João (69) and Maria (65) live in a one bedroom, one bath, and kitchen. They have taken in two children off the street to raise and occasionally house a couple of granddaughters for days. They make a wopping $240 per month. After rent and utilities - that's $50 for groceries and everything else. They have 5 daughters and 1 son. The kids behaviors range from prostitution to drug addiction. One of the granddaughters is having baby #2 at 18 years of age. João does what he can to make some extra change, but his children drain him faster than it comes in. João and Maria have attended the health and wealth gospel church and bought into some of the lies. They are seeking Jesus for what he can give them, but then wouldn't you if in their shoes?
My original title for this post was "Soap Opera". I am so deeply affected by lives like theirs, especially on thanksgiving day with deep gratitude in light of God's grace. First off, I must humble myself to understand that though my bank account is stable, my spiritual account is as deeply bankrupt apart from God's saving and sustaining grace. I must also acknowledge God`s electing grace and realize that His grace comes by no merit of mine which He might look ahead and save me for! Who am I and what makes me any different than João and Maria? Simply God and His sovereign purpose for His infinite praise! May God use us to the praise of His glory to speak truth into the lives of João and Maria. May their eyes be opened as mine were. May we never gloat self-righteously in our condition - because we too are ever so wretched candidates in need of His grace!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Andrea's Story
This summer, we had two weeks of Children's Bible Club which we blogged about here .
A woman named Andrea happened to see the sign outside of our house advertising the club, and decided to bring her son to attend the last two days. She mentioned that she was interested in learning more about God and the Bible, and a few weeks later, we began a six-week Bible study with her. She was always attentive and seemed interested in the gospel. What she had been taught all of her life had caused her to be afraid of God, knowing that her life was not pleasing to him, but not knowing how exactly to change that. She was trying to change some sinful habits in her life so that she would be acceptable to God because she felt he wanted nothing to do with her because of her sin. When I asked her what she would say to God as to why he should let her into heaven, her answer was that she really wanted to get in.
Her understanding of the gospel continued to grow as we studied, and when we were finished the six-week study, she said she wanted to continue. Last week, she told me she was facing a difficult decision in her life and didn't know what she should do, but wanted to know God's will. As she shared the details with me, I immediately knew that God already had a couple things to say in the Bible about her situation. I asked her if she considered herself to be a Christian and her reply was "yes." Not wanting to place doubts in her mind, but wanting to know if she truly understood what it meant to be a Christian, I asked her some more questions about how she knew she was a Christian. She said that she was trusting in Jesus for her salvation and believed that he had died on the cross for her sins. She said she finally understood that God's love for her was personal and that she didn't have to do any works to receive his salvation. Amazingly, she said that the Christian life was not a life of suffering, like she had always believed, having to follow a list of rules of what to do or not to do to earn God's favor, but the desire to make necessary changes in her life came naturally once she placed her trust in Christ.
Yesterday, Andrea and her son, Saimon, joined us for our Sunday morning Bible study. She and I currently meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to study the Bible and when I invited her to come on Sunday too, she was excited and said that she gets sad on Thursday because it will be several days before we have another study. Andrea is a talented musician, and she brought her guitar to play along with David. She quickly picked up on the songs and David said she was filling in places with notes he wasn't even playing. It was great to see her using her talents to praise God.
I am learning more and more the power of the gospel to change lives. God chooses to use us in the process of salvation, and that is amazing. Just recently we were discussing all the other religions we are in "competition" with in this neighborhood. It's easy to get discouraged when we are automatically associated negatively with another religious group. What distinguishes our message from every other message out there being taught to those around us? We concluded that our message is the only life-giving one. It's the only one that has the power to give someone new life in Christ and fellowship with God. We are here in São José, Santa Catarina, Brazil because God wants us to take this life-giving, life-changing message to the people here.
Last week we began a study with a woman named Adriana, and this week we will be starting one with a couple named João and Patricia. Wednesday, David and James are starting a study with a man named Aguiar, and James and Christen are currently involved in two other Bible sudies. Sometimes the work seems slow, but then God begins to open doors and give us entrance into people's homes and lives and it's exciting!
