Born Again

New Friends!

""Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."" John 3:3

Ahhh, our break home for 25 days was amazing! We spent 10 days at the beach with our family. We visited family in other states. We had countless dinners and lunches with friends we hadn't seen in a while. We were able to speak at our church and spend time with our small group. We were even able to take in views like this at Norris Lake!

It doesn't get much better than that! 

Oddly enough, in our time home we were reading through Ecclesiastes in our yearly reading plan...

In our time in India, Kelsey and I had really grown spiritually. We spent a lot of time each morning in prayer and in the word. At night we would spend time sharing Jesus in our society and in prayer together. When we came back to the states it was go, go, go. We were having a blast, but our reading and devotions kind of took a backseat. Some nights I was trying to keep my eyes open after midnight to squeeze in some time with God. That's why I don't think it was a coincidence that one of the books we read at home was Ecclesiastes. I think it was God's way of keeping our hearts in check. He was helping us remember that in the midst of all of our fun, there is one real reason we have life to begin with. If you have read through this book you know there is nothing very encouraging about it. King Solomon had everything anyone could ever want on the surface. He was the richest and most sought after man the world had ever seen. People came from all around the world to soak up a drop of his wisdom. Silver was considered of little value in his day because of the abundance of gold at his disposal. Nonetheless, at the end of Solomon's life he seemed depressed.  

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecclesiastes 1:14 

This is the common theme throughout the book. Solomon goes through everything he has ever done: All of the fun things. The family. The parties. The riches. The women. He comes to the same conclusion.."meaningless." 

Praise God that there is hope for the one that reads until the end. 

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." Ecclesiastes 12:13

King Solomon concludes that following God is all that really matters. What does that look like? What does God really want from us? Thankfully, that is all revealed in Jesus:

"For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:40

"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:11‭-‬14 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28‭-‬30

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." John 3:17‭-‬18 

God's will for all of us is to have a faith relationship with Him - to know Him, through His only son, Jesus. This brings me to Batangas City - our new home in the Philippines until October. 

I took this photo this morning from our apartment. Batangas is a beautiful place! Kelsey and I will spend most of our time here doing student ministry (ages 17 to 21 for the most part). We have only been in the city for a week, but we are already blown away at how God is using students in this city to lead others to Christ and to disciple new believers. The students here are really searching for truth. Many are finding it in Jesus Christ. The ministry we are a part of (Connect) started over a decade ago in Batangas City by a couple from the states. They are still heavily involved, living just an hour away, and were our avenue to the Philippines. What's awesome about the ministry is the number of students who were discipled in the first groups they worked with that are now serving as missionaries themselves throughout southeast Asia. Others who have gotten jobs elsewhere or in other careers continue to be very supportive of the ministry where they first came to Jesus. It is truly an amazing community of believers who are dedicated to Jesus and the great commission. 

Some graduates of the ministry and new students worshipping together outside connect student ministry house one day. Notice the yellow sign on the wall.

A normal day at connect includes lots of students just stopping by to work on school projects, playing dominos, other board games, singing and playing guitars, Bible studies in various rooms throughout the house, and worship all around. There are former students who are in their late 20's and early 30's that stop by after work to help disciple new students who may be hearing about salvation through Jesus for the first time. There are small groups nearly every week day, a prayer meeting on Wednesday night, and a church service at the house on Sundays at 2 p.m. The duration of the service is around two hours. There is worship, prayer groups (they always pray for a lost people group and missionaries), a message from one of the older students with discussion time, and a time of giving - all facilitated by the former students. 

Our "daughter," Janelle. 17 years old. 4'8 and proud of it!

Some students hanging out in the living room. Busting some dance moves..??..

Spike ball action!

Bible study with some new female students. 

The big white guy in the spike ball picture is Josh. He is a student at Ole Miss. Marelis is to Kelsey's right in the Bible study photo. She is a student at Liberty. It is encouraging to see people their age who are willing to give up two months of their summer vacations to share the gospel with students in a foreign country. They will be going back home in about a week. Please keep them both in your prayers as they have done great work here in Batangas City. I am glad we were able to meet them before they left. Here is a photo in the park with the two of them and some Filipino students.

The park here is really nice. Plus it is a great place to meet students and invite them over to the Connect house. Josh and Marelis started having a sports day there every Friday. Spike ball, frisbee and basketball are the most popular choices. 

Community Park.

Frisbee.

Taking it easy.

Religion in The Philippines:

The Philippines is really a lot more like Honduras than India - at least from a religious perspective. A lot of the kids we are working with here come from a background where they have heard about Jesus. They believe God is real, but they don't really know Him for themselves. There is this feeling that if they do enough good things it will outweigh the bad things, and maybe they will go to Heaven. This is a flawed way of thinking that is popular in most religious circles. If a man commits a crime and proclaims to the judge, "Yeah, but I did way more good things this year. That was the only bad thing I did!" The judge would still be unjust to let him go. After all, the man is on trial for the one crime. Well what if it was a minor sin you ask? Remember all of humanity fell because of one disobedient act. It wasn't murder. It was eating some fruit. Scripture teaches us that all of our "good" can never outweigh just one sin against God. God is just, and He must punish sin (rebellion against Him). He says if we break 1 law then we break them all. 

"..all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.." Isaiah 64:6 

"know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified." Galatians 2:16 

The Connect ministry is concerned with teaching the truth of the gospel (genuine heart faith and knowing God) to students that come from this works background. We heard a really good analogy from one of the leaders at Connect about belief in God: If I go to the white house (she used the Filipino president) and ask them to let me in, they are going to say no. Why? I believe the president lives there. I know He is real.  

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." James 2:19 

But what if I know the president? Furthermore, what if he calls me his child!? Now that changes things! Of course he will let me into his house then. What about all the verses on believing though? Are they wrong? Or does believing in the Bible mean to know God, and not just know about him..

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" Matthew 7:21-23

What is the will of the father in Heaven? How do we know God? Remember John 6:40? The will of God for us is to believe on the one He sent! John 6:29 is similar:

""Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.""

John 6:29 

Q: So what is believing from a biblical perspective? 

A: Having faith. Letting go of personal desires and making Jesus Lord of your life. Having a relationship with Jesus. Being born again of the spirit (see the verse I used at the beginning of this blog). A truly repentant heart. Doing good works because it pleases God, not because it can earn us salvation, but because we are new creations in Christ Jesus.  

(Ephesians 2:8-10, 2 Cor 5:17)

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Revelation 3:20

I realize this is redundant for most reading this blog. However, this is what we are currently sharing with and teaching students here in the Philippines. Please examine these verses. Pray on them, and pray that they would become alive in the hearts of the students we are able to spend time with here. Pray that God sends even more students to the Connect house. 

Thanks again to all of those who read our blogs and continue to pray for us. The gospel is being shared all over the world by so many believers, and its a beautiful thing to see!

-Clark