Stepping into the Promised Land
By: Sis. Micah Simpas
“Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:7 (NLT)
Amidst the pandemic, God’s ability to provide and perform miracles has not stopped. Instead, He has shown us that even in the storms, He is God; even in hardships, He is Lord of all, and we, in Evangel Tagum have experienced the timeless grace of the Lord.
On October 4, 2020, we finally stepped into our ‘Promised Land’ – the new Place of Worship we’ve been praying for years. This land is a monument of God’s faithfulness upon Evangel Tagum. We could still remember when Pastor Greg wrestled with the Lord to grant him land where he could build a temple for the Lord before he turns 50 years old. He made this deal with the Lord because this is his gift to the future generation. He wanted to assure that the next generation will have something to inherit and be stable when the time comes that he would soon get old and retire. Nonetheless, Pastor Rosario had been holding on to this particular promise that God made to Abraham – the promise of a son, and Abraham waited for 25 years to receive the fulfilment of God’s promise.
Just like Abraham’s waiting period of 25 years, God had granted us the promise of the land when we were in the 25th year in the ministry (February 2018). Pastor Rosario took the life of Abraham as an example that God is able: God fulfils and never fails. God has His process of preparing and creating things beautifully, so we can say that it is worth the wait. Furthermore, along the process, we only need to trust and believe the work of the hands of the Lord.
Despite the pandemic affecting the whole world, the work of God continues. The gates of hell will never prevail. Hence, God took care of his people, and as they say, “The economy of the world may go down but Heaven’s economy goes up.” Constructing a building was never easy, but the provision of the Lord is endless. God had even stretched out His ability and capacity to do extraordinary things. The process may be strenuous, but when God is at work, everything comes out beautifully.
We are grateful because the Lord had sent us miracles through people – the people who helped the church financially, people who donated, people who voluntarily rendered service and materials, and lastly people who prayed for us and have given support all the way. As of the moment, we are nearly done finishing the building, with a things to be done on the upper floor and some on the ground floor, we have already moved in on the building and currently using it for our Sunday services and along with that, we are also continuously adjusting to the new normal setting.
Finally, the best thing about this construction, is that not only have we built a temple of worship for the Lord, but as a family in EFC Tagum, we were able to escalate a stronger relationship and unity as a church.
On behalf of Evangel Tagum, thank you very much to our JECPP family, to our JECPP founder and Advisor Rev. Dr Robert Lim; to our Senior Overseer Rev. Peter Wee and Rev. Christine Wee; to our Deputy Overseer Rev. Andrew Kwong and Rev. Rowena Kwong; to all Davao Region Core Leaders, thank you! And above all the LORD MOST HIGH for making all these possible! Thank you for leaping Faith with us. We are confident that this too will happen to other churches out there. If God can do it to us, He can also do it to you. ALL GLORY TO THE PROMISE-KEEPING GOD THAT WE SO JOYOUSLY SERVE!
