Dear Russ, Doris & Dawn, It is always in season to give thanks. I want to share with you what God has done.
The culmination of my captivity has arrived. God has brought me back. He has emptied the vile and made my mouth to praise Him. He has redeemed me from the grip of the terrible and made me able to stand before Him. Blessed be the Lord!
In Jeremiah 27 the Lord provides us some precious insight into the nature of our ministry in Christ. In verses 1-2 the Lord says…
In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Thus the Lord said to me: “Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.
On August 4 I sent to the Asia Biblical Theological Seminary (ABTS) headquarters a package of my assignments for my last extension course, but after six weeks there has been no affirmation of ABTS receiving it. Moreover, on September 12 I was summoned to the Police Headquarters here in Ho Chi Minh City to "provide them more information related to that package."
Here is some feedback we have received from a recent volunteer leader training seminar. This particular seminar was held at a large church here in western North Carolina and was attended by deacons and small group teachers. We taught six topics from our essential ministry leadership material: Understanding the Essentials, The Prerequisites to Godliness, Right Relationships, Relational Sin, Marks of Engaged Leadership, and Generational Distinctives. We were very encouraged by the level of participation, depth of discussion, and overall enthusiasm for the topics.
I was recently walking a little boy down the hall toward his dad. The toddler wrapped each of the little fingers of one hand around a single finger of my own, focused on getting to his Daddy. He wants to be with Daddy wherever he is and keep him in his sight. As I was walking the boy down the hall, his Dad was calling to him, looking at him and smiling, “Come to Daddy.” He was walking WITH me, but I was clearly nothing more than his vehicle to get to his dad.
To my perception, it’s not all “ministries” are actual ministries. The fact on earth is that we here in Vietnam have experienced for decades various forms of “Christian ministries” who claim for themselves the ministry of equipping the Church, but just for a noisy starting and then ending in a dim disappearance, leaving here all kinds of doctrinal confusions.
Why is it that we as Christians often struggle so much in resolving problems that enter our lives? We have the inspired, infallible Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) replete with eternal wisdom at our disposal, and we have the Holy Spirit Who resides within us to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). One would think, and it is certainly God’s plan, that with these immeasurable resources we would enjoy the sweetness of victory rather than the bitterness of defeat.
Outwardly it seemed like a very successful local church with a highly effective ministry. Gifted and sufficient trained staff was on hand, the facilities were more than adequate, and hundreds of people made it their church home. Those were the external appearances. Internally, the lay leadership behaved tentatively, the membership seemed to lack commitment, and a sense of enthusiasm and hope was absent.
You’ve seen it happen. Many a leader begins a ministry with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy, an utter dependence on God. The challenges of those early days are approached with a spiritual posture face down before God, crying out for His grace and wisdom. Every challenge is immediately brought to the Lord. Issues are bathed in prayer.
