Good Friday

So, why is it called Good Friday? My wife and I were visiting some neighbors in our building, ones that we have grown close to and have been building a relationship with. Our relationship with them has grown to where we call upon them with cultural questions regarding different celebrations and such. They have also invited us to be at the wedding celebration of their son in May. We are very fortunate to know them. We have shared with them that we are followers of Jesus, to which they have said they also worship Jesus, along with their other gods. We have given a New Testament Bible in their language, but have not had the best opportunity to share the Gospel in full with them.

This weekend we are in the middle of the Hindu festival called Holi. Tomorrow people will be celebrating by throwing colored dry and wet paint at each other. It coincides with Easter, in which we celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The wife asked if we had any other celebrations like Holi in America, and I said that this weekend we celebrate Easter and we color hard boiled eggs in bright colors. We color eggs, you color people, so it is similar. She responded by saying, "Oh, today is Good Friday!" She then asked a question I had never even thought of : "It is called Good Friday because Jesus came back to life this day, right?"

Only the Holy Spirit took over in answering, because the response came from me immediately. I said, "Jesus was crucified and died on Good Friday. God raised Jesus to new life on the third day, Easter Sunday." Then she said, "I always had it in my mind that Good Friday was the day that Jesus came back to life, because it is called Good. Why would it be called Good Friday if Jesus was crucified on that day?" (What a perfect lead in to share the good news!) I said to her, "The reason it is good is that when Jesus was crucified, He took upon himself the punishment for the sins of all people of the world, and made a way for us to escape the coming judgement that all people will face one day. The even better news is that on the third day, Sunday, He was risen to new life so that we could also have new life." After this, we saw that she was deep in thought and contemplating the new way of thinking about Jesus and His sacrifice.

A large gospel seed was planted today. Pray with us that this family begins to realize the truth about Jesus. Pray they will realize that He is not just another god, but the Only God. Pray that the Bible we gave them at Christmas is a light among the dark idols in their home, and that the simple mention of the name of Jesus brings them a peace they have never felt before.

Authority

As believers in Christ, we have to know that we have authority to do the things that Jesus has commanded us to do. Matthew 28:18-20 says that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus, and he then turned and gave all disciples the authority to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. We have this authority as believers and disciples of Christ. In 1 Peter 2:9, we are told that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. WE, ALL BELIEVERS AND DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, are the priests of Christianity. We have authority to do the things Jesus has commanded in His name!

I recently finished a two day training in a village outside of our city with about 125 believers, 90% of which are brand new believers (within the last 3 months) and part of our training is to empower every new believer and let them know that they have the authority to do these things. Since God is our Everlasting Rock, we should trust in Him forever (Isaiah 26:4). And since all scripture is God-breathed and good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), then we should also trust the Bible.

The area we are in, many are Hindu, and their whole lives they have been brought up to think that the Hindu priests are the only ones who are able to talk to the gods for them. Even when they become believers, they still think that the leaders or pastors or teachers that they listen to are the only ones that can pray for them and ask God for healing or help in their situations. After re-instating the above facts of their authority from God during our training, they still came to me and my interpreter, who is a pastor, for prayers for themselves, their husbands, children, animals, homes, etc. It saddened me to realize that they are still locked into thinking that they cannot possibly communicate with the Heavenly Father, even though they are believers. While it says in scripture we should ask for our elders to pray over us in the name of the Lord (James 5:14), we must also know that we are able to communicate and pray directly with God because of the sacrifice Jesus made to allow us to be in right relationship with God. It may take a long time to help these people understand what they are able to do with the new life they have been risen to. This is the reason we train new beleivers instead of just telling them to attend a church.

Please pray for these new believers that they understand that God wants to hear from them. He wants them to cry out to Him and rely on Him, not just pastors and leaders of the church. 37 of these new believers were baptized yesterday after we left. HALLELUIA! They have taken the first step of obedience in their committment to follow Jesus.

HIS Way, Not our way

More and more, God teaches me things that sometimes it takes me a while to figure out. I guess I am a little thick skulled! When we are hit with things like sickness that might take our life, or the life of a loved one, what is the meaning sometimes if that person is a believer, and why would God choose a faithful servant to suffer pain and agony only to die within two years? Even being a follower of Jesus for the past 18 years, I still ask these questions, and it is hard to see it happen.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Gramps has been diagnosed with bone cancer, far advanced, and it has made the bones in his back so brittle that his spine has some fractures. He has been in intense pain and not very lucid because of it. The doctors said that they could slow or stop the cancer, but not cure it and it would take his life within two years. He is unable to have surgery to fix his back and will have to wear a back brace for the rest of his life. Again I asked why would this happen?

