sulawesi-ricefields

For Nearly Two Years

 God kindly entrusted our church to serve in a certain area of Southeast Asia. We recently brought to a close the labor of our church’s mission team there. The Lord reminded me of a very precious verse in Ecclesiastes 3:2 concerning the situation: there is a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted. But, before our church’s mission team moved to a different location in SE Asia, the Lord Jesus gave me the opportunity to visit them and their ministry partners. It was a joy to visit and see the doors that had been opened by the Holy Spirit.

On Saturday of our visit, God guided us to a particular district. It was 3 hours journey by road from the city where our team lived. We visited a Baptist church. The congregation had previously been a part of a Protestant denomination, but changed a few years ago to become a Baptist church due to its pastor. They were in great need of Bible teaching. The Lord Jesus gave me the opportunity to teach the Word of God in the Sunday service.

When teaching from 1 Corinthians 1:1-2, I clearly explained that there are two things to which all Christians are called to that are unavoidable. We are called to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are called to live in holiness. The purpose of the teaching was to remind and encourage the congregation. They live in the midst of a non-Christian majority and I wanted to encouraged them to awe at the undeserved grace of God and preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same time, I wanted to encouraged them to live in holiness through the person and work of Christ in their very own lives. The pastor of the church has a history of heart disease. His heart can only work at a maximum of 70 percent, but he is still active and diligent to serve the Lord Jesus in the midst of his family and his congregation. He invited the mission team to come teach the Bible to the congregation that he pastors.

On Monday, the Lord Jesus gave me the opportunity to share God’s Word from Colossians 2:1-4 to the pastors that are a part of a pastors’ fellowship. All the pastors in the fellowship are from a charismatic denomination and from various Pentecostal churches. I was very happy to be able to preach the Word of God to them. On Tuesday, the Triune God gave me the opportunity to visit a Christian who is the head of a sub-district. It took three hours journey by road to his home. According to him, he is one of two Christians who serve as head of a sub-district in the province. He is very close to the Christian Baptist family. His wife came from a Baptist family who moved from another island in 1982. He himself was also a man who followed his transmigrant parents to that district in 1982. There he had joined the Protestant Church with his wife because there were no Baptist churches at all.

The area he leads is very diverse. Filled by transmigration people from other parts of the country, as well as by the indigenous people of the district. As a Christian leader who is a minority, he serves the Lord Jesus by working diligently and witnessing through his living example. In the area that he leads, the churches enjoy a period of freedom in worship and fellowship in homes. He is known by everyone for his faith, but he also interacts with all both Muslim and Hindu communities. I had many opportunities to meet with leaders and various people in his house when I was staying there. With the opportunity that God has given him as a regional leader, it opens many doors to any Bible teachers to enter the area and teach the Bible in the churches. I was given the opportunity to return to his work area and teach the Bible to the churches. This is an opportunity for the HeartCry team to enter this region to teach the Bible, as well. He is also interested in inviting foreigners to teach English to the school children in this area. 

Apart than meeting this local leader, I also met with Komang (not his real name). He is a Hindu. We engaged in a conversation about faith, and with God’s kindness I had the  opportunity to share the gospel with him. His heart was opened to hear about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. I truly believe only God the Holy Spirit can lead his heart to faith in Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit has opened so many doors for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our church mission team in in this region – T—, J—– and A—-, have been used greatly by God to open up many opportunities to proclaim and advance the gospel. Our earnest prayer and hope is that these God-given open doors may be used well and effectively so that many souls may come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and the churches may deeply acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and preach gospel truth to others.

What a wonderful opportunity given by God to visit many fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord in several places and to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.