ANNIVERSERY IN SAN-FRAN

WELL THIS IS ONE OF THE CHURCHES THAT JUST CELEBRATED THEIR FIRST YEAR. AS YOU CAN SEE IT'S NOT COMPLETED AS IT NEEDS SIDES BUT IT DOESN'T SLOW DOWN THE WORSHIP ONE BIT. THEY ARE RENTING THE PROPERTY FOR 50 PESOS A MONTH. WE HAD A POTLUCK AFTER THE SERVICE WHICH IS NOT UNUSIAL. EVERYONE HAD A BLESSED TIME. I WAS SO AMAZED AT WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN HERE. THE PEOPLE HAVE A SINCERE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER AND THAT'S A GOD THING.

Any Room for Grace?




Today's Scripture: Romans 12:1

"By the mercies of God . . . present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God."

Read it online at the Bible Gateway: (NIV) (NASB) (KJV) (The Message)

Some may ask, "Who can possibly keep a commitment to pursue holiness without exception for even some 'small' sins? If there are no exceptions, is there any place for grace? Is God really this strict?"

Yes, God really is this strict because he cannot compromise his holiness the least bit. His goal is to conform us to the likeness of his Son, and Jesus was completely without sin, though tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15). No, we cannot, or perhaps will not, keep our commitments to God perfectly, but that should at least be our aim. In a battle, some soldiers will always be hit, but each one makes it his aim not to be hit. A lesser aim would be the height of folly for the soldier, and it's just as dangerous for us in our battle with sin.

Is there any place for grace? Most assuredly; in fact, in Romans 12:1, Paul based his call for such decisive commitment on God's mercy or grace. John Calvin commented on this verse as follows: "Paul's entreaty teaches us that men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to his mercy."

So we see once again the relationship of grace and discipline. A loving response to God's grace and mercy is the only motive acceptable to God for the commitment Paul called for. And the continual reminding of ourselves of his grace and mercy provides the only enduring motivation to sustain such a commitment and keep it from becoming oppressive. That's why we must preach the gospel to ourselves every day.

This was our first Sunday back, oh what joy was in that place.Notice the new tile and new speakers.Brother Edwin is leading worship and the presents of the Holy Spirit was in that place.
I have to say I'm so proud of our pastor. He's been a very busy man what with training the leaders of the churches as well as the pastors from our other churches.He has also started a bottle water business. He uses that to be able to minister to the people in their homes. His plate is quite full but he seems to manage ok.

I'm really having a problem downloading pictures to the blog. Any suggestions would be more than helpful. Rob.

REPORT

We want to thank you for all your prayers. We arrived in Cebu at midnight and found a very good cab driver (christian) maybe he found us. He found us a very nice hotel and arranged our boat travel the next morning. We arrived in Ormoc City around noon and hired another driver to take us to Isabel where we did a little shopping then took a boat across the bay to begin the last leg of our journey. We really surprised the people when we arrived. I had to praise God for getting us and all of the luggage and the flat-screen TV here in one piece. Dinner that night, Chicken n rice.


Spent the next few days talking with pastor Dave and taking inventory of the projects that needed to be done. Number 1 was getting the car running. Master cylinder needed to be replaced, tires were just about all flat because of sitting for over a year and at this time he's giving it a tune-up. Going to have to replace it though because it's rusting out and unsafe for highway use. Looking for a used one now.

The first Sunday in church I was blown away. It was like standing on Holy Ground when I stepped into the sanctuary. New tile down the isle, and everything in order. Gary was there as greeter and the music was great even though it was older (what we sang 10 years ago in the states) it was wonderful. They have a piano, guitar. drums and new speakers. One of the things that pastor shared that works quite well is that they start church at 8:30 and then have Sunday school afterwards.

When we were home I had said we had 5 churches but I find out we now have 7. Two of them are new plants. It's so exciting to see what God can do when we cooperate with Him. The pastor has been training up leaders to go and minister to the new churches as well as holding Bible studies. I have seen a tremendous change in our people in the village in the last year. You can actually seen the Love of Christ in their faces.

Going to build two new classrooms for the youth as they really need them.

Pastor's wife teaches in the Antipolo elementry school and said most of the kids come to school hungry, so we're going to start by feeding them one meal a week and engage the church members to help. It will also be a time for ministry as we have one hour. If anyone wants to help they can contact Sandie Reinbold at Living Waters.

We love you all and keep you in our prayers. Till next time.

Ps Ken J. would you look at the blog site and see if you can fix the dark blue language, it's in Korean I think.





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Rob & Christina Seever

Missionaries to the Philippines

robseeverministries.blogspot.com