Pilgrim's Progress

I've mentioned before that we studying Pilgrim's Progress with some college students. Some are believers some are not. I was really encouraged by yesterday's study. We had 7 students and they were all talking about what they thought about chapter 3. All I had to do was ask a question and they took care of the rest. The main reason we are doing this study is to help them grow in their faith. We want them to continue God's work in Turkey. One of the things we talked about yesterday was this: Christian was asked by one of his hosts in the Beautiful Palace about his family. He responded that he had told them about the judgment that was coming and that he had to get this burden removed from off his back. So the point we were talking about was witnessing to your family and close friends. Even though it is hard, if we truly love them we'll tell them the truth. One of the students brought up the point that the man that Christian was talking with said you are not responsible for them. He asked are we truly responsible for them? The fact is that Christian had told his family of the coming judgment but they made fun of him. He told them! We are not responsible for what people do with the truth, but we are responsible to tell them. The last point we talked about was what if God would allow us to see the people in Hell, in everlasting suffering, Jesus and the Gospel would be more frequently on our lips. We would think of any possible way to turn a conversation to the Gospel. I hope these thoughts will stay with you this week.

Good day...bit of a sad ending

I had an opportunity to preach at the fellowship we are learning from. The pastor is out of the country. Then this afternoon we began a study of the book Pilgrim's Progress with the college age students. Actually we just talked about the forward. It was all about the things that John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, went through during his life. That led us into the topic of persecution and suffering in the Bible. We don't hear many sermons on it, but it is definitely in the Bible. One of the major things we talked about was how many people in our world die everyday. We stressed the eternity of suffering they will go through. With this in mind, we want to live our lives and maximize our time in a way that best glorifies God. After everyone had left, one of the girls came back and said that her dad, who was a Muslim, died when she was three. She asked, "What will happen to him....Is he in Hell?" It wasn't so hard for me to tell her the truth from the Word of God, but it made me sad. I thought, "She lost her dad when she was three. She has now believed in Jesus as her Savior. She'll never see her dad again." This is exactly the reason we preach the Gospel. So many people around the world have never been confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They've never even been made to think about whether or not what they believe is true. I hope that it will be a reminder to this young girl to share Christ with her family and friends. I know it was for me.

Interesting Opportunity

Yesterday a university student came to the church that we are learning from. I invited him in. He explained that his friend's history professor in a city many hours from here had heard that there was a church in this city. The professor gave the student the assignment of finding out about this church. So the guy that I was talking with was helping his friend. He asked me about the history of the church. I told him. It was kind of anti-climatic for him, because the church doesn't have ancient history. Then the Holy Spirit brought a thought to my mind. So I told this young man that the book of Galatians was written to churches in the very region we are living in now. He was a little excited. I showed him the book of Galatians and he asked if he could have a copy of it. I copied the book of Galatians for him. Then he asked who Paul was. I explained that Paul was a really religious Jew who persecuted those that followed Jesus...and then I told him about Paul's conversion and how Paul went all throughout Turkey spreading the Gospel. I pray that the book of Galatians gets back to the history professor. Galatians, how ironic. The book that tells us that we cannot be saved by keeping the law. I also pray that whoever is doing this study will see the validity of the Bible.

Expecting Great Things

When things are going good do you stop and say "Oh something bad is bound to happen." Unfortunately I do. Maybe it is a lack of faith. It is like I'm waiting for the hammer to fall. Anyone that knows me knows I'm an eternal optimist. It is not necessarily that I'm thinking that something bad is going to happen. It is like I'm thinking this is too good to be true. Things have been going well since we moved to our new city. We are busy doing what we feel God wants us to do. God is blessing and sometimes I begin to think alright when are the hard times coming. As I thought a little more about it I just realized that it is just my thinking that is messed up. Who says God is not blessing in the hard times? Who says God is not blessing when things are as we say 'a little slow'? John Bunyan, the author of Pilrim's Progress, was imprisoned for 12 years. During that same time, many of his own congregation were imprisoned with him. He had the opportunity to continue teaching them while in prison. I think we all would say that prison would at the very least be a down-time in our service to God. That is not at all how reality was. It is our perspective that changes everything. "Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths." Psalms 25:4

What are you doing for your generation

Last night we had a prayer meeting. One of the men who joined us was not a believer but it appears the Spirit is working in his life. My text was Psalm 78. This is a text that God put on my heart when I went to the 'Our Generation Summit' in 2004. There is a new Turkish film that tells the story of the men who built the first Turkish car. They had only 4 months to do so. They didn't have a factory or even the new technology of that day. They built this car and even today's generation knows this story. I thought about this and how these men worked so hard to finish the job they had to do. They did all this for something that will not matter in eternity. In Psalm 78 the writer tells the people to tell of God's wondrous works so that the generation to come might not be as the previous generation. The first generation that left Egypt was a faithless generation(Hebrews 3:10). The generation that Joshua led into Canaan was a fighting generation. Though not totally obedient they trusted God and drove out the inhabitants of Canaan. The crazy thing is that in Judges 2:10 you find that the next generation was a generation that forgot God. How can this be? There fathers saw God do so many great things. Do you want the generation of the future to set their hope in God? They need to hear of the wonderful works of our great God. That also means that we need God working in our lives so that we have something to tell future generations.

Good News for work visas

Well I received an email yesterday with a link to an article. I've posted the link below. For those of you thinking about moving to Turkey, if this comes to pass it could potentially make life much easier. There is a new man who took charge of this department and he's making sweeping changes. The claim is that you will get a 'yes' or 'no' answer in a month. I waited over a year to find out they rejected me. Also if you notice what the article says, it claims that they don't want to leave much to individual employees to decide. This would be great. I heard in years gone by in regards to getting your work visa it was pretty much up to the guy reading your paperwork. We'll see what happens.

Good news for work visas

Lost a Hero

Today Bro. I.D. Riddick pastor emeritus of my home church went to be with the Lord. He was the pastor of our church for twenty years before he retired. He didn't really retired though. I didn't know much about him until he moved back to our home town and taught in our bible college. He was in his seventies at the time he taught. He loved going to yard sales. Not because he liked to shop but so he could witness. He couldn't go door-knocking with us so that was his way of passing out tracts and talking to people. He never stopped talking about how good God was and warning people about Hell. He loved people so much. He loved his church members. Even when he stepped on their toes they knew it was because he love them. He's rejoicing in Heaven now, but we will miss him. Pray for his wife. They were married 63 years.