“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Rom.8:32
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14,15
The Bible teachers spent hours preparing, not only going over the lessons, but collecting from the bush and then fashioning with their hands the costumes they would need to present the final days of Christ’s time on Earth. For countless generations, the Dinangat culture has been an oral culture, with no written language for books, newspapers, letters, or anything like that. Because of this, their learning style is far more story-centered and visually oriented than our western ways. Being more attuned to this fact that even we missionaries are, it was very important to the teachers to get it right, to go all out and do everything they could to make this lesson count. They peeled bark off of certain trees, formed it and cut out costumes from it, scoured their houses to find the right colored clothing, and then on the day of the Gospel presentation, they were up at 3 am to make their final preparations for the crucifixion and resurrection dramas. Their heart was “in it”!
For the last 16 weeks, the family line in BA had been learning about God, His authority, creation, the origin of man, the fall of man, the Law, man’s attempts at redeeming himself and his continued failure, many stories in which God foreshadows His salvation plan for mankind, all for the first time in their own language. The virgin birth of Christ, His sinless life and supernatural ways, His over-the-top way of loving on people, His amazing teachings…the people have been hearing it, and BELIEVING it every step of the way. When the law was taught back several weeks ago, the main comments we heard were, “I need to be saved! I have broken every one of those laws, I know I am a sinner, I am separated from God, what can I do?”
Now, after the Gospel presentation, after SEEING what God has done for them, after realizing that “He did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all,” to tell the truth, all they really said was one thing.
“Thank you!”
Over and over and over again, “Thank you.” While there was no jumping up and down, no people vying for the floor to testify of a great change in their hearts and lives, the relief and gratitude made it clear: Jesus is their “Kidaak Aamna” (the man who saves)! We believe there are NEW NAMES written down in glory! Praise the Lord and REJOICE with us! Let the discipleship in this sweet village begin! Their faith is new, and in many ways they are very vulnerable, so please do continue to pray for strengthening, deeper understanding as the teaching continues into what their identity in Christ really means. But most of all, lift up the Father’s name with us, for He has done great things, He has made His glory known!