 It is pictures like this and short reports of God’s work that send my heart into praise and thanksgiving. Jacob has been very instrumental in training one church after another by taking them through God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD). As you see in this picture, another group of students have been going through the GPHD training this past week.
How thankful we are that the light of the gospel is shining brighter in places where darkness once dominated. This should fuel our prayers for a greater expansion of the gospel into areas where there are still unreached people groups. If there is “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7), can you imagine what heaven sounds like when hundreds and thousands are being saved every day? Let’s join the celebration of God’s work!
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As our team gathered via Zoom this evening prayed about our brothers and sisters in difficult circumstances in many countries across the globe. In many of these situations, they continue the Lord’s work even though they work with dangers all around them. They are not stopped because of these challenges.
This brought to my mind what the Early Church faced. When Peter was put in prison, “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church” (Acts 12:5). We know from the verses that follow how Peter was brought out of the prison by an angel and immediately went to where the church was praying to join them. We may read this account and come to the expectation that this release will happen in most cases. The opposite is true. We know that brothers and sisters are being killed daily for their faith in the Lord Jesus. Those who carry out these evil deeds must be prayed for as well. ““Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12). “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (44). The most difficult prayers can be the most fruitful! If you could have anything you asked for and have the greatest impact on your life, what would it be? While you are thinking about that question, consider the following request:
Moses asked the Lord, “Please, show me your glory” Exodus 33:18. As you think about that request, remember that Israel was down in the plain melting their gold jewelry to create an idol. Compare that with wanting to see the glory of God. For Moses, that moment when the Lord “made all [His] goodness pass before [Moses] and proclaim before” him His name (19), became a moment that defined the rest of his life. For Israel, that decision began a long history of failure and discipline from the Lord. For Moses, his encounter with the Lord began forty years of God-honoring leadership. What you desire and ask for says a lot about your heart. It also determines how effective your life will be in serving the Lord. Ask for things that will change you life and impact others to serve the Lord! FREEDOM BY THE TRUTH: “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”” (John 8:31–32).
CONVICTION BY THE TRUTH: “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). TRUTH THAT STRENGTHENS: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). WITNESS OF THE TRUTH: “Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true” (3 John 12). CONSTANT REMINDER OF TRUTH: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16–17). As we see the interest in our training grow in different parts of the world, we are deeply encouraged and motivated to make Disciple-Making available to as many as possible. This reminds me of a challenge Jesus gave to those at the sermon on the mount.
““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Matthew 7:24–26). There is nothing more rewarding and exciting than to see students (disciples) going through the lessons of God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and then tell us they want to be baptized. This is exciting, NOT because we asked them to be baptized or made a strong suggestion. It was the power and authority of God’s Word that produced conviction that led to obedience. These persons are building their spiritual lives on the solid rock of God’s truth. In this process, they are learning to love God more and loving to tell His truth to others. To love God is to love His truth. To disobey Scripture is evidence that there is little love for God. They are one and the same. What does your love for God look like? Our Brother Dale has been at an event in Raleigh, NC, where he (along with others) had a booth presenting the ministry of Fishers of Men. We gave him extra copies of God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and God’s Plan for Young Disciples (GPYD) so they could be handed out. The Lord gave him the opportunity to give twenty GPYD to a couple who plan to use them for teaching children in their church. What a divine appointment and opportunity for us to pray for this couple and these books to impact the next generation!
Today, at the same event, a man returned who they spoke with the first day. He was not sure of his salvation. Our team is joining Dale in praying for Keith that today’s conversation will result in assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ. Many books were given out. You can be certain that the Lord knows each person and will follow them with His sovereign grace. We must plant seeds everywhere! The soil is not important. What is important is that we have absolute trust in God giving the growth and making the seeds fruitful (1 Corinthians 3:7). Over the past two days the Board of Directors for New Foundations International met to examine the foundation of this ministry and make sure it is built on a biblical foundation that will endure generations to come. We want to share the results of our work with you.
PURPOSE: To see all people groups behold the glory of the Lord and be transformed into it (2 Corinthians 3:18; Habakkuk 2.14). MISSION: NFI exists to glorify God by developing key indigenous leaders to establish biblical churches that are self-sustaining, self-governing, and self-propagating among all people groups. STRATEGY: We accomplish our mission by
Last evening I was handed a book by Oswald J. Smith who wrote about David Brainerd, missionary to the America’s. The introduction gives a beautiful sketch of this dear servant which is a challenge anyone who wants to effectively serve the Lord.
“When I feel myself growing cold, I turn to Brainerd, and he always warms my heart. No man ever had a greater passion for souls. To live wholly for God was his one great aim and ambition.” This attitude is rare! Is it impossible in our day? D. L. Moody said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with, and for, and through, and in, and by, the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will do my utmost to be that man”. This report comes from a pastor in Nepal who went through GPHD training last year.
“GPHD helped me to realize that the true gospel is all about the pure Grace of God. As we discussed in our study group about how the gospel is being shared in Nepal, we realized that many times the gospel is shared incorrectly. If you become Christian, you will have a good life. If you become Christian, you will have peace and prosperity. Or if you are a Christian, you receive healing from diseases and many other things. These are some statements we hear in Nepal about the gospel, but there is only one gospel (Galatians 1:7) and it was about Jesus, his grace upon our lives through which we are saved. No modification and no other substitutes will save. When we realize this pure grace, we are humbled and there is no pride. When pastors and leaders and Christians realize what this pure grace really is, they know how to live a servant’s life. We are nothing until Jesus’ grace changes our life completely. It is really important for Christian leaders to know that the gospel is about His kingdom, not ours.” “As we have often said on this blog, Matthew 24:14 is a key Scripture for our mission: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." The Greek word for "nations" is "ethnos" that describes "a group of people bound by common culture, language and heritage." This verse promises that every people group will have a gospel testimony before Christ returns.
As God continues to multiply our work in Africa, Asia and South America, we find that many people groups do not have access to the Word of God or our training materials in their own language. One such people group is the Alure-speaking people that reside in northwestern Uganda and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Not long ago, our team started working with the Alure people, and I want to share their devotion to Christ. When we arrived, we found a hunger for God's Word that exceeded all our expectations. Since we had neither our materials nor Bibles in Alur to share with them, they took our English manuals to begin studying both God's Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and God's Plan for His Church (GPHC). With only a few Alure people who have any working knowledge of English, they worked night and day to complete the Bible studies we left with them. Borrowing an Alure Bible from a friend, they tirelessly worked three days with little sleep to finish the discipleship and leadership development materials. We looked over their manuals and found that someone had translated the questions from English to Alure, then they carefully wrote out their Bible studies in their own language. Knowing they had to return to borrowed Bible in three days, they slept only a few hours each night and worked every minute meditating on the Scriptures. This devotion to Jesus and His Word challenges us who have easy access to the Bible, and we must learn from them to treasure the Word and the God who graciously gives it to us.” (Randy) |
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