Week 8 Teaching Update from Dinangat

Dear Praying Friends,
Over the course of the last 8 weeks, we have heard from so many of you back home. The emails we have been receiving have been so encouraging! What a blessing it has been to be assured of your prayers and support on such a constant basis! I can’t tell you much that helps in enabling and strengthening us for the work here. So on behalf of our family and our team, thank you so much!
Many of you will remember us asking for prayer concerning the women of our village. After centuries of believing that women were far inferior to “righteous” men has resulted in a very reserved, self conscious, and insecure bunch of sweet ladies. Well, the literacy class has just started meeting on Wednesdays to review the Bible lesson summary sheets as reading practice. Just this week, we started inviting the ladies to come read separately from the men in a smaller, less intimidating group meeting. We were encouraged to see so many ladies come out to the meeting, even many who have not been through the literacy class yet but wanted to be a part and give it a try. Our hope and prayer is that this will turn into an avenue for them to talk openly about what they are hearing in the teaching. Please join us in praying for their boldness, and that as God stirs their hearts with His Words, they will feel free to discuss and ask questions as we meet in this new forum.
This week the people have been hearing of God’s high standard for His people. From the second half of the 10 Commandments, to His very strict instructions on the building of the Tabernacle, they have seen that God in His righteousness demands perfection; such a perfect and Holy God can accept nothing less than what He has deemed right. The punishment for sin is severe and complete. The punishment is death. In the previous weeks, when it seemed like the people were stirring over the reality of these truths, we asked them, “Why does God have the right to demand this of His people?” Our hearts were blessed to hear them rightly answer, “God made us! He is our Creator , and therefore He is Above and over all. He is righteous, this is His way.” While it is hard for us to watch them slump under the weight of their sin, as many of them have been, it is absolutely imperative that they fully understand their need for a Savior before we rush in and proclaim Jesus’ finished work as their substitutionary Lamb! So please, this weekend, as we all remember and rejoice in the Victory of the Resurrection, please remember the Dinangat people. Most of them do not yet understand the necessity of the work of the Promised Redeemer. For them, as personal sin is just becoming a reality, right now they are just getting a glimpse of the grave, and in their minds, it still has their names on it.

This week’s lessons for your prayers:
Monday – The Lord gave the Israelites water from the rock. He healed those who looked at the bronze alter.
Tuesday – God took the Israelites into Canaan. God chose their leaders and their king.
Wednesday – God chose David to be king. God chose Solomon to build the temple.
Thursday – God chose Jonah and other men to be his messengers.
Friday – God told the prophets to write many things about the coming Deliverer.

For his Glory,
Jeremiah, April, Jordan, Judah and Alayna