Dear HeartCry Family,
The well-known American preacher A. W. Tozer said once, “If in the first Christian church the Holy Spirit would withdraw Himself, only 5% of all activities in that church would continue. If that were to happen in the current church, 95% of activities in a church would continue.” This statement affected us, not only in view of our house church and not only in view of the churches and circles that we are privileged to serve with the Word of God, but especially in view of our personal life and our marriage and family. Are we truly focused on God’s presence or is it all about religious activity and works? Consequently it is our prayer, “Lord, hold us close and make us live near to Thy Father heart, in Thy glorious presence. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:36)’.
We have just come out of a special season of traveling through Holland for 4 weeks as a family for Bible study and vacation. At one campsite in the province of Groningen in the north of Holland I taught a series of Bible studies on the life of Moses, the man of God. It is a wonderful blessing to be able to gather together around an open Bible and to listen to what God wants to say to us, even during a time of vacation. Aside from teaching the Bible studies, we also provided follow-up, had many conversations, and prayed with people. The remarkable thing about being at a campsite is that you meet so many people with different backgrounds and from various kinds of churches.
After this season of Bible study our family went camping for 2 weeks at a campsite in Zeeland, another province in Holland. This was a first for us and we enjoyed one another tremendously. It was a wonderful and relaxing time. Relatives of ours had lent us a camper trailer so that we could actually go on vacation this summer. It was wonderful to take the children sailing and to be amazed by God’s awesome work of creation. The above photo was taken during our sailing trip on the Veer Lake.
Because I do a lot of work from home and have had no access to a private office / study we saw the need to enlarge our home. In recent months, during a period of 4.5 weeks, we added two extra rooms to our house. One of these is now my designated work / study room. We also installed better insulation and a new boiler. It is wonderful to now have my own room. A place of solitude and peace is really important in all of the work that comes our way. We thank the Lord that He has made this possible.
Together with our children we also used our vacation time to gather wood for our wood stove and to put it in our ‘wood shed’. It is pleasant and useful to be working together like this. As far as we are concerned winter can come now. We are ready!
By now, I have started two new Bible study series. One is an eight lesson series on Ephesians. The interest for this is overwhelming. The average age of our visitors is between 25 and 30 years. There is a huge hunger and thirst for the Word of God. It is a great privilege to share the Word like this. We are now urgently looking for a larger space where we can come together. This is an important point of prayer. The second Bible study series that we started is about the ‘Power of Prayer’. During eight evenings we will study basic Biblical principles concerning prayer.
On October 27th I hope to make a study trip to Israel with four brothers. One of these brothers has actually lived in Israel for almost 40 years and has done a lot of evangelistic outreach among the Jews. Several church plants have come forth from this. Aside from teaching the Bible, he thoroughly knows the country. It is my prayer and desire to really study the roots of the Christian faith. Partly due to my wife Annette I felt encouraged to go on this study trip. I hope to fly back to the Netherlands on November 5th.
On November 23rd I will be speaking at the first gathering of the Reformed Baptist Church in Urk. I’m closely involved with the planting of this new church. It is a remarkable development in Holland. Urk could be described as the most churched town in Holland. It is a tightly close and closed community. There is, however, also a great spiritual need in this village and it is our prayer that this newly planted church will be used to save many sinners and to build up the body of Christ.
The 10th of September marked our 10th wedding anniversary, a special milestone where we were reminded of the blessings the Lord has given us in the past years. We are healthy, have three sons, and we have not wanted for anything. Ultimately we are grateful that together we were allowed to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) in the past 10 years. During this period, Annette and I were baptized, plus we were called into full time ministry in the vineyard of the Lord Jesus. The ways of the Lord are wonderful!
There is much work to do, also in the coming days. We are grateful to be of service in the building up of God’s church and to the honor and glory of His Name. To Him be all praise thanksgiving and honor from this time forth and forever!
Despite the great distance, we are closely united in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jacques & Annette Brunt + Levi, Boaz & Jesse
