Hamilton Elim Church
14 July 2024 - Missions Month: The Robinsons
This month is our missions month, where we love to highlight missions and what's going. What God is doing across the globe, and today we have very special guests all the way from the Philippines. Oh my gosh, I've always got all the Philippians in my mind. From the Philippines, and so please put your hand together for Phil and Ruth Robinson. [Applause] Got a Tefano, good morning church, Magandangumaga, as they say in the Philippines. I'm Phil and this is my wife Ruth, and uh, I'm sorry. Magandangumaga, Paul. Good morning, Paul. So, um, yeah, I'm 41, Ruth's 30-something, and our kids... I'm 30. Plus. [Laughter] And our kids, Jemima and Zik are out the back. Eight and six, and this is Ruth's parents, who are also church planters and missionaries. So we're missionary pastors, and we do ministry and mission in the city, and also in the tribes. So there's two tribes that we're working with, and um, yeah, we're about one hour north of... Manila, and then when we travel, we go about three hours south, and then another two and a half hours on a boat, and then to the first tribe, and then the second and most newest tribe is about another four hours drive after that. And Lois and Peter, who I can see here today, and a lot of others here, have been to that furthest place. So yeah, um, yep, next slide. So yeah, we don't only encourage mission teams from New Zealand and foreign countries, but also we encourage the local church. So here's some of the mission teams from the JCM, Jesus Christian Ministry, and that's just a picture of us at the tribe, and that's our family. So for me, so how did I get into mission? I went on a short-term missions trip, 2003, and then 2008, and 2008 was when I fell in love with Ruth, but we just stayed friends, and um, and then we developed our relationship, and then we did missions training together, and then since 2015, we've been with OMS One Mission Society, and yeah, that's the short version, next slide. So that up the top is a picture of what the church used to look like in the city, just one really small room, and by God's goodness and His grace, oh, that was, yeah, there, that was part of the house was Ruth's parents, and then they donated their house to the church, and so now the church is a school, and yeah, a bigger church, now we've got enough space to worship, and so the kids get to know about Jesus every day as well as their normal education, it's a Christian school, not supported by the government, and yeah, so that's just a few other things that we do, graduation, Ruth's there teaching, the principals there, the kids are praying for each other, and there's chapel services for the kids too, and that's just one of their school camps down the bottom, yeah, next slide. So this is one of the starting photos of the first tribe, and it's just, you know, the small little hut, and the people are very, very shy in the beginning, like you'd be talking to them, and they would be right behind the door, and they were just super, super shy to begin with, but they started with building relationship, and especially Ruth's parents were really good like that, her dad knows like everybody in the Philippines, and so anyway, he built relationship, and then we built relationship with them, and Ruth's a teacher, and her mum's a teacher, so they started with literary C programs with the young kids, and just teaching them ABCs, and then introduce a worship song in the mix, and yeah, so it started like that, and then now three to five families to now, yeah, 25 to 30 families, so yeah, praise God for all that he's done, that's some of the more beginning photos, where it's just a dirt floor church, and now there's 20, 13 baptisms on the next slides, about 50 of them got baptized, that was a very happy day, and praise God, they are continuing in their faith, and being discipled, knowing Jesus, so yeah, and then the next slide, yeah, so that's like what it used to look like, all the way up in the middle photo, and then over the years there's been church extensions, and that's the biggest it is, that was the next one, and then that's the biggest it is, and it now has a roof on it, and glass windows too, but those louver type, because they have those big typhoons, yeah, so yeah, church planting, and through RMS, and missionaries who have been partnering, they instead of walking one or two kilometers to get their water, they put in some tanks and water pipes, and so now they've got water in the village, so that was a little while ago now, but praise God, it's, it's started to help build the community, that we got real water, and then, but the best water is the living water with Jesus, so the next slide, yeah, so that's, son to your door, that's the first slide, sorry, the first tribe, and the second tribe is another four hours drive away, so they did, we did church planting, church building, oh yeah, at first you had to watch where you walked, because the toilet could be anywhere, but helping them with their practical needs, with health, as well as discipleship, and telling them about Jesus, so they were able to build about six toilets, about three or four toilet blocks, so yeah, praise God. And yeah, and there's a daycare also that's been built now, at the first location, so that location is called Santidoro, now this one is called Bulalaka, so if the first one is like six to eight hours, you just have to add another four hours, five hours, and then two hours hike for us, for me, for Lois and Peter, it's one hour, so yeah, so that's a long travel, but we praise God because when they've seen the testimony of what had happened on the first location, they decided to see that, but you know, it's not just about having water, having toilets, having the building, but there's a powerful thing that's happening in that community, and they acknowledge it's all because of Jesus, and so the son of the tribe leader from the first location, his name is Toto, he prayed about it, spoke to Pastor Elli about it, and you know, as they continue and we continue with