Feast in Front of Foes (Part 2)

I wrote this article here in San Carlos City, Pangasinan during the ministry week of the International Graduate School of Leadership which started last Thursday, September 10. (Deacon Manuel Go, Jr. is with the Baguio team.) As soon as we arrived in Pangasinan, we hit the ground running by doing classroom evangelism in Dagupan National High Scholl. I almost lost my voice speaking before students in hot and humid classrooms. The next day our team evangelized the students of Turac National High School (Believe it or not, this public school of around 600 students has a Wi-Fi hotspot!) We are also training pastors and church workers in facilitating small groups, youth ministry, church leadership and preaching seminars. This Sunday (September I3), I will be preaching in the worship service of San Carlos City Baptist Church.

Other than what I went through personally in the past weeks, I saw that the enemy busied himself attacking. Last week, Pastor Cesar Magalong, the pastor of our host church, including his immediate family, key leaders and workers of their church suffered food poisoning. Most of them were hospitalized and they just got out on the day we arrived. Though still pale and weak, the pastor accompanied us and graciously hosted us. While we were evangelizing the students, someone mischievously scratched my car. And, as we were training pastors and church workers how to use the “Four Spiritual Laws” booklet for evangelism, our team leader in the San Aguilar, Pangasinan team sent me an urgent text message. Somehow, his files in the USB thumb drive were erased. He needed his PowerPoint presentation in the training that they are conducting there. Since I have a backup copy, I had to rush to an Internet café to e-mail it to him. Now, I just got word that thieves broke into the house where the Laguna team is staying. They carted off a laptop (that sounds very familiar!), cell phones and other stuff. Good thing that the team was sleeping when it happened. They weren’t hurt.

Yes, the enemy tried to hinder God’s work. These desperate attempts show that we are where God wants us to be. 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 tell us, “But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.” (NIV) Opposition to the work is a sure sign that God has opened a wide-open door for effectual ministry. He will always prevail!

Brethren, please wage warfare with us in prayer.

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