Hello all, we are at the half way point of our summer here in Southeast Asia. The Lord was at work again last week. God used us to spread His gospel of grace to Uber drivers, small business owners, a factory worker, a motorcycle taxi driver, a head of security, as well as the unemployed. Although to this point no one has to our knowledge come to faith in Jesus Christ we know that when God's word is proclaimed it does not return void. This energizes us and keeps us motivated to keep speaking the truth of the Gospel to people that we come into contact with in our city this summer. It is an honor just to be a part of God's team and to have His name on the back of our Jersey (so to speak).
I mainly want to share how cool it has been to see how God has orchestrated His team to work together to accomplish the same mission. So this summer Michael, James, and I are located in an urban area where there is little Gospel presence and few who speak our language. However, in the months leading up to our decisions and preparation for this summer, God has been at work stirring and preparing the hearts of many student age believers in our city.
A few days after arriving in our city in June we went to an English speaking church that is primarily comprised of college students who speak both the local language and English. So very early on through attending this church we met and became friends with people our age who were familiar with the area and language that we weren't familiar with. The awesome thing is that our friends love and serve the same God that we do. God has been doing a mighty work in this local body of believers and in recent months, weeks, and days more and more students have become more and more burdened for the lost in their community. Almost every day at least one local believer has volunteered to come out and partner with us in sharing the Good News of Jesus. Had God not been preparing the hearts of these students and had He not led us to a very mission minded church the first week we were here, I'm not sure how we would have had all of these Gospel conversations.
God does the work, He provides partners and translators, He provides everything. All we have to do is say "here I am, send me". Now with this in mind we as a team also know that God opens the heart of the lost man and God opens his ear and the Lord puts a song of Praise in his mouth. It is not our job to get the lost to sing praises to God. We are aware of the Grace and mercy God has revealed to us through Christ and that inspires us to share what we have been shown. We hope and desire to tell of His praises with whoever and wherever and we pray that God allows many to hear and respond.
Psalm 40:2-3 says "He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord."
I mainly want to share how cool it has been to see how God has orchestrated His team to work together to accomplish the same mission. So this summer Michael, James, and I are located in an urban area where there is little Gospel presence and few who speak our language. However, in the months leading up to our decisions and preparation for this summer, God has been at work stirring and preparing the hearts of many student age believers in our city.
A few days after arriving in our city in June we went to an English speaking church that is primarily comprised of college students who speak both the local language and English. So very early on through attending this church we met and became friends with people our age who were familiar with the area and language that we weren't familiar with. The awesome thing is that our friends love and serve the same God that we do. God has been doing a mighty work in this local body of believers and in recent months, weeks, and days more and more students have become more and more burdened for the lost in their community. Almost every day at least one local believer has volunteered to come out and partner with us in sharing the Good News of Jesus. Had God not been preparing the hearts of these students and had He not led us to a very mission minded church the first week we were here, I'm not sure how we would have had all of these Gospel conversations.
God does the work, He provides partners and translators, He provides everything. All we have to do is say "here I am, send me". Now with this in mind we as a team also know that God opens the heart of the lost man and God opens his ear and the Lord puts a song of Praise in his mouth. It is not our job to get the lost to sing praises to God. We are aware of the Grace and mercy God has revealed to us through Christ and that inspires us to share what we have been shown. We hope and desire to tell of His praises with whoever and wherever and we pray that God allows many to hear and respond.
Psalm 40:2-3 says "He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord."
- Pray that the Lord would continue to provide partners to share and translate the Gospel alongside of James, Michael, and I.
- Pray that this week The Spirit of God would move and work and that a soul would see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.
-Urban Catalyst Team