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Thursday evenings are always very special. As I have mentioned before, we gather for prayer from three different states in America via Zoom and share what God is doing. This evening was no exception! Our time covered prayer for our families, churches, and many surprising events that God has allowed us to participate in.
One of the most exciting possibilities is taking part in a conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 16th to 19th, 2026. I mentioned this yesterday but learned more about it today. The event is just for Hmong people who gather for spiritual growth and fellowship. They anticipate 10,000 to attend next year. For us, this is a challenge we have never faced. There is one absolute we can count on. If God is in our participating, He will work out the details. We closed our time of prayer with these words from David, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” (Psalm 108:5).
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There are times I sit at my desk in wonder and amazement at what God is doing around the world. Even more amazing is that He includes unworthy people like us in working out the details. Here is a very practical example. A mission organization in America heard about our training materials from our contact in Vietnam and asked us to send them samples so they could review our training material for possible use at a large conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, next year (2026). Will you pray with us for the Lord to lead us in this opportunity?
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His steadfast love endures forever; to Him who alone does great wonders, for His steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1–4). As I take some moments to reflect on the goodness of God, I am also amazed that He worked in me so that I would be able to receive His grace. There was nothing in me that desired or deserved His grace, nor did I ever imagine what God would do in and through me if I received His grace. It was all God’s sovereign plan in past eternity, worked out in time, that He might receive eternal glory in the future.
This is a strong reminder of how Paul speaks of his life. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Have you ever stopped everything you are doing and just quietly meditated on God’s grace toward you? This consideration is very humbling!! That is why Paul says, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:4–5). So, I ask you, is this the way you look at God’s grace? I cannot think of anything worse than someone rejecting God’s grace in the gospel. Paul is filled with the wonder of this grace as he refers to it four times in Romans as a “free gift” (5:15, 16, 17, 6:23) and Ephesians 2:8. This gift carries with it so many blessings that they cannot be listed here. I will list just a few for context:
Paul and Barnabas experienced one of the saddest moments in their ministry. “And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). For those who carry the gospel of grace to anyone, rejection is highly probable! I remember preaching on the streets of Oakland and San Francisco, California, and hundreds of people walked by and visibly rejected God’s Word. They were not rejecting me; they were turning down a free gift. Heart breaking! We must turn to those whose hearts God has opened. Peter and John had just been at the temple in Jerusalem. At the entrance they encountered “a man lame from birth” who they healed “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 3:2, 5). This caused astonishment among the people who ran together to Peter and John “in the portico called Solomon’s”(3:11). Peter took the opportunity to address the people.
After addressing the crowd and referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Peter pinpoints their guilt for “denying the Holy and righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life” (3:14-15). Placing guilt on their minds and hearts was totally appropriate. But that was not the end of Peter’s message. “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus” (Acts 3:19–20). Notice that placing responsibility for their sins was not left on their conscience without providing a wide door for repentance and what follows – REFRESHMENT! God’s grace in the gospel takes the sinner from conviction of sin to a new relationship with God in His Son!  It always thrills our hearts when we see God working on the home turf. USAYO has started many Bible studies using God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) in various places across America. The report below is from a recent event in TX.
“We had a powerful night of ministry at the college rodeo regional finals. Here is a photo of serving the families of our students. We were able to pray with the contestants behind the chutes as well as hear more testimonies, which we will share later. This picture is of one of our USAYO leaders who lives outside Dallas. He was a world champion bull rider who ministers to cowboy churches and now mentors and disciples men in this sport. You will notice the GPHD manual he is holding!” How thankful we are that God’s Word is being used even in the arena of sports to establish a foundation in their souls that will not shift no matter how the human game ends.  Most of the time we mention our training using God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD), we refer to events with pastors and churches, sometimes small groups or individuals. Rarely do we report about this material going into prisons. Keep reading.
It is exciting for me to tell you that Pastor Jamie V. is taking this material into the jail in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He has a team of 10 leaders who will help him with this ministry. Please join us in praying for this pastor, his team, and this new ministry that has the potential of changing prisoners from the life they were living to a new life in Christ. Remember the dramatic change that took place in the life of the jailor in Acts 16? In just a few hours his life and family were completely changed. This can happen again with hundreds of inmates!! As our prayer group gathered online this evening, Randy began our time by reading Revelation 15:2-4.
“And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”” The last sentence summarizes the goal and purpose of New Foundations International. Our purpose is to see “all nations” (ethnē – people groups) come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and to worship Him. For that reason, the glory of God drives our missionary priority. Paul knew that through Jesus Christ “we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations” (Romans 1:5). Not one people group will be left out according to Revelation 5:9. Will you partner with us to see that all people groups are represented in that final heavenly choir? Though clay is an inanimate object and has no will of its own. I have watched potters at their wheel enough times to learn that clay can be hard to work or it can be responsive to the potter’s hand.
My concern in this blog is the resistance in human hearts. God had placed in the Church those who were “full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3) and they were used in specific areas of ministry. Stephen was one such person and was confronted by Freedmen in the synagogue. “But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (6:10). After a question from the high priest, it became clear that Stephen had a very accurate knowledge of the Old Testament, and he used it to answer his question. In Stephen’s answer, he uncovered Israel’s long history of disobedience and idolatry. This led him to say, ““You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you” (7:51). SOBERING AND SHOCKING! As I write this blog, I ask myself, “how often do I resist the Holy Spirit?” With Israel it was a very long history of resistance to a point they were not even aware of their condition. But it was the right time for God to speak through Stephen and expose their sins. His words convicted their hearts! They could have yielded to the exposure to their sin. Instead, they dug their heels in and proceeded to stone God’s messenger. How do we respond to a convicting message? Do we resist or repent and seek restoration? Let’s go back to the thought I mentioned yesterday regarding God as the Potter. To get the context of this subject, we must look at Jeremiah 18.
“Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel” (18:5–6). While we are not the house of Israel, the authority and divine power to mold and shape us as God has perfectly planned and designed, lies in His hands. A problem with the shaping process happens when we resist His hand on our lives, which is His way of molding us. One key element that the potter uses in the shaping process is water. Without water, the clay becomes dry and hard to work with. So, it is with us. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts and make our lives pliable to His touch, we will resist God’s plan and design for us. Israel became rebellious against the Lord which caused Him to “pluck up and break down and destroy” (18:7) the vessel God was seeking for form for His glory. Are you resisting God’s hand in your life? Ask the Spirit to soften your heart toward Him. |
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