{"id":1011,"date":"2014-10-18T01:15:03","date_gmt":"2014-10-18T05:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2014-10-22T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T20:24:49","slug":"bring-on-the-new-testament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/2014\/10\/18\/bring-on-the-new-testament\/","title":{"rendered":"Bring on the New Testament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On Monday morning we\u2019ll start to teach about John the Baptist and get ready for the birth of Jesus. It is exciting for us to finally be able to share with them the truth about Jesus to replace all the lies they\u2019ve heard over the years and to finally tell them how God has kept his promise to send a Savior.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve taught through the Old Testament we\u2019ve shown them what God is like, how much he loves us, and how he hasn\u2019t forgot his promise even though we are all sinners. We\u2019ve taught them what the law says and how it can\u2019t save us, and we\u2019ve talked over and over about the punishment for sin and how it can only be paid by death \u2013 their own personal eternal death.<\/p>\n

And the good news is that many of them are accepting what they\u2019re hearing! A large group of faithful listeners has confessed to us that they agree that they are sinners and can do nothing to save themselves, and after the lesson about Jonah and the prophecies about the Messiah there was spontaneous applause and shouts of \u201cThank you!\u201d as we ended the lesson by telling them that they would soon see all these prophecies come true in the life of Jesus.<\/p>\n

We have heard reports of people refusing to participate in animal sacrifices in their villages, and we no longer hear about them doing \u201cchurch\u201d every night of the week to try to please God. We\u2019ve heard them express joy and relief when they finally understand what the Bible means after years of believing something completely different about it.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve even heard one or two of the lesson-writing helpers say that their fear and worry are gone. We believe they are ready for the New Testament and the message that it offers and we move forward with hope that many of them will soon join us in God\u2019s kingdom!<\/p>\n

Please continue to pray for them. Many are ready, but many are still trapped in darkness. They come to the teaching because they think their attendance will score them some points with God. Many are expecting to be baptized when it is over and for us to tell them that their sins are gone. Many are still holding out hope that we will tell them the secret formula for making God forgive their sins so they will be blessed materially while on earth and go to heaven when they die. And many just don\u2019t care to come at all.<\/p>\n

We know that the gate is narrow and few will enter it, but we also know that God often does things that seem impossible to us. So let\u2019s pray continually, giving thanks to Him.<\/p>\n

On a more practical note, we have a whole bunch of translation that needs to get ready to be checked next year, and we are almost ready to start translating Romans. (Yay!)<\/p>\n

We anticipate teaching the last lesson of \u201cphase 1\u201d on November 14th, and then we will be working together with the community of believers to decide where we go from there \u2013 meeting once or twice a week, moving into phases 2-7 of Bible teaching, how to live as a body in obedience to God\u2019s Word concerning his church \u2013 and we are only about a year from furlough now, so there\u2019s lots to do!<\/p>\n

Our family is doing great and enjoying good health, although Chris and I have been starting to look forward to a break from the tribe in January. It\u2019s a busy, busy time, and we know we are blessed to be here. Thanks for your prayers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday morning we\u2019ll start to teach about John the Baptist and get ready for the birth of Jesus. It is exciting for us to finally be able to share with them the truth about Jesus to replace all the lies they\u2019ve heard over the years and to finally tell them how God has kept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,3855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-family","category-ministry","category-prayer-request","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chris-hostetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}