A woman named Andrea happened to see the sign outside of our house advertising the club, and decided to bring her son to attend the last two days. She mentioned that she was interested in learning more about God and the Bible, and a few weeks later, we began a six-week Bible study with her. She was always attentive and seemed interested in the gospel. What she had been taught all of her life had caused her to be afraid of God, knowing that her life was not pleasing to him, but not knowing how exactly to change that. She was trying to change some sinful habits in her life so that she would be acceptable to God because she felt he wanted nothing to do with her because of her sin. When I asked her what she would say to God as to why he should let her into heaven, her answer was that she really wanted to get in.
Her understanding of the gospel continued to grow as we studied, and when we were finished the six-week study, she said she wanted to continue. Last week, she told me she was facing a difficult decision in her life and didn't know what she should do, but wanted to know God's will. As she shared the details with me, I immediately knew that God already had a couple things to say in the Bible about her situation. I asked her if she considered herself to be a Christian and her reply was "yes." Not wanting to place doubts in her mind, but wanting to know if she truly understood what it meant to be a Christian, I asked her some more questions about how she knew she was a Christian. She said that she was trusting in Jesus for her salvation and believed that he had died on the cross for her sins. She said she finally understood that God's love for her was personal and that she didn't have to do any works to receive his salvation. Amazingly, she said that the Christian life was not a life of suffering, like she had always believed, having to follow a list of rules of what to do or not to do to earn God's favor, but the desire to make necessary changes in her life came naturally once she placed her trust in Christ.
Yesterday, Andrea and her son, Saimon, joined us for our Sunday morning Bible study. She and I currently meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to study the Bible and when I invited her to come on Sunday too, she was excited and said that she gets sad on Thursday because it will be several days before we have another study. Andrea is a talented musician, and she brought her guitar to play along with David. She quickly picked up on the songs and David said she was filling in places with notes he wasn't even playing. It was great to see her using her talents to praise God.
I am learning more and more the power of the gospel to change lives. God chooses to use us in the process of salvation, and that is amazing. Just recently we were discussing all the other religions we are in "competition" with in this neighborhood. It's easy to get discouraged when we are automatically associated negatively with another religious group. What distinguishes our message from every other message out there being taught to those around us? We concluded that our message is the only life-giving one. It's the only one that has the power to give someone new life in Christ and fellowship with God. We are here in São José, Santa Catarina, Brazil because God wants us to take this life-giving, life-changing message to the people here.
Last week we began a study with a woman named Adriana, and this week we will be starting one with a couple named João and Patricia. Wednesday, David and James are starting a study with a man named Aguiar, and James and Christen are currently involved in two other Bible sudies. Sometimes the work seems slow, but then God begins to open doors and give us entrance into people's homes and lives and it's exciting!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Vilson and Jandir
Please pray for these two men today. Last night they were in my home and we discussed in detail that the gospel is God-centered. We studied Mark 7:20-23 where Jesus makes very clear the origin of all sin and rebellion - deep within us! Vilson has heard the truth several times now, and last night he brought his brother as well. Jandir is a former Pentecostal, convinced that he's been baptized in the spirit, spoken in tongues, and therefore will be accepted into heaven. I would ask then that you pray that God would open their spiritual eyes and turn them from darkness to light. God has given us wonderful entrance into the lives of these men and we are grateful. Thank you for praying.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Soccer and Religion
If you have an incredible memory you might just remember a comment in our deputation presentation in regards to values that are a huge part of Brazilian culture. Soccer and religion rank among the top. Interestingly enough, there are incredible likenesses among soccer fans and religious fanatics: likenesses that shed light on why they are so valued among this people.
Some of these very thoughts stemmed out of a conversation with an unbelieving friend.
My objective is to share some core values that each hold and allow you to make the connect.
Soccer Fan Values:
1. Fair weather devotion - a devotion strictly based on their teams performance. Cheering, chanting, and fireworks are the norm for my winning team, but so is rage, anger, and cussing should they lose!
