At long last the Siar people are hearing God’s story in their own language. This is another of the language groups that Ted was trying to get teams into when it became necessary for us to leave Papua New Guinea, and he was deeply burdened for them.
We had to leave, but God sent a team of young missionaries to live among the Siar people and study their language and culture. Now they are putting what they have learned to use and teaching the people the important message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. It will take time as the message much be clear and they must have time to absorb it can mean to them if they will accept it as truth.
The team is teaching twice a day, 4 days a week, 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. An average of 130 are attending daily and showing real interest. Some are staying after the lessons to ask questions and discuss what they are hearing. Some have learned to read their own language and they want to read for themselves what God’s Word says about the things they are learning. They are able to do this because the team is being careful to keep the translation of Scripture up with the teaching.
In order to give you an idea of how simple it needs to be, here is a summary of the first four lessons:
Lesson 1 began by introducing them to the Word and how we have received it from God Himself through the prophets and it has been maintained until today as they are hearing for the first time in their own language. Those listening were challenged with the notion that truth can be found anywhere else but the Word of God. The team clearly outlined that God claims His Word is the only source of truth and He wants to challenge all their previous conceptions of truth, life, death, afterlife, sin, suffering, and all the deep questions of life. The challenge was whether they will allow God’s Word to speak and stand alone as the source of truth for THEIR lives.
Lesson 2 began the process of laying out the biblical narrative of history. Only Genesis 1:1 was read, and closed the book. The lesson then outlined the immense truths of God and the revelation of Himself that we get from the first line of Scripture. He is eternal, He stands alone before creation as the only supreme God who needs nothing and is self-existent. Stark contrasts were drawn between God and man and the team did their best to exult Him above all things. It culminated with the fact that, if He alone was before all things, then He alone is supreme over all of us, and He alone can speak to us about truth and the origins of all things.
Lesson 3 provided a very important link in the progression of God’s creation as this lesson dealt with the creation of the spirit beings. Their creation prior to the creation of the earth was introduced and the creation of their leader. This leader, in time, wanted to take the place of God, and went on to be named Satan. A lot of time was spent talking about Satan’s pride and how it was the first sin against a perfect and holy God. This was used to reveal to them God’s nature and His knowledge of all things, even the deep thoughts of our hearts. This proved to be a huge point to the Siar, the issue that God wasn’t just concerned about visible sins, but that simple pride is seen by Him and is a major transgression against Him.
Lesson 4 was a continuation of what had been started. The account of the first 3 days of creation was read (Genesis 1:1-13). The team taught clearly the biblical record and tried to use some object lessons to demonstrate the infinite knowledge and power of God in creation. They came to a point of contention in the minds of Siar when they laid out God’s account of the creation of the seas. The Siar have an ancestral story that attributes the creation of the seas to a Siar ancestor. They took a fair bit of time to draw a sharp contrast between the biblical account and the Siar story. They challenged them that these two stories are NOT the same, and they must choose what they will believe. The lesson ended with a view of God as the creative, all-powerful, self-existent God that was doing all these things to prepare for the creation of man. Creation displaying His great love for us and His desire that we see and know Him through it.
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