Gaius’ July Report
Greetings, brothers of Heart Cry. Thank you for your continual support of me. May God remember your service and bless each of our ministries for the blessing of more people.
Praise the Lord, this month we experienced great blessing from God. Our Lord’s Day meeting reached twenty-two attendees and eight more have asked to join the church. In September we will hold our second meeting for committing to the church covenant.
During our Thursday evening studies, we started a new course, Christian Singleness and Marriage. Because this is practically pastoral in nature, it has attracted lots of people to the church. We have had close to forty attendees. Many brothers and sisters shared that they have never heard before how to live out their singleness as a Christian, so the course material has been a help and a challenge to them. For me, it has been a reminder that every Christian needs to live well in whatever situation they are in. Singles need to use their singleness well, and married people need to use their marriage well, so that God is glorified in our lives.
I preached three Lord’s Days this month from The Gospel of Mark. I was especially encouraged by the part where Jesus answers the scribes about what the greatest commandant is. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength. In reflecting on myself, I realized my own love for God is greatly lacking; I need God’s mercy. At the same time I need grace to move me to never endingly love God.
A new seeker came to our church this month. She was born into a Christian home but doesn’t understand the truth. So we specifically addressed her situation with teaching, encouragement, exhortation and guidance. However, we realized she was having a hard time accepting our teaching. There also is a man who started coming whose situation is difficult also. He came from a cult and doesn’t really know what they teach. When he came here, we preached the gospel to him and attempted to help him understand it. We are thankful that God is bringing different types of people into our church for us to feed them with the pure Word and to help them repent. However, we sometimes feel that we don’t have enough strength. So please pray for my coworker and me that God would give special strength to us.
This month my wife had some small health issues and stayed home to rest for a few days. Through her illness God showed us the love the brothers and sisters have for us. One sister came to our house several days in a row to help look after my wife. I was deeply moved. Please pray for my wife’s health. My son is continuing to slowly grow and mature. He can sit quietly without running here and there. I am thankful for this.
Another thing. Recently in a certain city in China the government has been forcibly taking down crosses from off the church buildings. Their purpose is control the churches. So please pray for this issue. May God protect and guide us.
Timothy began working for HeartCry in 2015 and assists with the work in Asia. He is married, has eight children, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
More By Timothy Jotham