2. Spectator Critics - everyone is doing it all wrong and I can see it all - (the ref was unfair, the other team cheated, and my own team can't kick a ball) Given the chance - this person could do much better, but would never try.
3. Status Symbol - highly esteemed when this is one of the few status symbols one can afford. Currently one of local teams has a record better than in the past 30 years - you can imagine.
Religious Values:
1. Man-centered worship - a search for the perfect church on the basis of it's charisma, leadership, and worship (code for music). Permanence in such a church last's only as long as the bang. The back door swings open and the backstabbing begins.
2. Passive behavior - one who reluctantly follows religion, criticizes it's inconvenience, and eventually walks away from its pressures.
3. Evangelical attention - displayed by it's new found evangelical vocabulary, and fancy black suit - drawing a fresh look from it's long despised neighbors and their pre-critical looks.
I would conclude these things to be true of any people group in some fashion or other. Almost daily conversations have burdened my heart for a people that - like the man I see in the mirror - are extremely man centered. The gospel smorgasbord is available and you will find a wide variety of "what's in it for me" gospel. The true gospel has strong competition because the true gospel is the diametric opposite of religion - preaching about a man who came and died a horrible death! I beg of you that you pray for us in our weakness and insufficiency as missionaries, that we might boldly speak of a God-centered salvation that solely based on Christ's merit, once for all who would believe, and is not negotiable. I recently heard a speaker say in reference to Charles Spurgeon: " He can certainly preach the gospel better than I can, but he can never preach a better gospel than I can!" This is fuel for my fire and I pray it will be for yours. May God so help us to be less concerned with ourselves, our thoughts, our desires, our money, our politics, our families, our dreams, and more concerned with the proclamation of His glory.
Some of these very thoughts stemmed out of a conversation with an unbelieving friend.
My objective is to share some core values that each hold and allow you to make the connect.
Soccer Fan Values:
1. Fair weather devotion - a devotion strictly based on their teams performance. Cheering, chanting, and fireworks are the norm for my winning team, but so is rage, anger, and cussing should they lose!
2. Spectator Critics - everyone is doing it all wrong and I can see it all - (the ref was unfair, the other team cheated, and my own team can't kick a ball) Given the chance - this person could do much better, but would never try.
3. Status Symbol - highly esteemed when this is one of the few status symbols one can afford. Currently one of local teams has a record better than in the past 30 years - you can imagine.
Religious Values:
1. Man-centered worship - a search for the perfect church on the basis of it's charisma, leadership, and worship (code for music). Permanence in such a church last's only as long as the bang. The back door swings open and the backstabbing begins.
2. Passive behavior - one who reluctantly follows religion, criticizes it's inconvenience, and eventually walks away from its pressures.
3. Evangelical attention - displayed by it's new found evangelical vocabulary, and fancy black suit - drawing a fresh look from it's long despised neighbors and their pre-critical looks.
I would conclude these things to be true of any people group in some fashion or other. Almost daily conversations have burdened my heart for a people that - like the man I see in the mirror - are extremely man centered. The gospel smorgasbord is available and you will find a wide variety of "what's in it for me" gospel. The true gospel has strong competition because the true gospel is the diametric opposite of religion - preaching about a man who came and died a horrible death! I beg of you that you pray for us in our weakness and insufficiency as missionaries, that we might boldly speak of a God-centered salvation that solely based on Christ's merit, once for all who would believe, and is not negotiable. I recently heard a speaker say in reference to Charles Spurgeon: " He can certainly preach the gospel better than I can, but he can never preach a better gospel than I can!" This is fuel for my fire and I pray it will be for yours. May God so help us to be less concerned with ourselves, our thoughts, our desires, our money, our politics, our families, our dreams, and more concerned with the proclamation of His glory.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
We are grateful for two weeks of successful VBS! Between our two homes we shared Christ with 50 kids and 11 parents. One of the parents has requested a 6 week evangelistic study in her home. Andréa is a single mom in need of a Savior - pray for her. Our intentions are to follow up in the homes of the kids. Now that we have built their confidence, a Bible study might come easier. Thank you for your prayers and support! God Bless!
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