discipleship, so he went through the discipleship with really, and now, starting 2022, we have, they have gathered there, so at first it was just Pastor Elli who goes there, and then later on we're joining and bringing teams now, this is 2023, where there's a dedication of the area, which is owned by Toto for building a physical church, and with the last team recently, there's also a baptism that had happened, so we praise God for that, and yeah, now there's a better physical church that has been built in that area, we could go to the next slide, so yeah that's how it looks like for baptism who wants to get baptized by store, can do it there, yeah, yeah, somebody there raised an answer answer answer, yeah, let's go get baptized, right here, that's what it looks like in the Philippines, yeah, in the river or in the river, so this is the physical church on top of the mountains, so if we say one to two hours hike, that's how they did to bring all those cement blocks and roof and everything up there, and we praise God it's been completed, so continue praying because they wanted to have like another room at the back of the church, so that when Pastor Ants come and for Pastor Ants come forward, they have a place to sleep there, now if anyone wants to join the team, so yeah, there's going to be a place there, so when it comes to mission, we do it like not just bringing the gospel there, because we believe that when Jesus saw the needs of people, you know, he met those needs, so as the ambassadors of Jesus Christ, that's what we want to do, so we bring also teams to bring medical help, so just recently last April there was a medical mission happened, we continue to do feeding program, their sponsorship, so it's a holistic thing, okay, so you can be a part of it, and so yeah, these are the students that are sponsored by those who are sponsoring here, Pastor Ants, Pastor Poirot, the Cooks, Boys and Peter, and who else are sponsoring, you're sponsoring all these kids, we're not like the other organization, we just sponsor one child, the difference here is that we don't have that much number of sponsors at the moment, but there's a lot of kids, 40 kids and we don't want to have a spark of jealousy there, so now whatever comes, we distribute to everybody, and now there's also some that goes to Bulalah, the new location, so why are we trying to do this, although it's, you know, it's very difficult to encourage them with education, because number one, they get to open up their Bibles, learn and read the word of God so they themselves can also get the word of truth, so by that as they learn, it's difficult to encourage them because at 13, just to let you know with this tribe, not all the Filipinos, just this tribe, they get married at the age of 13, and without really needing to have a wedding thing, so they just call it, we're married, and they have kids, so they started that age, so you know, it's difficult to encourage them because all they think is just they will just have to work, have their parents, have a family, and then you know, continue on that cycle, but what we want to show is there's greater things that God has for them, and if you want that, we agree that also they can have that, so here are the kids that we are sponsoring, so yeah, help us to empower them so that they'll be free from the burden of having to work for education, so we started with five, yeah, with five girls, um, not all of them were able to really complete that, but we praise God because two of three of them were able to finish high school, and one of them who is Donna, and they're with a picture with Louis and Peter, that they've sponsored, has completed education, and so that's a big breakthrough because for them, it's already a dream to finish grade six, to reach grade seven, it's like a wow thing, and for somebody to be able to reach university level, it's like a breakthrough for them, and so that has brought a challenge for the other young people to continue in their studies, and you know, they have seen how God provided, they have seen how God is helping them, it's so difficult, their parents are not educated, so it's like, you know, it's so discouraging, like I have a homework that can you help me, and nobody can help them, so yeah, it's been a journey, so the JCM Church is trying also to bring some young people there, to encourage them with studies, so it's not just the financial help that we bring, but also people that will encourage and aid them during a pandemic, we did some online, like reinforcement class with them, so it's not just the young ones, but now we also have encouraged some of the dads and the moms to get back to schooling. Yeah, Donna's the first person from her tribe to graduate, so it was a real big thing, and it was a real God thing, and yeah, it's worth, it's worth when Ruth and her brother, not so much me, because I'm not as good as Tagalog, at the language, yeah, but it's worth helping them with your studies, and helping them with your exams, and helping them with their questions, and yeah, it's just a really cool thing. Yeah, so on the next slide you'll see what a powerful testimony it can be, it's not just us or those who are like educated, that can stand and speak and preach about the gospel, or can testify, but for someone who has experienced what God has done, so here's Sheila, she's from the first location, and when she came with us on the second location, it's so powerful, this is so true in Acts 1 and 8, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit, how many of you have the power of the Holy Spirit, amen, and so, has come up with me and you will be witness, and it says in Jerusalem, Judeus, Emma, and the ends of the earth, so it's like wherever you go, you can be that witness to testify, and with this one, knowing their back, they begun with being so shy, like speaking to Phil and I'll be hiding here, or I'll be behind the door, that's how shy they were, like really you cannot see their face when you speak to them, but here's someone standing in front of many, and then speaking about and testifying