Thank God for my beautiful wife. I heard her explaining to my daughter about why Gramps is going through such a trial. Since Gramps has been diagnosed, my Dad has moved back from AZ to be at his side during this. Some of his other siblings are followers of Jesus, but my dad is not. My wife said that now the people who don't know Jesus get a front row seat to see God's power at work, and to have the best chance to fully understand it. And what has happened? The doctors have seen, and have said "miraculous" progress. Gramps has been eating, walking around and will be going home after his last radiation treatment this week! Praise God for this, and for showing His power in a way that others who do not know Him personally to now see Jesus for who he is and can be in their lives. Gramps still has a long hard road ahead of chemo treatments and still much pain, but it is a miracle that he has progressed this far from when the prognosis first came.

Maybe through all this, even I might come to understand and accept that His way is the best way, and His plans are to prosper us and give us hope for the future. I still have lots to learn, and it will be a fun class, but I know there will be some tough times of learning ahead. I thought maybe I had learned enough to get by, but Jesus is not finished with me yet! What a great God we serve!

Spiritual Warfare Hits Home

We expect the enemy to attack us here. Many times missionaries in other countries are hit with terrible persecution, sickness and sometimes even worse. We thought that spiritual warfare would attack us head on while here, and we were ready. But things are happening back home more than they are here, and it has hit us more where it hurts.
My wife's grandfather has been battling complications from a stroke he had last year. While she was able to visit him before we left for the field, his condition has worsened since we arrived and he is now getting full time care. It is hard on my wife, as she is wanting to be there, but she knows we have been called here and to stay the course. We have had other things happen among our family and friends since leaving, which grieves us more than if they were happening to us. The retired pastor of our home church as recently lapsed into full alzheimer's, where he cannot remember anything or anyone around him, and has been admitted to an assisted living facility where he will be safe. Most recent, my grandfather, has been having much back pain, so much so that he could not get out of bed. Just the other day he was admitted to the hospital because of the intense pain was not subsiding at all. We found out that he has bone cancer up and down his spinal column and also on the base of his skull. My grandmother and the rest of the family is having a hard time seeing him in such intense pain. This has really hit home for us, as now my dad's family has gathered together for support, and I cannot be there.
The enemy takes great delight in our suffering and the suffering of the ones closest to us. This suffering comes under counting the cost of being a disciple. Many times we find ourselves out in village areas wondering where we will sleep, which brings to mind Luke 9:58. But now we find ourselves worried about loved ones, and ask the question "Why are we here?" Don't get me wrong, we are not questioning our call, in fact there is nothing I would rather be doing. I am encouraged by the words of Jesus again in Luke 9:60- Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their own dead but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." I thank God for His word, in times of trouble and sorrow, He has always been there, always kept His promise to love me and provide for me and protect me and encourage me and never forsake me. His word is truth, and I will proclaim the kingdom of God to the nations, no matter what the enemy can try to hit us with, until God tells me one of two things- It is finished, or well done good and faithful servant.

Future Evangelist for South Asia

God continues to show me things that I would never have expected to see. This past weekend, my team-mate and I traveled north about 9 hours to a place where we were to give our training to some local church planters. Things went pretty much as normal, but one thing really stood out to me. While we sat and ate breakfast one morning with some of the local believers in this village area, a 12 year old boy became very close to us. He is a believer (I'll call him K.K.) and he followed us everywhere. Even though we traveled by car around the area, he showed up beside the car ready to hang out with us no matter where we went. I was told that his father had died, and all he had was his older brother and the local church planter to take care of him. He is a good looking kid, always greeting us with a smile and a joy that only the Lord Himself could fill him with. He watched our every move, smiling every time we looked his way. He carried a bible in his language, wrapped in a home-made paper wrap (like those ones we used to cover our text-books in school with) and also kept it in a type of zip-loc bag for protection. We could tell this bible was very important to him by the way he protected it. I asked him, in my best attempt at his language that I have been learning, if he was reading his bible. He said yes. Later, as we exchanged some words in our own languages by pointing to objects, I decided to give him a bible verse to memorize (2 Timothy 3:16). I expected him to just listen to it and nod yes that he would read the verse. Right then he opened his bible, and to my amazement, the pages were full of underlined verses. He also had a notebook which he promptly pulled out and wrote down the verse I had given him and then underlined it in his bible. WOW, 12 going on 30 maybe? This young man showed me spiritual maturity that I had only acheived 7 years ago, when this young man was only 5! I also told him the Roman Road passages (Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10, & 10:13), and that these were important verses to memorize for when he was somewhere and did not have his bible. This way he could share the salvation of Jesus with someone from memory. By seeing him, I believe that he will memorize them, and much more than that. During our training, instead of sitting in the back and fidgiting and daydreaming like you would expect a young boy to do, K.K. sat up front and hung on every word that we taught, reading passages out loud when we called for someone to read and frantically taking notes as the teaching went on. I was so impressed how God is working among the people of this area, even this young 0ne, that I had to tell this story. Please pray for K.K. as he moves on in his young life to be a strong leader for the Lord in this area of South Asia. I pray for the Lord to use him in a mighty way to move the people not only of his village but his whole state some day.