JULY 2009

Philippines Mission trip

by Ken Marek

   There are a number of ways that people end up going on mission trips. The church has a regular plan to send out missionaries, either long or short term. They send to local as well as international destinations. Then, there are individuals who feel God is calling them to commit to a year or two with the local church providing some support. In my case, I hear from God to go and do something, and I start making plans to go. This time it was a call to go to the Philippines.

   I have been attending a Filipino church, Faith Alliance Bible Church, since September of 2000, so I know Filipinos and some of their culture. I also love their food. Once I felt God calling me to go, I set in motion a plan to do that. At FABC I occasionally minister with Adonis Samoy, a keyboardist, so I approached him about going to the Philippines. He was all for going, but as time started closing in on dates for my vacation, he decided he could not go. Well there went my plan because Adonis’s brother is a pastor in the Philippines and places to minister everything would have been set up for us.

   When Adonis backed out then I contacted a Filipino Pastor I met several years ago at FABC in February 2009. His name is Joel Zarzuela. His church, located in Quezon City, is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination like FABC. He emailed me right back asking how he could help and asked when I planned to come. I did not have any date planned so I sent him a list of dates that I could come. He said April would be best. He asked me what I wanted to do. I said I’d like to work with a local church to do some music ministry and whatever else they would want me to do. He then sent me an itinerary from April 3^rd through April 14^th. I ended up staying until the 21^st of April and worked with a local church that was going on a short mission trip to Bicol. We stayed at a church in Irosin. From there, we branched out on three different occasions to feed children. Each time over 200 children plus adults were fed. The church group was well prepared for the ministry. They brought food with them and a really good cook. They also had worship songs, mime, skits, and dances prepared. At the end, before the children were fed, they did a gospel presentation and led everyone in a prayer of salvation. I can’t exactly say what the prayer was because it was in Tagalong, the native Philippine language. I can say that I took numerous pictures from a lot of locations, and many children and adults were sincerely praying.

  My part in all this was really very minimal from the standpoint of how much I participated in all of the ministries. What I ended up doing mostly was taking pictures and of course being a novelty as an American. There were opportunities in all locations for me to share my testimony as well as do a special song. I ministered at my friend’s church also by giving the message on one occasion and on two different Sundays I ministered with special songs.

   One remarkable event was when I was coming back from Bicol a second time. When I got on the bus to Quezon City, I was seated next to a guy, Jack and we started a conversation. Eventually it turned spiritual.  Later he told me he was praying for God to reveal the truth to him. I spent 5 hours talking with Jack. He asked me about cave men, dinosaurs, the lost years of Jesus, the book Chariot of the Gods and many other questions. Jack had been involved in numerology and astrology. This was all in a personal quest to understand and know the history of God. In short I answered all of his questions. As we passed by the Mayan volcano in the early evening, it was a beautiful sight. Two strips of clouds covered parts of it. I explained to Jack that the volcano represented the truth and the clouds were the material he was reading which prevented him from seeing the truth. It was a perfect analogy. He said he hated to admit it but I was right. Jack was truly amazed that God would send someone from the United States all of the way to the Philippines to answer his questions. I explained that God does not spare any expense on my part to get me to where He wants me. Fortunately God also provides the means to do it.

   In short, I would like to say that truly there is a very special blessing when you are willing to step out and trust God. Not only does your faith and relationship with God grow, but you are used in ways that you cannot even imagine. My advice is to listen for where God wants you to go and then do it.

INSIGHTS FROM THE WORD

Living Water from the Rock

 “They (Israelites) drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them and that Rock was the Messiah.”

1 Corinthians 10:4

   [Exodus 17:1-7] After Moshe led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, they traveled in stages through the desert until they camped at Refidim. There, the people quarreled with Moshe and demanded “Give us water to drink!” Moshe cried out to ADONAI who told Moshe, “Go on ahead of the people, and bring with you the leaders of Israel. Take your staff in your hand, the one you used to strike the river, and go. I will stand in front of you there on the rock in Horev. You are to strike the rock and water will come out of it so that the people can drink.” Moshe did as ADONAI commanded and the Israelites had water to drink.

   [Numbers 20:2-12] Later during the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the desert, they again had no water to drink. The people quarreled with Moshe and said, “Why did you bring us into this desert to die there, we and our livestock?” Moshe and Aharon went to the entrance of the tabernacle and fell on their faces. The glory of ADONAI appeared to them. ADONAI commanded Moshe, “Take the staff, assemble the community and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. Moshe hit the rock twice with his staff (instead of speaking to the rock). Water flowed out in abundance and the community and their livestock drank. [Moshe and Aharon did not obey ADONAI‘s command exactly, so ADONAI told them, “Because you did not trust in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of Israel, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.”]

“I, Yeshua …am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star….

Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes, take the water of life free of charge.”

Revelation 22:16-17

   [John 4:5-15] As Yeshua sat by Ya’akov’s well in Shomron, He saw a woman coming to get water from the well. Yeshua told her, “If you knew who is talking to you, you would ask Him to give you living water. Everyone who drinks the water from this well will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again!”

   [John 7:37-39] Another day (on Hoshana Rabbah, the 7^th day of Sukkot) Yeshua stood and cried out to people in Jerusalem, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scriptures says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being.”

 “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!...” Isaiah 55:1

   Each time the Israelites called out to G-d during their 40 years in the wilderness, G-d provided them with water that met the needs of their physical bodies. Some of these times, [as 1 Corinthians 10:4 says]  “They drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them and that Rock was the Messiah.”

   We too have a daily need of water to drink to sustain our bodies. Even more, we need “living water” which represents the desire of our spirits to come close to G-d. In John 7:39 we learn that the “rivers of living water” come from the Holy Spirit that dwells in all believers. As believers in Messiah, we need G-d’s Holy Spirit to empower our lives on this earth and to give us the strength we need to walk victoriously in our daily lives. Yeshua our Messiah is the source of this spiritual water that brings us eternal life. To receive spiritual “living water”, we need to ask Yeshua, as the woman at Ya’akov’s well did [in John 4:15], “Give me this water you speak of.” Once a person has made the choice to receive spiritual “living water” from the Rock who is Yeshua our Messiah, the person can be certain he will one day live eternally with Yeshua in heaven.

Temple Shalom Yisrael           Copyright July 2009

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