From the filthiness of this world and from the power of sin, God saw us in His mercy, took us out and redeemed us through Christ our Lord. We are not worthy, nevertheless we become His chosen people, a group of royal priests. We are a holy nation, people who belong to God. He chose us to tell about the wonderful things He has done. He brought us out of the darkness of sin into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).
In the past, we were full of darkness, but now we are full of light in the Lord. So, let’s live like children who belong to the light. This light produces every kind of goodness, right living, and truth. Let’s try to learn what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-10).
We are the light that shines for the world to see. We are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. We don't hide a lamp under a bowl. We put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, we should be a light for other people. Let’s live so that they will see the good things we do, giving glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). Now, we have a ministry, the gospel which is the power of God to save. We give to people what we’ve received in God’s mercy. And though we sacrifice our life, our time, our effort, and our money, we cannot be equal and we cannot compare it to God. With this, we are not ashamed to be His witnesses; we are excited about serving Him!
I mean that we should use every opportunity we have for doing good, because these are evil times. Let’s learn what the Lord wants us to do (Ephesians 5:16-17). Let’s do our best to be the kind of person God will accept, and let’s give ourselves to Him, being workers who have no reason to be ashamed of His work, as we apply the true teaching in the right way (2 Timothy 2:15).
So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, let’s offer our lives as a living sacrifice to Him: an offering that is only for God and pleasing to Him. Considering what He has done, it is only right that we should worship him in this way (Romans 12:1).
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God (2 Corinthians 4:2).
We will no longer be like babies. We will not be people who are always changing like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to deceive us, those who make clever plans and use every kind of trick to fool others into following the wrong way. No, we will speak the truth with love. We will grow to be like Christ in every way (Ephesians 4:14-15).
There is more beyond Acts 2:38! There is more joy after repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus and infilling of the Holy Ghost! We devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs are being done, not by the apostles only because Jesus assured us that whoever believes in Him will do the same things He has done and we will do even greater things than He has done (Acts 2:42-43; John 14:12). What a wonderful promise, isn’t it?
Weary days are gone! Idle times are over! God’s mercy saw us and we grow in faith. We’ve learned enough from the past. We cease to judge one another and to punish them that are already hurt. We’ve evaded committing sexual sins, or doing evil things, or selfishly wanting more and more. We stop fooling others with words that are not true. We don’t have anything to do with them (Ephesians 5:5-7). Church splits are already in history books; it’s over now and we move on. We’ve invaded ourselves through the power of His Spirit, making us a new man (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). We have a better reason to follow, namely, the reason of hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15).
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
A man has told me his story. Since the 1950’s in the Philippines, many denominations have explored the interior of the mountains of Mindoro to reach out for the mangyans. They have settled many headquarters for this purpose. Many non-government agencies have doubled their effort to preserve their culture and to protect their rights. Many politics joined in hand for their selfish motives of increasing their votes. The eyes of Mangyans were opened to a different gospel; they were awakened to live according to the lives of missionaries, to have faith in God according to their faith, to go to church as they were, to be baptized in their mode of baptism and in the names they used to believe. Very few have taught them the gospel that Peter preached in the Day of Pentecost, as written in Acts 2:38, even as Paul proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 5:1-5. The gospel has been hid and their minds blinded.
The wailing of their souls awakened this man. How can the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine upon them? So, God put a burning desire in this man to bring the mangyans in Mindoro to the true light of the gospel. It consumed his whole being, flowed in his veins, and occupied his mind and spirit. There was a gleaming light of hope that flashed through the crack on the thick wall of darkness when a missionary effort was brought out in the summer of 2000, after a year of birth pains. There was hope! There was joy! A glorious day to praise the Lord! Running up and down the gloomy and rugged mountain or crawling on the muddy ground was not a big deal when you witness the remission of sins and the infilling of the Holy Ghost; the angels also desire to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12); there is joy before the angels of God (Luke 15:10).
But it was not long enough, until this man was succumbed into sickness. Another man succeeded him but only to find that the work would be continued by another group because of church split. Sadly, the church building was washed away by a flash flood. The successor continued the work of the Lord in a Visayan island. His assistant went abroad to work for a living. Since then, many other denominations claimed the right to reach out for the mangyans. Most of them enjoyed the cold flow of water from the water falls instead of having unspeakable joy in the Holy Ghost. Most of their feelings bloated because of prestige from commencing a missionary work, forgetting that they preached not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord (2 Corinthians 4:5), forgetting that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Another group of mangyans was reached in the summer of 2001. It was a ten-hour trek following a river from the lowland town to the mountains. One-time preaching on salvation was sufficient to touch their humble hearts. On the following day, twenty-eight mangyans with contrite spirit did not forbid themselves to be baptized in water in the precious name of Jesus. That was the first and the last time he saw them because his health didn’t allow him to continue. He heard that believers received the Holy Ghost and began to speak in new tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The promise of God never failed to them that believed, even mangyans. A pastor succeeded him but it didn’t continue that long because he returned to the Lord. His assistant resorted to working for a living instead. Now, eleven years have passed and the man in this story has not received any more news. There are many things to be done. There are many souls to be reached in this big area. “There is such a big harvest of people to bring in. But there are only few workers to help harvest them” (Luke 10:2a). “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15). “We all know that God owns the harvest. Let’s ask Him to send more workers to help bring in His harvest” (Luke 10:2b).