Helping You Honor and Glorify God in All You Think, Do, Say, and Feel

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Pastor Kevin "Easter in Asia"

April 14, 2009

Sunday was a very busy day for me. I ventured out on my own a little and
went down and ate breakfast by myself this morning. It wasn't too bad. 
I had 2 pieces of toast and a banana. It was buffet style so I didn't have
to order anything.
Pastor Jimmy picked me up around 7:30 and we went to the church in Wi Hi. It is about 7 miles away from JM city. Neither one of my 2 helpers had been to this church. Just shows how limited they are in their travels.
Some of them never leave the city they were born in their whole life. How blessed we truly are!
I am still trying to figure out their church government. I think all the
churches have an evangelist who takes care of the church and goes out and brings people in. The evangelists take care of the flock. Pastor Jimmy
travels around to the churches and preaches and gives communion.
The evangelist here in Wi Hi was named Paul. He was a very outgoing person. All the people there say he is very funny and a loving person. The choir sang "How Great Thou Art". It was awesome to worship in a different language!
I spoke after that. I just gave my testimony while Pastor Jimmy
translated. I used my testimony to swing into the gospel. 
It seemed to go well.
Pastor Jimmy preached from John 18:11, how our battle is spiritual, not
physical. We should rely on Him in our battles and not on material
possessions. If the Father gives us trials we should not look for the easy
way out. When the Son was taking the punishment and was crucified He
didn't complain about the situation. He took it quietly even though He
didn't deserve any of it. We complain even though we deserve our trials
sometimes. He then went over to Genesis 50:20, through our suffering we will always see His glory!! What an awesome message! Wi Hi is a very poor part of China. Please pray for these people.
We left there and traveled to 2 other churches that Rod has rebuilt. They
are very beautiful. Pastor Jimmy wanted me to see the work that He is
doing through our giving.
That afternoon I visited a SS class with about 75 youth. The teacher was
amazing. He is a 30 year old doctor who was very outgoing. He gave away prizes to the youth who could answer questions regarding His word. He really made SS fun for them while they learned a lot! After that the English workers taught them how to make Easter eggs. It was cool because they used the egg to represent to new birth.
I left there feeling very tired and weak. I went to my room and took a
nap. When I woke up I had a tremendous stomach ache. I prayed that He
would give me strength to finish the evening. My helpers took me to dinner where i had coffee and french fries. I was not about to eat any more chinese food for a while until my stomach felt better.
We went back to the church where we sang songs and I preached from 
1 Cor.15:12-20. I turned Paul's 5 negatives of "if He didn't rise from the dead" into 5 positives because in fact He did rise from the dead! He is a
summary;
  1. We are forgiven for our sins if we repent and believe the gospel 
  1. Our faith is well founded. Our faith in Him is founded on facts. 
    He can always be trusted and He is always there for you!
  1. The apostles preach what is true. 
    There is absolute truth, what the apostles preached was true, 
    the Bible is true.
4\5. We should be envied! So if He did rise from the dead, we should not
be pitied but envied. Our life of obedience, love, self denial should not
be pitied but envied. Living this life is a life well lived. It is a life
with meaning, not a wasted life. Everyone would like to think they lived a life worth something. Living your life for His glory is the only life
worth living. It has eternal consequences.
I spoke briefly with some of the people afterward. One man in particular
from Nebraska just arrived in China and came in to listen said he was moved to tears by the message. Praise our great King!
I hurried back to my room where I praised Him for seeing me through the night without getting sick! He always takes care of us! 
Praise Him!
For His name sake,
Kevin

No comments:

Post a Comment