What do you Want???

When we moved to our little spot on the globe 2.5 years ago, we knew NO ONE within a 4.5 hour drive of us, and the only people we knew there were other missionaries :-). The Lord sent us here to preach the Gospel, disciple converts, train leaders, and start churches. But where do you begin? What do you look for? How do you know where to go, where not to go, when to go, and when to leave? The task is more than a bit overwhelming, but with God's grace we dug in where we could. Through a process of events the Lord led us to begin working with some contacts that we made in the village of Burgersdorp. We met there with some men pretty consistently for the last 17 months, and this past weekend we had to make the most difficult decision that it was time to leave. I will spare you all the details, but I wanted to share with you some of the things that I shared with the fellows from Burgersdorp on Sunday, as to why we felt that the Lord would have us move on to other villages.

Matthew 10:5-6. There is a Certain People that we ought to be looking for. The Lord told His disciples to go specifically to the Jews first to preach the Gospel. There probably are several reasons for that, but one would most certainly be, b/c the Jews were a prepared people. For centuries they had the Prophets, and the Old Testament. They had been preached to by John Baptist, and had even met the Messiah face to face. You won't find a people that God did more for to prepare, than the Jewish people. However, prepared doesn't always mean that they will respond to truth. The Jews certainly did not. There are certain things that may indicate that God is preparing a person or a village to receive the Gospel, but that may not always translate into a person or a village that is willing to receive the Gospel. Prepared or not, the Gospel cuts across the grain of where we live! Nevertheless, we are looking for a people that God is preparing. A people whose heart God has opened. A people whom it is obvious that God is trying to desperately get their attention. We would do well to keep our eyes open for the fingerprints of God upon the lives of those around us. The best time to share the Gospel with someone will be when God is already working in their lives. They may not immediately respond to salvation, but you will have opportunity to share the Gospel in a way that they will never be able to forget....if you exercise boldness to step through the door.