what God has done, and encouraging others, this is something that, you know, not any of us can just do to transform people in a nation, that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit, but we can be instruments of that event, so that's how it's like, we also did some installation of solar power lights, because in this area not many are connected to electricity, so not all of them have electricity yet, in the first location for the longest time, there's no electricity, and then they had, so yeah, it's been helpful, especially for the students now who are studying, so we also encourage to have short-term teams, they're a blessing, doing some practical work, and just being there, praying for them, bringing encouragement, so we would like to encourage you if you want to join a short-term team, pass or answer them the day, you can join, pray for you, you start praying, you know, I just encourage you, something is born when we pray about it, so you know, we give birth to something when we pray about it, you start to have compassion about something, and be passionate about something when you pray about it, so yeah, and so here are some more pictures of the teams that came with us from 2015-2018, but we have started bringing teams in Mindoro since 2009, with Pass or Owen, and some of the one mission society teams that they have sent, so yeah, and then the next one, and the next one, all right, so it says here evangelize, so like, we want to challenge also our people in our own church, the city that we are to evangelize and care for the lost, which I know it's the same year that you live, to help the least, equip and send the same, and send them to the seven spears of society, seven spears are like what you're praying for, even if it's your involvement in education, in business, wherever you are connected, you can be that missionary, so just to testify about this, why there's that picture, so there's Moniet, maybe some of you have been to the Philippines, you recognize her, she's now part of the worship team, the one who's standing beside me, she came to know the Lord, through the ministry of the school, we have a school also in the city, and when I started with her, like what I told you, from prayer, you know, it's a beginning of something when we pray for somebody or something, so we just started praying for her and her family, so I have their list of names, and you know, I always include them to prayers, but one time for, you know, for a long time we've been praying for something, and then you want to be a part of that answer prayer, but then what happened was there was a confusion that happened, an issue in the school where she is not so happy about me, are you happy about me, she's not happy about me, like, you know, there's no way I would be able to encourage her or bring her to search anymore because of that issue that had happened, but you know, the Lord is teaching us and wants us to be that light and soul, so you know, it's very humbling that God wants to use you not in your own way, and sometimes it's not only in this stage, do we agree on that? It's not only in this platform, but yes, this is a big ministry, so I came to their house, I apologize, and I said I'm very sorry for what had happened about your son, and while she's there knowing her, like, you know, she's like a bum, you know, she could just but she did not do it that time, so I'm like, I feel like I'm Daniel in the lion's den, because the sister is there too, what she's times too, I forgot to tell this morning, the auntie was also there, she's times three, so I'm surrounded by lioness, and I'm in a den because I'm in their house, so inside of me, you know, I'm just like praying tongues, I want to go home complete, so when I was just apologizing, I just pray that Lord, however you want to use me, just use me, after that, the issue, I started to visit her in her house, and, you know, sometimes I'll just sit with her, drink coffee with her, until it's becoming, praying with her, and then praying for her, and then I didn't know that, you know, they have a problem in their marriage and their family that time, until that is little by little becoming worse, and we kept praying, but then the sister is, the sister started to join, the sister in love started to join the disciples, and then God made his way that their marriage was restored and reconciled, and then the sisters and the sister in love with their husbands started to join and be engaged in the church, and during the pandemic, they got baptized, the husbands, and then now the mother is also joining, but the thing here in the Philippines is we're religious people, you know, we think that we're so religious, we're so good people, because of our religiosity, and so the hardest thing here is to really let them see that, you know, we can be saved only by Jesus Christ, because they think good works and all these things can save them, and so the ones that are here, the uncle, who's not a believer that time, so opposed about them going to church, because, you know, the other family members are adding, but one time, his wife was sick, and, you know, we just prayed, we just prayed for her, it was, it was during COVID, and nobody wants to go and visit her, but we went, and we prayed, but there was this one, one time that it was just an online, online praying, and then, you know, she's like, she's dying, please pray for her, after the prayer, they messaged me and said she was able to set up again, eat, and then was sent out of the hospital, and then when I visited her, yeah, I told them that there's a need for all the families to gather, there's an impression that, you know, reconciliation needs to take place, but one of their daughter is in Saudi that time, so they did a video call, so God is not just a God who will just deal with one issue, like he can deal with everything, so miracle happened, and here's reconciliation, healing of hearts, and not just that, so the ones who is in Saudi, accepted also Jesus, as her Lord and Savior, and her husband, and now is baptized and serving in a church there