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Sunday 26 February 2017

Reflecting on the Past Week

It's so wonderful to be able to worship God with His people here in CDO. We were able to sit under God's Word today  brought to us by Pastor Vic Barnales. Pastor Vic coordinated a visit he was to make with another reformed group  near CDO during our visit.  It was great to be able to catch up with him. 
One of the songs we sang this morning was Psalm 16. 
                God keep me safe! In you I put my trust. 
                To You I said, "You are my faithful Saviour. 
                 Lord, with your presence I am richly blest.
                 Apart from You I can expect no favour."
Dr.Art with Pastor R. Lapiz


Whenever I mention to a Filipino in Canada, Manila or on the plane that I'm traveling to Mindanao, they always have this negative reaction. They think I'm crazy." It's not safe!" Maybe I need to stop mentioning Mindanao, the response I get starts to make me nervous.  I'm sure parts of Mindanao are not safe. You can be sure we don't go there. We've limited our travel to areas we know to be safe.  Cagayan de Oro is one of those safe places. Not to say you can't find trouble here but in general its a very friendly place. It's the city of friendship.  I've never felt not safe here. Still our prayer is this "God keep me safe! In you I put my trust!"  We also pray for and are thankful for those who bring the gospel into those dangerous areas. We have friends here who have been involved in that mission for decades.

                I love your saints; with them I am united,
                And in their midst my soul will be delighted.



To be with the saints here in CDO and to worship a faithful God, a faithful Saviour. To meet with God in the fellowship of  the believers is such a delight. In the four years that I have been coming here it has been wonderful to see the continued commitment to the reformed confessions, to reformed worship. I have to say, I think their singing has gotten better.  May God continue to remember  the churches here with favour, may they continue  to be united in Christ....Apart from You I can expect no favour.


We are thankful for the opportunities to serve and for the possible opportunities that have come with meeting new contacts. We're thankful for the conversations we could have and to be encouraged by them. Yes we are here to encourage but admittedly we need encouragement as well, which is something I've come to realize more and more with our involvement here. If you have missionaries in the field they need your encouragement, they need to be lifted up in prayer. 



Something a little lighter.... With any of our instructors we ask they read a few books concerning the cross cultural experiences they may encounter. Here is an example.  I order an item from the menu.  Art orders the same. I get my order. Art gets nothing. What happened? I explained to Art, "I ordered a burger, you ordered the same."  This was  a new one for me. Usually I'm quite detailed in the order not taking anything for granted right down to what's on the the burger. Hence Art wanting to save this detail orders the same. Kept it simple. But what it simply meant was that we were sharing the burger.   Another lessoned  learned in the Philippines.   











Wednesday 22 February 2017

Celebrating God's Faithfulness



 I happen to enjoy collecting antique clocks and on some old clocks you'll read the Latin words "Tempus Fugit" , "Time Flies". Yes as we get older time seems to fly just a little bit faster. Our  instructor, Dr. Art gets to celebrate his birthday today. It was great to see his surprise when our hosts provided cake. Who doesn't like birthday cake? It was delicious! We pray that God's steadfast love would continue to be upon our brother in the year ahead and beyond. 

Art's birthday and the study of the covenant has my thoughts turning to the generations.

"The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations." Ps.33: 11.    

 More often then not God's Word speaks of and marks the passage of time by way of generations. In the bible we read long lists of names, genealogies. Real names, real people. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.  Generations of God's people have come before us.  Here is a list of names you may not know.  Lance, Nikki, Albert, Ronald, sometimes called Ronaldo, J.P., Jeff, Michelle, Kim, Ray  and there are more. Why do I mention these names? They are a generation here in the Philippines. They too mark the passage of time and these names give testimony of an everlasting covenant where God has said that He will be our God and we will be His people. These names speak of a faithful covenant God who to Abraham promised he would be the father of a multitude of nations. We can give thanks and praise to God.

"Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright." Ps. 33: 1.   

May this generation and the generations that follow here in the Philippines give glory to a covenant God. May God's name be glorified. 

"Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!" Ps 33: 12

This evening we concluded the seminars concerning the everlasting covenant God has made with His people. We want to thank the Jireh Reformed Church for once again hosting our seminars. We also thank the Grace Reformed Church for their work and promotion of TAP . May God continue to reveal His love and grace in the Philippines.

"Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 
that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 
Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. 
For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you." Ps. 33: 18-22










Sunday 19 February 2017

May God be Gracious to Us and Bless Us

Today is Sunday, the first day of the week, of all the days the best an emblem of eternal rest. This morning we made our way to the city of Imus , south of Manila and had opportunity to worship with the Zion Cornerstone Reformed Church of Imus. Before the service, there is Sunday School. The lesson today..."What is it to be blessed?"  Attention was drawn to the beatitudes and Psalm 67. If I can sum up the lesson with a few key words..."To be blessed is to be in Christ!"     Indeed to be found in Christ is all of God's grace and so may God be gracious to us. May His face shine on us. Psalm 67 happened to be our morning devotion and so it was interesting that Psalm 67 was part of the lesson.  What a comfort it is to know on trips such as these , away from our loved ones, that they too will sit under the blessing of the LORD, this day, in fellowship with the Church of Jesus Christ and that we have done the same.


I know I've  had these sentiments  before in previous posts but I find myself on the other side of the world and I find it an amazing thing to experience the Church universal  in such a real way.  "God's way is being known on the earth, His saving power among the nations." We can be sure our covenant God, Yaweh, is making a people for Himself throughout the world.


"Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth."

In the afternoon we traveled to Pasig, to the Zion Cornerstone Reformed church of Pasig. Interestingly we met a young brother from  Neerlandia. He's been conducting business here in the Philippines. It's a wonderful thing for him to be able to attend the church here. To be able to share in their hospitality and care. A blessing that comes with a church universal. 

We want to thank the Imus and Pasig churches once again for their warm hospitality, their faithfulness, their love for God and His people and wish them many blessings  in Jesus Christ. 

This morning we fly to Cagayan de Oro and will spend some time there. More later.

"God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!"



Saturday 18 February 2017

TAP VI Nurturing God's People in the Faith

By God's grace and wonderful provision we were able to arrive here in Manila safely. This is now my fourth visit to the Philippines on behalf of TAP. But it is our sixth time here as TAP providing theological instruction. During those visits we have been able to meet many people, many believers in Jesus Christ. It has been a wonderful experience to cultivate these friendships. The Filipino people are a relationship oriented people and this will serve us well as we speak about our covenant relationship with God. Dr. Art Witten will be our instructor, he has been a Christian educator, an elder in the Canadian Reformed Churches  and involved in various committee work for many years. We are very thankful he is able to serve God, TAP and the churches in the Philipinnes in this way.

 Today we have traveled to Malolos, a city north of Manila, about an hour, or two, journey north of where we are staying, which happens to be close to the international airport in Manila. The title of the presentation this morning is "Nurturing Covenant People in the Faith". The presentation is based on the late Clarence Stam's book, "The Covenant of Love -Exploring our relationship with God".   In the afternoon the presentation will revolve around the work of the Elders within this covenant relationship. 

 By my count there are some 45-50 people in attendance this morning.  A wonderful turn out, many of which traveled quite a distance to be here....although I'm quite confident not as far as us. Still it speaks of the eager desire to learn and to want to know God better. To navigate the streets of Manila is no easy task... at least not to these eyes. Navigating though God's Word can sometimes be difficult as well, so as we explore the beautiful relationship we have with our covenant God , may God be glorified and honored...may we be blessed. That is our prayer.

  This morning in our devotions we read from Acts 1: 1-12 and were able to reflect on those verses.  In those verses we read, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Holy Spirit continues to work and continues to be faithful in this promise. It's not to say the Philipinnes is the end of the earth, with tongue in cheek , I can think of other places that might fit that description better.  My thoughts turn to how humbling it is to know and to be a witness of the Holy Spirits work in the Philipinnes. The reformed faith is growing here, there is a hunger for the truths of God's Word and a real desire to witness among their communities, among their neighbours. 


"Today on weary nations the heav'nly manna falls; to holy convocations the silver trumpet calls, where gospel light is glowing with pure and radiant beams a living water flowing with soul-refreshing streams."