died the same year. They even almost have an identical name. It's sad but I am happy for both of them, because they used the last day of their lives serving God. I am sure that they are now in Abraham's Bossom. 

When we arrived Sanchez Mira, brother Joeben Jacobo just finished preaching. It was then that brother David also shared a good lesson about "What time is it?". Brother Rody again summarizes the lesson and also led the invitation song. Three precious souls confessed their faith. After the preaching, we distributed benevolence to the brethren. The items were clothing, foods, noodles, rice adn more and it was donated by several brethren here in Tuguegarao and also from the US. The brethren where very happy. The are our less fortunate brethren who are staying in mountains. The are called "Negritos" and the only way they can get their food is through hunting and farming. 

February 7 (Service at the wake of brother Francisco and Francisca Duque, and midweek service at Tuguegarao)

In the afternoon, we went to the house of our deceased brethren. I can see the sadness in the face of our brother Jimmy Duque because it is hard for him to accept that both of his parents died. The truth is, brother Jimmy is not their true son, he is only adopted, but they treat him as their true son, and he also followed the footsteps of his father who is a preacher, even though both of them do not have much support. They are only receiving a little amount but they are always working for the Lord. Brother David shared a short lesson about death and we all prayed for the bereaved family.

In the evening, we had our midweek service and brother David preached about "Back to Basics". 

February 8 (Gospel Preaching at Aquib and Lingu)

Our first destination for the day is at Aquib, Piat. This is the place where the famous Our Lady of Piat is situated whom the Catholics worship. Many of the people here are Catholics and are selling idols. Right now, the church of Christ in the area is growing because of the hard work of brother Denis Yuson. Their are many young people who are coming because his son's are inviting them from their school. During that activity, they passed an excuse letter in their school just to attend the study. 

Brother David preached to us about "Essentials of the work of the Lord" then brother Jerome summarizes the lesson. Brother Rody also preached and he shared "How to beat the blues?" I continuously do what we usually work on when we are attending this kind of activities, to talk to the brethren and encourage them in the faith.

In the afternoon, we went to Lingu, Solana where brother Robert Rances is preaching. Only brother David preached and he shared "Grow in Christ everyday". Brother Rody summarizes the lesson afterwards.

February 9 (Gospel Preaching at Maguirig and Bauan)

The congregation where we went in the morning is in Maguirig, Solana where brother Edgar Corpuz, Jerry Soliva preach and if brother Rody is here in Tuguegarao, he is also going there to preach. Brother David again preached to us and he shared "Self-control". Brother Rody summarizes the lesson. The invitation was extended but no response because all our already our brethren in Christ. 

In the afternoon, we went to the congregation where brother Robert Pader is preaching, in Bauan, Solana. Brother David then shared to us "Five truths that many do not think about". Brother Jun Gumpad summarized the lesson in our native language. After the lesson, we extended the invitation and 5 precious souls came in front to confess their faith. Because there are no near place we can baptized them in Solana, we brought them here in Tuguegarao to baptized in our baptistery. 

And this activity concludes the visit of our brother David and Catherine Porter. 

February 10 (Burial at Amulung)

We attended the burial of our brother Francisco and Francisca Duque. Brother Virgilio Bocarile shared inspiring words from the bible before we went to the cemetery. There are many preachers who attended the service because we all know how faithful our deceased brethren. They are good examples that we can follow.

February 11 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

In our bible study here in Tuguegarao, I also shared to them the two parts lesson I have on "Psalm 23". Because of short time, I also shared the half only. In the sermon, brother Jun preached to us about "Abide in hope, faith and love.

In the afternoon, I preached at Palca about "What God Values". Talking about all the things that God will never forget when we do it, like when we use our hands to help others, opening our eyes to know the truth, walking in the ways of Jesus and loving God will all our heart.

February 14 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

We continued with our study on the book of Hebrews. I shared to them "Hebrews 6" about the certainty of all of God's promises.

February 18 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)

I continued to teach the lesson on "Psalm 23" in our bible study here at Tuguegarao. In the sermon, brother Jun preached about "What will you do if you miss heaven?"

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached about "Do we look for another?" As a Christian, we already found our Savior and we should not look for another. He alone will save us.