Greetings Brothers of HeartCry, Thanks be to God for bringing my family, my church, and I safely through the storminess of this month. I am very thankful for your unceasing support.
Recently my son’s health hasn’t been great. This affected my sleep, which also affected my studies. My son has been coughing for about half a month without full recovery, so our whole routine and schedule has been affected. While caring for him my wife’s health has also suffered, so please pray for us.
This month I have been preparing to speak on Mark and also been thinking about what would be best for the church for me to preach on after we finish Mark. There are just two chapters left in Mark so we will be done very soon. I am thinking about teaching from Philemon and Titus next. This is because we are officially preparing to select elders. So we also will use 1st Timothy to prepare the brothers and sisters’ hearts for better reception of elders. On the 26th of this month we had a study on Biblical Theology and Leadership (from 9Marks materials). I preached two times this month. The topic was still Mark 14. We especially covered the parts on Jesus establishing the Lord’s Supper. I explained how the receiving of the Lord’s Supper is a blessing from the Lord Jesus for disciples; it’s not based on any personal merit. I also exhorted several people who attend our church but are not willing to commit yet. I challenged them not to have a consumerist view of the church but to submit to Christ and commit. After preaching, I was forced to think through how committed am I and my family to the church. Are we ready to obey Christ about the Lord’s Supper or in any other area? This sermon was a great reminder to me.
I also spoke twice on Thursday evenings. The other two weeks we had prayer meetings. Our study on singleness and dating is also done. The brothers and sisters have expressed a general realization, that singleness is good; in singleness they can serve God even better. This made me very thankful because the purpose of this study was that the singles in the church would spend their singleness better.
This month I was greatly encouraged by the conversion of a seeker. After his conversion he made two decisions that moved me. The first was to send in a notice of resignation from his company. His work schedule was not steady and so he was often not able to keep the Lord’s Day. He was unwilling for his work to interfere with his time of worship. The second was that he separated with his girlfriend. On hearing teaching at our church that believers and non-believers cannot marry, he shared the gospel with her. However, she clearly showed that she was not willing to accept it. So he split up with her. When he shared these two things with me I was moved and thankful that God continues to use my ministry to bless His people. This is the second time for such a case to happen in our church.
In Christ alone,
Gauis
