He took our place!

Obotu (left) and Anumogok (right) are our landowners. They have been faithful to come to the teaching every day since August 20^th. The young man in the middle (we’ll call him Ekue) is from another language group. He married into Pal a couple of years ago and has been listening intently to the lessons. Is God raising up a voice for His message in the Kuyu language? Pray with us.

 

² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

(1Pe 2:2-5 NIV)

 

Three lessons left.

Many of you have been following the progress of evangelistic teaching here in Pal, praying specifically for a family. Thank you for your labor in the Lord. We have seen great interest. Many of our friends are very ready to hear the last couple of lessons where we put the pieces together. We are excited to present to our friends the precious cross – the place where God’s justice and mercy intersect. We pray that many will place themselves in God’s hands by faith in that finished work.

 

Please don’t get me wrong. It is not all raised hands and hallelujahs here on the ground. There are some who have not been listening, there are some who are in opposition, and there are some who are confused by stories that they have heard before. Of course we will continue to be working to teach any who will listen, but it is painful for us to see friends who are coming to the meetings but not really putting their ears to it. We keep telling them, “You don’t need to be OK in our eyes, you need to be made OK in God’s eyes!” Please pray for wisdom in how to help these friends understand the truth.

 

This is us preparing our friends to hear about the rich man and Lazarus. It was a very important drama for them to see because they have been led to think that wealth is really all they are missing. One of my friends said of the skit, “I couldn’t look at you when you were in the place of fire, I kept thinking ‘That is me, that is me!’ and I couldn’t look.”

 

This week

Monday – The trial of Jesus. Chris will teach about how Jesus was betrayed, mocked, beaten, and sent to die. This lesson is pretty detailed and will end with the drama of Jesus getting beaten and dragged away.

Tuesday -  This lesson begins with the drama of Jesus being brought in and nailed to the cross. His death, burial, and resurrection are then taught. We’ll be focusing on how His death is specifically applied to and in the place of those who put their trust in Him. This is a heavy lesson and we expect that there will be many who understand the gospel and personally apply it on this day. (Monday, Nov 10 at roughly 2-3 pm PST – in case you want to take some special time to pray for us as we teach/answer questions.)

Wednesday – Nate will take some time to cover the ascension of Jesus to heaven and the promise of His return. We’ll be talking about how a believer has great hope and the work of telling others the truth. Then we’ll dismiss the whole group for a week. During that week we’ll be meeting with individuals seeking to determine where their hearts are and what we can do to help confirm the gospel for them.

Later – After taking a week off, we’ll meet again with the whole group and talk with them about the difference between believers and unbelievers. We’ll then invite the believers to grow in faith by walking together with us further into God’s Word. We’ll invite the unbelievers to hear again the story of God’s great salvation. (More on all this later.)

 

Uitem, one of the first believers is hungry for God’s Word. He asked us specifically about trials brought on by Satan this week. Please be praying specifically for the baby believers that they would stand in confidence on the truth.

 

Praying

·         That there would be real understanding of the gospel. That our friends would have real joy in the Lord’s work for them. That they would be able to praise Him from the heart for the first time!

·         There is still a major epidemic of the measles here in Pal. We heard today of a baby that died yesterday or the day before. So many of our friends believe that their offenses in the spiritual world cause them sickness… lots of accusations are flying across family and clan lines.

·         Energy is short here. We have been pretty much all-out for the last two and a half months. With translation projects needing to be in to consultants before Christmas, the next term of literacy school looming, and the discipling of many baby believers, we are trusting in the Lord for wisdom in how to spread ourselves as a team.

·         We would ask you to be praying with us for discernment as we seek to meet with individuals this week. It’s going to mean lots of hiking, sitting, talking, thinking, restating, and questioning. We really want to affirm those who have chosen Christ, and help review material for those who have not.

 

Thanks so much for your partnership in the work here. We really would not be here without your prayers and support.

Grace,

Nate for us 5