Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever! Amen!
Ephesians 2:20, 21 (exclamation points added 🙂 )
I’ve been itching to sit down and write this update! God is answering all of your prayers. He is showing glimpses of Who He really is, and our finite minds are about to explode!
Personally, it has been a very long time since I’ve seen a heart really changed and turned towards the Lord. What a precious thing it is, and a joy and a privilege to witness, and I wish you could all be here and watch as the God of the universe is gathering up His sheep from the Dinangat fold. Your prayers, support, love and encouragement have afforded us the passage of a front row seat, and we are forever grateful.
Yesterday, at the end of the teaching, we portrayed Jesus being brought before Pilate, condemned to die and beaten. The people here have seen this drama before, as I have mentioned they have been taught much by the other religious group in the past. But now they have the context of their own sin and the desperate state of their souls. They know of Jesus, that He is God, born a man. They have seen His power and His compassion through the stories of the Gospels, and have come to love Him. Now, as they watched Him being falsely accused and mercilessly beaten, the lights came on for many of our friends. Tears were streaming, heads were hanging, tongues were clicking (the cultural sign of shock or amazement.) They know and believe from the Scripture that the penalty for sin is death, and now they are understanding that the Kidaak Amna’s work would be to stand in their place, and pay the price for them.
Totne lives way on top of the mountain and is ordinarily not in the village very much. In the past, he has been suspicious of our motives for being here. But he has hiked down from his house every single day, and not missed a single lesson. Yesterday, Gary witnessed this hard heart break and told us what he said: “All my life I’ve turned my back on God. I’ve never come to any of the religious meetings that the people have. But as I watched those men beating Jesus I realized that I was one of those men. What Jesus did for me I can’t even put into words and I don’t want to turn my back on him anymore.” And then he wiped the tears from his eyes and started to laugh joyously.
Do you remember our new brother in Christ, Bau? A couple of days ago, he stood up and exhorted all the people to keep coming to the teaching. He said, “Now is the time to be rescued from the hand of Satan, do not miss it!”
We know that there are hard times coming, and that we won’t be floating on this cloud forever. But oh, it is sweet to see faith starting to bud! We haven’t actually taught on the death, burial, and resurrection yet, nor have we done the work of tying it all together for them. But this was a harvest ripe for the picking, and I believe that there are many out there that have already put all the pieces together and have placed their faith in the saving blood of Christ. God is doing the work, and we are sitting, watching every wonderful move He makes. After Wednesday, and throughout the next weeks, we will sit down with as many as we can, and Lord willing we will hear many clear testimonies of precious souls understanding the Gospel message and trusting Christ as their Savior. Please keep praying!
Final Lessons of the Chronological Teaching:
Monday- Death and Burial of Jesus
Tuesday- Resurrection of Jesus
Wednesday- Tie in Lesson, Old and New Testament
Rejoicing in His Goodness,
Jeremiah, April, Jordan, Judah and Alayna Markley
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