in Saudi, and now that uncle, although, you know, the wife passed away, but we know she's in the Lord's hand, and became also an instrument so that the household will be saved, so we praise God, because I just started with one, and that one person, it's like, you know, it's not easy, and it might not be, you know, in a way that I wanted, or the easy way, but we just want to be instruments, to be that vessel of bringing the gospel, and so through that one person, the whole household has accepted Jesus, and they have become engaged not only to God, but also to the church, and even now to the community, and is being part of the ministry at J.C. and there in Malalos, so I hope this testimony encourages you, and will start to, you know, help us, that, all right, who's that one person that God is putting in my heart, and the next is, what's that one country? Maybe it's the Philippines. That God is putting in your heart. Who are these missionaries, maybe the Robin sons? You know, you can start praying for, because through that, we can reach others. No, sorry, Phil, I'm just, you know, in John chapter 4, I'm not going to read the whole thing to you now. How many of you know John chapter 4? One, two, three, four, okay, five, thank you, six, wow, all right. In John chapter 4, there's, you know, there's this event where Jesus met the Samaritan woman, and if we look at the two characters, they're Jesus, and then the Samaritan woman, we as believers can be like Jesus, right? Because actually, that's what we should be like, in the walking, the Christ-likeness, and what is Jesus there? Jesus being missional, Jesus souping down on the level of the Samaritan woman, and then at one point in our lives, we are like the Samaritan woman. What's the Samaritan woman? Outcast in need, issues, she's got all that, but Jesus stopped for her. Jesus gave the time to speak to her. Jesus offered something better than what she's longing for. How you know what? There's something that you can offer to someone better than what you have, that you think, okay, this is only what I have. How many of you have Jesus in your hearts? We have Jesus. He is the living water, he's the bread of life, he's the salvation, he's the grace, he's that hope, he's that love that others need. And you know, this woman, when Jesus is mentioning about her issues in life, it's not just, you know, like a slap in the face of, oh, this is what you did know, but this is to let her know, I know everything, but still I want to offer you something better. That's grace, that's the grace of God. And after that, for this Samaritan woman who has experienced, you know, this attention, this special offer, when there went to her village, the secret that she's, maybe she's been hiding her for a long time, she's the one out telling, you know what? He knows what I did. He's telling me what I did, starting to testify, no more shame. Yeah, easy, no more shame. Have had the living water, no more shame, had experienced the grace of God. And this is what a missionary should be like, like Jesus, to see the need of others and respond to the need of others. And know that we are once like that Samaritan woman, that even though there are issues, we can be missional also and tell to others, this is what Jesus did to me. Jesus met me. Jesus gave this to me. So we can be, why am I sharing this? Why did I choose this to share to you? Because we can be missional in everywhere, in any time, or maybe at this very moment, you know, you feel like, I'm still that Samaritan, there's still some issues in my life, just come to Jesus. And he's offering something better than what you have right now. And he wants to experience the fullness of his love, the fullness of his grace, you know, the lady said, you cannot draw any water from that, that well is so deep. You know, I'm thinking of that in the essence of this woman has a deep issue in life. But you know, the death of the pit where God picks you up, that's going to be the death of your worship when you experience the fullness of God. And you know what, these mangan people, when you see them worship the Lord, they're not in the same beat as us. They don't know for for it, or I'm having a hard time out to know. We can be on the same beat, but having the same heartbeat of Jesus because of receiving the same thing, that is something that's powerful. And you and I can bring that if we will just allow ourselves to be that hands and feet of Jesus, to have that eyes filled with compassion like Jesus has. When he looks at the crowd, he's filled with compassion, begin to have that. Now we will just have to, you know, come to Jesus right now. What do I have? What do I have that I need to just, you know, in exchange to God? Like, that's American woman. Here's the issues. Here's something better. What do we have right now? We give to Jesus and then let our lives be used by God. So shall we bow the just pray? Let's ask Lord, activate my senses. Lord, activate my eyes to look at others, to see the mission field wherever I am, where I can bring your gospel, where I can bring your love, where I can bring your grace, where I can be the salt and the light. Lord, activate this hands to reach out to others. So I'll activate my feet that I will start to go where you want me to go. And we rebuke passivity, but we release active love like Jesus did to anyone that we will meet, that we will start and we will begin living a mission of life. But we give you praise through what you have done. And because of that, we're changed. We're renewed day by day. And Lord, just help us have that compassion that we will desire to let others experience the love and grace from you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys. I just want to encourage you. You're not an ordinary person. You're an extraordinary person and you've got an extraordinary God. And you can tap other people that we can't tap when we show that love, which is inside of us by Jesus and let it affect the people around us, great things are going to happen. So keep on going. Thank you guys for having us here. Thank you.